Chapter 254: It Was Definitely An Insult
Kouhei and Yui stepped into the portal together.
But nothing happened.
The circle beneath them, etched with strange glyphs and mystic lines, remained inert.
It was deaf to their presence.
They stood there in silence, waiting for sothing—anything—to spark.
Yet even after a long pause, the portal stayed cold and lifeless.
“…Okumura-senpai, do you even know how to activate a portal?” Yui asked, raising an eyebrow with a flat, skeptical tone.
“Uuuh…?”
“You don’t, do you?” she said again, sharper this ti, as she shot him a dry, pointed stare.
“Well… it was always Yuuna-san who did it. She’d just stand on it and the thing would light up on its own, so I figured…”
“So you don’t actually know how it works. You’ve just been guessing based on what you’ve seen. Seriously, Okumura-senpai, I didn’t realize you were this nuts.”
“Sorry, alright? I didn’t think there was more to it than just… standing here.” He scratched the back of his head with a faint grimace. “I an, Yuuna-san never explained anything.”
“Hmph… So what do we do now?” Yui muttered as she crouched down, brushing her fingers lightly across the glowing symbols beneath her. “Without this, we can’t physically travel to a place that’s not even supposed to exist in the first place.”
Kouhei frowned. “It might not be working because the destination on the other side doesn’t exist anymore.”
“But without going to the mansion, you can’t get your sword, right? That thing’s important. Wait… aren’t you supposed to be good at magic too, senpai?”
He let out a breath. “Well… I never got any formal training, so my magic’s honestly weak. Barely usable.”
Sure, he had managed to cast Crimson Rain once. But that had been a complete accident—more a stroke of luck than a feat of skill.
His plan was always to sharpen his magic properly after training with Yuuna… or at least Hina.
“…So where do we go now?” Yui asked again, standing up with a sigh.
“I don’t really know,” Kouhei admitted. “I an, I could try the Kendo club room and see if I can get my hands on sothing, but the only thing there are shinai. I doubt a bamboo sword will help against… whatever the hell is coming after .”
“Don’t worry, senpai!” Yui grinned, raising a clenched fist confidently. “I’ll protect you with everything I’ve got!”
Kouhei glanced at her, sitting there casually on the couch, one smooth leg crossed over the other, the corners of her lips curled into that ever-present mischievous smirk.
Honestly… he didn’t know whether to trust her or not.
This was the sa fallen angel who had corrupted Takahashi… and those girls back then. For all he knew, he was nothing more than a puppet, dancing in the palm of her hand.
It was natural to be suspicious. Sensible, even.
He had no idea just how dangerous Yui really was.
But right now… he didn’t have a choice.
At this mont, she was the only person he could lean on. Without her, he’d be utterly lost.
“Senpai,” Yui called out suddenly.
Her voice dropped.
Cold. Low. Dead serious.
It was the first ti he’d ever heard her sound like that.
“Sothing’s coming.”
And then—
CRASH!
A thunderous explosion of glass erupted as the window shattered into a storm of razor-sharp shards.
Sothing burst through with blinding speed—soone.
Kouhei staggered backward, heart pounding in his chest.
There was a rush of wind.
And wings.
Massive, pristine wings—white as untouched snow—beat the air with a divine rhythm.
“Oh! There you are~!” ca a cheerful, sing-song voice.
The figure hovered gracefully amidst the falling glass, golden eyes sparkling with pure joy. She wore a radiant smile, as if nothing could ever go wrong in her world.
She was breathtakingly beautiful—almost unreal.
Her hair, lashes, and brows were a glowing shade of white, perfectly framing her flawless face.
And her eyes—those shimring, golden eyes—glistened with a surreal warmth.
It was obvious.
She wasn’t human.
“It’s ti for you to go to the Realm of the Souls, mortal!” she chid with an ethereal sweetness. “No need to wander lost in this world anymore. Co—take my hand.”
She looked like an angel.
No.
She was an angel.
“You can’t do that, I’m afraid.”
“…Huh?”
Yui’s voice rang out again, cool and cutting, as she rose from the couch like she had all the ti in the world.
The angel turned her head, her golden eyes narrowing slightly. “And who in the heavens are you supposed to be?”
