A heavy atmosphere lood over the eting room at DEM's UK headquarters.
The n sitting here had a few things in common. One was that they were all British. Another was that they were all mbers of DEM's board of directors. And one more thing—every single one of them had their arms set in casts and wrapped in bandages.
Everyone here had voted to dismiss Westcott from his position as Executive Director during the eting a few days ago. And the mont they raised their hands in support of that proposal—every single raised arm, without exception, was severed by Ellen Mathers.
Even though their severed arms had been perfectly reattached using dical Realizers, the fear from that mont still clung to their hearts and refused to fade. So, to this day, no one dared to remove their casts.
"Are you all really okay with this? Even after being treated like this, are you just going to stay silent?"
A middle-aged board mber wearing glasses—Roger Mudroch—shouted fiercely. By the way, he was also the mastermind behind the previous demand for Westcott's resignation.
However, facing the furious Mudroch, the other board mbers could only show helpless, bitter expressions.
Before that incident, they had all wondered how Westcott would handle their questioning, even preparing various counterargunts. But they never expected that he wouldn't even treat them as equals in a conversation to begin with, shutting them up using purely physical ans.
Values, worldview, thought processes, and the ability to realize them. That man was fundantally different from ordinary people.
He's not human.
Everyone had thought this simultaneously. Honestly, aside from his human-like appearance, they would rather believe Westcott was so unknown, non-human creature.
A creature you cannot communicate with is an unknown. Humans basically have two attitudes towards the unknown: curiosity and fear. Westcott instilled the latter.
If their previous questioning stemd from dissatisfaction with Westcott's arrogant, arbitrary attitude and their own greed for power... then right now, their hearts were filled with the unease and fear of having to coexist with an incomprehensible monster.
"...Even so, I will make him pay for what he's done."
In this eting that felt more like a place to vent and escape reality than discuss counterasures, Mudroch took a deep breath and proposed a plan.
Assassinate Westcott.
Honestly, the board mbers' very first reaction to hearing this plan was that Mudroch had gone crazy. Putting aside the fact that the Wizards in DEM's executive departnt were basically all fanatical followers of Westcott, just the presence of his secretary Ellen made sending assassins no different from suicide.
However, after hearing the intricate details of Mudroch's plan, everyone couldn't help but hold their breath.
As one of the top companies in the world, DEM had launched 23 satellites into space. Eight of them had completed their missions and entered standby mode.
And Mudroch's plan was to have one of these scheduled-for-decommission satellites, "DSA-IV", 'accidentally' fall towards Westcott's current location—Tengu City. Thus, Westcott would 'unfortunately' die in this disaster.
They would launch Bandersnatch from the ground and deploy Territories to negate the friction generated as the satellite fell through the atmosphere. Then, they would imdiately dispatch an airship to block ground observation devices, issue a spacequake evacuation alarm, and bla the disaster on a massive spacequake to cover their tracks.
It seed absurd and crazy, but it wasn't completely impossible.
"But... if we do that, what happens to the developnt of the Vaccine box?"
One board mber suddenly raised his hand, voicing his concern.
So soone finally brought that up, huh?
Hearing the unexpected question, Mudroch frowned slightly.
The Vaccine box. A special device Westcott developed before leaving, claiming it could counter the hacking intrusions of Hacker, the most dangerous Spirit to humanity. Its actual effectiveness had been fully proven in the report a few hours ago. Although Westcott's humanity was highly questionable, they had to admit he was a genius worthy of building DEM.
How terrifying was the Spirit nad Hacker? Even under the shadow of the inhuman fear Westcott instilled, the economic and psychological damage Hacker caused DEM was enough to make everyone in the company turn pale whenever they rembered it.
"You don't need to worry about that either. According to the developnt departnt staff, Westcott already left behind the blueprints and manufacturing thods for the Vaccine box. I believe we can achieve mass production even without him."
"Wh-What..?"
The board mber who asked the question opened his mouth in disbelief, his eyes widening to their limit. Mudroch sighed. He understood how the man felt perfectly; when he first heard the news, he had a similar reaction.
First, he used absolute violence to suppress the board mbers' rebellion, and then he solved DEM's biggest current problem. With just those two moves, Westcott had completely turned the situation around. If he had stayed at headquarters to solidify his authority, Mudroch wouldn't be able to make any waves even if he tried to cause trouble in the future.
However, Westcott left the UK without any hesitation and headed to Tengu City in Japan.
Mudroch didn't understand what was going on in Westcott's head. Maybe there was sothing incredibly precious to him there. Compared to that, the board's sches were probably just child's play, not worth his attention.
But that didn't an Mudroch would let this once in a lifeti opportunity slip away.
"Furthermore, according to current reports, Hacker herself was severely injured in battle against Executive Director Mathers. Unless sothing unexpected happened, she should still be in the Tengu City area."
Saying that, a smile appeared on Mudroch's lips, the implication clear without words.
"Due to an unfortunate accident, Tengu City in Tokyo suffers another massive spacequake after 30 years—a disaster devastating enough to completely destroy even the air raid shelters. At the sa ti, our company's MD also happens to be there and is unfortunately caught in it. Ahh—what tragic news. In the face of a rciless disaster, everything is so helpless. All we can do is quickly overco the grief of losing such a genius, inherit his will, seize every second to contribute our strength, and let DEM continue to grow stronger."
