Although the atmosphere between Shiori and the Spirit Girl was very pleasant, the AST forces had already arrived overhead, preparing to launch an attack on the Spirit Girl.
However, before launching the attack, they noticed Shiori in front of the Spirit Girl, which made them hesitant to act rashly.
Although they were a unit dedicated to annihilating Spirits, they were not accustomed to their actions causing harm to ordinary people.
Especially since Shiori and Origami knew each other, and Shiori was a very important person to Origami.
Noticing Shiori not far from the Spirit Girl, Origami assumed Shiori was being held hostage by the Spirit Girl. Without thinking twice, she accelerated her thrusters, drew her light saber, and charged towards them.
"...I've thought of something very interesting, Yoshino."
Rubbing her chin, Inaba Tsukiyo suddenly had an idea, a very interesting one, when she thought of DEM and the Ratatoskr organization.
Under the bewildered gazes of Yoshino and Yoshinon, Inaba Tsukiyo waved towards the Spirit Girl and Shiori.
A blue ripple suddenly appeared above the two of them. This ripple quickly took shape, transforming into the form of a steel giant, and finally landed heavily in front of the Spirit Girl and Shiori.
[Clang!]
The steel giant's massive fist collided with Origami's light saber, and the light saber in Origami's hand was no match for the giant.
Although her equipment assisted Origami, this steel giant was not a technology possessed by this world.
In the collision with the steel giant, Origami's body was violently thrown out, crashing into an AST member.
The two continued to fly through the air for a distance before stabilizing. Looking at her completely damaged light saber, Origami vigilantly watched the steel giant.
This steel giant was a massive orange robot, but its movements were extremely agile, just like a human equipped with heavy armor.
This steel giant was one of the titans developed by Anti-Entropy in the Honkai World, its name being—Father.
(fuhai: To be honest, the first time I fought Father, I was really stomped into the ground.)
[Bang! Bang!]
Father forcefully pounded its fists, a red light flashed in its central core, and it waved at the AST forces in the air. (Father: Come here!)
Well, Father's appearance completely caught the AST members off guard.
Everyone looked at each other, and then turned their gaze to their leader in the center, hoping for a suggestion.
"...Never mind! If close combat isn't working! Then launch a long-range attack!"
A barrage of ammunition, as if it cost nothing, continuously shot towards Father. Why did they always encounter such strange things on recent deployments? Where did this giant robot come from?
Judging by the robot's appearance, it shouldn't have any long-range attack methods, so they would wear it down with long-range attacks!
Facing the sky full of gunfire, Father showed no signs of retreating.
Under the gaze of the Spirit Girl and Shiori, it shielded the two, its body began to deform, shrinking into a ball, and then a Deep blue diamond-shaped barrier appeared in front of it.
Bullets hitting the barrier would be deflected in other directions. This applied to both laser weapons and missiles. The deflected bullets almost hit the AST members in the sky.
"This... is so cool."
Shiori's eyes lit up as she looked at the titan in front of her. Although she was a girl, having been forced to pretend to be a Boy for so many years, Shiori had also grown to like these cool mechs.
Not only Shiori, but even the Spirit Girl looked curiously at the tin can in front of her. This tin can was nothing like those other robots.
"Th-that, Commander. The situation seems to be developing in an unexpected direction for us."
Kotori and the others, who were watching from the Bridge, didn't know what to do when Father suddenly appeared.
Was this another resource from the organization? Impossible, Kotori had never heard of the organization researching such strange robots.
Moreover, this barrier that could deflect ammunition, this was not a technology they possessed. The person behind this mech had technology they had not mastered.
"Who is it? Is it a new organization? But besides DEM, who else could develop such a robot?"
Kotori bit down on her lollipop, originally she only intended for Shiori to interact with the Spirit Girl, but then a robot she had never seen before appeared.
"It seems I need to report this to my superiors. It's possible there are forces we don't know about who also know of the Spirits' existence. And those people don't seem to intend to harm the Spirits. Also... that ability to suddenly teleport a robot there, is it technology?"
Back on the other side, although the AST's ammunition couldn't penetrate the Godfather's barrier, these people didn't stop shooting.
Since it was an energy barrier, there must be a time limit. As long as they could hold out until the time was up, they could blow up this robot.
Yoshino, hiding in the shadows and watching all this, looked at Yoshinon with some worry. Constantly in such a passive defense, was there any way to repel the AST?
"Don't worry, no one said there's only one titan like this, right?"
