"Report! A breach has appeared in the Territory barrier in the southeast area of Tengu City!"
Just as the battle situation had fallen into a stalemate, this unexpectedly good news made Brennan's spirit lift.
"Now! Units in the southeast direction! Imdiately launch an attack on the breach—"
However, before Brennan could finish giving the order, the next piece of terrible news instantly made him draw in a cold breath.
"Report! The southeast portion of the fleet has encountered a Spirit attack. Spirit identification codena—Hacker!"
——————
Southeast of Tengu City, nine thousand ters above the ground.
"Boom—!"
Along with a sudden loud explosion, thick smoke rose from the deck of an airship. A flash of lightning appeared, as if thunder had drilled its way into the sky.
When the light scattered, it revealed the figure of a girl hovering in the high-altitude winds. However, this ti, she looked sowhat battered.
"Tch... As expected, the sa trick won't work twice."
Having escaped from the interior of the airship, Ryougi Yutsuki clicked her tongue.
Originally, she had intended to take advantage of DEM focusing their attention on Date City's armants and Fraxinus, then sneak into the interior of DEM's airships, invade their systems, and destroy DEM's airships in one go. However, DEM was not stupid either. They clearly had no intention of repeating the sa failure twice.
As a result, Yutsuki was caught red-handed the instant she infiltrated, and could only forcibly destroy part of the airship before escaping.
And, unfortunately enough... she had run into one particularly troubleso person.
"Don't run away~ Yutsuki-san."
A cheerful voice sounded. A black-haired Wizard equipped with a CR-Unit rushed out from the smoking airship, flying toward Yutsuki as if to embrace her.
(That woman... how did she predict where I would infiltrate?)
Looking at Ai Mulian smiling from ear to ear, Yutsuki felt the corner of her mouth twitch slightly.
"As long as it's sothing Yutsuki-san is thinking, I know it all~"
As if she had guessed what Yutsuki was thinking, Ai Mulian proudly declared.
"Disgusting!"
[Tactical Realizer Unit——verification code AW214——Wizard System connection complete——Are you ready?]
"Transform!"
[Armant complete! Magical Rider——Th! Th! Th! Th! Thor.]
Violent sparks burst out in an instant.
The mont Ai Mulian closed in, Yutsuki equipped her CR-Unit without hesitation and blocked Ai Mulian's slash.
"We et again, Yutsuki-san. Do you know how much I've missed you these past few days?"
"...I don't care in the slightest."
Yutsuki said in clear annoyance. But Ai Mulian not only failed to be discouraged by her attitude, she actually looked delighted, as if Yutsuki had whispered sweet words of love to her.
(The infiltration attack has failed... There's no need to stay here and fight this thing. But... this woman is too dangerous.)
Yutsuki weighed the situation in her mind. Although she could not clearly explain why for the mont, her intuition was rarely warning her that if this woman were left to act freely elsewhere, the consequences would be hard to predict.
"Ah! Aah! Yutsuki-san, you're finally willing to look directly at my feelings for you!"
Seeing Yutsuki choose to attack her, Ai Mulian could not help crying out in joy.
However, Yutsuki clearly had no intention of continuing to talk nonsense with Ai Mulian. Holding her breath and focusing, she swung the twin blades ford from Ratziel and launched a fierce assault on Ai Mulian.
Two flashes of light continuously crossed, tangled, and collided in the high sky. Strangely enough, although Ai Mulian had previously been able to gain the upper hand over Yutsuki, this ti she was clearly at a disadvantage.
(Just as I thought, she's bad at aerial combat.)
Watching Ai Mulian's movents, which were slightly stiff, Yutsuki confird it inwardly. Back when she investigated Ai Mulian's personal information, she had already vaguely guessed this. This person was not a Wizard who had undergone proper formal training. In their previous clashes, her magical control and Territory usage had not been particularly refined. What truly made her troubleso were her ferocious hand to hand combat techniques and unpredictable adaptability.
This person definitely had not been using a Realizer for long. This type of aerial battle, which required controlling gravity through Territory, was clearly not her specialty.
Thinking that way, forcing her way out of the airship just now had indeed been a wise choice. Although it had consud no small amount of spirit power, if Yutsuki had fought Ai Mulian in that kind of narrow corridor, the consequences would have been hard to imagine.
"It's over."
With a horizontal kick, she knocked away Ai Mulian's sword. Aiming for the instant when Ai Mulian used Territory to adjust to the inertia, Yutsuki aid Ratziel, now converted into a cannon, at Ai Mulian's shoulder.
[Calculation start—Future calculation activated.]
"—!!"
At that mont, an image of the future flashed through Yutsuki's mind. Facing Ratziel's warning, Yutsuki retreated at full speed without hesitation.
One second later, a beam from a magical convergence cannon passed between Ai Mulian and Yutsuki.
"...I almost forgot about that thing."
Yutsuki looked at the airship hovering not far away and, sowhat irritably, wanted to go over and blow it up right now.
