At the sa ti, several thousand ters away, Ellen Mathers was equipped in her platinum white chanical armor, piercing through the forest at an unimaginable speed as she closed straight in on the base.
(Not enough! Still not fast enough!)
Watching the base rapidly enlarge in her field of vision, Ellen clenched her teeth. She pushed her Territory with all her consciousness, converting every bit of magical power into propulsion fuel. Having exceeded the speed of sound, Ellen was like a burning teor.
Four thousand ters—two thousand ters—five hundred ters—one hundred ters—
After a long five seconds, Ellen finally caught sight, in the skies above DEM, of that familiar and utterly detestable figure.
Ellen's pupils suddenly widened.
"—Hacker!!!"
The blade flashed from its sheath. The edge, gleaming with magical light, descended with the force to split its opponent in two.
However, facing Ellen's attack, the girl seed to have long expected it. She rely smiled faintly and took one light step backward. In that instant, a pitch black door silently opened behind the girl and swallowed her into it.
Just before the door closed, Ellen caught the girl's lips moving slightly.
—See you later.
"—!!"
The next second, the door vanished into thin air. The magical blade that had cut through empty air tore across the sky, and finally, accompanied by a delayed roar, split open a striking gash in the distant mountain range.
"Ah… ah… haah… ah…"
Slowly descending to the ground, Ellen panted sowhat sharply. Her armor seed to be emitting wisps of steam from magical overload.
"M-Mathers Executive Officer?"
Seeing Ellen overflowing with killing intent, the DEM wizards kept their distance while cautiously calling out to her. They were afraid that if they accidentally provoked her, she might casually cut them down too.
"Hah… ah—phew~"
Very soon, after a brief period of deep breathing, Ellen finally cald her emotions. She released her Realizer, tidied her appearance slightly, and put on an air of complete composure.
"Confirm the situation. Send injured wizards to the dical departnt for treatnt. Wizards who can still move are to strengthen security and patrol the area to confirm whether any other enemies are lying in ambush."
"U-Understood!"
As she issued orders to her subordinates, a light whistle of rushing air sounded from above. Ellen raised her head. An airship was approaching from the distance and landed on the still-intact landing field.
The hatch opened. A gray haired middle aged man stepped off the ship under the escort of a black haired woman.
"My, my~ We really were tricked this ti."
Looking at the miserable state of the base, Westcott could not help sighing in admiration.
"Ike, Hacker got away?"
Ellen replied while looking at Westcott with a questioning gaze.
"It seems that way. Ryougi Yutsuki appears to have already regrouped with Ratatoskr."
Flipping through the Beelzebub in his hand, Westcott nodded.
"Still… this really is excessive. Three airships destroyed, fifty four wounded, eighty nine disard. To think she perfectly seized the opening and struck first. Should I say, as expected of the most dangerous Spirit?"
"Exactly. As expected of Yutsuki-san. Ah—if I'd known she was coming, I would've stayed behind at the base. I wonder if I can pull the footage from the base caras. I want to preserve Yutsuki-san's heroic figure."
"You two… take this seriously."
Seeing her boss speak as if this had nothing to do with him, and her subordinate cheer for the enemy from the side, veins faintly bulged on Ellen's forehead. Her blood pressure, which had finally gone down, seed to start rising again.
"You misunderstand, my dear Ellen. Don't be fooled by how I look. I am actually feeling a rare headache right now."
Westcott smiled wryly and shrugged. Ellen frowned at that.
"Is it that serious?"
"Serious, yes. But more importantly, troubleso."
Westcott sighed, glanced over the wizards in the base, then turned his eyes toward Tengu City.
Ryougi Yutsuki had triggered the spacequake alarm. Its sound was loud enough that even from here, it could be clearly heard.
"Originally, I intended to use the opportunity of Itsuka Shido leaving Tengu City to catch Ratatoskr off guard, forcing them to abandon the defensive battle they excel at and leave Tengu City to fight."
A full scale attack against Ratatoskr on February 20th—this had originally been false information Westcott deliberately allowed Nightmare to leak to the other side. This was war, not a match. Only by knowing how to launch a surprise attack could one seize victory.
Thus, even without the factor of Shido leaving, Westcott would have launched a surprise attack today, on the 19th.
