"Are you really that scared?" Tatsuki pinched Chika's slightly squishy cheek.
Chika puffed her cheeks out, eyes already watery—pitiful and adorable. "Waaah… I'm scared of bugs. Can I not go?"
"Scared of bugs?" Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Then why aren't you scared of my big bug? You're always so enthusiastic about eating it."
Chika had already been thoroughly corrupted by filth. She understood instantly, her face turning bright red. She spat lightly and muttered in a tiny voice, "T-Tatsu-kun's big bug… I-I do like eating it… but I'm still a little scared of it too, okay?!"
Because it was too big. The first time, she'd been so nervous it actually hurt a lot—though later it also felt really good…
But that was obviously not the same thing!
"Fine. You're going out there no matter what," Tatsuki said. "I'll handle it."
In an instant, he dominated Chika's senses.
Chika blinked.
At the edge of her vision, the grotesque, vicious tentacled bugs—were gone.
In their place were huge, wriggling… tentacled carrots.
"H-HUH? C-Carrots?! So many carrots!!" Chika shouted, stunned. "There are carrots everywhere!"
"Carrots?" Eriri froze. She was obediently holding Tatsuki's other hand, and she scanned the area.
There weren't any carrots.
There was only a boundless, surging ocean of insects.
"Now you good?" Tatsuki asked.
Using the Ruler's power, he'd rewritten her sensory input: every bug Chika saw would register as a carrot, letting her bypass the visceral disgust.
"I think I'm fine now!" Chika immediately perked up.
Her transparent fairy wings and angel wings beat together as she shot out into the air, unleashing wind-element magic with reckless joy.
Tatsuki scratched the center of Eriri's palm. "Eriri, you go too. Consider it building real combat experience. Next time might be even worse."
The insect sea was horrifying—Eriri was seeing a scene like this for the first time in her life.
She took a deep breath, lifted her pale neck proudly, closed her eyes, and spoke in a sweet, stubborn little voice.
"Tatsuki-kun… give me a pep talk."
"A pep talk?" Tatsuki grinned. "I'll fill you up."
He cupped her face and leaned down.
"Gulp—!"
Under Yumiko and Mrs. Yuigahama's stunned stares, Eriri swallowed… a lot.
To outsiders it might've looked cruel, but Eriri was already used to it.
She played harder than normal people, and Tatsuki was just going along with what she liked.
It wasn't him being the pervert.
After being fully fueled, Eriri transformed into an angel and flew out too.
For them, aerial combat was a major advantage.
"Okay—then I'm going too!" Yumiko said, eyes firm as she stepped forward—
Tatsuki grabbed her hand instantly, expression weird. "Where do you think you're going?"
Yumiko turned back, brows raised. "To fight?"
"…" Tatsuki genuinely wondered if joining the Paranormal Research Club had made her brain worse.
He knocked on her helmet with a knuckle like he was scolding a kid. "You think you can handle a swarm like that? With this armor?"
"Uh…" Yumiko forced an awkward smile. "B-but you've got your time powers…"
"With your current body, you can't use much time power at all," Tatsuki said bluntly.
Truthfully, he only understood the requirements for using abilities after he'd been in the Apocalypse Chat Group for a while.
Either you used a specific energy source—mana, spiritual energy, mental power, and so on—or you used life energy.
And life energy wasn't just stamina or focus.
It represented the power of your existence—your rank and evolution as an individual.
Yumiko's rank was nowhere near high enough. She wasn't going to spam time manipulation.
"Yumiko. Mrs. Yuigahama. You two have weapons. Stay near me and pick off anything that leaks through at range."
"Okaaay…" Yumiko drooped a little, feeling stupid.
She went to pull out a weapon—then realized Tatsuki was still holding her right hand.
"Wah!" She yanked her hand back fast, suddenly acting shy.
Tatsuki's mouth twitched. He couldn't help himself. "You're wearing armor. How exactly am I supposed to take advantage of you?"
"!!!"
Yumiko's eyes went huge behind the visor.
…Wait.
That was actually a really good point. She was wearing full combat armor!
"…"
With no graceful way to recover, Yumiko's face turned wine-red under the helmet.
She wanted to find a crack in the ground and become an ostrich.
"Hmph!"
Refusing to die of embarrassment, she forced herself to snort proudly, lifted her chin, turned away, and pulled out a laser-powered rifle.
Mrs. Yuigahama, meanwhile, had been watching Tatsuki's interactions with all the women.
From an adult's perspective, it was obvious—his relationship with each girl wasn't simple.
Just as her doubts spun quietly in her mind, Tatsuki looked over.
Their eyes met.
He could tell immediately what she was thinking.
The truth wasn't going to stay hidden the way Yui wanted it to.
With a quiet sigh, Tatsuki said, "Mrs. Yuigahama… I'll explain my relationship with everyone after we get back. For now, focus on the enemy in front of us."
"..."
Mrs. Yuigahama's body trembled slightly. She nodded silently, then began copying Yumiko's weapon startup steps.
Tatsuki's goal right now was to let the women adapt to fighting the Star Swarm Zerg—so if he wasn't around later, nothing catastrophic would happen.
Bored, Tatsuki opened the chat group and checked the Live function.
It had a built-in blur filter—anything you wanted hidden would get pixelated into mosaic.
So he started a stream and turned the blur on.
As for what he blurred…
Obviously, his girlfriends.
[Ding! Tatsuki has started a livestream!]
[Kurumi Tokisaki has entered the livestream!]
Notifications poured in as most of the free people entered.
Kiana: "Why did Tatsuki suddenly go live?"
Furina: "Ta-da! The Hydro Archon Furcalors will be observing every detail of this performance. Don't disappoint me."
Aqua: "…You're so dramatic."
Ch'en: "So this is what it felt like when I streamed last time? Incredible—like being there in person."
Exusiai: "Looks like a lot of monsters on Tatsuki's side. Another world's apocalypse? The chat didn't even ping us."
Tatsuki: "Not another world's apocalypse. It's my world's Apocalypse Game starting again."
Furina: "A game? Is it fun?"
Esdeath: "Fufu. A game of slaughter."
Silver Wolf: "Never tried it. Honestly, I kinda wanna go see if it's fun."
March 7th: "Hey! Don't mislead people who don't know what they're talking about!"