DEM Industries Headquarters.
"Haahh~ Ellen, make a cup of coffee."
Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, the Managing Director of DEM Industries and the inventor of the miraculous Realizer technology, sat idly at his desk, letting out a rather bored yawn.
"Understood. Please enjoy." Almost imdiately after Westcott spoke, his tall, blonde secretary, Ellen Mira Mathers, placed a cup of coffee on the desk in front of him.
"Thanks~" Taking a light sip, Westcott flashed a mature, charming smile that could make countless young girls swoon. "As expected, coffee brewed by Ellen always tastes the best."
"Thank you for the complint." Ellen remained entirely unmoved, responding with a perfectly robotic, business-like tone before stepping back to stand quietly behind him.
"You're no fun at all, Ellen," Westcott wagged his finger helplessly and set down the still-warm coffee. Propping his chin on his right hand, he let out a long, dramatic sigh and complained, "I have too much free ti! Why is it so boring? Isn't there anything to kill ti with?"
"In that case, regarding the Board of Directors' resistance movent led by Roger Murdoch,perhaps you could spare so thought for that?" Ellen reminded him from the side, her tone as flat as ever. However, beneath the surface, one could detect a faint trace of resentnt.
"Tch, tch, tch! Those petty people who only focus on short-term profits aren't worth my attention. I don't need to waste my brain cells on things like that. What I want is sothing far more interesting, sothing more... aningful."
Westcott waved his hand dismissively, brushing off her complaint as if it were dust on his sleeve.
In reality, there was genuinely nothing to worry about. As the world's strongest Wizard, if the board mbers were foolish enough to actively rebel against him, Ellen could easily subdue them through sheer physical suppression.
"Oh, speaking of which! A new Spirit has appeared recently, right?" Westcott asked, his eyes light up as if he had just rembered a new toy.
"Yes." Ellen pulled up the data on the computer and reported seriously: "The target first appeared a month ago in the Sichuan region of China. It is a Spirit that uses electricity manipulation as its primary thod of attack. Identification Code: Thor. Rank level: B."
"Heh~ That's unexpected! To think that sothing as highly offensive as lightning is ranked at the sa level as Hermit." Westcott scratched his chin, a look of deep interest crossing his face.
"Regarding that, according to local reports, Thor seems to have an extre avoidance to killing. Even when surrounded, it will not launch lethal attacks. Based on the data, there has not been a single casualty reported by any unit that has encountered Thor so far. That is why the rank level was set so low."
"Is that so?" After listening to Ellen's report, Westcott opened the computer on his desk and reviewed the files himself. The more he read, the deeper the smile on his lips beca.
"What is it? Is there sothing missing?" Seeing that smile, Ellen imdiately knew her boss's interest had been piqued.
"No, nothing. Nothing at all. Your report and the data match perfectly. Based on the circumstances, the local unit's evaluation is quite fair," Westcott shook his head, beaming as if highly amused. "However... that is only on the surface."
"On the surface?" A rare look of confusion appeared on Ellen's face.
"I can't quite put it into words," Westcott said, waving his hand helplessly, much to Ellen's surprise. "But I'm certain of one thing: Thor is definitely hiding its true capabilities. If it were to use them, its dangerous level would easily rival Princess's..."
BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—
Just as Westcott was mid sentence, a loud alarm suddenly ripped through the entirety of DEM Headquarters. Every single siren triggered at the exact sa mont, the deafening noise causing a ringing in everyone's ears.
"Hey, hey! What's going on?" Ellen quickly grabbed the phone and shouted into the receiver.
"The Headquarters' mainfra is under hacker attack! The enemy broke through the first, second, and third firewalls with overwhelming force! They are currently invading the core systems at an unbelievable speed. At this rate, they will breach the S-Class Database in ten minutes!"
"What did you say?!" Ellen shrieked, nearly losing her composure.
The S-Class Database contained the most highly classified information, including the core design principles of the "Realizer" and the theoretical blueprints for rule-breaking equipnt like White Lycoris and Pendragon. It was the very foundation of DEM's power. If this technology leaked to the outside world, it would be a big blow to the company.
"Isaac!"
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't do anything about this."
Smiling bitterly and shaking his head, Westcott turned his monitor toward Ellen.
The screen had already gone completely black, save for massive strings of chaotic, irregular code darting across it at high speeds. It looked like countless cold, unblinking eyes staring back at them, making Ellen's skin crawl.
Just who possesses such terrifying hacking skills?!
"Go tell the board mbers to sever all external communication channels imdiately! Cut off all incoming electromagnetic communications completely! If they ignore this warning, tell them to prepare to be stripped bare."
"Understood." Seeing the severity of the situation, Ellen cald down and instantly issued the orders to the board.
"Hacker... Network... Electromagnetic waves... Lightning! I see! Fascinating! Utterly fascinating! Mwahahahahaha!"
Muttering a few words under his breath, a look of sudden realization dawned on Westcott's face. He covered his face with his hand, bursting into a fit of uncontrollable, manic laughter.
