"Incoming communications request from DEM."
"Accept it."
Kotori replied to Maria while feigning calm. Right now, their priority was finding Artemisia, but listening to whatever Westcott had to say would probably be important.
As expected, in the next instant, the large screen showed Westcott's smiling face, exuding confidence.
At the same time, Shido felt as if he had forgotten something that was very, very important.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Reine Murasame."
Surprisingly, Westcott ignored Kotori outright, instead addressing Reine directly. There was clearly an ulterior motive behind it, but it was too late to put a stop to.
"Isaac Westcott. The commander is over there, if you haven't noticed."
"No, I was talking to you, Reine. Or should I say, Mio Takamiya, the Spirit of Origin?"
The air seemed to freeze over. The Fraxinus crew apart from most of the Spirits and Shido stopped what they were doing, turning to Reine with confused frowns. Those in the know weren't surprised by the information itself, but by the suddenness of Westcott's words.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I am no Spirit. Could you please explain what you mean?"
Reine replied evenly, not letting a hint through of her real feelings. Seeing this, Westcott only laughed.
"There's no need to continue the act, Takamiya. Shido Itsuka already knows. He and most of the people around you have known since before Tohka was sealed. All thanks to the power of Zafkiel."
Reine's head snapped to Shido, who took a step back. Despite his efforts, in the end, Reine had figured it out. Her eyes showed no doubt in them. Every puzzle piece had clicked into place in her mind.
"....Shin. Could you explain?"
"Explain what?! Reine, what's happening?"
His attempt to feign ignorance failed miserably.
"So you used Zafkiel somehow? The sixth bullet, I assume?"
The console that Reine was touching exploded in a shower of sparks against her hand. Unfortunately, it failed to do any significant damage. Kotori grimaced.
"Reine! Stop it!"
Ignoring her shout, Reine stood up in front of everyone, raising her arms and causing Reiryoku to start to swirl around her. Shido panicked, realizing that he couldn't allow her to summon her Astral Dress. The second she did, everything would be over. Their attacks wouldn't reach her anymore. Without thinking, he summoned his Angels.
Everyone was blown back by a sudden bang, originating from where Shido had been. He had charged forward at the still-busy Reine, summoning Camael and Sandalphon along the way. His charge, strengthened with Raphael reached Reine without giving her time to react.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
With a half scream, he swung with both weapons at her figure, causing a small explosion that obscured his view. Unfortunately, Reine managed to barely jump to the side, only losing an arm in the process. An instant later, the silvery white Astral Dress formed around her, along with the arm she had lost regrowing.
She touched the ground as if she had never been hurt.
"Impressive, Shin. That was close. It seems like you have the full power of those Angels, though. What happened there?"
"Hahahaha! That was a beautiful show. I'd expect no less from you."
Westcott was still on the large screen, laughing as he saw the events happening in front of him. That was part one of his plan complete. Why wouldn't he be happy?
Remembering him, Reine turned back to the screen.
"I wouldn't be so happy about things, Isaac. Forget Shin. I'll deal with you first."
Westcott's smile twitched, but he still replied fearlessly.
"Oh? Why don't you try?"
Without saying another word, Reine disappeared from the Fraxinus, reappearing in front of DEM's fleet. At the same time, a hazy figure made of shimmering light approached her - Phantom.
"Michael!"
Without hesitation, Shido tried to summon a portal to stop the Fusion, but an overwhelming flood of Pure Reiryoku coming from Reine disintegrated the Angel's power almost instantly.
Without anything to stop them, the two Spirits fused into one.
"Ain Soph."
With a groaning noise, the earth split open, letting an enormous, silver tree through. It grew at a dizzying speed, colliding with one of DEM's airships along the way. The Angel suffered zero damage, instead ripping through the machine without resistance. The Realizers onboard suffered critical damage, going up in a sea of flames.
At the same time, everyone felt an invisible pressure weigh down on them. Shido hastily summoned Zafkiel, in an effort to use the sixth bullet again.
The Spirit of Origin - the complete one - ascended until she was face to face with the DEM fleet, now one airship smaller.
"We can't have you running away, can we? How about this?
Travelling through time is now forbidden.
Leaving the range of Ain Soph is now forbidden."
Ain Soph. The Angel of Laws. Its function was simultaneously incredibly simple and incredibly scary. It gave Mio the ability to control all laws within the range of several kilometers. She was essentially God within its range.
Everything she commanded was law.
The Angel in Shido's hand shot the sixth bullet. It melted into Shido's body, leaving no wound behind as usual, but its effects remained absent. There was no time travel, since that was forbidden by Mio.
"Now then. I think I'll take care of you first, Isaac Westcott. Ain Soph Aur."
A flower of death bloomed above the airships. It wasn't a fancy description of an explosion, it was literal. A massive flower, spewing its white petals everywhere. All that came into contact with it ceased functioning, man and machine alike.
"All Spirits and personnel, return to the Fraxinus immediately!"
Kotori shouted into the microphone, putting aside her own feelings. For now, everyone's safety was more important. Meanwhile, DEM's fleet was taking a beating. It was clear that they could only hold on for a few more minutes at best.
Something is wrong.
Shido frowned. By provoking Mio, the fate of DEM's forces would be sealed. She wouldn't let them get away. There was no way that Westcott would make a fatal mistake like that. Additionally, Ellen and Artemisia were completely absent from the battle. Their two strongest cards hadn't been in the attacking force.
That could only mean that.. the attack was a distraction. Something to buy time after Mio appeared. Which meant that Westcott wasn't up there with his forces.
