Tokyo, a certain large department store.
After changing into the Advanced Nurturing uniform, Horikita Manabu threaded through the crowd, his face expressionless.
Light streamed like woven threads, the air conditioning plentiful.
Were it not for knowing the true nature of this world, this place would have been no different from any high-end department store back in Tokyo.
Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping quickly across the bustling crowd.
Before coming, he'd already gotten word from a senior over at the Anti-Devil Division. A black student wearing the same uniform as his had shown up in this building that morning.
Because of his eye-catching build, plus the fact that he'd suddenly appeared in full public view, a passerby had snapped a photo, and it had been submitted up the chain as an anomaly report.
A black guy… 'Yamada Albert, huh…'
Horikita Manabu silently repeated the name in his heart.
As one of Ryuuen Kakeru's capable right-hand men, and given his distinctive skin color, naturally Horikita had an impression of him.
However, the current Public Safety Anti-Devil Division didn't have much spare energy to pay attention to a high schooler who'd suddenly popped up. The reason was simple.
Denji, the so-called "Chainsaw Man," had already been discovered by the intelligence agencies of other nations.
With the winds of upheaval stirring, who knew how many crazed devil hunters from all over the world were now slipping into Tokyo, hoping to seize the Holy Grail… no, the Chainsaw Man. As the saying goes, the mountain rain is coming, and the wind fills the tower.
Naturally, no one was paying attention to Yamada Albert.
It was only thanks to Hayakawa Aki's special consideration that Horikita Manabu had come to know this much.
He was a man who knew how to read the situation.
Horikita Manabu understood perfectly well that the reason Hayakawa Aki had gone out of his way to leak this intel to him, and had conveniently handed him this investigation assignment, was essentially to pull him temporarily out of the team protecting Denji.
After all, he still hadn't formed a contract with any devil. His current combat power rested entirely on the Combat Suit and the Sianweistan to hold him up.
With this set of equipment, combined with his already top-tier hand-to-hand skills, going up against some weaker devils or puppets was indeed more than enough.
But if he genuinely had to square off against the kind of top-class devil hunters who ranked among the best in the world, or a conceptual-level devil… his odds of winning right now approached zero infinitely.
'So he deliberately steered me away to keep me from getting dragged into the coming battlefield, huh…'
Horikita Manabu rubbed his chin.
Although they'd only known each other a few days, and Hayakawa Aki usually came across as cold and standoffish, keep-your-distance type…
He really was, at his core, a gentle and good man.
In this strange world fraught with danger on every side, to be able to meet a senior like this was indeed a stroke of good fortune.
Still, setting aside that bit of personal goodwill.
The moment he learned that Yamada Albert had suddenly appeared in this world—and appeared so abruptly, at that…
Honestly, Horikita Manabu felt that the way things were developing might be about to veer off from what all of them had anticipated.
Although he wasn't certain whether the flow of time in this world stayed in sync with the Advanced Nurturing side.
But he remembered clearly.
The thing the Black Sphere had said before the midterm Uninhabited Island exam began—about "driving the anomalous monsters out of this world"—he remembered that crystal clear.
Since the monsters had all been driven out, then where would the later Black Sphere exams find monsters to serve as trials?
'Pulling people in individually? Or else… crossing worlds?'
Horikita Manabu thought it over.
He concluded that Yamada Albert's appearance was precisely the trigger for this.
In other words, this department store building was very likely about to become the new exam grounds for the Qualified.
It was just that he couldn't yet determine exactly who the target the Black Sphere had selected was.
But what Horikita Manabu didn't know was that, in the very moment he was making his private conjectures.
Over on another side, Denji and his group, having already killed America's Immortal Three Brothers, had run head-on into the Santa Claus that Germany had hired.
This terrifying existence with the power to instantly turn every human she touched into a doll-puppet!
At the same time, from the world next door, the first-ever devil hunter Guangxi had also made a forceful entrance onto the battlefield, bringing along several of her fiend girlfriends.
Forces from all sides, for various reasons, were now drawing closer to this department store building where he was, as if pulled along by some unseen thread. This was the predetermined course, long since written into the "Chronicle of Ages."
A raging tide was about to arrive, and it would not change for the will of any single person.
As the weightless sensation faded along with the teleportation beam.
