Ex-Machina on a Dimensional Journey

Mukuro had gained a different understanding of this new machine.

She could sense that this mechanical girl was different from the previous one. The last had surpassed her in both speed and strength, while this one, though still beyond her ability to match, was far inferior to the last.

Yet the shield before her was terrifyingly sturdy.

No matter how Mukuro attacked, the other girl's shield blocked it with perfect precision.

But for some reason, the other girl only defended and never launched a counterattack.

Throughout it all, her golden mechanical eyes continued to emit light, just like the previous unit's.

Mukuro knew nothing of this, nor did she have time to think about it.

Since a frontal assault could not break through...

She attacked Xiu Er once more, and just as she expected, Xiu Er deployed her shield in that direction.

"Michael, Lataib!"

As Lataib's power was released, a black opening suddenly appeared behind Xiu Er, on the opposite side of where she had deployed her shield. A long halberd identical to Michael shot out from within and struck Xiu Er's unprotected back.

"Data collection complete. Analysis complete. Mission... complete..."

After saying that, Xiu Er's body instantly disintegrated into countless golden particles of light.

Seeing that familiar sight, Mukuro immediately became vigilant.

This one was fake too?!

She looked around in bewilderment, trying to find the enemy who might be waiting for her to lower her guard before launching a sneak attack. Yet no matter how hard she searched, she found no trace of any mechanical girl.

Meanwhile—

In a house somewhere far away on Earth, a girl with blue-purple hair suddenly raised her head and looked toward the sky outside the window.

A strange light gleamed in her golden eyes...

Waiting for the Rabbit

Got her!

At that moment, Xiu Er knew that his plan had succeeded.

Zafkiel: Het.

Its ability was to summon versions of himself from different points in time, and every one of those summoned was a Doppelganger weaker than the original.

However, Xiu Er's Het differed from Kurumi's.

The Doppelgangers he summoned did not possess independent consciousness like Kurumi's did. They were nothing more than hollow puppets with only basic intelligence.

He could act as their central processor, linking all of the Doppelgangers together and issuing them commands, much like the Ex-Machina from the original work.

Unlike the true Ex-Machina, whose members possessed their own thoughts no matter what, Xiu Er's Doppelgangers were truly mindless machines that could only serve as tools.

As mentioned before, they possessed basic intelligence, so they could receive Xiu Er's commands and complete tasks.

That was a good thing.

If they truly possessed independent consciousness like Kurumi's, Xiu Er would have to worry about them turning against their creator.

Xiu Er's Doppelgangers did share something in common with Kurumi's.

They were weaker than the original and could not use the original's abilities.

Kurumi's Doppelgangers did not have Zafkiel, while Xiu Er's Doppelgangers, despite retaining all of their chassis functions, could only use one armament at a time.

Simply put, unlike Xiu Er, who could summon all Angels at once, each Doppelganger could only use one Angel.

But that was not much of a problem. There was more than one Doppelganger.

Just imagine every Doppelganger holding a El Kanaph, then charging up and unleashing a simultaneous barrage of arrows.

However, because the summoned Doppelgangers needed Xiu Er's connection in order to act, they placed strict demands on his processing power.

Put bluntly, they took up memory, and not a small amount at that.

Xiu Er normally did not use this method often. This battle against Mukuro had merely been a cautious choice on his part.

Through the data and images shared by his Doppelgangers, Xiu Er easily completed the analysis and replication of Mukuro's Angel from Earth.

After finishing the replication, Xiu Er also understood exactly what his Pseudo-Codex: Michael could do.

None of its original abilities had been lost. Segva, Shifuru, and Lataib had all been retained.

Among the Angels he had copied so far, only Nia's Codex of the Whispers had suffered the greatest loss.

Thinking of that, Xiu Er only wanted to say one thing: Old lady, your Angel is the most useless!

And now, he had collected the Angels of nine of the ten Spirits. Only the last Angel remained.

Origami Tobiichi.

The final girl to become a Spirit in the original work.

At present, there was still quite some time before Origami became a Spirit.

And as he had said before, if there was a way, Xiu Er would never simply wait.

Besides, Mio had set her sights on him now.

Then, in order to collect Origami's Angel, Metatron, as soon as possible, there was only one way.

"So you came to me?"

Nia looked at the girl sitting in the living room watching television, her tone carrying a hint of confusion.

