56 Chapter – 51 A Game of Death? Nah… Not Interested!

Shing!!!

Thud!

As the menacing, cold, and sharp edge of the Black Blade cleaved the body cleanly from the center; a vertical line of blood appeared marking the division, and soon the body–now divided into left and right parts–collapsed on the floor, dying the floor red with blood.

"Ahhhhhhh… what the hell?! She… she killed him!" someone shouted in panic.

Up until a moment ago, Iris was panicking and hyperventilating, but the very next moment, the moment the rhyme playing through the Announcement speakers stopped, she killed an unknown person right in front of the crowd at the Arcade.

Having witnessed an innocent person die right before their very eyes, everyone at the arcade was stunned and then started to panic.

Since Iris was still enveloped in a hug by Nova, someone felt that perhaps the boy didn't realize what the woman he was caring for had done, and how dangerous she was, so they tried to help out Nova, "Boy… get… get away from her… she is a murderer…! Someone call the police, there's a murderer on the loose!"

Someone else answered, "I am trying to call the police, but the line is not connecting… it seems there's some sort of network jammer affecting the signal!"

"Damn it… is this a planned terrorist attack or something??"

At this time, someone else's attention shifted from Iris to the large Black Halberd–the axe blade of which was stained with the blood of the person killed earlier–in her hand in disbelief, "How… how did that thing suddenly appear in her hand?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it… the girl did not have that weapon in her hand until a moment ago… so how?!"

Everyone was more panicked now. People tend to fear things they do not understand, and they do not understand how the Halberd suddenly appeared in the girl's hand, and why she used it to kill an innocent. Japanese are quite superstitious in nature, so is evident from their mythology and the existence of countless Yōkai in their culture, so they did what they normally do to define things they do not understand with logic, and labeled Iris as some sort of Yōkai, "She… she must be a Yōkai…!"

"But… but she clearly looks like a foreigner… a European, how can a Yōkai look like a European?!"

"That… uh… Etto… I know, she must be a foreigner Yōkai… no a European Yōkai!"

"A European Yōkai!?"

"Does Europe have Yōkais?"

Hearing the nonsense spoken by the people in the Arcade, Nova chuckled to himself and whispered in Iris' ears, "Everyone here has started to consider you to be a European Yōkai, is that the case?"

The girl blushed a little, as she responded, "I don't know…" In fact, she truly isn't sure. What would you consider a Human being born with a Sacred Gear? In her opinion, she is not a simple human being, after all, humans are not meant to have the kind of power she possesses, at least, in her opinion, they don't, as such, would it really be wrong to call her a European Yōkai?

Perhaps Nova understood the thought going through her mind, and spoke with a light smile, "Don't worry… you aren't one…" then while continuing to caress Iris' back, and asked, "Anyway, how are you feeling now…"

Iris nodded lightly in response, "I think I will be alright, for now…"

"In that case, I am releasing you…" said Nova, and asked, "Is that fine?"

Iris bobbed her head, "Umm."

With that, Nova once more caressed Iris's back, then separated from her to stand up, and stretched out his hand to Iris for support.

The ashen-haired girl suddenly felt a sense of loss the moment Nova's warmth enveloping her disappeared, however, she knew that for now, she needed to focus on more important matters, so curbing her inner fears, she grabbed Nova's hand and stood up, though her legs were still somewhat weak and had to rely on the pole of her Halberd for support.

As Nova and Iris stood up, the crowd in the room became more afraid and ran out of the Arcade while shouting many curses, they feared becoming the next victim of the girl with the Halberd.

Honestly, Nova did not care about the common folks, and while Iris did seem to care about them, she was not in the right state to be able to pay any attention to them. As such, almost everyone was about to run out of the Arcade leaving behind only Nova and Iris, but how could Nova allow such a thing to happen? They might not be the culprit behind whatever is happening, but they have witnessed things they shouldn't, so they can't be allowed to roam freely for the time being.

So, to deal with the common-folk problem, Nova spread out both his hands and chanted a spell, [Chrono Stasis Grigora]. Immediately, a large magic circle on the floor that covered almost the entire arcade, and along with the Magic Circle, dozens of bluish bubble-like spheres with rings around their orbit with Roman numerals on them appeared around Nova, without moving his hands, Nova telepathically controlled the bubble-like spheres and directed them at the panicked crowd.

The next instant, the entire panicked crowd was frozen in their place as they were trapped inside the Stasis Spheres.

