WORLD: NEIGHBORING WORLD
BRANCHED WORLD: DATE A LIVE
LOCATION: KETER
At this point, she had only one wish. It didn't matter to her if her very existence was on the line.
Defeat White Queen.
Defeat her even if it meant sacrificing herself.
Not because she was a Spirit; this was a duty and obligation as Tokisaki Kurumi to her friend, Sawa Yamauchi.
Because of this sense of duty, she needed to devote everything...
It's been approximately an hour.
The cat-and-mouse game between them continues, with neither side letting up. Both sides had almost the same specs.
Rather, White Queen's specs were superior in that regard. And after about an hour of deep studying.
"Kihihihihihi─!"
Nightmare began moving, summoning her clones in large numbers while she continued to wait for opportunity.
The clones immediately understood what to do. They understood that they were existences meant for fighting.
As imitations of Kurumi's thoughts without change, they behaved in accordance with that.
Hidden behind trees, as White Queen approached, they then began to surround her from all sides.
"Hinderances."
Yamauchi Sawa crudely called them that, pointing at the clones' brows and shooting them on sight as they were being born.
However, no matter how good the White Queen's specs were, aiming at many targets was nothing more than an opening in battle.
Queen also had an inkling of what Kurumi was doing, but—
".....!"
She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, a force that sent her flying back, rolling across the massive roots and grimes of the forest.
Then, knocked into an empty plain in the forest. The pain was only for an instant, but it was enough to make her gasp for air.
With pursuit incoming, Queen prepared her gun, a bullet to intercept, but it never came.
Queen stood up to gaze in wonder. She had lost sight of the Tokisaki Kurumi who was supposed to be in front of her.
"I see...so you've decided on your resolve."
Saying she lost sight of her wasn't completely accurate.
Encircling Queen's surroundings was a crowd, crowd, crowd of Tokisaki Kurumi.
As they all were lightly smiling, Sawa also slowly smiled.
"Yes. This is great. When surrounded by Kurumi-san like this, it really feels like we are earnestly trying to kill each other. Of course, I need to show I'm serious too."
Slowly laughing, her tone was gentle.
However, the emotions contained in her words were like a sharpened blade. It showed that Kurumi thought about killing her too.
Perhaps she really was going to kill Yamauchi Sawa.
"...I will come."
"Please do."
Volley firing that could disorient the eyes. There were no blind spots.
If there were any, it would be ground, but Sawa wasn't planning to bury herself like a mole.
In the first place, she didn't even intend to avoid it.
"[Lucifugus]. Double-Style Heavenly Bullet, The Leo Bullet [Arie]. In addition, the Gemini Bullet [Teomim]."
"...!"
Astonished, the surrounding Kurumi clones widened their eyes.
There was just no way... the bullets they had surrounded the queen with were.... nulled.
Rather, it was White Queen's Leo Bullet [Arie] and the Gemini Bullet [Teomim].
With those two bullets, White Queen devoured all of Kurumi's bullets and nullified her shooting attempts.
This was one of [Lucifigus]'s true abilities.
"...This is...!?"
"Now, it's my turn. Kurumi-san, please..."
Then, with a sweet smile just like spring sunshine, she continued.
"Don't die so easily."
Being told that, the Kurumi clones were enraged by that provocative remark and pointed their guns again,
but as they were standing still, Queen instantly closed in on the Kurumi clones.
The glistening blade of her steel sword pierced through the heart of one of the Kurumi.
That Kurumi vanished like mist at a moment's notice.
"This...Queen...!"
The group of Kurumi frantically dispersed in order to continue shooting from their guns without pause.
But Queen's combination of the Leo Bullet [Arie] and the Gemini Bullet [Teomim] was constantly guarding her surroundings.
They were just like a herd of hunting dogs being devoured for trying to break into enemy territory.
However, their numbers were still overwhelming; the Kurumi clones took the time to calmly and ruthlessly continuously shoot.
And even the Leo Bullet [Arie] surrounding Queen was not perfect. A few bullets slipped in through the gaps.
Queen was slightly injured, but she disregarded that entirely while searching for Tokisaki Kurumi.
She understood that no matter how many clones created by the Eighth Bullet [Het] she killed, it was meaningless.
The important matter was to kill the main body, well, strictly speaking, she was also a clone, producing the clones.
Healing these wounds can wait until after solving that issue first.
Examining the circumstances closely, if Tokisaki Kurumi were defeated at this time, this battle would come to an end.
White Queen would be victorious, the Quasi-Spirits would be killed, and the Neighboring World would collapse.
Searching...
Still searching, she had taken notice. There was only one.
Without bleeding impatience, there was a Tokisaki Kurumi looking at Queen with determined eyes and standing alone 12 meters ahead.
She must have deployed the surrounding clones to remain inconspicuous.
"I. Found. You♪"
With that lighthearted voice, the White Queen charged forward.
The Leo Bullet [Arie] disappeared as the simultaneous sweeping fire landed direct hits on White Queen's body.
