Tale of Discovery

With my 'sight' on the girl outside, which I assume is Dominion, I use my senses to 'see' around myself as well.

At first, it was more than a little uncomfortable, after all, I had to quite literally divide my focus into two. One to keep my sight on Dominion, and the other to be cautious of those inside the corridor.

Shortly, Dominion, who had been floating motionlessly in the sky, abruptly disappears.

Following this, I sense a great number of small and speedy projectiles approaching our location from the outside.

Normally, I wouldn't be too bothered by such a thing, but considering the oddity of the situation we're in, as well as this tingling feeling I'm sensing on my back, I should do my utmost best to protect myself and Kurumi.

And so, I take a look at the projectiles before at the structure we're inside that seems to have been cleanly 'cut off'.

At this moment, I notice that we're a few hundred meters in the sky, falling toward the ground with incredible momentum.

"Shit," I subconsciously mutter as I retract my vision from outside and look over at Kurumi who is calmly crouching against the ceiling with a smile covering her lips.

Releasing a small sigh, I move closer to her before wrapping my left arm around her while willing for Excalibur, which is in my right hand to morph into the form of a dagger.

Suddenly, several holes form in the walls around us as numerous golden bullets shoot into the corridor from all sides.

As response to this, I make use of Vector Manipulation to boost myself forth toward the floor while deflecting any bullets I notice.

After this, I cast a glance at Sir Isaac and his companions, only to find all four of the girls injured in multiple locations while Isaac himself is spotless.

Despite being curious about this, I realize this isn't the time to dally around as I deflect a few bullets before dashing toward the elevator shaft, or, at least what's left of it, with Kurumi in tow.

Shortly, I exit the section of the building through the now-meter-long elevator shaft and witness as it slams into the ground and crumbles.

Taking a closer look, I notice that from sections that have crumbled, slightly deformed metal riddled with holes is visible. Now that I think about it, the whole thing's interior was metallic...

As I float in mid-air with Kurumi in arms, I cautiously look around for Dominion, but fail to find any traces of her.

AI, are you able to sense any Code waves nearby?

{Affirmative. There are two sources from which Code waves are faring from. The location of one of them can be pinpointed.}

Where is it?

Suddenly, I feel an odd sensation in my eyes as they get 'guided' somewhere. Once they come to a halt, I notice that my sight is fixed on a section of the building that seems to be a room.

Right! The girl being held captive is still in there. Still, she managed to survive the impact? She is a Code, yes, but the impact wasn't anything to scoff at. Additionally, all those bullets that shot through the walls, ground, and ceiling... They couldn't have all missed her, could they?

"Are you still going to check the room," Kurumi suddenly says, "Despite being here?"

"You know where this is?" I question back.

"I do," she responds, "And if I were to guess, so do you."

"The Neighboring World," I respond.

"That's correct," she says while nodding her head, "And so, don't you reckon it would be fitter for you to remain here and wait rather than taking reckless actions?"

She does have a point. But still, I am curious about this girl that has been held captive by DEM. As far as I know, she possesses a power to mentally affect others, or perhaps, other 'spirits'.

Recalling what happened on the island, I note that I should definitely find out if the girl is a foe or not, after all, her ability could be extremely troublesome, especially if one is in the middle of an intense battle, when focus is most important. A simple two-second mental instability could result in a disaster.

"She's here," Kurumi's voice brings a halt to my thoughts, as the space a few meters in front of me blurs before Dominion emerges from seemingly nowhere.

As I thought, she really does resemble Kurumi a lot. In fact, the only things that's notably different about her are her eyes and her hair.

In contrast to Kurumi's jet-black hair, Dominion possesses snow-white hair that's tied into twintails.

Her red and blue eyes give off a confident vibe as she checks the of us out.

"We meet," a firm voice reverberates all around us as Dominion's mouth moves slightly, indicating that the source of the voice was her.

Unexpectedly, she only looks at me for a brief moment before focusing her sight on Kurumi and frowning slightly.

As a response to this, Kurumi chuckles lightly before saying, "It seems that she desires to kill me."

Before I can say anything, I sense some movements from below as three figures escape from the building.

One of them is Sir Isaac, who is still surprisingly unscathed, while the two with him appear to have barely made it out alive with blood covering most of their bodies.

Sir Isaac and the two girls slowly ascend to the sky, while I slowly move away to the right. A few seconds later, the three of them reach the same height as us and look over at us.

The two girls are glaring intensely, while Sir Isaac only has curiosity and... what looks to be desire in his eyes.

"Shido, I request that you let go of me," Kurumi utters casually, to which I comply by loosening my hold of her body.

The next thing I know, Kurumi's body drops toward the ground, but she doesn't express any fear - no... she instead has an excited look on her face as she gradually closes in to the ground.

Following this, her body abruptly turns into a blur before she disappears, only to reappear on the ground, running in the direction Dominion is floating in the sky.

So, Kurumi is planning to fight against her, huh? In that case, I should take this chance to get rid of this pale guy once and for all.

Although I don't know what abilities he has in his arsenal, I can assume that he isn't going to go down easily. After all, to remain unscathed after everything that has happened, I doubt that he is a simple guy.

As for the two girls with him, they're small fry that I should be able to take down with not much effort.

All of a sudden, Sir Isaac's gaze which has been focused on me seems to intensify as his eyes begin to glow in an eerie white light.

{External ability detected. The ability has been negated.}

Hearing this, a frown forms on my face as I inspect Sir Isaac carefully, only for his eyes to stop glowing as a bright smile forms on his pale lips.

"As expected of the Prophet," he remarks in a casual tone which I hear clearly, "Not even my eyes can see past the shell."

The heck is he on about? What is this 'shell' he is speaking of?

Also, seriously, what's with this codename given to me? Why 'prophet'? Is my being supposed to signify some sort of grand incident?

Well, it's true that my presence in the Platforms I have been two have brought mayhem, but still...

Hah~ Whatever. I better focus on the more important matter, which is killing this guy.

Taking a glance at the dagger in my hand, I will for it to morph into a scythe, which it does rather quickly.

I'm unsure of how the battle between Kurumi and Dominion would turn out, but I should refrain from using too much of my Essence Energy just in case, since it would be all sorts of unfavourable to face off against her with little energy.

"Let's make this quick," I mutter to myself as I fix my gaze on Sir Isaac before dashing toward him.