“Do you believe in God?”
Flames danced wildly across the sky, wrapping around a corner of the city.
Thick gray smoke veiled the once-clear blue sky, concealing its true face.
The streets below were littered with rubble and blood, while the scorched earth gave off a pungent reek of gunpowder.
A crow let out a shrill, doleful cry from a steel beam.
Aside from that, the only sound left was the question asked by the girl in the sailor uniform standing on the ground.
The person she addressed, however, gave no reply.
That was only natural.
She had just been bombed to a bloody mess by the Spirit before her.
The fact that she could still glare with hatred in her eyes was the final, struggling sign of life she had left.
“You don’t believe?
Well, I do.”
What else could turn a mechanical body into flesh and blood, if not the divine power of God?
Just like right now—whether it was the wind howling past her ears or the heart thumping in her chest, none of these sensations had ever felt so real.
Looking back at the girl’s face, her fresh, short hair seemed to catch the shade of the blue sky, looking as though it would melt into it at the slightest touch.
Her eyes were blue as well, but unlike the clear sky of her hair, they felt more like a mirror reflecting the deep sea—tranquil and unbothered beneath their beauty.
Yet, contrasted against the bloody scene around her, the girl seemed entirely out of place.
“Shiratori…
you…”
Just then, the armor-clad battle girl lying on the ground let out a slurred voice.
Her twisted fingers trembled as she pointed at the girl known as Shiratori.
“Not dead yet?
Even with all your ribs broken, you can still talk.
It really is a miracle.”
Bending down as if marveling at the tenacity of life, Shiratori brought her face closer to the girl’s fingers.
She let out a soft sigh and spoke slowly.
“Then let me tell you a story…”
“Once upon a time, there was a little white bird.
No matter how hard it tried, it could never fly high, so it could only perch on a branch, watching other birds soar to the heights.”
“But the little bird wasn’t discouraged.
Yet, no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t fly into the blue sky.
No matter how it flapped its wings, it couldn’t reach the heavens.”
“Later on, the little bird accepted modifications from a group of humans.
It became a mechanical bird, gaining infinite power so it could spread its wings and fly high.”
“And so, the little bird flew, and flew, and flew…”
Shiratori’s voice remained calm, like a storm petrel, but it was laced with a faint sadness.
Paired with the constant repetition of ‘flew,’ it painted an inexplicably melancholic picture.
The heavily injured girl in armor lying on the ground showed no change in expression.
She was on the verge of death, yet Shiratori didn’t seem to notice and continued her story.
“It swept across the sea, flew over a thousand mountains, and reached straight into the clouds—reaching high altitudes that no other bird could ever touch.”
“But the air up high was so cold.
The clouds blocked its vision.
The little bird couldn’t see the people on the ground, couldn’t see the mountains, and lost its way.
It could only breathe the bone-chilling air.
Yet, it was afraid of falling, so it kept flying forward, never stopping.”
“Never stopping…”
As Shiratori’s voice faded, the armored girl lying in a pool of blood also lost all signs of life.
She closed her weary eyes, bidding farewell to the world that had brought her pain for so long.
“That’s why my chest has always hurt so much, has always been so cold.”
Shiratori caressed her chest, and the bone-chilling sensation traveled down her palm, spreading through her arm.
Even though it was no longer a steel plate, even though it was a chest of flesh and blood, why did it still feel so cold?
I don’t understand…
I just don’t understand.
After some time had passed, Shiratori slowly moved her hand away from her chest.
She then reached toward the head of the girl who had just died.
After fumbling around for a bit, she pulled out a chip-like object.
Looking closely, three letters could be seen on it.
“AST.”
Short for Anti-Spirit Team, a special unit that used Realizers to combat Spirits.
Almost all of its members were young girls, and their standard combat proficiency was fairly average.
However, the Territory deployed through their Realizers granted these girls a massive leap in combat capability.
As the name suggested, within this localized space, they could freely alter the gravity or mass of objects, while also enhancing their physical attributes to superhuman levels.
It was also the only force humanity possessed to contend against Spirits.
Shiratori then peeled off the outer sticker, revealing a completely new set of letters underneath.
“DEM.”
DEM Corporation—Shiratori had heard of it before.
When she first used a computer to hack into this world’s information network, the very first headline she came across was about them.
As one of the only two mega-corporations in the world capable of producing Realizers, DEM controlled the finest and most abundant resources to train Wizards.
At the same time, through various modification experiments, they kept their Wizards at an extreme level of power to capture Spirits for research.
“Deus ex machina?
A corporation whose products aren’t even worthy of shining the Allied robots’ shoes actually has the nerve to call itself that.”
Shiratori originally came from another world—a brutally harsh world where war never ceased.
People betrayed one another, and continuous research served only one purpose: more efficient slaughter.
Planes that blocked out the sky, pitch-black armies advancing like swarms of ants, and city after city collapsing under gunfire.
She was the product of such a cruel world—the Allied Forces’ most advanced robot, the White Spider Lily of the battlefield, the savior of the Allies: Shiratori.
A creation combining the pinnacle technology of Siegfried and FutureTech, storing the ultimate legacy of the Allied Armory and the Paradox Engine—the cutting-edge tech once embedded in Shiratori was enough to give her the right to scoff at all the technology here.
Yet, when Shiratori was destroyed, a fragmented phantom saved this robot that possessed emotions, bestowing upon her a small, crystal-like object.
And that was how she ended up like this.
Warm blood flowed through her veins.
Shiratori tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and began walking toward the end of the ruins.
