Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 365: Arc 5, - 59: All According to Plan

"Well, there’s an offensive affinity for you," Hotaru muttered.

"Tell me about it," Fumeko remarked.

"Hm, if she can do that again and all of us are down here, you should go ahead with the plan," Hotaru stated. "The three of us’ll handle the cultists."

Fumeko glanced up, "Alright then." She turned to the invisible wolf-girl, "Make sure, Tiffany’s safe," she hushed.

"Of course I will," there was a pleasant smile in her voice.

"Ting—Cling-Fwing-Ding—Clang!" Swivelling her sword in an infinity pattern, the Thundering Blade moved herself forward into each strike—each step he took back in response to Jotou’s assault.

Both of the man’s arms were metallic—a dull grey. From shoulder to fingertips, like two tower shields, he had put them up to block the flurry of the armite blade. Across the metal armour-like hide, were several barbs of the same hue.

And each of them fell like broken needles as Jotou broke and bashed against them—they tinged onto the mesh and would fall below. It seemed the ’metal’ didn’t quite conduct her lightning effectively.

"Swish!"

Jotou felt a stiffness in the air behind her and a sudden cut in the wind. She bent her knees down and narrowly avoided the scythe that swung at her neck.

She spun on the tips of her toes and swivelled her blade back to the man in blue, but he blinked back and avoided the lightning arcing over the tip of the blade.

With an opening, the imposter’s fingers unfurled and metallic shell fell. Sharp webbed claws took the place of his hand, longer than a wolverine’s. He lunged forward-

Jotou dropped lower and a trail of sparks followed her foot as she swept the legs. Lightning boosted her and spun her around like a top of electricity.

The Kickbolt from Jotou staggered the imposter back, but Jotou spun again to her back with her blade out- "Twing!" "Kickbolt!" as she deflected the blow from the scythe with her blade, she kicked her right foot up with a trail of lightning.

"Snap!" Jotou fractured the curved handle with a kick and flung the scythe’s curved blade into the wall with the momentum of her sword. "Kr! TrRrR..." The tip of the scythe got empaled into the wall and vibrated.

Jotou pierced forward with a grunt and both hands on her sword. The man in blue blinked away and Jotou was left to see all of Asobi’s colourful changing spotlights along the walkway and over her.

In the split-second, Jotou’s eyes darted as far left as they could go and she spun back again with her sword in both hands. Jotou’s eyes widened and she pushed her sword up sideways in an attempt of defence.

Massive human hands caught the sparking blade—bare—forcing Jotou to widen her stance and stomp her back foot down onto the creaking and haphazardly bending mesh flooring.

His fingers curled around. He stood at least two and a half metres tall, his head and lower half akin to a bull, horns, fur and all.

Electricity burst and zapped forth from the blonde, but the bull-headed massive figure blew smoke from his nose and grunted—as if it just shrugged all the electricity off.

The imposter bellowed out like an enraged bull and gripped the sword by the blade, before he almost effortlessly wrenched the sword from her iron-like grip.

Too late to let go, Jotou was yanked forward into the momentum as well. Upon which, one giant hand seized her arm and in the same second, it threw her against the side of the wall! "BANG!" "Gzh!"

The sparks all across her form flickered out and was lost for a moment. The hulking figure stomped its black hooves into the mesh and held the blade by the hilt. He raised the sword pointing down above her form and thrusted-

"Woosh!" "SHLICK!" "ROARRR!!!"

The bull-headed figure let out its demented bellow of agony and reeled back as a gleaming purple dagger was now plunged deep into its right eye socket.

Fumeko landed on the sunken floor and warped the dagger back into her grasp. She took aim and threw the dagger for the wincing left eye of the beast—before she blinked into shadows upwards.

"SHTICK!" "ROOAHR!"

The other dagger stabbed into said eye, causing the beast to stumble and reach for its own head. At the same time, Fumeko appeared from above and straddled the massive right arm.

She side-eyed the dagger and warped it to her hand, no gore nor blood left on it. She stuck the dagger into the giant hand and pried smoothly into the grip around Jotou’s sword, forcing the beast to abandon the blade from its grasp with a grunt.

