Use the ID; open the door.
Shidou looked around cautiously and then stepped into the room.
The walls were of a construction similar to the isolation area on Fraxinus, with a space surrounded by reinforced glass in the dimly lit research area.
"...!"
His eyes flew open. Tohka was inside the glass partition.
Perhaps she was sleeping- her head hung where she was restrained in a chair.
"Tohka!" he cried, but his voice didn't reach the other side of the reinforced glass.
Most likely, it was the same configuration as the space on Fraxinus. In which case, there had to be some control on this side that would allow him to get inside to Tohka. He sent his eyes racing around the room.
And then he froze in place.
He'd thought he and Miku were alone in the lab, but now he spotted a man sitting in a chair with his back turned to them.
"Ngh-"
Shidou sharpened his gaze, fully on guard, and turned Sandalphon toward the man. Miku readied Gabriel's silver pipe.
"Aah, I've been waiting for you. You're Princess's...friend, I suppose?" the man said quietly and stood up. And then he turned slowly toward Shidou and Miku. "I believe this is the first time we've met, yes? I'm Isaac Westcott of DEM Industries."
Dark ash blond hair, tall. Sharp eyes somehow reminiscent of a predator.
Looking at this face, hearing this name, Shidou furrowed his brow minutely. "Isaac...Westcott."
Yes, this was the managing director of DEM Industries, Isaac Westcott. Anyone who had watched TV, read a newspaper, or checked out the news online would have heard his name at least once.
Westcott nodded rather dramatically. "How good of you to come. And Diva-" He looked at Miku, then turned his eyes back on Shidou and cut himself off.
He looked befuddled for a moment and then frowned dubiously. "What...are you? You can't be... No, there's no way..." Westcott put a hand to his mouth as if considering something.
Not understanding what the man was up to, Shidou frowned.
"I'm Itsuka Shidou. I came to rescue Tohka! Set her free right now!" He turned the tip of Sandalphon toward Westcott.
Westcott's eyes opened wide. But not because he was shocked or frightened by having the Angel turned on him. He stared baffled at Shidou for a moment.
"Itsuka...Shidou. Hm?" he said finally. "Heh-heh! The boy who can use Spirit powers... I thought it was impossible when I first heard about you, but well now, I see. That's how it is. Heh-heh. Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Shidou grew even warier at this sudden change and tightened his grip on the Angel's hilt.
But Westcott paid him no mind as he laughed out loud, holding his stomach.
"Well, isn't this amusing? So in the end, everything is in the palm of her hand."
"What is going oooon with this person?" Miku asked in a disgusted tone. "Does he have a few screws loose or something? Aah, this is why I haaaate men!"
"I don't think the fact that he's a man has anything to do with it," Shidou replied, a little fed up, and then turned back to Westcott. "Laugh all you want. I don't care. Release Tohka!"
He thrust Sandalphon forward, and Westcott's shoulders shook merrily.
"And what will you do if I don't do as you ask?" the older man asked.
"Sorry, but you'll do it even if I have to force you to."
Westcott snickered. "I wonder if you could."
"I think I can," Shidou told him. "I'd do anything to save Tohka."
"That was a joke." Westcott shrugged. "I'm not strong like Ellen. Up against a Spirit and a boy wielding an Angel, well, it's terrifying. Nothing I can do."
He began to tap at the nearby console.
Shidou heard the sound of a quiet motor humming, and the area abruptly grew brighter. The shackles binding Tohka's wrists and ankles dropped away with a loud clatter.
"Tohka!" he shouted.
And his voice apparently could reach the other side of the glass now. He saw Tohka yank her head up where she was seated in the chair. "Shi...dou...?"
She sat up and rubbed her eyes like she was pushing away the sleep before looking in his direction.
"Shidou!"
She finally realized that she hadn't been dreaming his voice. She leaped to her feet and ran toward him, ripping off the electrodes plastered to various parts of her body. She pressed her palms and her forehead against the reinforced glass, looking like she was about to cry. "Shidou...Shidou. Shidou!"
"Hey... Sorry to keep you waiting, Tohka," he said, and she shook her head vigorously. The corners of his mouth slackened unconsciously.
She seemed to be okay. But it wasn't like he'd accomplished his goal yet. Although they could see and hear each other now, they were still separated by a thick sheet of glass. "Hey, you," he snapped at Westcott. "Open the door."
"And release such a magnificent catch? Why don't you tear it open yourself?" Westcott said, shrugging.
Shidou frowned in irritation. "Miku, do you mind?"
"Hmph!" She sniffed. "I do not appreciate being given directions by you, but this maaan is the person in charge here, yes? In that case, I will make an exception just this once. I was planning to let him heeeear my voice sooner or later anyway."
Miku took a step forward. A person could act as tough as they wanted to, but once they heard her voice, they would do whatever she wanted them to. It wouldn't be any trouble to get him to take this wall down.
But whether or not Westcott knew about Miku's abilities, he merely smiled, looking entirely at his ease.
