"Waaah—aaah!" Half-kneeling in the air, letting out a painful scream, Origami's golden halo slowly dissipated. At the same time, her pure white gown turned pitch black.
"Huff…huff…huff…" The wails didn't last long. Soon, Origami stopped moving. The golden angel had turned a dusky brown, her dress now a blue-black, with a black halo behind her back. Her white short hair had grown into shoulder-length locks. Most terrifying was the pressure emanating from her body—no longer calm, but seething with violent power.
Her crazed pupils suddenly fixed on the translucent Tohka and Kurumi standing atop the building. Around the black Demon King behind her, terrifying spirit energy began to gather. Apparently, she intended to start by attacking Tohka and Kurumi.
But the attack never came, because in that moment Origami abruptly vanished. Clearly, the power Kurumi had given her had run out, and she'd been expelled.
"Gulp…that was a little much." This was Tohka's first time witnessing a spirit's inversion. The look in Origami's eyes made her hair stand on end. It wasn't fear of her power, but that hollow, insane gaze that sent chills down her spine. Because she'd replaced the original Tohka, and it seemed that personality had blended into her own inverse form. Anyway, her own inverse wasn't nearly this deranged.
"You already guessed, didn't you—that she would invert and end up personally killing her own parents." Just then, Kurumi's voice came from the side. She knew Tohka was aware of many things, and obviously this outcome hadn't surprised her.
"Yeah…I just didn't expect it to be this extreme. Wait—she didn't go straight back to the present, did she? Damn, what about our bodies and the others—Miku and the rest?" Hearing Kurumi, Tohka nodded reflexively. But suddenly she realized the rest of the group was still in Tengu City, and she instantly panicked.
"Don't worry—our return will be a little faster than hers. But you'd better consider how to handle her. From the looks of it, she's about to go on a rampage." Kurumi comforted her gently, then quickly added her real concern—an inverted Origami was a serious threat.
"Leave her to me. You go find Shido and have him reset all this." As Kurumi spoke, Tohka thought of that sky-blue-haired boy she hadn't seen in so long. This wasn't something she could intervene in herself—and someone had to hold Origami off. Otherwise, if she murdered someone important, even resetting the timeline might not help. Anyone who'd seen Steins;Gate knew how the convergence of world lines worked. Even if her parents survived this moment, they wouldn't live long afterward. Tohka truly didn't dare let Origami run wild in Tengu City. "I'll hold her off and buy you time. As for time energy, just ask her—she has enough to let you use the Twelfth Bullet again."
"Mm, I understand. Then I'll leave the rest to you—make sure that inverted spirit doesn't interfere with me." Kurumi clapped her hands softly. Instantly, Tohka's vision blurred, and they disappeared from the rooftop.
Before anyone could react, a black figure appeared in front of them all.
"You…seriously couldn't wait, huh? Couldn't even let us get back first. Forget it, no time. I'm leaving the rest to you." Seeing Origami in her inverted form standing there, Tohka complained, but her movements were swift. In an instant, she donned her armor. Before Origami could react, she grabbed her by the throat, transformed into a streak of light, and flew away from the city. Tohka knew the coming battle would be extremely destructive, and she absolutely could not let it start in Tengu City—or rather, at the Spirit Apartments.
"Oh my… Little Tohka, I'm leaving the rest to you." Watching Tohka vanish, Kurumi gave a sweet smile, then quickly slipped away, clearly following the plan Tohka had laid out.
Meanwhile, Tohka hadn't gotten far before Origami recovered. The black halo behind her split apart, and countless black feathers locked onto Tohka's position.
Seeing this, Tohka had no intention of staying put and taking the hit. She let go of Origami and twisted her body midair, trying to shake off the targeting. Origami slipped free of her grasp at the same time.
"Huff…huff…hmph." Catching her breath, Origami glared blankly at Tohka. After all, she'd been throttled for quite a while, and she was a bit winded, but a few breaths were enough to recover.
Then, the halo in front of her morphed rapidly into a massive cannon barrel that locked onto Tohka. Black energy began to gather again.
"Dodge—no, I can't. Behind me is the Spirit Apartments…I don't even know if Miku and the others are okay. If that attack lands, they'll be in danger." Seeing the cannon charging, Tohka's first instinct was to look over her shoulder at the building. She'd carried Origami some distance away, but not nearly far enough. There was no way she could let this hit the city. "Looks like I have no choice but to block it. Come forth—Halvanhelev, the Final Sword!"
As she spoke, a colossal sword dozens of meters long materialized in front of her. Tohka raised it overhead, pointing it straight at the inverted Origami. From its tip, torrents of spirit energy gathered in a blinding mass.
"..."
The two locked eyes, each unleashing the full extent of their power.
"Final Sword!"
"Savior Demon King!!!"
In an instant, a black pillar of energy and a sweeping arc of sword light shot from cannon and blade, colliding head-on in the sky.