Date a Live:This is not the date I wanted! Chapter 123 123: Marina's Trick

"As expected, it's not possible to finish you off with just this... Yutsuki."

Receiving the news of being at a disadvantage from her clones, Marina didn't feel surprised.

Although it would be best for Marina if she could finish Yutsuki off there. But honestly, Marina herself didn't think Yutsuki was an opponent she could defeat relying on swarm tactics.

After all, in DEM's data records, Hacker was the only Spirit whose strength could not be evaluated relying on reports.

"Then... how much longer can the remaining clones hold out?"

Marina let out a slow sigh. Judging from Yutsuki's current annihilation speed of the clones, in about ten more minutes, the army of Marinas on the scale of tens of thousands would be completely wiped out.

"Only this much ti, huh... well, it's enough."

Even though the situation was unexpectedly bad, a bizarre smile appeared on Marina's face.

...

"Everyone... is okay, right?"

After being scattered, Arusu Maria asked sowhat uneasily.

"Don't worry. They definitely have a way to solve the problem. And they'll catch up to us very soon."

Even though he said that, Shido was actually very worried about Yutsuki and the others' safety in his heart.

The strength of the Spirits who had deployed their full Astral Dresses didn't need to be doubted. But the number of Marina's clones back then was truly so massive it made one's skin tingle—whether everyone was in danger, Shido actually had no solid basis to guarantee.

However, Shido couldn't show this worry in front of Maria.

Shido patted Maria's head and comforted her.

"Believe in them. Right now, we must first do our best in what we can do."

A smile appeared on Maria's face, and she nodded in understanding.

"That's true, let's go, Shido. The core is in that direction."

As an Artificial Spirit who once possessed managent permissions, Maria could still faintly sense the location of the core where the main computer was located.

Under Maria's guidance, Shido advanced carefully and cautiously in this data space where he completely couldn't tell north, south, east, or west.

However, what made Shido feel bizarre was that along the way, he and Maria hadn't suffered any attacks from Marina at all. The "Marina army" that could pile up into a sea of people they t in the castle earlier had completely disappeared without a trace, as if it were a hallucination.

The calm and tranquility along the way couldn't reassure Shido. On the contrary, a mindset of "if things are normal, there must be sothing abnormal about it" made Shido even more vigilant.

Suddenly, Maria stopped walking. In front of Maria, there was a light curtain about the size of a door.

"We're here, Shido. From this place, we can connect to the location of the core."

"We're here already? It went so smoothly it actually makes a bit uneasy..."

As if Marina deliberately let down her guard to welco Shido and Maria. Looking at the destination right before his eyes, Shido seed a bit hesitant.

"Shido?"

Maria looked at Shido puzzledly.

"Phew—It's nothing."

Slowly taking a deep breath to calm down, Shido gently shook his head.

Right now, they couldn't confirm when Tohka and the others would arrive, and staying in place also carried the risk of being attacked by Marina's clones. So even if it felt wrong, Itsuka Shido had no choice but to bite the bullet and press forward.

"Let's go, Maria."

"Yes."

After receiving Shido's agreent, Maria nodded, and her soft little hand grasped Shido's hand.

After the two exchanged a glance, they took a step forward together, stepping into the light curtain.

Just like the spatial teleportation he had experienced on the Fraxinus before, as if a TV changing channels, the scene before Shido's eyes changed abruptly.

The walls and ceiling were giant stained glass engraved with strange patterns, isolating the massive, ocean like data stream outside, as if it were an underwater Dragon Palace.

In the dead center of this spacious room, a giant red crystal floated quietly.

"Is this the inside of the core..."

Shido observed the surroundings slightly, and next to that giant red crystal, he saw a figure.

"Yutsuki?"

What surprised Shido and Maria was that the person they saw here wasn't the expected Arusu Marina, but Yutsuki, who had been scattered by Marina's clones earlier.

"Shido and Maria? Are you two okay."

