A brilliant light flooded the throne room of the Nexus Castle.
From its center, Akira and Erika finally reappeared, along with their two Kasugai crows.
Akira glanced around, taking in the familiar surroundings.
"…Oh. We're back."
Erika exhaled softly, her shoulders relaxing.
"We're finally back."
Before either of them could say anything else, Selena rushed forward.
"…!"
She hug-tackled both of them at once, pulling them into a tight embrace.
"Little brother! Erika-chan! You're finally back!" she exclaimed. "I really missed both of you. So much."
Akira stiffened slightly in her grip and looked at her with a flat expression.
"…Sis. You were literally watching us the entire time," he said. "And you talked to us all the time, too."
Selena pulled back just enough to glare at him, without letting go.
"Just go with the atmosphere, alright?" she snapped. "I always wanted to do this."
Erika laughed softly and returned the hug, her arms gently wrapping around Selena.
"It does feel different in person, right?" she said. "And we haven't seen you face-to-face in a long time."
"Hear that?" Selena said smugly, tightening her grip again. "She gets it. Now deal with it."
Akira sighed in defeat.
"…Fine."
Then he suddenly put on an exaggerated expression.
"Oh, my little sister," he declared dramatically. "Your big brother missed you so much."
He hugged her back just as theatrically, as if he had just reunited with a long-lost sibling.
Selena immediately recoiled.
"…Yeah. You just ruined the moment."
She separated herself from him and crossed her arms.
"And what, little sister?" she snapped. "I'm the big sister. I was born before you. How many times do I have to tell you?"
Akira shrugged.
"Fine. I'll be magnanimous. You can be the big sister for today."
"I am always the big sister!" She argued back.
As the argument escalated, Erika finally spoke up.
"Can you two stop arguing about this?" she said. "We just got back, and you're already fighting. How long are you going to keep arguing about it?"
Akira and Selena answered at the same time.
"Until one of us gives up."
Meanwhile, Raven and Rose, the Kasugai crows, flapped around the throne room, circling the vast space.
"Caw! What is this place?!"
"Caw! Where are we?!"
Their voices echoed loudly.
Hearing them, the siblings finally calmed down.
Selena glanced at the two crows, tilting her head slightly.
"…I never thought we'd one day have crows," she said. "So… what are we going to do about them?"
Akira thought for a moment before speaking.
"Well… the best possible thing to do is turn them into your familiars, Erika."
Erika froze.
"…What?" she asked, clearly shocked. "Why?"
"That's the best option," Akira said calmly. "They're just normal birds. They seriously can't survive our world without magical power. Sure, they can fly around and stay out of trouble, but if we take them on missions or into fights, they won't survive."
Erika knew that. She understood it logically.
And yet, she hesitated.
Her expression tightened, worry clearly written across her face.
"What if they turn into some kind of mindless puppet?" she asked quietly. "Or lose who they are? I don't want that."
Her fear wasn't unfounded.
Sometimes, when a vampire created a servant or familiar, if the compatibility wasn't right, the servant would slowly lose their sense of self. In the worst cases, they would degrade, turning into ghouls… or even mindless zombies.
That was exactly why Erika had never wanted a servant or familiar.
Even though her mother was always forcing her to take one.
She didn't want to risk destroying someone else's existence by accident.
Akira looked at her and spoke gently.
"Don't worry," he said. "I'm here, right? I'll make sure that won't happen."
"…But."
He interrupted her softly, meeting her eyes directly.
"Believe me. I promised, didn't I?" He then gave a gentle smile and said. "As long as I'm here, I'll protect you. I'll never let you be sad. So believe me, I'll make sure you're always happy."
Erika froze.
"…Akira," she whispered, looking up at him.
For a brief moment, the throne room felt warmer.
As if only the two of them were left in the world.
Then.
A loud cough snapped them back to reality.
Selena immediately cleared her throat, loudly.
"You two can flirt after we're done," she said sharply. "We have things to do."
"We are not flirting!" Erika protested at once, her face heating up.
Akira tilted his head slightly, genuinely confused.
"…That was flirting?"
He was new to romance, and watching romance anime was clearly not helping.
Selena let out a tired sigh.
"Forget it. Don't you both want to check the reward?"
Akira and Erika exchanged a glance.
Then, perfectly in sync.
"Yeah."
Curiosity instantly won over embarrassment.
Selena snapped her fingers.
A holographic screen unfolded in the center of the throne room, layers of glowing symbols cascading downward as the system began its calculations.
Akira stared at it and muttered,
"I hope it's not too low."
