Nighttime, Tengu City.
As promised, Natsumi Kyouno enjoyed a meal prepared by Shido Itsuka and gave it high praise.
After giving the Itsuka siblings and the crew aboard the Ratatoskr the illusion that "Natsumi affection level has definitely gone up again," she left the Itsuka household.
To them, romantic conquests were as natural as eating or drinking.
But just as food must be eaten one bite at a time and water sipped one mouthful at a time, so too must their strategy proceed with patience.
As they saw it, today's portion of the conquest had already been accomplished. Trying to push things further might backfire.
So, when Natsumi left, no one tried to stop her or convince her to stay.
Thanks to that, she was able to swiftly return to the world of Re:Creators to seek reinforcements.
"Altair has most likely been captured."
Everyone gathered at the hideout.
Not wanting to miss any critical intel, none of the Creators had left—even their meals were takeout.
As for the Created Characters, after wiping out the remnants of Altair forces, they had nothing else to do.
"Based on what I gathered from Shido Itsuka, it's highly likely that Altair has been imprisoned by Mio Takamiya in the Rinkai."
Without wasting words, Natsumi continued, "However, the moment I enter the Rinkai, I'll fall into a dormant state, so all I can do is open a portal to it and let you go in to rescue Altair."
"Finally, it's our time to shine. I was getting rusty."
Yuuya Mirokuji, who had grown impatient from waiting, jumped up and cracked his knuckles.
"Let's go! Before the Military Uniform Princess teams up with that so-called Primordial Spirit, we need to rescue her!"
Most of the group agreed with this proposal.
What they feared most was a collaboration between Altair and Mio Takamiya.
Luckily, this worst-case scenario hadn't yet happened.
Although it was unclear how reliable Natsumi intel was, they had no choice but to trust it.
However, just because there was no alliance yet didn't mean it wouldn't happen in the future.
If Altair were to realize that she and Mio Takamiya didn't have to be enemies—that they could help each other and share common goals—then such a partnership would be inevitable.
To prevent that from happening, they began strategizing on how to help Altair escape before she reached that realization.
"But wouldn't it be more straightforward to eliminate her inside the Rinkai instead of helping her escape?"
Aletheia questioned, puzzled by the discussion.
"Wasn't your original plan to destroy her, not to seal her or reform her?"
Few present had any mercy for Altair.
After all, her goal was the annihilation of the world—the total extinction of humanity.
Except for characters like Mamika Koushu, who came from children's shows and tried to redeem even their enemies with love, everyone else had always been set on eliminating Altair completely.
Hearing Aletheia's suggestion, Gai Toudou shook his head slightly.
"That would be ideal," he said, "but we're not sure about Altair current condition."
The Rinkai was essentially an extension of Mio Takamiya's personal domain.
In other words, it was her territory—she was aware of everything that occurred inside it.
So, the rescue team had to act swiftly before Mio could react.
If Altair were completely sealed and defenseless, then sure, they could destroy her right there.
But if she still retained the strength to resist and ended up fighting the team, then Mio would definitely intervene.
And at that point, not only Altair but everyone else would be trapped with no hope of escape.
So, to be safe, they had to assume Altair still retained some fighting ability.
"We can't stay long in the Rinkai," Gai added. "The rescue team must extract Altair quickly and return through Natsumi spatial portal. Once she's back and before she fully recovers, we'll launch our original plan—completely annihilating her."
Upon hearing that, Mamika Koushu's expression grew conflicted.
She felt like she was taking part in something profoundly immoral—like a villain waiting to strike when their enemy was down.
"What's wrong, Mamika?"
Noticing the gloom in her expression, Natsumi approached her with an unusually gentle tone.
Having never been comforted by Natsumi before, Mamika seemed startled and unsure how to respond.
"Do we really… have no choice but to destroy Altair?"
She slowly calmed down from her flustered state and apologized.
"I'm sorry for saying something like this at a time like this, but still…"
"I understand," Natsumi said, shrugging. "That's just how you are—you want to save everyone, no matter who they are.
Honestly, if it weren't for that quality of yours, I wouldn't be here right now, getting along with everyone."
Then her voice turned more serious.
"But you also know in your heart: Altair was created for one purpose—revenge. None of us matter to her enough to change her mind."
"So… we must fight her?"
"If you don't want to, we can leave you out of this," Natsumi offered.
"Besides Dazai Osamu, the rest of us are just distractions. Losing one or two won't jeopardize the mission."
Mamika remained silent for a long time.
But in the end, she shook her head and rejected the offer.
"I can't let my personal feelings put this world in danger," she said, slapping her own cheeks to refocus herself.
"This isn't my world. Even if villains cause chaos, no one really dies.
But if Altair escapes, the consequences will be more than I can bear."
"Mamika…" Natsumi voice trembled slightly. "You've really changed."
"Changed for the better or the worse?"
"You've become more mature."
"And isn't the same true for you, Natsumi?"
"Now that you mention it… that does sound kinda embarrassing…"
Natsumi coughed awkwardly.
Seeing Mamika come to terms with her decision, Natsumi stopped joking and joined the group discussion on rescuing Altair.
Watching Natsumi seamlessly integrate into the conversation, Mamika felt deeply moved as well.
"This world has changed us all so much…"
She thought silently to herself.
"And now, it's time for us to change the future of this world in return."
The Rinkai.
In a place of darkness.
Altair sat silently, eyes closed, contemplating how to escape her current predicament.
