Ex-Machina in Dimensional Travel Chapter 8

The hairpin changed in the next instant, and a key appeared in Xiu Er's hand.

Click.

The door opened.

After putting the Fake Demoness, which had reverted to a hairpin, back in its place, Xiu Er entered Kurumi's house and closed the door behind him.

Only after checking the living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and every other room did Xiu Er confirm that Kurumi was indeed not home.

Then where had she gone?

According to the previous surveillance records, Xiu Er was certain that this was normally the time Kurumi stayed at home.

An emergency? Not necessarily.

He reviewed the city's surveillance footage again, but there was no sign of Kurumi along any of her routes.

Then, aside from being in a surveillance blind spot, she must have...

An eerie shadow appeared in a corner behind Xiu Er.

As if to prove Xiu Er's guess, countless hands made of shadow suddenly shot out from the darkness behind him.

"-Codex Opening-No Passage-"

A film of golden particles enveloped Xiu Er, blocking every incoming shadow hand.

And because he had used another armament, his disguise automatically came undone, exposing the mechanical structure beneath it.

Seeing that the ambush had failed, the other party no longer hid and responded to Xiu Er with words.

"My, my~ Sneaking into someone else's home so casually... Robot Miss, you really do have a terrible personality~"

A black-haired woman dressed in a black-and-red Gothic outfit stepped out from the shadow on the wall.

Her long and short ponytails hung on either side of her head like the hour and minute hands of a clock, while intense hostility could be seen in her crimson eyes.

Most notable was her inhuman left eye. A clock's time markings were engraved within it, and its hand was moving counterclockwise.

Although Xiu Er knew that the girl before him was the Kurumi he had been searching for, he still issued an inquiry as he had when facing Natsumi.

"Inquiry. Are you Tokisaki Kurumi?"

Consider it a sense of ceremony.

"This humble girl is indeed she. May I ask what Robot Miss wants with me?"

Kurumi pointed at her chin, tilted her head, and looked at Xiu Er with a puzzled expression, as though she truly did not know.

Xiu Er did not answer. Instead...

"-Codex Opening-One-Way Street-"

A gate of golden energy split open across the ceiling, then descended and swallowed both Xiu Er and Kurumi.

Kurumi made no attempt to evade it. She simply waited quietly to be swallowed by the Golden Gate, a smile on her face as though she were contemplating something.

Xiu Er was curious about that as well, though he could not display any emotion at the moment.

Could Kurumi have some other motive?

That was all Xiu Er could guess.

The scene shifted to the outskirts.

Xiu Er had chosen this battleground to prevent the residential houses from being damaged, though he had not expected Kurumi to cooperate so readily.

"My~ A spatial ability? I would so love to know just who the force behind you is."

"..."

Xiu Er said nothing and merely took out Gokurokugai.

"Princess, Hermit, Witch..."

"Now it's my turn, isn't it? An Angel that copies Spirits—you people really do dare to dream."

Only then did Xiu Er realize that Kurumi seemed to have misunderstood something. She appeared to believe he was an anti-Spirit combat robot created by some organization, one that copied Spirits' Angels to carry out some unknown plan.

Since she had already come up with the setting for him, what else could Xiu Er say?

Of course, he accepted it.

"If you want it, come and take it yourself!"

Kurumi revealed a crazed smile. Two Flintlock Pistols of different lengths appeared in her hands, and black shadows spread outward from beneath her feet. The barren outskirts became Kurumi's Shadow Paradise.

Xiu Er moved at that moment. Naturally, he could not actually wait for Kurumi to finish setting up the field.

"-Codex Opening-Speed Violation-"

At that instant, Xiu Er erupted with astonishing speed. Golden energy burst forth, streaking him across the field in a straight golden line.

He reached Kurumi in the blink of an eye, and Gokurokugai's blade slammed into her. Yet she seemed not to have reacted at all, the smile on her face unchanged.

Not the original.

"-Codex Opening-Traffic Control-"

Xiu Er immediately reached that conclusion and deployed his defenses in an instant.

Countless bullets flew in from Xiu Er's side, only to be deflected behind him and strike a group of Kurumis at his back.

Then, one Kurumi after another began emerging from the shadow-covered area, every one of them wearing that same unchanging smile.

Their eerie laughter echoed from their mouths, rising and falling throughout the area.

Meanwhile, the real Kurumi had long since blended in among the many Doppelgangers. Finding the true body among those identical copies was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The Kurumis all looked at Xiu Er with teasing smiles, their laughter as irritating as mockery.

