When she opened her eyes again.
Horikita Suzune found herself already inside the Black Sphere Space.
"Phew..."
She rubbed her forehead a little wearily, her cool gaze sweeping over her surroundings, taking in the handful of people who still lingered here without having left.
Seeing that Horikita Suzune seemed to have more or less collected herself.
Kushida Kikyo, who'd been waiting at her side this whole time, immediately put on a concerned face and was the first to lean in toward her.
"Horikita... how are things over on Chris and Ichinose's side now?"
Horikita Suzune let out a long breath, her tone calm:
"We won."
Hearing this, Kushida Kikyo was just about to cheer.
"But..." Her words took a turn.
"Huh!?"
Kushida Kikyo's heart lurched, and her facade nearly cracked.
With no spare attention to maintain her image right then, she instinctively grabbed Horikita's hand and pressed urgently: "But what?!"
She couldn't help but be worked up.
If Chris had gotten stuck in the instance and couldn't get out, or if mainstays like Ichinose and Ryuuen had suffered some mishap.
Then all the plans she'd laid out before would basically be declared bankrupt!
Without a powerhouse out front to bear the pressure, her so-called "lie back and farm points using extra lives as a margin for error" plan would lose its very foundation for existing.
Without these monsters tanking up front, what was she supposed to use to earn that hundred points?
Looking at Kushida's exaggerated, grief-stricken display.
Horikita Suzune felt helpless.
She had honestly just simply not finished speaking.
She really hadn't expected Kushida to get so worked up.
After all, in Horikita's eyes, Kushida Kikyo had by now effectively confirmed her own special nature.
Granted, she'd spent two lives and seemingly hadn't done a thing in the exam zone.
But she was still a veteran who'd been through several exams—couldn't her mental fortitude improve even a little?
'There's really no need to make such a fuss... if something serious had actually happened to me, do you think I'd still be wearing this expression?'
Just as Horikita Suzune was silently grumbling to herself.
Matsushita Chiaki, beside her, had already placed a hand on Kushida's shoulder:
"All right, Kushida, let Horikita finish first."
"It's probably nothing serious. Otherwise Horikita wouldn't be reacting like this..."
Kushida Kikyo froze, then realized how she'd just lost her composure.
She let go of the hand a little awkwardly and covered with a dry laugh: "S-Sorry, I was just too worried about everyone."
Horikita Suzune nodded without minding it and went on to complete what she'd left unsaid:
"Using the 'skip-class' method the Black Sphere offered in the shop, we did successfully kill the Darkness Devil."
"But aside from Chris and the others who got dragged into the extra instance by accident, and Ryuuen Kakeru, every last one of us was brought under the Control Devil's control."
"So even Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami had no choice but to surrender one life apiece as the price to break free."
Horikita Suzune lowered her eyelids slightly: "You could say this battle cost most of us a life each."
After hearing all this.
Kushida Kikyo didn't feel weighed down—on the contrary, she let out a breath as though a burden had lifted.
As long as they're still around, that's what matters! As long as they're still around!
Otherwise, relying on just the few survivors like Kouenji Rokusuke and Amikura Mako...
Kushida Kikyo could already picture that within three more exams, the whole school would be facing a complete turnover of its ranks.
Before Kushida could follow up with a few pretty words to comfort everyone—and incidentally salvage her own dignity after that earlier panic.
Kouenji Rokusuke suddenly spoke up:
"Hmhm... to walk out alive after facing a high-scoring two-hundred-point BOSS is already a great fortune in itself."
"There's no need to fret over something that was never ours to begin with."
He said matter-of-factly:
"What's more, these 'extra lives' can still be acquired in multiples by winning the preliminary trials."
"They can't satisfy everyone, of course, but with sensible planning—concentrating the supply on the key combatants in urgent need—we can just barely manage to protect ourselves."
"It's just a pity—at the start we had no idea about this whole Control Devil business, and got played for nothing..."
Horikita Suzune pressed her lips together slightly.
Unable to help it, she thought of her brother, still trapped in the world of "Chainsaw Man".
"...That's true indeed."
Horikita Suzune let out a sigh.
At this point, Amikura Mako suddenly held up her lit phone screen and reported to everyone:
"Everyone, Ichinose and the others are back!"
