Chapter 27

“Wow… Look at all the stars…” Sawa was walking behind Yuuma. He stopped and tilted his head upward to look. Yuuma gasped, his mouth falling open slightly. Countless stars were suspended in the transparent, jet-black night sky above them, twinkling quietly. No…the word countless hardly even did the sight justice. Nozomi City, their hometown in the real world, had some of the cleanest air in the metropolitan area and was located over a thousand meters above sea level. As a result, you could see magnitude-six-brightness stars with your naked eye on a clear day. That was nothing, however, compared to this. Yuuma could hardly believe what he was looking at was real. Well, technically it wasn’t. This was all happening inside Actual Magic, the world’s first VRMMORPG. But it wasn’t exactly a virtual world now, either. Take, for instance, the physical bodies of Yuuma and his friends. They had been entirely erased from the real world and currently existed only as data in AM. Yuuma’s sense of reality was already hanging by a thread. He suddenly felt it begin to slip from his grasp. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. The date was May 13, 2031. A Tuesday. The time was 9:30 PM. Yuuma and his friends were currently in the middle of a grassy, open plain, about a kilometer east of the town of Calcina, which was located in the southwest corner of the world of AM. And they were on their way to save Yuuma’s childhood friend Nagi—Minagi Sano—who was currently being held prisoner in a dungeon beneath the lord mayor’s manor. Yuuma could worry about what was real and what was virtual after they had Nagi back and had safely escaped this world. Yuuma opened his eyes again and took another look at the stars, which were almost terrifying in their beauty. “We should free Nagi before tonight is over, so that she can see the stars, too.” “Agreed. Let’s hurry.” Kenk nodded and began striding forward along the narrow path that cut through the surrounding grass. Yuuma and the others followed him from behind. According to the map that the old man at the souvenir shop had given them, there should be a bridge about two kilometers east of Calcina, which they could use to cross over to the south side of the river. That wasn’t very far. Yuuma wished they could have just sprinted all the way, but this was their first night in AM since diving in. They couldn’t afford to be reckless. They chose to walk instead, keeping their guard up. It was a good thing that they did. Giant rats and frogs sprang up from the grass along the path several times along the way, but thanks to their caution, they were able to avoid ambushes and defeat the monsters easily. Eventually, they spotted a triple-arched bridge up ahead and to the right. It was much grander than what they had been expecting. Whether old-school or new, JRPG or Western, bridges were a favorite location for scripted events in roleplaying games. They began to cross the bridge cautiously. Fortunately, nothing unusual happened—the bridge didn’t suddenly collapse beneath their feet, no monsters appeared to flank them in—and they were able to reach the other side without incident. The small path lining the riverbank turned westward again. After proceeding another two kilometers back in that direction, they spotted the lights of Calcina on the opposite shore. Yuuma and the others stopped atop a hill that offered a particularly good vantage point and began scouting out the location. A mass of rocks, similar in size and shape to a large boat, jutted out from the middle of the large river. The river was about two hundred meters across, with a drop of around ten meters between the bank and the surface of the water. The mass of rocks was connected to Calcina, on the opposite shore, by a magnificent stone bridge. That was Philos Island, their destination. An imposing fortified manor had been built atop the rock formation. Despite the late hour, numerous torches and bonfires illuminated the building in reddish flame. They could see the silhouettes of halberd-carrying guards as they patrolled along the top of the wall that encircled the manor. Unless Yuuma and his party learned to fly, or could turn invisible, it would likely be impossible to sneak over the wall. “Hey, Yu, do you think there’s really a hidden tunnel…?” asked Kenk. Yuuma turned his eyes back toward his friends. The south shore, like the north, was lined with gently flowing hills. There wasn’t much to break up the monotony other than a few sparsely growing hardwood trees. “If not, we’re in trouble…” Yuuma frowned and pulled the map out from his inventory. He would have liked to light a lantern, but if he did, the manor