Ex-Machina on a Dimensional Journey Chapter 9

However, something unforeseen happened next.

"-Het-"

With a sweep of his sword, Xiu Er knocked aside the Kurumi Doppelgangers around him. In an instant, he constructed a Flintlock Pistol in his other hand. Energy from the clock gathered within it, and he fired the shot at himself.

Het recreated one's past. Simply put, it created Doppelgangers weaker than the original.

It was also the source of this group of Kurumi Doppelgangers.

Xiu Er had naturally finished analyzing the Doppelgangers and acquired complete data on them. Previously, he simply lacked data on Zafkiel and therefore could not use it.

Then...

Countless Xiu Er Doppelgangers—though there were actually only around thirty—appeared across the battlefield.

The Kurumis had never posed any threat to Xiu Er in the first place. Now that their numerical advantage had vanished as well, they were effortlessly swept aside by the group of Xiu Ers...

"Until next time."

The blade was pulled from the girl's chest.

Xiu Er had killed Kurumi.

However, he knew that the one he had killed before him was merely a Doppelganger. Just moments ago, Kurumi had skillfully used a Doppelganger to replace herself.

Although he had noticed her little trick, he did not care. After all, to be honest, the purpose of this operation had not been to kill Kurumi.

Other than the destruction caused by his battle with the Kurumis, no other traces remained in the surroundings.

The corpses of the "dead" Kurumi Doppelgangers had long been dragged into the "shadows." It was as if Kurumi feared Xiu Er would study the bodies, leaving behind not a single one.

With the matter settled, Xiu Er withdrew all his armaments and summoned Fake Demoness.

When the light faded, the adorable Xiu Er returned once more.

A satisfied expression hung on Xiu Er's face.

A massive haul!

That was his assessment of this operation.

This place was quite some distance from the city, and Xiu Er had specifically chosen this nearly deserted location.

It was to avoid accidentally causing casualties among innocent people, and this battle should not have been discovered by anyone.

Yet amid his excitement, someone he had expected appeared here, just as he had anticipated.

A voice came from above him.

"What happened here?"

An Encounter Battle with Mana and DEM Company's Reaction

Looking up, he saw a blue-haired girl in highly revealing white armor suspended in the air.

Beyond that, Xiu Er's eyes also spotted other AST units standing by at a distance.

Looks like I still caused a bit too much of a commotion.

He silently sighed to himself.

Xiu Er also recognized this girl.

In the original story, she was Itsuka Shido's other little sister—or rather, Shido's little sister from his previous life.

Takamiya Mana.

She was the one who had pursued Kurumi to Tengu City and met Shido in the original work.

But logically speaking, she should not have been here at this point in time.

Mana descended before Xiu Er, but stopped ten meters away.

On this scarred stretch of ground, aside from the suspected Nightmare's corpse, only this girl remained, utterly out of place in the surrounding environment.

As Mana approached, Xiu Er instinctively scanned her physical data.

Hm, she's shorter than me.

For some reason, Xiu Er's peculiar train of thought led him to that conclusion.

"May I ask why you are alone in a place like this?"

Mana wore a friendly smile and asked Xiu Er in a gentle tone, like a girl-next-door older sister.

Yet the way she tightly gripped her weapon, along with the tension running through her entire body, made her true purpose obvious.

Mana's little movements could not escape Xiu Er's eyes.

Even her communications with her teammates had been hacked the moment they approached Xiu Er.

Xiu Er could hear every word of their conversations over the channel.

"Number One is ready."

"Number Two is ready."

"Number Three has reached position."

"Number Four..."

Thus, while Xiu Er allowed it to happen, all AST members aside from Mana, who was there to keep him occupied, took their positions and formed an encirclement around him.

They had not launched an attack right away. Were they afraid that Xiu Er would steal their technology?

No one could answer Xiu Er's question, and he did not care what the answer was.

All he knew was that within the past half month, counting Kurumi just now, he had already clashed with four Spirits.

Aside from this time, when he had transferred to the outskirts and avoided being seen, the previous three times had all occurred within the city. They must have been noticed by every major faction.

And that was indeed the case.

Back when Xiu Er fought Tohka, he had already drawn the attention of other forces.

An unidentified robot had actually been able to battle a Spirit and even avoid falling behind.

