Chapter 447: Substitution and running for one’s life
Two AST members are staking out the commercial building, they stood at the highest floor of a nearby building with guns ready to fire at any given point.
Tobiichi Origami is one of the two, the other member is a young woman around the age of 25. She is the squad leader and superior of Tobiichi Origami.
"Do we have permission to attack?"
Tobiichi Origami asked. Her eyes showed that she's a bit annoyed that she has to ask this question, the spirit's continued existence is an eyesore to her.
The squad leader didn't mind her taciturn attitude.
"I don't think that's likely, Hermit has been deemed a minor threat and does not justify the destruction of this commercial building. The big wigs probably won't roll out reconstruction teams for this operation. This case is different from the one with Princess…"
The squad leader recalled something and she turned towards Tobiichi Origami.
"I still can't believe it, to think that someone who looked identical to Princess transferred into your school without showing any signs of being a spirit. Even her background info checked out, just what is going on here?…"
Ratatoskr pulled some strings behind the scene, her name has been entered into the database for citizens and thus it would be hard to tell her from other citizens of this country. As long as she does not exhibit any spiritual signatures, AST won't be able to take any action against her. To them, she's just a girl who looks like Princess.
Ratatoskr is good in doing stuff like this. AST probably does not even know they had an adversary doing stealthy operations just like them.
Alas, the slightly ditzy commander who is otherwise impeccable at her job caused a certain True Ancestor to get sniped while walking around.
Tobiichi Origami gasped but she returned to her expressionless face soon enough. She looked at the building while thinking about something.
Suddenly, a voice came from their earpiece.
"Squad leader! Hermit has been found!"
The two of them looked at the building and they saw a green figure running out of the building.
The squad leader frowned.
"Hermit? Why don't I see any spirit signatures? Moreover, why is the spirit running, can't it fly?"
While the squad leader assessed the situation, Tobiichi Origami flew towards the figure without much thought.
"Wait!"
The squad leader gnashed her teeth.
"There she goes again, all by herself!"
She can't let Tobiichi Origami fight a spirit all by herself so she commanded the rest of the team to move out with her.
"All personnel mobilize!"
The other AST members started flying as their thrusters fired up. They fired at the figure incessantly.
The street is now a series of craters and bullet holes. Thick smoke covered the street and gunshots reverberated through the street.
The figure in green emerged from the smoke dusty but unharmed.
The AST members kept firing without any hesitation. However, the figure in green dodged the gunfires nimbly, the figure kept advancing forward without attacking back.
The squad leader clenched her jaw. Looking at the destruction her squad caused, she felt resentful towards the spirit. She didn't want to cause too much damage while hunting Hermit down. She told her squad to stay on standby mode because of this.
This Hermit is too sneaky, Hermit didn't engage them in the sky, instead, Hermit ran on the ground using the infrastructures as a cover. Clearly, whether or not she liked it, she's going to have to call the reconstruction team later.
Tobiichi Origami fired at the figure repeatedly and without any remorse whatsoever, she frowned at the agility Hermit displayed. She felt an ominous sensation.
But, her despise for spirits caused her to suppress this feeling of unease. Tobiichi Origami increased her firing speed.
Unknown to her, her intuition was on the mark.
If they stopped and analyzed Hermit properly, they would have discovered Hermit had grown nearly twice in Height.
Flying high in the sky, they were so preoccupied with shooting her that they didn't stop and examine Hermit properly.
If they can see the expression of the figure in green, they would know they got the wrong guy. But, they won't because the figure in green is still running with an expression on the verge of tears.
10 minutes ago…
"What?!"
Yatsuki can't believe what his squad leader is telling him, he looked at the green raincoat Wu Yan handed him.
"You want me to go and lure the AST?!"
"Would that be too much trouble?"
Yatsuki almost jumped in frustration.
"Of course it is a big problem for me! You are aware of the heat those AST members are packing, not even a spirit can let down their guard, you want me die or something?"
"Don't put it that way…"
Wu Yan patted Yatsuki's shoulder.
"I don't think you can block the attacks like a spirit but if we are talking about dodging and running, I have full faith in your ability. Surely, Kotori assigned you to me because you had such abilities…"
"But, wouldn't you be a safer choice?'
"Yes… But…"
Wu Yan pointed his lips at Yoshino.
"If you can take care of Yoshino and make sure she doesn't turn this area into a tundra…"
"…"
Remembering what transpired 10 minutes ago, Yatsuki wanted to shout out loud his thoughts on the matter…
"Why didn't I have the talent to sweet-talk with girls!!!"
Yatsuki ran like his life depended on it, promptly disappearing between the streets.
Wu Yan joined his hands together as he offered a silent prayer for Yatsuki. He leisurely walked out of the building with Yoshino holding onto his right hand.
"Shido Nii-san…"
Yoshino felt anxious.
"Will that guy be okay?…"
Wu Yan smiled.
"It's okay, that uncle won't die so easily."
"Un-uncle?"
"Yeah, make sure to call him that…"