Chapter 714: The Origin Spirit, Takamiya Mio

Inside the Spirit Apartment, Tohka lay on the sofa, looking at Itsuka Shido before her with a sweet smile on her face.

"I really wish a life like this could continue forever!"

"Uh, Tohka, why are you suddenly saying something like that?" Itsuka Shido asked with a frown.

"Hmm, I don't know why, but lately, I've always had a bad premonition!" Yatogami Tohka frowned, and even her favorite soybean bread seemed to have lost its appeal to her.

"A bad premonition? What's going on?" Itsuka Kotori asked with a frown.

"I don't know either, I just feel like something bad is about to happen," Yatogami Tohka muttered.

At this moment, Tobiichi Origami, who was to the side, surprisingly did not bicker with Yatogami Tohka, as she too felt an ominous premonition lingering in her heart.

Just then, a white light slowly rose up before them. Everyone present looked at that light with a hint of vigilance in their eyes.

After the light faded, the people present were stunned to see the person revealed within it; the newcomer was none other than the analyst of the Fraxinus—Reine! However, this Reine was wearing a pure white Goddess dress, a small bear doll tied at her waist, and her feet were bare as she hovered in mid-air. Beside her, gentle Bands of Light drifted about. Behind her, an object resembling a Light Wheel floated, embedded with ten stars.

"No, you are not Ms. Reine!" Yatogami Tohka shouted. Her Spirit Dress began to manifest; the person before her gave her a sense of extreme, terrifying crisis.

"Who are you?" Itsuka Kotori asked, gritting her teeth.

"Me? I am Reine. But now, you may call me Takamiya Mio, or perhaps, the Origin Spirit," the woman said slowly.

"Takamiya Mio? The Origin Spirit?" The expressions of everyone present shifted slightly.

The Origin Spirit—that was the origin of all Spirits, arguably the mother of many Spirits. But looking at her now, she did not seem to harbor any goodwill toward them at all.

Itsuka Shido looked at Takamiya Mio before him, feeling his heart beating faster than it ever had; it seemed as if even his genes and soul were yearning for the person before him.

"Then, Reine, why have you appeared before us in your true form now?" Itsuka Kotori asked with a frown.

"This is for my final plan, for my lover; the plan of several decades is finally going to be completed today!" A scorching light flashed in Takamiya Mio's eyes. The Bands of Light beside her also shook violently.

"For your lover?" There was a hint of confusion in Itsuka Kotori's tone, clearly unaware that Takamiya Mio even had a lover.

"That's right, for my lover, I can even devour my own friends and family!" The Bands of Light behind Takamiya Mio lashed out, stabbing toward the various Spirits present.

Facing the incoming light bands, the hearts of all the Spirits present began to sound a frantic alarm: if they were touched by this thing, they would die!

Just then, the world suddenly turned gray-white, and even Takamiya Mio was paused within this gray-white world. Subsequently, the Seal Bracelets on the wrists of the various Spirits began to glow, the silver light connecting into one, instantly enveloping everyone present except for Takamiya Mio. After a flash of silver light, the various Spirits, along with Itsuka Shido and Takamiya Mana, vanished from the apartment.

The moment they disappeared, the gray-white world shattered instantly, and the Bands of Light thrust forward, but they stabbed at nothing.

"This feeling is... time and space? Swordsman?" A hint of confusion flashed in Takamiya Mio's eyes. "How nice. I am also very curious about your origins. Then, let me see what kind of abilities you, a Spirit outside of my plans, truly possess!"

As Takamiya Mio spoke, her figure slowly vanished from the apartment.

Itsuka Shido and the others only felt a blur before their eyes, then discovered that the Takamiya Mio before them was gone, and they had appeared in another place.

"This place is? The Mysterious Shop?" Itsuka Kotori looked around and confirmed the location where she was currently sitting.

"Look, everyone, the Seal Bracelets!" Just then, a soft cry came.

The various Spirits looked at the bracelets on their hands, only to find that the bracelets had lost their luster and were beginning to dissipate bit by bit.

"These Seal Bracelets were given to us by Lingyun. That he sent us to this place now, while we were facing the Origin Spirit, means he must know something," Tobiichi Origami said calmly.

"That's right, we do indeed know some information. Before that, would you all like to hear a story? A story that isn't exactly pleasant," Lingyun appeared before everyone.

"A story?" The people present looked at each other, then nodded in unison. They had a premonition that this story might overturn their imagination.

Takamiya Mio was a girl created thirty years ago by three magicians using a Spirit Formula, and she was also the entity who triggered the Space-Eurasia Great Disaster, known as the "Origin Spirit." Facing Westcott, who wanted to claim her Spirit Power for himself, the Origin Spirit chose to flee and eventually met a pair of siblings. The names of those siblings were Takamiya Shinji and Takamiya Mana, and at this time, the Origin Spirit also obtained her own name—Takamiya Mio.

During the time she spent with Takamiya Shinji, Takamiya Mio and Takamiya Shinji developed the most sincere feelings. However, good times did not last; the pursuit by the DEM company followed, and Takamiya Shinji was killed by Westcott while protecting Takamiya Mio.

Takamiya Shinji's death drove Takamiya Mio to the brink of collapse, and she subsequently began a massive plan to resurrect her lover and allow them to spend their lives together. She used kissing to absorb Takamiya Shinji's remains to gestate and give birth to a child, bestowing upon him Spirit Power. At the same time, she created numerous Spirit Crystals by splitting her own Spirit Power, and for thirty years, she unscrupulously plotted to use the bodies of human girls as refining tools for her power, arranging for Tokisaki Kurumi to retrieve them.

Now, all preparations were complete; once Takamiya Mio retrieved all the Spirit Crystals, she would be able to begin the resurrection plan for Takamiya Shinji.

"The child that Takamiya Mio gave birth to is me, isn't it?" Itsuka Shido asked.

"That's right. Takamiya Mio is a powerful Spirit, but she is also a fragile one. If it is for her lover, she would not hesitate even if it meant destroying the entire world," Tokisaki Kurumi said.

"In other words, my life is built upon the sacrifice of countless girls?" An irrepressible pain appeared on Itsuka Shido's face.

"Now is not the time to be saying so much; she is here!" Lingyun's gaze turned toward the sky.

In the sky, a figure slowly emerged. Takamiya Mio looked at the alley before her and frowned. She had originally thought she could use spatial teleportation to enter the Mysterious Shop directly, but she never expected to be blocked outside. She raised a hand, and the Bands of Light behind her shook violently, stabbing downward like javelins.

"Crack! Crack—"

A barrier hidden in the Void suddenly emerged, then became riddled with holes under the piercing of the Bands of Light, shattering into countless points of light that drifted into the air.

Having lost the protection of the barrier, a quaint little shop suddenly appeared in the alley.

"Found you!" Sensing that the ten Spirit Crystals she had split off were all gathered in this place, a beautiful smile appeared on Takamiya Mio's face.