When the morning sunlight finally tore through the clouds.
The white mist that had blanketed the airdrop zone rapidly burned away under the sun's rays.
"Huu... we made it."
Ryuuen Kakeru, Sakayanagi Arisu, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, and the others who had managed to pull back in time were greeted by long-awaited sunlight as they picked their way back onto the devastated battlefield.
The crowd that had once surged here so boldly was noticeably thinner now. Some had inhaled the ice crystals, their lungs destroyed, and been judged dead and teleported away. Others, as the wrist-counter ticked down, had simply been swallowed whole by the poisonous mist.
Ryuuen held his Reinforced Rifle in one hand, eyes fixed on the radar screen, repeatedly confirming that no red dots were approaching. Only then did he allow himself to approach the massive metal crate that had fully unfolded.
He stared at the iron slab — empty, nothing left but a scatter of broken plaster chunks — and his expression darkened.
"What the hell?"
He kicked the metal shell with a sharp bang.
"Wasn't this supposed to be an airdrop supply drop?! All we got was a monster that nearly wiped us all out — and not a single damn thing else! Is the Black Sphere screwing with us?!"
Horikita Suzune arrived right on his heels, her tracksuit dusted with grime. She was breathing hard as she swept a glance around and frowned in confusion.
"Where's the supply drop? Don't tell me... someone already got here first and cleaned it out?"
"No." Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head gently, her voice certain.
"From the moment the crate opened until now, not a single person other than us has come anywhere near it. There's simply no way anyone made off with anything."
Horikita's frown deepened.
Nearby, Ichinose Honami thought for a moment before venturing a guess.
"Since a monster appeared inside the airdrop — and it just escaped a moment ago..."
"I'm wondering — does the supply cache only unlock once we've killed it?"
The moment those words landed, a wave of noise erupted from the survivors around them.
"Are you kidding me?! How are we supposed to fight something like that?!"
"Exactly! Physical attacks do nothing, blow its head off and it just regenerates on the spot, and it can even spawn those toxic ice-fog puppets — this is literally unsolvable!"
"We're done for... are we really going to just rot on this island until we die?"
While everyone was talking over each other in a panic.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka held a different view.
He didn't join the argument. Instead, he crossed the clearing in a few quick strides and crouched down in front of the massive iron slab at the very center of the crate — the slab that had once cradled the stone figure.
He scanned the surface of the slab with his eyes.
Before he'd even had a chance to probe it carefully —
Hmmm—
A semi-transparent interface blinked into existence right before him, without any warning whatsoever:
[A player has been detected nearby. Open the airdrop supply cache?]
[YES / NO]
Ayanokoji selected [YES] without a flicker of expression.
Immediately after.
Shhhk—
A soft click.
The iron slab split apart like a hidden mechanism, sliding open on both sides — and a blinding column of white light shot straight up into the sky.
When the radiance faded and everyone pried their eyes back open.
There, suspended at the center of the slab, were five Omni-Capsules, each one glowing with a different faint, shimmering light.
Ryuuen and Sakayanagi, who had caught the change, immediately crowded in.
"What did you do?!" Ryuuen fixed Ayanokoji with a sharp stare.
"It appeared on its own," Ayanokoji said simply.
He offered no further explanation, and without any ceremony, reached out and closed his hand around the red capsule closest to him.
The moment his fingers made contact, a description window popped up on his wristwatch.
Ayanokoji read the text on the screen.
"...Armored Titan Serum?"
Hearing that, Sakayanagi Arisu instinctively reached out as well and plucked one of the blue capsules from the air.
But when she glanced at her own wristwatch, she couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
"Mine is... an Item Encyclopedia?"
Ryuuen's face split into a grin the moment he heard that.
"Perfect timing!"
"Get to work identifying what the hell is in these capsules! Without it, all we've got is a name on a wristwatch — who's going to know what any of it actually does?!"
