Inside the tunnel below. Even far from the surface, you could still feel the tremors of the explosions, the violent roar of skyscrapers collapsing.
Fortunately, just as Godzilla was facing the second wave of the B-2 bomber assault.
Kouenji Rokusuke and the others had already followed Amanatsu Kazuha's guidance closely, pushing through the Mirror World toward the depths of the underground shelter where the Clockwork Wraith waited.
He knew well enough that against a monster this terrifying, Chris and the others, having only just arrived, might get caught off guard, with a good chance something would go wrong. But right now he had no time to worry over Chris and the rest.
No doubt about it, with their current strength, fretting over anyone else's safety was reaching well beyond their grasp.
The urgent task was getting the Intruders they'd gathered along the way to safety, and finding out whether that mysterious merchant held any trump card capable of dealing with Godzilla.
Soon, the group reached the lowest level of the underground shelter.
Passing through the passage into the real world that Katsuragi Kohei had opened.
It was easy to see this had once been a massive transit hub, now packed with panicked, ashen-faced Tokyo citizens.
Katsuragi Kohei was the last one out.
Walking at the rear of the group, he watched the mothers trembling as they clutched their children, and the old people pressing their hands together in desperate prayer. A wave of helplessness bore down on him.
But as the former leader of Class A, he hid the emotion well, never letting it touch his movements.
It was then. "What's the situation outside now?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had come up beside him at some point.
Looking at the Y-GUN in his hand, he'd clearly used its radar to confirm their location.
He hadn't expected the Black Sphere's radar to actually work on people inside the Mirror World…
"Bad," Katsuragi Kohei said, halting in his tracks, his tone heavy.
"With a single breath, Godzilla turned half a street into a sea of fire."
"Right now it's completely out of control, dumping the nuclear energy in its body without any discrimination. If we don't find a way to stop it… half of Tokyo is as good as gone."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's eyes betrayed nothing. He didn't linger on the subject, cutting straight to the point. "What are the win conditions for this exam of yours?" "Surely they're not asking people like you, without even high-tier equipment, to fight Godzilla."
Katsuragi Kohei was silent for a while.
Kouenji Rokusuke shrugged and shook his head, taking up the thread. "Salvation!"
"Of course… the name just sounds grander than it is."
A smile played at Kouenji's lips. "In practice, we're being told to figure out how to evacuate the several hundred thousand civilians in Godzilla's rampage zone who haven't managed to escape yet."
"After that, the Black Sphere will tally scores by the percentage of people evacuated against the original number of victims. The top four contributors get a revival reward."
At this, Ayanokouji arched an eyebrow slightly.
"So it seems… this exam is purely about saving people?"
He'd suspected as much when he saw Godzilla on its rampage, but getting a definite answer straight from Kouenji still left Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with an oddly complicated feeling.
From fleeing for their lives at school in the beginning, to the slaughter on that deserted island, and now… saving hundreds of thousands of ordinary strangers.
Could it be that the Black Sphere, or rather whatever presence lay behind the presiding god, genuinely meant to raise this bunch of hothouse high schoolers into "saviors" capable of standing on their own?
Seeing Ayanokouji drop his head in thought, Kouenji Rokusuke left him to it.
He turned to Amanatsu Kazuha and asked:
"Girl, that mysterious merchant you mentioned earlier, you're sure she's here?"
Amanatsu Kazuha spread her hands with a bright smile.
"I tracked her down using the location data from the Controller's radar, so there's no way I'm wrong."
She pointed ahead. "See? Here they come."
Following her finger, everyone saw Kushida Kikyo hurrying over, leading an exquisite mechanical doll of a girl.
The moment she drew close, Kushida Kikyo tactfully took half a step back to put Oriana in the spotlight, explaining softly to everyone:
"Liana here is the mysterious merchant for this exam. The little shop hasn't made a single sale yet."
Kushida Kikyo pitched with a smile. "If any of you have spare item points, you really should take a look. The items this time are all quite good!"
