This is not the date I wanted.

"You guy!"

After a while, "Shixiang" finally came to his senses. After a roar, he kicked Mengyue hard in the abdomen.

In an instant, Meng Yue's body flew straight out, and after knocking down dozens of large trees in succession, it hit the mountain, leaving a hole.

"Um—cough—"

It felt as if all her internal organs were dislocated. After a painful cough, Meng Yue shed bright red blood from the corners of her mouth.

"Nahema (Tyrannical Prince)!!"

At this moment, the voice of "Tohka" was heard. Mengyue raised her head and saw the sharp blade of the Demon King chopping straight down at her head.

Meng Yue did not choose to dodge or defend, it was more like she no longer had the energy to do so. As if she had done everything she should do, she closed her eyes silently.

"..."

After a long time, Meng Yue slowly opened her eyes when she felt that her body was not split into two halves.

She saw that the sword of the "Tyrannical Prince" stopped less than five centimeters away from her.

"Congratulations, you won the duel, Tohka. And--"

Not caring about the pain in her body at all, Mengyue looked at Tohka and said with a smile.

"I won this war."

"..."

After hearing Meng Yue's words, Shixiang's expression changed several times like a Peking Opera performance. Finally, he gritted his teeth and put down the "Tyrannical Prince" in his hand with reluctance.

“Why do you release the water at the end?”

Tohka asked in confusion.

At the last moment, Mengyue's railgun was not aimed at Tohka, but deliberately deviated and flew past Tohka.

If that weren't the case, "Tohka" would have definitely been killed by Mengyue.

"Besides, what did you mean by 'get out of the way'? If you hadn't said that, your dagger wouldn't have just hit the weapon, but would have directly hurt me."

"Well, I didn't intend to kill you in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

Under Tohka's puzzled gaze, Meng Yue explained with a wry smile.

After a period of contact, Mengyue discovered that unlike Origami and Niya who would only unconsciously cause destruction after the reversal, the reversal "Tohka" had a completely different personality from the Tohka that Mengyue knew, but had a clear consciousness and was able to communicate.

If it was an unconscious beast, then the only option was to defeat it. But if not, then there was room for negotiation.

So, while assisting Shidou in conquering Rokuko, Mengyue was also constantly observing "Tohka".

——Arrogant, cold, and stubborn. This is Meng Yue's evaluation of "Shixiang".

Although he looks like a reasonable person, he is actually very arrogant. He does not take the words of weaker guys seriously and prefers to solve problems with force rather than words.

But if they wanted to use force to make her surrender, Tohka's unyielding character would never allow her to be defeated. Once the fight started, it was bound to develop into a life-and-death duel.

And once a real fight breaks out, even if Meng Yue doesn't show any hostility and directly admits defeat, "Shi Xiang" will definitely kill her without mercy.

On the other hand, even if she chose to fight, after seeing her aversion to the word "defeat", Meng Yue knew that the only defeat that "Tohka" could accept was death. This result was obviously not what Meng Yue wanted.

To be honest, Mengyue is the most difficult to deal with this kind of guy who is unwilling to do anything, but the measures taken by "Tohka" against Shidao brought enlightenment to Mengyue.

Winning doesn’t count as a victory, so don’t fight.

Killing will not relieve the hatred, so I won’t kill.

Because the usual approach could not produce satisfactory results, "Tohka" chose to accept Origami's proposal.

Then, you can “lose” only after you have shown that you have the possibility of “winning”.

"The so-called battle is not just about who lives and who dies, Tohka."

"……cut."

After listening to Mengyue's explanation, "Shixiang" smacked his lips in dissatisfaction, but did not refute anything.

Throughout the battle, Liang Yi Meng Yue did not use any despicable or tricky tactics, and always fought head-on in the field where "Shi Xiang" was good at. The last attack could be said to be Meng Yue's only sneak attack, but with "Shi Xiang"'s pride, she would naturally not deliberately make things difficult for her. It is better to say that even if she was killed directly like that, she would not make any excuses.

Just as Meng Yue guessed, the current "Tohka" would definitely not kill her. After all, that would only make her more depressed.

(This woman...was she aiming for this from the beginning?)

Judging from the result of the duel, Meng Yue was beaten all over, but Shi Xiang was almost unscathed. No matter who saw this scene, they would think that Shi Xiang won.

But in fact, both of them survived, and "Tohka" had lost the desire to fight. For Mengyue, her goal had been achieved.

"Answer me one last question."

"Ok?"

Under Meng Yue's puzzled gaze, "Shixiang" asked seriously.

"Why are you so sure that I would stop? What you said was just speculation. It wouldn't be strange if I chose to kill you directly. What on earth could make you so decisive to gamble your life?"

"What, you don't understand something so simple?"

Meng Yue lowered her shoulders speechlessly, sighed, and answered as a matter of course.

"Yatogami Tohka - you are my family. So, I choose to believe you."

“…Pfft—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Hearing Mengyue's answer, "Shixiang" first showed a surprised look, and then seemed to be tickled and laughed, holding her stomach.

"Hey! What's so funny about this!?"

Seeing that "Shixiang" was laughing so hard that tears came out, Mengyue suddenly felt like she had said something stupid, and her cheeks became hot with embarrassment.

"Hahahaha - no! I'm dying of laughter! I didn't expect there would be someone as stupid as him besides that guy."

