Chapter 431 – Imitation Angel
"…Did you sense it, Kaiser-kun?"
La Folia's voice cut through the night as she quietly drew her curse-forged pistol.
"How could I not?" Kaiser replied in an even, calm tone.
In that instant, both of them felt it—a vicious, oppressive presence hurtling toward them, releasing power into the world without the slightest restraint.
They turned in unison, eyes locking onto the direction that malignant aura was coming from.
First came the light.
It was like a beam, ripping through the night sky at incredible speed, flying toward them before stopping directly above Kaiser and La Folia.
The light took shape.
"—!"
The moment they saw the figure in full, both Kaiser and La Folia's pupils contracted sharply.
It was… unbelievable.
At first glance, she looked like a petite girl of fourteen or fifteen, slender-limbed and small-framed, clad in a form-fitting battle suit that traced every curve of her body.
But sprouting from her back was a pair of grotesque wings—veined, misshapen, and asymmetrical. Strange geometric markings crawled along her bare, thin arms and legs, and an eerie mask engraved with countless staring eyes covered her face, making her look both evil and unnatural.
And yet… despite her twisted, sinister appearance, the aura and power radiating from her were utterly pure, immaculate—divine.
"…An angel?" Kaiser muttered, instinctively giving voice to the word, though his tone was thick with doubt.
From her aura and presence alone, she resembled the angels of legend.
But that alien, warped atmosphere… that disturbing visage… was nothing like the angels of myth. It even called to mind a demon.
An angel with a holy aura and power, yet an appearance both grotesque and malign—this was the being that now hovered before Kaiser and La Folia.
"Imitation Angel…" La Folia's voice was low, her expression darkening.
"So it's true. The one who attacked the armored airship I was on, the reason I ended up here—it was a Imitation Angel." Her tone hardened. "They… really went and created them."
No sooner had she spoken than the strange angel moved.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
From beneath the mask, she opened her mouth and loosed a piercing shriek—one no human throat could ever produce. It was both heartrendingly mournful and suffused with sanctity.
Bzzzz…
A force unlike spiritual power or magic, stronger still and of a higher order, gathered in the angel's hand, condensing into light.
A moment later, the winged monstrosity released a dazzling flash, like a purifying flame meant to burn all to ash. The blast exploded in midair, splintering into countless beams of light that rained down toward Kaiser and La Folia like a heavenly deluge.
The barrage was so dense it filled their entire field of vision—impossible to dodge in any ordinary sense.
Without hesitation, Kaiser scooped La Folia into his arms and, in the instant before the lightstorm struck, vanished from sight.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM…!
The ground of the uninhabited island shook as if under missile bombardment, explosions hurling up dirt, shattered stone, and debris like geysers.
Shff! Shff! Shff!
Carrying La Folia in a princess hold, Kaiser flickered through the air as though teleporting, shifting position again and again, slipping through the deadly rain of light without a single hit landing.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
With another inhuman cry, the malformed angel beat her wings and surged forward at terrifying speed, pursuing Kaiser relentlessly. As she flew, her wings spat out shimmering, wave-distorting blades of light, each one slashing toward him.
"…Interesting."
Kaiser arched an eyebrow, unfazed. Around him, silver shortblades materialized, streaking forward like lightning.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
The simulated spatial-severing technique of the Type-100 Heavy-Weapon Demon-Slaying Blade was formidable indeed. With three layers of spellwork working in concert, the mysterious holy attacks were instantly intercepted—either sliced apart on the spot or deflected away by spatial rifts, falling toward the surroundings as blazing fire that consumed forest and beach alike.
In moments, the entire island—barely two kilometers across—was lit by towering flames.
The silver blades that had cut down the beams shot on toward the angel… and passed clean through her without resistance, as though striking empty air.
She ignored them entirely, closing the distance on Kaiser.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
She caught up quickly, shrieking as a sword of pure light formed in her hand. Without hesitation, she swung for Kaiser's head—an executioner's blow.
"Bakudō #61: Six-Rod Light Prison."
Without chant, Kaiser invoked a high-level binding spell. Six plates of light shot in from all directions, locking onto the strange angel—and passed straight through her, as if blocked by some invisible barrier. None touched her body.
The glowing blade descended.
Shhk!
Kaiser's form—still holding La Folia—was cleaved clean in two.
But in the next instant, another Kaiser, La Folia still in his arms, appeared behind the angel.
THUD!
A powerful kick smashed into her back, sending her flying like a kicked ball.
It did no damage. She righted herself almost immediately, unleashing another storm of light.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM…!
Beams rained down, detonating across the island. The blasts shattered bedrock and sent crimson flames roaring skyward, devastation sweeping the land.
"…Quite the reckless one, aren't you," Kaiser murmured, continuing to evade with Shunpo, occasionally threading in Sonído to warp through space, avoiding every last beam.
Whether Kaiser would last much longer was uncertain—but the island itself was doomed if this continued.
"Be careful."
La Folia's voice was steady, even while being carried.
