Tomaru Renren lay embedded in the distant mountain rocks, her body covered with wounds and soaked in heroic blood.
She was a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
Fortunately, her ability made her immune to speed impacts, so the high-speed collision didn't turn her into a pulp.
She still had her eyes open, forcing out hoarse words from her throat.
"...So you're saying I have no brain?"
"What, are you mad?"
Eiji stepped forward, his smile gradually turning cold.
"Good, the angrier you get, the happier I become!"
As if he were the only one angry here.
"...You really are a boring guy."
Renren clicked her tongue in displeasure but then calmed down.
"Fine, I'll admit defeat this time, but next time you won't be so lucky."
"Next time?"
Eiji narrowed his eyes, his expression sharp.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Hehe, just what the words say."
Renren gave a dry laugh and cast him a strange smile.
"We'll meet again very soon, yes, very soon..."
"Hey!"
Eiji took a step forward.
But Renren suddenly went blank, then her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
She had withdrawn her Black Widow on her own.
Renren's speed had dropped to zero; no matter how much control she tried, in front of him, she couldn't accumulate such speed again—it wouldn't be fun for her.
"Troublesome times are coming…"
Eiji sighed.
According to the original story's timeline, that meant trouble was actively seeking out the protagonist.
More troubles were likely on the way.
"Whoa, not even a single bone broken!"
Eiji crouched and lifted Renren onto his back.
Besides her shredded leg tendons and massive bleeding, those were the surface-level injuries.
The real, unspeakable damage was what the puppeteer had done to her brain and mind!
"Eiji, how is she?"
Kanata and Saijou came forward, their eyes full of worry.
"No life-threatening injuries. Let's get back to the training ground first."
Eiji explained briefly and, carrying Renren, the group quickly headed back to the training ground.
***
Somewhere in Japan, in a mountain range dozens of kilometers from Okutama.
"Oh, I only sent a few relay bases as Miss Sarah requested—didn't expect to take such a little hit."
Though it was early afternoon with the blazing sun overhead, the room was pitch black, as deep as a swamp.
A tall man sat on a sofa, his face hidden behind a white smiling clown mask.
A total of three bases had been set up, two of which Eiji had destroyed.
"Fool, the 'Preliminary Festival' is imminent. Why waste time on pointless matters?"
A cold voice sounded from beside him.
The voice was flat and icy, like freezing ice, chilling to the bone.
A handsome young man with jet-black long hair stood next to the sofa, holding an extremely long greatsword. He silently scolded the clown-masked man for his unnecessary actions.
"Hehe, but I'm just a good guy who cares about comrades!"
The clown-man laughed joyfully. "Besides, as a surprise, your little brother and the Crimson Princess also appeared on this trip!"
"Crimson Princess?"
"Interested now? Well, that's right—you came all the way back to Japan for her, to join this operation!"
"Let me talk to her."
"Hmm?"
***
Back at the training ground.
Upon returning, the group immediately began emergency treatment on Tomaru Renren.
"Use this."
Eiji took out a bottle of high-grade healing potion from his backpack and applied it to Renren.
Shortly after, her external wounds were barely stabilized.
"So amazing, don't you use it yourself?"
Kanata looked at Eiji with a strange expression.
"It's just some flesh wounds. I'll find a Blazer doctor to treat them."
Eiji put the remaining potion back into his bag.
He usually carried some healing potions brought back from the Otherworld, just in case of battle.
But since he didn't know when he could return to the Otherworld again, he wanted to save the potions—and besides, these injuries really weren't that serious to him.
At least a broken bone would count as an actual injury.
"Use it quickly!"
Kanata snatched the bag from him and without asking poured the potion all over his body.
His skin turned bright red, looking alarming.
"Ugh! What a waste!"
Eiji winced.
But seeing Kanata's worried and caring gaze, he couldn't find it in himself to complain.
Luckily, this wasn't the miraculous "Elixer of Life." That stuff really could save lives—wasting that would have made him hurt for months.
Meanwhile, Saijou was anxiously watching Renren, paying no attention to the exchange between Eiji and Kanata.
He was a big, serious, no-nonsense guy—the one in the student council least likely to chatter randomly.
Not long after, Touka, Ikki, and two others also returned from the deep mountains.
"Did you guys get attacked too?"
The attacks weren't limited to Eiji's group.
Shortly after Eiji had dealt with the giant and Renren, Ikki and Stella were attacked by stone puppets.
Stella had fallen ill with a sudden cold, while Ikki, not knowing how to counter puppeteer, fought multiple two-meter-tall stone puppets.
Fortunately, Touka and Utakata arrived in time, revealing the puppeteer's weakness and destroying the puppets with her Raikiri.
They even used magic threads to transmit lightning, catching the enemy off guard.
"Before Touka-senpai arrived, the opponent even spoke to us through a loudspeaker," Stella said, looking much better.
Her strong constitution helped her recover from the cold within a few hours.
"Spoke to you?"
"Yeah... There were apparently two of them. The one controlling the puppets didn't speak, but the other talked to me. I still don't know what they were thinking."
Stella looked puzzled.
Next to her, Ikki's expression was full of regret.
"Who was it?"
"He called himself Kurogane Ouma... Ikki's older brother."
Kurogane Ouma?
Ikki's older brother?
Eiji lowered his head, thinking for a moment.
"Is he the guy who won the Little League championship and then disappeared?"
"That's right."
Ikki responded in a serious voice.
"He's the pride of the Kurogane clan, a genius I've always looked up to, and the only current A-ranked student knight in Japan, besides Stella."
***
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