Erika turned toward him.
"Why would you say that?"
"Remember, I used Phoenix Tears on Kagaya Ubuyashiki?" Akira said. "That alone probably nuked the score, right, sister?"
Selena folded her arms.
"The evaluation isn't decided by me. It's handled by the Equilibrium Function of the Star Soul System. Completely automated. Completely impartial. So, even I don't know the result."
Akira sighed.
"Great. That's reassuring in the worst possible way."
Erika stepped closer, gently holding his hand. She gave him a small, encouraging smile.
"Hey… even if the score's bad, you still saved a life. That's a great thing," she said softly. "And you didn't hesitate at all, even when you willingly tanked the evaluation and used something as extremely rare as Phoenix Tears. That's really cool."
Akira blinked.
"…Rare?"
Erika nodded.
"Yeah. My brother said they're extremely rare. Most people wouldn't even see one in their lifetime. Some magical factions only have one, and that's if they're lucky."
"…It's not really rare," Akira replied.
"…Eh?" Erika stared at him.
"Our family has a monthly subscription," Akira added casually. "We get one every month."
"…What?"
"Yeah. I don't know what deal they made with the Phenex Clan, but they just deliver one every month. Since we don't really use them that often, I've got a bunch stored up."
"Oh…" Now she doesn't know what to say.
Selena let out a long sigh, saying.
"Brother, sometimes you should just say nothing and make yourself look cooler, you know."
"For outsiders, sure," Akira replied. "But I can't really lie to Erika."
Before Erika could fully process what she'd just heard, Selena clapped her hands once.
"Alright," she said. "Let's check the score."
On the holographic screen, the calculations finally completed.
The results were displayed.
[Main Quest: Destroy All Demons]
Objectives:
• Learn any Breathing Technique
• Defeat the Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan
• Find the Blue Spider Lily
Difficulty: A
Time Limit: 1 Year
Reward:
• 1× Gacha Ticket
Restrictions:
• All powers except Blazer abilities and innate abilities are locked
• All items except essentials are restricted
Objective Status:
• Learn any Breathing Technique — ACHIEVED
• Defeat the Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan — ACHIEVED
• Find the Blue Spider Lily — ACHIEVED
Restrictions Breached: 1
Final Result:
MAIN MISSION — FAILED
Evaluation Rank: B
Silence.
Erika's mouth slowly fell open.
"…F… failed?" she whispered. "Why?"
Selena stared at the screen.
"…That's… a bit harsh."
Akira simply looked at the result, his expression unreadable.
"…Is it because of the Phoenix Tears?" he asked calmly. "That should only affect the evaluation a bit. It shouldn't fail the mission."
The screen flickered.
Then it continued.
[Main Mission: Destroy All Demons]
Status Update:
Remaining Demons — 2
Silence.
A very long.
Very dead.
Silence.
Akira stared at the screen, his eyes unfocused.
Erika slowly turned her head toward him.
Selena also looked visibly stunned.
"…Two," Erika said quietly.
"It's Tamayo and Yushiro," Akira replied. "Yeah. They're demons. And they're alive."
All three of them froze.
They had forgotten.
They had never expected them to be counted under Destroy All Demons.
Erika let out a small, helpless sigh.
"We can't exactly kill them. They're… good people."
"Yeah," Akira agreed. "Why did they even count? We can't kill them."
Selena hesitated.
"…Maybe you should've turned them back into humans, I guess."
Akira thought for a moment.
"…Yeah. That makes sense. We turned Nezuko back into a human, and she isn't listed here."
Everyone sighed.
Still, Akira frowned slightly.
"Then why did the mission complete and yank us back if it wasn't done?"
Selena raised her hand.
"…That one's on me."
Both Akira and Erika turned to her.
"I didn't set automatic extraction to completion conditions," she admitted. "So I had to pull you out manually. And I also forgot to add a way to check mission progression. Tehe."
Akira and Erika stared at her with dead expressions.
"…You should add those in the future," Akira said flatly.
"Yes. I will."
Selena straightened up.
"Anyway. The main mission failed, sure, but the evaluation is calculated using all completed objectives and side contributions. Since you cleared everything else, the system still granted a reward…"
She paused.
"…Though it will give you something else too."
Akira frowned.
"…What else?"
Selena sighed and pointed at the screen.
"Check for yourself."
[Rewards Calculation Complete]
Rewards:
• 1× SR-Rank Gacha Ticket (Each)
• 1× R-Rank Penalty Ticket (Each)
Akira and Erika stared at the screen.
"…What the hell is a penalty ticket?"