"You are… me?" Yoshino said, somewhat uncertainly, looking at the figure identical to her not far away. After all, the original Yoshino's consciousness had already merged with her, which meant that there shouldn't be a second Yoshino appearing here, even with parallel universe theories. She believed that gaia and alaya wouldn't let such a far-fetched thing happen to her.
However, the appearance of the other Yoshino was somewhat different. Although Yoshino knew the other person was wearing the spirit dress, El, it was unlike the usual green long dress.
The other person's dress was dark purple, with faint hints of blood red. The other person should be her inverse form: Adyeshach (Indifference).
"You're not entirely right. I am you, but you are definitely not me. I am the 'evil' side of you. Originally, I was always watching you. I watched you from the moment Zadkiel appeared within you. But with Astaroth's appearance, my authority over the 'evil' I controlled was taken by her, preventing me from acting freely. To prevent her from noticing my presence, I could only hide."
Although they had identical appearances, the other person was more lively than Yoshino. At least, she didn't have that shy tone and looked at Yoshinon with a full smile, saying.
"Why are you here? I should be taking Kitty's Magic of Darkness test, right? Why are you here?" Yoshino asked, somewhat confused. Although she was very concerned that the other party had been hiding all this time, she should be taking Evangeline's test now, and the person appearing before her should be Evangeline's artificial spirit.
Why was it her own 'evil' self that appeared here?
"Oh? Are you talking about that consciousness just now? I don't like other people coming in, so I kicked her out. Now it seems that the Magic of Darkness you mentioned chose me as the tester for this trial. Now, let's have a pleasant exchange. There are some things I want to let the innocent you know."
As she finished speaking, an ice sword appeared in her hand, and she instantly lunged at Yoshino, slashing down. Yoshino, acting on reflex, used the same method to block the attack.
"Hehe~ I didn't expect you to counterattack. I thought you'd dodge and try to outmaneuver me. It seems you've grown a lot during my slumber, but..." She extended her leg and kicked hard, sending Yoshino flying.
"In my opinion, you're still too naive! Just like I was back then! Too naive! Too weak! Like this, you'll only watch your important people die!"
The moment Yoshino got up, the surrounding dark space transformed into familiar tall buildings. Yoshino looked closely and realized she was now in Tengu City.
Having lived here for some time, she recognized it instantly. However, what was strange was that all the surrounding buildings were in ruins, as if some attack had led to the current desolate scene.
'This place... Although I know this is Tengu City, it's not the Tengu City I remember. Tengu City has never experienced such a tragic scene, which means this current appearance is just an illusion created by the opponent in my consciousness.'
Looking at the surrounding scene, Yoshino tried to convince herself.'She just said that the tester for the Magic of Darkness has changed to her, which means I now need to accept and devour good, evil, strength, and weakness, all of it, without reservation.'
"Hahaha~ I didn't expect this Magic of Darkness test to grant me peak power. This is truly exhilarating! How long has it been since I felt this way? This is power! The power to protect everything. Ice Burst!?"
'Yoshino' reveled in the power spreading through her body. This was the power she lacked back then. If she had possessed this power, if her personality hadn't been so weak, then the tragedy of that time might not have happened.
Looking at her past naive self, 'Yoshino' frowned and froze the entire environment around them.
"Do you think you can easily pass my test? Too naive! Too naive! It seems I need to show you something, or you won't realize how many people your naivety will harm! Let me show you the scenes I once witnessed!" She waved her hand, and suddenly, a barrage of distant gunfire attracted Yoshino's attention.
Yoshino then saw a slender, light green Little Loli, accompanied by another Little Loli, constantly fleeing through the gunfire. Looking closely, she realized these two were Natsumi and Yoshino, and the people pursuing them were members of DEM.
"This is..." Yoshino looked at everything, somewhat at a loss, not even noticing 'Yoshino's' attack was already upon her. If she hadn't instinctively dodged the blow, she would probably have lost her combat ability by now.
