"Since I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you again."
He glanced at the furious Ellen in his arms. "Conveniently, we have a fine guide to lead us straight to the dragon's lair."
Ellen jerked her head up. "Don't even think it. I'd rather die than betray"
Rei Ao's smile deepened. "Oh? We'll see about that."
He turned to Tohka and Nia. "Ready? We're taking a day trip to DEM headquarters."
Tohka gripped Sandalphon and nodded vigorously.
Though still hesitant, Nia knew there was no other choice.
Raising his hand, Rei Ao opened a portal of swirling space before them.
~~~
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Chapter 773: Kurumi Tokisaki
As soon as the spatial tunnel opened, the air in the forest rippled with an eerie disturbance.
Tohka's instincts flared. The Sandalphon snapped into her hands and she swept her gaze warily around her.
"Someone's coming," she warned in a low voice.
Rei Ao, still cradling the naked Ellen, did not even look back; only his rainbowcolored pupils flickered faintly.
"A rather interesting guest has arrived."
Shadows writhed across the ground like living creatures, and from the darkness a figure slowly rose to her feet.
A gothic dress in orange and black, mismatched long stockings, andmost distinctive of allthe golden clockface eye.
Kurumi Tokisaki gave the group a graceful curtsy.
"My, my. How lively."
Her syrupsweet voice carried a dangerous undertone. Her eyes drifted across everyone, finally stopping on Rei Ao.
"This handsome gentlemanmay I ask your name?"
Tohka stepped in front of Nia, sword leveled at Kurumi.
"Kurumi Tokisaki! What do you want?"
Kurumi hid a laugh behind her hand.
"Now, now, Tohka-sa , no need to be so tense. I merely sensed a fascinating aura and came to have a look."
Her gaze never left Rei Ao.
"After all, anyone who can subdue the DEM Corporation's Second ExecutiveDivision Director so easily is worth some curiosity."
Nia's pupils shrank; her fingers trembled.
She furtively opened her pocket tome, [Rasiel], scanned a few lines, and grew paler by the second.
"RRei Ao"
Her voice shook. "Be careful! She's Kurumi Tokisakithe 'Most Evil Spirit'a walking calamity who's killed tens of thousands!"
A hush fell over the forest.
Ellen squirmed in Rei Ao's arms, a flash of anger in her eyes.
"Kurumi, she" Tohka's grip on her sword tightened.
Kurumi's own eyes narrowed slightlyand then:
"Ahhahaha"
Her laughter rang like silver bells.
"That's rightI'm that wicked spirit."
She tilted her head at Rei Ao, danger glittering in her eye.
"So, Rei Ao-san, what do you intend to do? Smite evil in the name of justice?"
Every gaze locked onto Rei Ao.
He only stroked Ellen's hair, a playful smile curving his lips.
"Killed tens of thousands?" he said, as casually as discussing the weather.
"And what's wrong with that?"
"Wwhat?" Nia blurted.
Rei Ao set Ellen down gently and walked toward Kurumi.
With every step, the rainbow light in his eyes grew brighter.
"Kurumi-san hasn't been killing at random, has she? Animaltorturing perverts, childtrafficking scum, lunatics running human experiments"
He stopped before her and brushed a hand across her cheek.
"Compared with that, I actually find you rather adorable."
Kurumi's smile froze.
Her pupil contracted; the hands of the clock spun wildly.
How could this stranger know that every target she'd chosen was an irredeemable villain?
"You investigated me?"
For the first time her voice lost its composure.
Rei Ao shook his head. "No need. Because"
He leaned to whisper in her ear, a voice only she could hear:
"I have destroyed over a hundred worldsended more than a billion lives with my own hands."
"Beside that, your tally looks like a courier delivering boxed lunches."
Kurumi staggered back, disbelief etched on her face.
She had a reason for every kill.
Yet this man spoke of billions as though listing breakfast options.
"Liar"
Nia's hands shook as she turned pages of the [Rasiel].
"My angel should pierce all falsehood So why is everything about you completely blank?"
Rei Ao looked at her, multicolored light swirling in his eyes.
"Simple, dear Nia. I do not belong to this world; your omniscience cannot reach me."
"An interworld being?" Ellen struggled to take it in.
"That's impossiblethere's nothing in spatialquake theory"
"And that is exactly why DEM keeps failing."
With a snap of his fingers, a black trench coat appeared on Ellen, covering her bare body.
"A mind chained to a single world can never grasp the breadth of the multiverse."
Kurumi steadied herself, clockeye fixed on Rei Ao.
