What was this emotion raging deep in Yuuma’s chest? Was it anger? Sadness? Yuuma wasn’t sure. It had to be both. Hot as coal and piercing as ice, he compressed it down into four short words: “How could you…Niki?!” Despite Yuuma’s cry, almost a sob, the boy lying on the ground just four meters away did not utter a word in response. He rose silently, still light on his feet, seemingly undamaged. The boy was slightly larger than Yuuma and wore a jet-black military jacket and cargo pants. He held a double-edged longsword in his right hand, which felt incongruous with the rest of his outfit. The left side of his metallic mask, which was shaped like a wolf’s head, had been shattered. There was no mistaking the handsome, clean-cut features peeking out from within. Kakeru Niki, vice president of the Yukihana Elementary School student council and one of Yuuma’s classmates in Class 6-1. While Yuuma and Niki weren’t close enough to really be called friends, Yuuma had always appreciated Niki’s good-natured honesty and grounded sense of fairness. In fact, when Yuuma’s party had encountered Niki back at the ancient castle ruins in Actual Magic, Niki had come to their aid against the powerful Varanian Axbearer in spite of the risk to his own life. When Yuuma thanked him after the ordeal was over, Niki had just answered with an embarrassed smile, “I was so happy to finally run into someone from our class that I couldn’t stop myself from joining the fight.” Between those words and the look on his face then, it was hard to believe that had all been a lie. Yuuma didn’t want to believe it. But Niki was staring at Yuuma now with a cold and impassive glint in his exposed left eye. Even though Yuuma had just struck Niki across the side of his head, there was no trace of hostility in Niki’s expression, let alone anger or irritation. It was a cold, mechanical stare of appraisal. Niki’s lips, half exposed beneath his mask, parted. “You’ve used your demon exploit three times, Ashihara,” he said. “Your ratio is increasing.” “Demon exploit…? Ratio…?” Yuuma muttered, parroting Niki’s words. What was Niki talking about? Demon exploit probably referred to what Valac, the demon possessing Sawa, had called a vires—a unique skill that an individual demon possessed. Niki was right; Yuuma had activated his Quick Action skill earlier in order to break the Petrify spell affecting him. He had used it again to counter the two figures in black, who were apparently Niki’s allies, and then to avoid Niki’s thrusting attack. That was three times altogether. But what did Niki mean when he said that Yuuma’s ratio had increased because of that? His ratio of what? Yuuma furrowed his brow. He felt like he’d heard that word recently from someone else. But he didn’t have time to think about that right now. The other members of Shelter Sugamo were being turned to stone, one after another, by Niki’s magic. The Petrify spell was usually short-range, but Niki had used a second spell, Billowing Breeze, to spread the effect throughout the shelter. That should have thinned out the mist, drastically lowering the chance of petrifying anyone, but as far as Yuuma could tell, every single student who had come into contact with so much as a wisp of the spell cloud had been turned to stone, without exception. That must have been the vires—what Niki had called a demon exploit—of the demon inhabiting Niki. It gave any magic with a chance of success or failure to proc with a 100 percent success rate. What if, instead of Petrify, Niki had used the more powerful Lethal Curse spell? Yuuma would have been slain instantly before ever getting a chance to use his own vires. No wonder Niki referred to it as an exploit; his vires was broken as all get-out, on par with or even better than Sawa’s Magic Skill Boost or Nagi’s Silent Rapid Cast. Unbalanced or not, however, Niki’s power still had weaknesses. Unlike Nagi’s vires, Niki’s Guaranteed Magic Proc still required him to properly chant his spell. A lot of preparation had gone into Niki using his vires. He’d brought two teammates with him as tanks so that he would have enough time to cast the Air Blast spell without being interrupted; then he’d waited until Yuuma and the others were Stunned before he began casting Petrify and Billowing Breeze. But Niki’s two guards, Swordfighter A and Swordfighter B, were now unconscious from the heavy blows they had just taken from the chain in Yuuma’s right hand. This was no ordinary chain—it was the cleansing steel chain that Yuuma had acquired in the world of Actual Magic. A full-strength chop from Kenk’s two-handed sword had failed to even scratch the chain’s surface. Niki’s guards wouldn’t be getting back on their feet anytime soon. There was no front line to protect Niki while he cast. Niki was probably stronger than Yuuma when it came to hand-to-hand combat, but all Yuuma had to do was hold on until his teammates—the ones who’d avoided being petrified—could join the fight. Therefore, he needed to stall for every second possible. “If you were just going to end up doing this…then why did you help us back in AM?” Yuuma asked Niki. He may have been trying to buy time, but