Date A Re:Live
S3 Chapter 52: Shido Countdown, Part 2
By : Tohka_Yatogami
...
Summary
Even a similar story can take it's own path. Shido and Mana are amnesiac siblings living with their friend Kotori, however the past catches up to Shido when he nearly runs into a space quake, and his world changes as one girl asks... "Are you here to kill me?" (Stronger Ratatoskr, weaker DEM, games & movie are canon to story) [Shido/Tohka/Harem]
First off, I need to apologize over a slight detail I forgot to mention in last chapter's end notes. That first scene showcasing Seigo, Reine and Isamu? I put that in because Seigo's presence, as well as the actions he and Isamu made in the past, are going to be a bit more prominent during this season. I was too tired to notice I forgot after submitting the previous chapter, and I figured since it'd be pointless to edit it in after most of you already read it, so... my bad there everyone ^^;
Also, I should say now that in this chapter just to avoid a misunderstanding, anything that happens with Shido and the non-Sephira Spirits while he's in his... Casanova state I guess we'll call it, in this chapter? Don't take it seriously! It's only for the arc, and because Nia made the mistake of not having Raziel be specific to only the Sephira Spirits for Shido's meltdown, I swear.
It's the result of an extension to a consequence that came from Rinne's actions in her arc, and to explain why Shido has passive abilities for the Arusu sisters and Rio. Likewise, this also means Mayuri's the only one who doesn't have to do anything except help the others because I don't plan on letting Shido get her passive ability until her movie arc, as that's how the others have gotten theirs so far.
Here's an answer to guest review I got: "No, Rinne isn't related to Shido at all, and in the games' canon at least is a love interest of his. You could even call her the game's equivalent to Tohka due to Rio Reincarnation. As for Seigo? I created him, so he doesn't exist in Date A Live's canon at all unless Tachibana somehow uses the name, has blue hair and brown eyes, and a beauty mark... but then that would be a scary coincidence I don't want 0_0"
That's all I've got for the start notes, so enjoy today's chapter ^^
"Of course, how about you guys write a list and I'll head out to buy them? I need to get some groceries anyways so I'll kill two birds with one stone." Shido reasoned.
"OK!" Everyone cheered, raising a hand.
Shido chuckled at their enthusiasm, soon taking the small note of paper after everyone had written something down.
He soon grabbed his coat and scarf before he headed out, as he did, he was unaware of Nia who was looking from afar in his true form as her glasses were off. She soon looked at Raziel glow to alert her what time it was.
"Hope you don't mind Shido, but as I said the day before, I need to see your resolve." Nia replied, soon writing down what she had Raziel constantly remind her until now.
And what she wrote was... {Disrupt Shido's powers shortly after this is written, and do so in a manner the sealed and allied Spirits will all need to unite to save him.}, and soon enough... the words faded as the future event was set.
A while after walking, Shido suddenly felt a pang in his head, and put a hand to it as he felt something burning.
"What? What's going on, why... am... I..."
Shido began wobbling his head around as if his consciousness was blank before, and he suddenly collapsed on the ground. His cyan spirit power spazzing out before he suddenly disappeared to... somewhere.
Rio hummed happily and giggled a bit.
"I wonder what everyone's signature ornaments will be?" Rio wondered happily.
"I dunno, but I've got a good feeling that Tohka's is a butterfly." Marina joked.
"How'd you know!?" Tohka gasped in shock.
Everyone briefly went silent at that, with Marina giving an awkward blink before moving her eyes to each side and looking back.
"I... didn't?" Marina answered.
"You kinda walked right into that one Tohka." Origami chuckled.
"Mu..." Tohka pouted.
Rinne chuckled a little as she grabbed some non-alcoholic eggnog in the fridge, though as she began to drink it... the house's warning alarm went off, causing her to spit take from the timing and cough slightly.
The others all notice the alarm in shock, wondering if this meant what they thought it did.
"The Spirit alarm? Nia's still not ready to have us seal her yet, so... no way, did [Zodiac] finally show up!?" Mana gasped.
"Come on, let's get to Ratatoskr's base and find out!" Maria declared.
Everyone quickly rushed to the secret entrance sand entered them, Rinne following after putting the eggnog back in the fridge.
