Reo Tachibana was currently flying. She soared through the moonlit sky, gliding like a bird while observing the lights below her and feeling the gentle breeze of the wind.
She couldn't find who she was looking for anywhere, despite searching in every possible place she could think of.
'Where… is my mom? I want to see her. I want to hear her voice again. I want to be hugged by her and feel her warmth. Just where could she be?'
Reo Tachibana kept flying, or perhaps it could be said that she was roaming.
Suddenly, her eyes flashed crimson red.
'I can feel it! Over in that direction, there's…'
A sensation resembling her mother's.
"It's coming!" Mai warned.
Seiji instantly jumped out of the bed and hurried to the next room when he received Mai's message. "Where!?"
"Outside!"
Right as those words faded, he saw it.
A ball of pitch-black mist appeared outside the window. Seiji cast [Astral Vision] and studied the black mist.
In his enhanced vision, he could see a strange winged figure within the black mist. Its eyes shone a dull blood-red.
"Hurry up and leave!" Mai shouted.
Seiji instantly carried Mayuzumi, who had just gotten out of bed, in his arms as he cast the [Body-Strengthening Spell] upon himself and dashed off at top speed.
The black-mist-enshrouded figure broke the window and rushed into the room.
Mai unleashed the spells that had previously been cast on the house as a trap.
Various spell formations appeared and shot out numerous chains that tangled themselves around the black mist!
*Boom!!*
The black mist continued on its path.
Not only did it smash through all the chains and spell formations, it even knocked Mai into the wall with its heavy force!
"It's strong…" Mai furrowed her brows as she pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it.
A low explosion shook the entire room.
Seiji carried Mayuzumi out of the hotel and kept running down the street, jumping over all sorts of walls along the way until he reached Genhana High School's grounds.
He put Mayuzumi down on the practice field.
"Um…" The manga author looked back in the direction they just came from.
Seiji turned around to see that the black mist had followed them at a high speed!
"Reo Tachibana, is that you!?" he asked.
There was no response to his question.
The black mist continued to approach closer.
When the demon spirits defending the school grounds attacked it, the black mist responded with a wide areof-effect mist that instantly destroyed the nearby demon spirits and other defenses.
Seiji also felt the impact but stood his ground and protected Mayuzumi using his body.
The black mist was very strong, but…
*Boom!*
Just as the black mist got close to the two of them, a high-speed bullet of light hit the black mist and exploded into blinding white light!
The black mist was forcefully dissipated, and the figure within the mist was sent flying over ten meters away.
Before Seiji could even see the figure's appearance, it was surrounded by black mist yet again.
*Boom!!*
A second bullet of light struck the black mist and sent the figure flying once more, dissipating the black mist surrounding it.
Seiji looked in the direction that the bullet of light came from and saw Mai holding on to a heavy sniper rifle.
The girl with a sniper rifle had one hundred percent accuracy. The scene from the laser-tag game had now recreated itself.
But this time, Mai didn't have an imitation laser sniper rifle in her hands. She had an even larger, fiercer-looking real version!
It was a magical anti-spiritual sniper rifle, customized just for her…
She lifted her gun, aimed, and fired!
*Boom!!*
The strong recoil of the sniper rifle shook her body slightly and lifted her dark gray hair as if it had been blown by a breeze.
This scene was rather impactful, and Seiji could only inwardly exclaim at seeing it.
Behind him, Mayuzumi was also stunned at the sight.
When they looked towards the figure in the black mist again, they saw that the black mist had finally been destroyed.
After being struck by three consecutive shots, the figure no longer released any more dark mist, and they were now able to see her true form.
As expected, she was Reo Tachibana!
The figure was a little girl in a red one-piece dress. She had messy hair and a blank expression, and her eyes were glowing crimson red.
There also seemed to be an ethereal figure behind her which had almost taken material form.
This figure was a beautiful woman with long light green hair. Her body was covered with green feathers, and she even had a pair of wings just like a bird's.