"That Imitation Angel has nearly ascended to a higher dimension beyond the Mundane World. The barrier around her is the wall between dimensions. No matter how powerful the attack, it cannot pierce the dimensional boundary to reach someone who, in theory, no longer exists in this world."
She clearly knew much about the angel.
And Kaiser… was not unfamiliar either.
A Imitation Angel was, at its core, a ritual—a man-made method of cultivating a higher-dimensional lifeform.
In this world, angels did exist, but they had no will of their own—natural phenomena of the Higher Dimension, like light or heat.
The Imitation Angel ritual was a magical process designed to turn a human into an angel: an ascension into the Higher Dimension. The moment someone became an angel, they lost all will and individuality, vanishing from the mortal world to become a pure higher-dimensional phenomenon.
Recently, a well-known corporation—its fortunes in rapid decline—had turned to this ritual, seeking to artificially create powerful angels as weapons to sell to the nations of the world.
The two unregistered demons who appeared on Itogami Island had in fact been Imitation Angels in cultivation.
The process was akin to venomous insects locked together in a jar—implanting the ritual in multiple test subjects, forcing them to fight, devouring one another's Spiritual Cores to grow stronger. Through this, the victor's spirituality was honed to the utmost limits of humanity, evolving into something closer to a god: an angel.
That was why the two Imitation Angels had fought on Itogami Island. The victor escaped and attacked the Kingdom of Aldegyr's armored airship; the loser was captured and was now imprisoned on Itogami Island.
The twisted angel before them on this uninhabited island was another in cultivation—an unfinished Imitation Angel.
Incomplete she might be, yet she already possessed a portion of an angel's power: existing partly within the Higher Dimension, untouchable by attacks confined to the Mundane World, and capable of wielding Divine Aura in battle.
Divine Aura—an energy existing only in the Higher Dimension, usable solely by angels and gods. It was above both spiritual power and magic, bearing anti-demonic properties and other special effects beyond mortal reach.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
The unfinished Imitation Angel—an Imitation Angel—shrieked again, recklessly burning through her higher-dimensional energy. She gathered Divine Aura, shaping it into another world-engulfing downpour of light aimed straight at Kaiser.
Kaiser narrowed his eyes.
"…Looks like I'll have to get a bit more serious."
Chapter 432 – Do You Want to Know?
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM…!
On the deserted, forgotten island, violent explosions erupted in every direction, scorching the earth, tearing apart the land. The forest steadily became a sea of flames, and the ground lay in ruins.
The strange yet divine Imitation Angel kept up her relentless pursuit of Kaiser, her wings beating to propel her hundreds of meters in a flash, moving fast enough to break the sound barrier.
But now, as she gradually ascended toward the Higher Dimension and slipped free of the Mundane World's constraints, her flight was silent—no rush of air, no shockwaves—like a streak of light gliding through the vacuum of space.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
Yet this light-born angel was an artificial creation born from forbidden arts, and the sound she made was the very opposite of her holy appearance—unnerving and terrifying.
"Retreat, Kaiser-kun."
La Folia, still in Kaiser's arms as he dodged the attacks, quickly urged him.
"If you don't have a means to touch the Higher Dimension, there's no defeating a Imitation Angel—even an incomplete one."
Even if the Three Primogenitors themselves were here, it would be the same. Angels were beings of higher-dimensional energy, destined to ascend fully into the Higher Dimension. From the moment they were born, they no longer truly existed as lifeforms of this world—untouchable by any normal means.
Even if a Primogenitor summoned their most powerful Familiar to evaporate an entire hundred-kilometer radius of ocean, if their attacks couldn't reach the Higher Dimension, they could not touch the Imitation Angel at all. It would be meaningless destruction.
That was why La Folia advised retreat—ending a pointless battle. If Kaiser weren't here, she might not even have the option to escape.
But since he could fly, could leave this artificial island on his own… there was no need to stay.
"No," Kaiser shook his head. "I'm not here just to find you—I'm also here for someone else."
He hadn't found that person yet. Leaving now was out of the question.
"Someone else?" La Folia lifted her head, puzzled. "Who are you looking for?"
"A junior of mine," Kaiser said calmly. "Her name is Kanon Kanase."
La Folia went silent. Her expression turned complicated, her eyes faintly tinged with resignation.
"You're saying Kanon Kanase is on this island too?" she asked after a pause.
"I used a spiritual detection spell," Kaiser replied without evasion. "It showed her spiritual signature here on the island. And since her foster father is a researcher for Magus Craft, I have every reason to believe she's here."
Mechanical dolls, Imitation Angels—these were undoubtedly Magus Craft's work. The Imitation Angel that attacked La Folia was one of their test subjects. And now Kanon, with her ties to Magus Craft and her spiritual signature present here, was almost certainly on the island.
"That's… troublesome," La Folia muttered, sounding faintly troubled.
Kaiser, on the other hand, remained utterly composed.
"It's fine. It's only an incomplete angel—not enough to corner me."