After a long time, "Tohka" finally recovered from her laughter. After wiping away the tears from her laughter, she spoke seriously.

"Liang Yi Meng Yue, let me correct your misunderstanding first. I am not Yatogami Tohka, nor am I your family member."

"Oh……"

"But——I really like your stupidity! Since you let me have fun this time, I won't bother about the Key Spirit and Gokawa Shido."

As he spoke, "Shixiang" grabbed Mengyue's arm and pulled her out of the pit.

“It hurts, it hurts—gently, gently!”

It would have been fine if she hadn't pulled, but when "Shixiang" pulled, the severe pain from all over her body almost made Mengyue stop breathing.

"Hey... You asked me so many questions. Can I ask you a question too?"

"what?"

"Did you really intend to forcefully kiss Shidao in the Heavenly Palace Tower?"

"How can it be."

"Tohka" denied it categorically.

"I just want to scare him a little. It won't make him surrender, and it means I'm afraid of a showdown with the Key Spirit. It's meaningless."

"...I wish you could make this clear from the beginning."

After hearing what "Shixiang" said, Mengyue couldn't help but lower her head in exhaustion.

"That's not necessary, please."

"If you didn't mind this little trouble then, you wouldn't have so much trouble like now."

"…………"

Looking at "Tohka" who was lowering her head in deep thought, Mengyue's forehead was filled with black lines.

40 Family, Forgiveness

==============================

"The earthquake... has weakened?"

Feeling the vibrations from the ground gradually weaken, Shidou couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise.

At the same time, the sound of a call came from Shidao's headphones, but from the tone of voice, the other party was not his sister Kotori.

[Hmm——Moshimoshi~ Can the young man who lost the power of the king below hear me? ]

"…Niaya?"

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Although he felt that Niya's address to him was filled with some malice, Shidou still chose not to complain.

[Hmm? Do you know me, boy? Ah——that's right, my memory is sealed. Forget it, since time is tight, I'll keep it short.]

After mumbling a few words, Nia began to explain the situation to Shidou.

【From the results, Rokuko has not turned around yet. 】

"Eh?"

After hearing what Nia said, Origami and Shidou showed a hint of doubt in their eyes.

[Well, actually, she is only one step away from a real reversal. Her spiritual power type is D. If she didn't injure the boy but took your life directly, the situation would be really different.]

Erya explained.

Perhaps because he didn't want to hurt others anymore, Rokuko, while falling into despair, also realized that continuing like this would only cause more harm to Shidou, so he unconsciously slowed down the reversal of his spiritual power.

[But if things continue like this, it will only be a matter of time before the reversal is complete. Other elves, including my sister, have gone to stop the 'Sealing Master' from eroding the earth. During this time, you must find a way to solve the root of the problem. Are you okay, boy? ]

"Well, thank you Niya."

After nodding his head firmly, Shidou stood firm. Although "Scorching Demon Slayer" could not restore the broken arm in a short time, basic movements were no longer a problem.

Taking a deep breath, Shidou looked in front of him. There was a vortex of spiritual power formed with Rokuko's body as the center. The swirling spiritual power was like a rapidly rotating cutting knife. Any objects caught in it turned into powder and disappeared in an instant.

(It feels similar to Yoshino back then.)

Shidou couldn't help but think of it. At that time, when Yoshino was lost? Yoshino also opened a similar barrier to isolate the outside world. Shidou had no choice but to rely on his body's healing ability to force his way in.

(Thinking about it now, I was really crazy at that time. No wonder Kotori was so angry.)

Thinking of this, Shidao couldn't help but smile bitterly. However, despite this, he did not regret his impulsiveness at that time.

"I'm sorry Origami, I'm having a hard time just standing up, could you help me?"

"Of course, if Gokawa-san were to go alone, I'd definitely have a quarrel with 'me' afterwards."

Origami smiled slightly and nodded as a matter of course.

"Besides, it's a great pleasure for me to be relied on by Gokawa-san. After all, girls are not creatures that will be satisfied just by being protected."

"Ha ha……"

Seeing Shidou's wry smile, Origami winked mischievously, took out a silver name tag from her pocket, and stuck it on her forehead.

"Admit it, Tobiichi Origami. AW111 - Brynhild."

The next moment, a faint glow surrounded Origami's body, and metal armor with graceful curves was installed all over her body.

Not only that, around "Brunhildr" there appeared a pure white spiritual outfit as beautiful as a wedding dress.

"What's up? Are you more obsessed with me, Itsuka-san?"

"Yes, very beautiful."

"Well--"

Origami didn't expect Shidou to praise her so directly. She felt her cheeks getting hot and quickly turned her head away.

"Okay, okay. I'll clear the way, don't lose me, Gokawa-san."

Just like that, Origami used the defensive Random Field to protect Shidou and herself, and rushed into the spiritual energy vortex.

Should we call them elves? The moment they stepped into the spiritual energy vortex, Origami felt a huge repulsive force that kept trying to push them out.

"Humph, this level can't stop me."

Origami said so. If Rokuko could still use the [Release] and [Close] of the "Sealing Master" to stop her at this time, Origami might still be in a difficult battle, but to be honest, the pressure she felt now was not as terrible as when she fought Artemisia at that time.

The only thing to worry about is that the magic power cannot be consumed and the shield is released, exposing it to the vortex of spiritual power. Unfortunately, this may happen to other CR-Units (Tactical Manifestation Units), but it will not happen to "Brunhildr".