"Got it!"
Tohka answered sharply, then charged straight at Origami.
Kurumi and the others either stayed at range to cover her or rushed in to join the close-quarters fight. Everyone's Angels were different—some were ranged, some melee—so their attack styles all followed their own specialties.
But surprisingly, their teamwork was excellent. No one got in anyone else's way, and they moved together like they'd been practicing for years.
Pretty impressive.
Once Origami was forced into close range by Tohka and Kotori, she immediately lost her advantage. Her Angel was built for long-range fighting.
Tohka and Kotori didn't hesitate—sword and giant halberd swung down with heavy blows, slamming into her.
For Spirits, their Astral Dresses were the best armor. They didn't directly injure Origami's body, but the massive impact still knocked her out of the sky and into the sea.
Splash—!
The surface exploded into waves as big as the ones her rain of light had caused earlier.
But a moment later, she burst back up from the ocean, completely soaked and looking disheveled.
Gritting her teeth, eyes burning with madness, Origami glared at Tohka and Kotori, the wariness in her gaze obvious.
Even without her rational mind, her battle instincts were still sharp—she could tell these two were serious threats.
Not to mention all the others still hanging back and watching.
But she wasn't going to run. She was going to fight with everything she had—even if she didn't know why she was fighting anymore.
"Mal'akh!"
Origami shouted, and the wing-like constructs gathered on her back, forming a pair of flight wings.
Those wings flared, and in the next instant she shot toward Tohka and the others with near-teleportation speed.
So fast you could barely track her with the naked eye.
At the same time, the tips of each wing lit up with brilliant spheres of light, then fired multiple beams toward Tohka and the others.
Offense and mobility in one.
Tohka and the others were caught off-guard, only just barely able to raise their Angels to block.
But the barrage was dense, and their Angels alone couldn't stop everything. Some beams struck their Astral Dresses and, like acid, ate away armor and fabric, erasing portions and exposing pale skin underneath.
Origami's combat instincts really were top-tier.
Give her proper mechanical gear and real close-quarters weaponry, and she'd be absolutely terrifying.
Still, Tohka's side wasn't exactly weak. One-on-one she might not beat Origami, but they weren't fighting one-on-one.
Tohka and Kotori quickly poured spiritual power into their Astral Dresses to restore them to full, then chased after Origami together.
Origami slipped through the air like a fighter jet—moving and firing at the same time, while Tohka and the others pursued, blocking as they went.
Kurumi and Yoshino assisted from afar, using their powers to subtly interfere with Origami's trajectory.
Kaguya and Yuzuru watched for an opening.
With everyone working together, Tohka's group soon caught up, surrounding Origami again and forcing her into another close-combat exchange.
Origami was no match for Tohka and Kotori in melee. Within moments, she was being overwhelmed, stuck purely on the defensive and driven backward step by step.
Clang, clang, clang!
Like metal clashing, Origami's floating wings were continuously smashed, shattered, and dispersed into nothing.
In the end, only her wedding-dress-like white outfit remained—a pitiful, fragile sight. But even so, her expression was still stubborn, her resolve unbent.
"Yuzuru!"
Tohka shouted.
"Affirmative. Watch this."
Yuzuru spoke softly, and the blade at the end of her chain shot out toward Origami like a snake, wrapping tightly around her and binding her up.
"Aaah—!"
Origami screamed and thrashed, but it was useless—she couldn't tear herself free.
"Heh, Origami, you should just give up already," Kaguya said, flying up to Origami with a smug look.
"Correction. You didn't do a thing just now," Yuzuru added calmly as she floated over.
"W–What?! I was protecting you, okay!" Kaguya snapped, cheeks flushing.
"Statement. Yuzuru doesn't need protection. Origami hasn't had the leeway to attack me this entire time."
"Ugh…" Kaguya let out a strangled noise; she couldn't argue with that, and could only pretend she hadn't heard it.
"Shichen! We've got Origami restrained!" Tohka waved excitedly at him.
"Yeah," Shichen replied with a small smile, flying over with Nia still clinging to his arm.
"Hmph, we're exhausting ourselves out here while you're letting Nia hang all over you," Kotori grumbled when she spotted Nia glued to his side.
