Souta found himself in an unfortunate predicament—he had WiFi but no device to access the internet.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered that he had the ability to create matter.
Although he had obtained this ability from Shinobu, his version was actually more powerful in terms of versatility.
For example, Shinobu couldn't create antimatter, but he could.
Souta hadn't tested this himself—he had simply confirmed it with the system.
Any conceptual ability he extracted from the members of the Friend Group would have a more complete version in his possession.
Things the original user couldn't do? He could.
Of course, this came with both advantages and disadvantages.
For instance, Tokisaki Kurumi could manipulate time by spending time using her Angel, Zafkiel.
However, Souta had to consume energy in order to interfere with time.
"If I use my matter creation ability, I should be able to make a laptop or a phone, right?"
Souta muttered to himself, somewhat unsure.
After all, he wasn't certain if creating such intricate tools required an understanding of their inner workings.
Shinobu had managed to create a Nintendo DS!
And she was a goofy vampire who only cared about eating donuts—she definitely didn't understand how a gaming console was constructed.
Forget construction—if you gave her a simple calculus problem, she'd probably scratch her head in frustration.
Yet, she was still able to create a gaming console. It was probably based on her impression of it.
If Souta recalled correctly, Koyomi Araragi had borrowed a Nintendo DS from Nadeko Sengoku.
Shinobu had likely played around with one during that time, and after forming a mental image of it, she was able to recreate it using her matter creation ability.
"Impression, huh... Let's give it a try."
Souta decided to test it out.
He had a very clear impression of his old laptop—after all, he had used it to write code for two years.
Raising both hands, he focused his mind on recalling every detail of his laptop—its functions, its appearance, how it felt in his hands...
His matter creation ability activated.
The air between his hands rippled slightly.
Alright. It wasn't that simple, after all.
Souta could clearly feel that he didn't have enough energy to create a laptop.
"Wait a second—my energy capacity should be more than enough to create something of this mass. Could it be...?"
A thought struck him—the more complex an object is, the more energy is required to create it.
If that were the case, then maybe a portion of his energy was being used to draw upon the "information" of that object's existence within the world.
Which would explain why Shinobu was able to create a gaming console despite not knowing its internal structure—
The world's "information" filled in the gaps for her.
With this in mind, Souta decided to lower the difficulty and attempt to create a smartphone instead.
This time, he succeeded.
A brand-new smartphone materialized in his hands.
Souta then created a charging cable and a charger to go with it.
It didn't have a SIM card, but with WiFi at home, he had no issue accessing the internet.
He connected to the router, quickly got assigned a private network address, and opened a browser to search for information on Mio Takamiya.
When he first helped Kurumi, he had rushed through the later volumes of Date A Live to get familiar with the story.
But at the time, he was speed-reading to absorb the plot quickly—he hadn't paid much attention to the finer details.
He knew Mio Takamiya was insanely strong, but he wasn't sure exactly how strong.
After thoroughly researching her data this time, he finally understood.
Mio Takamiya's second Angel allowed her to unleash an Arbitrary Territory.
An Arbitrary Territory was a special space where the rules of reality could be altered at will. The user could reshape its functions based on their own desires.
To put it simply—it was basically a low-tier version of "reality warping."
Of course, it wasn't true reality warping.
If she could truly alter reality however she wanted, she would have just resurrected Shinji Takamiya and made him immortal—which would have prevented all the chaos in the first place.
At her full power—before splitting off her Sephira Crystal—Mio Takamiya could expand her Arbitrary Territory to cover the entire Earth.
In other words—if she wanted to, she could destroy the Earth.
Destroy the Earth's surface?
Either way, she was ridiculously strong.
Staring at the screen, Souta was genuinely shocked.
"Hold on... at full strength, wouldn't Mio Takamiya rank among the top-tier Four-Digit beings in Little Garden? Even though she's weaker now, she's still insanely powerful. So how the hell did Shiroyasha manage to knock her out instantly with a sneak attack?"
(TL Note: Four-Digit = These are a threat to little Garden. Beings in this category include the likes of Sakamaki Izayoi (Mondaiji), if it wasn't for his another cosmology, who's power is capable of shattering attacks no matter the potency, nullify any concepts, infinite stamina, stopping any weapon, capable of fighting with all of his bones broken, and reversing any cause and effect. These beings have no difficulty tanking Galaxy level attacks with one hand even while being super beaten up and with their bones broken.)
Could it be that Mio Takamiya hadn't had time to activate her Angel before getting hit?
That was actually very likely.
In Little Garden, Four-Digit beings weren't that strong.
For example, Saurian Demon King, one of the top-tier Four-Digit beings, was already at the peak of his tier. Only monsters like Bull Demon King surpassed him.
(TL Notes: Spent minutes finding this dude, lmao. I was near to fuck it and let it stay Jiulong Liu.)
Saurian Demon King's attacks were roughly continent-level—his punches could match a Stellar Breath capable of forming landmasses from ocean currents.
Even then, it wasn't until he activated Host Master Authority, boosted his Spirit Rank, and used a Lunar Dragon skill that he reached the level of controlling a moon-sized celestial dragon.
In that state, he probably had enough power to destroy the Earth.
Comparing that to Mio Takamiya's ability to cover the Earth with her Arbitrary Territory, it was difficult to determine who was stronger.
As for Shiroyasha, a Four-Digit being herself—
Even if she was stronger than Saurian Demon King, it was likely due to her versatile abilities rather than raw power. After all, she had once been part of the Authority of Full Rights.
Based on this logic, Shiroyasha fighting a weakened Mio Takamiya would make sense—but instantly knocking her out?
That probably happened because Mio didn't have time to react.
Just like Kurumi, who had to summon her Angel, absorb the time numbers from its clock, and then fire a bullet to manipulate time—
In other words, it took way too long.
Souta: "@Tokisaki Kurumi. I found the reason why the Attack Cards didn't work. Take a look."
He uploaded the intel he found on Mio Takamiya to the group chat.
Almost immediately, the chat became lively.
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Her power is THAT ridiculous?!"
Believe it or not, she has literally stepped on planet-busters before...
Altair: "Kurumi, it's a good thing you ran away."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Looking at it this way, a mere 19,000-point Attack Card obviously wouldn't work on her."
Souta: "@Tokisaki Kurumi. Just avoid Mio Takamiya for now. You can time travel—she won't be able to track you."
Rin Tohsaka: "Wait! Destroying a planet?! Isn't that a bit much?!"
Altair: "According to Souta's data, she might not be able to fully destroy a planet, but she could definitely wipe out the surface."
Souta: "@Rin Tohsaka. Your world has people like that too. Why are you so shocked?"
Souta: "The guy who spams Photon Ray."
Great Deity Shiroyasha: "Huh? That little girl can do all that?"