Amid the thunderous explosions, towering buildings sank and collapsed as though falling into quicksand, turning into ruins that kicked up waves of thick smoke.
Westcott lightly brushed the dust from his suit and leisurely looked around. The "boy" who had been confronting him just a mont ago had already vanished under the cover of smoke and dust.
"Why not keep fighting? 'Itsuka Shido.'"
Westcott laughed.
"I was kind enough to follow your wishes and co here to duel you myself. Why run so quickly? Soone who can seal nine Spirits surely can't have only this much ability, right?"
Hearing that, a disdainful snort echoed from within the ruins.
"You can even lie with such confidence. You really are shaless."
"Oh? Did I say sothing wrong? Aren't you 'Itsuka Shido'?"
Westcott spread his hands innocently, as if he truly did not understand.
…
"That guy… He's definitely pretending to be stupid on purpose."
In the shadow behind the ruins, Natsumi, who had transford into "Itsuka Shido", leaned against the wall covered in dust and gri. Hearing Westcott's answer, she could not help grinding her teeth in anger.
Natsumi had confidence in her disguise, but not to the point of blind arrogance. Naturally, she knew very well what ability Westcott's Beelzebub possessed. Others might be fooled by Natsumi, but Westcott absolutely would not.
Clearly, whether the Itsuka Shido standing here was real or fake was not important to Westcott at all. Even if Natsumi undid her transformation right in front of him, he might still insist that she was "Itsuka Shido", then continue chasing her relentlessly.
He was simply enjoying a kind of ga. A hunting ga where he watched his prey gradually go mad, gradually get forced into a corner, and took pleasure from it.
"What an awful personality… What should I do next?"
Natsumi sighed helplessly and scratched her head in distress.
After just a few seconds of probing exchange earlier, Natsumi already knew that she was no match for Westcott. Although Shido's kiss was extrely effective against Nibelcole, Westcott had made that move stop working after seeing it only once.
He had simply ordered the Nibelcoles to close their eyes. Since "Shido's face" was Nibelcole's natural enemy, then all he had to do was stop them from seeing "Shido."
Regarding that, Natsumi could only sigh. Just as the thod itself was extrely unfair, Westcott's way of breaking it was equally shaless.
Now that Westcott had replaced Nibelcole's eyes and was directing the battle, they not only had not beco weaker, they had instead beco even more difficult to deal with. These pseudo Spirits, who had originally only attacked through nurical advantage, had instantly turned into a disciplined army.
Natsumi had never been good at fighting in the first place. Although she could use the other Spirits's Angels, their power was much weaker than the originals. On top of that, she could only deploy a Partial Astral Dress, so the Angels's power was reduced even further.
Even worse, so of the Wizards she had heard about earlier—the ones who could use spirit power—had already arrived in this area.
There was no way to win. Natsumi could be one hundred percent certain of that. Against this lineup, forget one of her—even if there were ten of her here, charging in would only an becoming free cannon fodder. If conditions allowed, she really wanted to turn around imdiately and run until there was no trace of her left.
(Give up on that. This place has already been sealed off by Westcott. Escape is hopeless.)
At that mont, dozens of Nibelcoles were weaving through the air, surrounding the area like diligent bees. Several Wizards equipped with Astral Dresses wandered among them, destroying each piece of cover before them and searching for the enemy's traces.
Although they had not yet seen Natsumi, Westcott did not seem anxious at all. After all, to him, she was already a fish trapped in a jar.
"Looks like that's true… The others don't seem to have ti to help either… I can only think of a way to stall for ti."
After recognizing her current situation, Natsumi sighed bitterly.
Once she adjusted her emotions, Natsumi shifted her attention back to Westcott and spoke while imitating Shido's voice.
"You're asking even though you already know. Is the Angel you stole from Nia just for decoration? You knew my location and information from the very start, didn't you?"
"Haha, I see. You an Beelzebub."
Hearing "Shido's" question, Westcott showed an expression of realization, then shrugged helplessly and explained.
"Unfortunately, 'Itsuka Shido', in this war, I do not intend to use omniscience."
Not use omniscience?
That answer made Natsumi frown. She said coldly,
"You think I'll believe sothing like that?"
"Believe it or not, that is up to you. I am rely stating a fact."
Westcott did not hide anything. As if passing idle ti during a ga of hide and seek, he patiently explained.
"At first, I did indeed intend to use omniscience against you. But later, I discovered that no matter how much intelligence I knew about you, I could never kill you as I wished. Each ti, either you escaped by luck, or soone stopped at the critical mont. Once or twice would be one thing, but after more than a hundred plans ended in failure, even I lost so confidence."
Hearing this, Natsumi could not help thinking of what Yutsuki had ntioned before—how Kurumi had repeatedly turned back ti to prevent Shido from being killed.
(Assassinations… So what Nightmare said was actually true.)
"After Yutsuki-san made a ss of my base just now, I finally understood. It was precisely because I relied too much on the Demon King's power that I instead allowed you to exploit the gaps."
Westcott glanced around and shook his head in regret.
"No matter how omnipotent a Demon King may be, in the end, it is only a convenient tool. What value it can display still depends on the ability of the user."
(Nia: —Achoo!!!!)
"So, for the sake of self-reflection, I decided to forbid myself from using omniscience. Put that way, I should thank you. Thanks to you and Yutsuki-san making realize my own carelessness, I did not beco a bookworm who only knows how to study."
Natsumi hesitated slightly. From her perspective, Westcott's explanation was logically complete nonsense. But if she considered this person's absurd style of never acting according to common sense, it sohow seed extrely reasonable.
Natsumi considered herself rather sensitive when judging whether others were lying. But as for whether Westcott's words were true or false, she was not confident. From beginning to end, this conversation was filled with an unpleasant feeling where truth and lies were mixed together. As though several lies were contained in one true sentence, and so truth was hidden inside one false sentence.
"Well, you're welco. If you really want to thank , please leave this city right now. No, leave this country. Better yet, leave Earth and go to so other star system, then never appear in front of us again."
"Hey, hey, you can't say sothing so boring. You were the ones who started the fight, after all."
Westcott shook his head and smiled.
"It is rare to have such a legitimate reason to start a war. If we do not make it livelier and more tragic, wouldn't that be terribly boring?"
"…Pervert."
After a short pause, Natsumi finally squeezed out that sentence.
"Thank you for the complint."
Westcott smiled, sounding a little proud.
"The facts prove that my choice was not wrong. After sealing away omniscience, this fresh feeling of the unknown has instead made long lost inspiration spring up inside ."
Hearing that, Natsumi could not help glancing at the Wizards using Astral Dresses not far away.
"…By inspiration, you don't an those dead fish eyed subordinates around you who look like zombies, do you?"
"Please excuse their appearance. Experints often prioritize practicality, after all."
Experints. Even setting aside the unfriendly impression that word gave off, just thinking of the strange symptoms on those Wizards and Westcott's personality gave Natsumi a faint ominous premonition.
However, in another sense, this was also a good opportunity. Kotori and the others were currently struggling because of these Wizards who had suddenly beco stronger. Since Westcott had brought this up, maybe she could take the chance to draw out so clues on how to deal with them.
[Found you.]
Just as Natsumi was about to speak, a whisper full of amusent suddenly rang beside her ear.
(TL:clutch Natsumi clutch)
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