Oriana showed none of a merchant's enthusiasm for this.
She merely raised a hand, calm as anything.
The metal doll spun smartly, and a pale-blue holographic shop screen unfurled before them in an instant.
At once, the long list of goods drew every eye.
But after they scanned the prices along the top, several exchanged glances and gave wry smiles.
There really wasn't much worth buying.
Aside from the [Phantom Mask] and the [Provisional Compound No. 5], the rest, like the 220,000-point Gundam and the 350,000-point Giant-Growth Magic Box, were simply beyond anything test-takers like them could dream of affording.
As for the 15,000-point [Navy Type Six], the value for money was decent enough.
But this was a martial art that required self-study, or S Points spent back in the presiding god's space to upgrade before it became combat-ready. Useless in a moment where every second counted.
Yagami Takuya let out a regretful sigh.
"Looks like we'll just have to wait for Class Rep Ryuuen and the others to get here."
"Otherwise, with the meager points we've got, it'll be hard to buy anything that'll actually do something against Godzilla."
Horikita Suzune folded her arms, thought for a moment, then spoke calmly:
"With our current resources, if we absolutely had to buy something, it comes down to a choice between the [Phantom Mask] and the [Provisional Compound No. 5]…"
"But for handling this evacuation exam, the Phantom Mask, which can summon a legion of ninja, would be the better pick, wouldn't it?"
Shiraishi Asuka gave a slight nod, approving of the suggestion. "It could work."
"But relying on just the few of us, plus a summoned legion of ninja, to evacuate the hundreds of thousands scattered across every underground parking lot and bunker… that's still far too little strength."
She sighed. "If only Ryuuen and Ichinose were here… with Ryuuen's network-hacking skills and Ichinose's wide-area charm Love-Love Fruit, they'd probably spare us a great deal of trouble."
Before she'd finished speaking. "They're here."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who'd been standing quietly to one side, suddenly lifted his head.
His gaze swept past the crowd and fixed on a huge glass curtain wall along the side of the shelter.
During the wait just now, to prepare for any sudden emergency, he'd bought a dose of [Provisional Compound No. 5] from the Clockwork and injected it into himself.
His luck hadn't been great. He'd awakened an ability akin to "hyper-perception," or you could call it "super hearing."
Not understanding who exactly Ayanokouji's out-of-nowhere "they" was supposed to mean.
Those who hadn't been watching the Black Sphere's radar screen the whole time lapsed into a brief silence.
Only a few, Hirata Yousuke, Morishita Ai, Kamuro Masumi, and the others who'd kept their eyes glued to the radar, knew those were the signals of friendly forces.
And right now, what other team could return as a whole crowd, all in one piece, streaming back in a great mass?
The answer wasn't hard to guess.
So when they saw the usually timid Kushida Kikyo not only unafraid but actually walking up to meet that glass wall, everyone quickly caught on.
The mirror surface rippled like disturbed water.
And out of the passage, leading the way, stepped Chris and Ichinose Honami.
Kouenji Rokusuke spoke up right away, skipping the useless pleasantries:
"I trust that on the way here, you got a look at Godzilla's ability profile through the Controller."
"So to save time, I'll keep it short and quickly explain things on our end. First, our objective this time is to rescue Tokyo's trapped population. Second…"
Kouenji Rokusuke paused, then elegantly slid aside to clear the way, so Chris and the others could clearly see Oriana.
"That is this round's mysterious merchant. The items she carries may work wonders against Godzilla."
Chris nodded.
He left Ichinose and the others, who were just about to swap intelligence with Hirata's group, and walked straight up to Oriana.
Oriana watched Chris approach. A faint light flickered in her eyes.
For some reason, she kept sensing that this boy in front of her carried a strange, indefinable familiarity.
Yet for the life of her, she couldn't recall where she'd seen him before.
So the Clockwork Wraith tilted her cheek slightly, unconsciously striking an adorably baffled pose.
