"This is completely beyond my expectations... Itsuka Shido."
Inside the East Tengu Suite at the Imperial Hotel, Westcott stood leisurely in front of a giant glass window offering a panoramic view. Watching the massive mushroom cloud rising in the sky, his tone carried a hint of surprise.
"So, ignoring my request to evacuate when I rushed over in a panic, and staying in such a conspicuous location.Ike, are you satisfied?"
Standing behind Westcott, Ellen, serving as his bodyguard, looked sowhat displeased.
After hearing the report from her subordinates that the artificial satellite was about to fall, Ellen imdiately abandoned her plan to pursue Shido and Natsumi, returning to Westcott's side to ensure his safety. However, despite all her efforts, Westcott calmly stated he would be fine and planned to stay and watch the show.
"Please try to realize your own importance, Ike."
"Well, you've worked hard acting as my bodyguard, Ellen. Just take it easy."
Ignoring Ellen's complaints, Westcott smiled, waved his hand, and asked.
"By the way, what did you think of that strike just now, Ellen?"
"Although it's an attack thod I haven't seen before, it's undoubtedly the power of a Spirit. Highly compressing a certain amount of Spirit power and detonating it the mont it hits the target. purely in terms of destructive power, it's already approaching the attack power of a normal Spirit."
Hearing Westcott's question, Ellen sighed lightly and answered flatly.
However, if one observed closely, they could see her current surprise from her slightly furrowed brow.
Actually, Shido's strike didn't evoke much emotion from Ellen and Westcott. After all, the Spirits, historically known as "disasters," could mostly achieve the sa thing. Even Ellen herself, given the right conditions, was confident she could shoot down that artificial satellite.
What they really cared about was that the scene unfolding before them was caused by soone they had always considered "human."
"When I heard you say Itsuka Shido could flexibly use Diva's power to ambush you, I vaguely guessed it. But I didn't expect Elliot to have this kind of resolve, to make Itsuka Shido actively take control of a Spirit's power."
Westcott rubbed his chin in thought for a mont, then chuckled and shrugged.
He knew his friend better than anyone. If it were up to his friend's own wishes, he probably wouldn't make the demand for that boy to actively step onto the battlefield. Instead, he would try his best to figure out how to let him and the Spirits live peaceful lives.
"In other words... is this change also caused by you? Ryougi Yutsuki."
Hearing that na, Ellen lowered her head guiltily.
"I am very sorry, Ike. If only I could have eliminated her back then."
"Don't worry about it, Ellen. Not eliminating Ryougi Yutsuki back then just ans it wasn't her ti to die. There's no use bringing up past failures, we just have to win it back."
Hearing Ellen's apology, Westcott shook his head, looking like he didn't care at all. Rather than saying there was no need to fret over failures, it looked more like he saw soone finally sitting across from him at the chessboard after a long ti. An excited smile appeared on Westcott's face.
"Yes."
Ellen answered calmly. Then, Westcott stretched comfortably.
"Well then. It's about ti we made our move too."
"What do you an by that?"
"Mudroch's actions this ti were quite interesting. Very crazy, and very bold. Underestimating his abilities before was my mistake. I definitely have to praise him properly later."
"Get to the point, Ike!"
"Okay, okay~"
Noticing Ellen's clearly impatient tone, Westcott exhaled slightly and raised both his hands.
"The first satellite was just a decoy to attract Ratatoskr, and the second one was probably prepared to kill . Although it failed, Mudroch is very thorough. He should have a third backup plan prepared."
"So you plan to...?"
Ellen frowned slightly. Westcott glanced at Tobiichi Origami on the other side of the room, who hadn't said a word since earlier, and said calmly.
"Being protected by the enemy like this all the ti is a bit embarrassing. Let's clean up this ss ourselves in the end."
____________________________
On Shido's side. After confirming the artificial satellite was definitely shot down and the crisis was resolved, everyone breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.
"Thank you... everyone. If it were just ... I absolutely wouldn't have been able to protect Tengu City. I'm truly grateful to you all."
After Shido finished speaking, the girls lined up in a row shook their heads one after another.
"No need to thank us, Shido. We were all saved by you."
"We also... love... this city very much."
"Ufufu~ That's how it is. So helping out this much is only natural."
"Phew... well, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't exist here right now."
"Agreent. This level of things can't even be considered repaying a favor."
"That's right—. I should say, being relied on by Darling and Honey makes so happy I could write a new song."
After speaking, everyone smiled at Shido.
Shido smiled bitterly while scratching his cheek—and once again said, "Thank you."
"Well, there's no need for thanks between family mbers. You've worked hard too, Shido. Speaking of which—"
"Kyaa—!"
Yutsuki grabbed the collar of a certain girl who was trying to sneak away quietly. "Do you have anything you want to say to everyone? Natsumi."
"Ugh..."
Seeing everyone's attention shift to her, realizing that sneaking away was probably impossible, Natsumi let out a deflated sound. Pursing her lips, she mumbled sowhat incoherently to everyone.
"Um... s-sorry... I did a lot of bad things... caused trouble for everyone... I'm really sorry... Even though everyone was so kind to ... but I kept saying bad things about you, I'm really sorry... Whether it was the massage, cutting my hair, changing clothes, makeup, or playing gas together... Actually, I was really happy... Um—"
Then, taking a slow, deep breath, as if making up her mind, Natsumi lowered her head and shouted loudly.
