Tomori Tada. Yukimi Yumura. Aoi Soga. Healing had come too late for all three of them. Most of the girls and quite a few of the boys were sobbing loudly as they stared at the three bodies, laid out side by side. The most heartbroken of all was Tada’s best friend, Shinta Aida. He pressed his head with its faux-hawk against Tada’s chest, repeating, “Dammit, dammit,” over and over again. Yuuma wanted to scream and cry, too, but the person he was most angry at was himself. Why hadn’t he realized that Yukimi’s demonization ratio was so high? And why hadn’t he foreseen that the demon inhabiting Yukimi, Amy, might turn out to be as savage and hostile as she was— Yuuma already knew the answer to that question. He had been naive. About the demons. Although the unknown demon residing inside him had yet to show itself, it had given him advice on multiple occasions. Sawa’s Valac, Nagi’s Crocell, and Aria’s Ose had all been friendly as well. Somehow, Yuuma had persuaded himself that all demons must be that way—or at the very least, that the demons wouldn’t act in defiance of their hosts’ will since their destinies were tied to them. Even though both Sawa and Valac had told him that the ultimate goal of the demons was to take over the students’ bodies. Unlike Yukihisa Miura, the expressions on the faces of the three students who had fallen victim to the demon Amy were peaceful. Almost like they were sleeping. That was the one saving grace. But what they had lost was immeasurable. “I’m a Priest. I have to keep everyone safe.” Aoi’s voice still echoed in Yuuma’s ears. Aoi had been in tears before leaving for Algol, insisting that she couldn’t do it. For her to utter such words of determination in the end. How much hardship and courage had it taken for Aoi to make such a change? When Yuuma thought of all the hard work Aoi had put in, he felt so disconsolate he wanted to scream. His sadness was probably nothing in comparison to Mimi’s, though, who was currently sitting on her knees at Aoi’s side. She had just lost her two best friends from the cooking club in one fell swoop. Mimi and Yukimi had apparently been feuding a little over their relationships with Aoi, but in any group of three or more, stuff like that was bound to happen. It would have resolved itself in time. But that future had been taken from them. Yuuma needed to get to work, to ensure that the sacrifice Aoi had made for them wouldn’t go to waste, but his body felt like lead. It took all his strength just to stand. Part of him wanted to run away into his internus, but he knew that would just invite new self-loathing. “You!” someone shouted suddenly, from behind Yuuma. Yuuma slowly turned to look. It was Teruki Sugamo. Of course. There were dark circles beneath his unusually stern eyes. “He-twin. Remember what you said? You said that you’d be the one to assume responsibility if Yumura’s arrival was one of Niki’s traps!” “…” Yuuma was tempted to argue that Yumura had abandoned her watch and fled the shelter on the fourth floor all on her own. But there was a chance, he realized, that Haizaki and the others had noticed Yukimi fleeing and had intentionally let her go. If so, it would mean they had realized Yukimi’s demonization ratio was getting dangerous and had welcomed the chance to get rid of her before she could fully demonize—what Amy had referred to as manifesting—and go on a rampage. They might have even banked on Yukimi arriving at the first floor just as she was about to go berserk. Sugamo took a step closer, while Yuuma was still lost in thought. “Well?! Say something—!” “They’ve already paid the price, haven’t they?” Mimi Hariya answered him. She was huddled by herself, a little distance away. She lifted her head and stared at Sugamo with tears in her eyes. Her voice was taut and quiet. “Aoi took responsibility with her own life. What more do you want?” “…” Yuuma could hear Sugamo’s teeth grinding together. Why? Yuuma found himself thinking once again. Why was Teruki Sugamo so dead set on remaining leader? It wasn’t the situation, as outlandish and extreme as it was. Sugamo had started behaving this way, both at school and elsewhere, long before they ever became trapped in Althea. For instance, at the end of the playtest, when Sugamo had run after Yuuma’s party, he had shouted all sorts of weird stuff like, “If anyone’s gonna enter that boss room first, it’s us,” and “Unlike you chumps, we haven’t just been goofing around.” It was as if he just couldn’t bear not to be first. Sugamo already had it all. He was the son of the president of a construction company that was influential throughout Yamanashi Prefecture. He was smart, good at sports. He was even tall for his age and blessed with good looks. So what was driving him to behave in this way? Maybe this was just his personality—but Yuuma felt like there must be more to it than that. It was too obsessive, too frantic. “Hey, Sug…?” Yuuma said. Sugamo glared at him with bloodshot eyes. Yuuma felt a little browbeaten, but there was no turning back now. Yuuma didn’t want to poke his nose into someone else’s thoughts and feelings, but if Sugamo kept pushing himself like this, there was a risk his demonization ratio might skyrocket just