A/N: Salutations! Sorry for the wait!
No more small talk! First, I would like to apologize for leaving this fic without an update for 3 months. 3 MONTHS! That is inexcusable even for me. If it disappoints myself, I can only imagine your feelings.
However, while I hate excuses, I do have some reasons for it.
You see, I bought a new Mac to replace my old, dying PC roughly three months ago, which is much smaller and more compact to accomodate my back and heavy-lifting problems. Which is good.
But I need to get used to its functions, and more of all it has deleted my documents at a random rate whenever I try to save it. It is, to put it bluntly, FRUSTRATING.
It has happened when I was working for "Asterisk Winter" Chapter 3 before and guess what, it has happened for "Alternate Reincarmation" Chapter 17 too. And it has deleted some of my document plans for all of my fics as well.
WHAT IS THIS INSANITY? SAVING IS SUPPOSED TO SAVE YOUR PROGRESS, NOT DELETE IT, DAMN IT!
It is not like it is impossible to bypass or get around. It only happens randomly and if I save, so if I copied the entire text before saving, I would still be able to paste it on a new document if it got deleted.
Problem is, uh... I forgot to do that when my Mac decides to delete Chapter 17 a few days ago.
Fuck.
It took me a while, but I have overcome my salt caused by my PC being a jerk and reconstructed this deleted chapter, though I am not sure I am at my finest. Keep an eye to any mistake, ok?
Now, let's begin Chapter 17, "The Ruler of Power"
It had been a while since she could feel the sensations of being [alive].
If living meant the breaths she drew in, and the beating heart within her chest, then she was indeed [alive].
But if living meant preserving her free will, carrying out her desire and her purpose, then she was not [alive] at all.
"How long had it been…?"
How long, indeed?
The passage of time was very slow when you were not alive.
Had it been years? …Four years?
"I have been dreaming for this long?"
The dream had indeed gone on for so long.
After all, what else could she do?
She wasn't alive, she could only pretend to.
"Ah… when will it end? When will I wake up?"
When her dream was disturbed.
In this very instant, something interfered with her sleep.
One… two… three…
"This sensation… three of my kind? In this prison?"
It was the faintest presence she ever felt.
However, weak as it was, it resonated within what was left of her soul.
"Finally… finally!"
Soon, very soon.
She would awaken from this dream.
And she would be alive again.
Rinne didn't feel well.
It was unusual for her to let herself be distracted until she felt uneasy. And she knew it was not a good thing to do.
Especially not now, when she was on a mission to free a Spirit in the [Cage of Judgment]. Yet, she could not get her thoughts off the young man beside her.
Unlike the [Kurumis] and Rinne herself, Shido couldn't get past solid walls and floors with any of his Angels, so they had to go down by foot.
It was a tempting thought to just destroy the floors, but it would spend an unnecessary amount of Spirit mana. It would be unwise to do that while battles likely awaited them ahead.
Which led to this moment. The two of them were now inside an elevator that Kurumi clones had forcefully taken control by phasing into them and manipulating its system.
Which meant she was alone together. With him.
It was humiliating. That something as small as this made her feel embarrassed… no, more than that.
What to call this feeling? Anxiety?
"Even though I know this will be happening sooner or later… I am still nervous?"
Even though she was just alone together with him? Really, Shido was…
At that thought, Rinne glanced to her right.
How many times had she paused, just to take a good look at him?
The blue hair that framed his smooth features of a face.
The golden irises and whitened pupils with fierce determination and intense focus.
It was the same face she had seen several times, through [Web of Causality] of hers.
Right now, those features seemed to be deep in thought, much like her own.
She didn't know why, but she felt like he was probably conversing with Rio, inside his mind.
"How can I tell with just a glance, I wonder…"
Really, Shido's existence was like a spider web for her.
From that day Kurumi told her about him, she was already trapped against her own will.
Rinne didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Rinne."
She almost jolted at the sudden mention of her name.
"Yes?"