"I'm really sorry for pranking you before! Can you please let continue staying here?"
Hearing the girl's request, Tohka and the others looked at each other, and soon they all unanimously smiled.
"Umu, of course you can. Nice to et you. Natsumi."
"From now on... let's get along well... Natsumi-san."
"Of course you can~, Yoshinon and Yoshino both really like Natsumi-chan."
"Kuku—forr enemy, today's friend. As comrades who once entrusted our backs to each other. Forging a contract is only natural."
"Retort. Kaguya's way of speaking is too hard to understand. Also, please take care of us from now on, Natsumi."
"Well, a cute girl joining us. I would never oppose that."
"Eh? Wait—why are you suddenly hugging , and where is your hand touching!?"
"Looks like we won't have to worry about Natsumi for a while."
"Yeah."
Seeing Natsumi already mingling with everyone, Shido and Yutsuki couldn't help but look at each other and smile.
Beep—! Beep—!
Before Yutsuki could enjoy this relaxing atmosphere, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded from the other end of the earpiece.
"What happened, Kotori?"
[Yutsuki-nee, so bad news. The airship we were fighting retreated without hesitation after the second satellite was shot down. And before leaving, they conveniently dropped another artificial satellite.]
"God damn it! Are they ever going to stop?!"
Yutsuki felt the urge to curse soone out.
"Yutsuki, this is..."
Shido had clearly received Kotori's ssage as well, his expression instantly turning serious.
"Hm? Yutsuki, Shido, what's wrong? Why the suddenly serious expressions?"
Everyone asked, confused.
"Well..." Yutsuki's mouth twitched slightly, smiling bitterly, "According to Kotori-chan. It seems another artificial satellite is going to fall."
Hearing Kotori's words, everyone gasped simultaneously.
They had to admit, although the enemy's plan was crazy and unrealistic, it was indeed very thorough. The enemy's airship clearly aid for the mont they let their guard down. Because the location they dropped it was in the blind spot of Kotori's airship's firing range, Kotori couldn't shoot it down imdiately right now.
"It's no problem. If it's , firing another Broken Phantasm shouldn't be a problem."
Shido proposed. In the battle just now, although everyone had expended so energy, it was still within an acceptable range. Although Broken Phantasm consud a considerable amount of Spirit power, for Shido, who had the Spirit power of multiple Spirits sealed inside him, it wasn't a big problem.
"Mhm... don't rush, wait a mont."
Yutsuki frowned slightly, rubbed her chin in thought for a mont. She took out her tablet.
"Marina, can you calculate the size, blast radius, and exact impact location of the third satellite for ?"
[No problem.]
Soon, a string of complex data appeared on Yutsuki's screen.
"As I thought..."
Looking at the data, a look of realization appeared on Yutsuki's face.
From the beginning, Yutsuki felt sothing was slightly off. After all, if the artificial satellite actually crashed, it would have no aning other than destroying Tengu City and the citizens in the air raid shelters. If their goal was truly to make the Spirits invert, this plan would be completely ineffective, clearly contradicting Westcott's goal.
That being said, it couldn't be ruled out that Westcott was using the falling artificial satellite to drain Shido and the others before taking the opportunity to attack. Although this ant that if Shido failed to shoot down the satellite or chose to leave Tengu City, Westcott would definitely die.
But this was Westcott. Dropping an artificial satellite was already crazy enough; being a little more unhinged wouldn't be strange. So actually, when they shot down the artificial satellite earlier, Yutsuki had also been on guard against a sudden attack from Ellen and Origami.
Looking at it now, she had overthought things.
Since Ellen and Origami didn't show up, it proved that this satellite drop wasn't Westcott's plan, but the doing of soone else in DEM.
And now, combining this with the DEM eting data she obtained earlier, Yutsuki was certain that the target the artificial satellites locked onto from the start wasn't the Spirits at all.
Figuring out the whole story, feeling like she had accidentally wiped the enemy's ass for them, Yutsuki showed an unpleasant expression.
"You don't need to, Shido. That artificial satellite is much smaller in both volu and weight than the first two. The only problem is the explosive formula on it. Natsumi, do you still have enough Spirit power? Can you use Haniel to turn it into sothing else?"
"Mhm, I think it shouldn't be a problem." Natsumi checked her physical condition and nodded.
"Then, turn that satellite into a block of iron. Ignore the rest."
Hearing Yutsuki's very casual order, different from earlier, Shido asked sowhat uneasily.
"Yutsuki, is that okay? Even though there's no danger of explosion, it falling to the ground is still very bad. What if there are other people on the ground, wouldn't that be terrible?"
Hearing Shido's question, Yutsuki sighed with a bitter smile.
"Well... if it really could crush soone to death. Then we could enjoy a fairly peaceful, quiet ti for a while, Shido."
"?"
Then, according to Yutsuki's request, Natsumi turned the artificial satellite falling from high above into an ordinary block of iron. Unlike the first two satellites, the third satellite, propelled by the Bandersnatch, traced an arc in the sky and plumted towards a hotel in Tengu City.
Then, following the satellite's trajectory, everyone clearly saw Tobiichi Origami, wearing the Realizer nad Mordred, fly out of the hotel. Wielding a massive magic cannon, she destroyed the artificial satellite in a single shot.
(Seriously, when will true peaceful days arrive?)
Looking at the expressionless white-haired girl in the sky, Yutsuki couldn't help but sigh helplessly in her heart.
User Comments
0 comments from readers