Her eyes were closed and she had a faint smile as she enveloped Reo in a hug.
She seemed just like a mother.
When Seiji looked closer, the woman's appearance greatly resembled Reo's.
Seiji's eyes widened in surprise. 'Could she be… Hinako Haza!? Did she possess her own daughter!? Or is this merely an image?'
While he was wondering this, Reo raised her hand and pointed towards the sniper-rifle-wielding Mai that was quite a distance from her.
Mai decisively shot her fourth bullet of light!
Numerous green feathers shot out and forced the bullet of light to explode in midair. Immediately afterwards, the green feathers continued on and shot towards Mai!
Mai tossed her sniper rifle into the air, grabbed another grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it while casting a shield barrier to protect herself from the grenade's explosion.
Then, she caught her sniper rifle, speedily changed the magazine, and began firing again while her shield barrier blocked the green feathers!
This time, she shot blue bullets of light that had a sharper tip and left a color trail in the air as they flew towards her target and pierced through numerous patches of green feathers.
Reo was knocked back by these blue bullets of light, but she managed to stop herself in midair.
She lifted her hands, causing the ethereal figure behind her to envelop her with its wings, and countless feathers gathered together and speedily formed into a gigantic green ball of light.
Mai shot another piercing bullet at Reo, but the bullet of light evaporated in midair as it approached Reo's green ball of light!
'This is bad! If Reo fires that green ball of light, it'll be unblockable!' Seiji clenched his fists. 'It's up to you… Shikchan!'
A sharp blade suddenly appeared at Reo's back from the shadows, and silver runes flashed on the snow-white blade. It was the Demon Blade Muramasa.
*Slash!*
The blade descended towards Reo!
The blade sliced through the green-haired woman's ethereal figure and landed right on the little girl's head.
Reo took a direct impact from this and trembled. Her eyes turned even blanker, and the green-haired woman's ethereal figure disappeared.
Reo collapsed, falling forward.
Shika Kagura reached out and grabbed Reo, instantly dragging her away from her current location.
The green ball of light that had gone out of control started shaking… and exploded!
*Boom!!!*
After a blinding green flash, a huge crater appeared in the area it exploded in.
"Shikchan!" Seiji called.
"I'm fine, Brother."
Seiji heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that his adopted sister was indeed uninjured.
After learning the result of Mai's investigation, he inferred that it was Reo Tachibana… or perhaps the already-deceased Hinako Haza's mysterious power that caused this incident.
Reo Tachibana inherited the mysterious power from her mother, and her power had been activated.
Shouhei Hirai had been affected and was changed into that strange form. He was then forced into attacking Peach-sensei, who also possessed this same mysterious power.
After Hirai was defeated, the next person who would attack would naturally be Reo herself. That is to say, Seiji had guessed that Reo Tachibana would attack Mayuzumi Amami, just like how Shouhei Hirai had!
And if his inference was on the mark, how should they respond?
Seiji had discussed it with everyone and crafted the plan that they put into motion, with everything happening as they had planned it.
They remained vigilant and made their preparations as they intentionally moved to a hotel that was close to Genhana High School.
The moment that Reo appeared, Mai would be in charge of slowing her down, while Seiji would take the chance to lure Mayuzumi to the school grounds.
When Reo came chasing after them, Seiji would be in charge of protecting Mayuzumi while Mai fought with Reo and diverted her attention.
Shika Kagura would ambush Reo from behind and take her down without harming her life.
If Reo's strength was too powerful, then they would have to ask Natsuya Yoruhana to come help them as well.
Natsuya was still recuperating from her previous duel. Seiji really didn't want to ask so much of her.
Luckily, everything went according to plan, and, in the end, they didn't need to rely on the student council president.
Mai approached the now-unconscious Reo and cast a spell on her to seal her powers.
"Can that child… return to normal?" Mayuzumi asked.