"Spirit Power Category E, confird inverted Spirit."
"Damn it... This is bad."
The anxious voices of Kotori and the crew mbers sounded in his right earpiece, and the roar of the spacequake alarm began to sound from the surrounding loudspeakers.
Shido took a deep breath and looked in Origami's direction. He found that Origami's dull, lifeless eyes were also staring at him.
"Spi...rit..."
Without any sadness or killing intent, only a reliance on destruction emanated from the hoarse voice.
However, Shido's mind was unusually calm at this mont. No, rather, he had to calm down.
(What should I do to solve this?)
The healing flas had long disappeared after healing his previous wound, and Shido was no longer exhibiting Spirit power. Yet, Tobiichi Origami hadn't reverted to her normal state like she did when Kurumi attacked her last ti.
Perhaps there was another condition he didn't know about. Shido judged this, but as for what it was... probably only Yutsuki or Kurumi would know.
And right now, Shido clearly didn't have the luxury to figure that out.
[Shido, can you hear ? Get out of there quickly.]
"Sorry, Kotori... I can't do that."
Shido silently shook his head.
He knew very well that if he fled from here now, perhaps he could escape with his life, but undoubtedly, the inverted Origami would completely destroy Tengu City like she did in the previous world in his mory.
Shido didn't want that tragedy to repeat itself here, and he especially didn't want Origami, who had finally managed to live a normal life, to fall into despair again.
So—
"I'm going to save Origami. Please lend a hand, Kotori!"
[...Honestly, as stubborn as ever.]
Hearing Shido's request, Kotori's helpless sigh ca through the earpiece.
[Whatever. Not charging in blindly is at least an improvent. I'll go along with you this one ti.]
"Thank you, Kotori."
[Save the thanks for later. Look out, Shido!]
Hearing Kotori's voice, Shido suddenly noticed that pitch-black wings were floating around Origami. And right now, the tips of the wings were flashing with a dim halo, aiming at Shido.
"Satan—Kadour."
"Raphael!"
Just monts before the pitch-black lasers bombarded him, Shido hurriedly summoned an Angel. Using the thrust generated by the gale to blow his body away, he barely dodged Origami's attack.
[Shido, are you okay?]
"Mhm... I'm fine."
Ignoring the scrapes and bruises on his body, Shido climbed up from the ground and whispered into the earpiece.
"Kotori, please cover until I get in front of Origami."
[Understood... Rember, don't push yourself too hard.]
"Don't worry."
After hanging up, Shido looked at Origami not far away, took a deep breath, and sprinted with all his might towards her location.
"..."
Seemingly noticing Itsuka Shido approaching her, the wings around Origami gathered dark light once again. However, this ti, they were intercepted and cut off in mid-air by several sharp tal fragnts that suddenly appeared.
[Well then—Tobiichi Origami, what do you think you're doing to my brother.]
As Kotori's words ended, the airship Fraxinus had appeared directly above the park at so point. Kannazuki was ordered to control the independent manifestation units Leaves of the World Tree to cover Shido's advance.
Not missing this opportunity, Shido used Raphael to instantly accelerate his movent speed, rapidly closing the distance to Origami.
However, just this wasn't enough.
Origami was currently enveloped and isolated by an extrely high-density wall of Spirit power. To reach Origami, Shido had to break through this Spirit power barrier.
"Sandalphon!"
A magnificent greatsword appeared in his hands. Shido raised the Angel high and swung it heavily against the Spirit power barrier.
Bang—! The intense recoil made the web between Shido's thumb and forefinger go numb. As if hitting a hard boulder with a kitchen knife, Shido's slash only left a faint crack on Origami's Spirit power barrier.
(Not enough power!?)
A situation beyond his expectations made Shido widen his eyes in surprise.
Soon, Shido realized that the Sandalphon in his hands wasn't the complete version. Moreover, without Ratziel's regulation, a lot of Spirit power was wasted in vain. Naturally, it was impossible to easily break the barrier of a Spirit in her pri state.