guards would probably notice. Instead, he held it up toward the brightest section of the band of stars splayed out across the sky overhead. “Ah…!” Tomori, who was standing next to Yuuma and staring up at the map, gasped slightly. Yuuma noticed it at almost the same time. There, along the fine line meant to represent the south shore of the river, was a tiny pinhole, just like the old man had said there would be. It indicated a location that was seemingly not far from where they currently stood. White starlight shone through the hole from the other side. “The hole is at the base of a tree,” Yuuma muttered. Tomori quickly glanced around and said, “It might be that tree over there.” She was pointing at a particularly large old tree located at the base of a hill directly across from Calcina, its leafy branches sprawling in the darkness. Sawa, Kenk, and Tomori immediately rushed toward the tree. Yuuma pocketed the map and hurried after them. Once they got closer, he realized that the tree was much larger and more splendid than he had expected. The gnarled trunk was at least two meters in diameter, and while the tree wasn’t very tall, the long, thick branches stretched out to form a wide, dome-like canopy. Yuuma was wondering how old it was when Sawa shouted, “Over here!” from the opposite side. He dashed over to her. Sawa had apparently discovered a hollow at the base of the trunk. It was large enough even for an adult to squeeze through, but it was too dark to see inside. “You don’t think there’s any bears in there, do you…?” whispered Kenk, taking a step back. Yuuma was about to ask him what bears would be doing living on plains, but he bit his tongue before he could speak. Maybe in the virtual world, some bears did live on plains. Or maybe there was something else lurking inside. Something just as dangerous. Yuuma glanced over his shoulder to ensure that the hill shielded them from view of anyone on Philos Island, and then he stretched his left hand out toward the hollow. “Lumen.” As Yuuma chanted the word of power for the element of light, a small glimmer appeared at his fingertip. Unlike Tomori’s Brightbird spell, this ball of light couldn’t fly far away or respond to the presence of monsters. It was still enough to light up the inside of a hollow, however. Yuuma crouched down and held his right hand up like a lampshade to direct the light. There was nothing inside other than a pile of dead leaves. No bears or rats in sight. Yuuma was glad there weren’t monsters waiting for them, but if it was just a normal hollow, they were back to square one. Yuuma got down on all fours and crawled forward into the hole. Ten seconds had already passed since he chanted the magic word, and the light expired with a sad puff. Remembering the items they had found earlier, Yuuma checked his inventory. The list was sorted by latest items; at the top was something called a coldfire lantern. He tapped it once, glancing over the item description that appeared. This lantern contains the cold flames of Sublimae. The flames give off no heat and thus cannot be used to warm chilly hands, but they continue to burn, even underwater. Yuuma wasn’t sure what Sublimae was—maybe a person’s name or a place—but as long as it provided light, he really didn’t care. “Hey, Yu, are you okay in there?” whispered Kenk quietly from outside. “I’m fine!” Yuuma answered as he materialized the lantern. The pale blue flame was already flickering inside the lantern’s narrow casing. Just like the description said, the lantern gave off practically no heat—looking closely, in fact, he could even make out a bit of frost forming inside the glass casing. Yuuma held the lantern by its wooden handle and closed his menu window. He took another look around the hollow. The ceiling was just barely high enough for Yuuma to possibly stand. The walls were covered in mossy bark, and the ground was carpeted in a thick layer of fallen leaves. As for a tunnel entrance or some clue as to its location… “Ah…!” Yuuma was searching the ground blindly when his hand came into contact with something unusual. Yuuma drew the light closer and brushed aside the fallen leaves, discovering a steel ring attached to a solid-looking wooden board—likely the handle of a trap door that had been built into the ground. Yuuma grabbed the ring with his left hand and pulled. The wooden door rattled slightly, but Yuuma was unable to lift it at all. “Kenk, come here,” Yuuma called. Kenk poked his head into the hollow with some concern. Once he saw the trap door, which was lit up by the lantern, he seemed to quickly grasp the situation. He began crawling inside. Yuuma moved out of the way slightly. “Leave it