like Yukimi’s had. If Yuuma was ever going to bring it up, it had to be now—while the purple bruise from where Sugamo had hit him was still fresh on his face. “Why are you so obsessed with being leader, Sug? Everyone in class already knows you can do anything you set your mind to. So what possible reason could you have to be so insistent about it now, with things the way they are?” Sugamo must not have been expecting that; his expression turned blank. Aria, who was standing behind Sugamo and to the right, breathed in sharply. The other students grew tense as well. “Whoa, hey now,” one of the boys muttered, but otherwise, total silence descended. The veins bulged in Sugamo’s forehead, tracing minute wrinkles around his brow and the bridge of his nose. He bared his teeth, grinding them audibly, a sharp gleam in his eyes. Sugamo took another step toward Yuuma, with a look on his face that could only be called madness. He spoke in a raspy whisper, like he’d lost his voice. “What makes you think you know anything, Ashihara?” His right hand, which he held half-heartedly in midair, trembled slightly, and he tried to hold it still with his other hand. He took another half step toward Yuuma, still in that strange pose. “You waltz around here, like you don’t really care about anything, and then run and hide behind your sister and all your little friends the first chance you get. You think you have the right to shoot your mouth off? To me?” Sugamo’s words pelted Yuuma like a shotgun, hitting him in all his weak spots. And yet…when was the last time Sugamo had been so open about his true feelings? Yuuma grinned. That’s right, Sug—get it all out. “Yeah, you just know all about me, don’t you?” Yuuma said. “If you think I’m so useless, though, why not leave me alone to do my own thing? Why do you have to always needle me at every turn?” “…You know what? Shut up,” Sugamo spat, his words dripping with venom. “This is exactly what I’ve always hated about—” Suddenly, a sharp, shrill whistle filled the air. It came from outside the shelter, somewhere in the main lobby. A moment later, they heard it again. And then again. Something was setting off the Whistle Traps scattered around the lobby. Hokari frowned. “It’s probably just those worms again,” he muttered. Yuuma figured the same as well, turning his attention back toward Sugamo. That is, until realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. All the conjectures and “what-ifs” that had been forming in Yuuma’s mind up until now suddenly intertwined, instantly converting to solid conviction. A spasm of horror, like ice water, raced down his spine, and the hairs on both of his arms stood on end. “It’s Niki—!!” For a brief moment, as the name left Yuuma’s lips, Sugamo’s eyes went wide. A moment later, however, Sugamo’s expression doubled in ferocity. If Niki and Haizaki had let Yukimi go—no, had sent her—knowing full well that she would transform… Amy’s rampage had caused serious damage, leaving three dead, including Yukimi herself. There was no way Niki and Haizaki were going to let this chance pass. There was no way to know whether Haizaki had also come down from the fourth floor, but Kakeru Niki was almost certainly here. In that case, they couldn’t let him into the shelter. Niki’s AoE petrification magic was most effective in an enclosed space. They needed to intercept him in the spacious main lobby. Or at the very least, out there in the waiting area. “Anyone who can fight, come with me!” Yuuma shouted, racing forward. He glanced briefly at Aoi Soga as he ran. He couldn’t let any more harm come to the ideals—to the people—that Aoi had died to protect. Directing his eyes forward again, Yuuma sprinted toward the simple barricade. “Let’s pull it over toward us, Kenk!” “Got it!” Together, the two friends grabbed either end of the barricade poles and tugged as hard as they could, tipping the barricade over. They waited for a brief second before rushing outside, just in case someone was already casting attack magic out there. There was no one in the waiting area yet, with its rows of benches. But they could see small human-shaped shadows out in the main lobby, which was partitioned off by a trusswork bearing wall. Gripping his cleansing steel chain, Yuuma ran in between the benches at full speed. He could sense Kenk, Sawa, and Nagi close on his heels, but he was unsure of how many other students had followed them out of the shelter. He wanted to take a look over his shoulder to see, but even that was a delay they couldn’t afford. There was no need to avoid the Whistle Traps at this point. They tripped them all, one after another, as they cut across the waiting area. Yuuma only hit the brakes once he was underneath the giant archway of the bearing wall. On the other side of the over twenty-meter-wide main lobby, he could see a group of black-clad figures, standing in a line in front of the opening that led to the elevator lobby. There were nine of them in total. They were wearing the same kind of protective gear as Nunono and the others had worn when they’d attacked the shelter the other night. Black military jackets and pants, with metal armor pieces over their chests, elbows, and knees. If