Ferris Wheel

Kurumi sat quietly by the cabin window, her gaze fixed on the vast scenery of Tengu City stretched beneath them. The golden hues of the sunset gently bathed her figure, softening the usual intensity in her eyes.

From up here, everything looked so small, buildings stacked like toy blocks, roads winding like quiet streams, and people bustling below like little dots, unaware they were being watched from above.

It looked peaceful.

So peaceful that one would never guess this city had been a battleground, where Spirits appeared, where Wizards fought, and where Spatial Quakes had turned lives upside down.

For a long moment, Kurumi simply stared in silence.

Across from her, Shido sat with his hands resting loosely on his lap, watching her instead of the view. The warm light lit her profile in a way that made her seem almost… devine. But what caught his attention wasn't just her beauty.

It was the look in her eyes.

Despite the smile that still lingered faintly on her lips, there was something else hiding beneath her calm exterior, relief, loneliness and even nostalgia.

"Say, Shido-san." Kurumi suddenly spoke, her voice was soft but clear, cutting through the quiet hum of the Ferris wheel cabin.

Shido turned his attention to her immediately. "Yes?"

She was smiling. But not in her usual playful, teasing way. Nor was it the eerie or the perfect smile she usually wore like a mask. No, this smile was… fragile and bitter and maybe a little tired.

And behind it, Shido saw something that twisted quietly in his chest, pain.

"Do you think…" she began to talk while her eyes were still watching the world beyond the glass, "the world would finally be at peace… if Spirits didn't exist?"

"…You know what, Kurumi," he said quietly, "even if Spirits never existed… this world would still find ways to fall into chaos."

"Why? Aren't Spirits the root of destruction? Cities reduced to rubble. Thousands dead… especially after the first Spatial Quake." Kurumi furrowed her brows, not satisfied with Shido's reply.

She turned her gaze toward Shido, searching his face for a real answer, not just kind words.

But Shido didn't look away. He met her eyes and spoke, calm but firm.

"Kurumi, Human are the beginning and the end of their own problems." Shido said while bitterness laced every syllable. "They're born with overwhelming desire for wealth, power, fame… women."

He then chuckled dryly. "Once they grasp something, they always reach for more. Never satisfied. Always hungering."

His eyes turned to the window, but they weren't really seeing the city anymore.

"The malice in people's hearts is the true source of chaos. Even without Spirits, they'd still wage wars. They'd still bathe the world in blood. Cities would burn, families would shatter… nothing would change."

Kurumi remained silent.

"Spatial Quakes… they're like natural disasters. Yes, they happen because Spirits descend into this world, but is that really the Spirits' fault?" Shido continued, his voice calm but filled with conviction. "Did any of them choose to become Spirits?"

He shook his head softly, then turned his eyes back to Kurumi.

"No one becomes a Spirit because they want to. Some of them… they had no choice. Some became Spirits just to survive. Others were forced into it. Some took that power because they wanted to gain hope… and some..."

His gaze softened as he continue to stare at Kurumi.

"...some became Spirits to protect the people they love."

A pause.

"…Isn't that the same with you?"

Kurumi was completely at a loss for words. She lowered her gaze, as if searching for something, perhaps herself within the glowing city below.

"…Yes. You're right, Shido-san." she finally replied.

But Shido could immediately tell something was off. Her voice, though calm, trembled faintly beneath the surface, like a still pond hiding a storm beneath.

"I became a Spirit thinking that I would be a hero of Justice to bring peace to the world, and that's why..."

"Shido! Kurumi's Emotional Gauge are becoming unstable, you need to get out of there, now!" Kotori's voice rang out of the earpiece he was wearing.

Originally, she didn't need to interrupt because Shido led Kurumi really well on their date and he didn't need their support that much so Kotori just watch their date, but Kurumi suddenly change, causing her to squint her eyes and warn Shido, however she was still too late.

"...I will do everything to go back to the past and kill the first Spirit even if I have to kill tens of thousands of people more!" Kurumi revealed a eerie smile causing Shido to frown.

"Spirit Dress of Gods Authority, Number 3: Elohim!" 

A brilliant red glow erupted within the cabin, instantly shrouding it in an intense, otherworldly light.

"Shit!" Shido cursed under his breath, shielding his eyes as the glow surged around him. His heart pounded, not from fear, but from bitter regret.

Inside his heart, he was scolding himself since he still couldn't reach Kurumi's heart without fighting her. But he know that this was inevitable since Kurumi was on the path of no return. She had already taken 10,000 lives for the sake of going back in time. If she did, the guilt would likely consume her. It might even drive her to take her own life.

When Kurumi reemerge from the light, the pure white dress that she was wearing were now replaced by her black and red Astral dress in a form of Gothic dress while her golden clock pupils can now be seen.

Below the Ferris wheel, the cheerful buzz of the amusement park came to a grinding halt.

The reddish glow radiating from one of the cabins quickly caught the attention of the visitors. Curious murmurs rippled through the crowd as they tilted their heads upward, phones already raised to capture the strange occurrence.

But before anyone could press record.

Thud.

One by one, people began collapsing where they stood.

Some slumped over benches, others fell mid-step, their phones clattering to the ground beside them.

A thick, dark haze began creeping along the edges of the park, swallowing light, movement, and sound. The air grew heavy. Suffocating. As if time itself had thickened into something you could choke on.

A dome of pure darkness had engulfed the entire amusement park.

It was Kurumi's skill, the manifestation of her City of Devouring Time.

A living nightmare that sapped the time of anyone caught within it.

Inside this black domain, her shadow stretched and slithered across every surface, invisible to most, yet mercilessly effective. Anyone whose shadow overlapped with hers had their time stolen while their consciousness slipping into a deep, forced sleep as their lifespan drained away, second by second.

Everyone inside the park… had just become her hostage.

And above them, at the highest point of the Ferris wheel, Kurumi stood at the heart of the chaos, her golden eye ticking rhythmically like a countdown. Beautiful, deadly, and completely still.

"Stop it Kurumi!" Shido's frown grew deeper when he saw the state where the innocent people were in he couldn't help but cast a sharp look at Kurumi.

But it seemed that Kurumi only became more excited by his cold gaze, but she still tried to maintain a perfect smile as she started to negotiate with Shido.

"Now that it's just the two of us again, perhaps you've had a change of heart about my proposal?" she purred.

"No," Shido responded without hesitation, his voice firm. "I will not be yours. Instead... you will be mine!"

"Your so domineering Shido-san, if only you are by my side at that time." Seeing Shido became so persistent, Kurumi didn't get angry or frustrated instead she recalled herself in Shido when she just turned into a Spirit. She would not be what she was right now if she had Shido at that time.

But still, even though she wanted to devour Shido and go to the past to kill the first Spirit. Inside her heart there was a little expectation of her for Shido to defeat her and take her everything as his and free her from this nightmare.

But for now, she would push those thoughts aside, focusing instead on the present moment. She turned her gaze back to Shido, standing firm against her. When she activated her City of Devouring Time, every ride stopped moving, there was only the two of them here, even Shido's connection with Kotori also cut off by Kurumi's domain.

"Since that's the case, then, let's continue our date!"