"Of all people… "
It wasn't out of fear, or the fact that he outclassed them. Ayame simply had that foreboding. Nothing would end if he's here.
Their battle will continue under his palm, without any of them dying.
At such a future prospect, she was supposed to be happy. Yet, far from it.
She wasn't happy in the slightest, nor did she feel any goodwill toward Singularity.
Yet, at the same time, she felt no ill will toward him. Rather, she couldn't bring herself to.
He was the type who didn't conform to common sense, which she had thrown out the window regarding him during the initial explosion that swallowed the main building.
"Tokisaki… Ikari… So, it has come to that, huh? Though I'd like to avoid a fight with you this early."
Ayame's voice was meaningful, as though she had caught onto something.
However, in contrast to her, Isami had a completely different expression.
"Hah! I guess you'll also—!"
"Don't be stupid. You'll die."
"HAH!?"
Isami looked over at Ayame, clearly bewildered.
However, Ayame said nothing, only squarely keeping her focus on Ikari. And then,
"Isami! Watch out!"
A brief movement. Ayame saw it.
Ikari tensed his legs, and with a burst of speed and flames, he grazed Isami, who narrowly avoided his attack.
"Woah! I almost died there!"
If it weren't for Ayame's split-second call and fast reactions, coupled with her domain of omnipotence—reiryoukuken, she would undoubtedly be gone by now.
Jumping away from the spot Ikari had just passed, she let out a wry laugh.
"Okay. He might cause us a little trouble."
Isami didn't rephrase his words quite well. He wouldn't cause a little trouble, he would cause them massive trouble, Ayame thought.
However, she would also use this time to slip away.
But then—
"Hm?"
Ayame suddenly looked up from the rooftop she perched on. And surely enough, "I can't escape..." A beam of fiery light descended from the sky.
BOOM!
The fiery pillar of light struck where Ayame was, and Isami was too occupied to even notice Ayame.
Rather, Isami knew such worries were unfounded in the first place even though, honestly, she did feel a little angry.
"Oi, oi. He's completely serious, isn't he?"
Isami nervously chuckled as she barely dodged another attack.
While she wasn't the brightest, she was quite intuitive. And she didn't miss it.
If she were to explain it…
"Oi! Why're you in such a rush?"
Isami added that, while dodging another attack from the male, she could now surely keep up with his movements.
"Tsk!"
Ikari let out a sound as though annoyed, but in that brief moment, a thin line grazed him, which he avoided in time as the thin golden line lodged itself in the ground.
Both knew who it was. There was no need to pay her extra attention; they also knew she wouldn't be taken down by that level of attack, afterall.
Still, her attack… It worked.
Like this. They could press him. Realizing that, "Heh! It's no longer a pipe dream; we can take him down!"
Enthusiastically, Isami shouted that, lunging at him. Ayame, who had avoided Ikari's attack, had found another hiding spot to support Isami from.
Yet… Easier said than that….
"Consume."
Isami, who had already breached Ikari's area of omnipotence, about a few centimeters away from connecting a sword to his heart, suddenly noticed something amiss.
Rather than amiss. The situation simply felt wrong.
Why, all of a sudden, was the temperature getting hotter? No, she knew the answer.
"Crap–!"
BOOM—!
What followed was a resounding explosion that spread a few meters.
Perhaps, having thought better of it, he decided that he couldn't just willy-nilly blow up the buildings around him, so he limited the range.
Yet, despite its limited range, it still had firepower strong enough to fatally harm a Quasi-Spirit.
But then…
"It didn't connect."
Slowly, as the smoke cleared, Ikari directed his gaze towards the front and let out a somewhat tired sigh.
"As expected, you, among others, have been keeping a closer eye on me. No, Ms. Sagakure Yui?"
At some point, he parted ways with Empty and went on his own to quickly end the war.
However, he felt that someone had been spying on him, but he could not locate them.
So long as they weren't within his boundary of omnipotence, he couldn't sense them.
Rather, their
Ikari had deduced the
A seventh type, huh? Seems like the worst matchup for me, Ikari thought.
"Sorry. But not yet. It's not time yet."
Sagakure Yui, who had appeared once more, undoing her camouflage, looked at Ikari before disappearing again, leaving the place empty.
Realizing the futility of it all, Ikari let out a frustrated sigh, going towards the gymnasium and leaning against its walls.
CRACK–!
'What am I even doing?'
Yes. To become the Dominion of the Tenth Region. Why? To advance to other regions.
And why's that? To return to the living world. To them.
'For that, I will do everything to reach that goal, even if it means…'
CRACK–!
'.....'
…
Sagakure Yui was a kunoichi. She did not remember what she was like in the other world.
However, her role in this world was clear: to collect information and send it to the Princess, acting as her sword and hands and feet.
This was the meaning of her existence, and her sole joy.
Well, perhaps she was a kunoichi on the other side as well.
Or perhaps she was a corporate slave by nature.
What a life, to be a corporate slave already by high school age.
