“Uh… I overdid it a little.”

Looking at everything before her, if one were to say that this place had originally been a barren land with little sign of life, then now it had been completely transformed into pitch-black scorched earth. In this state, it would probably be impossible for any living creature to survive here for decades.

Letting out a helpless sigh, Mengyue sat on the ground with a weary expression and called out:

“Kurumi, come out. I know you’re not dead. Don’t worry, I’m no longer interested in continuing the fight.”

“I hope Miss Mengyue isn’t joking… because if this drags on any further, even I won’t be able to hold out.”

Though she’d only spoken half out of trying her luck, Tokisaki Kurumi actually answered her. She slowly emerged from the shadows.

“…You monster.”

“How rude. That’s the last thing I want to hear coming from you, Miss Mengyue.”

The two stared into each other’s eyes. Looking at Kurumi’s seductive yet composed ruby-like right eye, Mengyue truly found it hard to imagine that the girl before her was someone close to insane.

And Mengyue and Kurumi hardly had any real grudge between them. Though Mengyue felt repulsed by someone who had killed countless people, she didn’t harbor hatred, nor did she intend to avenge anyone.

Sacrificing one’s life for completely irrelevant strangers — aside from sanctimonious hypocrites who use morality to control others, the only people who’d do that were naive fools. Unfortunately, Mengyue was neither.

“Go on, then. What do you want to know from me? As long as it doesn’t violate my principles, I’ll consider answering.”

After that battle, the agitation in Mengyue’s heart had settled, and she spoke calmly.

“That really is most appreciated.” After a soft laugh, for the first time Kurumi’s face showed an expression of utmost seriousness. “I want to know the location of the second Spirit to appear in this world — the one imprisoned by DEM.”

A Spirit being imprisoned?

Mengyue frowned deeply, sifting through all the data she had previously obtained from DEM, then shook her head.

“There’s no record of an imprisoned Spirit in DEM’s databases. If what you’re saying is true, then DEM likely avoided recording that information. However… there were several suspicious points.”

“What kind of suspicious points?”

Hearing that there were no direct records, Kurumi first looked disappointed. But upon hearing Mengyue’s speculation, she immediately became tense.

“In the cargo records of their transport aircraft, there were several strange entries. The shipments were labeled things like ‘Anti-Spirit Ultimate Weapon (Extremely Dangerous)’ or ‘Material A.’ Employees were strictly forbidden from approaching.”

At first Mengyue thought it was some new model of mecha, but the more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Any machine with a display system would have its full model name and specifications listed. They wouldn’t use vague labels like these.

“That definitely sounds suspicious… Where were those aircraft delivering the cargo?”

“Aren’t you afraid I’m lying to you? I have no fondness for you, you know.”

To Mengyue’s question, Kurumi let out a small, helpless smile.

“If Miss Mengyue wanted to deceive me, I’d have no way of stopping you. But I won’t give up even the smallest possibility of achieving my goal.”

The girl’s eyes shone with unwavering determination. Only then did Mengyue realize — Kurumi didn’t kill because her mind had collapsed, but because she had chosen a path of self-destruction for the sake of a difficult goal.

“…Fine. I’ll tell you what I know.”

With a sigh, Mengyue told Kurumi everything she had found.

“But this is all information I got earlier. That company has some smart people — they may have already taken precautions if they noticed anything unusual.”

“Even so, I’m deeply grateful, Miss Mengyue.”

Kurumi offered a small bow of thanks.

“No need to thank me. I just didn’t want to keep fighting you. That last blow almost completely drained my spirit power.”

“True, fighting you consumed quite a lot of my ‘time’ as well. If I don’t replenish soon, things could get troublesome.”

“Replenish… You’re not thinking—”

Seeing Mengyue’s wary expression, Kurumi instead smiled happily.

“You’re so much like that gentleman — Miss Mengyue, you really are kind. Relax, I won’t kill anyone. I’ll just extract a tiny bit of ‘time.’ With enough people around, I can fully recover. Well then, I’ll be taking my leave.”

As Kurumi’s body sank back into the shadows, she suddenly turned around just before disappearing completely.

“Ah, right. As thanks for your information, let me give you a suggestion. If you’re bored with your current life, you could visit Tenguu City.”

“What?!”

Seeing Mengyue’s stunned expression, Kurumi flashed a suspicious smile.

“Despite how I look, I’m fairly good at reading people. It’s a very interesting place. Perhaps someday, we’ll meet again — Liangyi Mengyue.”

“I hope that day never comes.”

