Chapter 23 – True Identity

Dodging Eiji’s magic, Shirowarabi vacantly stared at the direction the fireball flew in.

 

“Was that sorcery just now? No. It was just a fireball, but it wasn’t like the other sorcery in this world. In which case, it’s probably magic from a parallel world, but… Oh, oh, oh! I see, I see! I get it now. So that’s what happened.”

 

Shirowarabi sorted things out by herself and looked at Eiji.

 

“You were involved in Amagase Yuuhi’s summon, after all, weren’t you?”

“That doesn’t matter, does it!?”

 

Eiji chanted Fireball one more time. It’s an attack that would be considered as having a beginner level of speed and power in a game, and Shirowarabi easily evaded it as if she already knew where it would go.

The way she dodged attacks as if she knew the safe spots was like Eiji’s Analysis Eyes.

 

“Hisaka Eiji, she uses Crystal Chant Technique! Random attacks aren’t even going to graze her!”

“Crystal… What?”

“Think of it like fortune-telling!”

 

In other words, she can divine where Eiji’s attacks will go. The crystal ball had broken and became a mass of light which now covered her, so she seems to be able to use divination with that.

Eiji figured he’d need an attack of numbers then, and repeatedly launched fireballs. He shot many fireballs to try and cover a large area, but Shirowarabi strangely dodged it all after divining a completely safe spot.

 

“I thought you’d have stronger cheats, but is this all you can do?”

 

Shirowarabi sounded a little disappointed. Eiji was usually proud of his martial arts, magic and defense. He was a little used to it now, but this sorcery which was even more unusual than Hisame’s was hard to keep in check.

The mass of light drew a magic circle in the air.

 

“Alright, let me return the favor!”

 

However, nothing happened.

 

“…Huh?”

 

Shirowarabi didn’t know about Eiji’s Mana Taxation yet. Eiji thought she would divine it and respond accordingly, but her ability doesn’t seem to go that far. Perhaps she could not do divination while using the mass of light for attacking.

At any rate, this was his chance.

 

“Oh, did it fail to cast? Then it’s my turn again!”

 

All he had to do was attack in a wide radius to stop her from evading like Hisame was trying to do, but Eiji only learned spells that wouldn’t cause too much damage when cast inside the facility.

So he had to try something new now.

He imagined high level magic from video games.

It’d work if he can cast properly, but he had to chant with no previous practice.

 

“Earthquake!”

 

A yellow magic circle was drawn below Eiji’s feet and a large area around him started shaking.

 

“Oh?”

 

Shirowarabi stumbled a few steps. The ground broke right under her and a wave of mana was shot out of it like a spring. Shirowarabi quickly switched to using the mass of light for defense, but…

 

“Ahhah, I guess this won’t work.”

 

The mass of light bounced up and she was about to get covered in the mana waves with a bitter smile, but Eiji grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the quake’s center.

Shirowarabi’s expression turned blank.

 

“I already divined you’d save me, but why did you save me after attacking me yourself? I don’t get it.”

“It’s the first time I’m using this so I didn’t know how strong it would be.”

 

He had no intentions of killing her, but none of saving her either.

 

“Bind!”

 

Eiji chanted his next spell and Shirowarabi was bound by a rope of light.

 

“So you can use this type of magic too. Aha, this is awesome; I can’t even break out.”

 

Shirowarabi was on the ground with her hands and feet tied up like a bagworm but she was still laughing for some reason. She sighed and looked up at Eiji.

 

“Well, go ahead. I can’t move. Gonna finish me off now?”

“Why would I? There’s a lot I gotta ask you, and I’m not actually gonna kill you.”

“Ahah, that’s great. I’m so happy we’re alike!”

 

Shirowarabi jumped while still bound. Then, the mass of light returned to her and cut away the ropes that were binding her.

 

“What the hell are you doing!? Finish her off!”

“Huh!?”

 

Eiji was chanting Bind again when he heard Hisame furiously yell at him. 

Hisame clicked her tongue and cast a spell by snapping her fingers, and an ice pillar stuck out of the ground to stab Shirowarabi.

However, her aim was just slightly off and it resulted in the ice pillar just grazing Shirowarabi’s right side a little.

