Chapter 80

The worst fears came true. DEM's support quickly appeared on the probes. Although the absence of Ellen's magical reaction was good news, the unusual magical reactions indicated that these people were not the DEM's previous Japan garrison.

They're probably the headquarters' elite force; their equipment and skills are terrifyingly strong. If they arrive, Tohka probably won't last long...

"What about the Blade of Immortality?"

Kotori looked at Usami Tomoko was in charge of radar detection.

"There's a response, but... we've only just started."

Miwako's expression was somewhat solemn. Their notification had just reached Schicksal, and less than five minutes had passed. To be able to adjust the equipment and set off from a state of complete unpreparedness in five minutes was not slow.

But... Dem will arrive first.

"Can we only pray that Tohka can hold on..."

Kotori's eyebrows furrowed deeply. She had considered going out to help, but it wasn't something she could do just because she wanted to.

It is said that the sealed Spiritual Power can flow back as long as there is a huge emotional fluctuation, but the current situation does not allow Kotori to have such a large emotional fluctuation. After all, she has been trained and her ability and mentality are truly sufficient to sit in the position of commander.

It's very difficult to make her have any major emotional fluctuations.

Tohka was unaware that things would soon take a turn for the worse, and at that moment she was venting her anger without any restraint.

The golden greatsword in his hand, which was twenty or thirty meters long, constantly stirred up wind pressure, and the rampant Spiritual Power was enough to easily shatter a building into dust.

"How dare you! How dare you!! How dare you!!!"

Having withstood the furious elf's full-force attack for about five minutes, Mana felt that her arms were about to lose feeling, her head was buzzing, and the equipment maintaining the computing power of the Imaginary Domain kept sounding alarms for overheating.

This is not because Mana's strength is limited to this. In fact, although Tohka gave her a great sense of pressure and crisis, there was a lot of exaggeration in that.

Not only was the Manifestation Device she was wearing a portable standard-issue suitcase, not her own, but more importantly, she had absolutely no will to fight.

The attack, intended to kill the elf, was intercepted by her own sister, leaving such a large penetrating wound on her sister's body that Mana's mind almost immediately went blank.

The brain, which should be working in conjunction with the Manifestation Device to perform calculations, is unable to contribute any power, causing the Manifestation Device to operate at the risk of becoming unusable.

Mana knew she should wake up immediately, or she might die here, but her emotions weren't so easy to control.

"Damn elves!"

In the end, Mana could only blame it all on the elf. If her sister hadn't pushed her away to protect the elf, her sister wouldn't have been hurt.

Whether this idea of shifting blame is right or wrong, the girl regained her rationality at this moment due to her obsession with killing the elves. Then, an unprecedented killing intent surged up, and a massive amount of computing power poured into the Manifestation Device, finally freeing it from its overload state. At the same time, Mana no longer engaged in reckless head-on collisions, but instead lowered her own height and used the Imaginary Domain to camouflage the surroundings, relying on the complexity of the forest to maneuver.

If she were wearing her original equipment, Mana wouldn't need to use this tactic at all. Don't be fooled by the fact that she managed to stall the spirit for five minutes. Tohka's current combat strength is nothing to Mana. Stall for five minutes? She'd kill the spirit within five minutes.

(The fluctuations in Magician's combat power are very mysterious. In the setting, Artemisia and Mana are at about the same level, maybe Artemisia is a little stronger than Mana, but her Manifestation Device, which is enhanced by her computing power, can even make ordinary Magician fight against elves. Moreover, she supplies five devices by herself.)

(Ellen is slightly stronger Artemisia, but the gap between these three is not too large.)

(Mana has a record of single-handedly defeating the entire Fraxinus without taking any damage, and she was evenly matched with Ellen in battle. She was almost killed by Ellen because of an accident. It can be said that apart from being caught off Kurumi's angel once, her achievements are still very impressive.)

There's no way around it. If she had taken the fight seriously from the start, she would have been confident of winning even with limited equipment. But with her current equipment, there's really no chance.

"Hiding and dodging!"

Her change in fighting style was undoubtedly very effective. In this situation where it was difficult to see the target, Tohka was forced to waste a lot of Spiritual Power, but the only result she got was to trim the flowers and plants.

Just as Tohka was contemplating how to wipe out everything nearby, she suddenly sensed an approaching danger and instinctively dodged to the side.

A cool breeze brushed past Tohka's ears, followed by a whooshing sound that was slightly slower than the attack.

There are enemies too!?

Tohka looked into the distance with a grim expression.

A squadron of 24 men has come into view.

"Target confirmed, codename Princess."

