Three days had passed since then.
Although Hermit had been Lost and returned to the Neighboring World a few hours after manifesting that day, the disaster she left behind did not vanish. A massive blizzard had trapped the city, cutting it off from the rest of the world like a giant wall, turning it into a dead land.
Whether it was helicopters or cold-resistant rescue vehicles, the mont they entered the blizzard, they would be frozen and buried, unable to move even a single step forward.
Only today did the blizzard finally begin to lose its force.
However, what appeared before people's eyes was not a city, but a snow-covered mountain range.
No one ca here anymore.
Because everyone knew in their hearts that there could no longer be any survivors here.
There was only one exception.
"Hup... made it."
Using professional climbing gear bought from a store, the girl climbed over an ice-and-snow cliff nearly two hundred ters tall.
The girl, wearing polar cold-weather gear—Ryougi Yutsuki—stepped into this lifeless snowy land.
"So cold... Seriously, having so little spirit power that I can't even keep myself warm is such a pain."
Wiping the white frost from her goggles, Yutsuki let out a light sigh.
Honestly, she felt that if she opened her mouth too wide right now, her tongue would freeze imdiately.
"All right... let's start searching."
After quickly adjusting her mood, Yutsuki stepped forward through the thick snow and began searching for the Sephira Crystal she had left here.
The search did not go smoothly.
Because the terrain had changed completely, Yutsuki could not use maps or road signs to judge her location. On top of that, more than twenty days had already passed since she had left the crystal with a jeweler in the city by pretending it was a gemstone. Her mory had also beco sowhat vague.
About six hours passed.
Just as Yutsuki felt that both her feet were about to lose all feeling, she finally sensed a faint spirit wave reaction coming from an ice peak ahead.
"That's right... this is the place."
After confirming that the reaction coming from inside was indeed her own Sephira Crystal, Yutsuki took tools out of her backpack and began clearing the snow from the surface of the ice mountain.
The white snow was swept away bit by bit, revealing the clear, glittering ice crystal beneath.
After all, this was different from an ordinary snow mountain. This place had been completely created by Yoshino's ice.
"——!"
When she saw the scene inside the ice crystal, Yutsuki instinctively clenched her teeth.
Inside the ice was a middle-aged man frozen in the posture of running away, his face filled with despair.
And it was not only him.
Old people, won, children—people of all kinds, along with plants and buildings, had all been sealed inside the ice.
The sight made Yutsuki think of insect corpses trapped inside amber.
Yutsuki knew that what she saw before her eyes was far from all of it.
Beneath the snowy ground she was now standing on, there were probably tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands or millions of lives buried.
And all of this had been caused by her own hands.
"...Yoshino did nothing wrong. She was simply used by . If ghosts exist after people die, then hate as much as you want."
After muttering in a low voice, Yutsuki took a deep breath and placed her hand on the surface of the ice, trying to connect with her own Sephira Crystal.
(...Ratziel.)
Yutsuki silently chanted in her heart.
Soon, a faint vibration ca from within the ice.
As if responding to Yutsuki's will, a crack opened on the ice surface. With a shaking sound, it slowly widened.
Finally, a blue-white gem flew out from the ice and landed in Yutsuki's palm.
"Good. It's still here."
Looking at the undamaged Sephira Crystal, Yutsuki secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Honestly, when she saw Yoshinon eat her Sephira Crystal, she had already prepared herself for the possibility that she would never get it back.
(Well, for an Inverse Spirit, a normal Sephira Crystal is like the opposite property, like acid. If she ate it, rather than absorbing it, the rejection reaction would probably be more obvious. Yoshinon may have felt sothing like that and spat my Sephira Crystal out before leaving.)
Yutsuki thought this in her heart.
At the sa ti, the Sephira Crystal slowly sank down, lting into Yutsuki's body like a snowflake.
[——Soul identification code comparison complete. Host——Ryougi Yutsuki confird——Highest authority opened——]
The familiar electronic voice rang in her mind.
Feeling spirit power slowly fill her body again, Yutsuki removed her goggles and hood, then softly called out.
"...Astral Dress, Number Two——Yod."
In an instant, the bulky cold-weather clothing turned into particles of light and broke apart, then reford into an Astral Dress made from a black trench coat paired with a Tokiwadai school uniform.
"Ratziel."
Imdiately after, flickering lightning flashed around Yutsuki and slowly gathered in her hand, materializing into a dark blue chanical bow.
