[Mental influence reshapes the world...]
[「That's... the legendary Domination of Soga Yura!? And a domain unfolded by a Fourth Sequence Esper!?」]
[「It's Domination, isn't it...」]
[「No — it's a domain. She's already stepped into the Fourth Sequence.」]
[「Good grief... how old is that girl, the one called Soga Yura? Is she even twenty yet?」]
[「If I remember right, the Soga family is holding Yura-kouhai's coming-of-age ceremony in a few days.」]
The feed was nothing like the crystal-clear footage you'd get from using Feng Ke as a walking camera. The pixelated, patchy image looked as though the world had been cleaved cleanly in two.
The left side... was a world of black and white.
Upon the Throne of Thorns, its brambles coiled and entwined, sat a frail, slender girl. In that monochrome world, the only thing that held any colour was the girl's imperious eyes — gleaming with a dark, dragon-like gold.
The right side... was a riot of colour.
The twins, locked in an embrace.
Soga Yura's lashes were lowered, and she clung to the other girl with a greedy, desperate hunger — as though she were trying with every last ounce of her being to meld herself into her.
Behind her, even the light and shadow seemed to bend and warp, tracing the silhouette of two girls holding each other close.
[「Yesss!!! Sisters!!! Snuggles!!!」]
[「Speaking of which... where's that 『Little Sister Is the Cutest in the World』 person? Someone's streaming Yuzu-hime live right now — how come she hasn't shown up to have her episode this time?」]
[「Lmao~ she's not actually there in person, is she.」]
[「Could be, could be — maybe she's literally holding Yuzu-hime right now.」]
[「If you're going to put on a show, you go all out. Honestly makes sense.」]
[「Is there any chance — and I mean, just a chance — that person really is Yura-hime?」]
[「Impossible. If she were actually Soga Yura, I'll livestream myself eating my monitor.」]
[「But I just checked who 『Imperial Capital University』 in the Tokyo metropolitan area follows, scrolled through a few hundred accounts, and... 『Imperial Capital University』 follows her.」]
[「Oh right... and Iori, the young lady who handles external affairs for the main Soga family, also follows her.」]
[「WHAT!? Yura-hime has been right beside me this whole time!?」]
[「You okay up there? You doing alright~~~」]
[「Need something to wash it down with? If that's not enough monitor, I do electronics recycling — I can make sure you're full!」]
[「Am I the only one weirdly fixated on Yura-hime's reaction pics and the way she types... She always seemed so cool and aloof at school, but somehow...」]
[「(°□□).」 someone piled on.
[「She's kind of adorable, actually...」]
[「Honestly... yeah. Like she's being a little spoiled brat.」]
[「I'm imagining Yura-hime transformed into a total crybaby, and honestly? She'd be cute as hell when she cries...」]
[「A mean little sister who bullies her big sister into tears, and a big sister who cries at the drop of a hat and loves to whine. YES. I ship it so hard.」]
[「...」]
Whatever the internet was shipping outside — down in the bottomless pit, Soga Yura was already on the offensive against Zero, with Su Yuzu wrapped in her arms.
The whole world lay at her feet.
After Soga Yura stepped into the Fourth Sequence, her 「Domination」 had undergone yet another transformation.
All land beneath heaven belongs to the sovereign. All souls within its borders are the sovereign's subjects.
Wherever Soga Yura's will reached — living or dead, animate or inanimate — the authority of 「Domination」 belonged entirely to the girl, without exception.
"Looking so imposing, so fearsome — as if you'd bring the world to its knees..."
"And yet —"
"You're nothing but a hollow imitation. All shape. No substance."
The black Throne of Thorns that had been heaving up from the rocky earth went still.
Every living thorn froze in place.
Because the one who dominated them said: no.
Because the one who dominated them had given no such order.
Zero's dark golden vertical pupils gazed at the two girls locked in their embrace.
Those eyes were vacant. Emotionless. Incapable even of thought — inside that head lived nothing but a handful of simple commands.
The girl assessed the situation.
The black-and-white domain was shrinking.
