Illya was the most special Heroic Spirit power Inaba Tsukiyo had obtained; her own power might not be considered strong, but her abilities were very diverse.
She possessed cards called class cards, which allowed the user to utilize the power of actually existing Heroic Spirits.
The diverse class cards allowed Illya, even as a Caster, to use the power of Heroic Spirits from other classes.
Limited Deploy could instantly materialize the noble phantasm held by a Heroic Spirit, and the class card Illya used was Saber.
A holy light saber appeared in Illya's hand, and with the weapon in hand, Illya's entire demeanor changed, her crimson pupils staring directly at the girl.
"You... no matter what your identity is, my mission is to kill Nightmare. If you intend to interfere with me, then you are my enemy."
Taking a deep breath, the girl, who had initially thought Illya was an ordinary person, dispelled her notion of underestimation after sensing her aura.
As one of the top three users of visualization devices in this world, she could clearly sense that Illya was not as fragile as she appeared.
And that weapon, it was not something her armor could contend with; she would definitely lose.
However, even knowing she would lose, the girl did not intend to retreat, because she had to eliminate Kurumi here.
As a Spirit of sin, even if Kurumi had, up to now, only killed those who deserved it, who could guarantee that she wouldn't harm the innocent in the future?
Moreover, DEM's higher-ups had given her a death order: she must eliminate Kurumi whenever she appeared.
The girl raised her armored arm, and three lasers shot out, heading towards Kurumi.
A sharp gleam cut through the air, and the mechanisms the girl launched were very easily wiped out by the holy light saber in Illya's hand.
The girl stared at Illya, able to block the attack from the mechanisms so easily, which reminded her of the Angels held by Spirits.
However, Illya was still wearing her school uniform and had not displayed her Astral Dress at all. Could a Spirit use an Angel without changing into an Astral Dress?
"Oh my ~ oh my ~ I didn't expect Illya to stand on my side, I'm truly delighted."
Kurumi slowly came behind Illya, placing her hands on Illya's shoulders, and said seductively.
"It's just that Tsukiyo-chan is more concerned about you. If you have time, why not visit Tsukiyo-chan? I believe Tsukiyo-chan and Yoshino would very much like to see you."
"Tsukiyo-chan... huh? Hehe ~ If I have time, I'll go."
Kurumi smiled gently, although the possibility was very low, she also wanted to see Inaba Tsukiyo, who made her feel at ease.
"I look forward to our next meeting, Illya. Goodbye."
The ground beneath her feet darkened, as if a shadow was spreading, and Kurumi's body gradually sank into the shadow.
After Kurumi completely disappeared, only Illya and the ponytail girl remained in the alley.
"So... now it's just you and me. Do you want to fight me? This girl who looks a lot like Classmate Itsuki."
"...Illya, is it?"
Savoring the name Kurumi had spoken as she left, a dazzling white light appeared on the girl.
Her purpose in coming here was only to kill Kurumi; the task of gathering information was AST's business.
Of course, there was also a very important matter, which was to find her important relative. She had seen an image of her elder sister at the AST base earlier, so the person must be in this city.
"Excuse me, you just said I look a lot like Classmate Itsuki. May I ask where the Itsuki family lives?"
"Oh? Do you know Classmate Itsuki? Or are you Classmate Itsuki's younger sister? No, Classmate Itsuki already has one younger sister. You shouldn't be her younger sister, right?"
Shiori has Kotori as her younger sister, and although this girl looks a lot like Shiori, Shiori has never mentioned having a younger sister who looks so much like her.
Whether it was a misconception or not, when she mentioned that Shiori had another younger sister, a terrifying aura emanated from the girl.
Although her face maintained a cute smile, the dark aura behind her grew thicker and thicker, showing a tendency towards demonization.
She narrowed her eyes and thought for a while, recalling Kotori and Shiori's daily life, a smile curved on her lips.
"Classmate Itsuki once said she has the cutest younger sister in the world, and she makes lunch for her cute younger sister every day. Because their parents are not around, she spends time with her younger sister every day when she comes home. Her younger sister is also a very clingy child, always hugging her and pestering her every day, and it seems they even slept together. Classmate Itsuki really dotes on her younger sister. Hmm? What's wrong? Your expression looks quite bad."
With each sentence Illya spoke, the dark aura around the girl grew thicker, eventually even revealing the shadow of a demonized oni mask behind her.
Does this person... care so much about her identity as a younger sister? Or does she not want her identity as a younger sister to be taken by Kotori? This is interesting.
