The first half of the spoiler is in this chapter. The next will be the rest.
To Synchro: Thanks for the compliment. Also, note this before you read this chapter: I never wrote down Kurumi's last name, until this. Though, there's one hint: She's very close to Kuro, my main OC.
With that out, let's get to the first part of the 'spoilers'!
"Are we done?" Green Sister asks amusingly. "Surely you're not expecting to win on a one-v-one fight, are you?"
"I have killed a Spirit by myself before. I could do it again."
"Are you sure? Then why are you exhausted right now?"
After ten minutes fighting, Mana is on her feet, panting due to her power being depleted. She looks at her opponent, who's leaning on her staff casually. She retorts: "I was… just a little careless."
"Thankfully that I'm not a psychopath or so. If it's the case, you would have died." Turning back to Emerald, the Goddess sighs. "Come on now. You're really being unreasonable here. We're even helping you by dealing with those small problems. Just, leave us be."
"We won't. Your existence dangers ours."
"You really remind me of the Seven Sages. *Sigh* Just, go back and do other stuffs than chasing us." Emerald plans to walk away, before she has to raise her staff up and blocks a slash from another AST member. And now, the soldiers start circling her with their close-range weapons ready. "Please, aren't you get tired after those pointless kills?"
"It's not pointless if it's meant for our survivor!" One AST member shouts, and with that Emerald's forced to go in another fight, this time with multiple targets at once.
Even though she's one of the stronger Candidates (she only lost to Nepgear so far), it doesn't mean that she could hold on them forever. Deciding to not harm any of them, Emerald pulls out an EMP grenade and activates it, sending electricity around her that causes AST's equipment to go down, thus stopping them from attacking her. "While it's a good exercise, I don't want to draw much attention." Pulling out an Advanced Eject Button this time, she activates it and teleports herself out of the fight…
And she lands into the bridge of Fraxinus. Upon seeing the girl, Kotori walks to her side and asks in worry: "Are you okay?"
"Seen better." Emerald replies. Dropping the staff on the floor, she asks: "How's Shidou doing?"
"You can see for yourself." Reine points her finger towards the main screen. Emerald follows, and watches Shidou having the face of 'I'm so done with this' with Origami and Tohka trying to get him to their sides.
That earns a tired giggle from Emerald. "Now that's a face I'm too familiar with."
Kotori then asks: "Should we send you back home via teleportation?"
"No need." She then sees Yoshino walking in with her eyes swirling in dizzy, and immediately asks the Spirit worriedly: "Are you okay, Yoshino? What happened to you?"
"Don't worry." Reine catches the young girl in her hands, then carries her up bridal-style. "She's just a little tired from helping Shidou with his dates. I will carry her to a bed." With that, Reine leaves the main bridge with Yoshino in her arms.
"…Guess I have to make her favorite food tonight." Emerald says, smiling warmly.
Two days later
"She's not with you today?" The shopkeeper asks.
"She's visiting a friend of ours. She would have fun with them."
Another day in the bookstore.
"By the way, I saw you going out with a girl in Tengu Station last weekend. A friend of yours?"
"Oh? You were there as well?"
"Hanging out with my girls. Although, you two seemed to be a little closer than just 'normal friends'."
"Ah, that. Well, our family are friends for a long time. She and I have played with each other when we're small." That's a half truth. Emerald has always been like herself now since her 'birth'.
"More reasons to say your relationship being higher than friends."
"Come on, it's not like that. Also, I already have someone."
"Now that's a surprise. Mind telling me who the lucky guy is?"
"Well, I can't tell you."
"Oh come on now. Just a little hint or so?"
"Well, there's no guy involved."
"…Wow, you… swing that way? I'm a little surprised. Guys do no good for you?"
"More like the boys don't dare to go near me."
"Really?"
"Just a little corner of my life."
Emerald's phone then rings up. She excuses herself to the shopkeeper and answers it… "Miss Emerald, please run to Shidou's school as fast as possible. Kurumi's planning to kill him."
That immediately catches her off guard. There's no way that's true. "Are you sure, Reine?"
"Positive. She kept saying about taking Shidou's life right now and even when she rendered other students unconsciously. There's no doubts about it."
Emerald puts down her phone for a moment to think about it…
"What's wrong?" The shopkeeper asks worriedly.
