"What did you do to Shido?!"
Hearing Shido's scream, Kotori's heart tightened.
"It's fine, Kotori. That Phantom ca to help Shido."
Mikoto said to Kotori.
[Oh? Why are you so sure?]
Phantom stopped moving. Although Mikoto could not see her clearly, she sohow felt that Phantom was looking at her with curious eyes.
"Because your goal… is probably to make Shido gather the spiritual power of all the Spirits, right?"
Mikoto asked in return.
[I cannot tell you the answer. But I would like to hear why you think that.]
Phantom did not answer Mikoto's question. Instead, she said that.
"Because of Kotori."
Mikoto closed her eyes, tried to organize her thoughts in her mind, then nodded and spoke.
"Because… of ?"
Kotori did not understand what Mikoto ant.
"Although your goal looks like it is simply to create Spirits, five years ago, when you turned Kotori into a Spirit, you also did sothing extra."
[What do you an?]
Hearing Mikoto's words, Phantom asked.
"You saved Shido."
Mikoto looked at Phantom and said that.
If Phantom's goal was simply to create Spirits, then saving Shido back then would have been unnecessary.
Phantom turned humans into Spirits, and Spirits caused spacequakes, which led to deaths. Since Phantom knew that creating Spirits would cause people to die, it could be confird that Phantom's personality was not the kind that would care if an ordinary boy lost his life because of a Spirit she created.
If so, why did she save Shido?
"…No. In the end, there is one thing that is even stranger. Why did you choose Kotori?"
Mikoto said seriously.
Miku and Origami had also been turned into Spirits by Phantom. Mikoto had once thought about what the two had in common. The answer was that their situations back then could both be called despair.
Only Kotori was different. Although child Kotori had also been feeling terrible at the ti, not being able to see her parents and brother on her birthday was still far from despair.
Perhaps despair was not the standard Phantom used to choose Spirits? That possibility existed.
But aside from that, when compared with Origami and Miku, Kotori had one absolute difference.
She was Shido's little sister.
And she loved Shido.
Compared to Origami and Miku, who were living sowhere unknown at the ti, Kotori was the only girl who, after becoming a Spirit, could imdiately let Shido seal her.
Phantom knew Shido could seal Spirits. She also knew the conditions for Shido sealing Spirits. In the end, she even guided Kotori into letting Shido seal her.
When all of these things were added together, Mikoto had a bold guess.
"So I guessed that, Phantom, you created Spirits because you wanted them to be sealed by Shido, right?"
She looked at Phantom, whose form could not be clearly seen and who was floating in the air.
[I cannot answer your question. That is enough for today… I wish you victory, my lovely children. And I hope you can protect him well, clever girl.]
Phantom kept her secrets and said that. Then she slowly rose, seeming ready to leave.
"'My lovely children'… Wait, don't tell that aside from Kotori and the others, even Tohka and the others are…"
Mikoto did not intend to stop Phantom from leaving. In the end, Shido, who was still in a berserk state, was the most important thing right now.
However, she sharply caught one detail.
Based on the information they currently had, only Kotori, Origami, Mikoto herself, and Miku had been transford from humans. The other girls were pure Spirits.
But Phantom had called all the Spirits present "my lovely children", while only leaving Mikoto out.
Then maybe, aside from Mikoto herself, all the Spirits had been created by Phantom. Since Phantom's thod of creating Spirits was giving Sephira Crystals to humans, then Tohka and the others might also…
[…You are even smarter than I imagined. It seems I cannot say a single extra word in front of you.]
Phantom's voice sounded like she was smiling wryly.
After saying that, she disappeared, as if afraid Mikoto might analyze sothing else from her words.
"Mikoto, what exactly is…"
Kotori wanted to ask what Mikoto had realized.
"Let's talk about that later. First, let's save Shido."
Mikoto shook her head. Although she had indeed thought of sothing, Shido was still the most important thing right now.
