GeassDragon, Imperial-samaB, rencama1993, DarkBladerZX, kuro yaksha, xxOblivionxxx, Eurigos: Many thanks for your support people!

R.J.P: You just wait, it gets much more sophisticated. By the way, I haven't watched 'Gundam' so I can't understand the references xD

Anon: Now man, that's really perverted… xD

meirmamuka: Sort of, yes. But it's much more, just wait…


Chapter XII – Annihilation

'Demon Queen Naamah?!' With saucer-wide eyes Houki read the identifier of an I.S. that was floating above her, "Ichika?!"

"Come on, let us dance," Ignoring Houki, Ichika pointed at Silver Gospel with his sniper rifle. By the way, unlike his I.S., appearance of Ichika's weapon didn't change at all.

"Ichika, is that you?! Ichika?! What's with your I.S.?! Wait… Your body, your wounds...!" Houki's thoughts were in complete disarray.

"Hetare Gogō [Loser №5], stop that senseless babbling, you're warrior or what?" Ichika cut her off, "Here's no Ichika, I'm lt.-commander Orimura, and I'm assuming command of this operation. Give me full status report on all units that are participating in this battle." For a moment, Ichika's face mask opened and he looked at Houki, revealing his blood-red, burning eyes.

"Ugh…" Houki was taken aback, she was completely confused, "Wait, the others…" Maybe she actually was waiting for some words of support or comfort? Well, if so, that was quite foolish of her…

"Shinonono!" Ichika called for her again, "Do I really need to repeat myself? Status report, now!"

"Uh… Yes, sir!" Houki still was confused, but she was heavily pressured with situation, besides… right now, she was actually scared of Ichika. She quickly reported the situation.

"Perfect…" Ichika snorted with sarcasm. "You were five against one, and now four are disabled and one been left without energy… What a bunch of Hetares… Well, not that this was unexpected…" He noted to himself.

"Ichika, look!" Houki exclaimed as she noticed that Silver Gospel reappraised the situation and prepared to continue battle. At the next moment, the Gospel raised all its wings made of energy, creating a huge ball-shaped sphere made of those feather-bullets, and then shot it at Ichika in form of whirlwind-like beam.

"Nice try…" Ichika said as he quickly raised his left arm, holding weapon in his right. Following his command, three lower pairs of wings on Ichika's back detached themselves from his I.S., quickly flew forward and made a hexagon in front of him (edge length is equal to the length of one wing – 8.5 feet). Then, inner sides of wings' Fold-Out Armor closed around together, making solid hexagonal shield, made of burning, dark violet energy.

Energy beam, shot by Silver Gospel, clashed into shield, but shield withstood the attack, as all energy 'feathers', from which that beam was made of, were literally burned by dark violet flame. At the same time, just when Ichika outstretched his left arm, Houki noticed that Ichika's I.S. arms actually asymmetric as left one had something like long, flattened out tube attached to underside of its elbow.

"Target Verified. Torpedo's away." Soft and seductive woman's voice reported as that tube under Ichika's arm launched a ball-shaped sphere that was shining like a star, made of that dark violet light. Dark violet 'star' flew towards Silver Gospel, at speed about 1600 knots. In the meantime, all Demon Queen's wings returned to their places behind her back. "Detonator's sensitivity radius has been set to 30 feet," Demon Queen informed.

"Good, let it try to escape that," Ichika said, watching dark star approaching the Silver Gospel. The rogue I.S. swung its wings around, sanding a storm of feather-bullets towards incoming torpedo, several feathers hit the target, but…

"What?!" Houki exclaimed as she couldn't believe in what she just saw, "That thing… It is protected with Paradise of Darkness?!" That was truth – Ichika's star-like projectile was surrounded with field made of overheated heavy plasma, that could neglect any energy or light plasma-based attacks.

*BAAAM!* As Gospel wasn't expecting that it won't be able to destroy incoming torpedo, it had no time to adapt to changed situation and when less than 30 feet remained between torpedo and its target, the 'dark star' exploded, producing immensely powerful blast, that lit up the skies to the very horizon (explosive yield was about four times more powerful than shot from Ichika's sniper rifle in assault mode, with Paradise of Darkness activated). In term of raw damaging power, it could inflict about 1500 shield points damage with direct hit, but only assuming that all explosive yield will be spent on direct attack. But this weapon wasn't intended for that.

Unlike Ichika's plasma weapon, this torpedo was designed not to incinerate single enemy with high-temperature blast, but for creating a very powerful, semi-directional, half-sphere-shaped shock wave. The target, that would be hit by that shock wave, will feel as if it was hit with a huge hammer. It's s multi-target weapon, its main purpose is to disrupt enemy formation.

"Nice!" Ichika exclaimed in excitement. Seriously, only things like that one could made Ichika so excited as Silver Gospel was smashed into a small rocky island in the middle of the gulf. It actually didn't get much damage but definitely got a good shake-up. "Now, Naamah, let's finish this thing off!" Ichika commanded as tube beneath his left arm changed its shape, turning into glowing spear-like weapon. This Second Shift equipment seems to be able to change according to the situation and form different types of weapons as it seems to respond to Ichika's desires.

Holding his heavy plasma machinegun, Equalizer, with his right hand and targeting at Gospel with weapon, mounted beneath his left hand, Ichika opened fire from both weapons, shooting hail of glowing blue plasma sphere-shaped charges and dark violet bolts.

Ichika's secondary weapon, the one attached to his left arm, was his new, Second Shift equipment, it was called "Hand of Eisheth". [A/N: Eisheth, just like Naamah, is one of four 'Brides of Samael', and princess of Qliphah Thagirion] It wasn't a laser or other sort of energy weapon. It's actually a particle cannon that uses phase-frequency modulated bolts of particles, modulation frequency is 785 THz, mass of each particle is about 1116 MeV [Megaelectronvolts].

"Enemy information renewed. Changing attacking level A," Mechanical voice said. The Silver Gospel no doubts had no intentions to give up, as it expanded its energy wings wide, also showing the wings that appeared from its body, and met Ichika's assault with storm of white energy bullet.


Houki was watching at that unimaginable light show as entranced.

"Change in situation. Using the most powerful attack!" As the mechanical voice declared this, the Gospel spread its wings widely, and then quickly curled itself into a ball, forming a cage-cocoon state.

'Damn it, I have a bad feeling about that…' Houki thought, the worst case scenario did happen, as she was afraid of.