"..."
Her Sephira Crystal had successfully returned to her body.
That said, there was no relief or relaxation on Yutsuki's face. On the contrary, her expression grew even more serious.
For Ryougi Yutsuki, killing Westcott and Ellen, and recovering her own Sephira Crystal, were not her goal.
They could not even be counted as part of the process.
They were only conditions that had to be prepared before that.
Only now had she truly arrived at the starting line.
Without a word, Yutsuki turned around, opened her backpack, and took out a deep black gem.
This was the Inverse Crystal that she had stripped from Westcott, the one that originally belonged to Honjou Nia.
After silently taking a deep breath, Yutsuki opened her eyes and pressed the Sephira Crystal against her own chest without the slightest hesitation.
"——!!!"
It was completely different from absorbing her own Sephira Crystal.
In an instant, Yutsuki felt as if her heart had been plugged with thick sludge. Her blood was blocked at the exit, unable to flow.
Every heartbeat made her blood pressure rise sharply, as if her heart would explode in the next second.
[Warning——Unknown foreign object detected invading the body——Beginning removal procedure——Host command received——Removal procedure stopped——Switching to filtering procedure——]
As Ratziel operated, Yutsuki's spirit power forcefully cleared the blocked pathways and carried the muddy spirit power through her body.
"Ugh——ah——aaaaaaaaah——aaaaaaaah——"
It felt as if blades were flowing through her blood vessels.
Unimaginable pain tortured Yutsuki, making her scream and collapse to the ground.
And it was not only physical pain.
Sadness, pain, despair—emotions that did not belong to her kept corroding her consciousness.
—It hurts.
—It feels awful.
—I want to die.
—Let die.
Helpless cries echoed beside her ears like hallucinations.
If she were an ordinary person, she would probably have been driven mad and killed herself already.
"Ku... what kind of... joke is this... who... would do sothing stupid... like suicide..."
Clenching her teeth tightly, Yutsuki endured the intense pain and kept herself conscious while ordering Ratziel to continue circulating her spirit power.
Her effort was not wasted.
After who knew how long, under Yutsuki's strong will, the negative emotions known as despair finally lost.
The impurities in the spirit power mixed with sweat and were slowly expelled from Yutsuki's skin, turning into black mist that scattered into the air.
At the sa ti, a black leather book engraved with a cross pattern, the Angel——Rasiel, appeared before her.
[External patch detected——Connection complete——Probability passive ability upgraded into active skill——]
"Wait..."
Hearing Ratziel's voice, a bad feeling appeared in Yutsuki's heart.
However, after suffering both physical and ntal tornt, she no longer had the strength to stop her Angel.
[——Future Glimpse, activate.]
"——Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Imdiately, a completely different pain from before swept through her brain. A huge amount of information flooded into her mind.
Yutsuki could not help clutching her head, curling up as her body trembled nonstop.
Slowly, the pain began to fade.
What appeared before Yutsuki's eyes was the future that her Angel had peeked into after processing countless pieces of information she could not understand.
"Hah——hah——hah——"
Her chest rose and fell with her breathing.
Covered in sweat, Yutsuki stared blankly at the sky. Only after a long while did she finally recover.
"Seriously... I didn't want to use this ability at all... Why did you activate it on your own?"
Supporting herself on her knees, Yutsuki barely managed to stand. She looked at Ratziel in her hand, then at Beelzebub before her, and could not help complaining.
[Command received. Active skill——Future Glimpse——closed——]
"What's the point of saying that after you've already used it?"
Hearing Ratziel's answer, Yutsuki could only sigh speechlessly.
"Forget it... In any case, the future I saw this ti counts as hitting the jackpot for ."
After saying that with emotion, Yutsuki raised her head. There was so relief in her eyes, and also so sadness.
"They're here..."
The mont Yutsuki finished speaking, a silver-white airship appeared out of thin air directly above her.
It was the airship that had once belonged to Kotori——Fraxinus EX.
Yutsuki then heard a broadcast suddenly co from the airship.
[Hm, hm——Isaac Westcott! I know you're down there! You are surrounded! Put down your Demon King obediently, raise your hands, hold your head, and surrender! If you do, we will deal with you according to international law and——Huh? Biri-chan?!!]
After seeing the person who appeared on the screen, Honjou Nia could not help screaming in surprise.
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