In the battle two weeks ago, a phantom projection of Mio Takamiya had paid a price to partially seal her Holopsicon.
Because of this, Altair lost her ability to traverse worlds. With no means of effective escape, she was ultimately captured by Mio.
Not only that—she was sealed inside a spirit crystal, designated as a backup Spirit.
To Altair, this was a humiliation beyond words.
But alas, this world was not her domain—it belonged to Mio Takamiya.
Here, Altair was like a rootless weed.
She had no recognition in this world. No one created derivative works of her, so her Holopsicon couldn't evolve.
In her current state, she couldn't escape from Mio's grasp.
However, Altair was not one to surrender so easily.
She wasn't waiting out of despair—she was waiting for an opportunity.
No one knew how long she had waited, but at last, her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Sensing something, she opened her eyes in the darkness.
"They've finally come."
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
In the distance, a white armored horse charged through the darkness, ridden by a fully armored, golden-haired girl.
It was none other than her subordinate—Aletheia.
As Altair turned her gaze toward her, Aletheia also noticed her and immediately adjusted her direction, galloping toward her.
"How are you holding up?"
Seeing Altair frozen in place by an unknown force, unable to move, a flicker of surprise flashed in Alistelia's eyes. However, she maintained her composure on the surface and asked calmly:
"As you can see, I'm in the form of a prisoner."
Altair wore a look of complete indifference, her tone as calm as ever: "But you arrived much earlier than I expected. I thought it would take at least another day or two."
"You knew I would come looking for you?"
Alistelia raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, "How did you know that?"
"It wasn't hard. Just a bit of thinking made it obvious."
Altair let out a couple of light laughs.
Then, a powerful force suddenly erupted from within her, shattering the restraints left behind by Mio Takamiya.
Rubbing her slightly sore joints, Altair tapped her toe lightly on the ground and floated into the air.
"Although I don't mind explaining things here, are you sure you want to listen?" Altair said flatly. "This is still Mio Takamiya's domain. Even if she's probably been temporarily held off for now, there's no telling when she'll return."
Seeing that Altair still had strength left, Alistelia had no choice but to suppress her urge to destroy her on the spot.
Without wasting time, she flicked the reins and led Altair toward the direction of the spatial passage.
Before long, after traveling some distance, Altair saw a spatial portal not far ahead.
The smile on her lips grew wider.
Yes, she had already guessed that Alistelia would come to rescue her.
And that was all thanks to Mio Takamiya telling her that Natsumi Kyouno (Natsumi clone, in her mature form) had returned to this world.
Although she wasn't sure how Natsumi had gained the ability to cross between worlds, the fact that she had returned could only mean one thing:
Her purpose was to rescue Altair.
Otherwise, there was no reason for Natsumi to return.
Once she deduced Natsumi reason for coming back, Altair deliberately suppressed part of Holopsicon's ability to block detection.
That way, even the Tome of Revelation could locate partial intel about her—
including her general location in the Rinkai.
After she did everything she could, she focused entirely on restoring her strength.
In truth, she had long been capable of breaking free from Mio Takamiya's imprisonment.
Though the original spirit had the power akin to that of a creator god, she had still underestimated Altair—
not even sending an avatar to keep watch, and merely using part of her power to trap her in place.
But breaking free would've been meaningless.
With her world-crossing abilities sealed, unless she willingly absorbed the Spirit Crystal and became a spirit herself, there was no way she could escape the Rinkai.
However, if she did choose to accept the Spirit Crystal's power, the Holopsicon that originally belonged to her would be completely sealed.
If that happened, she would truly become Mio Takamiya's plaything—trapped in this world for eternity.
So she didn't act rashly and simply waited for her subordinate to come and rescue her.
After all, since Natsumi now had the power to cross worlds, she could naturally also open a path to the Rinkai.
And reality proved her right.
Entering the spatial passage within the Rinkai along with Alistelia, the next moment, they exited the Rinkai and returned to the present world.
But it was still the world of Date A Live.
"You're finally back."
The mature-form Natsumi had been waiting in place all along. Seeing Alistelia return with Altair, she immediately prepared to open a portal back to their original world.
Boom————!
At that moment, Altair could sense two powerful forces engaged in a fierce battle far in the distance.
One of the auras belonged to a familiar presence—Phantom.
The other exuded an aura of destruction, despair, and death.
Altair had no intention of investigating who exactly was fighting Mio Takamiya.
Her priority was to return to her own world.
Once Natsumi unlocked the portal using the Revelation Key, the three of them entered the passage almost simultaneously.
"It's been a while."
Breathing in the nostalgic air, Altair could feel Holopsicon rapidly evolving, and the corners of her lips curled into a contented smile.
Although she had been imprisoned all this time, her fans in this world had continued creating derivative works of her.
Now that she had returned, the power accumulated over the past two weeks immediately surged into Holopsicon.
It not only granted her new abilities, but also began to loosen the seal on the parts of her power that had been locked away by Mio Takamiya.
"There's still a lot I need to do."
Altair placed her hands on the shoulders of Alistelia and Natsumi.
In the next moment, intense pain erupted from within their bodies.
Two military sabers—no one knew when they had appeared—were now lodged inside their bodies, directly piercing through them and destroying every trace of life force within.
"Well then, there's no time to waste…"
Altair said with a smile, under the stunned, disbelieving gazes of the two.
"Let's start… by dealing with the traitors."