Mecha-Kai species in Dimensional Travel

"Agreed."

The Yamisei Sisters grumbled at Xiu Er with ugly expressions on their faces.

The two of them sat back-to-back on the sand, just sitting there with looks of existential doubt on their faces. Their Astral Dresses were tattered and torn; currently, Xiu Er was the only one capable of beating them into such a state.

Xiu Er returned to the ground at this moment and arrived beside the two.

He took in their disheveled appearance at a glance.

"Analysis complete."

By now, Xiu Er had acquired the Binder, the Piercer, and the Sky Dasher, yet he himself did not feel particularly good at this moment.

There was no other reason.

After deflecting the Yamisei Sisters' full-power attack, he suddenly sensed that the armament Traffic Control seemed to have developed a fault.

After a brief farewell to the Yamisei Sisters, Xiu Er teleported the three of them back to the city, and he immediately found a hotel, rented a room, and hid inside.

Only then did he officially begin a self-check of his mechanical body.

After a careful inspection, he discovered that it wasn't caused by defending against the attack—the Yamisei Sisters' attacks couldn't affect his armaments in the slightest. The real reason was that he had pushed the output power to the maximum.

The armaments could not withstand the full-power output of the Dimensional Energy. Since the system had only modified and enhanced his mechanical body, it hadn't touched the armaments even once.

This also meant that the versions of the armaments Xiu Er had originally developed as a Mecha-Kai species were now lagging behind his mechanical body; it was time for him to upgrade his armaments.

Compared to Spirit energy, Dimensional Energy was far more intense and pure, characterized by its sheer, overwhelming volume.

His armaments had nearly exploded from being stuffed with this energy.

"It seems it's time to update these armaments."

With matters having reached this point, Xiu Er began a self-update that would take quite some time.

Since he didn't know where to start, he could only fumble in the dark and experiment slowly. After all, before coming into contact with Dimensional Energy, it was impossible for the original Mecha-Kai species database to contain information on this type of energy.

Just like that, during the time Xiu Er spent on his self-update, the outside world lost track of him once again.

Just like that, a week passed.

During the time Xiu Er was performing his self-update, Shido's pace did not stop either.

Ever since he was forced to carry out the conquest mission last time and successfully sealed the Princess Tohka, he hadn't been able to rest for long.

Kotori issued the next set of instructions to him once again.

Go and conquer the Hermit.

Facing this kind of thing, Shido was actually a bit resistant in his heart.

He had asked if there were any other ways to help the Spirits, but the answer he received was...

This was the only way.

Looking at the little girl being chased by the AST on the screen, Shido felt that if he went to conquer her, his conscience would condemn him severely.

He didn't want to see those Spirits treated this way, and he truly wanted to help them, but why, why was this the only way!

Shido was on the verge of tears, and he could only grumble in his heart to express his dissatisfaction.

And then there was that so-called professional team; they had nearly ruined him when he was dealing with Tohka previously.

However, complaints were just complaints. If this was truly the only way, Shido would not hesitate. To save the Spirits, he was willing to do so.

On the other side.

At this moment, Isaac had strengthened the headquarters' security to the limit, and for this, he even had Ellen ready for battle at all times.

It was no wonder he was so cautious.

He was afraid that that guy would choose to blow up the building directly just to make contact with the Sister.

Blowing up the building alone would be one thing, but the other party's whereabouts were unknown. What if he blew up the building while he, Isaac, was still in the company? Wouldn't that mean he would just die inexplicably?

As for moving the Sister out to a different location.

To be honest, Isaac felt this method wouldn't work. Given the other party's intelligence-gathering ability—the kind that allowed him to find Spirits at any time—he believed that if he really did that, the moment the transport plane carrying the Sister left, it would be hijacked by the Spirit Hunter, and this would also avoid him encountering any life-threatening danger.

However, his current plans were all centered around her. If she were hijacked by the Spirit Hunter, the plans he had prepared for so long would absolutely go to waste.

Therefore, he didn't know how long this state of his would last.

In any case, these past few days, apart from the hurricane that suddenly appeared over the ocean, there had been no other incidents. The preliminary judgment from various factions was that two Berserkers were once again dueling each other, so everyone didn't take it to heart.

But Isaac didn't think so.

It must be that guy. That guy definitely sought out the Berserkers, surely intending to beat them to their knees and copy their abilities!

Meanwhile, Ellen, who was helping to organize documents, looked at this director speechlessly. Although she also felt that Isaac's worries were quite reasonable and understandable, given his current mental state...

Ellen highly doubted whether Isaac could still handle the paperwork properly these days; it was quite possible that the remaining work would end up falling to her to finish.

It seemed that the work of her profession was indeed like this?

But that was no reason for Isaac to casually dump the documents he was supposed to check onto her.

However, she didn't know how to comfort him, lest her attempts at comfort backfire, so Ellen simply waited quietly for Isaac to recover on his own.

And all of this was seen clearly through the surveillance cameras in the room.

Xiu Er shared the feed provided by the surveillance in her eyes. By this time, she had already hacked into the network of the DEM Company headquarters and obtained all the surveillance footage in real-time.

Even the webcams on all the computers were automatically activated without the operators noticing.