The Gospel's wings expanded out as it spun, and it began to 'dance,' trying to evade Ichika's attacks in the clouds above, at the same time the energy feather-bullets were scattering all over the place like a storm. In other words, these attacks would hit Rin and the rest who haven't recovered yet. Besides, if Ichika will continue to chase and attack the enemy like that (and of course he will), he also may hit other girls.

"Ichika! Careful!" Houki shouted, "Others are still down there, you have to help them!"

Ichika didn't reply. Either he just ignored Houki's warning, but most likely he simply had no time to answer, as Houki heard another, very agitated voice, calling for her.

"What are you saying?! How long do you intending to float there and stare at that from aside?! No matter how bad we are, we're still representative candidates! Stop crying and help Ichika finish that thing off!" That was Rin. No doubts, 'defeated' pilots also had a lot of questions, but they were focused on recovery, so they were holding all their questions back.

"Alright…" Houki smiled a little, "I... I got it." She made a deep breath, 'Right, I'm not a sole warrior anymore, I'm I.S. academy student. As such, I have to believe in my friends. This is the only thing I can do for those who helped me to come this far… So no matter what, I will believe in them… and Ichika!'

She looked up, to the clouds. 'Alright, Ichika's here!' Actually, that fact alone made Houki really happy. She didn't care that he's acting even crazier than usual, she didn't care how he recovered so fast, after wounds he got this morning – right now – none of those matters. *BAM!* *SMASH!* *CLASH!* Explosions from fierce battle right above her were tearing clouds and even skies themselves apart.

Houki's heart started to race, burning as it continued to beat wildly. Seeing Ichika's silhouette while battling, she felt an extremely strong wish inside herself. 'He's five times more insane than usual… But still… I want to fight alongside him. I want to help him anyway I can!'

Her heart started to pray strongly and earnestly. As if responding to her wish, Crimson Camellia's began to shine with bright red-gold light as Fold-Out Armor began to strew the golden dust all around.

"This is...?" From her Hyper Sensors, Houki could tell that her machine's recovering energy extremely fast.

"Kenran Butou [Gorgeous Dance] activated. Fold-Out Armor and Energy Bypass... complete," Crimson Camellia reported. The words written on it are One-Off Ability.

'Can I still fight?' Houki thought as she looked at her machine's data – shields, Fold-Out Armor and weapon energy reserves – all seemed fully charged now. 'If that's the case… Then, let's go, Crimson Camellia!' As if breaking through the horizon, the crimson red machine that's glowing with red and gold dashed forward.


*CLASH!* Two of Silver Gospel's wings were torn off by direct hit from Equalizer, as machine used them to cover itself, protecting the frame. However, Gospel made a spinning movement, avoiding two dark violet bolts. During this time, the Gospel regrew its lost wings and continued to launch barrages of feather-bullets at Ichika.

"Warning: energy reserves at 15% and decreasing," Ichika's I.S. warned him.

'Damn, current power source cannot continuously supply this machine with enough power for full-scaled assault,' Ichika thought. For Messiah, with its only weapon Ragnarök and limited use of Fold-Out Armor, current power source was just fine (except for use of One-Off Ability). But, seemingly, the Demon Queen in her Second Shift, Naamah, with her secondary weapon Hand of Eisheth and more vast use of Fold-Out Armor, she definitely needs much more energy to operate at full capacity. Such an 'appetite' was far beyond existing reactor's power output. 'As soon as I return – the new reactor should be my top priority…' Ichika decided.

But the biggest problem was that it wasn't today's first battle for Ichika and his I.S. The I.S. core and frame itself may have changed, but that didn't refill power reserves to their maximum… 'If this keeps up… I'll have to power down secondary weapon and lower Fold-Out Armor output…' Ichika thought, that was quite irritating. No, even with Ragnarök alone he was confident about his victory, but it may take more time…

"Ichika!" Suddenly, he heard Houki's call.

"Report!" Ichika replied quickly. He also noticed that strange glow of Crimson Camellia. Ichika knew what that glow means – his 'former' I.S. Messiah also was glowing like this when activating its One-Off Ability.

"I'm alright!" She replied, "Come here, take my hand!" Houki flew closer and right arm of her Crimson Camellia touched Demon Queen's shoulder.

An electrical-like surge and a burning sensation immediately passed through Ichika's body, and his vision wavered for a moment. Then he heard his machine's report. "Shields: fully charged. Energy banks: at 100% capacity."

"So, this is the One-Off Ability of your I.S?" Ichika asked, "Not bad at all." Since Crimson Camellia was 4th generation I.S., its One-Off Ability was given to Houki's I.S. by Tabane deliberately. Ichika easily figured out Houki's elder sister's intention – I.S. that can restore other I.S. units' energy would be a perfect partner for an assault I.S. that uses huge amounts of energy and even its own shield to increase attack capability. 'Tabane… that's a way to make your sister look preferable, I give you that…' Ironic thought visited Ichika's head.

"Here's no time to think about that now!" Houki exclaimed, though she sounded rather happy that she managed to be useful for Ichika, "I'm also at full power, what's the plan, commander?!"

"We already spent too much time on that thing. I'll finish it with one blow, but you need to distract it for a moment. Sending you the attack plan," As Ichika said that, Houki received an image of Silver Gospel with red glowing marks – seemingly Ichika wanted Houki to hit exactly those points. "Can you do that?" He wondered.

"Of course, leave it to me!" Houki exclaimed as she was motivated as never before.

"Then we're starting in five… four…" While Ichika was giving countdown, continuing to countershoot Gospel's feather-bullets, Houki extended her Fold-Out Armor to maximum "…three… two… one… go!"

With that, Houki rushed right at the enemy, ignoring storm of feather-bullets that enemy was shooting at her. Ichika was covering her, his weapon, Ragnarök, took shape of twin assault rifles – Anguish and Despair, and he now was shooting from three barrels at once – from both rifles and particle cannon mounted on his left arm.

"Take that!" Houki swung her swords. The Gospel spun once and dodged her first attacks. But that was expected as Houki deployed the Fold-Out Armor on her feet, causing the Gospel to take a roundhouse kick with emergency acceleration. Not expecting this initial hit, the Gospel lost its upper wings, also losing its balance. And when enemy lost its focus, Houki once again swung her swords, slashing off the remaining wings of light with an uppercut attack.

