As Ex-Machina In No Game No Life: Zero

Fixed!! Sorry about the repeated things.

….

There were others, but they were tangled up in the complex web of the Spirit of Origin, a mess I had no desire to touch. The first two were manageable. The third, however, was a problem.

According to my data, the Spirit "Metatron" Origami Tobiichi did not yet exist. She would only gain her powers later in the timeline. 

The only way to meet her now would be to use Kurumi's Twelfth Bullet and travel back in time. 

But my counterfeit Zafkiel was incomplete, and Kurumi herself now viewed me as an enemy. The odds of her helping me were zero.

My own Dimensional Engine was also not an option. It could punch holes between universes, yes. But it had a strict rule: when traveling, the timeline of arrival was random. 

Once there, however, it created a temporal "anchor." If I ever returned to a world, I would arrive at the exact moment I had left. 

Time within a given universe was a river I could not navigate, only exit and re-enter at a fixed point.

This meant I had all the time in the world, literally. I could wait for Origami to become a Spirit. But waiting was inefficient.

For now, that problem could be set aside. I had my next target.

….

After the confrontation, Shido and Tohka had brought the unconscious Yoshino back to the Fraxinus. Reine took charge of her medical care, and Tohka was sent home. Shido stayed behind to receive a long and thorough scolding from Kotori.

A few days later, the crew of the Fraxinus watched on the main screen as Shido, on his second attempt, successfully sealed Yoshino's powers. The bridge erupted in cheers.

All except for Kotori. She stared at the screen, a troubled look on her face that had been there for days.

"Is something wrong, Commander?" Kyouhei Kannazuki, her handsome and loyal vice-commander, asked with concern. "You've seemed... distant."

The other crew members fell silent, their eyes turning to her. They had all noticed. Kannazuki was just the first to speak up.

Kotori appreciated their concern, but this wasn't a problem they could solve for her.

"...It's about the Spirit Hunter," she said, her voice low.

A grim understanding fell over the bridge. They all knew her secret. Kotori Itsuka was a Spirit herself. Codename: Efreet. And the Spirit Hunter was hunting Spirits. It was only a matter of time. 

That look she had seen, the one that pierced through the ship's cloak... it had been a promise. She knew, with a certainty that chilled her to the bone, that she was next.

"Thank you for your concern," she said, forcing a commander's smile. "But I will handle this myself."

That evening, she didn't teleport directly home. She had the transporter set her down several blocks away. Her intuition, a sixth sense that had kept her alive for years, was screaming.

Tonight. It's coming tonight.

She couldn't lead it to her home. She couldn't put Shido in the line of fire. If a confrontation was unavoidable, she would face it alone.

She walked in the opposite direction of her house, down quiet, empty streets. There was no moon. The world was lit only by the lonely orange glow of the streetlights, casting long, oppressive shadows. The silence was absolute.

She walked and walked, until...

Tap.

A single, soft sound from above.

She stopped. Her eyes scanned the darkness, and then she saw it.

High above, perched on a streetlight like a gargoyle, was a small, hooded figure. It was perfectly still, its dark clothes melting into the night. It was looking down at her.

From that moment on, any advantage Kotori might have had was gone. The tempo of the battle was now mine.

Attacks came from all angles, swift and precise. One sword strike became five, then ten, then twenty. My assault intensified, a relentless storm of steel and ice that forced her into a desperate, defensive posture. She had no room to breathe, no chance to counter.

It was then that she finally saw the source of the chilling cold. A thin layer of frost coated the blade of my Sandalphon. With every block and parry, the biting cold seeped from my sword into her axe, slowing her, numbing her.

It's Yoshino's power! The realization hit her, but it changed nothing. Knowing the nature of the trap didn't help her escape it.

As the battle raged on, patches of frost began to appear on her astral dress, evidence of strikes that had slipped past her guard. Her own healing flames fought against the encroaching cold, but their regenerative power was drastically slowed, a constant drain on her energy.

In truth, Kotori was not a seasoned warrior. Her incredible regenerative ability was the only thing keeping her in the fight. But as time wore on, the strain of maintaining her Spirit form began to take its toll. Her focus started to waver.

