As if someone had pressed pause, the chaotic, disorderly sky, falling like the unstoppable tide of an era, was halted in midair by a magnificent Holy Light that appeared out of nowhere. Every flow in the world stopped.
The people collapsed on the ground tried to speak, to voice their shock at what they were seeing, but that heaven-like divine might pinned them firmly in place.
Divine might pressed down like a prison, divine grace spread out like the sea. The instinct carved into humanity's very genes was submitting to that overwhelming power.
If the world's collapse in the sky had been stopped by that Holy Light, then everything on the ground was now filled with this absolute power. Even birds that had stopped flapping their wings hung motionless in the air.
"Do you love humans that much?!"
The cold male voice that had echoed across the entire world before rang out again. Everyone could hear the confusion and regret in those words.
"Could it be that powerful being lost...?"
Those who thought quickly had already pieced something together from the three voices that had sounded one after another in the sky. There was no doubt about it. This male voice absolutely did not belong to the woman who had borrowed their strength. It could only be Shadow, the one who had fought that woman. And the current Cataclysm was Shadow's revenge!
"Damn it. I never should've raised my hand back then. Not only did we fail to defeat Shadow, now Shadow won and came after us for revenge..."
"Shadow, I'm not your enemy. I only lent my strength because that woman deceived me. I'm innocent..."
It was bitterly ironic. Although that world-ending disaster had indeed been caused by Son Goki, people, knowing nothing of the truth, easily slandered the benefactor who had stopped the catastrophe.
Their thoughts raced, but only a few seconds had passed in the outside world. From the moment Shadow's voice rang out in the sky until now, it was as though something was answering him.
"Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!"
Towering sacred flames rose from the ground, burning away the chaotic black-and-white sky.
In just a few seconds, they covered the entire sky. From space, the blue planet now shone like a star radiating light.
It should have been a sight that made people weep with joy, a sign that they had survived. Yet at that moment, not a single person felt the relief of escaping disaster.
Blood...
Blood, red mixed with gold, traced streaks across the sky. Wherever the gray-white air currents touched that blood, they dissolved and were gradually forced back. The chaotic, disorderly sky was vanishing.
But just by looking at the bloodstains left across the heavens, people knew exactly what they were. They were scars in the sky, left by someone using their own blood as a brush to mend a collapsing world. Just like...
"Just like Jesus, the Holy Son in biblical mythology who died bearing all sins..."
Kneeling on the ground, Irina Shidou, a member of the Church who had studied all kinds of scriptures in her daily life, stared at those streaks of blood and murmured with trembling lips. At that moment, she remembered the mission she and Xenovia had originally come to this island to carry out.
She, they, no, people all over the world seemed to understand why there had been regret in Shadow's voice.
"Is that so..."
As if confirming her thoughts, Shadow's voice rang out and laid everything bare.
"You wish to walk through my final trial in their place? Then go ahead. Compared to you, the lives of this world are nothing worth mentioning. As the Child of Light, you have the power and the right to pass through the trial I have given humanity."
A brief silence fell, yet it felt so long that people had already begun to think the "Child of Light" was afraid of the final trial Shadow spoke of, and they could not help cursing inwardly.
Then a lingering sacred sound rang out. Along with the sorrowful cry of an era as heaven and earth changed, Holy Light gathered in the sky, and people all over the world seemed to see a figure appear within the sacred flames and Holy Light.
It was a figure standing with both arms spread wide, the whole body forming a cross. One shoulder was twisted and sagging, and circular holes pierced both palms. Blood mixed with red and gold flowed from them, connecting to the blood that continued leaving marks across the horizon.
The wind and clouds changed violently once more.
A scorching heat wave spread across the horizon. Holy Light pierced through the gray-white clouds in the sky. The trembling earth gradually calmed as the Dragon Vein was repaired. People pinned beneath boulders, barely clinging to life, were healed. Disasters that had been taking lives disappeared. The souls of the dead were drawn out and revived. The collapsed environment that had already descended was being reversed.
But the price for all of this recovery was paid by the figure within the sacred flames and Holy Light, who grew fainter and fainter as blood continued to flow.
