I closed the distance. The girl, sensing my approach, suddenly stopped splashing. She turned, and her wide, fearful eyes t mine.
She saw a figure cloaked in shadows, topped by a strange halo of light. A face that was a cold, beautiful mask. A being from whom she could feel no life, no warmth.
A ghost in the rain, protected from the downpour by so unseen force, appearing silently behind her.
This was Yoshino's first impression of : a silent, lifeless phantom erging from the rain.
Her reaction was pure, unadulterated fear. She chose flight.
I saw the terror blossom on her face as her eyes registered my inorganic features. It was a primal, instinctive revulsion. She scrambled to turn, nearly slipping on the wet pavent in her panic. But I couldn't let her go. Not yet.
As gentle as she was, her Angel, Zadkiel, was one of the most powerful defensive constructs among the Spirits a colossal, frost-breathing rabbit of ice. Yoshino herself was loath to use it for harm, always defaulting to escape. To analyze and replicate her Angel, I needed to see it in action. I had to force her hand.
As she took to the sky, a wail of sirens echoed across the city. The spacequake alarm. But my sensors detected no spatial distortion.
It was the AST. They had detected her Spirit signature and were clearing the area of civilians before deploying their units. Standard procedure.
The empty streets gave the freedom I needed.
I pursued her, a silent shadow matching her every desperate maneuver. No matter how fast she flew, how erratically she dodged, I was always there, a constant, unnerving presence just behind her. The fear in her eyes deepened, verging on hysteria.
My apologies, I thought, a cold, pragmatic directive overriding any flicker of sympathy. I don't have the patience to wait for the plot to unfold.
In the original tiline, she would summon her Angel, but only after significant emotional distress. I needed to accelerate the process.
" Endo Armant: Activate "
Golden light coalesced in my hand.
" Pseudo-Endo: Sandalphon "
The massive broadsword, a perfect copy of Tohka's Angel, materialized with a low hum. A test of its power was in order.
The sight of the weapon was the final catalyst. Yoshino's terror reached its peak. She didn't know what the sword could do, only that the ghost chasing her was now ard and ready to strike.
"Stay... stay away from !" she shrieked, her voice cracking with pure panic.
In that instant, my world beca white. A wave of absolute zero erupted from her, a desperate, defensive cry made manifest. A bizarre, crystalline sphere of ice blood in the stormy sky, trapping at its center.
"Uuuu..." A sob escaped Yoshino's lips, tears finally breaking free and mixing with the rain on her cheeks. The scare had been imnse.
At that mont, the AST arrived on the scene.
"What is that thing?" one of the pilots asked, her cha's sensors focused on the ice sphere.
"Unclear. Intel suggested Hermit was being pursued. That must be the pursuer," her squad leader replied. "Thanks to it, we finally got a lock on her. All units, engage!"
They gave chase as Yoshino fled again, leaving my frozen prison behind.
Inside the ice, I was perfectly calm.
"Even in this state, she refuses to use her Angel to harm another," I observed aloud. "A truly kind child."
My Aeterna Defensio had protected from the initial flash freeze. I was encased in a thick layer of ice, but completely unhard. My fingers tapped a rhythmic, thoughtful pattern against my cheek.
I had known her gentle nature would make this difficult. I had expected to have to push her much further. But even this desperate act was restrained. The frost was intensely cold, enough to cause severe hypothermia in a human, but it wasn't lethal. It was a cage, not a weapon.
And it was more than enough.
My systems had already analyzed the unique properties of the ice, cataloging the specific spiritual wavelength of her power. Sandalphon dematerialized. The chance encounter had yielded results. For now, that was sufficient.
" Endo Armant: Activate "
Using the very power I had just copied, I generated a counter-frequency of cold, shattering the ice around from within. I stepped out, brushing non-existent dust from my perfectly clean hoodie, and turned in the direction of my original destination.
….