Seeing Shido and Maria, Yutsuki waved and called out in pleasant surprise while rushing towards them.

"Yutsuki, are you okay?"

"Mhm. Although I encountered a lot of trouble on the way, the result is I'm fine."

Patting her chest, Yutsuki indicated she had no problems.

Although Yutsuki had quite a bit of dust on her, Shido didn't see any wounds. He couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Yutsuki, did you see everyone else?"

"I don't know either. After being scattered by Marina's clones, I suffered attacks from Marina. Everyone else is probably in a similar situation."

Yutsuki shook her head and said.

"But speaking of which... Yutsuki, to think you were able to find the location of the core all by yourself."

Maria looked at Yutsuki with so surprise. Regarding this point, Shido was also sowhat curious.

Yutsuki scratched her cheek with a bitter smile.

"Well, I vaguely had so feeling... And the further I walked in this direction, the more of Marina's clones I encountered. So I figured the core's location should be in this direction, and fought my way here."

"I see."

Shido nodded in sudden realization. At first, he was still wondering why they hadn't been attacked by Marina's clones along the way. It turns out they had already been cleaned up by Yutsuki, who arrived a step earlier.

As for why Yutsuki arrived at the core before he and Maria, Shido didn't care too much. After all, after entering the data managent level of the computer world, the concepts of distance and direction beca very blurry. Maybe Shido himself accidentally took a longer detour.

"Speaking of which, where is Marina?"

Shido looked around. Although they had indeed reached the destination, the target of Shido and the others' action this ti—Arusu Marina—was not in this place.

"Ah, about that..." Speaking of this, Yutsuki grabbed her long hair in distress and said, "Marina's plan seed to be to isolate and solve first by gathering the majority of her clones while everyone was separated. But those clones... how should I put it... happened to be countered by , and were completely annihilated leaving not a single one behind. Then after I arrived here, Marina shouted at 'I'll definitely be back!', and fled in panic."

"Haha, annihilated..."

Shido couldn't help but laugh drily, the scene depicted by this word surfacing in his mind. Marina, who was originally making a desperate gamble, seeing her clones effortlessly wiped out by the "Demon King" Yutsuki, and Yutsuki approaching her step by step... If it were him, he would probably also run away without hesitation.

"Shido?"

Yutsuki looked at Shido puzzledly and asked.

"Ah... It's nothing."

If Yutsuki knew his thoughts, she would probably blow her top. Shido hurriedly changed the subject.

"But since Marina has ran away, what are you going to do, Yutsuki?"

"What else can I do? Since she ran away, we can only put it aside for now." Yutsuki showed a sowhat complex smile, shrugged and said, "Anyway, Marina won't just let it go like this. She'll definitely appear again after a while."

"...It's over?"

Maria asked weakly.

Yutsuki showed a gentle smile and gently stroked Maria's head.

"Mhm, it's over for now. Rest easy, Maria."

"Phew..."

Hearing Yutsuki's words, Maria's tense nerves instantly relaxed, and she sat down weakly on the ground.

Actually, after everyone was separated, just as Shido didn't want Maria to worry, Maria also tried hard to maintain a calm appearance so as not to burden Shido.

Is it really over?

Shido always felt like a crucial puzzle piece was missing in his heart. A strong sense of incongruity made him unable to put down the heavy stone in his heart like Maria did.

Marina's final trump card was defeated by Yutsuki, and Marina, having exhausted her cards, fled in panic because she was at her wits' end. This script seed like a matter of course.

"I just feel sothing is wrong..."

Shido muttered softly.

Right after Maria's blockade was lifted, Yutsuki used her Angel to construct a virus net between the computer space and the airship, disassembling all commands sent from the computer space into garbled code. As long as this virus net existed, Marina could neither destroy the Fraxinus airship nor leave this computer space.

It was precisely because she knew she had no way out that Marina chose to make a desperate gamble.

Would such a Marina choose to run away? Where could she even run to?

Shido felt the possibility was very low. Even if she really ran, Marina definitely still had unplayed cards.

