After Luo Shu and Natsuki Minamiya successfully cornered Kurumi Tokisaki, Suzuka Dairenji froze momentarily before instantly recognising the opportunity.
She leapt off the bed, blocking the window, and began tearing pages from the notebook in her hands one by one.
As each page was torn off, the pre-printed techniques on them, activated by Suzuka's spiritual power, became mediums for summoning Familiar Spirits.
Soon, six Familiar Spirits completely sealed off the window, and within the room, the positions from the door to the window were now occupied by Natsuki Minamiya, Luo Shu, Kurumi Tokisaki, and Suzuka Dairenji in that order.
Witnessing Suzuka's actions, Kurumi merely smiled faintly:
"My, my, the bait is quite clever, isn't she? Just moments ago, she was standing there frozen, yet now she immediately knows to block my escape route."
Hearing that aristocratic tone, Suzuka scoffed dismissively:
"Trying to sow discord now is a bit too late."
"Besides, even if I were to resent being used as bait by Instructor and Luo Shu once, that would have to wait until after we deal with you, no?"
"You're surrounded, Angel."
Seeing Suzuka's mocking expression, Kurumi simply smiled before addressing Luo Shu without turning around:
"The one behind me must be the new SDS Director, correct?"
"Luo Shu."
Luo Shu kept his gun trained on the back of Kurumi's head.
He didn't ask how Kurumi knew about him. After all, Truth Astronomy had been opposing the SDS for years—if they lacked intelligence sources, they would have been eradicated long ago.
"Ara ara, so it's Luo Shu-kun. Pleased to meet you—I'm Kurumi Tokisaki."
Kurumi wore a smile, her demeanour as composed as a transfer student introducing herself to the class.
Meanwhile, Suzuka—ready to strike at any moment—glanced at Luo Shu, as if awaiting his signal to act.
At that moment, Luo Shu calmly asked Kurumi:
"Aren't you going to call out your clones?"
Hearing this, Kurumi paused briefly before replying with profound amusement:
"Ara ara, how strange~"
"Even within Truth Astronomy, only a few council members know about my abilities. So why does Luo Shu-kun know as well?"
Her tone dripping with playfulness, she continued:
"Surely the SDS hasn't managed to turn one of the council members, has it?"
Luo Shu tilted his head slightly, his finger pressing down on the trigger as he smiled:
"Guess?"
Kurumi Tokisaki, who'd been verbally blocked, stiffened.
Opposite her, Suzuka Dairenji couldn't help covering her mouth upon seeing Kurumi's predicament:
"Pfft~~ What's this called? Reaping what you sow?"
Just moments ago, Kurumi had responded to Suzuka's question with the same "guess" in this very room, leaving Suzuka speechless.
Now the tables had turned, with Luo Shu giving Kurumi a taste of her own medicine.
This reversal gave Suzuka an intense sense of satisfaction, as if a great grudge had been avenged.
"What a disagreeable child," Kurumi's expression darkened.
Yet Luo Shu seemed determined to provoke her further, nodding as he replied:
"If it's you saying it, calling me a child would indeed be appropriate."
"..."
Poked about her age, Kurumi instead smiled:
"Come out, all of you. If we wait any longer, I might truly become an old woman."
As her words fell,
Black-red ripples emerged from every corner of the room.
From the wall above the bed, the ceiling, the bedsheets, the television - wave after wave of ripples spawned countless Kurumis.
"My, my, we seem to have been caught red-handed."
"Being mocked about our age by a child, how unpleasant."
"What shall we do now? I'm feeling slightly troubled~"
"The situation appears to be five against three. The advantage seems to be ours."
Four Kurumis emerged from the City of Devouring Time, landing on the floor while each keeping an eye on the three occupants.
The previously spacious hotel suite suddenly felt cramped.
This sudden development made Suzuka's scalp tingle.
She quickly activated her spiritual vision, examining the five Kurumis' heads, only to see vivid, active flames representing essence, energy and spirit:
"No way... they're all the real thing?"
