"Thirty years have passed now. I really wonder when Yoshino will finally wake up?" Shiina said, lying on the snow with Yoshino on her back. She was currently in her Ice Binding Puppet (Zadkiel) state and had remained this way for thirty years, solely to protect Yoshino, who was in a deep sleep.
Yoshino, who was transported to this world thirty years ago, quickly fell into a coma. Shiina worried that Yoshino, in her comatose state, would be attacked by others, so she used the power of this world's Ice Spirit to transform into Ice Binding Puppet (Zadkiel) to protect Yoshino, becoming her guardian to resist attacks from others over the past thirty years. Because Shiina repelled countless adventurers who sought to obtain the rumored mysterious power by defeating her over these thirty years, her existence became a legend.
Shiina didn't care whether she had become a legend. On the contrary, because of these strange events, more and more adventurers came here. These power-hungry adventurers, one after another, came here to challenge her, heedless of death, and on several occasions, they put her in a difficult fight. If not for the Zadkiel within Yoshino appearing to help repel these people, it would have been dangerous!
To prevent such a situation from happening again, Zadkiel utilized the knowledge obtained from the Guardian Angel Ratziel of the second particle to set up a large magic circle in the valley where Yoshino was sleeping, preventing adventurers who sought this place from entering. After those adventurers tried several times to enter this place and failed, the swarming adventurers gave up the idea of entering here, so much so that after several decades, this place became a legend.
"I really wish you'd wake up soon, Yoshino. These days are so boring, I feel like I can't hold on anymore." With a helpless sigh, the light in Ice Binding Puppet (Zadkiel)'s eyes dimmed. But remembering what Yoshino had said to her thirty years ago when she was about to be attacked by the satellite, the blue light in her eyes shone brightly again.
'You're bullying me again, Shiina.'
'What should I do, Shiina?'
'It's so good to have you, Shiina.'
'Shiina, you're my hero.'
'I love you the most, Shiina.'
Memories of her time with Yoshino flashed through her mind, especially Yoshino's last words, spoken with a weak smile, which caused a qualitative change in Shiina's energy.
At that time, it was helpless to prevent Yoshino from getting injured and falling into a deep sleep. Therefore, during Yoshino's slumber, it had to protect her well. No matter how long it took!
"Don't say such disheartening words, Shiina! Yoshino has always believed in you. You absolutely cannot disappoint her! You also cannot disappoint yourself! No matter how long it takes, you must wait patiently!?"
'It is Yoshino's hero after all!'
Just then, a phantom appeared before Shiina. It was Zadkiel, who had been protecting Yoshino alongside it during this time. In these thirty years, Zadkiel was the only one it had interacted with. Oh, and there should have been a demon too. But recently, that guy had become a bit strange; it seemed like its personality had grown increasingly odd after Yoshino fell into a deep sleep.
"Your spiritual power has grown, Shiina. In these thirty years of guarding Yoshino, you have also learned to possess your own spiritual power. I believe it won't be long before you gain your own physical body," Zadkiel said with some emotion, looking at the spiritual power within Shiina's giant rabbit puppet. Initially, maintaining the Ice Binding Puppet (Zadkiel) form still required Yoshino's spiritual power.
Now, it no longer needed Yoshino's spiritual power to transform into this state. It believed that even without Yoshino's spiritual power, it could become an independent entity. At that point, it would no longer be limited to being a hand puppet by Yoshino's side.
"Thank you, Zadkiel. But I still prefer to be the hand puppet on Yoshino's hand and accompany her. That way, I can always stay by her side. Only in that form can I be closer to Yoshino." Although it also wanted to become human, so it could stay by Yoshino's side and prevent Toujou Nozomi and those guys from taking advantage of Yoshino. But then it wouldn't be the existence Yoshino knew, and it didn't want to gamble.