Shido's lips turned into a knowing smirk. Rinne felt her face suddenly become warmer.
"Are you distracted? It is good to lose yourself in my charm, but not when we have a Spirit to rescue."
Rinne felt like she wanted to slap him for his egoistical statement, but really, he was right.
This gigolo would not get what he wanted, though.
"Don't be so confident, Shido. If I was lost in your charm, you would be screaming and begging for mercy while my [Laharos] is restraining you."
Her train of thought suddenly becoming mischievous, Rinne couldn't help but smile.
Her mental command sent through her Angel, some of the purple ribbon wrapped on her right arm unwrapped itself, and dissolved into five smaller ribbons to mimic human fingers.
Faster than Shido could react, they moved to tickle his nape. He jolted at the contact, reflexively reaching for his neck, at which point the ribbons had let go.
Confused, Shido turned his body around to look for the culprit, only for the five ribbons to dissolve into five dozens of smaller strings which glow with metallic purplish light, which proceeded to grab Shido's legs.
"Wh-whoa!"
The threads then pulled his legs backwards with a single tug, causing Shido to lose his balance and fell forward.
But, before his face could hit the floor of the elevator, the ribbon wrapped on her left arm had quickly deployed itself, moved and encircled around Shido's chest and body, lifting him mid-air just a few inches above the floor.
Deciding that was enough, Rinne commanded her Angel to turn his body to the left to allow him see her smile.
Shido's face was surprised throughout the whole ordeal, but once he saw her smile, his expression turned into one of slight horror.
"You, you are into bondage!?"
Rinne smiled wider as her Laharos gently repositioned Shido back to his original upright position.
Funny as it was, Rinne didn't want to pull pranks on Shido too much. But maybe one more quip would be alright…
"I wonder…? I will leave that up to your imagination."
As Shido was back standing up, he eyed her Laharos ribbons warily. For some reason, that almost made Rinne laugh.
Kurumi really was a bad influence on her.
"Kihihi! As amusing as your back and forth are, I apologize to cut it short."
Kurumi's laughter could be heard from the elevator's walls, an obvious sign that she was there with them.
"We are already at the halfway point of this facility. The elevator stops here, the entrance to the lower facility is not here. Be on your guard."
Rinne could feel her body tensing by instinct.
She inhaled a breath. It really had been a while since she had to engage a combat.
Next to her, Shido also made his own preparation.
"[Sandalphon]"
The familiar name resonated with his mana, and in an instant, a large sword of light once again appeared in Shido's hands, its radiance filling the small room they were in.
It didn't slip Rinne's notice that Shido didn't use Rio's [Aspect of the Sephiroth] again to transform.
"Hmm… is it because he still wants to use Gabriel?"
It seemed Rio's power had its own drawbacks too, as amazing as it was. It looked like fully transforming into a Spirit rendered Shido unable to use more than one of his Angels.
Because since earlier, either as [Yatogami Tohka] or [Izayoi Miku], he didn't use any other Angel beside Sandalphon or Gabriel.
It was very peculiar, but understandable. Powerful as she was, Rio was still inexperienced with manipulating Spirit mana. Rinne wasn't completely sure, but it would seem likely that Aspect of the Sephiroth was also intended to stabilize Shido's mana flow.
"What would happen once Rio manages to fully control Shido's powers?"
The thought made Rinne shudder. The sheer potential… it was unimaginable.
Unaware of her scrutiny, Shido gave Sandalphon a little test swing, before turning his gaze toward her.
"Let's go!"
Rinne couldn't help but smile at his seriousness. He really wanted to save this Spirit.
"Fu fu. I shall open the door now."
Obeying Kurumi, the elevator's door opened slowly.
"Huh…?"
Shido let out a dumbfounded voice at what greeted them.
Rinne couldn't blame him, she wasn't expecting this, either.
Before them was a large chamber- or at least, what was originally a chamber. The ceilings were far above them, and Rinne could barely see the other end of the room. In terms of size, this was probably larger than even the chamber where she rendezvoused with Shido earlier.
