A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

Page 109

"I've lost so much money, I've lost so much money..."

Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga's exaggerated expression of heartbreak and despair, as if she wanted to hang herself on the spot, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but laugh and cry.

"Is it really that big of a deal? The pocket watch is gone, so what? Besides, that pocket watch was originally Asagiri's prop. He didn't say anything, yet you're already heartbroken?"

"Actually... I'm in a lot of pain too."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki was taken aback. Looking at the other party's ever-present smiling face, she asked with some skepticism.

"You're in pain too? I didn't notice at all."

Asagiri waved her hand, speaking in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Hey, it's just about saving face. What expert would be heartbroken and even roll on the ground in regret after losing a valuable piece of equipment or item? That's so uncool. My strongest weapon is my composure and the confidence of a true powerhouse!"

"You're just talking nonsense. Your strongest weapon is the Persona."

Yuuki Asuna rolled her eyes and angrily exposed Asagiri's attempt to show off, then sighed slightly.

"But it's true, we were in really bad shape at the time, and we had just learned about the specific abilities of the demi-humans. We didn't expect that Sato would actually swallow the explosives and even hand over the detonation button to Tanaka Koji."

"Yes."

Kato Megumi nodded slightly and echoed softly.

“We all thought that as long as we cut off their hands, we could ensure that Tanaka Koji and Nagai Kei could neither shoot Sato nor commit suicide. But they seemed to have anticipated this and hid the detonator in their mouths. It was indeed our oversight.”

The red epic-level one-time use item "Reversed Pocket Watch" has a more crucial effect than its actual function. It can change the behavior of a player, or even an entire squad.

Previously, with the pocket watch as insurance, Asagiri and the others would do their best to achieve the highest level of completion rating, whether it was a zombie dungeon or a Mita World dungeon. Every time, they would take great risks in order to obtain the best rewards.

Now that the pocket watch is gone, when entering dungeons in the future...

"There's no need to feel too sorry for it; the pocket watch has already fulfilled its intended purpose."

Noticing that Kato Megumi, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Yuuki Asuna all looked regretful and even somewhat downcast, Asagiri smiled and comforted them.

"The pocket watch, as a last resort, exists to encourage us to strive for the highest level of completion rating and rewards every time. If we hesitate or even give up some opportunities just because we don't want to waste the so-called red epic item, then we are putting the cart before the horse."

"And although the pocket watch was used up this time, we also successfully eliminated Sato, completing a task that almost no player could accomplish at this stage."

"The system will definitely issue a corresponding reward, and the value of the reward may even exceed that of the inverted pocket watch."

Hearing Asagiri's comforting words with a smile, Asuna Yuuki and the others cheered up a bit. After all, they weren't the type to wallow in self-pity or complain endlessly. Kotoko Iwanaga's exaggerated crying and wailing was just for the sake of the show.

"Then shall I settle the accounts first?"

This time, all four of them received the highest level S+ rating for clearing the level. The only difference was that the descriptions of the bonus points for clearing the level were slightly different. Asuna Yuuki's reward should be on par with, or even better than, Asagiri's, since it was the demi-human experimental data she submitted.

Have you decided on the type of reward you want to customize?

"Yeah, I've thought about it."

As an advanced player, one can customize the types of rewards obtained after clearing a level, and Yuuki Asuna had naturally considered this issue after waking up.

"First of all, the weapon. The exorcist's longsword is only a blue-grade item, and its strength is a bit lacking."

"Then there's protective gear. As for physical and mental enhancements, I'll skip those for now."

“I’m a bit unbalanced right now. My attack power is more than enough, even a bit excessive, but my defense is seriously lacking. The only one in our team who can hold the line is Asagiri’s Shura. His Persona ability should be all-around. I have to become the off-tank who can stand in the front at crucial moments, otherwise it’s like the team’s configuration is limiting his performance.”

After saying this, Asuna Yuuki checked the type of reward in the eye icon app.

[It has been confirmed that you selected the following reward type: Equipment (Armor) or Equipment (Weapon)]

[Rewards Obtained: Rapier of Flashing Light, Light Armor of Glittering Light, Your Swordsman Class Has Been Promoted to a Special Exclusive Class: Glittering Blade]

【Rapier's Gleaming Light (Quality Purple, Excellent): A silver rapier with a crystal-like transparency, forged from an unknown material. Due to the peculiar power contained in its material, it can harm spirits. When equipped with this, the power of sword-type attack skills is greatly enhanced.】

【Shining Light Armor (Quality Purple, Excellent): A light armor with a white main color and red accents. It has extremely high physical defense, and when equipped, the player receives significantly reduced impact and fall damage.】

【Special Class: Shining Blade: A unique class born from the unwavering determination of player Asuna Yuuki, combined with her exclusive talent "Shining"】

[Passive Effect: When the player is moving at high speed, physical attributes such as strength, stamina, and defense will be increased proportionally to the speed.]

