Amidst the searing pain, Alice's laughter suddenly amplified in Takakai's mind, as if a dozen Alices were screaming directly into his ears. The agony was unbearable, as though his eardrums were about to rupture.
[Uncle Cat] had already begun its attack. The rules governing this entity were something only Miko could perceive, but now, Takakai couldn't hear the girl's voice at all.
The timing was deliberate—just as Miko had discerned the rules of the aberration and was about to share the information with the others. You bastard… You've been watching us, haven't you? You chose this exact moment to strike.
"Break!"
Before Takakai could react, a fissure tore through the fairy-tale world before him, revealing the rooftop's true appearance once more.
It was Kumami.
Half of her face had now turned a bronze hue, blood streaming ceaselessly from the torn flesh.
Her bronze eye emitted a faint glow, shredding the illusions in its line of sight. A fragment of [Uncle Cat]'s form flickered into visibility before Kumami's gaze locked onto it, fully exposing the creature.
Clang—!
Bloodstained black chains lashed out, coiling around the aberration's body.
With a roar, Kumami yanked the chain, hurling the creature into the air and slamming it toward the rooftop's edge—intent on flinging it off completely.
Then, Takakai noticed words materializing on the ground beside him.
The moment the text appeared, Takakai sensed impending disaster. He shut his eyes immediately, realizing what was coming.
But he knew Yotsuya Miko wouldn't react as quickly. Without hesitation, he lunged toward Kumami.
At the same time, a shadow-wolf emerged from the darkness, pouncing straight at Kumami.
The words on the ground read:
[Red pepper, mighty power, hears the sound but won't devour.]
The answer? Firecrackers.
This was a riddle Kumami had obtained in the [Dormitory Building]. By its rules, the riddle must never be disclosed to anyone. Yet Alice had exploited this rule, forcibly leaking the answer to summon an aberration that would only attack Kumami.
Splat—!
Blood sprayed violently.
The shadow-wolf clamped down on Kumami's left shoulder. With a sickening crunch of bone, her entire left arm was ripped clean off.
The aberration entangled in the chains wasn't thrown off either, merely rolling to a stop at the rooftop's edge.
Boom!
A crimson light ignited in Takakai's pupils.
Without hesitation, he activated Heddal's Blessing, his body surging with inhuman speed and strength. He seized the chain and yanked with all his might, attempting to hurl the aberration off the rooftop.
[Meow~]
Takakai staggered, collapsing to the ground.
A shrill cat's cry echoed as countless lacerations erupted across his body. Nearby, Kumami was also wounded again, forced to one knee.
"We're experiencing what this thing suffered before death! Dismember it, now!"
Even drenched in blood, Kumami maintained the power of her Obsession Artifact, forcibly tearing away part of the rooftop's illusions.
The shadow-wolf was now pinned in place, trembling violently as it struggled to break free and resume its assault.
Takakai gritted his teeth, forcing himself up. Kumami, gripping the chain with one hand, slammed the writhing aberration onto the ground.
But a surge of danger flared in Takakai's instincts. He barely turned his head in time to see a dark figure lunging toward him—only for it to freeze mid-air, immobilized.
Kumami's eyes streamed blood, veins bulging grotesquely across her face. Her condition was deteriorating rapidly.
"Hurry!"
Her voice remained eerily calm, as though the injuries weren't her own.
Takakai swung his cleaver, accelerating with Heddal's Blessing, and hacked a deep gash into the aberration.
Twisting flesh surged, attempting to seize him, but the blessing's power shielded Takakai. He struck again and again, dismembering the creature into seven or eight squirming chunks of rotten meat.
"Haah… Haah…"
The intense burst of exertion left Takakai breathing heavily.
The Rescue Team Badge activated, repairing some of his injuries.
Turning, he saw Kumami—panting, barely standing, her condition critical. He moved to offer her a healing pill. With no chance to revive the second Crimson Player this loop, Takakai resolved to save all remaining pills for her.
"Don't cut it—!"
Miko's voice suddenly pierced through.
Takakai and Kumami froze, turning to see the rooftop's illusions partially dispersing. A pale-faced Miko emerged from the distortions, shouting frantically.
"Don't cut it! [Uncle Cat] is an aberration that formed before Fujika Middle School's destruction! That cleaver isn't effective against it! Worse—attacking it, especially with lethal force, triggers its mechanism!"
Takakai didn't know if this was truly Miko speaking—or Alice toying with them.
But the dismembered chunks of the aberration began moving again, sprouting cat paws, human hands, and legs, reassembling themselves.
[Meow~]
The cat's cry resounded once more.
[Meow~ Meow~ Meow~]
More and more cries arose across the rooftop.
They were the voices of innocent, oblivious kittens—of students who had sneaked up here to feed them, mimicking their meows.
