-Ayako's POV-
This is bad, this is SERIOUSLY bad. I think as my mind moves a mile a minute. I glance over down at Shido and let out a small sigh as I see Kotori's flames are already closing his wounds. I don't know who this person is, but it's not Tohka. I watch her carefully as she slowly comes to and examines her surroundings. Her Astral Dress has changed dramatically, she's now sporting a dark violet dress attached with black laces and a set of grayish magenta-and-dark pink plated armor which adorned her shoulders and waist. Likewise Sandalphon has changed to a dark single edged blade with a purple edge and redish-pink lines emanating from the blade.
"Where am I? What is this place?" She settles her gaze on me. "You, answer me. Where am I?"
"You are at DEM Industries, Japanese branch." I tell her. Damn it, I don't know what to do. If Onee-sama were here the situation wouldn't look so bad. Damn it why is she never here to help me with this kinda stuff. I lament inwardly.
"Can you tell me why I am here?" She asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"You were kidnapped by that Wizard over there." I jerk my thumb over to where Ellen stands.
"Wonderful, this is the first time I've seen such an excellent Inversion. Look Ellen, that is our dream, our dearest wish. Now it's time to work, someone who is worthy for you to defeat has finally appeared, my strongest Wizard. The moment has come for you to take the treasons head of the Demon King and lay the foundation for our path." Westcott says cryptically. During his little speech I kneel down and grab the still unconscious Shido and prepare to bolt when I see a chance.
"Yes, I'm ready." Ellen responds. I dash away from Tohka pulling Shido behind me as Ellen clashes with Tohka with such force it's like a bomb went off in the room.
I watch as their swords clash together over and over faster than the human eye can see as I track each strike of theirs. I hear a pained groan and hear movement behind me as Shido stirs. "Don't move from behind me Shido, you'll get blown away if you step out from behind my shield." I warn him and he pulls himself to his feat.
"Ayako, what's going on?" He asks, wide eyed in disbelief at the scene unfolding in front of him.
"I'm honestly not sure. Westcott said something about an 'Inversion'. I've had Zuriel scan Tohka this whole time and her Spirit levels are unlike anything I've seen from her before." I explain to him while they continue their fight. "Taking that and the fact that when she snapped out of it she asked me where we were and why she was here, something is seriously wrong with Tohka right now."
I continue watching the fight, staring in amazement that despite her intense barrage of attacks Ellen can't even move Tohka an inch and with a swift swing Ellen throws herself backwards to avoid the attack. I notice her scowl to herself before resuming her lightning fast attack, changing tactics a little to try to kick Tokha's legs out from under her, which Tohka easily avoids by launching herself into the air.
"Fine, get ready." Ellen growls. "Go Rhongomiant!" The back of her suit flips down and she grabs hold of it, aiming at Tohka before a massive pillar of energy is fired. I watch in shock as the blast blows through the room and out the top of DEM Industries building, creating a pillar of light reaching to the sky.
"No… Tohka!" Shido cries out when the smoke clears and no sign of Tohka remains. Ellen glances over at Shido with a look of contempt, only to snap her attention back skywards as a voice rings out.
"I see, I suppose you weren't all talk." The smoke clears revealing Tohka floating in the sky, the moon framing her from behind. She raises her blade and Ellen launches herself up at her.
"I won't let you!" She cries and swings her blade at her, but instead of blocking or dodging Tohka simply reaches out and catches Ellen's blade with her bare hand, to Ellen's shock.
Tohka raises her blade slowly and Ellen gasps as she sees the attack is aimed at Westcott. She disengages from Tohka and rushes to Westcott to protect him as Tohka's sword falls. "Nahemah." A monsterous wave of purple energy is fired from her blade and I hear Ellen cry out as the attack makes contact with her while she is defending Westcott.
"Ayako are you ok?" Shido asks, seeing me flinch noticeably from that attack.
"I'm fine, my shields are holding, but this is bad Shido, neither of us have come across anyone close to as powerful as Tohka is." I explain. Except Onee-sama of course.
A pile of rubble explodes and from under it emerges Westcott and a seemingly unscathed Ellen. "Thank you Ellen, that was close." Westcott says, dusting off his suit casually.
"No problem, we can't exactly have you getting killed right now." She responds cooly as she drops the territory protecting them.
"So tell me, what do you think of Princess?" He asks her, unfazed by everything going on.
"She's grown much stronger than before. In my opinion she's at least a triple A rank now."