to me,” Kenk whispered, grabbing the ring with both hands. Taking a deep breath, Kenk dug in both heels and— “Hurrkkk!!” Kenk pulled with all his might. The trap door resisted at first…but after a few seconds, the door seemed to reach a tipping point and started scraping free. “Nrghh…” Kenk’s face turned red as he managed to lift the trap door open by about thirty centimeters. He wedged his right knee underneath the heavy door and then pushed forward with all his might. The door’s sturdy hinge worked like a fulcrum, allowing the door to finally tilt backward and crash into the ground with a heavy thud. “Hah…hah… Who knew a piece of wood could be so heavy…?” Kenk sat on the ground, catching his breath. “It’s a good thing you put points into Exceptional Strength. Good job, Kenk,” said Yuuma. He then peered down into the now open hole. The square shaft had obviously been made by human hands—which was to be expected, since trap doors didn’t exactly exist in nature, either. An iron ladder descended vertically along one wall of the shaft, gleaming softly as it reflected the lantern light. “Yu, I’ll go down first…,” said Kenk, standing back up. Yuuma held out a hand to stop him. “No, I’ll go.” “But why?” “I was always faster at climbing the wall bars in gym class.” Yuuma promptly slipped feetfirst into the opening, which measured less than sixty centimeters across either way. Yuuma stomped on the rung several times to ensure it could hold his weight, and then he attached the lantern to a hook on his belt. Gathering his courage, he began to descend. At first, Yuuma counted the rungs as he went, but he gave up after reaching fifty. Come to think of it, this shaft was supposed to connect to the secret tunnel they were looking for, and that tunnel needed to be deeper than the riverbed. Yuuma wouldn’t be surprised if the ladder went twenty, maybe even thirty meters deep. For the next two minutes, Yuuma continued to climb down the ladder, being careful not to slip as he went. Eventually, his right foot connected with solid ground. Yuuma removed the lantern from his belt. As he turned around, a gasp escaped his lips. The old man had referred to it as an escape tunnel, so Yuuma had been expecting a primitive hole in the dirt. What the lantern revealed, however, was a proper, well-made tunnel lined with closely packed, darkly colored stonework along its walls, floor, and ceiling. Naturally, the air was a little musty, but since the tunnel was over two meters wide by two meters high it wasn’t enough to cause panic. There were no signs of monsters, either. “It’s fine! You can come down now!” Yuuma said, calling back up the shaft. After a brief pause, Kenk’s “Okay!” echoed down the shaft. Two minutes later the others had descended the ladder, Sawa first, followed by Tomori and then Kenk. “There really is a tunnel…,” said Tomori, peering around, eyes wide. Yuuma nodded. “We’re lucky you spotted that tree, Shimizu.” “Someone else would have found it even if I wasn’t here…,” she said. Yuuma was about to reply, Well I certainly didn’t, but before he could— “Yu, over here!” shouted Kenk. They hurried deeper into the tunnel. Up ahead, they found Sawa and Kenk with their necks craned backward, staring up at a solid-looking set of double doors. The doors were constructed of dully gleaming metal, rather than stone, and had U-shaped metal fittings embedded into their centers. The fittings on each door were connected by a thick chain. The fittings and the chain appeared to be made of the same faintly golden material. “This must be the blessed cleansing steel the old man mentioned…,” said Sawa, giving the chains a light tug. They made a cold, clinking noise but of course did not budge. Sawa shrugged, moving away and patting Kenk on the back. “You’re up, big guy!” “Me…?! Well, I guess I might as well give it a shot…” Kenk opened his menu window and materialized his two-handed sword from his inventory. It appeared on his back. He drew the sword from its scabbard in one clean sweep and held it out in front, readied at mid-height. As he lifted the sword slowly, resting it atop his right shoulder, the blade began to glow red. He was preparing the two-handed sword art Heavy Slugger. It was similar in form to the one-handed sword art that Niki had used earlier, Power Smash, but it traded in speed for power. “Haaa…yahh!!” With a clarion shout, Kenk swung his blade downward. It struck the chains directly in their center. There was a flash of crimson light. Orange sparks flew in every direction, and a tremendous crack reverberated through the tunnel. A chunk of metal somersaulted through the air, struck against the ceiling, and then bounced