"What… is going on?"
Returning to the bridge from the spirit power amplification chamber, Kotori still looked exhausted and had not even caught her breath properly before the screen full of Ryougi Yutsukis left her completely stunned.
[These fake Yutsukis are the sa type of existence as the Nibelcole Westcott commanded earlier.]
Analyzing the characteristics of those Ryougi Yutsukis, Maria explained.
[Judging from the current situation, strictly speaking, the pseudo Spirits created by Beelzebub do not possess a fixed form. Instead, their appearance and personality are decided by the user's will.]
Back when Honjou Nia first inverted, pseudo Spirit like masses of spirit power had appeared around her. However, the Nia at that ti had already lost her reason and had not given the pseudo-Spirits any settings or appearances. In the end, she produced a pile of dull clay dolls.
After the inverted Sephira Crystal was absorbed by Westcott, the pseudo-Spirits he summoned had clear personalities and appearances. Perhaps because the data used to create the electronic Spirits had served as the prototype, Nibelcole's appearance had been highly similar to Marina's.
"In other words, Ai Mulian, who beca an Inverse Spirit, used Yutsuki-nee as a template to create these pseudo-Spirits."
[Correct.]
Maria nodded on the screen, agreeing with Kotori's view.
Kotori's eyes beca grave. Although before the war began, she had discussed all sorts of possible DEM actions with her subordinates, the enemy's move had still, in a certain sense, exceeded her imagination.
"Good thing Miku and the others have already returned to the ship… Otherwise, she would probably have jumped right in."
Nia sighed and could not help joking as she looked at the screen.
[Not probably. Definitely.]
At that mont, Marina suddenly appeared on the screen and retorted with a speechless expression.
[Just now, after Miku learned about what was happening on the ground while in the dical room, she acted like she'd been injected with stimulants and demanded to return to the surface, saying she wanted to swim inside them.]
Hearing that, everyone on the bridge could not help wearing faces full of dark lines.
"Marina… Please keep an eye on Miku and don't let them run around."
[Understood~]
After saying that, Kotori could not help rubbing her forehead. Although she felt ntally exhausted, as commander, she still quickly adjusted her ntality and began thinking about how to deal with the current situation.
"Maria, since these fake Yutsukis are essentially the sa as Nibelcole, can we do what we did before and have soone disguise as Shido to seal them?"
What Kotori was referring to was naturally the thod where Natsumi disguised herself as Shido and wiped out the Nibelcoles with flying kisses. Although the thod was sowhat socially deadly and embarrassing, it had indeed been remarkably effective against enemies like Nibelcole, who were nurous and annoying.
However, Maria regretfully shook her head.
[It should be possible, but Natsumi released her Astral Dress not long ago. For a short ti, she can no longer use her Angel again.]
"So that won't work… And my brother himself is currently on vacation far away at the seaside."
As if already expecting that this thod would not be useful for now, Kotori was not too discouraged. She turned toward the crew and asked,
"Mikimoto, can we find the real Yutsuki-nee among the pseudo Spirits?"
"Report, Commander. We are trying to distinguish her, but at present… we have not succeeded."
The "president", Mikimoto, wiped the sweat from his forehead and answered with a troubled expression.
Not only him, but the other crew mbers on the bridge also looked like they were being worked to death.
"After Tohka and the others fought DEM, the spirit wave distribution across Tengu City was already in a highly chaotic state. On top of that, Nia-san's spirit wave values are originally very close to Yutsuki-san's, so it's difficult for the system to identify Yutsuki-san's spirit power from among them."
"Furthermore, judging from the feedback from Tohka and the others on site, these pseudo Spirits are extrely similar to Yutsuki-san. Not only can they use Yutsuki-san's abilities to a certain degree, even their personalities, habits, and ways of speaking are almost identical. They simply cannot tell who the original is."
"Even her personality and habits were reproduced… They can even do sothing like that?"
After hearing her subordinate's report, Kotori frowned in disbelief.
"As long as the user understands enough about Biri-chan, it should be possible in theory."
Nia touched her chin and said,
"She probably used Beelzebub's omniscient ability to obtain information related to Biri-chan."
Hearing that, Kotori suddenly felt a trace of doubt.
"But if I rember correctly, Yutsuki-nee said Beelzebub can't lock onto her."
In response, Honjou Nia shook her head.
"Strictly speaking, it cannot directly lock onto her. If the Demon King searches for people who have had contact with Biri-chan, it can obtain information about Biri-chan in that person's eyes through indirect information."
"That really is… more troubleso than expected."
