Everything had come to an end—time for the curtain to fall.
Back in the real world, two dragon girls had just returned. One of them, now dressed in a maid outfit—Tohru—suddenly pulled the other, who had taken on the appearance of a mature older sister, off to the side.
She then looked around cautiously, like a thief up to no good.
"What are you doing, Tohru?"
Lucoa, whose expression had returned to its usual laid-back self, was puzzled by Tohru's behavior. But Tohru didn't answer immediately. Only after making sure no one was watching did she finally respond.
"Here."
Tohru pulled out a fist-sized orb from inside her clothes—its core crackling with black and red lightning.
"A dragon pearl?!"
In that instant, Lucoa's usually squinting eyes flew wide open, shock clearly written all over her face.
"Hehe, when that Icarus got blasted apart just now, something flew my way."
Tohru gave a sneaky grin as she handed the dragon pearl—something most dragonkind would go mad over—to Lucoa.
The moment Lucoa touched it, something leaked out from the dragon pearl and merged into her body. It was a part of Lucoa's original power—her essence.
As expected, Lucoa had something going on with the Demon King.
Even though Lucoa seemed calm after witnessing the Demon King's disappearance, Tohru could clearly sense the complexity in her emotions.
Looking at Lucoa now, holding the dragon pearl, her face turned melancholic as she let out a long sigh.
"What are you doing?"
Tohru froze when Lucoa handed the dragon pearl back to her.
"If you were the one who obtained it, then it belongs to you."
"Eh? But this…"
Wasn't this something extremely meaningful to Lucoa?
"Well then, I'll be off~"
"You really don't want it?"
"Keeping it will only tempt me to make another mistake. Oh right—if you plan to fuse with the dragon pearl, make sure to let Elma purify it first. And don't let humans touch it, or they'll be affected and turn into dragons."
Lucoa's tone turned more serious as she said this.
"Ugh, Elma again? What a pain. Whatever, I'll just lick it myself—might take a bit longer, but still doable. I'll keep it for now."
Tohru showed clear reluctance, grumbling as she spoke. The only reason she'd worked with Elma earlier was out of necessity.
Letting Elma know she was in this world would be a headache—she'd definitely come looking for her. Reaching out to Elma? No thanks.
Although Elma had far greater purification powers, Tohru wasn't entirely incapable herself. It would just take more effort.
Tohru then acted like the dragon pearl didn't interest her at all, implying she was just holding onto it for now. If Lucoa wanted it back, she could come and ask.
"Well, I'm leaving now. Tohru—don't cause too much trouble for Kobayashi, alright?"
"Mm-hmm, of course~ Bye-bye~~~"
Tohru nodded like a well-behaved child, waving as she watched Lucoa vanish into the distance. As soon as her hand dropped—
Her expression changed instantly.
The innocent look from before disappeared, replaced by a twisted glint in her golden, slit-pupiled eyes. She pulled out the dragon pearl again, a sinister smile spreading across her face.
"It can turn humans into dragons, huh? Hehehe…"
The quiet surroundings echoed with Tohru's eerie laughter.
After all, Kobayashi was human—a short-lived species. This had always troubled Tohru, who wanted to be with her forever.
...
In the dimensional rift, something was watching the real world.
In a park near the exit point, an angel was currently on patrol. This blonde angel had the expression of a vicious guard dog—bared teeth and sharp glares, ready to pounce on anything suspicious.
This made things tricky for the lurking presence.
The dimensional gap was closing, threatening to trap it. With only one feather left, it didn't have enough power to move elsewhere.
The only choice was to wait for the angel to give up and leave out of impatience.
If only the angel would move right into the exit zone—it could ambush her and catch her off guard.
Wait—what's this? The angel's demeanor suddenly shifted.
Once snarling like a hound, she now acted like she was sneaking around, checking her surroundings as if about to do something shady.
Then, she whistled innocently, tiptoeing to the base of a bench. After glancing around once more to make sure no one was watching, her face twisted into a mischievous smirk. She reached toward the bench leg and picked up a 100-yen coin.
She immediately shoved it into her pocket at lightning speed—too fast to even see.
So she's a money-grubber? No, more likely someone always strapped for cash. The moment she spotted a coin someone had dropped, her eyes lit up and she claimed it as her own.
This didn't surprise the watcher. With such a nasty personality, it was no wonder this "fallen angel" hadn't completely fallen from grace—yet.
Perfect. The watcher had found a way to deal with her.
"Hmm? Who's there?!"
The blonde angel—Gabriel—glared in one direction with such intensity it could make a child cry.
At that moment, the sun began to pierce through the clouds, illuminating a metallic glint in the grass.
"F-Five hundred yen?! Luck!!!"
Like a cat stalking prey, she pounced, grabbing the coin.
Then another shiny object rolled nearby, catching Gabriel's eye.
She dashed over in a blur, grabbing the next coin in a flash.
Another? Grab it.
Wait a sec… Something feels off. Is someone baiting me? Gabriel started getting suspicious.
But then—her eyes widened.
Right in front of her—several ten-thousand-yen bills.
In that instant, her severe gacha addiction and constant financial struggles short-circuited her brain. Trap or not—grab first, ask questions later.
Terrified someone else might snatch them first, Gabriel leapt like a frog and slammed down on the bills.
"Hehehe, these are min—"
A sudden chill crawled up her spine.
"Holy Prot—"
BAM!!!
A metallic thud rang out—someone had knocked her out cold with a surprise blow.