(If once isn't enough, then I just have to keep going until it breaks.)
Shido thought, gritting his teeth. However, the burden brought by using an Angel caused Shido's body to stiffen against his will.
And Origami didn't seem to intend to give Shido the chance to grind it. The number of wings floating in the air suddenly skyrocketed. After destroying the Leaves of the World Tree,they completely surrounded Shido, as well as Kotori's airship.
Realizing what Origami was going to do next, Shido's hair instantly stood on end.
"Stop, Origami——————!"
Shido's roar didn't reach Origami's ears. The wings of Satan began charging dark beams of light.
However—just at this mont, several massive bolts of lightning descended from the sky. Bypassing the airship with unerring precision, they shot down all the wings that were about to attack the airship.
"This is..."
Generally speaking, normal lightning couldn't possibly interfere with Satan. The mont Shido realized this, his shoulders couldn't help but tremble.
At the sa ti, a violent hurricane suddenly surged around Shido. The chaotic air currents blew all the surrounding wings into disarray.
This wasn't Shido's doing. After blowing away Satan's wings, two Spirits, having deployed partial Astral Dresses, landed in front of Shido.
"Kuku—Naive fool. Trying to harm my possession, that is unforgivable."
"Concern. Are you okay, Shido?."
"Kaguya? Yuzuru?"
Shido looked at the two who ca to rescue him in surprise.
"It's not just them~ Go, Yoshino!"
"...Yes!"
A giant ice and snow rabbit leaped over from afar. A blast of freezing air sprayed from its mouth, taking the opportunity to freeze the wings that Yuzuru and Kaguya had blown away.
"—Haaaaahhhhh!"
A figure leaped up from the rabbit, wielding a massive sword. The sword aura extending from the blade crushed them all.
"Shido, are you okay?"
"Tohka, Yoshino!"
Not just them, on the back of the giant rabbit puppet were Natsumi, who had transford into her adult form, and Miku, surrounded by a keyboard of light.
"Of course we're here to save Darling from danger!"
"You just followed Tohka when she suddenly ran out."
rcilessly exposing Miku, the adult version of Natsumi shrugged calmly, then looked at the Yamai sisters and asked,
"But Yuzuru and Kaguya didn't co with us."
"Hm?"
Seeing Shido looking their way, Yuzuru and Kaguya exchanged a glance and sighed.
"Ugh—Although it's very frustrating. But I also ca following soone."
"Unwillingness. I feel like I lost again."
Following soone? Seemingly guessing the identity of the person they were referring to, Shido's heartbeat couldn't help but speed up.
"...!"
During the gap while Shido was talking with Tohka and the others, Origami had once again summoned Satan, firing laser attacks towards Shido's group.
"Seriously, why can you guys be so relaxed at a ti like this."
Suddenly, a sowhat helpless, nagging voice sounded in his ears. A wisp of fluttering brown long hair swept past Shido's eyes.
A Spirit wearing a pitch black trench coat appeared in front of Shido and the others. Deploying a Spirit power barrier no weaker than Origami's attack, she blocked Satan's assault.
"Yutsuki."
Shido couldn't help but shout the girl's na excitedly.
"Duh. Who else would it be?"
Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Yutsuki looked at the situation before her and couldn't help but sigh helplessly.
"Honestly, why is it that every ti a problem could be solved nicely with a date and a kiss, you always manage to make it full of twists and turns, Shido?"
"Haha... sorry."
Shido couldn't help but give an awkward laugh. Unable to bear her reprimanding gaze, he lowered his head in sha.
"Let be clear first, I can't do anything this ti. I can't make Origami return to normal like last ti."
Yutsuki said with a shrug.
Once Origami inverts, there are only two ways to make her revert.
One is to completely hide all the Spirit power Origami can perceive. That way, after throwing a tantrum for a while, Origami will naturally revert.
