The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

(Brain Storage Area)

The only person they could rely on had suddenly vanished, and it was unclear whether he was even alive. For a moment, no one knew what to do.

So they all turned their eyes to Furina, who had come with Lin Yiyi.

"W-Why are you looking at me...? I don't know anything about this either..."

Even though she had once been a god, that identity had always been false. As an ordinary person, she was not good at fighting.

But faced with everyone's pleading gazes, she had no choice but to step forward, having once played the role of a god.

"Pen Fairy, is it? I... I'm Furina, the former Hydro Archon. I suppose you've never heard of me."

Everyone broke out in a cold sweat. Sis, could you save the cosplay act until after we were done dealing with this?

The pen showed no other reaction, as though it were listening to Furina tell her story.

Furina gradually calmed down and began chatting away with a pen.

From Fontaine's prophecy, to meeting the Traveler, to the prophecy being proven false, Furina told it everything. The fear in her heart slowly faded as well.

The temperature around them gradually rose again, and Furina finally let out the breath she had been holding.

Maybe this Pen Fairy was not so terrifying after all?

So Furina brought over a chair, completely relaxed, and asked:

"Pen Fairy, how did you die?"

Suddenly, the temperature that had only just risen plummeted again!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—" Immediately afterward, a strange, sinister wind, like demons descending upon the world, howled in through the window.

"?? Aaaah! What's happening?!" Furina hurriedly jumped off the chair and crawled beneath the table.

The wind blew for only a while before gradually dying down.

"Is it safe now?" Furina crawled back out from under the table.

Liu Chao and Tian Heng still gripped the pen, not daring to make the slightest rash move.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock..." The surroundings gradually fell silent, leaving only the sound of the clock ticking away second by second.

There was not a single other sound. None of them dared even breathe loudly. Fear spread like a plague, like a ghost in the darkness silently assaulting their psychological defenses.

Furina shakily rose to her feet and looked at Tian Heng, Liu Chao, and the others.

There was still no sound around them. Aside from the lingering chill, Furina breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed nothing would happen tonight for the time being.

For no reason at all, Furina felt her ankle tighten. Looking down, she saw a deathly pale hand gripping her!

"AAAAAAAAH—HELP—" Completely losing her mind, the girl screamed and instinctively ran out of the classroom.

The moment she left, the remaining four could no longer stay seated either. They shouted and fled from the classroom.

Everything around her was pitch-black. Furina could not tell which way was which and stumbled about like a headless fly.

Feeling the overwhelming killing intent behind her, her survival instinct drove her to run forward with all her might.

"Quick, quick, quick! Help me stop her!!!! Save me!!!!" After summoning the Salon Members, Furina prayed they could at least harm it a little.

When she looked back, she discovered a mass of black mist drifting toward her. The Salon Members' attacks were like striking cotton, completely ineffective.

However, the mist was unable to attack the three little spirits either.

"Why??!! Aaaah! Save me—Traveler!! Lin Yiyi! Where are you?! Aaaah—"

She ran with all her strength, down the stairs, only to see a tiny speck of light in the distance.

It was a faint light, but she could not afford to think about anything else. Her survival instinct made her race toward it with all her might.

She did not dare look back again. That resentful mass of black mist continued pursuing her close behind.

Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters...

The light before her grew larger and larger. At last, she escaped the dark corridor and greedily sucked in the fresh air outside.

A flawless full moon, bright as a silver plate, hung high in the vast, deep night sky, casting cold yet brilliant light. Standing beneath this tranquil moonlight on the field, Furina felt herself to be unimaginably small and insignificant.

She ran a little farther, sobbing helplessly. "Where are you, Traveler...?"

"Why did you leave me behind? You were the one who brought me into this world..."

"I want to go back... Aaaah! It's here again!! Help!!"

In the distance, that mass of black resentment caught up once more. No matter how wronged Furina felt, she could only resume her desperate flight.

At the same time, she summoned the Salon Members again, hoping they could buy her some time.

The way she had come was already blocked by the Pen Fairy. She could only run deeper into the campus.

Traveler, where exactly are you...

"It doesn't seem to be chasing us?" Liu Chao panted heavily, looked around, and realized he had nearly reached the main gate.

"Um, what about Furina and that guy?" Tian Heng asked between gasps.

"We can't just abandon them. They came to help us, after all. What kind of men would we be if we left them behind?"

The four rested for a moment, then ran back.

No one could see that a vast cloud of black mist had enveloped the entire school from above...

"Huff—huff—"

With every heavy breath, Furina's strength finally reached its limit. She could no longer move her legs.

Behind her was still that black, violent aura. Furina turned around, terror practically written across her face.

This was the third time she had faced a crisis of death. The first had been when an unknown person attacked her, but that person had not harmed her at all.

The second time had been when she touched the Primordial Sea Water. Even then, because the Sea Water had been diluted, she had emerged completely unscathed.

But this time was completely different.

"Help... Traveler, where are you...?"

"You bad person... Sob... I'm going to die here today..."

"Is anyone there? Please, save me..."

She released the Salon Members once again. The three Salon Members attacked with all their strength, trying to protect their mistress.

As expected, they still did no damage.

Furina was completely despairing.

She slumped to the ground and watched as the black mist descended, gathering into the figure of a woman.

She wore red, with long hair hanging over the front of her face and concealing it.

"Traveler, I hate you! Sob—" Fear filled Furina's heart. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground.

The Pen Fairy's feet did not appear to move, yet it walked straight toward Furina.

"Don't come closer, don't come closer!" Though she could not stand, her survival instinct made Furina crawl backward.

"Help, help me!!!!!"

In the end, she no longer even had the strength to crawl.

Waves of eerie wind rose behind her, as though pronouncing Furina's death sentence.

At last, she gave up struggling. The light seemed to fade from her eyes.

Having once been the Hydro Archon, was she truly going to die in another world...

Perhaps she should not have so easily trusted that person calling himself the Traveler, even if he had looked harmless enough.

Suddenly, the Pen Fairy stopped. It halted not far from Furina, its body trembling slightly, as though something capable of threatening it had appeared.

Then Furina saw several yellow strips of paper flash around them, encircling both her and the Pen Fairy in a square.

"You've been strutting around for long enough. Isn't it my turn to deal with you now?"