Chapter 352: Kurumi Tokisaki: Who is Ayana Taketatsu?

「……！」

Mio Takamiya may not have been struck where it hurt, but her expression clearly stiffened.

To be honest, she actually didn't care too much about many things.

For example, age, age, age, and such...

But this was indeed her first time encountering such verbal attacks, and for a moment she was truly stunned.

Especially such verbal attacks coming from the mouth of a Spirit — in a sense, they were her individually created "daughters."

If not for having enough self-awareness, knowing she played the role of a wicked stepmother.

Then perhaps at this moment, even the BGM would have started playing.

——Fallen leaves drift, scattered across my face...

——My son rebels, piercing my heart...

Taking a light breath, Mio Takamiya drove the strange thoughts from her mind and suppressed the bizarre sensation rising in her heart.

Bang!

Bang bang! Bang bang bang!!

Kurumi Tokisaki continued her relentless pursuit; at this moment, the shadows beneath her feet surged, as if dragging out a very long, very long, very far, very far distance.

It was as if the endless darkness created by Origami Tobiichi had undergone a wondrous chemical reaction.

Sparks erupting from the muzzle.

The dazzling light of Spiritual Power colliding.

In such a dark environment, every appearance of light, briefly and faintly illuminating the contours of the surrounding area, also brought the "shadows" closely following.

Like a shadow following its form, there was no more fitting description.

And within every shadow meeting the conditions, accompanied by fluctuations of Spiritual Power and red-black special effects, one completely identical girl after another "appeared" from within.

Very much like Dark Spirit Invasion.

And looking around, everywhere in the Surroundings was the scene of Dark Spirit Invasion.

In the blink of an eye, dozens or even hundreds of girls had appeared, without exception all having the same Face/Countenance, wearing glamorous red-and-black Astral Dresses, and holding one long and one short antique Flintlock...

At first glance, it was like some kind of cloned girl Legion.

Treading on shadows, shuttling across the sea surface, as if dancing elegant and swift steps—

These numerous "Kurumi Tokisaki," without any verbal communication or tactical command, simultaneously and unanimously concentrated fire toward Mio Takamiya's Direction.

The firepower net woven in this instant forced the latter to dodge and retreat repeatedly.

At the same time, she could only rely on Defense Art, hard-eating many attacks.

But while the Avatar attacks could be hard-eaten, facing Kurumi Tokisaki's Main Body dual guns firing in succession, splashing out large amounts of Spirit Bullets...

Mio Takamiya truly did not want to be touched at all.

That would definitely hurt...

But such a situation grew increasingly severe; on the sea surface, a dark ink sea surged, and countless black rays poured down like a shattered rainstorm.

And Kurumi Tokisaki's self-copying great army continued to proliferate.

Even though the Angel of Extinction's indiscriminate Map Cannon AOE strikes inevitably pierced, exploded, and dissipated many Avatars.

But for now, the rate of increase was still far greater than the rate of elimination.

If this continued, there might be hundreds or thousands of Kurumi Tokisaki simultaneously opening fire and concentrating fire on Mio Takamiya.

Even if the latter was some super Danmaku expert, under such attack frequency and Density, she would also have to contend with Origami Tobiichi's Map Cannon AOE...

This was clearly not very realistic.

Placed before Mio Takamiya's Yan Qian were only a few choices... either counterattack, or take the hits.

Or retreat, no longer Entangling with the other side.

This was not a difficult choice; Mio Takamiya had never intended to fight from the start, her original idea was to use Origami Tobiichi to create some Movement, attracting someone's gaze.

She just didn't expect it to become like this, with such an unexpected turn.

Kurumi Tokisaki came from the future...

The future Origami Tobiichi even became a Spirit...

——So what exactly happened? Could it be that Ailian was so useless, she quickly died, allowing the Spirit Crystal to Transfer to Origami Tobiichi's place?

Mio Takamiya could only guess this.

But what she cared about more was not Ailian's life or death, but why Kurumi Tokisaki brought Origami Tobiichi back to this time point to snipe herself...

Taking a deep breath, Mio Takamiya hesitated for a moment, then looked up toward the Direction of the Sky.

「……」

「……」

Nothing at all.

Felt nothing at all.

Clearly being watched, yet completely unable to feel the other's gaze.

If not for her other half on the other side being able to directly confirm the situation there, she wouldn't even have realized this was quietly happening.

This truly made one feel utterly powerless.

She even began to increasingly Suspect... whether everything she did had any Meaning, whether it was plugging one's ears while stealing a bell.

But now, she could only believe in herself.

Long ago, she had already split her Identity, and as the source of all Spirits' power, she could still perform certain Interference on the Spiritual Power that had split off.

So.

Kurumi Tokisaki's Twelfth Bullet didn't matter.

Honjo Nia's Angel of the Book is also fine.

Even being able to perceive the truth of the Spirits, precisely locking onto Mio Takamiya — all of that is acceptable, as long as... the other identity isn't exposed.

………………

………………

On the other side——

Fifteen kilometers above sea level, in the high altitude——

"This reaction, it's indeed a Spirit……"

"Right near the location of the target we were preparing to recover……"

"And there are multiple reactions, three…… no, it seems like four…… wait, it should be three……"

The monitor's side quickly sent back a report, only it appeared somewhat inexplicably chaotic.

