"Be careful on the way, Rei, Ferry, and remember—don't do anything weird at school~" Rei's mother called out, waving her hand at the two of them as they left.
"Hahaha, no way Rei has the guts to do that, they'll be fine," his father chimed in, for some reason standing there too.
"See you at home later, Rei," his sister said before heading off to her university.
Since Rei's school and his sister's university were in different directions, they parted ways in front of the house. Now it was just Rei and Ferry walking to school together.
Rei remained silent even after they left the house, as if trying to recall something, but he couldn't.
Ferry glanced at him, looking worried and hesitant, she wanted to ask something but wasn't sure. Finally, she decided to speak up.
"Um... Rei, why are you so quiet? Are you still upset because I left suddenly during the school break?"
"I'm sorry, it's because my parents surprised me with a trip, and they forgot to let you know beforehand," Ferry said, her voice soft and a little sad, even tears gathering in her eyes.
"No, no, I'm not mad about that. I'm just thinking about something," Rei quickly reassured her, pulling out his handkerchief to wipe her tears.
Ferry had always been like that. Since they were little, the two of them were almost inseparable. And when they did argue, Ferry would show up the next day at Rei's house, crying and apologizing, even if it wasn't her fault.
"Since we were little...?" Rei suddenly paused as he wiped her tears.
But he decided not to dwell on it and finished wiping them away.
"It's done now, let's go," Rei said, offering his hand to her.
Seeing that, Ferry smiled, taking his hand, and they continued walking together.
Not much happened while they walked—just the usual sights they saw on their way to school.
That was until Ferry suddenly asked, "By the way, don't you usually play games on your phone around this time? You're always doing your dailies, but you didn't do it today. Did you already finish them at home?"
"Dailies? Oh, right!" Rei quickly pulled out his phone with his left hand.
After unlocking it, he started scrolling through his apps, immediately searching for the browser and typing something.
"Hmm, what are you doing? I thought you were going to do your dailies, not browse," Ferry said, peeking at his screen.
"Eh? The game I usually play is on the browser, though."
Hearing that confused Ferry. "But you only play games from apps on your phone, right? You often show them to me."
"My apps?" Rei muttered, exiting the browser and browsing through the game folder on his phone.
But there was only one game inside. "Honkai Impact 3?"
There was nothing wrong with it because it was the game Rei usually played when he got tired of farming in the other game.
"Other game? Did I even have another game besides this?" Rei thought to himself, glancing over at Ferry.
"Ferry, do you remember if I had any other games on my phone?" he asked, his voice laced with curiosity.
Hearing that, Ferry furrowed her brow, trying to recall the games Rei had shown her before.
"There were a lot of games you showed me, but you always uninstall most of them within a week because you get bored. That one's the only one you kept," Ferry said, still thinking it over.
"What's wrong?" she asked, now looking concerned.
"No, no... I just feel like I've been playing another game besides this one... but it's probably just a dream or an ad or something," Rei replied, shaking his head.
They continued walking toward school, taking their time since they still had a time before classes started.
But then, suddenly, Rei caught a refreshing scent from behind him. It was pleasant, crisp, almost like a fresh breeze on a spring morning.
And then, a sound—ring—a soft chime echoed, followed by someone bumping into him from behind, arms wrapping around him tightly in a hug.
*Ring~*
"Ahhh, Tiamat, what are you doing!? Let go of him!" Ferry exclaimed, trying to pull the girl with long aqua-colored hair off of Rei.
*Ring Ring* the sound of a bell continued as Tiamat clung to Rei, holding on tightly, refusing to let go, the chime growing more frequent.
"What the!?" Rei was overwhelmed by the sudden embrace and the persistent ringing.
A few moments later.
"Why did you suddenly hug him like that!?" Ferry pouted, arms crossed in frustration.
But Tiamat didn't respond, her focus entirely on Rei. She lifted her right hand, revealing a bracelet with a small bell attached to it.
*Ring* the bell chimed once more as she gave it a gentle shake.
But even with just the sound of the bell, for some reason, Rei understood what Tiamat was saying.
"So, what did she say?" Ferry asked, glancing curiously at Rei.
"Huh? What do you mean?" he replied, confused.
"What do you mean 'what'? You're the only one who understands her! No one else knows what she's saying," Ferry said, shaking her head.
"Eh? I mean... she said she missed me," Rei explained.
Ring—Tiamat chimed her bell again.
"And she said that ever since the holiday started, she hasn't been able to meet me."
Hearing that, Ferry turned to Tiamat. "Well, it wasn't just you. I didn't get to meet with Rei either."
Ring—Tiamat responded with a smug look.
"She said, 'That's not my problem,'" Rei translated with a sigh.
Ferry, now visibly irritated, could only huff in frustration, turning her head away from Tiamat in annoyance.
And so, the three of them walked to school together, but the real issue was how much they stood out. Both Tiamat and Ferry were clinging to Rei's arms, glaring at each other with sharp, competitive looks.
"Why does this feel like I'm suddenly in a harem story?" Rei muttered to himself.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at school, but Rei noticed that people were staring at them more than usual. Some were even giggling, and Rei overheard someone say, "It's Rei and his girlfriends again... Why can't I be that lucky?"