Yukimi’s info had been correct, Niki had probably traded armor sets acquired in Algol to Shuutarou Toojima, and then Toojima had used his demon exploit to materialize that equipment in Althea. The equipment, which would have had a fantasy design back in Algol, had simply been translated into a more modern and realistic form. The one difference was that, this time, no one was wearing headgear. As a result, Yuuma didn’t have to look at their attackers’ HP bars to know who they were. There were four girls on the right, from Yuuma’s perspective. The muscular girl on the end with the very short, naturally curly hair was Kanami Iida, student number 2. The tallish girl to her left with glossy, wavy hair and gorgeous, florid features was Ren Fujikawa, student number 16. The girl to Fujikawa’s left, with the clean-cut bangs and the confident look on her face, was Shizu Metoki. She had participated in the previous attack the other night. Finally, the cool beauty next to her, who was probably around 160 centimeters tall and who wore her long hair in a ponytail, was Kyouka Teragami, student number 11 and 6-1’s class representative for the girls. Looking closer, Ren and Kyouka wore almost no metal armor pieces on their bodies, and their jackets were a little longer than the others. Additionally, they were both carrying rods, Ren’s long like a staff and Kyouka’s short like a wand. It was impossible to tell for sure just based on that, but Ren was likely a Priest and Kyouka must have been a Mage. Kanami and Shizu both had metal armor and were carrying simple longswords, suggesting they were Warriors. Next, Yuuma turned his eyes toward the left side of the group. Three boys were standing there. The boy on the end, with hair that dramatically flipped outward and finely trimmed eyebrows, was Akihisa Kaji, student number 25. He came off as a real jokester and player. To his right was Ryuugo Nunono, the kendo practitioner with the shaved head. Like Shizu, he had served as one of Niki’s bodyguards the previous night. And to Nunono’s right was a slightly fatter boy with a dense, curly mop atop his head. The sides of his head, meanwhile, were shaved tight, creating an extremely unusual hairstyle. It was Kouji Mukaibara, student number 38. He was good friends with Kaji. Judging from their equipment, the heavily armored, sword-wielding Nunono and Mukaibara were likely Warriors, while Kaji, who was holding a dagger, was probably a Thief. After quickly assessing the left and right lines, Yuuma finally turned his eyes toward the middle. There were two more students left, standing side by side, slightly farther back than the other seven. The boy on the right, who looked like he could be in a boy band with his fresh, youthful face and stylish asymmetrical haircut, was Kakeru Niki. The same magic knight who had turned six students to stone. And on the left—said to be the greatest genius to ever pass through Yukihana Elementary School’s halls and voted in as 2031 student council president by an overwhelming majority—was Shin Haizaki. More striking than handsome, his neat mop top and metal-framed eyeglasses lent him an entirely intellectual air. He was not carrying a weapon, but his long black coat and matching gloves suggested a Mage. Both Niki and Haizaki had transferred to Yukihana Elementary School in third grade. But despite it supposedly being their first time meeting, the two boys, whether because they had just hit it off or because their shared status as transfer students had brought them together, were soon like longtime friends…or at least, that was what Yuuma remembered thinking at the time. Obviously, the two would pair up at a time like this. The problem, however, was just how far their demonization ratios had risen. Since they were both freely using their demon exploits, they had to be at least around 20 percent. But if they were already over 40 percent, there was a risk they might transform into demon form as well. While Yuuma peered at them, still in thought, someone spoke up in a low voice from behind. “I bet they thought they could wipe us all out at once. They don’t know who they’re dealing with…” Yuuma knew it was Sugamo even without turning around. Apparently, he had followed without hesitation when Yuuma called for anyone who could fight, despite the risk involved. Unable to resist any longer, Yuuma finally took a peek over his shoulder. Sugamo and Kenk were right behind him. To either side of them were Sawa, Nagi, Tomori, and Aria. But that wasn’t all. Behind them, the other students were standing huddled together in a line. Glancing from right to left, Yuuma counted fourteen students in total. Together with the other six, that made twenty. Twenty-one if you counted Yuuma as well. There were still two missing, Yuuma thought at first, until he realized the other two were Aoi and Tada. That meant they had all come. Every last surviving student had chosen to fight in order to protect their friends. There were only nine students from the fourth floor. That meant, in terms of simple numbers, the first floor had more than double their amount. However, the fourth-floor students were equipped with real weapons and armor, while the majority of Yuuma’s