"… I have to go. My friend is in danger." Picking up her stuffs, Emerald answers.
"Danger?"
"She just got into an accident." One good lie is all it takes.
"I see. Please send my best wish to them."
"Thank you." Running off the bookstore, Emerald continues the conversation with Reine: "What's going on?"
"Mana's protecting Shidou right now, but she's fighting a losing fight. Origami and Tohka are fighting against Kurumi's clones or something…"
"Clones or after-images?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just answer."
"Clones. If it's just after-images, those Kurumi wouldn't dodge or block Origami and Tohka's attacks."
"… Since when could she do so?" It's not that she couldn't do that, but she hasn't learnt it since she could use after-images to dodge attacks.
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind that. I'm on the way."
"Ara ara, everyone's here." Kurumi says with her taunting voice. "You really want a piece of me, heh?"
"How…how could you?" Shidou says disbelievingly. "You betrayed Emerald just to keep yourself alive? Why?"
"What she doesn't know wouldn't hurt her." Kurumi smirks. She then looks at Mana, who's trying to stand up after being defeated by the Spirit, then to Origami and Tohka who just arrived. "It's a little unfair, though. Let me call some back-ups."
Immediately, clones of Nightmare appear from everyone and everything's shadows, and they restrain everyone in place. Any free clones also point their flintlocks at the 'good guy's heads, showing that Kurumi is serious in this.
"I also heard that…" Kurumi continues her speech. "Life tastes better when it's bitter. How about I give you the most despair moment in your life, Shidou?" She then raises her right arm up… and immediately the sounds of spacequake alarms flare up everyone.
"YOU WOULDN'T!" Shidou immediately pales as he recognizes what she's doing. "STOP IT!"
"Ara, look at how terrified you are…" Kurumi licks her lips, 'hungry' for his life. "But, why would I have to listen to you? Say goodbye to your classmates!" She then laughs maniacally before activating the spacequake herself.
Shidou looks up in despair that the sphere of destruction starts to expand and ready to blow up a good area surrounding him… and then disappear without a trace. "W…What?"
Kurumi, who should be surprised that her work suddenly stops, lets out a sigh. She then looks up to see the culprit. "You…"
"So you already knew about that…" Floating in the air, the Spirit of Fire glares down at Nightmare. "Not surprised since you can control one by yourself."
"Just what are you planning, Kurumi?" Floating next to her, Green Sister is not having a good mood. "You know you're pissing off a lot of people with this."
Kurumi shrugs. "You should expect something like this from me." Some of the clones disappear so she could reserve her power for the next fight. "Since you're with them now, how about I eliminate you as well?" Pointing her guns at the new duo, Kurumi taunts with her sadistic grin. "Your death will serve well for me."
"Do you stop considering her as your friend now?" Kotori glares at Green Sister, expecting one simple answer.
"Depends." And that's not what Kotori has in her mind.
"While this power is fun to use…" Kurumi's Astral Dress slowly changes its color from red to blue, her hair for some reasons shortens itself so that it just reaches her shoulder, her left eye's clock-face is replaced with a nature black eye, and then she pulls out a pair of glasses and wears it on. "If I have to fight you Emerald, I have to go all out."
"Kotori, be careful. She's very serious now." Green Sister casts Assam Link on both her and Kotori. "The speed up is temporary, so mind it carefully."
Kotori, keeping that note in mind, raises her halberd up just in time Kurumi rushes towards her with both flintlocks pointing straight at her face. Within range, Kotori slams her weapon down, only for it to go straight through the image, which disappears shortly after the hit, and hit the floor hard. She then hears a clang sound behind her, as she turns back to see Green Sister standing behind her, the staff is blocking the barrels of the guns, and then the Goddess pushes the real Kurumi back away.
"Don't trust your eyes, Kotori." Green Sister warns, as multiple Kurumi after-images start appearing. "You might be able to hit her clones, but her specialty is how she uses after-images to distract enemies. A single wrong predict and you're down."
"That's annoying." And it shows clearly on the Spirit of Fire's face. The duo then stand with their backs facing each other, as they see any extraordinary images to find where the real Kurumi is…
Then, much to Kotori's surprise, two barrels of flintlocks grow out of her shadow, and she narrowly dodges those close shots, before noticing the weapons disappearing into the ground. She grunts: "Damn it! She could move freely in the shadow?"