Unfortunately, it seed he had miscalculated one step.
"Ellen, Ai Mulian. If I now moved toward Itsuka Shido's coordinates according to the original plan, what effect do you think that would have?"
"…Effect?"
"If you did that, everyone would suspect you were afraid of the Spirits, boss, and were preparing to turn tail and run. Soldiers who hold that thought would suffer an unprecedented drop in morale, and they might even collapse completely."
Ellen appeared sowhat puzzled, but Ai Mulian understood quickly and answered.
"Correct."
Westcott nodded, then sank into thought.
"And more than that, this was probably not a coincidence. It was likely calculated by the other side."
(I see… So Itsuka Shido was bait to lure in?)
Westcott had naturally noticed that Itsuka Shido had quietly left Tengu City. Because the boy had not interacted with the other Spirits before leaving, and Ratatoskr did not seem to know about it either, Westcott had believed that Itsuka Shido had acted on his own without telling anyone.
Change targets to attack the unprotected Itsuka Shido and force the enemy to abandon their defensive battle—this chain of reactions and planning on Westcott's part had probably been entirely within Ryougi Yutsuki's expectations. That was why she had aid for the opening when Westcott and the others left the base, infiltrating the base alone and giving his subordinates a severe blow to their confidence.
(I originally intended to draw the enemy out, only to be held back instead.)
To be honest, Westcott had not failed to consider the possibility that this was a trap. However, he had to admit that the bait Ryougi Yutsuki had thrown out this ti was simply too tempting—tempting enough that Westcott was willing to risk trying for it.
—Hmph. Useless pieces can simply be abandoned.
—In any case, Father still has us.
At that mont, several Nibelcole flew out of Beelzebub and spoke with resentful faces.
"I wonder who it was that let Hacker take advantage of them just now."
Ellen mocked them with an expression of disdain.
—W-We were just careless earlier. Didn't you also let her escape?
—Next ti, we won't be polite.
"All right, stop arguing. Everyone in DEM is an important and precious subordinate of mine. How could I possibly abandon my subordinates?"
Westcott helplessly diated.
Of course, that statent was not true, but it was not entirely false either. Just as Nibelcole said, under normal circumstances, even if all of DEM were destroyed, he would not feel the slightest pain.
But this ti, Westcott could not think that way. At the very least, not over the next few days.
In the upcoming battle, a large number of airships and magical power would undoubtedly be needed. Although drones and programs could also be used to execute orders, considering the variables that might arise in the coming battle, artificial intelligence that had not reached Maria or Marina's level clearly could not replace humans.
Furthermore, since Ratatoskr had clearly stated in their eting that they would not let the Spirits kill people, compared to drones and pseudo Spirits, wizards were both a reliable force and the best hostages for restraining the Spirits' actions.
(Could it be that the eting they held earlier… was also a deliberate attempt to lead on? They intentionally made realize they would not kill, and after I began placing importance on that, they caused my subordinates to lose their will to fight like this.)
Upon realizing this layer of the situation, Westcott, inexplicably, actually felt a chill around his neck.
(Did I just… feel fear?)
"…Pfft—haha, hahahahaha!!"
For so reason, Westcott suddenly laughed cheerfully.
"Ike?"
"What's wrong, boss? Did your brain crash?"
"Ah—no, no. It has simply been so long since I felt myself produce such a clear emotion that it was too fresh, and I couldn't help laughing."
Looking at the confused faces around him, Ike smiled and waved, indicating that they did not need to mind it. Then, putting on a regretful expression, he said
"Ah… I was careless too. I relied on possessing the omniscient Demon King and unknowingly underestimated my enemy. As a result, I even let the other side use that and set a trap for . As expected of the most dangerous Spirit. Although I was the one who gave her that title in the first place, looking at it now, it truly lives up to its na."
"…So, what do we do next, Ike?"
Ellen asked seriously. Although she did not know what change had occurred in Westcott's heart, she had known him for over ten years. She knew very well that, at this mont, Westcott showed no sign of discouragent or giving up.
"That's true…"
Westcott thought for a mont, then smiled.
"Since the other side has sent us such a grand declaration of war, wouldn't it be far too impolite if we did not et them head on?"
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