"She just messaged me to say the Darkness Devil's drop was a cultivation manual called "Ki". It seems that, just like Ripple Breathing, it's something anyone can learn."
Horikita Suzune was surprised: "...That's all?"
A two-hundred-point BOSS dropped just a single cultivation manual?
Amikura Mako shook her head: "Besides that, there's also a piece of the Darkness Devil's flesh."
"But we've already witnessed the value of the darkness enhancement and self-healing it brings—honestly, it's a far cry from a 200-point BOSS's worth."
"Add to that, the manual is something even the [Item Illustrated Guide] bought from the Black Sphere rated as 'not bad.' So Ichinose and the others figure it should be pretty decent."
On this, Horikita Suzune—who already had experience practicing the Ripple Breathing method—neither agreed nor disagreed.
She pulled out her phone for a look, opening the manual Chris had shared with her, along with the Illustrated Guide's notes attached below.
Horikita Suzune skimmed through it quickly.
Then the corner of her mouth curled up slightly.
The unity of life, spirit, and body, hmm...
In that case, it stood to reason that folding in the method she'd used to find 'flow' while practicing Ripple Breathing earlier shouldn't be a problem at all, right?
As it happened, she was feeling troubled right now over the matter of her brother Horikita Manabu, and this was the perfect way to relieve her worries.
However, before turning to leave the Black Sphere Space.
Horikita Suzune still gave a habitual glance at the Black Sphere hovering in the center of the room.
Only to find that, on the sphere's surface, a passage of text had now deliberately appeared just for her.
It read:
[Congratulations, Horikita Suzune. Thanks to others' charity, you've once again been lucky enough to survive until now.]
[Still, given your competitive, never-back-down nature, the fact that you can now calmly accept charity from others is indeed a kind of progress.]
[But outside help is, in the end, outside help—not your own strength. Facing this exam you'd long looked forward to, yet watching helplessly as someone important to you sank deeper with nothing you could do... have you given yourself a harsh lashing deep down?]
Faced with this provocative remark.
Horikita Suzune merely glanced at it before withdrawing her gaze.
Because the Black Sphere spoke from an absolute, god's-eye view—you could say every single line jabbed right at her sore spot.
Had this been the past.
Horikita Suzune would absolutely have burned with shame and indignation, then sunk into self-doubt and dejection, grinding herself down internally for a good while.
But... the her of now was already different!
After Chris had forcibly shattered her disguise.
She was no longer that contrary girl who suffered for the sake of saving face.
'Mocking me won't do you any good.'
Horikita Suzune's eyes were clear and bright.
'Right now, I'm just a trainee about to go into seclusion to practice chantless water magic, nothing more.'
Of course, Horikita Suzune didn't truly believe she could be like Kushida Kikyo—a vase content to slack off and do nothing with a clear conscience.
She had simply chosen to accept her present weakness.
And resolved that, carried along by that weakness, she would advance one step at a time, turning every humiliation into nourishment to gradually grow strong!
'Brother, just you wait.'
'Even if you've died... I will absolutely save you out of there!'
Horikita Suzune clenched her small hand into a fist.
As for the most pressing matter right now... it was still to hurry back to the dorm!
She couldn't wait to enter the flow state and practice this miraculous technique.
Within the presiding god's space.
After examining and sharing the Dragon Ball cultivation manual "Ki".
Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami, who'd redeemed their magical-girl transformation devices, each checked their watches once more.
Only after confirming that their respective magical-girl forms still had room to upgrade did the two girls wave a satisfied goodbye to Chris and be the first to leave the presiding god's space.
It wasn't that they didn't want to spend a bit more time with Chris.
It was that they could tell what was urgent and what could wait.
In last Saturday's supplementary Black Sphere exam, even the highest score had only been around sixty points.
Though everyone privately guessed that today's spike in intensity was very likely caused by Chris's point-farming.
But credit where it's due, two hundred points was still terrifying.
What's more, the special manual the Darkness Devil dropped was praised even by the Illustrated Guide.
And it really was worth them studying and sharing further.
Besides, Sakayanagi Arisu also needed to let her chairman father know she was safe, and discuss how to respond going forward while she was at it.
So they left without dithering.
Only Ryuuen Kakeru stayed—because his combat power was now entirely bound to the [Lion God template], as a cyborg he couldn't use ki.
