Tale of Discovery

Sitting up from the bed, I cast a glance at Kotori who is lying down with a peaceful look on her face.

In the beginning, she showed a few signs of anxiousness while doing the deed, but after a few minutes, she seemed to get used to it and began to properly enjoy it.

From that point on, I had to set up an anti-sound barrier for obvious reasons.

Despite it being her first time, Kotori seemed to be so into it that I almost suspected it wasn't so.

Nevertheless, as pleasurable of an event as it may have been for her, I enjoyed it just as much as if not more than her.

Releasing a small sigh, I get up from the bed and use Destruction to cleanse a few sections of my body before creating some clothes and getting dressed.

Following this, I telekinetically pull the weapon holster a few meters away to my arm before walking toward the door leading out of Kotori's room.

After this, I make my way back to my room, and upon entering, I notice that all three girls present are already asleep.

Knowing this, I try my best to quietly shut the door, but that doesn't seem to be enough, as, the next moment, Jeanne's eyelids shoot wide open.

As a response to this, I gesture to her to remain quiet before approaching her futon and crouching beside it.

"You sure have some sensitive ears," I remark in a tone so low that only she should hear.

"My Lord's presence is too powerful," she responds in a humble(?) manner.

A smirk forms on my lips upon hearing her words as I say, "What if it was someone sneaking in with the intention of taking my life? Would you have not noticed it?"

"Anyone with ill intentions toward My Lord shall meet the wrath of the heavens. They will not escape my senses, I promise," she responds in a cold tone as an odd glint shines within her eyes.

"Yes, yes," I say with a smile as I reach my arm out to pat her head.

Hah~ This girl takes her 'role' way too seriously…

As troubling as it may be, I also find it somewhat adorable.

---

An uncomfortable sensation on my back causes me to abruptly open my eyes.

Immediately after this, I use Clairvoyance to check on the state of the room and everyone present, but fail to find anything out of the norm.

Then, what was this sensation that I felt?

As I'm still at odds with the situation, I decide to look outside my room as well, and by that, I mean looking outside the house.

Ah…

A wry smile forms on my lips as I recall what was planned for today.

Releasing a small sigh, I carefully get out of the bed with little motion in order to not disturb the sleeping duo.

However, before I can properly float off the bed after having utilized Flight, a small hand reaches out to my shirt and grabs it firmly.

A little surprised, I glimpse at Yoshino's face, only to be relieved upon seeing that she's still asleep.

And so, I take a brief moment to shake her grasp on my shirt away before directly floating up to the roof and passing through by utilizing Permeation.

"Good morning," a pleasant voice reaches my ears as soon as sunlight shines upon my head.

"Good morning, Kurumi," I respond casually as I turn to face her.

"Excuse me, Shido, but I don't reckon you plan to go on a date with me while dressed as such, are you?"

Hearing her words, I look down at myself, only to see that I am currently in what I normally wear to sleep.

"What are you saying?" I respond while laughing in a lighthearted manner, "It's just that your abrupt appearance didn't give me a chance to get changed."

Having said that, I hurriedly channel Holy Essence within me before using Blink to get back inside my room.

--

"That's better," Kurumi remarks as soon as I appear back on the roof after having changed into suitable clothes to spend the day in.

"Well then, lead the way," I say casually.

As a response to this, Kurumi only nods her head once before getting on her feet and swiftly dashing off into the distance.

"This again…" I mutter softly as I follow after her.

As I leap from building to building, I realize that something like this would be too eye-catching, so I take a moment to utilize Rework and render myself invisible.

Unexpectedly, shortly after I do this, Kurumi, who is ahead of me by a hundred meters or so, suddenly turns into a black shadow before sinking into the ground.

Despite not being able to see her, I can still sense her. And from what I can tell, not only has the speed at which she's moving not decreased, it seems to have gone up by a notch.

The oddest thing is that I am unable to pinpoint her exact location, but only the area that she is in.

This way, it doesn't take us even a minute with our ridiculous pace to reach our destination.

"Isn't this…" I mutter as I come to a halt beside Kurumi who has now returned to normal and is standing in front of a tall building.

"DEM industries' headquarters in Tengu City," Kurumi says with a bright smile covering her lips.

"Why have you brought me here?" I question while looking at her through the corner of my eyes.

"If I recall correctly, you were keen to know more about Queen, weren't you?"

Queen - Dominion. Hibiki did call her as such as well. Still, why did Kurumi mention her? The only connection I can make between this building and 'Queen' would be what Reine spoke of during her recount of the events while she had infiltrated the building.

"Even so," I say once I have recollected my thoughts, "Are you sure this is how you want us to spend our 'date'?"

"Of course," Kurumi replies as the smile covering her lips grows, "In fact, this couldn't get any better. I get to settle an old score with an old acquaintance while simultaneously helping my partner out."

Settling scores… Well, whatever. As long as her antics don't get in my way and don't trouble me directly, I have no reason to stop her.

Nevertheless, does Kurumi even stand a chance? Time versus space. It seems like a ridiculous match-up no matter how one looks at it.

The only saving grace I have is the notion that Dominion's ability is limited the same way Kurumi's ability is. After all, there are way too many applications of time that one could take advantage of if they had the ability to do so.

Despite this, Kurumi seems to rarely make use of her time-related abilities other than when she's creating 'copies' of herself.

"Be cautious, for those that are inside may already have detected our arrival," Kurumi's voice interrupts my thoughts.

"Right," I reply as I consider the foe's possession of spirit-detecting machinery and if it's able to detect me as well.

"So? What are we going to be doing? Are we just going to barge into the building like this?" I question after a brief moment of silence.

"Is there a problem with that?" Kurumi asks back while still smiling cheerfully.

"Not at all."

---3rd POV---

"Commander!" a female voice resonates within a room for the tenth time, causing a girl lying on the bed to jolt up.

"Wha- what's going on?!" the girl, who is none other than Kotori, says hurriedly with a distraught look on her face.

Before the voice can respond, Kotori hastily looks around the room, only for her expression to harden once she notices that whatever it was that she was looking for isn't here.

"It's an emergency," the voice resounds within the room again, while Kotori throws off the blanket, revealing her naked body, as she gets off the bed and limply walks over to the computer desk in her table and opens one of the drawers.

Inside the drawer, there is a small tablet that is presently displaying a small blue bell on the screen.

Grabbing the tablet, Kotori closes the drawer before tapping the tablet and saying, "Reine, tell me what's going on."

"Yes," the voice responds, "Earlier today, we detected a spirit's energy within the city."

"And?" Kotori says as she furrows her brows.

"Upon closer inspection, we found out that it's Nightmare. Not only that, but she is accompanied by-"

"Shido!" Kotori interrupts Reine as her expression becomes strange.

"Where are they?" she asks after taking a few seconds to deliberate on something.

"At DEM industries' main edifice."

"What?!"