He flickered backward as though teleporting, opening distance from the pursuing Imitation Angel.
"Hold on tight. Don't let go."
The moment Kaiser spoke, the silver shortblades circling him vanished, replaced by a pair of pure white wings unfurling from his back.
"This is…"
Clutching his neck tightly, La Folia froze, then her eyes widened in surprise.
"Balance Breaker!"
As the wings fully spread, pure white radiance flared from Kaiser's body, surging outward like a storm. The light took shape, becoming the gleaming armor of a white dragon, piece by piece covering him.
In moments, the immaculate White Dragon stood in the night sky. The blaze of holy light around him warped the incoming rain of beams, deflecting every lance of Divine Aura away.
"…Beautiful…"
La Folia gazed up from his arms, her ice-blue eyes shimmering. That form—so holy, so pristine—was like the morning star proclaiming the end of darkness, stirring her heart deeply.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
The Imitation Angel had no such sentiment. Acting on instinct alone, sensing mortal danger, she let out a piercing roar.
"Half Dimension—White Dragon Emperor's Domain!"
Kaiser's wings spread to their fullest, and the dragon's power rippled outward in tangible waves.
Everything touched by those waves began compressing at an astonishing rate. The Divine Aura beams, the flames on the ground—everything shrank visibly, vanishing without a trace.
Naturally, the space around the Imitation Angel compressed as well. The thin membrane protecting her, holding her in the Higher Dimension, began to shrink.
WHAM!
In an instant, a flash-like punch slammed into the angel's body—Kaiser's fist.
While the Imitation Angel struggled to resist the White Dragon Emperor's Domain, Kaiser became a streak of white light trailing a luminous path, appearing before her in a blink.
"Divide! …Divide! …Divide! …Divide! …Divide!"
One after another, the blue jewels set into the white dragon armor flared as the voice echoed. The dragon's power halved the strength of the higher-dimensional barrier again and again, wearing it down.
Shhk!
A silver shortblade appeared in his hand, slicing cleanly through the weakened barrier and the space around it.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
The Imitation Angel shrieked louder than ever, gathering the greatest swell of Divine Aura she could muster—
—but under the constant halving, her power dwindled. Soon she couldn't gather even a flicker of Divine Aura, her sacred presence growing feeble.
CRACK!
The dragon armor shattered from Kaiser's body, revealing his true form. The silver shortblade vanished, replaced by a jet-black straight sword.
"Ama-no-Murakumo," Kaiser commanded.
"This is the time to strike down the enemy!"
The sword answered.
Shhk!
Black light flashed, slicing through the Imitation Angel. Ama-no-Murakumo's anti-demonic power—akin to Divine Aura—took effect, unraveling the Spiritual Rank Evolution Formula etched into her, breaking the Imitation Angel ritual.
The angel fell silent.
Her grotesque, veined, asymmetrical wings sloughed away. The strange geometric markings on her bare limbs vanished. The eerie mask etched with countless eyes shattered, revealing a pure, youthful face.
The girl's eyes remained closed, unconscious, her body falling limply—
Kaiser caught her with one arm, La Folia in the other, descending slowly toward the ground.
…
The lightstorm and flames ravaging the island faded away.
On the scorched, ruined ground, Kaiser set La Folia down and laid the unconscious girl gently beside her.
"That should do it, right?" Kaiser asked.
"Yes. The Imitation Angel ritual and the Spiritual Rank Evolution Formula on her have both been completely erased. With proper treatment and physical adjustment, she'll return to normal—a regular human." La Folia examined the girl and gave her verdict.
"Good." Kaiser nodded, sheathing Ama-no-Murakumo.
But La Folia's eyes were already fixed on him with a meaningful glint.
"It seems our King of Beasts has more secrets than the world knows."
That black sword, that immaculate armor—La Folia had never seen nor even heard of such things. Were they new sacred arms developed by the Lion King Agency? Relics from the mythic age? They were certainly not the beasts rumored to be under this man's command.
Her curiosity was inevitable.
"Isn't it normal to have secrets?" Kaiser glanced at her. "I'm sure the Kingdom of Aldegyr has plenty of secret weapons the world doesn't know about, right?"
"Who can say?" La Folia feigned ignorance with a playful smile. "Do you want to know what secrets I'm hiding?"
She stepped closer, arms spreading slightly in invitation. The gesture was like an open challenge—an offer to explore, bringing to Kaiser's mind the memory of that flawless form he'd seen not long ago…
Skin white as snow, a figure lush and enticing, beauty beyond compare.
Kaiser had to admit—he was tempted. A man who wasn't would hardly qualify as human.
He'd seen Yuri Mariya's body, Luo Hao's too… yet he still found himself drawn to La Folia's.
"Heh…"
La Folia's eyes lingered on him, and she suddenly laughed softly, a note of amusement in her voice.
Ahem.
Feeling strangely exposed, Kaiser coughed lightly in embarrassment.