Green Sister temporarily turns back to see Kotori flying up, causing her to shout: "Get back to the ground! You're being played by her!"
"What are you…" Kurumi suddenly appears right in front of her and blasts her face with point-blank shot, knocking off some winds out of her as she immediately flies back a bit… And now she notices a pair of devil wings growing out of Kurumi's back. Kotori widens her eyes in shock. "WHAT ARE YOU?"
"I'm your worst Nightmare!" Kurumi laughs menacingly, and in the sky, multiple small black holes appear with guns pointing straight at her. And instantly, all fire at once, penetrating through Spirit of Fire's body and blasting her down below. The body of Kotori collides on the floor and spurts out blood from every bullet hole.
Shidou watches in terror as his adopted sister lays there, unmoving after being shot mercilessly. "No…" Kurumi then lowers herself down next to him, causing him to shout: "KURUMI! How could you do that?"
"She knew that Kotori wouldn't go down that easily." He then turns to Green Sister. "Spirit of Fire can heal herself back in a matter of seconds. Like a phoenix in their prime state."
"Damn straight you're right." Shidou then sees the same fire that blurts out of his wounds before appears on Kotori's body, healing her up. She then stands up like nothing happened. "So that's the game you want to play, huh? Megiddo!" Her halberd dismantles itself and changes into its cannon form, and she points it towards Kurumi.
Kurumi is not letting down as well, as she places the shorter flintlock behind the longer so it connects together and combines into one long rifle. The rifle then transforms itself into one advance long-range sniper, as ice energy slowly gathers around the head of the rifle. "Fire versus Ice. Let's see who the winner is!"
"Wait wait wait!" Shidou immediately stands between the two while holding his hands up. "Hold up! Can't we just calm down and talk about it? Kotori, wasn't the mission of Ratatoskr to solve this problem without killing the Spirits?"
"Sorry Shidou, but we have deleted her status as a Spirit already." Kotori focuses her power more in the barrel. "Move aside, Big Bro, and let us finish this."
Shidou is about to say more before Green Sister suddenly grabs him and pulls him to the safe zone. He immediately asks her: "Can't you stop them?"
"I would rather not deal with them for now. Let them finish." Green Sister says, her voice full of authority.
"Well said." Kurumi's grin gets wider. "Frozen in the ice age!"
"Burn down to ashes!" And with the last shout, both fire their weapons, as the Fire Stream heads straight to the Ice Bomb, signaling a devastating explosion. Green Sister immediately calls out her protection barrier and covers everyone not in the fight, preparing for the upcoming shockwave. The others embrace themselves as well, as they raise up their arms on instinct.
The shots are getting closer…
Until, someone appears right in the middle of the way, blocking both shots from colliding, and disintegrating them in his palms. Everyone looks at the person in disbelief, especially Kotori as she never thought that anyone could do so.
Green Sister then sees the familiar lab coat the person is wearing, so she transforms back into Emerald before saying disapprovingly: "Kuro, you could have stopped the fight in the first place."
The person turns back to the safe zone, as everyone could see his young face at the age of twenties, wearing glasses that somehow is similar to Kurumi. He then replies: "Hey, you know me." He turns to Kurumi and sends a glare with a sadistic grin to her: "Do you have any ideas how many problems I got because of your sudden disappearance, Princess?"
Kurumi, with her weapon disappeared after the spot, steps back while smiling nervously, contradicting to what she has done. Everyone then watches as she attempts to fly away, but Kuro already teleports next to her and grabs her left ear to stop her from doing so. She then starts squirming while trying to pull herself out of the grip, to no success.
Even Kotori looks at them dumbly, before walking to Emerald and asks: "What's going on here?"
"Well…" Emerald drags the word for three seconds before going to the main point: "Kurumi has zero intentions in killing us. Those are just her acts."
"…Eh?" Everyone asks, stupefied at the reason. Though, Origami recovers first, as she asks: "Who is this man?"
The person in question then pulls Kurumi towards the group while ordering her: "Give them a proper apology, or your punishment will be worse."
The girl pouts, then transforms back to her normal self and lands on the floor. After Kuro retracts his hand, she bows down and says: "I'm sorry everyone for scaring you like that. I just wanted to have some fun."
