As Jikku's Domain spread out and clamped shut before his eyes, Horikita Manabu felt utterly calm inside.
He figured he was, in all likelihood, about to die.
But in the very instant the magma—hot enough to melt steel—was about to swallow him whole.
He waited two seconds.
There was none of the searing, flesh-charring agony he'd braced for, nor any scorching wave of heat rushing at his face.
Instead, a cool breeze—carrying a faint whiff of car exhaust and street clamor—brushed past his cheek.
Horikita Manabu's eyes snapped open.
No magma. No Cursed Spirit.
What met his gaze was a bustling street ablaze with glaring neon signs, an endless flow of traffic, and crowds of hurried office workers heading home.
"Where is this…"
He pushed up his cracked glasses and swept his eyes quickly over his surroundings.
Convenience store signage, the chatter of passersby, Japanese advertisements everywhere he looked…
Every sign pointed to the fact that he was not only still in Japan, but most likely standing in some downtown district of Tokyo.
'Did I escape?'
Horikita Manabu quickly dismissed the idea.
He remembered that before the Uninhabited Island Black Sphere exam began, the Black Sphere had given a hint: that 'spacetime rifts' would appear at random within the exam grounds.
Horikita Manabu certainly didn't believe the Black Sphere would be kind enough to send him back to Tokyo to escape the exam.
So the only explanation was that he'd happened to stumble into that low-probability spacetime rift and been dumped into a parallel, unknown world.
As the saying goes, once you're here, make the best of it.
But as an otherworld… was this place really safe?
Horikita Manabu had his reservations.
And as it turned out, his wariness was justified.
After wandering this world for less than half a day, in a dim back alley he ran into what the natives of this world called a "demon."
Fortunately.
Although at the final moment he'd tossed his [Demon Possession] to Chris to protect his little sister, and lent the [Black Cauldron Armor] he'd bought to his close friend Fujimaki for self-defense.
He was still wearing the Combat Suit produced by the Black Sphere, along with the Sianweistan embedded in his spine.
Drawing on the tenfold physical boost of the Combat Suit and the bullet time activated by Sianweistan.
Horikita Manabu managed, with nothing but a fire axe he'd picked up, to hack to death this demon that Hayakawa Aki called the Nantong Demon.
Before long, several people in black suits, calling themselves the "Public Safety Devil Extermination Special Division," rushed onto the scene.
Because he'd displayed combat ability far beyond that of an ordinary person, Horikita Manabu was, as a matter of course, taken in and recruited by the Anti-Devil Division.
In the days that followed.
Horikita Manabu, shadowing his nominal senior—a stern man named Hayakawa Aki—came to understand the truth of this world.
The Gun Devil, the Fox Devil, an endless stream of atrocities, and the fragility of humans before demons, like so many blades of grass.
After leafing through the harrowing casualty files of the Anti-Devil Division, Horikita Manabu stood at the window, gazing out at Tokyo's seemingly prosperous night view, and—for once in his life—felt a flicker of gratitude.
'Compared to this despairing world that's already rotten to its very core…'
'The fact that our world could encounter a mysterious existence like the Black Sphere—maybe that really is a kind of good fortune.'
True, to the students of Advanced Nurturing High School, the Black Sphere was unquestionably terrible news.
But when these otherworldly monsters, capable of obliterating everyday life, came invading the real world en masse, who could possibly keep themselves clear of it?
The Black Sphere, as the party that bestowed weapons for self-defense, was by its very existence a natural savior.
What's more, its original intent was to cultivate warriors capable of protecting their own world.
That being the case, who was it going to pick, if not them?
Being chosen by Advanced Nurturing was, on the contrary, a kind of luck.
'I just don't know how Suzune is doing right now… I hope she's all right.'
Horikita Manabu let out a sigh.
Even though he knew that praying for someone's safety was something of an extravagant wish, he still couldn't help thinking about it.
After all, Horikita Suzune was his blood-related little sister, and one of the few people he couldn't quite stop worrying about.
Of course, given Horikita Manabu's personality, he rarely actually fell into this kind of pointless self-torment.
The reason he'd suddenly gotten a little sentimental this time.
Was simply that earlier today, Hayakawa Aki, dragging on a cigarette, had told him that while Public Safety was patrolling another jurisdiction, they'd spotted a student wearing a school uniform similar to his.
Since a schoolmate from the same school had been dragged in, then as Student Council President, he naturally had to go take a look.
And while he was at it, he'd get a firsthand account from his fellow countryman about whether anything else had gone wrong in the exam grounds after he'd left.
After all…
Given the Black Sphere's capabilities, conjuring up some "spatial rift" in the Uninhabited Island exam back then was absolutely not as simple as just clearing out the trash.
