Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

During his descent downstairs, Bai Ze did not encounter any new strange phenomena.

It wasn't just their class that was caught up in the anomaly; it was probably affecting the entire school.

Because when passing other classrooms, you can see busts made of human figures, some of which are still sitting in their seats, like a forest of tombstones.

Since Lin Tingwan wasn't around, he dropped the pretense of symbiotic mode and walked towards the first-year teaching building like an ordinary student strolling through the campus.

There are four classrooms on the ground floor. The windows of three of them, which face the corridor, are covered in bloodstains, and chewing sounds can be heard from them occasionally.

...Perhaps memory erasure is necessary for the victims; otherwise, even if they can be saved, they will still be left with psychological trauma.

Lu Xingyao's class was located near the stairwell, so there was no bloodshed.

But the rampant ghost stories are clearly not kind enough to let them off the hook.

When Bai Ze pushed open the closed classroom door, he met the gaze of the wooden puppet sitting on the podium.

"Oh, a new friend has arrived. Want to join the game? You don't have the right to say no."

Its triangular mouth, drawn with crayon, opened and closed, while it raised its withered hand to point at the pale-faced students below, who stood motionless like statues.

"We're playing 'Red Light, Green Light.' The rule is, whoever I see moves will have their head explode!"

The puppet laughed maliciously, turning its back to Bai Ze and the classroom. "If you touch me, I'll spare your life!"

"Red Light, Green Light!"

In just a second, it turned back, its hope for survival instantly turning into the despair of a living person.

Then it saw an empty classroom, as deserted as a convenience store after a sale.

"...Where are they?!"

No, there was still a girl with a side ponytail huddled in the corner, and the boy who had just entered had already come over.

"Fine, you broke the rules, go die!"

It had just raised its hand in frustration when its vision was suddenly plunged into darkness.

"—I touched you."

Bai Ze grabbed the puppet's head and lifted it up despite its desperate struggles.

The rest of the students in the classroom had already been thrown into the Minotaur's labyrinth in the same way.

"Wait a minute, that's not how you play this game! Okay, I got it, you won! You won!"

"What about my reward for completing the game?"

The puppet stopped moving for a moment.

You want a reward for asking me about a strange tale created by an anomaly?

"No, then hand over your head."

Bai Ze tightened his grip in regret.

The blade of judgment flowed like mercury, extinguishing the curse carried by the puppet.

Its head exploded like a water-filled balloon, splinters flew everywhere, and its struggling limbs drooped down as if their strings had been cut.

Then he looked at Lu Xingyao, who was sitting in the corner: "I thought you could handle this by yourself."

"Didn't I say my abilities aren't suited for combat, senpai?"

The girl took out tarot cards and arranged them one by one on her desk. "Why would the school suddenly be attacked? Our actions shouldn't have been exposed..."

"You didn't foresee what's happening now?" Bai Ze asked another question.

"I don't know everything, I only know what I know."

She clearly plagiarized a famous quote from a well-known female protagonist in a light novel, yet she proudly puffed out her chest.

"Prophecy is something that can only be obtained through ritual divination and interpretation; what is occasionally glimpsed by luck is merely an unreliable picture of the future."

Lu Xingyao then continued to explain, "Although I have set up an automatic divination program that should give an early warning when my life is threatened, it obviously won't be triggered today because my senior is here."

Therefore, she was unaware that the cult would attack Lin Tingwan.

Just as Bai Ze was about to ask her if she knew how to escape from this anomaly, a thunderous roar came from outside.

The two looked out the window together and saw that the club activity center, located in the northeast of the teaching building complex, was slowly collapsing.

The reinforced concrete emitted a mournful tearing sound, the load-bearing columns twisted and broke as thin as paper, and the entire building collapsed with a roar, like a giant whose spine had been removed!

The crimson magic pillar, as if connecting heaven and earth, pierced through the building from bottom to top and then spread outward, engulfing the rubble like a tsunami.

Emerging from the radiance, soaring through the air, is a magical girl (who claims to be) representing love and justice.

"Isn't that a disgrace to the Bureau of Spirit Disasters' witches?!"

Lu Xingyao almost pressed her face against the glass. "I get it! Even without a prophecy, my mind is still sharp—that's my signature deduction!"

She turned her head excitedly: "Senior, this attack should have been aimed at the War Witches of the Spirit Disaster Bureau. We were just innocent civilians caught in the crossfire."

"In other words—that witch is also in our school, what a miraculous coincidence!"

Not only that, you even met yesterday.

Bai Ze thought it best not to tell her for the time being that Lin Tingwan was the witch from the Spirit Disaster Bureau.

But since Lin Tingwan has made such a big scene, does it mean the problem is about to be resolved?

A screech like a banshee suddenly swept across the surroundings. Bai Ze reacted quickly and pulled Lu Xingyao back a step, avoiding the shattering glass.

It seems the problem remains unresolved.

Several massive, bloody arms emerged from the shattered clubhouse building, intertwining like blooming lotus flowers, and raising human heads the size of half a football field as if giving birth to a baby.

Her face was exactly the same as that of the nuns of the Order who had already turned to ashes. As she was the first to die in the anomaly, she had become completely bizarre and became the main body of this anomaly in dealing with major threats.

A fleshy arm, hundreds of meters long, shot out like a lizard's tongue, attacking the girl who was flying through the air.

She didn't dodge, but instead blocked the blow head-on, her entire body being forced back by the impact as light as a feather.

The second and third attacks followed the same pattern. The constantly regenerating deformed arms enveloped the witch like a dense forest, and she did not take advantage of her mobility. Instead, she clumsily and stubbornly blocked each attack.

"Strange, given the legendary performance of the War Witch, she shouldn't be struggling so much against an enemy of this level."

Lu Xingyao muttered to herself, "Could it be that there's a hidden power sealed in my right hand that could weaken the witches present?"

She raised her palm and examined it from all angles.

Bai Ze tapped her on the head: "How could that be? She was protecting the teaching building behind from being damaged."

That idiot—she clearly said that even if she died here, she would only be gradually corrupted by the ghost stories, and that as long as she defeated the abnormal victims, she could be saved.

But she still chose to use her body as a shield to protect the building behind her—was she thinking that he and the others were still inside?

I'll be right there for a moment.

He entered a fusion mode with the Blade of Judgment, altering his voice.

"It will be over soon."