However, the floor ahead of them had almost totally collapsed. Judging from the uneven damage on what little amount was left, it was probably an army of Kurumi who created such a massive opening. She said as much during her report earlier.
Rinne took a step closer to observe what was waiting underneath them, and Shido followed her.
Down below, it appeared to be an all-out war. Sounds of gunfire and bullets hitting something rung endlessly. In a few seconds, Rinne could hear a few female screams from them.
She didn't know whether those screams were simply because they were shouting, or something else involving pain. Or perhaps, death.
Rinne frowned.
Among the scraps and rabbles of metal, multiple Kurumis appeared to be fighting another group of identical young girls. They were armed with weapons Rinne recognized as energy rifles and swords, much like Wizards of AST.
But what she hadn't expected was, the girls were clad in strange, revealing black dresses… engulfed in Spirit mana.
Those girls wore Astral Dresses.
"Who are they? Are they Spirits?"
"…What? Who are those girls fighting with Kurumi?"
Shido asked with a dumbfounded tone, no doubt thinking along the same lines as her.
"That's not a question we can answer for now, Shido-san."
They both turned their heads to the ceiling of their elevator when the Kurumi clone who was accompanying them from within the walls suddenly spoke.
"I am not one of the [Mes] who are fighting down there. We need to ask one of the Mes fighting here, preferably, the original.
Rinne nodded in agreement, although she was sure this Kurumi already had an idea about who these apparent enemies were.
"These girls… are not [Material B], are they?"
There was a chance the original Kurumi had already freed the Spirit locked in this facility and these girls were Material B; but if that was the case she should have no reason to attack Kurumi.
Even if the Spirit was unstable like Itsuka Kotori and would attack anything on sight, they shouldn't be wielding Deus Ex Machina Wizard weapons.
Which meant- these girls were part of DEM.
"I don't need to hesitate, then… though confirming the situation takes priority."
With that in mind, Rinne twitched the Angelic Strings on her arms.
"Let's go, Shido."
"Alright."
Together, both of them leaped down the elevator and into the crossfire between a group of Kurumis and the unidentified girls, but Rinne knew neither she nor Shido intended to let themselves be hit.
"Hyah!"
Shido shouted a battle cry as he swung his Angelic Sword downwards with both of his hands, sending a wave of purple-black energy toward the hostile group of girls.
"Huh?!"
"More intruders!?"
Alerted by their arrival, the unidentified girls quickly separated to all directions to avoid Shido's attack, which demolished the already ruined rabble they were standing on.
As they were scattered, she and Shido had landed safely on the rabbles. Not missing a beat, Rinne decided to get the attention of the other group.
"Kurumis! What is happening here? Who are you fighting against?"
Recognizing her voice, the Kurumis all smiled, prompting Rinne to smile in return despite the tense situation. Relaxing, two of the Kurumis then floated her way to approach her.
"As you can see, currently our forces are in a battle against those girls." One of them said, in a rushed tone.
The other cleared her throat before she spoke. "They call themselves Ars Unit 1, Marina, and claim to be the security system of this facility."
Rinne raised a brow. She had been expecting these girls to belong to the DEM, but the security system of Cage of Judgment? What could that mean?
It was Shido who asked her question.
"Security system? But they are clearly Spirits!"
Shido was clearly concerned. Influenced by Rio's powers or not; he would definitely prioritize saving Spirits, even the ones who were hostile to him. He had tried, and was still trying to, save Kurumi, after all.
One of the Kurumis smiled. "We can tell, Shido-san. But there is no indication that these girls are the one we came for."
"In fact, I am sure they aren't." The other finished, her expression grim.
Just as this Kurumi said that, the Marinas on the other side had regrouped and had them on their sights.
"Those are Itsuka Shido and the Ruler!"
"Humph, the capture targets priority?"
"We can just leave them half-dead. No need to hold back!"
Shouting those words, the Marinas began barraging them with dozens of energy shots.
