Desperately repeating evasion and separation, I flee from the torrent of consecutive attacks.
I can’t help but feel there’s quite a bit of personal grudge in this, despite her claim of rationality.
But regardless of the reason, if she’s targeting me, that makes things easier.
I couldn’t bring myself to attack my Oshi anyway.
All I can do is keep her attention on me, just like yesterday.
“………..”
— Come to think of it.
Her flowing light blue hair like a babbling brook. Those clear blue eyes that seem to draw you in. The sharp gaze, the well-defined bridge of her nose, the thin, nicely colored lips.
Everything about her is captivating.
— What an attractive girl.
This is the kind of leisurely thought that shouldn’t normally surface in such a dire battle situation.
This is a thought that Rui is “making me think.”
Usually, one wouldn’t even realize the abnormality of this thought.
Ibuki can recognize it because he knows the true nature of this anomaly.
The very thing causing this is the Umbra compensation of the angel before him.
But even being aware of it, it’s impossible to completely escape its effects.
And she’s not naive enough to miss this opening.
“– There.”
“Oh no–!?”
Rui’s arm swings forward, and the long sword slips past my guard, lunging for my throat.
The long sword coming up from below towards my throat is invisible.
Even the skilled Rui probably hasn’t realized the condition of 《Separation’s》visibility.
It’s just that Rui got lucky, and Ibuki was unlucky.
(Ah, this might be really bad.)
The moment resignation flashes through my mind, both fortune and misfortune strike Ibuki simultaneously.
The fortune is that glass shards are scattered around.
Ibuki, stepping back slightly, slips on them.
Thanks to the loss of balance, I barely avoid a direct hit from the long sword.
The next attack on ibuki was a stroke of bad luck.
The misfortune that follows is that the hilt of the avoided long sword catches on the hood of my robe.
And with that, Ibuki’s hood — comes off completely.
“—-“
Kushina had said [It’s fine if my face is visible through the hood].
Which means, if it comes off completely…….
“………..”
With the sensation of the hood hitting my back, a silence as if time had stopped descends.
Rui’s eyes, still with her arm extended in front of me, widen.
Her gaze is completely locked with Ibuki’s.
After a moment of silence, Rui’s expression — turns to disgust.
“…Huh. So with that face, you’ve been seducing girls left and right, have you?”
“Huh…?”
Ibuki is confused by the angel’s clearly increased anger.
Ignoring this confused face, Rui continues,
“– Even Hina.”
“I didn’t!”
Even Ibuki can’t stay silent at this baseless accusation.
“I didn’t do anything! At all!”
“Shut up, criminal.”
“………..”
Even Ibuki has no choice but to stay silent at being called a criminal with such certainty.
“I bet you’ve been making women cry with that face of yours all the time.”
“Wait, what are you talking about!?”
“Trying to escape by clinging to my Hina is good evidence of that, isn’t it?”
“No, that was an accident–“
“Shut up, criminal.”
“………..”
“Anyway,”
She raises her arm once more.
Ibuki hurriedly jumps back and puts his hood back on.
Four long swords intersect at the spot where he was standing just moments ago.
“That was close…!”
“Tch, failed to kill you.”
“Wow, that’s violent.”
“Either way, I’m going to thoroughly string you up.”
“Ouch, that sounds painful.”
“………..”
Ibuki’s tension rises as the angel continues to emit a bristling atmosphere, ignoring his quips.
Just as the tension reaches its limit and the battle is about to reignite,
“!? Too fast…!”
Rui puts her hand to one ear with a shocked expression.
Noticing her unusual behavior, I realize she must have received an urgent communication through her ear cuff-type communicator.
If she received such a message at this timing, its content must be…….
“– I will definitely kill you.”
Rui throws these parting words at me before flying outside.
As I thought, the communication must have been about the battle situation outside.
“I’m saved… No, I need to hurry too…!”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
As I fly out chasing Rui, the first thing I see is several Exia
As Ibuki panics, thinking so many reinforcements had arrived while he was fighting, his eyes catch Rui hovering high in the sky, warily watching a single point on the ground.
The spot she’s focusing on is the center of the encirclement.
Naturally, his childhood friend who was left alone in that place should be there.
“Kushina…?”
Fortunately, she was still standing there unharmed.
However, It soon raise a question mark.
While the Exia surrounding them probably can’t see it, Ibuki, who can recognize Kushina’s expression, could clearly see it.
Her, how should I put it, extremely displeased face.
And then, I notice.
The presence of a mature woman standing next to her, which I had failed to see earlier due to being too preoccupied with my childhood friend’s safety.
