[A/N] Long chapter ahead, as a sorry for my absence.
"Uh, listen up, everyone! There is a fairly sad announcement that I need to make..."
Everyone perked their ears up when they heard Tama's depressed tone.
"Unfortunately, Tobiichi Origami will be transferring to another school."
A clamor erupted in the classroom, but calmed down after the teacher pointed at a certain student.
"Itsuka, what you do want to ask?"
Shido stood up, asking with a fairly calm face.
"To what school did she transfer?"
Tama scratched at her face, a little troubled.
"Uhhh, I didn't get the details, but it's somewhere in Britain?"
That makes sense, I guess...
Origami had been recruited by DEM, so it stood to reason that she would be transferring to a British school, just like last time. That didn't mean he had to like it, though.
He sighed and sat back down, ignoring the stares of his classmates.
...
"As expected, huh?"
The empty room before Shido showed no signs of anybody having lived there before, completely bare of personal items and furniture. Origami Tobiichi had already moved out. He could've checked with Rasiel, of course, but he needed to be here anyway, so why not check up on it himself?
He let out a sigh and left.
As he passed through the exit, the appearance of a white-haired girl stopped him.
"Origami?"
"Shido. Follow me."
He was just about forcefully dragged off by her towards a random street, hardly giving him time to question her.
"W-wait, Origami?! What-"
"Shh. This way."
"Where are we?"
The area around them seemed deserted, a small alleyway that Shido had no idea existed.
Origami took turn after turn, before finally coming to a halt.
"Phew.. what did you want to show me?"
"I'm sorry."
Shido noticed Origami's hand over his mouth and nose, holding a weird-smelling cloth over it.
A second later, he realized what it was, but was too late to escape the pull of unconciousness.
...
As he awoke, Shido found he couldn't move. His body simply didn't respond to his instructions.
As he slowly became aware of himself, he realized that he was tied to a chair. Very firmly, at that.
He could only move his face and neck a little.
"?!"
He drew in a sharp breath when he opened his eyes to the sight of Origami Tobiichi leaning in a tad too close.
"Oh. You're awake."
"Why do you sound disappointed?! And why can't I move right now?"
"Paralyzing poison. Sorry."
She turned around and pulled out a bottle of water, taking a little bit of it in her mouth and approached Shido.
"Wait, what are you doing?!"
Origami paused for a second and swallowed the water before replying.
"...You need to drink water."
"I can drink it out of the bottle!"
"Fine."
After having a drink, Shido stared at Origami for a while, before opening his mouth.
"What are you trying to do?"
"To kill all the Spirits."
The reaction came almost instantaneously, with a ferocity that was unusual for Origami's usually calm demeanor. Her usual calm expression broke apart into a face of anger and a trace of self-loathing.
"All this time, I've been interacting with them. Tohka Yatogami, Yuzuru Yamai, Kaguya Yamai, Miku Izayoi, that green haired one.. I didn't attack them. Despite all that happened to me. All that the Spirits did to me. Thats..." She clenched her fist. "Unacceptable. I cannot forgive them."
"But they didn't do anything!"
"That is irrelevant. They are still dangers for humanity, or am I wrong?"
"No! They don't cause spacequakes or anything anymore! You've talked with them yourself! Would Tohka hurt a fly?"
"..." Origami hesitated slightly, but seemed to decide against arguing further and turned on her heel and stepped towards the door.
"Origami! Let me go!" Shido still couldn't move his body to cut himself free, resorting to pleading with Origami.
"I'll come back after everything is over."
The door closed with a resounding bang! as Origami Tobiichi set out to complete the mission she had set for herself five years ago.
...
VWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN
"Shock. A Spacequake?"
"Kuku, I wonder what kind of Spirit we'll meet this time!"
Tohka, the Yamai sisters and Miku were taking a walk around the city when the alarm sounded out, startling them out of their conversation about Shido.
Just as they were about to give a call to Fraxinus, a voice called out to them from the side.
"Unfortunately, no Spirit will be appearing today"
"Interest. Master Origami? What are you doing here? And what do you mean?"
Origami was wearing a massive CR-unit, the one that Yuzuru recognized as what she was wearing during the satellite incident. Yuzuru stepped towards her warily, but she didn't react.
Suddenly, as if coming to her senses, Origami's arm shot upwards, pointing at the Spirits in front of her, with a weird distortion accompanying it. The equipment on her hip seemed to melt and flow onto her outstreched hand, taking the shape of a large Maryoku cannon that began to glow with an foreboding light.
"Shit! Yuzuru, get out of there!"
"Understood. Run."