Inaba Tsukiyo smiled, motioned for Yoshino to relax, waved her hand, and once again summoned one of Anti-Entropy's mechs.
This time, appearing next to the Godfather, was a mech that was entirely red. Unlike the Godfather, this mech had no fists, only cannons on both sides. It was obvious that this mech was for long-range attack.
The name of this newly appeared mech was Isthandar, known for its excellent artillery fire.
"Not good! Everyone attack the other robot!"
Even an idiot would know that this robot was here to help Godfather deal with them. This mech had six cannon barrels in total. If these cannons attacked them all at once, it would definitely be a disaster.
Just as everyone around them turned their weapons towards Isthandar, preparing to attack, they found that their weapons were severely overloaded and couldn't fire.
In a place they hadn't noticed, a very small mech appeared below them.
The mech looked unremarkable, but it emitted a special force field that interfered with their weapons, causing them to severely overload.
The AST members, without any means of counterattack, could only watch as Isthandar completed its transformation, all its cannons facing them, firing a barrage of artillery.
Although that was said, Isthandar's ammunition had already been replaced with non-lethal rounds. (fuhai: Just treat it as such.)
While Isthandar was bullying these AST members, the Godfather transformed back to its original appearance and turned to look at Shiori and the Spirit Girl.
The Godfather's movement made Shiori nervously step in front of the Spirit Girl.
Shiori knew she wasn't as strong as the Spirit Girl, but she still stepped forward, standing between the Spirit Girl and the Godfather.
Facing Shiori's actions, a similar light flashed in the Spirit Girl's eyes.
Although no words were spoken, Shiori's actions were more effective than any words.
The Godfather had no intention of attacking them. Under the gaze of Shiori and the Spirit Girl, the Godfather humanly patted its chest and gave Shiori a big thumbs up.
Shiori didn't react at first, but with Kotori's reminder, she quickly took the Spirit Girl's hand and left.
Inaba Tsukiyo, hidden in the shadows, watched Shiori's actions with satisfaction. Without these AST organizations, she wanted to see what further actions Shiori and the other party would take.
Origami, who was being bullied by Isthandar, saw Shiori leaving with the Spirit Girl and instinctively wanted to follow, but countless missiles assailed her, leaving no time to respond.
Facing her own powerlessness, Origami looked angrily at the Godfather's three mechs. Just three mechs had rendered all AST members combat-ineffective.
If... if she could possess even stronger power, such things wouldn't happen.
It was the same with Inaba Tsukiyo last time, and facing the Godfather this time, it was all due to her insufficient strength.
Origami's strong desire for power was sensed by Inaba Tsukiyo. Not only that, she also felt Origami's strong hatred for Spirits.
What kind of experience could have caused Origami, an originally ordinary girl, to develop such intense hatred for Spirits?
It seems there's a history between Origami and the Spirits that no one else knows about.
However, Origami yearns for stronger power, so perhaps I can use this to make Origami do something she doesn't want to do?
Keeping this thought in mind, Inaba Tsukiyo took Yoshino and turned to chase in the direction Shiori had left.
Based on the Honkai Energy remaining on the Godfather, they estimated they could continue fighting for a few more minutes.
Once the Honkai Energy on them was depleted, it would be time for them to disappear.
Because they were titans made with the power of the First Herrscher, there was no need to worry about titan parts falling here.
The titans were powered by Honkai Energy, so there was also no need to worry about people in this world imitating the titan's design to create similar mechs.
Shiori, leaving the scene with the Spirit Girl, arrived at the Laichan Middle School teaching building.
Due to the spatial quake, all the students had already evacuated to shelters.
Shiori led the Spirit Girl to an empty room. From beginning to end, the Spirit Girl did not struggle, always watching Shiori's back.
Shiori and the Spirit Girl conversed. Although it was their first meeting, Shiori's demeanor made her believe that Shiori would not harm her.
Simply put, Shiori made a very good first impression on the Spirit Girl, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Shiori's conversation with the Spirit Girl also became very smooth.
Soon, during their conversation, the Spirit Girl asked Shiori to give her a name. She... also wanted to have a name of her own.
During the naming process, due to the interference of Kotori and her group, Shiori almost met a Bad End.
Speaking of which, Inaba Tsukiyo truly admired Kotori and her group.
On the surface, they said they would help Shiori to properly capture the Spirit, but in the end, it was just relying on Shiori's personal charm to capture the Spirit, wasn't it?
Fortunately, Shiori had a flash of inspiration, an idea popped into her mind, and she thought of a name to give the other party.
This name was Tohka.
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