Opening her eyes to the bustling crowds around her and the brightly lit dome of the shopping mall overhead, Tachibana Akane couldn't help but fall into thought.
If she remembered correctly.
A few seconds ago, she'd still been in the Student Council Office, working through the cultural festival shopping list Ichinose Honami had sent over yesterday.
How, in the blink of an eye... had she ended up in this mall?
Tachibana Akane rubbed her chin, not really thinking she was daydreaming.
After all, with the Black Sphere exams a known reality, even though she'd never personally been through something like this before, Tachibana Akane was naturally no stranger to the so-called "cut-in" mechanic.
She just hadn't expected it at all.
That she wouldn't appear in some desolate wilderness, crumbling ruins, or gloomy relic site.
But instead in... Tokyo?
Her gaze swept over the nearby storefront signs and the shopping bags in passersby's hands, printed with Japanese logos. Tachibana Akane confirmed it inwardly.
But she remembered that in the settlement after the midterm exam, the Black Sphere had clearly stated it had already driven out all the anomalous monsters.
'So... this is a parallel world?'
'Then what kind of monsters does this world have to face?'
Tachibana Akane mused. She pulled out her phone, wanting to see whether she could connect to the network signal here.
Her movements were brisk and capable—nothing about her betrayed a high-school girl who'd just been dragged into a crisis.
Perhaps it was because the overly modern, everyday scene around her gave her a sense of security, letting her subconsciously set aside, for the moment, the danger lurking nearby.
After all, in a modern society, if normal commercial operations and foot traffic like this could still be maintained, then it meant that at the very least, this world's so-called "monster threat" was under official control.
Otherwise, an everyday scene like this simply couldn't hold together—right?
Tachibana Akane analyzed, then looked down to find that the phone specially made by Advanced Nurturing High School indeed couldn't connect to the network here.
After a brief disappointment, she pulled herself together again.
This was exactly where a modern society held its biggest advantage over relic sites and wilderness.
If there was anything she didn't understand, she could just ask the people around her, couldn't she?
But before she could even lock onto a target and call out to a passerby along the way—suddenly.
Tachibana Akane noticed a string of strange noises coming from not far off.
Not the sound of explosions, but waves of uniform, shuffling footsteps, as if a huge crowd of people were swiftly surging this way.
Recalling that the younger underclassmen had, in an earlier Black Sphere exam, encountered a swarm of zombie-like monsters called "Kabane"—
Tachibana Akane's heart clenched.
She turned her head, quickly scanning her surroundings for somewhere she could flee to or hide.
But since this was a mall on the weekend, crowds were everywhere, severely blocking her field of vision.
And Tachibana Akane soon noticed something off.
Namely, there was none of the clamor and screaming that such a disturbance ought to produce!
By rights, if something had really gone wrong, the crowd should have erupted into panic long ago.
But that approaching group of people was eerily silent.
On instinct, Tachibana Akane subconsciously took two steps back, putting distance between herself and the crowd.
Before she could figure out the reason, a hand suddenly reached out from a blind spot to the side and yanked her into the shadows.
Tachibana Akane's eyes turned sharp, and she was about to pull free and strike back.
Only to discover, to her astonishment, that the other person was a short-haired girl wearing the very same school uniform as her own.
Wang Meiyu pulled Tachibana Akane into the shadows, hurriedly raised a hand to her lips in a shushing gesture, and explained in a low voice:
"Don't make a sound... A moment ago I looked down from a second-floor window and saw a group of strange people down there.
"Anyone they touch instantly turns into a puppet just like them..."
The familiar Advanced Nurturing High School uniform on Wang Meiyu lent her enormous credibility in Tachibana Akane's eyes.
She nodded, suppressed the throbbing in her chest, and asked softly in turn:
"Are you a cut-in too, chosen by the Black Sphere?"
Wang Meiyu blanked at the words, then her eyes went wide with delighted surprise:
"A cut-in? Don't tell me... the Black Sphere has already expanded its exam operations into other worlds? Then are Chris and the others here too?!"
Tachibana Akane looked at her with mild surprise.
After mulling it over, she could only match Wang Meiyu's current words and behavior against that group of classmates who had been carried off by the spacetime rift during the midterm exam.
