The player hiding within the Shinomiya family was already a veteran who had participated in eight missions in total, having cleared Dark Night-level instances twice and Dusk-level instances six times.
Within the entire Tokyo District player community, being able to clear Dark Night-level instances twice could already be described as exceedingly rare. Above him, there were fewer than five players who had more Dark Night-level clears than he did. Moreover, he had not entered Dark Night-level instances out of desperation; rather, he had proactively gone to clear Dark Night-level instances before the Sacrifice Game's targeting pressure reached its limit. Among Tokyo District players capable of doing this, excluding him, there were at most only three.
For this reason, the man harbored a certain degree of pride deep down, always believing that his level among players was quite good—he considered himself a core member of the middle tier, second only to the very top group of players. Even so, his usual actions were still very cautious, because no one knew whether some newcomer might get extremely lucky and obtain an abnormally powerful Obsession Item.
The man rarely came into conflict with other players. He had been lying low within the Shinomiya family, using the Shinomiya family's wealth to live extravagantly, indulging in a drunken, pleasure-filled life of abundant material comforts every month. It was only the fact that Kaguya and Maki had become players that made the man feel a trace of crisis, forcing him to take action.
Even so, in truth, the man did not wish to truly reach the point of mutual slaughter. Even after that hidden big shot gave him that Aberration room card capable of directly modifying identity information, he had only planned to alter the thinking of Kaguya and Takumi, ensuring that these two would never pose a threat to him. In his view, there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He was merely ensuring that the Shinomiya family—already, in fact, his own backyard—would not be taken away, simply safeguarding his property security. Yet those two damn brats did not seem willing to communicate properly with him.
Since that was the case, there was no need to continue talking.
Swoosh—
The sharp dagger stabbed straight out.
In an abrupt burst of ultra-high speed surpassing the limits of the human body, the man swung the blade, aiming to directly pierce Kaguya's eyeball.
Clang!
In the next instant's ringing impact, the girl struck out with a single motion, using a sharp surgical knife to block the man's attack, deflecting the direction of the blade's swing with equally powerful force.
At the same time, the man had already leapt backward, retreating more than ten meters with monkey-like agility, revealing a somewhat regretful expression as he looked at the other side.
Not choosing to dodge, but instead using an Obsession Item to counter—what a pity.
Thinking this, the man lowered his head and glanced at the plain-looking small dagger in his hand.
Of course, this was an Obsession Item, and one that the man would always prioritize whenever he needed to confront other players.
This thing looked as though it were merely a small dagger. In ordinary use, it seemed no different from a normal dagger. But as long as it was used to initiate an attack against a human, this thing would reveal its aberrant side.
As long as the opponent tried to evade the attack, the man could immediately strike the exact spot he intended to hit.
As long as the enemy attempted to confront the attack head-on, the man could immediately sever the opponent's bodily joints.
The only countermeasure was to use the power of an Obsession Item to oppose it, thereby neutralizing the dagger's own aberrant power. However, on the one hand, players' strengths varied greatly, and they did not necessarily possess an Obsession Item capable of contending with the man's dagger. On the other hand, when two players first engaged in combat, they were often in a state of mutual probing in terms of mindset and would not launch a fierce assault at the very outset. Under such circumstances, the man's dagger could display a considerable advantage, allowing him to deal with enemies easily.
Yet this time, his opponent happened to choose that one and only effective method of resistance.
A coincidence?
The man's brows furrowed tightly as he quietly drew out his second Obsession Item from his waist and clenched it in his palm.
Whoosh—
At the instant the sound of wind rang out, Kaguya's figure had already reached the man's front.
The dagger and the surgical knife collided repeatedly within the span of a few seconds.
In the space of a single breath, the man discovered in shock that both his speed and technique were inferior to his opponent's. After only a few exchanges, he was easily suppressed.
Not far away, Takumi had already sat down on the ground beside Oko, watching the show.