In truth, she had always harbored doubts about her own emotions—a question that had circled her heart ever since her creation.
Could the cold emotions granted by steel really be identical to those of a human after acquiring a body of flesh and blood?
They weren’t fake; they truly existed.
They weren’t fabricated; they were genuine and sincere.
Even if she warned herself countlessly in her heart, were the emotions of praying like this real as well?
They weren’t fake, right?
I am…
I am human…
BOOM—!!!!
Just as she sank into her own world of thoughts, a missile exploded beside her without warning.
The blast of fire instantly shattered the girl’s reflection.
“Spirit!
Die!!!!”
Dozens of figures appeared in the distant sky.
Equipped in a manner identical to the girl lying on the ground earlier, they wore high-tech armor as they flew through the sky.
Holding various sci-fi weapons and absurdly oversized guns, they aimed in unison at Shiratori, who was stepping out from the smoke.
“Is this that obsession with vengeance?
How baffling.”
Looking at those dark gun muzzles, she shook her head.
The AST always harbored an unexpected amount of hatred toward her.
Of course, none of this was without reason.
The cause was that Shiratori was a Spirit—
The term ‘Spirit’ was far too unfamiliar to others.
Put simply, a Spirit was an extraordinarily powerful existence that normally resided in the neighboring dimension next to this world—the Neighboring World.
Every time a Spirit appeared from the Neighboring World, it was accompanied by a phenomenon—a phenomenon that triggered a massive, violent spatial shockwave.
It was like wiping a city clean off the map, causing immense loss of property and life.
The areas affected by a spacequake left behind nothing but a void—and a single Spirit.
Faced with this situation, most people strongly advocated for the elimination of these Spirits.
The departments handling this were, naturally, the AST and DEM Corporation.
One aimed to eliminate Spirits, while the other sought to capture them.
“Elohim Freedom!”
Along with Shiratori’s call, an extraordinary power wove blue garments together, clothing the girl’s body beneath a blinding light.
After a shift of shifting light rays, it formed a gorgeous yet dashing military officer uniform.
Formed by that wondrous light, massive sci-fi style wings shimmered with a faint glow.
Her left arm was covered in a layer resembling metal, yet entirely distinct from it.
The outfit outlined the girl’s slender waist, while the back of the skirt featured a white, swallow-tailed design—resembling both a white swallow and a majestic eagle riding the wind.
This was Shiratori’s true form—the Allied war machine.
The Allied eagle emblem on her chest shone brilliantly, as if flaunting an untouchable beauty.
What you are facing is the power of Europe’s top engineering.
Even though all her scientific weaponry had transformed into part of her Angel, Shiratori could still drive them using Reiryoku.
This was her ability.
“Fire!
Vanguard, keep the Spirit occupied!
Everyone else, standby for support!
DEM’s top ace will arrive on the battlefield shortly—we must hold out until then!”
“Last Instruction!”
The instant the AST opened fire on her from all directions, several beams of blue light materialized around Shiratori, revolving continuously around her.
Much like the supercomputers commonly seen in sci-fi stores, virtual screens rotated around Shiratori without pause.
Immediately after, as the blue screens flickered, the missiles in the air seemed to be seized by an invisible hand.
After a brief twitch, they all flipped their directions, charging straight back at the AST girls.
But that wasn’t all.
Under Shiratori’s control, the space around the AST members began to warp.
Right after, a blue light flashed past, and a small, drone-like object darted out.
Lightning coursed up and down its entire frame, with parts of it mounted with things resembling gun muzzles and light blades, instantly surrounding them.
Understanding means realization.
As long as it was a technological creation Shiratori understood, it could be reproduced through this Angel.
“Run—”
Clearly, their intelligence on Shiratori was severely lacking.
After all, even their most basic formation deployment had been wrong.
Because Shiratori’s destructive capability was broad-range S-class.
Unfortunately, they would never get another chance to correct their mistake.
Before the lead girl could even finish her words, she was shredded by the Reiryoku blades manipulated by the drone.
Then, under the horrified gazes of the remaining members, the lightning drone summoned thunderbolts straight down from the sky, the raging lightning resembling the roar of a thunder god in the heavens.
BOOM!!!!
Flames from the Reiryoku shells annihilated the AST girls.
The azure trajectories of the artillery seemed to carve through the air, looking like threads manipulated by a magician’s hands, harvesting everyone’s lives in a single instant.
This was the war between Spirits and Wizards—a war that was virtually impossible to win.
“Looks like today’s group was quite persistent.”
An electronic signal coming from afar alerted Shiratori that more enemies were approaching.
To a Spirit sensitive to technology, these signals stood out like fireflies in the dark.
“Sure enough, wherever I go, peace never lasts.”
PS: Hello everyone!
After a long time, I’ve returned to Pineapple Bun, the place where my dream began.
I guess I have quite a lot I want to say.
I’ve tried completing a few books over the years and spent time honing my writing.
I truly hope this story turns out just as I envisioned in my heart.
Unfortunately, my emotional intelligence is pretty low, and I don’t know if my practice with writing has borne any fruit.
In short, I want to make this story as perfect as possible.
If you don’t mind, please feel free to drop lots of comments and encouragement—it really means a lot to me and gives me a deep sense of satisfaction.
Also, thank you to all of you.
I hope you’ll like this book.
This is my very first time translating a fanfic novel.
I’m doing this purely for fun in my free time, so I apologize in advance if the translation quality isn’t perfect or feels a bit awkward.
I hope you still enjoy the story!