Without hesitation, the AST units switched weapons. Gatling barrels unfolded and unleashed a torrent of energy rounds.
The rain churned under the barrage.
But Gabriel had already moved.
His steps were light, almost like gliding through the gaps between shots, his body tilting by fractions of a degree each time a beam passed through the space he had occupied a split second earlier.
Not a single hit touched him.
The firing stopped.
"Switch to close combat!" Ryouko shouted.
Blades of light formed in every member's hand.
They charged at once.
And Gabriel—vanished.
Ryouko sensed something behind her and spun instantly, blade raised.
CLANG—!
Ragnarok met her sword, blue and white sparks scattering outward.
"Not bad," Gabriel said calmly, his face almost completely devoid of emotion.
From Gabriel's blind spot, another unit was already slashing toward his neck.
Once again, the world slowed.
Gabriel shifted his foot, then drove a precise, controlled kick into Ryouko's abdomen. Her body was sent flying back—not fatally, just enough to break the pressure.
At the same time, Ragnarok's handle rose and blocked the strike from behind.
A heavy impact rang out.
The battle fully erupted.
Blades clashed, bodies crossed paths, and the AST formation shifted dynamically—two attacking, one covering gaps, one waiting for an opening.
Gabriel parried, turned, and stepped between them as if reading training patterns he had long ago memorized.
"An excellent formation," he said between the collisions of weapons. "You deserve praise."
His tone was flat.
Like an observer… not the one being pressured.
Then his gaze sharpened slightly.
"However, let's end this phase."
His left palm rose to chest level.
"Mana Zone."
In an instant, pale white mana surged from his body. The air suddenly felt heavy and cold, as if an invisible pressure were compressing the space itself.
Thin circles of light ignited across the ground.
"—Spiritual pressure rising?!"
"What is this?!"
The AST members' voices came through the comms, tight with tension.
[- Dark Matter Creation Magic: Zadkiel Urteilsspeer des Leerenlichts -]
The ground cracked.
From beneath shattered asphalt and concrete, dozens of pale white spears burst upward. Their tips were razor-sharp, a frigid aura clinging to their surfaces.
"Up! All units, get off the surface!" Ryouko shouted.
Realizer thrusters flared in unison. The formation scattered into the air, avoiding the forest of spears that sealed off the area below.
But it wasn't over.
Circuits of pale white light suddenly spread through the air, across the ground, even threading through the falling raindrops—forming a massive, irregular network with a radius of dozens of meters, as though the space itself were being "rewritten."
"Area of effect expanding—what is this, a battlefield rewrite?!"
"Sensors can't read its structure!"
Without a single word, Gabriel spun the blade of Ragnarok above his head.
The weapon left behind a circular trail of pale light, as if drawing a seal in the air.
[- Dark Matter Magic: Spell Construction — I AM ATOMIC -]
Light.
Not an explosion.
Not an ordinary flash.
As if the world blinked.
White filled their vision.
Sound vanished.
The weight in their chests disappeared.
And then—
Silence.
The rain… was gone.
The sky above the crater was clear, thin clouds drifting slowly.
The circuits on the ground had vanished.
The spears were gone, like illusions withdrawn.
And at the center of it all—
"Target…?"
Ryouko turned her gaze.
"He's gone."
The AST visor monitors showed nothing. No heat signatures, no energy waves, no trace of the black-robed figure.
As if the young man had never stood there at all.
All that remained was cracked pavement… and the wet crater, now slowly drying without rain.
***
Almost at the same time, the Fraxinus command room filled with overlapping system alerts and notifications.
"The energy wave just now—completely gone?!"
"No Reiryoku residue detected!"
"Not an explosion… and not a follow-up Spatial Quake either!"
The operators spoke over one another, hands moving rapidly across their panels.
Kotori rose from her chair, one hand braced on the command desk. Her expression was serious, the black ribbon in her hair trembling slightly as she leaned toward the main screen.
"Replay the phenomenon. All spectrum sensors."
On the other side of the room, Shido had just been brought in by the crew after being "kicked" away by the wind from the combat zone. His raincoat was still soaked, his breathing not yet fully steady.
"What did he just do…?!" Shido asked, still shaken. "That wasn't a normal attack, right?!"
The screen replayed the recording.
White light.
A fraction of a second of missing frames.
Then the rain stopped… and the target vanished.
Reine watched the streaming data, her face as calm as ever, though her brows lowered ever so slightly—a sign she was thinking intensely.
"What occurred wasn't spatial distortion," she said quietly.
Several operators turned toward her.
"Not teleportation. Not coordinate folding. And it doesn't appear to be erasure of existence either."
Kotori narrowed her eyes. "Then what?"
