Chapter 274 274: Rescue (Part 1)

"Nia is… inverting!"

Kotori's voice, as if it had been squeezed out through her teeth, told everyone an undeniable fact.

Nia had fallen into a state of inversion.

"…Beelzebub…"

In response to Nia's call, a huge book appeared before her.

Turned by invisible hands, the pages began flipping rapidly. Large numbers of pages tore away from it and flew through the air like snowflakes.

"————!"

The pages scattered onto the ground. Countless creatures crawled out from within them, charging toward Shido and the others with screams that sounded like roars.

"Why?"

Looking at Nia being polluted by pitch black spiritual power, Mikoto was shaken.

From beginning to end, she had been watching out for DEM, always keeping herself in a state where she could activate Tsukuyomi at any moment to prevent the enemy from launching a surprise attack.

And precisely because of that, she could say with absolute certainty—

When Nia fell into inversion, there had been no enemy around them at all.

"There's no time to think about that. Handle Nia first! Mikoto, we're counting on you!"

Kotori shouted.

Although an inverse form was one of the situations Ratatoskr least wanted to see, ever since Mikoto had shown her purifying arrow some time ago, they had gained an ace against inverse forms.

"I know!"

Mikoto nodded.

Right now, rather than thinking about what DEM had done, saving Nia was the most important thing.

"Exorcism Arr… ugh?"

She raised her hand, preparing to summon the sacred object. However, before she could, spears of light roared and bombarded Tsukuyomi, forcing her to strengthen her defense.

"It would be unacceptable for such a rare inverse form to be purified just like that, Miko."

The platinum Wizard descended from the sky, landing behind Nia.

"I see. Hasn't she turned into something quite impressive, Sister? As expected of Ike."

Ellen looked at Nia and nodded in satisfaction.

"So you really were behind this again, Ellen?"

Mikoto looked at Ellen Mathers, who had suddenly appeared here, and furrowed her brows in displeasure.

"Correct. This Spirit originally belongs to DEM. Next, I still have something I must do. If you leave obediently, I will spare you today."

Ellen said arrogantly.

"Don't joke around! Who would abandon Nia?!"

Shido shouted angrily.

"I do not intend to debate with you."

Ellen looked Nia over and said:

"What a troublesome Demon King. Let me end this quickly."

Before her words had even fallen, she raised her high-output laser blade, Caledfwlch, and charged toward Nia.

"As if I'll let you!"

Tohka met Ellen with her greatsword in hand. However, in her sealed state, facing the strongest Wizard alone left her hard-pressed.

"If one person can't beat her… Kaguya, Yuzuru, Miku, support Tohka! Yoshino, Natsumi, Origami, handle the creatures around Nia! Mikoto, Nia is in your hands!"

Kotori judged based on the situation on the battlefield.

Multiple Spirits would tie down Ellen, multiple Spirits would clear out the monsters created by Nia, and Mikoto herself would purify Nia with the Exorcism Arrow.

That plan seemed reasonable.

However…

"Everyone! Hurry back into Tsukuyomi!"

When Mikoto noticed Nia drawing on the Demon King's pages at a speed far beyond common sense, she faintly sensed something.

"!!!"

The next instant, a tremendous force enveloped Tsukuyomi, like an invisible giant hand trying to crush the divine realm.

"Ugh…"

Mikoto let out a strained groan.

Even so, the divine realm still stood there and protected everyone.

Yes, on the condition that—everyone stayed inside the divine realm.

"Wait, my hand…"

"Shock. Be careful, Kaguya!"

The Yamai sisters, who had left Tsukuyomi to keep Ellen in check, thrust their weapons toward each other.

"Ugh… I-I'm frozen."

"Oh my, oh my, what happened to Yoshinon?"

Yoshino, who had followed behind Origami to clear out the creatures, was frozen in place by her own ice. Origami herself was hit by Metatron's lasers.

Every Spirit who had not hidden inside the divine realm suffered various injuries either from their own power or from their teammates' attacks.

"Future Entry!"

Looking at Nia's actions, Shido also understood something.

Those scenes just now had not come from the Spirits' own will. They had been caused by some power forcing them to act.

"Ugh…"

The powerful force of Future Entry made Mikoto feel as if Tsukuyomi itself was being twisted.

Although defending against it was still not a problem, unfortunately, she no longer had the spare strength to manifest the Exorcism Arrow.

"Tsukuyomi!"

Shido could no longer stand by and watch. He manifested the same Angel as Mikoto. The double layer of Tsukuyomi firmly blocked Future Entry's power from the outside.

"Shido…"

Mikoto smiled at Shido. With his help, she could finally stop pouring all of her strength into defense.

"Exorcism Arrow (Yata no Kagami)!"

The girl raised her hand. Moonlight gathered into an arrow, carrying the power of exorcism. She drew the bow, nocked the arrow, and aimed at Nia not far away.

"As if I'll let you!"

Ellen noticed Mikoto's movement and flew toward the barrier. Because of Future Entry, the Yamai sisters and Tohka were completely unable to stop her.

"Tch!"

Facing Tsukuyomi, which possessed absolute defense, Ellen clicked her tongue.

Unable to stop Mikoto inside the barrier, she aimed at Nia and fired a cannon blast.

Since she could not stop the Exorcism Arrow from being released, she would use an attack to blast Sister away from the arrow's flight path.

As long as she was not purified, that would be enough.

As for whether Nia survived after taking a blast, Ellen did not care.

"!!!"

However, at the same moment Ellen fired, Mikoto suddenly changed the direction of her aim and pointed the arrow at Ellen herself.

"What?"

Perhaps it was because Ratatoskr centered far too much on saving Spirits, or perhaps it was because Mikoto herself did not look like the type to take the initiative and attack.

In any case, Ellen had not realized at all that the other party would change her target to herself.

The silver moonlight struck her with perfect accuracy like a shooting star.

"Impossible… I…"

Her Territory and magical power were instantly purified. Having lost her strength, Ellen fell from the sky and crashed heavily into the ground.

"You… actually…"

She gritted her teeth. Ellen, who had lost her Territory, could not even bear the weight of that heavy CR-Unit.

She had never dreamed that Mikoto would suddenly change the attack target to her.

But with this, Sister's inverse state could not be undone.

Ellen consoled herself with that thought.

"!!!"

At that moment, another glow of moonlight gathered behind Mikoto.

Ellen widened her eyes and watched helplessly as Itsuka Shido manifested the same Angel as Mikoto.

"Hurry and wake up! Nia!"

Shido shouted and fired the certain victory arrow toward Nia.

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