Kojo opened his eyes and looked around. It was nighttime. He heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" he asked, sitting up.
Sharone opened the door. She was in a nightdress.
"Well, we haven't heard from you since afternoon, so I came to check up on you," she said shyly.
"I'm alright," Kojo said reassuringly. Kojo noticed that she was restless.
"Is there anything wrong?" he asked.
"Well, I was feeling lonely in my room, so..."
"Sure. I don't mind, come in," he said. Sharone smiled and came to lie beside him. She pulled closer to him.
"Um, thanks, Kojo," she said.
"Oh, it's no problem." Kojo turned, and they looked at each other. Kojo remembered the kiss Sharone gave him before his match.
They brought their faces closer, about to kiss. They heard a knock on the door. Kojo quickly sat up.
Adriana peeped inside.
"Oh, Adriana, is anything the matter?" Kojo asked, getting off the bed and walking toward her. Sharone sighed in disappointment.
"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd pay you a visit." She looked over Kojo's shoulder and saw Sharone.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"What, oh no. Sharone came to visit me too," Kojo said, blushing slightly.
"If your room's too big, you can sleep here."
"Thank you," Adriana said, walking up to him and kissing him on the cheek, then moved toward the bed. Kojo stood there stunned for a few moments. He came to his senses and quickly closed the door. Koniko stopped Kojo with her foot and pushed the door open.
Koniko walked in without a word and went to sit on the bed, folding her arms and looking away.
Kojo looked at the bed.
"Sorry, Kojo, but there's a rat in our room," Lin said, walking in.
"But, you're a raider," Kojo thought out loud. Lin tripped on her long nightgown and almost fell. Kojo caught her but ended up holding one of her breasts.
"S- sorry," Lin said quickly, blushing.
Kojo looked at the girls on the bed.
"(The bed's big enough for all six of you. Even if you were to join in, there'd still be surplus. Now's your chance to make your move.)"
Kojo was about to speak but heard another knock on the door. He sighed.
"Come in, Sasha."
Sasha opened the door.
"I knew you'd know it was me," she said seductively.
"What's your excuse?" Kojo asked.
"I don't need an excuse to come and see you, darling. Besides, I heard the others coming here, and I'm not going to be left out of all the fun," she said.
"What fu—" Kojo began but was cut short when Sasha hugged him, putting his head in her breasts.
"Gah." He took a deep breath, managing to break free, but Sasha was still pulling him closer.
"Stop it," Kojo said, pulling away. "If you guys wanna sleep here, then I have no objection," Kojo said, turning towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Adriana asked.
"I'm gonna get some fresh air," he said.
"Oh, I see. You're going to warm up before we start. I hate to wait, but if it improves your performance," Sasha said.
"It's not like that. Jeez," Kojo said, walking out.
Cyranius watched him walk out of the room from a corner. He smiled and did some hand signs: Zen, Zai, Rin, To, Kyo.
The runes he'd planted at various parts of the mansion glowed. An invisible anti-magic barrier surrounded a 168-meter radius in all directions. He smiled, loosening his bowtie and walking toward the bedroom.
"Well, that was unexpected," Kojo said, walking outside with his hands in his pockets.
("(It's obvious they want to bear your children.)")
"Yeah. Wait—what?"
("(Don't act like you don't want to.)")
"Well..." He sighed. "I'm so confused."
("(You don't have to stress yourself. Having intercourse is quite straightforward. All you have to do is—)")
"Okay, okay, enough."
("(What I was gonna say is that you should go with the flow.)")
Kojo squatted to admire a flower.
"Go with the flow, huh?"
A gentle breeze blew.
"Better go back," he said, standing up.
("(Sure you can handle all of them?)")
"Shut up," Kojo said. Sysia giggled. He turned to walk away. A giant black sword buried itself in front of him. Kojo stopped walking. Dozens of assailants clad in black materialized out of the shadows and surrounded him. Kojo looked around him. He raised his hand, but nothing happened.
"Huh," he said, looking at his hand.
("(I didn't notice it before, but we seem to be trapped within an anti-magic field.)")
"I can't summon Caliburn."
The shadows multiplied in number. There were about a hundred of them, all wielding a variety of weapons from knives to clubs.
Kojo ran, jumping and stepping on their heads in order to escape. One of the shadows caught him with a chain and pulled him back into the circle. Kojo spun midair, pulling the shadow toward him, and caught him in the temple with a spinning kick, sending him flying.
Kojo broke the chains. The shadows took one step closer.
