A blood-red city.
He had returned to this place once again.
His mind relaxed.
His body no longer needed to remain tense at every moment.
So Takumi simply collapsed onto the ground.
The crimson sky was no different from before.
Under the blood-colored filter, the city even looked rather pleasing to the eye.
…Yeah. This really is my home, isn't it?
Lying on the road like a corpse and unwilling to get up, Takumi thought gloomily to himself.
Ah…
Don't want to move…
Really… don't want to move at all…
This is exhausting.
Even though his body had fully recovered, mentally he was so drained that he didn't even want to think anymore.
So tired… really so damn tired…
What the hell kind of suffering is this?
On the first run, he had managed to survive in Fujihana Middle School for over an hour, spending the entire time desperately running for his life with almost no rest, only to end up being turned into a living doll and forced to self-destruct to avoid a dead save.
On the second run, after managing to grab a few Obsession Items, he had finally started to get back on his feet—but he still couldn't beat that cheat-like ghost Alice. It was nonstop killing, running, escaping the whole time, with basically no rest, and he only lasted about two hours. In the end, he even got to experience having his flesh and mind absorbed… come to think of it, that way of dying really makes it feel like Alice could cosplay as Cell or something—what the hell is that about?
In short, after two runs, he had burned through five rewind chances, yet in total he had survived for less than four hours.
It was just too exhausting.
So exhausting he didn't want to move at all—just wanted to lie here.
So exhausted he wanted to completely slack off, to the point he really didn't want to go back to that damn school ever again.
But here, in this blood-red city, lying on the ground like this without a care in the world was completely fine. After all, he was absolutely safe here—there was no need to worry about something suddenly popping out and killing him.
That's right. This place is a special area where only I exist—it's the protagonist's cheat-world. Nothing else can appear here. And even if something does, it can only be those scumbags skewered on the grill over there. And there's no way those guys are getting out of that sea of fire, so I can just relax.
Yeah, yeah… I should be able to stay here for quite a long time. I'll only be sent out when I want to leave.
So for now… might as well slack off for a bit.
Takumi let out a long breath, lying there comfortably, stretching lazily. Then he casually glanced at Yotsuya Miko lying beside him, closed his eyes, and planned to take a short nap.
"…"
He opened his eyes and turned his head.
"Holy shit, what the hell is going on?!"
Takumi shot upright from the ground, staring in shock at the girl lying beside him.
Yotsuya Miko.
A seventeen-year-old high school girl with the special ability to sense Aberrations and see things ordinary people cannot. During both the first and second runs at Fujihana Middle School, she had helped Takumi many times with that ability—only to end up being possessed by the area boss Alice both times, becoming his enemy, and successfully killing him twice.
A cute girl whose pros and cons were both extremely clear—so much so that he didn't even know what to say about her.
Also, in terms of figure, she ranked third among the women Takumi knew, only behind Fujiwara Chika and Gotō Hitori—definitely very well-endowed.
And right now, this girl was lying beside him, eyes closed, completely still, without even the slightest rise and fall of breathing.
So the question is—how did she appear in a place that, in theory, only Takumi could enter?
"Hey, wake up. Huh? What the hell is going on here…"
He tried to shake her awake, only to find that her body was as stiff as stone. No—not just that. This "Yotsuya Miko" felt more like a decorative object, as if she were completely fixed into the space itself.
What is this situation?
Takumi looked at the girl before him, stiff like a statue, completely baffled.
Wait. The difference between dying in the second run at Fujihana Middle School and the first run was that Alice used Miko's body to perform a special ritual, intending to absorb both my body and mind. Even though I chose to self-destruct in the end and didn't let her succeed, in that state, my flesh and consciousness must have already fused with Miko's to some extent… and even fused with Alice as well. That's why I was able to see what was hidden beneath the Teaching Building.
Takumi looked around, but there was no sign of Alice.
Clearly, during the rewind process, the black watch had filtered out anything harmful. Even if Alice had truly fused completely with Takumi's flesh and consciousness, there was no way she could enter this blood-red city.
But Miko had been brought in.
Although it may be because she did not possess Takumi's Authority, during the time-locked phase of the reset, Miko existed there only as a shell that happened to be present there, something equivalent to a decoration or a limited piece of furniture. But she really had been brought in. Because she had fused with Takumi to a certain degree, she had been brought into this blood-red city by the watch.
At first glance, this looked like nothing more than an accident, but it was also possible that... the black watch simply did not care.
Did this mean that, as long as I figured out the right method, I could bring other people into this blood-red city as well? Though at the moment, it was impossible to see what the point of doing that would be. The people brought in seemed to be nothing more than projections, in a state where they could neither move nor interact.
Still, after being stirred up by this thing, there was no way he could keep resting anymore.
Takumi let out a soft sigh, pushed himself up from the ground, and looked up at the sky.
Dong—
The bell rang right on cue.
