Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

Okay, okay, I already said I was just bored. I really hate people who only talk nonsense.

……

……

……

meow~

The kitten's soft meows rang in my ears.

Gao Hai opened his eyes, staring blankly at the portrait of the boy painted on the wall.

The kitten, which had regained its mobility at some point, sat beside Gao Hai, quietly licking its fur.

Slowly, Gao Hai, clutching his head, stood up amidst waves of dizziness.

The rescue team badge began to recover from the blood loss symptoms caused by the "Pen of the Persistent One," but the intense emotions belonging to "Morihara Koji" that surged into his consciousness could only be suppressed by Takami's own willpower.

I never expected it; it turns out it was such a wish.

In the end, we came full circle, back to square one.

However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

If this is your last wish, I think I would be quite willing to help you fulfill it.

"The Yelu Mountain Middle School section is only missing one final piece."

Gao Hai muttered to himself, opened the door of the small room, and walked back into the hall outside.

The summoning of the object of obsession seemed to take a considerable amount of time, but to the others in the underground base, it was a very short time. Therefore, at this moment, Lin Bu Kenta had only been submerged in the blood pool for a short time, and hadn't even had time to swim to the bottom. Nanakawa Ren, as before, was sitting at the gap above the blood pool, holding onto the rope, carefully checking on Lin Bu Kenta's current situation.

Shijo Maki, clutching her head, had woken up and sat up with Kaguya's help. Having been knocked unconscious, she now looked somewhat similar to the disoriented Takami, as if she had also received some information.

Hayasaka remained lying on the ground as always, while Aoyama Nanami's body had grown back considerably. Goto Ichiri had put a garment over the gradually recovering mass of flesh, so as the flesh grew, Takami could see the garment constantly wriggling, which looked extremely eerie.

As for Goto Ichiri, she seemed a little distracted, but her condition wasn't too bad.

What's the situation now?

Gao Hai began to ask this question.

"now……"

But almost the instant he opened his mouth, a strong sense of crisis suddenly erupted, forcing Gao Hai to turn his gaze in another direction.

That's directly above the blood pool.

It was the concrete ceiling that suddenly developed cracks, seemingly unable to withstand the pressure, and then, in the blink of an eye, it made a loud, crashing sound.

"Uh-huh!"

Despite Nanakawa Ren's swift reaction, the ceiling collapsed at a speed far exceeding the normal falling speed of objects, as if something else had been mixed in. As a result, just as she jumped out of the gap, one of her legs, which hadn't yet retracted, was severed on the spot.

boom--

Amidst the violent collapse, a large amount of blood-red soil fell into the blood pool, completely burying Hayashibe Kenta, who was still inside.

Rumble, rumble——

Some vegetation mixed in with the soil and fell into the blood pool at the center. The area of ​​collapse continued to expand until the ceiling of most of the base's main hall completely collapsed, burying the blood pool inside and out, leaving no trace whatsoever.

Then, the blood-red moonlight shone down from the broken ceiling of the hall.

Takami, who had protected Maki, Kaguya, and Hayasaka, looked up and saw the dilapidated and abandoned main teaching building under the blood moon.

Above the blood pool is the courtyard, and the corpses buried in the courtyard will return to the blood pool in some way. The reason why Kaguya and Maki became like that in the second playthrough is probably due to the special connection between these two places.

As for now, we need to solve other problems before considering the rules of ghost stories.

tread--

Amidst the ruins, a figure stands.

That was Miotiad, a radical member of the fanatic organization, or rather, someone disguised as this person, someone whose stench was enough for Gao Hai to smell from a great distance.

He didn't see anyone else, nor did he sense any other fanatic aura besides this guy. It seems that Sister Xiongmi's subordinate, that always serious-looking Jianbing guy, has done his best to clear obstacles for him.

As Goto Ichiri stepped forward with his guitar, Maki carried Hayasaka on her back, and Kaguya helped Nanakawa Ren to the side, Takami frowned slightly, then looked up at the figure above. After recognizing the seemingly villainous, cool-looking guy, his lips twitched involuntarily.

"Look at you now, you really don't mind any kind of trash, Sato."

So Gao Hai grinned without any attempt to hide it and started mocking the guy right away.

[...Heh heh, you'll be laughing soon. We'll take over all of your bodies.]

Amidst the ruins, Sato, with a severed arm, a blind eye, and a gash on his stomach exposing his intestines, appeared to be on the verge of death. His remaining eye glared at Takami with venom, and his reply was filled with a twisted, insane emotion.

Chapter 138: The Unyielding Will and the Final Moment Under the Crimson Light

Distorted and incoherent babbling spread through the air.

After the physical spatial barrier was broken by violent means, the erosion and pollution that originally existed on the ground immediately spread rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it brought a violent mental shock and mental corruption to the players present.

hum-

However, when the crimson domain was released, the players within it were immediately relieved of the erosion by the counteracting power of Chiyo Hachiya's blessing, and no longer needed to struggle as they had when they were still on the ground.

[Blessings... Damn it, more blessings! I was the one who bestowed this power upon that brat, yet it's all going to benefit you bastards! Why can't you just obediently die and offer your bodies instead?]