Kushida Kikyo slowly opened her eyes. Only to find that she wasn't in some bizarre, unfamiliar otherworld environment at all.
By the familiar smell of damp mildew reaching the tip of her nose.
Looking at the yellowed tatami mats, the mottled walls, and that gleaming-black giant sphere right in the center of the room.
Kushida Kikyo's face was full of surprise.
"This place… isn't this the Black Sphere Space?"
Kushida Kikyo paused, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Don't tell me—because the presiding god's white God Sphere has appeared now, GANTZ has been demoted, reduced to nothing more than a service object for our advance trial?"
Hearing this conjecture, Matsushita Chiaki, standing beside her, shot her a helpless sidelong glance. Though Matsushita didn't think the situation would be quite as Kushida imagined, given the personality and attitude GANTZ had displayed before, simply asking it a question should be no problem.
And so, Matsushita Chiaki took the initiative to step forward and asked:
"GANTZ, is reality really as Kushida-san guesses?"
The surface of the Black Sphere in the center of the room shimmered with flowing light.
Immediately after, white text surfaced, carrying its habitual venomous snark:
[If my database hasn't logged it wrong. From the very beginning, GANTZ clearly stated that you bunch of rookies exist as 'newcomers.']
[Now that the first stage's trial is already over, and the chief examiner has changed too, you actually have the gall to think you're still the protected newcomers?]
Kushida Kikyo was momentarily at a loss for words.
Honestly, she really wanted to shout out loud: I think I am! I'm just a frail little girl who can't take care of herself!
Unfortunately, in the end she didn't have the nerve to talk back to GANTZ.
Even now, when its status was seemingly on the decline…
Off to the side, Amanatsu Kazuha, toying with a lock of her red twin-tail, picked up the thread with a grin:
"Looking at it this way, it's not just us."
"Even over on Chris-senpai and class rep Ichinose Honami's side, there won't be any more free Black Sphere basic weapons to use from now on, huh…"
The girl tilted her head slightly, a flicker of thought passing through her violet-gold eyes:
"So here's the question—since there's no more free equipment being handed out, why exactly did it pull us into the Black Sphere Space, instead of just dumping us straight into the test grounds like before?" "Could it really just be to announce the rules to us?"
Hearing this, Amikura Mako thought for a moment and offered her analysis:
"There's no more free equipment, sure, but didn't the presiding god just say back in the gymnasium that we can now shop in real time through the Black Sphere wristwatch?"
"Maybe teleporting us here is to give us the time and space to safely change into our Combat Suits before the test begins."
Hearing this, Horikita Suzune pursed her lips.
With Chris absent at the moment, her face stayed cold as ever, as if she had no wish to waste time on pointless speculation:
"If that's really the case, then while everyone's busy buying their Combat Suits." "GANTZ, please announce the specific rules for this test of ours."
Hayasaka Ai, standing at the edge, silently nodded too.
The way she saw it, it was perfectly normal for the Black Sphere to cancel the free weapons and open up a purchase channel.
Otherwise, once more and more people accumulated enough points in the advance trials, at a frequency of one Black Sphere exam per week, there'd be no real way to outfit everyone with Combat Suits.
Since the Black Sphere—and the presiding god behind it—had the fundamental goal of "cultivating" them.
Then after they got past the newbie phase, gradually opening up the redemption permissions, using it to lure and coerce them into spending, was an inevitable trend.
They couldn't very well let everyone's S-points all turn into a fixed-term deposit, forever waiting to be spent on the Tiangong Society's mysterious merchant, could they?
Admittedly, some of the items in the mysterious shop were quite strong.
But as for the Black Sphere shop's equipment—while not every piece was a great bargain.
Still, the [Combat Suit] alone, as a basic piece of gear that boosted physical attributes across the board, was absolutely something everyone should be equipped with.
Even as Hayasaka Ai analyzed all this in her mind, she raised her wrist and worked through the purchase process on the Black Sphere wristwatch.
Out of the corner of her eye, she quietly observed the others in the room.
She found that the vast majority of people had made the same choice she had.
As for Amanatsu Kazuha, as one of those who already possessed a Combat Suit to begin with, she too was operating something on her wristwatch at the moment, yet no new package or item appeared before her.
'Is she doing some kind of upgrade?'
