Scarlet blood splashed onto her cheek.
The bitter, tallic sll filled her nose.
The Sephira Crystal in her hand felt slick and burning hot. It was as if what Yutsuki was holding was not a gem, but a person's heart.
"Ahh!!..."
As the Sephira Crystal was pulled out, Kotori stopped struggling. Her arms fell weakly, and the light in her eyes began fading little by little.
Yutsuki's expression did not change.
But the slight paleness on her face still revealed how shaken she was.
Unlike when she had killed Westcott for the first ti, where her heart had barely stirred, personally dealing a heavy wound to a beloved family mber was, without question, the most painful thing for Yutsuki.
(But——!)
Yutsuki gritted her teeth, pulled her right hand out of Kotori's chest, and retreated into the coverage range of the Yggdfolium's Territory field.
"Maria! Marina! Stop the bleeding!"
[Received! Territory field attribute switching to dical mode!]
[Sterile environnt created! Beginning analysis of organ damage scale. Temporary simulated organ generation starting! Blood circulation,cardiac pacing,oxygen supply——]
As Maria and Marina's voices rang out, the Yggdfolium shone with erald light and wrapped around Kotori, maintaining the fragile fla of life that was about to go out.
"..."
Although Kotori was not dead, Yutsuki did not dare to relax even slightly.
She knew very well that this thod was not treatnt.
It was only delaying Kotori's death.
Yutsuki placed the dark red Sephira Crystal against her chest and quietly murmured.
"...Ratziel."
[Host command received——Foreign spirit power reaction detected——Absorption complete——Spirit power filtration task——beginning execution!]
Along with the computer-like voice in her head, Kotori's Sephira Crystal lted into Yutsuki's body.
"——!"
Yutsuki's face twisted in pain.
Her skin turned red like heated iron. The mont sweat flowed out, it evaporated into steam and vanished into the air.
Then, black flas ignited around Yutsuki, wrapping around her entire body as if they ant to devour her.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
...
At the sa ti, a piercing alarm rang out on the bridge of Fraxinus EX.
"Acting Commander Yutsuki!? What's happening?"
"Report! Just now, the Commander's spirit wave reaction was detected from Acting Commander Yutsuki!"
"Spirit power type is E—no! C? D? B? We can't determine the correct value!"
"Hey! Maria, Marina! Why did Biri-chan beco like that?"
Seeing Yutsuki's change on the screen, Nia asked anxiously.
[I don't know... But judging from the phenonon, it should be a rejection reaction caused by Yutsuki absorbing the Sephira Crystal.]
Maria answered with a serious expression.
[What are you all panicking for? This was ntioned during the plan, wasn't it? For Fire Force Operation to succeed, Yutsuki has to absorb Kotori's Sephira Crystal and make its power her own.]
Marina replied.
"But Biri-chan never said absorbing a Sephira Crystal would turn out like this!"
When Yutsuki first explained the operation, she only said that she would handle Kotori's Sephira Crystal.
Because Yutsuki had already successfully absorbed Nia's Inverse Crystal, no one had imagined that absorbing an Inverse Sephira Crystal would be this dangerous.
[What would change even if she had told you? It would only make you lose focus during the operation over sothing unnecessary.]
Marina sighed helplessly, then pointed to Kotori's location on the screen and reminded them.
[Besides, instead of worrying about Yutsuki, you should be worrying about your Commander Kotori. The dical limits of Realizer technology can at most reconnect severed arms and legs. It cannot repair destroyed organs. Marina and I are only temporarily keeping her alive. At most, she has three hours. If Yutsuki cannot purify the Inverse Crystal and use the healing flas within that ti, Itsuka Kotori really will be beyond saving.]
"How long will that purification take?"
[Unknown. After all, we have no comparison data. Rather, whether it can even succeed is still unknown.]
This was a race against ti.
The key to victory depended on which ca first: Yutsuki completing the purification of the Inverse Sephira Crystal, or the fla of Itsuka Kotori's life going out.