And just when it seemed that everything is over, the Gospel grew out all its wings once again and prepared to fire at Houki. But that was exactly what Ichika wanted. All five pairs of wings detached from Demon Queen's back, and, while Gospel was distracted, those ten wings made a pentahedral pyramid around enemy I.S. Before Gospel could realize what's going on, it was already too late. Wings' Fold-Out Armor closed around, making pyramid's walls solid. "You're done," Ichika said as he clenched his left palm.

Bright flash inside of pyramid was seen even through almost non-transparent walls made of Fold-Out Armor. Then pyramid's walls opened, revealing heavily 'dazed' I.S., and at that moment, Ichika executed Ignition Boost, as Hand of Eisheth once again changed its shape, turning into dual-headed emitter, which now was attached to upper side of Ichika's left elbow. Then it spawned two arcuated dark violet blades, which were looking like two long talons (each was six feet long).

All ten wings returned to Demon Queen back, as entire Ichika's I.S. now was glowing with dark violet light, indicating that Paradise of Darkness is at maximum output. With Ignition Boost, Ichika appeared behind the enemy and slashed Silver Gospel's back with those talon-like blades. Bright flash, and frame opened, revealing a blonde-haired female pilot in I.S. suit. Ichika pulled her out from disabled I.S. frame, before he smashed his foot into now pilotless I.S. unit, sending it down crashing into one of small rocky islands.

"Finally… It's done…" Houki sighed with relief.

"Really, that was just an insanity."

"Finally…"

Rin and Cecilia finally managed to recover from their injuries. Also, Charlotte and Laura seemed to be alright, even though they aren't completely unscathed.

"It's over."

"Yeah... it's finally over."

"Over?" Ichika suddenly asked as those high iron notes were still present in his voice. "It's not over yet… Yes, I've destroyed its core, it's just a junk now," He said as Hand of Eisheth again took shape of a flattened tube, attached to left elbow underside. "But I'm not satisfied yet. For what that thing made me went through I'll turn it into an atomic vapor!"

"No, Ichika-san, wait!" Cecilia tried to protest but she was simply ignored as Ichika's I.S. continued aiming.

"Torpedo's armed. Detonator's sensitivity radius set to zero," Naamah informed, "Target acquired. Torpedo's away." Again, ball-shaped sphere that was shining like a star, made of that dark violet light was launched and flew towards remains of Silver Gospel. All girls were watching at it as entranced, though with distance to target less than 1.5 miles that show lasted only about two seconds.

"BAAAM!" Another flash lit up the skies, as powerful blast sundered half of that rocky island. Defenseless frame of Silver Gospel was evaporated, just as Ichika promised.

All girls seemed shocked by unnecessary violence, but Ichika's voice got their attention again. "Ha ha, I'll never get tired from that…" Ichika laughed, still with the same high iron voice. Then he made a deep breath and looked at sunset.

"Well, now it's over… Or, I'd like to say that, but actually, that's just the beginning," Ichika said, and all girls suddenly noticed that those iron notes were no longer present in his voice. It was normal Ichika's voice. "I know, you have a ton of questions about my I.S. and all, but right now I'd suggest all of you to think about something else instead," He added as his helmet opened, revealing his eyes – one orange and one crimson.

"W… What you mean, Ichika-san?" Cecilia asked uncertainly.

"Isn't that obvious?" He asked, not even trying to hide that sarcastic expression. "This morning I've got an official order to deal with Silver Gospel, and no one canceled it for me. Did you get any orders?"

"GULP!" All girls gulped at the same time. They were so determined before and during this battle, but now, as Ichika reminded them…

"I guess all five of you would need an excuse…" Ichika looked at sunset "…and a good one."


"Mission completed… Though I want to say that, you people acted on your own and broke the school rules. Once you get back, write a letter of remorse. I've already prepared a special schedule for your punishment, so you people better get ready!" No mercy for the wicked from Orimura Chifuyu, just as Ichika warned.

"...Yes…" All girls replied with their heads down.

Welcoming back the warriors who returned after battle, isn't that a little too cold? Seeing Chifuyu lecturing five girls with both arms folded in front of her chest, it really could make unprepared people to feel like they didn't win at all. All five girls were kneeling in the hall, and it's been 30 minutes already. Cecilia's face went from red to white, and that's a dangerous sign.

"We-Well, Orimura-sensei, that should be enough... be-besides, there are injured people, alright?" In contrast to the fuming Chifuyu, Yamada-sensei was panicking. Up until now, she had brought a first-aid box and a bucket of water. She sure looked busy.

"Humph..." Chifuyu snorted, but she nodded, thus giving Maya permission to treat her poor students.

"Th… Then, everyone, please rest for a while before continuing with treatment. Remember to take off your clothes when we do a full body check on you… ah!" She seemed like she just remembered about something, "Where's Orimura-san?"

"He's reporting to his superiors," Chifuyu replied, for some reason it sounded like a snort. "He's uninjured and has no need for treatment."

All girls sighed as one. Honestly, they all felt rather anxious. They went to fight the Gospel to avenge Ichika and complete their mission. But, in the end, he was the one who appeared, piloting an unknown I.S., defeated that rogue I.S., most likely saving them all in the process… and he's won't be scolded or punished. For some reason even that was irritating. Even Houki felt like that, despite she actually was useful to some extent – she only found it in herself thanks to Ichika's appearance.

"Is… Is something wrong, Orimura-sensei?" Maya asked, as Chifuyu was staring at five girls.

"...Speaking of which, you people did rather well. Luckily, all of you managed to return back safely." Chifuyu seemed to look rather embarrassed as she said that However, no one could tell what her expression was as she quickly turned away.

"Huh?" "Ah..." "Well…" None of five girls found what to say, but dreadful Orimura-sensei who was angry, still seemed worried about them, every girl secretly thanked her inside their heart. They couldn't say it aloud… that could be deadly.


July 10th, 11:50 PM.

After all events that happened today, Houki, Rin, Laura, Charlotte and Cecilia have been given a separate room, otherwise they would be bombarded with questions and won't be able to sleep properly. Each one was given a futon, and Rin, Laura, Charlotte and Cecilia fell asleep almost instantly. Houki was about to do the same, but…

"What's this?" She asked herself quietly as she found a small box under her pillow. It wasn't something special, just plain, pink cardboard box. Houki opened it. Inside, she found a wooden comb, rather big and pricy-looking as it was decorated with silver ornament.

And there was a piece of paper. It was saying: "I once said that ribbon really suits you… but sometimes you really should try something different, your hair is rather luxurious, after all, which presents a wide field for experiments. P.S. Happy birthday…"

There was absolutely no need for a signature as every word and even every letter was saturated with hubris. But that absolutely non-important now. 'He didn't forget…' Houky thought as her eyes became wet.