"Really? Alright Ellen, can you still win?" Westcott asks her.
"I'm not sure, nothing that lives on this earth can beat me, if I'm at my very best that is, which I'm not. I was distracted while defending us earlier and my wound opened up. I've been controlling my pain threshold, so I am at a slight disadvantage when facing that Spirit." She explains and I wanna call bullshit so bad.
"Hmm, understood. It seems we have no choice. Let us retreat then, we still have some time left." Westcott decides.
"Only if you're certain."
"It's fine, I'm used to waiting. It's good enough that we were able to draw out Princess' Inversion." Westcott says. "On top of that we were able to see someone rather unexpected." He directs his gaze to Shido. "My apologies, but you will have to excuse us for now. Let us meet again, if you survive, Takamiya, I mean Shido Itsuka."
"Hey hold on a sec, do you know who I am?" Shido asks as I watch Westcott carefully.
"Oh no, I haven't the foggiest." He says in a slightly mocking tone as particles of light surround him and Ellen. "Not about Shido Itsuka anyway." He finishes before teleporting away.
"Hey!" Shido calls after him.
"Hold on Shido." I tell him, my voice serious.
"You bastards are next." Tohka says, drifting down back into the room. She touches down and raises her sword above her head and delivers another powerful attack directed at us. I summon my screens and block the attack easily enough, surprised that it didn't seem as powerful as it should until I notice Sandalphon glowing softly in Shido's hand. "That is Sandalphon, I demand you tell me why you have that Angel." Tohka's voice is dangerously low, and I prepare myself to fight her.
"Tohka what happened to you? Don't you remember us?" Shido asks, and I can't help but feel bad about the lost look on his face.
"Careful Shido." I warn him as he steps up beside me.
"Tohka? Are you talking to me?" She asks and we both gasp in surprise.
"Shido, Shido! Please respond!" I hear Kotori's voice sound from Shido's ear piece and have Zuriel hack into it so I can hear as well.
"Kotori?"
"Thanks to the building being blown away the jamming is finally gone. What in the world happened in there? Are you ok?" Kotori demands anxiously.
"We are both fine Kotori, I came to give Shido some backup. As for what happened, Westcott did something to Tohka, he called it an Inversion. Shido was stabbed and then Tohka went berserk." I explain quickly.
"Ayako, thank goodness you're there too." She says in relief.
"Kotori was this caused by the reverse flow of Spirit energy? Can she be sealed?" Shido asks.
"I don't know. This is something very different, unfortunately I can't tell you if she can be sealed or not at this point." Reine says over the comms.
"That doesn't matter, with her current feelings toward Shido there is no way she could be sealed right now anyway." Kotori continues.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" He asks desperately.
"You have to make Tohka aware of who you are again." She explains to Shido. "If you do that then her happiness levels will return to normal. No pressure but we only have one shot at this."
"Of course we do." He sighs and walks toward her. "Come on Tohka, let's go home. If you say sorry right now I'll make all your favorite foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
"You talk too much." She says.
Ahh shit. "Shido look out!" I rush forward as she slashes her sword, sending him flying past me. "Kurudo! Please give me something useful!" I cry out as I rush Tohka. I slash down as hard as I can as I feel the weapon materialize in my hand.
"What?!" She growls in surprise and raises her sword up to defend herself. "Where did that come from?" She demands as I swing again and she leaps back.
"I'm a Spirit too after all, it's not like I wouldn't have a weapon." I tell her as I raise my new weapon again.
"What is it?" She asks genuinely confused at my paddle like weapon.
"It's an ancient weapon known as a macuahuitl, and just because it looks weird doesn't mean you should look down on it." I look over my shoulder to see Shido drag himself to his feet. "Shido leave this to me! I'll deal with Tohka, you look for an opening to try to snap her out of it, and no matter what DO NOT get in my way." I order him and he stares and me in surprise at my commanding tone.
"Are you going to be ok?" He finally asks after a moment.
I smirk and turn back to face Tohka. "What do you think?" I ask him before throwing myself at the opponent in front of me.
My weapon's serrated end crashes into her sword as I struggle to push her back. I grit my teeth and glare at her while she meets my eyes with a cold stare before breaking our clash with a powerful thrust and slashes at me. I dodge it by a hair's breadth and deliver a powerful smack with the flat of my paddle. I jump back and raise my hand from her. "Mado!" I blast her with a bolt of electricity.
