Chapter 330: Transmigrate, Arrested on the Spot and Thrown into Prison
After spending nearly another half year in the Irregular at Magic High School world, Mahiro once again embarked on his journey through dimensions.
This time, he did not feel the familiar dizziness. Opening his eyes, he glimpsed countless threads of light converging into a myriad of radiance from the darkness, continuously swirling around billions of bubbles.
Each bubble displayed flowing images.
For example, a forest, a bustling city, or a village...
Each was a world.
His body seemed to be drawn by some force, rushing toward one of those bubbles.
Pop! It sounded like the opening of a champagne bottle.
Immediately after, darkness enveloped his vision once more.
When his sight returned, he was left somewhat dumbfounded.
"Where have I been sent this time?"
He looked around and noticed the light was rather dim. Upon closer inspection, he realized the surroundings were pieced together from dull gray stone bricks, as if he were inside some ancient castle.
Thinking of castles, his first thought was of a certain tsundere little bat who liked to crouch and cover her head, and a maid who could stop time.
Could this really be the Scarlet Devil Mansion?
Thinking it over carefully, it seemed unlikely. Although he had never been there, according to the original work's description, the Scarlet Devil Mansion was a grand Western-style mansion, not this kind of medieval castle that should have been swept into the trash heap.
"Forget it, I'll just walk around and take a look first."
He muttered to himself, deciding to assess the actual situation here.
However, as he surveyed his surroundings, he noticed something strange: the space around him seemed fragile. With his full strength, he could likely easily break through the spatial barrier here and reach the outside.
Could this not be a separate dimension, but rather a space partitioned within one?
Mahiro had a vague suspicion but didn't rush to a conclusion, opting to explore further.
As he made his way to the hall, he saw a chair placed there.
On the chair, a little girl dressed in a black gothic lolita dress was sleeping peacefully. A waterfall of jet-black hair covered half of her face.
Seeing this, Mahiro's expression turned somewhat odd.
What kind of bizarre scenario was this?
He searched through his memories but couldn't find anything that matched.
So he approached the chair, intending to brush aside the girl's hair to get a better look. As soon as he did, a delicate, exquisite little face came into view, looking like a finely crafted porcelain doll.
Together.
It was adorable and breathtakingly beautiful.
Most importantly, upon seeing this face, he felt a faint sense of familiarity.
Ancient castle, black-haired loli, sleeping beauty...
Though it felt familiar, he couldn't recall it right away.
So he decided to wake the loli and ask.
"Hey, wake up."
He tentatively nudged her shoulder, trying to rouse her.
But it was no use; she seemed to be in a deep sleep.
Faced with this, Mahiro fell into thought once more, pondering how to wake this loli.
Use a violent method?
He was afraid he might accidentally crush her.
Use a gentle method...
His gaze gradually fell on the girl's soft, pink lips, and an idea began to form in his mind.
Perhaps it's worth a try. After all, in fairy tales, isn't it always a kiss that awakens the sleeping princess?
Although the reasoning was rather flimsy, Mahiro decided to give it a shot. With that thought in mind, he bent down, tilting his cheek slightly, and gently pressed his lips against her soft, pink mouth.
He tasted a hint of sweet black tea and a faint aroma of mint.
The contact caused the quietly seated loli to tremble slightly, her long eyelashes fluttering as her consciousness rapidly returned.
Her beautiful, tightly shut eyes opened in an instant, meeting Mahiro's gaze.
However, those pure eyes still held a trace of confusion, as if she couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened.
Seeing this, Mahiro quickly straightened up, separating from the loli on the chair and maintaining a polite distance.
"Uh, good morning? I'm glad to see you awake... Hey, wait, don't—"
Just as Mahiro, feeling as awkward as a thief caught red-handed, tried to strike up a conversation, several chains suddenly leaped out from the surrounding space, ambushing him.
In an instant, they tightly bound him and dragged him toward a black hole that had appeared behind him.
Watching the man vanish into thin air before her eyes, the girl in the pitch-black gothic dress gritted her teeth angrily, sitting displeased on the chair. She even emitted a chilling, murderous aura, making the air feel cold.
But a faint blush appeared on her delicate face, whether from anger or embarrassment, it was unclear.
However, she soon calmed down, her finely shaped brows slightly furrowed.
"I don't recall anyone like that in the prison. To detain a new criminal, I have to personally open the barrier. Where did he come from? And that jerk, he actually kissed me without permission—ugh—"
The girl found it utterly unbelievable. She never thought anyone could suddenly break into the spatial barrier prison she had created.
Logically speaking, unless those old-timers took action and forcibly dismantled it, her barrier prison should have been impossible to breach.
As she pondered, her calm thoughts gradually grew turbulent, further complicated by the lingering memory of that kiss.
She desperately spat, as if trying to rid her lips of the taste the man had left behind.
"Hmph, I'll question him about the situation later. For now, he's locked in a sealed prison and can't escape. Let him suffer a bit for the time being."
