Chapter 9: Silver

The calm on the bridge of the Fraxinus was an illusion sustained by the constant hum of the life support systems. 

It was 03:14 hours. 

On the main screen, the global map of Reiyoku fluctuations showed a relatively stable surface, until a pulse of purple-scarlet color fractured the monitoring.

"Spacequake detection!" Operator Hinako Shiizaki's voice cut through the silence like a fire alarm. "No pre-opening signs. The dimensional rupture is instantaneous."

Kotori Itsuka, seated on her throne of command with her commander's jacket draped over her shoulders, straightened her back. Her strawberry lollipop stopped halfway through.

"Coordinates," he ordered with icy brevity.

"North Africa. Central Sahara Desert, uninhabited sector," Kyhei Kannazuki reported, his fingers moving with mechanical precision across the touchscreen console. "Commander, the magnitude is alarming. The air displacement and initial shockwave are equivalent to Princess's first documented appearance. We're talking about a level of widespread devastation."

"Adjust the visual and thermal reconnaissance satellites," Kotori urged. "I want to see what's at the epicenter before the local AST detects the signature."

Images filtered through the atmosphere appeared on the main panel. The Sahara, usually a sea of ​​golden dunes, now displayed a perfect circular wound. 

The temperature generated by the friction of space-time as it broke had been so high that the sand had instantly vitrified, transforming the terrain into a smoking obsidian mirror that reflected starlight with unnatural clarity.

At the center of that disaster, one figure remained motionless.

—Maximum approach—requested Murasame Reine, whose tired gaze scrutinized the energy flows surrounding the entity.

The image stabilized. It wasn't a monster, nor a shapeless mass of energy. It was a young woman whose presence seemed to defy the logic of her surroundings.

"It's a new Spirit," Reine confirmed, noting data on her tablet. "But its signature is... different. There's an order to the fluctuations of its Reiyoku that we rarely see in early manifestations, almost like Empress, but more... artificial."

'Artificial...we know what Lían thinks about the manipulation of energy by artificial means, and here we have a spirit that seems to be the representative of such methods... Why do I have a bad feeling?...'

Kotori felt a chill run down her spine.

The satellite camera captured her features with almost surgical clarity. The young woman had extremely long hair of such a pure silver color that it appeared to be made of mercury filaments. 

Her hair was styled in two low side pigtails that fell heavily to her ankles, held in place by ribbons of a dark material that did not reflect light. Straight bangs covered her forehead, while two long strands framed a face with stoic and melancholic features.

Her eyes, large and an intense emerald green, stared into the void, as if searching for something that was no longer there.

"Her Astral Dress..." Kotori murmured, analyzing the attire. "It doesn't look like the typical outfit we see on a Spirit
."
The young woman wore a futuristic-style suit, a piece of spiritual engineering that combined pristine white, cobalt blue, and gold details. 

The torso was covered by a technological corset that accentuated a slender but noticeably voluptuous figure. 

Forearm guards and thigh-high boots completed the ensemble, giving her the appearance of a warrior from a bygone era. Every seam of the dress emitted a rhythmic pulse of light, indicating that the garment itself was an extension of her power.

However, what most attracted the crew's attention was what they considered to be their Angel.

Extending from its back, a pair of white feathered wings unfurled with an impressive wingspan. 

Despite the feather-like appearance, the texture was distinctly technological; the individual "feathers" looked like sheets of a composite material, retractable and articulated with a precision that surpassed any known aircraft. 

They emitted a subtle golden glow, a halo of energy particles that distorted the air around them.

"Those wings... They're definitely its Angel," Reine observed. "They're not just for flying. I detect a microwave emission and a distortion of space emanating directly from the structure of the feathers. It's possible to assume it's a support or defensive-type Angel."

The silence of the observation was broken when three points of light appeared on the long-range radar.

"AST units from the regional base have arrived in the area," Hinako announced. "They are attempting to establish a containment perimeter."

On the screen, the AST mages were seen approaching with their CR-Units in combat formation. 

The silver-haired girl didn't move immediately. 

She maintained her emotionless expression, gazing at the horizon with a loneliness that seemed to weigh more heavily than her own Angel. 
But when the sorceresses' sensors locked onto her, something shifted.

