"...Phew."
Suppressing the destructive urge surging in her body, Kotori took a deep breath and removed the electrodes attached to her body. Behind the captain's seat, the Spirits also took their hands off the cylindrical device, stopping the flow of Spirit energy.
System Blót. The Fraxinus EX uses the Spirit energy provided by the Spirits to amplify the Territory, thereby greatly improving the airship's performance for a short ti.
It was originally a device designed specifically to counter Ellen's Goetia, but Kotori was currently using it to forcibly teleport the inverted Tohka.
"Thanks, everyone... I really couldn't activate this device with just my Spirit energy alone."
"My~ You are too polite, Kotori-chan. What kind of relationship do you and Yoshinon have? This little favor is a given. But..."
The rabbit puppet Yoshinon first answered Kotori with a smile, then looked at Tohka and Yutsuki facing off on the screen and asked in confusion.
"Tohka-chan's current state... it happened before, right? Is it really okay to leave it to Yutsuki-chan alone?"
As she said this, everyone couldn't help but look at Kotori with worried eyes. Clearly, everyone felt that letting Yutsuki face the inverted Tohka alone was too dangerous.
"Well..."
Kotori felt troubled for a mont. Obviously, Kotori had the sa thought. Even if she had given the latest CR-unit to Yutsuki, challenging an inverted Spirit one on one was indeed too reckless.
"Maybe I should go too. Tohka is my kin; it is not right to leave it to our comrade alone."
"Agreent. If Kaguya goes, Yuzuru will naturally accompany her."
The Yamai sisters volunteered to fight.
"I think we should trust Biri-chan."
Just then, Nia offered her opinion.
"Although Biri-chan is used to taking on problems by herself, she would absolutely not put up a aningless brave front at a crucial mont. Since she proposed a one on one duel with Tohka herself, she must be confident. Considering how serious the problem is, maybe we should focus on dealing with that Spirit nad Mukuro... uh—"
Noticing everyone looking at her, Nia shrank her neck and said with a sheepish smile.
"Of course, this is just the subjective opinion of a newcor. You don't have to take it seriously."
"No—you might be right."
Kotori sighed with a bitter smile, letting her emotions calm down.
It was true, just as Nia said, not lying to her family was Ryougi Yutsuki's creed. Since she said it was fine, she had to trust her.
"Reine, what is the situation in the city?"
"Not good..." Reine answered in a calm voice. "Hoshimiya Mukuro's mind is in an extrely confused state. Although she has not fully inverted yet, it is only a matter of ti. And just like that boy said, her Angel is trying to stop Earth's rotation."
"Stopping Earth's rotation... can she really do that?"
Hearing Reine's description, the corner of Natsumi's mouth twitched. She had heard that this Spirit nad Mukuro's Angel was overpowered when she ca, but she didn't expect that besides opening space and sealing mories, it could even control Earth's rotation.
"Of course, even Mukuro cannot do sothing like that instantly... otherwise we would not be standing here safe and sound right now."
Saying that, Reine typed on the keyboard, switching the main screen to a map of Tengu City. On the map, a deep red aura like magma was constantly spreading outward like tree roots.
"This is the image obtained after detecting Mukuro's Spirit energy... Her Spirit energy is constantly eroding the surface right now. Although it won't stop the rotation yet... if we leave it alone, that joke might beco reality."
Natsumi's expression said she couldn't laugh at all.
"In other words, we have to stop the Spirit energy from spreading..."
Muttering thoughtfully, Kotori asked into the microphone.
"Maria, Marina. Is it possible to stop the spread by intercepting the flow of Spirit energy at specific locations?"
[Possible. By amplifying the Spirit energy with the 'Leaves of Yggdrasil', even deploying partial Astral Dresses could stop the erosion for a while.]
[But we have to work at the exact locations. I have marked the coordinates on the map.]
With the AI's high-speed calculations, Maria and Marina answered Kotori's question as soon as she asked it, and marked six locations on the map with cursors.
(Six... Does that an we need at least six Spirits to handle it?)
Kotori looked around. Herself, Yoshino, Yuzuru, Kaguya, Miku, Natsumi...