Ichinose Honami nodded, collected the remaining three capsules still floating in the air, walked over to Sakayanagi Arisu, and set them out in a row.
Ayanokoji thought for a moment, then held out the red capsule in his hand.
"Scan mine first. Honestly, I'm a little curious what this thing does."
Sakayanagi took the capsule — but her gaze lingered, just for a beat, on Ayanokoji's right hand, the one that had mutated into a Parasyte tendril.
She arched an eyebrow. But said nothing.
Since the Black Sphere's weapon radar hadn't flagged Ayanokoji as an enemy, that could only mean one thing — even though he'd fused with a Parasyte, he'd successfully suppressed the creature's will and kept himself intact...
Impressive resolve.
Sakayanagi pulled her thoughts back.
She opened the blue capsule, revealing a precision scanner device resembling a tablet computer, and aimed its scanning lens at the capsule in Ayanokoji's hand.
Beep—
[Armored Titan Serum: A serum derived from a Devil. Upon use, transforms the user into a fifteen-meter-class Titan clad head-to-toe in hardened armor, granting considerable physical defense and destructive power.]
[Note: The transformation has a time limit. Will be recovered at the end of the exam. Value: 20,000 Item Points.]
"A fifteen-meter-class Titan..."
Sakayanagi didn't pause. She swung the scanner toward the remaining capsules in Ichinose's hands.
[Imperial Arms · Thousand-Mile Flight (Mastema): An Imperial Arms of the wing. Equips the user with the ability to fly freely through the air. The feathers are hard as iron and can be fired like bullets to slay enemies.]
[Secret Technique: "Wings of God" — reflects all non-conceptual projectile attacks back at the opponent.]
[Will be recovered at the end of the exam. Value: 20,000 Item Points.]
...
[Imperial Arms · Romance Cannon (Pumpkin): A gun-type Imperial Arms that converts the user's mental energy into high-pressure shockwaves. Trait: The more dire the crisis the user faces, the more its power multiplies geometrically.]
[Arcane Technique: "Limit Release" — instantaneously and dramatically amplifies weapon power, but after firing, the barrel overheats and temporarily cannot be used.]
[Will be recovered at the end of the exam. Value: 40,000 Item Points.]
[Adam Smasher Model Cyborg Upgrade Package: The ultimate form of Night City cyberware modification. Upon use, you will receive the same heavy-grade cybernetic overhaul.]
[Note: Subject to individual physical compatibility. Achieving a perfect 96% cyberization is not guaranteed. The risk of Cyberpsychosis — complete loss of rational control — cannot be ruled out.]
[96% Cyberization: Full-body mechanical conversion. Only the human brain and partial spinal cord are preserved.]
[Will be recovered at the end of the exam. Value: 100,000 Item Points.]
[Note: All items may be permanently acquired after the exam by paying the corresponding Item Point cost.]
Once the readouts were done.
"The stuff itself is solid."
Ryuuen was the first to break the silence.
"But the problem right now is..."
"Five items, this many people on our end — how do we divide them up?"
This wasn't just a question of resource allocation. It was a test of trust.
Whoever got hold of equipment powerful enough to turn the tide of battle would hold absolute leverage in every survival decision going forward.
Sakayanagi swept her gaze around the group.
She glanced down at the radar screen on her Reinforced Rifle, and her voice dropped slightly.
"I think everyone had better make a decision quickly."
"Not only because the radar is showing a large wave of monsters closing in on us from all sides. More importantly —"
"That demon that fled earlier is also on my mind. An intelligent, high-power monster like that — if we let it hide through the daylight hours and it's still out there come nightfall..."
"We should use the daylight we have right now to track it down and eliminate it."
Ichinose Honami nodded in firm agreement.
She studied the capsules, and after a moment's thought, spoke carefully.
"The cyborg upgrade... according to the description, the most complete version leaves only the brain and spinal cord."
"If someone were fully metal-bodied... it looks like they'd be completely immune to the ice mist that demon was spewing earlier."
