This operation had been a complete failure.
The group returned to their base and, under the expectant gazes of the Creators and government personnel, delivered the bad news.
Upon learning the whole story, the expressions on everyone's faces turned grim.
Altair had disappeared. The real identity of Tokisaki Kurumi turned out to be another version of Natsumi Kyouno. And their own Natsumi Kyouno had been sealed by the Unsealer...
Each of these revelations was a massive headache.
"Never expected it to be another Natsumi..."
Kōshi Tachibana rubbed his temples and said bitterly, "Honestly, that's a bit better for me than it being Kurumi, but defeating Altair will be even more difficult."
A spirit from Date A Live had appeared in the real world. Whether it was Tokisaki Kurumi or Natsumi Kyouno, they would undoubtedly hold a grudge against their Creator.
However, Tokisaki Kurumi would actually kill, whereas Natsumi Kyouno was just a child at heart. No matter how severe the punishment, it was unlikely to be life-threatening.
So while Kōshi Tachibana's life was no longer in danger, the Meteora faction's situation had become even more perilous.
"Sigh... we originally thought the enemy's real identity was Kurumi, which is why we chose the strategy of sealing the Angel and the Shadow,"
Kikuchihara Aki was also under immense pressure. The situation was slipping out of control, leaving her feeling powerless.
"As a result, it turned out to be another Natsumi in disguise, which made our strategy utterly meaningless."
At first, their plan was to have the other Created beings cooperate with Natsumi Kyouno, creating an opportunity for her to use the Unsealer to seal Tokisaki Kurumi Spirit Power.
That way, just like the current Natsumi Kyouno, once the Spirit Power was sealed, she would become an ordinary human girl and no longer pose a threat.
In that case, she would no longer be able to use either Zafkiel or the Shadow.
But Tokisaki Kurumi was a very special Spirit.
Because she possessed clones from different timelines, she had near-immortal traits.
One of her defining settings was that if her main body died, Zafkiel would be transferred to one of her clones, and that clone would then become the new main body.
If not all the clones were stored in the Shadow space, a clone walking in the real world might simply shoot the sealed main body and thus allow the birth of a new main body.
Even without clones roaming the real world, Altair wouldn't hesitate to lend a hand. A single military blade strike could easily eliminate the sealed Tokisaki Kurumi main body.
In that case, sealing her Spirit Power would be meaningless.
That was why Natsumi Kyouno had chosen to seal the Shadow first and then seal Zafkiel.
But unexpectedly, the Tokisaki Kurumi they encountered was actually the real Natsumi Kyouno in disguise, meaning their plan was fundamentally flawed from the beginning.
It didn't help that neither Natsumi Kyouno nor Mirokuji Yuya knew that Altair had disappeared. Still thinking she was lurking somewhere, they wanted to avoid any complications and tried to end the battle quickly.
Otherwise, had Natsumi been given more time, she likely would've noticed something odd about the Kurumi she was impersonating.
Thinking back now, there had been plenty of strange signs about that Tokisaki Kurumi.
For instance, though she was more suited for an assassin role, not only did she not sneak in via the Shadow to ambush them, she boldly joined the battle in plain sight.
Also, during her fight with Mirokuji Yuya, even though she knew the situation was unfavorable, she didn't use Zafkiel's abilities to overpower and kill Yuya, instead giving Natsumi an opportunity to provide backup.
If one had thought about it calmly, they would've noticed these inconsistencies and could've inferred that this Tokisaki Kurumi might not have been the real one.
However, at the time, half of Natsumi Kyouno attention was on carrying out the mission, while the other half was alert for a surprise attack from Altair, causing her to miss all these odd details.
"Never thought I, playing the role of Natsumi, would end up being acted against by the real Natsumi..."
Among the crowd, the real Natsumi Kyouno—now changed into new clothes—couldn't help but sigh inwardly with emotion.
This might have been the most humiliating moment of her acting career.
Up until now, in almost every world she had crossed into, her Spirit powers placed her at the top of the combat pyramid. All she had to worry about was the difficulty of acting and completing the main storyline.
Even in the world of No Game No Life, with the aid of various item cards, she had barely managed to contend with the lowest tier of the Flugel. As long as she didn't court death, she could survive safely.
However, in this world, she had truly become a powerless little girl.
Although Alisteria had told them Altair had been missing for two weeks, who knew whether this was also part of her plan?
Perhaps, even now, she was secretly watching from the shadows.
"Right now, the two biggest problems in Altair faction remain unsolved."
Kikuchihara Aki looked at the Creators and Created beings and, after calming down, asked,
"What are your plans going forward?"
There weren't many Created beings in Altair faction.
Mamika Kirameki had been eliminated early on. Alisteria had now chosen to betray them. The only one still considered loyal—Blitz—had already been captured and imprisoned.
Thankfully, Blitz himself wasn't that strong. Eighty percent of his power came from his equipment. His physical body wasn't particularly tough, so keeping him confined in a specially designed prison was enough.
Otherwise, they really wouldn't know how to handle him.
Altair faction was practically finished.
But even so, the two most troublesome individuals remained at large.
"Alice-chan, you mentioned earlier that Altair hasn't appeared for a long time, right?"
Mamika Kirameki looked toward Alisteria and asked,
"Do you have any other clues? Anything at all?"
"Hmm..."
Alisteria pondered for a moment, then shook her head.
"Sorry. Altair is extremely mysterious to us as well. Everything she does is shrouded in secrecy. I really have no useful clues."
After she spoke, she paused for a moment, then added,
"Although I don't have any clues, I do have a guess."
"What kind of guess?"