Soon enough, everyone made it to Ratatoskr where Reine was quickly typing on the screen's keyboard in worry, trying to figure out what was going on. She saw them arrive and turned around.
"Glad you made it so fast. Give me a hand Maria, Marina? The readings we're getting are so erratic and large I can't properly get a lock on them." Reine explained.
"Got it." Both Arusu siblings replied.
They manifested their Angels before hovering them over Ratatoskr's mainframe, and soon their pupils taking loading circle shapes as they connect to the system through doing so. Various readings soon gathered together to clear up a result...
...However, they didn't see Nia or Mukuro, the one registered on the screen was-
"SHIDO!?" Everyone exclaimed.
"This is... something's not right, I've monitored Shido every time he's sealed a Spirit out of safety so we could detect abnormal readings like these, but this is... wait a second... one of you except Rinne try manifesting your powers, and only for a few seconds!" Reine begged.
"Uh... OK, I'll try?" Mayuri replied worriedly.
Mayuri breathed and focused, manifesting her Astral Dress and then dispelling it.
"Hmm... I need another example." Reine asked.
"My turn!" Rio smiled.
Rio tried to manifest her Astral Dress, but it was a bit harder, and when she did it was only a Limited Astral Dress. Rio blinked confused before dispelling it.
"Huh? Why'd I only get a Limited one?" Rio wondered.
"Just as I feared, this abnormal level of power... everyone, listen to me real quick. I should explain something about sealing the Spirits I never did before now because I didn't think it would be a problem after Shido managed to contain Rinne's power." Reine sighed.
Everyone looked at her.
"Take a seat, this will take a while and yet I need to say everything I need to as fast as I can." Reine continued.
In the underground meeting room owned by Ratatoskr, Elliot was facing the dolls placed on a round table. These dolls had speakers inside of them, each of them connected to the highest leaders of Ratatoskr in each continent of the world aside from himself and Reine.
"Chairman Woodman, what is the meaning of this? Wasn't Shido Takamiya going out of control a very low to non-existent possibility?" The crying mouse doll asked.
"...the data is correct. This case should not have happened, every responsibility goes to me." Elliot sighed, a doll of a happy squirrel eating an acorn representing himself to the others like their dolls did.
A growl was heard from the drooling bulldog doll.
"This isn't something we can settle with you taking responsibility! He has the Reiryoku of 8 spirits stored in his body right now! If he loses control of them... just how much damage do you think would happen!" The drooling dog shouted angrily
"Calm down, we prepared the [Dáinsleif] for this right?" The ugly cat doll said softly.
Elliot's eyes made a silent gasp at that.
'No, they didn't... I specifically forbid the completion of weapon's development!' Elliot thought worriedly.
The Dáinsleif... a satellite weapon that was blueprints for a weapon meant for a worst-case scenario. It was named after a cursed sword, which fit its sole purpose, to fire a beam meant specifically to annihilate Shido in the event he goes out of control from the spirit power he's sealed by a laser specifically aimed for his cellular make up and self-update itself to account for each additional spirit he's sealed.
However, after sealing Kurumi and therefore having half of the ten Spirits' powers within him, as well as the reveal he was Half-Spirit and could use Rinne's power, Elliot demanded that the project be scrapped because of the overwhelming evidence that they were simply worrying over nothing. Unfortunately, it looked like the Round Table of Ratatoskr had their own ideas and still made it behind his back.
"What? Are you stupid!? The Spirits all hold Shido as a dear existence to them. If we kill him now, all eight Spirits will go berserk and undergo an Inversion, and they'll attack the one who did it, with the DEM's actions in the Void still unknown... and if not that you know the worst scenario, don't you!? We could kill end up killing all of them!" The crying mouse doll shouted.
"Ah, that might be so in normal circumstances. But, it's a different story now right?" The ugly cat doll replied.
"That's... but no matter which it may be, we will be losing all the Spirit powers we gathered if that happens, am I right?" The drooling bulldog asked.
"I know, but it's much better than the worst scenario, right?" The ugly cat countered.
Elliot gritted his teeth, all of them were pissing him off, especially because they had still created the Dáinsleif against his orders.
The speaker in the ugly cat continued its words towards Elliot soon after.
"With that said, Chairman Woodman. We will be counting on you for his disposal, if anything happens, that is your role. Don't misunderstand your duty." The ugly cat replied.
