"——."
After noticing Ryougi Yutsuki's presence, Kotori let out a roar with no clear aning.
The huge axe in her hand transford into a large-caliber cannon, and the surrounding flas continuously poured into it.
After charging for a few seconds, terrifying spirit power surged from the muzzle. It beca a deep crimson pillar of light, tearing the earth apart as it closed in on Yutsuki.
Of course, such an attack could not injure Yutsuki.
Even without using future calculation, Kotori's preparation movents were far too obvious. They were more than enough for Yutsuki to understand her intent.
The mont Kotori attacked, Yutsuki had already moved outside the cannon blast's destruction range.
The blazing pillar of light roared past a hundred ters beside Yutsuki. Like a positron siege cannon from an old ani, it left a red trench of molten lava stretching two kiloters across the ground.
"She used a long-range weapon to attack. Looks like Kotori-chan also has a way to lock onto my position without relying on sight."
Watching Kotori's movents, Yutsuki calmly analyzed the situation.
When she learned that Kotori was covered in flas, Yutsuki had guessed that she probably could not observe her surroundings through normal vision.
And Kotori's first move turned that guess into certainty.
"Mm?"
Yutsuki frowned.
She noticed that the flas around Kotori were gathering toward the muzzle again, just like before. She was preparing to fire a second shot.
"Again?"
Yutsuki felt a trace of surprise.
The cannon blast just now had been terrifyingly powerful, but if it could not hit, it had no aning. With Kotori's obvious movents and rough aim, there was no way she could hit Yutsuki.
"..."
Even though she felt confused, Yutsuki did not relax her guard. She remained alert to her surroundings while waiting for Kotori's second shot.
—Boom!
Soon, the second shot arrived. Its terrifying destructive power carved another cruel scar into the earth. But just like last ti, Yutsuki moved at the sa instant the shot fired and took no damage.
"No change in attack path. No third-party spirit wave reaction nearby... I see. So this is Inversion."
Yutsuki sighed again in a sad voice.
Unlike Tohka's case, Kotori's Inversion was the sa type as Nia's and Origami's. She had completely lost reason and was attacking only by instinctive destructive impulse.
Otherwise, Kotori would not stubbornly rely on this long-range attack that consud so much spirit power. She would have switched to close combat or so other thod to attack Yutsuki.
As if proving Yutsuki's guess, the Demon King in Kotori's hand began gathering spirit power again, preparing for a third cannon shot.
"...It's over."
Yutsuki calmly declared.
After Inversion, a Spirit's destructive power and aggression would greatly increase, but the amount of spirit power stored inside the Sephira Crystal itself would not change much.
After a third powerful cannon blast like that, her spirit power would likely be less than half of its original amount.
If Yutsuki were still in a sealed state, there might have been so risk of defeat. But with two Sephira Crystals supporting her, killing this kind of mindless Spirit would be extrely easy.
Of course, the mission's goal was not to kill.
It was to bring Kotori back.
"Maria, ten seconds after Kotori-chan fires, drop the ice at the designated position. I'll take her out of the fire zone."
[Are you sure, Yutsuki? According to calculations, after the third spirit cannon shot, Kotori will still have around thirty percent of her spirit power left. She will not be completely unable to fight.]
Yutsuki silently shook her head at Maria's advice.
"No. This is the best timing. If her spirit power is exhausted too much, Kotori-chan may escape straight back to the Neighboring World, then manifest again after recovering. We can't give her ti to adapt or run away. We have to drive her completely into a corner in one go."
[...Understood.]
At that mont, the third cannon shot fired from Kotori's huge cannon. The giant pillar of light closed in, trying to burn Ryougi Yutsuki into nothing.
[Ten...]
The instant Maria began counting down, Yutsuki's closed eyes snapped open. Blue-white lightning danced across her entire body.
[Nine...]
With a flash of light, Ryougi Yutsuki's figure suddenly vanished from where she stood.
[Eight... Seven...]
Brushing past the blazing cannon fire, lightning flashed by at a speed far beyond sound, crossing the one-kiloter distance and appearing right in front of Kotori.
[Six...]
"——————!!"
Although she had lost reason, Kotori's instincts still reacted to the enemy approaching.
The Demon King in her hand changed from cannon back into a pitch black giant axe. She raised it with both hands and swung it down heavily against the pressure of the wind.
[Five...]
With a heavy roar, the ground in front of Kotori cracked on a massive scale. It then collapsed into a huge pit.
But the Demon King in her hand did not give her the feeling of cutting into an enemy.
There was only a piece of black coat fabric in front of her, burned to ash by the black flas.
[Four...]
"Too slow! Kotori-chan, you haven't trained enough!"
Appearing quietly beside Kotori, Yutsuki struck away the hand holding Kotori's Demon King with one hand. With her other hand, she reached into the black flas.
