A few teenage boys nearby who witnessed the feat let out impressed whoops and cheers.
I had other business to attend to.
Kurumi Tokisaki. Codena: Nightmare. The only Spirit known to actively and willingly take human lives. They called her the Worst Spirit.
And she was my next target.
Her Angel, Zafkiel, controlled ti itself. If I could replicate a power of that magnitude, even a counterfeit version would be an incredible asset. The question was whether such a fundantal force could even be copied.
First, I needed to find her.
To an Ex-Machina in a digitally interconnected world, this was trivial. I dove into the net, pulling public records, school enrollnt data, residential addresses everything.
Kurumi Tokisaki's entire life, at least the parts that had ever touched a server, was laid bare before . Without her knowledge, I had doxed a demi-goddess.
I stood before the front door of a quaint, ordinary house and rang the bell.
Ding-dong.
Silence.
I rang it again. And again. Still nothing.
Not ho? My internal chronoter indicated she should be. I scanned the lock. My Pseudo-Haniel hairpin morphed into a key, its shape matching the lock's internal chanism perfectly.
Click.
The door swung open. I slipped inside, closing it behind , and returned my multi-tool to its place in my hair. The house was quiet, ticulously clean.
I swept every room living room, kitchen, bedroom but she wasn't here. A quick check of the city's surveillance network revealed no trace of her on any of her usual routes. She was either in a blind spot, or...
A patch of shadow in the corner of the room deepened, stretching unnaturally. My theory was confird as dozens of pale, slender hands erupted from the darkness, lunging for .
" Aeterna Defensio "
My golden shield flared into existence, blocking the shadowy assault. The sudden power surge shattered my human disguise, my chanical body revealed beneath the dissolving illusion. The ambush having failed, my opponent decided to show herself.
"Ara, ara~" a sultry, teasing voice purred from the walls. "Barging into a lady's ho without permission... you have terrible manners, Miss Robot."
A girl in a crimson-and-black gothic lolita dress stepped out of a shadow on the wall. Her black hair was tied into two long, asymtrical ponytails, like the hands of a clock.
One of her eyes was a deep, predatory red. The other was a golden clock face, its hands ticking steadily backwards.
This was her. Kurumi Tokisaki.
Maintaining my established protocol, I posed the question. "Query: Are you Kurumi Tokisaki?" It was becoming sothing of a ritual.
"That I am," she replied, tilting her head with a playful, disingenuous smile. "And what might a little robot like you want with ?"
I didn't answer with words.
" Vector Gate "
A golden portal tore open on the ceiling, dropping down to swallow both of us. Kurumi didn't resist. She simply stood there, a knowing smile on her face, and let the portal take her. Her compliance was... unexpected. Did she have a plan?
The gate deposited us in a deserted patch of countryside, a location I had pre-selected to avoid collateral damage.
"My, my. Control over space," Kurumi mused, her eyes scanning the new environnt. "I'm so very curious about the organization behind you."
I remained silent, manifesting Sandalphon.
"Princess, Hermit, Witch..." she listed off my previous encounters. "And now . Replicating the power of Angels... what a bold and fascinating project you are."
She had drawn her own conclusions, casting as a weapon built by so unknown faction. It was a convenient narrative. I saw no reason to correct her.
"If you want my power," she said, her smile turning wild and manic, "then co and take it!"
Two antique flintlock pistols appeared in her hands. The ground at her feet dissolved into a swirling vortex of shadow, which rapidly expanded, turning the idyllic field into her personal shadow-drenched playground.
She was preparing her territory. I had no intention of letting her finish.
" Velocity Override "
I shot forward, a golden blur of motion, Sandalphon raised to strike. I slamd the blade into her and t no resistance. The image of her dissolved like smoke. A clone.
The main body is elsewhere.
" Vector Redirection "
My defensive field snapped into place just as a hail of bullets erupted from all sides. Each one was bent and redirected, slamming into other Kurumis that were now erging from the shadows all around . Dozens of them. Hundreds. All with the sa mocking smile, their laughter an overlapping, maddening chorus.
The real Kurumi was hidden among them, her presence perfectly masked. Finding her would be like finding a specific drop of water in an ocean.
I watched them swarm , and let out a long, internal sigh.
As I suspected. Kurumi is going to be the most troubleso of all.
….
The clones rained bullets upon , a relentless storm of lead. And just as relentlessly, my shield turned every single bullet back on them. For every shot they fired, one of their own number fell.
Realizing the futility of ranged attacks, they sward , attempting to overwhelm with close-quarters combat.
Wielding Sandalphon, I beca a whirlwind of destruction, cutting through their ranks like a scythe through wheat.
For every Kurumi I felled, two more rose from the shadows.
Five minutes into the battle, a change occurred.
My movents grew faster, my strikes more precise. I was adapting. Learning their patterns. Where before they could trade a few blows, now they were cut down in a single, efficient motion.
Their plan to exhaust my energy reserves was failing spectacularly. If anything, I seed to be growing stronger.
They were right to be concerned. My Dinsional Engine provided a near-infinite source of power. It was they who were being worn down, their collective pool of ti and spiritual energy draining with every clone I destroyed.
Kurumi's signature ability devouring a target's "ti" was useless against . She had tried it the mont I entered her ho.
Nothing happened. She couldn't drain what I didn't have.
To her, I was an object, a thing without a lifespan to steal. This had only reinforced her belief that I was a machine.
She was running out of options. She was loath to reveal her true Angel, to give the very data I sought. But retreat was not an option either.
A deep, instinctual part of her knew that if she fled, I would find her. No matter where she went, no matter how deep she hid in her shadows, I would be there.
"Tch. What a pain," a voice muttered amidst the chaos. A voice I had been listening for.
"Found you," I stated, my own voice cutting through the din.
"!"
The real Kurumi, hidden amongst the clones, tried to dissolve into the shadows.
" Vector Lock "
I targeted her specific spatial coordinates, locking them in place. Her escape was denied. She was ejected from the shadows, her form solidifying against her will.
She flew.
A diagonal upswing from Sandalphon connected squarely with her midsection. Blood arced through the air as she was launched into the sky.
My analysis of her main body was complete. All the subtle variations in energy signatures that differentiated her from her clones were now mapped. She could no longer hide.
Her situation was critical. She had no choice.
"Co to , ZAFKIEL!"
A colossal, ornate clock face, glowing with an ominous light, materialized behind her. Stabilizing herself in the air, she clutched her bleeding stomach, her expression a mask of pained fury.
And she saw it.
The mont her Angel appeared, my eyes began to glow with a strange, intense light. The data harvest had begun.
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