("(I've identified the source of the barrier by locating the most concentrated anti-magic region.)") Kojo looked at his room window. His eyes glowed. As if on cue, the shadows attacked. Kojo bowed his head, a purple aura manifesting around him.
Cyranius looked down at the girls who were sleeping peacefully. He eyed them lustfully, looking over each one, only stopping on Koniko. He bent down and held her hair, smelling it as if he was possessed.
"Kojo?" she mumbled, opening her eyes. She instantly came to her senses and grabbed Cyranius' hand before punching him into the wall. There was a loud thud as he hit the wall, which woke the others up. Koniko stood on the bed and attempted to materialize a flaming arrow, but nothing happened. She extended her claws and pounced on him. The others realized what was happening and tried to back Koniko up. She swung and kicked, but Cyranius managed to block or parry her attacks, kicking her back. The others were confused when they realized they couldn't use their magic. Cyranius took advantage of the split second and used his trump card.
"Freeze!" he said at the exact moment they tried to charge at him.
"That was close," Cyranius said. "If you hadn't hesitated, you would have been able to take me on. My anti-magic circle not only nullifies magic but halves the physical strengths of anyone caught up in it. Except me, of course," he said with a smile. He pulled out a knife and cut his mouth.
"Argh, that's better," he said as stitches appeared on either side of his mouth where the wounds were.
"Curse magic," Sharone said, glaring at him.
"You're right. My name is Cyranius, and my primary ability is anti-magic. However, by sacrificing that and a bit of blood, I gain the cursed ability known as Blasphemy." He smiled.
"Suspend," he said, and the girls floated in the air with their arms outstretched.
"This was my trump card, but I suppose using it now isn't going to change anything. Am I right?" He noticed them glaring at him.
"Oh, you think that piece of garbage is going to save you? Well, I have news for you. He's dead. I sent him a little present. Without magic and in his weakened state, he's gone," Cyranius said and began to giggle. He saw the look on Adriana's face.
"Speak."
"Why are you doing this?" she yelled.
"Why? Because he's getting in the way. You're too ignorant of what's going on in this world or the major changes that are to come. I really shouldn't tell you. There's no point since you'll soon find out for yourself. What I can tell you is that Kojo's very existence threatened to jeopardize my entire plan. I'd made several attempts to kill him during the tournament. I even had a lindworm planted in him, yet he still survived!" Cyranius raged.
"Anyway, it matters not. Now, quiet." Adriana's mouth shut instantly.
"It's unfortunate that I need to remove you from the equation. But since I have you here..." He went to stand in front of Koniko.
"I think I'll have a little fun. Don't worry, you'll all have a turn," he said with a perverted look in his eyes. He sent the others flying into the corner, leaving Koniko in the air. His mouth watered as he raised his hands to touch her. The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed.
"You move, you die." Cyranius froze. The spell holding Koniko came undone, and Koniko fell into Kojo's arms.
"Kojo," she said with tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry, it's fine now."
Cyranius wondered how Kojo had managed to defeat his clones. They adapted such that the same move couldn't be used on them twice—that is, if you were able to land a hit at all.
"No matter," Cyranius decided, deciding to kill him using Blasphemy. He grew weak and fell to his knees.
"What's happening?" Cyranius wondered. It was then that he noticed blood spraying from him. He reached out and touched his face, finding his lower jaw missing.
Kojo walked up to him and pointed his fingers at him like a gun, a ball of purple energy flaring up.
"You're probably wondering what happened. I'm not obligated to tell you," Kojo said coldly.
"Now die," he said, firing the arcana bullet through his skull. Cyranius' body collapsed backward on the floor.
Oslon observed all this through his crystal ball. Kojo raised his head and looked up as if staring at him. The crystal ball cracked and broke. Oslon sighed.
"Ah, well," he said, getting up and walking out of the room.
("(The signal has been terminated.)")
"Let's go," Kojo said, carrying Koniko out of the room.
("(This could have gone a lot differently if that idiot had planned well. You have gained the ability Universal Negation. You can now nullify all unnatural phenomena. The range of this ability remains unknown.)")
Kojo didn't say a word. He looked down at Koniko, who buried her face in his chest, clearly disturbed by what was about to happen.
("(On a more serious note, we need to be more careful to prevent incidents like these from happening.
Creating Nullification barrier: Aegis.
Activating Aegis sphere around mansion.
Successful.)")
Kojo staggered, weakened by the arcana he'd used but steadied himself.
He looked over his shoulder at Cyranius' corpse.
"Incinerate."
("(Deciphering: Babel Archive.
25.47%)")