Soon the meeting ended, and Elliot sighed.
Karen walked into the room, giving a worried look towards Elliot as she saw his hands shaking.
"Both you and I know these fools don't realize everyone's deaths or an Inversion are guaranteed if we let Shido die. Considering the circumstances, their bonds have become too strong. So Elliot, tell me... how should we proceed?" Karen asked.
"I'll avoid pushing the trigger, the only thing we can do... is hope the others are able to act fast enough to stop it. The Dáinsleif was made without my orders, meaning... they might be able to activate it on their own if I don't." Elliot replied.
Karen's eyes widened.
The cruel reality revealed itself right then and there... they had a time limit, and this time it was unseen to everyone against the Dáinsleif's intended use.
Meanwhile, back at the [Inverse Void] as Westcott had decided to call it due to the dark spirit power samples having grown upon arriving in it, the sight of the DEM's new HQ was being built, with the Arbitel undergoing some upgrades as Westcott say in his new office.
At that moment, Jessica walked into his office, getting his attention.
"Ah, Jessica. I've been meaning to ask how you're upgraded CR-Unit has been working?" Westcott asked.
"It's fine, no problems at all." Jessica answered.
She slid a few documents to him.
"This is our current status in trying to gather up all our loyalist forces. So far, we've recovered a good deal that are awaiting transport when we can do it away from the Earth's public eyes." Jessica added.
"Very good, plans are going along nicely. What of the remaining Spirits?" Westcott added.
Jessica brought a tablet into view.
"So far, [Sister]'s movements seem stationed in a similar area, her mental state seems to be questioning something, so we might be able to expect an Inversion from her. However, in [Zodiac]'s case... we have a problem." Jessica sighed.
"A problem? Like what?" Westcott asked curiously.
"Inversions only occur to a Spirit who falls into despair, but despair is also an emotion, correct? So, let me ask you this... how do you inflict despair when a Spirit lacks any emotions?" Jessica asked, showing Mukuro's charts were a complete flat line for emotional fluctuation.
Reine downs her entire coffee in seconds, soon typing on the screen to animated chibi drawings of Shido and the Spirits.
"First off, let me ask you this. How exactly do you see Shido's sealing powers working in your point of view?" Reine asked everyone.
"He kisses a Spirit and drains our power out like a mosquito drinking blood!" Tohka exclaimed as she raised her hand.
Marina goes red at that.
"That's how it works!?" Marina panicked.
"Uh... unique choice of words there Tohka." Reine chuckled nervously.
Reine cleared her voice and she brought up arrows circling around the chibis of Shido and Tohka, the arrows glowing from bottom to top with her spirit power.
"Anyways, Tohka has the general idea. When Shido kisses a Spirit whose affection for him falls into the range of love, he takes their power and it becomes stored in them, while the action may look parasitic it is actually more mutualistic. The power stored in Shido makes detecting the Spirit no longer possible, and even if as Shiori, being born make means Shido isn't noticing having it either. While the bond between Shido and that Spirit depends on how much of their power they can use, they no longer have to worry about most of the issues regarding their powers."
"How this works though? The reason why your powers still are usable and able to be simultaneously used by Shido and yourselves without any loss of power or complications is because there's a path between you, a cycle that channels the powers, I would even say it's kinda like how Maria and Marina shared a body for a month, but without actually sharing the body." Reine explained.
"Ugh... don't remind me, that still feels weird." Maria shivered.
"I'm confused, why does their need to be a path? Why not just take it and give it back when needed?" Marina asked.
Reine typed on the keyboard a bit more.
"I believe you're aware how a Sephira Crystal only leaves its host upon their death, why is this again Rinne, Rio?" Reine requested.
"A Sephira Crystal bonds with you on an advanced level, it's kinda like evolution, homo sapiens to... uh, super homo sapiens?" Rinne answered.
"The Sephira Crystals also can feel like having a second heart born in you, because they overlay with your heart. They're too bonded for a Spirit to revert back to being a normal Human." Rio continued.
"And that's why if we did what you suggest Marina... this is what would happen." Reine answered.
The screen shows chibi Shido pulling all of Tohka's power out overall, making chibi Tohka fall over with X eyes to signify she was dead.