"Ngh——"
Enduring the pain of being burned, Yutsuki pressed her hand against Kotori's abdon and converted the spirit power in her body into a huge shockwave. She forcefully launched Kotori several hundred ters into the sky.
[Three... Two...]
"The Commander has left the fire zone!"
"The hatch is open and ready!"
[One!]
"Now! Drop the ice!"
Together with the voice inside the command room, the armor on the underside of the airship quickly opened. A heavy object fell toward the ground under the pull of gravity.
It was a block of solid ice about one thousand cubic ters in size, giving off a bone-piercing chill.
This was not ordinary ice.
It was taken by the crew of Fraxinus from a city that had been frozen over. It was ice created by a Demon King.
"——————!?"
Noticing the ice falling from above, 'Kotori' felt an unprecedented sense of danger.
Her flas were foreign objects that did not exist in nature. Even if washed by heavy rain, thrown into the Antarctic, or dropped deep into the sea, as long as her spirit power was not exhausted, the flas would continue burning.
But if she ca into contact with that ice, the flas covering her entire body would be extinguished.
Kotori hurriedly stabilized herself in midair and tried to fly away from the falling ice.
However, as if she had already predicted this move, Yutsuki blocked her path.
"You're not getting away!"
Without rcy, Yutsuki kicked Kotori,forcing her body to draw an arc through the air and collide with the ice falling from the sky.
Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss——!
In an instant, white mist spread like an explosion.
The ice that froze everything, upon eting the black flas that burned all things, turned into vapor and scattered.
[Report. Kotori's spirit power reaction detected. Spirit power fluctuation is extrely weakened.]
[Beginning restraint. Yggdfolium Numbers 11 and 12 launched. Territory field attribute set to gravity restraint.]
Naturally, the huge cloud of steam could not block the sight of the artificial intelligences.
Two Yggdfolium rushed into the white mist and restrained Kotori, who had entered a weakened state.
"Fire Force Operation... Phase Two complete."
Yutsuki slowly said.
Soon, the mist filling the air gradually scattered.
What appeared before Yutsuki was Itsuka Kotori, after the monster like coat of fire had been stripped away.
A small girl with long fiery-red hair, wearing a gray-black robe.
She had neither the light grace of a heavenly maiden nor the commanding strength from Yutsuki's mories.
Right now, the girl restrained by the Yggdfolium looked like a drenched stray cat. Her whole body was soaked by vapor, giving her an extrely pitiful appearance.
"...Long ti no see, Kotori-chan."
With nostalgia and guilt in her heart, Yutsuki greeted Kotori.
Even though she knew the other girl would not answer.
"——!!"
After seeing Yutsuki, Kotori seed to be angered. She twisted and struggled nonstop, trying to break free from the Yggdfolium.
[Bad news! Kotori's spirit power fluctuation is rising again!]
[Yutsuki, hurry!]
Maria and Marina's urgent voices ca from the airship above.
The ice just now was only a small part of Yoshino's power. Normally, it would not have been enough to put out Kotori's flas.
If it had been dropped directly into that sea of fire, it would probably have evaporated in less than one second.
That was why Yutsuki had gone down as bait to consu Kotori's spirit power, then separate her from her Demon King and the burning area. Only then could the flas covering her Astral Dress be extinguished, forcing her into a temporary weakened state.
Naturally, Yutsuki understood that as well.
"Now beginning Fire Force Operation——Phase Three."
After repeating the task she had to carry out, Yutsuki slowly reached her hand toward Kotori.
Suddenly, Yutsuki's hand stopped in midair.
She saw it.
Under Kotori's ssy bangs, those hollow, dried-up eyes were continuously shedding tears.
In an instant, Yutsuki felt as if her heart had been stabbed.
Even after losing her reason, the pain and despair of losing the person she loved were still torturing Kotori like a cruel wound.
And the final tears she had left to vent that sadness were evaporated by the burning flas the mont they spilled from her eyes.
—Why? You were right beside Onii-chan back then.
—So why did Onii-chan still die!?
"Ratziel!!"
Suppressing the guilt that was about to overflow, Yutsuki clenched her teeth and shouted.
[Received——Mission start——Target: Itsuka Kotori——Beginning spirit power infiltration——Infiltration complete——Beginning synchronization——Synchronization complete——Beginning Sephira Crystal condensation.]
In an instant, countless tiny sparks surrounded Kotori's body and slowly seeped through her skin.
"Ahhhhhhh———ahhh——————ahhhhhhh!"
Stimulated by the electric current, Kotori let out a scream. Her expression twisted in pain, and the force of her struggles grew stronger.
[Mission complete.]
Hearing Ratziel's reply, Yutsuki spoke in an icy voice.
"What cos next will be more painful than death. I'm sorry, Kotori-chan."
The next second, Yutsuki's right hand shot forward, piercing through Kotori's chest.
And in her blood-covered hand was a dark red gem wrapped in black mist.
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