High-speed attacks and dense weapon clashes echoed through the DEM corridor. Ellen's beam saber slashes met Yoshino's fists, which were strengthened by the Frozen Armor (Siryon). However, Ellen's beam sabers could not break through Yoshino's defense, and Yoshino also displayed an attack power that did not match her appearance.
Their offensive and defensive battle was extremely fierce. However, Ellen also had to pay attention to the ice spikes that might appear while attacking. Yet, Ellen did not show any weakness because of this; she truly lived up to her title as the 'Strongest Magician.' She didn't fall into a disadvantage even under such circumstances. Her physical abilities were indeed at the peak of humanity.
But how long could this situation last? You must know that this was just the beginning. During her confrontation with Ellen, Yoshino secretly spread her spiritual power to the surroundings. Without Ellen realizing it, the entire corridor had now transformed into a world composed of ice.
The surrounding temperature dropped rapidly. Noticing this, Ellen activated the Territory on her Manifestation Device and only then felt much more comfortable. However, doing so still drained a lot of her stamina. Now, she looked at Yoshino, who was constantly sliding around her, with a slight gasp. She hadn't expected that not only was the report on the opponent's combat power incorrect, but her intelligence also seemed quite high. She had unknowingly turned the surroundings into her home ground during their duel. It seemed she had truly been careless this time.
"How much energy do you have left to fight Yoshino, 'Strongest Magician'? You seem very tired." Shiina, sliding around, looked at the slightly panting Ellen, opening its mouth wide and waving its small hands. "Shall we stop now and resume after you've recovered your stamina?"
Yoshino constantly floated and slid on the walls and ground, seemingly searching for the perfect opportunity to attack. Ellen gripped her weapon tightly, continuously looking for an opening to strike. However, Yoshino's seemingly chaotic movements prevented Ellen from finding any attack opportunities.
A bad feeling suddenly arose in Ellen's heart as she watched Yoshino's sliding trajectory around her. She had a premonition that the other party's actions were not to find an attacking opportunity, but for some other purpose. But no matter how she thought, she couldn't figure out the other party's objective, so she could only abandon her thoughts and focus on the current situation. Her Territory couldn't resist the current cold temperature for much longer.
"I don't need your false sincerity. I can deal with you in just a few minutes, Hermit." Ellen channeled the energy from her Manifestation Device into the beam saber in her hand, causing it to emit a scorching light. The heat radiating from the blade made Ellen feel much better.
Watching the surrounding ice gradually begin to steam, she thought, 'As long as I completely seal off your most crucial abilities and break through your defenses, then aren't you just a lamb waiting to be slaughtered?'
Yoshino saw the surrounding ice begin to emit cold air, slid to a spot further away from Ellen, and stopped. She reached out and touched the necklace around her neck; the necklace began to glow. The blue light in Yoshino's eyes became even more dazzling. The setup was now completely finished.
"...It seems you are very confident now, Miss Ellen. Oh my, oh my~ You wouldn't think Yoshino only has ice abilities, would you? You wouldn't be that naive, would you?" As she spoke, several five-pointed star magic circles appeared on the surrounding walls, encircling Ellen. They spun continuously, emitting a faint blue light.
"When were these set up?" Ellen looked at the exquisitely designed magic circles around her. After carefully recalling what had just happened, her eyes widened, and she looked at Yoshino with an expression of disbelief. "Could it be that your actions just now were for…"
"They were just set up. It seems you finally noticed." A small magic circle appeared in Yoshino's palm, pointing at Ellen. "While you were on guard, I set up this magic circle. You know, the purpose of this magic circle isn't just to confine you to this place."
"You fiend!!" The furious Ellen fully activated the beam saber in her hand, intending to forcefully break through the confining magic circle, but Yoshino wouldn't let her escape so easily. "What! Why is this happening? My Territory isn't closed, so why can you freeze me now?"
"Just be quiet for now. Yoshino needs to be quiet now. Oh dear~ I guess I need to make you calm down." As soon as Yoshino finished speaking, ice appeared on Ellen's limbs, making her completely unable to move. Even with Ellen fully activating her Territory, she couldn't break the ice on her hands, only looking at Yoshino helplessly. She hadn't expected to be completely defeated by a Spirit this time; even if it was due to carelessness, she had still lost.
"Just don't move now, and Yoshino can properly find out where you've been keeping the Spirits. I heard you're one of the three founders of DEM Industries, right? Then you must know a lot of internal information." She came to the magic circle in front of her, and the magic circle in her hand touched it. The two magic circles slowly began to react.
"What... what did you do to my brain?" A dizzy Ellen wanted to think of something bad, but her consciousness was already blurry, and she couldn't stop Yoshino from doing what she was about to do.
"Now let me see." The magic circle above her head began to transmit Ellen's memories to Yoshino, but Yoshino only read the memories of Honjou Nia being captured by Ellen five years ago. The scene before her began to play from Ellen's first-person perspective. The first scene was of a somewhat neutral Honjou Nia, dressed in a translucent nun's habit, being captured. Following quickly were scenes of DEM conducting cruel experiments on Honjou Nia over the past five years. Honjou Nia's screams in the memories made Yoshino angry, and an indescribable rage welled up in her heart. Gradually, the blue spirit power on her body began to turn black, and her green cloak began to transform into a black-dominated one.
However, the power of Zadkiel within her body was fighting against this black energy that wanted to corrode Yoshino, making Yoshino's spirit dress alternate between green and black. But black slowly began to gain the upper hand, and the golden light in Yoshino's eyes gradually transformed into black energy.
Toujou Nozomi and the other two, who had dealt with all the attacking personnel, suddenly felt that the contract with Yoshino was emitting an evil power. They could feel that Yoshino was not normal now. Minami Kotori and Hoshizora Rin looked at the frowning Toujou Nozomi and knew that something was definitely wrong with Yoshino.
'Toujou Nozomi, go to Yoshino's location immediately. Hurry! You must stop Yoshino from inverting, stop her from becoming Adyeshach, and prevent her from summoning Astaroth. I'm sending you her current location, hurry!' gaia's voice transmitted into Toujou Nozomi's mind. Before she could react, she received gaia's message. Knowing that things couldn't be delayed, she pulled the two people beside her, letting the surrounding tarot cards envelop them. After emitting a purple light, they disappeared from here.
"Hmm? It seems my little sister saw something bad that caused her to invert now." Tokisaki Kurumi, sensing the evil aura, looked at the fallen DEM members. After assessing the importance of the situation, she let go of the members in front of her. Her body began to enter the shadows underground and disappeared from here.
Toujou Nozomi and the other two, who arrived at Yoshino's side first, didn't notice Ellen lying on the ground. The three saw Yoshino's spirit dress constantly changing and, without thinking, directly pounced on her. Even if there was danger, they didn't care now.
"They really like Yoshino, these three humans." Tokisaki Kurumi, hiding in the shadows, saw Toujou Nozomi and the other two pounce on Yoshino without hesitation, realizing Yoshino's importance to them.
"It seems my little sister is quite likable."
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