Chapter 351 - 4: Might Makes Right

Chapter 351: Chapter 4: Might Makes Right

Hearing, without warning, the voice she had not heard since Yimi disappeared a month ago, Shiori thought for a moment that she was hallucinating.

The hatred she had sensed when meeting Origami was many times stronger than when Origami had once mistaken Kotori for her enemy. Beyond that, the emptiness of someone who had truly severed every connection to society and possessed nothing at all had not been an act.

The bomb that had triggered everything was sealed inside the barrier, while the fuse that should have burned away had reappeared behind Shiori without the slightest warning.

"Yimi? Why? You’re not dead?" Shiori reached toward the side of her face.

"Am I supposed to be dead?" Yimi kept her hands tucked in and stepped back in confusion, avoiding Shiori’s touch.

Had this been the middle of an attempt to win someone over, Kotori would probably have screamed at Shiori for lowering the target’s affection rating.

Had she truly succeeded in changing the past? Shiori did not understand. She wanted to hold the little girl tightly and reassure herself that Yimi was truly alive, but the situation did not allow it.

"Yimi, get far away from here."

The power of the Astral Dress had passed to Origami, and Yimi’s return to life made Shiori incredibly happy. But she could not let the child become involved now.

Kotori and the others were trapped inside. Their exact condition was unclear, but since the barrier had not vanished, at least one of them had to still be fighting.

Unable to confirm casualties, Shiori was frantic. Kotori had personally descended because Mio, who knew all their methods, had used Ain Soph Aur to launch an enormous long-range attack that disabled Fraxinus.

In other words, even if those inside could not break through, the people outside currently possessed no high-powered attack capable of destroying the barrier.

"Is Origami inside?" Although Yimi had always called Origami by a nickname, she had properly remembered her real name.

...

"Reine, was everything that happened since we met a lie? Did you arrange it all deliberately?!"

Electric arcs whirled around the heavy axe in Kotori’s hands. Within Ein Sof, where their powers were suppressed to a considerable degree, this one technique alone retained its original strength.

Kotori and Reine had known each other for a very long time—though naturally not longer than Reine had known Takamiya Shinji, Shiori’s previous incarnation. Kotori’s actual age had never been falsified.

They had probably become friends before Kotori was even a commander. Reine had always been the person she trusted most. Thus, even after Shiori prepared her mentally, seeing the truth firsthand made Kotori feel as though Reine were a stranger.

Takamiya Mio repeated what she had just told Kurumi. "I hold sincere affection and love for every child who was sacrificed."

"Sacrificed? I see. In your eyes, every one of us was always a sacrifice."

There was nothing left to discuss. Continuing would only add more weight to Kotori’s already heavy heart.

Because Mio’s identity had been exposed midway through the plan, she had not yet devised a backup. That was also why she had not killed any of the Spirits immediately.

She cast a mildly reproachful glance at Origami, whose spirit power was exhausted. Whether this time or the previous incident with the First Spirit, Origami was always a troublesome, disobedient child.

Had only the Spirits learned the truth, Mio could have killed and replaced them. But Little Shiori knew too, so she would certainly refuse to cooperate with sealing any more Spirits.

"Reine... I don’t understand." Besides Kotori, Tohka was also unrestricted inside this domain.

Unlike the other Spirits, who had once been human, Tohka was a true Spirit born directly from a Sephira Crystal. Perhaps that was part of the reason.

Origami looked at Kurumi without expressing what she wanted, yet Kurumi understood immediately.

Use the Twelfth Bullet to return to the past and prevent this situation from ever occurring.

Tokisaki Kurumi was somewhat speechless. The time she had accumulated was nowhere near enough to travel too far back. She certainly could not return to a point before meeting Mio.

Takamiya Mio had begun distributing Sephira Crystals decades ago. Her current strength had surely been established even earlier. Traveling back could only alter this immediate confrontation and allow Shiori to attempt sealing Mio.

But weren’t you the one who opened with your ultimate attack at point-blank range? Do you think I’m your reload button?

Kurumi definitely could not do it from inside the barrier. This place was equivalent to Mio’s own world, where even the laws were dictated by her. If Mio forbade flight, then nothing inside Ein Sof could fly.

"Henet."

While everyone was absorbed in their own thoughts, a palm-sized spherical bud bloomed. This time, Takamiya Mio had truly decided to restart everything by erasing them on the spot.

There would be no more opportunities for Kurumi to seize an opening.

Tokisaki Kurumi did not load the Twelfth Bullet. She loaded the Sixth.

The Sixth Bullet sent its target’s consciousness into their past self’s body, though naturally not as far back as the Twelfth Bullet could.

Yet the Twelfth Bullet would return its user to the present once its stored spirit power ran out, and Shiori had already proven that changing the past with it was extraordinarily difficult. The Sixth Bullet, by contrast, could truly leave its target in that era and genuinely alter history.

Tokisaki Kurumi pointed the gun at herself. The conspicuous movement naturally caught Mio’s attention, and Mio raised a hand to stop her directly.

"Crack—"

A faint beam of light shone through from outside.

Takamiya Mio turned toward it in confusion. Tiny cracks spread densely outward from a single point. Before even a fragment could fall, the entire barrier collapsed.

Ein Sof’s perfectly flat ground transformed back into the ruins of the school building Origami had blasted apart. The uneven debris made Tokisaki Kurumi twist an ankle in a ridiculous pose.

Kurumi’s lips parted slightly as she watched the muzzle veer aside and the shot hit Origami.

Origami gave her a puzzled look. She felt no temporal effect at all. Apparently, Ein Sof had exerted one final influence in the instant of collapse and turned the shot into a dud.

"It’s open?"

Shiori had no time to be surprised. Using the tiny amount of spirit power she had barely recovered, she flew in from a kilometer beyond the barrier’s edge and hurriedly counted everyone.

Yuzuru, Natsumi, and Miku were badly injured, but none of their wounds were life-threatening.

With a complicated expression, Shiori approached the girl who looked utterly different from the person in her memories. "Reine, let’s talk."

"Little Shiori."

For the moment, Mio ignored how the barrier had been broken. She flew toward Shiori, intending to restore Takamiya Shinji’s memories within her.

"Muda!"

But the little cat who had smashed the barrier apart thought, Screw talking. The World drove a fist without the slightest mercy into Takamiya Mio’s beautiful face, sending her flying twenty meters.

"Congratulations, Host. Achievement unlocked: [Might Makes Right: The World Is Itching for a Fight]. Reward: five percent portal energy."

After an entire world without one, the System finally issued another achievement.

Yimi walked among the Spirits. Compared with her short hair and baseball cap the last time she had come here, the little cat now looked much more like a girl, wearing a black-and-white dress and a witch’s hat, with her hair now grown long.

Yet despite looking like a little witch from a fairy tale, she dragged a long spear wildly disproportionate to her height across the ground and stared at Takamiya Mio, whom she had just sent flying.

"GunGun?"