"No!!!"
A woman's wail came from not far away.
"Ah..."
Souichirou Kuzuki raised his fist and turned around, looking at the young man's somewhat immature face, his tightly pressed lips, and the blood, grime, and dust covering his body.
His gaze shifted slightly.
The iron fist that could have struck Hachiman Hikigaya transformed into an open palm midway through, gently patting his shoulder in the end.
"Cough, cough..."
Blood seeped from the corner of Souichirou Kuzuki's mouth. There was no hatred in his dark eyes, only the calm of an ancient well:
"You're... far more suited to be an assassin than I am."
"Cough, cough... Is there... something... you cherish?"
Hachiman Hikigaya lowered his head and slowly pulled out his sword, both his hands and the holy sword stained with blood.
"—Yes."
At the end of his life,
Souichirou Kuzuki, an assassin who had given up halfway through, a Master who was not a Master, returned to his original profession at this moment, instructing him like a stern and responsible teacher.
"Mm, that's good... Never let go. If... you have nothing to cherish, cough, cough, people will... lose themselves."
After he spoke his final word,
Souichirou Kuzuki's eyes lost their light, and all support left his body. He fell to his knees and, before he could completely collapse, transformed into blue motes of light... flying toward Medea.
But they completely dispersed midway,
as if he had never existed.
Only the loot and box visible to players remained.
"..."
Hachiman Hikigaya froze slightly. For some reason, it felt familiar to him, a little like his older single female teacher.
Operator Hachiman Hikigaya—Killed—Master Souichirou Kuzuki
Notice: Servant "Medea" has lost her Master. Given her condition, she will automatically die in three minutes.
He glanced at the notice.
He shook his head. It was just a more realistic game, that was all.
Hachiman Hikigaya reached out and pulled his mangled leg out of the ground, using Quick Heal.
At the same time, he gestured to Kazuma Satou.
"She'll die in three minutes. Figure out a way to hold out until then."
"There's a setting like that? That makes things easier. OK!"
Kazuma Satou looked back and regrouped with Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama.
He said to Mahiro Oyama:
"Use your Dao Tian Command Spell to strengthen my Concealment Command Spell. We'll turn invisible and hide for a while."
Mahiro Oyama nodded. Kazuma had pulled her into this with the Dao Tian Command Spell; it was time for her to use it.
"By the name of the Command Spell, strengthen my companion's Concealment Command Spell!"
"By the name of the Command Spell, conceal the traces of myself and my nearby companions!"
The three vanished from sight. Strengthened by the Dao Tian Command Spell, even their presence became nearly undetectable.
As for Hachiman Hikigaya, he had already run off without a trace while Kazuma Satou was turning back to find his teammates.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!"
Medea vented her rage for a while, plowing through the entire campus once more. Several attacks swept past Kazuma Satou and the others, but none hit them directly.
In the end, she staggered toward the teaching building, arriving at the spot where Souichirou Kuzuki had died. Closing her eyes, she too turned into motes of spiritual particles and slowly faded away.
"In the end... was it merely a dream I had no right to hope for..."
Her quiet voice echoed through the scorched campus, drifting nearer and farther away, growing fainter and fainter until it could no longer be heard.
After waiting a while,
the hidden group revealed themselves one after another.
Mahiro Oyama raised a small hand and touched a tuft of ahoge that had been singed by the final wave of magical lasers. She puffed her cheeks and blew upward at it.
"Tch. I was starting to feel a little guilty, too."
"You're... the one who should feel the most guilty,"
Hachiman Hikigaya had been holding it in the whole way and finally couldn't help but complain.
"You seduced someone else's husband and even played S... M. You pulled so much aggro that it made the raid way harder."
"If we'd fought normally, we probably would've cleared her ages ago."
"And you guys are seriously perverted..."
"Honestly, if my bro Kazuma Satou weren't here, I really wouldn't have wanted to save you two."
Those words made Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama nearly want to burrow into the cracks in the ground.
"Brother, I get what you mean."
Kazuma Satou patted Hachiman Hikigaya and went along with him, calming him down at the same time.
"You drove her insane. Of course the difficulty went up."
Once the adrenaline from battle faded for Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama, they recalled everything that had happened and frantically clawed at their shoe soles with their toes... They still wanted to die.
Kazuma Satou stepped forward. "All right, let's loot the Boss's stuff and divide it up?"
"I don't want any."
"Me neither."
Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama spoke awkwardly.
Kazuma Satou looked at Hachiman Hikigaya.
"What do you think?"