Little did he know, her ice-blue eyes continued to hold his image—like a mark that would never fade.
Chapter 433 – How Am I Supposed to Feel About That?
After taking down one Imitation Angel, Kaiser had no intention of leaving. Instead, he planned to continue searching the uninhabited island for Kanon Kanase.
He considered using birds to track her spiritual signature more precisely, but at this point Kanon's presence had all but faded. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been limited to locating only the island—he would have pinpointed her exact position.
When he explained the situation to La Folia, the First Princess of the Kingdom of Aldegyr quickly pieced it together.
"It's probably because Kanon, like that girl, has been altered into a Imitation Angel," La Folia sighed. "The modifications from the Imitation Angel ritual and the Spiritual Rank Evolution Formula must have transformed her Spiritual Core. That's why you, even with your memory of her previous spiritual signature, can't lock onto her exact location."
Kaiser had already suspected as much when his search failed.
"Kensei Kanase… that guy really doesn't have a shred of sentiment left in him."
The remark drew a flicker of surprise from La Folia. "You know Kensei Kanase?"
"I am a Lion King Agency operative. How could I possibly take on a mission without doing some homework first?" Kaiser replied offhandedly.
On the surface, it was perfectly logical—the Lion King Agency didn't just protect and monitor VIPs or respond to large-scale magical disasters; intelligence work was part of their duties. Of course they'd investigate before moving.
In truth, however, Kaiser only knew of Kensei Kanase because he remembered it from the original story.
"He's Kanon's foster father—and her uncle, correct?"
At that, La Folia, who had been nodding in understanding, promptly rolled her eyes.
"You know even about Kensei being her uncle, and you're still claiming you dug it up through Lion King Agency channels?" she said irritably. "That detail is known to only a handful of people, even among Aldegyr's royal family. It's never been made public. How could a little Eastern island nation's intelligence bureau possibly dig that deep?"
"Don't be so sure of yourself." Kaiser crossed his arms, smirking. "You have no idea how terrifying the Lion King Matchmaking Agency really is."
"…Lion King Matchmaking Agency?" La Folia blinked at him, bewildered. "When did the Lion King Agency start running a marriage service?"
"Don't sweat the details," Kaiser shrugged. "I'm just saying—you didn't really think I didn't know about your connection to Kanon, did you?"
"…So you already knew?" La Folia was silent for a moment before letting out a wry smile. "And where exactly did you get that from?"
"I told you, don't worry about details." Kaiser met her gaze. "Just know that I'm well aware of how special Kanon Kanase is."
Then he went straight for the reveal.
"Almost without exception, women born into the Aldegyr royal family are exceptionally powerful Spirit Mediums. And Kanon happens to be a very powerful Spirit Medium herself—that's how I was able to detect her altered spiritual signature from so far away.
"And her appearance… is practically identical to yours."
Kaiser had already noticed it the first time he saw La Folia bathing under the moonlight. The silver hair, the ice-blue eyes, the same porcelain-white skin, both of them northern European beauties—it was far too much resemblance to ignore.
La Folia was the mature version of Kanon. Kanon was the younger version of La Folia. If they weren't sisters or mother and daughter, there was no way they didn't share blood.
Couple that with Kanon being a Spirit Medium, the fact she'd been an orphan taken in by a convent five years ago… add it all up, and the conclusion was obvious.
"No doubt about it—Kanon, like you, is Aldegyr royalty," Kaiser stated bluntly. "Either a lost bloodline returned, or a royal love child born from some scandal. Am I wrong?"
"…You're not," La Folia admitted with a long sigh. "Kanon is indeed a lost member of the Aldegyr royal bloodline.
"And her biological father… is my grandfather."
In other words—Kanon was La Folia's aunt. Her blood aunt.
"Fifteen years ago, my grandfather had a daughter with an Eastern woman living in Aldegyr. That daughter is Kanon." La Folia's tone was reluctant.
Understandably so—it meant admitting her grandfather had an affair with a foreign woman and fathered a child.
But since Kaiser already knew, there was no point hiding it.
"At the time, my grandfather was King of Aldegyr. My grandmother, the Queen, was… well, she's a very forceful woman. Even my grandfather, the reigning king, was—no, is—quite afraid of her."
…To be king of a nation and still live in fear of your wife—what a pitiful reign. Then again, to inspire such fear in a monarch, La Folia's grandmother must have been terrifying indeed.
"Fearing my grandmother might have the child killed, and to avoid causing trouble for my grandfather, Kanon's mother returned to her homeland after giving birth. My grandfather, terrified of my grandmother's wrath, didn't dare bring them back. Instead, he had a convent built for them on Itogami Island, where Kanon grew up."
"This only came to light when one of my grandfather's most trusted ministers, on his deathbed, revealed it in his final words." La Folia looked faintly exasperated. "After that, my grandfather abdicated and fled. My grandmother's rage threw the palace into chaos."
Kaiser was left speechless. He didn't remember this level of royal gossip from the original material—and the idea of a former king fleeing over an illegitimate child's reveal was… pathetic.
