Chapter 45

In the days that followed, everything was rather peaceful. The Knight Dominion, which had suffered significant losses in the battle against the Box-type Calamity, Fia, showed no reaction. This was probably because they had lost important Calamity Tools and combat personnel, and needed time to recover. Other organizations seemed to have no news of Xunxin's presence here, after all, very few people knew what Xunxin looked like. Although Xunxin had once attacked the Knight Dominion, the destruction of their headquarters was considered a disgrace and was kept as a top-secret matter, not spreading to the outside. As a result, Xunxin enjoyed a few days of leisure. His spatial abilities made significant breakthroughs during these days, with years of accumulation finally bursting forth. Now, Xunxin's spatial abilities had reached the Seven-Heart level, granting him the ability to form protective barriers using spatial distortion. His other spatial abilities also saw considerable improvement. Additionally, Fia now had a new name, Feea-Cuberic, given by Yatsuki. However, Xunxin suspected that Yatsuki had made a spelling mistake, leading to this peculiar surname. On Fia's first day of school, Xunxin's lazy time was finally interrupted by a series of urgent phone rings.

"Hello, this is the Amano Tofu Shop. How may I assist you?" Seeing Xunxin being lazy, Yatsuki had to pick up the phone herself, while Xunxin lay on the desk, eavesdropping.

"President Gabriel... I understand, I'll have Xunxin go." After the call, Yatsuki put down the phone and turned to Xunxin.

"Xunxin, it's a request from the principal of Daishuu Private High School, Mr. Gabriel. The content is to find a missing doll, a human-like Western-style doll." Despite it being a request, Xunxin remained lazily sprawled on the table, looking half-asleep as he gazed at Yatsuki.

"Gabriel, huh... That guy finally had some luck and got a real Calamity Tool, but he still let it escape... Are all Lancers really that unlucky?" Xunxin shook his head in exasperation, slightly lifting his body.

"But according to the original story, Fia and the others shouldn't have much trouble dealing with this. Saveret's combat strength isn't high, and this request..."

"You just want to be lazy, Xunxin. If something unexpected happens, you'll be the one crying. You know Gabriel is a Lancer, but what kind of consequences can E luck bring..." Yatsuki rudely interrupted Xunxin, who had no choice but to stand up. A white light flashed over him, and his signature light blue overcoat appeared. Spatial coordinate movement and spatial replacement, the two secondary abilities he gained at the Seven-Heart level, were quite useful for changing clothes.

"Alright, alright, we'll take this request..."

The scene shifted to the principal's office of Daishuu Private High School.

It was quite common for people entering this place to feel dizzy. There were two reasons for this. One was the large desk and the guest sofa set, and the other was the opulence of the collection, which could easily make one mistake this place for something other than a school. Thousands of bizarrely styled items collected by Gabriel from around the world were displayed in the principal's office, causing a dizzying effect. Now, Xunxin and Gabriel, wearing a gas mask, were facing each other across the desk.

"I didn't expect you to actually ask me for help, Gabriel." Xunxin watched as Gabriel, through a mechanism in his mask, sipped tea with a straw, his eyes twitching involuntarily.

"Well... Xunxin, you don't have much to do anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem to help out the Yatsukis, right?" Despite the questioning tone, his voice was assertive, as he was once the second-in-command of the Dragonhead Corps and was well-informed about various matters.

"But the Yatsukis should be able to handle this without much trouble, and the reward for this request isn't low."

"Cough, don't worry about that, Xunxin." Gabriel then took out a stack of photos. "These are photos of Fia and Kotoha during their physical exams, taken with the school's cameras. They're only in their underwear."

"Cough, since you're being so sincere, I won't be polite. O(∩_∩)O~" Xunxin took the photos, and the two shared a knowing smile before being beaten up by Yatsuki with her sword...

A few hours later.

"The Yatsukis' destructive power is really impressive, the entire room is in shambles." Since Fia and the others had already clashed with Saveret once, Xunxin arrived at the scene—the school's uniform room. The uniform room still bore the marks of the battle, with countless doll fragments scattered on the ground. Some cuts were very smooth, likely made by Kotoha's sword energy. Others looked as if they had been torn by a beast's teeth, probably destroyed by Fia's Eleventh Mechanism, the Rupture Wave Mountain Form 'Shark's Teeth.' Xunxin searched but found nothing useful.

"Well, since there's nothing useful, I might as well go find Haruaki and the others." Just as Xunxin thought this, a sudden warning from his energy detection system alerted him to an unprecedentedly strong reaction.

"What is this..."

'Contractor, your world is under threat from an unknown entity. Please locate it as soon as possible. The reward will depend on the situation. Note that this unknown enemy is extremely dangerous, currently at the initial Seven-Heart level.' The Infinite Heart also sent a mission as soon as Xunxin sensed the anomaly.

'The target of this mission is highly likely to be a collapse entity relative to infinity. Be cautious, as the opponent may have special abilities. Remember to be careful, and if necessary, abandon the mission and return to the Infinite Heart.'