But credit where it's due. When Clockwork wasn't wearing a skin like "Dark Star" or "Pool Party," the mechanical feel of her default look really wasn't as cute as her chibi icon made her out to be.
Chris gave a light cough, snapping the Clockwork out of her freeze-up, and prompted:
"Open the shop. Let me have a look."
Oriana came back to herself, gave a soft "Mm," and worked the doll to unfurl the shop interface once more.
Chris frowned and carefully scanned the item list from top to bottom.
Then he spread his hands helplessly. "Too expensive."
"Even if I pooled every S Point Ichinose and I have, it wouldn't be enough to buy a single leg of that Gundam."
"Looks like the Black Sphere didn't leave us the corresponding optimal solution in this round's shop. Guess it's going to be a head-on fight, then…"
Hearing Chris's verdict.
Just as despair began to settle over the group, Amanatsu Kazuha suddenly raised her hand with a bright smile:
"Senpai, I wonder if you looked closely at the Controller's latest notification just now~"
"Anyway, earlier I noticed the system's special-rule notice in the Controller said we can buy items from 'past rounds' off Miss Clockwork here. At a markup, of course!"
Hearing this, Sakayanagi Arisu drew closer, arching an eyebrow in mild surprise:
"Oh? You can do that?"
Amanatsu Kazuha nodded innocently. "That's what the notice said, anyway. I'm just repeating it word for word."
Chris stroked his chin, his eyes suddenly lighting up:
"If that's really true, then it's not as though we have no way to break the deadlock."
"According to the Controller, Godzilla's unlimited endurance is sustained by the cell division inside its body. So, flip that around: as long as we can make its cells stop dividing, we can force it to shut down!"
Sharp as she was, Sakayanagi Arisu grasped Chris's meaning in an instant.
She said thoughtfully, "You mean… using that Imperial Arms that can freeze anything, the [Demon Essence]?"
Chris nodded firmly.
"But the problem now is, I'm not sure the Demon Essence's freeze alone can lock it down."
"Ryuen, Ichinose, come over here."
At Chris's call, the two, who'd already been keeping an eye on things over here, hurried over at once.
Once Chris finished laying out the freezing plan, Ryuuen raised his eyebrows and said in a low voice:
"Going by how it froze an entire volcanic crater in a single instant during the midterm exam, the Demon Essence really does have the potential."
"But! Inside its body is a genuine, working nuclear reactor! The temperature's terrifyingly high. Sealing just the outside does nothing. In a few seconds it'll melt straight through the ice with its own body heat!"
Sakayanagi Arisu gave a soft laugh from the side, cutting right to the heart of it:
"So… we don't seal it from the outside."
"We release it from inside its body instead, don't we?"
Ichinose Honami thought it over seriously. "That's genuinely a workable plan."
"Since we can't afford a Gundam or a Beta Box, this is probably the best method we can come up with right now."
Then her tone shifted, worry creeping back into her brow. "That reminds me. Our main objective this time is getting the remaining survivors out."
"Over five hundred thousand people… For that, we'll have to make contact with this world's authorities and borrow their power, won't we?"
"Leave it to me." Ryuuen gave a cold snort, his eyes flashing red.
Then he reached out and projected a huge holographic screen in midair.
And on that screen. The feed connected, seamless and direct, to Neon's frantic Provisional Joint Command Center for Disaster Response!
Looking at the stunned politicians on the screen, Ryuuen spoke calmly:
"Listen up, you old geezers."
"I've already forcibly seized control of the entire network across all of Japan, including every one of your electronic weapon systems. Now…"
"Every action you take has to follow my orders!"
"This is a one-sided notice, not a negotiation. I'm sure you've all just seen for yourselves how terrifying that monster is."
At this. The group of high officials on the other side of the screen went pale.
Some slammed the table in fury, even shouting that they'd take the closely guarded Atsuomi Ayanokōji, Tsukishiro Tsunenari, and the rest hostage as leverage;
Others, faced with this era-transcending alien network-intrusion technology, were won over, willing to obey his commands for now just to get through the crisis.