So she was one of those missing classmates...
As she quietly gave Wang Meiyu a simple explanation of the Black Sphere's current rule changes,
a hopeful fantasy couldn't help but rise in Tachibana Akane's heart:
'If only the Student Council President... could be safe and sound in this other world too, just like this junior.'
Meanwhile, on the other side of the same department store building.
Horikita Manabu stood by the railing, looking down below.
Because the school uniform he wore was already somewhat conspicuous here, and on top of that, Yamada Albert's highly recognizable mixed-race Black physique—
So Horikita Manabu actually hadn't spent much time before running into this fellow schoolmate inside the building.
However, before the two of them had much chance to exchange pleasantries,
Horikita Manabu keenly noticed that the crowd below had, for some unknown reason, begun a kind of uncanny "relay."
One person after another, without any warning, reached out and patted the shoulder of the pedestrian beside them.
Immediately, the person who'd been touched would turn to assimilate the next target.
He took only one glance.
And Horikita Manabu confirmed it: this was absolutely the work of a devil!
Without hesitation, he grabbed the still-half-comprehending Yamada Albert and turned to run toward the higher, less crowded floors.
As they moved, Horikita Manabu explained in a low voice:
"Listen. In this world there exist creatures called 'devils.' They seem to be born from humanity's fear of some particular concept.
"The deeper the fear, the stronger the devil. So each devil has its own corresponding special ability—the Blood Devil controls blood, the Gun Devil uses firearms...
"That assimilation I just saw downstairs is most likely the ability of some kind of Puppet Devil."
Yamada Albert nodded with vague half-understanding and followed Horikita Manabu all the way to a railing on the fourth floor.
As Horikita Manabu let him rest briefly,
Yamada Albert subconsciously turned his head and glanced through the glass railing at the atrium below.
That one look made his scalp tingle.
Those touched passersby—their facial muscles had now gone rigid and dead, even showing obvious puppet-like dents and cracks.
And their hands had twisted into something like sharp blades.
"What a domineering ability... touch and you assimilate?"
Yamada Albert couldn't help but murmur.
Horikita Manabu, lips pressed tight, sent his gaze past that crowd of puppets and locked onto the first-floor stairwell.
There, several members of the Anti-Devil Division, dressed in black suits, were methodically forming up to deal with the puppet army charging forward.
He frowned slightly, yet his tone held not the slightest surprise:
"Just as I thought—Senior Hayakawa Aki and the others have come over here too."
"Were they deliberately lured over? Or was it because the Black Sphere knew all along that the melee between them would unfold over here... so it specifically teleported Yamada to this spot?"
Horikita Manabu had no way of knowing.
But in his eyes, the arrival of the Black Sphere exam wasn't entirely a bad thing.
After all, on the surface at least, to the general public the Black Sphere played the role of a middling-but-leaning-benevolent "anomaly cleaner."
What's more, he'd actually been thinking that maybe he could ask the schoolmates who'd come to take the exam this time about Horikita Suzune's situation...
But these musings of Horikita Manabu's were a bit too profound for the half-comprehending Yamada Albert.
"Who's Hayakawa Aki... and what brought me over here?"
Yamada couldn't help asking.
Seeing Horikita Manabu's gaze fixed intently below with no intention of answering, Yamada tactfully shut his mouth and stopped bothering him.
He just lowered his head and watched those suited men below who seemed to be acquainted with Horikita Manabu.
One of them carved a magic array on the ground; the moment any puppet drew near, it instantly turned into ashen-gray stone.
Another could summon a giant fox's claw out of thin air, slamming it down in one stroke and crushing several puppets outright.
And there was an effeminate man with a pair of wings on his back, who drew a long blade from the void and, with a wave, cut the puppet before him clean in half at the waist.
All of them were strong.
Yamada Albert assessed inwardly.
It wasn't that he was underestimating himself.
But he was well aware that, even wearing the Combat Suit now, without a Black Sphere weapon, he really had no good way to handle this "touch and you're done" puppet army.
Melee was a death wish.
In the past, he might still have relied on the extra life the Black Sphere granted him and worked up the courage to take it on.