Horikita Manabu always had the feeling it was laying some additional groundwork.
'I hope it's just my imagination.'
Horikita Manabu helped Hayakawa Aki stamp out his cigarette butt, then pushed the door open and stepped out.
The scene shifted.
Inside the pure-white Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Having settled on this round's simulated sparring target, for the time being it was still Chris—whose class held the most abundant class points—who footed the bill for this expense.
Although, all told, running this single round, including Hirata Yousuke and the others, would burn through nearly a thousand class evaluation points.
But because Chris had already reached an agreement beforehand with Ryuuen, Sakayanagi, and the rest to take turns covering the tab by class rotation going forward, this expenditure was, in practice, still acceptable.
It wasn't as if they could be lavish enough to challenge every single BOSS they'd ever run into, one after another, could they?
Forget whether there was any point to it—just the cost alone… how was anyone supposed to keep living!?
Light gathered.
Accompanied by the howl of wind, Wamuu appeared in the center of the arena.
Because Wamuu's score wasn't especially high, and Ryuuen Kakeru's ultraviolet simulation was such a hard counter to him.
So in fact, for this first round, the few regulars including Chris all stayed out of the fight.
They merely withdrew to the edges, leaving this battle as a test of everyone's real combat experience.
After all, beyond the Black Sphere's basic weapons, everyone now also had the extra gear backed by Chris and Ichinose.
If this many people ganging up on a single Pillar Man still couldn't beat him…
Then they might as well dig a pit right where they stood and bury themselves in it.
The final result didn't disappoint Chris either.
Although Wamuu's Divine Sandstorm counted as AOE damage, and his head-tendrils could fire off plenty of spiraling little whirlwinds for sneak attacks.
Under the righteous gang-beating, Wamuu was still speedrun to death with practically zero injuries on their side.
All you could say was that time-stop and healing, as team support, were just way too overpowered.
With that trump card to fall back on, as long as no one got one-shot, it was very hard for real, meaningful casualties to occur in actual combat.
"Phew… nice teamwork."
Watching Wamuu crumble into flying ash, Hirata Yousuke wiped away his sweat.
It was also fortunate that with the sparring service the Time Chamber provided, summoned monsters didn't vanish just because they'd been killed; as long as it was within the usage window, the monster would automatically respawn.
Otherwise everyone might have been left standing around twiddling their thumbs for the next few hours.
Right after, the freshly respawned Wamuu was set aside as a dedicated training target for solo or small-squad drills.
Meanwhile Chris, Ryuuen Kakeru, and the others each took along one or two veterans with multiple exams under their belts, and started up the next simulation target—[Cat Woman · Neferpitou].
And then…
Without multiple items combined to pull off a Combo, the group finally came to understand, in the flesh, the meaning of the word brutal.
In terms of speed, she had Black Marionette Dance—from activating the ability to completing the attack took a mere 0.1 seconds;
In terms of defense, she could tank a full-power tail-swipe from the Chimera Ant King and merely cough up a little blood;
In terms of perception, through En she could clearly catch the faintest movements hundreds of meters away.
In a pure melee, you could say she was very much like the kind of berserker-type Assassin from the studio next door—the sort whose creed is "as long as you kill every witness, that's the most perfect assassination"!
"Swish——!"
"Squelch!"
Amid dazzling, eye-blurring afterimages.
Even by the time the clock ran out inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Apart from a scant few combinations like [Chris + Ryuuen] and [Ryuuen + Kouenji] that could barely clear her.
The vast majority of people—even formed up in five- or six-person formations—when facing the Cat Woman, were purely there to serve themselves up as food.
Formation broken in one second, total wipe in three.
Thank goodness people killed by the sparring target weren't ruled as actually dead, nor teleported away.
Otherwise the overwhelming majority of people in here would have had no real "experience" to speak of at all.
And among this badly battered crowd.
The one who took the biggest hit wasn't Horikita Suzune, beaten so thoroughly she couldn't fight back; nor Sakayanagi Arisu, who couldn't get her gun to fire; nor Kouenji Rokusuke, who lost battle after battle…
It was Ichinose Honami.
After all, the loadout on her wasn't cheap.
But whether facing the combat-junkie Wamuu, or the Cat Woman Neferpitou who had no concept of love…
Never mind whether she could even land a touch.
Neither of them was the slightest bit susceptible to Ichinose's Love-Love Fruit!
It put Ichinose, in her role as the control position, in a thoroughly awkward spot for a while.
It was the same price-tag of high-end equipment.
Sakayanagi Arisu's Romantic Cannon at least had the fallback mechanism of "the greater the user's level of danger, the greater the power," so when pushed into a corner she could still use it for a one-for-one trade.
