"My, my~ What a lively gathering."
The pink-haired woman looked around at the ruined battlefield, seemingly delighted by the sight before her. Her gaze passed over the wounded knights and priests as if she had simply stumbled upon an interesting party rather than the aftermath of her own attack.
"Surely you won't mind if a lovely girl joins the fun too, right? ♪" she asked with a graceful smile.
"You... Who are you?" Lethe asked warily.
Her body was tense, and every instinct in her soul was screaming the same warning.
Dangerous!
The fairy-like woman before her was smiling so sweetly that there wasn't even a hint of hostility on her beautiful face. Yet for some reason, everything inside Lethe was telling her that the woman standing beside Knox was dangerous. Extremely dangerous.
"Hmmm, now that you mention it, I haven't introduced myself yet, Hehe~" The pink-haired woman lightly touched her cheek, looking as though she had only just realized something important.
Before she could continue, however, a furious voice suddenly cut her off.
"That voice! That pink hair! That annoying tone! You...! It's you! You're the one who played with me and my squad!!"
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
The leader of the knight squad tasked with retrieving and securing Gideon's twin had somehow regained consciousness. He was still lying among the rubble, his body covered in wounds, but the moment he saw the pink-haired woman, anger seemed to give him enough strength to raise his head.
"Huh? You're still here?" Knox asked.
The knight leader froze. "..."
He felt as though another arrow had just pierced straight through his heart.
This time, however, it was purely emotional.
"Oh my~ Isn't this the fierce knight from before?" The pink-haired woman giggled softly as her eyes curved in amusement. "Lucky me, I haven't introduced myself to you guys either~ What a coincidence ♪~"
She gracefully placed one hand against her chest before clearing her throat.
"Ahem~ Then allow me to properly introduce myself."
She placed one hand against her chest and smiled brightly.
"My name is Cyrene. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl, don't you think? Hehe~ Of course, you're free to disagree..." Her eyes curved playfully as she looked around at everyone. "But I might be a little sad ♪"
"Of course, such a beautiful name must have a beautiful meaning, right~?"
Before anyone could respond, Cyrene continued as though everyone had already agreed.
"It means 'ripples of past reverie.' I thought of it when I wrote my very first poem. I wanted my words to be like little pebbles dropped into a pond, carrying ripples from the past all the way into the future."
Her voice softened as she spoke, and for a brief moment, there was a strangely nostalgic warmth in her smile. Then Cyrene clasped her hands together, visibly pleased with herself.
"Ah~ Even after saying it again, it's still wonderfully romantic, isn't it?"
Lethe blinked, struggling to process what she had just heard.
Beside her, Moses stared at Cyrene in silence, while several wounded knights momentarily forgot the pain from their injuries.
Cyrene simply smiled back at them, apparently taking their stunned silence as wholehearted agreement.
Amid the stunned silence, however, someone was still kind enough to give Cyrene the reaction she deserved.
Clap clap clap clap!
"Wow, amazing! Sugoi!" Knox exclaimed from beside her, clapping with enough enthusiasm to make it seem as though he had just witnessed the performance of a lifetime.
Cyrene's smile immediately brightened.
"Hehe~ Keep clapping, keep praising me, and I might just ascend to the moon and become a moon goddess~ ♪"
"Then will your name change to Kiana?"
"...?" Cyrene tilted her head.
For some reason, she had a strange feeling that Knox had just read a line from the wrong script. Unfortunately, no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't find any evidence to support her suspicion.
"...Putting the name aside," the knight leader finally interrupted, his face twitching as he looked between the two of them. "Just who are you?! And why are you siding with him?!"
Then, as if driven by the same instinct, Knox and Cyrene turned to look at each other.
Their eyes met.
A brief silence passed between them before the two tilted their heads at the exact same angle and answered in perfect unison.
"Guess~"
Hard.
The fists of nearly everyone present clenched hard.
They wanted to punch those two. They really did. Unfortunately, somewhere in the back of their minds, they already knew exactly how that would end.
It would be like punching cotton.
More precisely, one pink and one white piece of cotton.
No matter how hard they punched, their fists would probably just sink into the fluff while the two people responsible continued smiling innocently at them.
"Hehe~ Alright, alright. Stop staring at me like that, or this poor girl might actually blush~" Cyrene said, lightly touching her cheek as though all the attention had finally become too much for her.
