episode_0042

The duel ended far more easily than expected.

As the curtain surrounding the dueling arena lifted, other students rushed over to the nameless senior who was pinned down by the Violets.

They were the group who had participated in extorting Levi earlier.

Since the duel was over, I unsummoned the clones. The senior was now free to move. His cronies helped him up.

“Duel concluded. Surrender confirmed. Violet Ruzilin, victory.”

The student council member declared.

It was all over.

However, it seemed impossible to expect a clean acceptance of the results from those guys.

This was because the seniors immediately protested to the student council members overseeing the match.

“This is a scam! Clones? Does that even make sense?”

“How can we win when they overwhelm us with numbers like that!”

Although they were trashy delinquents, I somewhat agreed with their opinion.

Even to me, it seemed too one-sided.

Despite their fierce protests, the student council member replied without changing his expression.

“As you should know, there are no restrictions on using unique abilities. We even had a brief moment earlier to disclose our respective abilities and strengths.”

“We didn’t know you could summon that many!”

“This duel is invalid! Invalid, I say!”

They thrashed wildly. The moment they accepted defeat, they would suffer humiliation, so this was a desperate struggle to refuse it somehow.

“So, are you unhappy? I didn’t make the rules. If you have a complaint, take it to the student council. As long as internal regulations aren’t violated, the outcome of a duel is absolute.”

“Ugh…!”

At the student council member’s declaration, they lost their words. Whatever the case, the name ‘Student Council’ seemed to be formidable after all.

A moment later, in a room off to one side of the dueling arena, an apology immediately commenced under the supervision of the student council member.

Levi glanced around, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“I-Is this… really okay?”

“If you’re uncomfortable, you can wait outside.”

Looking back now, it was a truly perverse request. However, just a moment ago, that guy had abruptly escalated to asking me to date him, causing me to react emotionally.

Since I had proposed it myself, I couldn’t back out. And this apology had its own purpose.

“So why did you accept such a condition!”

“I didn’t know I’d lose like this!”

“Damn it… My life… it’s ruined…”

Regardless of gender, they trembled with humiliation and began taking off their clothes. Dressed only in their underwear, they knelt down.

“Alright, now raise your heads and look at the camera.”

“Damn…”

“Repeat after me. ‘We apologize to Violet Ruzilin and Levi Schneider. We will never bully our juniors again.’”

“We… apologize to Violet Ruzilin and… Levi Schneider…! We will never bully our juniors again…! Ugh…!”

I filmed all of them struggling, kneeling, and begging.

Ugh, what a sight.

“Alright, now quickly get dressed. Hand over the money!”

It was time to receive the compensation.

I gestured to them, and the seniors reluctantly pulled out their wallets.

“Is this all?”

“You said to hand over everything we have, right? This is everything! Who carries a lot of cash around?”

“Hey! You have more money. Hand it over!”

As I was bickering with them, the student council member intervened.

“Hold on, first-year. You demanded ‘all the money they had.’ Is that right?”

“That’s right. I won! So shouldn’t I be able to ask for more?”

“When you filled out the duel agreement earlier, you didn’t specify how much you wanted. In this case, even if you win the duel, you can’t just take everything you want.”

“What? There was a rule like that? Then how much can I get?”

“Let’s see, according to regulations… for a simple cash request, not compensation for specific damages or destruction, the limit is about 500,000 credits per person.”

“Ugh.”

My spirits deflated. Unexpectedly, it wasn’t much money. I thought I could fleece them a bit, but that wasn’t allowed after all. While that amount isn’t small, it’s something I could quickly earn by diligently clearing dungeons.

They said they didn’t have the money immediately and would deposit it within three days.

I accepted. Anyway, the core objective was to receive an apology and secure a means to prevent recurrence.

After concluding the agreement, we prepared to leave the dueling arena.

To prevent them from doing anything foolish, I emphasized the apology video. Though it was truly a criminal act.

“If you ever think about bothering other people again or retaliating, know that I’ll leak this. Understood?”

“Ah… I understand. Please…”

-Ugh! That’s not a very pleasant video to watch. It’s disgusting.-

-Let’s just save it and bury it deep in some folder.-

As we stepped out of the dueling arena, they quickly scurried away.

They probably won’t be able to do anything strange for a while.

Levi hesitated, as if she had something to say.

“Um… over there, Violet…”

“Hmm?”

