"Let's begin…"
Kojou whispered, his voice so low it almost dissolved into the surrounding silence. He slowly extended his hand toward Nagisa's motionless body lying before him. Her breathing was calm, but her stillness was anything but natural; she was submerged in the influence of a powerful spell—one strong enough that even waking her would be a disaster, for her soul would immediately clash with Avrora's trapped within her, triggering a battle whose outcome could not be predicted.
Kojou closed his eyes for a few seconds, gathering his focus, then began directing his spiritual energy toward Nagisa's chest.
In a faint moment—as if the air itself stopped moving—a silhouette appeared above her body: the form of a beautiful girl with softly glowing blonde hair, her delicate features resembling a gentle breeze given human shape.
Her image was transparent at first, nothing more than drifting strands of light, but with each passing second she grew more defined and more solid; her limbs took shape, her eyes began to slowly open, and the fading threads of light around her condensed, as though Avrora were being pulled from the depths of darkness toward the surface.
Kojou felt a terrifying pressure gathering around his hand, as if the sun itself had shrunk into his palm, yet he didn't pull back.
He knew this extraction needed absolute precision…
Otherwise, all three souls—Nagisa's, Avrora's, and even his own—could be destroyed in an instant.
With every heartbeat, Avrora's form manifested further… and further… until she almost seemed to be standing there, suspended between life and death, between light and shadow.
"Now!"
Kojou shouted sharply, then lifted his hand and with a swift motion cut his finger with his fang, letting a thin line of bright crimson blood flow out. He didn't hesitate; he let the droplet fall directly above Avrora's spirit, still hanging in the air like a flicker between existence and nothingness.
With a heavy breath, he released his spell:
"Ingall!"
The droplet didn't touch the spirit directly; instead, it landed on the ground beside her, and the floor trembled as if answering an ancient call.
In an instant, a wide magic circle expanded from the point of blood, radiating blue and green light. Its lines glowed and interwove like threads of fate being rewoven before their eyes.
Light began to wrap around Avrora's spirit, streaming as luminous strands that slowly gathered, then turned into substance—into flesh—into a living body.
With each pulse, her limbs formed: bones, then muscle, then soft, snow-colored skin, as though the world itself were gifting her a new form—a true body of flesh and blood returning to life for the first time.
The air trembled around them as Kojou's magic continued its work, the green and blue light flooding the room like a dawn born inside a closed chamber.
"This… is just a small apology, nothing more…"
Kojou murmured, the words sounding like they came from deep within his chest rather than from his lips. Before Mira could ask what he meant, he lifted his hand abruptly and placed it over his solar plexus.
Then—without a moment's hesitation—he drove his hand into his own chest.
Only a muffled gasp escaped him, while Mira's eyes widened with pure shock as she watched his fingers sink into his flesh as if his body were nothing but fragile light unable to resist him.
When he pulled his hand out, he held a small red sphere… a core of pure energy, pulsing with indescribable hatred and violence.
It was the Source of Destruction—
Crack!
A sharp breaking sound tore through the air.
Kojou squeezed the Source in his hand, and in a moment red sparks burst from between his fingers, like a star being slowly crushed.
The pain surging through him was terrifying—agony only one who loses a piece of their very soul could comprehend.
Even so, his expression barely changed—only a faint trace of pain at the corner of his eyes, and the strained grinding of his teeth as he swallowed both physical and spiritual shock all at once.
Mira stared at him with trembling eyes; destroying the Source wasn't a wound… it was obliteration.
It was the end of existence for a Fourth Progenitor-level being—and surviving it was nearly impossible without mythical conditions.
And yet…
Kojou hadn't hesitated for a single moment when he crushed the Source earlier.
He hadn't thought of survival, or pain, or the possibility of death.
For him…
His goals were more important than his life.
And those he wished to protect were worth far more than his own existence.
Small fragments of the Source fell from his hands, half of them crumbling like red ash… but one piece remained, glowing with a dense black-red light.
Kojou carefully picked up that lone shard, as if holding a beating heart, then lifted it toward Avrora's newly formed body.
With a gentle touch unusual for him, he pressed the shard to her chest—letting it melt slowly into her, fusing with her as though returning to its original home.
It was his compensation… the only thing he could offer in place of the power that had been taken from her, the strength he could not restore in its original form.
This shard of the Source of Destruction would bind Avrora to him forever—not just as a recreated body, but as a soul fundamentally linked to his own, sharing his fate and his power.
And more importantly…
It would allow her to wield the power of destruction itself.
With the final pulse of the fusion, the air around them vibrated… as though the world acknowledged a new birth.
"I'll leave the rest to you…"
Kojou said, offering Mira a faint smile—one barely masking the deadly exhaustion creeping across his face.
But before Mira could answer, something else began to happen…
Crack!
Thin fractures—like cracks in glass—appeared on his shoulder first, then slowly spread across his chest, arms, and legs, spreading over his entire body like an irrevocable web of destruction.
His skin crumbled in places like red dust, and even his soul seemed to tremble inside him like a dying light.
Mira knew exactly what this meant.
Destroying the Source wasn't an injury…
It was erasure.
It was the endpoint for a being on the level of the Fourth Progenitor—
and there was almost no hope of return.
And yet…
Kojou hadn't hesitated when he crushed the Source.
He didn't think of survival, or pain, or death.
To him…
His purpose was greater than his life.
Those he wished to protect were more precious than his existence.
He was collapsing slowly before her, not as some supernatural being, but as a human who made a fearless decision.
With every new crack spreading across his body, his smile remained—faint, but sincere—as if reassuring Mira that he had done the right thing… and that the rest of this mission now rested on her shoulders.
"Leave it to me… Oto-sama."
Mira said with a steady voice, her face carrying an unfamiliar sternness, as though she was desperately trying to preserve her composure in front of what her heart viewed as a catastrophe.
But her eyes…
Her beautiful blue eyes could not hide the truth.
Worry trembled in them like an unending current.
And sadness weighed heavily in her gaze, so much so it seemed she might break apart—if not for her determination to show no weakness before him.
She knew she might be the last person he depended on in this moment…
And the fear of losing him was suffocating her, yet she stood firm, raising her head, ready to carry what he left behind.
Her words weren't merely a promise—
They were a vow, pulsing with every last ounce of strength left in her heart.
...
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