The night quickly passed.
As the first rays of morning sunlight shone into the room, Tachibana Corporation's eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Because Natsumi Kyouno had brought along another Natsumi Kyouno, to avoid any suspicion, Gai Takarada and the others had her return to her own room and instructed her not to come out until things had completely calmed down.
Although the second Yatogami Tohka had already had her spirit power sealed—just like Tachibana Corporation, she now had no combat capability and was just a little loli—it was still best to avoid unnecessary trouble if possible.
However, after waiting for a while, she started to get sleepy.
Although she had the mind of an adult, her body was still that of a child, and naturally, her biological clock followed suit.
So, she ended up sleeping straight through until broad daylight.
"No one came to wake me last night, and now I have no idea what the current situation is."
Yawning, Tachibana Corporation, still in her pajamas, walked out and headed straight for the living room.
Everyone had gathered in the living room.
But all the creators looked absolutely exhausted. A few even had faint dark circles under their eyes—it was obvious they'd stayed up all night.
The living room was filled with the strong aroma of coffee. Who knew how many pots they'd brewed during the night?
"What happened?"
Looking at her colleagues who seemed like they had just survived a war, Tachibana Corporation asked curiously, "Don't tell me you spent the entire night doing psychological counseling for the other Natsumi Kyouno?"
"Tohka's counseling was taken care of by Little Tsumimi . The scripts we prepared weren't even needed."
Gai Takarada waved his hand, his eyelids drooping. "You lucky thing… We worked ourselves to the bone all night, and you just slept away in your room."
"Well, since the second Tohka arrived, you guys were concerned about my safety, so you told me to stay put, right?"
Tachibana Corporation laughed it off indifferently, then glanced around the room and noticed there was only one Yatogami Tohka. "By the way, where's the other Natsumi... the one you all call 'Little Tsumi?"
"We gave her a room. She's probably still asleep right now," Natsumi Kyouno replied flatly. "I told her everything about you, and of course, she got angry. But with her powers sealed, she's just an ordinary girl now. She couldn't resist the drowsiness, so before she could start anything with you, she passed out."
"Ah..." Tachibana scratched her head. "But didn't you already punish me?"
"I did punish you, but she hasn't," Natsumi Kyouno said with a glance. "Once she wakes up, prepare yourself to be beaten into the floor. Once she vents her anger, it should be fine."
"Meteora, can you give me a defense buff?"
Tachibana Corporation wore a helpless expression as she turned to Meteora. "If I were still a thick-skinned adult, getting beaten by a loli would just be a bonus. But now that I'm a loli too, getting hit really hurts."
"No can do. My defense magic will harden your body. If Little Tohka hits you then, she'll be the one who ends up hurt."
"So no one cares if I'm the one in pain?!"
"Just endure it. Once it's over, I'll use healing magic on you."
"No choice then…"
With a sigh, Tachibana turned her attention back to Gai Takarada. "So if you guys weren't dealing with Little Tsumi all night, then why do you all look like you're on the verge of dying?"
Tachibana Corporation, who was completely absent last night, had missed a lot of important developments.
But after hearing everyone's fragmented recounting of events, she quickly pieced together what had happened.
Once it was confirmed that Natsumi Kyouno could use the Unlocked Main Plot to open portals to other worlds, the creators began scouring the internet for characters who could help them defeat Altair.
"After eight hours, we found a total of 287 characters who met the criteria," Gai Takarada said, closing his eyes wearily. "Our battle ends here."
Upon hearing this, Tachibana expression turned strange.
She was silent for a long moment before finally speaking, struggling to hold back her laughter.
"Are you all stupid?" she said, holding her forehead. "For something like mass character searching, why didn't you just ask the magical Tome of Revelation?"
Silence fell across the room.
Even Natsumi Kyouno was frozen in place, unsure what to say.
Right…
Why didn't they ask the Tome of Revelation?
Probably because too much had happened the previous night. The mentally overload had taken its toll on both creators and their creations.
Looking at the sheet of paper filled with names in her hand, under the dead-fish stares of the creators, Tachibana coughed and put it back on the table. Then she summoned the Fake Witch and transformed it into the Tome of Revelation.
[List virtual characters who can help me defeat Altair.]
As soon as the question was written, names started to appear on the pages.
By the time the final name was listed, over a thousand densely packed names filled the book—spilling onto multiple pages.
In three seconds, it completely outclassed the creators' entire night of effort.
The creators looked like they were about to cry.
[Which of these characters are willing to become my allies?]
[Which of these characters can be tolerated by the World Will?]
[Which of these characters will cause minimal interference when summoned?]
[If I go to these characters' worlds to invite them, which worlds are the least dangerous?]
As more and more restrictions were added, the list of over a thousand names began to shrink.
Eventually, fewer than fifty names remained.
But each restriction was absolutely crucial.
The first ensured that the allies would willingly fight for this world.
The second ensured that summoning them wouldn't cause the world to collapse or reset.
The third ensured that Altair wouldn't benefit from their arrival.
The fourth ensured that Tachibana wouldn't be captured by Mio Kusunoki like Altair was when she tried visiting other worlds.
"Next, we need to formulate the perfect battle strategy based on these characters," said Meteora. "We don't know them well, so this part must be left to the creators."
"Why not just ask the Tome of Revelation for a battle plan?" Gai Takarada said lifelessly. "Let us stop being the clowns here."
"No, no, no. The Tome of Revelation isn't an AI. At best, it's an ultra-efficient search engine—it can't do something that complex," said Tachibana Corporation. "When it comes to strategy formulation, it's still up to you guys."