"Rei Ao-san, for what purpose have you come to this world?"
"Purpose?" He tilted his head. "If I must give one at the moment it's simply to help Tohka clear away a few nuisances."
Silence.
"YYou can't be serious," Nia muttered, pushing up her glasses.
Ellen sneered. "Help Spirits? A being of your power aiding Spirits for nothing in return?"
"And what about you?" Rei Ao shot back.
"EllenMiraMathersone of the founders of the Spirit phenomenon thirty years agowhy do you help DEM hunt and kill your own kind?"
The words detonated like a bomb.
"What?!"
Tohka stared at Ellen. "You created the Spirits?!"
Kurumi's eyes widened, stabbing toward Ellen.
"One of the founders? Interesting."
Ellen's face went ashen; her lips quivered, yet no rebuttal came.
Rei Ao let the topic drop. He raised a hand and traced three streaks of light in midair.
"Since everyone is so curious, why not see for yourselves?"
The three rays shot into the foreheads of Nia, Kurumi, and Ellen.
The instant they touched, they merged with their minds, an ocean of information flooding in.
[Ding! Targets selected for subgroup transfer: Kurumi Tokisaki, Nia Honjo, Ellen.]
The existence of a crossdimensional chatroom, the countless interconnected worlds, Rei Ao's role as its mastereverything poured into them
~~~
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(Bonus Chapter) Chapter 774: Smug Westcott...
"ThThis what is all this?"
Nia's [Rasiel] fluttered on its own, automatically recording this avalanche of neverbeforeseen information.
The hands of Kurumi's clockeye whirred at dizzying speed.
"So that's how it is a multiverse theory. How exhilarating."
"!!!"
Ellen was the most shaken of them all.
As a senior executive of DEM, she had always believed Spirits had to be annihilatedyet what she had just witnessed showed countless worlds where extraordinary beings coexisted in harmony.
In that instant, her worldview crumbled.
"Time's about up," Rei Ao said, clapping his hands.
"Let's pay a visit to the true master of DEM. Kurumi-san, care to come along?"
Kurumi offered an elegant curtsey.
"With pleasure. I'm most interested in the one who truly holds DEM's reins."
"WWait!" Nia cried. "We're just going to walk into DEM headquarters? Isn't that suicide?"
Rei Ao gave her a mysterious smile.
"MissNia, when did you start imagining their net could actually catch us?"
He sliced open a spatial rift, shimmering with strange light.
"An express train straight to DEM HQ. Anyone boarding?"
Tohka stepped to his side without hesitation; Kurumi followed with a soft laugh.
Nia bit her lip, hesitated, then stepped forward.
Only Ellen remained where she was, expression complex.
"Ellen-san?" Rei Ao extended a hand.
"Not coming? Let's visit your dear Mr. Westcott."
At that name Ellen visibly trembled.
At last she moved into the rift.
Inside DEM Headquarters
The nausea of teleportation passed, and the five found themselves in a pristine white corridor.
Scarlet DEM emblems on the walls silently proclaimed their location.
"We're really inside DEM HQ?" Nia whispered, scanning nervously.
Almost the instant they appeared, shrill alarms blared through the building.
"Alert! Unauthorized spatial distortion detected!
Alert! Spiritenergy response detected!"
Kurumi giggled behind her hand.
"My, myno turning back now."
Shadows writhed beneath her feet.
"But I can leave whenever I want~"
Rei Ao ignored the alarm and strode forward. "Stay close."
Tohka gripped the Sandalphon and kept pace.
Nia clutched the [Rasiel].
Kurumi observed everything with amused interest.
Ellen moved heavily, face grave.
They rounded a corner
Dozens of mechanical soldiers stood in firing formation, gun barrels aimed.
"Intruders detected! Eliminate immediately!"
Energy bolts rained toward them.
Rei Ao didn't even blinkhe snapped his fingers.
Timefroze.
The world stopped.
Bolts hung motionless in midair, robots locked in firing pose.
"Come on. Westcott's waiting."
He led them through the statuestill battlefield until they reached a massive black door deep within the compound.
Rei Ao released the time stop and knocked politely.
"Enter," came a cultured male voice.
The door slid aside. In the spacious office, a man stood with his back to them, admiring the view.
He turned slowly
Isaac Westcott, true master of DEM.
"Ellen, it appears your mission failed," he said in a terrifyingly calm voice. His gaze swept the group and settled on Rei Ao.
"And this gentleman is the reason, I presume?"
Ellen lowered her head.