Ichinose raised her head, meeting everyone's eyes with a sincere look. "But... the risk is absolutely insane. Is there anyone here who feels confident they could handle an upgrade like that?"
Ayanokoji quietly shook his head alongside Hirata Yousuke and the others.
It wasn't that Ayanokoji wasn't tempted.
He had his own reasons for holding back. The Parasyte currently fused to his hand was in the middle of a critical integration phase.
If he subjected himself to large-scale metallic cyberization right now, he was worried it would trigger the Parasyte's survival instincts, sending it into a full berserk rampage.
That would mean fighting a war on two fronts — and the losses would far outweigh any gains.
He absolutely would not gamble on something that volatile.
As for the others, it was simply a matter of not being confident they could survive a modification worth 200 points.
In the end.
Ryuuen strode forward and snatched the capsule up with one hand.
"None of you have the guts? Then leave it to me!"
"Anyway, I can die at any moment in this garbage exam. Dead early, dead late — either way, I'm dead. Might as well roll the dice!"
Seeing that Ryuuen had made his choice.
Ayanokoji spoke up right after.
"In that case — can I try out the Titan Serum?"
"I think... it might let me push the Parasyte's capabilities even further."
As the survivors at the airdrop zone began swapping their gear for far more fearsome weapons.
On the other side of the island.
Through the three-dimensional holographic map projected by the controller in his hand.
Chris watched the red dot representing Douma speeding away — retreating at a startling pace deep into the shadowed valley.
Behind it, the green dots representing the examinees were quietly splitting into several groups, carefully converging on the airdrop coordinates.
"Douma, huh..."
Chris tapped that retreating red dot.
[Target: Douma (Upper Moon Two)]
[Value: 40 Points]
[Traits: Possesses extraordinary speed and regeneration. Can create ice-puppet clones with combat power close to its own. Its Blood Demon Art can blanket wide areas with lethal ice mist, ice blades, ice lotuses, and ice Bodhisattvas — at its limit, enough to cover an entire city block.]
[Fatal Weakness: Inhaling the toxic ice crystals it disperses causes pulmonary necrosis. Extremely effective against Breathing Style users. Fears sunlight.]
Amikura Mako leaned in close and read the data on the screen.
She looked a little anxious as she glanced at the Y-GUN radar in her hand, and offered:
"Chris..."
"I don't know if Ichinose and the others are over there right now... but since they've already picked up the airdrop, their gear has probably been upgraded."
"If we could link up with them, we could hand over this monster's intel — they might be able to get ahead of it and take out this high-value BOSS before nightfall while the sun's still up!"
However, Tachibana Akane raised an objection.
"The distance is too great!"
"There's too much ground between us and them, with who knows how many monsters in the way. And they've already got upgraded gear — they've probably started hunting by now. They won't necessarily just sit tight and wait for us."
She pointed to the scale bar on the map.
"Rather than risk it, we should push directly toward the island's center."
"The Black Sphere's shrinking safe zone mechanic is going to force everyone there eventually. As long as we all stay alive, we'll run into each other at the center no matter what."
Nearby, Shiina Hiyori nodded in agreement.
"Tachibana-senpai is right. Charging over there blind would be way too risky."
"Besides — look. It looks like there's a small squad regrouping not too far ahead of us."
"Why don't we link up with them first, build up our numbers, and then fall back together toward the center?"
Shiina Hiyori added, "Anyway, Chris's controller radar can show us monster positions and point values in advance. As long as we steer clear of that high-value monster's route..."
Chris made a noncommittal sound.
Right at that moment.
As Shiina Hiyori's words trailed off.
Tachibana Akane, who had been glued to the radar screen, suddenly cried out in alarm.
"Something's wrong! Everyone, look at the radar!"
"There aren't any red dots near them — so why... why are the green dots representing students disappearing one after another?!"