She bursts from the smoke and I throw up my holo screens. She smashes straight through them and punches me in the stomach. I retch in pain, doubling over from the force of the blow. She slashes upward with her sword and I barely raise my shields and sword in time to block the attack, but the force of the blow sends me flying through the massive hole in the roof.
"Ayako!" Shido screams as I disappear from his sight. Tohka launches herself after me. I steady myself in the air and slam my blade down onto hers, using as much force as I can to launch her away.
"Hmm, you aren't too bad, but you aren't as skilled as that woman before." She comments after recovering from my strike.
"I don't need to be, I just need to be able to slow you down." I smile smugly. "Luckily slowing someone down is something I'm quite good at, Kumu!" I shout before launching another attack. Tohka scoffs and raises her blade to defend, only to grunt in exertion as my blow lands on her sword. I grin at her widely and unleash a flurry of slashes, hammering away at her defense as she struggles to block my blows.
"What did you do to me?" She demands as she diflects my attack and lunges at me but I block the strike with one of my screens.
"I hampered your abilities with one of my own, nothing special." I gloat as we clash again, our blades grinding against each other creating sparks.
"Well to bad it's not enough!" She kicks me away and launches another wave attack which I blast away with electricity. She bursts through the smoke and slashes me with her sword. I scream in pain as her sword cuts through my Astral Dress. I slash my blade but she deflects it and raises her blade. "You shouldn't have gotten so cocky."
"Gabriel!" A sonic blast hits Tohka, knocking her away from me as Miku flies up next to me. "Are you alright Ayako?" She asks.
"Miku what are you doing here? I told you to stay back at the center." I chastise her, grunting a little as my Astral Dress closes over my wound.
"You're welcome for saving you just now." Her voice is filled with a sassy tone. "Requiem." I blink in surprise as the pain subsides and I look at her in surprise. "Leave the support to me, we have to get her under control."
"Right." I straighten up and square up with Tohka, who hovers there, already recovered from the attack she received.
"Gabriel, March." She says and I feel strength flow through me. I nod to her and launch myself at Tohka again and now thanks to mine and Miku's powers it's much easier to keep up with her movements. Our attacks create explosions in the air around us as our weapons clash and I grit my teeth to stop from being pushed back.
Even with her power being hampered by my debuff and Miku supporting me I can barely keep up with her. She's a total monster. I growl loudly as I shove off her sword and fire a bolt of electricity at her. She deflects it with her hand and slams her sword down on my hastily raised guard, the force of which slams me down into the building, burying me in rubble.
"Ayako! Gabriel, Symphony!" Miku attacks Tohka from all sides with powerful soundwaves.
"Ayako are you alright?!" Shido cries, running over to the pile of rubble that collapsed on top of me. He starts digging through it with his bare hands, pulling rocks. I blast a rock off me and sit up with a groan and look down at my now cut it half macuahuitl and discard it.
"She's way too strong Shido, I can't hold her off even with Miku backing me up." I tell him as I summon a new macuahuitl into my hand. A loud scream splits the air and I look up to see Miku's Gabriel shatter.
"It seems you have reached your limit, you annoying little song bird." Tohka raises her blade high over her head and all Miku does is stare in horror.
"MIKU!" Before she can react Tohka is engulfed in a massive blast of electricity. I pant heavily as I continue to fire my bolt of electricity through my holo screens, honing the bolt into a powerful railgun charge shot. The beam bubbles out in front of Miku and then explodes revealing a virtually unscathed Tohka.
"Insects, I will crush you all at once!" She flies up higher and summons her throne, which begins to crack as Tohka prepares her final attack.
"I don't have much juice left." I tell Shido as my new macuahuitl fades from existence. "I got a plan so listen carefully. I'm going to draw her attack off you, and when she hits me with it I want you to get to her and snap her out of this, it's our only chance."
"Are you crazy!? I've seen what that sword can do, you won't survive in your condition!" Shido says loudly, rejecting my idea immediately like I knew he would.
"Of course I will, nothing Tohka could do would be worse than Tsubasa if she learned I didn't try, so there's no way I'm gonna leave her like that, and there's no way I'm gonna die, Onee-sama would kill me twice over if I did." I give him a weak smile. "Make sure Miku gets out of this ok?"
"Shido, Tohka!" We both look upward as a blast of ice hits Tohka, which barely affects her much like my railgun earlier. I see Tohka flinch as the Yamai Sisters also call out Shido's name and start attacking Tohka.