Muttering to herself, the girl closed her eyes and fell back into slumber.
Her consciousness seemed capable of leaving her body, leaving behind only a soulless shell.
Meanwhile, the chains, as if materialized from illusion, bound Mahiro tightly.
In that brief moment, they had dragged him into a dark, gloomy space.
He tested the strength of the chains binding him—they were the kind he could break with sheer physical force—but he chose not to.
Instead, he still wore a somewhat awkward expression on his face.
He never expected his stolen kiss to be caught, and that loli seemed quite skilled at manipulating space. Due to his analysis of the Dimensional Formation: Shambhala, he was particularly sensitive to spatial energy.
It seemed the power level of this world was much higher than before, at least in terms of magic, it was no weaker than the world of The Irregular at Magic High School.
Lost in thought, he was suddenly thrown out of that pitch-black space, and even the chains on his body had vanished.
Was it just a shift from the hall to a deeper location?
He felt oddly grateful.
"Hey, you pretty boy over there, hurry up and pay your respects to me!" A cocky voice interrupted Mahiro's train of thought.
This forced him to take another look at his surroundings.
As before, it still resembled an ancient castle, but the walls were completely sealed, without a single window, much like a basement.
The place he now found himself in was a spacious hall, with a long, weathered-looking table at its center.
However, many people were seated around it, each with a fierce and menacing appearance, yet none seemed inclined to disturb the others.
Most notably, among this crowd, there were only two women.
One had the look of a mature woman, draped in a black cloak that revealed pale, fair skin.
She wore only a red leather jacket and a pair of black shorts, her shapely white legs tightly encased in black stockings.
Her attire could be described as quite provocative and eye-catching.
Her deep purple shoulder-length hair fluttered somewhat disheveled, and her mature, pretty face was adorned with indigo eyeshadow and bold lipstick, giving off a somewhat queenly air.
The other appeared serene and intellectual, though she didn't seem very old. She wore a black kimono-like outfit, and beneath her glossy, jet-black hair was a calm, unreadable face.
"Hey, are you deaf? I'm talking to you! How dare you ignore me?!"
A man who looked like a thug, with dyed yellow hair, swaggered up to him.
"We're your seniors here. Looks like we need to teach you the proper etiquette a junior should have."
This was practically the textbook line of a disposable character.
The gazes of the others turned toward them, but no one intervened. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for a show.
They were curious—after such a long time with no visitors, what kind of person had suddenly been thrown in here, and what had they done?
Only the girl in the twelve-layered kimono didn't even glance their way, continuing with her own affairs.
"Stop it. If you don't want to be dealt with by that Witch, don't make a scene," a refined-looking man with glasses spoke up to dissuade them.
Like Mahiro, he had an Asian face. Perhaps it was for this reason that he decided to help a fellow countryman?
However, when the man mentioned the Witch, the black-haired kimono girl's fingertips trembled almost imperceptibly.
"Meiga Itogami, stay out of my business."
"Heh, picking on a little brother doesn't make you impressive. Come here, little brother, I'll protect you."
The provocatively dressed woman looked at Mahiro with fiery eyes, lightly licking her pink lips.
"Hah, I think you're the one with ulterior motives, Gigliola Ghirardi. I'm curious—with so much blood available in this prison, why are you so fixated on his?" the yellow-haired man sneered.
"Ugh, who would want to drink the blood of you smelly men? He's the little brother I've taken a liking to. Don't you dare bully him."
Gigliola Ghirardi's graceful figure stood before Mahiro, while with a casual wave of her hand, she conjured a whip out of thin air, cracking it against the ground with sharp snaps.
That whip was actually a living entity formed purely from magical power, though the magic was extremely faint, as if suppressed by something.
Mahiro was slightly surprised.
But that wasn't the main point. What was the name of the person mentioned in their conversation just now?
Meiga Itogami?
And this woman seemed to be a vampire?
Combined with the earlier spatial magic, the black-haired loli Witch, along with the chains and the faint scent of black tea lingering on her lips.
All these clues pieced together, and at this moment, Mahiro finally realized where he had arrived—
Strike the Blood.
That bizarre world where vampires roamed the streets, simulated angels flew about, and strange creatures filled the skies.
No wonder that black-haired loli was so adept at spatial manipulation—that must be Natsuki Minamiya.
And the place he was in now was likely the barrier prison created by Natsuki Minamiya.
Then that girl in the black kimono should be...
"Haha, how interesting! Since you, this lowly woman, want to protect this guy, why don't you keep me company to pass the time?"
For the blond-haired man, Gigliola Ghirardi, as a T-type vampire, was far more interesting than that brat.
But his noisy interruption broke Mahiro's train of thought, irritating Mahiro greatly.
"Shut up!"
The sudden outburst instantly silenced the previously noisy prison lounge, and everyone turned their surprised gazes toward Mahiro.
"Didn't expect this little guy to have quite a temper."
"Haha, it doesn't matter. No matter how much temper you have, it'll be worn down by that damned Witch after staying long enough in this hellhole."
