Chapter 1
Hard. The first thing that entered his regained consciousness was the cold, rigid surface on his back. Yes, it felt uncomfortable. The same level of discomfort as the sluggish feeling which assault his entire self. However, it was not as if he could not muster any strength at all. Thus, after opening his eyes and staring towards the blue sky for a while, he raised himself off from lying on his back.
"...Where... am I?"
It took a while to completely rid off the sluggishness from his body before focusing his attention to his surroundings. At that point, the haziness which covered his consciousness from a while ago was immediately blown away with a jolt of awakening.
"W-What is this?"
Complete ruins. It was as if a tornado and earthquake have both hit the area at the same time. Furthermore, he was standing in the middle of a giant, deep crater that was clearly made due to a strong impact to the ground.
"...Okay, let's review the situation here. I am currently in a place where a disaster had struck the area. No visible damage can be found on me, so the only logical explanation is that I did not fall through the sky and made this crater upon landing."
Of course, he knew that he was more than capable to cause such a degree of destruction. However, there were no signs of 'that' power leaking out from the seal inside him, which also means that the him right now is just a normal strong person.
"The last thing I remember was going to sleep after training on the mountains near Ara-neechan's hometown... Don't tell me I got caught in one of the holes of the Boundary Zone?"
The Boundary Zone. Also called the Dimensional Rift, it is an infinitely extending dimension of both existence and nothingness where a ridiculous colossal red dragon made it its own territory. It exists between the parallel spaces and times, continuously maintaining the balance between worlds and allows travel between them . That is, to those who know how or those unlucky enough to be caught by the distortion of space-time in the form of holes.
"Of course, this is just what Ara-neechan taught me. It is not like I've seen the actual place. Wait, who am I talking to exactly?"
He scratched his head while smiling awkwardly over his own words. A bad habit of him that he never fixed.
"...Hmm? What is this noise?"
The sound of propulsion of jet engine cutting through the sky reached his ears, making him looked up into the sky once again. There, he could see several figures flying towards him. All of them wore tight bodysuits and had something like jetpacks on their back.
-This was all that he could swallow in his mind however, as several missile pods were fired from the figures and are heading towards him.
"Woah?!"
His body reacted faster than his mind could command it, leaping backwards to escape the impact and following explosions a second later. However, more missiles along with rapid gunfire soon pursuit him, forcing him to leap several more times backwards in order to dodge them all. Of course, the back-flips, side-flips, body-twirls and other acrobatic mid-air movements were all part of him dodging the assault.
"W-What's going on? Why am I being attacked?"
Plus, he did this when panic was clouding his rational thoughts. His experience and sense of battle however soon took over and flipped his switch of battle engagement.
"Guh... If it comes to this, I'll have to counter their attacks."
He moved some focus to his opened right palm, concentrating on one of the powers lying inside him in order to use it. The result however,
"...Crap, I forgot to remove the limiters that I was using for training!"
was that due to him forgetting to remove his ability limiter, he was unable to use it.
"Can't be helped, I have to hide somewhere in order to remove them... ...There!"
After dodging another missile pod, he immediately did a huge jump sideways and crashed through the windows into what seemed to be the lobby of a shopping mall. After a single somersault off the floor, he got up and turned his body 180 degrees, his shoes slid along the floor as he faced at the opening he made through the glass.
-A passing of several seconds, yet not a single figure appeared in his sights.
"...Eh? Nobody's chasing after me?"
"...Tch. He went indoors, huh?"
Kusakabe Ryouko clicked her tongue angrily. She and several other girls wearing the same equipment as her landed on top of one of the tall buildings near the shopping mall.
"What should we do, Squad Leader?"
"We'll have to wait until the target comes out from there. Our Realizers are not suitable for indoors engagement, and we haven't got permission to shoot at buildings as well."
Ryouko walked nearer to the edge of the building, and after a moment of thinking turned towards her subordinates.
"You and you will remain with me. The other members will spread out and surround the shopping mall!"
""Roger!""
Most of the AST members flew to the air and landed on separate buildings, surrounding the shopping mall as per ordered by their squad leader. After seeing this, Ryouko put one hand on the ear where she kept her transmitter.
"Continue on monitoring the surrounding area. Notify us if there are any changes."
[Roger.]
After sending her orders to the operators working at their base, Ryouko moved her hand away and focused her attention to the shopping mall.
"Say, Squad Leader... Is our target really a Spirit?"
That was until one of the members with her, Okamine Mikie suddenly spoke up.