"Hehe~ I truly feel your devotion to the guardian, Shiina. I have seen everything you've done for her over these thirty years. Thirty years is nothing for an angel like me, but it might have been difficult for you. I admire your perseverance." Nodding, Shiina often used to be made to cry by Yoshino, but its devotion to Yoshino was second to none. Even Zadkiel, an angel, admired its ability to silently guard Yoshino for thirty years. "I can feel that the after-effects of the forbidden technique in Yoshino's body have disappeared, and her physical condition has returned to its optimal state. Now, just one trigger is needed for Yoshino to awaken."
"Really? That's wonderful! It's good that she's waking up, as long as Yoshino can wake up. Once she wakes up, we'll explore this world. Being isolated here all this time, I don't understand anything about this world. Even the adventurer from back then was frozen and sent out; we couldn't get any information about this world from them. We must play to our hearts' content with Yoshino then." As it spoke, large drops of energy spheres, like tears of joy from Shiina, fell to the ground from the blue-glowing eyes of the Ice Binding Puppet (Zadkiel).
"No, Zadkiel, you didn't just come out to tell me this, did you? Has your magic circle been broken? Has someone invaded this place already?" Shiina, who had been reflecting, suddenly straightened up and asked her. Although knowing that Yoshino would awaken soon was good news, her personal appearance here to deliver this message meant that someone had invaded this place.
"Yes, that's right. I just sensed someone arriving outside the canyon. Their mages are very powerful; they discovered the magic circle I set up here. I originally thought they wouldn't be able to break my magic circle, but I didn't expect there to be a master among them. Now my magic circle has been broken. They are probably already heading this way," Zadkiel said with some emotion.
To set up this magic circle, she used the knowledge of the Second particle Angel, and over the years, she continuously modified this magic circle using knowledge from Yoshino's 103,000 grimoires.
It was just unexpected that the magic circle, which had been constantly modified over the years, was broken by someone within a few hours. The humans of this world are truly not to be underestimated.
"I see, it seems these people are very strong. I didn't expect your magic circle, which lasted for over a decade, to finally be broken. It seems this battle might be the biggest crisis in these thirty years. Can you feel their hostility, Zadkiel?" Standing up and stretching its somewhat stiff body, Shiina asked Zadkiel. To break the magic circle she set up would require a considerable amount of magical knowledge. Either the opponents were numerous, or they possessed very high magical knowledge.
"I didn't sense any malice from them. Perhaps they came here to investigate the situation due to a legend. There are four of them: three mages and one swordsman. Two of the mages broke the magic circle. The third mage has very strong magical power. All four of them are very strong; you probably aren't their match," Zadkiel said, describing the situation of the four. Unlike those who wanted to slay Shiina to gain power, these people clearly came here out of curiosity about the legend. But they were all strong; a one-on-one fight might be manageable. However, if all four attacked together, there would be no chance of victory, unless Yoshino could wake up and join the battle, otherwise, there would be no hope of winning.
"No chance of winning? Hmph! I'm not fighting just to fight! Until I figure out if they pose a danger to Yoshino, I will not lower my guard. Even if it means death, I will stop these guys! Roar!!!" The giant rabbit puppet roared to the sky. The clear weather instantly became overcast, and soon heavy rain began to fall. To prevent the sleeping Yoshino from getting wet, Shiina used its ability to create an ice coffin and placed Yoshino inside.
"Now let's see who the intruders are!" After speaking, it stomped hard, causing a huge crack to appear in the ice on the ground, and Shiina rushed towards the opponents' location at an extremely fast speed.
'So impatient, even though the opponents don't have any malice. It should be possible to have a good talk with them, it seems truly worried about the guardian's safety.' Zadkiel shook her head helplessly, watching the figure disappear from sight, then her brows furrowed again. She hadn't had time to explain the situation of the third mage to Shiina.
"Although the third mage didn't participate in breaking the magic circle, and seemed a bit foolish, not a smart person, he possessed an enormous magical power. This is clearly not something an ordinary person could have. I really don't know what kind of world this is; it's truly a mess," Zadkiel complained, having learned to complain herself during her thirty years of living with Shiina.
