Being in such a state, Saeko naturally yearned for a beam of light to shine down upon her, for someone who could pull her out of the darkness.
Takashi Komuro wasn't particularly praiseworthy as a person, but he had spoken the right words at the most opportune moment.
Now, however, things were different. The existence of the chat group was like a radiant sun, completely dispelling every shred of darkness that had once enveloped her.
Now, she was fully capable of facing her own heart, acknowledging her flaws, and confronting them with composure.
Ordinary Group Leader: "As for the others—like Angel Yan, Kurumi, or Leader Luo Hao—anyone with even a shred of self-awareness wouldn't dare fantasize about them."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Especially Kurumi."
Ordinary Group Leader: "I honestly feel that aside from Shido, practically no one could ever walk into her heart."
Reality was no novel. Even if the one who obtained the chat group wasn't Su Yunqing but an ordinary male transmigrator like her, as long as he had an accurate assessment of himself, he would never set his sights on them.
Because the probability was simply far too low!
Ninth Prince of Da Qin: "..."
Ninth Prince of Da Qin: "Watching a female Group Leader discuss this in the chat group feels inexplicably strange."
Even though everything Su Yunqing said was entirely factual.
Ordinary Group Leader: "Speaking of which, you bastard actually thought I was a guy at the beginning!"
Thinking about that, Su Yunqing couldn't help but roll her eyes. She never expected that Ying Zinian had originally assumed she was male, and had even continued believing she was a guy for quite a while afterward.
He had even suspected she might belong to some cross-gender category, given that her tone and mannerisms were so distinctly feminine.
I was a girl to begin with, okay?!
Damn it!
Ninth Prince of Da Qin: "..."
Faced with Su Yunqing's accusations, Ying Zinian had no way to refute them.
A transmigrator who became the leader of a dimensional chat group connecting characters from anime and novels...
Naturally, anyone would assume the group leader was male.
Not to mention how thoroughly familiar she was with all sorts of anime and male-oriented web novels.
When he first learned Su Yunqing was a woman, he had been dazed for several seconds, completely failing to process it.
The Worst Spirit: "Shido, is it... He truly is a very gentle person."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Kurumi!"
Ordinary Group Leader: "You're back!"
Seeing that familiar group handle, Su Yunqing couldn't hide the delight on her face.
As one of the earliest members, Kurumi held a special place in Su Yunqing's heart compared to the others.
She still remembered how, when subsequent members joined, Kurumi had been the first to step forward and explain the group's mechanics to newcomers. Yet at some point, Kurumi had suddenly disappeared.
Although she would occasionally log on, it was only ever for a few brief sentences, vanishing again before Su Yunqing could even ask how she was doing.
The Worst Spirit: "Long time no see, Group Leader."
The Worst Spirit: "Long time no see, everyone."
In the Date A Live world, Kurumi Tokisaki couldn't help but smile, a look of nostalgic longing filling her eyes.
Despite being one of the founding members of the chat group, various circumstances had kept her offline for a very long time.
During this period, she had experienced a great deal.
Some of it aligned with what had transpired in the memory replay, while other events had never been depicted within it.
Because of the chat group, she had altered the future of this world, and in doing so, reshaped her own destiny.
However, the bond between Shido and the Spirits was something she had been unable to change.
The memory replay uploaded by the Group Leader had been incomplete, as Su Yunqing hadn't finished watching the entire series back then. Even so, Kurumi had learned who the true mastermind behind it all was.
The Spirit of Origin—Mio Takamiya!
She was the mother of Shido Itsuka and all the Spirits, including Tohka Yatogami, as well as the lover of Shido's past incarnation, Shinji Takamiya.
She was also Phantom—the shadowy figure orchestrating every single tragedy behind the scenes.
Beyond that, she possessed another identity:
Reine Murasame, the analyst of Ratatoskr!
After uncovering the truth, Kurumi's initial thought had been to dismantle Mio Takamiya's grand scheme.
Having joined the chat group, she possessed more than one method to accomplish this.
Whether it was leveraging her foreknowledge of the Spirits to conquer them before anyone else, or defeating and recycling them to amass points and empower herself.
In fact, she had leaned strongly toward the latter!
After all, she did not possess Shido Itsuka's unique ability to seal the power of Spirits.
Moreover, before possessing the strength to confront Mio Takamiya, disrupting her plans and arrogantly appearing before her carried risks she simply could not bear.
Recycling the Spirits would not only yield points to strengthen herself, but also allow her to hide in the shadows and accumulate power without future worries.
Was it cruel?
There was no such thing as cruel or kind.
Everyone was simply doing whatever it took to achieve their objectives. No amount of tragic suffering could ever mask that fundamental truth.
Mio Takamiya had ruined her life, so she was going to repay the debt in full!
That was what she had believed, and that was how she had acted.
Yet...
Shido truly was an exceptionally gentle person.
So gentle that even after seeing the future and knowing everything, she still couldn't help but be deeply touched by his sincerity.
Ordinary Group Leader: "Although I don't know what happened in your world during this time..."
Ordinary Group Leader: "If you need help, please don't hesitate to ask."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Mio Takamiya really isn't easy to deal with. Even with our current chat group roster, killing her wouldn't be simple."
Although Mio Takamiya was a Spirit, she wasn't a lifeform born from nothingness. Rather, she was a magical lifeform created by the magician Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, who had forcefully condensed the natural mana sleeping within the Earth's land, sky, and oceans—power that would require centuries or even millennia for the planet to recover.
In essence, she was a child of the Earth itself.
Consequently, she wielded unimaginably formidable power.
Her terror did not lie in raw destructive yield. While she could annihilate a planet, she couldn't wipe out an entire galaxy; in terms of sheer destructive power, the chat group had members who far surpassed her.
Yet just like the saying 'The greatness of a civilization is not measured purely by destructive yield', Mio Takamiya's might could not be judged merely by physical devastation.
The Worst Spirit: "Mio Takamiya has already departed."
The Worst Spirit: "The future of this world has changed; none of it will happen again."
The Worst Spirit: "From this day forth, there will be no more Spirits."
The Worst Spirit: "Everything has ended."
Kurumi Tokisaki's words—part sigh, part confession—left everyone thoroughly stunned.
None of them could comprehend what she meant.
What did she mean by 'Mio Takamiya has already departed'?
What did she mean by 'there will be no more Spirits'?
What did she mean by 'everything has ended'?
Had Mio Takamiya been dealt with?
Were all the other Spirits dead as well?
Ordinary Group Leader: "Um... What do you mean by 'ended'?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "Is Mio Takamiya dead?"
After a brief silence, unable to hold back her curiosity, Su Yunqing questioned Kurumi directly.
Yet how could Mio Takamiya possibly be dead?
Even if Kurumi had grown stronger through the chat group, killing Mio Takamiya should have still been impossible!
———
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