Ch.60 A Time Without Conflict
Distant Timeline
After learning of the time period they are in, Origami and Lucius are conducting extensive research and wonder who Shido ended up with because of the current Prime Minister sharing his last name but it doesn't end there. They find all kinds of research that look interesting.
One such article was from 354 years ago that read "New breakthrough in Realizer organ therapy, Dr. Rio Tobiichi finds a new method of saving lives through nanotechnology." And the doctor looks like Hiro but has blue hair like Shido. Another one, a school yearbook from forty years ago has a picture of someone named Niko Yoimachi and she resembles Miku greatly but wears glasses and has a smaller chest. There are articles all over time from people resembling the spirits and a lot of them bare a resemblance to Shido as well. But these time periods make it confusing because they're decades and even centuries apart.
Then there's the palace, and boy did they find stuff about this. Origami found the best news about it since apparently the people of this world have known about it for some time and have dubbed it as Paradiso because of its splendid appearance. But none have been able to get research on it despite it being so close to the earth. The reason they haven't gotten much information is restricted, probably because they've failed so many times and don't want to claim it. But what they can determine is this, the palace first appeared about a thousand years ago.
Origami and Lucius try to find anything else while they're in this timeline while Karen gently pilots the ship and makes sure the cloak is on to avoid detection. Shido and Kurumi can't stop staring at the palace. The sky is clear, the sun is shining, and this palace stands out further from the shimmer of it gleaming in the sky.
After some time has passed of nothing happening, Karen gets a reading on Spirit activity on the ship's radar and plainly tell the crew "We've got a Spirit reading, I'll put the ship's shield up as a precaution." And she swiftly begins flipping switches as a large territory appears around the ship.
Origami and Lucius stop the research and get ready to see if they can locate the spirit and Shido hopes that it is someone he knows since Spirits don't age when their powers aren't sealed, but he may be pushing his luck knowing himself.
After a couple of minutes, Lucius gets a visual feed on the Spirit but is shocked when he tells the crew "You lot aren't gonna believe this…but look at who our Spirit is." And he pushes the button to reveal who the spirit is. But the one who is the most shocked is Karen. This is because the Spirit is her sister, Ellen. She is flying the skies and doesn't seem to notice their ship. Her Astral dress consists of a simple light brown silky skirt that is see-through and has a light orange cloth tied to her waist that covers most of her left leg with a gold sash around her waist which appears loose as it dangles at her hips, her footwear seems to be simple necklaces tied around her feet with small metal orbs at the sides of her feet, her top consisting of a light brown bustier that reveals her waist which reveals tattoos resembling letters TH, PO, and AM across her stomach. He arms are also adorned with thin metal laces of varying colors and her hair is now pastel pink with the same metal laces in her hair. Her eyes are also different, they glow amber brown.
Upon seeing this, Origami and Shido are noticeably startled since Ellen was dangerous as a human, but as a spirit, she could be an unstoppable force. Their worries increase when Ellen's vision turns to the monitors and she makes her movement to the ship. Karen looks conflicted on what to do as she hesitates to make any moves upon seeing her sister coming towards them.
Origami looks at Karen and states "It's your call, Karen. You're the one at the helm." Which causes Karen to snap out of her hesitation and she makes the call to keep the ship's defense up but makes preparations to evade.
Lucius readies at his station while Shido and Kurumi remain seated. It is clear that Kurumi won't be much help inside of the barrier but if things get out of hand, she'll lend a hand; she just smiles and sits ever closer to Shido while Origami is distracted from the new Spirit coming towards the ship.
Ellen flies ever closer to the ship and they prepare for the worst with their weapons on standby. Ellen approaches with a serious look on her face, determined, and her powers are a complete mystery because she doesn't look any of the other spirits thus far.
With all this, she is finally near the ship and stops in front of them once she has gotten close enough. The others wait for her to make any movement that seems threatening and can't afford to waste time making pointless moves. Their hearts race with anticipation with Ellen as isn't making any moves yet.
