Chapter Seventy-Six: Awakening of the Stars
Ashley Sinclair.
…a professional at being lazy.
But lately,
An overwhelming number of incidents demanding her attention had been occurring nonstop.
As a result, she'd been constantly on the move.
Then, all of a sudden, she thought it might be a good idea to observe the Earth from space.
As an Esper capable of limited spatial control,
She didn't need to worry about breathing in the vacuum.
So she did.
And right now—
"Geh, why is there a spirit in space?"
"Nngh?"
…
Before that.
"Man… what a disaster."
Ashley muttered as she floated along the curvature of the Earth with her CR Unit.
Lately,
Far too many occurrences requiring her attention had been happening one after another.
She scratched her head while overlaying a holographic map across the planet.
Things were… pretty bad.
"Still, it's annoying since there's nothing I can do."
She shrugged.
Then, she raised her gaze beyond the blue glow surrounding Earth—
Past it, into the endless pitch-black void known as outer space.
As an Esper with spatial control limited to the area around her.
Combined with the territorial effect within that space,
She could continuously maintain breathable air inside her domain.
Naturally, she had also consulted Morgan on possible use of her power.
And the male introduced her to a particular concept.
But in any case, entering outer space posed no issue for her.
'Beside, I've never thought I'd..'
She paused, then clenched her fist tightly by her side.
"Power, generate, expand…"
Ashley murmured under her breath.
The Realizer on the chest of her CR Unit began to spin.
Blue particles scattered outward as an ethereal, wing-like construct unfolded from her right side.
With her fist clenched, Ashley shot forward—
Past the Earth's curvature, straight into the depths of outer space.
Her CR Unit.
Ex Britannia was a unit specialized in gathering energy output and repurposing it.
Most of the time, Ashley circulated that energy and exchanged it for speed.
As such, she could move at speeds reaching the sound barrier, and even beyond.
Now that her territory had merged with her spatial domain, her abilities were further enhanced.
By coupling [Enhanced Perception] with her speed, she could maneuver effectively—
Even at such extreme velocities.
In no time at all, Ashley arrived in the deep black.
The Earth now looked like nothing more than an iridescent blue stone.
Slowly, she turned her head, gazing at distant stars and drifting asteroids.
Far away, the sun glowed brilliantly, and she found herself momentarily mesmerized.
"...nnnnn, this is outer space."
Ashley spun around, taking in the scenery.
She had only ever seen it through videos, textbooks, and other forms of media.
No, this reaction was completely justified.
Anyone would be excited.
Immediately,
Ashley raised her left wrist and swiped her right index and middle fingers across it.
What appeared was a small transparent panel opened, displaying a red dot and a blinking…
[• REC]
"I wonder what their reaction would be if I suddenly sent this out of—"
"Noisy."
As Ashley spoke, another voice resounded, prompting the girl to turn.
She saw no one in her vicinity, until after she slowly directed her head up.
Floating several meters above her was a girl with long blonde hair.
She wore constellation-themed qipao-like attire, frozen perfectly in space.
Emotion did not, or had ceased to, exist on
her innocent face.
Her gorgeous golden eyes slowly fluttered open, filled with disinterest.
Though she had a similarly petite stature to Ashley…
Something else delivered critical emotional damage to the Space Esper.
"B–big! gah! This is unfair!"
Ashley clenched her fist, staring at the feminine curves before her.
Then glanced down at herself.
Flat.
Painfully flat.
It was flat as a board — a washboard.
Ashley pale.
Meanwhile as Ashley was having existential crises in her head.
The girl above slowly focused her gaze on the humanoid below.
What was going on?
Since when could humans levitate in space?
But just as she thought that, the girl too finally seemed to regain her composure.
Ashley, wearing a visibly somewhat cringed out expression, locked eyes with her.
"…Geh. Why is there a spirit in space?"
"Nngh?"
The girl stiffened for a brief moment before narrowing her gaze.
"Why art a human here, nay, thou art a wizard, is it not?"
Hearing that, Ashley's lips twitched.
"Whoa, what's with that ancient way of speaking?"
Saying that she then froze.
Ashley remembered something.
Then, placed a hand on her chin, trying to recall what it was.
Now that she thought about it.
Ashley vaguely remembered hearing about a spirit in space.
