"The watch... is it open?" Viktor said in disbelief as he saw Jake beside him, who seemed to have changed his previous position in an imperceptible instant, but upon seeing the open watch, he understood the situation.
"Yes, I had to use it" Jake nodded.
"How bad?"
"Less than 10% alive, only me among the executors."
"That bad? How is that possible?" Viktor exclaimed, even more incredulous.
"I don't know, it's like everything we planned was anticipated and they prepared a counter. If it weren't for the fact that the watch doesn't allow going back beyond one dimension, I would have liked to go back weeks" Jake said in frustration at how things turned out.
"It's fine, that's why you're here, only you would be capable of analyzing all the information and putting together a plan of action in minutes" Viktor said, encouraging both him and himself.
"Right, they won't come here for a while, I'll think fa..."
He stopped mid sentence when a group of several dozen people suddenly appeared around him.
The men on his side first took a stance, but after recognizing the newcomers, they all relaxed.
Viktor, also recognizing them, looked at them with mockery.
"Well, if it isn't the Shinomiya family, looks like they killed all of you... or almost?" he said, noticing one was missing.
Oko snorted in disdain at his words. "That bastard isn't part of the family, not only did he run away, he even dared to use the mirror's last question. As far as I'm concerned, Lucifer can kill him."
"Alright, save the family disputes for later, what happened with Lucifer? He alr..."
"He destroyed the house and killed everyone there, us included. If it weren't for the artifact you gave us that can transport us to Gaia if we die on Earth, we would already be corpses" Oko interrupted with helplessness. He wasn't really angry at Kaito, rather, he felt completely powerless, the gap between them was so great that he couldn't even feel anger.
Of course, feeling anger and not seeking revenge are two different things.
"You know the conditions, now that you used the object, the Shinomiya family will join the Union."
"Sure" Oko said, not really considering it a loss. "Although I really don't understand why you would want a simple Shinomiya family to join the Union" Oko said, unable to understand Viktor's reasoning.
The Shinomiya family gave up a lot to join the Union, it's not an exaggeration to say they destroyed generations of legacy just to join. However, for someone as perceptive as Oko, it wasn't hard to notice that Viktor seemed eager to confirm that they would join the Union, as if they were the ones who needed the Shinomiya, something Oko couldn't understand. After all, yes, the Shinomiya family is one of the four most powerful in Japan and in a capitalist society that basically means they can control Japan, but compared to the supernatural world, that is nothing.
"'Simple Shinomiya family' huh?" Jake repeated his words, thinking that if Oko knew one of the hidden truths of this world, he would probably curse himself for thinking that.
But he quickly set it aside, he had something to plan, and probably only about 7 to 10 minutes before Lucifer's territory attacked them directly instead of waiting.
...
In Lucifer's territory, about half an hour earlier.
Mashiro, who was observing the entire battle while flying above the territory, descended and told Kirito that she planned to return the missiles, but with her current magic she only had enough mana for one large spell.
Kirito nodded in understanding and immediately thought about how to maximize the usefulness of that attack.
"I've got it!" he said after thinking for a bit.
Right after that, he explained the plan, which basically consisted of deceiving Jake, whom Kirito had long seen always by Viktor's side and who was easily recognized as the strategist or battle analyst.
For this, they needed him to launch his test missiles and deceive him, making him think they wouldn't be able to withstand an attack from all the missiles at once.
Thus, he coordinated with Hope, Lala, and Gwen.
During the first round of attacks, Lala would activate the vibration device, since there was no way they would believe they didn't have a countermeasure of that level, while in the second they would rely on the territory's anti absolute trait to protect it and on Hope and Gwen's magic to protect all the inhabitants, something achieved because most of the inhabitants who weren't fighting had gone to the Magic Tower and learned magic with Hope. This was meant to make them think they couldn't keep using the vibration artifact and that if they attacked harder the territory would fall.
Of course, all of this depended on what a normal person would do in this kind of attack and on Kirito's preliminary analysis of Jake just by watching his decisions so far.
But it didn't really matter, if it failed and they launched all the missiles from the start, Mashiro could return them all. If, on the contrary, they attacked in sequence, they would have to keep the vibration device active or use it in sync with Mashiro and Koneko, who can destroy a missile with their own hands, while the device recharges.
But although he had other plans, those would have cost more, used more of their strength, and revealed more of their cards, so when everything worked as Kirito planned, he was extremely euphoric.
The problem came when they activated the sealing talisman after that.
Kirito and Asuna, who hadn't even fought yet, looked at each other helplessly, knowing that now it was Koneko's turn to act.
"There's a problem" Mashiro said while Kirito and Asuna looked at each other like fools.
"What is it?"
"I can't recover mana."
"You can't recover? So you can still use what you already have?" Kirito asked, catching the key point of her words.
"I have no mana" Mashiro said simply and Kirito nodded.
"Then what's the pro..." Kirito stopped his doubt halfway as he remembered something crucial. "How is it?"
"I can maintain the seal, but I can't repair it."
"How long will it last? If the death energy coming from Kaguya leaks outside, it will be a disaster" Kirito asked worried.
"A few hours, if no one affects it."
"If no one affects it?"
"Nn."
At Mashiro's nod, Kirito understood she wouldn't explain further, so he could only hope that nothing would affect the seal somehow, even if he didn't understand how that could happen.
...
"What is happening?" Kirito asked in disbelief as he looked at the battlefield.
"Time is going backwards, but only for them" Asuna murmured, just as incredulous as him.
"That means..."
"We're starting over" Koneko finished the sentence as she appeared by his side.
Not only her, seeing the situation around them, everyone decided to gather, knowing the situation had worsened greatly.
"So... what do we do?"
"I don't know, we know what they have, but they also know what we have, they won't be stupid enough to act the same, this time they'll be smarter."
"So we'll lose?"
"Of course not, but they're back at their best while we're at our worst, it won't be an easy fight."
"Maybe, if we attack with everything from the start..."
"No, what if we do that and they seal mana?"
"Then what if we attack their base? They're not far so..."
"No, it's the same as before, besides, outside the territory we're weaker."
"But then..."
After a while of discussing, Kirito came up with a plan, of course first of all, he planned how to deal with people like Nagumo and Fawn who were extremely easy targets.
As for Nyx, they no longer had Sonya's ultimate attack, so the only option was to send someone strong enough to defeat her and who could move in the darkness, which, by coincidence, also turned out to be Sonya.
"Can you take care of her?"
"Of course" Sonya nodded, looking at Kirito with a bit of pride as she smiled confidently.
"Good, Megumi, I need you to take out Jake. Even though he probably already has his entire plan finished before he even starts acting, killing him means he won't be able to direct the situation in case of setbacks.
However, he likely has special protections since he's important, can you do it?"
"I can" Megumi nodded.
"Then..."
As Kirito spoke, he started to think they weren't doing so badly, but then, upon remembering that not only did they have all their cards, but also numerous artifacts, his hope faded.
Of course he didn't think they would lose, much less that he would die, he had that much confidence in Kaito and his power, he just didn't know how they could win.
"Also, the artifacts. Thanks to Lala, they almost certainly confused the territory's immunity artifact with vibration between atoms like the boss's, which gives us some advantage, even so..."
As he continued planning and giving instructions to everyone, Mashiro, behind them, frowned and clenched her fists tightly.
"Nnghh" she let out a strained sound as if she were struggling against something.
"Are you okay?" Koneko moved to her side and held her just as she lost her strength and fell to the ground.
Mashiro didn't answer the question, instead...
"It broke free" she said in a pessimistic voice.
______________________________________
15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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