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

"The Bureau of Disasters is really cunning."

A week after the ghost story invasion, Bai Ze was savoring the taste of bitter caramel when he heard his junior classmate across the table say angrily.

The two are now in the coffee shop outside the mall where the Minotaur's labyrinth had previously descended.

Because of its remote location and surprisingly good food, this place has become a regular meeting spot for them.

In other words, it's the permanent base of the infamous behind-the-scenes superpower organization, "Eternal Serpent." Lu Xingyao almost tried to use this reason to persuade the boss to give her a free meal last time, but he covered her mouth and dragged her out.

Thanks to the vigorous efforts of the Bureau of Spiritual Disasters, the abnormal events were quickly forgotten, and the next day, Fuyuna International School was operating as usual, as if everyone had erased all the horrors and strange things from their memories, and even the shadows had been completely wiped away.

Lin Tingwan seemed much more relaxed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. This was probably because she and the Bureau of Spirit Disasters had finally resolved the issue of her identity being leaked, and so far, no second terrorist attack had occurred.

The only difference from usual is that Bai Ze would occasionally meet with Lu Xingyao secretly to use her abilities for combat training.

Guided by divination magic, his release and condition setting of the Minotaur Labyrinth became more natural, and the speed of transformation when merging with the Blade of Judgment was also faster.

Even the specialization skill has a new available option after defeating the anomaly in the legend.

[Seal of a Hundred Tales: Upon completion of the spell ritual, designate the location where the spell is performed as the base temple, and randomly inflict petrification/weakening/impact curses on those harboring hostility.]

Petrification corresponds to the bust, Impact corresponds to the doll with a penchant for death games, and the last Weakness mark should be held by the spirits she released when facing the nun.

There was no similar situation when defeating the Minotaur. Was it because the Minotaur was not strong enough?

Bai Ze invested his newly acquired victory points into this specialization.

The Seal of a Hundred Tales exists in the form of knowledge. A large number of obscure and difficult-to-understand runes and rituals flowed into his mind, and incidentally, he also unlocked the attribute of magic.

Even without entering the symbiotic mode of human-machine fusion, he can now set up spell arrays and cast curses.

But doesn't this art style lean more towards witches?—He put such questions out of his mind.

In short, this week has been very fruitful for Bai Ze personally, except for one major problem.

"I pretended to have witnessed the battle of the witches from the Bureau of Ghost Stories while hiding from the supernatural, and was so grateful to her that I wanted to meet her in person to thank her—but the smooth-talking adults refused!"

Lu Xingyao sipped her milk tea, recounting her failure from a week ago, "Could it be that they've already seen through my abilities and are therefore afraid to let me witness that witch's shame?"

No, they're planning to work the magic of friendship to make you two good friends.

I was even in charge.

Bai Ze has yet to tell Lu Xingyao the true identity of the War Witch.

On the one hand, she had a lot of opinions about the way the Bureau of Spirit Disasters operated—a large part of which probably stemmed from her chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) and natural hostility toward large organizations that were linked to the government.

On the other hand, she and Lin Tingwan didn't seem to get along very well.

What would happen if these two forms of hostility combined? Bai Ze imagined that scenario—

Lu Xingyao: You can launch a sneak attack before greeting me; that's how it's recorded in the witch's etiquette! Eeya!

Lin Tingwan: What?! (Magic Cannon)

The cute junior girl collapsed, turned into a blackened charcoal.

So, to prevent her from turning into a pile of white ashes, it's best to keep it a secret for now.

But the damned Bureau of Spirit Disasters said they would secretly insert Lu Xingyao into their daily lives, although there has been no movement yet.

"Let's talk about the great disaster."

Bai Ze pushed away the cup in front of her, reminding her that it was time to get down to business.

【The Great Catastrophe】is a major, abnormal, and out-of-control event that the two predicted for Lu Xingyao due to the mishandling of the Spirit Disaster Bureau.

—This is also the reason why the Eternal Serpent was officially established.

"Well, I've done a few more divinations and now I've pinpointed the exact location."

The girl, biting a straw, pulled a folded poster from her breast pocket.

Today, she wore a light, school-style blouse with the collar neatly folded, revealing her fair skin like cheese and highlighting her delicate collarbones. She wore a light gray pleated skirt with black over-the-knee socks that accentuated her long legs, all tucked into brown loafers. It was a very JK (high school girl) style outfit—although that was her original style.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because when she reached into her pocket, the mountains were compressed into a soft shape, a testament to the wonder of geological movement.

"What is this? A drone show? A summer fireworks festival?"

Bai Ze's attention was more focused on the poster she had taken out, and he read out the text on it.

While setting off fireworks is prohibited in Fumina City, public fireworks displays are sponsored by companies every winter and summer, attracting visitors to this tourist city.

This summer, a company in the drone industry applied for a venue and even prepared a drone formation performance to market its products—that's what the poster advertised.

"You mean the Bureau of Spirit Disasters wants to seal off a high-risk anomaly in a crowded place... Have they lost their minds?"

Bai Ze asked incredulously.

"I completely agree with the senior's point of view, but this shouldn't be because they deliberately wanted to challenge themselves with something too difficult."

Lu Xingyao behaves far more reliably when it comes to unusual situations than she usually does.

"I suspect that crowds, fireworks, drones, or all of the above might be necessary conditions to seal this unknown anomaly?"

This explanation is indeed quite reasonable—based on Bai Ze's brief contact with the Spirit Disaster Bureau, they are at least not an organization that would easily disregard human life.

If he didn't need to inflict a sense of defeat on the witch, he might choose to cooperate with her to prevent a potentially disastrous future.

"No wonder you insisted on acquiring an anomaly that creates an Otherworldly effect."

Now Bai Ze understands her reasoning.

If tens of thousands of ordinary people gather at an abnormally out-of-control location, the first thing to do is to activate the site's isolation and interference effects.

"We disguised ourselves as tourists that day and went to the fireworks festival to keep watch."

"Senior, is this a date invitation?"

The girl mischievously curled the corners of her mouth, and gently kicked over with her little leather shoes from under the table.

"No, it's because I plan to go alone. You should find a place away from the crowds." Bai Ze said coldly.

"Why?! Do you hate me?"

She asked back, her eyes brimming with tears.

"You couldn't even handle the last ghost story, so you'll just have to run away if some unknown anomaly appears, right?"

Bai Ze reasoned, "You should have realized long ago that you're a support character."

"Damn it... I also have witch resistance and immense magical power, as long as I have a way to deal damage..."

Lu Xingyao clenched her fists in resentment.

As she murmured to herself, the parchment scroll in front of Bai Ze suddenly unfolded again.

[The core of the intelligent being: the container that held the consciousness of an intelligent life form from another world, has been fully restored.]

The items that were unintentionally stolen from Lin Tingwan have been repaired.