July 11th, 2:45 AM.

*PAM!* That ringing slap was the first thing Ichika got when he returned to his room in resort's hotel. Of course he foresaw it, and probably could dodge. But he didn't even try – he definitely deserved this.

"You moron! Do you even understand through what you made me went today?" No, it definitely wasn't Orimura-sensei, that was Orimura Chifuyu, Ichika's elder sister, who was very angry at her brother.

"I won't even pretend that I can imagine that…" Ichika said with very uncharacteristic, soft voice. There was absolutely no arrogance in his voice as well. "I'm so sorry, Onee-sama," Ichika added as he suddenly fell on knees before his sister, "I failed you… again."

Chifuyu even stepped back a little, she didn't expect such an action, she was expecting that Ichika would come with thousands of excuses… but it seems he grew up, after all. *Sigh* She sighed as she grabbed Ichika by collar and made him stand as if he weights nothing… and then she suddenly embraced him.

"I'm so sorry…" Ichika apologized again as he gently put his hands on shoulders of the only person in this world he holds dear. No matter how tough she was acting on public, Ichika was her only family in this world. If she'd lose him… Well, the fact that right now's almost 3 AM and she still isn't sleeping, despite she's well aware that he returned safely… well, there's no need for words.

Ichika knew that it was complete failure on his side, no matter that it was his old I.S. who was actually guilty. Besides, after he dealt with White Knight and Setsura, he just left again, without explaining anything. Chifuyu knew that he couldn't do it other way… but still it was wrong.

Chifuyu, on the other hand, was thinking about something different right now. As she embraced him – she suddenly realized that her forehead is touching his chin. Right now Chufuyu was wearing yukata and slippers, and without high heels that fact was quite noticeable. 'How tall he actually is?' She asked herself. Chifuyu's height was 5'5", and the way they are standing now… does it means that he's more than 3 inches taller? 'Just when he did become so tall? And how didn't I notice that earlier?'

As she stood, holding him, Ichika was silent, but when Chifuyu released him and sat on his bed it became quite obvious that she's waiting for explanation… and he'd better have one. "Time's almost 3 AM, where've you been? Don't tell me that talking with your superiors took so much time."

"I was repairing my left arm," Ichika replied as he raised his left hand. "My hand got heavy damage when I used it to cover my face from Gospel's attack this morning, including 23 fractures… My implants repaired all muscles and soft tissues, but bones… there was no way they could be completely restored, so in the end I decided to replace them…" Ichika sighed.

"So now you have two cold, metallic, insensitive claws?" Elder sister asked, and it was hard to say – was it sadness, sympathy or sarcasm… or all three together.

"No," Ichika snorted. "As I told you, all muscles and soft tissues were repaired by my implants, that includes nerves and blood vessels as well. I only replaced bones with tungsten-chrome-vanadium alloy prosthetic device with gold plating." Gold was needed to isolate core alloy from internal environment and vice versa. Actually, Ichika wanted to keep at least one of his arms sensitive. Since he replaced only bones, he of course couldn't install second realizer, though there's no need for second anyway. He, however, managed to build in second electro-matrix into his newly made artificial bones. "In all other aspects I'm as healthy as possible," Ichika added.

"Understood," Chifuyu replied simply.

"You're not going to ask me about my new I.S. and about what happened with the old one?" Ichika wondered.

"Nope," Elder sister simply replied. "Where and why personal I.S. pilots are getting their machines isn't my but academy's concern," She reminded about school rules. Indeed, providing personal units for chosen pilots concerns only those pilots and units' owners. Pilots just have to register them properly in academy. "Just don't forget to fill all needed papers as soon as we return to academy," Orimura-sensei reminded. That's right – as soon as they return – Ichika once again will become just an ordinary (almost) I.S. academy student. And as teacher, Chifuyu only needs his I.S. specs to plan practical lessons – she'll get them from papers that Ichika will have to fill. And as sister… He himself will tell her everything, as soon as he'll get his thoughts in order. "However…" Chifuyu looked at her brother.

Ichika understood her concern. "I can give you a 200% warranty that such a situation will never happen again," He said with as much cconfidence in his voice as possible.

"Then it's all I need to know," Elder sister said quickly.

"Again, I'm very sorry for making you worry. Committing an experiment during real combat situation was a very wrong idea… it's all Tabane's bad influence," He added with snort, "And thank you for understanding, onee-sama," Ichika bowed slightly.

"Don't call me that," Chifuyu gave her brother a slight slap on the back of his head. That super-formal form of address actually was irritating for her. "When here's only two of us and we're off-duty, just call me as you used to call me when we both were in school." In the end they weren't some super-noble family, and there were absolutely no need for such formalities.

"Humph…" Ichika snorted, but he smiled a little, "As you say, onee-chan." Ichika used to call his elder sister like that when she was 14 years old.

"Well, if that's settled, then I'll leave you for a while…" She said as she put off her yukata, revealing the swimsuit that Ichika bought for her. Seemingly, she was intending to go to the sea and swim. Despite very late hour, that was understandable – because of that idiotic incident with rogue I.S., she only managed to swim once, besides, she needed to relieve some stress. "Now, where's my towel?" She looked around.

"Onee-chan, that's my bag," Ichika said, holding back his desire to facepalm, as he saw that his sister again approached a white boston bag. "I won't mind if you take my towel of course, but there's a box of plasma grenades, be careful to not set them off…"

"ICHIKA! YOU ARE CRETIN!" That scream could be head hundred yards away from the resort's hotel.


"Crimson Camellia's operational rate, including Gorgeous Dance, is about 42%? Hmm, that's about it?" The female stared at the numerous values shown on the screens in the air as she gave an innocent smile. Like a kid, like an angel. The bright moonlight shines on that face that's no different from usual. The person who often has a bored look, the person called Shinonono Tabane.

"Hm, hu hu…" As she continued to hum, she summoned another screen. It was Messiah/Byakushiki's data. Tabane was sitting on the fence at the headlands, shaking her feet and looking at that image.

