"Bee... lze... bub..."
—Beelzebub.
Nia spoke the ominous na in a raspy, slow voice.
As if answering her call, a giant leather book appeared in the air. Unlike the Bible Rasiel, this book had a pale cover with a dark tal inverted cross wrapped in a snake.
Just looking at it made people feel like a giant python was squeezing their throats.
It was the sa kind of power as "Nahemah" and "Satan" seen before—the Demon King of an Inverted Spirit.
Black mud kept spreading everywhere. Insects, flowers, trees, rocks, and tal—anything the mud touched, whether it was alive or not, quickly rotted and dissolved into the black sludge. In the center, right where Honjou Nia was, the ground couldn't handle the corrosive power and sank down nearly ten ters.
At the sa ti, Beelzebub floating in the sky opened its pages.
Like snowflakes in winter, countless pages flew through the air and landed on the black mud.
Ripples spread out, and the pages rged into the mud, turning into magic circles that glowed with a dim light.
Then, the black mud began to spray out from the magic circles. It gathered and shifted shape, finally turning into bizarre monsters.
(They look just like invading bug-aliens from a sci-fi movie,) Yutsuki thought to herself after retreating to a safe area.
Once the mud took shape, it spread much faster than before. Just by looking, Yutsuki guessed that if no one stopped it, Tengu City would be completely destroyed by Nia's black mud in less than half a day.
Tengu City really was a city full of disasters.
If the citizens weren't all hiding in underground shelters, there would be a massive panic by now.
(Spacequakes are such a convenient excuse to clear a battlefield,) Yutsuki thought mockingly.
"Yutsuki..."
Beside her, Shido suddenly called her na.
Yutsuki turned to look at him.
Shido's face was firm. He took a deep breath, stared at where Nia was, and spoke in a steady, unquestionable voice.
"We must! We must save Nia!"
Hearing Shido's words, Yutsuki smiled.
"Of course!"
————————————
"Target confird. Begin operation."
[Understood. Starting mission.]
[Got it~ I'm in position.]
After receiving the radio replies, Ellen closed her eyes and opened them several tis to get herself into her best condition.
"Is that the Inverted Sister?"
Ellen spoke softly as she looked into the distance.
Even without looking at the Spirit sensors, the giant black vortex in the middle of the city clearly pointed to Honjou Nia's location.
(The seed Ike planted has finally blood. Now, it is ti to harvest.)
With that thought, Ellen gave the order, and the Bandersnatch drones in front of her flew toward Nia.
"Raphael!"
Just then, a violent tornado appeared from above, sucking all the drones into it.
"—!"
Without hesitating, Ellen abandoned the drones imdiately and flew her Pendragon out of the tornado's range.
"Zadkiel!"
The mont the wind pushed the drones to the ground, a bone-chilling cold froze all of them, along with their Territory fields, into solid ice.
Seeing her drones destroyed instantly, Ellen didn't feel any regret or panic. From the start, she hadn't expected them to be useful in a real fight; they were just decoys to test the way.
"Confird two targets: Berserk and Hermit. Other Spirits not yet spotted..."
Still in mid-air, Ellen checked the two Spirits on the ground and in the sky, then looked around carefully.
Suddenly, from behind a building fifty ters away, Kaguya smashed through a wall with Raphael. In just one second, she closed the gap and lunged at Ellen's back.
Ellen didn't try to deploy a shield. Her instinct told her a quickly made shield wouldn't stop this.
Right before the spear hit her armor, Ellen adjusted the gravity around her. She used the push to slide her body to the side.
Because she adjusted her Territory so precisely, there was no warning. To soone else, it looked like Ellen just ignored the laws of physics and stepped sideways instantly.
The freezing wind brushed past her cheek, but Ellen's expression didn't change at all.
How is that possible? Kaguya's eyes widened in shock.
"Berserk refers to two Spirits. Did you think I would forget sothing so simple?" Ellen said coldly.
She grabbed the spear of Raphael with her left hand so Kaguya couldn't pull away quickly. Then, holding her laser sword Caledfwich, she stabbed toward Kaguya's stomach.
"tatron—Mal'akh!"
However, in just 0.1 seconds, Kaguya, who should have been hit, disappeared.
"Was that... Devil?"
Ellen frowned.
Even though it was only for a split second, Ellen's amazing eyesight caught the Spirit who took Kaguya away.
The details were a bit different from the records, but Ellen was sure that was the Inverted Spirit they had tracked before.
"I suspected it when we couldn't find a Spirit signal. So she was sealed after all?"
Recalling how they were kept busy by "Hacker" recently, Ellen realized they had been distracted on purpose.
"Well... Ike will probably be happy about this instead."
Thinking about how her boss would react, Ellen sighed privately.
Hermit and the other Berserk were still attacking her from a distance, but to Ellen, those attacks weren't even worth noticing.
Who should I take out first?
Ellen weighed her options.
To win a battle, you need more than just power; you need good judgnt.
