On the factory’s top floor, a gaping wound split the concrete, yet just ahead lay a broad open space, roomy enough for at least twenty.

The evening breeze skimmed the roof, lifting her bangs like a soft tide, baring a smooth brow; Goggles caught flecks of light. No one could read the girl’s face. In her sights stood a boy. The wind tugged his hair too; his look wasn’t stern—more like spellbound, with a faint, aching nostalgia.

Across that open space, the torn mouth revealed the factory’s skeleton, the damage a mural of whatever had struck. Above the rupture stretched a bare platform; moonlight scattered like porcelain dust, painting the scene with a false romance.

A new gust flowed by; the girl’s long black hair streamed like ink, billowing her too-large cloak. The faint lines of a fourteen-year-old showed—lean, still budding, a bud before bloom—and the boy fell into a daze.

She didn’t notice. Inside, alarms rang like iron bells. She stared straight at him.

“Shen Ling Zou.”

Yun Shi offered the name again, lowering her waist a fraction, ready to draw a weapon.

“Night Phantom, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Shen Ling Zou ignored her alertness. He smiled and talked like they were neighbors trading small talk.

“Probably a few months.”

She had no idea why he was rambling, but a familiar face is still a familiar face. She humored him.

“It’s been one hundred eighty-five days,” Shen Ling Zou said lightly, as if reading the weather.

“You remember that well. Nice memory.”

“But it still doesn’t satisfy me. Every day, I think too much. The moment I shut my eyes, I see the old days—the shelter room, when the yokai went berserk.”

Shen Ling Zou tilted his head, gaze drifting in and out of the night, voice hollow as if speaking to the sky. Yun Shi didn’t answer. She watched him.

“Night Phantom, sometimes I wish time had stayed a year back. Back then, I didn’t have to think. Family, war—none of it touched me. I could just stay, heal my wounds, and someone was there with me. That was my only wish.”

“I never knew you could talk like that.”

“That’s because I met you,” Shen Ling Zou said with a smile.

“Uh... don’t make it gross!”

A chill crawled over her skin; every pore bristled. Arms crossed, Yun Shi recoiled. A man throwing syrupy lines—how could that make her happy?

“Since we split that time, I barely see you. It’s annoying we’re enemies, you know?”

Shen Ling Zou kept talking to himself.

This is not a lie; after they separated a year ago, Shen Ling Zou sometimes appeared when Yun Shi did night jobs for extra cash. He showed up just to see her. Sometimes, while she sprinted rooftops alone, he’d pop up and chat about nothing. Enemies who could talk that casually—it was strange.

“Shen Ling Zou, I’m not here to catch up. I can’t treat you like before.”

“Night Phantom...”

“I’m your enemy. Only because we know each other did I feel no hostility. Not today. Today I’m here to bring you down.”

“But I don’t want to fight you!”

Shen Ling Zou shouted. The refusal was written across his voice.

“I’m a Witch standing here for the Magic Institution. And you—you’re Shen Ling Zou, the young master of the Divine Ling Family. Do I need to spell out your stance?”

Yun Shi pointed at him, shouting till her throat burned.

There was no help for it. Different banners meant different stances. Shen Ling Zou could only be Yun Shi’s enemy.

It had been decided long ago.

“Night Phantom, don’t think I don’t know. You started as the Magic Institution’s enemy!”

Shen Ling Zou stalled a beat, then found his counter and hurled it back at her.

“Tell me—Divine Ling Family, Flamebu Family, Four Pupils Clan—in which of these Clan Head families were you born? Say it!”

He jabbed a finger at her and pressed, voice rolling like thunder. Yun Shi couldn’t find a clean rebuttal; she drifted back a few steps.

“Which Clan Head house? Tell me your real name.”

“I...”

“Or were you faking a Clan Head title, with no link at all?”

“I...”

“Don’t think you can fool me. In those three houses, there’s no one I don’t know. Even the Clan Head’s secret bastard—I’d know. Even darker things—I know.”

“...”

His pressure was a wall; his eyes held like iron. Without thinking, Yun Shi’s hands felt clumsy.

He wasn’t wrong. Yun Shi did come from one of those three families. But... which one—that was...

The three fiercest houses—the deepest dark of the Underworld. There, anything exists. What he said—secret heirs of a Clan Head—might be real, training hidden arts in places no one sees. In Flamebu Family history, such cases have appeared.

As for the Divine Ling Family, Yun Shi had no fond memories.

So she couldn’t say it. If Shen Ling Zou learned the truth...

This one thing was forbidden. Her identity could never be exposed.

“I won’t say.”

Yun Shi cut it off.

“Night Phantom, do you know that’s betrayal!”

“You think it’s the first time? Back at the Magic Institution, I’ve been called a traitor more times than I can count. I’ve even been branded an enemy. What haven’t I tasted!”

“...”

“My line stands. You and I are enemies. Our stances clash. Today we can only fight as enemies. Otherwise either the Divine Ling Family loses, or the Magic Institution loses!”

She drew her Light Blade. She leveled it at the boy, voice set like stone.

“...I get it. Different stances, different fates.”

