I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Amamiya clapped his hands, drawing the girls' attention to him. Then, his smile faded, and he asked seriously, "Everyone, are you all ready?"

"……Um!"

[...I felt Hifumi's sincere and profound emotions.]

Coopation has been improved!

【Ajitani Hifumi (The Fool) ★★★★★★★★☆☆】

Amamiya said no more. He took out his phone, opened the [Another World App], and used the app's built-in bookmark function.

[The Palace - A Vast, Empty Eden, Navigation Begins.]

[BGM: I Believe]

'It's time—to put an end to this uproar!'

The black and red waves spread out, entangling Amamiya and her group, and leading them to a battlefield where dusk was approaching.

The scorching wind whipped up by the blazing demon sword was overwhelming. The World Tree before them was not as beautiful as they had imagined—most of the land was covered by seemingly endless black thorns and eroded by a mist of lies.

At this moment, the [Great Ship Nagilfa], still glowing with the light of the night, was like a moving lighthouse in a misty, dark world.

Amamiya and his group appeared directly on the deck of Nagilfa. As soon as they stood still, they heard Loki's deep and unrestrained laughter.

"Hahahaha... Deceiver, and... you all, you've arrived."

"The prelude to twilight has begun—you can no longer turn back!"

Loki clapped his hands as he spoke.

With the sound of His clapping, two giant wolves, one holding the sun and the other the moon, descended from the sky and landed on the deck.

Then, the fire giant Surtur emerged from the cabin;

The World Serpent, Jormungandr, hissed as it climbed the mast;

Nidhogg flapped its wings and swooped down, landing on the ramming horn of the ship;

An endless 'army of the dead' crawled out of the ship's cabins and then lined up in orderly formations like a battle array.

"Rebels—join us... and offer up the twilight's flames for this world—hahahahahaha!"

Raising his blazing sword high, Loki grinned maliciously and gave the final command: "All troops... attack!"

'So, here's the question—'

'Now, who will emerge victorious? — In our hands.'

The great ship Nagilfa, steered by Loki, cut through the thorns along the way, carrying Amamiya and his party to the foot of the World Tree, on the endless corridor leading to the Garden of Eden.

"Rebels... This is all we can do for you—now it's your turn to fight."

"Your performance has begun... Plunder, dazzle—and then, burn all this unpleasantness to ashes!"

Before even disembarking, Amamiya and his group witnessed a chilling scene... Beneath the World Tree, overgrown with thorns symbolizing despair, the Asgardian gods lay piled up across the mountains.

They glared at Amamiya and his group with their scarlet eyes, and rebuked them sternly.

"Do you truly intend to destroy this Garden of Eden?"

"It may be forged from lies... but what's wrong with that?"

"In a lie... everyone can find happiness."

"Do you intend to destroy lies so that everyone may return to nothingness?"

'...'

Thousands of similar voices rang out... but none of them could sway the "rebels" on the ship.

As Loki said... from the moment they stepped onto the ship, there was no turning back.

'I had that uneasy feeling of impending defeat.'

But now, I feel no fear whatsoever.

'Because we have reunited here to reclaim—'

'What you've seized and taken away—that future that rightfully belonged to us!'

"Ugh...just a bunch of noisy little bugs."

The pink-haired girl, Nidhogg, standing atop the ramming bow, scoffed, "What's the point of all this condemnation, no matter how much it's done?"

"Come on... if you want to stop us, then give us blood for blood, and show us your laughable power!"

She took a running start and jumped off the ship, her figure transforming into a venomous dragon that blotted out the sky in mid-air. Her eerie green, venomous breath accompanied her as she swept across the sky, and her wings, which blotted out the sun, roared and eroded the earth.

"Rebels... let me clear a path for you!"

Wherever the dragon's breath passed, the earth lost its vitality and turned into scorched earth.

Nidhogg flew further and further away into the sunset—now, she was going to destroy the roots of the World Tree to fulfill one of the "Three Prophecies".

The shadows that covered the mountains and fields were instantly partially cleared away.

Amamiya was the first to jump off the ship, followed closely by the girls behind him, stepping onto the scorched earth still bearing the remnants of dragon's breath.

"Great opportunity... Let's go for it."

After running for a short while, the Asgardian gods seemed to come to their senses, one by one awakening from the shock of the dragon's breath invading the earth. They then unleashed various magical and physical attacks in an attempt to intercept Amamiya and her group.

"Stop them!"

"Don't let them come over—"

"You...do you really intend to defy God's will?"

"Do you know what you're doing? You're creating the end of the world!"

The girls, who take Amamiya as their guide and steadfastly continue forward, all understand this in their hearts.

Are they "creating the end of the world"?

it's not true……

They are on their way to the real "Garden of Eden".

Burn down this tree, shaped by lies and despair, with the aim of turning everyone into "blind fools," and then... create together a true Garden of Eden where "blindness and foolishness" do not exist.

They didn't even bother to answer the questions posed by these sanctimonious "gods," and just kept moving forward.

Just as the overwhelming attack of the "Asgardian gods" was about to arrive, a reassuring voice came from behind Amamiya and the girls beside him.