The Yamai sisters reacted at incredible speeds, grabbing Tohka and Miku immediately and flying out of the path of the attack.
Boom!
The large beam of Maryoku carved out a deep groove in the ground, barely missing the Spirits, who were now dressed in their Limited Astral Dresses.
"Tohka!"
"Yes!"
The four Spirits took up their roles automatically, with Miku falling behind to provide support, the Yamai sisters splitting off to the sides, while Tohka charged the Wizard head-on.
"Tobiichi Origami, why are you doing this?!"
Tohka rapidly approached Origami, who quickly shot several blasts of Maryoku at her, which she simply dodged or cut in half without slowing down. Thankfully, these blasts weren't even close to the earlier beam, allowing the sealed Sandalphon to destroy them easily.
"Clarent."
Seeing that the ranged attacks weren't working out, Origami switched to melee, transforming the cannon into a Maryoku blade to receive Tohka's attack.
"Ha!"
Tohka dashed forward, aiming to stab Origami's stomach with her Angel, but was neatly dodged by a simple step to the right. Of course, she was expecting that, so she attempted to pull back without really committing, but she suddenly felt a huge pressure weigh down on her.
This is.. Territory?
Tohka struggled to move her body through the extremely dense Territory. It was like trying to move underwater. She helplessly watched on as Origami's sword collided with her own, throwing up her arms and leaving her torso exposed, then continued on towards her. She closed her eyes, preparing for the impact, but no matter how long she waited, it never came.
"Huh?"
"Kuku, you're welcome!"
"Smile. We will help."
The Yamai sisters had attacked from above in the nick of time, stopping Tohka from getting hurt, but were currently stuck in a deadlock with Origami, even with both of their attacks at the same time.
"Confusion. Master Origami, why are you doing this?"
Origami's eyes seemed to twitch a little, before giving a short response.
"All Spirits must die."
"Gabriel, March!"
The sound of the unexpectedly happy music reached the Spirits, thanks to Miku's role as support.
Immediately, the Yamai sisters started pushing forward, slowly driving Origami back.
"Block this!"
Tohka joined in too, swinging Sandalphon at Origami's unprotected chest.
The three attacks cornered Origami forcing her backwards... or did they?
"Shut UP!"
Her Territory rippled, knocking back the Spirits and allowing her to swat them away like flies.
"Pain. Ouch."
"Urgh!"
The Yamai sisters flew onto the concrete pavement, struggling to get up, while Tohka tumbled down near Miku, who was looking on with a shocked expression as Origami practically teleported in front of her with her Territory's boost to mobility, grabbing her by the neck and holding her into the air.
"Urkh - Yo - u ........."
Miku struggled to breathe as Origami gradually squeezed harder and harder with a hint of insanity showing from her actions, breathing heavily.
"Die, you piece of shit!"
"Mi..ku.."
Tohka gritted her teeth as she helplessly looked on, unable to take her eyes of the sight of Miku being strangled. She desperately summoned her Angel, but she knew it wasn't enough. Miku would die if she couldn't stop Origami here, but she lacked the Reiryoku to make it possible. Still, she had no choice but to try.
"Let.."
She staggered up, trying to force out as much Reiryoku as possible and felt something budge. The flow of Reiryoku increased a tiny bit.
"Miku..."
The seal shuddered under the pressure.
"GOOOOOOO!"
It was as if a dam had broken. A sudden torrent of Reiryoku engulfed her body, instantly restoring her Astral Dress and catapulting her body, Sandalphon and all, towards the Wizard.
"What?!"
Origami quickly threw Miku in Tohka's direction, forcing her to come to a halt to catch her limp body, unless she wanted to risk blasting her now unconscious form to bits.
Origami naturally took advantage of this, aiming to cut both of the Spirits in half at the same time.
"Not happening!"
Tohka shook free of the Territory, dashing away from the attack and towards the Yamai sisters, who were just getting up. She gave Miku to them and quietly spoke in a serious tone.
"Get out of here. I'll stop her."
"Confirmation. Are you sure?"
Tohka nodded.
"Hurry."
...
"Commander! We're detecting a spike in Reiha waves! Princess, Beserk and Diva appear to have summoned their Astral Dresses!"
Kotori's expression darkened. The sealed Spirits would only summon their Astral Dresses in times of emergency, meaning that something was clearly going on there.
"Full speed! Get to their location immediately, and get Shido and the others back here! Kannazuki!"
"Yes, Commander?"
"Take manual control of Control Realizers one through six and the Yggdrafolia! Be prepared for any Maryoku attacks."