At this moment, Kaguya's speed increased once again. Her dark red pupils were chilling like those of a predator in the darkness. The blade in her hand swung and rotated, effortlessly breaking through the man's guard and slicing open a wound on one of his arms.
"Guh! Damn it…"
The man, roaring in anger, retreated repeatedly, struggling to fend off Kaguya's attacks while casting an anxious glance around him, as though searching for a route of escape.
"Are you looking for this?"
Takumi's voice sounded from not far away at that moment.
The man's expression froze abruptly. He turned his head to look toward Takumi, as well as the black toy marble Takumi was holding in his hand.
Why… how could this guy—
The man's question did not even have time to be asked when a streak of blood-colored light swept across his wrist.
By the time he realized what had happened, Kaguya had already grabbed his severed hand and slipped the Obsession Item—one he had only just managed to bring out of a Dark Night-level instance—into her pocket.
"You… ugh, aaah! Why—you—why are you doing this…?"
Amid the spray of blood, the man clutched his severed hand and staggered backward, drenched in sweat, unable to comprehend why his teleportation Obsession Item was now in the other party's possession.
This Obsession Item was a pair of children's marbles. After throwing one of them, that marble would move on its own, gradually distancing itself from the other marble. As long as the time was controlled within one minute, the man holding the other marble could teleport at any moment to the side of the marble that was continuously moving away, making it an extremely practical teleportation tool. However, if the two marbles were not reunited within one minute after the throw, the item would immediately lose control and summon an Aberration to hunt down the person holding the marble, giving it a significant degree of danger as well.
But the key issue now was not this.
What the man could not understand at this moment was why Takumi was holding the marble he had secretly thrown out—the one that, by all logic, should not have been discovered, the marble he had mixed with blood and tossed onto the ground.
As for why Takumi was able to discover it, this actually had nothing to do with keen observation. The man's feint just now had been executed quite well, and Takumi had not seen when he threw the marble onto the ground. He merely knew that the other party would throw a marble.
That was because Chika existed—a girl who had gone through the one month during which Takumi failed to return to the real world, and who had witnessed Kaguya and Maki fighting this man.
Therefore, what this man looked like, what abilities he possessed, and which Obsession Items he held—Chika had already spoiled all of this to Takumi and Kaguya.
In the loop experienced by Chika, that man had used the dagger and the marbles in combination to inflict no small amount of damage on Kaguya and Maki, forcing the two girls to cautiously probe and confirm the opponent's Obsession Item abilities. That battle could be described as fraught with danger; a single misstep could have resulted in casualties. In the end, although they achieved victory, they also paid a price for it. As a result, the girl remembered it vividly and could not possibly keep such information hidden from her teammates.
And after obtaining this spoiler, Kaguya and Takumi naturally already had a crystal-clear understanding of what methods this guy would use. Thus, when the enemy suddenly launched his attack, she chose to counter with the surgical knife without the slightest hesitation. And even though Takumi had not noticed any abnormality, once he judged that the opponent should have already begun using the marble Obsession Item, he immediately conducted a careful search, quickly finding what he was looking for.
A battle that might originally have carried a bit of suspense no longer had any suspense once one side had done the homework in advance.
"If you honestly tell us who was pulling the strings behind you, maybe you'll still have a chance to live."
Seeing the man sitting on the ground with a pale face, clutching his severed arm, Takumi stood up and spoke unhurriedly.
"…It was Kogawa Shu. It was Kogawa Shu who instructed me from behind to attack you."
The man, growing dizzy from excessive blood loss, retreated a few more steps and spoke in a rush.
"Do you think we look that easy to fool? Or is it that you're actually already impatient to die?"
Kaguya's voice was icy to the bone.
"It really was Kogawa Shu. He was plotting behind the scenes together with Nanami Aoyama…"
Cold sweat seeped from the man's forehead, yet he still spoke stubbornly.
"Since we're asking, it means we definitely have a way to verify whether what you say is true or false. Are you sure this is what you want to say as your final answer?"