"…Sounds like your grandfather—hm—took your grandmother's word very seriously," Kaiser remarked delicately.
La Folia laughed at that. "The royal women of Aldegyr are all born Spirit Mediums. Much of our magical technology and secrets rely on that trait. So while the king may be a man, the women hold, in some ways, even greater power."
She gave him a playful look. "My grandmother and mother both keep a strict hold on their partners. Personally, I think if the husband is exceptional enough, two or three mistresses wouldn't be a problem. Don't you agree?"
Why's it up to me? How am I supposed to answer that? And why do I get the feeling there's a hidden meaning here, Your Highness…?
"Of course, I wouldn't mind—but my father probably would," La Folia went on blithely. "If any scoundrel dared lay a hand on my daughter, he'd lead the knights and the entire army to destroy them. That's what he always used to say."
Kaiser: "…"
Yep. Daughter-con behavior transcends worlds.
"So, your so-called 'visit' to Itogami Island was really to find Kanon?" Kaiser dragged the conversation back on track.
"Yes." La Folia's smile faded. "From what we know, Kanon's mother has already passed away, and the convent she lived in was burned down. Knowing that royal blood has been lost in the outside world—and that she's so alone—there's no way we could ignore it.
"Especially since she was taken in by Kensei Kanase."
Kensei, her uncle, was once a court mage serving Aldegyr's royal family, his magic relying on the Spirit Medium abilities of its women.
"That's why he adopted Kanon," La Folia continued, her voice calm but tinged with anger. "And why he had Magus Craft attack my armored airship—he likely wanted to abduct me as well. Imitation Angel is a ritual he's researched for years. By artificially inducing Spiritual Rank Evolution, he seeks to remake a human into a higher being. For that, he needs royal blood."
Her composure couldn't hide the heat beneath her words. Kensei had experimented on his own niece—her aunt—and was turning her into an Imitation Angel, perhaps even a full Imitation Angel. If that happened, Kanon would lose her will, becoming nothing more than a Higher Dimension phenomenon.
The thought clearly enraged her.
"I doubt it's too late yet," Kaiser said, recalling something Natsuki Minamiya had told him. One of the two unregistered demons who fought above Itogami Island's western district had lingered over his apartment. Without a doubt, they were Kensei's Imitation Angels. And the one hovering over his apartment… was very likely Kanon.
"Was she trying to ask me for help? Or was it just instinct—some lingering attachment to the world?" Kaiser had wondered about that.
But either way, it didn't change his goal in coming here.
"I'll find her," Kaiser said firmly, meeting La Folia's gaze. "Will you wait here, or head back to Itogami Island?"
"Neither." She shook her head. "If Kanon's here and may already have been turned into an angel, I want to find her too."
"…Fair enough." Kaiser thought for a moment, then nodded. "The island's not that big. Even if we turn it upside down, it won't take long."
"And even if we don't find her, our enemies might come to us." La Folia smiled faintly. "They want to capture me—I can just as easily turn that around and bait them."
"Bait, huh?" Kaiser arched a brow. "You're not worried about the danger?"
"You really think I'm some helpless princess?" she said with a knowing smile. "Aldegyr is a nation that reveres its Valkyries. Our princesses aren't fragile ornaments."
As she spoke, radiance flared from her body, lighting the surroundings. The air filled with the concentrated purity of gathered spiritual power.
Kaiser recognized the sensation immediately. "A spirit—an energy being from the Higher Dimension, composed of pure spiritual power. Once summoned here, it will dissipate almost instantly."
La Folia's voice was regal and melodious. "Only high-level magi or clergy can wield them as attack magic. With the support of a warship equipped with a massive spirit furnace, they can be stably summoned.
"I can do better. As a Spirit Medium, I can summon them within myself—turning my own body into the spirit furnace."
She let the radiance fade, her beautiful smile returning.
"Spirit summoner, or spirit master—you can call me either. I hope I've done enough to earn the favor of our great King of Magical Beasts."
Chapter 434 – Black-Bellied, Plain as Day
It turned out La Folia really was the kind of bait Magus Craft couldn't resist.
The moment the two finished securing the rescued girl and set foot back into the island's interior, squads of heavily armed mechanical dolls began appearing one after another. The instant they spotted the pair, they raised their weapons and opened fire.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG…!
Gunfire echoed across the island, adding the stench of smoke and powder to a landscape already half-charred.
Unfortunately for them, to Kaiser and La Folia, this "formidable" force amounted to nothing.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
Silver shortblades flashed through the air—some whirled in front of Kaiser, weaving layers of spatial rifts to intercept the hail of bullets, while others zipped past the incoming fire and sheared through the machine-gunners, reducing them to piles of scrap metal.
"Daughter of the gods, dwell within me! Guardian of the host, age of the sword—death's own hand shall bring us victory!"
Elsewhere, La Folia's voice rang in a beautiful, lilting prayer. As she chanted, the gun she had just drawn was bathed in radiance, transforming into a blade of pure light more than ten meters long.
