The inverted Spirit—Tobiichi Origami, curled up, hugging her knees and burying her head between them, floated in the sky above Tengu City.
She looked like a disheartened child who had lost her ho.
What exactly was Tobiichi Origami thinking at this very mont? Or had she already stopped thinking about anything at all?
Origami herself didn't know either. The consciousness that originally inhabited this body had already completely collapsed in extre despair, sealing its ego in a bottomless abyss.
The current her was rely a simple and brutal weapon, relying on the residual instincts of this body to destroy everything around her until all turned to nothingness.
Whether it was Yatogami Tohka and the other Spirits, or Itsuka Shido, in the eyes of the Origami at this mont, they were just like the so called houses and buildings, rely obstacles to be destroyed into nothingness.
The wings of light scattered in the sky silently followed Origami's commands, continuously raining down the light of destruction upon everything in the city, including the ruins.
"..."
Origami blankly turned her head, looking silently in a certain direction.
Although she had lost her ego, the combat experience engraved in her body still made her instinctively sense sothing. All the muzzles of the "Wings" automatically converged in one direction.
—Sothing dangerous is coming.
In Origami's line of sight, far away from here, at a distance where even her Wings could absolutely not attack, a speck of blue-white lightning lit up from the darkness.
"—!"
Then, in the next instant, Origami's vision was covered by a hand wrapped in lightning.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM———!
Seemingly because the speed had long exceeded the speed of sound, in the area where the lightning flashed, the atmosphere consecutively let out terrifying sonic booms. Houses, flowers, streets, and those Wings that were about to fire their lasers—all objects were instantly crushed into powder by the imnse wind pressure, forming a deep trench in Tengu City.
Without exception, the mont the other party's hand pressed against Origami, under that unstoppable thrust, she was forced to beco a part of the lightning and rapidly left Tengu City.
BOOM—!
Finally, Origami and the other party crashed heavily onto an unknown mountain peak like a teor, flattening the entire peak.
"We're here. This is a mountain five kiloters away from Tengu City. Here, I can keep you company without any reservations—murderer."
The smoke slowly dispersed, revealing a humanoid figure with long brown hair, wearing a ch suit that was constantly emitting black smoke.
For so reason, although Origami didn't understand the other party's words, the mont she heard the other party call her a "murderer," irritable emotions like black mud constantly flooded her entire brain.
"—————!"
"That's right. Even if it's negative emotions, I'm going to wake you up."
Seeing Origami's reaction, a brutal smile appeared on Ryougi Yutsuki's lips.
[Warning—! Airfra damage 40%—Retreat advised—]
Guh— Hearing the alarm from the ch in her ear, Ryougi Yutsuki couldn't help but feel apologetic towards this Realizer.
Model AW-111 Brunhild is the newest ch developed by Fraxinus to date. It was also originally intended by Yutsuki to be used as one of the bargaining chips to recruit Origami.
Originally, the so called CR-Units were equipnt that could only be used by Wizards who had undergone rigorous training and had a special modified chip installed in their brains. However, relying on her knowledge and understanding of Realizers, Ryougi Yutsuki used Ratziel as a proxy calculation brain to control the Realizer in a tricky way, successfully combining the two originally incompatible entities: Spirit and Wizard.
But Yutsuki knew very well that even equipped with Brunhild her strength would at most increase to a level barely on par with herself before being sealed. Facing the inverted Origami, she still might not be a match.
Therefore, Yutsuki chose a much rougher driving thod.
Unlike the most common operations used by ordinary Wizards—such as gravity control within a Territory—Ryougi Yutsuki removed the limiters on Brunhild from the very beginning. She then utilized the characteristic of a Territory that allows it to be altered according to one's imagination. Using the acceleration principle of a Railgun, she executed the fastest surprise attack to date.
She had to admit, although this thod seed very impulsive and crazy, it successfully brought Origami out of Tengu City.
"S..."
As if enraged by Yutsuki's actions, a trace of a syllable leaked from the corner of the mouth of the girl who was originally as hollow as a puppet.
