Chapter 14: Jormungand Awakens

‘Where… am I?’

Chihaya Sayo opened her eyes. The ceiling overhead was not the one she knew from her building, nor the sterile white ceiling of a hospital. It was…

An abandoned building? Which heartless bastard brought me here?

“Oh my, looks like our Jormungand is awake!”

A girl’s voice, clear as a silver bell, reached her. Chihaya Sayo propped herself up and saw one of the people she least wanted to see.

“Tokisaki Kurumi, what do you want with me?”

In her previous life, Chihaya Sayo had actually liked Tokisaki Kurumi as a character. But in this situation…

Chihaya Sayo’s expression twitched, and she took half a step back.

“You want my spiritual power?”

“My, my, Miss Jormungand seems to know much more than I expected. Though I wonder just how much you actually know.”

Tokisaki Kurumi’s face wore a smile that almost seemed ingratiating, but her eyes held no emotion at all. They were like a cold viper fixed on Chihaya Sayo, who was curled up in the corner.

She could feel the vast spiritual power radiating from Tokisaki Kurumi, like an ocean.

Before, she had never directly encountered a Spirit while conscious, so she had no point of comparison. But now Chihaya Sayo was certain: as a Spirit, she was not strong at all. If it was only a matter of raw spiritual power…

Maybe she was about equal to Nibelcole?

No, no. She was at least a Spirit with a complete Angel. That had to be stronger than some half-finished product created from scraps of paper.

“My, my, don’t be scared, Jormungand. If I wanted your spiritual power, I could have taken it while you were asleep. Right? Of course I won’t do anything. After all, if I provoked that demon inside you that slaughtered three hundred thousand people…”

Tokisaki Kurumi’s smile remained bright. She said the most terrifying thing as if she did not care at all.

Those words slammed into Chihaya Sayo’s mind like a heavy hammer. Her heartbeat seemed to miss a beat.

Wait, what? Three hundred thousand?

She had killed three hundred thousand people?

How many people lived in Tengu City? A few million at most. She had easily killed one tenth of the city’s population? That was…

“Hm? I thought you would have been conscious while the demon inside you was killing. So you have no memories at all? Just as I guessed. Your situation is completely different from what we know as a Spirit’s inversion.”

“Do you have a way?”

Chihaya Sayo spoke. She lifted her crimson eyes, and when she looked at Tokisaki Kurumi, there was a hint of… pleading in her gaze.

Tokisaki Kurumi was definitely one of the most versatile Spirits in this world. She possessed the bug-level power of ‘Time’ and had turned certain defeat around many times. If it was Tokisaki Kurumi…

“That’s a difficult request. About this one thing, I truly don’t know.”

Tokisaki Kurumi frowned in annoyance and said softly, “It is a little… embarrassing to admit, but your existence seems special. Or rather, the fact that you are a Spirit is full of questions. To me, you seem more like a…”

Halfway through, Tokisaki Kurumi tilted her head and did not continue.

According to her study of the occult, Spirits should correspond to the ten Sephiroth of the Kabbalah Tree of Life, but Chihaya Sayo was an exception.

Could it be that the identification name was her true identity? The serpent that would destroy the world, or something like that…

Tokisaki Kurumi could not help glancing at the somewhat frail girl before her and swallowed.

DEM’s description of Jormungand was… suspected ability to control others’ emotions.

Controlling others’ emotions… for a Spirit like herself, it might not mean much, but for ordinary humans, it would be a disaster.

“Then if you don’t need my spiritual power, what do you want with me?”

“To rescue the Second Spirit.”

“What?”

Chihaya Sayo froze for a moment, then studied Tokisaki Kurumi carefully and held out a small hand.

“You don’t have a fever. Why come to me for something so dangerous? My actual combat ability is probably below one of your clones. Instead of me, you should… let me think… There should be twin Spirits in Hokkaido, and another Spirit in outer space. If you could persuade them, rescuing the Second Spirit would be nothing. You could probably even level DEM.”

Why come to her, a complete weakling, for something this dangerous?

The girl had a clear sense of her own position now. At best… she was about as strong as AST’s Tobiichi Origami. With Mitestin’s support, she might actually be a little stronger?

But not by much.

“You know more than I expected… Could you have some kind of omniscient power?”

