Plans never keep up with changes. Although the operation against Altair didn't go exactly as originally planned and several unexpected incidents occurred, the outcome was still favorable.
The strategy devised by the Kikuchi Corporation was a great success.
It revolved around Dazai Osamu, who could nullify others' abilities. Then, Jotaro Kujo, who had time-stopping powers, would create an opportunity. Finally, Bandage Man would ensure a completely safe and hidden space for these two constructs while making sure ordinary people wouldn't be affected.
After that, other constructs acted as bait, luring Altair step-by-step into the trap.
"Impressive. I must admit, I underestimated you all," Altair said.
Knowing that struggling was futile, she quickly regained her composure. Her eyes calmly scanned the constructs descending from the sky and gathering around her.
In the end, her gaze landed on Natsumi Kyouno.
"You really are the antivirus software sent by this world, aren't you?" Altair sneered. "How does it feel to defeat me, the maniac who wanted to destroy the world? You must be thrilled right now."
"Of course! I finally got revenge on you for almost killing me back then!"
Although her spiritual energy was nearly depleted and her old nemesis had lost the ability to resist, Natsumi Kyouno couldn't hide her glee. Hands on her hips, she was visibly proud.
Compared to Natsumi, the other constructs mostly felt relieved.
Relieved that Altair had chosen to target Natsumi back then. Relieved that Mamika Kirameki saved her just in time when she was nearly killed.
Otherwise, defeating Altair wouldn't have been this easy.
"Do you have any last words?"
Facing the final boss of this world, Meteora expression remained calm. Her tone was neutral as she said, "You should know we can't let you live. If you have anything left to say, now's the time."
"There's nothing more to say between you and me."
Altair was equally calm. But after a pause, she asked a question, "This shameless man clinging to me—his ability seals others' powers through physical contact?"
"My name is Dazai Osamu, miss."
Though he was holding Altair in a rather unseemly manner, Dazai casually flicked his bangs and revealed a charming smile. "As for my ability, there's no harm in telling you. It nullifies abilities."
"You nullify any power of the person you touch?"
"More or less."
"I see…"
"I'm glad I could answer your question. Any other questions?"
"One last one."
Altair nodded slightly, her tone laced with a peculiar emotion. "If there's a power inside me that belongs to someone else, can you erase that too?"
Hearing this, Dazai pupils contracted sharply, and his smile froze.
The answer was: no.
If A is an ability user, then when Dazai touches A, A's ability will be nullified.
However, if A is influenced by B's ability, then to cancel that effect, Dazai must find and touch B.
For example, there was once an incident involving Armed Detective Agency's President Fukuzawa Yukichi and Port Mafia's leader Mori Ōgai. Both were infected by a virus-type ability, which caused a condition where one of them had to die.
And Dazai was completely powerless.
Because he couldn't nullify the virus by touching Fukuzawa or Mori. He had to find the ability user who controlled the virus to do that.
From Dazai silence, Altair got the answer she was looking for. Her face showed a mix of frustration and shame.
"There's an old saying in this world: 'A blessing in disguise.'"
A powerful, unknown energy suddenly burst from Altair body, sending Dazai flying.
Jotaro had to use his time-stopping power again to catch him midair. Otherwise, as a normal human, Dazai would've been smashed into pulp upon landing.
The other constructs, including Natsumi, were also blown several meters away. Although not as badly off as Dazai, they struggled to withstand the force.
Amidst the raging winds, Altair hair flowed freely. Her whole body bathed in light.
As the light faded, changes became visible in her military uniform. The once-conservative style had turned more open. Her overcoat became a battle skirt, and the pure black fabric was now adorned with white patterns.
"This appearance of mine... it was the final masterpiece of my ally before they died."
Staring at the transformation of her own body, Altair expression turned cold, even hateful. "And because of you lowly worms, I was forced to use the spirit crystal implanted in me by that vile woman Mio Takamiya. Her final masterpiece has turned into this."
She raised her left hand—forty-eight military sabers reappeared.