he genuinely wanted to know the answer to this question. If Niki hadn’t come to their aid at the forest ruins, it would have been a lot harder for the party to beat the Varanian Axbearer—in fact, there had been a real chance of total party wipe. If that had happened, obviously Yuuma wouldn’t have been here right now to stop Niki, and Niki would already have Shelter Sugamo under his control. Niki’s mouth twitched behind the broken mask. “You’re so naive, Ashihara. At the end of the day, you’re not even capable of protecting the class.” Yuuma blinked, failing to make sense of Niki’s words at first. But not a moment later, he felt hot rage welling up inside him. “Protect…? Protect…?!” Yuuma’s gaze flicked to the side toward Takato Sera and Youichi Oono, who were crouched down in front of the display racks being used as a barricade. They were almost entirely stone at this point and could no longer speak. “After doing something like this, you want to talk about protecting people…?!” Yuuma was starting to see red, but a part of him wanted to cling to some faint hope. What if this wasn’t actually Kakeru Niki? The boy was the spitting image of Niki, and he was using the same magic knight build Niki had used when the party encountered him in AM. But his name, which should have appeared along with his HP bar above his head, was garbled and illegible. Maybe someone else was pretending to be Niki. Even with special makeup, copying another person in this much detail was impossible, although there were powers at play in Althea that defied logic—magic and items from Actual Magic, as well as the demons’ vires. With those at one’s disposal, it might be possible to perfectly mimic somebody’s appearance and voice… Niki (or whoever was pretending to be Niki) raised his black-gloved hand, interrupting Yuuma’s train of thought. Yuuma tensed, expecting another spell, but Niki reached for his own face and casually peeled off his shattered wolf mask. Niki’s handsome features were illuminated by the emergency lights. However, his face wasn’t what settled Yuuma’s doubts. It was the HP bar above Niki’s head. As soon as Niki removed his mask, the garbled static above his head disappeared and his player name appeared in a simple, unadorned font: Kakeru Niki. In Althea, only a person’s real name showed up in their HP bar. There was no way to change it. In other words, this really was Niki. He had turned Oono and the others to stone. The wolf mask must have had some sort of special effect that concealed the wearer’s name. The mask had apparently reached the end of its durability. Once Niki removed it from his face, it crumbled apart in his hand. Based on the way the mask disintegrated, it obviously hadn’t been created in the real world, but rather was a magic item imported from the world of AM. Has Niki’s whole reason for diving into the game been to get his hands on these masks…? If so, that would mean he had already been plotting this attack when Yuuma’s party encountered him at the ancient castle ruins. If that was true, though, he would’ve had no reason to help Yuuma and the others. He could have waited just one minute—no, thirty seconds—until Tomori was killed by the Barbed Wolf. Without their Priest, Yuuma’s party would have fallen apart… Just then, a question that had occurred to Yuuma back at the castle flooded his mind again. Why did those Barbed Wolves jump into the fight against the Varanian Axbearer? Varanians were basically lizardmen; if they were going to be found with other monsters, it should have been more lizard creatures, not wolves. Besides, the Barbed Wolves didn’t spawn around the boss; they had rushed in from outside the battle arena. Almost as if…as if they had been provoked. “…!!” Yuuma breathed in sharply, his creeping doubt transforming immediately into certainty. “Niki. The Barbed Wolves that appeared during our boss fight in AM… You lured them there, didn’t you?” he asked, his voice low. A faint smile crossed Niki’s previously expressionless face. “You finally figured it out. If I didn’t do something, it looked like you and your party were going to defeat that boss with ease… I just needed to make things a little tougher for you.” He made it sound like he considered it all a harmless prank. Yuuma could feel heat gathering in the pit of his stomach again. He did his best to keep his anger from slipping out as he made his next accusation. “The reason you asked our Caliculus capsule numbers wasn’t to leave us a note, either, was it…? It was so you could destroy the capsules, so that it would take us longer to log out.” “Smashing those pods was hard work. I ruined a whole sword.” Niki’s reply seemed intentionally provocative. But Yuuma wasn’t about to lose his cool now. He knew that if he gave Niki another opening to start casting magic, everyone would be turned to stone. That is, if it isn’t too late already. Yuuma had just barely escaped petrification by repeatedly activating his Quick Action skill, but the Tenderizing Needle of Human Transformation he’d used to undo his status ailment had dissolved into his body. And none of the three Priests at Shelter Sugamo—Tomori Shimizu, Aoi