Rinne could see Shido preparing himself to block it with his Sandalphon, his posture tensing, and his hands gripping his sword in a stance that resembled a kendo practitioner. It was actually a very adorable pose.
"Haaahhh!"
With his sword, Shido projected a forcefield made of purple energy, not unlike Tohka's to protect them.
Knowing Shido would take care of their defense, Rinne turned her focus back to the two Kurumis behind her.
"Where is your original?"
"I am not sure."
"These Marinas are definitely fewer than us in terms of numbers, but more and more of them came from the floors below."
"I suspect the original Me has left this floor and descended."
Rinne nodded in understanding. That meant there could be more of them below, and Kurumi really wasn't waiting for her.
"Oh, well. I did say she wouldn't be waiting."
There was no need to fret over it.
"What do you want to do, Shido?"
Saying that, Rinne turned to the human with Spirit powers, who returned her gaze.
Honestly, she could tell what he was about to say.
There was a Spirit in reach, and even if the Marinas were hostile to them, Shido definitely wouldn't leave it alone.
It was just how he was.
True to her thoughts, Shido's lips turned into a confident smirk.
"You know what I am going to do."
Rinne found herself smiling at that answer.
"Very well."
"Got any plans? Those girls won't wait for too long."
Shido gestured his head, pointing to beyond the purple barrier he was projecting.
The Marinas seemed to have realized the futility of their attacks.
"Won't budge with this much, eh?"
"Group together! Formation L!"
The Marinas form a circular formation mid-air, forming something akin to a hexagram facing toward Shido's barrier with three to four Marinas on each point. They all projected their Realizer's magical energy into a single point in the middle of their circle; forming a very small, yet intense sphere-shaped [Territory].
One of them shouted. "Fire!"
At once, the Marinas fired all of their rifles into the Territory they created, which completely absorbed their shots – or rather, condensed their energy within the sphere. After a moment, the sphere cracked, and from the small hole a very large beam was fired toward Shido's barrier.
Rinne could tell from a glance that Shido was not going to be able to block this one. She was sure Shido and the Kurumis thought the same as they all leaped a considerable distance away.
Well, she was not planning to do the same. Rinne dashed and went into a kneeling position; gathering the strength and the momentum to made a leap over the incoming attack.
"Rinne?!"
She could hear Shido's shout from behind, but Rinne was unconcerned. She would be able to make the jump, she was sure of it.
"She jumped over our attack!"
"Spread, spread! She will attack us!"
Rinne let her lips curve into a small smile. A little too late.
"Laharos!"
Like a snake lunged at its prey, her Laharos lunged at its victim as Rinne extended her right arm.
"What the-
The Marina on her sight never got to finish her sentence.
The seemingly harmless ribbons on her arms had once again separated into hundreds of strings, and every single one of them found a place to wrap on Marina's body.
"A… a…!"
The legs, the hips, the stomach, the chest, the back, the arms, the neck – her threads had wrapped around and squeezed, the Marina could not even make a visible struggle. All she could do was to let out a strangled whimper.
Before any of the other Marinas could react, Rinne twirled mid-air as she swung the Laharos in her right arm behind her; forcefully separating the captured Marina away from her group to her direction.
As Rinne landed on the rabble scattered on the floor, the strings suddenly halted their momentum as the Marina passed by next to her, as if it was trying to curtly, and humbly present its captured prey to her as the Master.
Her back turned to the group of Marinas, Rinne paid them no mind as she observed the Marina in her grasp. She was in pain and her whole body was trembling from the pressure her Laharos was exuding, Rinne supposed she overdid it?
A tingle of guilt hitting her, Rinne whispered.
"I am sorry…"
Her Angel was designed to hold down Spirits, holding back the pressure just enough to hurt these much weaker Marinas was difficult.
Apparently offended, the captive Marina threw her a glare full of anger. It was as if she was shouting, 'don't you dare pity on me.'
She had to let out a sigh. It seemed her enemies really were-
"Rinne, behind you!"