Finally, following Mudroch's hypocritical speech, crocodile tears and all, the board mbers fell silent for a long ti before slowly nodding their heads.
By the way, from beginning to end, not a single one of them raised an objection to the inhumane elents of this plan.
"Achoo—ow, ow, ow!"
Just after returning to the airship's infirmary, Yutsuki couldn't help but sneeze. Imdiately after, it pulled at the wounds on her body, making her gasp in pain.
"What's wrong, my comrade? Have you been invaded by the cold because the Protection of Lightning was damaged?"
"Question. Did you catch a cold?"
Kaguya and Yuzuru looked at Yutsuki worriedly and asked.
"Well, I just feel an inexplicable malice coming from sowhere far away... how should I put it, like so peasants are trying to assassinate the Emperor?"
Yutsuki rubbed her nose, feeling a bit baffled.
"What weird nonsense are you talking about, Yutsuki-nee?"
Kotori sighed helplessly.
"Geez, don't scare like that, okay? When I saw you caught by Ellen, my heart almost stopped."
"Sorry, Kotori-chan, for making you worry."
Yutsuki put her hands together and apologized to Kotori with a bitter smile.
She had to admit, she really let her guard down this ti.
When she got the news that DEM was hunting Natsumi, because her abilities countered Wizards and she was good at adapting to situations, Yutsuki believed she had the confidence to escape Ellen's pursuit unscathed. That's why she volunteered to act as bait to lure Ellen away.
However, she never expected that she was their target all along. Furthermore, they predicted her actions, sealed her hacking abilities, and lured her step-by-step into a trap.
After many battles in the past, her fighting style, thought patterns, and abilities were already well-known to the enemy. It wasn't a video ga where the strategy never changed. Once DEM figured out her intel, they naturally thought of counterasures.
"Speaking of which, how are things on Shido's end? Did he rescue Natsumi?"
Yutsuki asked Kotori.
"You don't need to worry about that. Natsumi's fine, just unconscious due to so heavy blood loss. After returning, Shido already took her to the resting room."
With a slightly helpless smile, Kotori shrugged and answered.
"Well, knowing Shido's personality, he's probably rushing over here right now."
Sure enough, the mont Kotori finished speaking, Yutsuki heard hurried footsteps rapidly approaching.
"Yutsuki!"
"Geez, even if we are inside the airship, running so frantically down the hallway is a no no, Shido."
Seeing Shido panting heavily, Yutsuki chuckled and teased him.
"Yutsuki... are you okay?"
Calming his rapid breathing slightly, Shido asked, his face full of worry.
"Don't worry. I haven't seen enough of Shido crossdressing to last a lifeti yet. How could I kick the bucket now?"
Yutsuki puffed out her chest proudly.
"Ahaha..."
Hearing Yutsuki's words, Shido looked caught between laughing and crying. But seeing the girl energetic enough to make jokes, the heavy stone hanging in Shido's heart was finally lifted slightly.
"Those are so severe injuries..."
Seeing the large and small wounds covering Yutsuki's body, Shido gasped.
"Well, they're mostly just superficial wounds."
Despite her saying that, seeing Yutsuki's originally pale and smooth skin covered in cuts, Shido still felt a pang of heartache.
"I have to heal you quickly."
"Wait, wait, wait—hold off on the healing flas. I'm afraid I might scream from the pain."
Seeing Shido preparing to use the healing flas, Yutsuki hurriedly waved her hands and shook her head to refuse. Although for treating wounds, even dical Realizers probably couldn't compare to Kotori's healing flas, but one had to endure considerable pain while the wounds healed. Even though it could be lessened with the help of Ratziel, given the choice, Yutsuki preferred the relatively painless and reliable Realizers.
"It's okay."
Smiling comfortingly at the slightly scared Yutsuki, Shido chanted softly.
"Partial Manifestation—Gabriel—Requiem."
As Shido spoke, a few silver organ pipes appeared out of thin air, playing a gentle yet resonant lody.
Yutsuki was surprised to find that her wounds, which had been throbbing constantly, suddenly felt so light as if they didn't exist at all.
"Is this... a song with a painkilling effect?"
"Mhm, I just asked Miku, and she told ."
Shido nodded. Taking advantage of the painkilling effect of Gabriel, he used the Healing Flas to repair the wounds on Yutsuki's body.
After stretching her limbs, Yutsuki found that her body was indeed completely healed. If it weren't for her tattered clothes, no one would have imagined she had ever been injured.
She had to admit, after just seven days of training in the virtual world, Shido's control over Spirit abilities had exceeded her expectations.
"Built in anesthesia plus full recovery, huh. Shido, after all this is over, should we drop out of school and open a hospital together? Guaranteed cures, booming business."
"Wasn't your dream to beco a ga producer in the future..."
Shido retorted, looking completely speechless.
Not long after Shido arrived, Tohka and the others also hurried over to check on Yutsuki. Although they were a bit surprised to see Yutsuki lively and completely unhard, everyone breathed a sigh of relief seeing she was safe.
Although she had already been treated by Shido, just to be safe, Kotori still suggested Yutsuki go to Reine for a full physical examination.
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