"Oh... OK, that's bad, and suddenly makes a lot of sense." Marina answered.
"And that's where the problem is, look here." Reine continued.
Soon the screen went back, and the sight of the arrow point and end by Tohka shrunk while the ones by Shido began to grow larger.
"There's an instability that's caused the paths to tighten near you, so Shido can't properly process it back. The side effect of this is overheating him, and your narrow path gives you little power. That's why I wanted you to use your Astral Dresses only for a moment, right now... I'd say you all have 5 minutes before you can't use your powers anymore, not without fixing this." Reine answered.
"Then why am I still alright?" Mayuri asked.
"Because you're the only one who's powers are connected to Shido. Everyone else is, hence the passive powers Shido has shown to be able to use at times. He basically has no narrow path between you to limit the power you're receiving." Reine answered.
Reine saw her coffee machine make more coffee and gulped this whole cup down, showing the list of Spirits that have given Shido passive powers. Everyone but Mayuri, and the unsealed Nia and [Zodiac], were shown on it.
"There's only one way I think we can fix this, for every Spirit that has their powers connected to Shido at some level... you'll all need to kiss him to restore the paths. To put it lightly, everyone but Mayuri has to kiss him." Reine answered.
"WHAT!?" Marina exclaimed.
"Hey, hold on here, I never kissed him! How the hell am I on this too!?" Marina demanded.
Reine looked to Maria, causing the older Arusu sibling to look at her younger sister and stare in horror.
"...Maria, what did you do?" Marina asked.
"Well, early during Shido's Spirit gathering, I was curious about understanding what a kiss meant. So, one time while he was asleep, I may have... snuck into his room and after simulating my android body to have romantic feelings briefly, kissed him to see what would happen? Didn't do anything." Maria answered.
"Actually, it did. That brief moment however registered as actual feelings to Shido when you gained an organic form, and since you shared a body with Marina for a while..." Reine stated.
Marina went white in shock, soon falling to her side and twitching.
"I have to kiss his because of you? Whatever Gods are tormenting me... better hope I never find you!" Marina screamed.
"What about me though?" Rio asked.
"I think it's a similar thing, but it was that day you spent having your puberty moment of sorts inside your mom, and she indirectly sealed herself when her powers went all crazy before we met Natsumi. While you and Mayuri did kiss Shido earlier than that, you were just joking so it didn't count." Reine replied.
"Oh, so that's explains that. I guess I'm support for this then?" Mayuri asked.
Reine nodded.
"Also, Mana... same unfortunately applies to you too for some reason, possibly having the same spirit color." Reine chuckled nervously.
"What!? Oh come on, this is like one of those cruel sitcom jokes that aren't funny!" Mana exclaimed.
"Sorry, but... either that, or this power might cause your brother to... explode." Reine replied.
Everyone gasps and goes white at that.
Reine stares a bit turning to the screen, looking for Shido's location.
"The sooner we do this, the sooner we can we can all act like it never happened. Agreed?" Reine reasoned.
"Agreed." Everyone answered.
Reine sighed, glad they got past that point without problems.
"Alright, time to trace Shido's Reiryoku readings." Reine said in relief.
"What's a Reiryoku?" Tohka asked.
"Oh, that's right, guess I should explain that. With the existence of Spirits known now, we've had more studies. The mana you Spirits make and the bit we Humans and the world have gained their own names as such, your mana is called Reiryoku while the rest is called Maryoku." Reine explained.
Everyone went 'oh' and nodded at that, letting Reine resume her typing.
Meanwhile outside, the AST members and Ratatoskr's field agents were all looking for Shido's current location to help speed up Reine's search in case they saw him before she traced him, he was way too volatile right now to waste any time.
Unknown to them, Nia watched from afar and viewed their progress.
[Master, considering the range of the potential explosion, shouldn't we at least make it easier for them to find him? What you want to see is the other Spirits trying to fix this issue, isn't it?]
"Hmm... fair enough, better I know where he is so I know where to focus that explosion if it all goes wrong." Nia sighed, opening Raziel and writing in it.
"Dang it, how hard is it to find a blue haired teenager?" Ai sighed.
Soon enough, Shido came into view, making her eyes widen at the sight of his sudden appearance.