"Ohh, yes, right. I forgot one thing, Itsuka Shidou," he said quietly. "It's dangerous to stand there."
"Huh?" Shidou replied. He had no idea what Westcott meant.
"Sh-Shidou! Behind you!" Tohka cried out through the glass.
Zupp! Shidou heard a curious sound, and felt something hot blooming in his chest.
"What?" he said, confused. He slowly lowered his gaze and finally realized that there was a laser blade thrusting out of his chest. "Wh-Th. This..." Blood gushed from his mouth. He shakily turned around to look behind him and saw a Wizard in a platinum CR unit. "Ell...en...!"
"I will break any sword that points at Ike," Ellen said, impossibly dispassionate given the fact that she had just mortally wounded another human being. She pulled the blade of light out of Shido's chest with a similar lack of emotion.
"Ah. Gah..." Shidou was suddenly very unsteady on his feet. He leaned up against the glass wall. And then slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood.
"Shidou! Shidooouuu!"
Bang! Bang! He felt the vibrations. Tohka must have been beating her fists against the glass wall. But he was having trouble responding to her. The pain didn't leave much room for anything else in his mind, and he couldn't get his body to do what he wanted.
"Oh dear. It's not like you to be injured, isn't it?"
"I was careless. The Ratatoskr airship is likely in the air."
"Oh-ho?"
Shidou heard Westcott and Ellen talking, but they sounded far away.
"He had an Angel manifested, so I attacked. Was that acceptable?"
"Yes. Fine. In fact, this way might be even better."
Westcott glanced at Tohka banging on the glass.
The healing flames that bandaged up the injuries his body sustained should still have been lodged in his body. And in fact, small flames were already lapping at the wound in his chest.
But perhaps because he was inside Ellen's Territory, or maybe because her blade had gone through his heart, or maybe even because he had forcibly used this blessing far too many times in a row today, the healing was more sluggish than usual. If he took another hit to the head or chest from the laser blade, Shidou would be past the limits of healing and cross over onto the path to the afterlife.
"Toh. Ka."
He reached out for her, but blocked by the wall of glass, his hand dropped to the floor, leaving only a smear of blood.
"Ah."
Tohka stared, stunned, at the sight unfolding before her.
After coming to rescue her, Shido was now laying in a heap on the floor. After he had been stabbed through the chest, there was so much blood on the glass wall. He wasn't moving at all.
"Ah. Ah. Ah..." Tohka felt darkness descend over her world.
She had experienced this sensation just once before.
About five months earlier. The day of her first date with Shidou. She had felt this exact way when Shidou had been struck by Origami's evil weapon while protecting Tohka, and all the color disappeared from Tohka's emotions.
"Shidou... Shidou... Shidou...!" She kept screaming his name as she slammed her fists against the glass.
But. As if to squelch this hope of hers, Westcott turned his eyes toward her.
"Now then, Spirit. Princess. Yatogami Tohka. All the players are finally lined up. I am going to kill your precious Itsuka Shidou."
"Wha-!" She gasped.
"Feel free to stop it if you can. I won't interfere. Use everything you have to stop Ellen's blade. Your Astral Dress, your Angel. And if those aren't enough, reach your hand out even further."
"What...are you talking about..."
"You'll understand soon enough. Ellen." Westcott raised a hand, and Ellen Mathers slowly moved to stand beside Shidou.
"Are you certain, Ike?"
"Yes. While I am indeed curious about Itsuka Shidou, our priority is Princess. If, in the worst case, she dies, the Sephirah won't shatter. So either way is fine."
"I see," Ellen said, and raised the laser blade in her hands.
"----!"
Miku raised her lovely voice from where she stood farther back in the room, but Ellen only twitched an eyebrow.
Westcott, too, had a cool look on his face, protected as he was by Ellen's Territory. "It's pointless, Diva. You can't seduce me with just that."
"Wha...!" Confusion colored Miku's face.
Ellen took her eyes off Miku and looked down at Shidou as she tightened her grip on the laser blade.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Tohka asked, unable to understand what Ellen was attempting.
Actually, she did understand. She understood, but her head refused to accept it. After all, if that blade came down, Shidou would really die. Shidou would.
Shidou, who had given her such a happy life.
Shidou, who had shown Tohka the beauty of the world when she was sunk into the deepest despair.
He wouldn't move anymore.
He wouldn't talk to her anymore.
He wouldn't smile at her anymore.
"Ah! Aaaaaaaaah!"
The moment she accepted this reality, Tohka stomped on the ground.
"Sandalphon! Sandalphon!" she shouted, stomping on the floor and beating the glass so hard, her hands were nearly bleeding.
Her body shone faintly, and a dress of light materialized around her school uniform.
An Astral Dress. One of the elements that made a Spirit a Spirit, a most powerful suit of armor. This was followed by the Angel Sandalphon forming in Tohka's right hand.
But for some reason, its magnificent light was not enough this time. No matter how she sliced at the invisible wall that separated her from Shidou, she couldn't cut through it.
