"Raiden Mei, right?"
Sirin gave Mei another look. Her attitude toward Mei wasn't as warm as it was toward Kiana, but it wasn't unfriendly either.
"Once Almighty Thunder is defeated, we'll come find you again."
Raiden Ryoma's body had already begun showing signs of corruption—his compatibility with the power of the Kami was extremely poor. There was no need to test him with a complete Edict Edge to confirm it.
He was definitely not a Narukami wielder.
But with Yae Sakura as precedent—the shrine maiden who had once wielded an incomplete Frost Blade to slay a Kami—it wasn't hard for them to imagine that Raiden Mei might be the rightful wielder of Narukami.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You'll understand when the time comes."
Narukami: Naught had not yet been forged, and it was still uncertain whether Mei was truly its Sentinel. Sirin didn't want to explain too much before things were confirmed.
"Kiana, let's part ways here."
Sirin gave Kiana a final farewell. Her mind was already focused on the coming battle with Almighty Thunder, leaving her in no mood to linger. She turned and quickly departed from the shrine.
Only Mei remained behind, frowning slightly, puzzled.
"What was that about?"
"She's just in a hurry," Kiana said, still dazed as if waking from a dream. "She only came to buy a set of premium healing services from me."
"She's recovered now, so she's heading back to the battlefield."
Mei cast her a curious glance, but recalling the stigmata and the weapon Kiana had given her, she decided the whole 'healing' business wasn't all that strange.
"Then we should move out too. I just finished talking with the armed division—they agreed right away. We'll meet them near the shelter where we fought the Arachne-type Kami earlier. They're willing to provide us with some equipment support."
Sirin's visit was an unexpected detour, nothing more.
Her departure didn't change anything.
Mei still felt some concern for her father out there on the battlefield. But knowing he had already written a farewell letter for her, clearly prepared to leave without saying goodbye, that concern only turned into a complicated ache in her heart.
She tried not to dwell on it. She didn't want to burden herself, her father, or Kiana with unnecessary worry.
She understood her father's intentions perfectly.
And precisely because she understood, her feelings grew even more tangled—unsure of what she should do.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Sirin's five hundred thousand Honkai Cubes could only be collected after Almighty Thunder was defeated.
But still—every bit counted. Even earning tens of thousands of Cubes off a few hundred in investment left Kiana exhilarated beyond belief.
"Mm, let's move."
...
After leaving the shrine, Sirin wandered for a while before finally spotting a city map that led her to the local government outpost.
After confirming her identity, they immediately followed her instructions and arranged for her transport out of Nagazora City, sending her to the city nearest to the battlefield—and reestablishing contact with the command center.
"Sirin, you're alive?!"
The officers at headquarters were overjoyed at the news. The heavy shadow that had hung over them finally lightened, and their tension eased somewhat.
No matter what, knowing that she was still alive gave everyone still fighting on the frontlines a renewed sense of hope.
"Stay where you are—we'll send Sky to you immediately!"
When she had thrown Sky before, it had been with the resolve to die, so of course the command center had recovered it.
But now, among all the remaining Sentinels—
There was no one else capable of wielding Sky!
After ending the transmission, Sirin looked up at the dark storm clouds swirling above—the massive black dragon coiling within them.
The memories of her previous battle with Almighty Thunder resurfaced vividly in her mind, along with the pain of being struck by Heaven's Punishment.
Can we really win?
The question flickered in her thoughts.
Inside the Imaginary Space, she hadn't been able to stop Almighty Thunder, hadn't even been able to injure it effectively.
Could she and Welt truly win this time?
Yes—they would.
The doubt in her heart quickly gave way to resolve.
Because they had reasons they couldn't afford to lose.
She still owed Kiana the energy of five thousand Kami.
And she wasn't about to become the kind of person who didn't pay their debts.
She didn't have to wait long before a wolf-like humanoid came running toward her on all fours, fast as the wind.
He was a man who had slaughtered too many Kami, with little resistance to their curses—his corruption was already nearing eighty percent.
On his back was a large case.
When he saw her from afar, he began to slow, finally stopping in front of Sirin.
"Lady Sirin!"
She was really alive—thank the heavens!
The werewolf-like man quickly unstrapped the case from his back, opened it, and revealed the blade inside—the Edict Edge, now degraded to an ordinary sword.
There was no need for words. Sirin nodded in acknowledgment, reaching out to take the familiar Sky from within.
Perhaps Kiana was also a compatible wielder.
The thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Kiana had entered the Imaginary Space without an Edict Edge—and even rescued her from its collapsing depths.
She definitely possessed talent in this regard.
With a light swing of the blade, Sirin tore open space itself and instantly teleported back to the battlefield.
Kiana had saved her—how could she repay kindness with cruelty by letting Kiana inherit such a cursed destiny?
She quietly dismissed the thought.
She didn't want the girl who had saved her to someday bear the same heavy, inescapable burden.
The battlefield was a scene of utter carnage.
Countless broken swords were scattered across the scorched earth, some buried, some still standing upright in the blackened soil.
And the cause of it all—the black dragon coiling within the thunderclouds above—was none other than Almighty Thunder.
Slaying a Kami of the Twelve was already nearly impossible. To make matters worse, this one could fly—its massive body concealed within the clouds beyond reach.
Most Sentinels could do nothing but hold off the lower-tier Kami drawn to its overwhelming power, ensuring they didn't interfere with those launching the true assault against Almighty Thunder.
Bolts of lightning, each as thick as a barrel, rained down from the stormy sky—but none struck the Sentinels fighting below.
They were all intercepted by a shimmering, transparent barrier.
"It's Lady Sirin!"
"It's the Sentinel of Sky!"
Sirin's reappearance, blocking Almighty Thunder's attack, reignited hope in the hearts of everyone on the field.
"You're just as useless as ever."
Her eyes swept over the countless broken swords lying across the scorched battlefield, her tone cold.
She didn't even turn her head, but her words were directed toward the brown-haired man with glasses not far away.
He was the current wielder of Truth—he who bore the name Welt.
"Welcome back," he said evenly. "But our situation is dire. Command's weapons can't reach Almighty Thunder."
He was used to her barbed remarks—after ten years of hearing them, they no longer fazed him.
"I know you still hold a grudge over what happened more than ten years ago," he said calmly, "but with such an enemy before us, I need you to cooperate with my plan—without question."
"You?"
Sirin's tone dripped with mockery as she released Sky's power. "You want me to help you turn this place into another Arctic Wasteland?"
"If turning this place into a new Arctic is what it takes to defeat Almighty Thunder," Welt said steadily, "then I'll do it without hesitation."
His words nearly made Sirin's killing intent surge forth.
Before she could respond, Welt's voice cut through the thunder: "Coordinate with me—create an opening for me to strike it down!"