group were only holding steel bars and iron pipes. In terms of combat strength, they might be even, but it was important to remember that seven—possibly eight—of the fourth floor’s group were being mentally controlled by Haizaki’s Guild Leader power. If Haizaki ordered them to, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to use their weapons and magic against the first-floor students. But would the first-floor students be able to do the same? And even if they were, they still didn’t want to kill the other group. The victory conditions for this battle were asymmetrical. The fourth-floor group only needed to turn everyone to stone or disable them and place them under Guild Leader control, whereas the first-floor group had to find a way to restrain Haizaki and Niki, without causing any casualties, and then free the students who were already under Haizaki’s spell. Half of Yuuma was thinking rationally, but the other half was in desperate denial. Yukimi had explained Haizaki’s terrifying Guild Leader exploit in detail, but were Kaji and the others really that deep under his control? Maybe if Yuuma and the others tried hard enough, they could still reach them— “Ren…!” someone cried tersely from behind Yuuma. “Ren, what are you doing over there?! And that outfit! You look ridiculous!” Glancing over his shoulder, Yuuma saw that it was Sayu Kenjou who had just spoken. She and Ren Fujikawa were good friends; they liked to meet up with Saki Chikamori after school to talk about fashion and their favorite TV shows. Sayu was the only one of the three who had fled to the first floor, so this was probably a welcome reunion for her. The same ought to have been true for Ren, but she remained in position, answering Sayu flatly, her expression almost completely unchanged. “Don’t worry; you’ll understand soon, too, Sayu…what this world really needs.” “The world…? You’ve never said anything like that before in your entire life! Can’t you see how weird you’re acting?!” Sayu pleaded, but Ren made no reply. The row of students simply continued to stand there, expressionless—no, emotionless. Niki had said something almost identical last night, when he had fled from the first-floor shelter. “You’ll all understand soon enough…what is needed to rectify this world.” Did that mean that Niki was under Guild Leader control, just like Ren was? Or— “Are we done talking yet?” A voice echoed across the empty lobby; it was soft and smooth and yet it somehow pierced straight through their heads. “Ashihara, I can see your side has no intention of surrendering, so how about we forego the rest and just get started.” The voice belonged to Shin Haizaki. He took two slow, leisurely steps forward, his empty hands thrust into the pockets of his unnaturally drab long coat. There were so many things Yuuma could have said right now: Why are you doing this? Why don’t we talk first? But he was fairly certain anything he said would be meaningless. For some reason, Haizaki wanted to put all of Class 6-1 under the control of his Guild Leader power—and he had decided he was willing to make a few sacrifices along the way in order to achieve that goal. Once someone like Haizaki made up his mind, Yuuma knew in no uncertain terms that nothing he could say was ever going to change that. Besides, nothing could erase the fact that Haizaki had sent Yukimi Yumura down to the first-floor shelter, like a ticking time bomb, to cause two—no, three—deaths. “Yuu,” Sawa whispered from behind. “Nagi and I will protect the others. You and Kenk strike Niki and Haizaki. Strike them hard.” “Yuuma, Kenk,” Nagi added, “if anyone can do it, I know it’s you two. Go out there and get them.” Yuuma and Kenk nodded at the same time. As they were about to step forward, however, another voice spoke up from the left. “I’m going, too.” “So am I. I’ve got a score to settle with Niki.” It was Sugamo and Aria. The latter had reached demon form and could now activate her demon exploit, Lightning Transformation, whenever she chose. She was currently the strongest out of everyone on the first floor in terms of combat strength. Sugamo, meanwhile, had almost no experience in actual combat. He was still a wild card. However, he was hardly the type to take no for an answer. “Fine… Sug, Mibs, you handle Niki,” Yuuma whispered back. As if he had been waiting for that moment, Haizaki removed his right hand from his pocket, raised it into the air, and shouted from the other side of the main lobby. “Damage dealers, prepare to strike! Healers, debuffers, prepare to cast!” The four girls on the left and the three boys on the right readied their swords and staves in lockstep. Their movements were precise—no hesitation. “Go!!” Haizaki lowered his right hand, and the seven students began racing across the lobby in perfect formation. The four Warriors and one Thief rolled forward in a solid line, while the Priest and Mage lifted their staves into the air from behind. While bold, their charge was surprisingly straightforward. Maybe they assumed their armor was going to be enough to mitigate the first floor’s attacks. If so, they had another thing coming. Show them what you’re made of, Sawa! Yuuma willed as Sawa’s voice boomed