"Why... Why? Why!"
She brought her sword down against the wall over and over. But to no avail.
Ellen added her left hand to the hilt of the laser blade she held in her right.
"Stop! Stop! Stop it! Just this. Just Shidou!" she begged. "I don't care what happens to me! I'll do anything! I'll do whatever you want! So... So please don't take Shidou from me!"
But Ellen was not interested in hearing her pleas. The muscles in her arms tensed.
Tohka swung Sandalphon and hacked at the wall with a force that threatened to break her arms. But she didn't so much as scratch the glass. She clearly needed more power.
Her Angel was not enough.
"Stooooooooooooooooooooooooooop!"
She'd take anything. She howled like a wild animal, tears staining her face. She didn't care if it wasn't the Angel anymore. If it would get them out of this. If she could just save Shidou, she didn't care what the power was or where it came from. If she could cut through this wall and beat Ellen back, she didn't care what happened to her!
The blade of shining light was brought down toward Shidou's neck.
"A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a h!"
At the same time as her consciousness mind snapped, Tohka felt like she was holding something other than her Angel in her right hand.
No. Perhaps this was...
It was maybe more like she was being made to hold something.
◇
A shrill alarm squealed on the bridge of Fraxinus.
Kotori's eyebrows jumped up.
This alarm was generally never used. It was a herald of the direst state of emergency.
"What?!" she cried, looking at the monitor.
But Mana was still engaged in battle with the massive unit, and Kotori couldn't see any anomalies on any of the other screens. At the very least, she couldn't see anything that would make this alarm go off.
She frowned dubiously and then heard Shiizaki cry out from in front of her console.
"Eep!"
"What is it?" Kotori demanded.
"I-it's..." Shiizaki turned her gaze toward Kotori, her fingers shaking slightly. "C-Commander... Fraxinus's measurement devices are still not back to normal...or something, right?"
"Uhhh? What are you talking about?" Kotori said. "It's mainly the communications stuff that got all messed up. Now answer me. What exactly has happened?"
Shiizaki swallowed hard before opening her mouth again. "C-Category E... The Spirit value is showing a negative...?!"
"Wha-" Kotori's eyes flew open.
And then, with perfect timing, an anomaly appeared on the external feed displayed on the submonitor.
The top floor of the building Shidou was in began to glow with a dark energy that radiated outward toward the sky.
"Impossible."
The worst thing imaginable was happening. The thing she had feared had become reality.
"Sephirah...inversion!" Kotori groaned, and bit down on her Chupa Chups.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
The instant Ellen moved to bring her sword down on the neck of Itsuka Shidou, Westcott burst into laughter.
The body of Princess, Yatogami Tohka, had abruptly turned black. She emitted a vivid darkness, and then an indiscernible mix of light and dark particles spilled out of her and melted the reinforced glass as if it were made of butter. The stream shot through the walls and the windows, and dispersed in all directions.
"Ike, this is-," Ellen asked, stunned, her hand stopped in her great surprise.
Westcott put the flood of emotion in his heart into his voice as he murmured, "The kingdom has inverted. Now, brace yourselves, humanity." He spread out his hands. "This is the triumphant return of the demon king."
◇
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die dieeeeeeeeeee!"
Hundreds of missiles and bullets accompanied this deranged laughter, scattering through the air.
Mana increased the strength of her Territory and managed to defend against this concentrated onslaught.
But, as if aiming for this very opening, Jessica deployed a limited Territory around her.
"Tch!" Mana clicked her tongue in vexation, twisted her body, and sliced through the Territory with the laser edge in her right hand, Wolftail.
But by the time she did this, Jessica had already finished recharging her magic guns. She turned the massive weapon Blast Arc on Mana and fired. "Should have been more careful!"
Mana contracted her Territory, and the stream of magic slid past above her. She charged at Jessica, swinging Wolftail.
Naturally, Jessica also went on the defensive with her Territory and deftly guarded against Mana's attack.
Mana's blade slammed into a magic wall, sending showers of sparks flying.
But here a change appeared in Jessica.
"H...?!" She convulsed, and blood poured from her eyes and nose while the Territory that enveloped her abruptly grew weaker.
Jessica's flagging Territory couldn't withstand Mana's laser edge. The blade cut into the red mechanical body of Licorice and annihilated the laser blade and magic gun in Jessica's left hand.
But Jessica leaped back, and Mana grimaced. "You're at your activation limit, Jessica! This fight's already over! Accept-"
Jessica ignored Mana and turned her remaining gun on her. And then fired a shot that was unbelievable, given that she was up against her activation limit.
"Hngh..." Mana dodged the blast at the last second and turned sharp eyes on the other girl.
Jessica grinned maniacally, tears of blood streaming down her face.
"Mana. Mana. Takamiya Mana. No. N-n-n-no more, no more los-s-s-s-s-s-sing. I'm not losing. I won't lose. As long as I have Licorice, I-I-I h-h-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Unfocused eyes swimming, Jessica stammered like a skipping record. She was clearly not in a normal state of mind.