However, without stopping to flinch from the pain, in the first place, feeling pain had disappeared a long time ago, Queen arrived at the main Tokisaki Kurumi.
"Tsk!"
Kurumi set up her rifle as the queen raised her saber. The speed of Queen's thrust was slightly faster than Kurumi's.
Gunshots resounded at close range, but there was no pain felt by Queen's body. A blow convincing enough to have killed her.
But then, Queen found herself shocked by her mistake.
The Kurumi who was pierced threw away her old-fashioned guns in order to tightly grasp her saber.
With her not letting go, she reflexively tried to pull it away.
"You were a bit off, Sawa-san."
That voice came from the side. Approaching before she was aware, Tokisaki Kurumi pointed [Zafkiel] at Queen's forehead.
Disappearing, the Tokisaki Kurumi that Sawa stabbed had faded away with a laugh.
She was definitely a clone created by the Eighth Bullet [Het].
"If it's you, I was convinced that you would find me. If it was Sawa-san, certainly, you would find me even on this battlefield."
Ah, so that was it. It was such a commonplace rationale.
What Yamauchi Sawa had thought, Tokisaki Kurumi had also considered.
Then it was natural that she could build the appropriate countermeasures. The best place to hide a leaf was in a forest.
But what if the leaves were neither brown nor green, but rather a poisonous color that could be identified just by looking at it?
Answer: it would be a good idea to prepare leaves with the same poisonous color to make them stand out.
Queen faintly considered such a thing. It was clear that she didn't have enough time to defend or evade.
And Tokisaki Kurumi wasn't charitable enough to hesitate. She fired.
Aiming at the crown of the head, she shot from [Zafkiel] without any hesitation.
The clones readied their guns in unison to further the pursuit even more.
"It's over. Queen, no, rather, Sawa-san."
'I see...'
A string of thought within those moments. She'd really been played, huh?
'Perhaps, that's also not bad either. For Kurumi-san to beat (kill) me again.'
She had made up her mind to destroy the Neighboring World and its inhabitants.
Why?
What was the purpose of this Neighboring World? Why was it born and why did it continue to exist like this?
Yamauchi Sawa didn't understand either point. However, there was one thing she could say for sure.
Rather than naturally occurring like the cosmos, this Neighboring World was an artificial world.
It was enough if she could understand that much.
Rather, by setting that as a limiter for her understanding, perhaps she was afraid of being detected by the person who created this world.
However, asking what this world symbolized was a different matter.
Yamauchi Sawa understood.
There are various rumors, studies, and dissertations spread amongst Quasi-Spirits, but the general consensus was that this was the world after death.
Calling it the world after death was simple enough, but that image varies from country to country.
Hell, underworld, Valhalla, and so on.
However, there was one universal point shared between every country's religious views.
The world after death is a world of only souls after abandoning their bodies.
Even if their bodies had seemingly revived, that must mean at any rate, they must have at least once abandoned their bodies.
The Neighboring World was a world sewn together by enormous Reiryoku and an enormous girl's soul.
Enormous Reiryoku, let alone a sun, if that amount of energy was comparable to a galaxy, it could make the impossible possible.
Input specific time and coordinates, and then releasing that energy towards that.
Time would rewind and the future could change.
Yamauchi Sawa would never die and the past would be changed so she would continue existing as Tokisaki Kurumi's friend.
...Unfortunately, she didn't know the person who turned her into a Spirit.
At the very least, if she knew who it was, it may be possible to change the past by extinguishing that person with the energy of the Neighboring World.
Up to that point, Yamauchi Sawa was thinking and acting on this while raising havoc through the Neighboring World.
However, one problem created from there. It was the means to unite the enormous Reiryoku squirming in this Neighboring World.
After all, although there is only the soul in this Neighboring World, there are countless girls in possession of hearts.
These girls could either scatter Reiryoku by using it or simply choose to disappear.
She initially planned to attack the Third Region Binah to become Dominion, stockpiling information from well-informed Quasi-Spirits in the process.
But even so, she still has to find a way to unify the Reiryoku.
Yet now... perhaps, she could rest and leave that to Kurumi.
It wasn't a bad thought, but at the same time, she didn't want to. To go and leave Kurumi, she hated it.
Queen opened her eyes once more, preparing to use the Leo Bullet [Arie] and the Gemini Bullet [Teomim].
But when she did, the incoming bullets were stopped mid-air, like time had stopped.
White Queen looked. Was it Kurumi?
All around, she saw those countless Kurumi surrounding her, looking up at the sky.
Then, what seemed to be the original Kurumi in front of her muttered out loud.
"So, you've finally decided to show, Laurel-san."
White Queen frowned, immediately looking up. But the moment she did, an overwhelming force hit her.
It wasn't that the male poised in the sky was actively doing anything of the sort to suppress her.
Rather, it was the inversion side of Sawa that felt the embodiment of calamity. Though it was only one side, it was more than enough.
Slowly, the male landed between them.
"You both really did plan on killing each other, huh?"
Laurel understood. Kurumi wasn't mostly doing this to keep the Neighboring World safe.