The young woman's green pupils flashed, turning a bright, menacing red. There were no screams, no declarations of war. Only an instinctive reaction from a system detecting interference.

It flapped its wings only once.

The resulting shock wave was not a fiery explosion, but a burst of kinetic pressure so pure that the vitrified sand shattered, flying through the air like lethal fragments. 

The AST mages were flung backward, their individual territories collapsing under the frequency emitted by the Silver Angel, and they even had to struggle to avoid the fragments. Before they could reorient themselves, the young woman propelled herself toward the zenith.

"Follow their path!" Kotori shouted.

"It's moving at a speed that defies the limits of inertia," Kannazuki reported. "Three... four... five Mach. Commander, it has passed the stratosphere."

"Wait," Reine said, raising a hand. "Look at the Reiyoku levels."

On the monitor, the signal representing the Spirit vanished abruptly. It wasn't a physical escape; it was as if the entity had leaped completely out of reality. 

The radars showed only pure emptiness. The thermal satellites only detected the residual heat of the desert.

"It's gone," Hinako concluded, stunned. "There's no phase trace, no heat signature. It's literally vanished into thin air."

On the Fraxinus's bridge, the atmosphere shifted from agitation to an analytical heaviness. The AST remained behind, in the desert, frustrated by an apparition they couldn't even touch.

"Code name?" Kotori asked, as she put a new lollipop back in her mouth.

“Given the nature of your Angel and its disappearance… the analysis unit suggests ‘Zodiac’ or ‘Seraph,’” Reine replied. “But I think we’ll limit ourselves to its physical characteristics for now for the official record. It will be classified as ‘Silver.’”

Kotori examined the recorded data. The Spirit's connection to technology was evident, from its Astral Dress to the structure of its Angel. It was a stark contrast to the Spirits Shido had sealed away so far.

"Commander," Kannazuki interjected, "we must inform Shido immediately. If this Spirit manifests in Tengu City, we need him to be prepared for contact."

Kotori remained silent for a long minute. She stared at the screen where the smoking crater in the Sahara was still visible. 

Then, he glanced at a secondary monitor displaying the vital signs of Shido, who was sleeping at home, miles away, under the same atmosphere that now harbored a new danger.

"No," Kotori declared. "We won't inform him yet."

"Why?" Reine asked, though her voice contained no judgment, only professional curiosity.

“Shido is already under immense pressure dealing with Lian,” Kotori explained, crossing her arms. “Lian isn’t a conventional Spirit; her presence and temperament are volatile and demand undivided attention. If we throw the existence of ‘Silver’ at her right now, we’ll only increase her anxiety and potentially trigger a jealous or unstable reaction from Lian if she senses that Shido has another objective.”

The commander stood up, her small but imposing figure under the lights of the bridge.

“Silver has vanished without a trace. We don’t know if she’ll reappear in an hour or a year. We gain nothing by disrupting Shido’s current equilibrium with a threat we can’t even locate. We’ll keep this event under the “Compartmentalized Information” protocol. Only those present on this bridge and Ratatoskr’s High Council will know of her appearance in the Sahara
.
” “Understood,” Reine nodded. “I’ll proceed to encrypt the visual records of the Astral Dress and the Angel. Although something is troubling me…”

-What is it?

“The way it disappeared,” Reine said, pointing to the sensor’s last reading. “It wasn’t a standard dimensional transfer. It was as if its Angel altered reality to vanish from observable existence… If its power is somehow linked to technology, the strategies we usually employ might be rather useless. Lian can already block our communications with Shido, and this Spirit could even infiltrate our systems on a whim.”

Kotori stared at the frozen image of the silver-haired girl. That melancholic, almost artificial expression seemed to haunt her from the screen.

"In this world, nothing truly disappears," Kotori murmured. "It just waits for the right moment to make the biggest impact possible... We must be vigilant for when it finally decides to reveal itself."

-Understood

The Fraxinus continued its silent orbit over a sleeping world, unaware that an angel of technology and silver had just claimed its place on the board. 

The AST would initiate its own search protocols, and DEM would surely already be analyzing the characteristics of the Spirit.

But for Kotori, the priority was clear: to keep her brother stable long enough for him to survive the coming storm.