Watching the shadow vanish, Mengyue prayed sincerely.

“All right… You should come out too.”

Mengyue looked toward the clear sky, her voice cold as ice.

She hadn’t noticed at first, but during the fight with Kurumi — when surrounded by countless Kurumis’ insane gazes — there was one gaze, plain and calm, that stood out sharply.

Observation. From head to toe, someone had been watching her, and Mengyue hadn’t noticed at all.

She even suspected the person had been monitoring her every move. The thought alone sent chills down her spine. Her truce with Kurumi was partly because of this.

(You sensed me?)

An androgynous voice echoed from all around. A figure slowly materialized.

Seeing the figure, Mengyue froze.

Mosaic?

It was nothing else but a mosaic. As though all information about them was deliberately censored, their entire body was covered in mosaic.

Age, gender, physique — completely unidentifiable. A “something.” Even “Dawn Sage”’s detection couldn’t pierce through the mysterious veil.

Just what kind of R-18-rated Spirit would be censored by the world to such an extreme?!

(I feel like you’re thinking something very rude.)

“Nope. Just your imagination.”

Mengyue discreetly looked away.

(…)

Despite being unable to see the Spirit’s expression, Mengyue could feel their gaze. She coughed twice to ease the awkwardness, then said warily:

“Who are you? And why have you been following me?”

(A year ago, I sensed a Spirit power unlike the spirit crystal I possess appearing on you, so I began observing you.)

My power? Mengyue knew that the only reason she appeared in this world as a Spirit was because that damned guy back then made a well-intentioned mistake. It wasn’t strange that her manifestation differed from normal Spirits.

And judging from the presence of the being before her, Mengyue could tell this wasn’t that guy anyway.

(Author: “Achoo!”)

Wait—

“You said your Spirit power came from a spirit crystal in your possession… So you’re—”

Hearing this, Mengyue’s mind raced, and a certain suspicion surfaced.

(You really are a clever child. I won’t say more. I’ve watched you long enough. Although it deviated from my expectations, the ‘Dawn Sage’ has shown far greater power in your hands than anticipated, so I’m not worried. I’ll take my leave.)

“Hey! Wait! I have mountains of questions!”

Lightning surged violently around Mengyue. Although that last attack consumed a lot, she wasn’t out of strength.

Sand iron and lightning gathered from all around, forming a cage to trap the figure.

But before it could even take shape, the being vanished into thin air.

“Damn it. They got away.” Mengyue cursed under her breath, then pulled a long-unused tablet from her coat and began searching for information on the mosaic-covered entity.

“Found it.” Mengyue stared at the screen, reading carefully.

Spirit Codename: Phantom
Spacequake Magnitude: Unknown
Astral Dress: Unknown
Angel: Unknown
Overall Threat Level: Impossible to Determine

Faced with such paltry information, Mengyue frowned deeply.

“Information requested by… ‘Ratatoskr’?”

Unlike DEM and AST, whose goal was to exterminate Spirits, Ratatoskr aimed to build communication and peaceful coexistence.

Whether their ideals were genuine, Mengyue didn’t know — but she’d never heard of them successfully integrating a Spirit into human society. And she wasn’t foolish enough to be swayed by what she read.

High-paying jobs often hide deadly traps.

Still, they hadn’t offended her, so she couldn’t be bothered to cause trouble.

Right now, Phantom’s information was more important.

With prior hacking experience, Mengyue performed the process far more smoothly this time. She easily stole the account of a man named Kannazuki, ignored all the strange files inside, bypassed the AI protection, and downloaded the information she needed.

Phantom had actually appeared five years ago during the great Tenguu fire — at the same time as Efreet. But due to her barely detectable nature, people had always thought the mosaic in recordings was just video corruption. Only recently had analysts recognized her presence, which explained why Mengyue hadn’t known her identity until now.

“Tenguu City…”

Mengyue’s eyes showed a hint of surprise.

It was nothing more than an ordinary Japanese city, yet for some reason, spacequakes occurred there with unusual frequency.

Coincidence? Or something more?

[If you’re bored with your current life, you could visit Tenguu City.]

Recalling Kurumi’s words, Mengyue let out a self-mocking smile.

“Bored, huh… She’s right. My life is unbearably dull. If something interesting really is happening there… maybe a visit wouldn’t hurt.”

Her figure vanished into the void. For the first time in a long while, Mengyue felt anticipation for her next manifestation.

PS: Mengyue’s Travel Arc is finally over. Next arc — the main story begins.