Seeing the two now focused solely on each other, with Tohka's attacks no longer aimed her way, Natsumi took several deep, ragged breaths.
Her mind, teetering on the edge of complete mush, tried to piece together the situation.
She had no desire to be killed or captured.
One of these two wanted her dead, the other wanted her captured—either way, they were both enemies. Even if they weren't coming for her immediately, that could change any second.
Running might just make them team up against her. So the best option was… to strike first.
With that thought, watching the Valkyrie's back turned to her, Natsumi quietly shrunk down and slipped behind the girl, positioning the three of them in a perfect line.
Then, Haniel instantly unleashed spells toward both of them—spells potent enough to temporarily alter their ages.
"Watch out, Seele!"
Tohka, who'd thought the situation was under control, hadn't expected another sudden shift. Her blood pressure genuinely spiked this time.
Even though she didn't like Seele—who was always trying to steal Shiori away—she disliked Natsumi, who'd played with her emotions, even more.
Yet despite that, Tohka didn't want to see Natsumi killed. And of course, she didn't want anything to happen to Seele either.
Hesitation had stopped her from immediately joining Seele's side earlier, from forming a united front—she hadn't even said hello.
Now, Tohka was filled with nothing but regret.
Twice now, in such a short time, her judgment had been clouded by her emotions, making everything worse.
The distance between them now was too great; there was no way she could reach them in time to help.
But stronger than her regret was a boiling anger.
Just how vile could this Spirit be?
Not only had she impersonated Shiori to trick her, but now she was launching a sneak attack against Seele, who was trying to help her. She was simply the worst person Tohka had ever met.
However, Tohka's rage was nothing compared to the fury burning within Dark Amber at that moment.
Dark Amber almost laughed in sheer, infuriated disbelief.
When she'd arrived, she'd roughly pieced together what had happened. As for Natsumi, the root cause of her ruined plans and subsequent failure… she genuinely wanted her dead.
And now this idiot, instead of laying low, decided to stab her in the back?
Fine. Just fine. If this was how they wanted to play, good.
And that fool Tohka had been disrespectful to her earlier too. If everyone was going to play dirty, then she'd stop holding back as well.
She let the spell wash over her. In the blink of an eye, both Ellen and Dark Amber—who had just been locked in a standoff—were transformed into six or seven-year-old children, looking utterly incapable of fighting.
Ellen hadn't anticipated Natsumi's sudden move either.
Annoyance flared within her, but she didn't lose her cool.
Although her physical capabilities had plummeted to an extremely weak state in an instant… to be honest, even before the change, her physical stats were terribly poor.
She couldn't compare to Valkyries, those female gorillas, nor even to that jock Artemisia.
Her real strength had never been raw magical power anyway.
In terms of mana alone, Ellen privately admitted she was near the bottom among her old acquaintances, hardly remarkable.
What made her the greatest Wizard was the advent of the Territory.
With her exceptional computational power and mastery over it, Ellen had shot straight to the top of the world's combatants.
So, while her diminished body limited her mana and strength, the actual impact on her fighting ability was minimal.
She glanced at the dark-haired girl beside her, also turned into a child, wearing a dazed expression. A cold smirk touched Ellen's lips.
The Valkyrie's situation was completely different from hers. Physical prowess was one of those gorillas' primary assets. In a form like this, she probably retained less than a tenth of her power.
Unless absolutely forced, Ellen had no intention of killing a Valkyrie.
On the surface, DEM and Schicksal were competitors, not mortal enemies. That's why she'd taken down Rita earlier without going for the kill. But if casualties occurred, the dynamic would shift entirely.
An ordinary Valkyrie might be glossed over, but one with a unique Battlesuit was likely a favorite in Mobius's eyes. There was no need to provoke her ire unless it was a fight to the death.
With that thought, Ellen abandoned her plan to continue attacking the dark-haired girl. Instead, she fixed her sights on the Spirit behind her—the one wearing an expression of relief and sheer survival instinct.
"Stop!"
Tohka shot toward the trio from the ground at high speed.
Ellen couldn't be bothered to even acknowledge her, simply bypassing Dark Amber and slashing straight at Natsumi.
Yet, a sudden, inexplicable chill shot up her spine. An overwhelming sense of crisis instantly froze all three of them in place.
Black and red, mud-like water materialized out of thin air around them, forming a spherical shell that encased all four.
A thick, stifling stagnation filled the space, making them feel as if they'd been plunged into deep water.
The light was completely swallowed by the dark muck.
The pitch-black darkness, where you couldn't see your own hand, lasted less than two seconds before faint, barely visible red glows began to flicker within the sphere, providing just enough illumination to see.
"What is this?!"
Tohka cried out, shocked and wary, looking around at the unprecedented, terrifying scene. Instinctively, she raised her greatsword, coating her entire body in defensive spiritual power.
Her confusion wasn't unique in that space. Out of the four present, three were utterly bewildered.
Ellen was also assessing the state of her Territory.
As a 'personal world,' everything within a Territory—temperature, humidity, any physical law—could be altered based on the user's will, given sufficient computational power.
So why was she feeling this discomfort?
But… the Realizer unit wasn't malfunctioning…
As for Natsumi, she was plunged into total confusion. Who am I? Where am I? What on earth is happening? Did I accidentally hit myself with Haniel?
"Heh… hehehehe…"
A low, icy laugh reverberated through the space. The source was unmistakable to all three present.
"Seele?"
Tohka's tense expression relaxed slightly. So it was an ally's ability? That was alright then.
But before she could feel reassured, black-red, octopus-tentacle-like substances emerged around her, tightly binding her limbs and pulling them in different directions.
The same thing happened to the other two. Soon, three figures, splayed out in an 'X' shape, were neatly arranged in front of Dark Amber.
The girl who had been a six-year-old child mere moments ago had now returned to her original form. But those scarlet eyes and the malicious, mocking smirk twisting her lips marked her as fundamentally different from before.
Ellen felt half disbelief, half confusion.
Confusion because her Territory and Realizer Unit showed no issues, so how had she been so easily restrained? Even with her regressed body, she should be able to tell if something was wrong.
And the disbelief… why had she been so effortlessly subdued by a Schicksal Valkyrie again?
It was one thing when it was Durandal, the so-called world's strongest, but who was this? Seele? A nobody she'd never even heard of!
If it weren't for the complete lack of spiritual power emanating from the other, Ellen would have wondered if she was a Spirit. But if not a Spirit, this still didn't add up—the personality shift was obvious.
Was this not an Inverse?
Could it be that Mobius had stopped killing Spirits because she could somehow control and utilize their spiritual power?
This was utterly infuriating.
--+--
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.