------Shidou POV------

A blinding light illuminated the sky.

The sky was quickly covered by the white of that light.

Inside <Fraxinus>, everyone was tense as they saw that deadly light getting closer and closer.

Just a few seconds ago, Rimuru was fighting the AST, Kotori ordered to retreat, and then---

As if knowing Kotori's intentions, Rimuru attacked the <Fraxinus> airship.

Every crew member on <Fraxinus> didn't anticipate the attack but they didn't have time to be surprised.

Kannazuki quickly gave orders to the crew.

"Create Protect Territory at 5 o'clock, coordinates 132-50-39. Radius 255-246!"

""---Roger!""

In response to Kannuzuki's command, the crew quickly hit the console.

The Territory around the <Fraxinus> transformed, it condensed into Kannazuki's instructed direction and radius, and an invisible wall was constructed.

The invisible wall protecting <Fraxinus> was formed just before the beam of light approached the ship.

And in the next moment---

A huge explosion rang out, accompanied by an intense flash of light that rendered every screen on the airship nothing but white.

The entire <Fraxinus> was shaken violently, with a 'rumbling' sound like an earthquake.

Shidou fell on his back because of the violent shaking and used his hand to cling to the seat that Kotori was sitting on to avoid hitting his head.

He reflexively closed his eyes and waited for the shaking to end.

As the shaking stopped, the crew's voices resounded throughout the control room.

"---The Territory in front is reduced by 40%!"

"The loss suffered was insignificant."

After a while, Shidou regained his balance and stood up.

Next to him, Kotori, Kannazuki, and Reine looked unaffected. They didn't take their eyes off the monitor screen.

"Looks like she won't let us leave here."

Kotori muttered

Shidou could sense the seriousness of the situation from Kotori's voice.

The entire control room was silent except for the crew's working sound. Everyone is focusing their attention on what happens next.

On the main screen, the AST continued to attack Rimuru.

Some of their members including Origami had switched to melee weapons.

The battle continued as the AST forced Rimuru to pay attention to them.

Even though Rimuru was busy with the AST, the last attack seemed to say that she wouldn't let them run away.

The entire control room was still silent until Kannazuki spoke up.

"Hm~ The damage taken was less than expected. It's disappointing~"

Kannazuki said in a disappointed voice that made Shidou confused.

"What do you mean by that?"

".... the damage of her attack was much weaker than the one we observed from her first appearance."

Shidou was able to understand Kannazuki's words.

But, Kannazuki continued with his voice becoming more and more--- aroused.

"But with that kind of power, we wouldn't be able to feel that attack reaching our bodies, ah~ what a pity---AGH!"

Kannazuki was talking but was kicked by Kotori next to him and had to hug his lower body and lie on the floor.

"Silent!"

"ah~! thank you--- thank you---...."

Kannazuki said while lying on the floor looking excited.

Ignoring Kannazuki, Kotori looked at the monitor screen and spoke up.

"It seems she has no intention of destroying us..."

"Really!?"

Shidou opened his eyes wide and looked at Kotori.

Kotori nodded slightly, looked at Reine, and asked.

"Reine, how is spirit's mood meter?"

"Rimuru's mood is at 38. The numbers don't reveal much about her feelings at the moment."

"Is that so... if that's the case then just hold our position and keep observing."

After Kotori's conclusion, Shidou speaks up.

"Aren't we going to help Rimuru?"

"There's no need. She can handle it on her own."

"But..."

"If you go out there, you might be in the middle of the fight between AST and Rimuru!"

Kotori yells at Shidou, causing him to stop his sentence.

"Last time you threw yourself into the middle of Yoshino's blizzard, do you know how dangerous that was!?"

At those words, Shidou could only stand in silence.

He looked at the screen showing the battle between Rimuru and the AST group.

Rimuru's main enemy right now is Origami.

While Origami combined melee and range weapon to attack, Rimuru only dodged and blocked the attacks as if she was playing with a child.

Rimuru didn't look troubled or anything.

But Shidou still feels worried for her...

Even though they only met for a short time, Shidou was sure that Rimuru was not a bad person.

She never attacked anyone for no reason.

It was understandable that Rimuru was always wary of him, when she first appeared, she was being attacked by the AST.

He still remembered what she told him.