Just as the sword was falling, Jotou, who had gotten up, caught the hilt in her open palm and curved it around as it glowed brightly with sparks once more—much like her entire form. "Thanks detective."

Fumeko blinked next to Jotou as they both peered at the struggling and in anguish beast-man, who clutched its head and hid the bleeding of its eyes.

"Is this the one we’re choosing?" the brunette asked with furrowed brows.

Jotou spun her blade, "It’s the only one we got." She pointed the sword past the pained figure, "Door over there. It might have what we need."

Fumeko did indeed see a grey door at the end of the walkway, where the impostor first showed his face. "I’m on it," in shadows she blinked forward.

Jotou readied her blade against her opponent. The hulking figure took a few breaths as it removed its hands from its eyes. Beneath were glaring reddened eyes with blood trickling down.

Much of the gore had gone missing and the eyes had no injury. A thin cut went across each of his palms from when it gripped the blade. Even so, the cut barely drew blood despite the force and the skin sealed itself up...

Fumeko turned the handle of the unlocked door and hoped that a four-armed woman was not waiting for her this time. Within were white lights shining down and a desk at the end of the room. Several maps, documents and books took refuge here.

She blinked forth and her eyes quickly scanned over the maps pinned onto the boards, as well as various notes. The table was host to files and binders among stray piles of paper—both used and blank.

Fumeko got behind the empty desk and opened up a ring binder filled to the brim with typewritten notes. She threw her head up and heard the sounds of scraping metal and gunfire out the door.

Now was no time to read in detail and fear something else that might hinder her retrieval of evidence. Fumeko turned and hastily tore down the map of Dolpool from the board and folded it up, followed by another map depicting Burnetrout and the Fineas Sea.

Meanwhile outside, the cultists searched around the crates and racks for the assailants while Jotou and their superior fought above—they could hardly land a shot in that direction.

Not to mention the colourful lights circling the entire area, confusing and obscuring their vision even more. Spreading in from outside, all of them looked for the ones who knocked out several of their numbers.

Little did they know at the front end of the warehouse and behind the pallet racks in the corner, a figure in reds and blacks scrambled up the crates—unceremoniously and with no grace whatsoever.

"Eh. Eh!" The eccentric Child of the Void managed to get to the top and her arms were on the final crate atop, but only her eyeline made it up any farther than that.

Suddenly Tiffany was pushed up by the waist, "The stage’s set," Asobi hushed. Tiffany whispered a thank you and got on top. She glanced at the fight along the walkway on the opposite end before she peered down to the cultist clueless to her presence.

"Go on, be quick," Hotaru told from behind as well.

Tiffany took a deep breath and screamed down. "AAAaAHhHhHHhHHHhHHhHHH!!!!!!!!" Waves and waves of sound rippled out in hues of translucent white throughout the warehouse.

"CRASH!" "CRSH!" "SMASH!" All the windows within the warehouse, except the ones behind her, shattered and broke—the further ones had cracked and collapsed from the constant scream that echoed.

Some of the cultists dropped their weapons to clutch their ears, some fell to their knees, some winced and braced themselves against any surface they could find. The metal of the racks close to her hummed in vibration and some crates even closer to her splintered a tad.

Nonetheless, everyone on the lower floor was stunned in the moment. Some of the translucent white waves, warped and shifted as she continued screaming—the hue darkened ever so faintly.

Up on the walkway however, the sound was just something to be heard. Fumeko blinked out the door, carrying several documents and papers under her arms; rolled and folded up maps she had in her arms as well.

Multiple papers in her left hand and a dagger in her right. She scanned her surroundings and to Tiffany way over on the other end. "Fwoosh!" Her view was then obstructed by turquoise flames that roiled up.

Fumeko’s breath hitched and she took several steps back. Shadows appeared around her feet, ready to blink away at a moment’s notice. "You..." she glared daggers.

But that sudden hesitation in her movement was enough for the man in blue to take advantage of. He tipped his hat and smiled; Fumeko was lit on fire of turquoise hue.

