Chapter 24

Shiori's POV:

I'm walkin' down the hotel hallway headin' to Aurélio's room. Yesterday was one wild day, and my final chat with Aurélio was real eye-openin'.

Like he said, I'mma try to better understand what I'm feelin' 'bout him. I'm sure I can do this.

The walk to Aurélio's room is pretty long since there's a gender-based room division.

"Wonder if we'll hit the hot springs today..." That's another big tourist spot on this trip.

As I'm walkin' through the hotel, I spot that blonde chick from the other day at school.

"Mornin'..." I greet her without much enthusiasm. I ain't too sure, but I ain't feelin' her vibe, even if I don't know why.

"Mornin'," she replies, not real interested in me. Looks like she's headin' the same way I am.

"You know Aurélio-kun?" I ask her, my curiosity takin' the wheel.

"?..." She's unsure and doesn't respond for a bit.

"A little...just from what I've seen, nothin' more," she says mechanically, but I notice a certain excitement in her look, which kinda weirds me out.

"You...like him?" I question, and she turns all red with embarrassment.

"No way I'd like that guy," she replies hastily.

"...for real for real?"

"Yeah...I ain't got no romantic interest in him."

'So you got other interests, huh?' I feel like askin', but that'd be too much of a personal thing.

We keep walkin' in an uncomfortable silence, then she suddenly stops.

"?" I stop too, since she stopped so abruptly.

"Anythin' wrong?" I ask. Her expression seems kinda odd, like a mix of serious and excited.

"Nah, just somethin' happened," she says as she runs back.

'...?...' I don't get it, so I decide to let it go.

Then, a strange hummin' sound suddenly appears, sounds like it's comin' from outside the hotel.

"...weird? This hotel's got great soundproofin', shouldn't be able to hear anythin' from outside..." The sound starts gettin' louder, like it's approachin'.

"...? Kyaaa!" Outta nowhere, a big gust of wind knocks me off my feet.

"What the...!!!" I see that the entire side of the building is gone, a huge burnin' mark in its place. 'Bout half the hotel's turned to ash in some kinda giant white energy laser.

If I'd been just a few feet further, I'd be ash too.

I look at the view now visible, with the walls gone.

What I see is downright frightening. Whole structures on the island are already gone, everything's on fire, with craters of all sizes scattered around.

In the sky, there's all sortsa crazy stuff goin' on - twisters formin' everywhere, energy blasts flyin' in all directions, black energy slashes bein' launched, and scatterin' shots.

The scene in front of me is like a war's breakin' out while natural disasters happen at the same time.

"SHIDO, we finally got through, think the building was blockin' the signal. We're gettin' you outta there, it's real dangerous," I hear Kotori say through the comm.

My vision changes, and I'm on the Fraxinus.

I reach Kotori and ask, "W-What happened? Why's the island like this?"

"Somethin' we ain't never seen before, one of the worst situations in years...5 Spirits are fightin' above the island," she replies grimly.

"!!!" That number surprises me, since they ain't usually that common.

", , and 3 unknown Spirits are in an all-out brawl up there," she explains, showin' the screen.

On it, I see the two Spirits I already know, and two girls who look similar, plus a girl who seems like an angel, with some floatin' cannons around her.

"..." I'm left confused on what to do, and Kotori don't say nothin' else, just watchin' this chaos unfold without bein' able to interfere as the island gets destroyed by these Spirits.

End of POV:

I was walkin' 'round the island when I saw the Yamai sisters doin' some kinda competition. Since we got here earlier, they probably ain't had that whole "make someone fall for them" thing yet.

I decide to try and analyze them, since they were originally supposed to be one person.

But somethin' goes wrong, and they end up unleashing a big ol' wind storm. On reflex, I activate my Astral Dress and Angel, and launch an energy slash.

The slash cuts through the wind and keeps goin', hittin' one of the sisters.

"...This ain't gonna end well," I whisper, knowin' for sure there's gonna be a fight between us now, which I didn't want.

I notice the one who didn't get hit is real pissed off. They take to the sky and move back a bit, generatin' a tornado. I ain't the type to run from things unless I gotta, so now that it's come to a fight, I'm gonna give it back just as hard.

I cut through the tornado and advance, one of 'em backs off while the other tries a head-on clash with her Angel.

"What's your problem?" the girl who tried to clash with me, who I deduce is Kaguya, says.

"..." I don't respond, 'cause I ain't sure what to say. If I tell her it was a mistake, she ain't gonna buy it.

A tornado comes from the side, so I kick Kaguya and turn to Natanael to cut the tornado, launchin' a slash. My attacks are way stronger than theirs, so the slash goes straight through and hits Yuzuru.

Now Kaguya comes at me with hate in her eyes.

"YOU..." she was gonna say more, but I strike her stomach, cuttin' her consciousness briefly before it quickly returns, makin' her react by creatin' a tornado around us.