sharply. “Ardor! Pulvis…! Fundis!” The orb of fire that appeared in front of Sawa’s left hand transformed into numerous sparkling red particles. Sawa waved her hand, and the cloud of particles wafted upward, before showering downward in the center of the lobby in a gossamer aurora curtain. It was the high-level fire spell, Curtain of Sparks. Each particle was no more than a millimeter in diameter, and the curtain was not too dense. If someone didn’t know any better, they might assume the spell was only meant to dazzle opponents. The four Warriors plunged in headlong, never slowing their pace. Instantly, the particles ignited with a loud boom, like a barrel of firecrackers. The Warriors were swallowed up in an orange explosion that split the lobby in half. Yuuma wanted to check to see how far their HP had fallen, but he didn’t have time to look right now. Giving the go signal with his left hand, Yuuma dashed forward as fast as he could. Kenk, Aria, and Sugamo immediately sprang into action as well. There were many AoE fire attack spells to choose from, but Sawa had picked Curtain of Sparks for a specific reason. While the spell’s damage only ticked at the moment of explosion, the conflagration and smoke remained, obscuring vision, for over five seconds. Just as the word curtain suggested, the spell combined both attack and cover. Bunched up tightly, Yuuma’s group barreled straight into the center of the blazing explosion. The raging flames licked at their hands and faces, causing them to instinctively hold their breaths, but there was no damage. They could barely see five centimeters in front of their noses, if that, which meant that Kaji, Ren, and the others—who were still running in the opposite direction to the left and right side—were unlikely to notice Yuuma’s group as they charged down the middle. After two seconds of running through the incendiary zone, enveloped head to toe in fiery dust, they finally barreled out into the open on the west side of the lobby. Haizaki and Niki were only about seven or eight meters away now. “Niii…kiiii…!!” Sugamo shouted, his voice saturated with hate as he brandished his steel bar in both hands. After slipping past their damage dealers without being seen and getting this close to Niki and Haizaki, it probably would have been better if Sugamo had kept his mouth shut, but Yuuma understood how Sugamo felt. Sugamo’s weapon was a three-centimeter-wide, ninety-centimeter-long, five-centimeter-thick piece of flat steel rebar, with nylon rope wrapped tightly around one end as a handle. Appearance-wise, it was just a simple, flat piece of steel with no bladed edge, but according to the markings, it was made out of SUS304-grade stainless steel. Almost completely rigid and unbending, it weighed over one kilogram. The bamboo fencing swords used in elementary school usually weighed around three hundred grams, and even adult bamboo swords apparently only weighed around five hundred grams, meaning that this bar would have been far too heavy to swing around so freely if Sugamo hadn’t upgraded his class. Niki’s weapon, meanwhile, was a real longsword that had been acquired in Algol. It was probably made of steel, too, and was around ninety centimeters in length, including the grip, which meant that its hardness and weight must have been similar to Sugamo’s weapon. Unless Niki’s sword had been imbued with some sort of magic, Yuuma doubted its ATK power was that much greater than Sugamo’s steel bar. Despite these thoughts, Yuuma almost expected to see Sugamo’s bar, as he swung it downward, split in two like balsa wood as it connected with Niki’s longsword. However, the two weapons locked together firmly with a loud metallic clang and a shower of sparks. If worse came to worst, Aria could always use her lightning attacks, so it didn’t look like Sugamo and Aria would be overpowered. Not anytime soon, at least. Yuuma focused his attention forward, brandishing the chain in his right hand. He was now less than two meters or so from Haizaki. As fourth-floor commander, there was no way Haizaki could have expected a blitz to reach him all the way back here. But the faint smile on Haizaki’s face, behind his glasses and toying at the corners of his mouth, remained virtually unfazed. Yeah, but did you see this coming? Yuuma thought as he suddenly crouched down as low as he could go, his chain whipping in freefall through the air. A moment later, he felt a hard thud as Kenk, who was just a step behind him, used Yuuma’s back as a stepping stone to leap high into the air. “Hryah!” With a fierce battle cry, Kenk swung his two-handed hammer downward. Kenk’s Bruising Hammer, which had dropped from the Conehead Bruiser, was a true weapon. It provided a slight boost to STR and was also imbued with magical splash damage. Kenk didn’t have the Hammer Mastery skill, so his damage with the hammer wasn’t boosted by skill level, and he couldn’t use hammer weapon arts, but a direct headshot with that thing would still be more than enough to kill a low-HP backliner. There was no way Haizaki didn’t realize that as well, and yet he just stood there, making no attempt to move out of the way. From the side, Yuuma saw a glimpse of hesitation cross Kenk’s