"You're right."
Kotori and the others nodded together, then focused their attention on Shido. Because of Phantom, Shido's spiritual power barrier had weakened.
"Everyone, please help !"
Although Mikoto was ninety percent sure she could hit Shido even after he had lost his reason, the environnt here was a forest, and—if it was not a hundred percent certain, it was not enough.
After all, this concerned Shido's life. It was like launching a rocket. They could not allow even the slightest chance of failure.
"I understand. But right now, everyone's spiritual power still has not recovered. Judging from Natsumi's earlier condition, you can probably maintain a partial Astral Dress for about five minutes. Going beyond that will be dangerous, so don't push yourselves too hard."
Kotori forced herself to put Phantom's matter aside, thought for a mont, and spoke.
Losing spiritual power while trying to capture Shido was not sothing they could laugh off.
Even if the spiritual power storm had weakened, that was only for Spirits who had manifested partial Astral Dresses. If they lost their spiritual power, then being caught in that storm could easily cost them their lives.
"Kukuku. What's this? Five minutes is far too long, isn't it?"
"Agreent. We will capture Shido within one minute."
The first to move were the Yamai sisters, who were extrely competitive. They manifested partial Astral Dresses and rushed toward Shido like the wind.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Seeing everyone begin to act, Mikoto once again gathered the Exorcism Arrow.
"We have to help… Shido-san…"
Yoshino summoned Zadkiel. Sitting behind her was Natsumi. Although she had already used her spiritual power earlier, as if she did not want to be left behind, the girl still sat behind Yoshino.
Ice and storm turned into chains, wrapping around Shido's body.
However, compared to the current Shido, their power was still a little weak. The powerful spiritual power broke through the Spirits's restraints, and after receiving that "attack", Shido began moving wildly again.
"Please stop, Darling!"
Miku followed the four and used Gabriel's wall of sound to slow Shido's movent.
"A chance!"
Origami used that mont to rush in. Using tatron's flashing movent, she appeared in Shido's arms as if teleporting, and then…
She kissed Shido, just like that. Then, before Shido could counterattack, she flashed back again.
"Ah! Origami, you actually stole a kiss from Shido!"
Tohka shouted in dissatisfaction.
"Wait! Don't ss up the battle plan!"
Kotori shouted loudly. Although, after seeing Origami's thod, she understood that using their remaining spiritual power to kiss Shido directly was also one possible thod, suddenly changing to another plan in the middle of carrying one out was a huge mistake.
If things went badly, both plans might fail.
"Ugh… In that case, Sandalphon!"
Tohka, who seed to also want to kiss Shido, gave up on that idea. In the end, she was not good at suddenly appearing and disappearing like Origami.
The girl drew her greatsword, and a slash filled with spiritual power blew away the ground beneath Shido's feet, making him lose balance.
"Now!"
Kotori did not miss that chance. She rushed forward and hugged Shido with all her strength.
If restraints made of spiritual power would be broken, then she would use herself as the restraint.
Shido's spiritual power waves cut countless large and small wounds into Kotori's soft skin. Blood scattered into the night.
For the girl, the thought that she had wanted to kill Shido, even if only for an instant, hurt far more than those wounds.
Imdiately afterward, healing flas licked across Kotori's skin and healed her injuries.
"Now—Mikoto!"
The girl held onto Shido tightly and shouted.
"Exorcism Arrow (Yata no Kagami)!"
Mikoto did not waste the chance Kotori had created with her own body.
She released her hand, and the silver Exorcism Arrow drew a beautiful path through the night, piercing through Shido.
And just like that, as if the sky had cleared after rain, the violent spiritual power cald under the cleansing force.
Everything returned to peace.
"Ya… ku… mo… sen… pai?"
Shido slowly opened his eyes. He saw Mikoto running over and tightly hugging him.
Feeling that warmth, his consciousness once again sank into darkness.
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