Rinne closed her eyes at Shido's warning. She didn't need him to know, but she was thankful regardless.
Behind her, the other half of Laharos on her left arm had dissolved into several strings, forming something akin to a cape which was just large enough to protect her from several energy blasts the Marinas sent.
A frown crossed her lips as she glanced at them. These Marinas immediately tried to attack her, while one of their own was in her mercy? When stray attacks could possibly hit the Marina she had captured?
That probably meant their individual lives meant nothing to them in the long run, and their pragmatism was comparable to Kurumi's… that thought made her a little sad.
Fully turning her body around, Rinne flexed and swung her left arm, and the small cape formed of threads dissolved to once again became deadly weapons - a very long, very fine, and very sharp collection of lyre strings.
Its range suddenly increased, none of the Marinas could react as the strings passed by them, and sliced some of their rifles into halves of wrecked firearms, much to their collective surprise.
"That was a warning."
As the strings once again combined together to become a ribbon and wrapped most of its length back on her left arm, Rinne lowered her voice to try and sound as threatening as possible.
"I will mutilate you if you don't back down."
To emphasize, Rinne clenched her right hand, and the Laharos ribbon wrapped on her right arm reacted by increasing the pressure upon the Marina it had captured, who was now held mid-air next to her.
"Ack…!"
Rinne observed the Marinas. None of them reacted, even in the slightest bit, to the captured Marina's pain.
Instead, they all smiled.
"Asking us to surrender? How naïve."
"Pfft. And you are supposed to be Nightmare's partner?"
"Go ahead and prove your mettle, if you can!"
The Ruler narrowed her eyes at the mockeries hurled at her.
"…I suppose I should have guessed."
"You asked for it."
Rinne flexed her left arm. She was going to give them a taste of [Dance with Destiny] then–
"Sandalphon!"
The shout made Rinne jolt in surprise.
All of a sudden, a large wave of purple energy struck the ground below the Marinas and caused the floor that was already damaged and covered in rabbles to suffer more destruction.
The subsequent explosion of Spirit mana enveloped the Marinas in the process; giving them no chance to even scream as they were at the ground zero of the blast.
The next moment, Shido dropped from above and landed right in front of her, his sword still glowing with Spirit mana. Her crimson eyes met Shido's gold, the man opened his mouth first.
"You okay?"
Out of reflex, Rinne's mouth spoke before she could think.
"Yes, thank you."
Shido nodded, before he turned to the area he blasted with Sandalphon earlier. Rinne followed suit, they didn't want any survivor to attack them while having their guard down.
It seemed Shido's attack had managed to blow a hole into the floor below, and as the dust settled, it appeared none of the Marinas struck were left standing – most of them were lying here and there around the hole, either unconscious or too injured to move.
Rinne was a bit alarmed at their injuries, but it seemed none of them died. That was a plus.
Shido too, let out a sigh of relief.
"Good thing you managed to distract them like that, Rinne. I was worried for those girls."
Rinne raised a brow slightly. For the Marinas?
"You were worried for them?"
At that moment, Shido's expression faltered, and he smiled awkwardly.
As if he was embarrassed, Shido scratched his cheek with his free hand.
"You know, when you said you are going to mutilate them… I am not sure whether you were serious or not, and I don't really want to see you… cutting them up. So I am glad I can end this fight before that happened."
Rinne was stunned at that.
"Did… did he actually think-
She could barely resist her urge to laugh.
"Shido… do you really think I was going to mutilate them?"
Much to her surprise, Shido actually fidgeted, and averted his eyes from her.
"Well… you didn't deny that you like bondage, so I wouldn't put it past you, I guess?"
Shido gestured to the now-squirming Marina next to them, who was still hold in-place by her right half of the Laharos.
For a moment, Rinne's mind halted. Did Shido really think-
Understanding Shido's thought process, Rinne burst into laughter.
"Pfft- ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
For some reason, Shido visibly shuddered at her laughter.
Was he actually scared? That made Rinne felt even more humored– goodness, was Shido always this innocent?