A large pile of Obsession Items fell from the sky.
All the Obsession Items Takumi had thrown into that flesh monster had returned. All the Obsession Items he had lost or worn out had returned as well. Whether it was the sheep-head hood, the Rescue Team Badge, the scalpel, or anything else, everything was back by his side, not a single piece missing.
And then, there were extra Obsession Items too.
A cane made from Alice's human bones.
A fist-sized lump of flesh that seemed to have come from that flesh monster.
And a strange device connected to several tubes... wait, this thing could be brought in too? Then again, something like this really did have the air of an Obsession Item about it. After all, it was capable of fusing a living person's memories, body, and everything else into another person.
Come to think of it, the cleaver Alice used to kill me in the first loop was taken away by my blood, and the transfer device she used to kill me in the second loop was dragged into the watch too. So how was she supposed to kill me in the third loop? Ugh, why was I automatically taking it as a premise that I'd get killed by that thing again in the third loop? And after this reset, the Teaching Building should undergo some kind of change too, shouldn't it?
After losing the special Obsession Item corresponding to its area, the Teaching Building should shift into a sealed state.
An area in this state could still technically be entered and exited, but the aberrations inside would become extremely inactive, basically equivalent to being completely frozen. In addition, the Obsession Items that could originally be obtained in that area would disappear, the special rule mechanisms of the monsters in that area would fail, and many places would turn into sealed zones that could not be entered. Even if you forcibly smashed through the walls or doors, you would only find that there was nothing inside.
In a sense, it was somewhat like an unfixed-stage Instance, except much safer than an unfixed Instance. Because of that, if players encountered an Instance that contained sealed areas, staying in those areas would do a very good job of ensuring their safety.
Of course, if aberrations from unsealed areas came looking for them, they would still die. And because the rules of sealed areas had ceased to function, those areas would also lose the ability to block aberrations from other areas from entering. Even though aberrations generally would not leave their own activity zones, there was always the chance of exceptions. Just like players had always believed that in an Instance, all they needed to do was figure out how to respond to aberrations according to the rules—only for Takumi, on just his third Instance, to run into a heavyweight monster like Alice, something that actively concealed its own rules, fabricated false rules, remained active across the entire map, and proactively searched for and killed players.
In fact, even now, Takumi still was not sure whether Alice really counted as an aberration. The sheer degree of intelligence and emotional richness this thing possessed made him unable to stop wondering whether the experimenters of Fujihana Middle School had actually succeeded back then, and whether this so-called Alice was really some kind of human-aberration hybrid creation. Otherwise, it was very hard to explain both her excessively human side and the contradiction of her being locked down by her own rules like a normal aberration.
No matter what, at least Takumi had already succeeded in digging out part of this thing's rules.
Alice's core lay in making friends.
Becoming her friend was not something that ended with a single verbal acknowledgment. There had to be a process. For now, that process appeared to be completing a game together with Alice. Takumi felt that this was very likely a restriction placed on Alice by the people who created her back then. The reason a rule like Alice's Game, which was completely incapable of restricting Alice, existed at all was precisely to turn players into individuals who met the conditions of being her friends.
As long as someone had not yet become Alice's friend, Alice could not kill that player. Even though she could turn on the lights, blow out candles, use illusions to mislead, or possess someone and kill them physically, under those circumstances she could not directly kill players with her own aberration powers. That was her greatest limitation.
The only ones who could not become friends with Alice were good people who hated evil as if it were their mortal enemy. Takumi guessed that perhaps, back when Alice still existed as an idol, she had run into someone like that—someone utterly immune to persuasion—and had paid some sort of price because of it, leaving her unable to become friends with such people. Going a step further, when he combined that with the corpse lying in the underground base, Takumi even found himself wondering whether some formidable individual had single-handedly slaughtered their way through Alice's fan club and even killed Alice in her human form, forcing her to enter Fujihana Middle School and become the aberration here. Maybe that was why she hated such people so deeply.
If he wanted to uncover the truth, then next he had to find Alice's Obsession Item in the Residential Wing and render all four surface areas of Fujihana Middle School inoperative. Only then would he be able to truly dig deeper into the things hidden inside this Instance area.
At that point, he would finally be able to come into contact with the true core Obsession Item of this Instance, to understand what the core obsession that made up the Fujihana Middle School area actually was, and what kind of experience and regret had caused that core obsession to be buried so deeply, allowing Alice, this thing that seemed neither fully human nor fully aberration, to steal all the attention.
No matter what, one thing was certain: the core obsession of a Red Moon-level Instance would absolutely not be something easy to deal with.
But Takumi did not believe he had any other path left to take. Under the coercion of the black watch, this aberrant object, he had to clear the Instance perfectly before he could leave. Even if this was not an official Instance game, he felt sure that this damned watch would not let him off either.
Of course, after taking so many benefits from this thing, it was only fair that he pay a price in return.
