Standing at the Haunted House's main entrance, Himeko could confirm that Weir's deductions contained no errors or omissions.
Weir had slipped [Chariot] into Himeko's hand when he tried to get her to beat the Snake Man to death. Thanks to this chess piece, she could communicate with Weir without making it public.
As for why she still sought out the main entrance despite knowing she was still inside the Haunted House, the reason was even simpler. Himeko merely wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and Weir's group.
In the Haunted House's eyes, the other three posed less of a threat than a single tail on Himechi Cat. Splitting up would make it much easier for them to act. Once they left, Himeko would not need to worry about where she was when she cut loose.
"Ready to raise hell?"
Himechi Cat was raring to go. Himeko smiled.
"Of course."
Himeko's thoughts settled on that [Satellite Blueprint]. This satellite had another name: [Railgun].
Come to think of it, Himeko did not understand this at all. The way this world worked seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with wish power, yet both Imagenae and other things made through Imagenesis could endure indefinitely.
Stranger still, she had not accumulated any wish power herself, yet Imagenesis Technology remained effective.
Himeko wondered whether someone had taken out a wish power loan for her. How could a card with no money on it still work?
A single bug, and Himeko would classify it as an [anomaly].
But a whole pile of bugs? As long as it ran, Himeko would consider it normal.
Whatever the particulars, if it ran, she would use it for now. These were the conditions she had to work with.
Himeko mobilized the power within her and, following the blueprint, began using Imagenesis to create the indispensable key components.
The power and launch systems were essential; neither could be missing. The problem was that building an energy storage system from scratch would take a little too long. Himeko exercised her Trailblaze Spirit and modified the overall structure a little.
She decided to draw out the energy inside Himechi Cat and fire it as a shell.
Considering that Himechi Cat did not have enough energy, and that Himeko did not intend to bother with thermal management, she could only reject this plan and instead draw out and fire her own energy.
She copied the launch system without changing a thing.
"Laser oscillator... beam direction... and aiming... get rid of all of those."
In the time it took her to walk a few steps, Himeko had already designed the Beggars’ Railgun.
Weapon control, guidance, mobility, cooling-all those important components had been stripped out completely.
What she needed now was powerful firepower capable of instantly striking targets over a wide area. Nothing else factored into her considerations. She was doing this because she still felt her firepower was somewhat lacking, a disadvantage that became all too apparent when fighting on someone else's turf.
On top of that, other countries could inflict all sorts of negative statuses on her without restraint, making them impossible to guard against fully. She still needed a means of settling things with a single blow.
Himeko slowly walked back into the Haunted House and encountered the Snake Man again at the front desk.
At the sight of Himeko, the Snake Man's body shuddered.
"How did you-"
Himeko gave it no chance to speak, bringing the Monomolecular Saw crashing down at its head and face. Every hair on the Snake Man's body stood on end.
At a time like this, how could it fail to realize that it had been completely exposed?
"Damn you! Must you hunt me down to the bitter end? Then don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
The Snake Man instantly pulled away, its expression hideous.
"You actually dared come back. You really don't know your limits! You still don't know, do you? You never left the Haunted House at all! What a shame. If those people had taken you along when they escaped, at least you could have survived!"
The walls began to writhe. Tentacle after tentacle emerged from them, waving.
An indescribably eerie feeling swept over her. The pink tentacles resembled the mucous membrane beneath a tongue, and slime dripped from them as they emerged.
Those tendrils seemed to each possess a life of their own.
"Can't you create any other horror elements without tentacles and chunks of flesh?"
Himeko looked at the moving things, undisguised distaste in her eyes.
"You dare question my aesthetics? Do you understand art?"
Himeko thought for a moment, then gave an affirmative answer.
"Yes."
"You don't know shit about art!"
The Snake Man was having none of it and launched into a tirade. "My art is the most direct, the most truthful, the most straightforward! It's definitely ten thousand times better than yours!"
Why does its art sound so much like AI-generated work? No wonder it's so formulaic.
"Next, are you going to add some eyes, noses, mouths, and so on?"
"Y-you! How did you know?!"
"Because that's how most hacks paint by formula."
"Fucking bullshit! Who are you calling a hack?!"
Himeko felt helpless. As an outstanding graduate of the World-Painting Academy, she had an obligation to teach her opponent what art was.
Himeko swung the briefcase forward. The Snake Man was rather disdainful.
"You're saying your chainsaw is art? That's enough to make a snake laugh itself to death... What's that?"
This time, what extended from the briefcase was not a saw blade, but a strange, enormous pyramid resembling a piping bag.
"Although it doesn't even qualify as half-finished, it is, at least, something I started making the moment I came in."
"A squirt gun? Are we having a water fight?"
Although the Snake Man sensed something was wrong, the crude thing in Himeko's hand really did make him want to laugh.
"I don't think you understand yet."
It was like someone suddenly bundling some scrap steel pipes together with tape on the street, pointing it at a passerby's forehead, and calling it a gun.
Not very convincing... Hiss, thinking about it carefully, something seems... a little off?
Light gathered at the person-height muzzle. The Snake Man's instincts told it that what came next would be insane.
If it did not dodge, a snake really would die.
But where could it dodge to?
"Humanity has never concealed its desire to command the stars. Of course, that includes me."
A fierce stream of searing fire had already shot from the launcher in Himeko's hands.
An enormous recoil force traveled through her hands. Though Himeko tried hard to keep the muzzle down, she was still pushed backward, sliding.
Directly ahead of her, and across a vast fan-shaped area beyond, everything was engulfed in searing fire. When Himeko tried to adjust the firing angle and hastily added a focusing device,
A gigantic mushroom cloud rose from the Haunted House. Everyone in the Amusement Park could clearly hear the tremendous explosion.
Himeko's briefcase flew from her hands, and she too was sent flying backward, rolling across the ground several times before she steadied herself.
After the explosion, the surrounding scenery began to blur. Like a canvas soaked in water, all its paint bled away, revealing its original appearance.
The Haunted House had been reduced to ruins. The remaining traces barely allowed its original structure to be discerned: a building that could not be called large, with an enormous stump at its center that presumably belonged to that giant, vividly colored tree.
Unfortunately, it had now completely lost its ability to bear fruit.
And after that one ferocious assault, not even ashes remained of the Snake Man.
Before you continue