She raised her right hand—forty-eight guns materialized out of thin air.
At that moment, she was like the queen of swords, the emperor of guns, a general commanding the battlefield. The aura she exuded was unmatched.
"You are all unforgivable!"
Faced with Altair fury, Natsumi's mind was in chaos.
A spirit crystal? Altair had a spirit crystal inside her? Given by Mio Takamiya?
What the hell was going on!?
She didn't know whether to blame Mio Takamiya for meddling or Meteora for not eliminating her sooner.
Villains always die from talking too much!
Though they weren't villains, they were still suffering from excessive talk!
Now, her Zafkiel had been sealed. Even if she wanted to use the Sixth Bullet, she couldn't!
In a flash of thought, as Natsumi was about to use Metatron ·Mal'akh to create distance, the shadow under her feet suddenly came to life.
It was Bandage three shadow space.
In this desperate moment, unable to control Altair strength, he didn't hesitate to pull everyone into the shadow space.
"Natsumi! The Sixth Bullet!"
Once they were in the absolutely safe space, Natsumi immediately shouted at the flustered Natsumi.
Only then did Natsumi remember what she was supposed to do. She instantly transformed the Fake Witch into Zafkiel.
Once the Sixth Bullet was ready, she quickly tossed the flintlock to Natsumi.
Bang—!
Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger against her own temple.
With a brief dizziness, Natsumi returned to one minute earlier, the moment when Altair was first grabbed by Dazai.
This time, she didn't give Altair any chance to figure out Dazai ability. She immediately transformed the Sandalphon into Zafkiel.
She didn't need many floating cannons.
Against the current Altair, just one accurate strike would be enough to kill her.
She no longer had time to consider whether the real Natsumi Kyouno would have the courage to kill. Summoning Zafkiel, she immediately controlled one floating cannon and aimed at Altair forehead.
However, just as she was about to fire, a system page suddenly popped up.
[Main Quest Completed: Become the Witch Who Brings Chaos]
[This Roleplay Has Now Concluded]
[Host May Return to the Settlement Space Anytime Within 24 Hours]
"Huh?"
A trace of confusion appeared on Natsumi Kyouno face.
This timing... was far too subtle, wasn't it?
Although she did indeed contribute to the chaos caused by Altair world-ending plan, she hadn't even dealt with Altair yet—so how was the main quest already marked as completed?
No, no, if anything, it wasn't her, the witch, who brought much chaos—it was Altair who had brought far more chaos to her!
Just as Natsumi Kyouno was puzzled as to why the system would declare the main quest completed at such a time, Mamika Kirameki suddenly cried out.
"Look! What is that?!"
As her voice rang out in alarm, everyone turned in the direction she was pointing—and their expressions instantly changed drastically.
Because they saw that the sky, which should have been filled with blue skies and white clouds, had somehow developed numerous small holes.
Each of those holes was expanding outward at an extremely fast rate. The surrounding sky seemed to be dissolving like erased data, disappearing block by block into nothingness.
At the speed it was spreading, it would only take a few more minutes before it reached the ground and erased everything on the planet, resetting everything from its foundation.
The Spacequake!
This term suddenly popped into Natsumi Kyouno mind.
This was something Meteora had theorized about—a Spacequake that would occur once the interference force accumulated to a certain threshold!
But why now?
Although, compared to the original storyline, the number of battles between creations had increased significantly due to her presence—and Altair had previously ordered Blitz and Alicetaria to attack neutral creations—it still shouldn't have reached the level where the Spacequake would be triggered, right?
Could it be that even the training and sparring sessions between her, Meteora, and the others had also counted as battles?
Natsumi Kyouno looked around at the surrounding destruction—the ruined buildings, shattered streets, smashed cars and streetlamps—and her heart sank to rock bottom.
As unbelievable as it was that the Spacequake could happen so easily, the only plausible explanation left was that the battles between the creations had accumulated enough interference force.
Now, the battle between the seven creations and Altair had become the fuse that triggered the Spacequake.