Whoever could create such a weapon could not be ordinary.

As for the subsequent efforts to locate its creator, there was no need to go into that here.

Later, when they learned that Xiu Er had released information about Gokurokugai, their resolve to find its creator grew even stronger.

Unfortunately, they were destined to return empty-handed.

They had also considered finding Xiu Er directly and establishing contact with the creator.

That was getting off track.

Now, among Mana's missions, there was one long-term assignment.

It was to search for and contact the creator, attempting to obtain information about them—or, if possible, bring them back to headquarters.

And Xiu Er knew all of this.

"Bzz... bzzzt—"

Static suddenly filled the voice channel, and the unexpected development startled Mana.

She immediately looked toward Xiu Er's eyes. Then she saw those golden eyes glowing with an eerie light.

So it really was her doing!

Seeing her opponent take the initiative to attack, Mana no longer concealed herself. Before Xiu Er could draw a weapon, she struck first.

In an instant, she pulled a laser double-edged sword from the shield structure on her right arm and charged at Xiu Er.

Mana possessed extensive combat experience, and she was one of the world's top five Aces.

Xiu Er naturally would not underestimate an opponent like her.

Thus, he made his next move.

He wanted to see just how capable one of the world's top Aces truly was.

While Xiu Er battled the Mana he had encountered by chance, the "eyes" of other forces in distant places were also watching the scene.

At DEM Company's headquarters in another country...

Isaac, a company director, sat behind his desk, eagerly watching the footage of Xiu Er fighting Mana.

At that moment, he glanced at the blonde woman behind him and casually asked,

"What do you think, Ellen? If you fought her, what would your chances of winning be?"

"Ellen" was the blonde woman's name. Her full name was Ellen Mira Mathers. She called herself the world's strongest Magus, was one of DEM Company's founders, and also served as Isaac's secretary.

The "her" Isaac referred to was naturally the unidentified robot in the footage, Xiu Er.

Originally, he had only been interested in Spirits. The reason he paid attention to Xiu Er was Xiu Er's ability to copy the Spirits' Angels.

Isaac had recognized Xiu Er's value. He had already begun imagining what would happen once the power of every Spirit was gathered within Xiu Er!

To this, the unaware Xiu Er, far away, would have responded:

Nothing much would happen. The armaments would not conflict with one another. To him, the copied Angels were merely different weapons.

While Isaac began watching the recorded footage, Ellen had been observing from the side.

"It is difficult to judge. I cannot see her limit, and..." She looked toward Mana. "Takamiya Mana is about to lose."

"Her Realizer is malfunctioning. Since the start of her battle with the target, the failures have become increasingly severe."

"Just as you said."

Isaac watched the footage. Sure enough, the situation was exactly as Ellen had predicted.

Mana's Realizer suddenly suffered a severe malfunction. The thrusters on her legs shut down, and her Territory collapsed due to problems with her armor.

Mana fell from the sky toward the ground.

At that point, victory and defeat had been decided.

Xiu Er had not brought out his Spirit armament series. This battle had merely been to personally test the combat strength of the human side.

When the footage reached the end, it paused on the moment Xiu Er landed before Mana.

"As for your previous question, I still cannot give a definite answer for now."

"Oh? Could it be that even our proud world's strongest Magus, Lady Ellen, cannot guarantee that she can defeat her?"

A teasing smile appeared on Isaac's face.

"Based on the conclusions drawn from the footage, she has a considerable effect on machinery. If my Realizer malfunctions during battle, I will immediately be placed in danger."

That was right. Although Ellen called herself the world's strongest Magus and her Territory was indeed powerful, her actual body was unbelievably weak. Even an ordinary person could stop her.

"That is true. If that happened, you would become a fish on the chopping block, at the mercy of others."

After hearing Ellen's reasoning, Isaac nodded in agreement.

There was no helping it. Xiu Er's displayed suppression over mechanical units, coupled with his command of different Spirits' powers, truly was not so easy to deal with.

"However, if I do face her, I will do everything in my power to defeat her."

Ellen added that final sentence.

Isaac neither confirmed nor denied it.

"Is that so? Then I will leave it to you~"

He walked to the door, then turned back and gave Ellen a look.

"?"

"Help me deal with the documents. Thank you."

"Hey!"