"I mean... The Spirits we encountered so far have been all girls... And he didn't really fly away when he was dodging all those missiles and bullets... Ah, I-It's not like I found him attractive or anything! Even though he looked amazing doing those flips... Ah, no, err, what I want to say is-"
"That because he did not act like the Spirits we fought before, we might have mistaken him for a Spirit. Is that what you want to say, Member Okamine?"
"Ah, y-yes! That's right."
"Unfortunately, the operators from base picked up the Spirit wave reading being emitted from him. This might be a special case, but since he has Spirit energy in him, that must make this boy a Spirit like the others."
"I-Is that so..."
"Plus, a terrifying one at that..."
"Eh? Did you say something, Squad Leader?"
"Nothing. Enough talk. We need to focus on our mission now."
"Y-Yes!"
With that, Mikie and the other AST member also went nearer to the edge of the building like Ryouko, albeit a distance away from her. Seeing that they were no longer near her, Ryouko let out a sigh.
"...With no ace, how are we going to fight this Spirit should he choose to attack us?"
Yes, Ryouko had felt odd that the Spirit which is their target this time; a young boy around 17~18 years old was only dodging their attacks instead of fighting back. Perhaps he was a passive one like Hermit, this thought once appeared in her mind as her team was attacking him.
No, that was slightly incorrect. Even now, she hoped that their target will only run away instead of attacking them. If she can, she does not want to engage in battle with him, not after hearing the analysis report from the operators.
"T-This is...!? Spirit wave reading: Immeasurable. Danger level: Immeasurable. Code-name assigned: Demon God. This Spirit, it is in a different class than the others!"
Ryouko could not tell the other members. That the Spirit they are fighting this time might be the leader of all the Spirits they had fought before. And that he has enough strength to wipe out their team in mere seconds.
"I already asked for reinforcements from DEM... Even though I do not like working with those guys, ensuring the team's survival is my top priority. So please, stay there until our reinforcements come, Spirit."
"Oh? So the Japanese Self Defense Force's Anti Spirit Team is asking us to help them against a Spirit?"
DEM's Japanese Branch, at one of the offices inside the tall building. Isaac Westcott raised a question in reply to the report from her most trusted subordinate; Ellen Mira Mathers, self-proclaimed humanity's strongest and 'The World's Strongest Wizard'.
"Yes. According to the report that the JSDF gave, this Spirit is in a league of its own."
"Is that so? But then, there is no way that you can lose to a Spirit, right Ellen?"
"Of course, Ike."
"Hmm... But I'm quite interested in this Spirit. Maybe I should take a look about him."
Saying that, Isaac raised one hand to a motion which made him look like he has a book over his hand. A second later, darkness started to form and dissipate, leaving a huge book with black cover hovering on the spot.
"Now then, [Beelzebub]. Please give me the information that I need about the Spirit which appeared today."
Beelzebub. The Demon King that was stolen from the Inversed Nia some time ago. A book which allows its wielder to know everything which happened in the world and even write a future that the wielder wishes. This powerful book's reply to Isaac was,
"...Hmm?"
"What's the matter, Ike?"
"...No. Looks like, I can't find out anything about this Spirit."
however only silence, like the reaction of Ellen before letting out an "Eh?"
"...So, this is the Spirit which appear this time."
At the same time in a different location, Ratatoskr's underground base to be precise, Kotori was showing an image to Shidou of the Spirit which appeared.
"Say, Kotori... That is a guy right?"
"Yes. Is there any problem, Shidou?"
"There is! A huge one! How do you expect me to seal this guy?!"
"What are you talking about Shidou? Don't tell me that pitiful brain of yours has finally forgotten how to seal Spirits?"
"I haven't forgotten about it! Doesn't that mean I have to make him fall in love with me and kiss him?"
"Oh, so you do remember. Then there's no problem, right?"
"Are you a demon?!"
Shidou could only shout at his beloved sister Kotori over what she was trying to make him do.
"Well... seeing my brother kiss a boy around his age will probably cause even me mental trauma, so I will at least close the monitor when you do it."
"Doesn't that mean I'll be the only one traumatized?! In the first place, how do you expect me to make him fall in love with me?"
"A-ra, have you forgotten already? There is someone perfect for this kind of situation."
"Someone perfect...!?"
Shidou took a step back reflexively upon realizing what Kotori meant. Giving a thumb-ups with a big smile on her face, Kotori gave Shidou the words equivalent to a death sentence for him.
"Good luck, Shiori-oneechan~."