face, but it was too late to pull back now. With a snarl, the blunt end of the hammer made contact with the front of Haizaki’s head and—the black-garbed Haizaki wavered like smoke and disappeared. “Augh?!” Despite his shock, Kenk managed to maintain his midair stance, the hammer carrying through and smashing into the floor instead. There was an ear-shattering crash as the floor panels buckled to form a crater, the splash damage spreading outward in a wave. The vibrations even reached Yuuma’s own legs as he crouched there, two meters behind, but the majority of the force was directed forward. The shock wave must have broken the paranormal illusion. Yuuma was right. The space about two meters ahead rippled, and a human-shaped figure blustered into view. As soon as Yuuma saw the glossy shine on the figure’s black long coat, he knew it was the real Haizaki this time. Haizaki had been using the shadow magic spell, Phantom Double. However, Phantom Double supposedly required a very high skill level to use. According to Yukimi, Niki was the only one on the fourth floor who dove back into Actual Magic after the playtest ended. Haizaki and the other students’ character and skill levels shouldn’t have increased at all. “Yuu, get behind me!” Kenk barked. Just then, Yuuma finally noticed. Haizaki’s left hand, as he surfaced, was imbued with blue-black flame. Was it a special effect on his gloves—? No. He had already finished chanting the element and form words of power for a spell and was currently lining up his aim. “Ah…!” Yuuma jumped diagonally and to the right, hurling himself behind Kenk, who had already taken a defensive stance. At almost the exact same moment, Haizaki shouted the final word of his spell. “Ignis!” A shadowy ball of fire shot from Haizaki’s hand, which Kenk intercepted perfectly with the head of his hammer. Unfortunately, the moment the ball made contact, it exploded into a fan shape. This was another intermediate to advanced dark-element attack spell, known as Violet Sweep. Yuuma tried to use his own body to catch Kenk as Kenk was pushed back by the force of the explosion, but he was unable to dig his heels in hard enough, and they were both sent flying instead. In almost the same moment, Sugamo grunted in distress. Earlier, he had been in a grueling bind with Niki, but apparently, he had been unable to fend off Niki’s weapon arts. He bent back dramatically, Aria just barely managing to hold him up from behind with both hands. The four—Yuuma, Kenk, Sugamo, and Aria—were pushed back more than three meters. Haizaki spoke to them disdainfully. “It seems you’ve greatly underestimated our levels. Niki and I are well past level 20. Even Kaji and the others are already around level 15.” “T-twenty…?!” Kenk groaned. Haizaki shrugged. “Did Yumura suggest otherwise? Say, for instance…that Niki was the only student from the fourth floor to dive back into AM?” “…” Kenk breathed in sharply. So did Yuuma and Sugamo. Technically, Yukimi hadn’t been that specific. All she had said was that Haizaki had placed guards at the entrance to the lounge and that no one had been allowed to go in and out without permission. But between what she had told them, their encounter with Niki at the ancient castle in the woods, and what Harlin had told them back in Thula Village, Yuuma had just assumed that Niki was the only fourth-floor student carrying out operations in Algol. After all, if nine students, including Haizaki, had left the shelter to use the Caliculus capsules, Yukimi should have been able to escape much earlier while they were gone. Wouldn’t she have noticed? Haizaki seemed to know what Yuuma was thinking. “I don’t think Yumura was aware of this, but there are actually two entrances to the lounge,” Haizaki said, his voice still as mellow as before. “The entrance where I placed the guards led toward the elevator lobby, but there is an entrance in the back that leads directly to the playroom. And with Niki’s demon exploit, leveling took us very little time at all.” Kenk snorted in response. “So you just farmed experience by petrifying powerful mobs… You’re such a bunch of cheaters!” Haizaki and Niki didn’t seem fazed by the blatant insult. “With the situation we’re in, you’d be an idiot not to use any power at your disposal,” Niki said, a smile of pity crossing his face. “Or are gamers the type to follow a bunch of rules and norms set by some stranger they’ve never ever met, even at risk to their own lives?” “You’re right—it would be stupid not to use what we can.” It was Aria, who up until now had been entirely focused on supporting Sugamo. She removed her right hand from the pocket of her windbreaker and pointed it toward Niki. “So how about I use some of that power right now?!” Crack! The air snapped loudly as a bolt of yellow lightning shot from Aria’s hand and struck Niki’s sword. With no casting time and an almost instant projectile speed, it was impossible to avoid Aria’s lightning attacks. Yuuma tensed, ready to rush in the moment Niki was Stunned and dropped his sword. However, the lightning strike, which should have flowed down Niki’s metal sword and into his hand, instead discharged into the air and disappeared, with a shower of