Origami couldn't understand what exactly happened at that mont.
A sudden, severe headache caused Origami to miss the timing to restrain Yutsuki with her Territory, allowing the other party to slap her hard across the face.
Although this rciless slap caused a burning, stinging pain on Origami's left cheek, it didn't actually cause much damage.
But in the next instant, Origami felt her consciousness suddenly blur, and everything in her vision began to be dyed a blood red.
Her body seed to detach from her brain's control. A strong sense of incongruity and dizziness made Origami sway unsteadily like a drunkard.
Imdiately after, another slap enlarged in Origami's vision.
Smack—!
Unlike last ti, the Spirit's power that defied common sense was perfectly contained in this palm strike. In the gap before Origami had ti to generate a Territory to defend herself, a heavy blow sent Origami's body flying straight towards a building, like a fallen leaf blown away by a gale.
Smashing through a massive amount of rubble, she left a cracked crater on a wall built of reinforced concrete. Origami, like a broken doll, peeled off the wall and fell to the ground.
"Guh, ah..."
The intense impact caused her internal organs to churn, making Origami cough up a mouthful of blood. Fortunately, she finally managed to activate her Territory in ti to avoid a fatal injury.
But the situation took a sudden, drastic turn that completely exceeded her expectations.
"What's going on... Did she hack into the CR-Unit... No... Maybe she directly interfered with my brain using so kind of neural electrical current..."
"Idiot, I didn't do anything."
Seeing the gaze full of unwillingness and confusion from Origami, Yutsuki sighed helplessly.
"You, haven't you noticed what your actual condition is right now?"
"?!"
Hearing Yutsuki's words, Origami subconsciously touched her cheek. Before she knew it, a large amount of dark red blood had seeped from her eyes and nose.
This wasn't from Yutsuki's attack or the injuries caused by crashing into the building. It was the aftereffect of overusing the CR-Unit, placing an excessive burden on her brain.
Could it be...
"That ch—if I rember correctly. It's called Mordred, the sister unit to Ellen's custom machine developed by DEM. Although it doesn't put as massive a burden on the user as the White Licorice you piloted before, looking at the data, it's still much harder to pilot than a standard CR-Unit."
As if confirming Origami's guess, Yutsuki started explaining on her own.
"Then, by recording the ti you reached your operational limit when using White Licorice during the Tengu Festival, and comparing and simulating the performance data of the two chs, the ti limit for you to freely use Mordred can be roughly estimated."
Predicting her operational limit? How could such a thing be possible?
Origami looked at Yutsuki in disbelief. But no matter how much she didn't want to believe it, the reality was already laid bare before her eyes.
If that was the case, the other party's initially ferocious offensive was just a smokescreen to stall for ti. To make her focus her attention on guarding against sudden, bizarre attacks, causing her to ignore her own physical condition.
(Owowow... hah... that was really close.)
Feeling the pain from the wounds on her body, Yutsuki secretly gasped, the corner of her eye twitching slightly. She silently rejoiced in her heart.
Actually, Yutsuki's words weren't entirely true.
Indeed, she had analyzed the operational ti of Tobiichi Origami piloting Mordred with Maria and Marina while in the virtual world. But since she didn't have specific data on Tobiichi Origami's current physical condition, the calculated result was truly very "rough."
(I originally just wanted to use Date City to stall until Origami reached her operational limit and force her to retreat. I didn't expect to get so enraged by Origami's words that I lost my cool and charged right in.)
If Origami's operational limit had arrived a few seconds later, the ending might have been completely different.
After a mont of self-reflection internally, Yutsuki feigned calmness and said to Origami:
"Well, consider those two slaps just now as a down paynt for violating Shiori. We'll settle the rest later. Tell , where did you hide Shido?"
"Damn... you..."
Swaying as she stood up, holding her beam sword with trembling hands, Origami, her eyes shedding tears of blood, stared intently at the 'Spirit' before her.
Yutsuki couldn't help but frown.
"You still want to fight? You should know, your body has already reached its limit."
"Shut... up..."
Origami gritted her teeth in unwillingness.
Ryougi Yutsuki won. Despite not wanting to admit it, Origami's reason constantly reminded her of this cruel reality.
Although Yutsuki's Angel was destroyed, she herself didn't have any serious injuries. As for herself, her brain had reached its operational limit. Just trying to stand up was incredibly forced, let alone driving the CR-Unit to fight.
If they continued fighting, Yutsuki, possessing the illogical constitution of a Spirit, would undoubtedly win.
A nearly despairing sense of defeat surfaced in Origami's mind.
Even after undergoing cruel training to the point of throwing up blood, sacrificing a massive amount of ti for research, using the highest tier of equipnt that put a huge burden on her body, and engaging in life-threatening combat. Even including her own life, Origami had thrown absolutely everything into this.
And yet, even so, she couldn't defeat a Spirit.
No matter how much she sacrificed, as a human, there was always an insurmountable wall between Origami and the Spirits.
[Then, do you wish to cross it?]
Suddenly, in front of Origami, within her blood-stained vision, "an object" suddenly appeared.
...
"Phantom!"
Seeing the suddenly appearing, unidentifiable mosaic, Yutsuki widened her eyes.
Unidentifiable, as if a part of the scenery before her had simply been pixelated. But Yutsuki knew very well that she was the culprit who turned Kotori and Miku into Spirits.
Ignoring Yutsuki, Phantom simply flew in front of Origami. After saying sothing unknown, she offered an item to Origami.
It was an incredibly beautiful gemstone, shining with a brilliant white light.
In a split second, Yutsuki understood the other party's intention.
"Lightning Spear!"
[...]
The violent lightning accurately struck Phantom, but it seed to have little effect.
"Guh—!"
Just as Yutsuki was preparing to continue attacking, suddenly, an exaggeratedly powerful Spirit power pinned Yutsuki firmly in place, unable to move.
Moreover, Yutsuki instinctively felt Phantom's gaze turn towards her.
[Please do not stop . Ryougi Yutsuki.]
The other party spoke with a voice that was indistinguishable between male and female.
Yutsuki glared angrily at Phantom and roared.
"Why shouldn't I stop you?! You snake, stop this right now. Don't you know, Origami's family was killed by Spirits. If she becos a Spirit—"
[This is her own choice.]
Then, as if confirming Phantom's words, Tobiichi Origami slowly reached out and took the gemstone.
The next mont, Origami's entire body emitted a dazzling light. The intense light forced Yutsuki to close her eyes.
"Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"
After a violent roar, the light gradually dissipated, and Yutsuki slowly opened her eyes.
Unlike the CR-Unit that was full of cold, tallic feeling, the current Origami had changed into a pure white skirt, beautiful and holy like a blooming flower. Atop her head floated a white halo, extending a layer of light silk like tulle.
She looked like a beautiful and pure bride about to step onto the wedding stage.
However, Yutsuki's heart felt as if crushed by a giant boulder, incredibly suffocated.
[I am very sorry for the crisis this might put you in next. But please rest assured, he—will be here shortly.]
Saying that, Phantom released her binding on Yutsuki and gradually faded and disappeared from Yutsuki's sight.
"Motherfucker.."
Unable to hold back a curse, Yutsuki slowly took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Although she really wanted to chase after Phantom to settle the score, right now she had a much bigger problem to solve.
"So, what do you plan to do next? Spirit—Tobiichi Origami!"
"Spirit... is that so..."
To Yutsuki's question, Origami looked blankly at her hands, then answered as if giving herself up to despair:
"So what if I beca a Spirit? I will use this power to beco a Spirit that slaughters Spirits. After I've eliminated all Spirits—I will eliminate myself, the last one!"
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