"So that guy was originally from the Tachibana Company?"
In a quiet residential park, Natsumi Kyounoin looked at the information displayed in her Tome of Revelation, a look of sudden realization on her face.
Just as she had expected.
Not long after she deliberately appeared in public view, the main characters of this world had come looking for her.
Ever since the "creations" began descending into the real world, the Japanese government had launched an intense 24/7 online surveillance operation. They not only increased the number of personnel monitoring public spaces, but also began re-auditing all uploaded content on social media platforms.
Under such circumstances, tracking her whereabouts through various clues wasn't particularly difficult.
Let alone the fact that she never intended to hide her movements in the first place.
There was only one unexpected development.
In the original work, the protagonist team brought along three creations from their own faction. But this time, they had brought someone else—someone who hadn't appeared in the original.
And that person seemed to know her very well.
The original plan of fighting the protagonist team's creations had been completely derailed by that man's clever words.
Still, that didn't really matter.
After all, this was only her first day in this world. There would be plenty of chances to fight in the future.
What concerned her more was the identity of that man.
After leaving Akihabara, Natsumi had immediately used the Tome of Revelation to look into the true identity of the man who had now become a loli.
After finding out his real identity, even she had to admit that these people moved with impressive speed—unbelievably fast for the Japanese government.
Not only did they locate her in such a short time, they even managed to track down the original creator of Date A Live.
Although she didn't get to fight the four creations, this interaction with the main characters wasn't a loss.
At the very least, the bet she made with Tachibana Company gave her a legitimate reason to interact with them again in the future.
In this world, establishing a connection with the protagonist team was still necessary.
Although joining them wasn't required, the side quest she had received demanded that—while acting as the spirit—her identity must not be doubted.
That meant, to complete this quest perfectly, she had to interact with the creators in the protagonist team frequently.
If she avoided contact out of fear that her acting might raise suspicion, there was no way she could complete Side Quest One perfectly.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!"
Just as Natsumi was pondering her future actions, she suddenly sensed someone approaching.
In the very instant she tucked away her Tome of Revelation, several sharp sonic booms exploded in the air.
"What?!"
An intense sense of danger surged in her heart. Natsumi instinctively activated her Astral Dress for defense. A translucent shield formed around her body.
"Ding! Ding! Ding—!"
Crisp clanging sounds rang out. The hastily deployed shield blocked every incoming flying sword.
Natsumi expression darkened slightly as she looked up toward the girl floating in mid-air.
The girl was surrounded by dozens of flying swords. With a flick of her finger, the ones blocked by the shield returned to her side.
"Sure enough, it's quite sturdy. Even if the Astral Dress is only the lowest-grade C-rank, it can still block my attacks, huh?"
Altair looked down from above, gazing at the annoyed Natsumi with a calm expression.
"Though I don't know why you've appeared in the real world, I'm going to have to ask you to exit the stage now."
Why had this girl targeted her?
Although Natsumi side quest did include stopping Altair plan for world destruction, she hadn't even done anything yet!
"How rude. Attacking without so much as a greeting?"
In an instant, Natsumi slipped back into character. Rising into the air herself, she narrowed her eyes and spoke sharply:
"I'm in a terrible mood right now. If you don't want to be punished, I suggest you leave—immediately."
If there was anyone in this world who could pose a threat to her as a spirit, it was this girl—Altair.
The young woman before her was no original character. She was a secondary creation—a derivative character created through modifications.
And the creator of Altair had given her an incredibly broken ability.
"Holopsicon (Holistic Copy Creation)"
The power of all things. The flux of all existence. The ability to reincarnate the true world.
The forty-eight military swords that floated around Altair were manifestations of Holopsicon. Each one possessed the power to distort the rules of reality.
However, forty-eight abilities was merely the limit of the swords, not of Holopsicon itself.
Though she could only summon forty-eight swords at a time, the power of Holopsicon granted Altair an infinite number of abilities.
As long as someone out there continued creating for her—granting her new abilities—Altair could continue acquiring them without restriction.
In a certain sense, she could truly reach omniscience and omnipotence.
If it could be avoided, Natsumi really didn't want to fight someone with such broken powers.
At least not now.
Granted, the spirit she was playing—Natsumi—possessed the pseudo-angel Haniel, which could transform into any of the other nine angels. That included the Tome of Revelation, effectively granting her an all-knowing, all-powerful potential as well.
It was just that... she couldn't yet transform Haniel into any of the other angels.
Because the version of Natsumi she was portraying now was the pre-redeemed one—before Shido Itsuka had won her over.
From a plot standpoint, Natsumi at this time hadn't even met the other spirits, let alone copied their angels.
However, Altair wasn't someone who could be reasoned with easily.
She was an extremely stubborn person.
Once she made up her mind about something, she always followed through.
"Not going to fight back?"
Altair expression remained cold as she directed the swords toward Natsumi.
"Then I'll keep attacking."
With that, the forty-eight military blades shot out like arrows from a bow, approaching Natsumi from every direction.
"Since you're so eager to play..."
Natsumi expression also turned cold as she channeled her spirit power into Haniel.
Kaleidoscope—Activate!
A blinding light erupted from the mirror. In the next instant, the forty-eight razor-sharp swords turned into colorful, sparkling candies.
Altair raised an eyebrow. She could clearly feel it—the connection between herself and the swords had been severed.
It was as if her weapons had really become ordinary candy, no longer responding to her commands.
Because of this, her resolve to eliminate Natsumi only deepened.
This kind of unstable factor—she absolutely could not allow it to remain.
"Snap!"
Altair snapped her fingers. A brand new set of forty-eight swords materialized beside her.
These weren't actual weapons—they were manifestations of her ability, Holopsicon.
Which meant, as long as Holopsicon wasn't disrupted, she could summon new blades infinitely.
"You're the first creation that's ever made me want to go all out," Altair said with a cold smile tugging at her lips.
"Perfect. I'd like to see just how far my full power can take me… Witch, make sure you don't lose too quickly."