Hayasaka Ai felt a touch of puzzlement, but soon her attention was drawn back to the Black Sphere.
[This advance trial mode is—Ace of Spades · Tag.]
[Time limit: 120 minutes.]
[The game rules are as follows:]
[Hidden within this test's grounds is a 'Santa Claus' existence. She has the power to instantly turn every human she touches into a doll-puppet.]
[Note: If someone who holds respect or admiration for her is touched, they will become a high-fidelity doll that retains its own consciousness. Santa Claus can seamlessly transfer her own fatal injuries onto this kind of doll; and when the doll dies, the original body remains entirely unharmed.]
[Not only that, she also has a grand conspiracy capable of overturning the entire situation.]
[Your test objective this time is: to find her within this complex environment, and to do your utmost to avoid being turned into a doll, or being hit by friendly fire.]
[Among you, whoever kills Santa Claus will directly clear the trial as a victor. The remaining three victor slots will be contested in order by those who eliminate the greatest number of dolls.]
[Killing Santa Claus: grants 20,000 item points.]
[Killing an elite doll: grants 8,000 item points.]
[Killing an ordinary doll: grants 1,000 item points.]
[Exam-start conditions: When a test participant truly dies; or when four testers are infected and turned into dolls; or when Santa Claus's conspiracy succeeds—any one of the above conditions being triggered will directly force open the Black Sphere main match!]
[Very simple rules; I trust no one will fail to understand them.]
[Well then, good luck to you all.]
[I'll leave you five minutes of changing time. Any ladies wanting privacy may tap the Black Sphere wristwatch to enter a single-person space to change.]
Having finished reading these not-exactly-lengthy game rules, Kouenji Rokusuke combed his fingers through his golden hair and arched an eyebrow:
"Heh heh… touch and you get infected and assimilated. Boys and girls, isn't this just a beefed-up version of a zombie crisis? They've only swapped in a more elegant name for it."
Amikura Mako pursed her lips, her expression far less relaxed than Kouenji's.
She picked up the thread with her analysis:
"Since this is set up as our test… I'm afraid even something like the Black Sphere Combat Suit, which covers nearly the entire body, can't be spared from the touch-infection rule."
"For safety's sake, once we enter the exam grounds in a bit, we absolutely cannot let any stranger touch us!"
Hearing this. Amanatsu Kazuha crushed a capsule she'd fished out at some unknown point.
As a lump of soft-bodied creature swiftly bored into her left arm, the girl waved her newly transformed arm and chuckled lightly:
"Looks like having a Parasyte for a partner really is a pretty good choice."
"Sure, remodeling a 'room' for it cost me quite a few points… but with Lefty's abilities, using it to defend against this kind of close-range touch-infection is absolutely a worthwhile investment, you know~"
Horikita Suzune looked at the eyeball-studded blade growing out of Amanatsu Kazuha's arm, her brow furrowing slightly, but she nodded in agreement all the same.
And seeing this, Hayasaka Ai couldn't help but have a sudden realization.
So that was it—the Combat Suit was a matching upgrade for the Parasyte.
According to the document records Ichinose Honami had shared in the group chat, a Parasyte's attack speed far exceeded the limit of what the human eye could capture.
With the boost of a Combat Suit on top of that, as long as she stayed vigilant and didn't let anyone touch her, it absolutely wouldn't count as difficult.
It had to be said, the cost-effectiveness of this kind of biological enhancement really was quite good.
Hayasaka Ai quietly assessed in her heart.
Parasytes, the Stone Mask…
These low-cost yet practical things were all very cheap, and had a chance of being widely popularized among the student body.
But.
According to the gaming-dev's law of planning…
The more this kind of cheap, easily popularized equipment showed up in great quantity, the more it indicated that the routine situations they were meant to handle were just about due to be phased out.
Hayasaka Ai cast a deep, probing look at the Black Sphere screen.
This test's true danger, she feared, didn't lie with those doll-puppets you could deal with simply by keeping your distance.
But rather with the thing the Black Sphere had deliberately pointed out…
Santa Claus's so-called conspiracy!
Hayasaka Ai mused, then, wasting no more time, lightly tapped her fingertip on her own Black Sphere wristwatch.
She promptly vanished from the spot, heading to a private space to change.
Meanwhile, in the real world. Inside the gymnasium of Advanced Nurturing High School.
