But before Wan Mie could react, Origami struck her chest with a punch again.
Wan Mie’s expression twisted wildly.
“Damn it, it’s already small enough—are you trying to dent me with that hit?”
Wan Mie tried to dodge, but the distance was too close, and with Origami still gripping her right hand tightly, there was no way to escape.
She could only watch helplessly as the fist landed squarely on her chest.
Suddenly, Wan Mie’s mind sparked an idea.
She released Oblivion from her grasp and, as the weapon fell to her waist, she aimed the butt of the gun and kicked sharply.
The muzzle thrust straight toward Origami’s lower abdomen!
At the same time, Origami’s punch, full of force, landed precisely on Wan Mie’s chest.
Perhaps sensing Wan Mie’s small maneuver, the moment her fist touched Wan Mie’s body, Origami released her hand and swiftly stepped back.
The violent impact slammed into Wan Mie’s body.
Though she weighed over forty kilograms, she was still sent flying several meters, crashing with such force that a tree as thick as a thigh snapped in half.
A sharp pain spread through Wan Mie’s entire body the moment she hit the ground.
On her flat chest, a deep, indented fist mark stood out vividly.
“You don’t hold back at all…”
Clutching her chest, Wan Mie struggled to get up.
At that moment, it felt as if every bone in her body had been shattered by Origami’s punch.
Yet, aside from the pain and the dented fist mark on her chest, her body showed no other signs of injury, and her physical functions remained unaffected.
The most shocked of all was Origami.
Her face, which rarely displayed any expression, flickered with seriousness the instant Wan Mie stood up.
After intensive training with AST, Origami’s punches were no weaker than those of a professional boxer, and with the backing of CR-UNIT, that punch would have easily killed an ordinary person in one blow.
Yet, at this moment, Wan Mie looked fine—aside from her pained grimace, she seemed perfectly fine.
Setting aside the fact that Spirits have different physiques from normal people, Origami had come to understand Spirits through numerous battles.
Logically, that punch should have left Wan Mie unable to care for herself.
How could she still stand?
Wan Mie didn’t know what Origami was thinking.
Right now, all she wanted was to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible.
If she tried to fight Origami head-on, Void Teleportation would definitely be triggered, but glancing at the barrier emanating a strong chill, she abandoned that thought.
Ever since Shinomiya summoned the barrier, the Spacequake Alarm in Tengū City had gone off, and the main AST forces would arrive in a few minutes.
If Shinomiya was left here, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Wan Mie would never leave Shinomiya alone.
Origami stood her ground, carefully observing every move Wan Mie made.
That attack just now had been Origami’s full-strength punch. If even that couldn’t harm Wan Mie, then there was no way she could single-handedly eliminate Abysm.
Her only option now was to find a way to stall Abysm and wait for AST reinforcements.
But she couldn’t understand one thing.
The first time she met Abysm, Abysm had no strength to fight AST despite their numbers, and then used a very strange method to escape.
Now, Abysm could have used that method to escape, but she hadn’t.
Why was that?
When Wan Mie’s gaze swept toward the enormous barrier inside the shrine, Origami suddenly realized.
She planned to escape with Hermit!
Origami furrowed her brow tightly.
She would never let them get away—she had to hold them off until reinforcements arrived and catch these two Spirits in one net!
“Don’t think you can do that!”
Whoosh!
Origami’s figure turned into a white streak again, bursting forward at nearly the speed of sound toward Wan Mie.
Watching Origami rapidly close in, Wan Mie gritted her teeth and called out sharply, “Oblivion!”
A flash of white light flickered from her hand, and the black and red flintlock pistol Angel of Annihilation: Oblivion returned to Wan Mie’s grasp once more.
Wan Mie quickly aimed at the lightning-fast white figure and pulled the trigger.
A bullet burst forth.
Origami frowned slightly and dodged the bullet with a swift flash of movement.
Seizing the moment, Wan Mie dove straight into Shinomiya’s barrier.
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
Coldness.
An unbearable chill.
Inside the barrier, Wan Mie couldn’t see anything—as if she had stepped into an endless black hole. An unfounded fear spread in her heart.
Countless ice arrows, formed from raindrops, shot toward Wan Mie’s body amidst the violent wind.
Yet, these ice arrows sank into Wan Mie’s body like stones dropping into the ocean without even causing a ripple.
Wan Mie’s expression remained calm as she pressed forward through this endless darkness.
“So cold, so cold…”
Though the ice arrows couldn’t harm her, the temperature—dropping tens, even hundreds of degrees below zero—was tormenting Wan Mie severely.
She had always thought of herself as someone who wasn’t afraid of cold, but in such freezing conditions, even speaking became difficult.
She had been inside this barrier for ten minutes, yet still hadn’t seen a trace of Shinomiya.
No matter which direction she took, she was met only by boundless darkness, brutal cold winds, and ice arrows flying at bullet-like speeds.
“Shinomiya!”
Wan Mie shouted, but her voice was quickly swallowed by the howling wind.
Her heart was filled with anxiety.
This wasn’t a solution.
By now, AST reinforcements must have arrived.
Now, all she could hear was the roar of the wind and faint explosions.
Those sounds had to be caused by AST troops outside the barrier.
Just as Wan Mie was on the verge of despair, a faint white dot caught her attention in the darkness.
She immediately brightened, fixed her gaze against the fierce wind, and sprinted toward it.
The white dot drew closer and closer, and Wan Mie finally saw what it was.
Shinomiya crouched helplessly there, holding her head with her left hand.
The four strands of her right hand trembled slightly, as if… she was scared.
Seeing Shinomiya’s pitifully adorable state, a smile blossomed on Wan Mie’s face like a budding flower.
She walked up to Shinomiya, knelt down, and gently stroked her little head, as if soothing a frightened rabbit.
“Shinomiya, it’s all right now. Sister is here to get you.”
“Sister…”
Shinomiya looked up at Wan Mie with eyes like sapphires, shimmering with a trace of tears.
This was… too adorable!
Wan Mie couldn’t hold back and pulled Shinomiya into her arms.
Shinomiya was clearly startled by Wan Mie’s sudden embrace, but she quickly accepted it and didn’t struggle, quietly receiving the warmth from Wan Mie’s embrace.