Spirits pose a danger to humans just by 'existing' and humans have the nature of eliminating any danger to themselves.

Rimuru understood the reason why she was attacked, but she accepted it...

Spirits were always hunted down without any hesitation.

Tohka, Yoshino and this time Rimuru. They are all good people...

But just because they were spirits, they were continuously attacked by the AST group... 

And Shidou... he wants to save them.

"What are we going to do next?"

Hearing Shidou's question, Kotori made a slightly annoyed expression and speak up.

"Right now? all we can do is watch and hope."

------Rimuru POV-------

After giving a warning attack to the airship <Fraxinus>.

An angry voice reached Rimuru's ears.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" Origami shouted and continued to fight Rimuru.

Origami launched a volley of rockets in Rimuru's direction.

The rockets came but were stopped by the barrier around Rimuru.

As they exploded, a thick cloud of smoke surrounded Rimuru. the AST started continuously firing all kinds of bullets they had at the smoke.

After a while, the smoke dissipated and Rimuru slowly appeared with a disappointed expression.

"Can't you guys calm down?"

"Shut up and die!" Origami shouted and kept firing bullets.

Rimuru was a bit surprised by this girl's hostility towards Spirits.

Although she understood that they had a duty to exterminate spirits, hating spirits to this extent was a different story.

After a while, the AST realized that ranged attacks didn't work, some of them switched to using laser blades and charged.

Leading the way was still Origami, she charged straight at Rimuru while her team supported her from behind.

But none could've hit her

"Stop dodging, you bastard!" Origami shouted.

...

The fight continued without end as the AST members were unable to land any hits.

When she looked at Origami, Origami looked like she was tired even though they'd only been fighting for a few minutes.

She could guess that the Realizer equipment had placed a large amount of burden on Origami's body.

knowing that the opponent couldn't continue for much longer, as a favor, she would give them a break.

"You all look tired. So shall we stop here?"

Rimuru's words made Origami even angrier and charged toward Rimuru once more.

But it's not even halfway near Rimuru...

Origami suddenly slowed down and fall to the ground.

Rimuru has used her spiritual power to make the surrounding air no longer breathable.

Rimuru's spiritual power allows her to control any matter in her control area.

Even don't know how it works, Rimuru can use it like it is part of her body.

When the AST members can't breathe, they lost consciousness and fall to the ground without knowing why.

The AST team only lost consciousness, and no one died.

She won't kill any of them.

In this world, Spirit's only rival is the AST.

Rimuru still didn't know which side was dangerous, so eliminating either side would lead to imbalance and chaos.

So for the time being, she will let the AST members live.

After dealing with the AST, Rimuru turned his gaze to the airship <Fraxinus>.

Even though the ship was invisible, Rimuru was able to tell where it was thanks to her universal sense.

------Shidou POV------

He could feel his stress only getting worse.

Rimuru had easily defeated the entire AST.

Worse yet, there is currently a big misunderstanding about Rimuru thinking that Shidou is helping the AST group ambush and attack her.

"Is Rimuru targeting us?"

"Calm down, I got things under control now."

Kotori said like there was nothing to worry about.

Hearing Kotori's words, Shidou couldn't help but ask.

"What's that?"

At Shidou's question, Kotori showed a small smile and looked like she was about to brag about something and spoke up.

"AST had been defeated, so now it's much safer for you to meet Rimuru. But, there is something that we have in our hands."

Kotori said, she stop for and bit and continue.

"This is just a backup plan, no one wants to do this. But Rimuru already considers us on the same side as the AST, so there's only one way to prove the opposite."

With Rimuru already treating Ratatoskr as an enemy, there was only one thing left to do to clear this misunderstanding.

But... how to prove it to her?

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Can not say."

Kotori gave a short answer and Shidou immediately fell silent.

Before starting to meet Rimuru, he was trained and told that there is certain information that cannot be revealed to Shidou.

The fact that something was beyond Shidou's understanding was making him feel nervous but---

"So when do we start?"

Hearing Shidou's words, Kotori's face became more cheerful.

She turned around, looked at Shidou, and with a bright smile, Kotori said.

"Right now."Eh!?"

-------Rimuru POV------

Looking at the giant airship, Rimuru muttered.

