Where is Itsuka Shiori? I wish I knew!
Natsumi was on the verge of breaking down.
The pain in her side sent cold sweat trickling down her forehead.
As much as she hated to admit it—this being her first time injured—she had to face the fact that she'd almost lost the will to fight.
The chilling sense of imminent death made her scalp prickle.
How could a Spirit be this unlucky? She'd just wanted to come out and pull a prank on Itsuka Shiori, never imagining she might end up dying in Shiori's place.
Outwardly a green-haired beauty, but inwardly still a girl, Natsumi fought back tears with everything she had.
Her face was pale, and Ellen's wasn't looking any better.
Ellen had seized what should've been the perfect moment to finish things, yet such a prime opportunity had been wasted because of the 'Witch'—not only missed, but sure to raise Schicksal's guard even higher.
It might even affect the upcoming school trip plans.
But the one with the worst expression of all was Yatogami Tohka, her face a mask of disbelief.
"What? You're not Shiori?"
The fury in Tohka's eyes now burned hotter than before.
Even for a girl like her, who'd only just begun to interact with human society and knew little of its morals and ethics, she had instinctively grasped what it meant to have her feelings played with.
The person she'd been ready to risk her life to protect wasn't the real one, but an impostor? And she'd almost been kissed by someone who wasn't Shiori?
The moment that thought crystallized, the spiritual power she'd been holding back surged into an even greater counterflow.
Before even Ellen could react, Tohka's unleashed energy blasted her body, along with the shattered wall, more than ten meters away.
The spacequake alarm blared the very next second.
This area wasn't densely populated, and living in Tengu City, everyone was long accustomed to spacequakes. Chatting about the interrupted topic, they hurried toward the shelters.
Caught in Tohka's sudden outburst, Natsumi was also sent flying, just like Ellen.
Once free, Natsumi immediately tried to flee, though she had no idea where to go.
After all, she'd never been injured before.
The shock of blood loss and the dizzying sensation left her utterly panicked. Even without a destination, anywhere was better than staying put.
But faster than her escape was the violet sword-pressure that grazed her cheek.
Turning back, she saw Tohka—who just moments ago had been docile and obedient before her—now fully clad in her Astral Dress, the massive white sword in her hand pointed straight at Natsumi, her face etched with rage.
"You bastard! How dare you use Shiori's form to mock me!"
Seriously, how could a Spirit be this unlucky?
Natsumi felt like crying, but there was no time to even muster the tears.
Before she could gather her emotions, several waves of sword-pressure came slashing toward her, forcing her into a frantic dodge.
"Damn it…!"
Ellen gritted her teeth so hard they might've shattered.
With a spacequake, the situation changed entirely.
There was no way Schicksal could miss a disturbance this big, and the same went for Ratatoskr. DEM's high-altitude signal jammer had relied on the element of surprise; if the Fraxinus noticed what was happening, breaking through would be simple.
The plan to capture Itsuka Shiori was definitely scrapped now, but they could still cut their losses.
Just as Westcott had reasoned, DEM might not be able to make progress, but they could drag Schicksal down with them.
Capturing or even killing Spirits was one way to do it.
Before, Westcott simply hadn't believed DEM would encounter a Spirit before Schicksal did.
But now, with two Spirits right before her eyes, even if she couldn't capture or kill both, taking out one should be possible, right?
--+--
"Shiori! What in the world is going on!? Why has Tohka's spiritual power reversed flow!?"
On the other side, Kotori Itsuka was also nearing her limit.
She'd just set aside her most pressing worry and was quickly looking for a way to prove her worth to Schicksal as a defector. But before she could even find that 'proof,' her own 'performance metrics' suddenly blew up.
"I… had a misunderstanding with Tohka, and then she just… ran off!"
Shiori was still panting heavily. She'd been running for what felt like ages, only for the spacequake alarm to sound and sword-pressure to flash across the sky, revealing she'd run right past the scene.
Tohka hadn't gone far at all, staying within a few hundred meters of the school.
And here she'd thought Tohka must've been incredibly fast to vanish without a trace.
"What… does reversed… flow… mean?"
Leaning against a wall to catch her breath, Shiori asked between gasps.
"I told you before! If a Spirit's emotions fluctuate too wildly, their spiritual power can reverse flow. This is exactly that!"
Kotori spoke while heading back to the Fraxinus's command center, followed by Reine and Kannazuki.
"Bring Shiori back first. What's the situation with Tohka?"
She hadn't been on the Fraxinus earlier, returning urgently after receiving the report of the spiritual reversal.
Everyone knew the sudden crisis was extremely urgent, and they began reporting in one after another:
"Commander, a signal jammer was deployed near Raizen High. We failed to detect the situation initially!"
Another crew member enlarged the satellite monitor feed on the screen.
"According to spiritual wave detection, aside from Tohka, another Spirit is present—the Witch! Also on site is DEM's Wizard, Ellen Mira Mathers!"
"Huh!?"
Kotori hadn't expected two other names besides Tohka to appear.
This spiritual reversal didn't seem to be entirely Shiori's fault. "The Witch… that's the Spirit who said she'd make Shiori's life a living hell, right?"
"From the visuals… yes. And it appears the Witch has sustained significant injuries. Also, Tohka's initial attack target wasn't Ellen, but the Witch."
The rapid intelligence exchange gave Kotori a rough understanding of the situation.
The only things unclear were why the three parties were now in a standoff, and how the Witch had been injured.
Well, there were some guesses as to why Ellen was here, but Kotori felt even more puzzled.
She could guess that targeting Tohka might be related to Shiori, but why would DEM send Ellen to approach Shiori? Was it just a coincidence?
And why go after Tohka first instead of directly targeting Shiori?
What role did the Witch play in all this?
There were too many mysteries, and with key details missing, Kotori couldn't piece it together immediately.
She switched topics. "How long until Schicksal's support arrives?"
"Um… we haven't contacted Schicksal."
One of the men hesitated, looking at Kotori. She had already been stripped of her role as Schicksal liaison by Ratatoskr, and in principle, the Fraxinus couldn't contact other organizations without going through Ratatoskr—that would be blatantly showing their hand as a turncoat.
Kotori belatedly realized this too, crunching the lollipop in her mouth to pieces.
Now wasn't the time for hesitation or avoiding suspicion. Without a second thought, Kotori pulled out her phone to call Durandal, but then noticed a figure on the screen rapidly approaching Tohka's location.
Seeing the Raizen High school uniform on the newcomer, Kotori had a faint idea of her identity.
Was this the Valkyrie Durandal called in for support?
Black Amber, meanwhile, was also grinding her teeth.
While it was normal for things not to go according to script, how did such a huge mess suddenly erupt? How could Tohka's power reverse flow just like that? And on her very first day here, no less.
What will Amber think of me now?
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.