And that recent shot of the "Sixth Bullet" became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
The Spacequake began because of her!
"What the hell is that?!"
"Look! The sky! Something is spreading in the sky!"
"Is this an alien invasion?!"
At the same time, the same phenomenon was appearing all over the world.
Nearly every country could see countless dark holes forming in their skies—holes like black holes that devoured everything around them, absorbing every trace of light.
Some were shocked, some confused, others anxious...
At first, many people even took out their phones to try to capture this strange sight.
But when they noticed that clouds in the high skies—and even birds in flight—were disappearing mysteriously, the initial excitement quickly vanished.
No matter what complex emotions people had at that moment, there was one feeling they all shared:
Fear.
Fear of the unknown.
Inevitably, panic spread through the crowds.
Some people rushed home in desperation, instinctively treating this as a terrible natural phenomenon, hoping to stay with their families.
Others honked endlessly in traffic, cursing those who had abandoned their cars in the middle of the road.
Shopkeepers hurriedly locked their stores, watching the sky's holes and the panicked crowds with terror.
Chaos was spreading.
Although Natsumi Kyouno couldn't know the current state of other countries—because everyone around her had been sent into the shadow space by Bandage three, so there were no panicking crowds to see—now that the main quest had been completed, she could easily imagine what the outside world must be like.
"Should I leave?"
That thought immediately surfaced in her mind.
Now that the main quest was complete, there was no reason to remain in this world.
More importantly, even if she stayed, she had no way to stop the Spacequake!
But this idea was extinguished the moment it appeared in her mind.
No matter what, more than 80% of the responsibility for the Spacequake fell on her shoulders.
If she just up and left like nothing had happened, her conscience would never forgive her!
"Unlock Master!"
Natsumi Kyouno raised the Unlock Master and aimed the key-shaped wand's tip at the air around her.
[Close]—an ability that could shut down even conceptual entities.
Though she wasn't sure if the Unlock Master could work on the Spacequake, it was the only option available now.
"Close!"
With a twist of the wand, as though something had just been locked in place, the expanding holes around them suddenly halted and stopped spreading.
"Thank goodness it worked."
Natsumi Kyouno let out a long breath of relief.
Although the Unlock Master could even "close" the Earth's rotation, she had no confidence it could "close" the Spacequake.
However, the sense of relief only lasted for a moment.
Feeling her spiritual power drain at an unprecedented rate, her face suddenly turned pale.
"I can't hold on much longer. Sealing the Spacequake is draining too much spirit power," Natsumi Kyouno said through gritted teeth. "Little Tsumi, use the Rasiel to find another solution!"
"Got it!"
Little Tsumi immediately summoned the Rasiel and quickly wrote down the problem.
This time, the Rasiel didn't fail—it dutifully provided an answer.
"Fourth Bullets!" Little Tsumi shouted. "Fire them at the world itself—Fourth Bullets, massive numbers of them! Tens of thousands of Fourth Bullets to rewind the world's time!"
"Then let's do that!" Meteora face was visibly anxious. "Little Tsumi, turn your counterfeit witch into Zafkiel, and give it to Bandage three!"
"But, but I—I don't have time!"
As she took the two flintlock pistols, one long and one short, Bandage three looked completely flustered. "Even though I have the City Devouring Time, I'm just a clone. I have no need to collect time and have no way to manufacture tens of thousands of Fourth Bullets in time!"
For Bandage three, collecting time was actually quite easy.
Right now, there were at least ten thousand ordinary people lying in her shadow space.
Devouring them all would allow her to create tens of thousands of Fourth Bullets without much issue.
But that was something she simply couldn't bring herself to do.
The other creations present understood this too, and their faces filled with concern.
"Absorb Altair time. One of her settings is immortality," said Natsumi Kyouno, whose spirit energy had been depleted. She quickly used a spirit energy reset ticket she had obtained earlier and gritted her teeth as she continued:
"In other words, she has infinite time!"