"Good thing I arrived in time!"
Yuma fired some more beams from her staff. The Esuriens deflected both attacks with ease.
Somehow, it did not retaliate. It just kept looking in the general direction of Yuma and Oriko.
"Would you know where-"
Without letting Yuma finish, Oriko pointed at the gigantic Esuriens in front of the two Cibi.
"I humbly apologize, for I have made a miscalculation. The whole thing with the 'Seven Stars'… the memories that flashed over from the fragments…"
Yuma gave another look at the creature that was supposed to be Haruna. She surveyed the beast from head to toe. "You're lying…"
Yuma still reeled from the revelation. How could she accept that the weak girl that she saved and the meek human that she sought to protect would turn up being this fusion that resembles a dark, draconic angel?
"As much as I want to say the opposite, I am telling only the truth. I am truly sorry."
Silence followed. However, it was Yuma who first spoke, and she did so in a surprisingly upbeat tone.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault."
She turned to the Esuriens, and it was as if a switch has been flipped. Her tone instantly became firm and resolute, a stark difference to the Yuma that Oriko first interacted with.
"None of us knew what was going to happen. You know, I did not want to let Haruna go with you. But I think that we would eventually have to face this problem head-on. These few hours had me thinking."
"Even if Haruna stayed with us, I figured that we would have to complete the 'Seven Stars' eventually. At least with this, I would have an extra Cibus by my side to take on the challenge."
Oriko's relief was cut short as she noticed something missing. That's right. Of course something – rather, someone – is missing: the red Cibus that usually led the charge with Yuma in its wake.
"Come to think of it, did you come here alone?"
Yuma nodded, and there was a hint of sorrow in her expression. "Yeah."
Despite that, she managed to keep up a forced smile, albeit for a moment.
"Although, I would not worry about it. I am sure that Big Sis would come. She always does. She always saves me in the nick of time! If there was anyone that I will entrust my life to, it is her!"
"That is truly reassuring."
"Hey, Kyubey?" asked Yuma. "Can you tell me that the monster in front is Haruna? I just want to be completely sure before I make my next move."
Kyubey tilted his head and stared at her.
"Of course. That Esuriens surely came from the human being that you called Haruna."
"I see… Then, if that Esuriens is Haruna, is there a way to get her back to her human form?"
"Interesting question. I cannot say for certain, but I have no complete knowledge of the complete capabilities of a Cibus. Such a thing has not yet been done before, but I cannot confirm whether it is truly possible or not."
Yuma nodded. Her serious façade obviously hid some sort of happiness that has welled up inside her, one of hope. "Good enough."
"Haruna, here I come!"
Magical energy flowed into her cute-looking staff. With renewed vigor, she charged towards the Esuriens.
"How dare she look down on me!"
Komaki smacked a wall with her clenched fist. With her magical energy exhausted from the battle with Kyoko, she was unable to keep her Cibus transformation up.
It was not something to worry about. Thanks to the powers of a Cibi, it would not take too long for her energy to recover.
"Just wait, you..."
As she continued airing her frustrations, a rather eye-catching sight caught the corner of her eye. Komaki glanced over her shoulders out of instinct.
She was alone.
There was no one else in the now-empty and heavily-damaged passage which was the setting for her destructive clash with another Cibus.
Not one soul in sight, yet Komaki felt a sense of uncertainty within her. Unease slowly but surely crept up and consumed her.
It was then when she saw her.
A Cibus, that was for certain.
No, it did not resemble the red-haired one that Komaki fought a while ago. She could tell that the new Cibus had dark, brown hair. She failed to take notice of any other detail besides a weapon that the Cibus held on her arm.
"Come out, whoever you are!"
No response.
Growing weary of it, Komaki walked forward. However, the tingling feeling of unease never eased up. In fact, it was even worse than before.
It continued to grow, and Komaki finally felt a chill run down her spine.
Was it fear? Even she could not tell.
However, the next thing that registered in her mind is the kaleidoscopic surroundings that engulfed her. While still in her weakened state, she turned around and stared at whoever… or whatever was behind her.
A long, decisive stare into the abyss…
The battle raged on between the Esuriens and the two Cibi.
"Haruna, stop!" begged Yuma.
She fired beams in order to deflect the Esuriens' projectile attacks. She ran in a circle, trying to find an opening, but the enemy gave none.
It was no easy feat for the monster. While it kept track of Yuma's movements, it was also busy keeping Oriko at bay with its other arm. Needless to say, the Esuriens resembled a two-way turret that continually fired off its projectiles.
"How long are we gonna keep this up? We should just hit it with all we got," suggested Oriko, just before she was sent flying by a particularly powerful collision between her projectile and the Esuriens'.
With one opponent down, the Esuriens made its move. Flying on its wings, it glided through the air and managed to land a horizontal swipe across Yuma's right. The attack caught Yuma off-guard, and she dropped her weapon.
Without another chance to resummons her weapon, Yuma realized that the Esuriens was upon her. She hopped back just in time to dodge another swipe.
It was a desperate battle. Yuma began faltering in her resolve. With each dodge, she began slipping. Barely able to keep up, she failed to avoid an upward swing and was sent flying.
Meanwhile, the Esuriens swung its other arm sideways.
A powerful beam of light emanated and headed straight for the still-recovering Oriko. The beam found a gap between the slowed attacks of the white Cibus and sent her flying.
Finding a decisive advantage in battle, the Esuriens let out a ghastly wail.
The barrier shook, and the designs in the ceiling began shifting positions. Shadows started separating from Haruna's Esuriens and shooting out in all directions.
From a distance, they look nothing different from shadows. However, from somewhere close by, Haruna could see that those shadows had forms. Forms resembling Esurientes.
Not just Esurientes, but the ones that have been giving them so much trouble.
Yuma barely crawled to her feet as she realized what was happening. "H-Haruna…"
"We cannot keep fighting like this. We need to finish that thing before it finishes us," said Oriko. "It will keep spawning its kin unless we do something now!"
Oriko took a look at the battlefield right in time to see the Esuriens pick Yuma up by the neck and toss her aside.
"There is no helping it. I shall take care of this myself."
Seeing this, Oriko stood up. She prepared an attack that would hopefully turn the tide.
However, her follow-up attack was never necessary.
From someplace she did not know, Oriko saw a figure shoot out like a powerful arrow. It was a beam of light, one that pierced the arm of the Esuriens and caused it to stagger back.
Yet it was not a beam, but a person. To be specific, it was a Cibus.
A confident voice directed at Yuma rang out from the figure. "Man, I take my eyes off you and you go around doing something this fun. Couldn't you have told me, at least?"
From her prone position, Yuma looked up at her savior. There was no mistaking it, not with those crimson locks that seemingly shone like a beacon of hope in the desperate battlefield. With her signature Pocky stick on her mouth, Kyoko let out a boisterous yell.
"I've been waiting too long for this! Alright! Time to get the show started!"
Pointing her spear at the Esuriens, Kyoko brought out the biggest smile she managed to muster. The white Cibus did not escape her notice, and Kyoko was quick to fire out some more words.
"So, is this the big one that you've been dreaming 'bout?"
She clicked her tongue in a confident manner. "If we kill this thing, we end the whole ordeal, right? Let's not waste any more time!"
A sigh and a look of exasperation was what she got in return from the white Cibus.
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy."
"Ha? What's wrong?!"
"As you can see—"
Yuma was quick to interject. "Haruna is in there. That Esuriens is Haruna!"
Kyoko paused. "Is that so?"
The solemn look that threatened to take over for an instant was immediately flushed out and replaced with a smirk.
"In that case, then we just beat the hell out of that thing and force our girl out!"