"Strange...."

After being informed of the danger by Ciel, Rimuru showed hostility but they did not take any action.

And even when Shidou was teleported onto the <Fraxinus> airship, they still showed no sign even if Rimuru attacked.

What's the real danger?

Rimuru knew that underestimating enemies could lead to a bad end.

But when observing Shidou, Rimuru felt like he was just showing his true self without showing any guard.

Maybe he knew nothing about this or he was just an idiot.

While Rimuru was deep in thought, suddenly Shidou reappeared in front of Rimuru about 10 meters away.

His face looked like he wasn't ready to face Rimuru yet.

But when he was about to take a step closer to Rimuru, she pointed <Chaos> blade at him.

Her action caused Shidou to immediately stop on his track.

"Wait Rimuru! please listen to me---"

"Back off!" 

Rimuru spoke and used spiritual power to make her voice louder than usual.

Shidou immediately stood still, his hand shaken, not daring to take a step forward.

At this point, the two just stood still and looked at each other. Both sides didn't move or said a word until---

"What do you want?"

At Rimuru's question, Shidou widens his eyes in surprise.

Seems like Shidou thought that Rimuru would attack him when having a chance, so when Rimuru talk to him, it must have taken him by surprise.

Shidou suddenly clenched his fists and looked like he was determined to do something.

Rimuru became even warier seeing Shidou's attitude change so quickly.

If Shidou attacked, surely Ciel would warn her immediately.

But still... Shidou action still put Rimuru on guard.

She had no idea what <Ratatoskr> organization was trying to do.

Saving Spirit to stop space quake?

It just seems too good to be true from Rimuru's perspective.

Shidou took another step towards Rimuru and spoke up.

"I want to go on a DATE with you!"

...

...

...

...

"Huh?"

<Is this some kind of mental attack?>

5 seconds passed and Rimuru didn't understand what Shidou just said at all.

Shidou was just standing still waiting for Rimuru's reaction.

Rimuru quickly uses thought acceleration and asked Ciel.

<<Ciel, is what Shidou said true?>>

<<...Yes, according to the information I have, that is exactly what he was aiming for, master.>>

...

ah---

...

<<What's wrong with him!?>>

<<---He wants to date, or to be more precise, kisses you, master.>>

...

<<I'm just imagining things right?>>

<<No, master.>>

...

<<Does he have a problem!?!?>>

<<According to the information, Individual Shidou did this to seal your spiritual energy master.>>

Is that so... to seal spiritual power......

WHAT TYPE OF SEALING IS THIS!!!!!

Rimuru want to scream when she learned the mechanics of the sealing process.

And unintentionally, Rimuru accidentally said it out.

"Are you joking with me!?"

"No! I'm not joking!" Shidou said.

Rimuru stood still, frowned, and looked at Shidou as if looking at a madman.

Shidou takes another step forward and speaks up.

"I and everyone in Ratatoskr don't want to harm you! So please---"

Shidou tried to convince Rimuru but suddenly stopped when a sound rang out.

"Shido!/ Shidou-san"

Suddenly, two figures from a distance approached and shouted.

Both Rimuru and Shidou turned their bodies toward the direction of the sound.

Those two moved closer until Rimuru could see them.

A girl with long dark purple hair and wearing a school uniform called Raizen.

Next to her was a little girl with long, curly blue hair, wearing a yellow and white dress, and in her hand was a small rabbit puppet.

The two of them ran straight to Shidou.

they rushed to hug Shidou to his surprise.

<<Ciel, are they spirits?>>

<<They are the two spirits <Princess> and <Hermit> that have been sealed by individual Shidou, master>>

Hearing Ciel's answer, Rimuru looked over at the scene where the two spirits kept questioning Shidou.

What is going on?

Rimuru felt more confused than ever as to why the two sealed spirits suddenly come here.

They were no different from ordinary people, Rimuru didn't understand what their purpose was for coming here.

Shidou now finished his conversation with those two girls, he looked at Rimuru and spoke up.

"Rimuru...." Shidou spoke in a small voice.

Right now, Rimuru just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible before anything else happened.

Just as Rimuru was about to turn around, Shidou spoke up again.

"Rimuru, please come with me. Ratatoskr will protect you!"

---END CHAP 8---