off, landing on the floor in front of Yuuma’s eyes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a piece of the chain. It was a piece of Kenk’s blade, which had just broken in half— “Buhhh?!” Kenk cried in despair as the half of the sword that still remained in his hands, and the half of the blade that had implanted itself into a crack in the stones of the floor, dissipated into a cloud of silver particle effects. “M-my Excalibur…!” Kenk sank to one knee. “When did you name it Excalibur? Besides, that was just your starting equipment. You already got a new sword from the chest in that castle, remember?” said Sawa, sounding exasperated. “……Oh, I forgot about that.” Kenk was still crouching on the floor. He fiddled with his menu. Come to think of it, I got a new shortsword, too. I should really check its stats sometime soon, thought Yuuma as he walked toward his sister. “I don’t think brute force is going to cut it,” he said. “Maybe we should try flame or ice magic…” “I doubt basic spells from either element are going to do much damage,” Sawa replied. “There was probably an official quest we were supposed to do in order to get an item that can break the chains or something…” Yuuma nodded; that made sense. Their current situation also resembled a quest, but the person they were trying to rescue, Nagi, was a player, not an NPC. Normal progression probably involved acquiring a quest from someone in town that put them in conflict with the lord mayor, with lots of steps they were supposed to follow before they made their way here. Yuuma and the others had essentially achieved a level skip. “But does that mean…we don’t have any way of breaking the chains yet…?” Yuuma asked. “…” Sawa was quiet. She approached the door again and tapped it. A small window appeared, displaying the object name, Cleansing Steel Chains, and their durability, 30,000/30,000. The door was obviously incredibly sturdy. Despite costing Kenk his sword, Kenk’s Heavy Slugger hadn’t chipped off even a single point of durability. “Hey, Sawa?” said Tomori from behind. She appeared to have an idea. “That old man said that the chains were ‘blessed.’ Do you think that means they’ve been reinforced with holy magic?” “Yeah, probably. And a pretty powerful spell, I imagine,” Sawa said as she turned around and nodded. Tomori faced Yuuma. “Can’t you break it with your shadow magic then, Yuuma? Magic from opposite elements are supposed to cancel each other out, aren’t they?” That was a great idea for someone who had never played an RPG before until today. Yuuma wished he could congratulate her on finding a solution. Unfortunately, he could only shake his head sadly instead. “The opposite of shadow magic is light magic, not holy magic.” “Huh…? So what’s the opposite of holy magic, then?” “Curse magic, I think. But according to the guidebook, players can’t acquire curse magic at first.” “Oh…” Tomori glanced down, disappointed. Yuuma wanted to say something to cheer her up, but before he could do so, Sawa suddenly stepped forward, a look of resolve upon her face. “Yu, there’s someone else who might be able to break the chain. I think she’s our only option.” “She…?” Valac? But Sawa already summoned her for the day. The timer hasn’t reset yet… Yuuma suddenly inhaled sharply. No, not Valac. Yuuma knew who Sawa was referring to. She meant Sumika Watamaki, who currently lay sleeping inside the monster card holster strapped to the side of Yuuma’s chest. Sumika possessed even greater attack power than Kenk; that was true. But Sumika’s attacks were physical, just like Kenk’s. Sawa seemed to agree that brute force wasn’t able to break the chains, so then why—? Yuuma suddenly recalled Sumika’s status window. Sumika had been level 17 at the time and had possessed six skills: Exceptional Strength, Sword Transformation, Blindsense, Resist Pain, Resist Dark, and Resist Cold. And she’d been listed as a Night Fiend. A Night Fiend. It certainly sounded unholy. “Sawa…are you suggesting that she, herself, belongs to the curse element?” Yuuma asked. “We know some monsters are aligned with elements,” Sawa began in a low voice. “The treants we fought in the northern woods were wood element, and that fire dragon we fought in the castle dungeon was fire element, remember? I assumed she was dark element at first, but if that were true, my Flame Arrow should have done more damage to her. Fire and dark aren’t opposites, but according to the guidebook, dark creatures have a weakness to fire.” “…Yeah…true.” In addition to doing double base damage against ice element creatures, fire was also supposed to get a 50 percent bonus against wood and dark monsters. When Sawa hit Sumika with her Flame