Before the girl who looked as though she might reign over the entire world, even this false sovereign's domain was retreating, step by step.
She drew a great thorned broadsword from the 「Throne」.
The sword was long.
Several times taller than the girl herself.
Watching that slender, delicate girl swing an absurdly oversized weapon — the sheer visual contrast had the spectators online losing their minds.
[「So cool——」]
[「An Aberrant weapon like that just looks incredibly badass.」]
[「I want one as a pet.」]
[「She's a Fourth Sequence Aberrant — anyone who wants to 'keep' one should stop and think about whether they could actually hold their own against her.」]
Zero swung the broadsword and brought it crashing down toward Soga Yura and Su Yuzu with devastating force.
With that sweeping strike, the entire black-and-white domain seemed to clash against Soga Yura's 'world'. The boundary of the monochrome domain — like ink-wash special effects spiralling around the thorned broadsword — came crashing down toward Soga Yura and Su Yuzu.
That single strike felt as though it could shatter the world itself.
Soga Yura simply tilted her head back and looked up.
Her physical abilities were poor.
And unfortunately... even after crossing from Third Sequence into Fourth Sequence, Soga Yura's strength and speed seemed to have changed almost not at all.
Her stamina and endurance had improved — just a tiny bit.
Roughly to the degree of... being able to hold on a little longer during night runs with Yuzu before dissolving into tears and begging Yuzu to wait up for her.
Su Yuzu, cradled in Soga Yura's arms, simply watched Zero with a complicated expression — and made no move to pull Soga Yura out of the way.
She trusted Soga Yura.
More than anyone else in the world, she trusted Soga Yura.
More than she trusted even herself, she trusted Soga Yura.
And then —
Just as Su Yuzu had believed — the girl swinging the broadsword, the broadsword itself, and even the black-and-white domain coiled around the blade: all of it, every last piece, froze completely under Soga Yura's gaze.
Soga Yura looked up at the girl.
If you looked carefully —
That Aberrant little cat did, in fact, carry a resemblance to young Yuzu.
Damn... so Yuzu, even from such a young age, had already been quietly unfurling like a bamboo shoot in spring, hadn't she.
With effortless ease, Soga Yura 「Dominated」 the false sovereign — who was herself equivalent to Fourth Sequence, and by no means a pushover even within it.
The girl extended her right hand.
The savage, blood-red sword lying in the crevices of the rock flew up on its own and fell into Soga Yura's grasp.
Since Sakura Mai had fallen unconscious, the sword's radiance had been gradually fading, revealing the crystal-clear blade beneath. It would not be long before the Sword of Erasure dissipated entirely — to use it again would require Sakura Mai to draw it anew.
But now, it blazed back to life.
Even the Sword of Erasure — a 「cursed relic」 bound by bloodline — was 「Dominated」 by Soga Yura without the slightest difficulty!
Soga Yura gripped the Sword of Erasure and brought it down in a light, unhurried swing against the great thorned broadsword.
It was nothing like the blazing radiance of Sakura Mai's strikes, nor the all-consuming darkness that swallowed everything when Su Yuzu swung a blade.
When Soga Yura swung the sword, there seemed to be no special effect at all.
But —
Crack... the thorned broadsword snapped in two at the middle.
The monochrome ink-wash domain was split open vertically.
The massive Throne of Thorns itself was cleaved apart by an invisible blade — like solidified butter meeting a white-hot knife — melting, splitting, coming undone.
Thud —
Zero, unable to control her own limbs, dropped to her knees before Su Yuzu.
[Ding —]
[「Wind · Fire · Mountain · Forest」 has been completed.]
[Part.3.1 - 「Eve of Dawn」 has been completed.]
[Calculating results...]
As Su Yuzu watched the tallying animation flicker before her eyes and heard the mechanical woman's voice in her ear, she felt as though she suddenly understood at last what 「Eve of Dawn」 truly meant.
「Eve of Dawn」 was not a foreboding of storms to come.
It was... the so-called 「Fate」 of the 「Eye of Insight」.
It simply... hadn't survived to see the dawn.
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