Otherwise, given his personality, he'd have rushed back to give it a try one way or another.
Even though he hadn't so much as gotten started on Ripple Breathing...
And at this moment, Ryuuen was raising a hand and swiping across the presiding god's shop panel.
He chose to buy the [Sianweistan].
Planning to test, here in this space where items could be used, whether it would be compatible with his Lion-God-remodeled body.
And then....
"What the hell!?"
Ryuuen Kakeru stared at the prompt screen before him and exclaimed in shock:
"Fusing a single Sianweistan actually costs me an extra 20 S-points?!"
"This piece of junk is only worth 20 S-points total! Even a crooked shop isn't this crooked!"
At this.
Chris, who'd just been about to press the leave button, heard him and halted his steps.
He leaned over for a glance and guessed with a perfectly straight face:
"If I remember right, a prosthetic body like the Sianweistan is made specifically for humans."
"And that Lion God template of yours is basically a robot already, isn't it?"
Chris said, somewhat amused: "Honestly, I figured it wouldn't even be compatible with you and you'd just waste it outright."
"The fact that an extra 20 points lets you force-install it... count yourself lucky and gloat quietly."
Ryuuen Kakeru's face darkened, and he curled his lip in displeasure:
"Don't talk nonsense! I shelled out 20 whole S-points to get this installed—a proper, legit surgical remodeling!"
But talk aside, he chose to pay up all the same.
Otherwise wouldn't it be a pure loss?
And the Sianweistan's bullet-time really was nice at certain moments.
After tasting the sweet perks of time acceleration, who'd be willing to go back to being a slow, plodding iron turtle?
Seeing that Ryuuen Kakeru was done with his operations, Chris waved a hand:
"All right, enjoy your surgery at your leisure. I'm heading off first—see you tomorrow."
"Wait."
Ryuuen Kakeru felt the changes within his body.
As if suddenly recalling something, he called Chris to a stop and asked:
"That extra instance you all got forcibly dragged into this exam—what exactly was the situation with it?"
Chris pursed his lips, seeming to ponder how to describe it.
After a moment, he explained:
"I'm not certain whether this kind of situation is universal either."
"But that instance I went into with Tachibana Akane-senpai, Kamuro Masumi, and the others..."
"There were no monsters in there—like vampires or devils—that could serve as physical targets."
"But the world itself held something close to an embodiment of its rules. The controller called it 'Death.'"
"It won't strike at you directly; instead, it engineers a series of coincidences to make everyone who sets foot there die in accidents."
Chris's expression sank slightly:
"And because that world seemed to be a low-magic world..."
"After Kamuro Masumi and the others went in, even the most basic Black Sphere Combat Suit stopped working."
"Honestly, if I hadn't gone in with them this time... the few of them would absolutely have died in there."
Hearing this account, Ryuuen Kakeru grew thoughtful:
"I see..."
"So this is where the value of that Anchor privilege the presiding god mentioned earlier shows itself."
"Ignoring the world's suppression. That's worth way more than those few base points."
He looked up at Chris: "I just wonder—aside from those of us who were the first to be designated as Anchors by the presiding god, whether anyone else still has a chance to become an Anchor."
"Otherwise, if down the line we're not around and they get randomly pulled into a rule-based killing world with low-magic restrictions..."
"That bunch of greenhouse flowers who've barely weathered any storms would really make a tasty dish for the picking."
Chris nodded noncommittally:
"Just ask the presiding god and we'll know, won't we?"
"If the presiding god plays dumb and won't say, then at the next preliminary trial we can just have Horikita and the others ask the Black Sphere directly."
"There are always more solutions than problems, anyway."
With that, Chris waved a hand at Ryuuen Kakeru.
*
Meanwhile, just as Sakayanagi Arisu, Horikita Suzune, and the others had returned to reality and begun busying themselves with their own affairs.
Although, through the information Ichinose had shared in the various mutual-aid group chats, she already knew the peril of facing a 200-point devil this time, and grasped just how urgent the current situation was.
Karuizawa Kei, nonetheless, was the first to contact Chris on her phone.
And waited early in the gymnasium they'd departed from.
You could say she couldn't tell what was urgent and didn't grasp the bigger picture.
Or you could say she knew she had no talent, didn't meet the conditions to cultivate "Ki", and so simply chose to give up the internal struggle.
