I, Den-O, the Contract Urban Legend

But why does it appear in a dream?

He walked forward and looked at Kuin with a look of horror on his face, and inexplicably felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.

Things shouldn't be like this. Even though Kuin possesses some powerful abilities, no matter how you look at it now, she is just an ordinary girl...

As he thought about it, Inoue Ue unconsciously clenched his fists.

"I'm sorry, Jingye. I just looked at the cross for a while, and then I had headaches from time to time. Now, even this abnormality has occurred..."

Headache?

Seeing the frightened expression on Kuin's face, like a child about to be scolded for doing something wrong, Inoue Ueya sighed and replied, "Anyway, stand up first, okay?"

As he spoke, Inoue Ueya reached out his hand to Kuin in front of him, wanting to help her up.

Kuin suddenly showed a terrified expression and shouted loudly: "Jingye, watch out behind you!"

Inoue Ueya had no time to react. At that moment, he felt a hard object hitting the back of his head. The intense pain made him fall into a trance. He groaned and fell to the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kuin couldn't help but shout loudly.

"Run away quickly..."

Before losing consciousness, Inoue Ue also vaguely saw Kuin leading away the guy who attacked him from behind, but the other person seemed a bit similar to one of the people he saw in the execution dream yesterday.

At the same time, Inoue Ue in the real world also showed pain, and his pillow was gradually stained red with blood...

Shortly after Kuin led the attacker away, a girl appeared next to the unconscious Inoue Ueya.

If Inoue Ueya was still conscious, he would see a "Kuin" with severely burned body and golden eyes staring at him with resentment.

She stretched out her hand, as if trying to strangle Inoue Ueya's neck.

When her hands were about to touch Inoue Ueya, a pale blue flame burst out from Inoue Ueya as the center and then blew her away.

A hint of surprise flashed across Kuin's eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he finally turned around and left.

……

After a long time, Inoue Ueya opened his eyes. He first looked at his hands, then nodded with satisfaction.

"Well, I was knocked unconscious, but at least I didn't turn into an elementary school student..."

Fortunately, Inoue Ueya was not directly knocked out of the dream because of the previous attack, so he still had a chance to save Kuin.

He stood up from the grass, "Damn it, now's not the time for memes. How long have I been unconscious?"

Inoue Ue also knew clearly that he had to act immediately and must not let the same tragedy happen to him again.

Although he did wake up, he still felt dizzy and nauseous, and he was staggering in the woods.

Even so, he had no intention of stopping.

"We must find Kuin as soon as possible."

Although he had known Kuin for a short time, Inoue Ue had long regarded this girl as a friend. Knowing that she was in danger, how could he sit idly by?

"We still don't know what exactly happened to the dream, and we don't know why that group of people appeared again. But according to Kuin, it's probably related to her memories..."

Is it that just to restore her memory, she has to relive the horrific past?

"Are you kidding..."

Suddenly, Inoue Ueya saw a fire appearing in the distance ahead, and vaguely saw several people holding torches walking towards him step by step, and he couldn't help but frowned.

"Tsk, this situation is really terrible."

The dim environment made Inoue Ueya lost in the woods. Moreover, because he had just been hit on the head, he was in an extremely bad state. In his current state, he could hardly even walk, let alone fight. There were also hostile guys approaching nearby...

Chapter 100 Until I have to stop

"Hu Chi... Hu Chi..."

Kuin was panting and running desperately in the woods.

The people behind her seemed to prioritize Kuin as their target. When Inoue Ueya was attacked, the other party noticed her presence, and then directly ignored the fallen Inoue Ueya and suddenly rushed towards her...

Therefore, Kuin thought that as long as she stayed away from Inoue Ueya, he might have a chance to avoid danger, so she ran outside, trying to lead as many people nearby as possible away.

"We just need to hold on for a little longer. At least we need Jing to successfully escape from this world..."

Kuin glanced back and saw that there were probably several people chasing her from behind, including the one who attacked Inoue Ueya. They were holding sticks in their hands, their pupils were dilated to an unusual degree, and their corneas were cloudy, like a dead person. They kept staring at Kuin in front of them, and they all grinned at the same time, revealing an extremely weird smile, and spoke intermittently from time to time.

If Inoue Ue was present, he would probably remember that the group of people were speaking the incomprehensible language in his previous dream. Although he could not understand it, Kuin knew clearly what they were saying.

"Catch the witch, make her accept, and execute her..."

Execution?

Kuin frowned and felt inexplicably uneasy.

"Huh, you think you can catch me like this? How naive! Even though the woods have become darker, I've been staying here the entire time. I'm more familiar with this environment than anyone else. How could I be caught so easily?"

Although he said this, after running for a while, Kuin gradually began to breathe hard, obviously having consumed a lot of physical strength. On the other hand, the person behind him did not change at all, his speed remained unchanged, and he still had that weird smile on his face, as if he had endless physical strength.

If she continues like this, she will be caught soon...

"What a shame, this was also included in my calculations!"

Seeing himself gradually approaching the big tree that he and Inoue Ueya had climbed, Kuin put on an expression as if he had mastered his plan.

"Are you stupid? I can climb trees!"

Saying what he learned from Inoue Ueya, Kuin climbed up the tree with nimble and skillful movements, and then calmly looked at the people under the tree.

The strange group of people stood under the big tree. They did not try to climb the tree to catch Kuin, but stared at her on the tree with wide eyes, and the strange smiles on their faces did not fade at all.

"Haha, am I completely surrounded now?" Seeing that they didn't climb up, Kuin breathed a sigh of relief.

