Claire’s appearance suddenly changes, and she returns to normal. Her Second State had ended after 5 whole minutes, though she remains stunned and stands silently nonetheless. The Game Master walks to Claire’s front and faces her. He lifts his mask a little bit, revealing his lips.
*Smooch*
*!!*
Kasumi was startled by what she saw. The Game Master suddenly kisses Claire on the lips.
“. . .”
*!*
“N-Nacht-kun!”
Claire suddenly came back. She was freed from the illusion because of the kiss. The Game Master puts his mask back properly on his face.
“I apologize, Claire! You said physical pain frees you from the illusion, but I don’t wanna hurt you and your beautiful body. I apologize for taking away your first kiss.”
“I-I-I-I-I-I-It’s okay, Nacht-kun. I saved it for you anyway. . .”
“Is that so? Great. The feeling’s mutual!”
Claire’s face turned red, and she couldn’t say anything anymore.
*BWOOSSHH*
*!*
Suddenly, Kasumi activates her Vein armor and lunges forward. She swings her katana horizontally from the right at the Game Master’s neck.
“NACHT-KUN!”
*CTANG*
Claire wanted to move behind the Game Master, but he held her back. The Game Master raises his right hand next to his head and distorts the space around his hand. The distorted space caught and stopped Kasumi’s katana.
“It’s alright, Claire. You don’t have to fight anymore! You’ve done more than enough! Just stand back and watch over the brat for me, will you?”
“. . .Alright, Nacht-kun.”
*THUD*
Kasumi retracts her katana and jumps back away from the Game Master.
“HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE AN INNOCENT COUPLE WHEN IN FACT YOU FORCED 24,000 INNOCENT PEOPLE TO PLAY YOUR STUPID KILLING GAME?? ARE YOU ALRIGHT IN THE HEAD, NACTH-KUN?!” said Kasumi, uttering the Game Master’s name in a mocking tone.
The Game Master silently turns around, while Claire walks back towards Luna inside the metallic blue cage.
“THE ONLY WOMAN ALLOWED TO CALL ME NACHT-KUN IS MY BELOVED CLAIRE!! ANYONE ELSE SHALL DIE FOR CARELESSLY SPOUTING MY NAME OUT OF THEIR MOUTH!!”
Nacht points his cane at Kasumi, and the space around its tip swirls visibly.
*BWUNG*
*!*
Kasumi jumps to the left and narrowly dodges the projectiles. It was a railgun, and it travels at 3000 meters/second.
“This has been bothering me for a while. How the heck did you even fire a railgun?? What even is your Faith power anymore?”
“You remember about those special rooms having food or various kinds of weapons? Where do you think those weapons and food come from?”
“Are you suggesting that you created them and they function properly like the real counterpart?”
“Yes! Correct! Though they can only exist and function properly inside my own maze!!”
“Then what the heck is your Faith power?”
“Alright, alright! It’s finally time to spill it! My Faith power is called Wonderland! I am able to create this infinite maze and drag anyone into this maze by erecting a giant pitch black dome outside. My dome is limited to 5km in diameter. But inside this maze, I am practically a god! I can create anything as I see fit! The things I created will operate according to my own rules! Though, since this is a game, I mostly created everything exactly how they are supposed to function outside.”
“So you’re saying you are completely incapable of combat when you’re outside this maze?”
“THAT IS NOT HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO REACT TO HOW MY FAITH POWER WORKS YOU BITCH!!”
“Ah! Did I hit a nerve?? So, I was right!”
“SILENCE!!”
The Game Master points his cane at Kasumi and creates 20 pistols, floating in the air all around him.
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG *
All 20 pistols repeatedly shot bullets consecutively towards Kasumi. Kasumi prepares her katana and enters a stance.
*CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG *
Kasumi deflected every single bullet without fail. After 10 entire seconds, the Game Master dismisses all of his pistols. He raises his cane above his head, and a giant futuristic cannon the size of an elephant appears and is floating above.
*WUUUNNGGG*
There is energy swelling and swirling towards the inside of the cannon’s barrel.
*ZAP ZRRRRTTT*
“Kasumi style!”
Kasumi lifts her katana above her head and activates her purple lightning.
“Sayonara, Coldhart-san!”
*BLAAARRRRR*
The giant futuristic cannon shot an energy beam with a diameter of 6 meters. It's traveling towards Kasumi at half the speed of sound.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“THUNDEROUS POWER CLEAVE!!”
Kasumi cuts down the incoming energy beam with her lightning katana.
*BOOOOOMMMM*
But it results in a giant explosion on contact that almost covers the entire room.
*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
After the giant explosion, a thick smoke clouded almost the entire room.
*Ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*
After a few seconds, the thick smoke quickly fades away and disappears. The futuristic giant cannon above the Game Master has gone. He has also erected a spatial distortion barrier in a giant circle, covering himself, Claire, and Luna inside. He also moved Hana inside the barrier to avoid harming her and inadvertently awakened the demon or angel inside her. They were left completely unharmed by the giant explosion.
“You okay, Claire?”
“Yes, Nacht-kun! Thanks for protecting me.”
“No problem! It’s my duty anyway.”
“I-I see. . .”
Far away from where the Game Master stood, Kasumi was lying on the floor with her face facing the floor. She was blown away by the explosion 35 meters from her original spot. Her body is smoking a little all over, and there are slight burnt marks across her entire body as well.
“Urgh. . .”
*GRNG GRNG*
“KASUMI-CHAAAANNN!!!”
Luna is shaking the bars of the metallic blue cage with both of her hands. She couldn’t stand the sight of Kasumi being hurt.
*!*
“You. . . survived even that?”
“Urgghh. . .”
Kasumi is using her katana as a cane to stand up.
“IMPRESSIVE, COLDHART-SAN!! YOU CONTINUED TO SURPRISE ME! I HAVE TO BE HONEST, WHEN I FIRST SAW YOU, I THOUGHT YOU WERE ONLY GOOD ENOUGH TO SURVIVE AGAINST ONE OF MY OFFICERS, YET HERE YOU ARE STANDING AGAINST EVEN ME, EVEN AFTER YOU’VE DEFEATED THAT RED-HAIRED BITCH IN HER ANGELIC/DEMONIC FORM!! YOU’RE GROWING STRONGER INSIDE MY MAZE, COLDHART-SAN!! SHOULDN’T YOU THANK ME FOR YOUR GROWTH?!”
Kasumi finally stands up, and she points her katana at the Game Master.
“Shut up! Don’t twist your stupid killing game as some kinda training arc for me! This killing game has gone on long enough. Let’s finish this, NACHT-KUN!!” Kasumi raises her voice near the end of her sentence, mimicking Hana’s way of talking.
“I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE WOMAN IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD ALLOWED TO ADDRESS ME AS SUCH!!”
*SNAP*
The Game Master snaps his finger, and he appears directly 3 meters above Kasumi, standing on a see-through floating floor, with a diameter of 3 meters.
*SNAP*
He snaps his finger once more, and suddenly, a chunk of the ceiling belonging to a tall building appears below the Game Master. The chunk of ceiling is approximately 45 meters in diameter.
*WUUSSHHH*
The chunk of ceiling quickly falls towards Kasumi below.
*pant pant*
Kasumi enters her stance.
“Kasumi style.”
*ZAP ZRRRTTTT*
“FOUR-WAY THUNDER STORM!!”
*GRAAAAHHHKK GRAAAAHHHKKK*
Kasumi cuts the chunk of ceiling above into four smaller parts.
*GRAHK GRAHK GRAHK*
And they all fall around Kasumi, not touching her even a little bit. They do create dust in the air, however, creating a thick cloud of dust, concealing Kasumi entirely.
“Elegant bolt!”
From under the cover of the thick dust cloud, Kasumi shoots out a purple lightning bolt upwards towards the Game Master.
*ZRAAARRR*
The Game Master erected a spatial distortion barrier underneath to protect himself.
*BWOOOSSHHH*
But at the same time, Kasumi jumps above the Game Master from behind, with her katana ready.
“Kasumi style!”
“TCH!!”
“POWER CLEAVE!!”
*CTANG*
*ZRAAARRR*
The lightning bolt that Kasumi shot wasn’t going at the speed of lightning as it usually does. Kasumi slows down her lightning bolt so that she can corner the Game Master between herself and her lightning bolt.
The Game Master points his cane towards Kasumi and erects another spatial distortion barrier. He blocks both the lightning bolt from below and Kasumi’s katana from behind.
*ZRRRRTTT*
“Kasumi style!”
*!!!*
As Kasumi was still pushing her katana against the Game Master’s spatial distortion barrier, she activated her purple lightning on her katana.
“LIGHTNING EDGE!!”
*ZRAAARR ZRAAARR ZRAAARR ZRAAARR ZRAAARR ZRAAARR ZRAAARR*
Kasumi suddenly spins herself horizontally as she keeps swinging her lightning katana at the Game Master’s barrier over and over again.
*!*
The Game Master’s spatial barrier is being chipped away significantly after every strike.
“TCH!!”
*BLAAARRR*
The Game Master sent his spatial distortion barrier below to fly downwards and push her purple lightning towards the floor.
*ZRRRKKSSS*
The spatial distortion hits the floor, and space returns to normal on its own while the purple lightning dissipates. The Game Master points his left hand above Kasumi.
