-Spiritual Kinship- 2nd half

Chapter 17 - Nia Truth

When the crystal was extracted out of Nia, her Astral Dress began to vanish into the air.

-[A Qlipha crystal...this has gotten serious. It could very well be the end of the world.]

".......?!" Syouji gasped when he heard Shinji say that. Of course, he was the only one who heard it since his voice was in his head.

"Sephira?! But that color..." Kotori raised a voice of disbelief when she saw the scene.

Then, at that moment, Syouji's senses suddenly began screaming at him as he felt the presence of something even more dangerous and turned in that direction.

For some reason, when he did that, Shidou turned his body as if they were completely synchronized.

It wasn't just them either. All the Spirits present each pointed their gazes in the same direction. At the center of everyone's attention, a man slowly walked his way towards Artemisia and Nia.

He was a man with Ash-blonde hair, who wore a triking black suit. The twins looked at that man with seething intent.

""Isaac Westcott...!""

Somehow, the voices of Syouji and Shidou merged into one and created an entirely new voice. A voice that seemed familiar to the man as he halted his movements.

"It's been a while. I'm glad that you're healthy."

Just as Westcott finished those words, he stopped, right in front of Nia.

And he stared, right at the black gem floating above her. He looked like a child curiously observing something he had never seen before.

"How wonderful. The inverse of a Sephira crystal-Qlipha." Westcott looked at it affectionately then glanced at Artemisia. 

"Good job, Artemisia. Shidou and Syouji, <Ratatoskr>, and yes, even you too Shinji, I know you're listening. I want to say something. It's all thanks to you that I'm finally able to take one step closer to my dearest wish."

Declaring that loudly, Westcott slowly extended his hands towards that gem. When he did that, the <space> distorted and a disembodied arm came out of nowhere and tried to grab the crystal.

But before it could, Westcott quickly gripped the Qlipha and then inserted it into his own chest.

"Kuhaha-AAaahhh!!"

"You insane bastard..." Said a familiar disembodied voice.

From the Qlipha, a pitch black light discharged into the surroundings, accompanied by a hiss, like electricity travelling through the air. In an instant, the area had changed into night.

And then, a few seconds later, the night gathered into one place and was absorbed into Westcott.

"Fu..." Westcott stood there, emanating an immense amount of Reiryoku. There was a hole burnt directly through the chest of his suit.

At this moment, he looked exactly like a Spirit.

"Kuhaha! Kuhahahaha!!!"

Westcott bent his body forward and gave a tremendous roar of laughter. Looking at this scene, Kotori's face grew pale.

"There's no way...did he just insert the Sephira into himself...?!" Kotori questioned in disbelief.

"Qlipha. That crazy maniac deliberately turned himself into an inverse Spirit." Syouji answered.

"Don't be stupid....that's not...possible." Before he could even finish his words, Shidou choked up out of perplexity.

"It's possible. After all, our existence is enough proof of that." Syouji said with a frown.