London, United Kingdom, DEM Corporation Headquarters, Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott looked over the documents in his hands with keen interest, a faint smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Is that why they named the identification code Abysm? Because it has the ability to devour weapons? But its danger level is only B, so it doesn’t seem that strong.”
“Although it eliminated many members during the battle with the AST, its attack methods are quite one-dimensional, and its weaknesses are very obvious.”
The blonde beauty sitting across from Isaac explained.
She was Ellen Mira Mathers, the second executive director of DEM Corporation and the world’s strongest magician.
The data on Abysm was brought back directly by her from DEM’s Japan branch.
“So, in other words, it’s just like any other Spirit, right? You probably don’t find her that interesting.”
“If there’s a chance, I’d still like to meet her. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Spirit that can devour weapons. She might become the Spirit I attack the most.”
“Your close-combat skills are quite strong too, right? From the footage of the AST fighting her, it’s clear her close combat is poor. You could probably finish her off in two or three strikes.”
“Westcott, you’re flattering me.”
“Heh, just speaking the truth. By the way, how is the plan for capturing the Princess going?”
“Still observing the Princess.”
“In that case, let’s focus on Abysm for now. I’m looking forward to her Spirit Crystal.”
***
“Phew… that scared me to death…”
After being swallowed by the void, Wanmie suddenly found herself back in her rented apartment.
She was panting heavily, trying to calm herself down, but after what had just happened, calming down in a short time was probably impossible—even if Superman himself showed up.
“But seriously, where did those bullets and Drunken Master Origami’s knife go? And how did I get back here?”
Once her mood had settled slightly, Wanmie opened her phone and accessed the system’s Main Interface.
It still showed her basic profile, but compared to two days ago, the only change was a new skill added under the skills section called “Extinction Gun.”
In practice, this skill didn’t perform that well.
It was perfect against single targets but useless when facing multiple enemies.
Although this body could be immune to weapon damage, it was helpless against close combat.
One skill alone wasn’t enough to guarantee survival.
Wanmie searched the system page for a long time but couldn’t find any related skills.
Just as she was about to give up, she accidentally clicked on the word “Skills” on the Main Interface, and a new page popped up with the four big characters: Passive Skill.
“???”
Wanmie’s head filled with question marks.
Why were Passive Skills separated into their own page?
Didn’t whoever designed this system learn about page layouts?!
Hidden so deep, who knows about this!
Sighing helplessly, Wanmie began reading the skill descriptions.
Devour All Things: Wanmie Ayase’s body can devour any weapon or item.
Devoured objects are stored in the Warehouse and can be retrieved at any time.
Void Movement: At critical moments, Wanmie can generate a void devouring range to swallow people or objects and teleport them to any location (including herself).
Spacequake: When Wanmie equips Spirit Equipment and Angel, there is a chance to trigger a Spacequake.
Those seemed to be the only three skills for now.
Taking in the AST weapons and almost getting hit by Origami’s knife were probably the first two skills in action.
But this “Devour All Things” skill says the devoured items are stored in a Warehouse—so where exactly is this Warehouse?
Wanmie returned to the Main Interface, noticing a small house icon in the top left corner.
She realized she had never clicked on it before.
Could that be the Warehouse?
Tentatively, she tapped it, and the Main Interface switched to a completely new page.
Bullets ×1865
Origami Tobiichi’s Knife ×1
“Huh?! So this really is the Warehouse…”
Clicking on the item’s name brought up a prompt to retrieve the item, and she just needed to enter the quantity she wanted.
Surprisingly, this was a very convenient skill.
“First… I’ll take out Drunken Master Origami’s knife!”
After clicking “retrieve,” the knife that had been swallowed by the void slowly emerged from the space in front of Wanmie’s chest.
She pulled it out and placed it on the table, examining it carefully.
A blush crept over her usually cold, beautiful face.
“It’s Origami’s knife… it has to become a family heirloom~”
Her expression was that of a perverted middle-aged man, which had nothing to do with the cold and beautiful girl she appeared to be.
But after finally obtaining an item from her favorite anime character, it was impossible not to be excited.
Besides, what’s wrong with a guy being a little perverted?
As for the bullets, the Warehouse had a selling function.
She sold all 1,865 bullets for 1,865 yen.
The price was cheaper than expected, but the money was enough for a meal.
After today’s commotion with the AST, she was quite hungry, so the money was just right for buying some food.
Although this apartment was one of the cheapest in Tengū City, there were plenty of shops around, and a shopping street was just a ten-minute walk away.