It was a dazzling, sacred glow—an armament forged entirely from light itself.
In the Kingdom of Aldegyr, there existed a world-renowned, cutting-edge knight system known as the Völundr System. It could temporarily raise a weapon's Spiritual Rank to the level of a holy sword, imbuing it with immense power and magical effects.
Through this system, any knight receiving its support would wield a Forged Holy Sword—a weapon that, even briefly, could repel ordinary demons, inflict grievous wounds, and suppress their regeneration. The Holy Ring Knights of Aldegyr had built countless victories on its power, earning a reputation as the demons' natural enemy.
However, the Völundr System required a spirit furnace to channel enormous amounts of spiritual power into the weapon. Royal women of Aldegyr, as Spirit Mediums, could summon spirits into themselves and act as the spirit furnace directly—no equipment required—and with purer, greater force.
Now, La Folia was doing just that, using her spell-gun as a medium and the spirits' power to elevate its rank, forging it into a holy sword.
"This ends here, mechanical dolls."
Forged Holy Sword in hand, La Folia abandoned her usual long-range style, closing in on the enemy. Gunfire tore toward her, but the radiance cloaking her body deflected every round.
She surged forward under the barrage, her sword sweeping arcs even more brilliant than Kaiser's Type-100 Heavy-Weapon Demon-Slaying Blade, cleaving through her foes.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
The mechanical dolls' armor shredded like paper before her blade, each target sliced clean in two.
They might not be demons, but in the face of a holy sword, they were still nothing but scrap iron. If Kaiser's weapons cut them like butter, La Folia's cleaved through them like ripe fruit.
Wave after wave of dolls fell, but they were just grunts—hardly enough to slow the two down.
The real threat came from the figure that suddenly swooped in from the far side of the island.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
Ugly wings, twisted body markings, a grotesque mask—the Imitation Angel appeared once more, unleashing a torrential rain of light.
Faced with Divine Aura capable of annihilating magic itself, La Folia didn't dare meet it with spirit arts, nor Kaiser with kidō—they both moved to evade instead.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM…!
The island's surface was ravaged again, explosions tearing it apart and leaving only scorched ruin.
Kaiser, weaving through the bombardment with Shunpo, drew his jet-black straight sword and poured a massive surge of spiritual power into it.
"A thousand blades stand upon the earth, defending like castle walls—yet when they all fall, one sword is taken from the serpent's tail!"
Ama-no-Murakumo's voice resonated from the blade, invoking its power to claim the abilities of outsiders for itself.
"Thus is Ama-no-Murakumo, steel of the god who defies a thousand swords!"
Kaiser slipped into space with Sonído, reappearing directly before the Imitation Angel.
Shhk!
Like black lightning, the blade fell—not striking her body, but consuming the higher-dimensional membrane surrounding her.
In that instant, Ama-no-Murakumo stole her ability to hide in the Higher Dimension, fusing it into itself.
The sword's jet-black blade turned dazzling gold, its aura shifting into pure higher-dimensional energy. With the fusion complete, Ama-no-Murakumo gained a new power—Dimensional Severance.
Shhk!
The next slash cut clean through the higher-dimensional barrier, the blade biting into the girl herself.
"Break!"
With that command, the sword's anti-demonic force unraveled the Imitation Angel ritual and Spiritual Rank Evolution Formula carved into her, erasing her wings, markings, and mask just like the last one.
"Beautiful," La Folia called from the ground, clapping. "One battle's worth of experience and you've already found the fastest, cleanest way to end it. If you ever became a knight, you'd be the most fearsome on the field."
"It's nothing," Kaiser replied calmly as he descended with the girl in his arms. "These so-called angels just have some special tricks. Once you've got the right counter, they're not hard to deal with."
This time, he hadn't even needed Divine Dividing or the Type-100—Ama-no-Murakumo alone was enough.
"I'd love to introduce you to my father," La Folia mused.
"Pass."
He wanted nothing to do with a king who was a doting father, even if he could handle it.
"You don't have to refuse so fast," she teased.
"Let's keep moving," Kaiser said, ignoring her.
Beautiful as she was, this world-famous princess was black-bellied enough to be seen from orbit. First meeting or not, she was already acting overly familiar, and her constant pranks had him nearly rolling his eyes. If it weren't for the strong first impression she'd made, he might have trussed her up like he had Sayaka Kirasaka.
If she'd guessed that much, she seemed only more eager to keep provoking him—enough that he almost wanted to strip her again just to get even.
The two bickered their way through more mechanical doll skirmishes and two more Imitation Angels.
"Kensei Kanase… that man's running wild," La Folia said at last, her tone darkening. Every new Imitation Angel meant another innocent girl altered by the former royal court mage—a flagrant, forbidden human experiment.
"This probably isn't all of them," Kaiser said, summoning a Chimera Beast to carry the unconscious girls to the beach. His other beasts kept watch over them.