"Yeah, the kind of fun that only you, Neptune and Kuro could think of." Emerald scowls. She then looks at Kuro and says: "You should introduce yourself AND Kurumi for them to know." After that, she starts healing up Mana with her spell.
Kuro shrugs, then bows lightly and responds: "Greetings to you. This little missy here, Kurumi Orleans, is the princess of a country called Gallia. Our plan is for her to… let her study abroad so she could learn more about Japan. But, she decided to… take that to another level, as you can see."
And obviously, he earns blank stares from everyone, except Emerald who's focusing on healing Mana. Though, there's one part that they could AT LEAST believe, as Shidou asks: "Kurumi… is a princess?"
"Well yes, she's the daughter of the current queen, Charlotte Orleans." Kuro replies.
"… I'm returning to Fraxinus." Kotori, transforming back mid-conversation, taps into her earpiece and orders Reine to send her back to the ship.
"Wait, Kotori!" Shidou tries to call her back, but it's too late that she has already been teleported away. He then turns back to Kuro and asks: "Emerald said that you could stop this. Then why didn't you do so?"
"Well… the thing is…" Kuro sounds a little hesitant, then he explains: "It's because you need to know that your step-sibling has also become a Spirit."
"… You and Goddess already knew that from the beginning?" Origami concludes, sending hate glare towards Emerald.
"I didn't, unfortunately. But I had a hunch, since her aura felt similar." She then stops her healing spell, as she tells Kuro: "I have to leave the rest to you."
"Hm? Something wrong?" Kuro walks to Shidou's younger sister and kneels down next to her, then starts examining her with his magic. "…I see." A lotus appears over the girl's chest, as she squirms a bit at the unfamiliar feeling. "It would help her. Now…"
"Kuro…" He turns to Tohka. "What's your relationship with Kurumi?"
"Ah, that? I'm the captain of Gallia Royal Guards." Kuro replies. He then stands up and gives Kurumi a finger-flick to her forehead, causing her to immediately rub the sore spot while whining a bit. "Next time, tell your mother before doing something like this again, okay?"
"Sorry…" The Spirit, now known as a princess, pouts at the 'poor treatment'.
"Shidou…" Origami gains Shidou's attention. "That Spirit of Fire is your sister…"
"Oh, she's not the one causing your lost." Kuro immediately interferes.
"…How did you…"
"Kuro, best to say, has the ability to travel through time freely." Emerald explains. "He probably saw what happened to you and who the culprit was after I told him what you told me."
"… Tell me." Origami orders shortly.
"That… you know what, I'm not telling you." Kuro suddenly grins and shrugs, causing Origami's glare at him intensifies. "You can find it on your own."
"What are you going to do now?" Kurumi asks, clearly intimidated by Kuro's appearance alone. And yet, her blue eye is sparkling with… something else.
"Probably a trip around the town… and wait for Kotori's decision." The lotus on Mana's body disappears, signaling that she's fully healed. "We will see each other again." With that, Kuro disappears, leaving no traces behind.
Emerald then stands up and puts her hands on her hips before scowling Kurumi: "Seriously, don't take that habits of his. Being mysterious and…"
"That's my mother's habits as well." Kurumi cheekily responds.
"…I have no words for you two." Emerald throws her hands up in the air in defeat. Then, she remembers one thing: "What's the punishment your father was talking about?"
Kurumi's cheeks flush up. "Oh, it's nothing too…"
"Wait!" Tohka interrupts. "I heard Kuro said that, but I haven't seen or heard about her father!"
"He was just here, you know?" Emerald earns blank stares from everyone except Kurumi. "I'm not joking."
"But… but… he's as young as us!" Shidou half-screams.
"…Okay, you know what? Tonight, we all gather in Shidou's house, and I will explain stuffs with Kurumi, and Kuro if he joins midway."
Just in time, Mana wakes up. "Ow…" She then sees Kurumi and nearly jumps up and goes for a stance if Emerald doesn't hold her down. "Nightmare is fighting…"
"Relax. She's not attacking you anymore." Emerald assures.
"About the punishment…"
"No. I saw your face, and I know what it is." Emerald immediately stops Kurumi. "Anyway, let's clean up this… mess, before we exit this place."
Chapter 5 end!
So, yeah... that's the reason I rushed this story, because I need to give more freedom in revealing Kuro's background in my other stories.
The next spoiler will come up soon. See you then!