Soga Yura held a Holy Relic in her hands — one that was nearly identical to the Holy Relic Su Yuzu had obtained during a mission.
Or rather —
They were Holy Relics that existed in dependence upon each other.
Su Yuzu had known that for a very, very long time.
The Holy Relic in Su Yuzu's possession — [Holy Relic - Evil. Taboo of the Fate Twins] — was an extraordinarily dangerous artifact.
If she could help it... Su Yuzu hoped she would never have to use it for as long as she lived.
So then... what about the Holy Relic in Soga Yura's hands?
She felt it — the playful smile on the girl behind her, the languid curve of lips tilted upward, almost as though they might press a kiss against her ear.
Su Yuzu took Soga Yura's hand with great care and, gently, slid the ring — the one twined with flowering branches — from the girl's finger.
BOOM—!!!
A terrifying mental storm erupted into full bloom in an instant.
The mental storm, powerful enough to tear the black domain apart, sent invisible ripples spreading through the air — visible even to the naked eye.
[Dominator's Aegis (32.1%)]→[Dominator's Aegis (25.0%)]
[Dominator's Aegis (25.0%)]→[Dominator's Aegis (25.0%)]
[Dominator's Aegis (25.0%)]→[Dominator's Aegis (25.0%)]
[...]
Soga Yura's Favorability had always been locked at 99 — and accordingly, her Dominator's Aegis intensity was locked at 25%, just as Kujou Katora's [Blood Manipulation] was. Both were completely fixed there.
At the same time... both Su Yuzu and the frail girl seated upon the Throne could clearly sense it — a boundless wellspring of mental power was converging into Soga Yura's body.
Mental power was pouring out of Su Yuzu in a continuous torrent, flowing ceaselessly into Soga Yura.
"Nothing but vermin — rats hiding in the sewers."
"And they dare make things difficult for Yuzu?"
The girl's voice was detached and cold — and at the same time, laden with absolute authority.
Su Yuzu instinctively tightened her grip on the ring in her hand and pulled open her Material Inventory.
Holy Relic: [Holy Relic - Live. Guardian of the Fate Twins]
[A Holy Relic left behind by the legendary Fate Twins.]
[Condition of Use: One of the Twins.]
[The bearer may grant half of their attribute power to the other half of the Twin pair.]
[Note ——]
[Once granted, it cannot be actively reclaimed.]
[A portion of the power may be briefly reclaimed when the Twins make contact.]
[All power may be reclaimed when the Holy Relic is removed by the other half of the Twin pair.]
[I want to protect you ——]
[Even so... I cannot hold you.]
[...]
Staring blankly at the ring wound with white flowering branches sitting in her Material Inventory, Su Yuzu suddenly felt a wave of bewilderment wash over her.
In that single instant... she suddenly understood so many, many things.
Why she had always felt as though Soga Yura was somehow present, everywhere, all around her.
Why — despite the protection being only [Dominator's Aegis (50%)] — it had been able to completely nullify the dream manipulation of the early Third Sequence octopus Chimera Amalgam.
Why it could nullify Soga Yura's own 「Mind Control」.
Why it could disregard the soul-fire of Leviathan, who stood at the very pinnacle of the Third Sequence.
The description of [Dominator's Aegis] said it could only nullify attacks equivalent to half of Soga Yura's mental power.
Before, Su Yuzu had simply assumed it was because Soga Yura, as a Mind Control User, possessed mental power so incomparably vast that even half of it was enough.
Even though they were both Third Sequence Espers — half of Soga Yura's mental power alone was sufficient to look down on everyone within the same Sequence: Aberrants, Chimera Amalgams, even Catastrophe Beasts.
But... looking now at the ring sitting in her Material Inventory.
Soga Yura's crimson eyes shimmered and swayed.
She had been wrong.
She had guessed wrong.
Even with the Game System watching and bolstering her — she had still guessed wrong.
The fundamental reason [Dominator's Aegis] could nullify those Third Sequence attacks was...
The power Soga Yura had deposited within Su Yuzu was a full and equal half — perhaps even more than half — of all the power she had kept for herself.
