C20 Blooming Blood Flower

The weather had cleared up, with clouds still adrift in the sky, but they were no longer the dark, ominous kind. Instead, bathed in the glow of the sinking orange sun, the clouds turned a dreamy shade of red and purple, making the sky even more captivating.

In a quiet park, two figures walked side by side, one cradling an adorable cat plushie in his arms. Lin Mu sneaked a peek at Kurumi next to him, her face a perfect blend of cuteness and beauty, beaming with genuine joy like a girl delighted with a new toy...

Lin Mu couldn't help but inwardly grumble, 'She's so cute, yet so...'

"Ah, Mr. Lin Mu, I don't mind you sneaking a look, but I get the feeling you're thinking something quite impolite," Kurumi's alluring voice timely interrupted Lin Mu's thoughts, causing him to break out in a nervous sweat as he stammered, "You're overthinking it..."

"Really?"

...

"Is that... Shido and Princess?" Lin Mu spotted two figures in school uniforms at the park's edge, overlooking the city, engaged in conversation. He expressed his surprise aloud.

"Eh? Are those Lord Lin Mu's friend and the elf who triggered the space quake?" Kurumi also turned her attention to them, "They seem to be getting along well. Looks like Lord Lin Mu might be out of luck~"

Kurumi's playful tone earned an eye roll from Lin Mu, "Don't say it in a way that's so easily misunderstood... Shido will seal her power anyway..."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kurumi looked at Lin Mu, puzzled.

Lin Mu shrugged, "I mean that Shido, like me, can also seal an elf's spirit power within himself."

Kurumi's eyes narrowed slightly, "That's quite unexpected..."

While Lin Mu's side settled into silence, Shido suddenly raised his voice.

"I'll handle this!"

"I won't argue with you!"

Hearing such declarations from afar made Lin Mu chuckle, "That's so typical of Shido."

But in the next instant, an unexpected turn of events occurred. Shido stepped forward and pushed the elf Princess away. A green streak of light then shot across the sky like a shooting star, and half of Shido's body vanished.

The bright red blood scattered through the air, blossoming like a flower in bloom.

"Ah, this is truly..." Kurumi, having witnessed the scene, didn't even furrow her brow. She simply sighed with a tone of lament and cast a glance at Lin Mu.

Lin Mu blinked, and it was as if only then did he grasp the gravity of what had occurred. His mouth hung open, soundless, and then, as if drained of all his energy, he collapsed to his knees, hands bracing against the ground. "Shido... is dead?"

His gaze faltered, his spirit shook – he couldn't believe it. Yet the vivid blood and the sight of Shido, missing half his body, screamed the bitter truth at Lin Mu. Shido... Itsuka Shido, his sole cherished friend in this strange world, had perished right before his eyes.

This moment dredged up the most terrifying memories Lin Mu had tried so desperately to avoid: a room drenched in blood, littered with severed limbs...

"Ahhh!!!" The shock of Shido's death unlocked memories Lin Mu had sealed away in self-preservation, crumbling the fragile barricades of his mind.

He was oblivious to the icy, peculiar energy that surged from his brain to his eyes, just as he ignored the system's urgent beeps at the edge of his hearing, and the flickering data and text on the system panel that sprung up before him.

Kurumi watched Lin Mu with a slight frown, the sight stirring some rather unpleasant memories of her own. Yet it also fostered a measure of empathy for Lin Mu's current state – she, too, had nearly come undone when her best friend died before her eyes. It was a pain she knew all too well...

In the Flaxis main control room, Itsuka observed the image of Shido's "corpse," now missing half its body, with a serene expression. She casually unwrapped a lollipop and popped it into her mouth. "Well, he did prove himself to be a competent knight. It would have been far more horrific if the princess had been the one to fall to that last attack..."

"Um... Commander, about Shido..." A Flaxis member, noting Itsuka's calm demeanor, worried she hadn't grasped the reality of Shido's "death" and felt compelled to speak up.

However, what nearly everyone present hadn't anticipated was Itsuka's calm response, "It's fine. Continue with your tasks. How could Shido possibly die so easily?"

No sooner had she spoken than everyone was astonished to see flames igniting on the half of Shido's "corpse" that had been missing.

Amidst their shock, a member exclaimed in disbelief, "Commander! There's an unusual energy fluctuation near Shido!"

Itsuka, taken aback, glanced at the member. Known for his composure, his current agitation was out of character...

"Oh? Has another Spirit arrived?" Itsuka mused, considering it the only logical explanation since energy fluctuations typically occurred during a Spirit's outburst of power. But the member shook his head, "No... this is an entirely new waveform, one that's beyond our analysis!"

Now it was Itsuka's turn to be stunned. "An unknown waveform? And you mentioned it was detected near Shido? Bring up the visuals!"

The screen before Itsuka flickered, revealing Kurumi and Lin Mu. Lin Mu was on his knees, clutching his head as if in agony, while Kurumi watched him with a puzzled look.

"The peculiar energy response originated from your friend, Lin Mu, Commander."

Itsuka's eyes widened in alarm, "Mr. Lin Mu? What's happened to him? Has Nightmare done something?" Seeing Nightmare nearby, she instinctively blamed Kurumi for Lin Mu's apparent distress and the energy fluctuations surrounding him.

"No, it's not Nightmare's doing. As I've said, it's an unfamiliar waveform, distinct from the Spirit's Power," the member insisted, his voice tinged with deep panic.

The scene unfolding before them was eerily reminiscent of the catastrophe thirty years prior—a sudden, unprecedented surge of energy, albeit not as intense as that from a spacequake...

Meanwhile, Lin Mu was indeed in severe pain, but it was unrelated to this so-called "energy." His agony stemmed from the "unsealing" of memories that had been "self-sealed," triggered by Shido's "death"...

At some point, Lin Mu's purple eyes had been supplanted by a pair of blood-red ones, each marked with an ink-black Hook Jade. Indeed, Lin Mu's Sharingan had been triggered at the very moment of Shido's death. And now, under the sway of his profound memories, there was a subtle hint of further evolution...