Hearing all this made Rei wonder if the other students were already used to seeing him in this situation. But despite that, something felt wrong to him... like all of this was unfamiliar, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something important was missing—something he couldn't quite remember.
Still, he decided to push those thoughts aside for now and focus on school.
The three of them entered their classroom together, since they had been placed in the same class from the beginning. Ferry had worked hard to stay in the same class as Rei, while Tiamat, for reasons unknown to everyone but Rei, was also placed with him because he was the only one who could understand her.
After exchanging greetings with his friends and chatting about what they'd done during the break, the school bell rang, signaling the start of the lesson.
"Hey, did you hear the rumor? We're getting a new teacher today," Leo, one of Rei's friends, mentioned to him.
"A new teacher? That's pretty random," Rei responded, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, the last teacher quit because she got married during the holiday, so we're getting someone new."
As they were talking, the classroom door suddenly opened, and a woman entered.
She was an elegant adult woman with long brown hair, decorated with floral and leaf-like accessories weaved into it.
"Hello, everyone," the woman greeted, turning her gaze toward the students.
"I'm your new teacher. My name is Rosetta, and you can call me Teacher Rosetta. Nice to meet you all." She smiled warmly as she scanned the class, meeting each student's eyes.
However, when her gaze landed on Rei, she paused, staring at him intently before, and suddenly licking her lips.
-----
"ETERNAL ASCENDANCY!" Djeeta shouted, pouring all of her Boundary Power into her final strike.
After clashing blades and exchanging blows for what felt like eternity, Djeeta was starting to tire. But before switching out with the others, she was determined to unleash her strongest attack against Lucillus.
Raising her right hand high, her Boundary Power flared, growing more intense by the second. Around her hand, the Revenant Weapons began to appear one by one.
"ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN!" she yelled, calling all of her Revenant Weapons, which swirled around her right arm.
With a commanding shout, Djeeta summoned them all into her arm, their power merging with her, and her hand radiated an intense blue glow of Boundary Power.
Seeing this, Lucillus instinctively flew backward, trying to escape the reach of her incoming attack.
"Trying to run? Too bad!" Djeeta's aura exploded outward, and in an instant, she vanished from sight.
Lucillus couldn't keep up with her speed, frantically scanning the surroundings.
BOOOOOM!—"Aghh!" In a flash, he felt an excruciating pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw Djeeta, her aura raging, her right fist buried in his stomach.
"HHAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Djeeta screamed, pushing even more of her power into Lucillus with all her might.
"Reginleiv: Azimuth!!" Her power surged, the blue energy piercing through Lucillus and shooting out from his back.
"Arghhhh!!!" Lucillus groaned in agony, unable to resist the force.
"HAAAH!"—BAAAAM Djeeta's punch sent Lucillus flying, crashing into one of the floating blue cubes that littered the sky.
Breathing heavily, Djeeta's Boundary Power flickered weakly, her body exhausted from the strain.
Finally, the power faded, her hair returning to its blonde color as she started to fall from the sky.
"Got you!" Halluel and Malluel swooped in, catching her before she hit the ground.
"Hahh... thanks, both of you... I'm so tired..." Djeeta said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"No problem, just rest now. It's Sandalphon's turn to fight," Malluel reassured her.
"Sure..." Djeeta closed her eyes, finally succumbing to her exhaustion and falling asleep in their arms.
With Djeeta resting, the two archangels turned their gaze toward Lucillus, who was now far off in the distance after being thrown by Djeeta's punch.
They could see his body, bruised and battered, struggling to regenerate. Even the power of the Avatar wasn't enough to fully keep up with the damage he'd sustained.
"Boundary power... I really underestimated it... I'm going to claim that power for myself once I'm done with all of you," Lucillus muttered, rising back into the air.
Looking at his damaged body and the shattered remains of the Sword of Renunciation floating in front of him, Lucillus grimaced.
"Still not at full power yet..." he observed, realizing he needed more time to reach his true form. Djeeta, Singularity Gran, and their allies had infiltrated his dimension far quicker than he'd anticipated.
He could forcefully access his true form now, but it would be a weakened version. Instead, he decided to accelerate his regeneration, allowing his body to heal faster.
Moments later, his wounds closed up, and he saw the two archangels still holding Djeeta.
Gritting his teeth, Lucillus gathered his power once more.
"Axion Apocalypse," he whispered, his left hand surging with silver and black energy, accompanied by crackling lightning.
Once the energy reached a critical mass, he unleashed it in a massive beam aimed straight at the trio.
"Hmm?" Halluel sensed something coming and quickly turned her head.
"Ehh!?" She saw the enormous silver-black laser barreling toward them.
"Quick, dodge!" Malluel shouted, trying to evade while still holding Djeeta.
But before they could move—or the laser could hit them—the beam was suddenly split in two, passing harmlessly around them.
"Now I'm your opponent, Lucillus!" Sandalphon appeared in front of them, her twelve wings unfurled, her gaze fixed on Lucillus.
"The replacement..." Lucillus muttered, eyeing Sandalphon.
Without hesitation, a magic circle appeared behind Lucillus, smaller than the one he'd used earlier.
"PARADISE LOST!" Lucillus fired hundreds of rays of light at Sandalphon.
"That again?" Sandalphon mirrored his move.
"PARADISE LOST!"
The two beams clashed in the sky, creating an explosion so powerful it shook everything.