Kannazuki quickly put on the headset, albeit with a confused expression on his face.
"Understood!"
In the next instant, his expression shifted from incomprehension to extremely serious, the reason for which was revealed by a sudden impact rocking the hull.
"Report! Maryoku beam! Density 150 MIc! No damage, due to concentrated protective Realizer!"
"Incoming communications! This is.. DEM?"
A video feed of Ellen Mathers popped on the screen, showing her in what looked like a life support tank. All kinds of wires seemed to be connected to her body, and she looked like she had a headache.
"Ellen Mathers. You're a little shorter than expected."
Ellen's face twitched.
"Kotori Itsuka, was it? I expected someone with your reputation to be a little... older."
[A/N] wink wink
Kotori smiled mockingly.
"Are you going to underestimate me for it? Mana is just as young as me, you know"
"Of course not. Age has little to do with competence. Although, your comment about Takamiya is incorrect, as she is well into her forties by now."
"Wait, what?"
Ellen shook her head.
"Ignore that. I'm here to ask for your surrender. Or rather, I would, but I am well aware of your hot-headedness. My offer is to your crew. Leave now, and you shall be spared the risk of injury or death."
Kotori sighed and turned to the crew. "You all heard her. If any one of you wants to leave, I won't stop you. We're up against Ellen Mathers."
She waited for a few seconds, but nobody moved.
"There you have it." Turning back to the screen, she glared at Ellen. "Now, let's get this over with quickly, so you can return to having that Westcock."
"You!"
Ellen practically burst into a fury, shutting off the call.
"Goetia is approaching!"
"Kannazuki, deploy all Yggdrafolia! Have some use mine mode and attempt to encircle the enemy! Crew, use Realizers six through nine to charge Mistloteinn!"
"Yes!"
Seeing that the Maryoku cannon had finished charging, Kotori gave the order to fire.
Immediately, a superpowered attack headed straight for Ellen's ship. Contrary to expectations, however, the ship shifted every so slightly to the right, just barely avoiding the attack.
"Do it!"
Kotori remained unfazed, as she had already expected this and planned ahead. She shouted out to Kannazuki, who promptly detonated the Yggdrafolium on Goetia's right flank, attempting to weaken the Territory.
However, Goetia accelerated at an insane speed yet again, heading out of range of the explosion.
Kannazuki's smile twitched. "Oh? She completely changed the direction of an entire airship two times within a second??"
However, Goetia was not going to wait for him to calm down. A light flared up at the tip of the Maryoku cannon, shooting towards Fraxinus, which was neatly intercepted by its Territory, albeit at the cost of a slight degradation in its Territory.
Kotori gave orders with a grim face.
"Force her onto the defensive! Do not let her get close to us!"
Unfortunately, the only effective weapon Fraxinus had against hostile ships was Mistloteinn and the Mine Mode Yggdrafolium, severely limiting their options.
Several more Yggdrafolia flew towards Goetia, intending to explode, but yet again, a light flared up in the Maryoku cannon, directly impacting Fraxinus.
Kotori smiled.
"Do it!"
Once again, Mistloteinn fired from Fraxinus' main Maryoku cannon toward the enemy Goetia, but one thing was different this time. A sphere of Yggdrafolia had formed around it, essentially forming an explosive cage that trapped the ship into the path of the Maryoku weapon.
Inside Goetia, Ellen frowned. They had actually managed to put her into a slightly challenging situation, somehow. Whatever. It didn't matter. While charging directly out of the sphere would cause great damage to Goetia, there was a small hole where the beam attack would be coming from. Aiming for the gap in between the torrent of Maryoku and the swarm of explosive Realizers, Ellen steered Goetia through at a high speed, neatly defending against the singular explosion with a concentrated Territory.
The precision needed to execute such a maneuver was incredible. By concentrating the Territory on the explosion, the ships defense everywhere else would be reduced heavily. A single graze from the Maryoku cannon would reduce Goetia, and her along with it, to a smoldering pile of metal on the ground, but Ellen went for it without hesitation. She could pull it off. Why wouldn't she be able to?
After succesfully clearing the attack, Ellen headed straight for Fraxinus, shooting her main cannon at the ship that had not responded in time to her dodge. However, the ship in front of her suddenly slid to the right, barely avoiding the surprise attack.
Aboard the Fraxinus, Kannazuki smiled victoriously.
"Do you think you're the only one who could pull off the ship launch?"
Around him, various crew members lay across the floor, retching as the contents of their stomachs attempted to spill out. Moving the ship at those speeds had taken all ten control Realizers, leaving none for softening the impact of the laws of physics in pulling off such a maneuver. The G-forces had left practically everyone on the verge of fainting.