On the surface: peak Second Sequence.
In truth: peak Third Sequence — Level.39 Mind Control User, Soga Yura.
What everyone had seen... was merely half the girl's power.
And so —
That was why Soga Yura was so supremely confident. So extraordinarily powerful.
That was why she could say so brazenly — that a Fourth Sequence Aberrant was nothing so troublesome.
Because... with Su Yuzu's own hands removing the ring, Soga Yura now had every right to say exactly that.
BOOM!!!
A near-terrifying mental shockwave blazed to life behind Su Yuzu.
With the Holy Relic removed, the girl who held Su Yuzu in her embrace effortlessly shattered the Third Sequence's heavenly barrier — that absolute divide that even Soga Ishikawa Irube had spent seven or eight years straining against without ever breaking through.
[Operator: Soga Yura]
[Level.39 - Mind Control User (99%) → Level.40 - Mind Control User.]
[Congratulations — you have unlocked a new achievement: Elite Operator].
[Congratulations — you have unlocked a new achievement: My Sister Is Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens!]
[...]
Fourth Sequence at seventeen years old.
This had long surpassed what could be described as genius or prodigy — the radiance Soga Yura now blazed with was enough to steal the breath from the entire world.
That achievement, that record... was one even Su Yuzu herself could no longer surpass.
She could have stood at the center of every eye in the world, long, long ago.
But she had chosen her little sister instead.
Nothing more than that.
Just as — within the grey domain — the reason Su Yuzu had returned was the same.
She had chosen Soga Yura.
Nothing more than that.
Soga Yura pulled Su Yuzu tighter into her embrace.
The mental storm that would unleash automatically whenever the sisters touched... at last, finally — fell still.
Soga Yura had always believed she would never remove that ring for as long as she lived.
She lowered her lashes, and breathed in the faint, soft fragrance drifting from the ends of the girl's hair.
But then... Soga Yura suddenly felt something strange — just a little.
Why?
Why did it feel as though, even after she had removed the Holy Relic, Yuzu still seemed to retain some of her Aegis?
And moreover... as she broke through the Third Sequence's heavenly barrier, the Aegis on Yuzu — rather than weakening — actually seemed to have grown stronger?!
Soga Yura's instinct was not wrong.
A quarter of a Fourth Sequence Mind Control User's power is, in fact, greater than half of a Third Sequence Mind Control User's power.
The qualitative leap between peak Third Sequence and Fourth Sequence was far, far more than the simple arithmetic of 1+1>2.
Soga Yura nearly burst into tears on the spot.
...°.°...
So... so all the suffering she had endured for the sake of that Aegis — what on earth had it all been for?
Though she still had no idea how Yuzu seemed to have gained an extra layer of Aegis out of thin air — Soga Yura knew one thing: she... had gotten the short end of the deal. Again.
Every last bit of the girl's furious indignation was redirected squarely at the frail girl seated upon the false Throne before her.
The mental storm erupting from Soga Yura looked almost as though it were reshaping itself into the silhouette of two girls locked in an embrace.
At that moment, in the livestream broadcast to the entire world, comments in every conceivable language streamed across the screen — the kind that said things like I'm witnessing something I shouldn't be and they're so real.
With Soga Yura and Su Yuzu at its center —
The domain of 「Domination」 swiftly unfurled, erasing the oppressive weight that the false Throne had cast — and stripping away the black, alien filter the false domain had laid over the world's colors.
Soga Yura looked with deep satisfaction at the healthy color of the girl in her arms — the faint flush blooming across her earlobes and cheeks.
Then, the girl raised her head and looked at Zero with an expression that was nearly cold.
[I have long since walked through the deepest, darkest depths of the Abyss.]
[I have long since tamed the most savage and wicked of Thrones.]
[A mere false Throne. A mere pseudo-king.]
"And who gave you the courage and the audacity to come for this?"
"To come for my Yuzu."
"And challenge her to open battle."
"Vermin — rats —"
"Are you even worthy?"
____
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