Arrow, it had knocked Sumika through the air, but there had been no special effect to indicate that Sawa had targeted a weakness. Sawa’s argument that Sumika probably didn’t belong to the dark element seemed persuasive. Besides…if Sumika’s current appearance wasn’t the result of a curse, then what could explain it? Yuuma turned away, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. Unfortunately, Tomori chose that very moment to interject. “This girl you’re both talking about… Who is she? I can tell by the way you’re talking that you don’t mean Valac, do you…?” Yuuma continued to stare at his feet, unable to respond. Sawa knew that Tomori would ask that question. This must have been Sawa’s way of saying it was time to let Tomori in on the truth…that Sumika had been turned into a monster card and was now one of Yuuma’s familiars. Obviously, Sawa was right. Tomori, of all people, was sure to understand Yuuma’s desire to turn Sumika back to normal and would almost definitely keep it a secret from the others. Besides, if they encountered another monster, one that was stronger than the Varanian Axbearer, Yuuma might be forced to summon Sumika once again. Unless Tomori was told about Sumika in advance, there was a very good chance that Sumika’s appearance would cause her to panic when the time came. Sawa knew best, as usual, but Yuuma couldn’t entirely get over his fear of telling Tomori the truth. The only reason that Yuuma had been able to capture Sumika Watamaki in the first place was because she had already been transformed into a monster. That didn’t change the fact, however, that Yuuma had used his Monster Tamer powers to capture another classmate. Yuuma gritted his teeth. What if Tomori blamed him for what he had done? Or suddenly grew afraid of him? Just then, someone touched Yuuma on his left shoulder— It was Kenk. He had approached Yuuma from behind and patted his shoulder lightly. As hard as it was to believe, that small gesture was enough to snap Yuuma out of it. Yuuma exhaled the breath he had been holding. Even if Tomori did blame him, or become afraid, that would be the consequences of actions he himself had chosen. It was time to face the music. “Shimizu… The she we were talking about is right here…” Yuuma reached into the holster on his right chest and drew out one of the two cards that were contained inside. Tomori glanced at the transparent purple card, which was about ninety millimeters long by sixty millimeters wide. Tomori’s eyes furrowed in concentration and then grew wide. “Huh…? S-Sumika Watamaki…? Is that our Watamaki? But why is her name written on a monster card…?” “I told all the students in the shelter that we had restrained Watamaki, after she had been turned into a monster. I know you probably assumed that meant that we trapped her inside a Caliculus capsule. That seems to be what you told Niki. But that isn’t the truth. I used my Monster Tamer spell, Capture…to turn Watamaki into a familiar.” “A familiar…,” Tomori repeated blankly. The only emotion on Tomori’s face, for the time being at least, was astonishment. That was sure to change before long. “I’m going to summon Watamaki now, but you don’t need to be afraid. She won’t attack us,” Yuuma explained. His voice was surprisingly calm. Yuuma walked toward the door and held the card up high. “Aperta!” The single word echoed through the stone walls of the tunnel. The card in Yuuma’s left hand welled up with a dark purple, almost black light, and a faintly ominous magic circle began to appear. The card disintegrated into black rays of light that concentrated into a single point on the floor. A human shadow began to slither forth. The figure had long, straight hair and was dressed in a short uniform jacket and high pleated skirt. Once the clinging shadows evaporated, the clothing returned to its familiar light blue and ivory white color scheme. The girl Yuuma had summoned was thin and slender and dressed in the Yukihana Elementary School uniform. She was an object of adoration for not just their sixth-grade class, but their entire school—Sumika Watamaki. The damage Sumika had suffered back in Althea had already healed. Her uniform, likewise, was once again unblemished and untorn. For some reason, however, the white ribbon she wore as a hairband was still stained with dark reddish blood. Fortunately, she was at least no longer clutching the right arm of Yukihisa Miura, as she had been back in Playroom 01. For a moment Sumika remained motionless. Her arms hung limply at her sides, and her head lolled forward. She straightened up slowly. The coldfire lantern that Yuuma held soon illuminated Sumika’s face, which bore neither eyes, nor