Chapter 35: Nightmare’s Encounter

‘She knew…’

From when? Perhaps… from the moment she killed the friend she held dear, she had understood everything.

Justice and evil are just collisions of different positions.

The hero who slays the evil dragon will eventually become the new evil dragon.

She once wore an eyepatch and thought she was the chosen one from a novel, thought she was the righteous magical girl destined to destroy evil.

But…

In the end, she was used by others and committed an unforgivable sin.

Her life… should have ended back then, right?

But she knew she couldn’t die yet. At least… not now.

As the Spirit who governs time, besides pain and regret, she had the chance to change the past.

And that was something only she could do.

“Pointing a gun at a living being, it’s like this, you know?”

Without mercy, she shot the young man before her into a pile of minced meat.

Kurumi Tokisaki licked her lips, then slightly tilted her head to look at the newcomer.

The only boy who could help her achieve her ideal.

“I’m really sorry you had to see that, but… well, it doesn’t matter anymore. You will become one with me.”

“Shido! Run!”

The cry that reached his ears forcefully woke the boy’s completely frozen brain.

Shido Itsuka could clearly feel Kurumi Tokisaki’s undisguised killing intent.

The intense madness pressed on his body as if materialized, even the exposed skin sending signals of pain.

The priority should be to leave this place. If he didn’t…

‘I’ll definitely die!’

The boy tried to move his sluggish body, but in such a crisis, his nerves seemed to lose control and became extremely slow.

His limbs were as heavy as lead. An action as easy as lifting his leg and stepping forward was now incredibly difficult.

Rather than ‘escaping’, it was more like ‘crawling’ away from this terrifying place like a bug.

“That won’t do, you know?”

Kurumi Tokisaki slightly curved her lips.

Dozens of snow-white arms sprang from the shadows, grabbing Shido Itsuka, who had already escaped a few meters, and fixing him to the ground reeking of blood and rot.

‘What is this? This ghost-like thing…’

Kotori Itsuka had already crushed the candy in her mouth.

She kept commanding her elite subordinates to try to retrieve Shido using the transport device.

Obviously, it had no effect.

‘Is it that Spirit’s spiritual power characteristic? It can interfere with Fraxinus’s equipment to some extent?’

But now the distance from Shido Itsuka’s location is at least tens of thousands of meters.

Wanting to provide support immediately is simply unrealistic.

‘Or, use Fraxinus’s magic cannon?’

The little commander quickly shook her head.

If they really used the magic cannon, her brother would probably be reduced to ashes along with that eerie Spirit that seemed able to resurrect.

‘Ah! Damn, damn damn damn! I’m so stupid!’

‘I actually sent my brother to such a dangerous place.’

‘Was it because the previous smooth operations made me negligent, or was it my own spiritual power that made me neglect Shido’s protection?’

After all, I said something like ‘even if he dies, he can come back’…

But if not even body tissue remains, my spiritual power, no matter how strong, would be useless, right?

Shido Itsuka’s entire brain was occupied by fear.

He could only instinctively claw at the blood-soaked ground with his fingers, trying to break free from this bizarre bondage that was impossible to break.

He knew it was impossible, but, but…

The boy’s eyes were bloodshot.

He could only watch as the cruel, murderous red figure slowly walked toward him, then… cupped his cheeks.

Being touched on the cheek by a beautiful girl’s soft fingers should have been a wonderful thing, but Shido Itsuka felt his heart stop the moment her fingers touched him.

Even though… the girl’s clean, warm fingers didn’t seem to have any smell of blood.

“I’ve failed so miserably. I wanted to enjoy my date with Shido more, but…”

“Let him go.”

A cold, concise voice.

A slender hand reached past Shido Itsuka’s ear and easily gripped the throat of the girl before him.

The shadow that had been crouching at Kurumi Tokisaki’s feet suddenly spread out, but abruptly turned into several spikes pointed at Kurumi Tokisaki’s throat.

‘What… is going on?’

Shido Itsuka’s brain stalled. For a moment, he couldn’t understand the situation before him, until… a cool figure in black, carrying a delicate cat carrier, stood in front of her.

“Chihaya Sayo!”

“Miss Chihaya, are you going to be my enemy?”

Kurumi Tokisaki could only squeeze out a weak voice from her throat due to difficulty breathing.

But even when her life was completely in someone else’s control, the expression on her face never changed.

Perhaps…

Chihaya Sayo fell silent. She gently released her arm, letting Kurumi Tokisaki fall softly onto the blood-soaked ground, gasping for fresh air.