"All it took was me saying that!?" Ai exclaimed in surprise.
"Hey Shido!" Mai called out.
Soon Shido looked at the three of them, a feverish look on his face.
Though in Shido's mind, something else rang through, a certain instinctive thought of sorts.
Once he meets a girl, Shido has to make her fall for him.
"Ai, Mai, Mii... now that I take a good look at you girls, you're all cute." Shido said suddenly.
"Eh!?" Mii gasped.
The three all suddenly sweated as Shido neared them.
"Shido, what are you trying to do?" Mai asked.
"What I need to do for every girl." Shido smiled in an unnatural manner.
Suddenly the three paled as it registered to them.
Shido was acting like he had found three Spirits and had to seal them.
"W-Wait Shido, we're not Spirits! You don't need to do it with us!" Ai said in a panic.
"Nonsense, I have to do my job no matter what." Shido replied.
"RUN AWAY!" Mii exclaimed.
The three ran away as Shido quickly followed, making Nia blink as she watched.
"Uh..." Nia mumbled at the sight.
[...Oops]
As the three ran, they saw Hiroto and Ai quickly dialed his number.
"Hmm? Ai, what's up?" Hiroto asked.
"We found Shido, but he's acting like every girl's a Spirit! Quick, run in front of him to keep him in place so we can tell the others about him!" Ai panicked.
Hiroto froze for a moment, paling as he remembered the one time with Inverse Natsumi posing as Shido.
...He didn't wanna go through that again.
"I'm sorry-KSSH-Ai, but I think-KSSH-that I have a bad sig-KSSH-nal, what did you say!" Hiroto said, making fake static and closing the phone.
"Hey, I know that's fake, what are-Hiroto? What the... the bastard hung up on me!" Ai screamed in anger.
The three kept running as Shido's hair went orange in response to an instant Spirit Ascension, now using the Yamai twins' powers to make himself way less and run faster and begin catching up to the three who split up once they noticed.
Chinami, who was currently incognito in the city, stared from afar and suddenly the sight of blood leaking out of her nose was seen.
"I should really report this to Sir Westcott, but this is too hot to stop... maybe I can just lie about it?" Chinami wondered aloud, showing one of her unusual habits.
Reine soon heard from Mii on the phone as Shido had chosen to follow her.
"Alright, thank you Mii. They'll head over right now." Reine answered, hanging up the phone.
"They're by the third district. Rio, use your teleporting to bring everyone there but if only this once. We need to save every bit we can in case something happens and we need your powers." Reine stated.
"Right! Hang on everyone!" Rio smiled, grabbing them in a group hug of sorts.
Everyone was teleported into the area, and the sight of Mii nearly being caught by a currently orange haired Shido was seen, Rinne soon breathed in and then...
"SHIIIIIIIIDOOOOOO!"
Shido suddenly stopped, letting Mii get away as he turned to all of them.
Luckily, even in this state, Shido had one weakness... the wrath of his mother upon him.
"Ah, hello everyone too. What's wrong? You all looked like you're rushing" Shido asked in his usual gentle tone.
"Don't give me that! What were you doing to Ai, Mai and Mii!?" Rinne asked angrily.
"Ah, so sorry about that. I was just doing what Ratatoskr needed me to. I guess I just went a little overboard about it, forgive me." Shido answered.
Rinne gave a weird look at that answer and sighed.
Suddenly Shido disappeared and reappeared in front of Rinne with his hair now white, freaking her out a bit.
"My body feels like its brimming with power! With this, I will be able to finally fight with everyone. Everyone going through danger won't-" Shido said with smile.
"Shido, you'll explode! Don't be a dumb ass!" Marina exclaimed angrily.
Shido blinked at that.
"Ah, a dangerous situation then? What will you cure me with?" Shido asked.
"Everyone but me kissing you." Mayuri answered.
"Dear god, why'd you say it like that?" Marina whispered to herself.
"Really? Isn't that just a lie you made so you can all kiss me?" Shido smirked playfully.
"NO!" Everyone exclaimed.
Shido giggled at that, Maria rubbing Marina's back as she tried not to punch Shido out of anger.
"Relax, it was a joke. There's no way my cute harem and good friends would lie for their own benefit." Shido smiled with a cheerful look.
