The coats descended upon the group of five, and Lucy was quick to inspect his. Surprisingly, the coats were made of iron steel, adorned with designs reminiscent of their samurai armor.
Lucy's eyes narrowed as his hands caressed the rubbery texture of the inner lining, a smile spreading across his lips.
'I'm already planning my path of revenge; filling a coffin with blood will just be the beginning.'
As he put on the coat, Lucy found it fit perfectly, unlike his initial expectations. Arm guards and a pair of gloves also appeared, completing the ensemble.
Mikino moved closer to him, teasing, "From today on, you're my boss, Lucien-kun."
Lucy sized up the blind girl before turning to the others, nodding, "I'll keep an eye on you."
Mikino shrugged, her face drifting to Tsukino, who still hadn't put on her armor. The gray-eyed girl felt hesitant, her gaze fixed on the armor as doubts crept in.
'If I put this on, I'll have to kill for a living... maybe this coffin they're talking about is as big as the world itself.'
Her grip on the armor tightened as she thought about her brother. 'If I don't do this, I might never see him again... I might look down on him, but he's still my younger brother. But... is he even still alive?'
Tsukino didn't want to consider that possibility; it was too terrifying. Her gaze locked onto Lucy, and she declared, "If joining you means I can save my brother, I'm willing to do it! I might have seen him as a liability, but he shares my blood. He's my responsibility, not anyone else's!"
Lucy remained silent, following to the law of his organization: loyalty was owed to the person above you, not him directly. If someone wanted to request something from him, they had to go through their designated superior. This hierarchy maintained a balance between master and follower.
Shoji looked at Sora, pleading, "Can you tell Lucy-senpai about Tsukino's problem?"
Sora feigned a cold demeanor, saying, "As I told you before, our plan is to take down the largest evil organization in the world. Shinji is part of that group, and if Tsukino wants to save her brother, she'll have to confront them... and consider the possibility that he might already be dead, given Shinji's desire to kill him and force himself to forget his feelings for Tsukino."
Tsukino's heart felt like it had been ripped out as Sora's words shattered her doubts about her brother's fate. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and put on the armor. Before she could speak, the five of them were transported to a different world.
The ground was scarred by the remnants of modern infrastructure, with rubble and shattered steel stretching as far as the eye could see. Debris-filled streets were a tangled mess of cars and shattered glass. Although smoke, oil, and sewage should have hung heavy in the air, the five figures floating above the ruined city didn't notice it.
"This must be the Primordial Space." Sora exclaimed, her gaze wandering over the desolate landscape. "I heard it's individualized, so why are we all sharing it?"
Lucy's cold response was, "It's probably because of that."
Everyone followed his gaze to the magnificent castle of glass hovering above them, its medieval European design a stark contrast to the ruined city below. The castle was the size of a residential building, and its presence seemed to command attention.
"Is that the coffin we're supposed to fill?" Tsukino muttered, though the answer was obvious.
Shoji, meanwhile, noticed something beneath his feet. "This rusty thing must be Rei..."
As his words faded, everyone turned to look at the translucent, soccer-ball-sized orb floating near their feet. Their faces lit up with excitement; this was the object they were not destined to use for the rest of their lives, and it was finally within their grasp.
Sora's blue eyes sparkled with joy as she reached into her Rei, pulling out three small, exquisitely cut diamond jewels in the shapes of a trillion, a young dove, and a phoenix.
"These are Tama..." she whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
The others followed her lead, marveling at their own Tama. Mikino, however, could only use her fingers to trace the intricate designs on her three light-blue Tama, which were cut into heptagon, crescent moon, and hut shapes.
She suddenly asks, "Lucien-kun, how do we use these?"
Lucy stored his Tama in his electrum Rei, responding indifferently, "You just store them in your Rei and think about the ones you want to use when the time comes. If your Rei turns translucent, you won't be able to use your Tama."
His gaze landed on the blind girl, curiosity flashing in his eyes.
"You said you're from a clan, so how come you don't know something like that?"
Mikino smiled, unfazed by his questioning.
"Not all clans have the wealth to spend on people who haven't awakened as Tama-Artists, like the fortress clans. All I know is that the best way to increase Rei capacity is through constant use, and the alternative is through zazen – though only by a little amount, this is more suitable for recovery."
Lucy shrugged her off disdainfully, already aware of the information. However, Shoji still had a question burning in his mind.
"How do I bring Rei out of my body like Takeshi-san, like when his hand turned to lightning?"
Before Sora could ask Lucy to relay the answer, Mikino chimed in, a smile spreading across her face. "You need to use the Akiraka Tama for that. For elemental release, you'll need a Tama with a similar color to your Rei. They're designed for samurai, so they're relatively affordable – at least 200 Kojin."
The group stared at her in shock, their eyes wide with astonishment. 200 Kojin was a sum they'd only heard about in tales. Oblivious to their reactions.
Mikino muttered, "Return."
The four others followed her, and they were teleported back to the summit of X-You Mountain, to the very pit where their bodies had been reduced to ashes.
Tsukino felt invigorated by the cold night breeze, and her curiosity got the better of her.
"How did Lucy-kun know we'd come back to life? I thought it was just a trial in hell."
Before Shoji could look to his master for clarification, Sora provided a straightforward answer. "That blue-haired Tama Artist told Shinji that dead people had been coming back to life on the island ever since the moon turned pink. Given the scene we witnessed before we awakened, it wasn't hard for Lucy-san to piece things together."
Mikino's eyes widened in surprise.
"Doesn't that mean Lucien-kun's mother might have come back to life?"
Lucy's expression darkened, and he turned away from the group.
"Let's meet in the Primordial Space at sunrise."