I Became a Spirit in Date A Live, but I Refuse to Date

"Hey, Shido. Welcome back."

Kotori greeted Shido from the commander's chair. A second later, her expression turned deadly serious.

"Leave everything to Ratatoskr from here on out! Don't worry. We'll save Lingmeng!"

She rose, every inch the commander, and issued orders to the crew.

"All crew, listen up! Battle stations, now! Make for the Tengu City overlook at full speed! Our mission: rescue Qian Lingmeng!"

"Roger!" ×N

The crew immediately set to work at their computers.

At that moment, Fraxinus came to life.

Forced into a half-vacation because it couldn't interfere with Lingmeng and Shido's date, Fraxinus could finally show what it could do again!

"Come on! Let's start our war—our date—again!"

"Wahaha... Well, Element Maker!? You're almost out of strength, aren't you?"

Watching Lingmeng slowly lose ground under their combined assault, Anlia Finlander laughed with an expression so exaggerated she looked like some vector-obsessed old man.

"Anlia Finlander, I know you're excited, but could you at least show a little dignity?"

Beside her, Amabane Shizuna shook her head helplessly.

"Hmph! I subdued Element Maker, the strongest Spirit, when even Lady Ellen couldn't beat her. Looks like I'm the real strongest Wizard!"

Emilia Reylos hugged her shoulders, praising herself with a look that said, Naturally.

Do these three seriously have something wrong with their heads?

Lingmeng sat slumped on the ground, breathing hard, with a little sweat on her brow. Scrapes of various sizes covered her body, though none were serious enough to be fatal—or even painful enough to make her cry out.

Still, she had to admit that this was the first time she'd been hurt since arriving in this world.

Her injuries weren't severe, and she had taken down roughly two hundred Wizards in hand-to-hand combat.

But that was as far as she could go. Unable to use her abilities, she had nearly exhausted herself fighting so many opponents at once.

Even Ellen, the world's strongest Wizard, probably wouldn't have fared much better in this situation.

Lingmeng had no intention of giving up, though.

She looked up at the five hundred Wizards still in the sky and the three fools—Anlia Finlander and the others—without a trace of fear or worry in her eyes.

Instead, she clapped for no apparent reason and offered them praise.

"Well, I can't use my abilities, so I'm not even at a sixth of my usual strength. But I have to give you credit. Pushing me this far is pretty impressive."

Anlia Finlander and the others answered with baffled looks.

"Huh? Are you still talking tough when you're about to die? At least look at your situation before spouting nonsense! We can crush you like an ant right now!"

"You really are one stubborn Spirit. Wouldn't it be easier to just admit you lost to me?"

"Honestly, you should give up. No matter how hard you fight, you'll still end up as Lord Isaac's test subject."

Anlia Finlander, Emilia Reylos, and Amabane Shizuna spoke one after another.

"Haha... Spend every day shut away as a test subject, or live happily with someone I love? You outsiders don't get to decide how my life goes."

Lingmeng closed her eyes and chuckled. Her voice sounded remarkably relaxed for someone on the verge of being captured and turned into a "Puppet."

"You... You've provoked me again and again! I'll teach you the price of looking down on Anlia Finlander!"

A vein bulged on Anlia Finlander's forehead the instant Lingmeng finished speaking.

Gripping her twin swords, she fired up the thrusters on her back and flew at Lingmeng to deliver the final blow.

Lingmeng didn't dodge or even reach for her Angel to defend herself.

She simply lay where she was, closed her eyes, and murmured to herself.

All right. I'll be bold this time and gamble with my life. Shido... You'd better keep your word.

The Tables Turned

Clang!

The sound of weapons colliding rang out. Anlia Finlander's swords hadn't harmed Lingmeng in the slightest.

When Lingmeng opened her eyes, she saw a man in white armor with long blond hair and the pretty face of someone straight out of a boys' love novel. He held a glowing sword that had stopped Anlia Finlander's strike.

To be honest, Lingmeng's first impression of his outfit wasn't good.

He was wearing a Realizer. You know what those look like, right? A skintight suit with just a few pieces of armor over it. An unbelievably embarrassing outfit.

On a woman, that sort of outfit might show off a stunning figure, but on a man, it looked embarrassing in a way she couldn't put into words.

And this man was a perfect example. If he walked down the street dressed like that, people would probably mistake him for a pervert.

"Ah, I made it just in time. If I'd been any later, the commander would have given me a terrible scolding.

"Though I'd be delighted if the commander cursed at me while punishing me with a whip. ╰('︶`)╯"

The blond man glanced back at Lingmeng, muttering with an expression of pure bliss.

Why does this guy seem so sleazy?

He had saved her, but whatever gratitude Lingmeng felt vanished the moment she heard him speak.

"What?!"