Reine brought up a graph.
"It's closer to… phenomenon overwriting."
"Huh?"
"He temporarily overlaid the area with a different 'state.' The rain didn't stop because the weather changed… but because the variable 'rain' was no longer permitted to exist in that space."
The command room fell silent.
Shido swallowed. "So… he changed the rules of that place?"
Reine didn't answer right away.
"…On a local scale, yes."
Kotori clenched her fist on the desk. "And he did that while facing AST… alone…"
Her gaze hardened.
"And our Spirit data is still blank."
Shido stared at the empty screen where Gabriel had stood moments ago.
"…Ash," he murmured softly, recalling the name the young man had given.
For the first time in a long while, Fraxinus was facing something they couldn't classify as a Spirit, a Wizard, or any other known being.
And that made the atmosphere in the room feel far heavier than any Spacequake siren ever had.
***
A day had passed since the night when the rain was "erased" from the skies over Tengu City.
That afternoon, Raizen High's classroom was filled with the muted sunlight of the rainy season filtering through thin clouds.
The murmur of students chatting and the soft breeze drifting through the windows created an utterly mundane backdrop.
Near the back row by the window, a transfer student sat with his chin propped on his hand.
Gabriel let out a small yawn, eyes half-lidded as he gazed at the sky outside.
His school uniform fit neatly, black hair falling to cover part of his face—just enough to hide eyes far too calm for an ordinary teenager.
In truth, Gabriel had already been in this world for a month, living as a normal student.
He still hadn't summoned Baobhan Sith.
Not because he couldn't—but because he was waiting for the right place.
Rinkai—the region saturated with mana—had been marked by him even before he arrived in this world. It was the perfect location for a summoning ritual.
And most importantly, Gabriel genuinely wanted to play the role of Ash a little longer.
Gabriel's fingers tapped lightly against the wooden desk.
Yesterday had been his debut as Ash.
The pale mist standing beneath the rain, speaking of a sky that wept.
He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the AST's expressions… and the strange silence after the rain vanished.
"What should I do next, I wonder…" Gabriel murmured softly, his voice nearly drowned out by the casual chatter of the other students.
His gaze remained out the window, but his thoughts raced far away.
Scenario after scenario formed rapidly in his mind.
The first option appeared like the dramatic opening of a scene.
Attack the AST headquarters.
Not to win or completely destroy it.
Just to appear, create controlled chaos, break their formation… then disappear just as suddenly.
With no clear objective.
Confusion would be far more frightening than a direct threat.
He could almost picture the emergency reports, the frantic discussions, the same question repeated over and over.
Who is he, really?
Gabriel let out a quiet breath.
Then the second option surfaced.
DEM.
A bit more dangerous. Sharper.
Destroy half a facility—enough to force them to act seriously.
Westcott would definitely take interest.
Ellen would likely step in personally.
The conflict would escalate.
The world would begin to realize a new variable had entered the board.
Gabriel's fingers stopped tapping the desk.
Both options… were appealing.
Too appealing.
And because of that, they felt ordinary.
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Ash isn't just a disturbance…" he thought. "Ash is an omen."
And at that moment—another idea emerged.
A faint smile formed on his lips.
Ah.
This one… was far more interesting.
Not far from where Gabriel sat, three girls stood close together. Their bodies faced the blackboard as if they were reading something extremely important—yet their eyes weren't on it at all.
Their focus was on one thing only.
The boy sitting alone by the window.
They were Ai Yamabuki, Mai Hazakura, and Mii Fujibakama.
Ai tilted her head slightly, her hair swaying. "He…"
Mai narrowed her eyes a little. "…he just smiled to himself, didn't he?"
"Maji hiku wa…" Mii muttered quietly.
It had already been a month since Gabriel transferred to the school, yet his presence still felt like something that… didn't quite blend with the surroundings.
He wasn't loud, didn't seek attention, and didn't even try to get close to anyone.
And yet, that was exactly what made him stand out.
He always sat by the window. Often seen spacing out while staring at the sky, or smiling faintly at something no one else could see.
Some students thought he was just quiet.
Others thought he was strange.
And the rest—couldn't explain why it felt like they were sharing a room with someone who wasn't entirely there with them.
As if his body was in the classroom… but his mind stood somewhere far away, in a place no one else could reach.
No one knew for sure.
And precisely because no one knew, the quiet whispers about him kept surfacing—soft, subtle, but never truly fading.
___
Author's Note:
Gabriel is actually in the same class as Shido, and Shido still doesn't know Gabriel's identity as Ash.
Whenever he acts as Ash, Gabriel often changes his hair color to white, and even his tone of voice is different.