"Jessica..." Mana bit her lip and clenched her hands so tightly, she almost drew blood.
She didn't know exactly what, but some kind of magical processing had definitely been carried out on Jessica's brain. Something that took the decades of life ahead of her and compressed them all into this one day. That explained why she was strong.
Mana stared at her with eyes filled with anguish and pity as she sighed quietly. And then without a word, she put a hand to her chest.
She had already been told by Kotori and Reine that something similar had been done to her own body. If she had made even one misstep, she might have ended up like Jessica.
"..." Silently, Mana gritted her teeth.
"Manaaa! M-M-M-Mana. Takamiya Mana. Adeptus Number Twooooo. I never liked you, you know. Why. Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-why would Mr. Westcott and L-Leader M-M-Mathers appoint an Easterner like you-you-you-you-you? I. I-I'm...much better. For the job. For A. A-A-A-A-A-A-Adeptus Number Two!"
Still rambling, Jessica fired her weapon wildly.
But rather than evading these shots, Mana deployed her defensive Territory and slowly approached the other Wizard.
"It's always been like this with you. You're so jealous and ambitious, and yet every word out of your mouth is a mess," she said softly as she closed the distance between them.
Even after Mana was quite close, Jessica didn't move to pull away, but continued to fire recklessly. "But your loyalty is worthy of respect," Mana continued. "I loathed you, but this should never have been done to you."
"Ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Maaaaaaaaanaaaaaaa?" Jessica looked at Mana with unfocused eyes as she opened her weapons container and launched a barrage of micro missiles.
Mana advanced through this rain of artillery, made the laser edge in her right arm vibrate, and sliced through Jessica's chest.
"Ah. Gah. Ah. Aaaaaah!"
She felt it rip through her Territory, through her wiring suit, into her human skin. But Mana didn't avert her eyes.
The Territory around Jessica disappeared, and the massive mechanical body of Scarlet Licorice dropped toward the earth.
Jessica, supported by Mana's Territory, spoke weakly as she bled out.
"Heeey. Hey hey hey. Heeey. Manaaaa? I-I-I-I. I'm strong, riiight? No one's ever gonna beat me again. Y-you think Mr. Westcott will r-r-r-r-recognize thaaat?"
"...Yes, of course he will," Mana said, and Jessica smiled. And then her head slumped forward.
"..."
Mana closed Jessica's eyes, pulled her body close to her, and glared in the direction of DEM Building 1. "Isaac...Westcott!"
◇
"...!" Shidou was lying in a pool of his own blood, flames licking at his wound as he stared at the scene unfolding before him.
The instant that Ellen moved to thrust her sword of light at him, Tohka shrieked loud enough to rip her throat wide open, and then, her body was enveloped by particles of black light.
"What...is..." The flames were finally blocking the wound in his chest. Fighting the sense of nausea that rose up in his throat, he somehow managed to move a mouth filled with the taste of iron.
Something was clearly off.
Behind him, Westcott raised his voice in excitement, but Shidou couldn't catch a word of what he was saying. Actually, to be more precise, he could hear the sounds of the words, but his brain failed to process their meaning.
That's how fixed his eyes were to the abnormal phenomenon happening to Tohka.
But that was no wonder. Whatever this was, it was very obviously different from the times before when Tohka had summoned limited versions of her Astral Dress and Angel.
An ominous black light radiated outward from her darkened silhouette, and he was finally able to catch a glimpse of Tohka herself.
"Wha..." He took one look at her and gasped.
The Tohka that emerged from inside the black light was clad in an Astral Dress. Which wasn't outrageous in and of itself.
Although Shidou had sealed her power inside him, there was something like an invisible path between him and the Spirits. When a Spirit's emotions reached an extreme, part of her Spirit power would flow back through that channel.
This didn't happen only with Tohka and Yoshino had also gone against the will of Ratatoskr from time to time and manifested their Astral Dress or Angels. The same was with Lucas and the Yamai Twins.
But what hung on Tohka's body now was clearly not a limited Astral Dress. Shining, jet-black armor on her shoulders and hips. And a veil the color of darkness with no material form spread out to cover her chest and lower half. This was an Astral Dress in a complete state, woven with concentrated Spirit power.
"Astral. Dress..."
But the one Tohka was wearing now was a different shape and color from the one in Shido's memory. It was like he was looking at the negative of a photo.
And there was something even more concerning. The expression on her face.
This was not the Tohka of a few seconds earlier, weeping and screaming his name. This was the face of a king, radiating an air of aloof intimidation.
Naturally, it wasn't as though the structure of her face or body had changed. And yet, for some reason, Shidou couldn't help but feel that the girl who had stepped forth from inside the black light was an entirely separate creature from Tohka.
"That's..." Shidou lifted his wobbly head.
Tohka, clad in this black Astral Dress, held a remarkably massive sword in her right hand.
