Date A Mysterious Being

Chapter 52 - What's yours is mine

In the backseat of a car driving through Tenguu city, DEM Industries' managing director, Isaac Westcott, was smiling as he looked at the screen of a small computer in his hands.

"This isn't a bad development. As expected, Knox and the other crew members did a great job. If we were to have done it ourselves, we would have left behind some traces no matter what."

"-Do you mean with regards to Material A?"

Sitting next to him, Ellen asked as she too was looking at his computer's screen. Westcott exaggeratedly replied.

"Aah. Don't you think it's more appropriate for us to call her by her code name, Sister, for now?"

"..." Ellen kept her silence for a while, but then continued to speak.

"...More importantly, isn't it risky to release the Spirit we already captured?"

She had a slight glimpse of displeasure in her expression.

Originally, Sister, was a Spirit (re)captured by Ellen five years ago. The only Spirit ever possessed by DEM Industries. She felt a bit dissatisfied with her current mission, which to her was completely unreasonable. Despite her protests, Westcott loosened his cheeks, as if he found it amusing to see Ellen pouting not unlike a child.

"What is it?"

"No, it's just as you said. There's a possibility that we'll lose DEM's most important asset. However-It is true that we were stuck, right?"

When Westcott said that, Ellen let out a tiny sound of frustration.

"That's... Perhaps, that's true, but-"

"During those years, we tried any kind of mental and physical torture we could think of, but still, we were never able to completely inverse her."

Westcott glanced at Ellen and continued.

"However, Princess's inverse form that descended before us three months ago was a truly splendid specimen, even though we didn't really do anything to harm her ourselves."

Westcott closed his eyes as if he was reminiscing upon the figure that he had seen before.
Then, he let out a cold voice.

Right. During that unforgettable September, Westcott and Ellen succeeded in inversing the Spirit Princess.

And the reason for that was---the death of her beloved Itsuka Shidou.
He and the mysterious Kunshu Lucas were part of DEM's natural enemy, the organization that sought to save the Spirits, Ratatoskr. They opened the hearts of Spirits and sealed away their Reiryoku. However, it was that bond which was born that was instrumental in Princess's inversion.

"That is why, I let my dear Spirit Sister free from my hands for the moment. With that Realizer embedded within her brain to keep all those terrible things we did to her over the past five years... locked away."

That was why Westcott gave the order to give her special "treatment." She must not have remembered the time when he opened her belly while she was still alive, or the time he opened up her skull and tinkered with it, or when he had her arms and legs scraped away, one millimeter at a time. She couldn't remember even a single moment of it.

There are two reasons for that special treatment.

The first reason was simple. Due to the horrendous torture and inhumane experiments they subjected to her every single day, her mind had broken down several times before. If he didn't seal away her memories, then she'd have been nothing more than an empty shell.

And the other reason was-

"...Oh?"

Westcott saw the numerical value displayed on the computer's screen beginning to change. Then, he moved his eyebrow.