With the Spirits joining the battle, the situation began to turn for the better.
Kaguya, Yuzuru, and Tohka held back the airship, preventing it from firing its focused cannon at Mikoto and the others.
Origami and Kotori destroyed a large number of enemies, clearing the path.
"Gabriel—Rondo!"
Miku took the chance to cancel the strengthening and instead used a wall of sound to suppress Hina. Although this restraint could not last for long, that was fine.
Because—
"Zadkiel!"
A cold current made of ice and snow swept toward Hina, freezing both her and her Territory together. Although Hina was using a reckless fighting style that risked her own life, for Zadkiel, and for Yoshino, who did not wish to hurt anyone, the power of ice was never ant to kill enemies.
It was a coldness that was far too gentle, yet just right. It made Hina temporarily lose the ability to move.
"Next… Tsukuyomi…"
Looking at Hina in the sky, who was frozen but did not fall, still struggling as black spiritual power spilled out as if it might break through the ice prison at any mont, Mikoto raised her hand.
"Yata no kagami!"
Yata no kagami connected to the faint moonlight and transford into an arrow that could purify all things, falling into the shrine maiden's hand.
Mikoto drew the bow and nocked the arrow, aiming at Hina in the sky. Then she released the string, and the arrow beca a streak of moonlight, racing toward the blue sky.
Bang!
At the sa ti, Hina swung her energy blade and cut open the ice prison. Seeing the incoming moonlight, she called up countless cables hidden beneath the ground and sent them wrapping toward the arrow. This was a city. For humans, the electrical equipnt needed in daily life had all beco her weapons.
The mont those cables touched the moonlight, the spiritual power attached to them was purified. After losing their spiritual power, the cables fell limply.
Hina did not intend to sit still and wait for defeat either. It seed she had learned about Mikoto's ability from Ellen, because Hina showed unusual caution toward Yata no kagami. The mont she saw that the cables could not block it, she activated the thrusters on her back and rushed to the side, barely avoiding the moonlight's range.
"!!!"
Just as she thought she had dodged the enemy's trump card, under that bright moonlight, another streak of moonlight accurately pierced through her.
"It hit!"
Standing beside Mikoto, Shido held a longbow exactly like the girl's and said excitedly.
The mont their eyes t earlier, the two had already decided the order of their attacks. Even if Mikoto's arrow failed to hit, Shido would shoot a second arrow toward the direction Hina was likely to dodge, leaving her with nowhere to escape.
The black spiritual power wrapped around Hina scattered. The girl slowly closed her eyes. Not only the Sephira Crystal, but even her magical power was purified. Without the support of a Territory, she fell from the sky and was caught by Origami, who rushed over to her.
"Hina!"
Seeing Origami carry Hina down into Tsukuyomi, Doma ran over in excitent.
"Dad… dy…"
The girl weakly opened her eyes and looked at her father.
"Save the reunion for later. Right now, we have to remove the polluted Realizer."
Origami understood that once the purification effect ended, the Realizer that had been remade into a Sephira Crystal might restart. If that happened, Hina would be controlled again and attack them.
As for Mikoto and Shido, after confirming that Hina and Origami had safely reached the inside of the barrier, they raised their heads and began thinking about how to deal with the remaining enemies and that airship.
However…
"The enemy is retreating?"
Shido saw that the airship, the Bandersnatch, and the Wizards had all begun to retreat.
"It must be…"
Looking at the enemy's strange movent, Mikoto seed to understand sothing.
__________
At the sa ti, inside DEM's research institute…
Beep—beep—beep!
The alarm rang through the entire building. Flas burned wildly through the research institute that had hidden countless sins.
"Enemy attack! We are under enemy attack! Repeat, we are under enemy attack!"
At this mont, Kojima Masaki had lost his usual calm. He stood inside the institute's communication room, shouting toward the airship and the troops sent to fight Shido and the others.
"Tch!"