"Hah... hah... ugh..."

For a single, fatal instant, her guard dropped.

I moved.

I closed the distance in a flash, breaching her inner defense. At this range, her massive battle-axe was a clumsy liability. She was wide open.

I held my greatsword with both hands, parallel to my body, its tip aimed directly at her heart.

Schlick.

The sound of steel piercing flesh echoed in the silent street. Sandalphon drove through her chest, pinning her to the asphalt below. At the last second, she had tried to twist away, and the blade had missed its primary target, sinking into the flesh beside her heart instead.

It hardly mattered. With her powers of regeneration, even a direct hit to the heart might not have been fatal. But the frost clinging to the blade now poured directly into the wound, spreading through her body.

The Phoenix-like healing fought against the invasive cold, but her mind could not. The pain, the exhaustion, the sheer overwhelming force of my assault it was too much. Her rationality fractured.

The girl named Kotori Itsuka vanished, her consciousness submerged. All that remained was a cornered, wounded beast.

….

She was rampaging. That was the only logical conclusion.

My sensors detected a chaotic surge in her spiritual energy. Her Spirit Crystal was unstable. Prolonged use of her power had pushed her past the breaking point, stripping away her personality and leaving only a feral, battle-crazed instinct.

Ignoring the greatsword impaling her body, she grabbed the blade with her bare hands and began to pull herself free. There was a horrific, tearing sound as her own flesh ripped against the sharp steel.

This was... inefficient. I had no desire to watch her mutilate herself further. I wrenched Sandalphon free and followed up with a sharp spinning kick that sent her flying back.

The kick saved her from tearing her own body in half, a gruesome and unnecessary outcome. But it also freed her from the blade that had held her in place.

Her actions genuinely surprised me. I knew this state would make her reckless, but this level of self-destructive madness was beyond my projections.

Freed from my blade, she didn't hesitate. She charged, her battle-axe Camael held high. One half of her body was wreathed in blue flames the fire of regeneration knitting her torn flesh back together. With that manic grin and burning axe, she looked like a demon crawling from the depths of hell.

I had already analyzed her combat style, and my initial strategy should have still been effective. But this time, when I attacked, she didn't block. She simply took the hit, her own axe swinging with even greater ferocity.

She ignored the new wounds that blossomed across her body, singularly focused on one goal: burying her weapon in my mechanical frame.

Her tactics had changed. She no longer had any concept of defense. It was a pure damage trade. For a being with her incredible regenerative abilities, it was a terrifyingly viable strategy. At this rate, the only way to end this would be to let her burn through all her spiritual energy.

" Aeterna Defensio "

Her axe slammed against my golden shield, the impact creating a high-pitched, grating screech.

A whisper of frost spread from my feet.

With my right foot as the epicenter, a wave of absolute zero radiated outwards. In an instant, the world turned white. The raging sea of fire was flash-frozen, each lick of flame preserved in a crystal of ice. The street became a silent, silver kingdom.

Crack.

The ice encasing Kotori began to splinter from within. A blast of heat shattered her frozen prison. But before she could even register her freedom, a familiar weapon slammed into her, sending her flying.

It was Camael, her own battle-axe, now held in my hands. My version was identical, save for the intricate golden patterns that now adorned its surface.

My analysis of her had been completed long before she went berserk. I could have ended this fight at any time. I could have simply walked away.

But this was my responsibility. I had caused this. Her rampage was my fault. I brought my targets to deserted areas to avoid innocent casualties, and I always returned them safely afterward. I couldn't send her home in this state. I had to subdue her first.

There was, however, another option.

When I had first located Kotori, I had detected a tracking device on her. I had analyzed it and, based on my calculations, allowed it to remain active. The device had self-destructed the moment our fight began, but not before successfully transmitting its data. A rescue was likely on its way.

" Velocity Override "

Golden particles streamed from my body. I lifted the massive axe, a weapon larger than myself, and closed the distance to the recovering Kotori in an instant.

I leaped high into the air, gripping the handle with both hands, raising the axe high above my head for a final, decisive blow.

Eat this, you damned Noxian!

BOOM!

….

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