But considering that he'd been swept here through the "spacetime rift" of the midterm Black Sphere exam...
who knew whether the life the Black Sphere had granted would still work after crossing worlds?
Naturally, he ought to be more cautious.
Just as Yamada's gaze wandered, about to look nearby for any cutlery shop or restaurant where he might grab some kind of weapon for self-defense—
Horikita Manabu suddenly reached out and pressed a hand on his shoulder:
"Don't go running off just yet."
"People from our school are here.
"Wait... is that... Suzune?"
Down in the first-floor hall, the battle was at its height.
Watching a figure whose half-body suddenly appeared out of thin air amid the puppet horde, accompanied by a faint blue beam of light—
Hayakawa Aki was just about to call out and warn the person to dodge.
But before the light had even fully dispersed, within that figure, the left arm of a red-haired, twin-tailed girl instantly transformed into a grotesque, sharp tentacle!
"Shing—!"
Blade-light wove together, afterimages crisscrossing.
With practically zero startup frames, she sliced every puppet trying to close in around her into fragments.
Seeing this, Hayakawa Aki couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
Before he could open his mouth to ask,
beside him, Denji—who'd been gripping his chainsaw pull-cord, ready to go—couldn't resist pointing over there and saying gleefully:
"Hey, Aki! Look at the clothes those people are wearing—they look just like that Horikita guy's!
"Don't tell me these are the companions he mentioned? They seem pretty strong, huh. What kind of devil is that woman's left hand—a Parasyte Devil?"
Hayakawa Aki reached out, irritably slapping away the hand Denji had draped over his shoulder, and said sternly:
"Denji, quit spacing out! Those puppets aren't fully dealt with yet.
"It's not just the ones out on the street—now even the puppets inside the mall are starting to pour out.
"If you don't want to die, focus!"
Denji pursed his lips and grumbled:
"Yeah, yeah... you're so naggy!
"You were totally spacing out staring at them yourself just now, okay?!"
He muttered under his breath:
"Though, come to think of it, I didn't expect that Horikita Manabu kid was actually telling the truth—these people really can just shoom teleport in like that.
"Man, if our Public Safety had this tech too, wouldn't we be able to save a huge chunk of travel fares on future field assignments? Miss Makima would definitely praise me..."
Hearing this, Hayakawa Aki fell uncharacteristically silent for a moment.
Denji's train of thought was odd, but this "teleportation" ability really was quite enviable.
Meanwhile, not far off.
Horikita Suzune, who had just finished teleporting and now stood beside Amanatsu Kazuha,
caught a key word from the two men's bickering, thanks to a woman's intuition.
'Horikita... Manabu?'
'Brother?!'
The girl's cool, clear eyes snapped wide open. 'My brother is over here?!'
Honestly, Horikita Suzune was genuinely shocked.
After all, she knew that in the targeted dungeon Ichinose Honami had opened with points after the last exam, there were definitely classmates present.
But the ones whose coordinates had been precisely anchored back then were, in fact, only the two of them—Wang Meiyu and Yamada Albert!
She really hadn't expected that she'd unexpectedly get news of Horikita Manabu in this world!
But unfortunately.
The puppets surging in like a tide from all directions would not stop attacking just because the girl was shocked.
They flailed their arms and lunged at her, roaring. "Rooaar—!"
Accompanied by the fierce wind of the Parasyte on Amanatsu Kazuha's left hand,
and the crisp, spirited shout of Amikura Mako beside her: "Henshin!"
The armor of the [Leo Cavalier] instantly covered Amikura's whole body, and with a swing of her sword she cut open a puppet that was sneaking an attack.
Horikita Suzune abruptly snapped back to her senses. 'Now is not the time to be distracted!'
The girl drew a deep breath and gripped her Black Sphere combat blade in a reverse hold. "Shhk—!"
The blade instantly extended, carrying a frigid gleam, and ran straight through a long row of puppets before her.
Then, Horikita Suzune put her waist into it and, with the amplification of the Combat Suit, swept it horizontally!
"Squelch!" A whole swath of puppets, like wheat being harvested, was cut clean in half at the waist!
