I left the village, following the small dirt path the owner had described.
Without a technological network to hack, I couldn't simply teleport to my destination. I had no coordinates. In a world of magic, not machines, many of an Ex-Machina's greatest advantages were nullified.
As I ventured deeper into the woods, my scanners began to pick up an increasing number of magical beasts. They were no threat. My sensors tracked their every move.
" Endo Armament: Activate "
A seed-shaped object of pure golden energy materialized in my hand. This was my replica of Mio's third Angel, Ain Soph. The Angel of Nothingness. The power to erase anything from existence, to strike at the very "root" of a concept.
A shame it was useless here.
Ain Soph's power was tied to the conceptual laws of the Date A Live universe. Each world had its own fundamental "root." The Angel could not interfere with the laws of another world.
Outside of its native universe, it was little more than an ornate paperweight.
During that final confrontation, I had compelled Mio to reveal her third Angel. At first, she had refused, but in the end, she had relented. What did it matter? If I truly wanted to destroy everything, I could do so with or without Ain Soph. That, at least, was her reasoning.
Ultimately, I got what I wanted.
But upon analyzing and replicating the Angel, I discovered a disappointing truth. This so-called "ultimate" Angel was, for my purposes, the most useless of all.
No matter. The Spirit series was complete. It was time to focus on the reason I had come to this new world.
Magic.
But before I could begin my search for knowledge, I needed to establish a baseline. I needed to know the current date, the era. The fastest way to do that was to find a city.
….
Are demons really this common?
I looked down at the horned creature pinned beneath my foot. It was massive, at least three meters tall and clad in heavy armor, yet my small frame held it to the ground with ease. The halo above my head glowed brightly, and my inorganic golden eyes stared coldly into its pitch-black, pupil-less ones.
"You... are not human?" the demon asked, its voice calm, detached.
Demons in this world felt no empathy. Language was merely a tool they used to lure their prey. The creature beneath my foot was no exception. It seemed to feel no pain from its four dismembered limbs. It simply observed me, trying to understand how its hunt had gone so wrong.
It had been a routine patrol. It had spotted a small, lone girl with no discernible mana, a perfect appetizer. It had cast its specialized "Speed-Up" magic, a spell that had worked flawlessly on humans countless times before. But this time...
"Query: Are you a mage?" I asked.
A strange question. "Of course," the demon replied honestly. Demons had no reason to hide their magic. It was a part of them.
It looked up at my face, at the strange, shifting object between my head and the glowing halo. It sensed danger, a feeling it had rarely experienced. Instinct took over. It opened its mouth to beg for its life, to spin a tale of repentance, a trick that sometimes worked on the softer-hearted humans.
"Please "
"Announcement," I interrupted, my voice cutting through its plea. "Show me everything you are."
The light in the demon's eyes dimmed.
It worked. My Pseudo-Gavelet's control ability was effective on the creatures of this world. And because of their unique psychological makeup, their lack of empathy and complex emotion, they were particularly susceptible. This one was now my puppet, a living database for me to plunder.
….
I ignored the demon's body as it crumbled to dust at my feet. The information I had extracted was limited. This was a low-ranking demon, its knowledge narrow. Its "Speed-Up" magic was laughably slow compared to my Velocity Override.
But it did provide a few key data points.
The Demon King was still alive. There was no mention of a "Hero." And we were in the northern territories.
It wasn't much, but it was a start. I reactivated my Pseudo-Haniel disguise and prepared to continue my journey to the city. A single data point was not enough to confirm anything. I needed more information.
But it seemed someone else had other plans.
Swish
A volley of razor-sharp blades of wind shot towards me from the trees.
The volley was dense, a wall of blades that blocked all avenues of escape.
The wind blades shattered against my shield. Then, their momentum reversed, and they shot back in the direction they came from. The sound of splintering wood echoed through the forest as trees toppled, revealing the attacker hiding behind them.
"Ho. A spell that reflects magic," a new voice mused.
Another horned man appeared before me. This one wore a mask and carried a slender wooden staff. My disguise, having collapsed the moment I deployed my shield, revealed my true, mechanical form. My cold, golden eyes met his.
Is this some kind of demon spawning point? That's two in a row.
My scanners had detected the second demon's presence moments ago, but since my primary goal wasn't hunting them, I had ignored it. A poor choice on its part.
This one, at least, seemed more formidable than the last. More intelligent.
The new demon was about to say something mocking, but a strange feeling, a prickle of instinct, made him hold his tongue. Why is my gut telling me not to fight? This human girl has no mana.
My clothes still concealed most of my mechanical body, and he had dismissed my halo as some kind of strange human accessory. Do humans have halos? No one was around to answer his question.
"Query: Are you a mage?" I asked, my voice flat.
He found my strange, robotic speech pattern odd, but he answered with a confident smile. "Isn't it obvious?" Why ask such a pointless question?
His instincts screamed at him. The longer he observed me, the stranger I seemed. This was not like any human he had ever encountered.
It was then that he noticed the "accessory" above my head had unfolded. He had seen it before, just moments ago, used on his fellow demon. Hypnosis magic? He had studied mental interference spells. He had countermeasures prepared. A simple hypnosis spell would never...
"Announcement," I said, my voice cutting through his thoughts. "Tell me everything you know."
And just like the one before it, the second demon fell under my control.
….
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