He gritted his teeth and threw the microphone onto the ground. Right now, the whole building was close to complete failure. Through the caras, he could see countless girls in red and black Astral Dresses appearing in every corner of the institute.
They held twin guns and cruelly, rcilessly killed anything or anyone who dared resist.
This place will fall soon. I have to leave.
He simply abandoned the Wizards and other employees who were still resisting. Kojima opened a hidden door that only he knew about, then walked inside.
This hidden door led to a forest outside the research institute. There was a warehouse there, with a small road leading straight to the highway, as well as an off road vehicle.
Kojima followed the hidden passage to the warehouse. He got into the vehicle, then opened the warehouse door. With the sound of the engine, the car drove out of the warehouse and headed toward the nearby highway.
Hmph. By the ti that woman takes the research institute, I'll already be out of Izu.
Just as he thought that, he suddenly felt the car shake violently, then lose balance.
"What happened?"
He stopped the car, opened the door, and got out. Then he discovered that a tire had burst.
"Damn it! At a ti like thi—"
As he said that, he suddenly shivered and realized a very frightening possibility. This vehicle had been prepared for ergencies. Making sure everything, from the tires to the engine, was perfect should have been basic.
Then the only possible reason for the tire to burst was…
Thinking that, he imdiately ran.
Bang!
"Huh?"
With the sound of a gunshot, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. Turning his head, he saw that one of his feet had sohow disappeared.
Everything below his ankle had been beautifully blown away, and blood was pouring from the wound.
"Ah… aaaaaaaaaah!"
After who knew how long, the sharp pain finally made him understand his current situation. Kojima let out a scream of agony.
"Ara, ara. Is the ga of hide and seek over?"
From the shadows, a girl stepped out. Her clock like, lifeless eyes seed to reveal both cruelty and joy.
"You are… Nightmare?"
Kojima's teeth chattered. He knew very well just how brutal the girl before him was.
"Yes, that's right, Kojima-san."
Kurumi nodded happily.
"What are you going to do?"
He asked.
"Heeheeheehee. Kojima-san is the person in charge of this research institute, yes? I would like you to tell —where have you hidden Material A?"
Kurumi asked with a smile. That smile carried a madness that made the blood run cold.
"I don't know! I don't know anyth—aaaaaaaah!"
Kojima shook his head wildly. However, another gunshot answered him, and his other foot also vanished.
"Ara, ara. Lying does not make you a good boy."
Kurumi said with a smile. As a researcher who had the right to use Material A for research, there was no way Kojima Masaki did not know where DEM had moved Material A.
"I don't know! I said I don't know!"
Kojima shook his head wildly. Material A had already been moved by Ellen that very morning to an island called Neryl. But he would not tell Kurumi that. Because losing that information ant losing his life. The murderous Nightmare would never let him go once he had no value left.
"Is that so? What a sha. Zafkiel—Dalet."
A giant clock appeared behind Kurumi. Kojima understood that it was a miracle given form, known as an Angel. Black shadows flowed from the great clock and entered Kurumi's gun.
Bang!
"!!!"
Seeing Kurumi fire at him without hesitation, Kojima thought for an instant that he was dead. But the pain he imagined did not co. Not only that, the pain in his legs disappeared as if they had been healed.
"Huh?"
He opened his eyes in shock and saw that both of his feet were perfectly intact, as if—ti itself had been turned back.
Bang! Bang!
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
However, the next instant, the feet that had just been healed were once again turned into a bloody ss.
"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee. Thanks to all of you, I obtained quite a lot of ti."
Kurumi looked at the man rolling on the ground and laughed madly.
"Co now, co now. How many tis must I smash your hands and feet before you tell the truth? Ten tis? A hundred tis? A thousand tis? Ahh—how exciting. How truly exciting!"
Bang! Bang!
And so, in the forest near the research institute, the sound of gunfire and the man's screams continued to play together like a song.
(TL:oh damn)
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