My Astral Dress withstands the tornado without a single scratch, compared to Mukuro's attacks, the Yamai sisters ain't that big a deal even with their powers sealed.

"Ugh" I strike Kaguya's face, sendin' her flyin' down. She spits up a bit of blood, but ain't too hurt.

Yuzuru comes up from behind and attacks, her Angel generatin' a point-blank tornado, but it don't do nothin' against my armor. As I get distracted lookin' at her, Kaguya approaches with her spear and tries to impale me.

"...Impossible!!!" Her spear hits my stomach, but don't do jack, can't even scratch the armor.

'Weird...they're so weak...and why did the original Yamai split, makin' their strength drop?' I feel a bit disappointed at how weak the Yamai sisters are, the only good thing 'bout 'em is their teamwork.

I grab her spear and squeeze with all my strength.

"Nothin'..." I mutter. I tried breakin' her Angel, since she's weaker than the other Spirits, but even this weak Angel can't be broken.

Since I couldn't break it, I spin it and toss, throwin' Kaguya away.

I rotate my arm a bit and elbow Yuzuru in the face, then do a spinnin' kick to her stomach, sendin' her flyin' to the ground.

Suddenly, I feel a strange Reiryoku release in the air and defend myself.

My Angel gets hit by a white energy beam, the attack is crazy strong, though it don't seem aimed at me.

I look in the direction and see, in the distance, "Kurumi...Origami?" I notice who attacked, about 2 kilometers away, it's Origami in her Spirit form and Kurumi, the two seem to be in a clash.

"WHY?" I'm surprised by this totally unpredictable twist.

'How...' Origami got way earlier than in the original work. In the anime, Phantom uses Origami's blindness by vengeance to make her accept being a Spirit.

'Was it my fault?...' I deduce that my appearance made Origami feel even weaker and more vengeful towards the Spirits.

'What a crazy domino effect...' I get attacked by a tornado, but don't even bother defendin'.

I look at the Yamai Sisters, who still wanna keep fightin' instead of runnin'.

'Since that's how it's gonna be, let's make this even more chaotic.' I start flyin', draggin' the Yamais towards Kurumi and Origami's fight.

As I get closer, the situation gets even crazier. Origami spots me and her first reaction is...

"...DIE!" to use all of Metatron's cannons at once to aim at me.

"!!!" I create a barrier, compared to how easily I can defend against the Yamais, this attack from Origami is absurd. My barrier starts breakin' as her attack keeps goin'.

Origami's attack gets interrupted by shots from Kurumi.

"Ara ara, don't you think you should be payin' more attention to an enemy like that, Origami?" she starts shootin' at Origami, who now diverts two of the cannons to fight Kurumi while keepin' the rest on me, and starts blastin'.

I dodge, flyin' around, and run right into a tornado. Now all I feel towards them Yamais who're interferin' is just pure annoyance.

Origami keeps shootin' at me, the ground below completely decimated by her stray shots.

I gather Reiryoku in Natanael and send energy slashes. They get stopped by Origami's continuous fire.

"I see." Since Origami's attack keeps overpowerin' mine, my slashes get canceled out.

I just start sendin' slashes every which way, Origami now havin' to stop multiple shots at once instead of just one big attack.

The Yamai sisters defend with difficulty, while some of Kurumi's clones get blasted, but I don't really care 'bout that.

The Yamai sisters start gatherin' Reiryoku and generate a giant tornado, this one's strong enough to actually damage me, the first real powerful attack they've done.

The tornado's fierce winds end up shreddin' some of Kurumi's clones.

I decide to use their tornado to my advantage, use Reversal on it and add my own energy, now a bizarrely spiraling black tornado's formed, the Yamais seem surprised.

The tornado's strength increased a lot, but now it's harmful to all 5 of us, the Reiryoku-infused winds startin' to cut everyone, though me and Origami can handle it.

But Kurumi and the Yamai sisters are havin' a real hard time just stlayin' afloat.

I advance towards Origami, ignorin' the minor continuous damage my armor's takin'.

Origami also ignores the damage and rushes me, using her cannons as a shield to stop my scythe while tryin' to shoot with the rest.

When the shots are 'bout to fire, I use the trick I trained for against Ellen.

I create a mini Territory, and when the shots come out, I mark 'em as targets and send 'em in random directions.

'Success'

"!!! WHAT DID YOU DO, DAMN YOU?" Origami gets surprised and yells at me. What I did was simple - I inverted the position of a certain area, so an attack goin' forward changed to go left instead.

She backs off and starts shootin' with all of 'em at once, but instead of one big shot, she creates multiple scattered ones.

I use the Territory and Reversal to create random holes in space, her shots go in them and start flyin' in all directions.

Her scattered shots are causin' destruction down on the island below.