Natsuki Minamiya, who'd remained silent until now, frowned:
"Is this your Angel?"
All five Kurumis showed surprise:
"How strange. Why do you know even this? Unless..."
The quintet simultaneously turned their gaze towards Luo Shu.
In Kurumi's perspective, compared to Suzuka Dairenji, the Onmyou Agency's famous child prodigy, or Natsuki Minamiya, the renowned Witch of the Void, Luo Shu, with the least known information, was ironically the most likely source of her leaked secrets.
"It seems you possess quite peculiar abilities, Luo Shu-kun."
The Kurumi, facing away from him, narrowed her eyes, unconsciously licking her lips:
"My, my, I couldn't detect it earlier due to distraction, but now I can smell it - that irresistible fragrance coming from Luo Shu-kun."
"Ah, this is bad. I really, really want to devour you right here!!"
As she spoke, more City of Devouring Time portals began opening throughout the room.
Yet at this moment, Natsuki waved her fan, sending black ink-like patterns that instantly crawled across the walls.
With a snap, Natsuki pressed her right hand against the wall, flooding the dense array of techniques with magical power.
In that instant, Kurumi's City of Devouring Time began to dissolve bit by bit, as if some force were forcibly shutting it down.
Using a spatial technique to seal the surrounding space and shut down the City of Devouring Time, Natsuki Minamiya said coldly:
"Don't think I'll just stand here doing nothing, Miss Angel."
"The Witch of the Void? I never expected someone could interfere with my City of Devouring Time using spatial techniques."
Kurumi Tokisaki was surprised. This was the first time she'd seen someone capable of shutting down her City of Devouring Time.
However, recalling Natsuki's epithet and her expertise in spatial magic, she began to understand.
'Looks like I'll have to fight these three with just five clones.'
'The odds aren't looking good.'
Kurumi Tokisaki, who had originally intended to take action, momentarily suppressed her intentions.
It was at this moment that Luo Shu suddenly spoke:
"Ms. Tokisaki."
Kurumi placed her index finger against her lips and said in an ambiguous tone:
"You can just call me Kurumi, you know~ If it's Luo Shu-kun, then addressing me directly by name is perfectly fine~"
Suzuka Dairenji couldn't help but mutter under her breath: "Flirty vixen."
Meanwhile, Luo Shu was fully aware that Kurumi was merely eyeing his extended lifespan, yet he remained unfazed. He even stated bluntly:
"If lifespan is what you're after, Ms. Kurumi, would you consider joining the SDS?"
Hearing this, Suzuka Dairenji froze in shock, and even Kurumi herself seemed momentarily taken aback.
However, Kurumi recovered quickly. She raised her hand to touch her right cheek and said:
"My, my, should I take this as a marriage proposal?"
Luo Shu responded to her teasing remark with:
"If that's how you want to interpret it, sure."
Kurumi narrowed her eyes slightly, appearing somewhat surprised as she asked:
"Even if I intend to take your life?"
Luo Shu smiled, his gaze brimming with unusual confidence:
"If you can manage it, feel free to try."
Kurumi calculated silently in her mind while asking:
"If I agree, will you let me leave freely?"
Luo Shu replied earnestly: "Yes, but we'd need to establish an equal contract."
"...What if I don't want to sign?" Kurumi suddenly adopted a pitiful expression. "Couldn't we make a deal where I join the SDS without signing anything~?"
Though Luo Shu found her expression charming, he still insisted:
"Sorry, but this is the foundation of trust."
Hearing this, Kurumi dropped her act, her face turning calm as she stated:
"Then I must apologise as well. After all, contracts aren't really my forte."
The implication was clear—she didn't trust Luo Shu not to tamper with the contract.
The moment Kurumi finished speaking—
Bzzzt!
The entire hotel shook violently.
Natsuki Minamiya let out a muffled groan, her expression darkening instantly.
Amidst the intense tremors, a hand suddenly grasped Luo Shu's ankle.
Simultaneously, identical hands emerged near Natsuki and Suzuka's feet.
"No way!"