Having dealt with the crowd, Nova shook his head, then turned around to look at the corpse of the person Iris killed earlier. The moment she killed the person, Nova's back was facing the person, so he did not have any idea of why she killed the person, and who the person she murdered, he needed to get some idea.

Observing the corpse, Nova frowned, "The Janitor?"

From the clothes worn by the corpse, it's safe to say that either the person was a Janitor, or they were disguised as the Janitor, regardless, he did not know the person, and turned to Iris, "Do you know him?"

The ashen-grey-haired girl shook her head, "No… this is the first time I have seen this face…"

Nova couldn't help but feel the weirdness of the situation, "Don't know him at all?" There was something odd about the situation… if neither of them knew the person, then why was he trying to attack them?

That's right, the reason Iris killed the Janitor is because the Janitor was trying to attack them, but Nova did not know the reason why he would try to attack them. The Janitor is neither a victim of the 'Heavenly of Aloha Incident' nor is he a traitor of Grigori or an exiled member of the Five Principled Clans.

He once again looked at the body of the dead Janitor and chanted a spell as a Magic Circle appeared on his right hand, [Soul Echo]. Nova passed his Demonic Energy through the corpse and tried to 'see' the memories of the Janitor before his death.

[Soul Echo] is a spell belonging to the [Soul] trait that allows Nova to see the memories of the deceased, the condition for casting is that the 'subject' that is the corpse must be fresh, that is to say, the person must have died 'just now,' otherwise, traces of soul disappear from the corpse and reading soul becomes impossible.

As Nova cast the [Soul Echo], his eyes glowed in a faint white light, however, no memories flashed through his mind and his eyes returned back to normal, making him frown, "Strange…"

Iris asked, "What happened?" She had watched Nova cast the spell, and while she did not understand the spell he had cast, she did understand that it seemed important.

"I tried reading this human's memories to figure out why he tried to attack us… but… I was unable to see any memories… it's as if… it's as if…!" suddenly Nova's eyes widened as a realization dawned on him, and he murmured to himself, "I see, it makes sense…"

Iris asked quickly, "What is it?"

Nova dusted off his hands and stood up while explaining, "You aren't responsible for his death. Even before you cleaved his body in half with that Halberd of yours, this guy has been dead for quite a while… meaning… someone was controlling him to attack us…" then he stared at Iris, and murmured, "The question is, who is this person?"

While Nova did not explicitly question her, the way he looked at her while posing this doubt, it appear as if he was questioning her. In response, Iris' body trembled slightly and she bit her lower lip in hesitation. It's not as though she wants to hide it, it's just that she is afraid… just thinking about that person, her entire body trembles in dread, so how can she speak about him so casually?

Perhaps Nova understood the fear in Iris' heart, and he did not push her. With a gentle smile, he calmed her nerves, "It's alright, no need to push yourself unnecessarily… I think I might have an idea as to where we can find this person… whoever they are."

Iris clenched her fist and bit her lip in frustration, 'Despite all the strength I have gained, to this day, I am still that pathetic child! Am I always going to remain this pathetic? Fearing to even speak of his name? Dreading to even think about him!?' She did not want to be like that, she wanted to change, she had to change herself.

Unaware of the emotions in Iris' heart, Nova continued to analyze the situation, "Though I am also curious as to how this person–whoever they are–was able to control a corpse to such an extent… Since I did not sense traces of Magic or demonic power from the corpse of the Janitor, it has to be some kind of Sacred Gear, which one to be exact… we have to figure that out…"

Just as Nova was trying to analyze other people's abilities, suddenly, Iris mustered up the courage to speak two words, "Threads… Puppet."

"Huh?" Nova was surprised and looked at Iris. Hearing of Devils is far sharper and superior compared to humans, therefore, even if Iris had spoken the words very lightly, he caught them, and asked, "Threads? Puppet? You mean that person was controlling this corpse like a puppet via threads?"

Iris nodded lightly, "Umm…"

"I see… so it's either a Sacred Gear that grants such an ability, or it's some sort of weird power…" mumbled Nova with a thoughtful expression.

"Sacred Gear…" once again, Iris gave the answer Nova was looking for.

"Understood…" Just as Nova nodded, suddenly, the announcement speaker once again started to buzz, [Ahem Ahem… Mic testing… One… two… three… four… yes… it seems to be working… perfect!] Different from last time, this time it was the voice of an elderly man.

Nova and Iris focused on the speaker, as the person on the other end continued, [Welcome citizens of Japan to this Game of Death… I am your host, Bloodman, and you are playing Game of Death.]

