Sū ěr had once worried whether there would be a rift between Jibril, himself, and Think. That worry had persisted until the moment Jibril appeared—imagining mutual awkwardness, not knowing what to say, and so on. In short, he expected things to be "green" and tentative.
As it turned out, he was too naive.
These two women, neither of whom was exactly young, ignored the dire situation the moment they met to start bickering. If Sū ěr had felt a sense of urgency and peril while struggling to kill the demon Amaterasu, that feeling had shattered into dust in the dozen or so seconds since Jibril arrival.
He was coughing up blood, and the wounds on his soul were very real, but being caught in the middle of these two women's crossfire made Sū ěr face twitch in a "deadpan" expression.
He felt things shouldn't be like this, but if he had to choose, he didn't hate the noise. In fact, he felt an odd sense of nostalgia and warmth... though it would have been better if the time and place were a bit safer.
For Sū ěr, it was a bittersweet reunion. For Amaterasu, it was a blatant humiliation. After her previous strike missed, she turned back to see these outsiders from another world chatting and laughing without a hint of tension. Her rage intensified.
Amaterasu was curious about Jibril, this sudden visitor from beyond the world—certainly more curious than she was about Sū ěr. Those strange wings, the halo of energy above her head... was this a race unique to another world?
Once that curiosity curdled into hatred, it became even deeper than her hatred for Sū ěr. After all, she hadn't forgotten the damage that massive pillar of energy had just inflicted upon her.
"Um, could you two calm down for a second?" Sū ěr attempted to mediate with a wry smile. It seemed to have no effect; the intensity of Think and Jibril argument only leveled up.
"You've got some nerve, haven't you? Using Tet divine power and daring to call it your own? My~ I suppose I can understand. For 'Monster Miss,' this is probably the only way you can satisfy yourself, isn't it?"
"Oh? Is the 'Weed' jealous? My~ don't mind it. After all, compared to you, who is completely useless right now, I am indeed more helpful~ You'd be better off finding a pot and burying yourself in dirt... Do you need me to water you? Don't be shy~"
Yes, their attacks had escalated to personal insults. Sū ěr tried to look on the bright side—at least they hadn't started throwing punches yet, right?
Pfft! Cough, cough, cough! Clutching his throat, Sū ěr sprayed a line of blood, his face growing paler. He said with difficulty: "Quick, kill Amaterasu first. She's... she's using the world-link to attack me! Cough, cough!"
He looked every bit the victim of a severe soul injury.
He was faking it.
But it was remarkably effective.
"Amaterasu?" Repeating what was likely the name of the enemy in the distance, Sū ěr "injury" finally made Jibril abandon her long-overdue spat with the Weed. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Leave it to me."
The pink-haired Flügel looked like she hadn't had enough of the argument yet. Rediscovering the feeling of the "Old Game" after all these years was truly intoxicating. As she turned around, she let out a satisfied stretch—she was fully motivated.
It wasn't that Jibril had become so arrogant that she looked down on everything; rather, the divine power Tet had given her before her departure provided that confidence. In her probing attack just now, the enemy named Amaterasu had already exposed Her weakness. At the very least, she was nowhere near Tet level—she wasn't even on par with an average Old Deus.
"I feel like you'll be a very precious addition to my collection," Jibril said, licking her lips with a wicked smile.
Seeing the person she cared about, rediscovering her old self, and getting a new collectible—could there be a better day?
"Today is truly my lucky day~"
With a lighthearted remark, Jibril appeared before Amaterasu in the next heartbeat, her raised right hand pointing directly at the goddess's hollow face.
"Let me think... let's call it Black Coffin, shall we?"
Able to use the techniques that once belonged only to Azril, the eldest of the Flügel, six black walls of energy closed in from six directions simultaneously. They trapped Amaterasu body, which had pulled in the remaining flesh, inside. There was no blinding light, no radiating energy.
In fact, seeing any other phenomenon at this point would have been a dire sign. Inside that black box, the script playing out was a Heavenly Smite—saturated with Tet divine power—exploding within a confined space. Outside the box, Sū ěr could only feel a silent, heavy thud.
It was like a muffled thunderclap exploding inside one's chest; all you could feel was the vibrating pressure that shook your very organs.
Turning her head halfway to look at Sū ěr, Jibril gave him a clever wink. Sū ěr knew what she meant; after all, the name "Black Coffin" came from a story about a "cool guy" he had once told her.
Wait.
Once Amaterasu was dead and everything here was over, couldn't he return to modern society and let Jibril see those manga for herself? Seeing the original work would be much more vivid than him just describing it. She would probably like it.
...Or more likely, she'd learn some bizarre "pro-gamer" techniques from them. Like the "Hair Wax Hand"? Or "Ten Thousand Ways to Act Cool"?
In Jibril mind, those would probably be considered very practical "little tricks."
Amidst the shimmering light of the healing spells Think was casting, Sū ěr mind wandered as he watched Jibril in the distance. Even though she had been bickering with Think from the moment she appeared, he had to admit that her presence brought a sense of unparalleled security. Both he and Think had instinctively relaxed.
The pink-haired Flügel brought an incomparable sense of peace when she was on your side, and her actions reflected that.
Then, the Black Coffin dissipated.
Without needing Sū ěr reminder, Jibril extensive combat experience told her that the enemy's flesh was not like the incidental debris she had brushed off in past battles. This flesh was a form of materialized energy, a tool of combat.
Therefore, when the Black Coffin vanished, what fell out was not the "bloody water" the gods and yōkai of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni expected. Instead, it was a charred, lumpy mass.
The intense energy had vaporized those ominous entities, allowing Amaterasu to survive only by using a "lizard tail" tactic—sacrificing mass to preserve the core.