"Sandal...phon?"
No. It wasn't. This was clearly a different sword.
Enormous and single-edged. Hilt and scabbard colored with the same darkness as her Astral Dress, and the blade left an arc of hazy black light in space.
"-!"
A shiver ran up his spine, and he swallowed hard. For some reason, there was something about this sword that frightened him and made him shiver unconsciously, something other than the blade or its threat as a weapon, or the great Spirit power it held.
"..."
With a composed demeanor, Tohka looked around. And then she let out a short sigh. "What is this place?"
"Huh?" Shidou frowned. What was she talking about?
Seeming not to notice his question, Tohka sent her eyes around the room and pointed at Miku.
"You. Answer me. Where am I?"
"What? Umm, isn't this...DEM Industries Japan braaanch?"
"Never heard of it. So then why am I here?"
"Oh, didn't that Wizard there abduct you?" Miku turned toward Ellen and Westcott, looking perplexed.
Following her gaze, Tohka turned her eyes in their direction.
A broad grin spread across Westcott's face. "Magnificent. I've never seen such a wonderful inversion. Look, Ellen. That is our dream. Our heartfelt desire."
He clasped Ellen's shoulder.
"Now, time to go to work. An opponent worthy of you has at last come to stand before you. My most powerful Wizard. Take the head of this treacherous demon king and make it the cornerstone of our plan."
"Yes, I understand, Ike." Ellen had no sooner nodded than she vanished like mist.
In the next instant, she appeared above Tohka's head and swung the laser blade in her hand.
"...!"
On his hands and knees, Shidou tried to warn Tohka. But it was too sudden. He couldn't get a shout out.
It seemed his concern was unnecessary, however. Without turning her face, Tohka threw her right hand up and blocked Ellen's attack with her sword. The moment their blades touched, a powerful shockwave shot outward, and Shido was thrown into the wall.
"Ngh...!"
The impact raced through his not-yet-healed wound, and Shidou grimaced and let out a groan.
Miku ran over to him. "Hey? Are you okaaay?!"
It was not like Miku to worry about a boy. Maybe she was shaken up by all this, too.
That made sense. Shidou also had no idea what was going on. If someone had told him that this was a vision he was having as he lay on death's doorstep, he would have accepted that explanation without question.
"Impudent," Tohka murmured, having stopped the laser blade attack and sent Ellen flying.
Ellen whirled herself around and froze in midair. "It seems that you are different from the princess we've seen so far. I suppose it would be an issue if you weren't. A Spirit I can easily defeat would be meaningless."
"What are you?" Tohka asked. "Why do you swing your sword at me?"
"My sincerest apologies, but I need you to die now. All we require is your strength. Your personality is nothing but a hindrance," Ellen said, sharpening her gaze. She brandished her laser blade once more and leaped at Tohka.
Tohka added her left hand to the hilt of the sword and swept the blade outward to stop Ellen's attack.
But Ellen did not stop her fierce charge. She swung her sword so fast that it left only afterimages from the side, from above, from below.
Shidou forgot to even cry out as he stared at the glittering afterimage of the laser blade that shone in his field of vision. The speed and drive were obviously different from the Ellen he'd seen so far. She attacked multiple times in an instant with a ferocity that likely would have cut Tohka down on the first blow if she had still been in her limited unlocked state.
Tohka, however, did not pale in comparison to this. She caught each and every one of the blows with a swordsmanship that would have been impossible for a human being, dispatching them all handily.
A fight beyond human knowledge between someone who was not human and someone who exceeded human abilities. Even though none of the attacks were turned on him, he felt like he might be crushed by the fierce bloodlust and hostility hanging in the air around the fighters.
"There!"
From a lowered position, Ellen lifted her sword against Tohka's and knocked Tohka's blade upward. Instantly, Tohka was wide open.
"Mm..."
Of course, Ellen was the same, with her sword raised high. But when she nimbly drew herself back, the weapon on the left side of her back shifted and reached forward from her side. At the same time, a light converged on its tip.
"Pierce, Rhongomyniad."
Instantly, a dazzling flash of light emitted from the weapon.
The magical light was so concentrated, it threatened to burn out the eyes of anyone looking at it directly. The weapons used by the AST didn't even begin to compare. This was an overwhelming destructive power that rivaled a blow from an Angel.
Tohka was swallowed up by magic, and the walls and ceiling of the building were blown away as if they had been made out of paper. Even this could not quench the power of the light-aftershocks rippled up out into the sky.
The attack was slightly different in nature from a simple bombardment. If Shidou had to describe it-yes, it was a lance.
A massive lance of light, hundreds of meters long, butchered everything in its path to stand tall in the air.
A heartbeat later, Ellen let out a shallow breath and the enormous lance vanished. The walls and ceiling were gouged away along with the upper floors, making the building look almost as if a giant had taken a bite out of it.
"Tohka... Tohka?!" Shidou called and looked around, but he couldn't see any sign of her.