"There should be at least three more like this," La Folia said grimly. "The Imitation Angel ritual is like venom in a jar—Imitation Angels fighting until the victor devours the loser's Spiritual Core. To complete the process, you need seven candidates. Seven cores from birth, plus six taken from the others, for thirteen total, linked by thirty pathways—that's the minimum for Spiritual Rank evolution in humans."
When one survives and claims the rest, their core—already pushed to the human limit—can ascend without exceeding the body's capacity, becoming something closer to a god. That is a Imitation Angel.
"Kinda like the Blazing Banquet," Kaiser noted.
"The Fourth Primogenitor's resurrection ritual?" La Folia nodded. "The principle is the same—cull the herd until all power is gathered in one vessel, then leap to a higher form of life."
Seven Imitation Angels into one Imitation Angel; twelve bodies into the Fourth Primogenitor. Different details, same idea.
"Three left… and one's Kanon?" Kaiser murmured. This time, La Folia didn't answer—because they had reached the far shore.
"…End of the line?" Kaiser frowned. The island was under two kilometers across; a straight crossing was quick work. Aside from dolls and angels, there was nothing—no sign of Kanon.
"Could she be on the other side?" he wondered—until La Folia pointed seaward.
"There, Kaiser-kun."
He followed her gaze. Not far out floated an aging cargo freighter, its hull weathered, but bearing a mark La Folia's sharp eyes caught immediately.
"That's Magus Craft's emblem, isn't it?"
"Looks like we've found it," Kaiser confirmed.
"I suppose we—" La Folia began, but Kaiser suddenly tackled her.
Vmmm…
A flash of light lanced through the air where she'd just been standing and slammed into the ground.
BOOM!
The blast kicked up dirt, stone, and a wave of heat and wind.
"Another attack?!" La Folia drew her spell-gun.
"No," Kaiser shook his head. "This one wasn't aimed at us."
Indeed—it was aimed at the sea. Flashes streaked out over the water, detonating in towering plumes.
Their source: two girls in identical combat suits, with the same grotesque wings, warped markings, and sinister masks.
Two Imitation Angels, locked in a vicious battle above the waves, each unleashing blasts that churned the ocean.
"This is the real Imitation Angel process, isn't it?" Kaiser narrowed his eyes, focusing on one of them. Despite the mask and warped form, he caught a glimpse of silver hair streaming in the wind.
His gaze fixed on her.
"…Finally found you."
Chapter 435 – Finally Decided to Show Yourself?
"That Imitation Angel… could it be…?"
Whether it was some unseen thread of blood guiding them or simply instinct, Kaiser wasn't the only one to fix his attention on one of the battling Imitation Angels—La Folia's eyes had locked onto her as well.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
With a piercing shriek, the silver-haired Imitation Angel beat her grotesque wings and lunged at her opponent, closing in for brutal hand-to-hand combat. Her hands, as sharp as a predator's claws and shimmering with Divine Aura, carved through flesh with each slash, leaving vicious, gaping wounds that drew screams from the other girl.
Both combatants were Imitation Angels, both protected by a higher-dimensional membrane. Since they existed on the same dimensional plane, the barrier that made them untouchable to others was nothing but decoration between them—it offered no protection at all.
As a result, the silver-haired one could injure her foe directly through sheer physical combat. Every strike from her slender limbs landed solidly, wringing pained cries from the other.
The wounded Imitation Angel tried to open distance, wings flaring to launch wavering, distorted blades of light. But the silver-haired one seemed to understand her powers far better—her higher-dimensional membrane shimmered like a mirage, shifting into a barrier that flickered in and out of phase, swatting the attacks aside.
By alternating between existing in the Higher Dimension and returning to the Mundane World, she rendered attacks locked to a single plane completely ineffective.
She countered in kind—lances of light tore through her opponent's membrane, punching bloody holes through her shoulder, stomach, and thigh.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiii—!"
The desperate cries only drove her to attack with even greater ferocity.
"…Impressive," Kaiser murmured, eyebrows lifting. "Same type of being, but that one's completely overpowering her. Feels like she's on a whole other level compared to the ones we've fought so far."
She was. If he were to rank them like demon beasts, ordinary Imitation Angels—ignoring the advantage of their higher-dimensional barrier—would fall somewhere around V or VI class, on par with a vampire's Familiar. The silver-haired one was at least VII or even VIII class, just shy of IX—beasts beyond any human weapon's reach.
The disparity was too great to be chance.
"…That's because that child's aptitude is nothing like the others," La Folia said quietly, a complex look in her eyes. "Most of the rest probably just have well-developed Spiritual Cores or a bit of Spirit Medium aptitude. But she—her Spirit Medium ability is equal to mine. She's top-class."
The strength of a Spirit Medium determined Spiritual Core output and spiritual capacity. In other words, her base attributes alone put her closer to the realm of angels, allowing her to draw on far more power.
"She's probably the one Kensei Kanase marked from the start as his final candidate—the only one who could become a true Imitation Angel."