Xiu Er looked at them and sighed helplessly to himself.

Yeah... as expected, Kurumi is the most troublesome one...

Pseudo-Codex—Zafkiel

Kurumi's Doppelgangers poured bullets onto Xiu Er, but every bullet was blocked by his shield and deflected before it could strike him, ultimately hitting another Kurumi Doppelganger.

It could be said with certainty that every bullet they fired at Xiu Er was returned to them exactly as it had been sent.

Faced with such an unreasonable defense, the Kurumis had no way to break through it. Once they realized ranged weapons were completely ineffective against Xiu Er, they stopped firing and switched to close combat.

But what was the result? In close quarters, Xiu Er wielded Gokurokugai as if no one could stand against him, carving his way through the mass of Kurumis.

Countless Kurumis emerged from the shadows, only to be cut down by Xiu Er and return to them.

Five minutes had passed since the battle began.

The Kurumis discovered that Xiu Er's offensive was growing fiercer and fiercer. At first, they could still exchange a few moves with him, but now they could not even withstand a single strike.

Their original plan to exhaust the opponent's energy had collapsed on its own.

Just look at how harder he fought with every passing moment. And you want to tell me that thing's energy reserves are low?

In any case, Kurumi knew that if this continued, her own spiritual power and time would be exhausted first.

As for her usual method against enemies—absorbing their "time"—it had no effect on Xiu Er.

She had tried it the moment Xiu Er entered the house, but for some reason, she could not steal any "time" from him. It was as though he were an inanimate object.

That was also why Kurumi believed Xiu Er was a robot.

Honestly, she truly did not want him to steal her Angel's abilities. But if she did not use her Angel now, defeat would be hers.

And she discarded the option of running away.

Kurumi could vaguely sense that if she chose to flee, Xiu Er would be able to find her immediately, no matter where she hid.

Nor could she spend the rest of her life hiding inside shadows.

"Tch, I didn't expect you to be this troublesome."

Just as Kurumi grumbled in irritation, a voice she had only just heard sounded beside her ear.

"Found you."

"!?"

Kurumi instinctively tried to hide in the shadows, but...

"-Codex Opening-One-Way Street-"

Xiu Er locked down Kurumi's space, and as a result, she was forced back out.

Kurumi was sent flying.

Blood sprayed from the wound in her abdomen, tracing a perfect semicircle through the air.

Xiu Er had analyzed Kurumi's true body and acquired the basic markers needed to identify it. Now that he had fully analyzed every Kurumi, the original body's location was naturally exposed.

With an upward diagonal slash, the heavy attack sent the real Kurumi into the air.

The situation had turned dangerous, and Kurumi no longer hesitated.

"Come forth! Zafkiel!"

A massive mechanical clock appeared behind Kurumi.

Using her spiritual power to steady herself in the air, Kurumi looked down at Xiu Er below. One hand covered her abdomen, and she looked thoroughly bedraggled.

Then she saw it.

After she summoned her Angel, an unusual light lit up in Xiu Er's eyes.

Guessing what Xiu Er was doing, Kurumi wanted to end the battle quickly as well. She raised her Flintlock Pistol.

"Dalet."

The clock hand pointed to four, and a mass of spiritual power appeared at the four before entering the gun Kurumi had raised.

Then she aimed it at her own head.

Bang!

The gunshot rang out.

The moment Kurumi shot herself, the wound on her body vanished.

Xiu Er did not act. While defending against the other Kurumi Doppelgangers, he was also analyzing Zafkiel.

His primary objective was to analyze Zafkiel rather than defeat Kurumi. Forcing out her Angel was why Xiu Er had waited so long.

"Aleph... Hei..."

Repeating the same process, Kurumi applied buffs to herself.

Aleph instantly accelerated the target it struck, producing an effect comparable to teleportation.

Dalet turned back the target's time, achieving a healing effect.

Hei allowed the target it struck to foresee the near future.

Kurumi would not use bullets with other effects to attack Xiu Er, because she knew they would be meaningless. He could deflect such attacks.

"Analysis complete."

And Xiu Er had analyzed the data the moment she used those abilities.

Therefore...

"-Codex Opening-Pseudo-Codex-Zafkiel-"

Golden energy condensed behind Xiu Er, and a clock identical to Kurumi's appeared at his back.

Faced with this, Kurumi merely sighed in frustration.

"As expected, I absolutely can't use an Angel in front of you."

Kurumi had already seen this outcome when she foresaw the future, and she was in no better mood now.