Soga, and Minagi Sano—had learned any spells capable of removing the petrification status yet. If the earlier petrifying mist had reached the back of the shelter, then the students behind Yuuma were already… Yuuma shuddered all over, picturing the worst. It was just a brief shudder, but Niki didn’t miss that smallest opening. Without warning, the longsword hanging limply from his right hand was enveloped in deep blue light. The tip of the sword, which had almost been touching the ground a moment earlier, leaped upward as if on a spring. It was a surprise attack battle move known as Nimble Viper. Not that Yuuma was being careless—there was more than three meters of space between them. But Niki’s sword lunged forward at startling speed. Realizing he wasn’t going to be able to use his chain to block in time, Yuuma leaped backward instead, leaning his upper body as far away as he could. But the sharp tip of the blade still darted toward Yuuma’s throat like a greedy serpent. Yuuma gritted his teeth, preparing to activate Quick Action for the fourth time, when blam! A burst of light crackled in front of his eyes, blinding him. Yuuma squeezed his eyes shut reflexively but not before he saw a bolt of yellow lightning that landed directly on Niki’s sword. Eyes still closed, Yuuma jumped backward as hard as he could. The moment his feet touched the ground again, he began blinking furiously. His vision came back immediately, but he was sure he had left himself dangerously exposed. However, Niki didn’t follow up with another attack. Why not? Had the lightning managed to pierce Niki’s thick gloves and damage him? No—Niki was still rooted in place, his longsword still extended in mid-thrust. A rotating star symbol appeared on his HP bar. He was Stunned. Yuuma knew this was his chance, but he didn’t dare move. He could feel someone approaching from behind, diagonally and to the right, exuding a powerful aura. The air felt electrified. Black knee-high socks and a cream-colored pleated skirt. The hem of her blouse was loosely untucked, and she wasn’t wearing her jacket. Her long, slightly brownish hair was studded with crisscrossing barrettes at both temples. It was Aria Misono—or at least, it seemed to be her, but there was something very different about this girl. “M-Mibs…?” Yuuma said, his voice hoarse, but Aria walked past him without sparing a glance his way. She came to a stop less than two meters from where Niki stood. “Niki,” she said. Aria sounded different, too. Flat and monotone, a complete one-eighty from her usually shrill, high-pitched voice. But underneath that flinty tone, her voice seethed with anger. Niki was no longer Stunned by this point, but he made no attempt to strike, his sword still pointing toward the floor. “I don’t care why you’re doing all this, but…,” she said. Hearing Aria’s raspy voice, Yuuma finally realized that her right arm had turned to stone up to the elbow, sleeve and all. There should have been no way to stop the Petrify spell, short of specialized items or curative magic, once it began to take effect. And once stopped, any body parts that had already turned to stone should have returned to normal. So how in the world had Aria managed to halt the petrification mid-process? Aria, meanwhile, did not seem remotely interested in the state of her right arm. She continued to speak to Niki coldly. “You’re gonna pay for turning Shouko to stone.” Yuuma reflexively glanced behind him, and to the right. A large girl was crouched down at the foot of one of the slanted display racks. She was doubled over as if to protect herself but was no longer trembling. She had been completely and utterly turned to stone—hair, clothing, and all. Yuuma focused his eyes on her. Despite the girl’s current state, her HP bar still appeared above her head. It was Shouko Ezato—one of Aria’s best friends. A gray, humanoid-shaped status ailment symbol appeared underneath Shouko’s bar. Apparently, even in the real world, despite being turned completely to stone, petrification was treated as a nonlethal negative status ailment. If a person’s body were to be shattered while in that condition, however… Yuuma chased that awful thought away and turned his eyes forward once again. It was understandable if Aria was angry after seeing her friend turned to stone, but she wouldn’t be able to defeat Niki. As a Mage, Aria wasn’t suited to close combat, and right now, she wasn’t even equipped with a stick, let alone a proper amplifier such as a wand or a staff. Aria must have cast the earlier lightning bolt—likely the Thunderbolt spell—while Yuuma and Niki were still facing off against each other, but there was no way Niki was going to let her launch another spell at such close range. All he had to do to interrupt her casting was strike as soon as she opened her mouth. I need to tank for her. Come on, Mibs—just move back another meter… Despite Yuuma’s silent pleas, however, Aria raised her left hand into the air without hesitation. It looked like she planned to battle a swordfighter at close range, using only her spells. The corner of Niki’s mouth twisted upward in a smirk. He was smirking with pity, not