“Judging from what you just said, I’m guessing you’ve only been alive for, what… a hundred and fifty years?” Yui replied calmly.
“What’s that supposed to an?”
“If you’d been born earlier, you might actually know who I am,” Yui said, almost mockingly.
Then—
From her back, wings began to unfurl.
But unlike the angel’s immaculate white feathers, Yui’s wings were a sickly, ash-stained gray.
They looked like they once shone with holy radiance… before being drowned in ink and left to rot.
“A fallen, huh…” the angel murmured with a giggle. “So you’re one of those who broke Heaven’s rules and were cast down. Fufufu~! How exciting! I’ve been searching for a worthy opponent for ages—and it looks like I’ve finally found one!”
“You sound so damn naive. Don’t tell you were just born or sothing?”
“I’ve been on this world for fifty years now! And don’t call naive! I don’t even know what that ans—and if I don’t know what it ans, how am I supposed to know if that’s a complint or an insult?!”
“Don’t worry,” Yui said with a smirk. “It was definitely an insult.”
“You’re dead then!”
Without warning, the angel launched herself toward Yui like a divine missile, light trailing behind her like a cot crashing through the atmosphere.
In that sa breathless mont, a sword—radiant and blinding—materialized in the angel’s hand, forged entirely from golden light. The blade pulsed with sacred energy, humming with intent to strike.
But Yui didn’t flinch.
With a flick of her wrist, a shimring barrier ford around her.
It glowed faintly—like heat rising off a desert road—and caught the glowing blade just as it was about to connect.
The sound of the impact echoed like a bell being struck underwater, sharp yet muted.
The attack had failed.
Yui’s lips curled upward into a confident, almost smug smile.
“Your sword of light…” she said, voice tinged with amusent, “is nothing more than sothing even a simple maiden could conjure up with a bit of practice. Do you want to see what a real sword of light looks like?”
A sudden flare of raw energy erupted from Yui’s body, a surge of power so intense it warped the air around her.
Her aura expanded in waves—luminous, wild as well as beautiful. Then, with a smirk etched onto her face like it belonged there, she raised her arm—and slashed.
Her sword, now fully ford from blinding light, tore through the air with a sharp whoosh.
The angel was forced to retreat, feet skidding backward as she tried to absorb the force of the attack.
Her form blurred with speed, vanishing and reappearing like a flickering fla in the wind.
She was fast—unrealistically fast.
It was like watching light itself trying to outrun a shadow.
But Kouhei could see it.
Thanks to his recent training with Aria, his awareness had evolved—sharpened like the edge of a honed blade.
His eyes tracked the angel’s movents, each flicker and blur etched clearly in his mind like slow-motion footage.
Even so, her speed remained terrifying.
But Yui…
Yui was sothing else entirely.
A different kind of monster was being born in her.
With nothing more than a blink, she vanished—dissolving into thin air without a trace.
And then, without warning, she reappeared just inches from the angel’s face—too fast to comprehend and too sudden to react.
She had anticipated the angel’s retreat and followed.
“Boo~,” she whispered playfully, like a child spooking a friend.
Then she slashed.
Her blade, forged of divine light, cut through the angel like scissors through silk—splitting her in half in one swift motion.
And then—
BOOM.
The angel exploded in a searing, blinding flash of holy light.
The brightness engulfed the space, a radiant burst that forced even Kouhei to throw up his arms to shield his eyes.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears, the aftermath of the strike ringing like a church bell struck in a storm.
Did she just kill her…?
That single thought echoed in his mind.
But Yui turned, casually walking back toward him through the fading light, her expression calm and untouched.
“Don’t worry, senpai,” she said softly, her voice weaving into the silence. “Sothing like this isn’t enough to kill an angel.”
Her footsteps were steady, her gaze unwavering.
“She just returned to the heavens. She’ll co back soon enough… and I’m sure next ti, she’ll bring so kind of backup.”
She gave him a small wink, her voice dipping lower and more intimate.
“But you don’t have to worry, senpai… because I’ll protect you.”
She looked at him and smiled.
And in that fleeting mont, Kouhei saw sothing behind her eyes.
For the first ti…
He felt like maybe—just maybe—he could trust her.
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