“Even knowing ‘my’ secret, you won’t kill me. How gentle…”

Shut up. I have nothing to talk about with a cruel and evil Spirit like you… That’s what I should have said.

But Chihaya Sayo knew she was no good either.

Her hands were stained with the lives of millions, even if killing them was not her wish.

Anyone had the right to say such words to Kurumi Tokisaki, but she alone absolutely did not.

She searched her barren brain carefully, and thousands of words finally condensed into one short sentence.

“Shut up.”

With a somewhat complicated glance at Shido Itsuka, who was trembling behind her, Chihaya Sayo thought for a moment, then finally spoke softly.

“Kurumi Tokisaki, you can do whatever you want, but Shido Itsuka, you cannot touch him.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Chihaya Sayo wanted to reach out and slap herself several times.

Such a statement was like a confession. Many people would misunderstand, right?

Whatever, anyway…

The girl barely maintained a cold expression, but internally she had cursed herself for saying such nonsense hundreds of times.

“Miss Chihaya, do you really want to do this?”

Kurumi Tokisaki, slightly recovered, twisted her body upright and looked threateningly at the girl standing in front of Shido Itsuka.

There was no conflict of interest between them. That was originally the case. But if Chihaya Sayo insisted on standing in her way…

Although she had no confidence in winning against Chihaya Sayo in that state, that mode clearly had some great limitation.

She could use special means to seal the girl’s actions.

Even…

Under the power of ‘time’, everything is futile. If ‘we’ are determined, even a Spirit as strong as Chihaya Sayo would not be a match.

Chihaya Sayo hesitated.

If this Kurumi Tokisaki before her could represent the main body, then making a clear statement here would mean completely falling out with Kurumi Tokisaki.

Then if something happened to her, who could she rely on?

Ratatoskr, which was under pressure from the high officials of various governments?

Shido Itsuka, who possessed the spiritual power of several Spirits but could not display half of their combat ability?

Or…

The only one she could rely on, from beginning to end, was ‘Rule’.

To put it bluntly, she was the weakest Spirit.

If not for the fear of ‘Rule’s’ power, she would probably already be a common subject B in DEM’s laboratory.

Although ‘Rule’ could unconditionally cover for her, it really hurt!

That feeling of all her muscles being churned into a slowly running blender, that feeling of every cell in her body being slowly and steadily crushed… She really didn’t want to experience it again.

But…

Chihaya Sayo glanced at Shido Itsuka, curled up behind her, and finally sighed.

She reached out and placed the delicate cat carrier along with that piece of black underwear into Shido Itsuka’s arms.

“Hold these for me. Give them back later.”

Looking at the girl’s gentle, water-like expression, Shido Itsuka swallowed.

He didn’t have the courage to stop her, only silently held the items tightly and spoke in a low voice.

“Um, if possible… please don’t kill her…”

Please don’t kill her.

Such words struck Chihaya Sayo’s heart like a heavy hammer.

The moment she heard the boy say that, she felt her heart completely stop.

Was he worried about that woman’s life? The woman who almost took his life?

He didn’t worry about her for even a moment, nor did he consider that she might get hurt.

So he really had no feelings for her? Or…

Chihaya Sayo smiled bitterly, softly agreed, and took a step forward, completely shielding the curled-up boy behind her.

Well, after all, she was the Spirit who killed millions.

In Shido Itsuka’s heart, she was probably one of those omnipotent beings at the pinnacle of combat power, right?

“Nightmare, finally found you. And… Jormungand.”

An equally cold female voice came from the forest on one side.

The sudden appearance of the figure quickly attracted the attention of everyone present and all members of the airborne ship Fraxinus.

Everyone turned to look at the deep shadows at the edge of the forest.

Two figures walked slowly out from the shadows.

One of them, a blue-haired girl in a special Realizer [Murakumo], Chihaya Sayo recognized.

It was Takamiya Mana, DEM’s top magician who had once fought Kurumi Tokisaki’s main body head-on in England.

And beside her stood a blonde, blue-eyed beautiful girl who could even give Chihaya Sayo a sufficient sense of oppression.

She wore a never-before-seen cat-ear-style Realizer, and looked at the two Spirits as if they were already in her grasp with a confident smile completely unlike DEM’s gloomy magicians.

No, rather, she was staring at ‘Chihaya Sayo’ alone.

“Nice to meet you, Jormungand. British Anti-Spirit Unit SSS Ace Artemisia Bell Ashcroft will take your head.”

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