“Th-Thank you… for helping me…”

Levi expressed her gratitude to me.

Looking closely, she was a cute female student. She was a character I hadn’t seen in the game, but she had her own unique charm.

However, no matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t remember seeing a girl named ‘Levi Schneider’ in the main story of the game.

-Surely, she’s also…-

-Stop that ominous talk!-

A moment of ominous thought crossed my mind, but I shook it off. That incident, I didn’t know the exact date, but it was supposed to happen several years later.

Could she really still be at this school by then? Perhaps she might coincidentally be somewhere else.

Suddenly, the current school landscape and a ruined building covered in collapsed structures and vines overlapped in front of my eyes.

I shook my head to dispel the illusion.

Right, no matter what happened to the school, I was only going to be here for a year.

There’s no need to worry about the future.

“I-Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing! Oh, I’ll give all the money I received to you!”

“R-Really? Thank you!”

Anyway, that money wasn’t particularly important to me.

After parting ways with Levi midway, I returned to the dormitory.

Resting in my dorm, I reviewed the duel from earlier.

I talked with my other selves.

Everyone agreed that tricking those guys was well done, but there were also negative reactions.

-Winning is good, but did you really need to summon that many?-

-Exactly. Twenty people is a bit much. You used a lot of magic power too.-

Number 3, feeling embarrassed, tried to argue that winning was all that mattered, but couldn’t refute the argument that there’s no need to use a knife for slaughtering a cow to catch a chicken [a proverb about using excessive force for a small task].

My current stats were as follows.

Name: Violet Dunhind Ruzilin Title: Novice Duelist Status: Polaris Academy First-Year Student Lv: 18 HP: 3000/3000 MP: 7500/16000 Unique Ability: Lv2 Lv2 Synchronization Aptitude: * Backstab – Damage increases when attacking an enemy from behind. * Weakness Disdain – Damage increases when attacking an opponent with low HP. …

Through steady hunting and growth, my magic power had consistently increased. I would soon reach Level 20.

Just looking at this duel, if I had the leisure, I could quickly summon around 20 people at once. Since unsummoning returns half the magic power, I wasn’t short on magic power itself.

The level of Collective Consciousness had also risen.

It was presumed to be the effect of the clones conversing and sharing memories and minds for a long time. It was ambiguous to express exactly what had improved. It didn’t seem like our individual intellectual levels had increased.

It was more like the speed of sharing and discussion had become a bit faster.

However, the problem we pointed out lay elsewhere.

-The problem is, we don’t know the exact levels of other people in this game.-

-You showed too much at once!-

-Even the dungeon team enters by riding in the back of a dump truck.-

Other selves, who were waiting in the Violet network after being unsummoned, also grumbled.

They weren’t wrong. There would be no shortage of duels in the future, and if things continued like this, too many people might refuse to duel. It was necessary to properly conceal my strength.

-I’ve roughly grasped the students’ levels. Unless they’re quite strong, five clones should be enough to subdue them.-

-Alright, I’ll only summon that many from now on.-

The discussion concluded with a consensus to use power appropriately.

Meanwhile, while Number 3 finished the duel, the other Violets were diligently scouting inside the ventilation shafts.

“It’s different from when we were exploring the research facility building. Why is it so vast here?”

The current positions of the Violets circling within the ventilation shafts, to put it simply from the perspective of the other Violets on the surface, were at a depth similar to a shallow subway, and the one that moved furthest was several hundred meters away from the suspicious building.

There was one reason why I could grasp this: I could instinctively sense the locations of my other selves.

As the Collective Consciousness level rose, its accuracy increased further. In my current state, I could pinpoint more specific locations based on the senses of my other selves.

It was a form of positional tracking navigation utilizing shared consciousness and senses.

-For those resting, please find some information about this school’s underground facilities.-

The Violets who were lounging around in the central dormitory began rummaging through books and documents. Several of them scrambled to search through printed materials, books, and promotional brochures.

-Ah, I just found something.-

Soon after, Number 54 began to explain. According to the brief documents, it was like this.

The site where Polaris Academy is located was reportedly used as a military base during a past interdimensional invasion. Because of this, large and small bomb shelters were constructed underground.

Just looking at the diagrams, it seemed like catacombs or Viet Cong tunnels.

-However, it says that they are all currently closed for safety reasons.-

-It seems like they did expansion work based on this place.-

Come to think of it, Professor Albert mentioned that someone was expelled for protesting financial deterioration.