scorn, for the opponent he was about to strike down. His sword, which was still pointed toward the ground, was suddenly enveloped in blue light. Yuuma began to step forward, hoping to intercept any incoming attacks with the cleansing steel chain, when suddenly— Crash! —there was another crackling burst of yellow light. “…!!” Yuuma was so surprised that he gasped out loud. A streak of lightning shot from Aria’s left hand without warning, striking Niki in a frantic arc. The trajectory must have caught Niki off guard because he was unable to react in time. He was hit directly on his right shoulder and stumbled backward. The fact that Niki was able to stay standing at all was a testament to his willpower, but that single lightning strike had been enough to reduce his HP by nearly 20 percent and leave him Stunned once again. This time I have to do something, Yuuma thought, but his body still refused to move. The energy—what could only be called aura—that was emanating from every pore of Aria’s body had left him weak in the knees. That spark of lightning wasn’t the Thunderbolt spell, which crashed down from overhead, or even Lightning Arrow, which traveled in a straight line. In fact, Aria hadn’t even chanted a spell. It must have been a power similar to Nagi’s Silent Rapid Cast skill, meaning it was a vires. Aria had made contact with the demon inside her and had received its power. Despite their often enigmatic behavior, both Valac and Crocell—the demons inhabiting Sawa and Nagi, respectively—had already saved Yuuma and his friends on multiple occasions. Yuuma still didn’t know the name of his own demon, but if the voice that periodically spoke to him was the demon’s, then it seemed reasonable and friendly enough. At the very least, Yuuma didn’t think it was going to suddenly take over his body anytime soon. Yuuma just prayed the same held true for the demon inside Aria. However… “Ngh…ghhh…ghrrr…” Suddenly, a freakish groan burst from Aria’s lips. The circuitry pattern of her QREST, which extended from the back of her left hand to a point near her elbow, began shining with glaring yellow light. She crossed that arm, along with her other half-petrified arm, in front of her chest and doubled over into a ball. Tendrils of lightning crackled along her body. “Ah…ahh… aaahhh…!” Aria’s groans escalated into screams. The tendrils began to increase in momentum, leaping in arcs to touch the floor and nearby metal racks, sending up showers of sparks. “AuggghHHH—!!” With an inhuman-sounding wail, Aria flung her arms wide, arching her body backward as far as it would go. There was an ear-shattering crack as lightning discharged in all directions, tearing her uniform and socks to shreds. One of the bolts struck Yuuma, who was standing nearby, on the arm. Although his hit points decreased slightly, he barely even registered the shock, let alone the painful burn. His thoughts and attention were almost completely absorbed in the scene unfolding before his eyes. As the burnt tatters of Aria’s uniform fluttered in the air, she began to change—to transform. Faint muscles bulged along her previously svelte physique, and bat-like wings began to sprout near her shoulder blades. The ends of her crisscrossed barrettes, which for some reason were the only things not blown clean off by the electrical discharge, fused with the skin on her forehead. The opposite ends of the barrettes spiraled upward into horns. The wings on her back extended with a loud flap. Her arms, legs, and torso were now covered in a swimsuit-like film, similar to what Sawa always wore. Finally, the fingers of her left hand were sheathed in sharp-looking armored plating. Once the transformation was complete, Aria opened and closed her left hand several times, as if testing it. She glanced over her shoulder slightly. Yuuma caught sight of her eyes, which were now glowing yellow, similar to her QREST. “Leave Niki to me,” she told him. “And don’t get in my way.” There was a metallic ring to Aria’s voice as she spoke, but Yuuma was relieved to hear that her attitude, at least, still remained the same. As far as he could tell, it didn’t seem as if her personality had been taken over by the demon’s or anything like that. Not that Aria’s words did much to put Yuuma’s mind at ease. “M-Misono… Niki probably…” …knows a way to undo the petrification, was what Yuuma was about to say, but he never had the chance. In the blink of an eye, Aria’s legs were sheathed in electricity. Yuuma had barely registered the change before Aria was hurtling toward Niki with incredible speed. Having just barely recovered from being Stunned, Niki lifted his sword to guard with both hands. Undeterred, Aria swiped downward with her left hand, using pure unadulterated strength to strike at Niki with her armored fingers. Cr-crack! There was another loud discharge of electricity as four streaks of lightning etched chasms through the air. The moment Aria’s claw, which was sheathed in lightning just like her legs, made contact with Niki’s sword, it exploded in a spectacular shower of sparks, sending fireworks scattering in all directions. The electrical charge raced along