Ellen then shakes her head at them, begins to open her mouth, the others ready, and she sternly tells them "This is a forbidden airspace. I suggest you leave this area now, or I'll be forced to move your ship elsewhere. The Baldwin foundation knows better than to allow its ships in this area." Leaving the team a little surprised at this.
Ellen, a Spirit now, has just rather made a casual threat than a challenge. Then, she inspects the ship and seems to get a glimpse past the windshields and her eyes widen. She then floats towards the ship without any threatening movements and she holds her palm up while silver energy forms over her hand and she slashes lightly in front and creates a hole in the territory. Karen attempts to make the ship maneuver away but then Ellen disappears in a pink light.
Having an idea of where she is heading, Lucius and Origami ready for an indoor encounter. They pull out their swords and wait for Ellen to appear. The ship, though smaller, is more than enough for a fight and Shido realizes that he is going to be in the way so he gets out of his seat and finds a place to hide. But Ellen appears right behind him and Kurumi before he can get away from her.
Ellen puts her hand on Shido's shoulder and Origami with Lucius ready to fight her as they begin to move forward. Shido is nervous right now but keeps his composure while Kurumi is about ready to equip her Astral Dress.
Shido turns to Ellen and what he sees is also very surprising. Ellen actually has a cute smile on her face and she proclaims "Big Brother, you rascal, you can't just leave the city without telling me." She then looks at Kurumi and then Origami "And you two are just as bad. Going off without telling your protector… Why, if I wasn't such a loving sister, I'd have you three on lockdown." She then looks over at Lucius, giggles a little, and then adds "Oh, you must be gathering some guests for tonight. Well, I guess that's okay, but you still should have said something to me. I'm not psychic you know."
This attitude has everyone utterly baffled, but Karen is the first to say anything and asks "Ellen…is that you?" to which Ellen turns with a much more serious look on her face.
She lets go of Shido and moves in front of him while she summons her silver energy blade again and asks, in a more threatening manner "Why did you call me Ellen?" No, more importantly, who are you, and why is my brother with you?"
Shido is now utterly lost because Ellen is calling him brother and is reacting strangely to being called by name. Kurumi sits back with a grin and watches this because it is interesting. Origami and Lucius remain defensive. Karen doesn't know what to say or ask right now.
Shido, however, then puts his hand on Ellen's shoulder and gently asks her "Isn't that your name, Ellen? We just figured, you know, it would be better to call you by name. It's sure better than lady I'd figure." He rolls his fingers in confusion at the situation.
After hearing Shido's words, Ellen looks closer at him and then she presses her finger to his forehead, which is awkward for him and the others but he doesn't appear to be in any discomfort outside the awkwardness. She closes her eyes and is seemingly thinking about something. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes with a shocked look on her face "You're not MY Shido, but a different one…and you four are his escorts I take it."
Ellen turns to the others and bows politely and apologizes "Sorry if I startled you all. I am the protector of Paradiso, but I prefer to be called Sentinel outside of the city." The woman introduces herself and it appears that she isn't Ellen despite looking exactly like her outside the pastel pink color of her hair. But then she powers down and her hair turns to its original Nordic blonde color and the resemblance is perfect.
Karen is dumbfounded and is compelled to stand up and walk over to this woman and looks at her closely, something that Sentinel isn't bothered by, and Karen asks "Who are you? You look just like my sister. It's rather disturbing really." Origami agrees with Karen completely and Lucius appears disturbed as well.
Sentinel then approaches everyone else and does what she did to Shido to everyone and then she gets the gist of what their group is. After this, Origami walks to Shido and stands in front of him while holding her sword.
Origami doesn't appear to be any trusting of Sentinel at all and she vocalizes this distrust "I don't care how familiar you are with this world's Shido. You're a Spirit, and all you're good at is causing destruction." Her usual feelings towards Spirits haven't changed.
Sentinel calmly approaches Origami and Shido with the former preparing to fight against her. But Sentinel appears unfazed by any threats. Actually, she giggles a bit and casually says "The last time someone pointed a sword at me. It was your fiftieth child. I remember because she wanted to be a dancer but we said it sounded funny."
