5:30 PM, directly above the Imperial Hotel in Tengu City.
Wearing the white gold CR-Unit nad Pendragon, Ellen Mathers hovered in mid-air, surrounded by her Territory.
"Target confird."
Staring in the direction of Raizen High School, Ellen spoke softly. With the visual correction from her Realizer, she could clearly see the scenery over ten kiloters away—Nightmare lingering on the school's rooftop, and the target, Itsuka Shido, who appeared shortly after.
"Hm? He passed out?"
Seeing Shido suddenly lose consciousness and fall to the ground, Ellen raised an eyebrow in surprise.
(Did sothing happen?)
Ellen wondered. However, this little accident wasn't enough to make her hesitate. In fact, the target losing his ability to resist made their plan even easier.
"Adeptus 2, Adeptus 3, are you ready?"
[Received. Ready whenever you are.]
[Understood. No problem on my end either, Ellen-san.]
Two different voices ca through the communicator. They were Artemisia, equipped with Pendragon's sister unit Lancelot, and Ai Mulian, piloting Mordred. Both were standing by in completely different locations, locking onto the target.
Although they had avoided Ratatoskr's surveillance network, this setup ensured that even if one group was stopped by the airship or the Spirits, the other two could still finish the mission.
Of course, it would be best for Ellen if they could finish the job without any issues.
Taking the tactical unit off her back, Ellen poured her mana into it. The folded blade opened up, turning into a sword that gave off a bright golden light.
"Now then—Operation start!!"
As she spoke, the power of Pendragon's back thrusters shot up to the maximum. With a loud boom, Ellen vanished from her spot.
In less than two breaths, she had already crossed two-thirds of the distance. Like a bullet fired from a sniper rifle, Ellen closed in on the target at a speed the naked eye couldn't catch.
But right then, Ellen suddenly felt a wave of killing intent lock onto her.
"—Hmph!"
Without any hesitation, Ellen swung her beloved sword, Caledfwlch, forward while keeping up her high speed.
—Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With a deafening roar, the leftover light from the splashing mana blood in front of Ellen's eyes.
Taking Ellen's violent slash, the opponent seed to take the full force of her charge and was sent flying backward. She skidded nearly a hundred ters through the clouds before finally steadying herself.
"Hoh~"
Seeing the opponent actually survive her strike, Ellen narrowed her eyes and let out a small sound of praise. Even though it was a rushed attack, she had swung with the absolute confidence of killing the target in one hit.
"This is our second ti eting since you left DEM, Mana."
Not far away, wearing a black and blue CR-Unit, Takamiya Mana rolled her numb right arm and looked at Ellen with a helpless gaze.
"That hurts~ I wanted to catch you by surprise, but I almost got knocked out instead. You monster, did you get even stronger?"
"Hmph. As the strongest Wizard, this is only natural."
Answering coldly, Ellen didn't rush to attack again. She hovered in the air, watching Mana's moves while thinking.
Her flight path had been caught—this wasn't actually that surprising. While not as good as her, Ellen still thought highly of Takamiya Mana's skills as a Wizard. Plus, it was always easier for a hunter to snipe a target from the sidelines than to fight them head-on.
However, a sneak attack like this was only possible if Mana already knew Ellen's location and her target.
(Did she guess our movents and stay on guard nearby?)
This was the first thought that ca to Ellen's mind. But she quickly rejected it. Even she couldn't keep a twenty four hour watch over a ten kiloter radius around the target. Plus, the spot they picked this ti was a blind spot in the enemy's network, and their attention should have been drawn away by sothing else.
(Was our plan exposed?)
A few more guesses popped into Ellen's head, but she tossed them out because they didn't make sense.
She tried to contact Artemisia and Ai Mulian in secret, but all she heard was broken static.
It was hard to believe her two subordinates were taken out so quickly. Most likely, their communications were being jamd.
Faced with this sudden trouble, Ellen frowned in confusion. Even though it was hard to believe, the sneak attack they planned had sohow been exposed to Mana.
"I don't know what happened, but you guys did a great job."
However, for so reason, Mana clicked her tongue, looking really annoyed.
"...Yeah, too great. It actually makes mad. Ellen, if you hadn't shown up, I could have just treated this whole thing as a joke."
"What do you an by that?"
Hearing Mana's words, Ellen was a bit confused.
"None of your business!"
Clearly not wanting to waste ti talking, once her arm regained its feeling, Mana sped toward Ellen. The WolfTail in her hand slashed toward Ellen without rcy.
"Tch—"
After exchanging a few blows with Mana, Ellen felt a bit anxious. She was confident she could beat Mana,but it won't be just a few second fight ,if she wasted ti here, she might miss her chance and fail the mission.
During their next clash, Ellen used her superior strength to push Mana back for a mont. Then, she pulled sothing out of her unit's backpack.
It was a stack of loose pages.
"...Paper?"
Noticing Ellen's strange action, Mana felt a bit surprised. She stopped her attack, lowering her stance to stay on guard.
