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Chapter 182 – Are You Going to Use Me?
🕑 Added 2025-07-17 15:32:21 +0000 UTCUsing the nearby buildings and trees as cover, Ellen kept her gaze locked on Nagami and the three girls—Kurumi, Nia, and Inori—gradually disappearing into the distance while laughing and chatting.
At the same time, she spoke into her earpiece, reporting her status to Westcott and issuing commands to her subordinates.
“There’s a high possibility we’re looking at four Spirits. However, the second core seems to lack any combat capabilities… you can ignore that one.”
The blonde beauty was slightly out of breath, as though she’d just finished an intense workout.
Ellen’s profile had always seemed a bit absurd.
Excluding the despicable beings from other worlds, in her prime, she had no equal on Earth—except for Mio Takamiya, the god-like existence.
In a one-on-one, she was guaranteed to win. Even when facing multiple Spirits, her chances of victory were still high.
And yet, despite being such a powerful magician, without her Realizer Unit activated, Ellen was practically worse than an average person.
It was like imagining Accelerator from A Certain Magical Index without his powers—just a regular thug could beat him up in hand-to-hand combat.
Ellen, without using magic, once took 21.5 seconds to run a 50-meter sprint.
21.5 seconds, folks!
That’s the kind of time that could give a certain adult entertainer enough room to wrap up multiple rounds…
Her radiant violet eyes remained calm and fixed on the carefree group happily showing off their affections.
No emotion stirred in them.
Only when Nagami led the girls into the woods did Ellen furrow her brows, a thoughtful expression flickering across her face.
“Commander, are we really not engaging yet? That Spirit—Nightmare—is extremely dangerous. She could kill civilians at any moment.”
A crisp, almost childish girl’s voice came through her earpiece, but the icy tone behind the sweetness didn’t match her age.
“Lieutenant Tokami, your job is to follow orders,” Ellen replied sharply.
She recognized the name—Mana Takamiya.
Recently transferred from DEM to the AST forces stationed in Tenguu City, codename:
Adeptus 2.
She looked to be around fourteen, with striking blue hair tied in a high ponytail and a polite, semi-formal way of speaking.
Why would the world’s strongest magician remember a girl like this?
Simple—despite her age, Mana’s mastery of the Realizer Units was ranked among the top five in the world.
She had even killed a Spirit solo before.
In just her short time in Tenguu City, she had successfully suppressed several terrorist groups who dared attack AST forces.
Sure, the “Spirit” she killed had just been a clone of Kurumi—but even so, by human standards, this petite girl’s combat ability was elite, undeniably among the global top tier.
(That is, if you’re only counting humans and not Spirits.)
What Ellen didn’t know, however, was that Mana Takamiya was the biological younger sister of Shido Itsuka.
In fact, she didn’t even have any impression of Shido at all.
Thirty years ago, Mana was already a middle school student.
After the death of her brother, Shido, Ellen had once considered eliminating her, thinking she had no remaining value.
But Westcott, with his twisted sense of amusement, decided otherwise.
He had Mana cryogenically frozen for decades and only thawed her out a few years ago.
Her body had undergone countless enhancements—ones that increased her power at the cost of shortening her lifespan.
Thanks to the freezing, Mana had retained little memory of the events thirty years ago.
“To have grown this powerful… I suppose it wasn’t a complete waste.”
Muttering to herself, Ellen said something that left Mana confused on the other end of the line.
Ellen took one last glance toward the woods Nagami had just entered.
After a moment’s hesitation, she gave her command through the earpiece.
“All units, tighten the perimeter. Wait for my signal.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Nodding slightly, Ellen moved her feet and began quietly following Nagami’s group toward the woods from a distance.
The fact that Nagami had voluntarily led the girls to such a deserted location puzzled her.
It wasn’t impossible he’d detected her surveillance… but if he knew he was surrounded and still chose to walk into the trap, then this Spirit was either incredibly reckless—or overly confident.
Was it because he felt safe with his companions at his side?
As doubts filled Ellen’s mind, a voice called out from the forest ahead, confirming her suspicion.
“Not planning to come out yet, Miss Ellen?”
Realizing there was no more point in hiding, Ellen stepped out from behind the trees.
“When did you notice me?” she asked flatly.
She didn’t question how he knew her name—after all, he had an Angel that could search for anything.