"Sorry, Imouto-chan! Please allow my useless self to stay here and provide logistical support shalessly!"
Nia, who had her Sephira Crystal taken, apologized righteously.
"Well... it is not your fault. Don't worry about it."
Kotori waved her hand, telling her not to mind.
(No wonder Yutsuki-nee wanted a one on one duel... She must have expected this.)
"So that's the situation. I'm sorry to drag you all into this, but I'm counting on everyone."
"Kuku—no need to be polite. I signed a blood contract with you long ago. Lending a hand to an ally is a matter of course."
"Correction. If the city is destroyed, Yuzuru and Kaguya's ho will suffer too. It is natural for us to help."
"My, what kind of relationship do Kotori-san, Honey, and I have? Of course I will help."
"I... also want to help... do my part..."
"Well, since Yoshino said so. I guess I have to help too."
"Thank you."
Looking at everyone gratefully, Kotori looked up at Itsuka Shido on the screen.
Honestly, even though she understood the whole story, she still didn't feel any sense of reality about suddenly having an older brother. She was also unsure if he was up to the heavy task of saving the Spirits.
(Not having mories is really a terrible thing.)
Subconsciously touching the black ribbons in her hair, Kotori thought in distress.
(Well, seeing as you threw yourself into danger to protect Tohka, Origami, and Yutsuki-nee, I will trust you—do your best,'onii-chan'.)
——————————
Tohka had to admit, she really underestimated this Spirit, "Ryougi Yutsuki".
From the mont she laid eyes on Ratziel, Tohka understood that the other party was not a Spirit who specialized in close combat.
As the Spirit with the strongest physical attack power, Yatogami Tohka had an overwhelming advantage in a one on one lee fight. Even Mukuro, who possessed Michael, had to enter the amplified state of "Shifuru" to fight evenly with Tohka.
Although that strange device compensated sowhat for her inability to use her full Astral Dress, when Tohka saw her abandon her advantage of long-range attacks and turn her longbow into dual blades for close combat, Tohka sentenced her to death without hesitation.
After that conversation that felt like a farce, the battle between the two officially began with a slash from Tohka.
Just as she showed, after dodging Tohka's sword aura, Yutsuki did not choose to create distance, but actively stepped forward and engaged in a close-combat lee fight with Tohka.
However, Yutsuki's performance completely exceeded Tohka's expectations.
Stubborn—that was the impression Yutsuki left on Tohka.
Just as Tohka guessed, in terms of close combat, Yutsuki's strength was clearly inferior to hers. After only a few exchanges, she was forced into a defensive position.
However, after going on the defensive, Tohka found that Ryougi Yutsuki began to show amazing resilience.
Facing Nahemah's surging attacks, Yutsuki, as if predicting the future, always used the smallest movents to narrowly dodge Tohka's killing blows. Any attacks she couldn't dodge, she took head-on with her weapons and the armor of her CR-Unit.
What also surprised Tohka was the twin blades ford from the Angel in Yutsuki's hands.
Undoubtedly, the clash between short swords and a giant sword was like an egg hitting a rock. Although Yutsuki was careful to avoid clashing directly, facing Tohka, who had put all her stat points into physical attack, they were still destroyed after a few rounds.
But this couldn't be a factor for Tohka to defeat Yutsuki. She found that even if she destroyed a short sword, the sa short sword would appear in Yutsuki's hand the next mont.
No matter what kind of Angel it was, once destroyed, it couldn't be resummoned for a short ti. Yet Yutsuki's short swords ignored this rule and were repeatedly summoned by her without stopping.
In just five minutes, Tohka destroyed a total of fifty-six weapons, but Yutsuki's short swords showed no sign of running out.
Just like that, with several factors combined, even though Tohka felt she had the absolute upper hand, she could never land a fatal blow on Yutsuki.
(Is this her Angel's ability? Or the effect of that strange device she just used? Or both?)
Tohka frowned in thought.
"—!"
Sharply noticing the change in Tohka's expression, Yutsuki seized this instant that couldn't even be called an opening. She exerted force, tore open a gap in Tohka's sword technique, and thrust toward Tohka's face.
Although not fatal, it left a faint scratch on Tohka's cheek.
