(Heartfelt thanks to 'Akaya. Mona', 'Maple Shadow Yue', and 'Yunqi Qinggu' for their rewards!)
Looking at Natsuoto, who had appeared before him, Yaze Kensei's restless heart inexplicably calmed down.
His composed expression returned to Yaze Kensei's face, his eyes behind his glasses fixed on Natsuoto.
"Why...?" As though unable to understand, Yaze Kensei gritted his teeth as he looked at Natsuoto, his voice carrying an indescribable emotion. "Why can Natsuoto still regain her sense of self...?"
The evolution of an 'Artificial Angel' could be divided into eight stages!
Whenever an 'Artificial Angel' devoured the spiritual core of one of her own kind during the ritual, she would evolve and advance by one stage.
If an 'Artificial Angel' devoured the spiritual cores of the other six Artificial Angels besides herself, she would reach the seventh stage.
An 'Artificial Angel' at the seventh stage would also be the final artificial angel. Once she completely fused the seven spiritual cores within her body and reached the eighth and final stage, she could evolve into a true angel and, after battle, 'ascend' and vanish...
Natsuoto had already devoured seven spiritual cores. She was a seventh-stage 'Artificial Angel.' An Artificial Angel at this stage was the closest thing to an angel, only one step away from evolving into one—and angels had no sense of self.
Logically, Natsuoto should have lost all consciousness upon reaching the seventh stage. Even if she had not lost it all, there should have been very little left—certainly not enough to support movement.
Yet the Natsuoto before him was clearly exactly the same as she usually was!
"Could the Spirit Evolution Formula have been destroyed...?" Yaze Kensei took a remote control from his pocket and stared fixedly at the indicator light still glowing on it. "No! I can still sense the