Niki’s sword and sent a shock through his body that shaved off another tenth of his HP. An unblockable lightning attack. Yuuma stared, aghast, as he tried to guess what Aria’s vires—her demon exploit—could possibly be. At first, he thought it might be the ability to cast lightning magic without chanting the incantation, but the guidebook hadn’t mentioned any spell that let a person coat themselves in electricity. Besides, without some special measures, the lightning would just damage the user as well. Even though Aria was wearing only a thin bodysuit, she didn’t seem to be affected by the electricity whatsoever. There was only one logical explanation. Aria was no longer a neutral elemental type, which was what players—humans—usually were. Actual Magic had ten elemental attributes—fire, wind, earth, lightning, water, light, dark, holy, curse, and neutral—with different preestablished affinities and interactions between them. Two were capable of neutralizing lightning attacks: lightning-type creatures and items along with the opposing earth element. Aria was wearing nothing other than some strange sort of swimsuit, but even if it had been enchanted with a spell such as Lightning Enhancement or Earth Enhancement, that still wouldn’t completely overwrite her own elemental attribute and thus wouldn’t block all chip damage. So it must not have been her equipment. Aria must have changed into a lightning-type creature similar to how Sumika Watamaki had become a curse element creature after turning into a monster. This must have been due to the vires of Aria’s demon… If Yuuma were to give the ability a name, he would call it Lightning Transformation. But it had done more than just replace Aria’s elemental DEF values. By cloaking herself in electricity, she was able to move at least twice as fast as normal, add elemental damage to her attacks, and even shoot lightning bolts at will. Aria’s vires gave its host the power of a veritable god of thunder. There was no way for Niki to defend against Aria’s electrical attacks with his steel sword; even if he tried to use Guaranteed Magic Proc instead, Aria was faster than before. There was no chance for him to fire off a spell. There was one cause for concern, however. With a demon exploit this powerful, how long could Aria keep it up? Aria also seemed to be aware that she couldn’t maintain her Lightning Transformation forever. She wasted no time in approaching Niki, attacking ferociously with both the claws on her left hand and her petrified right hand. Niki had abandoned attempts to block with his sword and was now doing his best to dodge her blows, but Aria’s movements were too fast to avoid altogether. Her claws grazed him repeatedly, catching him in different spots along his body. Usually, the chestguard and thick short coat Niki was wearing would have prevented such glancing blows from doing any damage, but the added electricity mercilessly chipped away at Niki’s HP, even through his armor. “How dare you… How dare you…!” Aria screamed, swinging her arms furiously. “How dare you hurt Shouko!!” It was like Aria’s voice, seething with rage, had been transformed into literal thunder. Bluish-white sparks spilled from her lips as a massive blast of lightning bellowed from her mouth in a lightning breath attack that could have put even a thunder dragon to shame. In a bold move, Niki tossed his sword aside and crossed his arms in front of his chest, taking the blast head-on. The black leather gloves he was wearing were instantly incinerated in a torrent of explosive light. Yuuma had guessed that the gloves were some sort of magical amplifier, and he was spot on, because they seemed to possess a degree of elemental resistance. All the same, Niki’s HP, which was already half empty, decreased by more than 20 percent from Aria’s attack. The bar turned yellow in color. Niki collapsed to one knee, Stunned again. Aria sauntered toward him. Without his sword and gloves, Niki seemed to have lost the will to fight. She’s not going to kill him, is she? thought Yuuma. If so, Yuuma needed to stop her. Niki probably had some sort of item or tool that could remove petrification, and they still had no idea why he had suddenly attacked the shelter in the first place. He had baited those Barbed Wolves to attack in AM and had destroyed their Caliculus capsules in the real world, so the attack had obviously been planned, but they needed to figure out if Niki and his two guards were acting on their own or if all the fourth-floor students were behind this. And besides—even after all he had done, Kakeru Niki was still part of Class 6-1. Yuuma sucked in a breath, ready to tell Aria to stop. Before the air could leave his lungs, however… “Ria, stop!” Someone else shouted at Aria first, rushing past Yuuma close by on the right. There was only one student in Class 6-1 who called Aria by that nickname: the 6-1 class president and leader of the first-floor shelter, Teruki Sugamo. Once Sugamo caught up with Aria he reached out with his right hand, grabbing her by her electrified left arm. Sparks crackled in the air, but Sugamo never let her go. “Any more and you won’t be able to