It seems there were other reasons that burdened the school’s finances besides the sudden mergers and reckless scholarship support.

-We don’t know yet. For now, keep drawing the map.-

The tasks to be done keep piling up.

***

Everyone, busy with various tasks, fell asleep.

I was in a nightmare again.

The reason I realized it was a nightmare was simple.

This lifeless space was all too familiar.

The situations were always different. Sometimes ninjas burst in during an internet broadcast, and sometimes monsters chased me.

“Again…”

But this nightmare wouldn’t disappear. Like a parasite, it burrowed into me, tormenting and gnawing at me.

It’s tiresome, so tiresome.

What kind of pain would visit me this time?

This time, a one-eyed monster chased me. When it opened its mouth wide, a mountain of razor-sharp teeth was visible.

Its eerie foreclaws flashed.

I screamed and ran away.

“Don’t come! Go away!”

In reality, I could confidently face it, wielding weapons as if commanding an army.

Because we were always together.

But in my dream, I was always alone.

My other selves were probably having this dream too. Even knowing it was a dream, I was constantly helpless.

I ran until my breath gave out.

I prayed for it to stop chasing me.

After running for a long time, I hid behind a wall and curled up.

“Please go away…”

I held my breath and waited, but then the wall collapsed.

The monster picked me up.

“Nooooo!!!”

I struggled.

It pressed its sharp claws against my head.

I knew. This monster was about to pluck out my brain and devour it.

“It hurts! Stop it!”

It dug into my head with its claws.

My head opened. My skull was torn away. Blood flowed. I cried.

No.

Please stop.

It hurts.

I helplessly sobbed again.

It hurts. Pain was always with me.

No.

Please just end it now.

…Ms. Ruzilin is like this again today. What could she have been through…?

Suddenly, the surroundings were illuminated by a green light.

Ah, I had forgotten.

Nightmares were always with me. But their endings had changed at some point.

At the end of this torment, a warm light enveloped me, erasing and eliminating the things that tormented me.

…I don’t know what kind of nightmare it is, but I hope you find peace.

Someone’s worried voice also reached me. As I received this warmth and light, I felt a sense of longing.

It was a cozy feeling, like childhood memories, or a mother’s embrace.

It’s warm.

I soared towards the light.

I surged upwards…

I slowly opened my eyes.

“Ugh…”

Number 5, whom I was hugging as a pillow, also opened her eyes at the same time. Simultaneously, our other selves in different locations also woke up.

Seeing the dim light outside the window, it was dawn. There was still about an hour until wake-up time.

-What is it?-

-A strange feeling on my head…-

But someone was stroking my head in the early hours of the morning. It was a strange sensation.

Slowly turning my head, I saw a woman’s head with long, flowing hair.

The sudden situation sent shivers down my spine.

I was lying on the second bunk of the bed. How was a person’s head here?

The Violet network, agitated by fear, rapidly processed and came up with an answer.

A woman’s head on the second bunk.

The hair was white.

The current time was dawn.

This was…

-The identity of that thing is…-

-A ghost! We have to attack!-

“Violet Attack!”

I shouted and forcefully pushed the ghost’s head.

“A high-pitched scream!”

The pale woman’s head tumbled to the floor. A thud was heard.

Physical exorcism was effective.

“Justice has triumphed!”

We declared victory.

But something felt off.

Suddenly, a strange intuition struck me. That sound I just heard, it wasn’t a scream, was it?

-Ghosts can scream too.-

-Even so! What was that thudding sound earlier? Do ghosts have mass?-

I’d heard of them fixing their position on the horizon, but do spiritual beings really get affected by gravity?

“Sniffle…”

More importantly, could a ghost really be sobbing from pain?

No, more than that, the face, that appearance, was very familiar.

Both of us poked our heads out from the bed.

The moment I turned on my smartphone’s flashlight and shone it on the floor, I realized what kind of accident I had caused.

On the floor beneath the bed, Daphne was lying down, clutching the back of her head with a tear-stained face.

“Ow, ow… My head…”

“Oh? It wasn’t a ghost, it was Daphne?”

“Ms. Ruzilin… what on earth was that all of a sudden!”

Daphne looked quite hurt. She had been hanging from the top bunk and then fell right over.

I didn’t cause that, did I?

“A-Are you okay?”

“…Ms. Ruzilin!”

I’m screwed.