"That was close~ Although Ellen-san gave special training, skills polished right before battle really aren't enough after all."
Ai Mulian shrugged lightly and smiled at Yutsuki.
"Sorry, Yutsuki-san. I'm still not very used to aerial combat. I can only ask my colleagues to cooperate with a little."
As soon as her voice fell, the surrounding airships turned their cannons toward Yutsuki one after another.
Left with no choice, Yutsuki had to increase her speed while relying on future calculation to dodge the consecutive magical cannon fire.
"Tch! What a pain... Hm? Strange..."
Observing the arrangent of the surrounding airships, suddenly, an ominous feeling rose in Yutsuki's heart.
(Those airships... their positions haven't moved at all?)
Only then did Yutsuki notice that, ever since DEM's attack began, most of the airships had never shifted their coordinates.
At first, Yutsuki had thought this was an arrangent made to surround them. But putting the others aside, even the airship Yutsuki had damaged earlier, which was now on the verge of collapse, showed absolutely no sign of retreating or moving. It just stupidly stayed not far away from Yutsuki on standby. No matter how she looked at it, it was suspicious.
(If Westcott and his subordinates aren't being stupid, then there must be a special reason.)
"Kotori!"
Although she was in the middle of battle, Yutsuki imdiately connected to Kotori's communication channel.
[Yutsuki-nee, what's the situation on your side?]
"I'm fine, but the surprise attack failed! There might be sothing wrong with those unmoving airships! Find a way to shoot them down from your side!"
[Unmoving airships...!! I understand! Leave it to !]
Although the information was transmitted rather hastily, Kotori reacted quickly and decisively on the other end.
"Getting distracted on the battlefield isn't good, you know, Yutsuki-san."
"—!!"
At so point, Ai Mulian had already arrived in front of Yutsuki and taken up a stance.
[Calculation start—Future calculation activated.]
Ryougi Yutsuki saw it. If she chose to dodge Ai Mulian's attack here, she would instead be hit simultaneously by the magical convergence cannons of five airships.
"—Hmph!"
With a deep breath mixed with a sharp sound of slicing air, Ai Mulian's fist shot toward Yutsuki's chest.
(I can only block it!)
Yutsuki crossed her twin blades in front of her chest and took the blow head-on. In an instant, the twin blades of Ratziel shattered with a clear sound. Yutsuki borrowed the recoil from the impact and rapidly retreated, widening the distance between herself and Ai Mulian.
"Ah... she blocked it? It's so hard to find a good point to apply force in the air. Oh well, Yutsuki-san. Since we have the chance, do you want to chat with ?"
Moving her wrist in puzzlent, Ai Mulian stopped pursuing and addressed Yutsuki with a friendly smile.
"...Tell , why are you so fixated on ?"
Resummoning her Angel, Yutsuki secretly observed the surrounding airships while speaking.
"My answer has already been very clear. The world is full of handso n and beautiful won. You're not bad looking yourself. Finding a romance should be easy, right?"
"Ugh, please don't say things like that, okay? Yutsuki-san, even if you don't like , please don't question my devotion to you. I've already sworn that in this world, I will love only you. Though... I'm really happy that you praised as beautiful!"
"..."
Although she was only trying to buy ti, Ai Mulian's ridiculous answer still left Yutsuki with black lines all over her face.
"Honestly, I can't understand what's going on in your head. Since you like , can't you do sothing good for ? Stop causing trouble for here."
"I'm very sorry. I can consider other things, but only on this matter, I can't give way."
Ai Mulian gently shook her head and said:
"No matter what thod I have to use, I want to see you break down in despair. That is what I want to do most right now. I'm the type who, after seeing the Mona Lisa, can't help wanting to splash ink on it." (TL:Kira Yoshikage ahhh)
"What an unpleasant personality..."
"Ahaha, you're right. Speaking of which, Yutsuki-san, where is that little boy nad Itsuka Shido right now?"
Gazing at Yutsuki's expression, Ai Mulian asked in a frivolous tone:
"Hypothetically~ If I did sothing to that little handso boy, what kind of reaction would you have, Yutsuki-san?"
"..."
"As expected of Yutsuki-san. You're completely unmoved. True, Itsuka Shido doesn't seem to be here right now, so I can't do anything to him. But if it were the other Spirits inside Tengu City... what would happen then?"
Hearing Ai Mulian's words, Yutsuki furrowed her brow, and a trace of hostility appeared in her eyes.
"Do you think... I would let you return to the ground with all your limbs intact?"
"Ohhh! What a complint! That tone! That attitude! That expression! Truly too beautiful! But unfortunately, Yutsuki-san—"
After cheering uncontrollably for a mont, Ai Mulian suddenly curled her lips into a smile that was not quite a smile.
"The one who will be making a move this ti is not ."
"—!?"
The instant she heard those words, an ominous premonition surged through Yutsuki's heart.
[Warning—A large number of unknown spirit power reactions detected within a ground range of nine to ten kiloters below!]
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