What if the attack had blown her away without a trace... This disturbing image flitted through the back of his mind.
But that thought dissipated the moment he caught sight of Ellen's face as she glared at the sky, showing no sign of letting her guard down.
They had a much better view of the sky now. Against the backdrop of the moon, Tohka was calmly looking down at them, shining skirt fluttering. She had most likely guarded against the attack with her sword. He couldn't see so much as a scratch on her.
"I see. So you're not all talk." Tohka narrowed her eyes and slowly raised the sword in her right hand.
"I won't allow it." Ellen didn't just sit back and watch Tohka. The moment she readied her laser blade again, she lunged for Tohka with a slash at her chest.
"Hmph." Tohka scowled ever so slightly, and caught the blow not with her sword, but with her empty left hand.
But even Tohka's Astral Dress couldn't completely stop Ellen's attack. Waves of intense magic sparked and scattered, the long glove on Tohka's hand ripped, and wounds that looked like fine burn lines spidered up her arm.
However.
"Nahemah," Tohka said in a cool voice, ignoring the burning of her own left hand. She held the sword-Nahemah-up high against the moon and then brought it downward.
Not towards Ellen. Towards Isaac Westcott.
"Ngh!" Ellen scowled for the first time, immediately ceased her attack on Tohka, fired her thrusters, and raced to the building.
Whssh! A roar cut through the turbulent air, and then space itself creaked and groaned.
An instant later, an immense shock wave shot out from the tip of Tohka's sword.
"Unh. Waaaaah?!"
"Eeeeeeeeek!"
Shidou and Miku screamed as this blast wave reached them.
Miku's scream, however, appeared to contain Spirit power. An invisible wall grew up around them and softened the blow of the blast shaking the space around them.
"A-are you okay, Miku?!" he asked.
"Y-yes... Also, just so you know, I didn't intend to saaave you just now! It was merely coincidence!" Miku turned her face away, a look of utmost reluctance on it. But if it hadn't been for Miku's wall of sound, Shidou would probably have been sent flying through the air from just the lingering aftereffects of the blast wave.
He looked at the deep crevices carved out of the floor and blanched.
He looked at the deep crevices carved out of the floor and blanched.
"Tohka? Is that...you?" His face was colored with fear as he looked up at the black silhouette hanging in the sky.
Clatter. He heard something crumbling, and then Ellen and Westcott appeared from behind a heap of rubble. It seemed that before Tohka's blow could erase Westcott, Ellen had stopped it with her Territory.
"Sorry," Westcott said. "Thanks for that, Ellen."
"Not at all. I can't allow you to die now," Ellen replied, her eyes still on Tohka.
"So? How is this Princess then?"
"The last time I fought her doesn't begin to compare. That was somewhat of a let-down, but now I can see why she has the AAA rank."
"Oh-ho." Westcott whistled, impressed. "Well, you can beat her, yes?"
"Of course. There isn't a creature on this earth who can defeat me," she replied without a hint of hesitation. And then paused before continuing. "When I am in top condition, that is."
Shidou lowered his eyes and gasped.
Blood was pouring from the deep wound that ran from Ellen's collar down to her waist.
"My attention was taken up with defense, and the wound I sustained earlier opened up," she said. "I have implemented pain management, but I'm somewhat at a disadvantage against that Spirit."
"Mm-hmm. I see." Westcott put a hand to his chin and sighed. "Well, if that's how it is, we'll withdraw now. We still have time. We'll get this done right."
"Are you certain?"
"Mm-hmm. I'm used to waiting. The fact that we were able to invert Princess at all is a great success. And I was also able to meet an unexpected face today." Westcott turned his gaze on Shidou, and Shidou jumped. "Terribly sorry, but we will have to excuse ourselves here. If you survive, let's meet again. Takamiya Shi-I mean, Itsuka Shidou."
"Huh?" Shidou frowned.
Takamiya. That was the surname of Mana, who proclaimed herself to be his little sister.
"Hang on a second," he said. "What do you know about me?!"
"Nothing at all. Not about Itsuka Shidou." Westcott turned his eyes away from Shidou and put a hand on Ellen's shoulder.
In the next instant, the air around Ellen distorted. She had likely contracted the Territory deployed around her. She floated Westcott up into the air, as if supporting him with an invisible hand, fired her thrusters, and shot off into the distant sky.
"Ah! H-hey!" Shidou shouted, but they had already disappeared into the dark night. His voice simply echoed in vain.
Although the enemy was now gone, the situation hadn't yet been resolved.
Tohka chased after the disappearing Ellen and Westcott with her eyes before looking down and catching sight of Shidou and Miku. She slowly descended toward them.
"All that's left is you two then?" she said, looking at them with cold eyes.
Shidou tensed up at this look, impossible from the usual Tohka.
"Hey. Aren't you supposed to knoooow each other? Also, this girl's super strong. Like, she didn't need you to come rescue her. What on eaaarth is going on?" Miku asked in a small voice.
