"Hey, am I really that scary?" Seeing Yoshino retreating backward, Tohka's eyelid twitched as she felt a little frustrated. She hadn't even clashed with this little girl, so why was she so afraid of her?
"..."
But hearing Tohka's voice only made Yoshino back away further. She stared at Tohka in fear, leaving Tohka completely baffled. Was she really cursed to be hated by lolis?
"Uuuuu." Maybe it was because she had sensitively detected a faint killing intent on Tohka's body. After all, even though Tohka didn't like killing people, after experiencing so many battles large and small in the Marvel world, she inevitably carried a trace of it. Ordinary people couldn't sense it at all, but Yoshino vanished right in front of her eyes.
"Meow meow, what the heck is this situation?" Staring blankly at the scene before her, Tohka wondered if she'd accidentally ruined things again.
"Forget it, I'd better go look outside." Although she didn't have any special thoughts about Yoshino, Tohka couldn't bear to see this little girl wandering around outside. Even though this little loli's strength wasn't bad—in fact, she could easily solo the entire AST squad across from her—Tohka still immediately put on her armor and jumped out the window. But to avoid drawing too much attention, she didn't fly and instead ran up along the building.
"Where did she run off to? Damn it, after my power was weakened, my sensing ability also got so much worse." Sprinting along the rooftops, Tohka couldn't locate the loli's position at all. She almost ran right into an AST patrol, so she was seriously considering whether to let the other her out. But since her other self had shouldered most of the energy cost of traveling between worlds, she was still sleeping deep inside her consciousness. So, unless it was absolutely critical, Tohka didn't want to wake her up.
So, she could only run around the city randomly. And because she didn't bring any communication devices, the people above couldn't contact her either. Wandering aimlessly, Tohka eventually arrived at a place she hadn't expected, and then...
"Uh, you two keep going. I'm leaving." Without any greeting, she leaped down from the balcony and happened to see the two people inside: Origami wrapped in a bath towel and Shido cowering in the corner. As for why she'd ended up here, it was because the entire city's residents were still hiding in shelters and hadn't come out yet. Combined with the continuous rain, there were very few buildings with lights on. Naturally, Tohka had instinctively come here—and then witnessed this scene.
"Hey, hey, wait—it's not what you think!" Seeing Tohka hurriedly closing the window and about to leave, Shido jumped up, trying to explain. He knew if he didn't clarify this, Tohka would probably mock him for a long time.
"'Princess,' why are you here?" But someone reacted even faster. Wrapped in her bath towel, Origami charged straight out, obviously ready to fight the moment she saw Tohka in her armor.
"Hey hey, Origami, wait—at least put on some clothes!" Seeing this, Shido was also startled and quickly rushed after her. He knew Origami didn't get along with Tohka, and Tohka didn't get along with her. Plus, Origami wasn't wearing her combat suit right now, so he didn't even have to think to know what would happen if they started fighting. Even if Tohka didn't go all out, Origami would probably still end up hospitalized for a few days. After all, even though she had magic power, bare-handed Origami really couldn't fight Tohka at all.
"Let me go, Shido!" Struggling in Shido's desperate embrace, Origami couldn't break free. As for Tohka, she had no intention of dealing with the two of them. Unlike in some other novels where the heroine never let anything slide—especially when facing the male version of Shido—she didn't want to watch them flirting. So, she didn't even want to stay here for a second.
"Mm, that's..." But at that moment, whether it was the two people inside or Tohka outside, everyone stopped moving at once. Because they all felt a cold spirit energy wave. None of them needed to think to know who it was.
Everyone reacted differently. Shido quickly said something to Origami before running out in a hurry. Origami didn't say anything, just went straight to put on her combat suit. As for Tohka, it was even simpler—she flew straight toward the location.
"Everyone—stop the 'Princess' right now! Don't let her get near the battlefield!" But just then, Tohka encountered something unexpected. Maybe because she had fooled them so thoroughly last time, AST had dispatched even more people this time. So, the moment she showed herself, she was targeted by a whole squad, and everyone pointed their machine guns at her.
"These guys are as annoying as sticky glue." Being locked down by so much firepower, Tohka didn't dare take it head-on. She could only weave through the air, relying on her movement to dodge the torrent of bullets while closing in on one of them as quickly as possible, swinging her sword to smash them down. But that was all she could do—several missiles were already flying her way.
"Damn it, these people are really..." Facing the missiles, Tohka simply swung her sword up. In an instant, several arcs of sword energy flew out, colliding with the incoming projectiles.
"Boom." With a loud explosion, the missiles were completely destroyed by her strike. But that was all—right after, the next barrage of firepower poured down on her again. None of the AST dared to fight her in close combat, not even their captain. Only Origami had that nerve. As a result, Tohka was stuck on the defensive—she wasn't a long-range artillery type, so facing concentrated firepower only left her riddled with holes.
"Forget it. If that's how you want to play, I'll have to deal with you first." Realizing she couldn't shake off dozens of people chasing her, Tohka didn't rush. She flew behind a tall building, using it as cover to evade their fire and launch counterattacks.
"The 'Princess' retreated! Chase her!" Sure enough, seeing Tohka fall back, a few people thought she was running away and immediately pursued her. But the faster they ran, the faster they were doomed. Just as they rounded the corner, they were met by Tohka, already waiting—and she brought her sword down in a single powerful strike.