But what about her?
Before she actually developed the advanced ability of "forcing petrification through mere physical contact, without the target having to feel any attraction at all."
This Devil Fruit really was just a touch lacking.
If Ichinose hadn't long since prepared herself mentally.
Anyone else, under this string of useless feedback, really would have been knocked into a slump for a good while.
...
Once the training time ran out.
The group was teleported back to the spacious on-campus sports arena.
Although inside the Time Chamber you wouldn't feel hunger or fatigue, and the pain you suffered in there wasn't as intense as in reality.
But for newbies like Kushida Kikyo and Yotsuya Miko, who had no real combat experience to begin with.
It absolutely counted as a session of torture.
And so, when they made out the familiar scene around them, for a dazed moment they could hardly even tell reality from illusion.
Luckily, they weren't given much time to keep wallowing in that lingering aftertaste.
"A new morning has come."
"…A morning full of hope."
The radio-calisthenics music that signaled the Black Sphere's entrance abruptly rang out, instantly yanking everyone back to reality.
"What's going on?!"
Quickly, the crowd, snapping back to their senses, looked toward the sound.
There, at the center of the gymnasium floor, a sphere now hovered silently—when had it appeared?
It was broadly similar to the GANTZ in the Black Sphere Space, but white, and whether in texture or in sheer size, this sphere was clearly far more impressive.
Under the crowd's puzzled, wary gazes.
Light flowed across the white sphere's surface, text surfacing alongside it as a cold, mechanical voice rang out.
[First of all, congratulations on successfully clearing the first layer's rookie trial, and the little patch-up quiz that immediately followed.]
[But this, for now, can only be counted as a welfare round for newcomers. The real trial is about to begin—everyone, please steel your resolve.]
Ryuuen Kakeru looked at the hovering sphere, one eyebrow arching slightly:
"Oi! GANTZ! Why are you not playing by the usual rules this time?"
"By the timing, shouldn't this be when you announce the rules of the preliminary test, and then we wait for the special exam to start?"
The white God Sphere's voice carried an air of indifference:
[First, my name is not GANTZ.]
[GANTZ was merely the inspector for your first-layer trial.]
[From here on, I will serve as the chief examiner who picks up where it left off and carries you forward. If you absolutely must have a way to address me… then call me the presiding god.]
"Presiding god…?" Ichinose Honami murmured softly, clenching her fists, then immediately asked: "In that case, now that the chief examiner has changed, in which mode will our exams proceed from here on?"
The presiding god stated:
[The same life-and-death struggle as before. That much, as the foundation, will not change.]
[But as the chief examiner of the second stage, before you set out, I have an obligation to notify you of several necessary rule updates.]
'Heh… how rather considerate of it.'
Sakayanagi Arisu pursed her lips, neither affirming nor denying.
[Thank you for the compliment, young lady who has only just recovered her health.]
The presiding god took up that line in her heart without the least bit of modesty:
[Now then, the following notices I will not repeat a second time, so everyone, listen well.]
[First, upgrade authority. Effective immediately, you no longer need to return to a specific space; you may use your wrist watch to convert, in real time, the ratios of S points, item points, and class evaluation. At the same time, Black Sphere equipment can be purchased and withdrawn at any moment. You may also try checking the changes in your S points.]
[Second, exam mode upgrade. A new mechanism of extra story arcs and 'Story Cards' has been added—be sure to pay close attention.]
[Third, points obtained from exams must be tallied in a unified settlement; therefore, before settlement, you can only view the changes in your own points, and cannot overdraw or spend them.]
"…What does 'extra story arcs' mean?"
"And what on earth is a Story Card?"
Chris, blending into the crowd, very cooperatively spoke up to ask.
[To put it simply.]
[Yours is not the only world being invaded by monsters and even ghost-tales. In the vast multiverse, these anomalies likewise exist.]
[In your subsequent routine kills, you have a chance to drop a specific 'instance card.' Combined with item triggers, you can actively choose to enter the corresponding instance world, obtaining rare abilities or rich rewards.]
[Of course, high reward comes with high risk. You likewise have a chance, midway through a routine exam, to be suddenly dragged into an unknown ghost-tale world as extra trial-by-fire; clear it and you obtain an instance card.]
Hearing this far, Amanatsu Kazuha asked probingly:
"What the presiding god means is…"
"Besides having to deal with the preliminary test and the special exam, we also have to worry about being randomly yanked into these extra instances with no intel whatsoever?"
[I dislike wasting words. The customary notifications have been fully delivered.]
[In these three minutes before the preliminary test officially begins, I can, as a meeting gift, grant you a little time for questions.]
