Experiment Subject No. 1 (1): Capturing Angel Yuribel
We had captured Experiment Subject No. 1—Angel Yuribel. The barrier made from Unia's mana ensured she couldn't break free from any restraint.
"Aaaahhh!!"
Her struggles looked just like someone trapped in a transparent coffin, thrashing wildly to escape. Honestly, there were parts that were a bit uncomfortable to watch.
So.
"Instructor Cardisha. Is this spot good?"
"Yeah. Good work."
I brought her straight to the infirmary and laid her on the lab table—no, the operating table. Then I slipped on the special gloves Instructor Cardisha had prepared.
"Ready?"
"Yes. Once I connect to the 'dream,' you read the mana wavelength, right, Instructor Cardisha?"
"Exactly."
Instructor Cardisha pointed to the monitor on the wall.
"We'll confirm the mana wavelength and check if it's unique to Yuribel herself. With Angelica, the angel's soul had already slipped out separately..."
"But if we induce a dream now, it might be the angel's dream."
"Right. We can verify it later. If the mana pattern of the dream we see doesn't match 'Yuribel's mana pattern after the angel dissipates'..."
"Then the wavelength we're checking now—the pattern—is unique to the angel."
In other words, we were trying to read the mana wavelength of divine power.
Mana wavelengths are like fingerprints for people—everyone's is unique. But if we call them 'footprints' instead of fingerprints? Then we could distinguish human handprints from dog paws, or even dinosaur tracks, and which specific dinosaur from where it lived.
"Once we collect data on angel mana wavelengths, we can detect the moment an angel's soul tries to possess a human body. Then we can rush over, subdue the student, or persuade them—take action."
"Subdue them?"
"The best option is persuasion, of course?"
Instructor Cardisha winked and snapped her fingers.
"Unia. Can you soften the top part of the mana barrier a bit?"
"So Phoenix can stick his hand in and grab the angel's head? Got it."
Unia reshaped the barrier over her head. It had been like reinforced glass before, but now pushing my hand in felt like shoving it through a thick vinyl wall.
Squish.
Wrapping the barrier like a glove, I gripped Angel Yuribel's head with the custom-made mana gloves.
"Ah, aaak, aaaahhh!!"
Her scream reached me, filled with humiliation at being seized by inferior beings and self-loathing at being experimented on by them.
"First, let's put her to sleep."
I pressed my thumb to her forehead and fixed her head in place with my other fingers.
"Phew."
"Phoenix? You tense? Want me to hold you from behind?"
"Nah, I'm good."
Unia tried to hug me from behind for support, but I politely declined.
"It's not tension. I'm just relieved we can free classmate Yuribel from the angel."
"Oh... really?"
"If I get nervous next time, I'll ask you to catch me then."
"Yes!"
Unia clenched her fist happily.
"...What exactly is she planning to catch?"
"If it's the mana pouch, then hands from below?"
"Th-that far...?"
"Unia entrusted her own mana pouch to him, so there's no rule saying she can't do the same to Phoenix."
Evangeline and Rydmila were deep in discussion about what to support, but I focused on the mana flowing over Angel Yuribel's head.
Thank goodness I'm here right now.
It really was a sigh of relief. If it had been anyone else—if I hadn't been here—capturing an angel like this would've caused all sorts of disasters.
"Aaaahhh!!"
Angel Yuribel screamed. She thrashed to shatter Unia's barrier directly, but with her head gripped, her eyes rolled back completely.
Yeah. Up to this point, it was still in the realm of 'pride.' Caught in a trap by lowly creatures, she was pissed at herself while struggling to escape.
But if someone saw this scene? Someone on her level or higher? How would that feel?
Mortifying.
Beyond shame, she'd want to die. Not just adults, but gym buffs who hit 500 reps as a baseline, snared in a trap set by kindergarteners—not even elementary kids—and getting lynched.
And if that lynching escalated to a real 'life threat'? Beyond shame, she'd feel actual murder vibes.
"Ah, aaa—"
Then she'd beg for help, shame be damned. Call a friend, the cops, scream for salvation. Like ants or bees releasing pheromones to summon the colony.
"Aaaaaah—"
Just like chanting a hymn now.
Squeeze.
"Mmph, mmph!"
Where do you think you're going?
I dug my nails slightly into Angel Yuribel's body. The gloves and barrier limited it to just the nails piercing, but the mana flowing from them was like deadly poison to an angel.
"!!!"
Angel Yuribel looked up at me in shock. The others didn't notice, but only she stared right at me.
Me, reflected in her eyes. Deep in her pupils, a faint blue flame flickered.
"Alright, time to put her to sleep. Sleeping spell it is."
I manipulated her head and cast the sleep spell on her.
"[Sleeping]."
The actual sleep magic took hold. At the same time, a special mana wavelength flickered on Instructor Cardisha's monitor, and she hurriedly manipulated her mana pad to collect the data.
"...Phew."
It couldn't affect them over there, or Unia. But I had to infuse it reliably. Unusual mana.
The power of the hell archduke dormant—not dwelling, dormant—in my body.
Blue Flame.
Harmless to humans, but the ultimate anti-celestial attribute that burns mana on contact for angels.
"!!!"
