The power difference between the Honkai Impact 3rd world and the Date A Live world isn't insurmountable.
While a Herrscher is generally stronger than a Spirit in most cases, the Angels wielded by Spirits can often make up for that gap with their unique abilities.
Take Kurumi for example—if she had an arsenal of her own, Nagami figured that, aside from the Herrscher of the End, no other Herrscher would stand a chance against her.
Time manipulation is just too overpowered.
With the power of the Twelfth Bullet, she could simply go back in time and kill the person before they ever became a Herrscher.
Sure, she only had two flintlocks, but they were powered by spiritual energy, and their bullets were formed from it as well—definitely not something to be underestimated.
Taking down an ordinary human was as easy as killing a chicken—basically no difference at all.
Even an average Valkyrie wouldn't stand a chance against a Spirit.
The only exception might be the S-rank monsters, but how many S-rank Valkyries are there, really?
Unless a Herrscher could one-shot Kurumi before she activated her ability, they were done for.
And that was about as likely as managing to kill Otto.
A full-suite time-based ability was way stronger than any "I-refuse-to-die" skill the Nagamis had cooked up.
If the Herrschers could actually unleash the full potential of their Authority, maybe they'd be able to crush Spirits who didn't have an Angel or any unique gimmicks.
But was that realistic?
Especially considering most of the Herrschers in Honkai were basically glorified illiterates?
Definitely not something worth counting on.
If you were to line up ten-core Spirits with Herrschers ranked from First to Twelfth, the Origin Spirit would be equivalent to the Herrscher of the End.
And in that matchup, it was a clear and overwhelming win for the latter.
Both could be considered divine beings in their own worlds, but at the end of the day, a Spirit was just a magical entity whose powers would run out in a week.
They couldn't hold a candle to the Apostles serving under the gods of the multiverse.
Sure, the prestige of the Will of Honkai took a nosedive thanks to some of HoYoverse's decisions, but at the very least, it's still a cosmic-level entity.
If Akemi Homura ever reached the level of the Demon Flame, she might not be able to beat the Will of Honkai, but taking on the Herrscher of the End?
That would be well within her grasp.
At the very least, her odds would be way better than Nagami's right now.
But seeing the Homura in this worldline happily chatting away with Lumine in the group chat, Nagami couldn't for the life of him picture her becoming the terrifying Demon Flame.
It's like how idiots never catch colds—it's hard to imagine an airhead developing the sheer willpower needed to tear through the laws of the universe.
So, realistically speaking, going head-to-head with the Origin Spirit in a fair fight?
Not likely.
But then again, if you really thought about it… was there even a reason they had to clash with Mio Takamiya in the first place?
Sure, she's Date A Live's ultimate final boss, no doubt about it—but it's not like she's some chaotic evil nutjob like Westcott.
If anything, her story reads more like a tragedy.
Yes, the Eurasian Spacequake 30 years ago killed hundreds of millions—that's a fact.
But blaming it all on Mio feels… off.
After all, she didn't choose to come into this world.
She was created by magicians.
Honestly, those three magicians were more to blame than Mio herself.
It's like a baby—you can't blame a newborn for being born.
A confused girl thrust into a foreign world… who just happened to meet the love of her life.
And if Westcott hadn't set his sights on Mio's inverse Spirit crystal, Shido Takamiya wouldn't have died.
If Shido hadn't died, Mio wouldn't have created the Spirits in the way she did.
So yes—Westcott absolutely earned the title "The Root of All Evil in This World."
And all the Origin Spirit ever wanted was to receive love from a single human being.
Giving Shido immortality sounds way easier than trying to beat Mio in a straight-up fight.
"But that's not the only problem," said Kotori, furrowing her brows as she listened to Nagami's seemingly endless analysis.
She raised her hand with a questioning gesture.
"What about Kurumi's wish? Didn't you make a deal with her about this?"
"Spatial quakes aren't impossible to stop," Nagami replied. "You just need to generate another spatial quake of the same magnitude at the exact moment it goes off, and they'll cancel each other out."
Kotori had actually pulled this trick off once before—back when she first awakened as a Spirit and managed to neutralize one of Kurumi's spacequakes.
"So all we need to do is travel back to 30 years ago and unleash a spatial quake of the same scale right when Mio appears. That'll stop the original one from triggering."
Taking her soft, slender hand, Nagami led Kotori outside.