[Class-Specific Skill: Flash Thrust: Perform a sword thrust with lightning speed, almost like teleportation, so fast that it's impossible to react in time]

[Note: This skill will place an extremely heavy burden on the body. Please use it under the enhanced passive effect of Flash Blade. Using this skill while stationary may result in serious injury or even death.]

After reading the description of the reward, Asuna Yuuki stood up from the sofa, equipped herself with the newly acquired Rapier Shining Light and the Light Armor of Shining, and looked at Asagiri, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato sitting there, and smiled.

"These are my new armor and weapons, what do you think?"

Looking at Yuuki Asuna, who was wearing white armor and holding a rapier that looked as clear as crystal, Asagiri nodded and smiled.

"very beautiful."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki blushed, tucked her hair behind her ear, and said shyly.

"I'm showing you how amazing it is, not asking you to comment on whether it looks good or not..."

Asagiri muttered to herself, speechless.

"If you don't show me the system on your phone, how am I supposed to know if it's good or not? All I can do is comment on how good it looks, right?"

"Oh right, that's true..."

Asuna Yuuki stuck out her tongue sheepishly and used her "cuteness" skill to get away with it.

After seeing the reward she received, the group did not discuss it immediately, but planned to wait until all four of them had drawn their rewards before discussing them together.

And then, the moment everyone has been waiting for arrived.

Asagiri clicked on the eye icon in the app to confirm her customized reward type.

[It has been confirmed that the reward type you selected is: Mental Enhancement, Skill]

[Rewards: Significantly increased mental strength, skill to shoot down hundreds...]

Just as the text on the phone screen was halfway up, it suddenly stopped. The dark red, misty text turned pitch black, as if it had been eroded by something.

The next second, the text that had appeared was erased, and a new line of text appeared.

[You, the untamed one who has experienced and transcended death once again, have unlocked new abilities.]

[Supreme Magic Bullet: Exclusive skill. You or a human Asura can use this ability. It consumes a massive amount of spiritual power to fire a deadly bullet formed from jet-black light. This skill is the power of "death" in your sea of ​​mind and has extremely special properties.]

The Supreme Magic Bullet will only damage targets you consider "enemies." Targets not considered "enemies" will not be harmed by the bullets.

The Supreme Magic Bullet is the embodiment of the essence of "death." Creatures and spirits harmed by it cannot recover, and the "death" contained within it ignores any "special" qualities such as immortality, erasing the enemy's existence at its very source.

[Human Asura Exclusive Passive: Mark of the Pointer]

[Mark of the Pointer: At the moment the 'Reversed Pocket Watch' broke, the Human Asura gained a portion of its power through you. When you die, this ability will be automatically triggered, reversing time according to your will. The maximum reversal time is one minute. After triggering this ability, the Human Asura will be in a 72-hour unusable cooldown state. During this period, you cannot summon or equip the Human Asura.]

"Is this... true?"

Although they agreed to discuss the rewards after all four of them had drawn them, Kotoko Iwanaga, Megumi Kato, and Asuna Yuuki were all stunned when they saw the two new abilities Asagiri had acquired.

What is this?

Kotoko Iwanaga, in particular, was at a loss for words.

So all that mourning for the "Reversed Pocket Watch" was for nothing?

The props are gone, so it's become the unique ability of the human Asura?

Although the Human Asura will be unusable for up to 72 hours after use, and during this time Asagiri will not receive the Human Asura's passive effect enhancement, but...

This is a chance to start over!

Because they had once possessed the inverted pocket watch, Kotoko Iwanaga and the others were able to realize how precious the chance to start over was in this death game. Even if they didn't use it, it was an insurance policy that supported them in taking risks every time to obtain the highest level of completion rating.

"Um……"

Amidst the shocked gazes of Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato, Asagiri, with the air of a reclusive sage, uttered a statement that was anything but reclusive, and was extremely aggressive.

"Next time I encounter any immortal beings or anything like that, just watch whether I, the Supreme Demon, can shoot them down."

