Hundred-Faced Hassan

"Those who are not qualified have no chance to stay in my theater, so your existence ends here!"

Before the girls could react, and before the panicked NPCs on the stage could utter any words of pleading, they all abruptly transformed into mirrors of varying sizes and shapes.

Then Shadow Chizuru clapped her hands again, and a new batch of Chizuru shadows emerged from the mirrors all around the theater.

They still look like Chizuru, but each person's outfit is different, which seems to indicate that they are playing different roles.

These newly summoned Shadow Chizuru lifted the mirrors on the stage one by one, seemingly to return them to their original positions.

Seeing this, Chizuru Ichinose was truly shocked.

Although there was no bloodshed or violence in the scene where the Chizuru were erased, the fact that Shadow Chizuru could turn those shadows into mirrors with just a light clap of her hands still made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

How could even the best-acting version of myself be killed by the Shadow Chizuru right in front of me?

She and everyone else thought the performance was pretty good, even though the other person's performance was definitely in her comfort zone. It was precisely because of this that she subconsciously ignored her own performance.

Unexpectedly, her own shadow was truly ruthless. Upon hearing her overall assessment that things weren't going well, the other party simply eliminated all those "self" elements.

So, was Maid Chizuru who greeted guests at the theater entrance, really so eager to please Miyauchi Hiyage because she was worried about his presence?

Fortunately, there are only a few visitors in the Impression Space at the moment, which made Chizuru Ichinose breathe a sigh of relief.

"Even if you created those 'shadows,' what's the point? These shadows, created based on your perception, would make any difference in the outcome if you made them reenact the story we just witnessed?"

In response, Shadow Chizuru shook her head indifferently. "They were not created entirely by my perception. To be precise, they were created by this theater that I control, and their purpose in life is to gain the recognition of others."

"They did indeed appear based on my understanding of you and me, but in the process, they also absorbed a lot of other emotions from the Impression Space, and that is what is called variables."

"Perhaps even if we bring in a different group of performers, it won't be much different from before. But what if a truly unique 'us' emerges in this theater, like a genetic mutation? If that happens, once my theater absorbs their experience, we can also acquire their acting skills."

Shadow Chizuru made no attempt to conceal her attitude.

She intends to use the inexhaustible negative emotions within the Impression Space to find the perfect "Chizuru Ichinose" and replace her.

Hearing Shadow Chizuru's thoughts, the girls exchanged glances.

If we don't consider those created shadows as Mahito, then what Shadow Chizuru in front of us, did doesn't seem too outrageous.

Even Chizuru Ichinose fell silent after hearing the explanation from Shadow Chizuru.

Just as Miyauchi Hiyage was about to speak up and offer a reminder, Kasumigaoka Utaha spoke first, saying what Miyauchi Hiyage was about to say.

"Even if you do find such a perfect 'self' in the future, how will you replace her, and will such behavior have any impact on Chizuru Ichinose in reality?"

When asked about this, Shadow Chizuru shrugged indifferently. "There won't be any major problems."

"At most, it might cause some mental problems, such as the emergence of a completely new self-personality."

"But don't worry, most of the personalities that will be revealed will be ours, and that personality will only appear during the acting process and won't have any impact on your life."

At that moment Shadow Chizuru revealed a smile with an inexplicable meaning and said something that made Chizuru Ichinose frown.

"In this way, by completely separating your life from your acting work, you can continue to do what you want in your daily life without having to force yourself to juggle both of these areas at the same time. Isn't this exactly what you've been hoping for?"

As soon as Shadow Chizuru uttered those words, Chizuru Ichinose calm emotions suddenly became quite agitated.

The words, "I've never been so excited before, this isn't even my own idea," immediately slipped out.

But as soon as she finished speaking, she was stunned to see a sinister smile on the face of the Shadow Chizuru in front of her, as if the other party had been waiting for her to say those words.

Chapter 311: Hassan of the Hundred Personas

As Chizuru Ichinose denied her shadow, the mirrors throughout the theater seemed to tremble as the Shadow Chizuru went berserk.

The spotlights on the stage flashed intensely, projecting their light onto Shadow Chizuru, making the distorted appearance of her even more pronounced.

Chizuru Ichinose stared blankly at the drastic changes in the "herself" before her.

Although she was not yet clear about the current situation, she could sense that what she had just said seemed to have had some effect on the shadow in front of her.

Or perhaps the other party had been waiting for this moment from the very beginning.

"What... what happened? What did you do?" She wanted to get an answer from the other person.

"It's not what I did, but that you gave me a 'satisfactory' answer, so from now on, I am the real 'me' and no longer your shadow!"

As Shadow Chizuru spoke, her figure began to change, revealing a completely new appearance.

That was no longer Chizuru Ichinose from middle school, but had transformed in a very short time into a mysterious person with a dark figure and a skull mask that obscured her face.

The shadows that had just been created by Shadow Chizuru on the stage seemed to be controlled by Shadow Chizuru at this moment, transforming into black figures similar to Shadow Chizuru but with different shapes and attire, and revealing dangerous eyes to the people below the stage.