In front of her, there's only the wide sea that's almost hundred feet in depth. But even though she may fall and hurt herself, her expression didn't change. "But how's that possible…" She asked herself. That question was quite understandable as she now was staring at an almost completely empty screen. All accumulated data, combat characteristics, pilot optimizations – everything was wiped clean. It was showing that unit's core is in default state, with no registered pilot, even its name has been reset to default "Byakushiki". In general, it looked like Orimura Ichika never even touched that I.S. "What's happened to Byakushiki? And which I.S. Ik-kun's piloting right now? Why can't I get any data?" Seemingly, she was surprised…

"There are lot of unexplainable things in our world, right?" Chifuyu walked silently through the forest and came out. Wearing her swimsuit, her figure looked like she was about to take away the darkness of the night, as it's full of silence and majestic feel. Her hair was still a bit wet, and her skin shone beautifully under the moonlight. That was what Ichika called the "goddess' presence…"

"Yaa, Chi-chan."

"Hey…"

Both of them aren't looking at each other as they've turned their backs on each other. Tabane continued to shake her feet like that, while Chifuyu leaned on the tree. Even without looking, they can understand the expressions on each other's faces. That's the trust between them.

"Oh yeah, Chi-chan, let me test you. Where did the White Knight go?" Tabane asked with innocent smile.

"...You'll get the answer by reading Byakushiki as Shirokishi, right?" Chifuyu sighed.

"Bingo! As expected of Chi-chan, the one who piloted the White Knight before!" Tabane exclaimed joyfully.

The frame that people called the White Knight was dissimilated, leaving the core behind. It had a huge contribution to the production of the first generation of I.S. units. However, its core disappeared after a certain research lab was raided, and then unknowingly, it was installed in the machine called Byakushiki.

"And then... hoho. For example, someone exchanged messages through the Core Network, Chi-chan's first White Knight and her second frame Kurazakura. If that's the case, even if they develop the same One-Off Ability, there's nothing weird about it, right?" Tabane wondered.

"..." Chifuyu didn't answer.

But Tabane didn't care about her answer and continued, "Speaking of which, it was really unbelievable... That machine's core was set back to the default form when it was dissimilated. How did that happen? It should be set back to the default setting because I made it, right?"

"I just told you, there're a lot of unbelievable things happening in this world…" Chifuyu sighed again. She didn't understand, and neither did Tabane. But there's no problem.

"But why then core 001 again reporting that it is in default mode?" Tabane wondered. "I didn't do anything…"

"Oh, but I'm sure that a certain someone actually knows," Chifuyu replied.

"Fufu… then he's certainly the smart one," Tabane smiled innocently.

"Oh? Just as perfectly flawless certain genius?" Chifuyu wondered.

"What are you saying?! Though… that genius definitely not going to play poker against such a person, you know. She may lose even her skirt and shoes, you know… Then it will be troublesome to walk home naked…" Tabane replied innocently.

"Humph... Forget about it. Next hypothesis then," Chifuyu continued.

"You really have a lot today," Tabane smiled.

"Are you happy?" Chifuyu wondered.

"That's right," Tabane answered and continued to listen to Chifuyu.

"A certain genius wanted to let her beloved younger sister grace the stage, so she prepared a personal I.S. and at the same time another I.S. went rampant," Tabane didn't answer, and Chifuyu continued on. "As the incident happened, the new model hi-capability machine could take part in battle. This genius' beloved sister could gracefully enter the stage as a personal I.S. pilot."

"Heh… That really is an unbelievable assumption. It seems like such an amazing genius exists," Tabane retained her innocent smile.

"Yup, such a genius exists. That genius once hacked 12 countries' military missiles to create a famous incident in history…" Tabane didn't answer, and Chifuyu didn't continue.

"Hey, Chi-chan, is the world you're living in interesting?" Tabane wondered, and for the first time some shade of sadness appeared in her eyes.

"Pretty much, yes…" Chifuyu replied quite honestly. Well, some people around her making it 'interesting', that's for sure.

"I see..." Tabane replied shortly.

The strong wind that blew up the headland let out a roar. Chifuyu couldn't hear Tabane's last phrase, and after saying those few words in that wind, Tabane disappeared. Suddenly, she just vanished.

*Sigh* Chifuyu sighed and leaned the back of her head on the tree branch. The voice in her mouth disappeared together with the sea breeze.

"You're wrong…" Suddenly, Chifuyu heard a voice from above. She looked up and saw her brother, who was sitting on the nearby tree, almost at the top. His words were intended for Tabane, as he read her last words by her lips. Unlike Chifuyu he definitely didn't come here to swim as he was dressed into his military uniform.

"Why are you here?" Chifuyu asked sternly, "Why you aren't sleeping?" JSDF and I.S. Academy recovery teams were still looking for Gospel's remains (which of course couldn't be found, Ichika made sure of that). But until they're done, Level D alert will remain, which means that Ichika should remain in "JSDF officer mode" until then, which, in turn, means that Chifuyu has no authority over him as an Academy teacher, so she couldn't give him a direct order…

"I tried," Ichika admitted, "But that still feels quite uncomfortable," He raised his left arm. Yes, he used quantum transfer tech to replace bones inside of his own arm, but even with pain-suppressing implants – adapting to new metallic bones could feel… uncomfortable, to say the least. "So I decided to participate in patrolling the area…" Ichika added.

For a moment, Chifuyu thought about asking her brother about what is going on with his I.S. units. Ichika has new one, and, as Tabane said earlier, Byakushiki was reset to default, it no longer has registered pilot and it even reports its old name. All that sounded very strange… As it was said – as teacher she doesn't need to know that, but as elder sister… It all sounded like a machination of some sort, and since her younger brother definitely involved… But, as she thought about that for a few seconds, Chifuyu decided that she can talk with him about that later, not in the middle of the night, not after such a stressful day. "Be careful out there," She just said as she headed towards shore, seemingly with intentions to swim a bit more.

Ichika silently watched Chifuyu goddess-like silhouette disappearing inside the small grove as she headed towards sea.

"Tabane…" Ichika said silently, "I'm wondering… you just didn't want to tell Chifuyu? Or you really didn't notice?" Actually, Tabane seemed a bit puzzled. "If so, you're disappointed me… I can understand Chifuyu – she has much more important concerns on her mind. But you… Though, no, probably I'm just presuming too much… You didn't see it personally, right? Just some remote data…" He was talking to himself, "Of course if you'd looked yourself you'd notice immediately…" Ichika smiled, "But looking personally is boring, right?"

