Well, this counts as my very first Date A Live fanfiction.
Although I started watching Date A Live two years ago and had the urge to write something back then, for many reasons it never materialized until this year.
For me, even a fanfiction deserves to be written seriously.
I put a lot of thought into creating a heroine with a distinct personality—
and one of the most important parts of that was her name.
In all the Date A Live fanfictions I've read, numbers like two, hundred, thousand, and ten thousand have all been used—some of them far too often.
So I struggled for quite a while over which number to use in her name and what meaning to assign to it.
Eventually, when I was researching the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, I discovered that it doesn't just have ten sephiroth (emanations) and three veils of negative existence, but also twenty-two paths and three pillars.
The number twenty-two didn't really fit as part of a name, so the only reasonable choice left was the three pillars.
Later, during my outlining process, I modified the power of one pillar so that it would suit the half-insane nature of the heroine's first appearance—
a being who, in gaining immense power, falls from angel to demon.
And thus, Tenki Sanluo —
a half-mad heroine driven by greed, violence, and the scars of a tragic past—was born.
Of course, creating such a heroine also meant figuring out how she could possibly be "won over."
What kind of approach could Shido Itsuka use to earn the trust of someone so deeply wounded?
That takes time and words to build up properly.
But I can tell you this responsibly:
Tenki Sanluo's route will definitely take more than one volume to complete.
Come on—Kurumi Tokisaki also has "three" in her name, and she was practically the last one to be conquered.
There's no way Tenki Sanluo is getting speedrun-cleared by Shido.
To avoid repeating the same plots and structures I've seen in other Date A Live fanfics, I made some adjustments to the story.
For instance, you might've noticed that I deliberately avoided making Ellen—the ultimate "fanfic experience pack"—fight Tenki Sanluo head-on.
There are plenty of ways to build a sense of threat and presence for a heroine.
Ellen has already suffered enough persecution in fanfics; I don't need to bully her here too.
Of course, there's no avoiding AST—that's inevitable.
Well, that's about all I wanted to say.
I hope you readers will continue to support my work, and please feel free to leave comments and critiques.
Let's meet again in the next Chapter!