But if that was the case, where was Westcott now?
Shido quickly summoned Rasiel with even more apprehension.
Shortly after, his eyes widened.
"Kotori! Emergency!"
...
While the carnage continued, the Fraxinus suddenly made a turn, heading towards the ground.
A few figures appeared in the air in front of a large warehouse. The same one that Kurumi had taken Origami to.
"He's in there. Let's hurry."
Shido, along with all of the Spirits quickly approached, intending to break the wall down. Before they could, however, Tohka let out a shout.
"Watch out!"
A portal had opened out of thin air, undoubtedly created by a copied Michael. Out of it flew Ellen Mathers, clad in her signature CR-unit. She swung the Maryoku sword in her hand at Shido's neck, but it clashed with Tohka's Sandalphon.
"Ellen Mathers! What are you doing?!"
Kotori shouted, surprised that Ellen had attacked them here. She may have been the strongest Wizard, but trying to face eleven Spirits and Shido alone was no different from suicide.
Westcott should've known that. Ellen should've known that. And yet...
With a shout, Ellen lunged at Nia, who was currently the closest to her. Before she reached her, however, she was forced to turn and block the combo of the Yamai twins, who had approached her from the side. Kaguya and Yuzuru had simply lashed out with the lance and pendulum respectively, but their speed and power was as if they hadn't been sealed by Shido at all.
The reason for this was Gabriel's March. It wasn't just Miku who was using it, but Natsumi and Shido too. Right now, there were no less than four instances of March active at the same time, all buffing the Spirits. This elevated their power to nearly be the same as if they were unsealed normally.
Ellen, who was still reeling from the Yamai twin's attack, barely managed to react and block Kotori's axe, but was a moment too late to stop Tohka's second swing with Sandalphon. It punctured her Territory, causing a deep gash in her stomach. Moments later, her Territory reformed around her and deflected several light beams from Origami, but it was clear that she was at her limit.
Clearly realizing this, she raised her arm.
"Rhongomiant."
As the massive wave of light was released from the CR unit, Shido didn't panic.
The Spirits alone were still more than enough to handle it.
Yoshino made an ice wall, while most of the Spirits shielded themselves with their Angel.
In the next instant, the wall of the warehouse behind them exploded, releasing a wall of light that was several times the size of the Rhongomiant released by Ellen. Shido's eyes widened in shock.
Suddenly, he understood. Why would Ellen go on a suicide mission? To distract them until this attack could come. Why would Westcott risk his strongest card? The answer was that he hadn't.
Before anything, though, he had to take care of the new attack.
Shido created a massive wall of ice, large enough to cover them all with. With March strengthening him, it was nearly unbreakable. However, he knew it wasn't enough.
While the attack clashed with the wall, quickly eroding it away, he summoned Zafkiel.
"Dalet!"
He shot several rounds of the Fourth Bullet, constantly reversing the state of the wall to how it was when he first created it to prevent it from collapsing.
A few seconds later, the harsh glow faded away and the ice wall crumbled, revealing what was behind the vaporized metal of the warehouse wall.
"Inconceivable..."
The whisper from Mukuro summed it all up. In front of them was Isaac Westcott, flanked by Artemisia Ashcroft and Ellen Mathers. No, that was inaccurate. He was flanked by Artemisia and surrounded by Ellen Mathers. Dozens of clones of her stood proudly, wearing the same CR unit, except for one, who stood next to Westcott.
Origami and Nia had also realized what was going on.
"Westcott... he.. copied Zafkiel?"
"He must've cloned Ellen... Boy, I think we have a problem."
That was why two cities had fallen into mass comas today. One was Kurumi's source of Time, while the other was Westcott's. The reason why she had been able to produce thousands of clones while Westcott could only barely manage thirty was most likely due to the massively decreased efficiency of the copied Zafkiel and the exorbitant CR-unit production cost.
Westcott seemed to be in the middle of some ritual, but he looked up for a moment to give them a warm welcome.
"It seems we have a few visitors. Would it trouble you if I asked you to wait outside for a few minutes?"
Ignoring his words, Shido's face went white as he stared at Rasiel, which had found out what Westcott was trying to do.
"Everyone, stop him, NOW! He's trying to become the second Spirit of Origin! You let him finish, and he becomes just as powerful as Mio!"
Everyone's expression hardened and they tried to advance towards Westcott, but Artemisia, Ellen and a flood of her clones rose up to meet them like a swarm of bees. The real Ellen Mathers was wearing a new CR-unit with a design closer to Artemisia's, and the performance was most likely higher than her clones' equipment.
"Origami, Mukuro, take Artemisia! Miku, Natsumi, support! Tohka, Kurumi, take the real Ellen! The rest of you, hold back the clones and try to reach Westcott!"
Kotori spewed out orders as fast as she could speak, realizing how short on time they were.
A second later, the two sides clashed.
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To be continued
Chapter 40!
Westcott fixes his powerscaling issues by using ctrl + c and ctrl + v! Also, Mio's still taking care of the DEM fleet.
Keep in mind, this entire chapter happens within the span of a few minutes. The time from Mio's fusion to the army of Ellens appearing could be measured in seconds.
The density is fairly high.
Next chapter, we're essentially getting an extended fight scene of Kurumi & Tohka vs Ellen Mathers, Origami & Mukuro vs Artemisia and the rest vs 30 ish Ellen clones. Hopefully, it'll turn out great.
Please do leave a comment, I love reading them.
As always,
cya next time