Tengu City, eight thousand ters above the shrine.
Artemisia was flying at top speed through the clouds, which were dyed red by the sunset. All around her, dozens of Nightmare clones chased after her, attacking without a pause.
"Hehe—!"
"Die! Die!"
"We won't let you escape!"
Using her Territory to make a shield and block the heavy rain of bullets, Artemisia stayed completely calm in the face of the enemy's deadly attacks.
"Arondight!"
Pulling her dual-bladed laser sword from her unit, Artemisia stopped running. She turned around, suddenly sped up, and shot into the group of clones like a bullet, swinging her sword.
As fast as the wind, and as smooth as flowing water, the sword light drew beautiful, flashing lines in an instant, blooming like a flower.
However, under that beautiful sword dance, the Nightmare clones were all sliced apart like broken puzzle pieces. Bright red blood splashed like fireworks.
Watching what she had done without changing her expression, Artemisia locked her eyes on the remaining Kurumi. The blood on her blade turned into steam from the high heat and faded away in the blink of an eye.
"Eight down, twenty-three left... No, thirty-one?"
Artemisia counted the enemies, correcting herself halfway. She noticed that the number of Spirits didn't drop even after her attacks.
"It seems like their numbers won't go down unless I take out the real one."
Coming to this conclusion, Artemisia put Arondight back into its sheath and pulled out the pages used to summon the Nibelcole.
Her current mission wasn't to defeat Nightmare. Considering the ti it would take to find the real body, it was better to use numbers to fight numbers.
Seeing what she was doing, the Tokisaki Kurumis all smiled at the sa ti.
"Hmph, so she brought pages from the Beelzebub too."
"If we lose our numbers advantage, 'we' won't be able to hold her back."
"Well, backup is coming soon anyway. 'We' should leave the stage for now."
"Hehe, that's true. It wouldn't be good if the attacks locked onto us too."
Saying that, all the Tokisaki Kurumi laughed and vanished into the dark shadows of the clouds.
"They retreated?"
Watching Nightmare suddenly back off, Artemisia looked a bit confused.
However, before she could figure it out, she suddenly saw several leaf-shaped machines appear around her, completely trapping her.
Feeling that sothing was wrong, Artemisia quickly sped up, trying to fly out of the trap. But halfway there, she hit a powerful resistance. It felt like she had crashed into an invisible wall, stopping her from moving forward at all.
"This is... a capturing Territory. And this strength... it's battleship-level..."
Realizing what was happening, Artemisia looked up at the empty sky. She switched her visual sensors to magic detection—and sure enough, she found a huge magic source.
"Fraxinus..."
Artemisia's face turned serious. It seed the enemy had used optical camouflage to hide the ship and quietly sneaked up on her while she wasn't looking.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Even though they avoided the watch zones, Nightmare was using her Spirit power so openly. The Fraxinus would definitely pick up on that and co check it out.
(Was I set up?)
Artemisia was secretly shocked. She didn't expect this Spirit to not only know her hiding spot and set up an ambush, but to also use herself as bait to lure Ratatoskr's people here.
[...Ah... Can you hear ? Artemisia?]
Just as Artemisia was wondering how to break out of this trap, her broken communicator suddenly sprang to life.
"Westcott-san?"
Hearing the voice on the radio, Artemisia's eyes widened in surprise.
[Yes, it seems you can hear . I'm sorry, breaking through the signal jam took a little ti because Beelzebub got scribbled on. Report your situation.]
—Artemisia Bell Ashcroft. You are surrounded. Please drop your weapons and surrender, and we will guarantee your safety—
Right then, a warning voice echoed loudly above Artemisia.
[Is that the voice of Fraxinus's commander Itsuka? Hahaha—Artemisia, it looks like you're in a tough spot.]
A laugh ca from the communicator. Artemisia sighed and said, feeling a bit ashad,
"I'm very sorry,Westcott-san. It looks like I won't be able to finish the mission."
[Haha, don't worry about it. There were a lot more surprises this ti than we thought, so failing is no big deal. But you, don't go killing yourself just because you think you'll be captured. I don't want to lose a great subordinate that took so much effort to get.]
"...Um, Westcott-san, even if you didn't say that, I wouldn't do such a thing. Please stop treating like the ninjas and samurais from those Japanese historical dramas you watch in your office."
Artemisia said with a helpless look.
[Well, enough joking around. I'll tell you the weak points of the Territory. Retreat quickly.]
"Understood."
Letting out a soft breath, Artemisia ford her fingers into a claw shape, gathering all her mana there.
"—Cheshire Cat!"
———————————
"Sorry, Commander. We let her escape."
Seeing the target break through the YggdFolium Territory, Kannazuki lowered his head in sha.
[It seems to be a weapon made for breaking armor. Plus, she attacked the exact spot where the mana was thinnest, so she barely managed to break through.]
Maria added her analysis from the side.
"Tch, lucky bastard."
Watching the target escape right from her hands, Kotori gritted her teeth in frustration.
"Should we chase her?"
"...No, let it go."
After thinking about her crew mber's suggestion for a mont, Kotori shook her head.
"Shido is still passed out, and being alone with Kurumi is too dangerous. Even though Origami and Tohka are still at school, we can't go too far."
[Kotori, we've detected Spirit power in another area. Right now, Yuzuru, Kaguya, Mana, and Kurumi's clones are fighting DEM's Ellen Mathers.]
Hearing Maria's report, Kotori froze.
"Why are those three over there? Ah—whatever! Send backup imdiately!"
"Understood."
After giving the order to her team, Kotori rubbed her forehead with a headache.
But soon, she got a report saying that Ellen had suddenly retreated for so reason, and Mana and the others weren't badly hurt.
"Thank goodness."
Hearing this news, Kotori relaxed her shoulders and let out a long sigh.
Then, Kotori turned her eyes back to the main screen—the rooftop of Raizen High School.
The video from the security caras showed her brother, Itsuka Shido, resting his head on Tokisaki Kurumi's lap, sleeping soundly while enjoying a lap pillow.
(Even though enemies are attacking right now, he's sure taking it easy...)
Kotori sighed helplessly. Honestly, when she first saw Shido pass out, she really panicked and almost called Origami and Tohka to help.
But to Kotori's surprise, faced with a completely defenseless Shido, Kurumi didn't take the chance to eat him. Instead, she took very good care of him.
(And that Spirit power reaction just now... it was almost like she purposely warned us that DEM was here...)
Swirling the lollipop in her mouth, Kotori couldn't help but frown. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't understand what Kurumi was trying to do with these strange actions.
"Tokisaki Kurumi... just what are you planning?"
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