This sight made Hayakawa Aki's eyelid twitch from not far away.
There was no sense of lag whatsoever.
'In other words, the blade in her hand cuts these things as easily as a knife through tofu?'
Hayakawa Aki's gaze swept quickly over this group of students.
And by the looks of it, at least half the people in that group were holding this kind of weapon...
Just what on earth was this "Black Sphere" that Horikita Manabu kept talking about?
Hayakawa Aki was inwardly marveling.
When new movement arose beside him.
But this time it wasn't the flighty Denji.
Before he could even speak, Power—the Fiend with red horns growing from her head—was already excitedly jabbing her elbow into Hayakawa Aki's side.
"Hey, hey! Aki! Did you see that?!"
Power's eyes lit up: "I, the great me, think that pitch-black sword looks super strong!
"Want me to go grab you one too—ahem, get one for you to try out?"
Hearing this, Denji immediately nodded furiously in agreement:
"Exactly, Aki! Let's get Horikita to help us out—have him hook us up with a few to try! We're all acquaintances, so surely he'll give us a discount?"
At this, Hayakawa Aki couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, at a loss for words.
"Quit daydreaming."
But inwardly, he actually was quite drawn to this kind of weapon that cut through anything and seemingly required no payment in life as its price.
After all, in this world, whether it was the Fox Devil he was contracted with or the long nail in his hand that carried the power of the Curse Devil—
each use demanded payment of lifespan or a body part as the price.
If these items in the Black Sphere exam really were, as Horikita Manabu claimed, "free and without side effects" to use...
To be honest, if it weren't for Miss Makima being in Public Safety,
Hayakawa Aki would genuinely have wanted to look into this so-called Black Sphere in depth.
But this, too, was merely a fleeting thought that flashed through his mind.
'The sky cannot hold two suns...'
'In my heart, there is only one sun, and that is Miss Makima!'
One word: loyalty!
He quickly gathered up his stray thoughts.
Besides, now that he had this group of outside reinforcements as helpers,
then whatever their ultimate goal might be, in the face of a common enemy right now, they ought to first join forces and take out the troublesome "Santa Claus."
A rule that turned humans into puppets on a mere touch was simply far too dangerous in a mall this densely packed with people.
Hayakawa Aki thought, slashing back the puppet in front of him with one stroke.
He was about to tell the Angel Devil beside him to stay here and protect Denji, while he himself planned to head down to help.
But unexpectedly.
The perpetually listless Angel suddenly looked up, gazing at the huge transparent glass display window on the first floor, and said flatly:
"Aki, wait." "I sense it... the scent of a Fiend."
Hayakawa Aki nodded and looked in the direction Angel indicated.
On the street outside the glass window, several women in outlandish outfits stood there.
Among them, a Fiend girl with a long braided plait raised a hand to her own lips, staring fixedly at the people inside the mall.
From the way her lips opened and closed...
If Hayakawa Aki understood Chinese, he would have known that she was, at this moment, mouthing in Chinese: "The corpse is talking."
Unfortunately, Hayakawa Aki didn't understand Chinese.
But his instincts as a devil hunter told him: trouble was on its way!
"Everyone! Look out!!!"
Hayakawa Aki hurriedly shouted a warning down to that group of students who were clearly still absorbed in clearing out puppets.
And at the very instant he raised his voice. "Shoo—"
An afterimage flashed by. So fast that even the whistle of the air was left behind it.
The naked eye simply couldn't catch it. Then, immediately after.
"Squelch—!"
With that group of students at the center, every surrounding puppet had a thin line appear across its neck.
Before those heads even began to slide down along the cuts,
a cold woman with long silver hair and a black eyepatch over her right eye had already appeared beside Horikita Suzune.
Quanxi casually reached out, about to simply snatch away the Black Sphere combat blade in Horikita's hand.
After all, as a being at the pinnacle of physical combat, a good blade was, to her, more practical than any devil ability.
In the face of such dimension-crushing speed,
Horikita Suzune couldn't react at all.
Just as her weapon was about to change hands. However.
At the very instant Quanxi's fingertip was about to touch the hilt!
"Doola—!"
— End of Chapter —
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