“Hmm, interesting question,” Nagami said with a smirk. “But when did you get the illusion that I hadn’t noticed you all along?”
He slicked his dark hair back in an attempt to mimic a cool final boss moment—but without any hair gel, the strands just flopped right back down.
“Hmph. Talk big while you still can, ‘Apocalypse.’”
As her words landed, golden light began to shimmer around her—particles of brilliance gathered from every direction, condensing around Ellen’s body.
An immense surge of magical energy filled the air, causing the atmosphere itself to tremble.
The golden light flowed like serpents across her skin, forming intricate, glowing patterns.
Bit by bit, the framework of her Tactical Realizer Unit began to manifest—sleek, lethal, and ready for battle.
Her clothes dissolved into a sleek, form-fitting tactical suit lined with glowing circuits.
Mechanical armor pieces locked around her limbs, giving her the appearance of a high-tech warrior, while segmented mechanical wings extended from her back like a pair of steel feathers.
Strapped behind her were two massive, sci-fi-styled greatswords that radiated sheer power.
In the next moment, a pair of brilliant violet eyes snapped open.
Her sharp gaze, like a drawn blade, locked directly onto Nagami—piercing straight through space itself.
“Nightmare. The nun. None of you are getting away today!”
As Ellen activated her Tactical Manifestation Unit, a wave of Phantom Beasts – Bondeski and DEM magicians surged in from every direction, quickly surrounding Nagami and his group.
The “Phantom Beasts” were humanoid weapons developed by DEM.
Their key advantage was that they could be remotely operated without a direct neural link to a human controller.
While their performance lagged behind that of true magicians, even artificial ones, they had become DEM’s primary force in order to preserve the company’s increasingly rare and valuable magical operatives.
“‘Apocalypse’? Is that what you’re calling me now?”
Nagami still wore a relaxed, easygoing smile—as if none of this even fazed him.
Only when Ellen deployed her full combat unit did a flicker of interest flash through his eyes.
“Well, I mean, it’s not wrong exactly,” he said with a tilt of his head, “but if you’re taking suggestions, I’d recommend a different name—‘Herrscher’ sounds more fitting.”
“...Herrscher?”
Ellen furrowed her brow, clearly puzzled by the unfamiliar term.
“Yup, that’s right.”
Nagami casually swept his gaze across the two oversized swords behind her, resisting the urge to tell her:
Just because you’re swinging giant swords doesn’t mean you’re suddenly the protagonist… though in some areas, maybe you qualify.
“Oh my, I do believe I recognize someone.”
Kurumi’s gaze drifted across the heavily armed forces surrounding them until it landed on a floating figure—the blue-haired girl who had killed several of her clones in the past.
A smile of familiarity spread across her face, as though running into an old friend.
“Nightmare! This time, I’m going to kill you once and for all!”
Wielding the CR-Unit Amanomurakumo, a glowing blue-white blade known for its destructive power, Mana Tsukino raised her sword and pointed it directly at Kurumi.
Nagami glanced at Mana, nodding subtly.
‘Wow... the resemblance really is striking.’
No wonder—they were siblings, after all. If she let down her ponytail, she’d basically be a miniature version of Itsuka Shido.
Although, judging by what had been done to her body... she was just a few steps behind Himeko in terms of being overtaken by artificial stigmata.
“So many enemies all at once?! Shiro… are you sure you can handle this?”
Nia, already dressed in her somewhat questionable nun-themed Astral Dress, pressed herself tightly behind Nagami’s back.
Before he could even answer, she quickly corrected herself:
“Wait! Never mind! I know I shouldn’t ask a man if he can ‘handle it.’ Of course you can! No question!”
“If your skill with the Angel of Revelation matched even half your GHS enthusiasm, there’s no way DEM could’ve ever caught you.”
Nagami turned and gave her a look.
“Still… even if your Angel control sucks, this outfit? 10/10. Absolute perfection.”
“Nagami… do you want to use me?”
To Nia’s shock, Yuzuriha Inori—pure and ethereal like a divine being—spoke in a soft, distant voice that carried an unexpected weight.
Nagami turned toward her, then glanced briefly at the massive swords Ellen was wielding.
He gave Inori a warm, almost reverent smile.
“Yeah, Inori… I’m counting on you.”
