The System Runs on Bugs

A person who had firmly decided to die while remaining clear-minded and emotionally stable would often appear gentle and carefree.

From the moment Aleister first saw the two of them, she could clearly sense a strange distance between them—the bizarre incongruity was hard to describe. It was somewhat like a theater actor wearing their costume from the play while speaking to you in an ordinary, everyday tone.

Because he had prepared himself to "die," he spoke without hesitation, as though giving his last words. There was no need for scheming or exchanging information... Whatever Aleister wanted to know, they would tell her.

...That state of mind was like a player who had already decided to AFK—to leave the game for a long time or forever. If they encountered another player in trouble, or found a way to help them, they would do their best to hand over everything they had to solve the problem.

It was an attitude of "not really caring about these things anymore." Even someone unfamiliar with the game could clearly sense that "the other person seems to be planning to quit."

Adolf was clearly planning to quit, too.

The only difference was that the game he planned to quit was called "life."

Matthias slowly sighed. "Why go this far...?"

Aleister could hear a rather complicated meaning in the First Black Prime Minister's tone.

Clearly, Matthias did not approve of Adolf's transformation into an undead.

But he was helpless... As the strongest person in the world, he still could not stop his students from following one another down this wrong path. After all, he himself was walking this path, and he could not give his students a new one.

Just as Demon Scholars inevitably had to ascend into Demon Avatars—the road ahead was already gone. This was