Tokisaki Kurumi kept her promise.
In fact, she had no choice but to do so—the overwhelming difference in strength left her no room to resist.
Still, she wasn't foolish enough to tell Tianqi Sanluo how to remain in this world for a long period of time.
If that complete lunatic could stay here permanently, the entire Eurasian continent would be littered with corpses within a year.
As for teaching Tianqi Sanluo how to stabilize her manifestation into this world, that was merely a necessary compromise.
Without that condition, the other party would never have agreed to anything.
After all, most of the casualties caused by Tianqi Sanluo were due to her terrifying spacequakes; the number of people she personally killed was relatively few.
In fact, to counter such massive spacequakes, nearly every city in the world had been hastily building deeper shelters.
Even she—Tokisaki Kurumi, dubbed the "Worst Spirit"—had never driven the world into such terror.
If it weren't for the sake of spiritual power and the potential help she might gain in the future, Kurumi wouldn't have wanted anything to do with this motiveless killing machine.
"Hmm? That's all you know?"
After listening to Kurumi's explanation, Tianqi Sanluo frowned.
Although she had learned detailed knowledge about Spirit Crystals and the nature of Spirits, she still hadn't obtained the information she truly wanted—
for example, the identity of that phantom.
"Yes, that's everything I know."
Standing atop the ruins left by a spacequake, Kurumi's expression didn't waver, leaving Tianqi Sanluo unable to tell whether she was hiding something.
"Then, have you ever seen a Spirit whose whole body is... uh... just a tangled blur, so that you can't see its appearance or figure clearly?"
Without the concept of "mosaic," Tianqi Sanluo could only clumsily describe the phantom that way.
"Hmm? I've met many Spirits, but I've never seen one like that,"
Kurumi tilted her head in confusion. Her puzzled expression didn't seem fake to Tianqi Sanluo.
"Oh, then forget it."
Since she hadn't obtained any truly valuable information, Tianqi Sanluo waved her hand dismissively.
"All right then, Nightmare—what do you want? Equivalent exchange, I know how this works."
"Ah~ but I do have a proper name: Tokisaki Kurumi."
"And you're calling me by my codename, Nightmare, aren't you?"
Tianqi Sanluo replied bluntly.
Kurumi only shrugged helplessly.
"Genie (Shura) didn't tell this little lady your name either."
That was true.
After all, until now, no one had ever survived long enough for her to find them interesting enough to share her real name.
Of course, there was also the fact that names didn't really matter to her.
Recalling the time she had parted ways with the Tree of Life of Kabbalah, Tianqi Sanluo pondered for a moment before speaking slowly:
"Tianqi Sanluo."
"Understood, Miss Tianqi,"
Kurumi replied with her usual graceful and confident smile. Where she got that confidence in front of a Genie (Shura), no one could say.
"So? What is it that you actually want?"
"Heehee~ Nothing for now. I just hope that someday, if this little lady needs help, Miss Tianqi will lend a hand."
Kurumi laughed lightly as she spoke.
She had already given up trying to covet Tianqi Sanluo's spiritual power—this was clearly someone she couldn't afford to provoke.
And at the moment, she still knew nothing about the Origin Spirit.
Once she obtained from the Second Spirit the method to kill the Origin Spirit—and, conveniently, detailed information on Genie (Shura)—then she could make plans. Time was on her side.
As for the problem of spiritual energy, rumor had it that in Japan's Tenguu City, there was a boy named Itsuka Shidou who possessed vast Spirit energy...
Once she finished her current affairs, she would head to Tenguu City to investigate.
Eventually, as signs of Tianqi Sanluo's Lost phenomenon appeared, Kurumi sensed it. Lifting her skirt slightly, she bowed gracefully.
"Until we meet again, Miss Tianqi."
Such a farewell felt strangely foreign to Tianqi Sanluo. She froze for a few seconds before replying, just as she began to fade away:
"You too, Miss Tokisaki."
---
Thanks to Tokisaki Kurumi's guidance, when Tianqi Sanluo manifested again a week later, she did not trigger any spacequake.
However, her luck wasn't particularly good this time—she appeared in an uninhabited region of South America.
Even as a Spirit, she couldn't just create humans in a place unfit for habitation merely to have something to kill.
Nor could she, like Kurumi, easily locate prey using a Spirit's Angel ability.
Still, since she was here, she would have to adapt.
"Hey~~ how long are you all planning to keep hiding?"
Tianqi Sanluo muttered while rummaging through the wild grass for anything edible.
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
Spirits didn't need to eat—but that didn't mean they couldn't.
Driven by hunger, she began consuming the remains and carrion of dead animals.
"Phew, finally found something to fill my stomach."
Tianqi Sanluo patted her slightly bulging belly with satisfaction.
For someone who had gone hungry for so long in her past life, simply having food was a blessing. As for the taste—if it could go down her throat, that was enough.
"Ugh..."
Just as she was about to leave, a cold wind swept past, sending a chill down her spine.
She looked up—and saw a pair of icy green eyes.
Those eyes radiated a deadly danger that made her instincts scream.
"You are...?"
Tianqi Sanluo instinctively stepped back, staring warily at the strange, misshapen monster before her.
Something was off.
She'd never seen a creature like this in her previous life—was this something native to this world?
She sensed that the monster possessed spiritual power, though very faint—far weaker even than one of Kurumi's clones.
"ROAR!"
The monster bared its sharp fangs and lunged at her with terrifying speed, closing the distance in an instant.
"Courting death."
It was powerful—perhaps by human standards.
"Burning Immortal Flame."
In this desolate, humid grassland, Tianqi Sanluo had no reason to hold back. Without hesitation, she summoned her first Angel.
A crimson crescent-bladed weapon swept through the air. The moment it touched the creature, it was cleaved in half and instantly engulfed in blazing fire.
Within a minute, nothing remained but scorched chunks of flesh.
Fortunately, she hadn't poured much spiritual energy into her Angel—otherwise the fire might have spread across the entire plain.
"What in the world was that?"
Tianqi Sanluo crouched and turned over the corpse, searching for any clue that might be useful.
Nothing in her memory matched this kind of beast.
Perhaps because its spiritual energy had been so meager, the residual power dissipated upon death.
Even after she chopped it into tiny pieces, she found nothing of value.
"Tch. Boring."
Just then, her stomach growled again.
With a sigh, Tianqi Sanluo stood, recalled Burning Immortal Flame, and looked coldly at the roasted remains on the ground. She swallowed once.
"The meat of this monster should be edible."
Snapping her right fingers, she conjured a small flame at her fingertip, spreading it over the corpse.
While a Spirit could eat raw meat, her experience from her previous life told her it was best to cook unknown meat before eating it.
This level of spiritual power use didn't even require an Angel.
After a few minutes of roasting, she withdrew the flame, crouched down, and picked up a piece of the cooked meat to taste.
Instantly, a wave of indescribable satisfaction filled her body. She hadn't eaten anything this delicious in a very long time.
Though to ordinary people the unseasoned meat would taste terrible, to a once-starving Tianqi Sanluo, edible was more than enough.
Spirits had enormous appetites—especially Tianqi Sanluo.
The monster must have weighed over a hundred jin, yet she devoured every edible part within minutes.
Just as she was about to wander off, satisfied after her meal, the Lost phenomenon began once more.
"Tch."
When she vanished, only a pile of gnawed-clean bones remained.
What she didn't notice was that not far away lay a pit covered by grass—one that looked eerily similar to the traces left by a Spirit's spacequake.