[But please note—as I just said, I dislike wasting words.]
Seeing the presiding god's attitude, even more domineering than GANTZ's.
The group exchanged glances.
For a moment, no one actually dared to speak up carelessly and risk angering the chief examiner.
In the end.
It was still Hirata Yousuke who was first to step forward and ask:
"Um… Mr. Presiding God."
"Our class's Ayanokoji Kiyotaka vanished yesterday; the teacher said it was withdrawal from school. I'd like to confirm it."
The God Sphere fell silent for a beat, as if at a loss for words.
[Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, at 5:03 p.m. yesterday, used his Black Sphere wrist watch to call GANTZ. By paying the price of 100 S points, he obtained the authority to withdraw from the exam.]
[And at 5:04 p.m. yesterday, he formally processed his withdrawal and left Advanced Nurturing.]
[As of now, all of his personal equipment has been fully stored in the Black Sphere Space, available for withdrawal and use only by those he permits.]
Hearing this.
Kouenji Rokusuke stroked his chin.
"He withdrew, but didn't take his own equipment with him?"
So then, this kind of exit… was it that you're entirely not allowed to take it with you?
Or was it that you needed to purchase some extra authority before you could take it?
Now that was rather intriguing.
Although everyone could perfectly well go check the results in the Black Sphere Space in a bit.
But to be honest, what Kouenji Rokusuke was truly curious about right now was actually another question.
He stepped out from the crowd and, looking the presiding god straight on, inquired:
"If I, too, spend 100 S points and completely break away from this game…"
"Would I still get to keep my memories of everything about this place?"
[You would not.]
The presiding god answered cleanly and decisively:
[The returnee's memories related to the special exam will all be wiped, their cognition corrected, retaining only the impression of normal school life.]
Kouenji Rokusuke nodded thoughtfully.
'In other words, the presiding god—or rather the Black Sphere—doesn't support the leakage of extraordinary power outside the petri dish that is the school?'
That, at least, could just barely count as good news.
But still…
Since the presiding god had stated it so bluntly.
Then, with Ayanokoji's intelligence, wouldn't he worry?
That once he lost his memories and went out, he'd be treated by the politicians outside as a test subject once more and shipped right back to Advanced Nurturing?
Honestly, Kouenji couldn't quite make sense of it.
But if you looked at it instead from Chris's god's-eye view.
The logic in this was actually about as simple as could be.
Of course Ayanokoji knew the risk of amnesia.
He'd even had a guess before he ever asked the Black Sphere.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have desperately farmed points during yesterday's exam.
But knowing the risk was one thing; actually going to test the bottom line was another.
What's more, by seizing this withdrawal opportunity, Ayanokoji also meant to convey certain information to his father.
So naturally, he needed to make this trip.
Reckoning the time, by now he'd probably already been collected by the people from the White Room, and was undergoing a full-spectrum physical and memory examination.
Chris chuckled to himself inwardly.
Once they discovered it was all completely useless.
He had a feeling it wouldn't be more than a few days before even Ayanokoji's old man would want to personally ship him right back.
All you could say was, when it came to being more of an NPC than even a Parasyte.
Ayanokoji had truly pulled it off.
Just as Chris was musing while holding back a laugh.
Kushida Kikyo suddenly let out a startled cry:
"Huh? Where did the presiding god go?"
Before Chris could even open his mouth.
Ryuuen Kakeru had already let out a scornful sneer:
"Idiot."
"The notifications have all been delivered, and the preliminary test has started too—does it have any need to stick around?"
Snapped at, Kushida Kikyo awkwardly shut her mouth.
She lowered her head, looking at the ghostly blue glow rising up from beneath her own feet, and instinctively glanced toward Chris, who wasn't being enveloped by the light.
"So… Chris, shall we head off first?"
Chris offhandedly tossed out a reminder:
"Mm. If you run into anything that feels off, don't try to tough it out—pull back when you should. Staying alive is what matters."
Kushida Kikyo drew in a deep breath, a smile blossoming across her face, and clenched her little fist as she vowed:
"We'll be waiting for you!"
"This time, I definitely won't drag you down!"
On the tail of those final words, the sixteen of them vanished from inside the gymnasium.
Sakayanagi Arisu, left behind on the spot, fell into a brief silence at the sound.
Then, somewhat amused, she turned her head to look at Chris:
"What's with 'we'll be waiting for you,' and then 'I won't drag you down'?"
"Doesn't she think those two lines, strung together, are awfully contradictory?"
Chris looked around the empty arena and shook his head helplessly:
"Can't be helped."
"Kushida's just like that."
Contradictory, yet genuine.
It was fine, really.
Teasing her a bit more was pretty fun, too.
____
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