"Shi, Shido, I was only joking. Why on earth would you think I was serious?"
As if he was offended, Shido made a bemused expression.
"Jokes? Your jokes are about as practical as Kurumi's! How could I NOT take it seriously?!"
Rinne let out a chuckle. "Well, I AM her partner, and her habits might be contagious."
"I guess I forget about that for a minute there…" Shido sighed.
He rubbed the back of his head, as if conveying 'my bad'.
"You two are so different, but in the end, I suppose you two really are friends."
Those words, made Rinne happier than she would admit. She couldn't help but smile appreciatively at that.
"Thank you. I apologize if I scared you there, Shido."
All of sudden, Shido's golden, Spirit-influenced eyes widened, as if he was stunned.
Rinne raised a brow at that. Why was he surprised?
What could cause him to-
"Oh."
It came back to her. All the times Shido had blushed simply because a girl smiled earnestly to, for, and because of him.
It was actually very modest of him, and Rinne hated to admit it was one of her favorite parts from watching Shido's life through Web of Causality.
The thought made Rinne smile wider. Shido might be a man of impressive courage and determination at times, but in the end, he was still a teenager at heart.
Trying to hide his embarrassment, Shido cleared his throat.
"A-anyway… what are you going to do with her?"
Shido once again pointed to the Marina in her grasp.
Rinne's smile faltered. That's right, she had to explain.
"I am going to see her past."
Both Shido and the Marina she had restrained let out a shocked gasp.
"See her past? You could do that?"
Shido was a little too surprised than Rinne thought he would be.
He had seen Kurumi's powers and Nia's omniscience. This should be nothing new for him, wasn't it? Regardless, Rinne nodded.
"Back when we were inside the [Hraesvelgr] helicopter, do you remember how Kurumi and I were chatting without actually talking?"
Shido appeared confused for a moment, before his eyes widened, as if he just recalled it.
"Ah! I remember. So, you were really chatting?"
"Indeed, through these children."
Her arms gestured to the children in question - the Laharos wrapped around her arms.
"In simple terms, I can connect my body and mind with other people through physical contact with my Angel. It is why it is named [Fate Connection]."
To be more specific, Fate Connection linked Rinne's very own [String of Fate] with its target's to give Rinne control over theirs.
But Shido didn't know what String of Fate was, and explaining that one would take a while, so Rinne decided not to mention that yet.
"Fate… Connection…"
Shido appeared to be very perplexed for a moment, before his mouth opened again.
"Does your Spirit ability have something to do with fate, Rinne?"
That, surprised Rinne. Shido caught to that faster than she thought, although that was probably obvious with its name.
"Yes. Are you surprised?"
"I guess I am… is it going to be taxing on you?"
Rinne smiled. Shido was probably comparing her Fate Connection with Kurumi's [Tenth Bullet] – and under any other circumstances, that would be correct, to use your experience with other Spirits to measure another's power.
Not the case with her, though. Connecting Strings of Fate didn't require Spirit mana beyond its activation. Once connected, the effects would be permanent until the physical contact was severed.
"No, not really. But it will take some time and it is unsafe to do it in the middle of a battlefield, so I would prefer not to do it now."
The Ruler turned her gaze to the Marina which was still struggling in the bindings of her Laharos. With a breath, Rinne chanted.
"Laharos: Fate Connection."
The Marina suddenly widened her eyes, as if realizing what Rinne had just done.
Her eyes, which were defiant up to that point, suddenly became colored with something else.
Terror.
Not too long after, Marina's whole body abruptly went still, and her eyes slowly began to close, her consciousness gone.
"Rinne? What, what are you doing to her?"
Worry obvious in his tone, Shido almost moved to stop her, but he held himself back.
Guilt suddenly clawed its way to Rinne's heart.
Shido's response was only natural - to a stranger, it would appear Rinne was killing Marina.
"I need to explain myself…!"
After a deep breath, Rinne opened her mouth.