"Re-retreat!"
Kotori managed to get out between clenched teeth.
Kannazuki shook his head with a grim expression.
"Unfortunately, that doesn't seem like it'll be possible, Commander."
Ellen had apparently given up on attacking with the Maryoku cannon, instead opting for the old-fashioned method of ramming them to pieces. With Ellen's strength, there was no chance Fraxinus could withstand a direct hit, and Kannazuki couldn't pull that dodge off again in time.
"Guess there's no choice. We're bringing her down with us! Everyone take cover!"
Kannazuki nodded, gripping his headphones tightly.
Ellen grinned as she dove at full speed, fully intending to pierce straight through the hull of the damned ship. It was the fastest and surest option, even if it was going to damage Goetia a little. She didn't think it was a bad thing to show a little respect to such a surprisingly tough target, though.
"Goodbye, Kotori Itsuka."
At that moment, several explosions went off next to her.
"What?!"
Ellens eyes widened in surprise.
Every last one of the Yggdrafolium had surged towards Goetia, all attempting to explode simulateously.
At the distance they were at, they were probably going to damage the Fraxinus heavily, but she would be paying a much higher price if she did nothing and continued the charge.
Grimacing, she focused all of Goetia's Territory on the back, crippling the power of the explosions assaulting it.
Unfortunately, even after being weakened, the explosions were more than enough to rip the layer of Maryoku covering the ship apart, sending it flying... directly into the Fraxinus in front of it.
A massive flower of fire bloomed in the sky, drawing the attention of the few people able to witness it. If one looked closely, they could see a few figures falling somewhat slowly from the huge explosion, heading down to the surface.
...
Origami stared at the shimmering Spirit in front of her. The other three that were once present there had left, but she couldn't do anything about that due to the threat in front of her.
Tohka Yatogami, in a complete Astral Dress. The shining armour now covered all of her clothes, her Angel seemed far more refined and dangerous. The pressure she gave off now was several orders of magnitude above what she did before her transformation.
This was it. The same Spirit that Origami remembered fighting half a year ago. At the time, she could barely put up any resistance, only able to cling on to dear life like a piece of driftwood in the middle of the ocean.
However, things had changed. With her current equipment, she could - no, she would win this fight.
"Origami Tobiichi. I don't understand what happened, nor do I care. However! I will not allow you to hurt anybody. I won't show any mercy. Y- hm?!"
Her attention was temporarily robbed by the sight of a large fireball coming into existence in the sky far above, but she soon returned her sight to Origami, who had also noticed the anomaly.
She shot forward, her speed incomparable to what she had displayed before, swinging Sandalphon down with a heavy shout.
Origami warily floated backward, immediately giving up on the idea of slowing Tohka down with her Territory. Any attempts to hinder her movements would become far less effective, due to the vast amount of Reiryoku saturating the air around her. It would be far more productive to use that Maryoku to strengthen her defense, as even a single hit from Sandalphon carried immense force with it. She held up Clarent horizontally, bracing herself for impact.
In the next moment, Sandalphon came into contact with Clarent's sword form. The Maryoku blade shuddered a little, but held steady against the full power of Tohka's Angel. Origami skillfully manipulated her Territory to push back against the Spirit's charge, bringing them to a standstill.
She exhaled. She had managed to stop Tohka, albeit barely. Now it was her turn to go on the offensive. She concentrated, causing the blade of Clarent to glow white, releasing a compressed bullet of Maryoku at Tohka from the tip that was sticking out to the side, heading towards Tohka's undefended head.
Noticing this, Tohka fell backward while trying to kick at Origami's legs, neatly dodging the attack. Even though it was just a regular kick, it carried the power to shatter their target if it ever connected.
Origami floated up into the air, dodging the kick while launching another Maryoku bullet at Tohka, who sliced it out of the air while jumping to her feet.
Trying to prevent Tohka from getting up, Origami dashed forward, expending a large amount of Maryoku to neutralize inertia, instantly breaking the sound barrier while swinging Clarent yet again.
Unfortunately, Tohka's feet touched the ground just before she could reach her, allowing the two to exchange blows at a high speed up close, slowly gaining altitude as each party attempted to outmaneuver the other, rising into the air until the unmoving cars on the streets looked like tiny toy models below them.
Origami smiled internally. She could finally do it. This CR unit truly was strong enough to face down Princess! She could- She grimaced as a sharp pain stabbed through her head, causing her movements to falter.
