Aozaki Aoko Case File

Thick black smoke filled the air, obscuring the view and making it impossible to see into the distance. Touko Aozaki was on full alert, with all the runes around her set to a near-activation state.

Suddenly, a gust of wind appeared from nowhere, and a circular blue magic array spun outward from the black smoke. The previously dissipating smoke was gathered by an unseen force into a whirlwind, only to explode outward once again. Standing at the center of the scorched ground before Touko was Aoko, her long red hair nearly brushing the ground. Her figure and appearance hadn't changed, but the length of her hair and the aura she exuded were subtly different.

"Well, well, what a warm welcome, sister," Aoko teased Touko in a lighthearted tone.

"How's your stock of runes holding up?"

"Hmph, as long as I can kill you, I can summon as many runes as I need!" Touko snarled.

"You wound me with words like that," Aoko said, her tone unwavering and her expression warm.

"Is it because your pride's been hurt?"

"I don't believe that level of rune combustion could be defended against by some strange magecraft," Touko countered, avoiding Aoko's question.

"So, is that the Aozaki family's Magic?"

"That's hard to say," Aoko replied.

"You could always try again."

Touko intended to. She closed her right eye and activated the Mystic Eyes in her left. Her Inherited Mystic Eyes, enhanced through over a thousand reflections, had sacrificed mystery for sheer power. It was a masterpiece—a pair of Mystic Eyes she'd crafted atop her natural ones. Even in the original timeline, Alice, whose Mystic Eyes far surpassed Touko's, had fallen to this technique.

"So this is what it's like to be seen through your Mystic Eyes, Touko."

Aoko clenched her fist, feeling her movements slow slightly, though it was clear the effect wasn't what Touko had intended. Touko stared, her kaleidoscopic Mystic Eyes reflecting disbelief.

"You... dissipated the Mystic Eye's effect?!"

Touko exclaimed.

"You summoned multiple versions of yourself from different points in time and placed them all on the same timeline?!"

"Impossible!" she immediately dismissed her guess.

"Time travel is the domain of the Second Magic. The Aozaki family's Magic can't be that simple!"

"Your guess is pretty close, Touko," Aoko said, one hand resting on her waist.

"I just temporarily unified multiple versions of Aoko Aozaki from parallel worlds into one. That way, even if your Mystic Eyes reflect thousands of times, it won't affect me because the effect is diluted."

Touko gritted her teeth as she listened, mentally calculating her remaining trump cards.

"But just taking hits without fighting back isn't my style," Aoko said, fixing her gaze on Touko.

"A sister who does bad things needs to be punished. Are you ready?"

As Aoko finished speaking, specks of light, like dewdrops after rain, slipped from her hair, glistening in the air. In an instant, Aoko activated all her Magic Circuits, intricate markings covering her arms, torso, neck, and face. The dewdrops hovered in the air before hitting the ground, shining brightly.

Like planetary rings, a multitude of glowing magic orbs, each radiating a cross-shaped brilliance, began orbiting Aoko, rotating slowly and poised to strike.

"This isn't the Aozaki family's Magic crest! What are you—"

Before Touko could finish, four black-and-white swords appeared from four angles, targeting Aoko's vital points. The swords collided, emitting a blinding light and triggering an explosion even more intense than the one caused by Touko's runic flames.

Touko was at a loss. By all accounts, she had sealed the battlefield with Alice's Mirror of Slumber and Nameless Forest; no one should have been able to enter. Yet, the duel between the Aozaki sisters had been interrupted by a third party—one Touko did not recognize.

Just as she steadied herself amid the aftermath, a figure clad in tattered red cloth rushed through the smoke. In that split second, she glimpsed the red figure wielding two black-and-white swords. But almost immediately, the figure was thrown back with far greater force, crashing into the ground and leaving a long trench in the earth.

"Subjective Axis: Fixation."

Aoko appeared before Touko, unharmed and pristine, her face bearing an expression of anger Touko had never seen before. The snowy field around them had transformed into a sea of flowers, with blue blossoms spreading across the hills.

Aoko's attention was no longer on Touko. Instead, she glared with murderous intent at the red figure lying on the ground.

"I've never liked your family," she said, her words strange to Touko. "Especially you."

"If neither you nor your master knows when to quit, then you might as well die!"

With that, Aoko snapped her fingers, and the starlight surrounding her erupted, all of it directed at the red figure. A series of sharp explosions followed as the radiant magic orbs detonated one after another. Countless cross-shaped bursts of light filled the air instantly.

Whoever that red figure was, Touko doubted they could survive such a concentrated barrage of firepower. As she expected, after the explosion, nothing remained of the red figure except a massive crater, several meters in diameter.

"Well, Touko, the annoying fly has been dealt with," Aoko said, her calm smile returning.

"Now, it's time to settle our private business as sisters."

As she finished, countless starlights gathered around Aoko once again, more numerous than when she'd destroyed the red figure. Intricate, three-dimensional magic arrays formed around her, delicate as finely crafted glasswork. The starlight magic was drawn into these arrays, compressing, rotating, and accelerating the energy like a jet engine.

The massive, otherworldly Magic Circuits covering Aoko's body grew brighter as her ninety-nine Magic Channels voraciously siphoned mana from the Root.

"Numerical Patterns, Engage."

Aoko spread her arms, and the magic arrays connected to the markings on her body.

"Aether Charging, Complete."

Beneath her calm tone was a barely concealed thrill at finally going all out.

"Struggle, sister. Show me what you've achieved in these past two and a half years—Incineration Mode: Blue!"

Ps: Emiya ga shinda!