"...I'm confused now." Maria said with a sweat drop.
"But, it's kind of regretful to lose all the power I gained, more importantly, it feels wasteful to kiss everyone with a working kind of feel to it. Since we have a chance like this. Why don't we make some wonderful memories? Until now, it's been myself making everyone fall for me to seal their powers, as a result of that... now it should be everyone's turn to make me fall for you." Shido declared with a grin.
All the Spirits' eyes widen at that.
"Eh!?" Everyone exclaimed.
"Well, in a more accurate sense, I already love everyone in my harem. Saying {make me fall for you} might have not been the right term for it. You just have to get me in the loving mood. Any way is allowed, gotta make it so I just can't resist you." Shido explained.
"...Oh my god, my son's turned into a Casanova!" Rinne screamed as she freaked out.
Marina finally yelled as the stress got to her.
"We don't have time for this, hold him down and force the kisses right now!" Marina shouted.
"I hate to say it, but she's right. We don't have time to handle this!" Mayuri agreed.
Before anyone could react though, Shido's hair and eye colors switch to Kurumi's as multiple clones using each of Shido's Spirit Ascension colors appear, suddenly surprising everyone before they shuffled and swapped colors as they did.
Oh, and just for added kicks, they all transformed into Shiroi while doing this.
"Don't have the time? Hmm, are you sure? I could easily give you no time if you don't wanna have fun with me your meanies." Every Shiori said with cute pouts on their faces.
"Too adorable!" Miku exclaimed as she blushed with a large smile, her brain going into overload.
"Well, are you going to try my little game, or do I have to use my transforming powers and my voice and turn the entire town into Shiori and have them aid my deception in trying to find the real me?" Shiori asked.
"W-wait, she can't do that, can she!?" Mana asked worriedly.
"I hate to say it, but if she's got most of our power then she might actually be able to do it. I hate to say it guys, but... we've gotta play into Shiori's hands or we're in some deep trouble here!" Rinne gulped.
Shiori giggled before dispelling the clones and reverting to Shido.
"You have 30 minutes to set up what you'd like, after that I'll pop back in and we'll begin." Shido giggled before teleporting off.
"...What just happened!?" Marina screamed in confusion.
After Shido had left, the girls gathered in Ratatoskr's briefing room with the rest of the organization's members with them. While surrounding a round table, everyone was making difficult expressions, and soon Ren slid into the room with a black board.
"OK, start talking everyone. We need ideas here!" Ren exclaimed trying to get vigor in the room.
"Mu... what should we do?" Tohka wondered as she placed her elbow on the table.
"Was that really Shido in the first place? I mean, it was him for sure, but... he didn't sound like himself." Kaguya added.
"I believe the Casanova comment that Rinne used is quite accurate here, true he's got a lot of woman in a harem, but that's not how he acts. He's a normal gentleman and not such a... whatever he was." Yuzuru nodded.
"My theory is that due to the mass amount of overheating power in Shido's body, it's begun affecting Shido mentally, it's kinda like having a hallucinogen but this also seems to add doping based on his heightened powers." Reine explained.
Rene rushed to write the info they were mentioning on the board.
"I agree, sure Shido's not too averse into transforming into Shiori, but he's always embarrassed when he has to do it in front of people." Saya said as she threw in her two cents.
"He was too confident, like his doubts didn't exist." Katie nodded.
"Or in short, he's got no self-restraint anymore." Ryouko sighed.
"Wait, so he gets the urge to turn into a-" Matthew asked.
"Personal info bud!" Natsumi shouted.
Matthew instantly shuts up and holds up his hands defensively.
"No matter what the reasons, problems or issues behind it is... that doesn't change the fact that this is an annoying situation." Kotori sighed as she finished her current Chupa Chups and swapped to another.
"Stupid brother, getting carried away like that. Does he even know how dangerous his condition is!?" Mana exclaimed as she flailed her arms around.
Origami on the other hand was busy calculating in her head.
"OK, I think I can generalize this. Shido said he would accept our kisses if we can woo him. If that's the case, we just have to use all the features of Ratatoskr to seduce him enough for him to count it as a successful wooing." Origami reasoned.
"...That's true. So, I guess then we just need the right things to woo the guy instead of the girl. Alright then girls, what do you tend to see a girl ogling at you over?" Mildred asked, feeling weird over saying it.