"My Fate Connection can establish two different types of connection. The one I used with Kurumi before, is named [Intertwining Souls] – and it allows to establish a two-way connection. I can send my thoughts and memories to Kurumi, and vice versa. This one, though…"
Rinne paused for a moment. Had the Marina gone to sleep yet?
Marina's eyes were completely closed, and her struggle had stopped. Her Laharos couldn't sense anymore resistance, either.
She decided it was okay to continue.
"…is called [Sacrificial Bonds]. It only establishes a one-way connection, so I don't really use them for much. I do need it to drain her Spirit mana and weaken her, though."
Shido was visibly relieved at her explanation.
"I knew you would never mercilessly kill her."
Rinne smiled in return. She was flattered, but she couldn't resist to make a quip at that.
After all, this was not the normal Shido either, so there was no reason to allow herself to just accept his compliments.
"Said the person who just a few minutes ago was thinking I would mutilate a bunch of girls for disregarding my warning. A little inconsistent, don't you think?"
Shido groaned. "You are not going to drop that anytime soon, are you?"
Rinne giggled. "No, I will drop it for now. Kurumis!"
Deciding enough was enough, Rinne moved the topic along.
Responding to her call, a group of Kurumis they had helped quickly gathered around the two of them.
"Help Shido protect me. I am going to see what exactly are these Marinas."
"Understood."
"Objective acknowledged."
"We won't let anyone touch you!"
The Kurumis quickly formed a defensive formation surrounding her and Shido, and Shido himself gripped his sword and stood next to her, eying their environment.
Even though the two of them had just taken down a group of Marinas, there were several more still fighting with groups of Kurumis at other sides of this battlefield, and ultimately, their actions didn't seem to change the progress of the battle.
Although Rinne was sure she could easily take down these Marinas even without Shido and Kurumis backing her up, she wasn't really sure she could do that without dealing casualties.
And honestly, she was sure that Shido would agree with her about avoiding to hurt anyone more than they needed to.
Thus, it would be more efficient to investigate these Marinas with her Fate Connection. She would find out their origins, first.
With that in mind, Rinne sent her Angel a command about the unconscious Marina in their grasp.
"Fate Connection..."
"Show me our Intertwining Souls!"
Kurumi was a little surprised at the turn of events.
As it turned out, these Marinas were not exactly small fries – though they employed a self-duplication abilities similar to her own, each of these Marinas possessed individual abilities higher than her clones.
Each of them had an Astral Dress, a Combat Realizer Suit, Wizard-class weapons, and their own Spirit power. When all of those were combined, the Marinas outmatched her own clones in strength.
Kurumi was forced to make use of more of her own 12 Bullet powers to penetrate their defenses and went this far in.
It didn't make it any less fun, however.
"Fufufu…"
Strolling through another dark tunnel, her flintlock and her musket ready in both of her hands, Kurumi giggled lightly.
Still, it was something she needed to give serious thoughts about.
The DEM had managed to enlist Spirits in their ranks… it was not something she had expected before.
As far as Kurumi knew from that wretch – [Takamiya Mio], just thinking about her name made Kurumi's blood boil – there should only be Ten Spirits.
Fragments of [Sephira Crystal] belonging to the First Spirit. Ten humans who accepted them to become Spirits, cursed existences likened to disasters for the world.
Yet–
"Rinne carries within her, another Sephira Crystal."
Kurumi had been shocked beyond belief when she learned of that, back when Kurumi encountered the Ruler Spirit.
After all, how could it possibly happen? For a Sephira Crystal just to appear like that?
Four years ago, Kurumi had tried to use her time powers to find out exactly how Rinne got her Sephira Crystal.
Unfortunately, she couldn't possibly hit that Crystal with her Tenth Bullet while it had become one with Rinne. In the end, Kurumi could only see Rinne's own life.
That five years ago, on August 3rd, something – the time travel trip later revealed it to be [Phantom] – gave Rinne a Sephira Crystal, and turned her into a Spirit, just like that.
