"Cough cough cough, damn it. That spirit, that Sword Spirit—we really underestimated her. Before, I always thought our old rival was the main problem, but it seems she's even more troublesome than the First Spirit." Looking down at his severed arm, and then across at Ellen sitting opposite him in a crisp women's suit—though even so, her exposed skin was wrapped in white bandages—it was obvious that Tohka's self-detonating armor attack had done her serious harm.
"Mm." Hearing Westcott's words, Ellen nodded and said, "As expected, while Artemisia Bell Ashcroft and I were guarding you, that group took advantage of it to rescue the spirit. When they withdrew, they destroyed the entire island. All our personnel were inside—none of them survived. Now the board has learned about our heavy losses and they're putting pressure on us. Since you weren't awake, I've been doing my best to stall them."
"Cough cough cough—damn it!!!" Hearing this, Westcott began coughing violently, clearly furious. Because that island had been used to imprison the spirit, all the guards stationed there had been his trusted subordinates, along with many of his research staff. In other words, Tohka's single move had cost him over half his loyal personnel—and he suspected she'd guessed this, which was why she'd had the Yamai sisters launch that final attack.
"And because we captured the 'Princess,' we ended up provoking several spirits into an all-out battle that destroyed half the city. The Japanese government has formally protested. We have to pay all the reconstruction costs. So, the board..." Obviously, that wasn't the end of the bad news. After all, DEM might be a foreign company, but with such heavy losses, no one here was going to cover for them. That night's battle had been the most intense yet—so many complete spirits had clashed, and especially the two Tohkas, whose swords practically split the city in half. Of course, those people were furious. This incident had been entirely DEM's fault. And as for provoking Tohka... They weren't idiots—she wasn't the kind of opponent you could just mess with and expect to walk away unscathed. If she really got mad and came to Tokyo to unleash a sword strike... That was not a scene they even wanted to picture.
"I understand. The board, huh." Ellen hadn't finished when Westcott cut her off. He narrowed his eyes, his voice going cold as he muttered, "It's already come to the final battle. As a tool, DEM no longer has any value. What we need now is to concentrate all resources and fight the spirit to the end. As for the so-called board—hmph—if they want to stand in my way, then they'd better prepare themselves. Ellen, get Artemisia Bell Ashcroft and come with me. It's time to settle things with them—and then, the final battle begins."
Even though he'd only just regained consciousness, he knew there was no time to waste. Since Tohka had already wiped out so many of his people, along with countless advanced devices, he would need DEM's remaining strength for the coming fight. He was eager to act.
"Wait—your arm." Seeing him grab his coat and prepare to leave, Ellen stopped him. "Since your original arm was shredded to bits by the Princess's sword, we cultivated a new one from your cells—but it still needs more time. And we don't have much time left. If that rescued nun gets sealed, our entire plan collapses. That boy, Shido Itsuka, has accumulated too much power—killing him will be nearly impossible."
"Forget the arm. Once I obtain the Inverse Spirit Crystal, an arm won't matter. Spirits have remarkable regenerative abilities, and with the Demon King, we'll get enough intelligence to target the Princess and Shido." Westcott was utterly unconcerned about his arm. He knew time was short. Then, as if he'd remembered something, he said to Ellen, "It's time to use the sleeper agent I planted before. Go summon Origami Tobiichi. I have something to say to her. And bring that manifest weapon. If she's going to hold off Tohka, she'll need first-rate equipment."
"Yes." Ellen nodded and turned to leave without another word. She knew time was running out.
"Origami Tobiichi... What an unexpected discovery. If I hadn't come here, I never would have known about her. But perfect—thanks to her complicated feelings about spirits, a little guidance is all it will take to make her serve me." Using his remaining arm, Westcott opened the laptop by his bed and coldly studied an electronic file. He knew that because of Origami's complicated connection to them, Tohka would find it very difficult to kill her outright—so dealing with her would buy him precious time to handle everything else.
.....
Meanwhile, Tohka had no idea Westcott was plotting against her. Of course, she knew he wouldn't just sit around after she'd humiliated him so badly, but at the moment she was too busy worrying about how to deal with Nia Honjo. This woman wasn't like Miku, who had come into this world traumatized, nor was she like the relatively simple Yamai sisters. Tohka genuinely had no idea what to do. She couldn't exactly just charge over and push her down...
"So annoying... What am I supposed to say?" Unable to think of any good plan, Tohka flopped onto her bed like a salted fish, rolling around in frustration.
"Screw it—let's just drag that shut-in out of her cave. If it comes down to it, we'll settle this with a doujin sales showdown." Having made up her mind, she gave up thinking about it. She decided to handle things the way a certain famous "strategy protagonist" would—what a headache.
Once she'd worked it out, she sat up. Since she was alone at home—Miku had taken the Yamai sisters out—she could move however she liked. After all, Miku actually had work to do, unlike Tohka who was just loafing around.
"Hey, Tohka—there's a problem. Get over here now—I'm going to teleport you to the school." Just then, Kotori sent her a message.