Ryuuen couldn't be bothered with their squabbling.
In any case, all command authority and weapon control were in his hands now. If these politicians lost their channel to the outside world, they'd be nothing but a pack of blind old bastards.
Just as he was about to cut the transmission unilaterally and compose a message straight to all the frontline commanders.
On the screen. Kou Lantang, the protagonist of the "Shin Godzilla" world and also the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary who'd been the first to propose using the Coagulant Plan to try to defuse the crisis, suddenly shoved his way through the crowd.
He roared at Ryuuen on the other side of the screen:
"I don't know who any of you are, and I've no idea what your plan really is!"
"But there's no way I can just sit here and wait to die!"
"I have a plan to freeze Godzilla! Just help me calculate the detailed cellular data of Godzilla, and we might be able to produce a specialized coagulant to suppress its cell regeneration and its nuclear reactions!"
Ryuuen's attention was caught by this man with the determined face. He raised an eyebrow slightly.
Through the surveillance probes he'd hijacked, he pulled up the command center's internal monitoring.
When he saw the flashy moves Kouenji Rokusuke and Katsuragi Kohei had just pulled over there, it all clicked for Ryuuen in an instant.
Then he burst out laughing. "Hahahaha!"
"Works for me! I like your plan. Approved!"
Ryuuen swept a big hand through the air. "From here on, every official unit answers to your command! I'll even run the cell analysis for you, free of charge."
"But your time is limited. Twelve hours, that's it! So at a critical juncture like this, I don't want to see anyone dare to stir up trouble or throw a wrench in the works."
With that, Ryuuen extended his index finger, aiming it coldly at the holographic screen. "Ziit!"
The next second. A gaping hole appeared without warning in the blast-proof wall behind the Chief of the Joint Staff!
This was Ryuuen's warning to them.
Ichinose Honami stood to one side, watching this near-tyrannical display. She parted her lips, then held back.
But in the end, she bit down on her lower lip and said nothing.
She knew Ryuuen's methods were indeed too crude and heavy-handed, that they even trampled the bottom line of democracy.
But in the face of an apocalyptic crisis with hundreds of thousands of lives, perhaps all of humanity's, hanging in the balance.
Sometimes, extraordinary times really might demand extraordinary measures.
Integrating resources in the shortest possible time, saving even a single second of pointless bickering.
That was absolutely not something a meeting and a discussion with that pack of politicians could ever buy.
Ichinose Honami stayed silent for a long while. In the end, the girl drew a deep breath and chose, for now, to set aside her almost obsessively pure standard of kindness.
She turned her head, her gaze firm as it landed on Oriana. "Miss Clockwork."
"Exchange a [Phantom Mask] for me."
"I think when we carry out the evacuation later, its legion of ninja will definitely come in handy."
Oriana nodded.
Then she turned to Horikita Suzune, Shiina Hiyori, and the others beside her:
"And you? Any items you need to exchange for?"
Horikita Suzune clenched her fists and took a step forward:
"Originally, if I'd had enough points, I wanted to exchange for the Ultimate Uniform to strengthen myself."
"But given the situation now, I'm afraid I'll have to settle for a Phantom Mask first."
Seeing this, Shiina Hiyori gritted her teeth and spoke up as well:
"Then… get me a Phantom Mask too."
"Relying on my current strength alone, if something sudden happens, it really won't be enough."
Watching these girls who, for the greater good, chose without a moment's hesitation to don the Phantom Mask, even knowing it carried the severe side effects of "amplifying the darkness within and eroding the mind."
Approval flickered in Oriana's eyes. She spoke up with a reminder:
"It's normal for plans to get thrown off. All that matters is making sure the final result stays the same."
"But before you actually put on this mask… scan it with the Item Illustrated Guide first, and take a careful look at its specific hidden dangers and how to remove it."
"That is, if you have one."
____
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