"Isn't anyone looking forward to what happens next? I'd love to see that useless vampire get beaten up by this brat."
The crowd's chattering instantly turned the blond-haired man's face ashen.
Outside, he was indeed a noble D-type vampire, but in this prison holding the most vicious criminals, he was at the very bottom.
Any one of the people sitting around the table had committed deeds significant enough to shake the world's foundations.
As for him, he was only thrown in here for teasing Natsuki Minamiya, that Witch, and incidentally summoning a familiar that caused a bit of destruction.
In this prison, the only one he could compare himself to was this woman, Gigliola Ghirardi.
So, how could he not be excited when a brat like this was thrown in?
Naturally, he had to teach him the rules properly.
But Mahiro himself was already tired of dealing with all this noise. He slowly got up from the ground and walked around the woman standing in front of him.
"Sorry, I'm not so down on my luck that I need a woman to stand up for me."
"What a cool line, little brother. Big sister likes you more and more."
Hearing his words, the woman nearly swooned on the spot, her eyes filled with intense and greedy desire, wishing she could have her way with him right then and there.
But the next moment, Mahiro's words extinguished the flames of desire in her heart.
"Sorry, I don't like prostitutes."
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire room fell silent.
Ji Liule's adoring smile instantly froze, her expression turning somewhat unpleasant.
This mere human boy before her actually dared to speak to her like this...
"Haha, look at that! You meddled in someone else's business, but he didn't even take a liking to you, you old woman—"
"Laugh at your dam!"
Before he could even finish his sentence, a heavy, powerful punch exploded on the blond-haired man's face.
Boom!!
The blond-haired man felt an overwhelmingly powerful force surge into his face like a tidal wave!
In that instant, his body felt as if it had been struck by a high-speed truck, and he was sent flying backward, wrapped in immense force.
Crash!!
A noticeable dent was smashed into the prison wall, surrounded by spiderweb-like cracks that continued to spread outward.
Staggering, the blond-haired man propped himself up against the wall. His once somewhat handsome face had been completely deformed by the punch, but thanks to the vampire's formidable vitality, it was slowly recovering.
However, before he could steady himself, that familiar gust of wind struck again—
A large hand clamped onto the blond-haired man's face, then slammed him into the ground as if cracking an egg.
Thud!!
A ripple-like wave suddenly exploded in the air.
His partially recovered face twisted once more, and his entire body was violently smashed into the ground.
But it wasn't over yet. Mahiro directly raised his foot and stomped hard on the blond-haired man's face!
"You like messing with me, huh?!"
"Messing with me, huh?!"
"Get up! Keep going!"
"Damn it! If the tiger doesn't show its might, you think I'm Hello Kitty?!"
"So what if you're an old-timer in this prison?! You're locked up here, and you still think you're something special?!"
"You love laughing, don't you? Keep laughing?!"
"Why aren't you laughing? Are you just not a fan of laughter?!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
With almost every curse, Mahiro stomped down fiercely. Even as the ground shattered and blood splattered, he showed no intention of stopping.
And with every stomp, it felt as if the entire prison trembled slightly.
As if he intended to tear this prison apart with his rage.
The group sitting around the table was stunned, their initial shock and surprise gradually turning into terror with each stomp.
It wasn't because of the blond-haired man's miserable state—frankly, no one would care even if he were killed, let alone the fact that no one could be killed in this prison anyway.
It was simply because the boy's strength was so overwhelming!
He could actually shake this prison!
Although the prison looked like a medieval castle, that was merely an illusion. In reality, the ground, walls, and even the ceiling were constructed by Natsuki Minamiya using spatial magic.
It could be said that, with their power alone, they couldn't shake it in the slightest—they couldn't even destroy the floor.
Yet this boy had not only nearly shattered the wall but was also on the verge of breaking the ground.
"Without using a single trace of magical power, he can still unleash such strength. This prison has truly welcomed an extraordinary guest." A bald, somewhat elderly man
The criminal spoke to a burly man clad in sturdy armor beside him.
"He does have some skill, it seems he's quite a formidable fighter. Kiriga Ghalika, didn't you implant a fire elemental spirit into yourself? Defeating this boy shouldn't be too difficult, right? After all, as the last descendant of Saint George from the dragon-slayer clan, I probably wouldn't stand a chance against this kid either."
"I'm not sure, but the fact that he's imprisoned in the Prison Barrier already speaks to his extraordinary nature. He could indeed serve as a bit of spice in this monotonous prison life."
The man called Kiriga Ghalika spoke indifferently, his face devoid of any emotion as he coldly watched the vampire being beaten.
There was not a trace of pity in his eyes.
Just as Mahiro was about to deliver the final kick to end the other's life, the familiar silver chains appeared out of thin air once again, snatching the blond-haired man away like a tiger seizing its prey and dragging him into the dark void.
"Tch, how boring."
He knew it was the prison's mechanism to prevent inmates from dying, so he had no intention of pursuing the matter further, merely curling his lips in boredom.