All that remained now were mutilated corpses, the endless suffering before death, and the hatred festering within that pain.
Killing them—just like Sanchez in Shirakawa Apartments trying to destroy Li Zhaodi's corpse with boiling water—only intensified the aberration's rage, pushing the situation toward total collapse.
Bzzzt—!
The dormitory's intercom crackled to life.
[Attention all faculty! Students have been reported trespassing on the rooftop! All teachers, proceed immediately to apprehend them!]
One after another, aberrations began converging.
Takakai collapsed again, ribs shattered, blood gushing from countless wounds.
Visions of kittens and students dying replayed endlessly in his mind.
Their hatred materialized into psychic assaults, battering him relentlessly.
"Hah… Ghh…"
He forced himself up.
Now a bloodied wreck, Takakai clung to consciousness through sheer will, the Rescue Team Badge and Heddal's Blessing barely keeping him intact. He turned toward Miko.
Their mental link still held.
Though distracted earlier, Takakai could still sense her position—whether she was still herself or not, he couldn't be sure. But if Alice had already possessed her…
No. At this point, focusing on Miko is pointless.
From the moment Alice ambushed them, they had been forced into her rhythm. Any countermeasures now would only play into her next trap.
The entrance to the dormitory's underground had to be inside the building. With the other three zones sealed, there couldn't be an area disconnected from all of them yet linked to the lockdown zone. The first floor had already been ruled out—so the next target was the rooftop.
Alice's timing wasn't random.
Moreover, based on Takakai's observations from previous loops, Alice likely couldn't leave the underground before fully possessing someone.
So—was the rooftop part of the underground?
Most likely.
Somewhere here, there had to be an entrance.
Only three areas remained to search: the signal tower, the electrical room, and the entrance perimeter.
Alright—electrical room first!
"Kumami-san, can you hold on?"
Gritting his teeth, Takakai sprinted forward, shouting back at her.
"Shut up and move!"
Kumami's bronze gaze swept ahead, tearing apart the illusions obstructing Takakai's path.
No further communication was needed—she understood. He was racing against time, using his blessing to endure the assaults while hunting for the entrance.
"Cough…!"
More blood spilled from Kumami's lips.
Her bronze eye was nearing its limit, on the verge of rampant mutation.
A Crimson-grade Obsession Artifact going berserk here would kill both Takakai and Miko instantly.
Thud—! Thud—!
Behind them, the rooftop door trembled.
More and more aberrations were gathering.
Kumami had broken the lock, but she couldn't guarantee it would hold—especially not against the entity lurking on the 0th floor.
In that case…
"Hey, kid."
Kumami's voice was calm, resolved, as if she'd long prepared for this.
"Live well. Don't throw your life away unless there's no other choice. You saved me once—now I'm returning the favor. Survive. That's all we can do—hold on as long as possible. And if we can't? Then we go down swinging. Right?"
She spoke quickly, yet steadily, a faint smile on her lips—as though she'd rehearsed these words countless times.
Or perhaps someone had once said them to her.
"I have witnessed. Now it's your turn. And… I hope you never need someone to witness for you."
Suddenly, Takakai realized—the aberrations were no longer targeting him.
Every entity on the rooftop had shifted focus entirely to Kumami.
This was her blessing.
A nameless blessing, allowing her to sense aberrations, lower her presence, or—
Amplify it.
Making herself the sole target.
Even the [Uncle Cat] fragments near Takakai ignored him completely.
Then—
Kumami punched the rooftop.
BOOM!
The ground shattered, collapsing beneath her as she plummeted into the 0th floor.
The [Uncle Cat] fragments leaped after her.
The aberrations at the door—the teachers, the thing waiting behind it—all followed, pouring into the hole.
Only the lingering illusions remained.
Takakai was free.
"Alice, as your friend, I beg you—come save my life!"
The next moment, even the illusions vanished.
The rooftop returned to normal.
From the hole in the ground, Takakai heard Alice's shrieks from the 0th floor. Her words had disrupted the aberration's rules, throwing them into chaos. Even the Alice on the rooftop could no longer maintain the illusions.
Takakai saw Miko, unconscious on the ground.
"..."
Without a word, he scooped her up and ran.
He stormed the electrical room—nothing.
Then the signal tower—a hidden card slot.
Swiping the keycard, the ground beside the tower depressed, revealing an elevator platform.
Vrrrm—!
The machinery groaned as a crude, sci-fi-esque control panel emerged.
Takakai didn't react.
He stepped onto the platform with Miko in his arms, activated the controls, and descended into darkness.
He didn't look back.
Unseen by him—the unconscious Miko's lips curled into a faint smile in the shadows of the elevator shaft.
Then it was gone.
As if it had never been there at all.