A Ex-Machina Traveling Through Dimensions

But this time, facing Xiu Er's attack, Kotori did not choose to defend. Instead, she took it head-on and launched an even fiercer assault than before.

Ignoring the growing number of wounds on her body, she focused solely on gripping her weapon and endlessly swinging the flaming battle axe at Xiu Er.

Her fighting style had changed.

The berserk Kotori no longer had any concept of defense. Right now, all she wanted was to smash her weapon into the mechanical body before her.

She no longer cared about the injuries she might suffer.

It was completely a fighting style of trading wound for wound.

But for Kotori, who possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities, it was indeed a viable method.

To be honest, if she continued in this state of mind, the only way to end this was probably to exhaust all her spiritual power.

"-Codex Opening-No Passage-"

The descending battle axe was ultimately blocked by a golden shield, producing a teeth-grinding screech.

Rustle...

The ground beneath Xiu Er's feet began to show signs of freezing.

Then, starting from the tip of his right foot, enormous ice spread outward. Countless ice crystals instantly covered everything in front of Xiu Er, including Kotori and beyond.

The originally scorching sea of red flames froze in an instant, the fire sealed within the ice crystals. At that moment, Xiu Er's surroundings had become a silver-white kingdom of ice.

Crack.

Cracks began to appear in the ice crystal encasing Kotori, followed by heat pouring out from within.

"-Codex Opening-Pseudo-Codex-..."

Kotori melted the ice sealing her from the inside and broke free, but before she could react, she was struck by a familiar weapon and sent flying.

Great Flame of Destruction—a disproportionately massive red battle axe—was now held in Xiu Er's hand. Unlike Kotori's, the battle axe in Xiu Er's hand also possessed golden patterned trim.

In truth, his analysis of Kotori had been completed long before she went berserk.

Xiu Er had not needed to spend so much time fighting her. He could have simply walked away.

It was merely his own insistence.

He had caused this matter, and Kotori's rampage had likewise resulted from him.

The reason he always led his targets to uninhabited areas to fight was to avoid harming innocents, and after every battle, he would send the other party back.

Kotori could not be sent back in this state, so he could only knock her unconscious first.

But there was another solution.

When he had first approached Kotori, Xiu Er had discovered that she was carrying a tracking device.

For certain reasons, and based on conclusions he had calculated, he had chosen to let it continue functioning on Kotori.

But under the current circumstances, the moment Kotori fought him, the tracker had been destroyed. The good news was that Xiu Er had taken the time to scan it and found that the data had still been transmitted intact.

"-Codex Opening-Speed Violation-"

Golden particles scattered from all over Xiu Er's body.

He raised the battle axe longer than his own body and, in an instant, sprinted before Kotori, who had just landed, swinging it down at her.

Leaping high into the air, he gripped the handle with both hands, raised the battle axe overhead, and chopped down toward Kotori.

Eat my Noxian Guillotine!

BOOM!!!

That night, Shido had not gone to sleep as usual.

Because his younger sister Kotori had still not returned home.

Based on past experience, Kotori should have been home by now. So why—

There was still no news from her. She would not answer her phone or reply to his messages.

Had something happened?

Had she run into thugs on the way?

No, that was not right. Couldn't she teleport straight home?

Could it be that she had more work today?

But surely she would not be working overtime until now?

Shido sat on the living room sofa, his face full of anxiety. He considered countless possibilities, but none of them could convince him.

Just then, his phone rang.

He hurriedly picked it up to check, but unfortunately, it was not the number he had hoped to see.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"It's me, Kyouhei Kannazuki."

"It's you. I wanted to ask, is Kotori still on the Fraxinus? Why hasn't she come back yet?"

Upon hearing it was someone he knew, Shido hurriedly voiced his doubts.

Unfortunately, the answer he received was not what he had hoped for.

"I'm calling you precisely because of the Commander. Come to the ship so we can talk face-to-face."

With that, Kannazuki hung up.

Shido stared at his phone. He had no idea why Kannazuki wanted to see him so late at night, but since it was related to Kotori, he had to go.

