Outside Earth's atmosphere, in the profound and boundless universe.
The Director of DEM's Second Executive Departnt, Ellen Mira Mathers, was piloting her exclusive battleship—the Goetia—towards the coordinates of the new Spirit.
The Spirit capable of manipulating the conceptual Angel—Zodiac—whose authority could not only shut down the movents of the Bandersnatch drones, but also manipulate the closing of spatial dinsions. If she willed it, she could even stop the rotation of the entire Earth.
The vanguard dispatched by DEM had been nearly annihilated by Zodiac's attacks.
However, even upon hearing such terrible news, the morale on Ellen's side didn't wane in the slightest. As the strongest Wizard, she firmly believed in her victory from start to finish.
But—this didn't an she was going to use absolute violence to suppress that Spirit right now.
Indeed, defeating that Spirit wouldn't be difficult, but that wouldn't fulfill the capture mission Ike had assigned her. If Zodiac opened a dinsional portal after being defeated and fled further into the universe, even Ellen wouldn't be able to catch her, and all their efforts would be for naught.
How could she capture Zodiac while ensuring she wouldn't escape? This was the tactic Ellen needed to consider right now.
Suddenly, a subordinate's report echoed in the bridge.
[Report, Executive Director Mathers, a Territory reaction on the scale of a battleship has been detected, rapidly approaching Zodiac.]
"Oh?"
Ellen raised her eyebrows in slight surprise.
Adjusting the image displayed on the screen, she could see an unfamiliar airship breaking through the atmosphere at a speed of hundreds of kiloters per second, arriving beside the Spirit before them.
Ellen narrowed her eyes, looking at this suddenly appearing airship.
[Is that... Ratatoskr's Fraxinus?]
"Very similar, but different."
Ellen rejected her subordinate's guess. Although the overall design was very similar, many detailed structures differed from the airship in her mory. Moreover, her intuition told her that if she underestimated that airship, she would suffer greatly.
[Ellen-san, what should we do next then?]
The voice on the other end of the communicator changed. That tone completely devoid of tension belonged to the Wizard who had taken the position of Adeptus 3 right after joining the company—Ai Mulian.
After pondering for a mont, Ellen issued her orders.
"...Change target. Prioritize sinking the enemy airship."
[Are you sure, Ellen? The Director's order is for us to capture the Spirit.]
The one raising the question was another of Ellen's subordinates, the Adeptus 2 Wizard—Artemisia Bell Ashcroft.
"It doesn't matter."
Seemingly anticipating her subordinate's question, Ellen answered calmly,
"Since they appeared here, it's definitely to interfere with our mission. Then, rather than suffering their harassnt during the operation, it's better to take the initiative and sink them first. As for the Spirit..."
Looking at the blue-haired boy who had left the airship and was confronting Zodiac alone, a cold glint flashed in Ellen's eyes, and she said in a deep voice.
"Adeptus 2, lead the Bandersnatch and attack. Adeptus 3, provide support depending on the situation."
[Understood.]
Understanding Ellen's intention, Artemisia replied.
[Understood here as well. By the way,Ellen-san, the Boss asked to pass a ssage to you. I hope you won't get angry when you hear it.]
"Ike? What did he say?"
Hearing Mulian's words, Ellen frowned.
[He said—'Yo, Ellen. I'm going to pay a visit to Elliot and the others' headquarters now. Since I know you'd definitely try to stop , I'm just acting first and reporting later.']
"...!?"
Veins popped on Ellen's forehead.
Not just the ssage itself, but Mulian perfectly imitated the manner of speaking and tone as well. So much so that Ellen could completely imagine Westcott's punchable face when he said those words.
"...Contact the ground forces and confirm Ike's status."
——————————
Ryougi Yutsuki was teleported to a certain room inside the Fraxinus EX.
The spacious room was constructed of neat tal plates. Apart from a large computer screen, there were only a dozen or so complex machines resembling insect cocoons arranged within. Rather than hospital beds in a dical bay, they looked more like sleep capsules.
This was the launch room for the full dive ga—Fall in Love, MY☆LITTLE☆SHIDO ②. Although the ga was currently destroyed, the cyberspace acting as its carrier had been repaired by Yutsuki to be used as Shido's training room.
However, all of that was from the previous worldline.
"Feels like it's been a while since I ca here."
Yutsuki couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. Ever since the incident with Origami, the Fraxinus had been sent to headquarters by Kotori for upgrades and modifications, so she hadn't had the chance to use this cyberspace again.
"Alright, that's enough reminiscing for now."
Yutsuki sat into one of the dive pods and connected the electrodes and headset to her body.
When the Fraxinus EX was being modified, they had already considered the possibility of facing the Goetia in the future. Therefore, for this very mont, a trump card capable of countering Ellen had been installed.
This trump card could only be driven by Yutsuki's Angel. Furthermore, to maximize its power, Yutsuki needed to master information regarding the Fraxinus, including its structure, weapons, and piloting thods.
Of course, no matter how fast Yutsuki's learning ability was, cramming right before the battle was clearly impossible. That's why she needed to enter the cyberspace, utilizing its ti-acceleration feature to master the minimum required knowledge.
"Maria. I'm counting on you."
[Understood. Ti ratio set to 1:2000. Scheduled stay in cyberspace is 15 days.]
"About ten minutes in reality, huh."
After ntally calculating the standby ti she needed, Yutsuki frowned slightly.
"Maria, can't we increase the ti ratio a bit more? Ten minutes is too long, no matter how you look at it."
[No.]
Maria rejected Yutsuki's request.
[Kotori has already instructed —'Yutsuki-nee, if you try to adjust the ti ratio to push yourself again without permission, I will never trust you again.']
"Uh... alright."
Seeing that her thoughts had been seen through by Kotori, Yutsuki looked very awkward.
It seed Kotori's tolerance for Yutsuki acting on her own was reaching its limit.
[Don't make such a worried face, Yutsuki. Maybe by the ti you return from cyberspace, Kotori and the others will have already sunk DEM's battleship.]
"True. That would be for the best."
Although she knew Ellen wasn't an opponent so easily defeated, Yutsuki tried to relax her shoulders, cleared her mind of distracting thoughts, and closed her eyes.
[Comncing countdown—3—2—1.]
As Maria's countdown ended, Yutsuki opened her eyes again. The scenery before her had turned into the familiar Tengu City, and she was currently standing at the entrance of the Itsuka residence.
Of course, she knew this wasn't the real Itsuka residence, but a data model simulated by the cyberspace.
"Yutsuki."
Looking towards the voice, Yutsuki saw Marina standing beside her.
"Yo, Marina. Please take care of for the next 15 days."
"Well, this is all I can do to help you guys."
Marina sighed, resigning herself to her fate.
Since Maria had to assist Kotori and Shido externally, the task of helping Yutsuki train in cyberspace naturally fell to Marina.
Moreover, even though she had been abandoned, Westcott was still the "father" who created her. If possible, Marina didn't want to fight against DEM.
Regarding this, Yutsuki didn't force her, only asking her to remain neutral.
"Let's begin then."
Marina snapped her fingers. Imdiately after, Kotori's airship—the Fraxinus EX—appeared out of thin air in front of Yutsuki.
"Size, weight, and performance have all been perfectly replicated according to the original. Now, try starting it up first. Let say this upfront, the difficulty of piloting an airship is far beyond that of using a CR-Unit."
"Understood."
Not intimidated by Marina's words in the slightest, Yutsuki looked at the massive airship before her and rolled up her sleeves eagerly.
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