"Next, Maria, I'll help you restore the permissions Marina took from you first. Then I'll remove the virus net. I'll leave the rest to you to teleport us back to the real world."

"Yes, then I'll leave it to you, Yutsuki."

Maria nodded in understanding. Slowly standing up from the ground, she followed Yutsuki towards the red crystal in the dead center of the room.

Shido was just about to call out to Yutsuki to remind her.

—Wait!

A question suddenly surged into Shido's heart.

If even he could think of this point, Yutsuki, who understood Marina better than he did, couldn't possibly not notice it.

Then why did Yutsuki say to him "since she got away we'll just have to let it go" instead of "continue looking for Marina"? Such unmotivated lines!

Ultimately, if Marina's clones were completely annihilated by Yutsuki, what ans did Marina used to escape from Yutsuki?

Various unreasonable points surfaced. Connecting all the mories of what just happened in his mind into a line in an instant, a completely unexpected conclusion appeared in his heart. Shido felt his heartbeat starting to accelerate, and waves of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

—Bad, bad, bad! Alarms kept ringing in Shido's head.

"This red crystal is the core. You should know that, right, Maria. Please give your hand, I'll help you reconnect with the main computer."

"Yes."

Having just been told the danger had passed, Maria clearly had no guard up. She just obediently reached out and grasped Yutsuki's palm.

Shido shouted with all the strength in his body.

"Maria, run quickly! That's not Yutsuki! It's Marina in disguise!"

"What!?"

Hearing Shido's shout, Maria was startled and hurriedly tried to pull her hand out. However, "Yutsuki's" hand gripped Maria's hand tightly like a branding iron.

"Yutsuki's" mouth curled up, revealing a dangerous smile that Yutsuki had never shown in Shido and Maria's impression.

"How unexpected... I was quite confident I wouldn't be discovered. I slightly underestimated you, Itsuka Shido. However, you noticed a bit too late~"

"Marina..."

Shido stared dead at the "Yutsuki" in front of him.

As if confirming Shido's guess. "Yutsuki's" outer skin started turning into light particles and dissipating in the air, revealing the black long-haired girl inside—Arusu Marina.

"Marina, let Maria go right now!"

Seeing Shido's panicked expression, Marina couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"No way~ How about that? Ryougi Yutsuki, Itsuka Shido, this is the consequence of the naive illusions you held. Hahahahahahahaha—"

"Maria!"

"Shido... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

A strange light flashed back and forth between Marina and Maria. Excruciating pain, like having all the bones in her body forcefully dislocated, tornted Maria into letting out a miserable wail.

Original author's PS: Let clarify first, the plot here is completely magically modified by according to my own ideas. You might find bugs when reading it, but I will absolutely not follow the original work! Not because of anything, just because I really can't accept this part in the original work.

The original work roughly goes like this:

Marina (disdainful): Are you here? Itsuka Shido and the fake.

Shido (angry): Maria is not a fake!

Marina (thoughtful): True, that child already has an ego. Your words make sense too. Then I'll acknowledge you, Maria.

Maria (surprised): You're willing to acknowledge ?

Marina (nodding): Mhm, that's right. So let's make up~

Shido (suspicious): Really?

Marina (serious): Of course it's true. Itsuka Shido, stand aside.

Shido: !!! (Unable to move)

Maria (happy): You want to make up? That's great.

Marina (smiling): As long as you accept , I won't do bad things anymore. Then, proof of friendship. Let's shake hands~

Maria (shaking hands): Okay... please take care of ahhhhhhhhhhh (screams)!

Then, Maria falls.

Marina (crazy mocking): Aha, hahahahahahahahaha! Super big idiot ahhhhhh! You didn't even notice such an obvious trap, fell for it without any suspicion. So sad hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha— ...

Original author's PS2: And just like that, I felt my IQ was insulted by Tachibana Koushi. -_

(TL: bruh what the hell is going on in the og ga lmao)