come back!!” he shouted. Yuuma’s mind stalled for a moment, unsure of what Sugamo meant. But for whatever reason, Aria finally stopped. This brief lull, however, did not last long. A voice, hoarse but determined, interrupted the moment. “Terra!” Still on one knee, Niki extended his left hand. A light brown orb of light appeared at his palm, which had been injured by the lightning. “…!” This time Yuuma sprang into action, dashing forward. He could see the pale green light in Niki’s eyes—proof that Niki had activated his Guaranteed Magic Proc demon exploit. Yuuma wasn’t sure how Aria had stopped the petrification the first time, but there was no guarantee she would be able to resist it again. “Nubes!” As Niki chanted the spell’s form, the ball of light transformed into a mist. Aria stood rooted in place. Sugamo tried pulling her back, but he was having trouble getting her to move, maybe because she was still pumping out lightning. Another petrification spell was coming in two seconds at most. There was no way Niki and Aria would be able to avoid it. “Aggghhh!!” Yuuma screamed as he swung the cleansing steel chain down as hard as he could, aiming for Niki’s left hand. He was convinced he was going to make it in time…but just then, one of Niki’s guards—Yuuma thought they were still unconscious—suddenly leaped in front of Yuuma. The guard held his sword horizontally, blocking Yuuma’s chain. The sword snapped in half with a strange clang, and the chain carried through, striking the swordfighter’s wolf mask and shattering it to pieces. Swordfighter A was tossed backward, where he was caught from behind by the other guard, Swordfighter B. The back of A’s head collided with B’s face, immediately shattering B’s mask as well. A shower of black shards whirled through the air, while Niki’s voice rang out above the chaos. “Petrifica!!” The brown mist turned dark gray in color as it began to spread. This time, Niki hadn’t used Billowing Breeze in conjunction with Petrify, so the area of effect would only be about a meter and a half or so from his outstretched hand. Unfortunately, Yuuma was just barely inside that range. “Nrrrgh…!” Gritting his teeth, Yuuma attempted to dodge to the left, but he still had too much momentum remaining from his swing and was unable to shift direction instantly. With no other choice left, Yuuma activated his vires, Quick Action, once again. The moment he did so, his vision turned blue and everything around him slowed to a crawl. With the world at a near standstill, Yuuma first checked his forward momentum and then leaped to the left with all the strength he could muster. As time returned to normal, the gray mist immediately ballooned outward. It nearly caught the tip of Yuuma’s sneakers while he was still midair, but he managed to just barely snatch his foot back in time. Yuuma couldn’t control his landing. He landed on his left shoulder and rolled across the floor until finally striking against one of the display racks. The wind was knocked out of his lungs. He struggled to his feet, desperately panting for air. Aria’s agility was still being buffed by her Lightning Transformation; therefore, she must have been able to avoid the petrification as well—or so Yuuma had thought. But he soon realized he was wrong. Eyes wide with shock, Yuuma witnessed the precise moment when Aria shoved Sugamo backward and was swallowed up by the thick mist. “Mibs!!” Yuuma’s raspy shout was lost in a series of stiff, cracking pops. Niki’s left hand dropped weakly to his side. He was out of MP. The thick mist dissipated before their eyes, revealing Aria. Pointed teeth bared and left hand brandished high in the air, she was gray all over. The light was gone from her eyes, and her long hair, which usually swayed back and forth as she moved, was as motionless as stone. “You… You’ll pay for this!!” Sugamo shouted. He placed both hands against the ground and began to push himself to his feet, gripped with murderous rage…only to suddenly freeze in place. Niki had extended his hand again toward the petrified Aria. “Not so fast, Teruki,” he said. “You too, Ashihara.” Niki glared down his nose at Sugamo and Yuuma, his eyes glowing faintly green. He spoke in an icy tone of voice. “All I need to do is give Misono here one tiny push…and you know what’ll happen then, don’t you?” “Niki…,” Sugamo growled, his voice seething with resentment. Sugamo’s clenched fists trembled slightly, but he remained crouched on the floor and made no more attempts to move. If Aria got knocked over in this state, the damage would obviously be fatal. Not only that, she had been on the verge of attacking Niki when she was turned to stone, so her weight was balanced almost entirely on one leg. It was a miracle that she was still upright at all. They were at a stalemate. Niki shuffled backward slowly, calling for his guards, who lay on the ground in a heap. “You two, can you stand?” he asked them. Swordfighter A got up first and then lent Swordfighter B a hand. Their wolf masks had been destroyed, leaving their true faces exposed. Just as Yuuma had expected, they were fellow 6-1 classmates. Swordfighter A was Ryuugo Nunono, student