Petelgeuse was hoisted into the air, his emaciated frame swaddled by a cocoon of black, writhing limbs. In this warped reality, he moved as if stepping on the sky itself—a physical impossibility made manifest by his madness. Despite deploying his proxies, the Bishop chose to lead the hunt personally, driven by an obsessive need to "repay" the love he perceived radiating from Ayanokoji. From his shifting, elevated perch, he tracked the small group through the dense canopy.
The Strategy of the Void
In the real world, the students at the ANHS coffee shop watched the broadcast with bated breath. The invisible nature of the Cardinal's attacks sparked a wave of unease; it was a game with invisible rules.
Honami Ichinose turned to the Ayanokoji sitting next to her, her eyes wide with curiosity. She asked how he would deal with such a monster. Ayanokoji, staring into the dark depths of his nearly empty coffee cup, replied that such encounters were impossible in their world. When she pressed him further, he simply stated that flight was the only logical response to minimize unmanageable risk.
In the vision, Ayanokoji sprinted through the underbrush, the weight of a mana-depleted Ram on his back. His breathing remained mechanical, his heart rate steady despite the chaotic pursuit.
Calculated Rescue: Ayanokoji's decision to carry Ram was strictly tactical, as her Clairvoyance was an intelligence asset too valuable to abandon.Saving her also served as a long-term investment in securing Roswaal's trust.The Pursuit: Petelgeuse's shrill, operatic voice soon echoed from the trees above, mocking their flight as "slothful".He expressed a manic, bone-deep fury at Ayanokoji for what he perceived as a betrayal of the Witch's favor.
"MY BRAIN IS TREMBLING!" Petelgeuse shrieked, launching his Invisible Providence toward the group. Guided by Ayanokoji's warnings, Puck manifested massive glacial walls to intercept the strikes that no one else could see.
The Fall of the Shield
The Bishop's mania was cut short by a sudden, massive fireball descending from the heavens. Caught in the throes of his own ecstasy, Petelgeuse failed to defend. The flames consumed him in an instant, and his body plummeted to the forest floor, shattering upon impact.
Roswaal L. Mathers descended from the air, his primary strike having neutralized the Archbishop with a single, overwhelming display of power. The students watching the screen were initially relieved, dismissing the Cardinal as a "fake boss".
However, Ayanokoji remained skeptical. He observed the biological dependency of Ram on Roswaal for mana—a process Roswaal performed with a blue, glowing touch to her forehead. He filed this away as a critical vulnerability: without Roswaal, Ram was a broken tool.
The Parasitic Resurrection
As Roswaal confidently stood over the remains, declaring the threat finished, a black shadow blurred across Ayanokoji's vision. Before any warning could be shouted, an Invisible Providence—visible only to Ayanokoji—pierced the Margrave's chest. A massive, blood-spattered hole appeared where his heart had been, the light of his life-force gone.
Roswaal collapsed into a pool of his own blood, his life slipping away in a matter of seconds. From the trees emerged a diminutive cultist—one of the "Fingers". Though her face was new, she twisted her head at an impossible angle and spoke with Petelgeuse's exact shrill cadence and manic intensity.
"Truly slothful! Slothful!" the cultist shrieked.
Ayanokoji's mind instantly synthesized the data:
Consciousness Transfer: The Bishop was not a man, but a viral spirit that could inhabit any of his proxies.Total Compromise: The entity known as Petelgeuse could change skins at will, making physical death a mere inconvenience.
The threat had not been eliminated; it had simply moved to a new host.