Anlia Finlander's eyes widened when she saw how easily he had blocked her attack. She immediately withdrew her swords and retreated to her side.

"Who the hell are you?"

She glared at the blond man who had appeared out of nowhere.

As though he had been waiting for the question, he gave Lingmeng and the DEM forces a gentlemanly bow.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Kyohei Kannazuki, vice commander of Fraxinus. Shido and the commander sent me to help Miss Lingmeng."

"Fraxinus? What's that?" ×2

Anlia Finlander and Emilia Reylos looked puzzled by Kannazuki's introduction.

Amabane Shizuna didn't know much about Fraxinus either, but Kannazuki's name rang a bell.

"Kyohei Kannazuki..." Shizuna repeated softly. Her eyes suddenly widened. "I remember! He used to be AST's ace!"

She pointed at Kannazuki in shock, and Emilia Reylos reacted much the same way.

"What? Didn't he disappear ages ago? Why did he suddenly show up here—and as vice commander of this Fraxinus thing?"

Shizuna could only give her a speechless look. How would I know?

"Miss Lingmeng, are you all right?"

Ignoring the conversation across from him, Kannazuki helped Lingmeng to her feet and checked on her. The commander had sent him to protect her; if anything happened to her, he would be in serious trouble.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm fine, just a little worn out. I'll be all right after some rest."

Lingmeng smiled easily. In truth, she had expected things to turn out this way.

DEM's people didn't know who Shido was, so they would likely take him for an ordinary civilian and let him go.

She was their target. They had no reason to capture some high school student unrelated to their mission.

What they didn't know was that Shiori had Ratatoskr backing her.

As long as Shido got away safely, his personality meant he would never abandon Lingmeng. He would contact Kotori to rescue her at the first opportunity.

That was why Lingmeng had put on a tearful show to get Shido out, making it look like they were parting forever so the DEM Wizards would lower their guard.

In short, she might have looked panicked, but inside she was steady as a rock. If she held out for a while, someone would come to save her.

There had been an element of gambling to it, of course. But she had clearly bet right: reinforcements arrived before she kicked the bucket, and she was grateful for that.

"Well, Shido didn't let me down," Lingmeng said.

Kannazuki smiled.

"Shido worked very hard for you, Miss Lingmeng. Ratatoskr will handle these enemies from here. Please get some rest."

"Then I'll gladly leave it to you."

Lingmeng finally had a chance to watch from the sidelines, and she agreed without a second thought.

"Haha, are you two idiots? How long do you think one former AST ace can hold us off?"

Anlia Finlander covered her face as she mocked them.

She had five hundred people on her side, while they had only two. The idea that one man could beat them all was pure fantasy.

"Oh? Is that so?" A young girl's voice rang out. If Lingmeng remembered correctly, it was Kotori's.

A powerful current of air swept through the sky as an enormous warship slowly appeared. It was Kotori's ship: Fraxinus!

"All crew, switch to attack mode!"

"Roger!"

At Kotori's order, the crew immediately worked the computers before them.

The gun turrets on Fraxinus came to life and began targeting the DEM Wizards.

"Fire!"

The moment Kotori spoke, countless magical blasts erupted from the turrets and hurtled toward the enemy.

"!!!"

Seeing the danger, the DEM Wizards scattered in every direction like ants from a kicked nest.

Even so, many were struck. In an instant, they lost roughly a hundred people.

The remaining Wizards either kept dodging the attacks or, like Anlia Finlander and the others, used their Realizers to block them by force.

"Miss Lingmeng, please excuse me for a moment."

With that, Kannazuki flew toward Anlia Finlander and the others.

"Damn it! What is wrong with this guy?!"

After fighting Kannazuki for a while, the three women were left with a distinctly strange feeling.

Emilia Reylos was the first to complain.

He clearly had tremendous strength and fighting skill. He should have been able to handle attacks from any one of them with ease. Ordinary blows, at least, shouldn't have hurt him.

Yet whenever they attacked, Kannazuki took the hits without resisting at all.

With his abilities, dodging would have been easy. But he seemed to be getting hit on purpose.

Aside from blows that would have been fatal, Kannazuki let them slash at him like a living practice dummy. Far from looking pained, he wore an expression of bliss.

He kept saying things like, "Ahh, harder~ Yes, right there! Push your sword in a little deeper. That's not nearly enough to satisfy me~"

Just hearing it sent a chill down their spines.

Every move Kannazuki made left Anlia Finlander and the others utterly baffled.

Then Shizuna seemed to recall something, and her expression darkened.

Wasn't there a rumor that AST's former ace was an extreme masochist?

Back and Forth

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Who gets happy when someone cuts them?!"

Emilia Reylos cursed at Kannazuki, who looked as though he was about to ascend to heaven.