This was her consciousness space, so she couldn't use the recovery power brought by Zadkiel or the power of the necklace given to her by everyone from "LoveLive". Everything had to rely on her own strength; there would be no other external aid here.
"Do you think this is an illusion I created? Don't be naive! This is something I personally experienced back then! I said it! I am you! I am the Yoshino who was born from despair! Face the despair I once felt! Then you'll know how weak you truly are now!"
Dark purple ice formed armor around her body, making her power stronger and more concentrated. At the same time, she manipulated the surrounding cold air and created whirlwinds to further lower the ambient temperature. Their battle didn't affect Natsumi and Yoshino, who now had numerous wounds. Because the spiritual power of both of them was sealed, they didn't have much spiritual power to deal with the DEM squad.
"Tch! Is this all we can do? Those guys actually allied with DEM to exterminate us!" Natsumi gritted her teeth, looking at the DEM members who were continuously firing at them.
If her spiritual power was intact, she wouldn't be afraid of these guys. But now most of her spiritual power was sealed, and she also had the most important Yoshino by her side.
"At this rate, we'll be caught sooner or later. Even Ellen is here. If I don't think of a way, both Yoshino and I will die! No! At least I have to let Yoshino escape."
Looking at the gradually approaching enemies, Natsumi made a decision in her heart. This scene was witnessed by Yoshino, who was in battle, and she froze when she saw Natsumi's expression of readiness to die.
Seeing this scene, she didn't take the opportunity to attack. Instead, she came to Yoshino's side and watched Natsumi, who was pouring all her existing spiritual power into Yoshino, allowing her to return from this world to an adjacent one.
"Did you see that scene? Back when Mr. Shido sealed all the spirits, one morning, DEM suddenly attacked everyone's homes. Because the situation was too sudden and they hadn't received any prior notice, everyone suffered varying degrees of injury. To protect everyone, Yatogami Tohka and Tobiichi Origami inverted to buy us time."
As Natsumi smiled, watching Yoshino's body disappear before her eyes, Ellen, wearing unfamiliar Realizer equipment, appeared before Natsumi, grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her.
"Later, through Tokisaki Kurumi's investigation, we learned that the higher-ups of Ratatoskr, seeing that all the spirits had been sealed, allied with DEM and AST to launch an extermination attack on the spirits to prevent the phenomenon of spiritual power inversion. They even disregarded the lives of the people of Tengu City, determined to exterminate all the spirits here. The first person to be attacked was Itsuka Miku; a sudden bullet struck her head during a performance, killing her instantly."
Although 'Yoshino' was recounting the events of the previous world, Yoshino wasn't listening. Because she saw Ellen had already drawn her weapon and aimed it at Natsumi, who was being held up. The disappearing Yoshino and Natsumi in this scene also showed expressions of despair. Because she already knew what the other party intended to do, although she wanted to reach out and stop it, she could only watch this scene helplessly.
"No... No!?" She wanted to rush forward and save Natsumi, but she passed through their bodies. All of this was just a re-enactment of memory, and Yoshino had no way to prevent any of it from happening. In the end, she could only watch helplessly as Ellen plunged the beam blade in her hand into Natsumi's body, and then Natsumi, with a faint smile, lost all signs of life.
"No!? Ah ah ah ah!!!!" Although this wasn't something Yoshino experienced firsthand, despair can be contagious. Watching Natsumi, who was killed by Ellen to save her, Yoshino felt her heart slowly being corroded by darkness. The surrounding world was gradually shattering, blocking all her senses, rejecting any external information. The desire to eliminate Ellen filled her mind, and the inability to forgive her own weakness filled her heart.
The whole world was turned upside down. The moment Yoshino's consciousness disappeared, she felt her heart completely plunge into darkness.
"Fall." This was the last thing she heard.
"What's going on? Why did it turn out like this?" Evangeline and the others, who were constantly observing everything from outside, looked at the unsettling aura emanating from Yoshino and spoke with some unease.
"She's inverting. I can feel the aura of despair." Astaroth said with a deep frown.
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