Come to think of it, if the other party truly saw through my Angel, wouldn't that just prove how reliable they are as a partner?
With that thought, the worries in her heart vanished, and Kurumi eased up a bit, letting go of the tension from having her abilities exposed.
But Dark Amber was no Amber; she wasn't some pushover.
Just as Kurumi let her guard down, she suddenly felt a clever force pulling her to the right.
Before her body could react and regain its balance, she was spun around by the other's strength. Then, something struck the back of her left knee, and she found herself half-kneeling on the spot.
By the time she processed the whirlwind of movements, a hand was already supporting her chin from behind.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the white sleeve passing under her arm. Kurumi knew immediately that her current predicament was Mobius's doing.
"So you're really no ordinary person. It seems you have a Stigma too? To pull off such a move without Valkyrie armor... Could you actually be an S-rank Valkyrie?"
Even after this minor setback, Kurumi maintained her smile.
The feeling of being restrained was, of course, unpleasant, but she had no intention of resisting outright. After all, it seemed the other party was merely retaliating for her earlier actions.
Still, Mobius's actions were far more excessive than hers, suggesting a rather petty nature.
As she felt the other's hand gliding over her chin and cheek, Kurumi silently mused.
The smooth, tender sensation under her hand held no particular allure for Dark Amber.
She was simply asserting her dominance. Hearing Kurumi's question, she had no intention of answering and instead continued on her own track:
"Don't underestimate my intelligence network, Tokisaki Kurumi. Whether it's you or the things you've experienced, I know everything."
"Everything?"
Kurumi felt like laughing, but the urge died in her throat.
People who said such things were usually frogs at the bottom of a well, gazing at the sky, or those puffed up with pride after a lucky break. But was Mobius one of them?
Kurumi hoped not, and she didn't think so.
"Actually, you and your ideals strike me as laughable."
"What did you say?"
The carefree glint in Kurumi's eyes instantly sharpened.
"Betrayed by the justice you longed for, reduced to a vengeful spirit. You know full well there's no turning back from your path, yet you can't sever the expectations you once held."
Dark Amber's tone lacked the mockery Kurumi had anticipated. Instead, it was eerily calm, which in turn helped Kurumi cool her own rising emotions.
"You find that laughable?"
Kurumi couldn't be bothered to ask how the other knew about her ideals. In her view, it was irrelevant.
What mattered was that the other's reach and insight exceeded her imagination. And since her lifelong wish was the very foundation of this potential cooperation, if the other party found it ridiculous, there was no reason for her to stubbornly cling to this one option.
"Of course."
Dark Amber nodded. Just as Kurumi began to consider abandoning the idea of cooperation, she added, "But I'll accept your request."
"Request?"
Kurumi was taken aback for a moment before understanding dawned. "You mean the cooperation?"
"Don't misunderstand. You have no qualifications to cooperate with me. You can't offer me anything."
Dark Amber's voice, initially calm to the point of indifference, suddenly turned syrupy:
"Unless, of course, you're willing to become my little lab rat. In that case, I could treat you as an equal partner... for as long as you retain research value, that is."
"Oh? I thought with your personality, you'd just force me onto the operating table?"
Being treated with such contempt, Kurumi dearly wanted to retaliate. But Mobius understood her well, while she knew almost nothing about Mobius.
In this situation, she could only continue probing with harmless banter.
"The power of time is truly fascinating, but I have no hobby of forcing others. At least, not when it comes to experiments."
This statement offered Kurumi a sliver of comfort. While she couldn't take it as proof that the other was a good person, it at least suggested someone with principles.
Kurumi knew full well that words could be easily faked, but she didn't feel the other was lying now. And... she was acutely aware that the control of this conversation now lay entirely in the other's hands.
Just like how her earlier probes had been met with indifference, only now was she being fed a morsel of information.
The other party was trying to manipulate her with words.
"Then what's this about accepting my request?"
Kurumi asked, her expression unreadable.
"Your target is the Spirit of Origin. At least in that, our goals align."
Dark Amber's tone was unhurried. "You asked me why your ideals are laughable? It's because you know you're on a path of self-destruction, yet you use various excuses to push yourself further down that road while making yourself forget the path beneath your feet."
No one likes to be told they have self-destructive tendencies, but Kurumi remained silent.
"You know perfectly well that even if you go back in time, you're just going to your death. Your life and your actions are meaningless. You're only alive because you haven't died yet... So, why not hand that seemingly useless life of yours over to me?"
Dark Amber continued, "Rather than you wasting it, let me put it to use. I need the essence of the Spirit of Origin. Once I successfully analyze it, I have no interest in her life."
"Become my strength. Then, when everything is over, I'll grant your request and hand the Spirit of Origin over to you to deal with as you wish."
Silence fell after her words.
At first, Kurumi found the other's presumptuous 'understanding' of her laughable.
'How could you possibly know me better than I know myself?'
But as the other spoke, her amusement faded.
She became a Spirit because she wanted to be a champion of justice, to eradicate the monsters threatening humanity.
But the truth about those 'monsters' was that they were girls like her, transformed into Spirits. She had even killed her closest friend with her own hands.
After learning the truth, she was consumed by intense self-loathing. Her entire worldview collapsed. She despised herself and hated Takamiya Mio, who had given her the Sephira Crystal.
But Takamiya Mio simply sent her back to the Neighboring World. When she awoke again, over a decade had passed.
Determined to use this power to reverse time and return to the first spatial quake, to the moment of Takamiya Mio's birth, and kill her, Kurumi embarked on a path walked alone.
Time was her power, but also the constraint of using her Angel. To gather enough time to go back that far, her own time wasn't enough. So, she had to plunder time from others.
And so, she had killed over ten thousand people. These were all scumbags of poor character, but they were human lives nonetheless.
Kurumi mocked herself as the scum of the scum, an executioner among executioners, while still clinging to the hope that 'if I kill the Spirit of Origin in the past, then a future with Spirits won't exist, and those who died because of Spirits won't have to die.'
But what was the reality?
"Putting aside your string of psychological analysis for now, I have to admit, the terms you're offering are quite attractive."
Kurumi let out a soft breath, her smile returning to her face. "So then, what's my first task?"
"Brew me a cup of coffee."
"?"
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.