"...Got a problem, Ayane?" Setsuna asks as I clutch my clothes. I was about to take them off for our first night together, but then I glance at the hourglass she’d placed on the dresser.
"...This isn’t right..." I look at Setsuna. The dark circles under her eyes are completely gone. Her gaze is now arrogant, frivolous, cynical, cold, and lifeless—sothing it wasn’t before, or at least shouldn’t be.
Actually... since when has it been like this? How long have I missed this strange look in her eyes... or did I just ignore it because I loved her?
"Ayane?... I—" Before she can finish speaking, I try to crush her with a barrier. Three small barriers float around her before violently expanding. She just vanishes from within the area of effect, reacting before the attack even fully forms.
"Why did you dodge, Setsuna? You seed to know what would happen... but how could you know without ever seeing this attack before?" I look behind , seeing her there in her complete magical girl outfit—that sa all-white "coat," the entire elegant outfit made for cold weather.
"If I stayed there, I’d be crushed... Do you rember now?... We just got back... Ah, I see... Ayane, you’ve beco a full-fledged elite angel. It seems you’re no longer human," Setsuna says as my wings unfurl and my magical girl attire materializes.
But this one is different. It’s a long, white dress adorned with elegant golden ribbons and lines, while a halo of golden roses floats above my head.
"I rember... not all the tis... but I rember the most recent ones, Setsuna," I say, my voice heavy with sorrow.
"..."
"It seems this is the last ti we’ll dance with ti... so how about we make things more formal, Ayane? I am the new Demon of Ti, Setsuna Shū," she says with a smile.
"...You are not the Setsuna I know," I say coldly, with a sharp tone I never imagined I could possess. But with all the things I rember now, it’s the only tone I can manage.
"Well... I’m still . I’d just say I’m the [Upgrade], of course," she says as if it’s the most natural thing.
"..."
"Setsuna, please... just tell why you did this," I ask with a sigh.
"..."
"Because I love you," she says imdiately, as if she’d been waiting to give that answer.
"You love ? By killing hundreds of tis? By letting be abused by monsters in another tiline? Is that your love?! Sothing so destructive and filthy can’t be called love," I say as my staff appears in my hands.
It’s larger now, with shades of violet and dark gold, while at its center a sphere glowing white floats without touching anything. The sphere’s glow resembles a 12-pointed star.
"...Ayane, you wouldn’t understand. You aren’t capable of understanding my feelings... or my goals... but I love you... I truly love you very much..." she says, but she doesn’t even seem to believe her own words.
"You beca this monster now out of love, is that it? Do you think I’m happy to see the girl I love reveal herself as a demon who caused so much havoc?!" I say with tears streaming down my face because I know what I have to do.
This is no longer Setsuna. It’s just a demon that stole her place, a demon that pretends to love sothing just for its own amusent. And for a profane being like that, all that remains is to be "purified."
"...You seem ready to fight ... good... that’s good... let’s make this our final battle... if you win, do as you please. And when I win, you will be mine," she says with a confident tone as she goes on alert.
"...Setsuna, tell .... was there ever any real love at any point?! Not this thing you call love, but genuine, true love—the feeling of wanting what’s best for the person you love and doing everything to see them well."
"Or... is all you feel this selfish desire to have as a toy that entertains you?" Thanks to the mories I have, I just feel confused. I don’t even know where there was room for love to have ever arisen.
"I don’t know." When she says that, I feel more sad than disappointed. Because not even she herself believes that what she feels for is love. She is... a pitiful being, who only learned to love through destruction.
Deep down, I still want to believe that Setsuna loved . That she truly loved at so point. But also, at so point, she got lost in love, rging a bunch of bad feelings together with love until it ford this unpleasant, clingy feeling of obsession.
"Setsuna, I thank you... I thank you for giving the chance to defeat you... I want to believe this is a test. A test that before being a demon, you are still a being who could truly love, and who chose to make stronger to stop you," I say as I swing my staff.
Imdiately, Setsuna is split in two by a horizontal cut. Behind her, a circle with a counter that looks like an ancient clock appears, and her body’s ti reverts to zero.
It’s not regeneration. Her body literally returned to the mont before she was dead. But fortunately, I gained mories not just of past lives, but angelic mories that I should always have had.
mories of a beautiful garden full of golden roses. mories of seeing a demon who was about to kill himself, and I stopped him. And above all, mories of how to truly end a demon.
It’s not magic, physical damage, or weapons. The true way to eliminate a demon is to destroy the essence they represent. And I think I know what Setsuna represents.
’I sense the presence of two demons in existence...’ It seems currently there are only two living demons. And unfortunately... there is only one angelic presence in existence... mine.
"It’s ti for this sick ga of cat and mouse across reincarnations to end, don’t you think?!" I say to Setsuna as nurous counters float around her. She grips her pistol, ready to fight .
"Yes, I think this ga has lost its charm. Ti to put an end to it," she says while aiming her gun and firing at . Because of my concept as an angel, I possess speed equivalent to ti zero.
It ans I’m faster than light, and any movent I make has instantaneous speed. However, the sa applies to Setsuna, who blocks my kick aid at her head.
"I forgive you for killing ... but I cannot let you continue to exist," I say as barriers appear, decapitating Setsuna and splitting her torso. Imdiately, I try to attack again, but she recovers and fires shots at .
I dodge by ascending, starting to fly to avoid affecting the city below, which has nothing to do with this fight that should never have happened.
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