Within the third virtual reality layer.
Above the cloud level of the city, a monster resembling a sea serpent was coiled into a gigantic sphere.
Suddenly, its hard, sapphire-blue scales cracked open—and then the entire Leviathan exploded.
A rain of blood poured down upon the clouds, then fell onto the bustling city below.
Phelion had escaped the trap set by Promet and Bucky.Now, it was searching for the Staff of the Blind.
At the city's shrine, Lloyd, Promet, Bucky, and Emma's group had already gathered—everyone except Wellay, who had gone deeper into the shrine.
Emma glanced around once, then spoke.
"That's everything I wanted to say."
She explained everything she could:Ron's plan, his objective, the speculations about the demons, and their goals as Ron had described them.
Three layers of reality.Terrorists.Demons.
To survive and save as many people as possible, they had to trust one another.
The Mind Demon wanted to help.Its ultimate goal was to prevent Phelion from reuniting with itself.
By using the staff, Phelion could forcibly reconstruct another body through some unknown method.And when there was one body and one soul, the two egos would be compelled to merge into one.
The Heaven Demon had gone mad.To lure her out of demonization, two things were required: Julien's Gift and Kale's Gift—but this could only happen in reality.
The Earth Demon had already been half-dealt with by Ron in reality.The task of those here was to prevent the Earth Demon from spreading and triggering annihilation in this layerwhile Ron began killing from the outside.
Additionally, they needed to use the White Key to create life,to counterbalance the collapse of destruction from the third reality layer.
As for the Body Demon—it was in a dangerous state, and someone was already taking care of it.
The Body Demon was the demon that had absorbed Heaven itself,creating a barrier that prevented demons from entering reality.
It was a demon that both existed and did not exist.
Emma had finished preparing everything.In her hands were spheres of light and items obtained from the survival match.
"If you want to live, get ready. There's no time left."
She spoke urgently as a flash of light flickered from within her pocket.
…
How do you make others follow you?
Kindness? Too idealistic.Benefits? Mishandled, and betrayal comes easily.
The answer is emotion.
When humans are too afraid of loss, they lose reason.When they are joyful, they rarely probe the essence of a problem.
Very few people train themselves to evaluate situations deeply or maintain absolute calm.Humans prefer shortcuts—instincts, fast thinking, emotions.They dislike independent reflection unless the issue is critical.
At such times, impression + emotion +利益 + implicit interactioncan elevate one's position further.
But never place yourself above others.Instead, be the weaker one offering a solution,or an equal presenting a plan.
As long as the plan is logical and reasonable,and words are chosen carefully to avoid judgment traps,people will reluctantly cooperate in the short term—no matter what.
Another extremely important factor is legitimacy.
Lloyd is the principal of Blue Light.Wellay and Will are professors.
Other than those gathered before the shrine,no one else is aware of this event.
The third false reality layer is very thin.Unlike the first and second layers, it stands alone.
If anyone else were to become aware of the demons here,they might remember everything after escaping the false reality—so they could not risk introducing new variables.
Moreover, they could do nothing else.
Those unrelated would soon be affected by the Earth Demon anyway.Informing them might produce even worse side effects.
Not everyone is necessarily good.Everything had already been calculated carefully.
Everyone present here was chosen by Ron.They would be lucid enough to know whom to listen to.
…
Outside, in the real world.
A series of bells echoed throughout the city.
They came from the city center,where a massive clock tower stood.
It was a device used by nobles to awaken the terrorists—once per day, a single ring.
However, due to Ron's interference when he used the treasure to create the second false reality layer,the terrorists could not awaken.
The reality layers were too thick.
Only when only the third layer remainedcould they wake up.
When the terrorists regained consciousness,they found themselves seated in a colossal arena filled with people who had collapsed into sleep.
Beside them, other terrorists failed to awaken—apparently dead.
This was a dangerous profession;death was, naturally, understandable.
They stood up, dragging their stiff bodies after days of immobility,and saw figures approaching from afar.
Five figures.All different.All seemingly young.
They walked leisurely,as if enjoying the space.
O-sky, the leader of the terrorist group, stood up.
His group was responsible for slaughtering civiliansand preventing the collapse of the barrier.
But those five—they seemed to have come from outside.
Had the city's barrier already been destroyed?
The leader raised his fist, chanting a spell.A torrent of molten energy erupted,incinerating everything around it.
The other terrorists charged from multiple directions.
Their tactic was dispersal—isolating individuals,then concentrating rapid attacks on one target at a time,pinning each down with a minority while keeping them under surveillance.
But who were these newcomers?
"How boring," one voice said."This old tactic again—don't you ever get tired of it?"
The five separated.
A long black-haired girl, her hair neatly tied up,was surrounded by dozens of men preparing to kill her.
She stuck out her tongue.
On it was a plump red cherry.
She spat it out.
The cherry expanded, spinning,transforming into dozens of dark-red threads.
They swiftly wrapped around her,forming a crimson cocoon.
Attacks poured toward her.
But they were all blocked by something—explosions erupted one after anotherbefore the magic could touch the cocoon.
WHOOSH—
For a fleeting moment, the terrorists saw the sky.
A sky they could never reach again.
Hundreds of silver steel wires had sealed the space around them—and those very wires slit their throats.
O-sky watched in horror,desperately attempting the strongest annihilation spell he knew.
But he could no longer utter a single word.
His throat had already been cut clean through.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted from his corpse,incinerating the unlucky ones nearby—those with cores at least level 7 or higher.
"Almost didn't have to do anything,"one of the five muttered.
The five were Rank 1 members of One Line,operatives from headquarters.
The reason One Line rarely intervened directlyin the inter-academy terrorist incidentwas simple.
They were the cleanup crew.