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The long-awaited last day of Survival.

The fourth day was nothing noteworthy, so let’s skip it.

I just followed the toilet around and saw a few fireworks launched by the eliminated students—nothing more.

-Piyuuuuung━ Bang!

Just then, somewhere, a firework went off.

I guess another student has been eliminated.

I’ve already seen these fireworks dozens of times.

On the final day of Survival, there were many students eliminated.

If you combine A Class to F Class, it’s around 150 people.

More than half of them have been eliminated, and only about 40 remain on the island.

Of course, none of them include the Demons.

Demons prioritize attacks, so they minimized contact with students to avoid elimination and must have all dodged monsters to conserve their stamina.

They can’t be of any help if they’re covered in wounds at a crucial moment.

“But Luke, you killed a Demon student last time. Why aren’t you looking for one to kill first this time?”

That was a cruel line that Yui wouldn’t have uttered just a month ago. How did that innocent girl end up like this?

Of course, as Yui said, it’s best to solve problems before they happen. It’s less bothersome.

But it’s not that I don’t want to; I can’t.

“Demons give more experience than humans.”

A Demon that hasn’t been Demonized may technically be a Demon inside, but on the outside, it’s still human.

From my experience of killing many humans, I can say that no matter how strong the opponent, a human only gains a maximum of 1 Level.

So, what about Demons?

The experience points they give vary based on their strength. Even a Necromancer I killed before shot my levels up by several.

You might think that I could push them to the brink of death to make them Demonize, but Demons have a notable obsession with their goals compared to regular people.

Normally, if it’s life or death, they’d just abandon their comrades and run away to survive, but Demons are the type who would even commit suicide for strategy.

Right now, if someone Demonizes just to save themselves, they’d get caught by Lucia, and that could mess up the plan, so they wouldn’t Demonize even if they had to die.

“And there are just too many.”

Another reason is that Demons are too numerous.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find and eliminate every single Demon on this vast island?

I have to walk back and forth from one end of the island to the other and find out where they are.

Just in terms of pure distance, I’d have to walk at least 100 km, and my legs would ache, plus it’s a hassle.

“Are there really that many…?”

“Probably? Almost half of the remaining students are Demons, I guess?”

“Whoa….”

Probably.

It’s not certain. The student I was trying to lure as a Demon died early.

We can’t predict if there will be more or fewer Demons from now on.

“Let’s just wait until dinner. If nothing happens by now, it’s definitely going to be dinner time.”

“Okay.”

“Yup!”

To observe the fun events that would unfold at MVP seat during dinner, we followed the toilet group ahead of us.

*

That evening.

“The practice will be ending soon. You all worked hard.”

Arthur spoke up first.

During dinner, we took turns keeping watch and hunted monsters to secure food, while occasionally taking down other students who wandered into our paths.

We worked hard all this time.

“You’ve worked hard too, Arthur.”

“But it’s not over yet, so we need to stay alert!”

While everyone was saying their goodbyes as if it was all over, only Riche felt something was off.

She knew that Demons would appear before this practice ended.

Even though it was only hours until the practice was over, nothing had happened yet.

It felt eerily calm, almost as if Luke’s comments were lies.

‘Did Luke really lie?’

Riche shook her head at the fleeting thought.

The Luke she had seen so far was one of two types.

Either talking or not talking.

If he didn’t say anything, it might have been understandable, but he gave hints—it didn’t feel like he was lying.

Riche tore her gaze from the floor and looked at Arthur.

He claimed to know, yet he continued to appear nonchalant, further confusing her.

If Arthur was involved, they should be prepared for something, but he showed no signs of that.

Honestly, he seemed to show more interactions with Tia and Stella, trying to win their favor.

‘…Should I ask?’

Luke. He’d probably still be outside.

I had felt him following me the entire time the Survival was going on.

Not to mention, he had bothered Arthur from time to time.

So, wouldn’t it be fine to go outside and ask him?

I wouldn’t worry about whether he would tell me or not. I’d surely get more information than from Arthur.

“Guys, I’ll step outside for a bit.”

“Uh? N-now?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh… should I go with you, just in case?”

“No, it’s fine. It won’t take long.”

Shoving Arthur, who tried to follow, away, Riche was about to head out of the cave.

-Piyuuuuung━━ Bang!

Fireworks echoed from somewhere.

Someone must have been eliminated again, I thought.

That was until more firecrackers went off before I could process it.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

“What…?”

“Riche! Don’t go out! Don’t go outside the cave!”

But by then, Riche was already outside the cave.

The first thing she checked upon exiting was the fireworks bursting all around her and the chilling red moon.

“That…”

Blood Moon.

It was immediately clear.

That red moon was one of the hints Luke had mentioned.

For some reason, Riche couldn’t take her eyes away from that red moon.

