Ex-Machina on Dimensional Travel

For some reason, Xiu Er suddenly stopped walking.

She looked toward the entrance of an alley behind her, even though there was clearly nothing there.

And according to her scans and investigation, there truly was no one nearby.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, her heart sensed something.

Xiu Er stared in that direction for several minutes.

She trusted her heart's judgment.

And so...

She increased the energy input to the Detector, forcing it into overclock.

This time, Xiu Er finally found something.

First, it was a woman. Second...

Strange. Why couldn't she detect any further information?

Her doubts were answered soon after.

Because a mass of mosaic censoring appeared in Xiu Er's visual system...

At that moment, Xiu Er's mechanical pupils abruptly contracted.

"Mm..."

"Where am I...?"

When Kotori woke again, it was already noon the next day.

She sat up, looking utterly bewildered.

She looked around. The familiar bedroom, familiar furnishings, familiar ceiling, and the familiar sounds of cooking from the kitchen.

"I remember I was fighting the Spirit Hunter..."

Kotori held her forehead, trying to recall what had happened yesterday.

She only remembered that, due to a momentary lapse in judgment, her opponent had seized an opening and ultimately pierced her chest.

Honestly, even with her powerful regenerative ability, the pain of being struck was completely real.

If her chest did not still hurt a little, she would have thought last night's events were just a dream.

But her memories ended the moment the Greatsword pierced her chest. After that, it was as though a download had frozen halfway through; no matter what she did, she could not remember.

So now, she was very curious about how she had gotten back.

Could that Hunter have sent her home?

No, that couldn't be possible... right?

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door, and her brother's voice came from outside.

"Kotori, are you awake? Lunch is ready."

"I'm awake! I'll be right there!"

Kotori hurriedly got dressed, tied on her white ribbon, rushed into the bathroom to wash up, then obediently took a seat at the dining table.

As she ate lunch, she watched Shido.

Kotori felt that something was off.

Shido's expression made it seem as though he knew nothing about what had happened last night.

But if she had not returned on her own last night, then given her brother's personality, he definitely would not have slept before she got home.

As for the possibility that she had defeated the Hunter and returned victorious, Kotori had dismissed it from the start.

So why was Shido pretending not to know anything?

Thinking of that, Kotori gloomily bit down on her chopsticks.

Today was a day off from school, so naturally, Shido was at home.

"Brother..."

"What is it, Kotori?"

It was still that familiar gentleness, but that was not what Kotori was thinking about now.

"How much do you know about last night?"

Though she still wore her white ribbon and was in her obedient little-sister form, the instant she asked that question, a commander's aura radiated from Kotori.

"..."

Upon hearing that.

Shido took a deep breath, stopped what he was doing, and met Kotori's gaze with a serious expression.

"Everything."

The Days of Opening Teleportation Gates Everywhere Were Over

This was a monotonous world of only black and white, devoid of anything else. As far as the eye could see, there was only a tree standing in the center of the world. Part of its trunk had split open, forming something like the figure of a young girl.

Other than that, there was nothing but desolation.

The Neighboring World.

It had originally been an ability released by one of the Origin Spirit's Angels, the Angel of Law, Ain Soph.

A powerful effect that rewrote the real world into the Neighboring World.

The Dimensional Device could still be used, but Xiu Er was unwilling to leave just yet.

Within this world, every rule could be altered. In other words, here, the Origin Spirit was a god who ruled over everything.

The only way to counter it was to have the Origin Spirit's spiritual power attached to oneself, granting immunity to such unreasonable alterations.

And Xiu Er happened to be capable of that.

"Host application detected. Energy conversion beginning..."

"Conversion complete. Five percent of energy has been converted into the target Origin Spirit's spiritual power."

Dimensional Energy was what the system had used to replace Xiu Er's original energy source when it integrated with and modified her body.

It was the sole energy source designated for the Dimensional Device, possessing the characteristics of containing all forms of energy and converting into any other form of energy.

Thus, Xiu Er obtained the Origin Spirit's spiritual power in this manner, rendering herself immune to Ain Soph's effects.

At that moment, countless branches flew in from every direction in the distance, each with a sharp tip like a sword.

They shot toward Xiu Er.

Faced with such an attack, Xiu Er deployed her defenses.

"—Codex Opening—No Passage—"

A golden shield instantly blocked the omnidirectional assault rushing toward Xiu Er.

Anaph. This was an advanced skill of Ain Soph, capable of ignoring effects influenced by the Origin Spirit's spiritual power.

While blocking the Anaphs, Xiu Er's detection radar discovered energy signatures hidden among them.

Xiu Er saw Bud Spheres the size of palms...

Boom!!!

As the spheres struck Xiu Er's shield and exploded, pollen-like particles of light scattered in every direction.

She could not touch that pollen!

When the pollen landed on the shield, Xiu Er clearly sensed that its energy consumption had increased drastically.

Understanding the situation at once, she immediately withdrew from that area at her fastest speed.

—Codex Opening—Speed Violation—

—Codex Opening—Aleph—

Raising her speed to its maximum, Xiu Er became a golden streak of light, weaving back and forth through the enemy's rain of swords.

Fortunately, although she had been trapped in the Neighboring World, the Dimensional Energy supplied by the world had not run dry and continued flowing into Xiu Er without end.

As a result, such extravagant high-output weapon usage had no effect on her.

On the detection radar, no matter where Xiu Er flew, she could not find the enemy's position.

Tch, since she can't alter me, did she just alter the world to hide herself?

What a pain.

However, though Xiu Er looked as though she was desperately evading the enemy's unceasing attacks—

Her analysis of the Neighboring World had not fallen behind in the slightest.

For example, right now.

"Analysis complete."

"—Codex Opening—Pseudo-Codex—Ain Soph—"

As Xiu Er activated the incomplete Angel of Law she had just copied.

At that moment, invisible ripples spread outward from Xiu Er as their center.

They only barely stopped after sweeping across one kilometer, and every branch and bud struck by the shockwave vanished the next second.

Through the Ain Soph she had analyzed and copied, Xiu Er temporarily seized a small portion of control over the world from her opponent.

The world finally fell silent.

Only after all the attacks disappeared did Xiu Er come to an abrupt stop.

"You truly are an unstable variable."

A voice that was impossible to describe, like static, appeared within this world.

The person who had dragged Xiu Er into the Neighboring World earlier appeared once again.

That mosaic censoring she had seen only minutes ago entered Xiu Er's field of vision once more.

Honestly, seeing a walking mass of mosaic censoring in the real world was rather bizarre.

It was as though some kind of cognitive filter or cognition-blocking buff had been applied.

Though the other party had not revealed her appearance, Xiu Er had already identified her.

The Origin Spirit, Mio.

After Shido revealed everything, Kotori learned that Kannazuki and the others had ignored her wishes and told Shido the truth.

Though she was somewhat unhappy about it, they had only been worried about her, so Kotori could not say much. She could only forgive their presumptuous decision.

Since her seal had been damaged during her earlier battle with the Spirit Hunter, Kotori immediately made a decision.

"Since you already know I'm a Spirit, then you naturally know what you should do, right?"

"What should I do?"

Caught off guard by Kotori's sudden question, Shido did not understand what his sister meant for a moment.

Seeing Shido like that, Kotori's anger flared up.