Suzuka was stunned that Natsuki's barrier could fail.
Unbeknownst to her, Kurumi had exploited her Spirit abilities to trigger a Spacequake, forcibly disrupting the spatial barrier.
With the barrier fractured, Kurumi seized the opportunity to send her clones into the room.
Amidst the earthquake-like tremors, Kurumi laughed triumphantly:
"The tables have turned~"
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
It was Luo Shu firing.
Ignoring the violent shaking, he unloaded five consecutive shots—each bullet striking Kurumi's forehead.
The first five Kurumis collapsed, but unsurprisingly, they were all clones.
From the depths of the City of Devouring Time, more feminine hands emerged. One after another, Kurumis surfaced, their hands crawling up Luo Shu's legs from his ankles.
"That hurt~ How cruel of you, Luo Shu-kun, to shoot without hesitation!"
Overlapping female voices echoed through the room.
Luo Shu's expression changed, not because of the number of Kurumi Tokisakis, but because they were close to finding his weak spot.
Being no novice, Luo Shu didn't dare to be careless. With a focused gaze, he activated Calamity Endowment.
In an instant.
The Kurumis beneath his feet groaned, immediately releasing their grip on him and retreating into the City of Devouring Time.
At this moment, Luo Shu surveyed his surroundings and bestowed misfortune upon the Kurumis attacking Natsuki Minamiya and Suzuka Dairenji.
All the Kurumis screamed in unison, immediately choosing to hide within the City of Devouring Time.
Faced with Luo Shu's bizarre ability, every Kurumi made the same decision - to flee.
The shaking of the building ceased abruptly.
Suzuka Dairenji looked around nervously before asking: "Why did she run away?"
Meanwhile, Natsuki Minamiya, having steadied her breathing, fixed her gaze on Luo Shu: "Did you do something just now?"
"...I just gave her a little something. Best not to ask." Luo Shu replied awkwardly, avoiding further explanation.
Could he admit it was the misfortune he'd collected from Kisara that afternoon? No, so he changed the subject: "Since she's fled, there's nothing more we can do. Let's withdraw."
Natsuki and Suzuka exchanged glances before silently agreeing to Luo Shu's suggestion.
Thus ended their attempt to capture or negotiate with the Time Angel - an anticlimactic conclusion.
...
Elsewhere, within the City of DevouringTime, in another dimension.
The original Kurumi Tokisaki looked bewildered at the scene before her - countless versions of herself clutching their stomachs and writhing in pain. "What's wrong with you all? What did that Luo Shu do?"
One less affected Kurumi grabbed the original's hand, crying out: "It hurts so much!!"
A cacophony of pain-filled cries mixed with explanations filled the city.
"It hurts!"
"Feels like a rod twisting in my stomach!"
"A red-hot rod at that!"
"Not just hot, but really long!"
"So strange why it specifically targets the stomach..."
Puzzled by both the scene and these bizarre descriptions, the original Kurumi wondered aloud: "What's with that SDS member? Can he magically insert rods into our stomachs?"
Completely baffled by Luo Shu's attack method, she hesitantly checked a clone's stomach for foreign objects. Finding nothing only deepened her confusion.
"The SDS members truly have strange techniques. Refusing that contract was the right choice."
After absorbing one clone's memories and recalling Luo Shu's bizarre methods and inexplicable pain, the original Kurumi decided to avoid him: "Better deal with those Ghouls instead. At least they're weak, long-lived, and under extermination orders - much easier targets."
Without a solution, Kurumi could only temporarily abandon these clones, not even bothering to absorb their memories.
Though the pain paled compared to blades or bullets, it filled her with an inexplicable dread.
Kurumi Tokisaki's main body took quite some time to recover before she could create new clones again, resuming her grand scheme of collecting lifespans.
This time, however, she had learned to carefully avoid official personnel, lest she provoke that strange man Luo Shu into stuffing things into her stomach again.
Amid Kurumi's wariness and Luo Shu's resignation, their first encounter came to an end—one party exasperated, the other nursing a stomachache.