Ellen's eyes widened.

"So you mean-"

"Yes. The usage of Sandalphon in this raid may be connected. I intended to deal with this matter after clearing out my current pile of work, but it appears that my schedule will need some re-arranging. Keep an eye out for signs of an Inverse."

He walked out of the room with Ellen following close behind.

"I'm coming, [Emperor]."

...

Shido was currently walking along the streets of Tengu City. He was just passing through a quiet road when he heard a faint voice.

"Boy...."

He turned around, seeing a head of silvery-white hair. It was a girl wearing glasses and an impish grin on her face.

"Boy, couldst thou perhaps find it in thine heart to help out a young maiden such as I?"

Truly shameless.
Shido's face twitched.

"That speech doesn't make you any more pitiable!"

"I tried, okay!"

"..Whatever." Shido sighed. "Well, follow me for now."

...

A few hours earlier

A silvery-white haired girl was lying on a bed, with the figures of Shido, Kotori and Kurumi surrounding her. She had her eyes closed and way lying nearly motionlessly, with the only indication of her still being alive being the faint up-and-down movement of her torso.
This girl was Nia Honjou, the spirit they had just saved from DEM's experiments, and they were currently in one of Kurumi's various hideouts across the city.

Shido frowned. This was a fairly worrying situation. He didn't exactly know when she'd wake up. He had Gabriel's March playing in the background, and had used Haniel to temporarily patch her up, but they couldn't afford to get her to a medical Realizer. 

A Spirit finding Shido was one thing, but Shido coincidentally finding an injured Spirit and bringing her to the Fraxinus was a little too unbelievable

"?!"

Thankfully, his concerns were unneeded.
The silvery eyelashes began to tremble softly, before snapping open in an instant.

"Nia?"

Shido carefully asked while cautiously stepping forward.
His eyes widened, noticing her frail form starting to shake.

"Wh-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Before anybody could do anything, an ear-splitting scream shook the building, seemingly summoning several dark strands of Reiryoku around the Spirit.

"This is-" "Inverse?!"
Kurumi and Kotori's shocked cries were drowned out by the powerful wailing coming from the Inversing Spirit, who was summoning their Astral Dress.

"Beelzebub"

A massive, dark book appeared in her outstreched hand, with an appearance similar to Rasiel, but with far darker colours and more elaborate symbols.
Several pages scattered around the ground, forming large creatures that appeared to be made from shadows.

"Not good! You guys, hold off the shadow creatures! I'll deal with Nia!"

Shido shouted out a few instructions and ran for the Inversed Spirit.
Truth be told, they weren't exactly in too much trouble right now.
While Kotori only had a Limited Astral Dress, Kurumi was more than capable of facing off an Inverse by herself, even if the boost from Michael had ran out by now.
Of course, his own abilities went without saying.

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