"Perhaps... the other Natsumi Kyouno might know where Altair is."
Alisteria offered her speculation.
"She was the last Created being summoned by Altair. Logically, she should also be the last one to have met Altair. If anyone in this world knows where she went, it would most likely be the other Natsumi."
"But... we can't find the other Little Tsumimi either."
Mamika Kirameki sighed.
"A shapeshifter like her is nearly impossible to locate."
Kōshi Tachibana had mentioned this before—if Natsumi Kyouno didn't want to be found, no one could find her.
She could transform into anyone, even into an unremarkable little rock by the roadside, or some other creature entirely.
On top of that, she could also use the Tome of Revelation, which could block the Book's own search function, making her even harder to find.
Oh wait—whether or not she uses the Tome of Revelation didn't even matter anymore.
Because their own Natsumi Kyouno had already been sealed and lost her Spirit Power. Forget the Tome of Revelation—she couldn't even summon the Fake Witch anymore.
"Now that Natsumi is sealed, we've lost our greatest trump card and are completely on the defensive."
Selesia analyzed the situation and looked at Meteora with a trace of hope.
"Meteora, can you use magic to break the Unsealer's seal?"
"I can try... but don't get your hopes up."
Meteora considered it for a moment and then said,
"After all, Spirit Power and Magic are two completely different forces. And the Unsealer's power seems more like a law of nature. According to its setting, it's even powerful enough to affect the Earth's rotation. In my original world, it would already count as a divine-level artifact that only gods could use."
Though she said she'd try, her tone clearly conveyed low expectations.
Meteora, according to her settings, was a sage proficient in magic and rituals. But she wasn't skilled in attack or destruction, being more focused on support and creation.
She could construct complex and intricate spells, but breaking seals wasn't within her area of expertise.
As for the other Created beings...?
Because what Altair expected was battles between creations to enhance her interference power, the majority of creations were direct combat types.
Selesia, Yuuya Mirokuji, and Mamika Kirameki were all such creations.
They possessed pure combat abilities but were unable to manipulate the power of laws.
"Laws..."
Matsubara Takashi chewed on this word. Information about the various creations flashed through his mind, and then, all of a sudden, a flash of inspiration struck him.
"Right, isn't there a creation whose ability is related to laws?"
The other creators also showed expressions of realization, more or less.
Having read through all the information and the list of creations, Meteora was stunned at first, then quickly understood who Matsubara Takashi was referring to.
"The villain character appearing in Night Window Demon, Magane Chikujoin."
She was a neutral creation—belonging neither to Meteora faction nor to Altair.
After descending into this world, she had already committed two murders, one of which was the killing of her own creator.
Unlike Yuuya Mirokuji, this character was a genuine evil villain.
In the original work, she even killed everyone at the high school the protagonist attended just for fun—she was a character who didn't treat human life as anything of value.
After arriving in this world, her behavior became somewhat more restrained.
Her first murder was to verify whether her ability still worked in this world.
The second time, she killed her own creator because she sharply realized that the creator might be able to alter her settings, so she eliminated this variable at the first opportunity.
After that, there were no more murder cases.
After all, compared to the other creations, her combat power could be considered the weakest.
In a one-on-one situation, as long as her ability didn't take effect, even someone like Selesia could defeat her solo.
To avoid becoming the target of everyone, she became very low-key after the two killings.
So much so that people would sometimes forget that such a creation even existed.
Although the Japanese government also knew she was the culprit behind the two murder cases, they didn't want to force her into Altair camp, so they refrained from arresting her.
Thus, both sides formed a "minding our own business" type of relationship.
Even though Magane Chikujoin kept a low profile, her ability wasn't something that could be easily ignored.
Her ability, [Infinite Deception of Words], could twist causality and turn lies into reality.
To put it more directly, if someone denies her lie, then the lie becomes reality.
For example, if Magane Chikujoin says, "The cat-eared maid waifu you fantasize about will never become reality," and some anime-addicted otaku responds with, "That's impossible," or "You're lying," or anything that refutes the statement—
Then in reality, that otaku will actually obtain a cute cat-eared maid waifu.
That is the basic logic of Infinite Deception of Words.
Extremely powerful. Extremely broken.
In the eyes of Minakano Natsumi, it's second only to Omnipotent Chronicle.
However, it's also quite easy to avoid being affected by this ability.
You just need to not talk to Magane Chikujoin.
No matter what she says, remain silent.
Do not respond to her lies, and Infinite Deception of Words won't activate.
But if there is someone who could solve the problem of Minakano Natsumi being sealed,
That person could only be Magane Chikujoin.
"Are we really going to ask that black fox for help?"
Aletstria frowned, clearly displeased with the idea.
She had clashed with Magane Chikujoin several times.
As a righteous knight, she found this chaotic, morally ambiguous character absolutely detestable.
During their first meeting, if Mamika Kirameki hadn't been there to hold her back, she would have directly tried to eliminate this unpleasant person.
"Among all the creations, only Magane Chikujoin possesses the ability to twist the laws."
Although Meteora didn't like her either, she still spoke calmly:
"If we want to regain the initiative, we have no choice but to seek her help."
Aletstria also understood that unsealing Minakano Natsumi was the highest priority, so she didn't say anything more.
"But how do we get her to cooperate?" Selesia asked.
"Last time we tried to ask for her help, she rejected us without hesitation."
"She's the kind of person who's only interested in things she finds amusing." Matsubara Takashi added.
"If it's just a simple request for help, she probably won't agree."
"Although I'm not one to advocate violence, she's a smart one."
Meteora said indifferently.
"If all six of us creations visit her together, I think she'll be more than happy to cooperate."