Shen Ling Zou stretched out his hand. Deep-red crystals crawled up his arm, then lengthened into a sharp weapon. His tone was helpless, resigned.

Wind rolled by. Boy and girl faced off. Tension pooled like stormwater. With a whoosh, both vanished from the terrace. In the air, lines flashed; steel met crystal; sparks scattered like fireflies.

Light Blade met crystal. In the instant of falling sparks, they broke apart, distance widening.

“I’ve gotta say, Night Phantom, you’re really strong.”

“Right back at you, Shen Ling Zou.”

“Exactly—so I’m going all out!”

Deep-red crystals unfurled like rose thorns, sweeping in. The dangerous shards closed around Yun Shi. Bad, she thought, eyeing the needle points sliding closer. She spun her Light Blade. With a humming whirr, blades of light snapped through, chopping crystal to grit.

She’d just cut open the crystal wall when Shen Ling Zou’s shadow filled the breach. He’d been waiting. The crystal on his hand formed claws, and he slashed hard. Yun Shi threw up the Light Blade to block.

Snap—crystal crumbs rained. Yun Shi brushed off the useless shards and struck down with one clean cut.

Block!

Shen Ling Zou pulled crystal into a shield in front of him, catching her strike. Then he gathered his energy and blasted streaks of scarlet light—crystal riding the beam—driving them like spears.

Yun Shi flicked her Light Blade, slicing the missiles into scraps. Deep-red crystals wrapped his feet like bracers, a limb-boosting rig. He kicked into speed and ran across the empty roof, a red shade streaking by, trailing crimson shards.

Yun Shi refused to cede the speed game. She sprinted too. Her pace was just as sharp, leaving a sweep of black shadow. In pure speed, Shen Ling Zou couldn’t match her; speed was Yun Shi’s pride.

As they ran, crystals flew to meet her, then missed, and bit into the floor where she’d just been.

“Crystal Condensation”—the Divine Ling Family’s secret art—forging blades from crystal, any weapon, sword or otherwise. It was Shen Ling Zou’s favorite arm.

Yun Shi felt the strain. He really was strong; fighting him wasn’t profitable. If she used her secret arts, she might win, but Yun Shi refused. Absolutely not. She would rely on her Artifact Spirit alone to turn the tide.

Boom!

The whole space carved a smooth seam as her cut sliced cleanly through the crystals, flying straight at him. Shen Ling Zou flared energy into a deep-red crystal shield and held the blow. He vaulted, crystals shaping a sharp knife in his grip, and stabbed for Yun Shi.

Yun Shi blocked with the Light Blade. On the hot blade, deep-red grit fell like embers.

...

“Take this!”

With Aya’s fierce shout, Mystic Power swelled in the sky, then broke into uncountable lightning. It wove a net that fell over the ground, wrapping the enemies. Electricity burst in waves. Thunder boomed. Blood sprayed.

Sham didn’t lag behind. She gathered her Mystic Power and turned it into shredding gusts, cutting the air and carrying away torrents of blood. Mizuki hefted the Reaper Scythe, brought it down, and in her sweeping arc, blood scattered across the earth.

“Phew, finally cleared this side~”

When the last enemy dropped, Sham wiped sweat and laughed, lighthearted as always.

They were outside the factory. The cleanup was almost done. Some guards still held key points, but since Yun Shi had already broken in, it should be fine. As long as nothing went wrong and the Crystal Tower got wrecked, they’d be basically done.

“I wonder if Night Phantom-chan made it.”

Hand shading her brow, Aya struck a cute pose, peered toward the factory, hoping to catch that familiar black cloak. No luck—nothing.

“Should be fine... right?”

Sham pressed her chin, blinking.

Mizuki scanned the area, glancing at the sky from time to time, as if that would show her the Night Phantom she knew.

Now, everyone had dragged the outer guards away, letting Yun Shi go alone to find the Crystal Tower and destroy it. All their hope was pinned on her—just the wish of a few girls, but hope nonetheless.

Boom!

Suddenly, Mizuki saw deep-red crystals burst along the top floor not far away, like a spring rain—beautiful and deadly. She thought the Crystal Tower had detonated and was about to trigger Absolute Defense, but then saw the crystals only showered around that rooftop and didn’t fall.

Puzzled why the crystals circled only that spot, she soon saw it: on that roof, a black-cloaked girl with a Light Blade fought a boy. The boy’s body bore deep-red crystal marks, and from the way they clashed, the boy seemed to hold the advantage.

“That’s Shen Ling Zou, son of the Divine Ling Family’s Clan Head!”

Sham recognized the man in a heartbeat and lost it, his shout snapping out like a bowstring.

No joke—the name Shen Ling Zou rings through the Underworld like an iron bell, his strength set in stone. Up against him, Yun Shi was walking into a headwind.

Aya’s heart cinched tight the instant she spotted Yun Shi and Shen Ling Zou on the rooftop, like two storms meeting on a cliff. She hadn’t thought the girl would actually step straight into his thunder.

“Miss Night Phantom!”

Worry spiked through Mizuki like ice water. Her wings unfurled behind her like a white crane; she ignored her friends and shot into the air...