The Observation Room
The figures under the cold light stood motionless.
An eerie chill radiated from them.
Miko instinctively stepped back.
The other girls recoiled as well—Kinoshita Yuka even flinched as if ready to bolt.
Only Takakai stepped forward.
Crunch!
His bloodstained cleaver swung down, splitting a duck-masked figure in half.
Bone cracked. Blood sprayed.
Faint screams and pleas echoed in the air—
Memories of the past.
A golden-haired [Alice], dragging her blade across the floor, advancing on the cowering researchers.
"No… no no no! You can't hurt us! We're your creators—!"
"I order you to stop! Damn you, STOP—!"
"Why isn't it working?! NO—PLEASE—AAAAAH—!"
Their final moments replayed.
And [Alice], smiling sweetly, whispered:
"Alice just wants to be friends."
"So please, teachers… stay with Alice forever~"
Then—
Slash. Slash. Slash.
The world drowned in crimson.
The Cleaver's Curse
Takakai lowered the weapon, storing it in his watch.
This time, he was careful—no repeat of the umbrella incident.
The observation room's horrors lay in pieces.
Just as [Alice] had left them decades ago.
This cleaver—once used by teachers to execute students—had been turned against them. Now, it carried a special lethality against Fujisaka's ghosts.
But its side effect was equally brutal:
Bloodlust.
Even sheathed, its influence lingered.
Takakai's breath turned ragged.
Kill them. Kill them all. Rip apart the girls behind you—watch them beg—
"Takakai-san…? A-Are you okay?"
Miko's voice, trembling, pulled him back.
"...Fine."
He steadied himself.
The ram mask's corruption and the cleaver's frenzy weighed heavily, but he couldn't afford to stop now.
The God-Making Project
The observation room encircled Class 3-1 like a cage.
One-way glass walls let the researchers—teachers in name, butchers in practice—monitor the "honor students" like lab rats.
No, worse.
At least lab rats were respected for their sacrifice.
Here?
The children were livestock.
But one thing was clear:
Classes 1-1, 2-1, and 3-1 were all sacrificial batches.
Some died without consequence.
Others birthed [Alice].
Whether the original [Alice] had a physical form remained unknown.
But the final iteration?
It broke free.
Slaughtered every last soul in the school.
Unless…
Those two mourners from the vision—were they survivors? Or dissenters?
Questions multiplied.
But for now, Takakai's focus locked onto the item his watch had led him to:
A card.
Small, elegant, despite the bloodstains.
["God-Making Project" - Level 4 Access Card]
Beside it lay a file.
The Project Files
Project 1: Supreme Sovereign
Target: Preschools/OrphanagesYoung children (20-40 subjects) ideal for initial trials.Emphasis on secrecy.
Project 2: Idol of Agony
Location: Fujika Middle SchoolEarly adolescents (1500-2000 subjects).First trial confirmed: Extreme trauma + death = anomalous energy.Next step: Create a vessel to contain said energy.
Project 3: Folklore Manifest
Location: Yoruyama High SchoolTeenagers (500-800 subjects).Successful replication of urban legends ("Hanako of the Toilet," "Mary-san"). Requires further testing.
Project 4: Takamagahara
Collaboration with allied nation (Germany's "Bydos Academy").Highest priority. Even if Japan falls, this ensures our return.
Project 5
Subjects across Projects 1-3 report dreams/hallucinations of an "unknown school."Multiple researchers missing after investigations.School's name: █████ (illegible).
The documents stretched on—technical jargon, redacted sections, and unnerving details.
But the takeaway was undeniable:
[Shirasawa Elementary], [Fujika Middle School], and [Yoruyama High School] were all artificial hells—deliberately crafted to study the supernatural.
Even Bydos Academy was involved—a German counterpart exchanging research with Japan.
No wonder this dungeon is so vast yet fragmented.
The access card would grant entry to restricted zones across three dungeons—effectively letting him traverse most of [Campus Horror Tales].
And its first use was right here.
Takakai turned toward a heavy metal door at the room's end.
A card reader gleamed beside it.
He stepped forward—
Then froze.
The Awakening
Click.
Lights flared in Class 3-1 outside, restoring it to "daytime."
"Ngh…!"
Miko clutched her head.
Takakai's vision swam as a new hallucination forced its way in:
A gutted girl—Ogawa Kyoko—crawling from the art supply closet.
Her corpse shambled to the [Failure] exhibit, tearing the preserved student apart until it matched the other mangled displays.
The label changed.
On the blackboard, a "0" flipped to "1."
Then—
A shattered [Alice], her body a patchwork of wounds, materialized in the classroom.
"Alice is coming for the thief~"
Her broken eyes locked onto Takakai's.
The vision shattered.
But in the real Class 3-1, a golden-haired [Alice] now stood, gazing at the observation room.
And at Kinoshita Yuka—who, too afraid to enter earlier, remained outside the now-repaired wall.
"H-Hey! The wall's back! Open it! OPEN IT—!"
Her fists pounded uselessly on the glass.
Takakai could only watch.
[Alice] couldn't harm non-"friends."
So she'd extinguished the giant candle in Classes 3-23/24.
Now, the amalgamation—a seething mass of flesh, eyes, and entrails—lurched toward them.