The first thing that catches my eye is the beautiful vermilion kimono draped over her shoulders.
It’s embroidered with golden threads in the shape of a fox.
Her golden hair, which complements the red kimono well, is roughly tied back in a single bunch.
“That person is…”
Looking closely, all the Exia standing in formation are directing their caution more towards her than Kushina.
I can clearly sense their determination not to miss a single move she makes.
“Phew… Hey,”
In this tense battlefield, the woman in the kimono casually puffs on her pipe before speaking up.
“– 〈Setsuna〉, don’t suddenly stop the car like that. I almost bit my tongue!”
“Huh? You didn’t bite it off? That’s a failure on my part.”
“Hah? You picking a fight with me?”
The two suddenly start taunting each other.
Just from this exchange, Ibuki understood the meaning behind Kushina’s expression.
Come to think of it, she had a similar displeased look yesterday too.
As if triggered by the commotion between these two seemingly incompatible individuals, the situation begins to move.
“—!”
Among the Exia who had been holding their breath, Rui in the sky acts faster than anyone else.
She swings her arm, and one of the long swords attacks the woman in the kimono.
The vermilion kimono-clad figure is about to be pierced — or so it seems.
As if striking a cloud of mist, the long sword passes right through her body.
In the blink of an eye, the woman who should have been standing near Kushina vanishes.
“– Hey hey, women who are quick to fight are disliked, you know? Fluffy-chan.”
Before anyone realizes, she’s sitting cross-legged on top of the transport vehicle.
Rui narrows one eye.
“The 《Phantom》 Lux… Executive 〈Purple Smoke〉, you live up to your reputation as a troublesome one.”
“Hello.”
The executive, Mion, shrugged nonchalantly.
At that moment, Kushina, who was standing a little distance away, turned her face slightly toward us.
Our eyes met through her robe, and she closed her eyelids smoothly.
I didn’t understand the reason for this action.
But Ibuki followed Kushina’s lead and closed his eyes.
“Don’t break the perimeter! Make sure that guy doesn’t escape!”
Following the order, Rui, the angel of the skies, also focused.
By this time, Ibuki had almost completely slipped from Rui’s mind.
Of course, her personal grudge against that man hadn’t disappeared.
However, more pressing than that…
A new player had joined the battlefield—a woman who had been unleashed. Her presence was more alarming.
Her troublesome nature had been well known for a long time.
Negamesiah Covenant Executive, Fourth Seat of the Six Apostles, Mion.
Her real name was Mion Adashino.
Because she had been captured three times, her real name was known, a rarity among the executives.
Three captures and, subsequently, three escapes.
Even after it was revealed that the true identity of the one who mocked the angels multiple times, Natural Talent Lux, was a phantom, her troublesome nature remained unchanged.
In fact, her actions, which made even that information a bluff, had only increased her nuisance value.
Needless to say, everyone kept a wary eye on Mion.
“────”
Among them, Rui, who was in the sky, was the first to notice.
Before she knew it, a white mist, knee-high, had spread around the area.
“At your feet! The mist…!”
She hurried to warn her comrades—but it was too late.
“Ugh!”
“Ah!”
The white mist crawling on the ground quickly enveloped the surroundings, and soon a thick fog settled around.
“Damn, I can’t see…!”
“Don’t panic, it’s just an illusion!”
Indeed, it was an illusion.
However, even an illusion that obscures vision is a problem.
The angels couldn’t make a move for fear of attacking their comrades, nor could they step forward to avoid losing the target, only growing more anxious.
“We’ve been had…”
Despite her vision being obscured by the thick fog like her comrades, Rui, alone in the sky, managed to stay calm.
However, the words “mission failed” were vividly clear in her mind.
──Ibuki saw the panicked angels clearly.
No thick fog was visible in his eyes.
“Because I closed my eyes…?”
Given the recent actions, that seemed to be the only explanation…
Just as he was about to sink into thought, Rui’s long sword, which she had been controlling, fell to the ground with its usual dull thud.
Unable to see it, it had slipped from her awareness and control.
Raising his head, Ibuki saw the two executives, walking side by side, leisurely emerging from the collapsed encirclement.
The surrounding Exsisia guardians seemed not to be worth their attention.
Ibuki watched them and thought,
“I always decide to take on any fight that’s brought to me, right?”
“I’m doing you a favor, you know. Ever heard of returning a favor after being saved, you social misfit?”
“I’ll return the favor alright…!”
(Are these people really executives…?)
He couldn’t bring himself to trust them fully and felt a bit uneasy.
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