Amikura Mako's elegant brows knitted tight as a cold foreboding welled up inside her.
"Don't tell me..."
"Is it because of the Black Sphere's earlier announcement — the rule that the exam ends when only forty-five players remain?"
"...Has someone decided to cut the wait short by turning on their own kind?!"
In the depths of desperation.
The thing more terrifying than any monster was often the human heart stripped of its last restraint.
Chris finally spoke.
"Let's go check it out."
"Whether it's infighting or something else entirely... we can't afford to leave something that unstable sitting right in our path."
Shiina Hiyori raised her Y-GUN without a moment's hesitation and took point, moving quickly in the direction shown on the radar.
Amikura Mako and Tachibana Akane hurried after her.
They pushed through a dense thicket of thorned brush.
When the trees finally opened up — the scene before them was nothing any of them had expected.
There was no savage, bloody carnage like they'd feared.
Instead, in a clearing that looked perfectly ordinary at first glance.
Three to five students were half-submerged in the earth — sunken from the waist down — hands pressed desperately against the ground, straining as though trying to claw their way out of an invisible swamp.
And standing before them.
A woman dressed in a professional suit, long legs sheathed in black stockings, was gripping the arm of the nearest student and hauling with everything she had, trying to drag them free.
The most inexplicable part was —
Only she was standing solidly on the ground.
Not sinking at all.
"Kohashi Yume!"
"Yamada-kun — and Morishita-san from Class A?!"
Amikura Mako and Shiina Hiyori recognized the faces of those sinking into the earth and cried out almost in unison.
Moved by desperate urgency, both of them instinctively surged forward to help.
"Stop!"
But Tachibana Akane grabbed them both and yanked them back.
"We don't know what's going on yet — don't go charging in and making things worse! What if you get pulled in too?!"
At the same moment, Yamada Albert — his head the only part of him still above the surface — gritted his teeth and shouted a warning.
"Don't come over!! Run!! Get away from here!!"
At his words, the two girls froze, helpless and frantic, not knowing what to do.
While all of this was unfolding.
Karuizawa Kei came pushing through the branches, returning from somewhere nearby. The bizarre scene stopped her cold.
"What happened here? Huh..."
"Chabashira-sensei?!"
"What are you doing here?!"
Chabashira Sae, who had been hauling on Morishita Ai's arm with sweat pouring down her face, turned her head with great difficulty at the sound of her name.
"I don't have the full picture either! But based on what I saw when those two suddenly vanished a moment ago..."
"This area — it must be the 'Space-Time Rift' mentioned in the Black Sphere broadcast!"
"A spatial collapse that ignores all laws of physics! Once you're caught in it, you get transported to an unknown world!"
Chabashira Sae gritted her teeth, the veins in her arms standing out in sharp relief.
"As for why I'm unaffected... it may be because, as the Class D homeroom teacher, I'm covered by Class D's exemption — which is the only reason I haven't been swallowed."
Karuizawa Kei blinked, completely baffled.
"I-Is that so?"
But she distinctly remembered — back at the beach at the very start.
The boys who had been swallowed up — it hadn't looked like this at all.
"Feels plausible. Let's test it."
Chris materialized from the shadows and spoke, cutting off Karuizawa Kei's spiraling thoughts before they went any further.
As he said it, he simply stepped forward.
"Chris! Don't go over there! It's too dangerous!"
Karuizawa Kei's heart leapt into her throat and she instinctively reached out to grab him.
But before the words even finished leaving her mouth.
She saw that Chris, just like Chabashira-sensei, was walking across the ground without sinking at all.
Karuizawa Kei let out a long, shaky breath of relief.
Looks like sensei was right — we Class D students really are immune to this trap...
But in those one or two minutes of hesitation and delay.
Yamada Albert, Kohashi Yume, and the others — who had already been nearly fully submerged — finally ran out of strength, and were swallowed by the earth in despair.
All that remained on the scene was Morishita Ai, still clinging to the hand Chabashira Sae had never let go of.