Without even a second thought, Sentinel moves her hand towards Origami's sword, an energy sword, and actually grabs it with her bare hands and disables it with the sword's beam receding until just the handle is left. But it is really shocking is that she just said Shido and Origami have fifty kids.
Shido's ears just about blow out of his head with Kurumi blushing and commenting "Well, I guess I have to give Origami credit for this time. Fifty babies mean a lot of bumping. Oh my, just saying that is rather stimulating…" she blushes and giggles a little.
To which Shido turns to her and replies in his fluster "You're not helping, Kurumi!" and then he feels Origami hug his arm with a blush on her face as well.
Sentinel is amused by this but what she says next isn't going to help "I should have phrased that better. The truth is…since I let the cat out the bag already, You actually have about….let me count again….4859 children with two more on the way….but then there's…." she tries to explain more but she looks and sees that Shido's eyes are blank because he's passed out from the shock of what he's just heard.
After hearing Sentinel say this, Lucius hastily asks "So those articles and pictures we saw were…." Until he interrupted by Sentinel who immediately answers "They were his kids, grandkids, or descendants from over the centuries. Yes, the Shido of my time has lived over a thousand years. He and the Spirits are the residents of Paradiso and have been since it was created."
Karen then has to have the next question for Sentinel and walks up to her and asks the question she wants an answer to "Who are you? Why do you look like my sister, and why do you know so much?"
Sentinel looks at Karen with a slightly disappointed look on her face and replies "You know, Ellen didn't truly hate you, not really. She was more betrayed than anything else, I think." Karen doesn't seem interested in hearing her sister's feelings, especially because of her choices, so Sentinel sighs and finally answers "I'm surprised you didn't catch me when I called Shido Big Brother…"
Origami intrudes and then says "Are you saying that you're his sister, Kotori?...or…" Origami begins to realize who the Spirit is.
Then she just says it. She puts her hand to her chest and taps it "The heart that beats in this chest did once belong to a woman named Ellen Mira Mathers. But the mind, no, the soul that is inside belongs to me…Mana Takamiya."
The revelation of who this woman truly is snaps Shido out of his faint and the others are equally shocked at this. Shido gets away from Kurumi and Origami to approach this woman and touches her face. He looks into her eyes and she simply smiles at him and says "Big Brother, it's me." And then hugs him warmly, but then gets a little overzealous and shakes him a little with her hug.
Karen's eyes widen along with Origami's as they can't believe it. Shido living a thousand years and Mana inside of Ellen's body, it's a lot to process. Like how she's in that body, to begin with. Shido is the one to ask her how she got to this and the whole thousand year's thing.
Mana explains something very important first and she walks over the window of the ship and floats in the air while staring at the palace in the sky "My brother is a great man with a very loving heart. But, with that kindness came a problem…he was too optimistic at times. But a thousand years ago, he changed. I can't remember everything that happened, but I was dying. I was on the ground and Ellen was standing above me holding her sword to my face. But then, before I knew it, I found myself in Ellen's body and Shido was standing in front of me, his eyes glowing gold. It was like a dream, but then I saw Isaac next to me. I was holding Ellen's sword and he didn't know what was going on because he was telling me to kill my brother. But I was sure of one thing. I was going to be the last person I'd ever let him hurt." To which Shido is genuinely shocked about.
He approaches her with a scornful look and asks "Did you kill him?" she nods and Shido cringes at hearing that even in this timeline his sister kills people.
However, Mana then confesses "I killed him, but he was the last person I ever killed. My brother gave me lots of grief over it too. But then…he created this paradise for himself and the spirits. Paradiso, a land of unimaginable beauty, a place where the Spirits could live without being sealed, and a place that was perfect for living a peaceful existence." She turns to her brother, Origami, Kurumi, and smiles "Also, a place where my brother could start his family." The twinkle in Mana's eyes suggests a lot, but there is so much to this timeline that Shido and the others have so many questions.