"Completely beyond my expectations! How is this a B-Rank? This Spirit's threat level easily rivals Nightmare—no! It surpasses her! This is humanity's most dangerous enemy!"
----------------------perspective shift divider line---------------------
Heavy snow fell from the sky! Silvery white snowflakes danced in the air, drowning the earth in pure white and creating a world of ice and snow.
Amidst this pure white canvas, space above the permafrost suddenly warped. The massive compressive force of a spacequake blasted the snow away, revealing a dark, frozen crater.
"So cold! It looks like my landing spot this ti is either sowhere with really cold weather or is on it cold peak. Though it looks like the forr. Russia?"
Standing inside the crater, Ryougi Yutsuki,dressed in a light sumr Tokiwadai uniform with only a black trench coat thrown over it,had a blue face and was shivering violently.
She quickly generated a barrier of spirit energy to block out the freezing wind and snow, allowing her bloodflow to slowly return to normal.
"Target sighted. Identification Code: Thor. All units, stay alert and concentrate fire!" (Spoken in Russian)
Despite the command, the expressions of the Russian branch's Anti-Spirit Team relaxed slightly when they realized the incoming Spirit was Yutsuki.
Based on confird intel, Thor had a very weak aggressive instinct toward humans.
"Looks like I'm being looked down....."
Using a spirit energy barrier and an electromagnetic field to block the incoming fire, Yutsuki saw their expressions and easily guessed what they were thinking.
Ti for a slap in the face.
Chuckling inwardly, Yutsuki summoned her Angel.
"Co forth, Ratziel!"
The dark blue longbow appeared in Yutsuki's hand. However, to everyone's confusion, Thor didn't launch an attack after summoning her Angel. Instead, she slung Ratziel over her back. Then, she pulled a small, white rectangular device out from inside her trench coat.
A tablet computer?
The squad of Russian girls had absolutely no idea what the Spirit was plotting.
"Ratziel analysis comnce. Initiate invasion."
[Understood! Comncing task execution.]
Following Yutsuki's command, text began scrolling across the tablet's screen. If it weren't for the blinding white snow, one might have noticed a nearly transparent, thin thread connecting the tablet to the longbow on her back.
"All units, attention! Abandon suppressive fire! Charge!" Although the situation was unclear, the Captain of the Russian squad felt a sudden wave of bad feeling and hastily ordered an assault.
It had to be said, the Captain's instincts were spot-on. But even so, the outco couldn't be changed.
[Analysis complete. Password cracked. User privileges acquired. Please input command code.]
Watching the cha girls surround her and close in rapidly, Ryougi Yutsuki spoke a single, calm sentence:
"Realizers. Deactivate."
The vanguard mbers, holding beam swords, were charging at Yutsuki at high speeds. Suddenly, an intense sensation of weightlessness hit them. The armor covering their bodies vanished instantly. The montum of their high-speed sprint sent them tumbling uncontrollably into the snow, carving long, deep trenches across the white field.
The exact sa thing happened to every single squad mber. The chanical units equipped to their bodies mysteriously turned into dead, unresponsive blocks of tal. In this heavily snowing climate, the disabled gear beca nothing more than a burden.
Most of them collapsed in the snow, unable to comprehend what had just happened, remaining motionless. A small number stubbornly tried to re-equip their Realizers, but failed.
"It's useless. I've already tampered with the authorization passwords for every single unit ID. If you want to put them back on, you'll have to go back and get your technicians to crack the codes. By the way, Japanese isn't exactly the popular language around here, is it?"
Yutsuki actually don't know many languages. Aside from her native Mandarin, she only knew the mandatory English from school and the Japanese she learned for her trip abroad. That was it.
However, there were actually people present who understood Japanese—like the squad Captain, whose face was currently so pale it practically blended in with the snow.
Humanity's strongest and final anti-Spirit technology—the Realizer. By using computer calculations, it completely warped the laws of physics in the real world. It was a taboo technology that essentially achieved "magic" through science.
But when that technology was disabled, these so-called "Modern Wizards" were reduced to ordinary humans. In front of a Spirit, they were as fragile as ants.
And once a Spirit figured out how to crack this technology, humanity could no longer pose a threat.
Stretching lazily, Yutsuki felt exceptionally refreshed. "The files say the Russian branch's chs have excellent cold resistance, so leaving you here shouldn't freeze you to death. Anyway, there's still so ti before I disappear. I'm going to find a spot to catch up on so rare new ani episodes!"
With that, Yutsuki flew off into the distance.
The Russian AST could only watch her leave, utterly powerless to pursue.
Spirit Identification Code updated: "Thor" changed to "Hacker."
Rank Level: Upgraded from B-Rank to S-Rank.
"This title isn't bad. It's way better than the old one, which just made people think of a bearded guy with an iron hamr."
While watching a new ani episode on one window, Yutsuki checked the update on another window and nodded in satisfaction.
Original Author's Note (PS): Hmm... so readers might complain that the Second Sephira is actually Honjou Nia. Let clarify: this fanfic was conceptualized right when Volu 12 was released. At the ti,the creators hadn't yet revealed the Spirit of the Second Sephira, so I just went ahead and used it.
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