I'm not going to be an Spirit! (Translate)

After confirming the identity of the newly descended character, Meteora faction immediately began devising a series of operational plans.

The presence of Tokisaki Kurumi posed a tremendous threat not only to the creators but also to the other creations. While no one knew exactly what Altair was planning, capturing Kurumi ahead of time would be equivalent to cutting off one of Altair arms.

The most direct way to deal with Kurumi was, of course, to have her creator, Mr. Tachibana, alter her settings and reduce her threat level. However, while this method was straightforward, it was also extremely difficult to implement.

Because changing a creation's settings required acknowledgment from readers. Without Acceptance Force, any setting change Tachibana made to Tokisaki Kurumi would be meaningless.

Furthermore, Kurumi was the most popular character in Date A Live, consistently ranking at the top for years. If her settings were downgraded from a terrifying nightmare to a weakling, her fans would be the first to revolt.

Moreover, unlike the copycat witch's replication ability, which didn't play a significant role in the original story, Kurumi and her angel Zafkiel held an irreplaceable place in the plot. Even minor tweaks to her character could drastically alter the original storyline.

Therefore, weakening the enemy was not a viable strategy.

Since they couldn't weaken the enemy, the only alternative was to strengthen themselves.

In the following days, with the government's cooperation and within reasonable limits, the creators added new abilities to the creations aligned with Meteora faction to counter Tokisaki Kurumi.

For example:

Presence Detection – to probe whether Kurumi was hiding in nearby shadows.Magic Suppression – to reduce the damage from her spiritual bullets.True Damage – to bypass her Astral Dress's defenses.Abnormal Status Resistance – to resist the mentally corruption from the City of Devouring Time.

Not only that, to further increase their chances of victory, Meteora faction reached out to two previously neutral creations.

One was Yuya Mirokuji, a villain from the manga Exclusive Underground -Dark Night

The other was Magane Chikujoin, a villain from the anime Record of the Night Window Demon

Previously, Meteora had tried to recruit both of them, but they were characters who disliked being bound to any side and had chosen to remain neutral.

However, this time, Yuya Mirokuji agreed to join.

There were two reasons:

First, he was out of money.

Though he was portrayed as a villain, Yuya Mirokuji was more like a righteous character who had been framed. The protagonist mistook him as the enemy due to manipulation by the true antagonist.

In reality, he had a good personality.

During his time in the real world, he hadn't committed any major crimes. His income came mainly from extorting thugs and robbing criminal syndicates—basically bad guys robbing other bad guys—and he didn't harm regular citizens.

Unfortunately, he had been spending money recklessly, and the funds he seized were running out. The gangs nearby had all been cleaned out. Just when he was considering relocating, Meteora approached with a generous offer, solving his pressing issue.

Second, he was tired of getting attacked.

For some unknown reason, Altair faction, while no longer engaging directly with Meteora team, had turned their aggression toward neutral characters like Yuya Mirokuji and Magane Chikujoin.

As a result, they were constantly getting into fights—almost every couple of days—which disrupted even their sleep. While Yuuya didn't mind fighting, this kind of harassment-level conflict was seriously annoying.

And so—Ally +1.

Time passed as the creators and creations continued their preparations. Another week went by.

"We've found what you asked for."

One week later, at Meteora faction headquarters.

Government represTachibanative Kikuchihara Aki opened her laptop, pulled up several files, and projected them onto a screen.

The footage showed surveillance video.

In the video was a person dressed in plain clothes, hood up, face obscured by shadows. From the protruding chest, it was clear the figure was a tall woman. A strand of golden hair falling outside her hood confirmed this further.

Next to the video was a sketch portrait.

"This kind of looks like... Alice-chan?"

Looking at the unfamiliar yet oddly familiar sketch, Kōzuki Mamika said uncertainly.

The character Mamika referred to as Alice-chan was Alicetaria February, the heroine of the anime Alicetaria of the Scarlet.

Due to the dark fantasy setting of her original work—filled with sacrifice, war, and suffering—after learning the truth of this world upon her summoning by Altair, she immediately joined Altair faction. She even stormed a police station to extract a protected creator, injuring over twenty officers.

However, her appearance in the video was drastically different from her anime portrayal:

No more full-body silver armor, royal dragon gauntlet, or knight's lance.

"Yes, based on the analysis, there's over a 95% chance that the person in the footage is Alicetaria February," Kikuchihara Aki nodded and then pulled up a mass of files and data.

While the creators were busy modifying settings and the creations were sparring to boost their strength, the government had also been working hard.

Since Natsumi Tome of Revelation couldn't extract information on Altair or her allies due to censorship, the government was forced to increase its budget and manpower for intelligence gathering.

Though Meteora team often patrolled the streets, the government was still far more effective at large-scale searches.

Kikuchihara Aki had been tasked with locating enemy creations during this period.

"Even though they are creations with all sorts of unique abilities, they still haven't transcended physical needs. They still have to eat and sleep."

Kikuchihara adjusted her glasses. Though she looked fatigued, her tone carried a touch of pride.

"With our extensive grid-style searches, the enemy finally made a mistake."

Given the constant harassment of neutral parties like Yuya Mirokuji and Magane Chikujoin, the government narrowed their search area from Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures down to Tokyo alone.

Then they focused surveillance on convenience stores, warehouses, docks—places with ample supplies but low foot traffic—hoping to catch a lead.

Their diligence paid off.

Just yesterday, they received a valuable clue.

The internet monitoring team spotted a social media post. A convenience store clerk reported meeting a tall, blonde, blue-eyed beauty who looked suspiciously like Alicetaria and asked if anyone knew how to contact her.

The keyword "Alicetaria" immediately raised red flags with the monitoring team. They contacted the poster, acquired the store's surveillance footage, and based on the clerk's description, sketched a portrait.

Then, using government authority, they cross-referenced all foreigners in the area and eliminated every person who didn't match the profile.

Since no registered foreigners matched the appearance, it meant this tall blonde woman was an undocumented person—a black-market resident—very likely to be Alicetaria herself.