[Calculation initiated—Future Prediction activated.]
At the sa ti, Ratziel in Yutsuki's hand emitted a strange light.
—Herself, pierced to death by countless pitch-black rays of light.
Such an image surfaced before Yutsuki's eyes.
"—!"
Without any hesitation, Yutsuki instantly maximized the firepower of her thrusters. Coordinating with her Territory to lower her gravity, she pulled away from Origami.
"Satan (Demon King of Salvation)!"
In the next instant, just like the image she had just seen, the previously destroyed wings of light had been summoned once again without her noticing, firing murderous lasers at the spot Yutsuki had just been standing.
If she had stayed there a second longer, she would definitely be dead. Realizing this, cold sweat couldn't help but form on Yutsuki's forehead.
Ever since resummoning Ratziel, Yutsuki discovered that her Angel had inexplicably gained two strange abilities—Future Glimpse and Future Prediction.
Future Prediction, as the na suggests, takes the intel intentionally or unintentionally gathered by the senses during combat, processes it at ultra-high density, and analyzes the possible futures that might happen within one or two seconds. Honestly, if it weren't for gaining this ability, Yutsuki really wouldn't have the confidence to face off against the inverted Origami.
"Well... Although I really don't want to rely on an ability I didn't gain through my own hard work. But now that it's co to this, I'll use everything I can."
Yutsuki stared at Origami with cold and rciless eyes.
Even if, with the help of her plan, Shido didn't successfully change the past.
"Tobiichi Origami, I will be the one to punish you for the sin of murdering your parents!"
____________________________
"What was that just now?!!"
Inside the Fraxinus, watching Yutsuki forcefully take Origami out of Tengu City, Kotori widened her eyes in surprise.
"Why is Yutsuki-nee piloting Brunhild?"
"Mhm... I just checked... It seems soone teleported that CR-Unit to Yutsuki on the ground a few minutes ago."
Typing on the computer in front of her, Murasa Reine spoke slowly.
"Soone? Who did this without authorization?"
[I did.]
"Marina..."
Looking at the black-haired nun appearing on the screen to answer her, Kotori's eyes were full of confusion and anxiety.
"Why did you give Brunhild to Yutsuki-nee? You should know, a CR-Unit isn't sothing that makes you stronger just by wearing it. For Yutsuki-nee, who hasn't undergone Wizard training, taking it into battle is tantamount to seeking death."
[Well... if I could stop her, I would have stopped her long ago.]
As if having anticipated Kotori's question, Marina sighed helplessly and answered calmly,
[Moreover, regarding Wizard training, Yutsuki has already done a month of training herself.]
"Nonsense, how is that possible—"
Hearing Marina's words, Kotori felt it was incredibly hard to believe. But imdiately, she seed to have suddenly thought of a certain possibility, and her questioning words stopped abruptly.
"In the computer space... right?"
[Mhm...]
Marina nodded silently.
Kotori rembered when Yutsuki took Shido into the computer space for training. When they returned, Yutsuki was about forty seconds later than Shido in returning to the real world. And the next day, Yutsuki, who always had a strict routine, actually slept in.
Honestly, although Kotori noticed it at first, she didn't think much of it. Logging out a few seconds late might just be individual differences, and waking up late might be due to the side effects of being turned into a child by Natsumi.
But, from another perspective, the flow of ti in the computer world can be adjusted by the administrator. If one wanted to, spending half a month in the computer world during forty seconds in reality wasn't impossible.
Speaking of which, the one who requested Brunhild to be built as soon as possible was also Yutsuki herself.
"Damn it... Why did you hide it from ? Yutsuki-nee!"
Kotori gritted her teeth in frustration. Despite saying this, she actually understood Yutsuki's thoughts. Fraxinus, whose goal is to let Spirits live normal lives,would never agree to let Yutsuki train for combat.
"But, even with the knowledge of how to operate a CR-Unit... Using a partial Astral Dress plus Brunhild to fight against an inverted Spirit... It's just too dangerous."
