Fuck, Rover Is Still Chasing Me

As his Reiatsu manifested, Rover slowly chanted, "Heart of the south, eye of the north, fingertips of the west, toes of the east, gather with the wind and scatter with the rain..."

"Bakudō number fifty-eight, Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows!"

The void trembled in an instant. An invisible thread flew out and merged into space, pointing toward a distant location.

"Got you!"

Rover's lips curled upward, his white teeth showing in a cheerful grin.

He was thrilled, excitement burning in his chest.

The Fractsidus Overseers had always been like flies: weak, yet impossible to swat dead, annoying enough to drive anyone up the wall.

This dog Christopher, in particular, could rank at the very top of Rover's must-kill list.

He had even dared to show himself today. No matter what he wanted, Rover would kill him first!

"Where do you think you're going?!"

He activated Shunpo, tore straight through space, and charged in for the kill.

Within the rift in space, everything was pitch-black, with paths leading in every direction, as though one could reach anywhere from there.

Turbulent currents swept past from time to time like raging winds, making it impossible to keep one's footing.

For an ordinary person standing here, never mind finding a way out, the currents alone could tear them to pieces. Without a doubt, it was a death trap.

Rover had no such worries.

The power of separation surrounded his body. When the power of space struck him, it was immediately broken down into gentle ripples.

In the darkness, a pair of golden eyes flickered like flames, piercing through every veil of mist.

He focused his gaze and found a point: the very place he was seeking.

"I'll strike in Havoc form!"

In an instant, he switched forms, turning into a terrifying scythe-wielding figure, and slashed ahead.

"Crack!"

Even space was cleaved apart, torn open by the blow!

"Ah!!"

A figure came tumbling out with a scream.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't that dog Christopher. Playing hide-and-seek here all alone must be lonely. Come on, Uncle Rover will play with you!"

"Y-you... how did you find this place?!"

The composure on his face shattered, replaced by shock and horror.

This wasn't how the script was written. It had gone wrong right from the start!

The wandering poet was a clone he had created. If Rover had agreed to let him write a biography in his honor, he could have easily drawn him into the script and altered him as he pleased.

Once that happened, whether he turned him into an agent of the Black Tide or pulled him into the Fractsidus camp, there would be enormous room to maneuver.

But he had never imagined that Rover wouldn't fall for it at all, and could even use the clone to find his original consciousness.

Now things had gotten out of hand!

Having him, the Playwright, face that terrifying scythe-wielding figure head-on was no different from sending a kitty to fight a prehistoric T. rex!

"Wait, sir!"

He held one hand out in front of him, taking an unmistakably defensive stance.

"Featherfall, annihilate all laws!"

Rover paid no attention to any of that and immediately unleashed his Resonance Liberation.

"Clang!!"

His body flew through the air and slammed into the spatial barrier. Combined with his scream, it was like heavenly music to Rover's ears.

That blow had been aimed to kill!

Even if Christopher survived, he would be crippled!

"Ugh... you really hit hard!"

He climbed to his feet, his voice trembling and carrying a bewildered emptiness.

He seemed utterly baffled that he had ended up in such a situation.

At that moment, half his body had been sliced away, and the blood flowing ceaselessly from him was swallowed by the spatial rift.

But he didn't appear noticeably weakened.

"Another clone?"

Rover frowned.

"No, judging by your Reiatsu reading, this really is your main body. I get it, we're inside one of your scripts right now too!"

"Correct!"

Christopher smiled. "As a man of the arts, I can't carry a load on my shoulders or lift one with my hands, and I don't even have the strength to truss a chicken, so I have to make sure I'm safe."

"Please forgive my caution in not meeting you in the real world. After all, you really are far too powerful!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the giant scythe in Rover's hand swept across and cut him in half at the waist!

"Quit your prattling!"

Rover had already lost patience with riddlers. It was just a script; he would simply tear it to pieces.

"Rustle!"

The sound of pages turning rang out incessantly. Looking up, he saw a bright red book hanging overhead, characters constantly dancing across its pages.

"In my spacetime realm, Christopher is eternally undying..."

Rover vaguely made out words to that effect.

"Heh... hahahaha!!"

He jeered loudly. "And you wonder why you're a third-rate writer? You even came up with such a brain-dead setting. Just how scared are you?!"

Red light flashed, an inexplicable power of law gathered, and Christopher returned to his original state.

Without a scratch... physically, at least!

But judging by his expression, his pupils dilated and the corners of his mouth twitching, he didn't seem quite so composed mentally.

"What does dying feel like?"

Rover continued to close in, his hands hot to the touch and his condition good.

"Give up. You can't kill me!"

"That works too. Who could say no to a punching bag that won't break?"

"You... you're insane!!"

Christopher backed away. He had always been mad, yet even he thought the man before him was a lunatic.

He couldn't stay here long. He had to run!

Without another word, he lightly swept the pen in his hand, creating a passage outright, then vanished from the spot.

"Reshaping space? Is this script really that powerful? The spatial rift that sent the Ashihara people to Septimont also had traces of power similar to this place. Could he have been behind what happened twenty years ago?"

"Forget it. I'll catch him and interrogate him!"

"Abu!"

"I'm here!"

Abu ran out of the Tacet Mark, immediately understood what he meant, and activated Fullbring.

"Deploy the train!"

In the spatial rift, a massive train barreled forward, forcibly tearing the rift wider and driving straight through, sweeping along the trail of the lingering aura.

"Did I lose him?"

Deep within space, Christopher wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath.

Just now, he had experienced an emotion he had never felt before.

Fear, genuine fear!

It was ridiculous to him. In his script, his own fatal ending had already been written.

He wasn't afraid of death. He could even be certain that when that moment came, he would face it calmly, with pleasure and joy in his heart!

But Rover's appearance was like a deus ex machina, throwing his script into complete disarray.

He finally realized that he might not be able to arrange the manner of his own death!

"Toot, toot, toot..."

In the distance, the train's whistle was deafening, full of a wild sense of power. Its dazzling headlights shone in a concentrated beam, leaving Christopher nowhere to hide.

"What?!"

In his shock, instinct took over his body, and he raced away at top speed, trying to escape.

"Christopher, you dog, don't run! Look at the front of my train and come toward it!"

"Fuck, Rover is still chasing me!"

he shouted, suddenly discovering another train crossing toward him in the direction he was fleeing, sealing off every escape route.

"Double Rook Checkmate, an inescapable finishing move!"

An instant-kill mechanic faced off against an undying setting. The moment they collided, the entire space shook violently.

With a whoosh!

The script caught fire and burned to ashes.

Christopher slammed heavily into the ground, coughing up great mouthfuls of blood.

Magic had defeated magic. Although he had survived, that undying effect had been stripped away.

Just as he was about to get up, Rover leaped down, planted one foot on his throat and the other on his hand, and held the scythe across his neck, ready to reap his life at any moment.

"One last question. The calamity in Ashihara twenty years ago was your doing, wasn't it? Why did you do it? And you shouldn't have had that much power, so where did you get it?"

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Christopher gasped violently, looking utterly miserable.

"Sir, spoilers make for a bad experience..."

"I admire your stubbornness!"

The scythe rose high. The next strike would kill him!

Christopher's expression changed drastically, and he began to struggle violently.

"Scar, save me!"