"Good morning, students!" said the new teacher, clapping her hands as she entered the kindergarten classroom.
The children immediately hushed. Something about her voice rang like crystal wind chimes — soft, lovely, yet… hollow.
"My name is Miss Iroha, and I'll be your substitute for today."
Lily Maou squinted at her, hugging her plush staff. "What happened to Miss Natsuko?"
"Oh," Iroha smiled, her eyes narrowing slightly, "she's... taking a long rest. But don't worry. I'll take very good care of you all."
The other children giggled at her flowing purple robes and glowing chalk, already charmed. But Lily frowned.
She could feel it: Miss Iroha's spirit didn't hum like a person. It shimmered cold like a haunted wind.
Miss Iroha led the children in a game she called "Hide-and-Seek of the Soul." The lights dimmed. The walls shimmered.
"This will help you understand yourself," she cooed, waving her staff. "You'll each find the light inside your heart… and give it to me — I mean, give it form."
None of the kids noticed her slip — except Lily.
One by one, children's small energies flickered as Iroha extracted harmless wisps from their hearts, whispering ancient words. She smiled like a gardener harvesting dew.
Then she turned to Lily.
"Your turn, sweetheart."
Lily shook her head. "No."
Miss Iroha's expression froze — just for a second.
"Why not, darling?"
"Because I know what spirit-eating magic smells like," Lily said quietly. "My plushie staff says you're cheating."
Miss Iroha's smile cracked.
"I see," she said, voice deeper. "So the Maou child really can resist."
The classroom transformed.
The chalkboards blackened into swirling shadow. Desks floated. A spectral barrier locked the doors. The other children fell asleep in an enchanted dream state, unaware.
Lily stood her ground, shaking but defiant.
"I don't want to fight you."
Iroha's robes billowed as she revealed her true form — not quite human, not quite ghost: a Spirit-Seer from the Netherverse, with hollow eyes and ten floating hands behind her.
"But you must, dear Lily. Your power is a thread in the tapestry of fate. And I need it."
Energy surged — binding ropes of soul-fire flying toward Lily.
But the girl raised her plushie staff.
"I'm not just power," she said, "I'm kindness too."
A dome of pink magic burst outward, protecting her friends as the soul-bonds rebounded.
BOOM!
The classroom walls exploded inward as Ragna Maou crashed through one side in a blast of hellfire.
From the ceiling, Sakura Maou descended with divine light crackling in her blade.
"Step away from our daughter," they said in unison.
Miss Iroha hissed, levitating above the desks.
"I only want to save the world."
"By draining children?!" Sakura shouted.
"You're thousands of years old and you still prey on kindergartners?" Ragna said. "Wow. Must be hard being that pathetic."
Lily ran to them, still holding her staff. "I protected them. But she's strong."
Sakura touched her daughter's face. "You were braver than I've ever been."
Ragna turned, eyes glowing red. "We'll handle the rest."
The classroom was now a battlefield.
Iroha unleashed chained spirits and flying glyphs. Spectral arms reached from the air, flinging enchanted furniture.
Sakura dashed through a rain of black sigils, slicing with pinpoint fury.
Ragna hurled an infernal flame-axe that turned a demon-chalkboard into melted glass.
Miss Iroha cried out, unleashing a vortex of soul energy. The air shook with screams of bound spirits.
"You protect one child," she roared, "but billions die every year to fate!"
Ragna blocked it with one arm. "We're not trying to save fate. We're saving Lily. That's enough for me."
Behind them, Lily looked at her sleeping classmates — still trapped in illusions.
She gripped her staff. Her heart trembled.
"I don't want to just be protected anymore."
Her mother's strength. Her father's rage. They were powerful, but something in Lily stirred — something gentler. Wiser.
She walked forward, stepping past the blast radius.
Miss Iroha froze. "What are you doing?"
Lily raised her voice. "I won't destroy you. That's not who I want to be."
She planted her staff into the floor. It glowed like sunrise.
"I forgive you. But I won't let you hurt people."
The classroom shimmered — a pulse of pink and white sweeping outward, cleansing the spectral residue and unbinding the children's dreams.
Miss Iroha's power recoiled.
The Spirit-Seer shrieked. "You'd give mercy to a monster?!"
"I'm not giving you anything," Lily said. "But I'm not becoming like you either."
She held her hand up — and lowered it.
Miss Iroha fell to her knees. Her ten hands disappeared, replaced by the face of a lonely woman in tattered robes.
"I only wanted to matter," she whispered.
"You do," Lily said gently. "Just not like this."
Later, in the school courtyard, the barrier faded. The children blinked awake, confused but unharmed.
Sakura cradled Lily as Ragna looked at the ruins of the classroom.
"Well," he muttered, "we're getting another invoice."
Sakura smiled. "Worth it."
Lily looked up at them.
"I want to be strong like you, but also kind like you."
Ragna crouched beside her. "You already are."
Sakura ruffled her hair. "That's why you're going to be better than both of us."
Far away, in the astral borderlands of the Netherverse, a black-winged figure watched Miss Iroha's defeat through a floating mirror.
"She failed."
Another voice, deeper, replied: "Let the next gate open. It's time the girl sees her true reflection."
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