Chapter 264: Bizarre Battle (1/2)

Seeing that Natsumi is planning to show off her abilities, I adopt a smile as I step back to enjoy the show.

Shortly, the AST reaches our location and begins hovering around in the air while keenly observing us.

As I thought, I don't recognize any of them from before. I wonder how their strength compares to the group that Origami is a part of...

Setting my thoughts aside, I focus on a brown-haired woman who seems to be the one in charge of this small group.

Currently, she is pressing her finger against a device attached to her head and saying something. I reckon that she is receiving orders from her comms and is going to be relaying them to the rest.

A few seconds later, my assumption proves to be true as the girl suddenly points at us, no... at me and exclaims, "I just received direct orders from the higher-ups. Our main priority is the male spirit."

Hearing her words, not only the girls, but even I am a little surprised.

So, they're finally going to focus on me, huh?

Natsumi who seems to have heard her giggles and says, "You seem to be popular. Still, a male spirit, huh? No wonder you claim that it's pointless for you to escape."

As a response to her words, I shrug my shoulders and say, "So, they're going to be focusing on me. What will you be doing?"

"Isn't that obvious?" she responds while clenching her broom, "Leave it to big sister to deal with."

Amused, I chuckle for a few seconds before saying, "Sure. Go on ahead."

Following my words, the AST initiate their attack by releasing a series of missiles toward our location.

Sensing no threat, I am assured that the missiles are unable to so much cause a scratch on me. But the same can't be said about my clothes and Natsumi, probably.

And so, I prepare to use Vector Manipulation on the missiles, but that proves to be unnecessary as the incoming missiles suddenly freeze mid-air.

Glancing over at Natsumi who is exuding some energy, I note that this is her doing and not some peculiar feature of the missiles themselves.

Before I can make an inquiry regarding her power, a bizarre scene occurs before my eyes as Natsumi smacks her broom into the ground and yells, "Haniel!"

Following her yell, the numerous missiles in the air suddenly turn into some comic-like steam as strange onomatopoeic words appear before they disappear and reveal different types of vegetables.

The next moment, the missiles-now-vegetables begin to shakily make their way to the ground, completely avoiding us.

Just as I was beginning to think that the situation can't get any more puzzling, the vegetables 'explode' as more onomatopoeic words appear along with some comical explosion that does absolutely no damage to the ground or anything close by for that matter.

Despite having lived an irregular life with multiple out of the norm happenings, this is the first time that I've felt an ability is ridiculous.

Curious about the nature of her power, I decide to watch her more carefully as she continues to deal with the assailants who staring at us with bewildered looks on their faces.

"Don't use ballistics!" the brown-haired girl exclaims, "Use purely energy-based attacks!"

"Yes!" the girls respond as they begin to prepare for another attack.

"Shido! You need to get out of there! There is no guarantee that the spirit will protect you!" Kotori's concerned voice reaches my ears.

"There isn't a need for that. It's not like they can harm me anyway," I mutter.

Kotori doesn't say anything else, so I focus back on Natsumi who has now raised her broom.

"Take this!" she screams before some dense energy in the form of a rainbow wave escapes from her broom and speedily makes its way to the girls who are in the sky.

Despite being startled, more than half of the girls move away from the 'rainbow' while those that stayed attempted to block it by crossing their arms in front of themselves.

However, that proves to be useless, as, soon, another bizarre occurrence transpires.

Each of the AST members that were struck by the rainbow change form to humanoid animals with their faces being the only thing that didn't change along with some comical explosion.

Curious about the nature of Natsumi's power, I use my Corporikinesis to observe the girls' bodies as they slowly fall from the sky while shrieking.

Unexpectedly, I find out that not much has changed about their bodies apart from the outer layer, as in, their appearance.

The changed girls soon reach the ground before comical explosions occur as they lose their consciousness.

Seeing this, the brown-haired girl's expression takes a turn for the worse as she says, "Don't give them a chance to counterattack! Hurry up!"

Following her orders, a group of five girls suddenly fly away from us before taking a maneuver, seemingly intending to approach us from behind.

"How troublesome," Natsumi says in a playful tone while smiling.

"Don't worry about them," I say, "You can focus on taking down the rest."

"Oh? Are you going to be using your powers?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Hm~ Do I?" she responds with a bright smile, "Just hurry up, so you can get back to complimenting me."

…

Hah~ Forget it. If compliments are what she wants, I shall spare her a few.

Shaking my head in exasperation, I proceed to utilize Flight to slowly float up, earning me a curious look from Natsumi.

"Now, I suppose it's my turn, huh?"

With that said, I suddenly burst forth toward the sky, only to come to a stop once I'm a few hundred meters above the ground.

Then, I begin to descend toward the group of five girls that are flying toward me with a smile plastered to my lips.

Seeing me approaching them, the girls' expressions turn serious as they release a few laser beams toward me.

I proceed to casually avoid the beams before soon arriving at where the girls and using Vector Manipulation to redirect the forces of two of them to the ground.

This results in the two finding themselves falling with seemingly no clear explanation of what's happening to them.

So, with two out of the way, I remain floating in my position as I observe the other three who have now flown some distance away from me with complex looks on their faces.

Letting out a small sigh, I decide to take them down quickly by making use of Holy Slash.

With that in mind, I begin to circulate Holy Essence within my body while focusing on the girls who have decided to make another attempt in taking me down as they briskly fly toward me with solemn looks on their faces.