Her eyes bubbled and her heart raced, unable to contain the loud, terrified scream from deep within her lungs, filled with dread, panic and weakness. It was only drowned out by echoing ripples of sound from the other side.

She cared not for the mission, she cared not for what she held, she cared not for anything else the moment her skin, her clothes, her hair all caught fire.

Besides the papers in her hand and the dagger in the other, she stumbled and dropped everything. She wheezed, whimpered and whined as she slapped her own arms, hair and body to put out the flames—only for it not to go away.

The man in blue quickly pushed her into the door, causing Fumeko to trip and fall. "Gh!" She whimpered again and tears ran down her face covered in flames as the man in blue picked up and or kicked all the documents back into the room.

He barely had to grapple with Fumeko to take back the papers she held. Without a word he blinked away in roiling flame, all the evidence taken away from her within seconds while she tried so desperately to put out the flame or rub her back against the wall.

She panted and panted, her breaths only grew quicker as adrenaline spiked and she began hyperventilating. She slapped her knees and as she did, the dagger went over the turquoise fires in her frantic movements.

The gleaming purple dagger ate away at some of the flames and wiped away the bits of illusion. Illusion...? Her brain was scrambled, she could barely tell left from right, much less recall that he was an illusionist.

Fire wreathed her body and yet there was no pain nor mark. Yet the panic was not gone. With whatever common sense was left within her, she quickly ran the dagger over the magical illusions of fire on her body, weeping as she did.

On the other end of the walkway, quick movements of her feet and parries from her blade, kept the claws of a large mountain lion away.

The mountain lion was thrown back by a zap and pounced off the wall, but the muscle and figure shrank down to a hummingbird and fluttered quickly over Jotou and transformed again into the impostor’s form with two massive, sharp spider legs.

Jotou twisted her legs around closely and narrowly avoided being pierced from above by swerving back. "CliNG-Ting!" The spider-like legs got caught in the metal mesh for a quick second.

Jotou rotated her sword in between her fingers and sighed; she swayed her hips to one side, "Shame none of your other buddies aren’t here. I think any one of them would’ve made quick work of me—especially that four-armed lady, much better than you.

Bit scary too she was. You; you’re just creepy," she raised a brow to the spider legs that turned back into human ones. Nevertheless she digressed, "That’s twice now you took too long to kill me.

What’s the matter, slow reflexes or slow mind? Maybe a chimpanzee brain my help you- Better yet, a rat. Or is it in this form do you find most comfort in? All alone, no one for yourself? Does disguising yourself as Ambrose make you feel more secure~?"

As the imposter looked to her, there was just the slightest hint of annoyance in the tick of an eyebrow. "That name..."

"Oh?" Jotou smirked. "Your cohort? Accomplice? Ally? Well, he and I talk. He tells me things," Jotou’s eyes wandered the ceilings condescendingly as she shook her head, "Never mind, you wouldn’t get it~"

The figure narrowed his eyes and all his teeth began to sharpen and grow, mouth, jaw and head included.

The blonde chuckled with closed lips, "Angry are you? Makes sense. After all, you’re just his inferior copy." She readied her blade and awaited for him to attack her.

Scales of deep ruby red that grew darker and darker till they were black at the tips, sprouted and layered over the more reptilian head.

Slitted pupils of ember-like hue and large twisted horns at the top. Thick scales went down the neck till it met his clothes and smoke emanated from the two nostrils as it huffed.

The snout opened to snarl and reveal roars upon rows of sharp teeth and a flicker of flame sparked deep down its maw, "RAAARR!" "FWWWSSHSHHSHS!!!" the reptilian head breathed continuous orange flame towards the bewildered blonde.

She dispelled all her sparks at once and ducked her head behind her sword, hoping the bluish aura around her and her armour would be enough to at least get away with a couple of burns at best.

Immense heat blazed past her skin and... Jotou opened one eye to see more fire. However, not past her; some strands of her hair at tips behind her were maybe burned, but it was much less heat than what she was expecting.

The armite blade in front of her, held the flame all around it till its cross-guard and the bluish aura kept her hand safe but had dissipated all around her. Smoke and soot rose up to the ceiling.