But in Karuizawa Kei's eyes.
Even if she really did luck into successfully cultivating it, this manual... was absolutely not as important as Chris.
After all, compared to an uncertain future.
Chris was a real, tangible presence who had genuinely saved her many times over.
For this parasite who wanted only to hand over her body and soul, she had no concept whatsoever of "you are your own salvation."
Chris was her one and only savior.
Now, having learned from the group chat that Chris and the others had actually gone to face a 200-point BOSS head-on, and had even nearly failed to make it back...
How could she possibly not worry?
How could she possibly settle her heart enough to go practice some manual?
In truth, girls with thoughts similar to Karuizawa's were not few in number.
It was just that, as personnel who'd stumbled into the tests and exams, they now needed more time to soothe their psychological trauma and didn't have the spare capacity.
And as for those who'd stayed at school and weren't swept in.
Either they valued reality more and were eager to study the manual; or they were frantically grinding themselves down internally, with a maiden's reserve getting in the way on top of it...
Being able to send Chris a caring message on Line was already the limit of what they could manage.
In fact, someone like Karuizawa Kei, who threw her whole heart and mind entirely onto Chris, was actually a rare minority.
Still.
As for Karuizawa Kei's near-pathological dependence.
Chris felt it actually suited the girl's character quite well, and that she hadn't done anything wrong.
After all, you can't demand that everyone be flawless and perfect, right?
At least as far as Chris was concerned.
This Karuizawa Kei, who made no effort to hide her weakness yet was absolutely loyal to him.
Was, in fact, not bad at all.
When the blue light flickered inside the gymnasium.
Chris's form had only just solidified.
When a breeze carrying a faint fragrance rushed at his face.
Karuizawa Kei, like a young swallow returning to its nest, dove headlong into Chris's arms.
Chris was startled for a moment.
Then he naturally reached out, gently patting the back of the slightly trembling girl in his arms, and said in a warm voice:
"There now, there's no need to worry so much."
"Since we're still at this school and were chosen by the presiding god, this is something we'll have to go through sooner or later. Just get used to it."
Karuizawa Kei clung tightly to his waist, as if she wanted to meld herself into his body.
She nodded in a muffled way: "I know..."
"It's just... just holding you, I can feel at ease, not so afraid anymore."
In truth, even she herself couldn't understand this dependence.
But what Karuizawa was certain of was that she was hopelessly craving this feeling.
Drawing close, she was content; the moment she let go, she felt an emptiness inside.
'Maybe it's because, in my eyes... even though I've got a victory record in the preliminary trials too. That little edge, when set against Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami... amounts to nearly nothing.'
Karuizawa Kei thought bitterly in her heart.
Other than holding him tightly, there was nothing she could do.
Chris, sensing the unease of the girl in his arms, was just about to speak up to ease the mood.
"Whoosh—"
Another teleportation beam lit up.
Ryuuen Kakeru, having confirmed the Anchor fee in the presiding god's space, appeared in the gymnasium as well.
When he got a clear look at the way these two were hugging each other so brazenly.
Ryuuen Kakeru fell silent for a good while.
In the end he couldn't hold back, and said with a dark face:
"Hey... there are cameras all over the school."
"Could you at least mind the time and place a little?"
Hearing a third person's voice, Karuizawa Kei stiffened slightly and hastily withdrew from Chris's arms.
Her face flushing, she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Chris, for his part, wasn't embarrassed, and instead cut straight to the point with Ryuuen Kakeru:
"How'd it go? Did you get an answer out of the presiding god just now?"
Ryuuen Kakeru gave a cold snort.
He held up his hand crossly and made a gesture:
"Got it out of them."
"A full 1,000 S-points!"
"Just pay up, and even an ordinary student can be promoted to a privileged 'Anchor.'"
Ryuuen Kakeru spat: "Damn expensive! I never even imagined we were worth this much..."
"No point thinking about it in the short term."
Ryuuen Kakeru narrowed his eyes and added:
"Still, if the chance comes up later, this is probably an identity some people will simply have to have."
"Without this status, it's all too easy to become cannon fodder."
Chris nodded in deep agreement: "True."
—End of Chapter—
Only just remembered this is the fifth one.
So then... have some art. 111.jpg
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