Everyone began thinking.
"Definitely swimsuits, they even say the wrong one can be a big turn off to guys. Teasing and either showing a lot or leaving some to the imagination can be a surprise." Miku suggested.
"I've seen fancy dresses catch some eyes. Especially when it comes to fancy clothes, like at a formal event, or even a festival." Shiizaki mentioned.
"There's also dancing, that often brings two together physically through hand contact and a spiritual bond of the mood! Oh, but I think the biggest shocker actually comes from trying to fool a guy with something sexy!" Minowa replied as she went into her fantasies, scaring everyone.
Ren writes those suggestions down, sweating a bit about what the girls were gonna think of next.
"I'm glad Sakura just wanted me to be direct and simple with her, these strange ideas are hurting my brain." Rene whispered to himself.
Meanwhile while everyone was focusing on their work, Nia was in her Astral Dress and outside of her disguise as she sat on Ratatoskr's roof, kicking her feet playfully as she had Raziel open to see what they were preparing inside.
[It looks like they've got their strategy to reach Shido, so what do you think so far?]
"Honestly, nothing special so far. In fact, I don't see anything that's proving anything different. After all... Humanity's always the same, men like that bastard Westcott and stupidity like this? I see it everywhere, I lost my hope in mankind long ago and that still hasn't changed." Nia stated, a cold look in her eyes yet still smiling.
Raziel looked at Nia, being completely silent at the sight its master's face and the paradoxical look she had.
Nia gave an odd chuckle as she noticed Shido teleport near Ratatoskr's base and start heading int.
"Oh look, it's about to begin... let's see how things end up here." Nia said as she slightly smirked.
The moment Shido entered the door, Minowa noticed his arrival and sounded off the signal with an air horn.
"Target has entered the dome!" Minowa declared.
In moments, a giant monitor installed in the wall showed Shido's appearance, alongside numbers signifying his mental state and affection values.
Shido soon saw arrows on the wall with the Spirits' faces on them.
"Ah, they have something planned this way then. I wonder what they decided on?" Shido wondered, walking through to the doorway.
After a glaring light flashed into his view, a scene that looked like a beach from southern countries expanded out-and the sight of Mana and the Spirits wearing colorful swimsuit were there welcoming Shido.
'I feel self-conscious right now, does suddenly having boobs and looking older do this to you?' Mana wondered as she bashfully held her left arm in front of her chest, currently wearing a cyan bathing suit with aqua spiked markings everywhere.
The Spirits up to the Yamai twins being sealed all wore their usual swim suits, while Miku was seen wearing a frilly blue and pink stripped swimsuit. Rio had the same swimsuit she once wore in her child body, but in a two-piece form. Maria had a magenta one piece with blue squares and Maria had the same but her squares were yellow and in a diamond position.
"Alright everyone, this is an extremely important mission. All members be prepared!" Kannazuki exclaimed.
"Right!" They all declared.
"Operation: Splash and Blast, the green light is a go!" Nakatsugawa shouted.
"Alright, who's going first? Did you set up an order?" Reine asked.
Natsumi smirked as she flaunted her figure.
"I've got a surefire method to make Shido drop to the ground begging for a kiss. I'm the Spirit of Mimicry, and I've already read Shido like a book!" Natsumi exclaimed smugly as she flaunted again, her breasts bouncing.
'She's confident, so that makes me wonder... wait, could she have... it may have wasted a bit but let's see how much it works out." Reine thought.
Natsumi soon neared Shido, soon giving a flirty look while bending to dangle her assets and give a full view of her cleavage towards Shido, giggling as she looked right at him (while also sneaking a peak at some of Shido's muscles) before rubbing a finger against his chin.
"Shido, tell me, do you like what you see on my swimsuit?" Natsumi asked in a seductive tone before sticking her chest tout pridefully, flipping her hair with her hands.
"Hmm... seems a bit expected, especially with your powers Natsumi." Shido said, slightly yawning a bit.
Natsumi soon saw her chance, and her acting skills activated as she suddenly began crying, getting Shido's attention before her eyes sparkle with her tears.