Slump.
"Ah, a dream's appearing!"
"That's... Hanelis? She's in bed with her right now... Eek?!"
"Oh my god..."
Angel Yuribel's body fell asleep, and in the air, 'Yuribel's' personal desires slowly manifested like with Angelica, awakening her mind.
Thanks, Yuribel.
Thanks to her non-social sacrifice, I could focus on the parasite in her body.
"W-women together like that...!"
"She thought she was a boy when they were kids? Oh god. Even after that boy turned into a girl as pretty as her, she couldn't let go..."
"S-such an intense kiss between girls...!"
The classmates didn't know.
"F-found it! A pattern different from the seven attributes! By inverting all seven-attribute mana wavelengths, I spotted another mana flowing in the gaps!"
Instructor Cardisha didn't know either.
Whoosh.
The blue flame mana burrowing into Yuribel's body, sweeping through and chasing the fleeing, hiding parasite spirit.
Who could know?
On the monitor, like a rhythm game's hellish difficulty, seven mana attributes sparkled while a researcher read the special wavelength within.
In the dreamscape spilling from her body, two women clung like slugs, sticky and intimate.
Three heroines watched intently, faces flushed but prepared for any rampage.
Twitch, twitch.
That the Blue Flame mana infiltrating her body was hunting the angel's soul fleeing inside her.
Gotcha.
Now it was cornered.
"Unia."
"Yes?"
"Lend me your ear for a sec?"
I whispered instructions to Unia.
"L-like that?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Just a hunch."
"...!"
Unia, eyes widening in realization, moved to the opposite side—by Angel Yuribel's feet—and extended her hand.
"I'll try."
Shhh.
Mana flowed slowly from Unia's body, through my hand, into Yuribel's, toward her lower body. Toward her intimate spot.
"Hahk, hahk, hahk!"
The angel panted heavily. The moment she sensed that thing chasing her, she abandoned any thought of claiming the head.
She fled down the vast tube, hurling obstacles behind her. But it dodged every attack mockingly, pursuing relentlessly.
Get caught, and she dies. Soul annihilated completely. Knowing this, the angel ran, staking her soul.
She had to warn them. Escape this body, alert the heavens.
One of the [Seven Starlights] born from [Primal Chaos], ignited in the clash of [Light] and [Darkness]—the [Primal Flame].
The blue flame with the authority of [Annihilation], burning all.
When heaven tried to conquer the earth, they couldn't suppress that blue flame, so they sealed it underground.
About ten years ago, it suddenly appeared on the surface, putting all of heaven on alert—requiring even great archangels to respond.
That flame approached now. To burn her soul.
"Hidey-hide—"
A low laugh in her ear.
"I see your hair—"
No, a song. A nightingale voice, goddess-like, singing as it neared. Their eyes met once.
The angel knew. That thing was in the same boat as her.
"Th-this...!"
She had to escape. That loathsome flame's master had ascended to the surface the same way as heaven's angels.
She didn't know how, but she was certain. A goddess had possessed a man's body. No—the goddess had yielded her flesh and mana to a human man's soul.
Just as countless angels shed their mortal ugliness for beautiful celestial forms.
That demon god had infiltrated similarly. By letting a human man's soul possess her body, allowing him to move it.
Step, step.
Through the endless tunnel, hiding at the end, holding her breath.
"Found you."
"You can't just rampage through someone else's body like that, Angel Yuribel."
Death appeared, in the form of a blue goddess.
"Th-this...!"
"What?"
"You too—you're possessing a woman's body—!"
"Oh, that?"
The blue goddess—no, he—laughed.
"It's fine. Between husband and wife, there's no yours or mine anyway."
"What—"
"Whatever."
Whoosh.
"I'm just borrowing my wife's body for a bit, but you lot hijack random women's bodies to do weird shit, right?"
"Th-this...!"
"So—"
"Gap!!"
The angel fled.
"Hahaha! Fool! You can't harm this body's owner!"
"Ah."
"Bye-bye, fool! Say hi to your demon god for me! The moment I return to heaven, none of you demons will enter our playground again!"
Through the tunnel, out a hole, toward the outside.
"Farewell!!"
The moment she dashed—
Flash.
"?!?!?!"
[Gotcha.]
Angel Yuribel saw it. A massive being reaching for her, radiant golden hair and sparkling red eyes. Halo gleaming—
"G-Goddess...?"
Flash.
"...Um, Phoenix?"
Unia pointed at the angel—no, Yuribel's—skirt.
"...Is this for real?"
"That's how it went."
I pulled my hand away and removed the gloves.
"Instructor Cardisha."
"Th-this is the angel's mana wavelength...! If we confirm other angels' wavelengths and find the common denominator...!"
"We captured the angel's soul."
"...Huh?"
"You know how angel souls can possess 'clothes' too?"
I pointed where Unia was staring awkwardly.
"Seems like it's lodged here now?"
"......."
The angel-possessed spot. A triangular deep purple cloth piece with black strings on the sides.
"Uh, um..."
"Thanks to the student council president. Knowing from Keiar that they possess clothes... I figured how to draw it out of her body with mana, and pushed."
I pointed at Yuribel's skirt area.
"Angel... captured."