The leader was a girl with long blonde hair. Her Manifestation Device was quite unique compared to the others. She had cat ears on her head, a skirt around her waist, and devices on her back that resembled wings or spider legs.

Upon seeing her, Mana breathed a sigh of relief.

"Arutemi".

"Something's not right with you, Mana. What happened?"

Artemisia's sneak attack in a moment of desperation was naturally because she noticed Mana's poor magical reaction at that moment.

"... Well, we'll talk about that later."

Mana pursed her lips and flew from the forest into the air.

Mana's face was clearly grim. Arutemi, being considerate, didn't ask any more questions and obediently steered the conversation back to the battle, "Alright, I brought your CR-UNIT. Let's rest for a bit and then go for it together. However, you might not make it in time."

As she spoke, the team members behind her handed Mana a black box that was nearly two meters long.

Thank you.

The two exchanged items by modifying the mass through the Manifestation Device, suspending the box behind them. Without saying much, Mana flew to the ground with it to switch equipment.

"Having more people won't make a difference."

Tohka raised her Final Sword towards Arutemi, who was clearly the leader.

Although she said that, she was actually quite serious inside.

The battle she had just fought had once again changed her impression of humans. She had thought that Yulande and Ellen were already extremely special cases, but she never expected to encounter another human that she couldn't easily deal with today.

Just a few days ago, her impression of humans was that they could be shot down with the slightest effort.

Having used her Spiritual Power so recklessly just now, her condition isn't very good right now, but it's impossible for her to just escape like that.

She could never let go of Shiori's grudge, no matter what.

Looking at Tohka, who was filled with hatred for her, Arutemi also revealed a serious expression. "I'm sorry, but I have to get rid of you."

DEM's squad quickly spread out, attempting to encircle Tohka.

Tohka usually didn't think that being surrounded by humans meant anything to her, but now it made her break out in a cold sweat. As she swung her greatsword and pressed down with her sword, she also retreated quickly.

"I won't let you escape!"

Arutemi's movements were even faster. The spiderweb-like device, powered by magic, unleashed tremendous thrust. To Tohka's incredulous gaze, Arutemi not only cleaved the purple sword in two with a single strike, but also arrived in front of her in the blink of an eye.

"I won't lose if it's a speed contest."

A massive white blade with blue edges approached Tohka's face from above. Tohka instinctively tried to use the Orosk to block it, but found that the Orosk in her hand had already transformed into the Final Sword due to the fusion with the Throne.

Under normal circumstances, a larger blade combined with greater destructive power has many advantages, but in close combat, it becomes a hindrance.

Even if she lacked common sense, Tohka knew that at this point, the issue wasn't whether she could retract the Final Sword time, but that it was simply impossible to retract it at such close range. The sword's excessive size made it impossible for her to exert force at such close range.

"Hateful...!"

With no other option, Tohka could only cover her left hand with Spiritual Power, intending to forcibly support Arutemi's sword.

The clash between Spiritual Power and sword blades flashed between the two. Tohka's spiritual armor was not as fragile as it looked. Although it was dressed in the style of a dress, its AAA-Class armor was far more durable than any energy shield. In addition, with the shield covering it, Arutemi's sword blade could not penetrate any further. Under the intense collision, the two figures were forced to separate.

However, unlike Tohka, Arutemi has fought against equally matched opponents more than once and is also extremely skilled at teamwork.

With her deliberate exertion, although the two widened the distance, Tohka flew towards the ground, and the time it took for Tohka to fall naturally gave the other members the opportunity to form an encirclement.

As Magician from DEM headquarters, each of them possessed the strength of a squad leader or higher. They aimed their most advanced energy weapons at Tohka on the ground. A total of twenty-three threatening cannons prompted Tohka to make a quick move without hesitation in an attempt to break through before the shots were fired. However, no matter how she moved, the entire squad moved in perfect unison.

Danger!

Tohka can realize it, Kotori naturally can too.

Her hands, gripping the chair, were already sweating. Tohka was the first spirit they had ever met, and she had gotten along very well with Shiori. If Tohka died, not only would they never encounter such an easy spirit to win over again, but Shiori's mood would also be greatly affected.

The white light seemed to illuminate the twilight Sky Manipulation. Realizing that there was no hope of breaking through Tohka could only grit her teeth and form a barrier of Spiritual Power in an attempt to withstand the combined attack. However, her Spiritual Power, which was already somewhat depleted, reminded her that she probably could not withstand this attack intact.

"Fire."

The target has been completely locked in, and only in case of any unexpected events did Arutemi give the order.

An increasingly dazzling light erupted from the twenty-three cannon muzzles. Tohka gritted her teeth. With no way to escape, she didn't even have time to think about what to do after she survived this ordeal. She squeezed all her Spiritual Power in front of her.