But Shidou had no answer for her. "I mean...I don't know what's going on here, either."
"Also, you got stabbed riiiight in the chest, right? How are you still alive?"
"That's... Well, I don'tknow myself," he told her, and then turned his attention back to Tohka. He couldn't exactly face off against her without saying anything at all, so he started to open his mouth.
But Tohka casually swung Nahemah, producing an impact wave that shot straight at Shidou and Miku.
"Whoa?!"
"Eeek!"
He unconsciously intercepted the blow with Sandalphon. He managed to stay on his feet somehow, but the hands that gripped the hilt shrieked in pain.
"Ngh!" He shuddered. Maybe it was just child's play for Tohka, but that blow had definitely been aimed squarely at him. The slicing attack was such that if he hadn't stopped it with Sandalphon, he might have been killed.
"So it is Sandalphon," Tohka said, her eyes narrowing sharply. The look on her face was clearly hostile. "Why do you have that Angel?"
"Tohka! You... What's wrong with you?! Don't you remember me?!" Shidou shouted.
Tohka frowned. "Tohka? Me?" She stared hard at his face. This was indeed not the usual Tohka. Not only did she not remember Shidou, she didn't even remember her own name.
"What...on earth..." Shidou furrowed his brow in confusion.
Abruptly, he heard a burst of static from the earpiece in his right ear, followed by Kotori's voice. It seemed that whatever had been jamming the signal had disappeared with the destruction of the upper part of the building.
"Shidou! Shidou! Respond! What happened?!"
"Dunno!" he cried. "Tohka got weird when Ellen stabbed me! Is this her Spirit power flowing back into her?!"
"No. Probably not."
"So then what? Can I seal the Spirit power of this Tohka, too?!"
"That...I don't know. There's no precedent. But more importantly, with her likability for you low right now, there's no way."
"So then what am I supposed to do?!"
"You'll just have to bring Tohka's mind back somehow. If there is a possibility, then it's..." Kotori went over this "possibility." Shidou's eyebrows jumped up.
"Makes sense. So then what I do is still the same?"
"What are you mumbling about?" Tohka asked in an icy voice, interrupting the conversation between Shidou and Kotori. "Hmph. I don't know what it is, but I don't care. If I slaughter you, it'll be over. And you don't seem to have as much power as that woman before."
Tohka swept her sword out once more. A shock wave assaulted Shidou.
"Ngah!"
He managed to defend himself against the first blow somehow, but in the next instant, Tohka was swinging her blade again. The slicing attack came flying at Shidou. His hands were numb. He couldn't raise his own sword to defend himself against the blast.
"Ngh-"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Miku shrieked, building an invisible wall to just barely save Shidou from the shock wave.
"Miku!" he said.
"Please don't get the wrooong idea. I told you, didn't I? What I hate most of all is men who throw around words like love and important and I would die for and then change their minds at the drop of a hat."
"Huh?"
"You said you would save Tohka even if it meant your liiiife, didn't you?" Miku continued. "Please see that out to the end. Please...don't disappoint me. I...came here to see that."
"Miku..." Shidou looked at her and then nodded firmly. "Right. Okay." He readjusted his grip on Sandalphon and glared at Tohka. "Okay, Tohka. It'll be morning soon. Let's go home and have breakfast. If you say sorry right now, I'll make all your favorites for you."
"What are you talking about?" Tohka frowned suspiciously.
Shiduo let out a long breath and then charged her.
Tohka swung her sword.
Shidou managed to defend with Sandalphon, but he ended up pushed back to the very spot he'd started from.
"Hngh!"
"What are you dooooing? Very bad look."
"Shut up," Shidou said. "There isn't any other way! I can't do anything unless I get close to her!"
Miku arched an eyebrow. "So you're saaaaying there's a way to save her if you can get close to her?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "As to whether it'll work or not, I won't know unless I try."
"Hmm. I see," Miku replied indifferently, and then whirled around and hit the ground with the soles of her feet, as if she were tap dancing. "Gabriel. Rondo."
Several silver pipes rose up from the ground to surround Miku, the ends pointed toward her like microphones.
No, that wasn't all. The metal pipes of a pipe organ appeared all over what was left of the floor of the building, and the tips of those shifted toward Tohka.
"Fine," Miku said. "Just this once. I will give you a chance, you endlessly foolish, simple-minded boy who came this far all by yourself for Tohka's sake."
"Huh?"
"I will slam Tohka from all directions with a defensive voice. I don't know how many seconds it will last against her, but it should be able to stop her from moving for a little bit. During that time, please go tryyyy whatever this way of yours is."
"Miku, you..."
"Will you do it? Or no?" Miku asked in a tone that brooked no reproach.
Shidou looked at Tohka, braced his feet, and nodded firmly. "You bet!"
"Then here we go." Miku threw her head back and took a deep breath.
"-----!"
She aimed the high-pitched voice that reverberated in his ears toward the silver pipes of her Angel standing all around her.