After arriving aboard the Fraxinus, Kannazuki and Reine explained the full story to Shido, and he finally understood why Kotori had not returned home that night.

Although Shido had been somewhat at a loss upon learning that Kotori was also a Spirit, the news that "Kotori had gone alone to face the Spirit Hunter" struck him like a bolt from the blue.

Shido immediately wanted Kannazuki and the others to take him to find Kotori.

The good news was that Reine had possessed the foresight to place a tracking device on Kotori without her knowledge.

According to the system, Kotori had teleported to somewhere near home, then headed away from it. After that, she suddenly stopped, then suddenly disappeared. Immediately afterward, the tracker appeared at a location over the ocean.

The people aboard the Fraxinus quickly located Kotori and sailed the ship to that place.

And the timing happened to be the exact moment Xiu Er used the "Luxas Guillotine" on Kotori.

The Unexpected Person

The massive battle axe struck Kotori solidly.

Because Xiu Er had held back, nothing like splitting her in two occurred.

Knocked down by the tremendous force and left lying flat on the ground, Kotori could only glare at him angrily.

The axe blade had sunk deeply into Kotori's shoulder blade, making her unable to grip her weapon tightly.

Clang...

Great Flame of Destruction fell to the ground.

Dark blue healing flames covered most of Kotori's body.

At that moment, Xiu Er observed that her recovery speed had slowed.

Is she almost out of spiritual power?

Xiu Er let out a relieved breath in his heart.

Kotori was now at the end of her rope, and with her spiritual power running low, she had gradually regained some of her reason.

"Urgh... ah..."

But she had not regained much...

Her originally delicate face had gained many wounds from the battle. Fortunately, after some time, she would be able to recover them on her own.

Pulling out the battle axe, Xiu Er scanned Kotori's body once again.

The truth was exactly as he had expected.

Then this duel should come to an end.

Xiu Er looked over the battlefield destroyed by their fight. Honestly, the flames frozen in ice looked rather spectacular.

The vegetation had long since been burned clean by Kotori's flames. Now, only rocks of all shapes and sizes remained scattered across the ground.

Turning his head, he looked toward the sky again in an uncharacteristic manner.

There was a cloaked ship at that location—the Fraxinus, which had just arrived.

Having confirmed who had come, it was indeed time, according to the plan.

Xiu Er withdrew his armaments, pulled the battle axe from Kotori's body, and crouched beside her head.

Part of the device on his head suddenly unfolded. It was an attachment of the Gabriel.

Xiu Er spoke in a voice only Kotori could hear.

"Please get some good sleep."

Having squandered a vast amount of spiritual power, Kotori, now heavily damaged, could no longer resist the magic of that voice.

Xiu Er's words entered her ears, and after speaking, he covered her eyes with his hand.

Under the effects of Gabriel's ability, Kotori's breathing soon stabilized.

The spiritual power raging within her also calmed down.

Huff... huff...

Within mere seconds, she fell into a deep sleep.

Well, judging by that expression, it did not seem like a pleasant dream.

After confirming that Kotori had lost consciousness, Xiu Er did not linger.

This time, he did not choose to take Kotori back.

Because just moments ago, his Bio Detector had scanned Itsuka Shido, who had been teleported down.

Shido was currently hiding behind a rock, secretly watching every movement here.

He had not impulsively rushed out to stop him this time?

It seemed that this time, he had learned to think things through properly.

Just as he did after every battle with a Spirit, Xiu Er used a Space Gate to leave the place.

Only after confirming that Xiu Er had truly left did Shido run out from behind his cover and rush to Kotori's side...

Everything was as usual. After leaving the isolated island far from civilization, Xiu Er returned once more to the bustling city according to his original destination coordinates.

Only now, it was already three in the morning.

At this hour, aside from hardcore gamers pulling all-nighters and office workers doing overtime, there were probably not many people still awake.

He strolled along the quiet streets.

Darkness could not affect him in any way. It was only natural for a Ex-Machina' eyes to possess night vision, right?

Great Flame of Destruction had been completely analyzed by him. Although Kotori had not used its "cannon" form during their earlier battle, Xiu Er had still copied both of its forms.

Hm?