Tokisaki Kurumi glanced at the girl in surprise and said softly, “Leaving aside the Spirit in outer space, the twin Spirits you mentioned should be Yamai Yuzuru and Yamai Kaguya, right? From what I know, those two are Spirits of the hurricane. They stay in different places almost every day. How could I possibly find them?”

As she spoke, Tokisaki Kurumi’s gaze shifted back to the girl in the corner.

Hm. A Spirit whose actual strength was poor but who had useful functions, and who stayed at home all day… there was probably only her.

Wait, she almost forgot that veteran shut-in in DEM. These two were about the same.

“Relax. You won’t be a fighter. You will just be a…”

Tokisaki Kurumi searched her poor, game-illiterate brain for a similar term. If she had to name it…

“I know your ability. Just be a Prism Tower in my shadow, okay? I think that’s what it’s called, right?”

Prism Tower… Are you a Red Alert player? She knew her ability was hard to describe, but calling it a Prism Tower was too much. It was disrespectful to Spirits.

Chihaya Sayo pouted but did not refuse outright. She had her own questions for the Second Spirit. She just did not have the ability to break into DEM herself.

“Is there a reward?”

“You still want a reward? Do you think you have a choice?”

Tokisaki Kurumi looked at Chihaya Sayo in surprise.

How should she put it… This Spirit felt strange. She did not seem like a teenage girl, but like a peddler who had spent years in the marketplace.

“Miss Jormungand, you are a little greedy. Finding the Second Spirit is clearly our shared goal. If I’m not mistaken… you also have something you need the Second Spirit to solve, right? And besides…”

The girl in the gothic dress spread her hands in a show of helplessness. Her alluring face was full of innocence.

“You can see it too. Money and things like that, I don’t even have enough for myself. My bases are all abandoned buildings like this one… As for money… you should be able to earn it easily, right? I was hoping you could sponsor me a little, Miss Jormungand Who Died on Stream.”

“Died on stream?”

Chihaya Sayo frowned in confusion. It was true she was a streamer, but she was only a mid-to-low-tier one. She should not be that famous.

“You don’t know?”

Tokisaki Kurumi’s mouth fell open in surprise. She looked at the girl in disbelief, then the muscles in her face began to gather strength.

“Hahahaha, I’m dying! You actually don’t know about this? You’re famous, Miss Jormungand. Go check any browser search bar. The ninth trending topic today is ‘Internet Female Streamer Dies After Overdosing on Medication on Stream.'”

Hah? Died after overdosing on stream? When had she done something so stupid?

Wait… could it be…

Chihaya Sayo suddenly remembered that she had indeed taken heart medicine before. But at the time, it had been urgent, and she had not had time to take the pills one by one, so…

Wait, could it be that she had not turned off the camera? And the footage of her pouring pills into her mouth had been seen by… her livestream viewers?

Good news: she was famous.

Bad news: she became famous by dying on stream.

“It seems Miss Jormungand has remembered the whole story.”

“Get lost! That was just an accident! Besides, the heart medicine really does help control my problem. I… I…”

Chihaya Sayo’s small face flushed red. The words already at the tip of her tongue were forced back down.

How was she supposed to reasonably explain to Tokisaki Kurumi that she had bought three whole boxes of heart medicine last night? If Kurumi knew, with her personality, she would definitely mock her.

Realizing this, Miss Chihaya Sayo immediately chose to shut up and change the subject.

“None of that matters… When do you plan to go to DEM?”

“Oh? Is Miss Jormungand already impatient?”

Tokisaki Kurumi was not so insensitive. The topic of heart medicine came to an abrupt end.

“If Miss Jormungand is willing… we can go anytime. It’s just…”

Seeing Tokisaki Kurumi’s troubled expression, Chihaya Sayo suddenly grew nervous.

“What is it? Is something…”

“No. I just realized… Miss Jormungand has known my real name all along, but I can only call you by your identification code, . That is rather unfair, isn’t it?”

Tokisaki Kurumi covered her mouth and laughed softly. The tense mood between them became much lighter.

Although Chihaya Sayo could not clearly see Tokisaki Kurumi’s exact expression, from the way her eyes had become two crescent moons… she probably enjoyed teasing people like this.

“Chihaya Sayo. Just call me Chihaya.”

“Chihaya Sayo… I understand. Then from now on, we are allies. At least… until the Second Spirit is rescued.”

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