"Paradise. Paradise has fallen~"
However, as the battle continued, her movements began to subtly change. She seemed to start 'Understanding' the movement patterns and structural weaknesses of these steel constructs.
The Greatsword she had constructed, which was originally crude, began to self-adjust and self-optimize with each collision and infusion of spiritual energy. The blade became smooth and solid, and a faint blue glow shimmered along the edge.
Her attacks were no longer aimless; every swing precisely targeted vital points like joint drive shafts, visual sensor clusters, or the energy core in the chest, carried out with a gradually awakening, cold efficiency.
(Getting into the groove! Time to add some 'emotion'!)
A subtle, breathy sound, as if accidentally escaping from the depths of a suppressed throat, began to spill from the corner of her lips. The sound was faint at first, carrying a nervous tremor, but soon, like a spark thrown into dry kindling, it fiercely ignited and spread.
"Drinking the bitter ashes, the dross scatters, collapses, and sinks~"
She parried a robot's fierce pounce, her body spinning with the momentum. The optimized Greatsword in her hand drew a sharp blue arc, precisely slicing into the energy core of another robot's chest!
She then turned and kicked it back into the enemy crowd.
"Boom!"
The flash of a small explosion illuminated her profile, which was smeared with some dirt and sweat.
Right in the glare of the explosion, she finally couldn't hold back, letting out a low laugh that grew clearer and eventually became unrestrainable.
"Skipping past scattered faces, the beast rampages, vying for divine corruption~"
"Heh... Heh heh..."
The laughter was initially suppressed, but it quickly broke free, becoming unrestrained, delighted, and full of a cathartic exhilaration and an unspeakable, nearly manic meaning!
"Haha... Hahaha—!!"
Her fighting style underwent a drastic transformation accordingly!
She no longer passively dodged and parried, but began to actively charge into the most densely packed areas of the robot horde!
The Greatsword became a blue whirlwind of death in her hands; every swing carried the resolute momentum of severing all chains and shattering all obstacles!
Robot fragments, severed limbs, and explosive fireballs continuously bloomed and scattered around her like wildly dancing fireworks!
She seemed to transform into the eye of the storm at the center of the battlefield, simultaneously the core of destruction and the most bizarre point of calm.
"Tear apart, tear apart everything~"
(Yes! Just like that! Laugh loudly! Laugh wildly! Laugh out all the 'anger,' 'grievances,' and 'unwillingness'! Let them all think I'm venting, releasing! Let everyone think I've completely unleashed my true nature in despair and entered a manic fighting climax!)
She seemed to be dancing a wild and violent Dance of Death, exclusively hers, upon this graveyard of steel.
Sword light was her dancing ribbon, explosions were her drumbeats, and the scattered parts flying everywhere were the dust kicked up by her partner.
More and more Bandersnatch units turned into scrap metal flying everywhere with electric sparks under her ferocious assault, yet the smile on her face grew brighter, more unrestrained, and increasingly... imbued with a chilling audacity and strangeness!
"Even the dark night kneels to me~"
Finally, when the last batch of rushing Bandersnatch units turned into scattered parts around her.
On the ground, only she remained standing, surrounded by mountains of robot wreckage.
Laughing and panting, her movement froze there.
The longsword in her hand pointed toward the sky, her ice-blue hair stuck loosely to her sweaty cheeks.
She looked up, gazing at the floating DEM airship in the sky and the Wizard units beneath it, which resembled dark clouds.
Her face held an unreserved, utterly ostentatious, joyful laugh, even carrying a hint of provocation.
She spread her arms out to both sides.
It was as if she were embracing the light of destruction cast down by the entire sky, and also declaring her "rebirth" and unstoppable "madness" to this cold world and to all beings observing her!
"Frenzy stains the will~"
"Spreading amidst the pain~"
(Perfect freeze-frame! This is the shot! The shattered battlefield is the background, the wildly laughing girl is the focus, the scattered wreckage is the trophy, and the tragic music is the accompaniment!)
Meanwhile, inside the abandoned factory, in a corner dominated by gloom and dust.
Shido tensely watched Chinatsu, who was fighting and laughing wildly like a berserker outside through a window crack, his heart filled with indescribable shock and worry... Just then, an abandoned, rust-covered old machine box beside him suddenly made a "zzzt" sound, and its screen lit up—the way the screen lit up.
It carried an unnatural blue stream of light, as if forcibly activated by an unseen power—immediately followed by a fast-paced, electronic melody starting up—
"!? " Shido jumped in surprise, looking suspiciously at the suddenly "revived" old box. "Wh-where is this music coming from?"
Kurumi, leaning against the opposite wall, glanced at the box with her golden eye, then looked at the girl outside who was laughing wildly amidst the robot fragments, a smile of Understanding curving her lips.
She lightly tapped her temple with her fingertip and said:
"Ara~ It seems our newly awakened Herrscher of Reason is not quite as... suppressed on the inside as she appears."
(She even has the presence of mind to provide her own background music? This is truly... getting more and more interesting.)
The singing drifted faintly through the broken window, hanging over the smoke-filled battlefield, adding a bizarre yet fitting footnote to Chinatsu's manic solo dance.
Ellen hovered in mid-air, looking at the girl in the center of the chaotic battlefield, who was laughing wildly with her arms spread wide.
Hearing the powerful music, which seemed to come from nowhere, her expression completely darkened. But in her sharp eyes, besides the anger of being provoked, a trace of deep doubt and scrutiny flashed.
(Is this person... acting? Using this mad posture to draw all the attention... What exactly is happening inside the factory? What are Welt and the Nightmare plotting?)
(What the hell is this person up to?!)
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