"Open it first. We'll split it when we're about to extract. Everyone will definitely get a share then."
"OK, but the two of us get to open it, hehehe."
"Hehehe."
Kazuma Satou and Hachiman Hikigaya rubbed their hands together with grins. Naturally, Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama had no objections.
Ho ho ho ho!
The long-awaited joyful looting session.
Kazuma Satou tilted his head and suggested, "Say, why don't we wash our hands first?"
Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes lit up.
"Sure! Go, go, go!"
The two went into the wrecked teaching building and found a relatively intact sink. After washing their hands,
they came out and opened the boxes at the same time.
Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama gathered around curiously.
Hachiman Hikigaya opened Souichirou Kuzuki's box.
He gave the quantity a quick glance.
One, two, three, four... seven, eight?
Eight items in total?
This was... way too loaded, wasn't it?!
The last trace of complicated emotion in Hachiman Hikigaya's heart completely vanished.
Old Kuzuki, you're so generous!
Hehe, if I get the chance, I'll farm you again next time!
A-Xiu: "It's finally over. I suddenly have some feelings about it."
Gokou Ruri: "I don't know why. There were obviously so many things to complain about, so why do I feel a little touched now that it's over?"
Kirito: "That's the charm of games."
Umari Tsuchima: "This game looks so fun. I want to play."
Kanna: "Want to play."
Sora: "Want to play as usual +1"
Sora: "But honestly, that team fight just now was pretty beautiful. Several exchanges in the middle were handled well, especially the last one."
Sora: "Overall, although Kazuma Satou didn't deal any actual damage in that battle, if the full score is ten, I'm still willing to give him a ten."
Tet: "He survived Souichirou Kuzuki alone, infiltrated alone to replace the enchanting Noble Phantasm wine, came up with the most concise and effective tactical plan before battle, and kept controlling the field and saving everyone during combat, breaking several deadlocks."
Tet: "His final scheme even deceived both allies and enemies, working together with the true trump card, Hachiman Hikigaya."
Kurapika: "That was already top-tier on-the-spot tactical judgment. Especially his overall grasp of the battlefield—it was absolutely full marks."
Kabul: "Top-tier team awareness, top-tier rogue talent, top-tier scepter—command—talent. If someone like that tackled the Underground Labyrinth, they'd probably reach the lowest floor quickly."
Kilchak: "Hikigaya was crucial too. There were several opportunities earlier, but he held back and waited for the perfect moment, then came out at the end with one decisive blow. The coordination between those two really was excellent. Their teamwork and awareness were both top-tier."
Kabul: "That final sword strike—by the time he came down from the building, he'd already lost half his health... All I can say is that he didn't let down Kazuma Satou's expectations, and he truly deserved his teammates' trust."
Sora: "Hikigaya gets three points too, but they're the three points at the very end of a ten-point game. The three points that sealed the deal."
Sora: "As for Shido Itsuka and Mahiro Oyama, give them one point each. At least they listened to command and cooperated on the battlefield."
Aizen: "If they were here, I would definitely have them join my Espada. Of course, I mean the first two."
Gokou Ruri: "Wait, doesn't that add up to fifteen points? Wasn't the full score ten?"
Tet: "Because this was an enemy they should never have been able to defeat. If this were an exam, they gave an unexpectedly brilliant answer, so it's beyond full marks! Clap clap"
Sora: "Exactly."
Mahiro Oyama: "Ho ho ho, so I can still get one point."
Sora: "That refers to your performance after engaging in battle. Looking at the whole match, you two had negative points, and quite a lot of them."
Shido Itsuka: "Waaah, stop talking. This hurts."
Mahiro Oyama: "Who knew we'd get assigned this one? And it had mental Side Effects too."
Char Aznable: "Confirming combat readiness or mech performance before battle is the most basic of basics, isn't it? If you'd tried it at the start and then quickly removed it while your mind was still normal, you wouldn't have tricked me either... Cough, cough, forget it. Pretend I said nothing."
Amuro Ray: "What an embarrassment!"
Tenju Yoha: "...So happy and free. Is this what Earth with real gravity feels like?"
Tet: "Hahahaha, yes, happy and free. That's the highest praise a game can receive."
Tet: "I really hope I can... exchange experiences with this game's creator!"
Tet: "Anyway, I super want to play!"
"Formal Wear - Viper Arts (Purple)" x1 "Formal Wear - One-Step Snake Fist (Blue)" x1 "Medea's Homemade Bento Box (Blue)" x1 "Teacher Fujimura's Gifted Tea (Green)" x1
Before you continue