Through a screen visible to him and him alone, watching Horikita Manabu, Horikita Suzune, and the others each head off in different places toward the fates that belonged to them.
Chris leisurely stretched himself.
Under the watchful gazes of Ichinose Honami, Sakayanagi Arisu, and the rest, he walked over to a bench at the edge of the venue and sat down.
He rubbed his chin, lowering his head as if deep in thought. But in truth, at this moment, Chris was multitasking.
Through the presiding god's god's-eye view, he directed his attention toward Tachibana Akane, who was already in the Chainsaw Man world, and toward Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, for whom he'd quietly opened a back door.
As for Tachibana Akane's side, that went without saying.
Since Horikita Manabu existed in the Chainsaw Man world. Chris naturally wasn't going to let her miss out on this stage.
As for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka…
As the first existence to successfully "break away" from Advanced Nurturing and the Black Sphere exams.
Though he'd lost the related memories, and was now lying in a lab undergoing all sorts of examinations.
But since the people of the White Room were so eager to know, then he, as a great philanthropist, ought naturally to provide these mortals—who fancied themselves geniuses and were desperate to understand the Black Sphere's inner workings—a tiny little channel for observation.
"Since you all want to know, then let's go take a look together~" Chris mused with mischievous delight in his heart.
In any case, the Black Sphere had only ever promised, before the midterm Uninhabited Island exam, that it would drive out the monsters invading "this world."
But it had never once guaranteed…
That there wouldn't be something like a spacetime rift that could forcibly drag the people of this world off to other worlds~
The right of interpretation had always rested solely in the presiding god's hands.
Still, if he just tossed the amnesiac Ayanokoji straight into the world of "Chainsaw Man", facing a street full of devils, it would inevitably come off as a bit too deliberate, too abrupt.
'Mm… let's just toss you all into the world of "Final Destination" instead.'
'As one of the survivors chosen by Death aboard that flight destined to crash.'
'No monsters in plain sight—only accidents and death lurking everywhere~'
And on top of that, it would let him have a good time joining in the fun when he brought Shiina Hiyori, Tachibana Akane, and the others crashing in.
That's right! In Chris's subsequent plans, serving as the existence that essentially took over the "advance trial" slot previously copied from Alice in Borderland.
The so-called "extra instances."
He had no intention of arranging earth-shattering, apocalyptic spectacles.
He leaned more toward puzzle-style scenarios like "Final Destination", "The Ring", "Rules-Based Horror", or even "The Backrooms"—short and punchy, dripping with atmosphere, and extremely demanding of intelligence and insight.
Not amplifying brute force to break the deadlock, but staking your life purely on your wits.
This could not only serve as a change of pace.
It could also indirectly boost the sense of participation for girls like Shiina Hiyori—those whose combat power was on the weaker side, but who had marvelous effects in certain special domains.
As for the dropped instance cards…
They could pair with the items he'd refresh later to form a synergy effect!
For instance, combined with the blank card holder from Ryuki, he could unlock Mirror World-related instances.
Through this, one could obtain a contract beast and become a true Kamen Rider.
Or else… dropping some kind of room you absolutely couldn't get out of unless you did some specific thing… ahem.
In short, with this shell in place, the amount of fun storyline he could extend out of it later as supporting gameplay was simply enormous.
"Speaking of which…"
Chris shifted his sitting posture slightly.
To reflect the difference between the presiding god and GANTZ, he really ought to offer up a few more redeemable things, shouldn't he?
Otherwise, if it just swapped its skin on the surface while the actual goods in the shop felt no different, then what difference was there between the presiding god and the Black Sphere?
In that case, he might as well take all the goods the mysterious merchant had previously stocked and openly, aboveboard, list them as regular goods on the redemption manifest of the presiding god's space.
Not only was it to provide everyone with more enhancement routes and room to grow.
Honestly, something like the [Random Mystery Box]…
In Chris's vision, was simply the perfect channel for laundering those unsavory items of his that couldn't see the light of day!
Mm, everything seemed perfect.
The only problem was. He always felt like he kept drawing out items that easily set people's imaginations running wild…
It would seriously damage his image.
Chris rubbed his chin. 'Forget it.' 'This was forcibly stuffed onto me by the presiding god—what's it got to do with me, Chris?'
____
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