"Then let's have Tachibana-senpai make the plan," Matsubara said, letting out an exaggerated yawn. "I don't even have the strength to think anymore. Good night."
With that, his head tilted back, and he fell asleep right there on the couch.
Yatogami Tohka handed the Tome of Revelation to Tachibana Corporation, asking her to take a look.
Because the list of characters generated by the book was based on this world's anime and virtual works—not those from Natsumi original world.
So of the fifty or so names that appeared, nearly half were unfamiliar to her.
As for the rest, some were vaguely familiar but not well-known to her, and others were just names she'd heard in passing.
So she couldn't really participate in formulating a detailed strategy and had to leave it to Tachibana and the other creators who were more knowledgeable about this world.
Tachibana took the book and fell into deep thought as she looked over the names.
"By the way, are you guys planning to beat Altair with sheer numbers, or with strategy?" she asked. "Some of these characters have pretty high combat power—even higher than Mamika—but some of them have weak powers that are tightly tied to certain rules."
"Strategy," Natsumi Kyouno replied immediately.
"It's best not to summon too many creations. If the interference gets too high, it might end up benefiting Altair instead," added Meteora.
Tachibana nodded, showing she understood.
In fact, this wasn't even a question in Yatogami Tohka's mind.
Altair "Holopsicon" was simply too overpowered—it even had a Ninth Movement, Causality Reversal, which could directly nullify the settings of other creations, rendering them powerless.
No matter how powerful a creation was, one Ninth Movement from Altair could erase it completely.
So beating Altair through sheer numbers was never going to work.
To defeat her, you either needed someone even more broken, or you had to rely on clever strategy.
The creation Natsumi Kyouno most wanted to summon…
Was Sirius.
A mirror image of Altair, created by the other creators using Setsuna Shimazaki's posthumous work in Re:CREATORS.
According to Setsuna Shimazaki's posthumous notes, Sirius was Altair second form. Not only did she possess the same "Holopsicon" as Altair, but her various attributes were also significantly enhanced.
However, before she could publish this character, she committed suicide due to being unable to endure online abuse.
In the original story, thanks to the creators' efforts, Sirius was eventually brought into existence and overwhelmingly defeated Altair.
However, Sirius's character design was too bland, lacking secondary settings (fan interpretations or expansions). Even after defeating Altair, she was ultimately taken over by her.
But this issue was easily resolved. All they had to do was let Sirius whittle Altair down to critical health, and then finish her off themselves.
The problem, though, was that Sirius didn't exist in this world.
Due to the descent of Natsumi Kyouno, many of the original events had already changed.
So if they were to bring Sirius into this world now, how were they supposed to explain it?
Tell the Tachibana, "Actually, you're all fictional characters"? That Sirius was created by a parallel version of you?
Since making up such explanations was too troublesome, Natsumi Kyouno ultimately gave up on that option.
"Through tactics… and we can't summon too many people either…"
Tachibana scratched his head with some difficulty and turned his gaze back to the fifty names listed before him.
Although he hadn't directly faced Altair, based on what he had heard from those who had fought her, she was clearly a hexagonal warrior.
She had offensive power, defensive power, mobility, silencing abilities...
Altair uniqueness as a derivative character, combined with the special nature of Holopsicon, granted her the power to annihilate all creations in this world single-handedly.
Defeating her by conventional means was simply impossible.
If they wanted to destroy her, they would first have to deal with the troublesome Holopsicon.
Among the fifty characters listed, while some had abilities related to rules, none could match Holopsicon.
Since they couldn't suppress Holopsicon...
"Then we'll just have to eliminate it directly."
Tachibana pointed to one of the names and proposed, "I think our strategy against Altair should center around this character."
Upon hearing that Tachibana had a lead, the various creations gathered around to look at the name.
"Kamijou... Touma?"
Selesia read the name aloud and curiously asked, "What is this character's ability?"
"The ability he possesses is called 'Imagine Breaker'. Its effect is to nullify all abilities," Tachibana explained. "Any form of supernatural power, once touched, can be erased. It doesn't matter whether the power is good or evil, or even if it appears as a divine miracle—it makes no difference."
"He can even erase the power of gods? That sounds really powerful," Meteora asked in confusion. "Can this world really accommodate such a character?"
"As long as the Code: Chronicle says it's possible, then it's possible," Tachibana replied confidently. "But I think you may have misunderstood something. While Kamijou Touma possesses the Imagine Breaker, his physical constitution is still that of an ordinary person—a regular high school student... just a bit more resilient to beatings."
"But if his constitution is that of an ordinary person, how is he supposed to get close to Altair?" Selesia asked in confusion. "Altair wouldn't just stand there and let him touch her, right?"
"While it's true that Altair wouldn't just stand there and let him touch her, we can force her to stand there and let him touch her."
It was clear that Tachibana already had a solid plan in mind.
Centering on Kamijou Touma, who possessed a silencing-type ability, he then pointed out several characters with strong crowd-control or support-type abilities.
His plan was simple and crude, but for dealing with a character like Altair, simplicity and brute force were the best approach.
If they tried to go for fancy micro-management, they might end up being the ones who collapsed in the end.
After a round of discussion, including Kamijou Touma, Tachibana selected a total of three characters.
Coincidentally, all of them were characters familiar to Natsumi Kyouno.
"If no one has any objections to the plan against Altair, let's go with this for now," Tachibana said after the general plan was settled.
"When the others wake up, we'll have them review it too. If they agree, we'll have Little Nana go and recruit these three characters."