The other is to let Origami kill a Spirit; then she will also revert imdiately.
Like last ti, after drawing Origami's attention, Yutsuki used optical camouflage and iron sand infused with Spirit power to create a simple decoy, giving her the illusion that she killed a Spirit. Fortunately, the inverted Origami had lost her reason, so she didn't see through such a simple illusion.
However, right now, Yutsuki could be certain that neither of these thods would work. Tobiichi Origami had locked onto all the Spirits present, including Shido and herself.
"...I will make Origami return to normal."
However, even hearing Yutsuki's words, Shido didn't waver in the slightest.
"Because—we succeeded in the previous world. So, it's different from back then."
Back then, the reason Shido couldn't seal Origami was because she herself chose to refuse. She locked herself in a cold birdcage, praying for destruction to co.
However, the Origami in this world is different. After walking a seemingly identical path, she chose to understand Spirits and live for herself.
"—I want to save her. Please help , everyone."
Shido pleaded earnestly to the group.
"Umu, that is a matter of course."
"Yoshinon and I... also want to help Shido-san..."
"Yes, yes, just rely on big sister honestly like this. Shido-kun doesn't need to put on a brave front..."
"Or rather, if Darling told to run away, I would absolutely get angry—"
"Kaka. I have received your resolve. Let the Children of the Typhoon,lend you a hand!"
"Acceptance. Rely on Yuzuru with peace of mind."
"Thank you."
Seeing Tohka, Yoshino, Natsumi, Miku, and the Yamai sisters nodding in succession, Shido thanked them and looked at Yutsuki.
"Yutsuki... I..."
"Don't worry. I won't be so tactless as to sing a different tune."
(Or rather, I'm very grateful to you. Because you're here, I don't have to make those painful choices.)
Thinking this secretly in her heart, Yutsuki glanced at Shido, then turned her gaze back to Origami, shouting with full motivation.
"Well then, my schedule is very tight. Let's quickly wake this sleepyhead up and take her ho!"
________________
—Origami is currently feeling very troubled.
In Origami's mory, she had just almost fallen from the high platform due to the aging handrail, and was pulled up by Shido. Then, the instant she saw Shido's wound glowing, she suddenly lost consciousness.
When she woke up again, Origami had arrived in an unfamiliar place.
A pure white space with nothing in it. Is the ceiling above her a ceiling or the sky? Is there a horizon ahead? Is she standing or floating right now? She couldn't even grasp these basic sensory inputs. It felt like being tossed onto a blank sheet of manuscript paper before the first stroke of a pen.
(...A dream?)
Origami couldn't help but make this judgnt. After all, such a space couldn't possibly exist in reality.
(Shall I take a look around?)
A hint of curiosity arose in Origami's heart. After all, being so clearly aware of being in a dream was a very rare experience.
So, Origami began to stroll and explore this pure white world.
Walking—walking—walking—walking—
She didn't know how long passed. In this space, Origami realized that not only direction but even the concept of ti was quite ambiguous.
(What is... over there?)
Origami looked slightly puzzled. She was clearly wandering aimlessly, but at so point, she seed to have locked onto a direction and was moving straight towards it.
Gradually, as Origami went deeper, the pure white world slowly started to dim. It was as if day turning into night, or perhaps she had walked to the other side of this world.
(Soone's there?)
Origami stopped. In this dark world, a girl was quietly crouching there. She wore a solemn and gorgeous pitch black long dress matching the gloomy tone of this world. The expression on her face was very empty, like a doll without a soul.
(You are...)
Just as she was about to ask, Origami suddenly noticed.
This girl was none other than herself.
Except for the slightly shorter hair length and the difference in clothes, all of the other party's physical features were exactly the sa as her own.
(What exactly is going on...)
Although she had just recognized this place as a dream, an inexplicable sense of incongruity welled up in her heart, making Origami frown in confusion.