Gabriel's silver conduits amplified Miku's voice, pinning Tohka down with invisible hands. Her arms twisted unnaturally to press tightly against her body, as if they had been tied there with a rope.
"Mm. What...is this." Tohka scowled unhappily, and flexed her arms to try and break free. Each time she did, Miku's voice grew shriller, like she was in pain.
"Mi-"
Shidou curbed the impulse to call out her name and kicked at the floor.
Nothing he could say to her in that moment meant anything. In fact, it would only be a waste of a second of the precious time she had bought for him.
In which case, Shidou had to move forward. If he was really thinking of Miku, he had to reach Tohka as soon as possible. He had to bring her mind back. He didn't have a second to spare!
"Hmph..." Tohka had apparently noticed him approaching. She kicked at the floor with a foot, and the concrete shattered and flew at Shidou like buckshot.
"Ngah!"
Although he blocked some of the fragments with Sandalphon, chunks of concrete slammed into various parts of his body. He nearly stopped his charge forward at the sudden intense pain that came over him.
But he couldn't exactly stop and stand there. Guarding his face with his hand, he gritted his teeth against the oncoming attack and the shrieking pain and charged toward Tohka.
Tohka clicked her tongue in annoyance. "What a bother." She took a deep breath, bent forward, and forced her arms outward, ripping apart the restraints of sound.
"-?!" Miku's voice steadily grew hoarser.
"-"
Miku's eyes flew open in despair.
In order to resist and push back against Tohka's steadily increasing power, she had amplified the strength of the restraint. But then her voice abruptly gave out.
"-,-" She tried to murmur "why," but no sound came out. There was just air whistling in her throat.
"Wha...!" Shidou cried out in confusion.
"Hmph." Tohka grunted in annoyance.
At the same time as Miku's voice died out, Gabriel's silver pipes fell over with a clank, and the wall of sound restraining Tohka disappeared completely.
She had most likely consumed too much Spirit power. That day, she had been using her voice and her Angel nonstop, more than she ever had before. On top of that, she had even been reckless enough to use a defensive voice wall and restrain an overwhelmingly more powerful Spirit like Tohka. It was no wonder her Spirit power cut out and she could no longer speak.
"Hmph. How impertinent." Tohka snorted and brandished Nahemah. Not at Shidou, but at Miku.
"Wha...!" Shidou gasped, but he still wasn't close enough to leap at Tohka.
"Thinking you could tie me up. Know your place," Tohka said and brought her sword down.
"-" Miku tried to scream, but of course, nothing came out. She smiled lifelessly and, instead of trying to avoid the attack, sank down to the floor. More accurately, she didn't have the strength left to evade.
In a second, Nahemah would cut into her. Fortunately, her Astral Dress hadn't disappeared with her voice, although she doubted that it could hold up against a blow from that Angel.
There was nothing she could do about that.
Miku had only ever had her singing. She had never had anything else. So now that she had lost her song, her voice, her sound, Miku had no value.
Without her song, no one would love her. Without her voice, no one would protect her. Without her sound, no one would believe her.
She had known this very well for a long time.
Now that she thought about it, it only made sense that it would turn out like this. She had jumped into a building swarming with Wizards. The very fact that she had deliberately come to a place like this had been a mistake.
She finally had three of her long-desired Spirits under her control. She had been enjoying herself immensely, so why had she even come here? Miku interrogated herself, and quickly smiled helplessly.
Right. That boy. Itsuka Shidou.
She had come to see the boy who had said the insincere words Miku hated most of all, that he was going to save Tohka even if it meant giving up his own life. To see his resolve. Or his pathetic end.
She'd been surprised when she heard Itsuka Shidou had shown up at DEM Industries. She hadn't expected he would actually expose himself to danger and go to rescue Tohka.
If she were being entirely honest, she wanted to see it herself, just once.
Miku had been pushed to despair because of human beings, because of this creature called a man.
That was why she wanted to see a human being who truly loved someone else from the bottom of their heart.
Shidou hadn't given up, right until the end. He had literally spat blood and kept walking in order to take back this person who was so important to him. Even if it killed him.
What if.
What if she had met a boy like this sooner.
What if even a tiny bit of the love he had for Tohka had been turned toward her.
I could have gone down a different path..., she said in a soundless voice and lowered her eyes.
However.
"Mikuuuuuuuuu!" Shidou roared her name, and Miku's closed eyes flew open.
Shouting Miku's name, Shidou changed course half-subconsciously.
It wasn't because of cold calculation that he could never reach Tohka at this distance. His body simply moved because he had to help Miku. That was all. He couldn't let Miku die. And he couldn't let Tohka kill Miku.
But this slicing attack now was different from the playful blows earlier. Shidou probably wouldn't be able to defend against it completely with Sandalphon. He wouldn't be able to completely protect Miku with just the power he had now.
Something more. He needed one more thing.
If he had the power to protect Miku...!
The moment Shidou made this wish...
"...?!"
...he felt a cold sensation in his left hand.
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