47

Chapter 47: Kotoko Iwanaga, back to her whole self.

"So this is the ability you're focusing on?"

Kotoko Iwanaga said this with a smile, then picked up Asagiri's phone and carefully read the system prompts, noticing two details.

"Not just human Asuras, you can also use this ability called the Supreme Magic Bullet...?"

"The Supreme Magic Bullet was originally my own ability."

Asagiri, the user of the ability, didn't need to analyze the system introduction word by word and immediately began to explain.

"Of course, the Persona is also my own ability. Only I or the Human Asura can use the Supreme Magic Bullet because among my Personas, only the Human Asura, who has the strongest power and the most unique nature, can meet the requirements to use this ability."

"I see."

Yuuki Asuna, standing to the side, nodded as if she understood, but not quite. After all, she wasn't Asagiri herself and couldn't really understand the principle behind the power of Personas, which was born from idealism. She simply tucked her long, flaxen hair behind her ear, covered her mouth, and chuckled lightly, teasingly.

"As expected, you weren't so nonchalant about using up the Reversed Pocket Watch, were you? If we had had the Supreme Magic Bullet, a 'special' ability that severs immortality, Sato and his two companions wouldn't have been able to use up the pocket watch."

"This ability shouldn't be used lightly, right?"

Kotoko Iwanaga handed Asagiri's phone to Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato, pointing to a sentence in the description of "Supreme Magic Bullet".

"It consumes a massive amount of mental energy. If I remember correctly, this is the first time the word 'massive' has appeared in the system's introduction."

"Hmm, if my current total mental energy is 10, then the cost of using the Supreme Magic Bullet is 8."

Asagiri nodded and said with a smile.

"Even when I use the Supreme Magic Bullet at full strength, I will be on the verge of exhaustion due to excessive mental energy consumption. If I force myself to use it when I have already consumed a lot of mental energy, I may even faint and die on the spot."

"Then it seems to be a trump card that cannot be used lightly... Right."

Halfway through her conversation, Asuna Yuuki suddenly remembered something, immediately took out the "Ring of Transformation" from her inventory, placed it on the table, and looked at Asagiri to ask a question.

"This thing was given to me by Shinomiya-kun in the dungeon. Although it didn't end up being of much use, but..."

Kotoko Iwanaga nodded in sudden realization.

“I understand what you mean. This thing is perfect for Asagiri. Even if his mental energy is over-exhausted, he can convert his physical energy into mental energy. In this way, as long as his physical energy and mental energy are not both at their limits, he will definitely be able to use the Supreme Magic Bullet.”

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki was taken aback for a moment, then looked speechless.

"While what you said makes a lot of sense, what I really want to ask is... shouldn't we return this equipment to Shinomiya and the others?"

"Return what? Once the equipment is in our hands, is there any reason to return it?"

Kotoko Iwanaga said matter-of-factly, pointing to the ring on the table.

"This isn't exclusive equipment. Does it have Kaguya Shinomiya's name engraved on it? Once it's in our hands, it's ours. We went through so much trouble to save their lives, so a piece of purple equipment as a reward is not excessive at all. In fact, I think it's too kind."

Asuna Yuuki pursed her lips, a look of hesitation on her face.

"That makes sense, but I don't know about Chika and the others..."

Just as Asuna Yuuki was speaking, her phone beeped with a new email notification. When she opened it, a smile immediately spread across her face.

"It's an email from Qianhua. I'll read it to you."

"Asuna~ Please accept the ring as a token of our gratitude for your help. It's not convenient to discuss many things via email. If you have time after you get to school tomorrow, how about we talk about it together?"

When she read to the very end of the email and saw the last sentence, Asuna Yuuki couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing, handing her phone to Asagiri.

"And this is also true."

Asagiri took the phone and saw that at the end of the email, Fujiwara Chika had added a chibi-style angry emoji and a sentence.

"Could you please ask Utsunomiya-kun to remove me from his blacklist?! I tried emailing him and the blacklist message popped up again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay?! Please, please let me out!"

"hehe."

Asagiri handed the phone back to Asuna Yuuki, smiling as she spoke.

"She likes being the butt of jokes? Let her continue to reflect in that dark room."

"Yes, it's time to punish her."

On this issue, Asuna Yuuki and Asagiri reached an agreement.

At that moment, Kato Megumi spoke softly.

"Then I'll choose to enhance my physical fitness and mental strength as the rewards I customize, since my stats are a bit low."