number 34. His narrow eyes and close buzz cut made him look like a monk of some sort. Although the quiet type, he used to hang out all the time with Yukihisa Miura (aka Beloshi) who was—correction, had been—6-1’s biggest class clown, as well as Youichi Oono, who was similarly rambunctious, though not quite to the same degree as Miura was. Swordfighter B was Shizu Metoki, student number 19. Her bangs had been trimmed neatly above her eyebrows, and her hair was pulled back into a short ponytail. Metoki came off as serious and hardworking and was good friends with Kyouka Teragami, who was on the volleyball team, as well as with Kanami Iida, who was on the swim team. Metoki herself was not on any sports teams at school, but she did attend a kendo dojo, just like Nunono did. Maybe that was why they were Niki’s guards. If so, then the entire fourth floor might have been behind this attack after all… Yuuma switched focus, deciding to concentrate on the situation at hand. Niki barely had any HP or MP left, so unless he used a potion or some other method of recovery, he probably wouldn’t be able to activate his AoE petrification spell again. He might still have had other tricks up his sleeve, however. Yuuma would just have to rely on his own trump card when that time came. He could feel the slight weight of the card in the inner pocket of his jacket. “We’ve done all we can…,” Niki said, seeing the state that Ryuugo Nunono and Shizu Metoki were in. Niki gave a signal with his right hand, and the three began to slowly retreat. I’m not going to let them get away, Yuuma thought, but then he quickly realized that neither side had an advantage at the moment. The only ones up front right now who could still act were Yuuma and Sugamo, and after Niki’s petrifying mist, Yuuma had no idea what the situation looked like toward the back of the shelter. Yuuma wanted to check immediately, but he obviously couldn’t take his eyes off the three interlopers yet. Niki kept his left hand raised as he shuffled backward toward the entrance. This was a threat—he could still topple Aria at any moment. He let his two guards escape first and then paused to stare directly at Yuuma. “You will all understand soon enough…what is needed to rectify this world.” Yuuma furrowed his brow. What did Niki mean? A split second later, a small ball rolled into the room next to Niki’s feet. Nunono or Metoki must have tossed it behind them as they left. It burst with a tiny pop, releasing a massive amount of billowing white smoke. “Later,” Niki said, reduced to a faint silhouette that soon grew smaller before disappearing. The smoke was probably just a normal smoke screen, but it was too dangerous to chase after Niki alone. Yuuma counted to five, still gripping the chain in his right hand tightly until he was sure the trio had left. Then he finally released the breath he had been holding in. Yuuma turned to the right. He was about to speak to Sugamo when… “Dammiiiiit!!” Sugamo cursed, his voice so loud that it probably reached the main lobby. Yuuma frowned, resisting the urge to point out that Sugamo had been almost no help. “Sug…,” Yuuma said, keeping his voice down. “What?!” Sugamo shouted, wheeling around. Before Sugamo could have another outburst, Yuuma gave him instructions, taking care to not make it sound as if he was giving orders. “You should hold Misono so that she doesn’t fall over.” Sugamo ground his teeth together, but then he reined in his anger and nodded. “…I know that,” he replied. Sugamo stood up and approached the petrified Aria. Yuuma waited until Sugamo had placed both hands on Aria’s waist to support her before turning around and casting a glance toward the back of the shelter. He figured Sawa and the others would have found a way to protect themselves from the petrifying mist, which Niki had pumped across the room using wind magic, but he was completely unprepared for what he saw next. The back one-third or so of the shopping area had been sealed off completely by a bluish, semitransparent wall of some sort. At first, Yuuma assumed it was glass, but the texture appeared different. A faintly uneven, wet gloss covered the surface—most likely ice. Someone must have used the Icewall spell, but it would have taken at least five castings to create a wall this big. How would they have done that in just the few seconds remaining before the mist reached them? Yuuma wondered, furrowing his brow. But there was only one obvious answer. Nagi, who was able to cast water magic, must have activated her Silent Rapid Cast vires. Niki’s voice still echoed in Yuuma’s ears. “You’ve used your demon exploit three times, Ashihara. Your ratio is increasing.” Yuuma never had a chance to ask Niki what he meant by “ratio,” but based on the way Niki said it…unlike leveling up, this didn’t sound like something to celebrate. Yuuma didn’t notice anything different about himself. At least not yet. But he would need to get to the bottom of what that word meant and sooner rather than later. Yuuma added “investigate the meaning of the word ratio” to his list of mental notes, right underneath “find a landline” and “obtain bedding from AM,” and