"Are you serious Shido, I thought you were the one who taught me looks don't matter, are you saying how I act right now is the complete reverse of that? So not only am I not beautiful in this form but you don't think I can be pretty at all!?" Natsumi asked as she faked her sob convincingly.
Soon, Natsumi poofed into her younger appearance, her green swimsuit not changing with her as it covered her a similar way to Yoshino's attempt to put on a swimsuit with only one hand due to having Yoshinon on the other. Shido's face suddenly went red.
"Shido's emotional level is starting to spike!" Kawagoe announced.
"Oh Shido, how could you be such a bully. You think I'm ugly in both this AND my true form! It's OK, I'll just give up, goodbye Shido." Natsumi said as she continued her fake tears and tried to walk away.
"N-No, I never said you weren't pretty, I'm sorry. Not to mention that was so adorable what you just did." Shido replied.
Natsumi smirked without Shido seeing it and changed back to normal.
"Aw, you little sneak. Don't toy with a young maiden's heart." Natsumi smiled as she got close and rubbed Shido's chest.
"R-Right, I'll remember-" Shido replied.
Natsumi soon grabbed his face, pulling him close before forcing about 20 seconds of making out with Shido, causing everyone to blush heavily and making Miku's eyes slightly sparkle with excitement at the sight. Soon Shido wobbled a bit as Natsumi flashed a peace sign in victory.
"And Natsumi's cleared her round, nice trick of psychological deception there. Oh, and just so you know that was a whole minute of your power you used, be weary if we need you to use it later." Reine revealed.
"Right, I'll keep watch over my Reiryoku." Natsumi replied.
Reine typed on the keyboard, showing Natsumi's name in green to mark her as being successful in wooing Shido.
"Alright, who's next then?" Reine asked.
"That would be me. Oh god, this feels so weird..." Mana sighed.
"You feel weird about this? What about me!?" Marina complained as she jumped into the camera's view.
Maria pulled Marina away moments after, making Mana sweat drop a bit. She soon breathed and gulped as she tried to keep her mind from the fact she was being forced to kiss her older brother for the sake of saving his life.
"Alright Mana, let's see you try to woo me." Shido said with a smirk.
"Get ready big brother... because I'm not holding anything back!" Mana declared.
Shido' s on the fritz and now all suave Casanova *snorts briefly* as a result, Nia's showing her true feelings and why she pulled this mess off, everyone's either excited to be trying this (aka the Sephira Spirits) or feeling a little weird (the other Spirits) and most of all... Ratatoskr's Round Table has made a weapon to murder Shido if he goes crazy. Wow, aren't they forgetting who his mom is? They're so dead when she finds out 0_0
Oh, if anyone's wondering why I'm suddenly using the terms Reiryoku and Maryoku now, I didn't realize there was a different term between the mana used by Spirits and other people, I completely missed Maryoku all this time. I wasn't sure how to initially add that in, but luckily, I remembered the Choronzon arc gave me the perfect set up for it. So, from now on in any of my future DAL stories, I'll apply these terms from the start.
Natsumi's finally gotten the first strike, and now Mana has to regretfully go next (they chose the order in the same method used in Mayuri Judgment) in this whole event, after she's done... well, let's just say due to Shido being the indirect/unwilling antagonist for this arc, Mana's the hero today. Good luck birthday girl, some of what happens next will be in your hands, no pressure there... Oops.
Alright, that's it for today's chapter. See you all next time when the fight to stop Shido's meltdown resumes. Until then, stay awesome everyone ^^
-Spirit Bond Levels & Passive Abilities-
Tohka - 100%, MAX (Form a mana barrier automatically)
Origami - 99% (Teleport Dodging)
Yoshino - 99% (Dampen enemy territories)
Kotori - 99% (Healing from fatal wounds minus losing his head, doesn't work on wounds caused by blunt force)
Kurumi - 99% (Hide in his shadow, and only his)
Rinne - (Summon a weakened copy of Uriel)
Natsumi - 99% (Transform into Shiori)
Kaguya - 96% (Flight)
Yuzuru - 96% (Weight Manipulation)
Miku - 90% (Pain Reliever)
Maria - (Restore dying/withered/dead vegetation and plant life)
Marina - (Remove toxins or other harmful substances, either from a living creature or an object)
Rio - (Creates a soothing aura of spirit power to reduce a sealed Spirit's anger)