Reine asked worriedly from the side. To this, Marina nodded and answered thus.
[You're right. If it's just a simple match of winning or losing, Yutsuki is bound to lose. But... if we're only talking about whether she can kill the other party. Then it's a completely different story.]
"Wait... what... do you an by that?"
Hearing these words, Kotori stopped breathing, her eyes involuntarily widening to their absolute limits.
And Marina, seemingly feeling guilty, turned her head away on the screen, avoiding Kotori's gaze.
Marina's action indirectly confird Kotori's guess.
"Stop joking around! Do you think Shido and I would accept a future like that, Yutsuki-nee?!"
Pounding the desk forcefully, Kotori bit the lollipop in her mouth to pieces and roared loudly.
"Reine, locate Yutsuki-nee and Tobiichi Origami's current positions for . Kannazuki, prepare yourself. Be ready to control the Leaves of the World Tree for support at any ti. Everyone—co with to bring Yutsuki-nee back!"
"Understood."
Hearing Kotori's order, all the mbers in the command room responded in unison.
BOOM...!
However, just as the Fraxinus was about to turn around, a deafening collision sound rang out, and the battleship shook violently for a mont. Imdiately after, a platinum airship blocked Kotori's path.
[We et again. Itsuka Kotori.]
"Ellen Mira Mathers..."
Looking at the strongest Wizard who suddenly blocked her path, and that illogical airship. Kotori cursed internally that the other party's timing was too terrible.
"Get out of the way! Ellen! I don't have ti to play with you right now."
[Well... being in such a hurry, it's like you're a completely different person from before. Itsuka Kotori.]
Looking at Kotori through the screen, Ellen's eyes revealed a sharp gaze.
[Unfortunately, per Ike's request, I cannot let you proceed to Ryougi Yutsuki and Tobiichi Origami's location.]
"—!"
Kotori was secretly shocked. Realizing her intentions had been seen through by the other party, she feigned calmness and said:
"Well... what do you an by that? Isn't your goal the inverted Spirit? A rare inverted Spirit has appeared. Why aren't you rushing to the scene, but coming here to block our way?"
[Hehe—It doesn't matter. Regardless of who wins or loses that battle over there, it's a good thing for us. But it's different for you, isn't it, Fraxinus?]
"Get out of the way—"
Seeing that the other party had no intention of yielding, Kotori gritted her teeth anxiously, her voice carrying a dangerous emotion.
"Even if your Goetia is superior to Fraxinus in performance, if we bite back with everything we have, you won't walk away unscathed either."
[How naive. Itsuka Kotori, if you act like a cowardly turtle like before, I really have no way of dealing with you. But in a head-on confrontation, I can defeat you effortlessly.]
Hearing this, a contemptuous smile appeared on Ellen's face.
[Moreover, can you even attack? Putting the safety of the other Spirits on the airship at risk just for the sake of Ryougi Yutsuki alone.]
"Guh—"
After calling out Kotori's bluff, Ellen proudly curled her lips. After issuing her ultimatum, she actively cut off the communication.
"Damn it..."
Kotori gritted her teeth. She had to admit, Ellen's words had indeed struck her weak point.
If she wanted to go to Yutsuki's side, she had to take down Ellen, who was blocking her way. But if she did that, Tohka and the others would be dragged into it.
As the commander, Kotori absolutely could not ignore the safety of Tohka and the others for the sake of a fight they were clearly very likely to lose.
"Commander..."
Watching Kotori fall into a disadvantage in this conversation, her subordinates looked at Kotori uneasily. Waiting for her answer.
Gently patting Kotori's shoulder, Reine comforted her.
"For now... let's just trust Yutsuki and Shin, Kotori."
"..."
Her hands clenched into fists out of unwillingness. After taking a deep breath, Kotori spoke with difficulty:
"Change of plans. Like last ti, maintain a thorough defense against Goetia. Rember, we are... an immovable hedgehog."
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