As Mana watched, Ellen tossed the pages into the air. The scattered pieces of paper didn't blow away in the wind. Instead, they lined up neatly around Ellen, as if they had a mind of their own.
"Co out, Nibelcole."
With a snap of Ellen's fingers, the pages began to give off a dim light. Shadowy figures of young girls were drawn in the empty space around the pages. Then, the drawn "containers" were filled with "mass", turning the shadows into real bodies.
"What?!"
Under Mana's shocked gaze, this group of girls in black clothes, who all looked exactly the sa, opened their eyes.
"Aaah—What ti is it?"
"Is it our turn already?"
"I don't feel like doing anything~ Oh well, it's for Father."
Looking at the lazy girls stretching their arms, a drop of cold sweat rolled down Mana's forehead.
"Holograms... They don't look like it."
While it was easy for Ellen to make illusions inside a Territory, Mana's experience told her this was different.
The reason was simple: these girls called "Nibelcole" gave off an incredibly creepy vibe, very similar to Nightmare's clones.
—Beelzebub-Yeled.
The girls called "Nibelcole" all locked onto Mana. The blank pages folded into paper airplanes in the air, shooting toward Mana like bullets.
Even though she blocked the attack with her Territory's shield, the constant shaking of the shield told Mana that those light-looking paper airplanes packed an amazing punch.
"They are enough to be your opponents. Nibelcole, I am heading to the target. I leave the rest to you."
Giving Mana a cold look, Ellen gave her orders to the Nibelcole.
The Nibelcole glanced at Ellen and waved carelessly.
"Yeah, yeah~ Go on."
"By the way, what exactly is the relationship between Ellen and Father? Lovers?"
"Ew, no way. If that's true, Father's taste is too... sad."
"..."
Hearing the girls whispering, veins popped slightly on Ellen's forehead. But she didn't want to lose her cool in front of the enemy. Calming herself down, she flew toward Raizen High School again.
"Wait, Ellen! Don't run!"
Seeing Ellen move, Mana quickly turned on her thrusters to chase her.
Right then, the Nibelcole, who had just been laughing like schoolgirls, blocked her path. They stared at her with eyes as sharp as needles.
"Guh—"
Mana gritted her teeth in a tight spot. One-on-one, Mana wouldn't be afraid of a Nibelcole. But one against many was different. Trying to stop Ellen, who was stronger than her, while being blocked by dozens of Nibelcoleswas basically impossible.
(What should I do?)
"Raphael—El Re'em!"
Just as Mana didn't know what to do, a loud shout caught everyone's attention.
At the sa ti, Ellen saw a giant lance flying straight at her.
Swinging her sword, Ellen knocked the lance away. But the attack wasn't over. Even though she blocked the direct hit, the strong wind that followed still pushed her body backward.
"Raphael—El Nahash."
While everyone was looking at Ellen, Yuzuru suddenly appeared next to Mana. A silver chain swung like a long whip, and a tornado rose up, blowing away the paper airplanes and the Nibelcole together.
From far away, the clouds in the sky had twisted into a very funny, rolled-up shape.
"Great job! As expected of my half!"
"Praise. Kaguya's attack was beautiful too."
Then, Kaguya flew over to Yuzuru. The two shared a smile and gave each other a perfect high-five.
"Um... if I rember right, you two are Yuzuru-san and Kaguya-san."
Mana said, a bit confused.
"Kuku— Exactly! The sky shakes, the earth trembles, the wind dances in the world! We are the two-in-one Children of the Typhoon—the Yamai sister!"
Kaguya struck a cool pose and proudly said her dramatic lines.
"Concern. Mana-chan, you aren't hurt, are you?"
Ignoring Kaguya's show, Yuzuru asked with care.
"Mhm, I'm fine." Mana nodded to show she was okay, then asked, "But why are you two here?"
"They are the backup I requested—the backup I called for."
Hearing that annoying voice from behind, the corner of Mana's mouth twitched.
"Nightmare."
Turning around, she saw several Tokisaki Kurumi in their black and red Astral Dresses standing behind her.
"Ara ara~. Please don't show such obvious disgust. You're scaring ."
Saying that, the Kurumi looked at the Nibelcole in the distance, a creepy smile forming on their lips.
"What are those? They all look exactly the sa, how scary."
"I don't think we have the right to say that about them."
"Hehe, this evens out the numbers."
"Tch! Not just Berserk, but even Nightmare is here."
Seeing more enemies blocking her way, Ellen gritted her teeth in anger.
"It looks like I can't finish the mission... Perfect. Since you all want to fight so badly, I'll play with you."
"Ara ara~ What scary killing intent."
After a slightly surprised sigh, Kurumi looked at Mana and said.
"Mana-san, since we now share a common enemy, why don't we put aside our past grudges and get along for now?"
"...I don't rember ever working together with you."
Giving Kurumi a disgusted look, Mana turned back to Ellen and readied her laser blade, Wolf-Tail.
"Once we finish off the enemies, I'll take you out right after."
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