Chapter 348

An unrecognizable "phantom" walks forward at a slow, unhurried pace.

She simply left the British mainland directly, crossing the boundless sea.

As for the little tail dangling behind her...

The Primordial Spirit is naturally perfectly aware of it.

Originally she intended to convert Origami Tobiichi into a Spirit, but at the final moment, she discovered the dying Ailian...

—Perhaps she felt it was more suitable, perhaps it was simply a sudden impulse of revenge.

—One could say it was merely a single thought, yet the world line's trajectory became entirely different.

However, the Primordial Spirit herself did not mind this distinction, and instead immediately utilized Origami Tobiichi to execute another plan of equal importance.

At least in her view, it was of vital importance.

Origami Tobiichi was unaware of this.

She did not discover that the unrecognizable, mosaic-like strange phantom ahead had already perceived her existence.

Even... it was deliberately utilizing her existence...

From accidentally witnessing the Spirit conversion scene in the ruins, to cautiously tracking the "phantom" to the sea domain, all of this was actually a meticulously designed trap by the other party.

It's just that Origami Tobiichi was not clear on this, never realizing that her every action was under the other party's control.

Or perhaps if she calmed down, she could think of this point, but at this very moment, she had already lost the ability called rationality.

Under such circumstances, despite her striving to act with utmost caution, her thoughts surged like boiling water, impossible to calm, constantly churning.

As if fallen into a pathological schizophrenia—

One part of her spirit forced her to rationally pilot her body and Tactical Manifestation Device, displaying ultimate precision and delicacy, every movement revealing meticulously calculated accuracy...

While the other part trembled with anger and pain, weaving an airtight net that bound her tight, flames of hatred burning fiercely in the depths of her soul, threatening to devour all reason.

Why!

Why is it like this! Why can humans become Spirits!

If that's truly the case, then what does everything I've persisted in all this time... amount to?

Origami Tobiichi felt completely unable to accept it, because five years ago, that sudden disaster caused her world to collapse in an instant.

Her parents died due to a Spirit's Manifestation, so she therefore hated Spirits to the extreme.

To avenge her parents...

And to never let anyone else encounter the same tragedy as her...

Ever since then, Origami Tobiichi has struggled with the goal of eliminating Spirits, choosing to join the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's Anti-Spirit Team AST was the same.

And she was just a high school student, yet able to attain the rank of Josie.

One can only say this girl not only has talent, but is also extremely desperate. Desperate in training, desperate in actual combat.

Every time a Spacequake occurred, when a Spirit's Manifestation was detected, colleagues might just be working for the sake of work, but she was killing for the sake of killing.

But precisely because of this, she often found it hard to accept.

Especially this time, the "truth" she witnessed completely overturned Origami Tobiichi's worldview—

After all, the mastermind young lady did not convert the Wizard Ailian into a Spirit after proper negotiation, but coldly and ruthlessly forcibly made the latter a member of this race.

Merely adding the keyword "forcibly," the nature of the entire incident became completely different...

From Origami Tobiichi's perspective, this was a human at death's door from severe injuries, cruelly stripped of the right to choose by the "phantom," disregarding her desperate struggle and resistance, forcibly dragging her into the world of Spirits.

Just watching a new Spirit be born before her eyes like this was undoubtedly an extremely shocking impact for her.

What shook her Dao Heart even more was the complex truth hidden behind the Spirit's birth.

After all, if Spirits are also victims, forced against their will to become monsters in the world's eyes...

Then—

Was the way I've extremely hated Spirits all this time mistaken about something?

This isn't saying the Spirit who killed my parents can be forgiven, can be said to be innocent, but that the chain of hatred is far more complex than imagined.

That's right! I must kill that Spirit who caused my parents' deaths, this is my obsession and vow.

But what should be hated even more is the source that manipulates everything, manufacturing countless tragedies.

Clenching her fist, Origami Tobiichi, in this state that seemed unable to think yet seemed to be constantly thinking, this pathological schizophrenia state, closely followed the distant target ahead.

………………

………………

It should be right here...

Stopping in the skies above a certain sea domain, the "phantom" cast its gaze downward.

This is the Monkey King Type Battle Armor's final "crash" location—

At the end of that battle that nearly destroyed Britain, the remaining few Cultivators fled, while that Super Tactical Body pursued relying on combat instinct.

But ultimately it reached its limit too.

With Kannazuki Kyōhei's human brain computer directly crashing, going offline from overload, the Battle Armor also lost control midway, thus plunging into the vast sea...

Of course the Battle Armor couldn't possibly just crash like that.

But it did indeed sink beneath the sea surface; according to her estimation and speculation, it's right in this vicinity...

So—she came over.

To tell the truth, the Primordial Spirit actually isn't that interested in the Battle Armor.