sparks, at the base of his blade. Niki’s HP dropped by a tiny sliver, but there was no stun. Niki flicked away the meager wisps of smoke rising from his blade. “Seriously? After eating so many shots of that yesterday, did you really think I would be stupid enough not to kit lightning resistance before fighting you again?” “…” Aria gritted her teeth in frustration. It was easy to forget now that she was in demon form, but Aria was a Mage, just like Sawa. With her lightning power neutralized, that left her at a disadvantage when it came to close combat against a Warrior. Oddly, though, despite having avoided this ambush, Niki and Haizaki were making no attempt to press their advantage and counterattack. Maybe they were just wary of Kenk’s hammer, which had already left a massive hole in the thick floor panels, but there had to be more to it than that. Based on the way they were behaving, Yuuma had a sneaking feeling they were waiting for something. He placed a hand on Kenk’s back, mentally urging him to keep an eye on Haizaki and Niki, while he turned to glance over his shoulder as surreptitiously as possible. On the east side of the lobby, Sawa’s group of seventeen students, from the first floor, and Nunono’s group of seven students, from the fourth floor, were busy fighting. Fortunately, there weren’t any casualties yet, but the first-floor students were clearly out of their league. They had all huddled together—Sawa, Nagi, and Tomori protecting them with defensive and healing magic—while the fourth-floor attackers formed a semicircle around them, relentlessly pelting them with long-range techniques and magical attacks. That made sense. The majority of the first-floor students were only around level 6, had only the most basic of weapons, and had practically zero experience in actual combat. On the other hand, on top of being over level 15, the fourth-floor students were fully equipped and, thanks to their leveling in Algol, had already faced battle. Overcoming an advantage like that wasn’t easy, not even with twice their numbers. If there was still one hope for victory, it was for Sawa, with her demon exploit, to use the ultimate fire spell, Infernal Spear, to neutralize the fourth-floor group’s only Priest, Ren Fujikawa. However, Infernal Spear was so powerful it had annihilated even the Conehead Demolisher with a single blow. A direct hit from that wouldn’t just kill Ren—it would probably obliterate any trace of her. Ren was only fighting now because of Haizaki’s demon exploit. Yuuma doubted Sawa would be able to bring herself to kill Ren, and there was certainly no way Yuuma would ask her to do something like that anyway. It took Yuuma a split second to grasp the situation the students were in. He turned his eyes forward again. Haizaki spoke, as if he had been waiting for that. “What’s wrong, Ashihara? Out of ideas already? How disappointing… As their leader, I expected a little more out of you.” It was Sugamo, not Yuuma, who was first to respond. “Haizaki…you filthy…” The flat steel bar trembled in Sugamo’s two hands. Niki eyed him, speaking coolly. “You still don’t get it, do you, Teruki? You’ve never been able to look at things except in terms of what they can do for you. Not positions. Not assignments. Not even personal relationships.” “What…did you say…?” Yuuma heard a sharp crack come from inside Sugamo’s mouth. Sugamo was clenching his jaw so hard that he had probably just broken a tooth, but he didn’t even react, just continued to stare daggers at Niki. Niki, however, seemed unimpressed. He added to his merciless tirade. “What if I asked if you have any friends in class? I know exactly what you would say. Kisanuki and Misono. But Kisanuki knows full well that you just use him as your toady. Just like Misono knows that she’s only a trophy to you. There’s not a single person you can call a real friend. Do you really think someone like that is qualified to be a leader?” Sugamo trembled all over, as if in spasms. Behind him, Aria went rigid as well. “Niki, Haizaki… I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!!” Sugamo screamed, throwing his head back as blood-flecked spit sprayed from his mouth. “Demon, are you there?! Change me into demon form! Rampage, go wild, whatever you like—just give me strength!!” Yuuma gasped, taken by surprise. If Sugamo were to go berserk right now, there was no telling what might happen. However… Several seconds passed, and no horns grew from Sugamo’s head. Sugamo began madly scratching at his temple with his left hand, as if he thought injuring himself might make the horns appear. He screamed even louder. “Why?! You told me how to use my demon exploit, didn’t you?! So then…why won’t you help me transform?!” “Ruki, stop!” Aria grabbed Sugamo’s left hand, trying to keep him from hurting himself. But Sugamo shook her off violently and began tearing at his face again. Meanwhile: “Give it up, Sugamo.” It was Haizaki. His voice, as well as the look on his face, seemed genuinely sympathetic. “An eruption of pure emotion is required to change into demon form. That emotion could be anger. It could be courage. It could be love. It could be hate. You feel a lot of anger and hate toward us right now, I’m