mouth, nor nose. He heard Tomori inhale sharply behind him. Yuuma waited for the high-pitched scream he was sure would be coming. A second passed, however, and then two, and still Tomori did not scream. Yuuma wanted to turn and see her reaction for himself, but he was too scared of what might be waiting. He began walking forward instead. As Yuuma approached, Sumika’s blank face shifted awkwardly. It was strange how she was able to detect him even without eyes, but since she also had the Blindsense skill, she was probably seeing Yuuma with some sort of sixth sense. Strangest of all, however, was that Yuuma wasn’t afraid, even though he was close enough to touch her. Back when he had summoned Sumika during the Conehead Bruiser fight, even though Yuuma knew she was his familiar, alarm bells had been ringing in his head. Now, though, he just felt helpless and sad…and something else that he couldn’t describe, something that felt like some kind of pressure squeezing his chest from deep inside. “Watamaki…,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m sorry for waking you up again…but we need your help…to save Nagi.” Yuuma didn’t expect her to respond, since he hadn’t issued any voice commands, but Sumika moved her head slightly in response. A movement that might possibly be interpreted as a nod. Yuuma nodded back in reply and pointed toward the massive doors that blocked the passage just two meters away. “I want you to break the chains sealing that door… Destroy cleansing steel chains!” Yuuma rephrased his first request in voice command format, just in case that was necessary, but Sumika was already moving toward the doors before he had finished. Her black socks made hardly any noise as she walked across the stone floor and approached the heavy doors. Yuuma wondered why she wasn’t wearing shoes, but the answer soon occurred to him. During the playtest, when they had first entered the Caliculus capsules, they had been told to remove their shoes before entering their capsules. Sumika’s school uniform loafers were probably still sitting next to her capsule in Playroom 01. They should probably collect them once they returned to the real world. There was so much to do, however, that Yuuma was worried he would forget. He couldn’t open up the reminder up on his QREST while in AM, so he just stared hard at Sumika’s slender frame, trying to burn the memory into his brain. Yuuma knew firsthand how powerful Sumika’s gleaming claws could be—that lesson had been carved into his flesh, quite literally, back when she had attacked them in Playroom 01. The cleansing steel chain, however, was weighty and thick, probably a full fifteen millimeters in diameter. Physical power alone was going to be useless against them. Their only hope now was that Sumika’s own curse element would neutralize and erode the holy element of the chains, just as Sawa had suggested. Or was it? With a strange noise, like groaning metal, Sumika’s right arm began to transform. Her five fingers began to twist into a spiral and meld together, growing longer and narrower as they fused together. Her white skin, meanwhile, took on the sheen of darkly gleaming metal. This metal soon stretched from the shoulder of her jacket to the pointed tip where her fingers fused together, measuring about seventy centimeters total—a sword. This must be the Sword Transformation skill. Yuuma had noticed the skill on Sumika’s status screen earlier, but it hadn’t been listed in the guidebook, so he wasn’t sure what it was. He gasped as he watched it now in action. Sumika’s right hand transformed into a single-bladed straight sword. She lowered it downward across her body and then twisted hard, tensing up from head to toe. As she did, the blade began to glow with a dark purple light. A weapon art…? Naturally, Yuuma had no idea what it might be called. Thwoomp! The air rippled. Sumika’s sword arm flew straight forward at a disturbing speed, striking the cleansing steel chains right down middle and creating a high-pitched ringing sound that put Kenk’s blow to shame. An explosion of pure white sparks flew in every direction, showering Sumika’s head and body. Yuuma instinctively shut his eyes against the blinding light. He forced himself to open them again. The point of Sumika’s sword had created a slight nick where it pressed into the chain. Waves of gold emanated from that point, as if attempting to repel the blade. Sumika’s right foot scraped forward slightly. The dark purple aura enveloping the blade grew stronger. The golden waves began to stutter erratically, making high-pitched, metallic cracking sounds. “Ah…!” Sawa yelped softly. A single crack had begun to form along one