It wasn't as if any seven girls could be grabbed at random, altered, and made to complete the ritual. Only maidens with the Spirit Medium constitution could even bear the Imitation Angel formula—and the stronger that trait, the greater the spiritual capacity, and the less likely they'd "overload" from devouring the Spiritual Cores of others.
If the candidate's capacity was too low, they'd burst long before the transformation was complete. To create a perfect Imitation Angel, at least one candidate needed a Spirit Medium's power at the highest level.
Without question, the silver-haired Imitation Angel before them was that candidate—destined from the beginning to survive the slaughter and ascend as the perfect Imitation Angel.
There was no need to guess who she was.
"That's Kanon Kanase," La Folia said with certainty.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
As if answering her, the silver-haired Imitation Angel let out a scream—not quite inhuman now, but warped, laced with the voice of a young girl. It was familiar. Too familiar for Kaiser to mistake.
Shhk!
Her clawed hand punched through the other girl's chest, narrowly missing her heart.
Fwoosh!
Kaiser's eyes hardened. In the next instant, he stepped forward with Shunpo, appearing behind the silver-haired Imitation Angel.
She reacted instantly, whipping around and stabbing her claw straight through him—only for the image to dissolve. A decoy.
The real Kaiser flashed in behind the wounded girl, scooping her into his arms before vanishing again, reappearing before La Folia.
"Keep her safe."
Leaving the girl in her care, he disappeared once more, too fast for La Folia to track.
"…Honestly. Here one second, gone the next. Is he using some kind of space-control magic?"
It was far from the first time his instantaneous movement had left her astonished. In Aldegyr, even with its advanced magic, few could use space-type magic at all, let alone with such instinctive ease. She knew of one—a witch from Itogami Island, famed even in Europe as the Witch of the Void.
At first, La Folia had thought Kaiser was the same—a mage with perfect mastery of spatial magic. But with her knowledge and sharp eyes, she now suspected otherwise.
"…More like an Eastern-style step technique…? The more I see, the more curious I get."
While she muttered, Kaiser was already face-to-face with the silver-haired angel.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh—!"
The moment she saw him, she howled and lunged.
"Calm down, Kanon!"
White wings of light burst from Kaiser's back as he drew his black blade, retreating at blinding speed. He tried to call to her as he widened the distance.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM…!
Her answer was a storm of light beams, crashing toward him and hammering the sea below into exploding waves.
"Half Dimension—White Dragon Emperor's Domain!"
His wings flared to their fullest, blue membranes rippling with draconic power that erased the incoming beams.
This was a move he'd once only been able to use in balance breaker form—but Kaiser had grown, and so had Divine Dividing.
Thanks to the Hōgyoku buried within him, constantly unlocking his potential and even drawing out more from his weapons, he could now use abilities that had once been restricted to his Balance Breaker, and his divide interval had shrunk to a staggering 0.1 seconds—ten halves per second.
Even without his balance breaker, Divine Dividing's might now far outstripped its original. Against an Imitation Angel, it was more than enough.
Under the field's compression, not only did her barrage fade away, but her higher-dimensional membrane buckled.
Kaiser blurred forward with Shunpo, closing in.
"Ama-no-Murakumo!"
He raised the black divine blade, ready to cut, steal her barrier, and strip away the formulas binding her—
"Pierce him! Serpentina!"
A cold, hostile voice cut through the air.
"Look out!"
From the shore, La Folia's voice rang—but too late.
Whshhh!
Blood-red flashes speared toward him like living lances.
Clang-clang-clang!
They struck white wings that snapped out behind him, sparks screaming off the surface.
"Ahhhhhh—!"
Kanon lunged in that moment, claws swiping for his face.
THUD!
He blocked, but the blow's sheer weight hurled him back through the air before he righted himself, wings folding away to reveal a cool, sharp expression.
Kaiser turned his gaze toward the Magus Craft freighter bobbing offshore.
"Tch. You blocked that?"
On the weathered deck, a tall, statuesque blonde in a deep-crimson bodysuit clicked her tongue. In her hands was a massive crimson spear, its tip twitching like something alive as it slowly recoiled—it was the weapon that had lashed out at him moments ago.
"Hey, hey—if you're going to botch an assassination, BB, don't make me watch it," drawled the tall, lanky man beside her, all long hair, leather jacket, and careless arrogance.
"Don't blame her. Looks like this one's no ordinary opponent," came a deep, level voice.
The speaker was a man of about fifty, compact in stature but radiating quiet authority. His black hair was streaked with white, his face stern and severe, his white lab coat pristine.
"…For now, come back, Kanon."
He pressed something in his hand. In the sky, the silver-haired Imitation Angel let out a pained cry, then stilled—her expression going blank, mechanical. Slowly, she descended to land behind the older man.
On the shore, La Folia's voice went cold.
"…Finally decided to show yourself, Kensei Kanase."
The man lifted his gaze to her, his severe features shadowed by something almost like sorrow.
====
Note: Merry Christmas