A massive explosion echoed across the ground. This was an attack far more terrifying than A-Class Spatial Quake. Arutemi believed that no one could survive such an attack, not even herself, nor even Ellen.

However, when the white light dissipated, what appeared before everyone's eyes was an incomprehensible sight.

Solid trees rose from the ground, forming a two-meter-high barrier, and the faint scorch marks on them were rapidly healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

What's going on? Why did a tree suddenly appear here?

No, why could a tree block their volley of fire?

Under DEM's incomprehensible gaze, the tree seemed to have completed its mission, slowly opening up from the center to reveal Tohka sitting on the ground with a somewhat bewildered Tohka, and a petite figure with blonde hair holding a white lance.

"Am I not late?"

Chapter Thirty-Four: DEM: The Advantage Lies With Me.

"Youlan... Dale..."

Looking at the small yet imposing figure in front of her, who exuded a sense of security as vast as a mountain, Tohka's overly tense emotions finally broke. Faced with a situation where the whole world seemed to be her enemy, she found support on her side. Tohka felt an inexplicable itch spreading through her chest.

Then, she thought of Shiori's death, and anger rose in an instant, filling her heart, but was suddenly extinguished, and another emotion took over.

"Shiori... was killed by these people..."

She felt guilty and ashamed.

Although they had only met once, Yulande made a good impression on her, even somewhat inexplicably so. Perhaps it was because Durandal was willing to stand by her side, or perhaps she had gotten her name from him.

Regardless, Tohka considered Yulande as one of her only two friends.

If Shiori is a lovely human who needs her protection, then Yulande is a reliable human who broadened her horizons. Tohka knows that their friendliness towards her is rare and precious for their race, and their behavior is certainly incomprehensible to humans.

Therefore, Tohka had already secretly vowed in her heart that if one day they had to face pressure from their own race because of her, she would protect them at all costs.

Yulande protected the weaker Tohka from the hands of the Strongest Magician, so it is only right that she should protect the weakest Shiori, her only two friends, and herself. This relationship of mutual protection and facing the world together among the three fascinates and warns Tohka.

But... Shiori died right before her eyes, even dying at the hands of a human who was her own kind, all to protect her.

"Shiori is not dead."

Amber knew Tohka's self-blame and pain without even looking, so she didn't beat around the bush and spoke directly.

"Huh...? But her body..."

The gap pierced by the energy weapon almost severed Shiori in two.

"Shiori's constitution is quite special, and she has a certain ability to recover. With the help of Ratatoskr's treatment, she is now out of danger."

Amber turned to look at Tohka behind her and gave her a reassuring smile, "So don't worry, Shiori is fine."

"Is... is that so..."

As the blonde girl explained, the boulder, seemingly capable of dragging her into an abyss, fell heavily. Upon learning this news, Tohka belatedly felt somewhat exhausted, her body becoming heavy as she nearly sat down, her arms trembling slightly as she supported herself on the ground.

"Very good..."

She shed tears without even realizing it.

Seeing Tohka finally come to her senses from her frenzy, Amber breathed a sigh of relief.

That was too dangerous. Although I knew I couldn't rely entirely on the plot, if I had arrived even a little later, the situation might have turned out the worst.

"... Yulande?"

Arutemi's expression turned serious as Amber appeared. Looking at the dozen or so approaching figures that could be seen with the naked eye in the distance, she did not immediately engage in battle, but instead asked her question, "Yulande, as the Valkyrie of Schicksal, why do you protect the elves?"

"This involves classified information."

Amber had no intention of explaining, mainly because Wescott was definitely watching. If he discovered Shiori's special abilities, the subsequent strategy would become much more difficult. Given Wescott's personality, he would definitely come and do everything he could to obstruct her, and even try to kill Shiori and the other elves.

Don't be fooled by the fact that DEM has only caught one Nia in so long; actually, catching just one Nia is enough.

If Wescott wanted, the number of elves would be even smaller at this point.

"..."

Arutemi frowned as she looked down at the calm blonde girl, unable to discern anything from her expression.

Wescott told her that Schicksal might have a plan against humanity, and that Möbius must be plotting something. The reason why Schicksal's high-ranking officials could never be turned or found was because Möbius had secretly controlled their minds and turned them into puppets.

Now, Schicksal intends to seize the power of the elves for itself, in order to complete Möbius's secret plan.

From a personal perspective, Arutemi doesn't quite believe it. If Schicksal is really that kind of organization, how could it possibly make so many righteous Valkyrie risk their lives for it?

But she also knew that this was just wishful thinking on her part. Looking at Yulande standing with the elf, Arutemi had to consider the possibility that Wescott had mentioned.