At this moment, the entire battlefield was like a hellish scroll soaked in blood.
Dark red blood dyed the earth a strange hue, mangled limbs and broken remains were scattered everywhere, and the air was thick with a nauseating stench of blood.
In the center of this sea of blood, Tsukasa stared expressionlessly at the shivering puppy.
The pressure radiating from him was almost tangible, forcing the remaining mabeasts to grovel on the ground, not even daring to look up.
In the Consciousness Space, Subaru recalled the words Tsukasa had spoken on the way here.
"I have a hypothesis, performing another exchange within 0.01 seconds before the exchange time limit ends might achieve a seamless transition."
Facing Tsukasa's sudden whim, Subaru asked back worriedly, "Since it's just a hypothesis, you're not sure if it'll succeed, right? What if we get put in danger?"
Seeing this, Tsukasa smiled and answered Subaru's concern, "Before that, I'll scare the wits out of them first. But if it succeeds, I'll have up to 40 minutes of appearance time every day."
Although this duration wasn't very long, it was more than enough for Tsukasa. Even though there was some risk involved, it was trivial in his eyes.
Subaru sighed inwardly and continued to ask, "Will my body be unable to take it after the exchange?"
"No. It might have been the case with your previous ordinary human body, but now..." Tsukasa paused meaningfully.
Recalling this conversation, Subaru understood that the timing Tsukasa mentioned was about to arrive.
'10 seconds left.' Tsukasa, standing in the middle of the battlefield, counted down in his heart.
Even he hadn't noticed that his heartbeat was gradually accelerating.
5, 4, 3, 2...
At the instant the time limit arrived, Subaru and Tsukasa initiated the "Exchange" again without hesitation.
On the sidelines, Rem blinked in confusion, not understanding what had made Tsukasa daze for a moment.
The puppy, meanwhile, recovered from its previous fear. It guessed that this terrifying human might have exhausted her mana.
Just as it was about to order a siege—
"Hahahahahaha!"
A sudden burst of laughter erupted from Tsukasa's direction. Except for Rem, all the mabeasts were so frightened by this eerie scene that they didn't dare move.
Even though the puppy roared frantically to give orders, the Wolgarms continued to tremble all over, not daring to step forward—their fear of Tsukasa had seeped into their very bones.
Simply by standing there, he could kill their companions with a single glance. That kind of pressure, coming from a different level of existence, made them lose all will to fight.
"Tsukasa?" Rem's worried call came from behind.
Rem's shout came from behind, and then Tsukasa turned his head, stopping his laughter.
"It's nothing. I just thought of something happy."
Although she didn't understand what he was laughing about, Rem breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Tsukasa was unharmed.
Then Tsukasa suddenly asked as if making small talk, "By the way, Rem, this horn on your head... could it be that you're a Unicorn?"
Facing this nonsensical question, Rem answered honestly, "No, Rem and Ram are both of the Oni Clan."
"Oni Clan?" Tsukasa raised an eyebrow.
"I see. This horn can enhance strength, right? But it seems to affect cognitive ability. What a peculiar power. Does Ram know this move too?"
As the two talked, the ignored puppy had reached the peak of its anger. It commanded thousands of Wolgarms, yet this human dared to disregard it so much.
At the mention of Ram, Rem's mood immediately plummeted.
She lowered her head in self-reproach and spoke with even more self-loathing, "No. Ram, she... in the past, to protect me... lost her horn. It's all Rem's fault. Rem should have lived in Ram's shadow forever. Back then... back then, the one who should have died was Rem."
Rem breathed heavily, her body trembling incessantly, and the horn on her head burst with a piercing red light.
Just then, Tsukasa's hand was placed gently on her head again.
"After this is over, tell me and Subaru all about it."
He smiled and held Rem's mud-stained hands, hooking his pinky finger with hers.
"It's a promise then. After all, I really want you two to switch jobs and become my exclusive maids. If anything happened to you, I'd be very sad."
Rem's reaction made Tsukasa understand a lot, but his understanding of the sisters wasn't deep enough yet. Since Rem was willing to open up, it meant—
'Her affection level is pretty good.' He thought to himself.
Then, moving his gaze away from the somewhat dazed Rem, Tsukasa turned toward the puppy and spoke with a relaxed tone, "I have some urgent business now, so I hope you can survive this move. If possible, I'd actually hope you have some trump cards left."
Tsukasa's contemptuous words were the final straw, completely igniting the puppy's fury.
The flames of anger burned fiercely in the puppy's eyes, and this emotion spread like a plague to every Wolgarm present. Their fear was replaced by fury, and in their crimson eyes, only bloodthirsty killing intent remained.
"Roar!!!"
The deafening roar tore through the night sky, making the entire forest tremble.
Amidst this collective roar, a colossal creature burst from the ground—its size was more than ten times that of an ordinary Wolgarm, its knotted muscles bulging like rocks, and every step it took shook the earth.
It was actually a Giant Wolgarm!
At this moment, even Rem in the distance couldn't help but hold her breath and mutter, "In the battle just now, they haven't even used their full strength yet?"
However, when she looked at Tsukasa, she found the man's smile growing even more brilliant, as if he were seeing a pleasant sight.
Tsukasa stepped forward unhurriedly, shielding Rem behind him. A blue sphere of light, larger than usual, slowly rose from his fingertips—it was exactly Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue.
The moment the light sphere rose into the air, Tsukasa began to chant obscure incantations.
"Phase."
The moment the first word left his mouth, the puppy seemed to sense something, and the anger in its eyes was instantly replaced by terror once more.
It roared frantically, ordering all the Wolgarms to launch a total assault, and even the giant Wolgarm began its charge with heavy steps.
However, Tsukasa's chant continued.
"Twilight."
"Eye of Wisdom."
The moment the last syllable fell, the Blue in the sky suddenly burst with a bright light. The light was so dazzling that it seemed to turn the entire night sky into day.
Under the terrified gazes of all the mabeasts, the light spread like a tide, swallowing them all.
The puppy didn't even have the chance to let out a despairing wail, only watching helplessly as it was enveloped by the light.
The light continued to spread, completely enveloping this blood-stained land and even the center of the forest.
(End of Chapter)
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