Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume5 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 7===

Something fell from the sky.

It was a collection of junk. The dragonfly, ladybug, and other winged Threats that had attempted aerial combat had lost power and started dropping.

That wasn’t all.

All the wriggling movement around Karuta’s group ceased like a switch had been thrown. Had they simply lost power, or had they lost all purpose without anyone left to give them orders?

Young Natalena took a nervous look around. The look on her face said the silence scared her more than all the noise had.

“The Threat…has stopped?”

To learn what had happened over a wider area, the blonde girl diverted a portion of her attention to the Crystal Blossom transmissions and then frowned.

She heard only static.

A massive explosion had occurred outside of the atmosphere. The radiated microwave and EMP energy may indeed have been negatively affecting various forms of communication. It would be surprising if Transline’s defeat didn’t cause some sort of problems.

But this had to be more than that.

Karuta glared overhead.

“So Crystal Blossom communications aren’t working either.”

“Senpai? Um…”

“Natalena, use any other method – flashing lights, semaphore, or whatever else you know – and tell everyone flying up there to land immediately. If they don’t, they’ll fall from the sky once they lose their power. I have my doubts even their regeneration will work.”

Meanwhile, Natalena noticed a further change.

It started as a quiet, cracking sound. Marika was the only other one nearby with crystal armor out and Natalena watched as her rapier device blurred, shattered, and disappeared into thin air. But that wasn’t all. The crystal armor itself slowly peeled away from her body and vanished.

The same happened to Natalena. This had never happened before. Not even the broken shards remained.

Something unusual was underway, so she widened her eyes.

“W-wait a minute. What’s happening here!?”

“Crystal Magic comes from the conflict between the power pouring down from space and the power of the Original Crystal Embryo. So what happens when one of those powers goes away?”

Natalena Blast could not answer.

Because she saw the answer before she could give it.

Crystal Girl Aine.

Yes, that was right.

Amaashi Marika’s rapier device, all the students’ crystal armor, and everything else that came from Crystal Magic had disappeared. It didn’t just leave their skin and it didn’t just shatter. They couldn’t use their flight or even communicate with their Crystal Blossoms.

So what would happen to Aine?

No one could answer that.

Natalena Blast had been shouting in alarm before, but now her breath caught in her throat. Saying the words felt like they would turn her suspicions into a horrific truth. Maybe everyone here was imagining it all? They had never seen this phenomenon before, but she still gasped at the conclusion she reached without real proof.

And finally…

It was of course Utagai Karuta who spoke.

“Aine.”

“Yes, Sacri-sama?”

“Let’s go for a walk.”

There was no response.

But that was just coincidence. Aine was still there.

For now.

But for how long?

The cracking sound coming from within the crystal girl was quiet, but it was not stopping. Something was happening inside her. Fear weighed on Karuta’s chest with definite color, shape, and weight. There was no turning back time. Marika, Kyouka, Natalena, Deiri, Hirosuke, Imi, Tayori, and everyone else didn’t stop the two of them.

They had saved the world, but it ended here.

There was nothing beyond this point.