Rather, it was because it was Sawa. She didn't want Sawa to become like her.
"Still, I don't think you need to kill yourself over friendly disputes like that. It'd be a waste."
"If you do that, you'll be playing into fate's hand, and that's what I love doing best, destroying fate."
***
White Queen stared at Laurel for a moment, who wasn't staring at either of them, then aimed at him and shot.
BANG!
The shot resounded, yet the bullet missed by a long margin. The male didn't dodge; rather, there was no need to.
Even the slightest twitch or muscle movement wasn't made by the boy. Neither did Kurumi herself even bother with the fact he'd been shot.
"Didn't hit" would be the right words here, but fundamentally, White Queen knew that was wrong.
At the very least, she should have [Gunsmanship] at [A-level] in terms of rating, if described crudely.
There was also no way she would have missed her target at such a close range, about three meters from her.
"What..."
Her eyes narrowed, clutching the saber in her left hand.
"Trying to kill me will be a waste of time. Even if you do manage to bypass my defenses, you can't make me stay dead for long."
Then, chiming in, to add,
"Sawa-san, trying to kill this guy or attack him is useless. It's a waste of precious bullets."
White Queen fell silent for a short moment. An expression of understanding washed over her as she took a glance again.
"So, you were the impudent one. Now I understand how Kurumi-san was able to arrive here."
"Speak, what is your motive?"
Though she couldn't threaten him with physical violence. Not to mention, she felt that even if she shot again, another bizarre thing would happen.
Still, Kurumi was an acquaintance?
White Queen didn't exactly know. But the fact that Kurumi was standing there, unmoving, and the fact that she was in the Neighboring World in itself.
Those were dead giveaways.
"If I say, to see this scene, would that suffice, Queen?"
Tilting his head towards her, he said those words, only making the frown on White Queen's face deepen.
"What?"
"You, just then, you were planning on dying to Kurumi, weren't you?"
"That is none of your business, Outsider."
Laurel shook his head as though to say Sawa was wrong. Even if he didn't solve this situation now...
A particular member of the group would do anything to try to kill the Origin, and eventually, everything would lapse back to this.
One way or the other, to achieve her goal, White Queen, or Sawa Yamauchi, must die again.
Isn't there anything more tragic than that?
Kurumi once again proved that point right, and it wasn't that Laurel was truly expecting them to seriously try to kill each other.
No,
"I should have expected this situation. But it doesn't matter. I feel Kurumi, who longs for the truth, needs to know the truth, no?"
In response, White Queen merely clicked her tongue.
"Say, don't you also want to know the true reason of why you're here?"
White Queen paused, turned her head back, with a look that was different from what Laurel expected.
"Well, that in itself is also okay. I don't mind the doubt. Rather, that too isn't bad."
Regardless, all that is to be said has been said and will be done.
"At the very least, I believe you've passed. There's no need to go to the extreme, but if you two truly want to continue, knock yourselves out."
Laurel was done watching; there was no need to linger here.
Whichever decision they pick, one way or the other will lead this world to be cut off from the Origin.
In that way, saving every Quasi-Spirit who would be subject to White Queen's tyranny in the future.
With his words, Laurel behind him, a dark vortex opened up, with him turning towards it.
Thanks to Kurumi, he had crossed the dimensional boundary blocking entry here; now, he could pop up here if he wanted.
But before his exit.
"Oh, when you're ready, you know where to reach me from."
Laurel, with a wave, entered the vortex, disappearing from the sight of the two, leaving Kurumi to nod.
Now they were left alone.
A moment of silence passed between them before Kurumi straightened her gaze at White Queen.
"Let's talk, Sawa-san."
"Yes. You took those words out of my mouth."
[Mission Accomplished!]
☆ [Microcosm World Conquered]: [Neighboring World]:
By stopping the death of the future Tyrant of the Neighboring World through loopholes, fuckery, and misuse of power, you have solidified that the world belongs to you.
Although other Quasi-Spirits may reject your rule, you have two beautiful women that would straighten your utilitarian vision.
In addition, don't forget that the world is still connected to the Spirit of Origin, so in order to conquer two worlds with one stone, solve that too.
***
[New Mission Alert]:
☆ [Defeat the Forces of the Third Calamity: Encroaching Darkness]:
- [Encroaching Darkness], a cosmic force that has plagued several different dimensions before, now has set its eyes on you.
It had been banished by an angel from the [Primordial Eleventh World], far disconnected from this world.
While its status and power have been reduced to a Calamity's level, it possesses more power than you currently do.
[Mission objectives]:
☆ [Subdue the Commander of the Legions of Familiar Spirits]: [Mikoku-shinshu].
☆ [Defeat the forces of Mikoku-shinshu]
[New Entry detected]!
[Familiar Spirits]:
- Supernatural entities, often spirits of the dead, that individuals can invoke or communicate with for guidance or to gain knowledge. They possess a spirito-demonic nature, ultimately highly resistant to light-based abilities due to this.
[Time left till invasion]:
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