The night sky was cast in a deep, iron-like black, and the moonlight poured down like liquid silver.
The shimmering hues dancing in the darkness made the world feel dreamy—like something out of a fantasy.
Honestly, it was a perfect night for a romantic walk.
In a normal world, trying to kill Westcott—the man who created Mio would cause a logical paradox known as the "grandmother paradox."
If Mio was never born, then the ten-core Spirits would never have existed.
Without them, time-manipulating Kurumi would never have been born either.
So there'd be no one to travel back in time and kill Westcott in the first place.
A deadlock. No solution.
But the Date A Live universe didn't play by those rules.
Here, when the past is changed, a new worldline is created starting from the altered timeline, and it simply overwrites the old one.
So if they only stopped the initial spacequake from going off, the ripple effect on the future wouldn't be too drastic.
Westcott, still obsessed with the Inverse Spirit crystal, would make his move regardless.
Shido Takamiya would still die.
The story would continue along the same path, just with a slightly different set of starting conditions.
"That would definitely save those 1.5 billion people… but how are we supposed to generate a spatial quake on the same scale as Mio Takamiya's birth?"
Sensing a subtle shift in the atmosphere, Itsuka Kotori lightly struggled, trying to pull her hand away from Nagami's.
But as she looked at the rare sight of Nagami being completely serious, a faint blush crept across her porcelain-white face.
Her crimson eyes seemed a little dazed.
And since resisting didn't seem to be working, Kotori eventually gave up and simply let Nagami hold her hand.
Under the silvery moonlight on a quiet, empty street, the two of them walked side by side, the atmosphere growing more and more serene.
"I-I mean… even if all the Spirits combined their power to cause a spatial quake, it still wouldn't match the scale of what happened when Mio descended…"
The nervous girl stumbled over her words, barely getting them out.
"Ahem~!"
A crisp snap echoed through the air, accompanied by a confident smile spreading across Nagami's face.
That expression alone made it obvious—he had a plan.
"Don't tell me… you're planning to transform yourself into a Spirit to cause a spatial quake?"
Kotori recalled Nagami's list of abilities and asked, startled.
"I thought about that too. But after using the Authority of Reason to reshape myself, I don't have enough power left to trigger a spatial quake on that level."
Sure, Nagami could connect to the Imaginary Tree and draw on infinite Honkai energy.
And yes, the upper limit on core output—originally locked by the Will of Honkai—had been lifted thanks to the Apocalypse Virus and Nagami's own modifications.
But that didn't mean he could output unlimited energy, unlike true herrscher.
He still had his limits.
"Then what other way do you have?"
Kotori tilted her head slightly, her expression curious.
Nagami didn't keep her waiting.
He wasn't the type to speak in riddles. He answered plainly:
"Obviously… we ask Mio Takamiya herself."
"Right now because of her, Shido is just half baked immortal, he might can recover from fatal injury, but he still can be affected by time, If we offer her a way to make Itsuka Shido truly immortal, I'm pretty sure she'll cooperate with us."
"Right, Miss Phantom?"
His footsteps came to a sudden halt.
As Kotori looked at him, eyes wide with confusion, Nagami turned toward a pitch-black alley.
He wore a business-like smile, and in his eyes, a purple six-pointed star shimmered like a beacon.
It was as if he could see someone standing right in front of him.
"Or should I say… Origin Spirit, Miss Mio.."
His clear voice rang out and bounced off the narrow alley walls, carrying far into the night before fading away again.
Silence returned to the street.
After a few seconds, a figure emerged under the pale moonlight.
No—calling it a "figure" wasn't quite right.
It was more like a distorted, pixelated blur, like something censored or scrambled—impossible to make out clearly.
"Phantom!"
Kotori's face turned serious in an instant.
She could never forget the one who had given her her Spirit crystal five years ago.
The shadowy figure slowly stepped out from the corner and stared at Nagami in silence for a long while.
"When did you notice me?"
The voice could be heard.
The words were understandable.
But the voice itself couldn't be described.
It didn't sound male or female—more like a strange mix of voices from multiple age groups layered together.
"Since the moment you entered the Itsuka residence." Nagami smiled.
Yes, he'd been fully aware of Mio Takamiya's presence the entire time he was having that open discussion with Kotori.
"And can you drop the disguise already? I can see your true form clearly with these eyes."
At this point, you've already been exposed—what's the point of pretending?