Right, she was on the list Morgan had kept, and—
Her brows furrowed as she tried digging deeper into her memory.
Nnngh!
The more she did however, the more useless it was, as she could remember nothing.
Gah! I should have listened more.
The Space Esper grabbed her head when suddenly something swept past her.
"H—holy crap!"
A small space storm surged by her from right to left.
Thanks to «Transfer», it passed through without colliding with her.
But the spirit on the other hand tilted her head almost confused.
"That does not work?"
"Hey! Don't just throw a space storm at someone like that!"
On the girl's otherwise expressionless face, a trace of surprise appeared.
Her brows lifted slightly, only slightly.
But that was it.
She muttered something under her breath, as if finding the situation strange.
She was certain she had struck her opponent with a space storm pulled from somewhere—
Perhaps a nearby meteor belt or cluster.
Yet the space esper remained unharmed.
"In what way?"
"Mm? I don't know why you suddenly attacked, but if it's a fight you want—"
Ashley got into a fighting stance all of a sudden.
"Caulydron, transfer."
She extended her hand forward as blue pixels suddenly lit up the space.
What came out was a sword.
A semi-greatsword.
No, no, no, Ashley wasn't doing this just because she'd been attacked first.
Rather, she was looking for an excuse.
'A spirit who made it onto my brother's list… let's see how strong she really is.'
Slowly, her lips curled into a smile.
Meanwhile…
Clocktower underground facility.
Right after Morgan had said those words feeling like a certain overseer.
His computational powers.
Capable of spanning the entire planet, picked something up.
Suddenly, his eyes lifted.
His face twisted and contorted into something strange yet funny.
'That… idiot!'
Back in space
Ashley maneuvered between multiple asteroids hurled toward her at impossible speeds.
Even for a wizard, that level of velocity was—
The spirit's thoughts were cut off as a flash of blue appeared behind her, accompanied by taunting words.
"Is that all you've got!?"
Under normal circumstances, sound couldn't travel through the vacuum of space.
But thanks to her territory.
And by generating sound within it, transmitting the vibrations directly.
The spirit heard the words as though they were spoken straight into her mind.
Mukuro's otherwise emotionless expression twitched.
She was meant to be detached from the outside world.
Yet that blue sphere of boundless energy stirred something contradictory within her.
"Scurrying about like a rat… how vexing."
The spirit grasped her weapon, a long, slender form ending in a key-shaped tip.
With a smooth motion, she spun it once, then thrust it forward.
"Then I shalt seal that troublesome space."
A wormhole appeared before the space she inserted the key in.
She then turned it
Ashley abruptly came to a halt.
Her eyes darted around, left and right, feeling the space itself compress.
Her territory might be almighty, but she judged it better.
She knew better than to underestimate this.
Ashley herself was no dunce.
While they both fought, she had been analyzing her opponent's abilities.
Objects that should have appeared far away were being forcibly drawn near.
At first, she assumed it was spatial control.
But no.
It didn't seem like it.
"Tch!"
She clicked her tongue as the reactor spun faster, emitting blue particles as she flew.
But as she did, she found out she wasn't moving at all.
"What the—"
Then her eyes widened.
"Kuh! She sealed the space?"
Even inside her territory.
Space was being compressed like an airbag inflating inward against her domain.
Ashley could see the boundary of her supposed omnipotence warping.
"Geh… what an annoying ability."
Without hesitation, she abandoned escape and switched to plan B.
She couldn't properly control this yet—
…but here goes nothing.
She thought raising her left hand, then she crossed her index finger over her middle finger.
"Transference, attraction, repulsion, convergence, divergence, compression."
"Expansion, warping, displacement, suspension, inversion."
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
Pathways.
Just like spirits, Espers could form paths of their own.
It's a framework that allowed them to freely express the concepts underlying their abilities.
Ashley Sinclair's Esper Path consisted of these principles.
The accumulation—no, the endpoint—of all those formulas was one thing.
[Limitless]
"What art thou muttering…? It matters not—thou shalt be crushed by—nngh!?"
Mukuro's eyes trembled as she stared at the girl standing before her, now completely unarmed.
She was pushing back against the space imploding on itself.
"I understand it now."