Nova frowned, "Bloodman? Game of Death?!"

The announcement continued, [Before announcing the rules, let's make a few things clear… By now, everyone in the Shinjuku Mall should already have some idea of their current situation… Yes, the entry and exit are restricted, it is impossible to go out of the mall alive unless the participants come out of the game alive. Anyone who tried to go out without having completed the game has died… their corpses are hanging on the Christmas Tree… if you don't believe it, you can take a look, oh, and we also have presents beside the Christmas tree that would be very helpful during the game, do check them out, the ones who find those presents first gets to keep them during the game.]

"It seems this guy is nuts…" mumbled Nova.

Iris couldn't agree more, "Hmm…" It's just that she felt such behavior synonymous with that person, and she did not want to think about him.

[Now that we have made everything clear, let's get down to rules… Rules are very simple because there is only one Rule, and that is 'be brutal.' That's right… BE BRUTAL! Killing will certainly earn points, but killing while torturing will have more points… Killing while Raping will have even more points!

You have one hour… currently, there are seven hundred alive individuals inside the mall, within the next hour, this count should be reduced to seventy, otherwise, everyone will be killed and hung to the walls as decorations.]

"This guy…" Earlier Nova considered the other person to be nuts, but now that evaluation has changed into sadistic and insane. Even a Devil as devilish as him hasn't thought of playing such a game…

[And since this is a Game, we will also have a Secret Quest with Bonus Points… The secret Quest is to hunt down a woman named Iris Gaule, she is present somewhere within the Shinjuku Mall. Any brutality toward her will be rewarded with an instant Double Bonus Point, what's more, more than one person can get that Double Bonus Point Reward!]

Nova turned to the ashen-haired girl standing beside him, "Iris?"

She was trembling with tears flowing down her eyes, and all she could speak was, "Why?"

Nova sighed and wiped the tears from the girl's cheeks, "We have a lot to talk about after everything here is settled, and this time you will give me all the answers I want…"

"Nova…" Iris mumbled lightly.

Nova smiled as his expression turned serious, "For now, let's get done with this stupid Bloodman and his stupid game…"

Iris hesitated, and said, "According to the rules, brutality toward me will be awarded double bonus points… if… if it's you, then, I don't mind… so, please… do whatever you must and save yourse–!"

BONK!

Before Iris could finish, she was bonked in the head by Nova, and couldn't help but ask, "What was that for?"

"It's for being selfish from your master, and making unreasonable requests from him… a servant must never be selfish toward their master… only the master is allowed to be selfish, understand?" answered Nova while peering into her eyes.

Not understanding what Nova was talking about, Iris nodded, "Un… understood…"

"Good…!" Nova praised the girl. A servant must also be praised whenever necessary.

"Than… thank you… wait!" suddenly Iris realized the problem, "Then how are you going to clear the game? Don't tell me you'd be brutal toward the others?"

"While that is indeed an option as per the rules of this stupid game, I have something better in mind…" answered Nova.

Iris got curious, "What?"

Nova shrugged, "Just don't play the game… Whoever this 'Bloodman' is, he started the game… but did he ask my permission? Did he ask me whether I wanted to play his stupid game? No! So, why would I play this stupid game? I am not interested… besides, how dare he use my future peerage member for his stupid game?! If anyone I am going to be brutal on, it's going to be him!"

"Uhh… that…" mumbled Iris, it made sense, how could she not have thought about it?

While Iris was feeling embarrassed, Nova suddenly swept her off her feet and held her in a princess carry, "Uwaaaa! Wha-what are you doing, Nova?"

Looking at the embarrassed Iris as he carried her in his arms, Nova answered with a chuckle, "Just trying to end this fiasco as quickly as possible so that we can complete the shopping and go back to the apartment… now hold tight…" Then without giving her a chance to react, he chanted a time spell, [Chrono Aleph-X], then disappeared from the Arcade along with Iris and her Black Halberd.

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Announcement Room, Shinjuku Shopping Mall

"Where did the two of them go?" an old man murmured doubtfully as he looked at other Screens before him, but couldn't find either of their figures on any of the screens.

"Did they use a Magic Circle to escape? No, how is that possible… I deployed the Magic Circle Augusta gave me, so they shouldn't have escaped via a magic circle, they should be present within the Mall… the question is… but where?"

Just as the old man was starting to have doubts, suddenly, a voice came from behind him, "How about you look behind, old man!?"

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