In an instant, the blue planet was wrapped in pure white. After being covered by that indistinct white sand, the light and darkness that had completely collapsed, along with the world's laws of light and darkness that had already mixed together, separated and reassembled in perfect order.
In only a few seconds, aside from the collapsed buildings, the cracked earth, and the disordered environment and social order, it was as if the world-ending disasters that had struck again and again in less than half an hour had never happened.
At the very end, people raised their heads and looked up at the pure white figure amid the sacred flames and Holy Light, now so faint within the gradually dispersing white sand that only its outline could barely be seen. Just then, they saw the figure turn back, revealing cold, merciless eyes.
"Be grateful. You managed to pick your lives back up..."
Just as people were still lost in that cold glance, a glance that also seemed to contain boundless love, Shadow's detached voice sounded from the sky.
"Consider this a warning. Remember, in the eyes of the strong, there is no place for the weak. This time, someone was willing to pay for your mistakes. Next time, you may not be so lucky.
No, perhaps I should be clearer. Lending out your strength so casually is unbelievably stupid."
Listening to his mockery and feeling the pressure on her body disappear, Rias raised her head and looked at the sky in thought. The black figure had already vanished. She silently turned back toward her teammates, who seemed to have only just come back to themselves, and walked over without a word.
For Rias, far too much had happened today.
Her Peerage Member Knight had disappeared. Then Vali and his group had launched a surprise attack and proved beyond doubt that Yuuto Kiba and Genshirou Saji were the black-clad attackers who had assaulted the Church, pinning a massive crime on her and Sona Sitri.
After the battle that followed, she had barely managed to bring Vali's group to the negotiating table with the Underworld and the Church, only to discover that Cid, whom she had taken an interest in, seemed to know quite a few extraordinary people. That could barely count as half a piece of good news...
After Yuuto Kiba's betrayal was fully confirmed, the world inexplicably began to face destruction. Once that was inexplicably stopped, they encountered Shadow. After being knocked to the ground, the world faced another crisis of destruction, and in the end, it seemed they had been saved by someone from the Church...
Gritting her teeth and lips, Rias supported Akeno Himejima, her hand unconsciously tightening.
It really was... so frustrating...
It sounded a little ridiculous, but before today, she had considered herself, Rias Gremory, outstanding even among the younger generation across the entire world. Even in battles involving the strong of the previous generation, with the nature of her Power of Destruction, she would not have been completely unable to fight back.
But only today did she understand. Before an absolute natural disaster like the planet breaking apart, before an absolute powerhouse like Shadow who could suppress them with pressure simply by standing there, she could do absolutely nothing.
Even surviving in the end had only been thanks to someone else's sacrifice. To her supreme pride, that was an unprecedented blow.
Next time, it will not be like this. This helplessness, only being able to watch as my life is placed in someone else's hands, and seeing Peerage Members I regard as family leave because of reasons they cannot speak of. I will never let it happen again.
Pulling Koneko along and supporting Akeno Himejima, Rias, who had quietly made up her mind, met up with Sona Sitri. When they walked over to Natsuki Minamiya and Serafall to say they were leaving, they heard Natsuki Minamiya muttering to herself.
"Something... feels off."
"Natsuki-chan, what's wrong?"
Natsuki Minamiya, who had been holding her fan against her chin with her brows tightly furrowed, glanced at Rias. Then she mercilessly smacked Rias on the head with the fan.
"Show some respect for your teacher!"
"Ah... then, Natsuki-sensei, what exactly feels off?"
Although it did not hurt at all, Rias still held her head and put on an exaggerated pained expression while smiling brightly. She signaled Sona Sitri with her eyes, then moved closer to Natsuki Minamiya to act friendly.
"It's just a feeling... The Child of Light's eyes seemed strangely familiar, like I'd seen him somewhere before. Not during the Church attack on you that day. How should I put it? I feel like I saw him even earlier than that."
Natsuki Minamiya spoke hesitantly, and she knew full well how absurd it sounded. Judging from the aura he had shown that night and the information she had gathered about Roy, that sacred "Child of God" was a visual delight simply by standing there, even setting aside his breathtaking appearance. If she had really seen him before, how could she possibly fail to recognize him?