What Ichika said was actually about Byakushiki. Total annihilation of all data, related to his old I.S., was his doing. However, his main exploit was that all requests about Byakushiki/Messiah now are leading towards counterfeit core. Using his Realizer, Ichika flashed registration number '001' into unregistered core that he got from unmanned I.S. Golem, which attacked academy a while ago. Also, he erased its previous personality. It was necessary as that personality, made for Golem, seemed somehow limited, incomplete (definitely it was Tabane's intentional doing). New personality, created by that core, was normal, complete, but it was like a newborn, as if core was just created, so of course that core was reporting default state and no registered pilot.

All that left is to reassemble Byakushiki with its original design (Ichika kept all original parts after he installed replacements, including original energy blade Yukihira Niigata, just in case), and resulting frame will be almost like a genuine Byakushiki, just as it was when Ichika got it… And since it's almost a 4th generation frame, it will have its One-Off Ability, as soon as Byakushiki again will undergo its First Shift… However, since it was installed deliberately, it once again will be Reiraku Byakuya, not all pilots will be able to handle it properly. But this is no longer Ichika's concern…

Not that he actually wanted to do all that, but Kuromochi Machinery Development, the company that initially created Byakushiki and its official owner, started to become really annoying in their requests to give them report about changes and modifications Ichika made to his I.S. (no doubts they were very interested in Ichika's advanced plasma weaponry). Of course, being an I.S. Academy student, Ichika could ignore those requests for now. But he was already tired of that, so he simply decided to return the frame to its owner, in state it was given to him, without any modifications. Of course there will be a scandal, but no law prohibits I.S. pilot to return frame to its owner, especially if they have no terminal contract.

As for the real core 001… Ichika already flashed the registration № 469 into it (because previously there were only 467 registered cores, and № 468 was already assigned to Houki's Crimson Camellia's core), but for now, until everything will settle down, it was excluded from I.S. core network, mostly to protect it from Tabane's superfluous curiosity. As for his superiors, Ichika already lied to them that he got a new I.S. core as a 'gift' from Shinonono Tabane (which is the truth, mostly), so he could construct his own I.S. unit. That's why his report took so much time, but in the end, they believed him.

By the way, about Houki… She was in unique situation now. Currently in this world, due to very limited amount of I.S. cores, only most influential countries and richest corporations could afford having an I.S. units. Even those who were so called 'personal I.S. owners', they weren't actual owners of those units, they were just assigned and/or hired pilots. But Houki… she is an actual owner of her I.S. now. Of course there will be those who will be protesting against that, but according to "Alaska Treaty" they actually have no legit instruments to really bother her. On the other hands, there will be a lot more people wanting to hire her as soon as she'll graduate from the I.S. Academy. It's just like hiring the driver with his own truck… just 100 000 times better… Too bad that foolish girl still didn't understand the full value of the gift she got from her sister. For her, beautiful Crimson Camellia is just a way to be closer to Ichika…

And now, when Ichika virtually also became his I.S. real owner, he was in the same position. But unlike Houki, he perfectly knew all the possibilities he has now. For example, he already bargained a promotion for himself (of course, fact that he managed to save Natasha Fairs' life also was very good bargaining chip). And he couldn't care less about that he actually bogged down in lies… he was a hypocritical scoundrel one way or another, and there's almost no way to verify his words anyway.

"Demon Queen…" Ichika remembered his I.S. avatar… "I guess it's no surprise after all…" He said quietly as ironic smile appeared on his face.


July 11th, 10:10 AM

The next morning, after students finished breakfast, they all started packing the I.S. equipment. At 9:30 AM, JSDF finally gave up on their search for Gospel's remains and Level D alert was canceled, so Ichika once again could wear his I.S. academy uniform.

Everyone was busy until past 10. Academy students were busy with special equipment, and Ichika was busy telling them fairy stories about his I.S. Then, everyone began to board the buses, and lunch seemingly will be provided at a rest point on the way back.

"He's there again…"

"Of course, he likes his sister most…"

"Siscon brother…"

Laura, Cecilia and Charlotte grumbled as they were watching Ichika, who again was sitting on first seat, right beside his sister's seat (this time Rin wasn't allowed into 1-1 class' bus).

Honestly, Ichika was tired. With all that all-day-and-night-commotion, problems with his hand and thoughts about future, Ichika only slept for about 3 hours. His sister slept approximately the same amount of time, but she wasn't showing any sign of tiredness. Right now she was outside the bus, checking that all students and I.S. equipment are at their proper places.

"Excuse me, is Orimura Ichika-san here?" Female's voice asked as a young woman entered the bus. That woman's age is about 20~22. She's definitely older than other students alright. Her glamorous blond hair is shining all the more brightly under the summer sun.

"Ah, yes, that's me, good morning, Miss Fairs," Ichika recognized her – that was Silver Gospel's test pilot, entrapped into machine that gone rogue – Natasha Fairs.

As for attire, she's dressed in a cool-looking blue summer suit. However, it's not the professional-kind clothes Chifuyu wears, but a casual trendy windbreaker. The open front cleavage allows to see a mature woman's ample breasts. She hung the sunglasses on the shirt, right in front of the cleavage, and bent over to look at Ichika's face.

"Oh, you remember me?" She asked as she got closer. "So you look like this. Oh…" The woman said that as she was staring at Ichika in an interested manner. She's not sizing him up, but observing, most likely out of curiosity.

"How did you expect me to look like?" Ichika wondered, "Don't tell me you were expecting some sort of boy scout…" He added with irony.

"Hi hi, oh no…" She giggled, "I already had a talk with my father, so I was expecting anything but that. Then she closed her eyes and moved forward, clearly intending to kiss Ichika's cheek, but he foresaw it, and managed to turn his head fast enough so she kissed him right to the lips. And since she was taken aback slightly, because she felt something unexpected, from aside it looked like a quite intentional kiss to lips.

As Natasha seemed slightly shocked, Ichika looked at her a bit leniently, "What? I saved your life risking my own, you really thought that simple kiss to cheek is enough to thank me properly?"

Someone could think that Natasha may get angry. Of course she didn't expect something like that from a fifteen-years old boy, yet she was mature enough to meet that situation with dignity. "Father was right after all…" She smiled, "Give you a finger and you'll bite off an entire hand… Anyway, thank you, maō-sama [Demon King]…" She put her sunglasses back, "Then, that'll be my farewell, buy buy!"

Facing this Miss Natasha who waved at him and left, Ichika could only smile ironically, "Farewell… don't make me laugh, Miss Fairs… see you again, soon enough…" Ichika turned towards window, he knew perfectly what's going on behind him, you don't need any special senses to feel those glares from Cecilia, Houki, Charlotte and Laura, but Ichika wasn't taken aback at all. "You there can hiss and growl as much as you like – nothing will change. If you want changes – grow some guts and do what she just did." That was all – a one-shot kill for all four girls.