Earlier, she had no idea what was happening. A golden Teleportation Gate had suddenly opened in her living room, and that familiar mechanical girl had appeared inside.

To explain beforehand, after Xiu Er had rescued her, Nia had learned some things through Codex of the Whispers.

This world contained an organization that intended to help Spirits, and after using her ability to confirm the threat, she had gone straight to Shido's door without another word.

After introductions and a few small tests, they had confirmed that Nia was indeed a Spirit.

Her purpose had been to freeload in the Spirit Apartment built by Ratatoskr.

This house was inside the Spirit Apartment.

And when using his Doppelgangers, Xiu Er had hidden in Nia's home.

After Xiu Er explained the situation to Nia, she did not object and simply allowed her inside.

In truth, even without a reason, Nia would not have refused a request from Xiu Er, who had saved her life.

"I understand the situation, but I don't have the ability to help you."

Yes, after learning that Xiu Er was hiding here because the Origin Spirit had targeted her, Nia had considered helping her.

But when she used her Angel to investigate the Origin Spirit, she unexpectedly discovered that her Codex of the Whispers had malfunctioned.

Xiu Er naturally understood why it had malfunctioned, and her purpose in coming to Nia was not to rely on her to uncover the Origin Spirit's true identity.

Because she already knew it. She simply had not told Nia about it.

"You'll know soon enough."

Xiu Er gave Nia only a brief reply before falling silent once more.

What exactly was it?

Nia could have used her ability to look up the answer directly, but she felt that would be no fun.

So she did not even draw in her notebook, choosing instead to accompany Xiu Er and see what she intended to do.

And so, after waiting for who knew how long...

"She's here."

"Huh? What's here?"

While Nia was idly using Codex of the Whispers to look up information, Xiu Er, who had been silent beside her, suddenly said something incomprehensible.

A patch of shadow suddenly gathered around them and moved before Nia.

Faced with the sudden incident, Nia, who had no combat ability to speak of, immediately hid behind Xiu Er.

Then, a black-haired twin-tailed girl dressed in black-and-red Gothic clothing emerged from the shadow on the floor.

Her eyes were closed, and that unchanging smile rested upon her face.

"Sister Nia Honjou, I need your hel—"

As she voiced the purpose of her visit, the girl slowly opened her eyes.

Then she saw Nia, who was staring at her warily, and...

The blue-purple haired girl standing before Nia, whose appearance was extremely familiar.

The girl stared at her expressionlessly, but Kurumi could see the gaze of someone who had spotted prey in her eyes.

"Hello."

The girl before Nia spoke.

"I happen to need your help as well."

!!!

Kurumi recognized the girl at once.

That familiar feeling could not be mistaken. It was...!

Just as the thought of fleeing arose in Kurumi's mind, a gust of wind suddenly swept through the living room.

Moving so fast that no one present could see her clearly, Xiu Er arrived before Kurumi.

A small key had somehow appeared in her hand, its tip already inserted into Kurumi's chest.

Xiu Er gave it a gentle twist, followed by the sound of something locking shut.

"-Codex Opening-Pseudo-Codex-Michael: Close-"

Pseudo-Codex: Michael.

It was the Angel Xiu Er had just acquired, and now, to prevent Kurumi from escaping, she used Segva to seal Kurumi's abilities...

In the World of the Future

Spiritual power. She could not feel her spiritual power anymore.

Kurumi discovered that when Xiu Er inserted a key edged in gold into her chest, her abilities became unusable.

Her spiritual power also felt as though it had been locked inside a container.

She stared in terror at those incomparably familiar mechanical eyes. They were the nightmare she had faced not long ago.

"What are you trying to—"

Before she could finish, Xiu Er covered her mouth.

"Quiet. It'll be over soon. It won't hurt."

Hearing that demonic whisper, Kurumi immediately looked toward Nia as she realized that something terrible was likely about to happen to her.

What is wrong with you? Why is the Spirit Hunter here? What is your relationship? Why are you just standing there watching?!

Kurumi had countless questions she wanted to seize Nia and demand answers to. At this moment, she did not care why Xiu Er spoke like a human.

What a joke. Her opponent could already disguise herself as a human. Could she not simulate emotions and human speech as well?

Xiu Er did not give Kurumi any more time to think.

The device on top of her head unfolded slightly.