"Hmm... now that you mention it, Natsuki-chan, I feel like that Holy Son looked a little familiar too."
"Huh?"
Natsuki Minamiya had originally treated it as idle chatter and assumed she was imagining things, but when she heard Rias say that, her eyes widened at once. She no longer cared that Rias had called her Natsuki-chan and quickly leaned in to ask more.
"Only, it isn't something vague like the look in his eyes, the way you said. I just feel like the face of the Holy Son who saved us that day... looked a little familiar. But I'm also sure that was the first time I'd ever seen such a beautiful face in this world."
"That's it?"
Looking at Rias's embarrassed face, Natsuki Minamiya took a deep breath and began thinking by herself.
Rias had given her very little to go on, but one person might be mistaken. If two people felt the same way, then there had to be something there.
Besides, she was certain not everyone felt that way. If everyone did, then the people she had sent to investigate would definitely have told her, rather than only digging up urban legends about some "mysterious beautiful boy."
Let's think calmly. From what I remember, Rias lives a simple routine between a few fixed places. She doesn't need to run around making deals and handling errands like her Peerage Members, so aside from school and ordinary social activities, Rias basically has no other ways to meet people. And I couldn't possibly be part of Rias's social circle... so that means school?
Rias and I aren't that close at school. Someone we both know, who left a strong impression, and whose face shape or eyes are somewhat similar would be...
The hand holding the fan suddenly tightened. Natsuki Minamiya patted her own head with a faint headache, feeling that she might have fallen into a habitual line of thought. When she tried to match someone she and Rias both knew and remembered clearly, the first person who popped into her mind was actually Cid. It was ridiculous. Hahaha...
She recalled that beautiful, melancholic, sacred face playing the piano under the moonlight that night, then compared it with Cid, who had the same eyes, the same bridge of the nose, and the same lips as that beautiful face. Natsuki Minamiya reached her conclusion.
"I really must be losing it. Those two faces are completely different. They're not the same person at all."
Natsuki Minamiya nodded, truly starting to wonder if her intuition had gone wrong. Setting appearance aside, the difference between the two was like heaven and earth in terms of strength alone. As for the possibility that Cid was hiding his power?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible. She could practically say she had watched Cid's growth with her own eyes. If Cid was really hiding his strength, wouldn't that mean he spent hours every day doing pointless extra training? How much free time would he have to have?
After ruling out Cid as a suspect, Natsuki Minamiya stood there again, thinking over who else might fit those conditions.
"Forget it. There's no point thinking about this now."
Unable to come up with any clues, Natsuki Minamiya sighed. In any case, the "Child of God" had appeared out of nowhere to begin with. Even the name Roy had come from Shadow.
With that thought in mind, Natsuki Minamiya casually glanced at Rias, then frowned.
"Where's Cid?"
"Ah, Cid... I remember he ran over to Vali and the others."
Rias spoke hesitantly. All she remembered was Delta taking Cid and running off. Considering the atmosphere at the time, and the fact that Cid seemed to be enjoying himself, she had not felt it was right to call him back.
"Hah?"
Natsuki Minamiya turned and looked toward Vali's group, who seemed to be discussing something. She scanned them once, and Delta and Cid were missing.
"What are you staring at us for? If you're here to settle accounts, I'd be happy to oblige."
Sensing their gaze, Vali turned to meet their eyes, and the light wings behind him rose.
"Tch. This is why I hate dealing with people like him."
Natsuki Minamiya clicked her tongue and muttered under her breath, then explained her doubts as calmly as she could.
"Delta and Cid... now that you mention it, I don't see either of them. Kuroka Toujou?"
Feeling their gazes on her and recalling how Cid had ridden Delta away without a sound, Kuroka Toujou kept a polite smile on her face and answered without batting an eye.
"Delta said she didn't want to fight her own boss, so she went to eat. Cid went with her."
"There you have it. That's all. If there's nothing else, I'm leaving... Azazel should be coming to retrieve Kokabiel after this. He should be here soon."
That was it?
Watching them leave, Natsuki Minamiya knew everything made perfect sense, but for some reason, she still felt that something was off.