returned his cleansing steel chain to his inventory. Then he approached the wall of ice. He double-checked that the petrifying mist was actually fully gone before calling out to whomever was on the other side of the ice barrier. “The intruders in black have fled. You can come out now!” “Got it. I’m gonna melt the wall. Stay back!” a familiar voice answered immediately. Yuuma retreated a few steps, and a spot in the middle of the wall began to glow red. The person must have been hitting the wall with fire magic from the other side, as the ice quickly melted, forming a puddle on the floor below. They might be able to use the puddle for drinking water, but Althea’s plumbing was still in working order for now, at least, and they had plenty of bottled drinks taken from the vending machines as well. If anything, the melted ice water was a nuisance that would need to be taken care of, but that could wait until later. As soon as an oval hole, about a meter tall, had formed in the ice, the magical fire receded. Yuuma bent down to peep through the hole. Before he could get a chance to, however… “Yuu!” someone shouted, scrambling through the hole to embrace Yuuma, nearly tackling him in the process. Yuuma almost fell over backward. His twin sister, Sawa Ashihara, was squeezing him in a quick bear hug, as hard as she could. “You’re not injured, are you?!” she asked, looking up at him. “You didn’t get turned to stone?!” “I’m fine. I barely got scratched.” Yuuma was still patting Sawa on the back to calm her down when Kenji Kondou (aka Kenk) and Minagi Sano (aka Nagi) emerged from the hole, fighting to be first to make their way through. They both exhaled in relief when they saw that Yuuma was safe. A moment later, however, they hung their heads in shame. “Sorry, man, I shoulda been there to help you fight…,” said Kenk. “I’m really sorry, Yuu. This was the only way I could stop the mist…,” added Nagi. Yuuma shook his head emphatically. “No, the wall was a good idea. Nagi, Kenk, Sawa—thank you for protecting everybody.” “We weren’t able to protect them all, though…,” Nagi said softly, glancing toward several students who had been petrified, over by the wall. Yuuma gently patted Nagi’s delicate shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Besides, there must be some way to cure Mibs and the others.” “Of course! You’re right!” Sawa shouted, stepping away from Yuuma and launching into her own spiel. “Petrification is just like any other status ailment. Spells, items, potions… There must be plenty of ways to remove it. We may not be able to do it now, but if one of our Priests levels up enough or if we can get our hands on a curative from AM…” “Oh, then everything’s just hunky-dory, isn’t it?!” came an angry shout that echoed off the shelter walls. It surprised not only Yuuma and his friends but also Tomori Shimizu, who flinched as she made her way through the hole. Turning around, Yuuma saw Sugamo standing about five meters away, glaring at the four of them with a lurid gleam in his eyes. He was still busy supporting the petrified Aria, but it looked like if he had been free to do so, he would have been chewing their faces off right now. “Quit spouting nonsense, she-twin. You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Sugamo yelled. Yuuma was just going to ignore him, but Sawa decided to stick up for herself. “It’s not nonsense! They were turned to stone using magic, so why shouldn’t we able to turn them back with magic as well?!” She had a point. Sugamo glowered silently, still holding Aria steady. Seeing the state that Aria was in, Sawa spoke again, softening her tone. “Sug… Is that Aria?” “…Yeah.” Sugamo nodded. Sawa took a few steps closer and muttered, “She’s changed into demon form…” “Demon form…!” Kenk gasped. Nagi and Tomori, who were standing next to Kenk, inhaled sharply, evidently shocked as well. The silence was stifling, but it was eventually broken by more surprised gasps from behind. “Why does…why does Aria have wings…?” “Did someone just say she turned into a demon?” “Oh crap, does that mean Misono was a demon all along?” Turning around, Yuuma saw their other classmates, who had stepped through the hole as well, standing there in shock. Surprise and uncertainty were written all over their faces. Surprise, uncertainty, and fear. “Everybody, listen to me!” Yuuma shouted, quickly raising his hand. “Misono was the one who drove back the intruders in black who attacked our shelter! If Mibs hadn’t fought to save us all, Sug and me would be Petrified right now!” The students’ faces relaxed slightly. But although their fear had mostly abated, the uncertainty remained. We can’t keep the fact that there are demons inside all of us a secret for much longer, Yuuma thought, glancing toward Sawa. Sawa seemed to have reached the same conclusion. She nodded at him ever so slightly. Making up his mind, Yuuma began addressing the dozen or so classmates who were standing before him. “First, I need you all to help me move the Petrified students somewhere safe. After that, I’ll explain everything… Who those people in black were and what happened to Misono.”
Chapter 34
36 min read