In an instant, all the information in the entire building was known to Xiu Er.

And her goal was to find the Spirit imprisoned here—the Sister, Nia Honjou.

As the second confirmed Spirit to appear in the world, she had been defeated and captured by Ellen several years ago, and had been tortured by Isaac ever since she was brought to the DEM Company.

Now, Xiu Er conducted a carpet search of the entire building and easily discovered the room where Nia was being held.

However, judging from the footage, Nia's condition was likely not very good.

This time, Xiu Er chose to infiltrate.

After obtaining the coordinates of Nia's room, Xiu Er activated One-Way Street. While opening a teleportation channel into Nia's room, she simultaneously replaced all the surveillance feeds for that room.

After stepping out of the channel, what came into view was a Spirit girl covered in wounds, wearing tattered clothes, and looking miserable.

Chapter 16: In the Predicted Future

As if sensing someone approaching her, the Spirit girl, Nia, turned her head with difficulty.

Because she was using her armament, Xiu Er was currently appearing in her original form—the Mecha-Kai species style—to meet Nia.

Except for the fact that she was an outsider to this world, which was strictly confidential, she chose not to hide anything from Nia.

The reason was simple: Nia's Angel possessed the strongest information-gathering ability among all Spirits.

Her Angel, Codex of the Whispers, had the ability to obtain all information regarding the past. She could query all existing data (except for the Origin Spirit) from her Angel, and it also possessed a certain degree of ability to observe the future.

Furthermore, Nia could use the pen that came with her Spirit Dress to write on the blank pages of her Angel, allowing the recorded content to become a reality, the Future Record.

Unfortunately, the greater the change to the future, the more Spirit Power it required, so Nia was unable to change too much of the future.

Therefore, in Xiu Er's view, there was no need to disguise herself, because all of this would be deciphered by Nia's predictions.

After Nia saw the visitor, Xiu Er saw light appear in her previously lifeless blue-green eyes.

There was no surprise, only eyes full of interest in something novel.

She propped up her battered body and quickly came to Xiu Er in a few steps.

Without waiting for Xiu Er to say anything, Nia's hands began to wander all over her body, her expression looking exactly like that of a female pervert.

"So this is a stoic mechanical girl? Mmm, mmm, although I've drawn similar themes before, it feels very novel to see it in person."

Nia looked at the mechanical structures all over Xiu Er's body without any restraint, even allowing Xiu Er to intuitively feel the curiosity in her eyes.

Looking at this overly familiar Spirit miss in front of her, as the other party made close contact, Xiu Er could even vaguely see her tender skin through the thin nun's uniform.

Fortunately, Nia's figure was not voluptuous, otherwise, Xiu Er couldn't imagine what kind of impact it would bring under the guise of such an outfit.

In this regard, Xiu Er felt mentally exhausted for once.

But this also indicated that Nia knew through her Angel that Xiu Er would come to find her.

Then, her purpose was probably known to her as well.

Watching Xiu Er maintain that cold expression regardless of how she was being handled, without any emotional fluctuation.

"As expected of a stoic, even like this, your expression hasn't moved even a bit."

So she just wanted to see her make other expressions, huh.

Nia's behavior left Xiu Er speechless.

Then, Nia's eyes drifted to the two tail-like tubes behind Xiu Er...

But just as Nia reached out to touch these "tails," Xiu Er quickly retreated, and the two "tails" also took the opportunity to escape from her sight.

"Ho-ho~"

Not giving Nia a chance to continue, Xiu Er immediately interrupted to explain the purpose of her visit.

"[Announcement] Nia Honjou, this unit can take you out, and the price is only that you need to show this unit the ability of your Angel."

"And then copy it, right?"

To Nia's addition, Xiu Er did not refute; she just looked at Nia quietly, waiting for her reply.

Then she saw Nia pretending to consider it seriously, when in fact she hadn't considered it at all.

"Deal."

The answer was obvious; Nia Honjou agreed to Xiu Er's request.

Just kidding, how could she not want to escape from here? If it weren't for the fact that she didn't have any offensive capabilities, she would have found a way to escape long ago.

After saying this, Xiu Er did not waste any time; she opened a Space Gate once again, bringing herself and Nia back to the room she had used for her self-update some time ago.

"This ability is truly convenient."

Nia exclaimed with glowing eyes. Having experienced this method of spatial transfer firsthand, how should she put it—there was a sense of unreality to it.

Had she really escaped so easily? Had she escaped from that place that had imprisoned her for so many years?

Looking at the simple hotel room before her, Nia was briefly dazed.

She almost suspected that she was dreaming.

It wasn't until a hand appeared in her field of vision.

"[Reminder] It's time to snap out of it. No matter how much you can't believe it, you have indeed been brought out by me."

"...Thank you."

At this moment, Nia straightened her posture and expressed her gratitude to Xiu Er.

"[Reminder] There's no need for thanks. Don't forget our deal."

"Eh, being so impatient won't win a lady's heart, you know."

Nia crossed her arms, a look of dissatisfaction on her face.

"[Rebuttal] You old auntie should stop pretending to be a young girl." Xiu Er said these excessive words in a very flat tone.

"Pfft—cough..."

Nia, sunk!