"Hold on tight!"
Chris grabbed Morishita Ai's other arm.
Without any apparent effort — like pulling a stubborn turnip from the ground — with a soft pop, he hauled Morishita Ai, who had already sunk down to her waist, clean out of the earth.
"Huu... cough, cough..."
Chabashira Sae was dragged along by the momentum and sat down hard on the ground, gasping deeply for breath.
She looked up at Chris in stunned disbelief.
"This... this is the power of Black Sphere equipment..."
Chris didn't bother responding to Chabashira's amazement. He simply gave a small nod and set Morishita Ai — who had been dangling in mid-air — back down on the ground.
But nobody could have anticipated what happened next.
The moment Morishita Ai's feet touched the earth.
"Ah!"
The eerie suction struck again. The ground went soft and swamp-like all over again, and was already beginning to swallow her.
"Wuu... help me!"
[Morishita Ai.jpg]
Morishita Ai was, this time, genuinely scared to tears.
She normally wore a permanently blank expression — the stoic, detached type who seemed indifferent to everything around her.
But faced with this unknowable terror, she acted purely on instinct and threw her arms around Chris's waist.
Absolutely refusing to let go, no matter what.
Chris thought for a moment.
Then, treating her the way one might carry a small child, he simply slid both hands under her armpits and lifted her entirely off the ground again.
Under Morishita Ai's tear-streaked, bewildered gaze.
Chris explained.
"Since this rift doesn't seem to have any physical boundary, I can't determine how large its coverage area actually is."
"To be safe, I'm going to have to trouble you for a bit."
"I'll carry you forward like this, and you try dangling your feet and touching the ground as we go. The moment you feel solid ground beneath you — ground that doesn't sink — tell me right away."
At those words, Morishita Ai's tense little face relaxed, just slightly.
Compared to being sucked into another dimension, being held up in the air by a reasonably good-looking male classmate was really not a big deal at all.
She gave a docile nod.
"Alright... thank you, classmate."
And so.
Chris carried Morishita Ai and stepped forward, carefully and deliberately, one step at a time.
"Feel anything? Can you touch solid ground?" he asked, looking down.
Morishita Ai tentatively stretched her feet downward, and immediately shook her head. "Nope! Still nothing!"
Chris patiently stepped forward again.
"Now? Any feeling?"
Morishita Ai, on the verge of tears, kept shaking her head.
In the end.
With everyone watching, Chris carried her for a full ten-plus meters before.
The tip of Morishita Ai's foot finally grazed solid ground.
"There! I can feel something!"
The girl announced in delighted surprise. "It's hard! It's actually solid!"
Chris set her down accordingly.
But barely three seconds after she touched down.
Chris walked back around behind her and, using the exact same grip as before, lifted her clean off the ground again.
The only difference was that last time they had been face-to-face.
This time, Chris hoisted her from behind.
Suddenly airborne again without warning.
Morishita Ai's face flushed red, and she squirmed just a little, kicking her feet in the air.
"...What are you doing? Didn't I just get out?"
Chris explained.
"We only confirmed the distance in one direction. We still don't know the full extent of the rift's coverage area."
"Since I need to get everyone across, I should map out the whole boundary first. Sorry to impose on you again — it's just easier this way."
Chris's tone was sincere. "If you really don't want to, I'll apologize and put you back down?"
"..."
Morishita Ai went stiff the instant she heard the words put you back down.
She let out a long sigh and dropped her head in resignation.
"...Fine. Whatever."
"You saved my life. Use me however you need to."
And so.
With the slightly awkward assistance of Chabashira Sae standing nearby.
Chris carried Morishita Ai and systematically tested the perimeter in several directions, back and forth.
He finally scratched a clear safety line into the dirt with a stick, and then made his way back to Karuizawa Kei and the others.
"The area's not small... we need to move out of here right away."
Chris dusted off his hands and immediately organized their next move.
