We then continued the meeting with a more serious mood now that our stomachs were full and the warm breakfast had settled in. The cheerful chatter faded, replaced by a heavy tension in the air as we turned to the matter at hand.Amber stood up and looked directly at Ayumi, her expression firm. “Ayumi,” she began, her voice calm but sharp like a blade, “I know this won’t be easy for you. But I need to say this clearly—your enemy is your sister, Mirai. If you still wish to fight her, then we’ll push forward with this mission. But if not... we may have to part ways with you here and now.”Ayumi’s body stiffened at those words. Her eyes lowered to her lap, and silence lingered as if even the desert wind outside had stopped to listen.“Amber, be gentle with her,” I interrupted, frowning at Amber’s bluntness. “Ayumi is still trying to process everything that happened last night. You don’t have to be so hard on her right now.”“Noah…” Lynn chimed in, her voice quiet but with weight behind it.

Saint White’s request was clear.She wanted to hire us to destroy the Golden Book using my ability: World Rejector.From the outside, it sounded like the right thing to do. If the Golden Book really did bring chaos and temptation, then erasing it might just save the world from another war.Without the book… maybe there wouldn’t be anything left to fight over.But then I looked at Ayumi.Her hands were clenched on her lap, her expression darkened with visible stress.The Holy Temple’s actions—however noble they claimed to be—were like sharp blades, cutting through everything Ayumi stood for. It felt less like help, and more like a command to surrender.“Please don’t act like I’ve already agreed to your proposal,” Ayumi said coldly, her eyes locking onto Saint White’s.“This is for the better of everyone,” White replied calmly. “With the Light Shrine having no official heir, it should be dissolved. If we leave it be, it will only bring confusion and conflict in the future.”“That’s not

Fina was still in the kitchen, her apron tied a little unevenly, her hands dusted with flour as she focused intently on kneading dough. The warm aroma of vanilla and sugar lingered in the air, a promise of something sweet in the making. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, not just from the heat of the stove, but from the fluttering thoughts dancing in her head.She was imagining—no, daydreaming—how her beloved Noah would react to her cooking.“Would he smile? Would he say it’s delicious? Maybe he’ll even ask for seconds…” Her face lit up in a soft blush just thinking about it. The kitchen might as well have turned into a dreamland, with every stir of the spoon and every sprinkle of sugar guided by the image of Noah showering her with praise.For a maiden in love, such fantasies were more intoxicating than wine."Okay, next step… make the dough," she muttered to herself, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "This cookbook Emma gave me is super helpful."Fina smiled brightly as she re

(Moments ago)“The power plant they’ll be using to activate the spell is located in mainland China. That’s... kind of far from here, isn’t it?” Ayumi said, frowning slightly.Right now, we were all gathered for a critical strategy meeting. Our mission: stop Mirai and her group from activating a catastrophic ritual at the Solaris Power Plant. Tension filled the air. We had just finished interrogating Jun—the masked shrine maiden who could clone herself—and Ayumi had shared key intel on how the ritual worked, including its activation conditions.“Based on our current distance, I’m not even sure we’ll make it there in time,” Lynn said, crossing her arms. “According to Ayumi’s intel, the ritual has a channeling time of twelve hours... and it requires a full moon to succeed.”She glanced outside.“It’s already night. And in China, the full moon is already high. That means the spell might have already begun.”Everyone grew quiet. The pressure in the room was suffocating. Time wasn’t on our s

From a distance, the woman named Snake cracked her whip with a loud snap—and it came flying toward us like a bullet.At first glance, her weapon didn’t look like much. A standard whip, maybe a little longer than usual. But the moment it extended mid-air—stretching far beyond what should’ve been physically possible—I knew we were in trouble.Ayumi and I jumped in opposite directions, dodging easily thanks to the obvious trajectory and delay.But Snake only smirked.Suddenly, the whip twisted mid-flight, snapping at a perfect ninety-degree angle like a snake changing direction mid-strike—completely ignoring the laws of physics. Its speed exploded as the tip curved toward me, a glint of steel revealing a hidden blade.“Wha—!”I barely tilted my head in time.The blade grazed my cheek, missing by a hair.“Do you think it’s over already?” Snake’s voice rang out like a taunt.I had no time to respond.The whip made a sharp U-turn mid-air like it had a mind of its own—and this time, it stabb