"Shido, she's already faltering, one more push and you can get through to her, so as soon as she attacks, get up in her face!" I order him before launching myself skyward. "Miku are you ok?" I stop at the roof where she is and ask her.
"I used my powers too much, I have to let my voice recover." She says in despair.
"Don't worry, you're ok and that's what matters. Miku, please help Shido seal Tohka for me." I ask her before leaving her behind and heading up toward the raging Princess. "Tohka!" I yell at her, grabbing her attention as she blows Yoshino away.
"You are the most annoying of them all, just die already." She growls in frustration. "Now Nahemah, Paverschlev!" Dark energy gathers in her sword. "It's time to die!"
"Save Shido!" I scream as she aims her attack at him and I. I raise some screens to defend myself and I notice several Kurumi clones rush Tohka, but she destroys them like they are nothing.
"Haaa!" She swings her sword and I get engulfed by dark, cutting energy.
"Ayako!" Miku screams as the attack clears, leaving nothing in its wake and she seems a large portion of the city destroyed.
"Hahaha, they are finally gone! That annoying human and pesky Spirit will never bother me again!" Tohka laughs maniacally as she beholds the space where her enemies were before the attack.
"What precisely are you laughing at, servant? Isn't it a little bit early to be celebrating your so-called triumph?" Kaguya demands.
"Protection, Ayako's foresight was quite admirable." Yuzuru says as they hold Shido floating between them.
"You two were awesome, but is Ayako ok?" He asks, surveying the attack area looking for his friend.
"It's not like it was hard for us, but now isn't the time for that Shido, Ayako said seal Tohka." Kaguya states, her normal carefreeness gone as she glares down at Tohka.
"Who? How are you still alive? I killed your friend and you're next." She says, but her voice is full of uncertainty. Shido flies toward her and Tohka gasps in surprise. "Who's… Tohka?" she mumbles.
"Hey there Tohka, I'm here to save you." He says as he stops in front of her. He tosses Sandalphon aside and kisses Tohka, holding her close as they sink to the ground and she returns to normal.
"Shido." She says as they break apart, a smile splitting her face.
"Yea that's me." He responds.
"I'm so sorry." She apologizes.
"It's alright, but we have to find Ayako first. We have to make sure she's ok" He tells her.
"Aww that's sweet of you Shido, but you don't have to worry too much about little Ayako, she's right here." Kurumi's dangerous voice rings out as she appears over the edge of the building holding Ayako in her arms.
"Thanks for picking me up Kurumi." I say tiredly as she sets me down and I fall on my ass gracelessly. I look down at my clothes now that my Astral Dress has vanished and sigh. "I'm fucking tired." I groan.
"With that, my work is done and I'm even with you now Ayako, so be careful, no guarantee of help next time." She warns before leaving.
I flop down and lay on the roof. "I hurt everywhere…"
"Ayako, I'm glad you're safe." Shido says as he walks over with the rest of the spirits following behind him.
"I told you I wouldn't die Shido. Though I have to say, this would have been a lot harder if the Yamai sisters hadn't been so quick and if Miku hadn't shown up to lend a hand." I turn my head to look at her. "Thank you Miku, and I'm glad you aren't hurt."
"You idiot! You almost died because of me! You blew all your energy trying to protect me and now you're all hurt! What would've happened if my first real friend had been killed?" She demands, tears streaming down her face.
"I didn't and that's the key point isn't it?" I chuckle weakly. "But don't worry, soon enough you'll have more than just me as your friend, I guarantee everyone here will become your friend soon enough." I assure her. "That doesn't mean I will keep throwing myself into the line of fire like this though, it hurts way too freaking much." Everyone starts chuckling and Shido helps get me to my feet.
"I think we should all go home now, it's been a crazy day, do you need some help getting home Ayako?" Shido asks.
I open my mouth to respond but feel Miku wrap her arm around me. "Thanks, but I think I got someone to give me a ride." I chuckle. "I think I'm gonna take school off tomorrow, so I'll text you later, Shido." I call over my shoulder as Miku flies us out the room. "Thanks for the help Miku, you can drop me off at home, my sister will be there to take care of me."
"No problem Ayako." Miku says with a small smile as we head toward my home. I let out a small sigh and stare off into the distance. I'm glad everyone is ok and Tohka's back to normal, but if Onee-sama was there to do this no one would've gotten hurt. I couldn't protect them, I could barely protect myself. I close my eyes and clench my teeth in frustration as I silently lament my weakness.