Jotou glanced to her sword in the quick second. It was not set on fire, rather the fire floated around every part of the blade, like magnets that did not quite touch.

Jotou flourished her sword out of the disappearing fumes and—"Fwsh!" She threw the flame off the sword and onto the snout of the creature that looked for her in the smoke.

The imposter winced in annoyance and snarled. "SNAP!" Jotou moved back- "SNAP!" She moved back more as the maw snapped towards her in rage.

"Zap!" Jotou spun and slashed across the hide of its jaw, sending a shock down its scales that made it stagger its head back. It opened its snout and spewed forth more flames.

Jotou de-sparked her sword, but some sparks that met the flames popped in little explosions. Jotou kept her sword in front of her and parted the fire from her form, before she flung the fire right back as the impostor had to pause.

’It’s one of the enchantments Moren had put on it...’ Jotou dashed forward and slashed, right and left towards the still humanoid body. She cut and slashed against parts of the suit on his forearms as he blocked.

All the scales on its head shifted hue to sparkling white and tips of blue, much like a chameleon; the snout itself grew much more blunt and short. "HHOWWWWLLLL!!!" Icicles and snow stormed out from its breath.

Jotou’s entire form sparked and she grunted as ice crystal cut a few shallow tears over her knuckles. The rest of sparking form melted or zapped the snow and ice—not without making her extremely chilly however.

Fog left her breath and she ducked under her yellow coat to block the incoming cold. The impostor sluggishly approached with his maw breathing frost and his arm turned into a bluish-white, jagged shrimp-like claw.

As the burst of frost ended, Jotou saw the figure above her and shifted her shoulder to face behind her a smidgen, "Shoulder-Charge!" lightning raced around her form and—"SHINK"—dashed her several metres back within the blink of an eye.

Jotou looked up as her shielding of electricity dissipated and saw the large, crustacean claw had already swiped down. The blonde’s brows knitted and she felt a sting on her right cheek.

She reached up to touch it, only to realize it was a large gash—that already cauterized. Jotou glanced to him as his other arm turned into the same claw. Both pincers snapped forward towards her...

"SHRIEEKKK!!!"

Tiffany’s echoes came to an end and the eccentric girl was wobbling to and fro, about to collapse. Fortunately an invisible figure caught her and held her steady while her head spun.

However, that shriek did not come from Tiffany; no, it came from the back of the warehouse... Everyone’s attention, besides the impostor, turned to the rectangular pillar with a sphere on top.

They watched the beacon hum and hum with ghostly wails and spirits began rising from the floors. Some shrieked and escaped from the sphere on top in hues of silver—those flew much faster and whizzing the wind around them as they did.

"PINGngNGNgNG!" Jotou’s sparking blade parried both claws. "Woosh!" Fumeko was back up on her feet and out the door. Tiffany held the frame of a rack to steady herself. The ghosts rushed towards all of those who attacked this place.

Asobi’s butterfly seared through the amorphous form of a ghost that flew up, while Hotaru clawed another and guarded Tiffany—she was unable to siphon anything from it. "Sobi?"

"Uhm, the ghosts can see through invisible things, we can’t really stay hidden!" she squeaked in reply.

Seeing all this, "It’s time," the redhead sighed as the invisibility finally faded on her.

"Okay," Asobi pointed her wand to her own neck, "Show’s over! I thank you all for coming, but no need to feel down! For we shall leave with a grand finale!" her voice echoed throughout the warehouse.

"Dazzling Outburst!" She directed her wand down past the crates and near the entrance. From it, she shot out dozens and dozens of fireworks—crimson, green, gold, blue. The dazzling display of lights exploded with false sound.

Fumeko scowled at the display and looked back into the room. By the time she had calmed down for her panic and was glaring once more, the desk behind her had been cleared, one by one by that man in blue...

The brunette took a deep breath as her face wrinkled more and more. Stepping into shadow, she blinked out the entrance past the fireworks.