Even if headstrong, frivolous, playful, and unpredictable, there was no other Quasi-Spirit suitable for the name "Princess."
That strength and beauty were unmistakably genuine.
The problem with the Dominion of the Tenth Region, Malkuth, the Doll Master, was that she never showed her appearance, always participating using a doll as a proxy, even during discussions between Dominions.
"Isn't that something you can do? So, investigate the true identity of that doll."
The princess's orders were absolute, and it was only natural to risk her life for them.
Because she was a kunoichi, she did not obsess over victory in battle.
Although she had decided to participate in the killing, she planned to run away at the appropriate time.
The escape route was already established.
She intended to escape.. However,
"Inverse Spirit, Tokisaki Ikari. Angel
That all shattered when he was introduced.
Firstly,
There are ten regions in the neighboring world. Some areas are unseen; others are where many Quasi-Spirits gather.
While some areas are devoted to fighting, others have Dominions that conclude alliances and never fight.
In the tenth region, Malkuth, strength is the ability to survive a battle.
Therefore, rumors of various quasi-spirits would circulate.
But then, she did not foresee the existence of a Quasi-Spirit, if he could in fact be called one, who outclassed every spirit in the Tenth Region.
[Cardinal Acceleration].
Unavoidable, unblockable.
She had been very near when he used that move, and it would not have ended well for her if she hadn't gotten away the moment her instinct warned her to.
What's more, thanks to her
Now, her priorities have changed from her initial goal of spying on the Tenth Region to observing him.
It wasn't under the "Princess's" orders, but rather, his own. However, now…
"Hahaha. I thought I'd die!"
Isami let out a loud laugh, then was silenced by two glares from Yui and Ayame.
Currently, they were inside one of the laboratories in the extracurricular building, which housed club rooms, laboratories, and the like.
"...You, why did you help us?"
Ayame asked that.
Since the goal was "killing each other", and Ikari was doing just that, it would make no sense why Yui would go out of her way to save them.
But Yui has her purpose for doing this.
She wasn't half-assing her job.
"To observe him a little longer."
Of course, it wasn't a fully rational choice. But here is her deduction.
She knew he was aiming for dominion. However, his actions have been different, to say the least.
Take Doll Master, for example. She doesn't care about the lives of other quasi-spirits.
No one would willingly go the extra mile for someone they had never met before, especially in a hellish place like the Neighboring world.
One must know that before this place became the wrecked place it is, before now, it was immensely populated by spirits until they all left after saying, "We've fallen in love, so we'll now leave."
And that is what started all of this in the first place.
But leaving that aside, his actions alone deemed him dangerous.
At first glance, it may seem like a good thing; however, at the same time, he seemed to be the type who would eventually choose his goal above all.
"Currently, we are not in the way of his goal. At least, if you consider it differently. We are only a means to that goal, I assume."
"....What do you mean?"
Much to Isami's loss in their conversation, Ayame asked.
"His goal is probably to reach the other Dominions. To that end, he doesn't even see us as a threat. I suspect there's also a reason why he spared Nogi-san."
It was true.
He had quite proclaimed it himself. And the only reason someone would want to be a Dominion would be one of two.
One, as the name implies: they want Dominion over the Tenth Region: Malkuth.
However, two would be access to other regions, as traveling to other regions is now more difficult than in the past.
"...Don't tell me..."
"His goal may be 'that'—to return to the real world."
Silence stretched between them. Though it was a speculated opinion among them, it felt like they had speculated correctly.
It was then—
"Aha! So that's why he looked like he was in a rush!"
Isami said that nonchalantly, her fist hitting the palm of her other hand in understanding.
"...I see. Interesting. If Sagakure-san's and Isami's speculations are correct, then we can assume that his powers have some sort of drawback…hence why he's in a rush."
Putting it like that did begin to make sense.
"Which brings up the question: What do we do?"
Ayame said that.
They could do this two ways. But either way would end badly for both of them. In the sense of "killing each other", they could do it the first way.
Rallying the rest to stall until he breaks.
Or he becomes dominant.
But then, what about those who had resolved themselves to this game? At the very least, Isami didn't seem bothered by this.
"Heh! I don't care! Even if I fight Ayame to the death, or make him become Dominion, either way I'll still get to fight Ayame!"
"And even if we don't fight, just being near Ayame is enough!"
Such a straightforward answer. As expected. Only someone like Isami could say such a thing so brashly.
'....'
Ayame, on the other hand, fell silent, thinking…
Yui, on the other hand, need not poll her own decision. Whatever the outcome, it was fine for her as long as she survived.
Dropping out of the game was also possible, as she had already decided that if the game became too dangerous, she would drop out.
Be it putting Ikari on the throne or stalling him, it makes no difference to her.
Just then, as the silence stretched a little longer between them, the laboratory door slid open as a figure entered.
"Say… why don't you two help him to become the future ruler of the neighboring world?"
"Hm? What....? Wait… it's you!"