Seeing this move fail, Yutsuki chose to retreat for the first ti, putting distance between her and Tohka, and adjusting her breathing.
However, Tohka didn't choose to press the attack. She gently touched the cut on her face with her left hand, seemingly savoring the feeling of being injured.
"Very good. Nice killing intent. I thought you were just a cunning fox, I didn't expect you to be a vicious wolf."
Licking the blood off her fingertips, Tohka looked at Yutsuki, a smile curling her lips.
"I didn't expect much from you, but you actually let have so fun."
"Thanks for the complint~"
Yutsuki panted, replying with feigned ease.
"Those short swords and that armor are not made of a Spirit's Spirit energy, right? I sense a different power."
Tohka asked with so curiosity.
"Mhm, that is right."
It wasn't sothing worth hiding, so Yutsuki nodded honestly.
AW214 - Thor. This was a CR-Unit specially designed for Yutsuki by Ratatoskr, borrowing the na of the Thunder God from Norse mythology and also her original codena.
It must be said, perhaps because of different design philosophies, compared to DEM's Realizers that focused on enhancing destructive power, Ratatoskr's chas focused more on enhancing stability and endurance.
Wolftail maintains power while reducing magic consumption. Brunhild absorbs dispersed magic on the battlefield for its own use. Thor, however, uses Ratziel to replace the calculation device that generates magic. It uses a tiny amount of Spirit energy to run the Angel, absorbs the unusable mana dispersed in the air, and converts it into magic used by Wizards.
As for the twin blades in Yutsuki's hands, they weren't the Angel itself, but weapons created by Ratziel using magic. So as long as there was enough magic, they could be continuously created.
If not for this, in such a fierce clash, even if Tohka hadn't seriously injured Yutsuki, she, who could only use a partial Astral Dress, would have long since exhausted her Spirit energy and lost.
"Excellent. As a reward for entertaining , let send you on your way with this move."
After making this declaration, the girl pointed her pitch black giant sword at the sky.
"Nahemah..."
The sky turned dark, the dark clouds twisted into a vortex, and a giant throne fell to the earth like a teorite.
Tohka leaped high into the air, slicing the falling throne in two. Soon, the throne turned into scattered fragnts, wrapping around Nahemah, forming a giant sword capable of destroying the world.
"Oh my..."
Looking at the absurdly powerful Spirit energy gathering on Tohka's Demon King, the corner of Yutsuki's mouth twitched. She wanted to laugh but couldn't.
(She really used it, huh?)
Yutsuki sighed helplessly. The reason she chose this unpopulated suburb as the battlefield was because she had sowhat guessed that Tohka would use this move.
Normally, facing an ultimate move that clearly had terrifying power and a long preparation ti, Yutsuki would definitely interrupt it without hesitation. Even if she couldn't, she would use her Future Prediction ability to dodge.
But unfortunately, what Ryougi Yutsuki wanted to gain from this battle was not victory.
"Ratziel."
With Yutsuki's call, the twin blades in her hands were wrapped in lightning and turned back into a chanical bow.
[Command received—Mode Change—Mjolnir!]
The arms of the chanical bow folded forward, turning into a pincer-shaped gun battery. At the sa ti, the armor on Yutsuki's body detached, turning into parts that assembled with Ratziel, forming a sturdy, massive cannon.
Unlike the normal mode that converts a tiny amount of Spirit energy into a large amount of magic, Mjolnir uses the sa principle as the Fraxinus EX's Spirit energy cannon (Gungnir). It uses the Realizer to amplify Spirit energy, helping the Spirit release an attack that surpasses their limits.
Furious lightning surged, and iron sand buried in the earth poured frantically into the muzzle.
"Hmph!"
Noticing Yutsuki's actions, Tohka showed an excited smile.
A clash of swords, a head-on collision of power against power. The fire of fighting spirit burned fiercely in her heart. She never thought that fighting this Spirit would make her feel so fulfilled.
The key Spirit? The crisis of Earth stopping its rotation? Her grudge with Itsuka Shido?
At this mont, Tohka had completely forgotten all of that, throwing herself wholeheartedly into this battle.
"Paverschlev!"
"Railgun!"
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