Takumi had already accepted that, so he would not hold even the slightest resentment toward the black watch.
Come to think of it, Alice was able to remove my Rescue Team Badge and throw it away, yet she turned a blind eye to my watch. Even though I had taken out various Obsession Items from the watch multiple times, she showed no reaction at all. Could it be that she simply couldn't see the watch I was wearing—or perhaps she was fundamentally incapable of even forming the intent to act upon this black watch?
Then if I grabbed the watch and smacked it across her face, would she just feel like she got slapped by thin air?
A few rather unreliable thoughts surfaced in Takumi's mind, only to be quickly discarded.
Dong—
The second bell had already rung.
Takumi took a deep breath and lowered his head, looking at Miko lying on the ground.
Both of his deaths had, in fact, been carried out by Miko. Although strictly speaking, it had been Alice acting through possession, the body that struck had indeed been Miko's.
This couldn't go on.
As a teammate, Miko definitely had a reliable side—she was a good teammate he absolutely needed. But once she was possessed, she would become a problem that Takumi could hardly defeat, or even stall for time against. And if he simply left her aside, there were many traps and clues that he would be unable to obtain. If he wanted to clear the Instance, he could not abandon a teammate like her.
If I could help her resist mental erosion and contamination…
No, that wouldn't work. My own mental strength has limits. One of the reasons I died at the end of the second loop was because for those two hours, I was basically in a constant state of mental consumption. Long-term resistance against multiple forms of erosion simply isn't viable.
Then… what if I shared the mental erosion—split the contamination she suffers and take part of it onto myself?
If I extend that idea further… maybe through sharing mental strength, I could help everyone I deem worth helping resist contamination. This link must not involve any exchange of memories or consciousness—otherwise information could leak. I only need to share my own slightly-above-average willpower with others, and that sharing must be something I can activate and terminate at will.
Closing his eyes, Takumi's thoughts gradually became clear, fully confirming the ability he wanted to obtain.
Dong—
The third bell rang at that moment.
The blood-red city lost its color.
Miko's figure quietly disappeared.
And Takumi had already obtained a new ability from the black watch.
This ability did not consume reset counts. Takumi could activate and deactivate it at will, with an effective range of a ten-meter radius. As long as Takumi was willing, he could establish a willpower link with any one person—or multiple people—within that range, jointly bearing the mental contamination and cognitive distortion caused by aberrant forces.
As long as someone was within a ten-meter radius around him, he could establish this special willpower link with them.
This kind of link did not involve direct mental contact. Therefore, while connected, neither side would see the other's thoughts or memories. It was, in that sense, a rather special ability.
It was also worth noting that right after obtaining this ability, Takumi sensed a limitation.
The number of abilities that this black watch could contain seemed to be only twelve. And with this ability unlocked, nine slots were already occupied, leaving only three slots available. Therefore, if Takumi wanted to make further ability wishes, he would have to think carefully—he couldn't afford to be reckless anymore.
So there's a limit like this too… what a hassle. But through the special abilities provided by this watch, I've already gained more than enough benefits. So next—after resting—it's time to keep fighting. Time to keep going all-out!
At that moment, Takumi's fighting spirit surged.
Then he suddenly realized that after being startled by Miko, he had forgotten to rest—so in the end, there was actually no difference from before. As a result, he quickly sank back into a state of sorrowful sighing.
The blood-red city vanished without a trace.
Everything returned to complete darkness.
…
Takumi opened his eyes and found that he had already returned to the familiar classroom.
Only this time, there were no burning candles, no rules of Alice's Game, no broadcast announcements, and there wasn't even that eerie atmosphere permeating the Teaching Building.
The aberrations here were no longer active.
There would be no Alice suddenly appearing to torment him, and no pink-smiling corpse mountain chasing him in circles.
That bizarre rule that prevented players from leaving after two hours would not take effect in a sealed area either, meaning Takumi would not get screwed over at a critical moment.
At the cost of two deaths, he had finally obtained what could be considered a safe starting phase.
Faintly, it seemed as though a girl's shrill scream could be heard from underground.
Takumi rubbed his temples, looked at the students slumped over their desks around him, then stood up with practiced ease, pulled out a cleaver from his watch, and prepared to establish his kidnapper persona once again.
And it was at that moment—
Outside the Teaching Building of Fujihana Middle School, beyond the school gates, a figure in a filthy school uniform had appeared at some unknown point.
[The Instance… hasn't opened… Fujihana Middle School… area… sealed… why… huh…?]
Accompanied by murmurs like a dreamlike muttering, the figure staggered forward, passed through the school gates, and just like that, stepped into the school.
Messy, dust-covered red hair swayed slightly.
And within the only area in Fujihana Middle School that had not yet been sealed—the Residential Wing—shadows of figures also began to move.
At a time when no players should exist, within this aberrant campus that should have remained unchanged, Takumi's unintended intrusion seemed to be gradually bringing about some kind of change.
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