If you think about it carefully, there is really no place in this forest that can be called safe.

——But this is enough.

At least I have attracted a lot of people here, so Inoue Ueya's survival rate will be greatly improved, right?

Kuin has always been curious about who she was before, why they called her a "witch", why they wanted to arrest her and execute her, and why when she found the cross, Inoue Ue suddenly showed a strange expression...

"They probably have something to do with my past identity..." Looking at the crowd standing under the big tree with torches in their hands, Kuin probably guessed what was going on.

"Although I don't know what happened in the past, I am no longer the same person I used to be!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd under the tree burst into uncontrollable laughter. The laughter seemed to be mocking Kuin's naive ideas and was particularly harsh.

Then they picked up the torches and stretched them towards the big tree. For some reason, the tree was immediately ignited, and the fire spread at an incredible speed, gradually spreading towards where she was.

"Really? I was looking forward to visiting Jingye's world someday, but now it seems there's no chance."

Kuin gave a helpless smile. She did not struggle at all, but leaned against the tree trunk and closed her eyes.

Perhaps, this is the fate of a "witch"?

"Hey, are you planning to give up just like that? It's not time to despair yet!"

A familiar voice reached Kuin's ears, making her open her eyes again. What she saw was Inoue Ueya. Different from when they parted, now in addition to the head injury, the movements of his left hand seemed a little unnatural, there were several bruises on his face, and his face looked particularly pale. He was seen holding a blood-stained wooden stick in his right hand, staggering out from the nearby bushes.

Seeing Inoue Ueya's appearance, Kuin seemed particularly excited, "Iye, are you an idiot? Since everyone is fine, why did you come here?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? Isn't it normal to help a friend when you see him in danger?" Inoue Ueya looked up and squinted his eyes at Kuin.

It seemed that because his injuries were gradually worsening, and he had just been fighting with difficulty, Inoue Ueya's vision gradually became blurred, and even Kuin who was in the tree could not see clearly.

"And your injuries, Jingye—"

"It doesn't matter if I'm injured. I will fight until the very end. I will continue until I fall..."

Inoue Ueya held the wooden stick tightly in his hand and walked towards the crowd under the big tree step by step with heavy steps.

Although his vision was becoming increasingly blurry, and he could no longer clearly tell how many people were in front of him, he could still barely determine their presence based on the vague outlines he saw, so he could continue fighting...

"Stop! If you continue like this, you will die!" Kuin shouted.

"Stop making so much noise! ​​If you want to talk to Mr. Inoue, then stay alive and come to me in person! I won't allow you to sacrifice your life so easily!"

Even if I don't have a belt or any power, I still want to save the girl in front of me!

"It's up to me to stop them, even if it means risking my life..."

Suddenly, Inoue Ueya felt a sharp pain in his head.

"Well!"

Even if you know that hell lies ahead, will you keep going?

With a muffled groan, Inoue Ueya heard a voice in his mind.

"Isn't this a matter of course? Who would back down like this?"

Even if there is a possibility of death, you don't care?

"Ha, who wouldn't be afraid of death? But if I just sit back and do nothing, Mr. Inoue will regret it for the rest of his life. So I'll just keep moving forward until I have no choice but to stop..."

Speaking of which, was it the voice that suddenly appeared in your mind?

"If I'm not mistaken, you should be my personality mask, right? Come and sign a contract with me. I need the power to save Kuin!"

Chapter 101 I Am You

Back to an earlier time, the conversation between Kato Megumi in the future and Inoue Ueya.

"Ueya-kun, have you ever heard of a Persona?"

"Personality?"

Inoue Ueya seemed to remember something and showed a surprised expression.

"A personality mask or Persona is a special ability that allows you to manifest another inner self and fight. In simple terms, you can also think of it as an ability similar to a Stand or summoning familiars..."

Halfway through her speech, Kato Megumi hesitated for a moment. "In short, I can't tell you too much about the details, but Ueya-kun does have the possibility of awakening, and the dream you mentioned is probably a suitable place for you to awaken."

Inoue Ueya was seen lost in thought.

The "Personality Mask" of the Goddess series, I really didn't expect that such an ability actually existed in this world.

When he intervened in the Tenshin incident and traveled to the past, the clown leader suit he wore was just a copy made by Miss Sadako. In fact, that series of games does not exist in this world.

Since Kato Megumi could express this concept and indicated that he had the possibility of awakening...

——So, it is very likely that I will possess this power in the future?

"Having the ability to fight is indeed a good thing, but it can't prevent the other party from disappearing, right?" Inoue Ueya asked doubtfully.

"Really? You can't even protect yourself, and now you're worried about other girls!"

Kato Megumi puffed up her cheeks, seeming a little dissatisfied with him.

"I'm not sure if the witch can be saved, but if the dream really goes wild, using the power of the Persona should be able to free her, right?"

Inoue Ueya was silent for a while, took a deep breath, and finally nodded helplessly, responding: "I understand."

Inoue Ueya's expression became depressed. Kato Megumi sighed and said in a serious tone: "Listen carefully! Don't let yourself have any regrets! Say what you want to say and do what you want to do. "Following your heart" is the best way to awaken your personality mask! "

"I understand the logic, but why do you make it sound like Mr. Inoue is about to die?"

"Well, when the time comes, you will understand."

"what?"

……

"Sign a contract?"

At this time, Inoue Ue finally came to his senses and felt that his face seemed to be covered by something.

[Come, take off your mask, call my name, and then resist the oncoming fate...]

A strange voice sounded in his head, it sounded slightly feminine.