sure. But there’s another feeling inside that outweighs both of those for you right now, isn’t there? Fear. You’re afraid that, at the end of the day, you’re actually insignificant. And fear doesn’t erupt. It causes your soul to recoil, smaller and smaller.” “…” Sugamo’s hand froze. The blood seeping from the scratches on his head trickled down his cheeks and dripped slowly onto his shoulders and chest, staining his light blue uniform a muddy black. Haizaki turned his eyes away from Sugamo, who was now frozen in place, and glanced briefly at Niki. Niki responded by lifting his left hand into the air. He began to cast. “Terra…Nubes…” It was the Petrify spell. If they attacked Niki first, they could still interrupt it, but there was no way Haizaki was going to allow that to happen. “Everyone, get back!” Yuuma shouted, taking a huge leap backward. Kenk and Aria immediately did the same. But Sugamo didn’t move. “Ruki!” Just as Aria screamed Sugamo’s name… “Petrifica!” …Niki uttered the activation word. The orb of brown light that formed before his hand became a ballooning gray mist. Niki began casting a second spell next. “Ventus.” An orb of green light now appeared before his hand. He wasn’t activating both spells at once like he had last night at the shelter, casting the wind spell with his right hand and the earth spell with his left. That was probably because he didn’t want to let go of his sword, not even for a few seconds. However, the mist from Petrify lingered. While it would take more time than double casting, the mist could still be spread across an area if he cast the spells one after the other. Fortunately, the full range of Billowing Breeze was less than twenty meters. There was no way it would reach the other end of the lobby. Their only option now was to rejoin Sawa and the others and have everyone flee back to the waiting area together, so that they could plan their next move. Yuuma and Aria both shouted, as they repeatedly leaped backward. “Sug, hurry, get out of there!” “Ruki, run!!” A moment later, Niki chanted the spell’s form. “Iacio.” A chill ran down Yuuma’s back. This wasn’t Billowing Breeze. It was Air Boost, which was typically used to create a high-powered jet of air from the feet in order to jump higher or move faster, but the jet could also be emitted from the caster’s hands. If cast from the hands, the air wouldn’t spread outward as much as with Billowing Breeze, but it would reach twice as far, and it would travel much faster as well. Niki shifted to the left slightly, behind the wafting petrification cloud, and adjusted his aim. This new line of sight wouldn’t just hit Yuuma’s group and the rest of the first-floor students behind them, but also the other fourth-floor students as well—but Niki must have decided that friendly fire was acceptable under the circumstances. “Everyone move to the s—” Before Yuuma could finish shouting— “Aurrrggghhhh!!” —a bestial scream echoed across the lobby. Sugamo, who had been frozen in place a moment ago, tightened his grip on his iron bar and charged straight at Niki. But there was a dense meter-thick cloud of petrifying gas lingering in the air, directly in Sugamo’s way. If Sugamo charged through that, Niki wouldn’t even need his demon exploit; Sugamo was certain to be turned to stone. “Rukiii!!” With a panicked cry, Aria froze in her tracks and tried to rush forward again. However, Sugamo was already more than five meters away from her. Aria had only taken a single step in Sugamo’s direction before he plunged into the cloud of gray mist. His arms, legs, and uniform began to flush gray. It would probably take less than two seconds for him to turn to stone entirely. Yuuma’s face contorted in confusion. Sugamo didn’t seem like the type to lose his head like this, no matter how many insults Niki had leveled his way… This didn’t make any sense. Just as Sugamo’s right hand was about to turn to stone, he released the steel bar and snapped his fingers. The grayness creeping over his body instantly disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place. Sugamo had resisted the petrification…or rather, it was almost as if the game system had actually procced the status effect, and then he had overturned that decision. Of course! Yuuma was sure now. The finger snap had to have been Sugamo’s demon exploit. He probably had the power to reverse system checks. By changing the petrification roll from success to failure, for instance. Or by changing the results of the mock trial from not guilty to guilty. Sugamo carried through, dispersing the petrifying mist that surrounded him and striking at Niki. “Nikiiiii!!” he bellowed, swinging the steel bar downward with two hands once again. Niki answered the blow with his own longsword. There was a massive clang, followed by the horrendous, ear-piercing screech of metal on metal. It was Niki’s weapon, not Sugamo’s, that was knocked backward in a shower of sparks. With a heavy thump, Sugamo’s flat steel bar struck Niki on the left shoulder. Although Niki had partially blocked the blow, his HP still fell by more than 20 percent. Considering how much damage Sugamo had done, he must have broken Niki’s bone. “Nrgh!”
Chapter 49
37 min read