That was all Kurumi could ascertain, apart from Rinne's human life. There were no more clues, so she couldn't try to investigate more about it.
But then, the information network made by her clones kept receiving rumors about DEM capturing more and more Spirits from all over the world, far more than Kurumi ever imagined.
Just how those came to be? What were those 'Spirits'?
Kurumi's information network hadn't extended much farther than Japan, which was why she couldn't investigate about those Spirits. Fortunately, Rinne could help her with foreign investigations.
Three years later – more or less one year ago – Rinne had informed her that these captured Spirits were not just a fraud, they were real. However, she was suspicious since these Spirits didn't seem to be well-guarded at all.
Rinne had claimed she could probably destroy entire facilities housing one of these Spirits without much fuss, and the only reason she didn't do so was because she had to keep her existence a secret.
Thus, Rinne concluded that among the many 'Spirits' DEM had captured, only Material A and B were securely protected. This matched the info Kurumi could attain, as well.
With no immediate action possible, Kurumi had decided investigating these 'extra Spirits' could wait until she could capture at least one of them.
That was why when the opportunity to capture arised, Kurumi had planned to attack this facility to retrieve Material B, who was said to be the second Spirit the DEM had captured after Honjou Nia.
However, much to her surprise, another Spirit was waiting here – these Marinas who claimed to be their security system – and it threw her calculation off.
Marina's existence presented more possibilities. One, DEM had somehow brainwashed the extra Spirits they had captured.
However, that didn't make any sense – that sorry excuse of a man, Isaac Westcott, didn't want to brainwash the Spirits.
All he wanted was to torture them, turn them into Inverse Spirits, and take away their Crystals.
Which opened a second possibility: DEM had been producing these extra Spirits, through their own means.
That was not something Kurumi would like to be true, but she had to consider the possibility.
It seemed more likely than not, since Kurumi couldn't sense an Angel from them, much like her own clones. If it was just counterfeit Spirits, Kurumi doubted that it was beyond DEM's abilities to manufacture.
If DEM had somehow managed to produce counterfeiters like these, then it was likely those so called 'captured Spirits' were in reality artificial Spirits they successfully created, and they made it seem like these counterfeiters were 'real' Spirits.
After all, the main reason DEM became one of the most successful company in the world was because it was one of the few who manufactured the Realizers, humanity's only defense against the Spirits.
If it became known that the company was actually creating those Spirits, they would lose a huge amount of support. As such, instead of keeping it a secret, they claimed their artificially-made Spirits were 'the Spirits they managed to capture' to boost their reputation.
It was only expected from a bunch of greedy liars claiming to be humans.
That being said, Kurumi highly doubted Material B was one of those counterfeiters. There would be no need to enforce such heavy defenses in this island if that was the case.
Yes, most likely, Material B was a similar existence to Rinne.
Phantom had at least obtained one Sephira Crystal in addition to the original ten, for Rinne. The one housing [Cassiel]. Who was to say, she didn't possess more?
If anyone in this world was able to create more Sephira Crystals, it was Takamiya Mio, and no one else. Why wouldn't that inhuman monster produce more Spirits?
Kurumi gritted her teeth.
That devil was probably creating more and more, even now. Rinne's existence was proof of it.
"...Che."
It was not the time for her to be sentimental.
There was a mission at hand, analyzing the situation was necessary, being emotional wasn't.
With a deep breath, Kurumi steeled her focus, and pressed on.
"Ah… yes…"
Among the three of her kind, one had approached her.
A little more… just a little closer, and she would be…
"Come closer…"
She couldn't wait anymore.
She was trapped in this dream for so long.
She wanted to be free.
"Give my life back!"
How was it? Leave your thoughts in the reviews!
It has been a while since I typed for Alternate Reincarnation, and now I am seriously rusty. If you feel the quality isn't going to be as good as the previous ones, just say so!
Anyway, I feel like this is going to go through another hiatus considering I am having my final tests in a week… oh dear.
But regardless, thank you for following the development of "Alternate Reincarnation"! I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.