"I've come to find you!"
Clock Cat's eyes flew open. In the next instant, he sprang into motion, his afterimages filling the stage in the blink of an eye. The bamboo forest Bamboo-Leaf-Head Boy had created crumbled to dust.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out. Clock Cat struck a trial-taker hidden in a fold of air, instantly wiping his time down to zero.
Clock Cat's claws were the same weapons as before. They still drained an opponent's time, and as long as he had time left to spend, he could keep draining it.
"No!"
The next second, another trial-taker was dragged out. His head parted from his body, and the time on his wrist dropped to zero.
"Ah!"
"Help..."
"Don't!"
One trial-taker after another was killed in an instant.
At last, after a burst of running, Clock Cat stopped. His claws scraped across the stage, sending sparks flying. Once he came to a complete halt, he licked his claws and smiled with satisfaction. "That was so much fun. So interesting!"
"Terrifying."
Nameless sat inside the Virus Exoshell and looked down at the corpses strewn across the stage. He could not help saying it aloud.
Fortunately, his methods were unusual enough. Otherwise, dodging that move of Clock Cat's would have been difficult.
He wondered how many trial-takers were still alive.
"Three of you left. Come out!"
Clock Cat twitched his nose, looked around, and spoke with a smile.
The stage was utterly silent. After a while, a crack opened in a fallen leaf. Bamboo-Leaf-Head Boy crawled out and rapidly grew back to full size.
He had sensed the danger the instant Clock Cat transformed. But after seeing Clock Cat's form, he had judged that hiding inside a single bamboo leaf would let him escape the otherwise fatal attack.
As long as his