Sato, who had already taken control of the fanatic's body, almost immediately bulged his veins. He stared at the domain power released by Gao Hai, making no attempt to hide his almost insane jealousy.

Chiyo Haeiya.

That was a monster he personally cultivated.

He personally took charge and planned everything, growing step by step until he finally became the powerful monster at the core of the entire Hayate Elementary School!

From the moment that girl entered the school, he had been designing her growth process. From the bullying and abuse she suffered at school, to the deaths of her family members, to her descent into madness and revenge against her bullies, becoming a witch—it was all his doing!

If he hadn't failed to foresee her suicide and transformation into a monster, and if she hadn't been able to exhibit human-like qualities to some extent after becoming a monster, thus fooling him, this power should have been used by him!

That's right, this clearly belongs to him.

But now, that power has fallen into the hands of a thief! A thief! A damned burglar! That damned bastard, he's a complete scoundrel! And those guys who insisted on fighting alongside him, and that guy who inexplicably ran up and slashed the body they were controlling, then committed suicide before he could control it, leaving them no chance to regain control—you bastards, it's all your fault, all your fault!!!

[Despicable trash! Shameless bastards! Sinners! It's because of you, because you stubborn sinners insisted on rebelling, insisted on defying our arrangements, that things have become so complicated. You brought this on yourselves—huh?!]

boom!

Before Sato could finish his rant, the police officer summoned by Takahashi fired a shot, the bullet piercing through the body's mouth and forcibly silencing him.

Bang bang bang bang bang——

Then came a barrage of bullets, giving Sato no chance to react, completely engulfing his body.

"Hurry up and dig out the blood pool!"

Gao Hai's attention wasn't on Sato. For him, the most important thing right now was to obtain the mirror fragment located beneath the blood pool. Therefore, after suppressing Sato's movements, he immediately spoke to Goto Ichiri beside him.

【Uh oh oh oh oh oh oh——】

However, before Gao Hai could take any other action, an extremely sharp explosion rang out along with Sato's roar, instantly causing everyone present to feel severely dizzy, to the point that they could hardly maintain their balance.

What power is this?

Gao Hai frowned. Even though he immediately activated the Berserk Blessing to enhance his body control, he still staggered and half-knelt on the ground, using one hand to support himself to avoid falling.

"Well?!"

Goto Ichiri, standing beside her, wasn't in much better shape. Caught off guard, the girl plopped down on the ground. However, because she was still holding the guitar, her core possession, two clones appeared behind her before she truly collapsed, catching her... well, it would be more accurate to say that the three of them fell down together.

Sensory disturbances?

Gao Hai wanted to stand up immediately, but his mind was spinning and he couldn't steady himself.

Just hearing a sound, did my senses and physical coordination become so disordered that I lost even the ability to move?

The piercing sound continued to ring in my ears.

With the sound of fragments of his protective consciousness shattering, Gao Hai could feel something slowly eroding his mind.

Not far away, the police officer who had been ordered by Gao Hai to hold Sato down also fell to the ground, struggling, and for some reason was unable to get up immediately to continue the operation.

No, that's completely wrong.

The attack continued, and the mental fragments were not completely shattered, meaning my mental defenses had not collapsed.

So my senses are still normal.

Moreover, the police officers summoned by the rescue team badges are completely supernatural beings. Supernatural beings no longer possess mental power, so they cannot be harmed by mental attacks.

Therefore, this psychological attack is merely a cover.

Judging from its appearance, this attack can affect both people and monsters simultaneously; even in my passive state of fusion with [Void], I am not immune to it. This means that the attack is not aimed at me personally, but rather at altering the surrounding environment.

Space?

"Don't be fooled by the sound. The sound isn't the target; this thing is disrupting the spatial structure around us!"

After shouting this, Gao Hai raised his pistol again and pulled the trigger.

This time, Gao Hai used the suppression shell mode.

The other party's real name is Sato, and the body he currently possesses is that of Miotiad, a fanatic. Information about the number of obsessions he possesses, their strange properties, and so on, is unknown. The only certainty is that he currently possesses at least two different strange powers: one is a high-intensity mental pollution noise, and the other is spatial anomalies that occur without warning. No, this should be spatial information anomalies; some kind of extra information has been added to the spatial information we can receive, causing problems for us who could normally perceive the spatial structure.

Well, and most importantly, whether it was Sato or the fanatic, they were absolutely rotten people in life, pure evil who were completely unworthy of sympathy.

Gao Hai did not hesitate and fired all the suppression shells in one go.

The distorted sounds and the disorientation of being unable to move normally vanished in an instant, replaced by an even more piercing howl from Sato.

Unable to seal the opponent?

This feeling… I see. There's more than just Sato inside that body now; the parasitism of multiple [Takamagahara] members has greatly diluted the power of the suppression bullets. This mode is ultimately for one-on-one combat, unlike the rapid-fire mode which can be used for group attacks.

Even so, the suppression bomb must have already taken effect, and it's certain that this thing won't be able to use those abilities again for a short time. It seems my prediction was correct.

[Damn it... what kind of technique is this... this power? Is it sealing some strange power?]

The monster was still howling.

Gao Hai, however, had already pointed his pistol at the collapsed ruins in front of him.