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As Ex-Machina In No Game No Life: Zero [Chapter 24]
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 15:51:18 +0000 UTCA golden portal shimmered into existence in a secluded alleyway.
I stumbled out, wisps of ethereal blue flame clinging to my body before dissipating. The portal snapped shut behind me. I leaned against the grimy brick wall, then slid to the ground, my systems running a frantic damage report.
After Phantom Mio had appeared, we had fought for nearly fifteen minutes inside her Adjoining World. It was less a fight and more a one-sided assault, with me purely on the defensive.
This was intentional. My goal was not to win, but to analyze. To gather as much data on the Spirit of Origin as I possibly could.
In the end, using my counterfeit Ain Soph Aur, I was able to punch a hole in her reality-warped space and escape.
But something was bothering me. According to my knowledge of the original timeline, at this point, Mio should have possessed the Spirit Crystal destined for Origami. She should have had access to Metatron. Yet, she never used it. Not once.
Did she know my objective? It was the only logical explanation for her holding back her full power.
Still, even with her restraint, the data I had gathered was invaluable. It would be essential for our next encounter.
I looked up. The sky was beginning to lighten in the east. It had been a long, eventful night. Now, with Mio aware of my existence, I would have to be more careful. Fortunately, my to-do list in this world was nearly complete.
After running a quick check to ensure Mio wasn't tracking me, I opened another portal and vanished.
….
In the vast, silent emptiness, I hovered, looking down at the brilliant blue marble of the Earth below.
Space. For the human I once was, this was an impossible dream. Even as a machine, the novelty was breathtaking.
But I wasn't here for a sightseeing tour.
A Spirit resided out here, in the cold, lonely dark. Mukuro Hoshimiya. Codename: Zodiac. She had used the power of her Angel to seal away her own heart, isolating herself from a world that had hurt her.
Her Angel was Michael, the Key of Sealing. Its abilities were esoteric and incredibly potent:
[Segva], the power to seal away concepts and objects.
[Rātaibu], the power to unlock seals and teleport.
[Shifuru], the power to unlock the body's full potential.
[Tefete], the power to sever molecular bonds.
The Segva ability was the most dangerous, but it had a critical weakness: to seal something, Mukuro had to physically insert her Angel into the target.
The plan was simple: don't get hit. It doesn't matter how powerful an ability is if it can't connect.
Using the search function of my Pseudo-Rasiel, I pinpointed Mukuro's exact coordinates in the vastness of space. A quick Vector Gate, and I was there, observing her from a safe distance.
She floated listlessly, a girl with long, golden hair dressed in a revealing pink cheongsam and medieval-style armored boots. She was beautiful, but her eyes were vacant, empty. This was the result of a sealed heart. No emotions. No loneliness. Just an endless, silent drift through the cosmos.
As she stared blankly at the planet below, a visitor appeared before her.
Me.
She saw a girl with long, violet-blue hair, her upper body bare, revealing the mechanical framework beneath. She saw the halo of light above my head and, for a moment, the word "angel" flickered in her sealed-off mind. But the stark, inorganic lines of my body, the whirring of my internal mechanisms, told a different story.
A robot? she thought, her expression unchanging.
She had heard of such things before. Robots. Her amber eyes, empty of emotion, simply watched me. As long as this machine didn't cause her any trouble, she had no reason to care who made it or why it was here.
Unfortunately for Mukuro, I was not here to be peaceful.
"Target acquired," my synthesized voice stated, flat and cold in the vacuum of space. "Commencing combat protocols."
" Velocity Override "
With no further warning, I manifested Sandalphon and charged.
Seeing me streak towards her, Mukuro understood my intentions. She summoned her own Angel.
Michael.
Just as my blade was about to connect, a colossal, ornate key appeared between us, blocking the strike. Mukuro gripped her Angel with both hands, straining against the force of my attack. She was outmatched in raw physical strength.
And then she saw my eyes, glowing with that familiar, analytical light.
Realizing a direct confrontation was hopeless, I shifted tactics, unleashing a barrage of attacks from every direction.
Clink! Clank! Clink!
Mukuro struggled to parry and dodge, the sheer speed and ferocity of my assault giving her no time to use any of her Angel's esoteric abilities. She was completely on the defensive.
This cannot continue, she thought, her mind clear and cold. She made a decision.
The next time my greatsword swung towards her, she didn't block. She met the attack head-on.
The blade sliced through her astral dress, cutting a shallow gash across her skin.
But in that instant, as my sword made contact, she thrust Michael forward. The tip of the key sank into my chest.
A direct hit.
"Segva!" she commanded.
The light in my eyes dimmed. My grip on Sandalphon loosened, and the greatsword dissolved into particles of light. My body went limp, all systems shutting down as if my power source had been severed.
"Hah..." Mukuro let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, gasping in the non-existent air. The threat was neutralized.
But her relief lasted only for a few seconds.
Data acquisition complete. Executing Plan B.
The voice wasn't spoken aloud, but a cold premonition washed over her. She spun around.
Another me was hovering there, identical in every way.
She glanced back at my "deactivated" body, only to see it dissolving into a shower of golden data.
A decoy? Was the first one a fake? Or was this a mass-produced model?
There was no time to think. Seeing that the new me was still at a distance, Mukuro acted decisively. She reversed her grip on Michael, and plunged the key into her own chest.
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