Almost entranced, her pupils filled with the red moon.

Suddenly, she felt as if her body was burning with heat.

No, it wasn’t just a feeling.

Riche’s body was actually burning.

With a sudden wave of weakness, her body felt as if it were on fire.

“Huh… Heeaaahhhhh━!!!!!”

*

“Wow━ to burn with such motivation.”

If we were just talking about motivation, she would’ve killed the Demon God by now.

“Is it really motivation…?”

“Of course it is. How else would a person burn like that?”

As a side note, the island had turned into a battlefield in an instant.

Where there should have been a sea of stars reflecting in the dark sky and moonlight, there now lay a crimson sea of blood along with the red moon.

Initially, I questioned why a red moon was appearing when it wasn’t even the scheduled time.

But looking at the current situation, there’s no doubt about it.

-Piyuuuuung━━ Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fireworks were erupting everywhere across the island, causing chaos.

Waiting for the Demons to attack and Demonize, the remaining students who weren’t Demons must be in confusion.

Seeing the terrifying red moon overhead, it’s mind-boggling that someone who was a classmate just days before could have turned into a Demon.

Those friends who, at some unknown point, had betrayed humanity and were now trying to kill them.

If it were me, friends or not, I’d prioritize my life over everything else; I’d have killed during the transformation into a Demon.

But the typical cliché of web novels usually has characters just staring blankly when something happens before their eyes.

The Dean and professors who sensed the seriousness of the situation must be scrambling about, but since the island is so large, it would still take some time to handle everything.

And if Arthur doesn’t intervene, Hex will have already fled by the time the professors deal with things.

“Luke! Luke!”

Yui tugged at my sleeve tightly.

“What?”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

What Yui pointed to was Riche engulfed in flames.

“Don’t worry too much. Do you really think the writer would kill off the main heroine?”

It’s absurd to think a main heroine would die in an event created to save her and gain favor.

Though nowadays there are various kinds of heroines, like failure or dead heroines, no sane writer would kill the main heroine.

If that happened, the comments section would be on fire, making Riche’s current predicament look tame by comparison.

“Though it looks so flashy outside, she’s just draining her magical power.”

The reason it seemed like Riche was on fire was not that she was actually burning.

It just looked like that because she was expelling a large amount of magical power.

There’s so much being released that even I—who normally can’t feel any magical power at all—could see it with my own eyes.

“When it’s all over, Riche will faint from magical exhaustion.”

This whole process is a sequential one where strengthened Hex escapes confinement by pushing all of Riche’s magical power out.

Once that process is over, Riche, like an empty water bottle drained of all its contents, will collapse with not a smidgen of magical power left.

That’s why I said no matter how hard I try, I couldn’t win against her.

What’s the point of counting when, at the start of the event, all she’d be able to do is faint?

“Then it’s time for the Toilet to shine.”

Killing Hex once he resurrects is the Toilet’s job.

As a reference, Arthur was just blankly staring at the burning Riche.

There’s no way to stop this until everything is finished.

Actually, there is one way.

The quickest and easiest method is to simply kill Riche before the seal is broken. But there’s no way the protagonists would be able to commit such cruel acts.

“So, what should we do now?”

“For now, just watch.”

My brutally honest answer made Luna look at me as if to confirm that was appropriate.

“If you’re bored, feel free to walk around the island and kill some Demons.”

I came here to watch, after all.

There’s a Toilet right in front; there’s no need for me to take care of things myself.

-Squelch.

“Hmm?”

As I was about to pull out popcorn and settle in to watch, I turned my gaze to the side after sensing a presence.

“It seems they were right.”

Daio Brando. He was here.

I thought he might be doing well somewhere since I hadn’t seen him for a while, but now he stood in front of the Toilet.

“D-Daio?!”

The Toilet was startled.

And it made sense. Daio wasn’t supposed to be here.

“I spent a lot of time thinking. Why can’t I win no matter how hard I try?”

“What the heck are you talking about! It’s dangerous here; you should get out quickly!”

“It’s not my fault! It’s this world! Why must a Noble like me be beneath a commoner?!”

Hmm. Each is just saying their own piece, so I don’t know what they’re on about.

“Therefore! I will cease being human! Arthur! I will transcend humanity!! I will kill you, and that brat Luke as well!!”

Crack, crack.

Accompanied by creepy sounds, the whites of his eyes turned black.

With a roiling dark magical power, his already pale skin transformed to that of a corpse.

‘Oh… this is an unexpected development?’

The rival character had turned into a Demon.

A Demonized Daio ready to engage in battle alongside Arthur and the heroines.

Taking that chance, Riche, who had been burning a moment ago, collapsed with a thud.

“Hahaha! It’s time for my grand entrance!”

With that, Hex arrived as well, adding to the chaos.

“Wow. This has really gone off the rails.”

 

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