She knows perfectly well what that Super Tactical Body's situation is, including its origins, general performance, and the pilot's intelligence—she knows it all like the back of her hand.

But this portion of intelligence should rightfully belong only to Analyst Reine Murasame.

Others should not directly know of it.

Unless one wields the Spirit Power of the Angel of the Book to search... moreover even then, what can be obtained is merely intelligence on paper.

If one were truly interested in that wreckage, it would be perfectly reasonable to come personally and survey it.

After speculating thus, the First Spirit felt that her actions were logically beyond reproach.

Yes, that's right.

She had just happened to capture its landing site, so coming along to investigate was a very normal development.

Only by doing this—causing some commotion near the battle armor's crash site—could she probably be "coincidentally" discovered by that monster, revealing her identity.

That was how Mio Takamiya thought.

She had initially thought to first figure out where that monster was heading next, and whether it was targeting those two targets...

Then, unexpectedly using Mosaic to hide her identity, she would appear before the other party under the spirit name "Phantom"...

But after serious consideration, Mio Takamiya passed on this overly direct plan.

She worried such directness would instead actively expose Reine Murasame's identity.

So after much thought, she decided to adopt the current plan, making everything look as much like a coincidental isolated incident as possible.

Hovering calmly over the sea, "Phantom" carefully observed the sea surface below.

After a moment, she also began to act.

Extending her hand, beams of spiritual power condensed in the surrounding air, then immediately roared downward, piercing the sea surface on their own.

If you're going to put on a show, you have to do it properly, so Mio Takamiya also began trying to pinpoint the exact location of the battle armor beneath the sea, probing carefully and cautiously while remaining vigilant, as if worried about a counterattack at any moment...

"What is... she doing..."

Using Random Domain to hide herself, maintaining multiple invisible walls like thin membranes around her, Origami Tobiichi watched the scene on the sea surface from afar.

Her head felt a bit dizzy, and she could only bite her lower lip tightly.

She knew she was approaching that threshold.

Continuing like this, she would soon be Mors Exhausted, unable to go on.

After all, using a Tactical Manifestation Device consumed energy at all times, placing extremely high demands on the user's mental power and willpower, and also imposing a huge burden on the body.

Although driven by a fanatical state of hatred and anger, as if wanting to burn her own soul to ashes, she forcibly squeezed out the potential within her petite frame and exerted tactical abilities far beyond anything before.

But this always had a fixed limit.

Humans also have limits.

Driving the Tactical Manifestation Device for too long had already pushed Origami Tobiichi's mind and body close to that limit.

"Damn it... activity... limit? At a time like this—"

The girl gritted her teeth, lowering her head, her expression beneath her bangs somewhat gloomy.

"Nn."

She seemed to be trying to endure, but a pained expression still appeared on her face, and in that instant, the Random Domain spread around her seemed to distort slightly.

The Large Light Sword of the Tactical Manifestation Device also showed noise, as if it were about to disappear.

Although it recovered within milliseconds, her aura still leaked out.

On the distant sea surface—

Mio Takamiya instantly turned her gaze, as if she had sensed something.

One could only say she was very cooperative and acted very naturally, pretending to have just captured that hidden aura in an instant.

Origami Tobiichi naturally didn't know she had been thoroughly calculated against, and still thought she had been hiding well before, with only the recent state fluctuation causing her exposure.

This made her feel annoyed in addition to the pain and discomfort.

But there was no other way—

She had originally just wanted to see where the other party would go, and whether she could find their lair or something...

Who would have thought that this strange figure, after leaving the United Kingdom, would just circle around on the sea, stopping from time to time, stubbornly draining more than half of her "Superman Mode" stamina bar...

"Directional Random Domain—Deploy!"

"Destroy—Magic Cannon!"

The girl made a decision in the shortest time, and the giant muzzles on both sides of her instantly aimed.

Almost at the same time she spoke, the light of destruction with terrifying power was fired, a magnificent torrent of dazzling bluish-white destructive light beams intertwined!!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

If observed from a third party's perspective, it was almost the moment after "Phantom" sensed something and made a turning motion...

She was submerged by the turbulence of the magic light.

——————

Xia Zhi was an upright person.

He didn't particularly like watching girls fighting each other, but if it really happened, he could reluctantly view it with a critical eye...

Anyway, as long as Vivian and his sister-in-law didn't start fighting...

But criticism was criticism, preparations still had to be made.

"So it's a play about her becoming a spirit in the future, transmigrating back to the past to stop the tragedy, but accidentally killing her own parents in the struggle..."

"So that angelic spirit she saw in her childhood was actually her future self..."

Sorting out the event table on the timeline, the Golden Core Cultivator furrowed his brow.

"So it's the Ouroboros again, what a fate..."

(Chapter End)