Illya thoughtfully led the way for the girl, and on the way to the Itsuki family, the girl also introduced herself as Mana Takamiya, Shiori's biological younger sister.
This is interesting; a biological younger sister, so Kotori is a foster younger sister then?
"Little sister, little sister… Oh no, I feel a bit excited."
However, this name gave her a lot of useful information: Shiori was adopted by the Itsuka family, and Mana Takamiya had no childhood memories.
Without childhood memories, if Mana Takamiya didn't have that locket with a photo of Shiori and her together, Illya wouldn't have believed that Shiori was her older sister.
The surname Takamiya feels like it will be a very important clue.
There must be a secret, and a very important one, about Shiori and Mana's past.
After bringing Mana to the Itsuka family, Illya used her teleportation ability in a secluded corner to return home, and at the same time, changed back into Inaba Tsukiyo's appearance.
As soon as she returned home, Inaba Tsukiyo saw Nia looking at her with a dead-fish-eye expression.
"What's wrong? I should have left you lunch when I went out, right? Has your most important day of the month come?"
"No way! That day hasn't come yet! You, you said I was pretending to be young, and then you even changed into an Elementary School Student's appearance to pretend to be innocent. I really misjudged you."
"Oh, oh, oh~ It seems you know what happened to me at school today."
Opening her eyes, she approached Nia step by step. This girl was being disobedient again.
Realizing the danger, Nia nervously backed away, looking at Yoshino's position, hoping Yoshino could help her.
Noticing Nia's gaze, Yoshino was startled, quickly covered her eyes, and shrank back into the sofa, indicating that she hadn't seen anything, but still cautiously poked her head out to observe the situation.
"Thump!"
Pushed against the wall, Nia was pinned by a delicate hand next to her, unable to escape.
Nia found it a bit strange; Inaba Tsukiyo's height shouldn't have allowed her to reach that position, should it?
She couldn't help but look down at Inaba Tsukiyo, discovering that Inaba Tsukiyo was floating in mid-air, using this ability to press against the wall next to her.
"Did… did you use your Angel to see what happened to me at school? Are you… deliberately trying to watch the show?"
"Uh… well, Tsukiyo-chan. You know? As a popular manga artist, it's not that easy to draw interesting manga. So… that is… gathering material is very important."
"So you're gathering material from me? How daring, Nia."
Fortunately, Nia wasn't using her as material for some strange manga, otherwise, she wouldn't mind turning Nia into a GALGAME heroine, letting her experience feelings she had never felt before.
"Actually, there's a reason for this. My purpose in doing this is to get you in contact with Kurumi. Through my Angel, I know Kurumi has been looking for me, but she doesn't seem to know that I've escaped from DEM. So, approaching her through Illya's identity is the most effective way."
"…I always feel like your intentions aren't that simple. As for Kurumi's matter, I also want to understand it."
Although she didn't know if this girl was lying, and regarding Kurumi's matter, she also wanted to understand it.
Seeing the possibility of Inaba Tsukiyo letting her go, Nia quickly spilled everything she knew.
The most wicked Spirit, who had killed at least tens of thousands of humans, but the humans she killed were all societal thugs, irredeemable trash.
"So, Kurumi doesn't kill out of interest, but to replenish her time?"
"Yes. Kurumi's Angel is the Angel of Time. Every time she uses this Angel, it consumes her own time. To avoid becoming powerless, she can only go after those troublesome individuals who don't know any better."
Nodding, Inaba Tsukiyo somewhat understood Kurumi's ability.
Mana told her she received orders to kill Kurumi, but she had killed Kurumi many times, and each time Kurumi would reappear before her.
The reason Kurumi could reappear after being killed was due to the Angel she possessed.
It was probably by summoning a past version of herself from a certain time period, thus creating countless clones, while her Original Body hid in a safe place, letting the clones act.
"Then, is Kurumi's purpose in approaching Shiori also to obtain time? How much time does Shiori, who has absorbed Spirit power, have within her? And what is Kurumi's purpose in trying so hard to obtain time?"
It was a bit complicated. Kurumi's motives were completely different from other Spirits; her actions were purposeful.
"Given the death-seeking nature of those people behind Shiori, they will definitely make Shiori go on a date with Kurumi. Increase her favorability, make her shy, and then seal her power. A date with Kurumi… a date… this weekend…"
If she remembered correctly, the date she had agreed upon with Shiori was also this weekend… Haha~ A double date? She wondered how Shiori would handle this situation.
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