Then, as if only now remembering the question she had conveniently avoided, she raised one finger.
"Didn't you ask who I am? And why I'm siding with this very handsome and dashing young man?"
Her finger smoothly shifted toward Knox.
Knox nodded solemnly, apparently finding absolutely nothing wrong with her description.
Several fists clenched even harder.
"Hehe~ Well, that's related to another identity of mine." Cyrene placed a hand against her chest, her smile turning slightly mysterious. "You see, although this Cyrene is pure as jade, beautiful as morning dew, and cute like a fairy, I also happen to have a rather cool identity~"
She paused dramatically, clearly enjoying the attention.
"Which is...!"
Everyone unconsciously waited.
Then, she suddenly fell silent and tapped a finger against her chin.
"Hmmm... subordinate?"
Her brows furrowed as though she had suddenly encountered a very serious problem.
"Hmm~ That doesn't sound cute at all."
"..."
"Comrade, perhaps?" she tried again, only to shake her head. "No, no. Too stiff~ It sounds like we're about to march into a very boring meeting."
The knight leader's expression twitched.
"Ah~ I know!"
Cyrene lightly clapped her hands together. Then, the pink fairy casually dropped a bombshell.
"Let's just say I work directly with the Shadow Monarch himself, and we're also very good friends ♪"
"...!"
The name struck both Lethe and Moses like a bolt from the blue.
Their expressions froze.
Shadow Monarch, Jin.
The mysterious Eighth Legion Commander. A man whose existence seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Yet wherever he appeared, calamity always followed the Holy Federation.
Cyrene leaned forward slightly, her pink eyes curving into cheerful crescents as though she hadn't just casually revealed her connection to one of the Dark Alliance's most mysterious figures.
"Hehe~ How about it? Surprised? ♪"
Beside her, Knox slowly nodded.
"A very accurate and professional introduction."
"Right~?"
"Absolutely."
The fists around them clenched just a little harder.
"And let's just say I was asked to keep an eye on this dashing devil for a while~"
Cyrene smoothly pointed at Knox.
"Hehe~ Lucky me, right? ♪"
"Alright~ Although I'd love to chat a little longer, especially with that cute white-haired girl over there..."
Cyrene's pink eyes shifted toward Lethe, and she gave her a sweet smile that immediately made the latter stiffen.
"...Unfortunately, I don't have much time left."
Her shoulders drooped as an exaggerated look of sadness appeared on her face, as though someone had just informed her that the most wonderful party in the world was ending far too early.
"What a shame~ We were only just getting to know each other too."
"...Cute?"
Lethe blinked, seemingly caught on an entirely different part of Cyrene's words.
Before anyone could respond, Knox calmly raised one hand.
The air around Gideon's frozen body suddenly trembled. A faint violet glow wrapped around him, and under everyone's stunned gaze, both Gideon and his twin slowly rose from the ground before floating toward Knox.
"...!"
Moses' expression changed immediately.
"Wait! They're taking Gideon!"
Several knights reacted at once, but before any of them could move, Cyrene had already stepped forward.
"Oh my~ Don't be so impatient."
The smile on her face remained as sweet as ever as a beautiful bow appeared in her hand. Cyrene raised it toward the sky and gently drew back the string, causing soft pink light to gather around her fingertips.
"Although I'm reluctant..."
More and more pink lights appeared around the bow, drifting gently through the air like tiny stars. They gathered around the arrow before flowing upward, until even the dark sky above them began to glow with faint pink light.
Cyrene's eyes curved into cheerful crescents.
"...the curtain must rise on the next stage~."
She released the string.
"Soooo, goodbye~ ♪"
The pink arrow shot into the sky.
For a brief moment, it looked like a single streak of light climbing toward the stars. Then, high above the battlefield, the light suddenly bloomed.
Countless pink lights scattered across the night sky.
They spread outward in every direction, leaving long, beautiful trails behind them as they curved through the darkness. The entire sky was soon filled with flowing pink light, each streak moving gracefully around the others like a shower of stars dancing above the earth.
"...Not again!"
Lethe's face immediately changed.
The beautiful lights turned.
All at once.
And began to fall.
"RAISE THE BARRIERS!!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Pink light rained down across the battlefield once more.