’That’s the cue.’ Jotou knocked the claws away, "Shoulder-Charge!" blasted herself back on the balls of her feet and smiled to the impostor several meters away. "Maybe I overestimated you if you need backup; or maybe I’m mistaken that you’re even a ’new god’.

Ha, hahaha!" she giggled with a hand over her lips. "Oh look at you, failing your quandary once more~ I still stand and I’ll escape again—you’ll never catch me it seems~ Well then, I bid thee adieu," Jotou took a bow as the enraged figure dashed forward.

The figure melted into liquid and turned into a massive yellow blob of slime. It bashed into the wall and sprung itself towards her like a rubber ball. Jotou hopped over the railing and onto a crate.

"BONG!" The railing bent as the slime impacted into it and it turned back into Ambrose’s form. Many of the cultists had passed out from the constant sound and many were still recouping after hearing nothing but echoes for at least more than a minute.

By the time they raised their firearms and aimed, the five were out of the warehouse and behind the fireworks, that exploded into one final burst of white light that made everything shun, including the ghastly forms that chased after.

"We can’t seriously run from here at this point!" Fumeko argued outside. The night was still calm, the outside still looked the same, but many of the vehicles had small cracks on windows.

It seemed all of the cult had made their way into the warehouse during the whole event. So far from housing areas or places with heavy foot traffic... No wonder the cult operated in places like this.

"And the ghosts can see me, so, I’m out of ideas! It’s crazy, I know!" the elf lamented.

"I don’t think most illusions work on them besides some bright light," Hotaru spoke quickly.

"Pray tell, why oh why, was this complication not deliberated timelier?" Tiffany panted.

"It’s not that it wasn’t, but," Jotou replied and ran for one of the cars that still rumbled. "We’re kinda improvising at this point." She sparked her hand and yanked the door handle, only for it to open seamlessly. "That’s what you get when you don’t lock your car."

"We’ll explain later, come on," Fumeko took Tiffany by the hand and rushed her towards the car. With the keys still twisted in the vehicle, Jotou hopped in behind the steering wheel on the right side.

"W-wait, you want to drive us out of here?" Hotaru’s ears fell.

"I know you have PTSD from Daiyu, but I’m a decent driver. Well actually, the driver’s seat’s on the right side, so, probably?" Jotou examined the steering and the brake lever.

"Oh no..." Fumeko’s lips tightened as she shoved Tiffany into the backseat. Hotaru just ran and sat behind Jotou’s seat with concern all over her visage.

"Yay! We get to ride in a car again! Drive super fast Jotou!" Asobi gleefully hoped into the back seat, while Fumeko blinked into the front.

Behind them, the cultists rushed out of the warehouse, one of them being the man in blue who blinked towards them surrounded by turquoise flame.

"Drive, Drive, Drive, DRIVE!" Fumeko shouted.

Jotou let go of the brake lever and shut the door; the entire car rolled a little forward. "He’s right behind us!" Hotaru looked out the back window. Jotou pushed her foot down on the accelerator, which roared the engine forward a smidgen.

Tiffany glanced back and stuck her head out the window. The turquoise flame appeared in the side mirror. Just as he appeared- "Begone from mine sIgHt!" Tiffany shouted an echo before her voice cracked and croaked in the end.

However, the ripple of sound was enough to thrust the man in blue back before he could blink away. He thudded onto the floor as the car began picking up speed and Jotou rolled it around to face the road.

"Ping!" "Pang!" Bullets dented the car from behind. Asobi pointed her wand at the back window and manifested a small wall of pure butterflies behind the car, which absorbed the bullets while Jotou pressed further down on the accelerator.

She took control of the steering tightly and the car drove off onto the road, nearly crashing into crates by the sides. Just in time for the fake Ambrose to step out of the warehouse and watch the car drive away... A bright light flashed from the left of the warehouse.

Several of the cultists ran into the five leftover cars and were going to drive after them. Ticked off and needing to deal with them, Ambrose glared ahead.

In that glare, his brows turned into dull grey scales, his arms extended as greyish scales and skin replaced them and his fingers transfigured into sharp bony claws. His glaring human eyes became murky and his pupils slitted...