"Come on now~ My Angel's not built for fighting; I can't help it," Nia said with a goofy grin.
"If I'd known, I would've done the same. Didn't even need me out there," Kurumi muttered, sounding bored.
"Ehh~ Kurumi-chan, you're all talk. If it really came down to it, you wouldn't be able to just sit back and watch," Nia teased.
"You…" Kurumi had no comeback, just glared at her, flustered.
"All right, let's get Origami back to normal first."
Shichen slipped his arm free and moved in front of Origami, placing his hand lightly on her head. "Purify."
"Mm…"
A holy light wrapped around Origami's head; she groaned in pain, the madness fading from her eyes as clarity slowly returned.
"Shichen…?" She raised her head, looking at him in a daze.
"How do you feel?" Shichen rubbed her head gently and asked softly.
"How do I… my head's kind of fuzzy, and my body… hurts a little," Origami said, frowning.
"Um, sorry about that. We didn't really have a choice—Origami, you were way too strong," Tohka apologized, looking a little guilty.
"Tohka… Kurumi… all of you…?" Origami finally realized she was completely surrounded by Spirits.
"You should probably look at yourself first," Kurumi said.
"Eh?"
Origami looked down—and finally noticed her own state.
"This is…?"
"You turned into a Spirit too," Shichen said.
"A Spirit… how? Why?" Origami stared in disbelief.
"Don't worry. I'll explain slowly. Let me heal you first—Heal."
Green light flowed over Origami's body, closing all her wounds. Her complexion brightened and her energy returned.
"Amazing… this is your power too, Shichen-san?" Origami murmured, staring at her hands, feeling the limitless strength surging inside her.
"Just a little trick…" Shichen smiled faintly. "Origami, what happened? Why did you suddenly become a Spirit?"
"I… I don't really know," Origami said after thinking hard, brows knitting tighter.
"You don't know?"
"Right. I was on my way to find you, Shichen-san, when suddenly a big mosaic blob blocked my path. He didn't say a word—just shot some kind of crystal-like thing into my body. After that, the next thing I remember is… this."
"He actually shot it straight into your body…" Shichen's brows furrowed.
What is the First Spirit trying to pull?
This was completely off from what he knew.
Was it because of him?
"Anyway… why did turning into a Spirit happen from that?" Origami asked, unable to hold it in.
"Oooh~ that mosaic—aka the First Spirit—shot a crystal into you, right? That crystal was a Spirit core," Nia explained.
"Spirit core?"
"Yup. The Spirit core is the true body of a Spirit. All of us here are Spirits because we have a core."
"Became… Spirits?" Origami repeated.
"Almost forgot," Nia added. "We were just like you in the beginning—humans. The First Spirit gave us cores, and that's how we turned into Spirits."
"Originally human… Spirits are actually humans!" Origami stared around at everyone in shock.
"But I've been a Spirit the whole time~ Shichen said so," Tohka cut in with a smile.
"You're a Spirit?"
"Shichen says Tohka is the incarnation of the Spirit core. So she's different from us. He's probably right," Nia said, backing her up.
"So that's how it is… then what about the First Spirit?" Origami pressed.
She'd just had a mountain of information dumped on her, and her brain hadn't caught up yet. But the thing she wanted most to know hadn't changed.
"The First Spirit's probably a pure Spirit too. Without her, there wouldn't be any of us. We just don't know why she's doing all this…" Nia sighed.
"I see…"
"If we want to understand her motives, it's simple: we go back to the past and ask her directly," Shichen said.
"Eh?" Everyone stared at him blankly.
"But I don't have that much spiritual power…" Kurumi protested weakly.
"I do," Shichen replied. "I'm going back in time to uncover everything."
"Shichen-san!" Origami suddenly called out.
"What is it?"
"C-Can you take me with you?" Origami looked at him pleadingly.
"You want to…"
"Yes. I want to go back and see it for myself. I need to know how my parents really disappeared!"
"Okay. Then we'll start by jumping back five years."
"Five years ago…" Kotori echoed softly, drifting off into thought.
"Five years, huh. Shichen, remember to go save me too~" Nia reminded him.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
"Hehe~ you really are my hero, Shichen~"
~~~
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