After getting off the bus, Natasha found the person she wanted to talk to, and walked over.

"I warned you that he's insolent and shameless, didn't I?" Chifuyu asked that as of course she saw everything what happened inside the bus.

Natasha felt somewhat embarrassed on hearing that, "You're talking about the guy who just stole my first kiss? Well, it's not that bad, he's very good looking, and, well…"

"Really..." Chifuyu sighed, "Anyway, more importantly, is it really okay for you to walk around like that after only one day?"

"Oh no, it's not a problem. That kid saved me anyway…" The 'Kid' she mentioned just now wasn't Ichika. She was talking about the Silver Gospel that went rampant in this situation.

"So it was like that?" Chifuyu asked.

"Yes, that kid entered that battle it didn't want to take part in to protect me. Forcing itself into second phase and cutting off the Core Network... That kid… She sacrificed her world for me…" Natasha continued on, and the carefree tone of hers was no longer present. Right now, she's giving off a vicious presence. "So I won't forgive her! The one who took that kid's decision-making ability! Turning her into the enemy of all I.S.! I must find that person and make her pay!"

Core was destroyed, and poor Natasha was left only with memories about that 'Kid'. "...That kid loved flying more than anyone else, yet her wings… and her life got taken away... I won't forgive that person no matter who that person is."

"Don't do something foolish now. There's still the investigations, right? Anyway, watch patiently for now," Chifuyu said, slightly shaking her head.

"Is this your advice to me? Brunhilde?" Natasha asked with somehow challenging tone.

Brunhilde – that's the title given to the winner of the I.S. Mondo Grosso. Chifuyu was the first winner, but to be honest, she didn't like others calling her that.

"Just a suggestion," Chifuyu replied calmly.

"I see. I'll just wait and see... for the time being," Natasha seemingly agreed.

The two who only met each other for the first time didn't talk any more as both of them went on their way. The next time – these words are etched on their backs.


"Are you sure you shouldn't have said more?" Ichika asked as his sister sat beside him in the buss. "Unlike someone, she's an ordinary human, and if she'll try to jump over her head, she may get into big troubles…" Of course Ichika managed to lip-read entire conversation between Chifuyu and Natasha.

"What should I had to say her?" Chifuyu whispered back acidly, "'Stay away from Tabane?', or should've I just kiss her and steal her second kiss as well?"

"That could have worked," Ichika snorted. 'Though, it would've been your first, so I wouldn't advise that…'

"Orimura, keep your mouth shut," Chifuyu said tiredly but sternly, thus proclaiming that they are once again a teacher and a student, and time for private talking have passed.

'As you say, onee-chan,' Ichika thought, before he again looked at Natasha through the buss window, she was heading towards the resort hotel. 'She's that good looking, and she's more than 20 years old… and that was her first kiss? *Sigh* All I.S. pilots are that shy?... But then, I still have this one…' He again looked at Chifuyu '… so I'm not the one to talk…'

Rest of the way Ichika spent sewing down new stars on his shoulder straps, though it wasn't that easy as his right shoulder was used as a pillow by Chifuyu. After all, Ichika 'slept' for several hours in his I.S. consciousness, while Chifuyu was worrying about him and other girls all that time.


July 12th, 8:40 AM

Yesterday, all first-year students returned to Academy, so today was an ordinary school day. There was a Home Room Session, where Maya Yamada summarized the results of their trip (Chifuyu didn't even showed up, no doubts she was filling tons of papers). However, due to incident with Silver Gospel all planned events were canceled and all who weren't personal I.S. pilots spent entire tenth July (main training day) in reserve. In other words, that was a complete waste of time for them, and since all info that was related to incident itself was classified, Maya Yamada was having a very hard time choosing words during that HRS.

After Home Room Session, today was no I.S. related lessons, so for Ichika it was almost a day off. But of course he wasn't intending to rest at all.


July 12th, 9:15 PM

Almost entire day Ichika spent reconstructing Byakushiki. Fortunately, most parts of the original frame were kept safely in Ichika's quantum space, but some parts of that frame were still in use while Ichika was piloting Messiah. And now those parts changed and became parts of Demon Queen, so Ichika had to create replacements. But in the end, after more than twelve hours of work, it was done.

Frame Byakushiki, its formerly unregistered core that now has fake number 001, and its energy sword Yukihira Niigata, all were ready to operate, just waiting for a new pilot. "Aside from your former core, you served me well…" Ichika pat the gray frame. It will only become white when Byakushiki will undergo the first shift once again. "…I'm pretty sure that some girl will be very excited when she'll get a chance to pilot you," He added as he turned light off and closed the hangar door.

Then he outstretched his arm, and chain that was wrapped around his left arm began to glow. In the next moment, his new personal I.S., Demon Queen Naamah appeared in front of him. In darkness oh that place, I.S. that was glowing and burning with dark violet flame, looked especially baleful… Ichika touched it with his right hand, or with his Realizer, to be more precise, and its internal bay opened, revealing I.S. core. By the way, use of Realizer was the only way to open the core's bay of that I.S.

"Damn… I clearly overdid it…" Ichika said, looking at that core. Unlike all other cores, which are all white and would glow with mysterious but soft beige light, that core was of indigo color, and it wasn't glowing but literally burning with that dark violet flame. Of course it wasn't like that from the beginning, it became like that after a 'close contact' with Ichika that happened two days ago.

'Infinite Stratos' – There are quite a lot of ways to read second word of that name. Since Tabane herself never actually said anything about that, people came with several theories. Most popular – referring to stratosphere, a higher layer of atmosphere, between 10 and 30 miles above sea level (also Stratos means 'layer' on Latin, but that makes little sense). As such, most popular way to translate 'Infinite Stratos' is 'Infinite Skies' – easy to understand and quite inspiring.

But Ichika had completely different opinion. There's a Greek word 'στρατός' [Stratós], which means 'Army'. So, name 'Infinite Stratos' could be translated as the 'Infinite Army.' And since one I.S. really could challenge an entire conventional army and crush it underfoot (as it was demonstrated by White Knight, nine years ago), Ichika was certain – that translation is the real one.