Takumi waved his hand somewhat impatiently as he spoke casually, while Kaguya had already tightened her grip on the surgical knife and lunged forward fiercely.
Damn it—did they actually have a way to detect lies, or were they just talking nonsense?
Knowing that his condition was growing worse and worse, the man took a deep breath and finally decided to speak about what he knew regarding that big figure. Even though he knew that once he spoke, his life would most likely be coming to an end, at the very least, he needed to get through the present moment before worrying about what came after.
Thinking this, the man suddenly realized that his body seemed somewhat out of his control, as if it were being manipulated. From his waist, it automatically took out a third Obsession Item—a filthy notebook stained with blood and sludge.
This was another of the man's mental-type Obsession Items. By having others read the content he had written in the notebook, it could make the reader firmly believe what was written. It was precisely by relying on this Obsession Item that the man had been able to hide within the Shinomiya family for more than half a year without being exposed.
This item was essentially unusable in combat. For it to take effect, at least one hundred words had to be written, and the reader was required to read the entire notebook entry from beginning to end. As such, the man had never had any reason to take it out during a fight.
Why… is my body…
Co—could it be… how is this possible…
Bang!
The doubts that had just arisen in the man's mind were brought to a permanent end.
In front of him, Kaguya lowered the handgun and frowned as she looked at the man she had just shot through the head. She reached out, grabbed the notebook from his hand, and pulled it into her own.
The man's action of taking out the notebook had not existed in the previous loop she had learned about through communication with Takumi and Chika. Therefore, this was a variable. With the danger of this variable uncertain, Kaguya decisively abandoned the interrogation and shot him dead on the spot.
Compared to information, safety was still more important.
After taking another marble from the man's corpse, together with the dagger and the notebook, Kaguya tossed them to Takumi, who stored them all into the watch space for suppression.
Then, after straightening her clothes and brushing the dust from her body, Kaguya slowly walked over to Oko, who had already fallen silent.
"Are you really still a member of the Shinomiya family now?"
Oko, his face ashen, appeared to have lost any intention of resisting. He merely looked at Kaguya and asked slowly, as if seeking confirmation of something.
"Do you think there's any other reason you're still alive right now?"
Kaguya did not directly answer Oko's question. She merely replied coldly, though the expression on her face was somewhat complex.
"…I understand. From today onward, the Shinomiya clan shall be the servants of Shinomiya Kaguya. From now on, no matter what… no matter what requests you may have, we will spare no effort to fulfill them, respected… Head of the Family."
He bent deeply at the waist, pressing his forehead to the ground.
Inside the dilapidated villa, Oko performed a perfectly proper dogeza bow toward Kaguya.
Kaguya stood where she was, unmoving, her expression blank, accepting this bow from her own elder brother. Only after he had maintained the kneeling, head-to-ground posture for roughly half a minute did she say, "You may get up." From Kaguya's expression and manner, it was not hard to tell that she had completely ceased to regard her brother as blood family, seeing him merely as a subordinate who could be dismissed—or even eliminated—at any time.
By this point, Takumi had already walked over to the corpse of that player. As expected, Kogawa Shu, the manager of Tokyo's player market, had appeared. After politely greeting Takumi, he took the player's body with him and disappeared.
So this time as well, he was probably observing the battle here through insects, right? Just how many such aberration-powered insects did this player have for surveillance? Could it be that, to him, the entirety of Tokyo had no blind spots at all?
Thinking this, Takumi turned his head to look at Kaguya and discovered that this girl—who always kept her face taut and expressionless—was smiling at Oko.
"Then, from now on, as long as I am still here, it will always be like this."
Speaking softly to Oko, Kaguya relaxed completely, revealing an ease she had never shown before.
She turned around, no longer looking at Oko as he sat on the ground with a defeated expression.
As Kaguya walked toward Takumi, her calm voice gradually spread through the disordered mansion.
"Goodbye, brother. I wish you pleasant dreams tonight."
"And goodbye as well—to that former me, who was once weak, who dared not resist and was unable to resist."
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