As they looked at these figures wearing skull masks and wielding various weapons, the girls instinctively felt a strong killing intent emanating from these "monsters."

There's no time for them to figure out what's going on now. After all, the most important thing for them right now is to survive surrounded by these skull-masked people.

The first to launch an attack was Sudo Ayami.

Compared to Shinomiya Kaguya, she was indeed more talented in combat. Tomoe Gozen, appeared from behind her immediately and shot an arrow towards the Shadow Chizuru.

Unlike when she first awakened, when Tomoe Gozen only carried a naginata, after leveling up in the Impression Space for a period of time, the Tomoe Gozen summoned by Sudo Ayami now carries many more weapons.

There are naginata, bows and arrows, and katanas, and these different weapons all have different attributes.

For example, the arrow that was just shot clearly had fire damage attached to it.

Unfortunately, Shadow Chizuru was prepared. With the highest agility among all attributes, she was not easily attacked.

He easily dodged Tomoe Gozen's arrows, then threw out several smoke bombs and disappeared into the smoke.

Meanwhile, Miyauchi Hiyage was also looking at these familiar faces with great interest.

These girls might not be recognized, but their distinctive dark skin and skull masks reminded Miyauchi Hiyage of Hassan of the Hundred Personas who appeared in the Fourth Holy Grail War the moment they appeared.

Hassan al-Sabah, one of the Hassans of the Mountain, was the nineteenth leader of the Assassin Order.

In the lore, Hassan of the Hundred Personas has hundreds of independent personalities within his body, and after becoming a Heroic Spirit, he gained the ability to manifest these personalities individually.

Although his combat abilities are not outstanding, he has hundreds of personalities, which allows him to easily change his identity in various situations and obtain the information he needs.

Chizuru Ichinose aspires to be an actress, has become the Hassan of the Hundred Personas she is today because of her past trauma.

It feels a little strange, but it also seems quite reasonable.

After all, Hassan of the Hundred Personas is characterized by his ability to switch personalities at will to play the corresponding characters.

The fact that his ability could be upgraded to a Noble Phantasm after he became a Heroic Spirit shows that there were no flaws in the identities and roles he had disguised during his lifetime.

No wonder the other person acted so normally when they mentioned multiple personalities; it turns out they were actually a "monster" with nearly a hundred personalities.

In the original work, Hassan of the Hundred Personas was instantly killed by Gilgamesh upon his first appearance, and then he was sacrificed by the Emperor to activate his Reality Marble and left the stage without showing any combat power. He seemed to be just a "passerby villain" with no great presence.

Even the presence of Hassan of the Hundred Personas might not be as strong as Hassan with Cursed Arm, who appeared in the Heaven's Feel route during the Fifth Holy Grail War.

But now, in the theater palace filled with countless mirrors, Hassan of the Hundred Personas exudes immense dominance over the girls.

Miyauchi Hiyage thought about it for a moment, after all, he had lost to top-tier Heroic Spirits like Gilgamesh and Alexander the Great.

Even though Hassan of the Hundred Personas isn't supposed to have high combat power in the lore, as a Heroic Spirit, when facing ordinary people, even if he has to share his strength with all his clones, he's not someone anyone can just take advantage of, let alone the fact that his opponent hasn't even created too many clones yet.

"While Hassan of the Hundred Personas is definitely only a third-rate Servant in terms of combat strength, even a third-rate Servant could probably unleash near-Special Grade power in his current berserk state, right?" Miyauchi Hiyage pondered this about the current strength of Shadow Chizuru.

If it's Hassan with the Cursed Arm, based on his performance in the Heaven's Feel route, even though he defeated Cú Chulainn with the help of Black Sakura, he must still be at the Special Grade level.

However, as the weakest in actual combat, with all his skill points focused on intelligence gathering, and even his Noble Hassan of the Hundred Personas lacking in lethality, it's quite a stretch to say that he possesses the strength of a Special Grade.

He looked at the girls around him.

Although Sudo Ayami's initial attack failed, she is now controlling Tomoe Gozen to repel Hassan's attempts to attack them under the cover of smoke.

Shinomiya Kaguya and Kasumigaoka Utaha also used their extraordinary abilities.

Shinomiya Kaguya raised herself several meters above the smoke, manipulating her psychic powers to create a hurricane that dispersed the smoke.

Kasumigaoka Utaha conjured a water wall around herself as a defensive measure.

If the three of them can fully unleash their power, they still have a chance to defeat Hassan of the Hundred Personas and make him obediently become Chizuru Ichinose's Persona.

"Hikage-kun, what do we do now?" Shinomiya Kaguya asked Miyauchi Hiyage about his attitude.

They were still unsure of the mysterious skull-masked man's strength, so they naturally needed to consult Miyauchi Hiyage's attitude.

Miyauchi Hiyage nodded slightly to the girls.

"There's nothing serious. You guys go up and spar with these guys first to test the waters. If there are any problems, I'll step in."

Upon receiving such a reply from Miyauchi Hiyage, Shinomiya Kaguya visibly relaxed considerably.

