Chapter 260: Kurumi's Past
As she spoke, Kurumi looked at Franklin with eyes full of longing and madness. Countless Kurumi clones flew out from the shadows as well.
"There's no need to worry about any of that anymore. This is the final struggle—using up all the spiritual power and time I've accumulated over the years, just to devour you, Mr. Franklin."
"At this moment, there is only success or death before me. If I die like this, then I think I'll finally be able to meet her with peace of mind."
"Zafkiel!"
Watching the golden clock face spread across the sky, and tens of thousands of Kurumi clones raise their guns directly at him, Franklin felt his scalp go numb for a moment.
"First Bullet!"
"Second Bullet!"
"Fourth Bullet!"
"Fifth Bullet!"
"Seventh Bullet!"
"Mr. Franklin, I'm sorry. Even though you're a good person, I can no longer turn back…"
The coordination between the Kurumis was flawless. Some First Bullet Kurumis accelerated themselves, Second Bullet slowed the flow of time for the targets they hit,
Fourth Bullet reversed time on the targets it struck, always ready to rescue other Kurumis, Fifth Bullet was fired at themselves to foresee the immediate future,
and Seventh Bullet froze time for whatever it hit.
Dozens of Second Bullets and Seventh Bullets, along with tens of thousands of spiritual bullets, came flying in. Franklin's divine sense spread outward as ice crystals condensed out of thin air. Every incoming bullet was wrapped in ice and slowly fell to the ground.
"Sage Art: Advent of the World Tree."
Under Franklin's control, endless vines surged skyward. The hundreds of thousands of Kurumis did not wait passively—bullets rained down on the vines, forming a stalemate for a time.
Some Kurumis who had been accelerated by the First Bullet moved at terrifying speed, even reaching a near-teleportation level. They evaded all the vines, their target being Franklin himself.
Seeing this, Franklin let out a quiet breath.
"I'll end everything within one minute. I hope you still remember what you said earlier."
In an instant, Franklin's eyes transformed into the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan. This was the first time he had used it since advancing. Within the range covered by his divine sense, genjutsu activated instantly.
"Mr. Franklin, we've already experienced this move many times…"
Fourth Bullets were fired immediately, waking some of the Kurumis on the spot. This was exactly what Franklin wanted—he did not continue using genjutsu.
Heaven and Earth Manifestation—
A golden-armored giant god rose straight from the ground, while the vines completely enveloped and bound the Kurumis who had fallen into the illusion.
"Since you've seen it so many times, I wonder how you plan to deal with this?"
Hearing Franklin's question, Kurumi's expression turned strange. Second Bullets and Seventh Bullets were fired at once.
The previously imposing Franklin instantly discovered, awkwardly, that the illusory Heaven and Earth Manifestation slowed down rapidly, until it finally froze completely. A sense of temporal restraint even began to transmit toward his own body.
Rule-based power—what a pain. Franklin let out a breath and instantly disengaged from the Heaven and Earth Manifestation as dozens of Kurumi bodies rushed toward him.
Franklin sighed, waved at them somewhat awkwardly, and said, "I'm done playing. This is boring."
Before the others could react, Franklin directly activated Time Denial.
In an instant, everyone's expressions shifted violently. Everything began to flow backward. All events from the past three minutes were negated.
Existing memories rapidly vanished. Three minutes passed, and all of Kurumi's bodies returned to her shadow.
It should have stopped there—but time continued to rewind, slowly reversing, until everything returned to before it had even begun.
At that moment, countless memories flooded into Franklin's mind. A familiar girl—Tokisaki Kurumi.
In the prime of her youth, born into a wealthy family, she lived carefree days, enjoying high school life together with her best friend, Yamada Saya.
Everything changed on one trip home after school. An ice monster attacked her, and at the critical moment, a pure white, indistinct figure saved her.
"Are you okay?"
The gentle voice, together with what had just happened, shattered Tokisaki Kurumi's fragile worldview.
She stood frozen for a long time before finally coming back to her senses. Her voice trembled slightly, filled with caution.
"Who are you? And what was that monster just now?"
"A monster…"
The white, indistinct figure fell silent. After a long while, her voice sounded again.
"The one that attacked you was an ice Spirit—a wicked Spirit. Our world actually has neighboring realms.
"Many evil Spirits live there. What you encountered just now was one of those evil ice Spirits."
"Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Mio. I am the guardian Spirit of magical girls. Due to special circumstances, I appeared in the real world."
"I haven't yet found a suitable person to become a magical girl."
"But now it's different. The spiritual power within your body is extremely abundant—you are the perfect candidate."
"Are you interested in becoming a magical girl? That way, you can save ordinary people who are attacked by evil Spirits."
Hearing Mio's words, Tokisaki Kurumi's first reaction was doubt. But when Mio took out a golden crystal emitting a faint glow, all of Kurumi's doubts were swallowed back down.
"This is a Spirit Crystal. After using it, you'll become a time-based magical girl."
"So, how about it? Are you interested in helping ordinary people who are in danger?"
A high school girl, at the age of dreams and fantasies—now faced with the choice of saving the world. Tokisaki Kurumi didn't hesitate at all and agreed immediately.
Amid the burst of transformation effects, Kurumi's school uniform changed into Divine Authority Spirit Dress · Third, and her left eye turned into a golden clock face.
From then on, in addition to attending school, Tokisaki Kurumi traveled the path of battling evil Spirits every day.
Her close friend Yamada Saya also noticed something was wrong with her. Kurumi seemed mentally exhausted every day at school.
Because of this, she followed Kurumi several times, but every time she would inexplicably lose sight of her.
Until one day, she encountered that white, indistinct figure—Mio.
"You're Kurumi's close friend, right? I remember you're always together."
Facing this unknown being, Yamada Saya was far more cautious than Kurumi had been.
"Who are you? Why do you know these things?"
"Who am I? I'm the guardian Spirit of magical girls. Because evil Spirits have invaded the real world, I need Kurumi's power to help me eliminate them."
Hearing this explanation, Yamada Saya looked at Mio with deep suspicion.
"Are you playing games with kids? I'm long past the age of believing in childish fantasies.
"No matter what leverage you have over Kurumi, let her go right now. Otherwise, I'm calling the police."
Seeing that Yamada Saya was completely unmoved, Mio fell silent for a long time. Then she slowly took out a blazing red Spirit Crystal.
The scorching heat spread instantly—so intense that even Yamada Saya showed a look of shock.