[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]
At that mont, Yutsuki's almost mad scream rang through the command room.
"Acting Commander Yutsuki..."
"Ngh..."
Hearing Yutsuki's cry, the crew felt their hearts tighten. So of them lowered their heads, unable to keep looking at such a terrible sight.
"Do not look away!!"
Kannazuki Kyouhei shouted loudly.
"Acting Commander Yutsuki chose to stand there in our place to save the Commander! She is enduring that pain and fighting! What right do we have to look away!? Whether it is sadness or powerlessness, we have a duty to face the reality in front of us!" (TL:my goat kannazuki)
"——Yes, sir!!"
As if awakened by Kannazuki's words, everyone raised their heads and answered together.
"And we cannot simply watch either. Deploy small drones and keep the surrounding area under full surveillance. We absolutely cannot allow anyone to interfere with Acting Commander Yutsuki."
"Understood!"
(Biri-chan, Imouto-chan, please... Both of you must be safe.)
Swallowing down the anxiety and frustration in her heart, Nia continued praying silently.
...
Hot.
It was so hot.
Scorching heat kept torturing Yutsuki's mind.
It was as if flas were spreading from inside her body outward. The black flas burned wildly, tornting Yutsuki as if they wanted to burn both her body and soul into nothing.
Inside her body, Kotori's spirit power was like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins. It constantly tried to break away from Ratziel's control and go berserk.
And right now, Yutsuki was not only fighting against the rampaging spirit power.
—Destroy.
—Destroy everything.
—Evaporate the seas. Ignite the earth. Wipe out every lifeform that appears before your eyes. Keep going until all life in the world is gone.
When she absorbed Nia's Inverse Crystal, what Yutsuki felt was a negative denial of the self.
But what Kotori's Inverse Crystal contained was an extre, violent impulse to destroy.
If Yutsuki's mind loosened even slightly, that destructive impulse would probably steal control of her body.
(Seriously... Wanting to destroy the world just because your brother died... Just how much of a brocon are you, Kotori-chan...)
Yutsuki thought helplessly.
(And then... leaving a little sister like this behind and going off alone... Shido... you really are the worst...)
As if it heard the complaint in Yutsuki's heart, the spirit power inside her beca even more violent.
"Ah——ahhhhhhh——"
Sight, hearing, taste, touch——her senses faded one by one, as if her body were being burned away.
The only thing left was hellish heat.
(Calm down!)
Yutsuki roared in her heart.
(I won't hide, and I won't run! Your anger, your despair! I'll take all of it! So behave and give your power!!)
Like that, ti passed second by second.
At 3:39 PM, the crew of Fraxinus EX suddenly noticed that the black flas wrapped around Yutsuki were visibly shrinking. Black particles slowly seeped out from her body and turned into black smoke before scattering.
At last, the final trace of black fla went out.
Only Yutsuki, covered in wounds, remained standing on the ground.
"Spirit power type detected——level B."
"Confird. Inverse spirit power has disappeared."
"...Did it succeed?"
Looking at Yutsuki, who gave no reaction, everyone's faces were filled with unease.
[...Camael...]
Suddenly, a faint voice sounded through the speakers in the command room.
At the sa ti, a faint pure white fla lit in Yutsuki's hand.
[Onee-chan!]
[I know!]
The mont Maria and Marina noticed Yutsuki's movent, the Arusu sisters reacted imdiately and operated the Yggdfolium to transfer Kotori beside Yutsuki.
Then, the pure white fla slowly drifted to Kotori's chest, repairing the damaged organs and flesh bit by bit.
[Confird. Wound repair complete. Breathing, heartbeat——all vital signs have reached the safe range.]
After seeing the report on the screen, the heavy stone that had been hanging over everyone's hearts finally fell.
[She did it! She did it!]
[Acting Commander Yutsuki! You succeeded! The Commander is safe!]
"Is that so... Then that's... really... good..."
The mont she heard everyone cheering, Yutsuki, who had already been barely standing, collapsed weakly to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut, falling unconscious.
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