The next day, Westcott discovered his prize was gone.
His reaction was a strange mix of relief and terror. The good news: the Spirit Hunter hadn't blown up his building or tried to kill him. The bad news: it had slipped past his maximum-security asures without a trace and taken The Nun.
This ant it possessed technology beyond his understanding most likely, so form of spatial teleportation.
But as he thought about it, a new plan began to form. The Spirit Hunter taking Nia had actually solved a problem for him. It moved a key piece on the board, opening up new possibilities.
He was wary of , yes. But that didn't an he couldn't use .
Let's hope this works, Westcott thought, looking out his window at the London sky. A new, more complex ga was about to begin.
A quick note on how my powers work, since it's getting complicated.
Even if a copied weapon is weaker than the real thing, I can usually make up for it by pumping more energy into it. My old Ex-Machina body had limits, but my new one, powered by the Dinsional Engine, has a much higher ceiling.
However, for support-type Angels like Haniel (the transformation broom) and Rasiel (the all-knowing book), it's different. My system is fundantally different from a Spirit's.
This ans my copies of their support powers are often weaker or missing certain functions. A Pseudo-Endo (my copy) will never be a perfect 100% replica of the Endo (the original). A Shin-Endo is an original weapon I develop myself.
There is one exception. If I can directly analyze a Spirit's Sephira Crystal the source of their power I can create a much more powerful and complete copy.
Anyway, back to the story.
….
"Hmm... so this is it."
I sat on the edge of the bed, my sensors scanning the sleeping form of Nia Honjou. I knew, from the original story, what Westcott had done to her.
He had implanted a device in her, sothing like a Realizer unit, that blocked her mories of the years of torture.
His plan was to let Shido "save" her, then trigger the device, flooding her with all that trauma at once to force her into an Inverse state so he could steal her power.
I was already here. I might as well fix this little problem for her.
My scan located the device easily. For an Ex-Machina, removing a piece of foreign technology from a biological host was a simple, delicate operation.
I carefully extracted it without disturbing her mories or her sleep. I gave the device a quick analysis, then crushed it in my hand.
Nia slept soundly. She'd been out for almost a full day. I had the urge to just shake her awake, but I restrained myself. The girl had been through enough.
Thankfully, she woke up on her own around dinnerti.
She sat up, stretching her stiff limbs. There was a certain grace to her movents, but... well, with her figure, it wasn't exactly what you'd call seductive.
"Mmmph~ Haven't slept that well in ages." She yawned, then her eyes focused. "Ah."
She saw , standing by the bed, staring at her with my usual blank expression.
"Ahaha... I guess I overslept a little," she said, scratching her head awkwardly. "But my spiritual power has recovered a bit. Enough to hold up my end of the bargain."
With that, she summoned her Angel. Rasiel appeared in her hands a massive, cross-adorned book that looked like a holy text.
My eyes imdiately began to glow as I started the preliminary analysis. Nia knew what I was doing and didn't seem to mind.
She simply began to use her Angel as she normally would, allowing to gather the data I needed.
Compared to battle-focused Angels like Sandalphon, analyzing a support-type like this was a bit... boring.
There were no flashy attacks, just abstract flows of information and probability. Ten minutes later, I was done.
" Endo Armant: Activate "
" Pseudo-Endo: Rasiel "
A book identical to hers, but trimd with gold filigree, materialized before .
"That was fast," Nia comnted. "Your power really doesn't play by the rules, does it?"
I ignored her, lost in thought.
"Aww, are you going to use and then toss aside? How cruel," she teased.
"Warning," I stated flatly. "Be quiet. I am processing."
I stared at my counterfeit book, running through the test results in my head. They were... mixed.
The good news: The Query and Future Observation functions were intact. I could look up any information in the world and, by combining the Angel's power with my own advanced processors, I could calculate future events with a high degree of accuracy up to about seven days out.
Any further than that and I risked literally lting my own CPU. A single Ex-Machina, no matter how advanced, couldn't match the processing power of an entire linked Cluster.
This ability would make finding my future targets incredibly easy.
The bad news: The Future Description ability the power to rewrite reality was completely absent. Just as I suspected, my system couldn't replicate that kind of fundantal power.
And when I tried to look up "Mio Takamiya," the First Spirit, the book returned a blank page. The original Rasiel had the sa limitation; Mio could simply block any attempts to look her up.
Still, it was a net gain. The result was acceptable.
"Our transaction is complete," I announced, dismissing my new Angel. "We are even."
My business with Nia was finished. It was ti to find the next Spirit.
With Rasiel in my possession, my ability to gather information had skyrocketed. Finding people was no longer a matter of effort; it was a matter of will.
So, did I have my next target?
Of course.
Miku Izayoi, you're next.
Just as I was about to leave, a new sound filled the hotel room.
Grrrroooowl.
I turned. Nia was clutching her stomach, her face bright red.
As an Ex-Machina, I no longer required sustenance. But I hadn't forgotten that biological beings like Nia needed food to function. Still, I had no obligation to provide for her. I had already rescued her from a high-security black site. Wasn't that enough?
I stared at her, my face a blank mask. She stared back, her blush deepening. This was not my problem.
...
"..."
"Thank you so much!"
We were sitting in a cheap diner. I was back in my human disguise. Nia was wolfing down a mountain of food like she hadn't eaten in a decade.
My resolve had lasted all of ten seconds. The mont I turned to leave, she had latched onto my leg and refused to let go. Faced with her shaless begging, my cold, logical exterior had cracked. So, here we were.
"I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I get so money!" she vowed between bites. She was grateful, at least.
I gave a curt nod and a simple warning. "Be careful. DEM and the AST will be looking for you. Don't get caught again."
After dropping her off, I left. My own mission was waiting.
….
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