"Here's the plan — Karuizawa, you take Tachibana-senpai across. I'll take Shiina and Amikura."
Chabashira Sae, having rested for a bit and recovered some of her strength, got to her feet.
"It's fine — I can help carry someone too. Don't put all the pressure on the two of you."
Karuizawa Kei took one look at Chabashira Sae's haggard face and the deep, dark circles carved beneath her eyes.
She let out a helpless sigh.
"Sensei, please just sit this one out."
"You're practically running on empty. Take this chance to rest — otherwise you'll end up falling in yourself."
"And besides... once it's safe, you still need the energy to talk to us, you know."
"What on earth have you been through? Why are you here of all places?"
Chabashira Sae went quiet for a beat. In the end she didn't argue, and silently stepped aside.
Witnessing this.
Shiina Hiyori — normally the most well-behaved of the group — didn't hesitate or make a fuss.
She walked up to Chris on her own and opened her slender arms.
Chris didn't stand on ceremony either.
He let her thin arms hook around his neck.
Then he bent slightly, slid one hand behind her knees, and swept her legs up into a proper carry.
Beside them.
Karuizawa Kei, watching all of this unfold, couldn't keep a strange tone out of her voice.
"How is it just me, or... the two of them look really comfortable doing that..."
Shiina Hiyori, who had buried her face against Chris's chest, went rigid at those words.
She blinked in genuine confusion.
"Huh? Do we...?"
Well... maybe...?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, the girl felt a rush of embarrassed irritation at her own body's frankly too-honest reaction.
Th-This is way too undignified... I'm not normally like this!
This is nothing like the calm, rational me at all!
While the girl quietly fretted behind her red face.
Chris had already looped his free arm around Amikura Mako's slender waist, who had still been standing there in a daze.
One on each arm.
With Chris and Karuizawa's Combat Suits providing explosive bursts of movement, the group vaulted across the Space-Time Rift in a few quick leaps and landed steadily beside Morishita Ai.
Once everyone's feet were back on solid ground, Chris set the two girls down.
Shiina Hiyori immediately clasped both hands behind her back, digging her fingertips hard into the soft flesh of her palms.
Trying to use the pain to force the flush from her cheeks.
Even so, the tips of her ears were still burning a vivid, tell-tale red.
And all of this.
Was caught in full view by Amikura Mako — who had just climbed down from Chris's arms and was standing right beside her.
Amikura Mako's expression was complicated.
I genuinely don't know whether to call her bold or just completely gone on him.
After watching that many people teetering between life and death just now... she still has the emotional bandwidth for this?
Amikura Mako couldn't say whether this was a good or a bad thing for Shiina Hiyori.
But she hesitated for a moment, and in the end chose the kind thing — staying quiet and not poking holes in the girl's private little feelings.
At this point.
Morishita Ai, who had been waiting here for them this whole time, stepped forward to greet them.
"I am truly, deeply grateful for your help..."
Morishita Ai bowed deeply to Chris and the others. "If it weren't for all of you, I would definitely have died just now."
Chris waved it off casually.
"It was nothing. We're all classmates — if I can save someone, I will."
"Besides, who knows — when the moment really counts, you might end up being the one who saves us."
Right after that.
Chris turned his attention to Chabashira Sae.
"And speaking of which — more than any of that..."
"What I'm actually most curious about right now is — Chabashira-sensei, why are you here?"
"Are you saying that even you, as a teacher, were chosen by the Black Sphere and made part of this exam?"
At the bluntness of the near-accusation in his tone.
Chabashira Sae's body gave a small, involuntary shudder.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled cigarette, drew one out and bit down on it — but didn't light it.
"No."
Chabashira Sae's voice carried a bitter, self-mocking edge.
"To be precise..."
"I am the Mystery Merchant of this exam."
"Huh?!"
Every girl present immediately widened their eyes, and a chorus of stunned gasps broke out all at once.
____
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