 

“Wha-!?”

 

Eiji was surprised when he saw an attack actually hit Shirowarabi for the first time.

 

“Black… blood..?”

 

The liquid leaking out of her abdomen wasn’t red, but something like a black sludge.

 

“That’s why I told you to finish her off.”

 

Hisame grinded her teeth standing next to Eiji.

 

“She’s not Shirowarabi Honoka. She’s just a Fake Doll that imitates her figure, memories and powers.”

 

“What!?”

 

Eiji was shocked. He had heard that the Fake Dolls were part of a system to restore causality in the affected world. The ones he saw looked exactly like his classmates.

However, they were fakes.

They moved according to the faint memories they had, but they had no self and they really did feel like dolls.

However, Shirowarabi has a self, consciousness, and feelings. Eiji probably wouldn’t have believed it if he was told that she was a Fake Doll before he saw the black blood.

 

“Hmm… I think it’s about time now.”

 

Now completely out of her bounds, Shirowarabi wiped the dirt off her robe and declared so.

Then, it was time.

 

Boooom!!

 

The other side of the pavement Eiji and Hisame were standing on. One part of the office building there exploded.

A red haired man leaped out, breaking through the smoke and fire.

 

“Shit! Since when does that fucker have powers like that!?”

 

The red haired man slid on the ground after landing and glared at the office building now covered in smoke.

 

“Kodama!?”

“Huh? Why are you assholes… Wait, Shirowarabi Honoka!?”

 

Kodama’s eyes opened wide when he saw Shirowarabi as a block of concrete flew out from behind the smoke. Kodama clicked his tongue and evaded while using the tip of his spear to draw a magic circle and shot a flameball.

The flameball cleared the smoke away and hit a boy who was floating behind it. An explosion occurred but the boy blocked the flames with a strange omni-directional barrier.

 

“Kodama Whatever, what the hell is that!?”

“It’s Kageyoshi!”

 

Kodama turned to glare at the boy after grumbling a little at Hisame’s way of calling him.

 

“It’s the Fake Doll of the damn brat I was supposed to secure.”

“It looks like you couldn’t destroy it, then.”

“Yeah, you’re right! Because something interfered! The Fake Doll started using some weird fucking powers! Shirowarabi, you did something, didn’t you, bitch!?”

 

Kodama yelled at Shirowarabi while next to the boy.

 

“Ahah!”

 

Shirowarabi quietly laughed without a reply and looked at the three in turns after the mass of light returned to her as a crystal ball.

 

“Two sorcerers and… Hisaka Eiji, was it? It’d be too much work to handle you all at the same time, after all. So I’m done saving time. This boy succeeded, and I think it’s also about time Sennenbara Kanae gets involved in the next parallel world summon.”

“Wha..!?”

 

Eiji looked at something reflecting in the Crystal Ball and panicked after hearing Shirowarabi’s words. Wasn’t Sennenbara’s reincarnation reversed?

No, she said ‘next parallel world summon’. If the ‘mark’ or whatever it was is still active in Sennenbara…

 

“Hisaka Eiji! Hurry up and get to Sennenbara Kanae! You should be able to track her if you use your magic eyes!”

 

Eiji nodded after Hisame’s instruction and instantly turned around. He activated Analysis Eyes, and found the route Sennenbara fled through.

 

Then, something burning and brilliant covered him from behind.

He reflexively stopped to look around and saw Shirowarabi’s crystal ball releasing eye-dazzling light. Not an attack. So, she must be trying to use teleportation sorcery to flee somewhere.

 

“Wait a fucking bit! What the fuck are you trying to do!?”

“I’m not gonna let you go!”

 

Kodama cast flame sorcery and Hisame cast ice sorcery. The attacks were blocked by the boy’s mysterious barrier and didn’t reach him and Shirowarabi.

 

“Oh, right! Hisaka Eiji, let me tell you one thing. We’re going to meet again very soon.”

 

Shirowarabi sounded like she was telling the results of a divination.

 

“When that time comes, you’re going to learn a certain truth.”

 

The crystal ball’s light completely covered Shirowarabi and the boy.