"All right, you two, quiet down. What are we doing next?" At this moment, Kurumi Tokisaki at the front finally couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up to stop the two of them. She couldn't help it—they were here to rescue someone, not on vacation. Look at them—neither showed the slightest urgency the entire time. How could she not be worried?
"Oh, come on, relax. Since that person showed up last night, it means the strongest force here is already gone. What's left are just a bunch of small fries—nothing to worry about at all." Of course, to Tohka, this wasn't worth fussing over, and she spoke with indifference.
"Are you sure that person won't come back? It's been a whole night." Hearing Tohka's words, Kurumi looked a little doubtful.
"Relax—there are plenty who want that person dead besides us. Including DEM's board of directors. Those bigwigs only care about making money, while Westcott wants DEM to serve his own ambitions, even if it means huge losses. So, there's a massive conflict there. Honestly, if those money-grubbing idiots weren't so stupid, Westcott would've been dead ages ago." This wasn't something Tohka was making up. In a company of this scale, it's entirely possible that blood gets drawn. Look at Tony's Stark Industries: didn't she split that guy in half with one sword?
"So that means Ellen probably had to go back to handle DEM's daily operations, and that Artemisia is definitely stationed at the hospital guarding him. After all, it's also about protecting their 'merchandise.'" She didn't pay any mind to Kurumi's surprised expression and continued her analysis. But her eyes glinted coldly. "And if that woman really did stay here, fine—since there are so many of us, we'll just kill her. It'd be perfect to cut off one of Westcott's arms. With the Yamai sisters around, there's no way she could escape."
Though she had no personal hatred toward Artemisia and Ellen—and honestly, neither of them were bad people—so what? They were still enemies. And they absolutely knew what Westcott had done. So Tohka was all the more unwilling to show any mercy.
"I see…if that's how it is, then I won't hold back. My, my, little Tohka, you really are more and more to my taste. Ahahaha—this is just wonderful." Hearing Tohka's words, Kurumi for once let a genuine smile show. Then she flew over to Tohka, who was being carried between the Yamai sisters, and reached out to touch her cheek, smiling sweetly.
"Hey, hey—what are you doing?" But at that moment, Miku jumped forward and blocked Kurumi, speaking with intense displeasure. The Yamai sisters had come late, so she didn't mind them, but Miku herself felt an instinctive unease about Kurumi.
"Ahahaha—is that so?" Kurumi simply chuckled in response to Miku's reaction and didn't say anything else. She had no interest in arguing with Miku right now. At this point, her mind was occupied with how to face that Spirit and proceed with her next plans.
Just then, the group in flight finally spotted a small island on the sea. As for Tohka, she quickly stuffed the rest of her kinako-bread into her mouth and then looked at the place with a serious expression. She knew that Nia Honjo was most likely being held there. As for whether that Spirit had already inverted, she couldn't be sure. But even if she had, it didn't matter. With so many of them here, there were so many of them; restraining a noncombat-type Spirit would be no problem. So Tohka wasn't worried in the least. Of course, the best scenario would be if Nia inverted immediately upon coming out, because that would prove Westcott hadn't managed to implant anything in her mind yet.
If that really was the case, it meant Tohka would have to fight a life-and-death battle with Westcott—because it would prove that even without studying her, he had still found a way to control Spirit inversion.
"All right, what now? Just smash our way in?" At this point, the group stopped midair. Going any further would trigger the alarms. After all, this place was holding a Spirit—its defenses were obvious. Just looking at the rows of flying robots overhead, it was clear the island was basically a large military fortress. But because it was deep in international waters, belonging to no country, it could exist here at all. Well… To be honest, Tohka thought since this was anime, she wouldn't overthink it. If it were real life, it would've been taken out as a thorn in the side by some country—especially the Americans.
"Hold on—let me think." Tohka's gaze turned serious as she looked at the island. After a moment's thought, she continued. "We'll draw their attention from outside. You go in, find the Spirit, and bring her out. You have your own domain, so you can move more freely than the rest of us. Leave a clone behind—if you encounter something you can't handle, have her notify us immediately so we can rush to support you."
Though in theory there shouldn't be any big shots left in there, Tohka still couldn't help but give this reminder. Just in case. DEM's top experts were only a handful. The first and second seats would definitely stay behind to guard Westcott. Shido had already quit DEM. Another one had collapsed after fighting Tohka yesterday when his body couldn't withstand the devices; he seemed to have died in her arms.
"Oh my… I understand. Leave the inside to me; the outside is yours" Kurumi smiled at her, then said nothing more. She dove toward the sea and vanished into the water.
"All right, leave it to us—time for this princess to have a real fight." Watching Kurumi disappear, Kaguya Yamai let go of Tohka. They had arrived, so there was no need to carry her anymore. It wasn't as if she couldn't fly herself. She turned an excited gaze toward the island.
"Agreed—those people have gone too far. Yuzuru won't forgive them. Come on, Kaguya." Beside her, Yuzuru Yamai echoed the sentiment firmly.
"Count me in, too. Little Tohka—since you stole the spotlight last night, leave this one to us. I've been holding back for way too long." Yuzuru chimed in from the side, her expression showing that even she—who usually disliked fighting—was ready to unleash everything.