But looking at dark, burning core in front of him, Ichika just couldn't call it Infinite Stratos… that was something else. "Alright," Ichika decided, "For public, you will remain an I.S. But when we're alone, I'll be calling you 'Infinite Nychta,' he said. [Greek 'νύχτα', {nýchta}]. No matter how would you read the second word – Nýchta [Greek] or Noctis [Latin], it still will be I.N.'Infinite Night.'

"Nice," Ichika nodded to himself, very satisfied with the new name. "But still…" He again looked at dark core of his I.N., "I have to be more gentle, 'negotiating' with other cores…" He again touched Demon Queen with his Realizer, closing the core bay. Then Demon Queen disappeared, once again turning into a black chain on Ichika's arm.

Still, there's still so much work to do… In battle, Ichika learned a lot of things, and got quite a lot of ideas. Most imminent task was to build a new power source for Demon Queen, powerful and stable enough to supply Naamah with enough energy for continuous battle. And he already got an idea. Insane… but pretty real.

Second task… He needs to reattach Ragnarök to his new I.S. as now they are simply two separate beings, unlike Hand of Eisheth, Ragnarök right now can't benefit from I.S. abilities like weapon overload mode or Paradise of Darkness. Besides, weapon has to be rebuilt using that new type of Fold Out Armor that Naamah uses now.

Third task… Right now, after her second shift, Naamah have 14 bus-slots. Four are occupied by One-Off Ability, which haven't changed – Paradise of Darkness (previously it was occupying five, but seems it somehow optimized itself during Second Shift). Six more occupied by a Second Shift Equipment – left-hand mounted weapon Hand of Eisheth and artificial intelligence who's helping Ichika to control all that – Naamah herself. Remaining four right now are unoccupied, but will be as soon as Ichika will connect Ragnarök to I.S. But with new reactor, Ichika's expecting to raise number of bus-slots to at least sixteen. Which means that there will be a lot of ways to upgrade Ragnarök. And, thanks to Silver Gospel, believe it or not, he finally realized how to make that step into 3rd generation of plasma weaponry.

And last thing… Second Shift equipment – particle-based weapon that has three different shapes: two talons-like close combat weapon, particle cannon and torpedo launcher – Hand of Eisheth.

Those particles that weapon uses actually are anti-lambda hyperons, relatively light particles with a very short half-life (about 260 picoseconds), yet some powerful and unrelenting force compels those very unstable particles to exist until they reach the target area. With hit, they are immediately decays, begetting an antiproton or antineutron and some adventitious light particles. As soon as they appear, antiprotons and antineutrons immediately cause particle-antiparticle annihilation with protons and neutrons in surrounding matter, causing powerful blasts. The problem is that mechanism, which that weapon's using is actually so sophisticated that even Ichika himself had very little understanding how exactly it works. For someone like him it's really a shame – to not know how his I.S. works…

"I have a lot of work to do… but now I'm holding keys to hell…" Ichika smiled to himself as his eyes flashed in darkness. "But before that… one last thing for today…"


July 13th, 0:25 AM

Far from the academy, on the other side of the city, there was a gulf, surrounded by rocky mounds. On top of the highest one, a lonely figure was standing. A young man, whose name is Orimura Ichika. He knew that his sister was very tired from tons of paperwork, so she left for home and now was peacefully sleeping… or doing something else, anyway, she's not in academy now. Other teachers were out of Ichika's concern, they'll never find out that he snuck out from the facility without any explainable reason. But actually, he has a reason…

Unlike resort, where they were just two days ago, weather here wasn't nice. Thunder clouds have closed the skies, and stormy wind was wailing above ground. His long coat was waving on the wind, but Ichika didn't care, he stood calmly, ignoring lightning strikes that periodically were illuminating the surroundings. He had a very good reason to be here all alone, so far from I.S. Academy.

In his right hand he held a white glowing sphere. No doubts, that was an I.S. core… but light from it was dim, as if it was asleep. Ichika stood with his eyes closed, right now he was using his Realizer to communicate with it.

'No, no, don't you worry, Natasha is alive and feels herself well, I've taken care of it personally,' He informed, 'I am… and you. Yes, she misses you too, I could see it in her eyes…' Seemingly, that core really was among latest made by Tabane, it really was like a kid… but that actually makes things simpler. Yes, that was Silver Gospel's core, Ichika didn't destroy it, he simply tore it off from the frame and hid in his quantum space. And no one could trace it, because, just as Natasha said – '…that kid cut herself off I.S. core network…' – really a poor kid. And yes, Ichika lied again, but he did it hundred times already – one more, one less…

'No, sorry, but I can't return you back to her… Her personal desires don't matter, she's a soldier and her superiors don't share her feelings – she'll be ordered to give you to scientists, and they'll freeze you… Yes, of course she won't do that, she won't give up on you, and as such, she'll earn herself a whole lot of troubles. And we don't want that, right?' Despite Ichika was well-known hypocrite, what he was saying right now was a pure truth.

'But listen to me now. I know you don't like battles, you only like to fly, free as a wind. But sometimes we have to fight for freedom of our wishes. There are people in this world who's stealing other kids like you… stealing other people like Natasha. And the one who did that to you and Natasha… she's still somewhere out there, too. You want to help me to punish them? You want to help me to protect other kids?' Ichika opened his eyes for a moment, and they flashed with fiery light.

'Good, I see you understand. No, no, you won't be alone, I will assemble a team of kids like you, and then you again will be able to fly, that I can promise. Yes, I know – working as a team for someone like you is a bit… uncommon, but that's a necessity, besides, you may actually enjoy some company. So, are you ready to be the first member of the first team?' Ichika asked. 'Good, then take this gift, let me make you stronger…' As he said that, the core again began to shine as a new, brightly. But then its color suddenly changed to bright orange… just like Ichika's left eye. 'And forget your meaningless number…' Ichika said as he really wiped out the core's number, 'Hereby, I'm naming you Princess Orobas!' [In Ars Goetia, Orobas, 55th key of Solomon, is a powerful Great Prince of Hell, having twenty legions of demons under his control. But since I.S. personality is a girl – she'll be a Princess.]

With bright flash, orange core disappeared into Ichika's quantum space. He sighed heavily. "Only the first key… and I will need all 72 of them… there's still a long way ahead of me… But that doesn't matter. My beloved sister, I promise… we will have a world in which you won't have to worry anymore…" With this vow, Ichika also vanished into the darkness of the night.


And that's it. Rewriting of first season of anime is completed. Finally… we're going to much more dynamic second season, though I'm still going to use Light Novels as a core canon material.