Tohka stepped forward, bow aimed at Westcott.
"So you're DEM's leader? Why hunt Spirits?"
Westcott's slight smile sent chills through the room.
"Why? To seize their power, of course."
He spread his arms, eyes burning with zeal.
"Spacequakes, Angels, Astral Dresses such wondrous powerhow could it not be harnessed?"
"Harness?" Nia snapped. "Do you realize I've been hunted from my own home? I live every day in fear!"
Westcott did not flinch.
"Necessary sacrifices."
His eyes shifted to Rei Ao.
"So, the man who strolled into DEM's innermost sanctum unnoticedwhat is it you want?"
Rei Ao said nothing at first. He walked to the liquor cabinet, poured a glass of red wine, sipped, nodded, then turned.
"Mr. Westcott do you know what I despise most?"
His voice dropped to arctic cold.
"People like youwho think they can dictate others' fates."
The room's temperature seemed to plunge.
For the first time, wariness flickered in Westcott's eyes.
"Thirty years ago, you, Ellen, and Allen triggered the first Spirit emergence," Rei Ao went on. With every word, the rainbow light in his eyes blazed brighter.
"And now you hunt Spirits. Ironic, isn't it?"
Westcott's expression cracked.
"How do you know that? There's no record of"
"I told you," Rei Ao set down his glass, "I hate people like you."
He turned to the four women.
"Ladies, anything you'd like to tell DEM's big boss? Speak freely."
Tohka raised her bow.
"Stop hunting Spiritsor I'll cut you down."
Nia pushed up her glasses.
"I'm done being prey."
Kurumi's smile grew predatory.
"Mr. Westcott, I'm always seeking time worth devouring. Yours looks delicious."
Ellen said nothing, turmoil churning in her eyes.
Westcott suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Amusingmarvelously amusing!"
His laughter swelled.
"But you seem to have forgotten one thingthis is my domain!"
He slammed a hidden button on his desk.
The office walls turned transparent, revealing hundreds of armed mechsoldiers outside, weapons fully charged.
"Nowshall we renegotiate the terms?"
~~~
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Chapter 775: I can read minds, idiot...
IsaacWestcott's laugh echoed inside the transparent office.
Hundreds of battlemechs outside glowed with icy blue weaponlights.
Straightening his cuffs with elegance, he let confidence flash in his grayblue eyes.
"Nowshall we take another look at the balance of power?"
His voice was smooth as silk, yet carried an inescapable pressure.
"The four of youno, to be precise, three Spirits and one unknown gentlemanare surrounded by DEM's finest troops."
"And I alone hold the authority to blast you all to pieces."
Tohka clenched the Sandalphon, violet eyes blazing.
"Coward! If you're so sure of yourself, fight me oneonone!"
"A duel?"
Westcott chuckled as if hearing a joke.
"Dear princess, this isn't a fairy tale. Here, victory belongs to whoever controls power."
His gaze drifted over Nia and Kurumi.
"Sister. Nightmare. Surely you two grasp your situation."
Pages of Nia's [Rasiel] fluttered; her face turned pale.
"The troops outside carry the newest spiritinterference devices Even Spirits would struggle to break through"
Kurumi's clockeye ticked, yet a faint smile lingered on her lips.
"Ara~ Things do look rather grim, don't they?"
Ellen remained outwardly calm.
Knowing she was merely a captive, she held her tongue.
Better than anyone, she understood DEM HQ's defensesa net even Spirits could scarcely breach.
Satisfied by their reactions, Westcott finally fixed his eyes on the stillsilent Rei Ao.
"And you, mysterious Mr.Rei Ao."
"You're not a Spirit. Your abilities interest me. Cooperate with DEM's research and I'll guarantee your safety."
Rei Ao raised a brow, amusement glinting in his rainbow eyes.
"Oh? Research?"
"Naturally." Westcott spread his arms as if unveiling a grand vision.
"With spatial manipulation under DEM's command, we can forge a far more perfect world!"
He strolled to the liquor cabinet, poured red wine, and swirled the glass.
"MissTohka, MissNiayour Angels possess staggering destructive and omniscient powers."
"MissKurumi's command of time is even more enthralling."
He took a sip.
"Just imagine these powers properly harnessed, not squandered by immature Spirits"
"Shut up!" Tohka snapped.
"Who are you to decide how Spirits should use their power?!"
Westcott smiled coolly.
"Because your lives rest in my hands."
Setting down the glass, he pressed another hidden button.
All the mechs' weapons powered up together, emitting a shrill whine.