(Excuse —)
Origami couldn't help but reach out to touch her shoulder, attempting to communicate.
However, in that instant.
(—?!)
A massive amount of scenes and words she had never experienced flooded into Origami's mind.
No... that description isn't accurate.
At the sa ti she received this information, Origami felt a strong sense of certainty.
(These are my... mories...)
That's right, these were the mories possessed by the "Origami" before her, the "Tobiichi Origami" in the previous world line.
That sumr five years ago, Origami's parents were killed by a Spirit.
For the sake of revenge, for these five years, Origami threw away many important things, abandoned many people who cared about her, all to finally gain the power for revenge.
However, after that, Origami finally discovered that the one who killed her parents was none other than herself.
(—!)
Incredibly despairing mories corroded Origami's consciousness like sludge, making her almost agonizingly stop thinking.
Yet, she still understood everything.
Why she would lose consciousness from ti to ti.
She rembered the battle in September, suffering heavy injuries in a hard fight. With blurred consciousness, Origami, unwilling to accept her powerlessness, received a gemstone from a pixelated entity.
The mont she touched the gemstone, Origami acquired the two conditions for retaining mories: "being hit by the Yud Bet in the previous world" and "possessing Spirit power in this world."
However, unlike Shido, to prevent these mories from returning to Origami's brain in the worst possible way and causing Origami's ego to collapse, Origami's body acted on instinct and isolated these mories.
This was the rule of this world. The Origami of this world would cut off her consciousness the mont she encountered Spirit power, letting the Origami with the mories of the original world take control of her body.
And this Origami wouldn't think, wasn't thinking, and didn't want to think. Just to escape a reality she didn't want to face, she constantly hunted down the Spirits that appeared before her eyes.
(Kill —I want to die.)
From this self, a certain emotion flowed into Origami's heart.
(—No! I want to live! And so do you.)
Enduring the pain brought by these negative emotions, Origami shouted loudly.
(Even if you want to die, I won't allow it!)
Following this resolute declaration, Origami took a step forward and tightly hugged 'herself' in her arms.
(—Ah————)
'Origami' let out an extrely faint sound.
Five years ago, her parents didn't die. And she spent a happy year with them.
Then, she overca the sorrow of losing her parents and embarked on the life she decided for herself.
This is the mory of the Origami of this world.
Like a vortex, at this very mont, the mories of the two Origamis began to intertwine and mix together.
Having another self within her heart, and simultaneously gazing at each other, Origami couldn't describe this strange feeling with specific words.
Joy—Sorrow—Hope—Despair—Understanding—Rejection—
Two completely different emotions and mories were constantly clashing here.
(Indeed, even if the world has changed, I cannot deny that "I" committed an unforgivable sin.)
Origami painfully gritted her teeth and said to herself.
But—
[Live well, and grow up happily.]
In this world, during the fire five years ago, a blessing quietly left by soone she couldn't find no matter how hard she searched.
[You absolutely must—live on well!]
In the previous world, a few nights ago, a plea selfishly spoken by the one who stopped her atrocities.
At that mont—the despairing 'her' suddenly fell silent. After a long while, she finally reacted, choking up as if she had been crying, looking sowhat timid and also sowhat uneasy.
(...Is it okay... for ...?)
(It's okay.)
Then—she answered gently and affirmatively in a matter of fact tone.
(Because, there are people who want you to live, people who are willing to reach out to you.)
"Wake up already, you troubleso girl! Railgun!"
"Origami!!!"
BOOM—————————————————!
Accompanied by a violent tremor, this black-and-white dream gradually shattered.
Blankly opening her eyes, what Origami saw was a brown haired girl who had just unleashed a Railgun to break her Spirit power barrier—Ryougi Yutsuki—and a blue haired boy who seed to have been thrown and was flying towards her—Itsuka Shido.
(Such people... haven't they always been here?)
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