It seemed that during the reporting process, they discovered the monitored data had changed, so they hurriedly followed along and corrected themselves, yet continuously changed their statement.

This couldn't help but make one a bit concerned.

"Wait, is it three or four in the end?" On the bridge, Kotori Itsuka frowned and asked.

The other crew members all expressed concern, even though the Organization had already determined to transform, becoming the imperial court's lackeys…… cough cough, becoming a certain someone's mundane enforcers.

So the focus of work would also have to change, no longer completely focused on Spirit matters……

But it's just no longer "completely focused" after all.

The part about Spirits still counts as a key focus, moreover it's the target they've prepared to struggle for this long, so naturally they subconsciously pay very close attention.

"Should…… should be four, just that among them two wavelengths overlapped……"

The monitor operated in a fluster, Hao Ran said——

"And it's strange, one of them isn't too stable, just now another disappeared…… wait, now another disappeared, only three reactions left!"

"Another disappeared! Another disappeared! Now only two reactions can be confirmed!"

Before everyone could react, he raised his volume again and shouted.

In just the blink of an eye, half the Spirits on that side ran away!

"This fast?" Kotori Itsuka was also a bit surprised, "Disappeared directly? Could it be they returned to the Neighboring World directly?"

"Why care about that much, just go over and take a look."

A voice came.

The youth who walked onto the bridge smiled and spoke, directly issuing a Mors Command: "Fraxinus, full speed ahead!"

"Hey!"

Kotori Itsuka immediately widened her eyes, swiveling her chair around from the captain's seat, letting out a syllable of protest.

However, her words hadn't come out in time.

The entire Air Battleship had already responded to the other party's Mors Command, and simultaneously in the air beside them, a blue display Screen Projection was projected.

"Entering full speed cruise mode, current speed will increase to maximum within five seconds……"

"This ship is estimated to arrive above the predetermined destination in thirty-seven seconds, please Prepare……"

Although it was a rigid, by-the-book Hint.

However, from the broadcast, the Synchronized voice that came through was extremely recognizable, carrying a bright two-dimensional Tsundere little-sister voice.

The moment they heard this voice, the surrounding crew, including Shido Itsuka, all simultaneously revealed a very Subtle strange Expression.

They one after another, without prior agreement, made the same movement, turning their heads to look at the Commander girl in the captain's seat.

"Damn it, wasn't it agreed that I'm the captain!"

Kotori Itsuka was very dissatisfied, staring hard at the youth who walked up, her attention entirely placed on another problem.

"Yeah, didn't I ask Murasame-san to take full responsibility before? The Conditions were all agreed on, keeping your current crew Establishment, and keeping your captain's seat……"

Xia Zhi Blinked, putting on a Doubtful look, and even glanced at the Analyst girl not far away:

"Is there a problem?"

"……"

"……"

"Eh! Don't play dumb with me, since I'm the captain, then it should be me giving orders, right!"

The Commander girl was very dissatisfied with his playing dumb, widening her eyes and arguing forcefully.

"If anyone can just bypass me to give orders, then doesn't this captain lose all Meaning and value of Existence!"

——Tch, really troublesome.

——Why are they all obedient to me in a charmed state, yet still insist on finding their own Meaning and value of Existence in work.

Xia Zhi couldn't help but Shake Head, Indeed it's a little girl who hasn't been beaten by society.

If it were a corporate slave swapped in here, discovering they had a chance to slack off and collect empty pay, who knows how happy they'd be.

Of Course, he wouldn't really Entangle with Kotori Itsuka on this, very casually perfunctorily nodding:

"Isn't it because I was afraid you're not Familiar with Fraxinus, so I gave you a demonstration first……"

"Hah?"

Kotori Itsuka's eyes widened even more.

Afraid I'm not Familiar with Fraxinus, what Ghost, no matter how you look at it, clearly my qualifications are the deeper ones.

"Don't look at me like that, Fraxinus isn't the same ship as before, the Nano Core was just installed, once the transformation upgrades are fully complete, you'll discover how Stranger it is……"

Xia Zhi Waved Hand.

"……"

"……"

Kotori Itsuka pursed her lips, glanced at the smart interface projected beside her, and also recalled the matter of giving the air battleship a full upgrade.

Saying he was afraid the original performance wasn't enough, and would lose face for the court's hounds.

After all, if there isn't even enough deterrence, who would fear you.

"Fine, even if what you say makes sense……"

The Commander girl took a deep breath, decided to let this principled matter slide for now, and immediately noticed that the gazes of those around her were off.

She belatedly remembered something, bolted upright, leaned back warily in her seat, and a thread of suspicion and disdain showed in her eyes.

Her voice trembled slightly, with a hint of uncertainty: "Wait, wait, that notification sound just now…… was really my voice, right?"

"No."

The youth answered calmly: "I just randomly input a voice actor's vocal characteristics, as the ship AI's notification tone."

"Which voice actor?"

"Ayana Taketatsu."

"Then why is her voice exactly the same as mine?" Kotori Itsuka clearly didn't believe it, asking with serious suspicion.

However, the Opposite Side answered just as righteously——

"How would I know."

(Chapter End)