The nearest convenience store was about five or six minutes on foot, but Wanmie chose to go to the shopping street instead.
After everything that had happened today, she wanted to treat herself to a proper meal rather than buying something quick at a convenience store.
After browsing for a while, Wanmie’s eyes landed on a large shopping mall.
Since the Spacequake Alarm had just ended, the normally crowded mall was completely empty—an opportunity she couldn’t miss.
She grabbed a few items quickly and headed to the checkout counter, but then froze.
Standing in front of the register were two people she knew all too well.
“Shidou… and Tohka?”
They entered the store chatting happily, making Wanmie quickly hide.
After all, she was a Spirit now, and if Shidou recognized her, things would get serious.
She knew what Shidou had to do to seal Spirit Power, but no matter how you looked at it, she had been a man in her past life.
She couldn’t accept going on dates or kissing men!
“Shidou, can I buy these?”
Tohka excitedly swept the shelves clean of the yellow soybean bread, while Shidou just smiled wryly, taking two yellow soybean breads from her basket.
“You can only buy two, Tohka. Even if we gave some to everyone at Fraxinus, they wouldn’t finish so many.”
“Ugh… okay…”
Though reluctant, Tohka obediently put the extra bread back on the shelf.
They seemed to be just buying groceries and would leave soon, so Wanmie decided it was safer to hide somewhere before they left.
The timeline of this world seemed to be just after Shidou had sealed Tohka’s Spirit Power, so Tohka was curious about all sorts of human things.
She wandered around the store, occasionally asking Shidou about products she didn’t understand.
Wanmie kept dodging around to avoid being found.
After buying a lot of groceries, they finally seemed ready to leave.
Just as Wanmie was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Tohka suddenly stopped, twitching her little nose as if she had smelled something.
“Tohka, what’s wrong?”
Shidou asked, concerned.
Tohka answered softly, “I smell a fellow Spirit.”
A fellow Spirit?
Hearing that, Wanmie panicked instantly.
The anime never mentioned that Tohka’s nose was so sharp!
“Is it a Spirit?”
Shidou’s expression turned serious.
Spirits appearing in a bustling city was never a good sign.
Tohka nodded firmly.
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s this way!”
Damn it, damn it.
There was no way to escape now.
Why isn’t Void Movement triggering yet?
Does it only activate when you’re about to die?!
The two slowly approached Wanmie.
She wanted to run, but this store had only one entrance, so escape was impossible.
She had to face reality.
But since she was a Spirit now, she had to show some attitude—to make Shidou think she was a cold, aloof Spirit.
Maybe then he wouldn’t pull her around by the nose.
Thinking this, Wanmie began to build up her mood and tried to recall the words and demeanor of those cold, beautiful anime characters.
“Um, excuse me…”
Shidou tried to talk to her, but Wanmie gave him a cold glance and said, “What do you want? If it’s just to flirt, go find someone else. I have things to do.”
Exactly—direct and decisive rejection, cutting off all conversation.
If he kept talking, she would simply ignore him.
She grabbed her shopping basket and walked straight to the checkout counter.
Shidou was about to continue talking but was stopped by Tohka tugging on his sleeve, pouting angrily.
Wanmie knew Tohka was jealous.
After all, at this time Tohka didn’t know about Shidou’s missions.
But thanks to Tohka’s tantrum, Wanmie managed to slip away and, once outside the mall, returned to her apartment as fast as she could.
“Today was really eventful…”
Wanmie lay on the bed, sighing helplessly.
She felt utterly drained, a feeling she had never experienced before.
“I have a feeling there will be even more trouble ahead…”
She muttered to herself, not realizing that this offhand remark was about to become reality…
***
“Shidou, how do you expect me to take you? Have all the previous trainings been for nothing? You don’t even know how to talk to people now? And Tohka’s mood has changed a lot too. What exactly have you been doing?”
The moment he got home, Kotori switched to commander mode and scolded Shidou harshly.
Sending Shidou and Tohka out together today was meant to increase Tohka’s affection, but instead it dropped. Worse, they ran into Abysm in the mall but didn’t say a word to her.
“Sorry…”
Shidou had a thousand excuses ready, but Commander Kotori wasn’t going to listen.
Making excuses would only make things worse.
“Starting tomorrow… Ratatoskr will monitor Abysm’s every move all day long. I’ll send you wherever she goes, whichever street she appears on. Then you just have to pretend to bump into her and start a conversation. This time, no failures!”
“That’s not good… constantly spying on someone…”
“Are you seriously complaining? Do you think we want to go through all this trouble to monitor Abysm?”
“S-sorry…”