"You all just keep moving forward—leave the rest to me!"

Jormungandr roared as it entered the battlefield. The World Serpent's truly overwhelming body instantly shielded Amemiya and his group from the attack, creating an absolute safe zone.

"The flames of calamity have fallen from the heavens... Now, you long-decayed creatures... shall taste the raging waves of the endless sea!"

The snake's tail slapped the ground, and waves surged from below, then recoiled to both sides.

The road ahead of Amamiya and his group transformed into a safe passage protected by two "water walls".

Amamiya and his group continued on their way. Soon, they arrived at the foot of the spiral staircase leading to the Garden of Eden.

The Asgardian gods finally broke free from the raging fire erupting from Nidhogg and the subsequent furious waves stirred up by the World Serpent. They then pursued the Rain Palace group, who had already stepped onto the transparent spiral staircase, with ferocious expressions.

"Woohoo—"

"Rebels... there's no need to worry."

"Do not look back... You should forge ahead without hesitation."

"Step onto these Edenic staircases, and then... let us see, witness, the true twilight's end..."

Hati and Skul's voices came at the same time.

As their voices echoed, the sun and moon were swallowed up, and the entire world was instantly plunged into a pitch-black void.

Amamiya and the five girls who were with her did not turn around.

As they ascended the spiral staircase, they subconsciously glanced at the bottom of the transparent staircase... and then discovered that it had already become a chaotic battlefield.

The only light in the entire world was not the overwhelming magic of the "gods" and the "giants"—but the Flame Sword in Loki's hand, which burned the World Tree at the end of Ragnarok.

It's truly ironic.

As Amamiya and his group climbed the steps, they felt as if they were quickly ascending to the clouds—

The air seemed to become ethereal and thin, with small "angel" shadows still occasionally descending to disturb it.

However, unexpectedly, for some unknown reason, some "fallen angels" with black wings and wielding swords joined the second half of the journey.

They remained silent throughout, fluttering their wings and floating after Amamiya and her group, intercepting and eliminating the 'angels' who tried to interfere with their ascent of the World Tree with precision and speed.

With the "fallen angels" escorting them for the second half of the journey, Amamiya and his party arrived unharmed at the end of the road to Eden.

Before they could officially approach the entrance to Eden, the archangel, the leader of the fallen angels, held a sharp blade and temporarily blocked Amamiya's path.

Then she looked at Xiaochun in the group.

"...I really didn't expect that."

As if struck by a thought, she sighed softly and then stepped aside.

"Keep moving forward... Since you have already made up your minds, I will not try to persuade you to turn back."

"..."

Now that things have come to this, how could Xiaochun not realize... what these 'dark angels' truly mean when reflected in the real world?

"Thank you, seniors."

The sword-wielding 'archangel' glanced at her indifferently, said nothing, and nodded in acknowledgment.

The 'archangel' turned around and quickly retreated with his subordinates.

"Next, it is your turn to fight... I wish you good luck in your battles."

After the "fallen angels" left, Amamiya and his group were finally free of all obstacles.

The group climbed the steps, passed the last few, and then they saw it—

A bizarre and eerie "paradise".

Chapter Thirty-Five: Colors - Beatrice

After a long journey and the Eden Stairs, Amamiya and his party finally saw it—

A bizarre and eerie "paradise".

When the once unattainable 'City of Eden' finally stood before them, the girls truly felt a kind of... nauseating physical disgust.

This so-called paradise has neither magnificent cities nor vast plains, let alone the so-called "carefree feeling".

As far as the eye can see, there is only a suffocating mist of lies, and even the air is thick with the cloying sweetness unique to counterfeits.

The "residents" wandering here are covered in black thorns, their skin dry and cracked from the strangling and draining of the thorns, yet they still wear the same exaggerated smiles—here, "their mouths can stretch all the way to their ears" is not an exaggeration at all.

"Goddess Norn"... no, it should be said that Saint Ya, disguised as Norn, emerged from a faint yellow light.

She wore a purple-black off-the-shoulder, Gothic Lolita-style dress, with knee-high socks outlining her slender figure, and her blonde ponytail trembled slightly with her fox ears: "Are you familiar with Giwatos's 'Seven Ancient Laws'?"

"The fifth point is precisely about the issue of 'Paradise'."

Her gaze swept over the desolate, ruined landscape before her... a so-called "paradise" drawn from lies and bound by despair, and she paused silently for a long while.

"Can you prove the authenticity of those who arrived at the amusement park?"

"The other ancient rules are the same; they're just a list of incomprehensible phrases..."

"However, one interpretation is that we can see this as a 'paradox of proving the existence of Paradise'."

"If paradise truly exists, those who reach it will never leave because they attain supreme satisfaction and joy."

The girl surveyed this pseudo-paradise, sketched from lies and built from despair, her gaze sweeping over the students entangled in thorns, their distorted, almost unnatural smiles.

The sarcastic words of "Goddess Norren" silenced the four girls in the cram school.

"Satisfaction" and "joy"...

They tried to observe the bizarre street scene that sent chills down their spines.