"This is troublesome..."

A few minutes before Xunxin received the message.

Saveret, now free, approached Hoshizuki with the hesitant steps of a doll. Hoshizuki sat on the ground, her face tear-streaked.

"Saveret?"

The other did not respond, only kneeling before Hoshizuki. Her hair obscured her face, making it impossible to see her expression. She silently embraced Hoshizuki's head.

"—I won't let you go again."

"Okay."

"Before, when I embraced you, it was due to the curse and my own feelings. So I embraced you. But because of that, when the killing organ activated—when I escaped from the room, I thought I might never be able to embrace you again. How sad that was."

"Ah, I see!"

"But now, even though I embrace you, I won't let you die. Because I want you to stay by my side."

"You're also by my side."

Hoshizuki tightly hugged Saveret.

Haruaki, watching the small figures, felt moved but still hit the head of the person next to him.

"You, what are you doing all of a sudden? I'll curse you!"

"I have a lot to say, but I don't know how to express it, so I'll just hit you first."

"You can't express it. That's understandable. That person can't control the killing organ with their will—just like Hoshizuki said, if it goes all out, it will chase her relentlessly. Seeing Hoshizuki like this, the curse in my heart was stirred."

The purpose of this was to make Hoshizuki cry and to make Saveret believe it was necessary. At that moment, Hoshizuki wouldn't have heard anything. She wouldn't have noticed Fia's true intentions—good-natured people would have panicked and tried to stop the plan, or our poor acting would have been exposed. So, it was necessary to keep it a secret from the good-natured person.

"I was quite worried until I found out your true intentions. You were just like your old self."

"But you still believed in me, didn't you?"

Fia smiled in response. Her smile was almost unfair.

"Well, don't do such obvious emotional manipulation anymore. Seriously, you could have let me play the bad guy."

"I'm a torture device. I'm used to being hated."

Fia looked into the distance, and Haruaki gave her another, much lighter, hit on the head.

Fia didn't argue. Just as things seemed to be settled, a wave of fear swept over everyone present.

"Haruaki, be careful, something extremely powerful is approaching." Hearing Kotoha's warning, Haruaki picked up Kotoha, who had transformed into a sword. Fia generated the Nineteenth Mechanism, the Spiral Form 'Human Piercer,' and even the exhausted Saveret summoned several dolls to stand guard.

A black, mud-like substance, enveloped in a dark mist, tore through the space and landed on the ground. It was about a few hundred liters in volume, continuously writhing on the ground. Sensing the presence of Haruaki and the others, the black mud began to contract and gather, forming a dark human shape.

"What is this?"

Fia's voice was filled with panic. The black mud emitted a sense of destruction and madness, and even approaching it was terrifying.

Saveret couldn't withstand the aura and several dolls quickly pounced on the mud-formed human. Unexpectedly, the mud human raised its right hand, and a katana, identical to Kotoha but deep black, appeared before everyone. With just one slash, the dolls were reduced to ashes and vanished into nothingness.

"Kotoha!"

"Right, we can't let this dangerous thing escape. The Cross Kill won't work on it, so..."

Haruaki, with incredible speed, rushed to the mud human and drew Muramasa.

"Cross Kill."

The ultra-high-speed sword draw, combined with Muramasa's absolute destructive power, shattered the mud sword into pieces. However, the mud human simply raised its hand, and the mud sword reformed.

"Haah!"

Fia took the opportunity to plunge the Human Piercer into the mud human's body. The high-speed drill created a transparent hole in the mud human. If it were a normal person, such an attack would have been fatal, but they were facing one of the most terrifying entities in the infinite worlds. Even at the grunt level, the mud human's regenerative ability was unimaginable. Fia pulled out the drill, and the wound healed within seconds.

The mud human wasn't one to take hits without retaliating. With a single strike of the black katana, Fia was sent flying, and her Human Piercer was shattered into countless pieces. The mud human then swung the katana at Haruaki, and the black mud sword extended like a whip, sending Haruaki flying over ten meters away.

"What is this monster..."

Fia stood up, transforming into the Twenty-Second Mechanism, the Needle Ball Form 'Star Rod,' and struck the mud human, shattering it. However, the mud human reformed within seconds.

Just as everyone was at a loss, a voice came from above.

"Converge magic, Master Spark." A rainbow-colored magic stream instantly engulfed the mud human, vaporizing the ground and creating a shockwave that threw Haruaki and the others into the air.

"Is that the target of this mission?"

'Contractor, this entity is a Mind-Killer, capable of erasing consciousness. Note that it has a strong desire to destroy Infinite Heart contractors. Please be cautious...'

PS: Main mission activated. Reviews, recommendations, and collections are appreciated.

PS2: It seems that Lancers are always unlucky. Gabriel's former lance-wielding girl had to stab herself every time she used her lance, and after retiring, every Calamity Tool she bought was fake. It's as if all the luck of Lancers was sucked away by Zhao Yun. Seven times in and out of Changban, always covering the retreat, and somehow never dying, living a long life. That's EX-level luck.

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