Asagiri didn’t answer, and neither did Yuuki Asuna.
Both of their gazes drifted past the panting man in the doorway, locking onto the unfortunate soul who had just been violently hurled into the corridor.
The victim collided heavily with the blood-faced orderly.
Instantly, the body went limp, sliding down the wall to the cold floor.
A jagged, horrifyingly deep gash stretched across the victim’s neck, pumping a continuous stream of crimson onto the tiles.
The hulking orderly just stood there, tilting its grotesque head in visible confusion, seemingly unable to process what had just occurred.
A second later, Asagiri and Asuna’s eyes shifted to the weapon in the surviving man’s grip—a kitchen knife, dripping with fresh gore.
“See?
I told you,” Asagiri murmured, a faint, deadpan smile tugging at his lips as he leaned closer to Asuna.
“I didn’t expect to run into other Players here.
And to think they’d actually use a fellow wardmate as a meat shield.
That guy’s neck was practically severed.
Just how hard did he swing?
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Truly terrifying.”
Asuna couldn’t force a single word past her lips.
Up until today, she had been a sheltered young lady from a prestigious family.
She had never witnessed anything remotely this barbaric.
What had just played out right in front of her…
was without a doubt, murder.
Why?
How could Asagiri remain so utterly composed?
How did he have the twisted presence of mind to crack jokes over a bleeding corpse?
Did this guy lack the capacity for fear?
“Alright.” Asagiri reached out, his hand gently resting on Asuna’s slightly trembling shoulder.
His smile didn’t waver.
“We should get moving.
The clear time limit is almost up.”
Asuna took a sharp, shuddering breath, forcing her racing heart to steady.
“Okay…”
Just as they turned to leave, the man clutching the kitchen knife finally snapped out of his adrenaline haze.
A vicious, cornered-animal snarl twisted his features.
He gritted his teeth and hissed, “You saw everything…
so, you aren’t going anywhere!”
Hearing the threat, Asagiri didn’t show a shred of panic or vigilance.
Instead, his eyes lit up with the sheer, unadulterated joy of an angler hooking a prize fish.
“I didn’t realize you were such a ruthless guy,” Asagiri said, his tone dripping with dark amusement.
“Taking things all the way to the bitter end, huh?
Planning to silence the two witnesses as well?
Now that’s a bit interesting.”
The knife-wielding murderer froze for a split second, utterly baffled.
Why wasn’t this kid terrified?
‘Is he insane?
Or does he think I won’t actually do it?’
The man quickly sized them up.
Neither the boy nor the cute girl appeared to be carrying weapons.
The girl was a non-issue; she posed zero threat.
He just needed to gut the boy first…
“Go to hell!!”
The crushing pressure of the death game, combined with the high of his first kill, shattered whatever remained of the man’s sanity.
He raised the bloody kitchen knife high above his head, his face contorted into a mask of pure malice, and charged straight at Asagiri.
Facing the frenzied sprint of a murderer, Asagiri didn’t even flinch.
He just stood there, hands relaxed, that same mocking smile plastered on his face.
He casually glanced sideways at the girl beside him.
“Yuuki-san, if you don’t do anything, he’s going to cut me.”
The man was already closing the distance, the cold steel of the bloodstained knife swinging down toward Asagiri’s face.
Without a second to think, Asuna’s survival instincts hijacked her body.
“Blessing of the Wind.”
The moment the skill name left her lips, a sudden, weightless sensation washed over her.
A slender, gleaming rapier materialized in her grasp.
With a blur of blinding speed and elegant precision, she lunged forward, driving the tip of the blade straight through the wrist of the man’s raised arm.
Clang.
The kitchen knife hit the floorboards with a sharp metallic ring, instantly followed by an agonizing shriek.
“Gaaah!!
My—my hand!”
Asuna withdrew her rapier in a smooth, practiced motion.
She stared down at the man writhing on the floor, clutching his bleeding wrist.
There was no pity in her chestnut eyes.
She turned to look at Asagiri, who was still smiling like he was watching a comedy sketch.
She let out a heavy sigh.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Asagiri admitted, completely unashamed.
“Even if I hadn’t received the clear reward yet, there’s no way a scrub with a kitchen knife could kill me.
I just wanted to force your hand.
Things like this are going to happen constantly from now on.
Getting you used to the violence early prevents you from holding our team back later with some saintly complex about not hurting people.”
Asuna let out a soft, haughty scoff.
She raised her left hand, elegantly sweeping a lock of chestnut hair behind her ear, and spoke with forced flatness.
“Hmph.
Someone was actively trying to attack me.
Did you really think I would just sit back and wait to die because I was afraid of hurting them?
I wouldn’t be that foolish.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you stab him through the throat?
Don’t try to tell me you were worried about me getting nicked by the knife.
With the speed you just pulled off, you could have easily pinned his wrist and pierced his windpipe in the same breath.
You talk a big game, Yuuki-san, but you still can’t take a life, can you?”
Asuna stiffened, silent for a few agonizing seconds before she forced out a defensive retort.
“I…
isn’t that completely normal?!
It’s murder!
Who could just take a life without a second of hesitation?
You keep lecturing me, but you couldn’t do it either, right?!”
Asagiri looked at her as if she had just told the world’s worst joke.
“What are you talking about?
I absolutely can.
Without a single shred of hesitation.” He stretched his neck, his tone shifting into something far darker.
“Since you’ve familiarized yourself with your ability…
it’s my turn to test mine.”
A heavy, pitch-black pistol materialized in Asagiri’s grip.
The very next second, he executed a motion that made Asuna’s pupils shrink to pinpricks of absolute horror.
Instead of aiming the muzzle at the bleeding man on the floor, Asagiri raised the heavy firearm and pressed the cold steel barrel directly against his own temple.
His index finger curled around the trigger.
“What are you do—”
Before Asuna could scream, Asagiri’s dark eyes suddenly ignited with a piercing, unnatural golden light.
He pulled the trigger without a flicker of hesitation.
“Persona…”
“Demi-Fiend.”
The gun didn’t fire a bullet.
Instead, the moment the trigger snapped, a massive, two-meter-tall humanoid entity violently tore its way into reality behind him.
It was pitch-black, entirely faceless, and covered in a network of eerie, pulsating red tattoos that cast a sinister glow across the dim corridor.
‘Is this…
the so-called Persona?’
Watching the towering Demi-Fiend manifest, Asuna realized Asagiri hadn’t been trying to blow his own brains out.
The gun that fired no bullets, the mock execution—it was all a psychological trigger, a prerequisite for summoning his power.
But then, Asuna noticed something else.
The blood-faced orderly—the hulking, terrifying monster that had been standing motionless at the far end of the hall—actually took several staggering steps backward the second the Demi-Fiend appeared.
Its massive frame was visibly trembling.
This grotesque creature, a literal nightmare to any normal human…
was actually cowering in fear.
[Inorin’s Note:
Hey guys, hope you’re enjoying the novel!
Hate waiting for updates and cliffhangers?