Tohka, not letting this chance slip away, landed a punch on Origami's undefended stomach, instantly launching her a few hundred metres towards the ground. The only reason she didn't explode from the forces involved was because she absorbed almost all of it with her Territory after regaining her focus.
Still, a direct hit was a direct hit, and Origami was helpless to do anything but groan in pain while lying on the ground.
It had all failed. No matter how much time and effort she spent. No matter how much she wanted to cry. No matter how much it hurt. She had pushed on with her training, enduring with the faint hope that one day, she could finally kill a Spirit with her own hands. To avenge her parents, who were killed by one with the appearance of an Angel five years ago.
And yet, even after all that preparation, after using the best equipent humanity had to offer, she had failed. The activation limit of her CR-unit had screwed her over in the end.
"Mom... Dad..... I'm sorry....."
As tears started to fill her eyes, she noticed a flickering in the corner of her vision. She first thought that it was just a result of her eyes being damaged from the fall, but as the flickering morphed into a vaguely human shape, she realized that it was no illusion.
A figure that appeared to be entirely covered in static hovered in the air above her, with a creepy smile that almost looked drawn on plastered to its face. It didn't have any discernable features, but it seemed far more terrifying than even Tohka Yatogami at her full power.
"Origami Tobiichi.." The thing spoke in a voice that seemed to be formed out of static, a curious mix between chaos and order.
"Do you want power?"
...
"Urgh..."
Ellen Mathers groaned while standing up.
She was wearing her CR-unit, Pendragon, but her body was riddled with small wounds all over, turning her normal enchanting sight into a slightly shocking one.
Goetia had been destroyed in the explosion, but she had managed to use her own Territory to escape safe and sound in the nick of time. Still.... she had to admit that Kotori Itsuka was a competent Commander. Was. She turned around, deciding to fly straight back to the UK.
On her way, she made a call to a certain person.
"Ike. I have good news."
...
"Damn, that hurt!"
Kotori Itsuka, sister of Shido Itsuka and commander of Fraxinus, sat up from her positon on the ground. She had a few injuries here and there, but was more or less fine. Kannazuki had taken countermeasures to the impending explosion, making sure that enough Yggdrafolia were inside to save the crew.
Speaking of which, the blond-haired man had already set to gathering all the crew together, checking for missing people, along with Reine.
With a grim face, Reine made the report.
"Unfortunately, some Yggdrafolia were simply too close to the blast. Out of all the crew on Fraxinus, practically everyone has been lightly injured, 17 have been severely injured and.."
She hesitated slightly.
"..9 have died."
A shudder ran through everyone assembled there. While they all knew of the risk of dying, none of them had truly considered the consequences up to now. Nine people that they had spoken with, maybe even been friends with, had now left forever.
They all collectively looked to their Commander, unsure what to do.
"..."
Kotori gritted her teeth, clearing away the tears welling up in her eyes. For now, she had to focus on their true objective.
"Everyone, I hate to say this, but we need to confirm the condition of the Spirits first, at least after getting the urgently injured immediate medical care. I'll... take responsibility for the deaths later."
...
Tohka sighed in relief, preparing to fly off and find the Yamai sisters and Miku.
Now that Origami was dealt with, she should simply regroup and find Shido.
Until she felt a chill go down her back. A wave of Reiryoku, incredibly faint, washed over her.
Almost out of instinct, she dived to the side as a massive beam of light shot past her, carving a deep hole into the ground. It was practically a miracle that it didn't puncture some underground shelter somewhere.
"What?!"
She spun around, searching for the source of the attack. She didn't have to search for very long.
A glowing white radiance. A shimmering dress that wouldn't look out of place at a wedding.
Tobiichi Origami slowly floated forward, streams of Reiryoku flowing off of her.
Around her head were several white pillars, with innocent appearances, but despite this, their apparent power made Tohka's skin crawl. It was clear that receiving a hit from one of them was not an option. They all stood upright in a ring, forming a crown of light on her head.
If one ever had an image of a benevolent Angel, this would be it.
Origami slowly raised a hand and pointed it at Tohka.
"Kadour."
As the pillars shifted position to point towards her, Tohka only had one question in her mind.
"Tobiichi Origami.... why are you a Spirit?"
To be continued.
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Wow! That was a long chapter. 4k words, way too much effort.
Sorry for my long absence! I was busy with tests and didn't have much time to write.
In exchange, heres the extended start of the Origami arc!
I've especially gone through the action scenes in more detail, and tried to change them to keep them fresh while not entirely changing it.
Please tell me what you thought in the comments!
I can probably write normally after this, so no more long delays for a while.
As always,
cya next time.