I paid no further mind to the skirmish between Yoshino and the AST. I could monitor their progress through the city's network if I chose, but it was an unnecessary distraction. My priority was Natsumi.
The data from the brief encounter with Yoshino was filed away. I now possessed a fragnt of her power, a useful tool for later. But now, it was ti for the main event.
I found her on a busy shopping street. A stunning woman with a curvaceous figure and a cascade of flowing green hair. My quarry.
I stepped directly into her path.
She stopped, looking down at with a bewildered expression. Due to my height and the hood shadowing my face, all she saw was a small child blocking her way.
"Well hello, little one. Do you need sothing from ?" she asked, her voice a warm, gentle lody. She crouched down, trying to get a better look at my face.
I remained silent, motionless as a statue. A strange, unsettling feeling began to creep into her heart. Her lovely brow furrowed. Instinct told her to get away from this unnerving child.
As she made to step around , I moved. The halo of light, previously hidden, materialized above my head, casting a soft, ethereal glow.
I looked up, letting her see my face for the first ti.
"Query," my synthesized voice stated calmly. "You are Natsumi, correct?"
Her na. Her true na. At this point in the tiline, she did not yet bear the surna "Kyouno." The fact that I knew it was a critical error on my part, a detail overlooked. But the effect was imdiate.
Those inorganic, golden eyes stared directly into her soul.
….
On the Fraxinus Bridge:-
"Did you hear the new urban legend?"
"The one about the killer robot in the alleyways? Yeah, my buddy's cousin swears he saw it."
"They say it almost scared him to death!"
"Co on, that's just a rumor..."
Shido listened to his classmates chatter, his chin propped on his hand as he stared out the window. His friend, Tonomachi, was busy trying to show him pictures of his latest 2D waifu. The world felt surreal. Too much information had been downloaded into his brain in too short a ti.
Just as his mind began to drift, the piercing shriek of the spacequake alarm cut through the air.
Shido was on his feet in an instant, the first one out of the classroom, moving with a speed that shocked his friends. He bolted for the rooftop, the designated dead zone during an alarm. The mont he burst through the door, a column of light enveloped him, teleporting him away.
….
Back on the Street
"What kind of monster ARE you?!" Natsumi shrieked, clutching a bleeding wound on her side.
She hurled blasts of erald energy at , star-shaped projectiles that exploded harmlessly against my golden shield. The mont I had spoken her na, she had attacked. Her magical assault had triggered the city's alarms, drawing the AST to our location.
Her plan had been simple: use her Angel's power to transform into sothing harmless. A frog, perhaps. A teacup.
It did not work.
" Vector Redirection "
Another of my native Ex-Machina armants, a defensive field that warped space, had bent her transformation beam harmlessly around . In her mont of stunned surprise, I had manifested Sandalphon and struck. She had dodged, but not quickly enough.
Now she was on the run, bleeding and terrified. "That shield... nothing gets through! What IS it?!"
Desperation set in. She unleashed a barrage of attacks, kicking up a thick cloud of dust and debris that obscured my position.
Before she could make her next move, several crescent-shaped blades of violet energy a parting gift from my encounter with Tohka sliced out of the smoke.
She dodged frantically, her stamina and spiritual power already waning. But as the last blade flew past her face, a new danger appeared.
Behind her.
"Wh-?!"
She spun around and saw my face, inches from hers, just as impassive and terrifying as it had been from the start. A layer of frost, a nto from Yoshino, had crept up her legs, freezing her to the spot.
She could only watch as Sandalphon's massive blade, magnified by her terror, swung down.
BOOM!
Her body was thrown back like a ragdoll, smashing through the glass facade of a departnt store before coming to a stop in a pile of rubble and mannequins.
I floated down, landing softly beside her broken form.
"Cough... hack..."
She was defeated, her spirit broken. But the battle had been too short. My analysis of her Angel, Haniel, was not yet complete. I needed more data.
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