It seems that the skull-masked man's strength is not yet beyond their ability to handle. As long as Miyauchi Hiyage can use his Destiny Power to restrain this guy as before, they should have no problem dealing with him.

She quickly exchanged opinions with Kasumigaoka Utaha Sudo Ayami.

With Miyauchi Hiyage, a top-tier combatant, as their backer, the girls were quite decisive. They immediately began to deal heavy blows to the clones and also wanted to find out the location of the Shadow Chizuru's true form.

It was obvious that these girls wanted to fight head-on, but Hassan of the Hundred Personas knew that her abilities were not in a direct confrontation. So, as the dozen or so clones on stage launched their attack, she silently disappeared into the theater.

The Mirror Theater is indeed a perfect fit for Hassan of the Hundred Personas' ability to hide.

Even when Miyauchi Hiyage uses Card Master's Fate skill to open the entire map, he can only see the surface information of the palace. He cannot see through the world in the mirror, let alone find out where the other party is hiding.

He can only detect the other party's movements when the other party shows themselves on their own initiative.

Of course, directly activating the Reality Marble to erode this world, or using some large-scale destructive skills to destroy all the mirrors in the theater, should also be possible.

However, we haven't reached that point yet.

Therefore, after the girls used their abilities to spend some time dealing with Hassan's clones, they discovered that Shadow Chizuru had disappeared.

"Where did he go? Where did that guy go?" Shinomiya Kaguya wiped her forehead and returned to the ground.

She was already very familiar with telekinetic attacks, but this was the first time she had faced more than a dozen enemies.

Even though there were still a few teammates, Miyauchi Hiyage did not make a move, Chizuru Ichinose had no fighting ability.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's ability development is completely insufficient, and she can only use it for passive defense and simple offense. In other words, Sudo Ayami's Persona as the main force.

After such a battle, she actually broke out in a lot of sweat.

"From the very beginning, the other party disappeared. They must be hiding in one of the mirrors in this theater," Miyauchi Hiyage stated his analysis logically.

"I carefully observed the other party's abilities. Judging from the information the other party had revealed before, Shadow Chizuru should have the ability to create clones, and the strength of these clones seems quite average to me."

"By the standards of the Reverse Side World, they are roughly between level two and level one. Although your battles with those clones were quite difficult, that was only because you lacked combat experience, which is why those clones were able to hold out for so long against you."

"Furthermore, judging from the style of the opponent's fight against you, they seem to be an assassination-style fighter, not the kind who fights people head-on. So the Shadow Chizuru is probably hiding somewhere, waiting for us to make a mistake so she can launch a sneak attack on us."

Hearing Miyauchi Hiyage's analysis, the girls couldn't help but look at the mirrors around them, feeling that that guy might suddenly appear at any moment and stab them in the back.

Even Miyauchi Hiyage became more vigilant, keeping the Eyes of Destiny active the entire time.

Although he could indeed overwhelm his opponent on paper, the other had been involved in assassination since birth. To become Hassan, he must have assassinated many enemies who were even stronger than himself during his lifetime.

In fact, according to some works, in those small-scale subspecies Holy Grail War, Hassan and the Assassin class often hid on the sidelines and watched others fight like dogs until the last moment when they came out to steal the kills.

Miyauchi Hiyage didn't want to have his heart ripped out from behind without even realizing it. As the originator of the word "ASSASSIN," he still had to show some basic respect to a professional assassin like Hassan.

At this point, the girls finally had the energy to think about what had just happened.

"So, why did that shadow suddenly become strange after Chizuru said those words?" Kasumigaoka Utaha continued to manipulate the water wall to surround them, while reviewing the situation that had just occurred.

They seemed to be having a good chat before.

Although Shadow Chizuru's ideas and methods are somewhat extreme, both of them are indeed on the path to becoming actors.

They originally thought that as long as they could get Shadow Chizuru out of the theater, it would all be over.

Who could have imagined that things would suddenly take such a dramatic turn for the worse?

"I remember Shadow Chizuru just said, right? It was your last words, Chizuru, that gave her an answer, making her no longer your shadow. So, is she angry because you denied your own inner desires?" Kasumigaoka Utaha reasoned.

Sudo Ayami also had a frown on his face.

She remembered that the You Know Who had once mentioned to her that if they met their shadows in the Impression Space, something interesting might happen.

The You Know Who didn't mention any specific details to her.

Could the current changes in Shadow Chizuru be the interesting thing the You Know Who about?

"It shouldn't be that simple. If it were just unhappiness, the changes in the other person wouldn't be so obvious. That sentence must be crucial," Sudo Ayami shook her head, mentioning the sentence that echoed in her ears when she and Ai Kisugi were awakening their Persona: "I am you, and you are me."

It is precisely because one acknowledges their inner desires that their Persona is revealed.

Chizuru Ichinose now denies this, saying she doesn't consider Shadow Chizuru a part of herself, which suggests there must be some connection between them.

"I feel like the Shadow Chizuru wants to replace the real Chizuru. But before, as Chizuru's inner desire, she was one with Chizuru, so she didn't have this ability. Now that she has become an independent individual, perhaps she can do this."