*!!*
And he creates yet another giant futuristic cannon floating one meter above her. Its barrel is aimed downwards, right at Kasumi.
*WUUNNGGG*
The cannon starts gathering energy into its barrel.
“(NOT GOOD!!)” thinks Kasumi.
*GRRRNNGG GRRNNNGGG*
Far away, Luna sees Kasumi fighting the Game Master. She’s shaking the bars of the cage with her hands subconsciously.
“(Kasumi-chan has been fighting nonstop inside this stupid maze. Why can’t she ever take a break??)”
“DAMMITTTT!!!”
*CRANG*
Luna hits the cage floor with her two fists out of frustration.
“(I want to help her. But I can’t. . . My Faith power is not suitable for combat. That’s what everyone told me over and over again upon hearing how it works. Once I lock eyes with anyone, they all lose. But how can I approach anyone dangerous, like the people from the Underworld? Is there anything I can do? What if sometimes in the future there is an enemy that even Quroe-san struggles to beat?)”
*CRANG*
“DAMMIT!!”
Luna hits the cage floor with her tiny fist once again.
“(Am I going to be like this forever? While Quroe-san and Kasumi-chan are fighting, am I going to be a burden every time?)”
“DAMMIITTT!!!”
“(I DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE THIS!! I DON’T WANNA ALWAYS BE THE LITTLE GIRL WHO NEEDS PROTECTION 24/7 EVERY TIME SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENS!! I WANNA FIGHT TOO! I WANNA FIGHT ALONGSIDE QUROE-SAN!! I WANNA FIGHT ALONGSIDE KASUMI-CHAN!! I WANNA STAND UP NEXT TO THEM BOTH EVERY TIME WE DEFEAT SOMEONE!! I DON’T WANT TO BE IN THE BACKGROUND HIDING LIKE A COWARD!! I WANT TO FIGHT!!)”
*CRANG*
“DAAAMMMMIIIITTTTT!!!”
“(I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIGHT!! I WANT TO FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTT!!!)”
*CRANG*
Claire has been observing Luna from outside the cage next to it. She was confused about why Luna was suddenly on all fours on the cage floor, occasionally hitting it.
“(What is this little girl doing?)”
She also glances over towards the unconscious Hana behind the cage.
“(At least she’s still out for good. . .)”
She looks again towards Luna.
*!!!*
She was both surprised and confused, looking at what Luna was doing.
*GRAHK*
Meanwhile, Kasumi has destroyed the Game Master’s spatial distortion barrier with her spinning attack.
“TCH!!”
*THUD*
Kasumi lands on the see-through floor, and she immediately swings her katana at his neck.
*SNAP*
*WUSH*
The Game Master vanishes, and Kasumi misses.
“(OH NO!!)”
The giant futuristic cannon floating above swings its barrel and aims towards Kasumi on its own. It has gathered enough energy, and it's ready to shoot Kasumi at close range.
“(WHAT SHOULD I DO?! I CAN’T POSSIBLY DODGE THAT AND GET OUT OF ITS RADIUS IN A SHORT TME!!)”
The Game Master appears 20 meters away from Kasumi. He creates another see-through floating floor in the air with the exact same size.
“SAY GOODBYE ONCE AGAIN, COLDHART-SAN!!”
The Game master smiles as he declares his finishing move towards Kasumi.
*!!!*
But suddenly, he feels that something is very wrong in the moment.
“(W-What is this feeling??)”
*DEG*
His heart skips a beat. Something weird is happening to his body.
“W-What is going on now?”
*BLAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR*
The giant futuristic cannon shot its giant energy beam downwards diagonally at Kasumi. Kasumi positions her katana to block the incoming energy beam while she activates her Vein armor.
*FLAP*
*!!!*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM*
And then the same giant explosion happens and consumes almost the entire room with it. The Game Master erected two barriers to protect himself and, separately, to protect Hana, Luna, and Claire on the floor.
*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
After 20 seconds, it leaves a very thick amount of smoke everywhere.
*SSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH*
“. . .”
Kasumi closes her eyes when the explosion hits her, but strangely, she doesn’t feel any part of her body being heated up by the explosion, given how close she was to the energy beam and the explosion afterwards.
*!*
Kasumi feels something strange. She was standing on the see-through floor that the Game Master created. But that floor was destroyed in the explosion, and now she feels like she just stays afloat in midair.
“(W-What am I feeling? My body’s position feels weird. What is this weird feeling against my skin?)”
She slowly opens her eyes.
*!*
Kasumi sees that her own body is held by a giant pitch black feather, coiling around her torso, and it keeps her from falling.
“H-HANA-SAN?!”
In front of Kasumi, the same angelic/demonic form that she donned in their battle has appeared yet again in front of her.