There were four Spirits here. She knew where two were, but since Devil could move instantly, attacking them would be a waste of ti. They would just be saved again.
"In that case..."
Ellen stopped attacking the Spirits. She just dodged while using her speed to move between buildings.
"Found you. Diva."
Ellen spoke softly.
She had said she found four Spirits, but actually, she had locked onto five.
Unlike the others, Diva wasn't strong at attacking, but she used her songs to help her friends and weaken her enemies.
Since the fight started, Ellen could hear Diva's song echoing nearby.
By tracking the sound from different spots, Ellen quickly found her.
She smashed through a window into a building. Just as she expected, she saw Izayoi Miku using Gabriel.
"If I kill her first, the power and morale of the other Spirits will drop."
Having decided, Ellen raised her sword and lunged at Miku.
"Wah! N-No, stay back—"
Miku turned pale. She stumbled back, tripped on sothing, and fell to the floor, covering her head in fear.
How pathetic, Ellen thought.
But then, with a "Duang!" sound, the Miku in front of her turned into a small girl with green curly hair.
"Witch?!"
Seeing Miku turn into Natsumi, Ellen paused for a split second in surprise.
"Gabriel!"
The real Diva is on the floor above?! Ellen thought.
As if they were waiting for this exact mont, a loud ultrasonic wave hit Ellen from above.
For a mont, her head spun, and the world seed to shake.
Normally, Ellen could ignore Diva's song even at full power. But the attack happened right when she was adjusting her magic output.
A Wizard's strength cos from their total magic power, but they also need to control and distribute it perfectly. Knowing how much magic to use for attack versus defense is vital.
Even with Ellen's massive power, she still had to follow the basics.
How did Diva know when to strike?
The mont Ellen wondered this, Devil appeared in front of her again. This ti, Ellen saw her face clearly.
The forr AST ace—Tobiichi Origami.
Ellen was surprised but then understood. If it was this forr Wizard that Ike had kept an eye on, it made sense she would notice the timing.
Origami glanced at Ellen, said nothing, and grabbed Natsumi. She used her Angel to teleport them away instantly. In their place, another Spirit appeared.
Princess—Yatogami Tohka.
"Sandalphon!"
The girl with night-colored hair swung a massive sword and slashed at Ellen with incredible force.
"Tch..."
Because of Diva's interference, Ellen was a bit slow. She had to raise her sword to block Tohka's hit just in ti.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Tohka didn't let up. Even against soone as strong as Ellen, she didn't back down. She roared and swung Sandalphon again and again.
For a mont, Ellen felt pressured by Tohka's intensity.
"Don't get cocky!"
Ellen bit her tongue. The sharp pain cleared the dizziness from her head.
Like a flash of lightning, she slamd her laser sword into the side of Sandalphon. Then, using pure strength, she pinned Tohka's sword to the ground.
Tohka's sword skills were as good as Ellen's, but because her power was sealed, she couldn't win a test of raw strength against Ellen's Territory-boosted body.
During that opening, Ellen looked up and increased her magic output. She used a Territory to trap the organ pipes above her. She shrank the field and increased the gravity inside, crushing Miku's Angel into dust.
Seeing the Angel crushed, Tohka didn't hesitate. She let go of Sandalphon and jumped back.
"Smart move. Too bad you're facing the strongest Wizard."
Unless Ike told her otherwise, Ellen didn't plan on letting anyone go. she dashed forward, closing the gap with Tohka instantly.
But as she approached, Tohka didn't look panicked at all.
"—!?"
Ellen's pupils shrank.
She saw a pair of familiar wings of light appearing behind Tohka.
...
"tatron—"
Outside the building, Tobiichi Origami spoke in a calm, steady voice.
"—Kadour."
The next second, a thin white light sliced through the building. Like a knife through tofu, the top and bottom of the skyscraper were cut perfectly in half.
"Um...Origami-san... did it work?" Yoshino asked nervously.
"No. Based on how it felt, I didn't land a direct hit," Origami shook her head gently.
Kaguya's eye twitched when she heard that.
"No way. She dodged all the ultimate moves we prepared? Who exactly is that woman?"
"Terrified. A woman scarier than a Spirit. Is she a monster?" Yuzuru said, shivering.
"U-Um... I'm scared to death... Since it failed... can we run away now?" Natsumi said, sounding like she was about to cry.
Origami shook her head as she looked toward Nia.
"Unfortunately... we cannot retreat yet."
...
Drip! Drip!
Fresh red blood fell from a cut on Ellen's cheek onto the floor.
"Not bad. Using such perfect teamwork to actually scratch . I have to admit, I underestimated you."
Ellen spoke calmly as the bleeding stopped.
"—!?"
Tohka felt a chill of killing intent and tensed up.
Ellen's voice was still cold, but her attitude had changed.
Before, they were just "prey." Now, in Ellen's eyes, they were "enemies."
"Be proud of yourselves. Now, go to the next world."
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