of the links of the chain, and golden light seeped out from the fissure. Sawa had been right all along. A Night Fiend was apparently a curse-alignment monster, capable of breaking through light-element protection. It was going to work! Yuuma had barely finished that thought, however, when he clutched his left hand shut, noticing the hitch in their plans. Sumika’s HP and MP bars, which were floating above her head, were slowly but steadily decreasing. The purple aura was likely a sustained ability, which explained the MP drain. As for her HP, that was probably due to the extreme force being applied to the blade. Normally a weapon would lose durability when damaged, but since this sword was actually a part of Sumika’s body, the damage was probably being reflected in her HP instead. Despite being a supposedly inanimate object, the cleansing steel chain seemed to be doing continuous damage to Sumika. A second crack, meanwhile, had yet to appear in the chains. At this rate, Sumika might run out of HP before the chain actually broke. Just then, Yuuma heard footsteps approach from behind. Someone ran forward and stood next to Yuuma on his right side. “Ashihara, I’ll heal Watamaki’s HP!” It was Tomori Shimizu. Yuuma turned to the side, seeing her determined face in profile. There was no fear or loathing in her expression, as far as Yuuma could see. “Thank you… Wait, no!” Yuuma was grateful, but he hastily stopped her before she could begin casting. “If Watamaki belongs to the curse element, she might take damage from holy-element healing magic!” “Then…how do we heal her…?” “Pure, non-physical curse element magic might work…but none of us have any spells like that…” There had to be something they could do! Sumika’s HP continued to fall. She barely seemed to notice, instead thrusting into the chains even harder with her transformed arm. That made sense. After all, that was what her master, Yuuma, had ordered her to do. But long before Sumika Watamaki had become one of Yuuma’s familiars, she had also been his sixth-grade classmate and the object of his distant admiration. Just because she was a faceless monster now didn’t mean that had changed. Yuuma had no desire to use her up and toss her aside, as if she were some kind of tool. There had to be some way to protect her other than returning her to her card. Some way they could heal her HP despite her curse element, while still allowing her to continue attacking the chains. When Sumika had attacked Yuuma back in the playroom, after she was turned into a monster, she hadn’t just attempted to overpower him with strikes, she had also tried to close the distance and bite him. If all she had wanted to do was kill him, why wouldn’t she have just beaten him to death with her club or swiped at him with her claws from a safer distance? Maybe her bites had some other purpose—in which case… “…!” Yuuma gritted his teeth, tossed the lantern aside, and rushed to Sumika’s side. As he ran toward her, he rolled up the left sleeve of his tunic as far as he could, exposing the bare flesh of his arm. He reached over Sumika’s shoulder with his bare arm and held it up close to her face. “Watamaki, bite my arm!!” As soon as the words left Yuuma’s mouth, Sawa and Kenk screamed at him from behind. “Yuumy, no!!” “Yu, stop!! She’ll bite your arm off like she did Beloshi!” “AU…AUGGHH…” Sumika’s breath, cold as winter air, caressed the naked flesh of Yuuma’s arm. Even from behind, Yuuma could faintly see the lower half of Sumika’s face split open, silently exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth. To Yuuma’s surprise, however, Sumika stopped before biting him. Her body trembled slightly. Even though her HP was already half gone, she seemed to be resisting the instinct to feed. Crimson damage effects continued to cascade off her transformed arm, where it met the chain, rising from beneath the dark purple aura of her weapon art. “Please, Watamaki! I…I…” Yuuma couldn’t find his words. He pushed everything he was feeling to the side and delivered a voice command instead. “Watamaki… Use Blood Suck on me!!” As he did so, Yuuma gripped Sumika in his right arm and thrust his left arm against her mouth. This time, Sumika did not resist. Her mouth flew open and latched on to Yuuma’s exposed forearm, her numerous fangs sinking into his flesh. In AM, avatars usually didn’t feel pain, even when injured. Instead, there was supposed to be an unpleasant numbness. Yuuma, however, could feel this pain clearly. It was sharp and cold as ice. There was still no blood, however. Instead, a profusion of crimson light spots welled up from where Sumika’s fangs met Yuuma’s skin. Sumika’s throat undulated as