She decides to change tactics and gathers Metatron, creatin' a big shot. I use Reversal to change the direction in front of her, so when she fires, the shot goes straight, but when it hits the area I changed, it changes direction, decimatin' half the hotel a few kilometers away.

"!!!"

'Wonder if it hit Shiori...nah, she's gotta be fine, the Plot Armor'll save her...I hope.' I ain't got time for this. I notice Kurumi is now fightin' the Yamai sisters, and while it's my fault a ton of her clones got shredded, she's still my "ally." I turn back to Origami.

Her attacks are at least...desperate, she's just burnin' Reiryoku on useless attacks while blinded by hate.

I advance, dodgin' the shots and get close, my Angel damages her armor. The cut didn't fully penetrate, but it hit her arm, if she hadn't moved back, it would've been ripped off.

"Ugh" She flies back, takin' distance. But I advance, closin' the distance almost instantly. She shoots forward, but I open a hole in space and appear behind her, strikin' her back. The cut was shallow 'cause she boosted with her Angel to dodge.

I take some stray shots from Kurumi's clones, but nothin' too harmful. Another big tornado forms. I back off from Origami and use Reversal on the tornado to strengthen its spin, now all 5 of us start gettin' pulled in.

The Yamai sisters are takin' the most damage so far.

"Belial" I activate my Demon King, think it'll be more useful than my Angel.

The tornado dissipates, and I advance to mark Origami. She dodges, stayin' completely defensive while avoidin' any of my strikes.

She's just shootin' randomly, hopin' to keep me back.

Me and Origami, our power's about equal. I'm faster, physically stronger, and have more energy, but Origami's got more range, precision, and destructive power with her Angel.

Belial's weakness is that the illusion can be broken if the person's as strong as me and knows it's fake. So if Origami realizes it's a lie, she can break free with mental fortitude.

After a good amount of tries, I finally land a mark on her. I back off, while she switches from defensive to offensive, now shootin' concentrated shots at me.

Now there are multiple tornados formin' in the area, makin' visibility tough, but for me and Origami, no problem, since we can sense each other's positions through Reiryoku.

Origami's shots tear through all the tornados in front of her, comin' straight at me. I activate my illusions.

Now she starts shootin' everywhere, not knowin' which one's the real me she's seein'. In her mind, it's like I've multiplied while the true one's invisible.

I advance, lettin' my Demon King fall below, and when I get close enough, I start landin' a bunch of punches on her head, wanna make her pass out instead of killin' her now.

Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack.

I keep hittin' her, and since she can't tell what's real, she can't defend. She tries puttin' her arms up to protect her face.

Smack Smack Smack

When she guards her face, I strike her stomach, knockin' the wind outta her. Now not knowin' what's attackin' her, she aims all the cannons at herself and fires. I didn't expect that, so I end up gettin' hit by the explosion.

"Arhg" We both let out pained sounds from the blast and back off.

She's now staggerin', not maintainin' good flight posture, her eyes are hazy, like she's 'bout to drop any second. Her armor's in pieces, blood flowin' from her many wounds.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU" She yells and rushes me sloppily.

I advance and strike her stomach hard, cuttin' her consciousness completely.

Kurumi is still fightin' the Yamai sisters, but she's clearly gonna win, her original don't even have injuries while the Yamais are covered in wounds and bullet holes.

I hold Origami to keep her from fallin' and put her on my back.

"...Kurumi, quit foolin' around and finish this already," I tell her, since she clearly could've ended it already.

"Ara ara, , why the rush?" she says, and I give her a serious look. She knocks out the Yamai sisters, lettin' 'em drop to the ground.

"..." I'm unsure why she didn't kill 'em.

"...I'll leave savin' them to Shiori-san, don't you want that?" she says.

"...alright...what did Origami want with you?"

"She wanted to go back in time."

'Predictable.'

"I see...and did you accept?" I doubt it, since they were fightin'.

"Nah...she ain't got nothin' good to offer," As I said, if goin' back in time can really alter the story without makin' a loop, she ain't got no reason to waste time testin' it.

'Means that me givin' info to Kurumi changed the story.' Since she didn't accept, and Shiori ain't helpin' Origami, the story's changed, so the world could change at any moment, like when Anime Shido saved Origami's parents.

"I know what you're thinkin', Aurélio-san...and the answer is yes, I ain't sure, but time started reactin' real weird after I turned down helpin' Origami," she tells me seriously.

"I see, but don't worry, it won't be bad for you..." I wonder about Origami, what's gonna happen to her now that she ain't gonna end up killin' her parents by accident.

I decide to take her with me, breakin' Origami's arms and legs and tossin' her through a hole in space into one of the basement cells.

"Aurélio-san is so cruel, hihihi," Kurumi laughs at my act as she sinks into a shadow, disappearin' from my sight and leavin'. I decide to call it a day here and get outta here, 'fore the DEM gets involved.