"Indeed… But even then, while this kind of thing is theoretically possible, the practical difficulty is not small."
Honjou Nia muttered thoughtfully.
Back when she first t Ryougi Yutsuki, Nia had once done sothing similar with Rasiel. The information given through that thod would normally be things like a brown haired long haired girl went through a certain street at a certain ti, or a female student wearing Raizen's male uniform entered the classroom at a certain hour—information affected by the observer's subjective perception.
Constructing a portrait that even acquaintances could not distinguish from the real person using only such irregular, chaotic, and massive information was by no ans easy.
Nia had not interacted much with Ai Mulian. She had only heard that this woman was abnormally obsessed with Ryougi Yutsuki. So when she looked at the Yutsuki-version Nibelcole below, which showed almost no difference from the real person, Nia's imagination wildly created a scene in her mind.
A veteran Ryougi Yutsuki solo fan, the ultimate shut in otaku Ai Mulian, without official information, continuously searching the internet for every bit of information related to Biri-chan, exhausting everything she had learned throughout her life, pouring her blood and sweat into generating electricity with love, finally successfully creating a 1:1 Ryougi Yutsuki figure by hand, then running in front of Nia and the others to show it off—
For so reason, Nia felt a trace of respect toward Ai Mulian.
"So this is true love… Ai Mulian's obsession with Biri-chan really is terrifying."
[I wouldn't want this kind of true love even if it were given to for free.]
At that mont, a familiar voice suddenly cut into Fraxinus EX's communication channel.
"Yutsuki-nee?!"
Kotori first raised her brows in surprise, then quickly showed a guarded expression.
"You… are really Yutsuki-nee?"
[Although I would very much like to confidently answer yes… unfortunately, I have no evidence to prove I'm the original. After all, using Beelzebub, it would be very easy to find this communication frequency.]
The person on the other side of the screen answered with a wry smile.
Seeing that the other party did not rush to prove herself imdiately, Kotori instead relaxed her guard slightly. While conversing with Yutsuki, she also had her subordinates lock onto the signal's location.
"Yutsuki-nee, can't you directly release your Astral Dress? After all, no matter how similar Ai Mulian's pseudo-Spirits are, they shouldn't be able to imitate a Spirit's full power."
Kotori spoke with a bit of probing in her tone.
[I thought of the thod you ntioned too. But if I release my Astral Dress, after a certain period of ti, I'll fall into a weakened state where I can't use my abilities. Honestly, I suspect Ai Mulian is deliberately trying to lure into doing that. DEM might still have so backup plan we haven't noticed.]
Hearing the other party's answer, Kotori frowned tightly. Although her unwillingness to release her Astral Dress was sowhat suspicious, the reason was indeed sowhat convincing.
"Maria, what do you think?"
[Judging from the sender's location… the other party has not attacked Tohka and the others at present. Instead, she belongs to the side protecting the Spirits. Although her reasoning is sowhat forced, considering the twenty DEM airships earlier that still did not move even when crashing, DEM's actions do still contain suspicious points that cannot yet be explained.]
After hesitating for a mont, the artificial intelligence said sowhat uncertainly,
[Based on the current intelligence, there is a 72% chance she is the real one.]
Although that was a relatively optimistic answer, the fact that an artificial intelligence that valued logical calculation could only co to such an uncertain conclusion instead made Kotori hesitate.
Seeming to understand Kotori's difficulty, the other side let out a bitter sigh.
[To think I can't even prove my own identity… How ironic. Ah—that was close.]
At that mont, on the large screen, the Ryougi Yutsuki located by Maria dodged Tobiichi Origami's bombardnt with a sidestep.
Kotori saw the other party's cheek twitch very vividly.
[Nia… do you know what I'm thinking right now?]
"Eh? What do you an…"
Hearing the other party suddenly ntion her, Honjou Nia showed a confused expression. Then she heard the other party speak in a tone carrying a mix of joking and helplessness.
[Right now, I'm slightly regretting handing the Inverted Crystal over to DEM in order to save you.]
"No! I know! I completely understand how you feel! But even so, you shouldn't say it out loud! I'll get hurt!"
Honjou Nia could not help retorting.
Could she really be Ryougi Yutsuki?
Not long after this thought appeared in everyone's minds, that Ryougi Yutsuki gradually approached Natsumi's vicinity. Then she suddenly turned hostile and attacked, only to be cut in two by Mana, who was protecting Natsumi beside her.
A fake.
Looking at the paper that gradually turned into black smoke and scattered, Kotori felt as though she could hear Ai Mulian's mocking laughter.
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