"Perhaps they are the protagonists of this world, who knows? It's also very possible that they were guided here by the world's consciousness. The purpose is to awaken Master, isn't it? After all, you couldn't awaken Master through so many methods, which might be due to the world's consciousness," a figure appeared behind her, rubbing its sleepy eyes, and said to her.
"Astaroth, have you finally woken up? This time you seem to have slept for a month, even though last time I told you to sleep for a week, but you slept for several more weeks. We had already agreed to find a way to awaken the guardian together, but you lazy bum!"
Zadkiel angrily looked at the disheveled Astaroth. She no longer appeared as enchanting and captivating, but was wearing a very casual shirt, not even pants, and a slight movement would reveal her panty. What on earth happened to this guy to cause such a change?
"I couldn't help it. I hadn't slept for several months before, so of course I had to catch up on my sleep, didn't I? I woke up this time because Master is about to awaken, and I need to see it. Xiao Ran, you'll understand me, right?" Yawning widely, Astaroth said to her with a sleepy expression.
"You guy, this is only happening because a few months have passed! And as a demon, you don't need to sleep! You're just trying to be lazy! Also, who is Xiao Ran? Are you trying to fight me?" Zadkiel asked her angrily. How could she have fallen so low? No, that's not right. The reason she became a demon was because of her degradation, so how should she be described now that she's like this? Self-degrading?
"Ha~ So, Xiao Ran, you're just too serious. Since we both live inside Master, we should become good friends. I think Master would be very happy to see us getting along well, wouldn't he?" Astaroth said to her with a smile. Now, she no longer wanted to gain any negative power to occupy Yoshino's body. Her current life was already quite happy, not having to worry about those schemes and intrigues every day made her very cheerful.
"Listen, I am an angel! You are a demon! How can an angel and a demon become friends? Have you become so self-degrading that your brain has gone soft?"
"What does it matter? There's a precedent for everything, isn't there? If the two of us can become friends, maybe in the future, demons and angels can live together friendly and become friends, no longer fighting each other, no longer battling upon meeting. Like the coexistence of two countries in Master's world, isn't that possible?"
Astaroth said. If she were to become an enemy of the angels now, she would choose to surrender and tell all the demon's information to the angels to end the war early. That would be the most pleasant and happy thing.
"Uh!? What you said is indeed very tempting, but the struggles of these tens of millions of years are not something the two of us can solve." If they could solve the war between angels and demons, then the conflict between them would not have lasted for tens of millions of years.
"But weren't we very stiff at first? Yet, didn't we eventually stand together and talk properly? Isn't that progress? We can also be friends." After speaking, Astaroth reached out her hand and looked at Zadkiel with a smile.
"..." Zadkiel looked at the hand in front of her. Just as she was about to reach out and grasp it, a flash of inspiration in her mind made her stop. Her eyes instantly turned into an eagle's gaze as she looked at Astaroth. "You... the purpose of wanting to be my friend wouldn't be to make me take care of you for free, would it?"
"!!!?" Astaroth's eyes instantly widened. She turned around so she wouldn't see the guilt in her eyes. 'How could this be? I clearly hid it so well, didn't I? Why was I still discovered?'
"I knew you weren't up to any good. I don't have time for you now. I want to go check on Shiina's situation, then I'll come back and settle accounts with you!" With a snort, Zadkiel transformed into a ray of light and disappeared from here.
"Ah~ Seriously, I was so close to succeeding, why was I seen through! What a pity." Astaroth scratched her head and said with great regret. How did the full-time nanny she almost got slip away?
"But it doesn't matter, there will be many more opportunities like this. And Xiao Ran was quite tempted, wasn't she? Hehe~" Transforming into a black ray of light, Astaroth also disappeared from here.
If she wasn't mistaken, her Master should wake up very soon.
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