A flash of blue filled everywhere,
Blindingly so, intensely so, that turned Mukuro's vision white.
It overwhelmed all her senses.
And within that brilliance, she heard—
"Phase. Twilight. Eyes of Wisdom."
Through that white,.Mukuro felt she was suddenly being pulled.
Her body arched as a violent blue force dragged her forward.
"Kuh—what manner of sorcery is this!?"
"It's science!"
Wham!
As Mukuro was swallowed by the blue light, all she could make out was a silhouette—
Then impact.
A strike so overwhelming it bypassed her barrier of omnipotence, her Reiryokukenki.
Her perception slipped away as she observed the moment from a detached angle.
It took several seconds before it truly registered.
She had been hit.
"Arghk!"
Fyuunn—
Her body was sent flying, meters turning into kilometers in an instant.
Even so, she managed to stabilize herself mid-flight as her hair slipped, scattered.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts."
Unknowingly, Ashley had triggered something in Mukuro as she clutched her stomach.
Ashley appeared in a flash of blue, narrowing her eyes at the spirit.
"...geh, seems like I might have messed up."
She said that, lightly scratching her cheek with her finger.
The way Mukuro spoke was concerning.
Not to mention, her Reiryoku suddenly began to spike… it climbed up, higher and higher.
It was concentrated enough to trigger a spacequake back on Earth.
But they were in space.
Even if it were her, she could handle herself, but this amount of Reiryoku.
Surely..
'Brother would sense it wouldn't he?'
Her lips curved downward—but given the situation, she might as well commit.
"...Aaaah! 〈Michael〉: 〈Shifuru〉!"
With a scream, the spirit clenched her Angel, raised it toward herself, and—
Stabbed it??
'Not good!'
Ashley thought, immediately sensing the troupe there, but it was late.
She reacted a bit late.
The Angel slid into the spirit's body, twisted, and in the next moment—
Her Reiryoku fully erupted.
Blue light surged violently, spiraling upward into the endless void of space.
"Oi, oi, I'm screwed ain't I?"
For a moment, she thought that, but then.
«You… you actually started a war with
Ashley flinched as the familiar voice echoed inside her head.
Crap it's brother.
«Don't give me that 'crap, it's brother' nonsense. Since we're already here, I'll lend a hand»
«Subdue her»
Ashley's head tilted to the side for a moment with an eh?
Morgan… was encouraging her?
False.
But the fact that he was lending a hand to her meant that—
"Finally! I can use it!!!!!"
"Beta! Open Sequence Pathway!"
«Attempting connection to the Root: 'Horizons at the End of Memories'.»
Inside her head, a slightly mechanical yet measured voice resounded in her head.
Naturally, she knew who this belonged to.
It was Beta.
«Connection approved»
«Accessing pathways: Contradiction, Love, Knowledge, Union, Space, Waves, Future»
«Fourth Pathway selected: Ashley Sinclair»
«Opening Fourth Pathway…»
"I'll be in your care Beta-chan!"
«Understood»
Beta's digital existence had entered [The Horizon at the End of Memories].
After all…
That was what even elevated her processing capacity to the quantum level.
Like the other Artemisia there, she was the guardian watching the 'Horizon'.
The other Artemisia was the one watching the 'Memories.'
Each pathway represented those bound to Morgan.
Connections strong enough to serve as proof—
The formula for his ascension toward Angelhood.
Quite different from the spirits.
But indeed, this was unique to him and them.
A system born from their bonds, will, and rejection of imposed norms.
"Yosha!"
She screamed with vibrations that pierced the very void like a heavenly voice.
A blinding golden light erupted from Ashley's body.
It flared alongside the spirits blue as she clenched her fist.
Her grin widened, parting into maniacal. She clenched her fist making a pose.
"Let me introduce myself, spirit!"
Slowly, Ashley then pointed her index finger towards the sky.
"I am one of the only six espers to ever exist."
"The 3rd Esper, Esper of Space, Fourth on the Angelic Esper Pathway."
"Ashley Sinclair!!!!!"
Whoom!
Vibrations spread, strong enough to induce cracks on nearby asteroids.
She then parted her hand to the side with a smile that was cocky yet beautiful.
"Come, my fellow Espers, let us show these ignorant people what we are capable of!"