she gulped down the beads of light. The rate at which her HP decreased began to slow and then stopped—and then began to gradually creep upward instead. Yuuma’s HP, however, began to fall dramatically. Considering the damage that Sumika was continuing to take, as well as the difference in their max HPs, the amount of healing she was receiving and the amount of damage Yuuma was taking probably balanced out perfectly. Yuuma had guessed correctly. Sumika’s bite was more than just a damaging attack. Night Fiends apparently had an innate ability to heal themselves by sucking the blood of their foes. Naturally, if this kept this up, Yuuma would die long before Sumika was ever healed completely. But as a player, Yuuma had numerous means of healing at his disposal. Yuuma reached with his free hand toward the leather pouch at his waist, in order to retrieve a lesser healing potion. However— “Sacre!!” —Tomori acted even quicker. She began to chant a holy element spell from behind. “Premis…Fusione!!” Yuuma felt a faint warmth hit his back. It permeated his core, chasing the previous chill away. Sumika was still sucking Yuuma’s blood, but his HP bar had stopped falling. It flickered at around the 70 percent line instead. In essence, Sumika’s HP was being whittled away by her standoff with the cleansing steel chain, which Yuuma’s HP was then compensating for, while Tomori used her own MP to regenerate Yuuma’s HP. While that might have seemed like a game of hot potato, the Priest spell, Holy Healing, was actually much more MP-efficient than utility magic healing spells. There was no way to know for sure, but at Yuuma’s max HP, he was pretty sure Tomori could heal him completely, five times over, before her MP ran out. Plus, if it came down to it, they also had the mana potions they had acquired from the chest in the old castle. That should be enough… It had to be enough. Yuuma unconsciously tightened his grip on Sumika. Almost as if that were some sort of signal—Sumika suddenly released Yuuma’s arm and howled. “AIEEEEEE!!” Sumika tensed with power, the muscles along her slender body rippling like steel. Yuuma was knocked backward, unable to hold on to her any longer. A moment later, Sumika’s right arm was enveloped in a shadowy aura, several times darker than before. It spun in a vortex around her arm, from the shoulder to the tip of the blade. Dust and grit from the floor and walls began to float into the air as the space around them compressed. The swirling dark aura condensed at the tip of her blade, before releasing in a massive, silent explosion. Ka-clang! A high-pitched, metallic sound reverberated through the air. A single link in the center of the cleansing steel chain, the one that had been struck by Sumika’s blade, sparkled with golden light and then crumbled into dust. The remaining two ends of the chain, which were now separated, fell limply toward the ground, hanging from their fittings as if exhausted. “It broke…!” gasped Kenk from behind them. At almost the exact same moment, Sumika lowered her right arm and staggered in place. Yuuma rushed forward and caught Sumika in his arms. He quickly checked her HP bar, but she still had more than half her health left. She wasn’t suffering from any debuffs or ailments, either. Sumika shifted her face awkwardly, staring at Yuuma with nonexistent eyes as he held her. Her mouth had returned to normal size. A hoarse voice, like brittle winter wind, escaped her mouth: “Ashi…hara…” Yuuma could sense Tomori gasping from behind. “…Did…I…h-help…?” With that, the slit in her face that served as her mouth disappeared. The strength left her body, and her chin lolled to the side. Ashihara, did I help? That must have been what Sumika was trying to say. She may have looked like a monster now, but Yuuma was once again reminded that the real Sumika was still in there somewhere… Maybe it was just a fragment of the original Sumika, but she was still there. “You did, Watamaki,” he whispered. “You helped a lot. Thank you so much… We might need your help again later, but you should rest for now.” He stroked Sumika’s bangs gently as he whispered the magic word. “Clause.” A shadowy magic circle appeared at Sumika’s feet, spinning in place as additional layers appeared. Soon the circles swallowed her completely, compressing into a flash of purple light and leaving behind a card in her place. The card floated in midair. Yuuma grabbed it with his left hand, returned it to his card holster, and stood up straight once more. Turning around, the first thing that caught his eye was Tomori. Her eyes, behind her black-rimmed glasses, seemed wider than usual, but Yuuma had no idea what she was thinking.