Rokugou is a seventeen-year-old combatant for the evil secret society Kisaragi—and he's barely scraping by on three thousand evil-deed points a month. So when headquarters hands him a mission worth a hundred thousand points, he jumps at the chance. There's just one catch: he has to infiltrate a peaceful parallel world that's practically modern-day Japan, pose as a high school student at Minamisakae Academy, and win the student council presidential election to seize control of the school.
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Combatants Will Be Dispatched to School! - Limiter release! One minute of invincibility and three minutes of hell.
Purple light cast an eerie glow across the schoolyard.
A magic circle spun beneath the sorcerer's feet, warping the air around it. Rokugou watched from where he lay sprawled on the ground.
"Get up, Combatant. I'll show you what's become of your friends."
The sorcerer slowly raised a hand.
Crack-crack-crack!
The sound of air splitting apart.
Before Rokugou's eyes, purple light coalesced into two cages.
"Alice! Snow!"
Inside the cages were Alice and Snow.
Alice's long blonde hair was in disarray, one hand braced against the wall. Her blue eyes burned with fury, but her body was trembling. The heat from her power reactor made the air around her shimmer.
Snow gripped the bars of her cage, her pale blue eyes wide. The prefect's badge on her left chest caught the purple light and glinted dully.
"You... you coward! Let me out of here!"
Snow pounded her fists against the bars.
The sorcerer chuckled, low in his throat.
"Coward? No. This is rightful vengeance. You sided with that man. So I'll dispose of you all together."
"Like hell! I'm the one you want! Let them go!"
Rokugou tried to stand.
But his body wouldn't obey.
The earlier spell had hit him dead-on—his bones creaked with every breath. His left arm hung limp, blood dripping from his fingertips.
"The one I want? Don't flatter yourself. I came here to torture you to death. To break everything precious to you while you watch."
The sorcerer extended a hand toward Alice's cage.
"Stop!"
Rokugou shouted and ran toward Alice's cage.
Thud!
He slammed into an invisible wall.
Blood sprayed from his nose.
"Futile. My barrier surrounds you. All you can do is stand there and watch."
"Damn it... damn it!"
Rokugou threw himself at the invisible wall again and again.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
His shoulder nearly wrenched from its socket.
His forehead split open, blood running into his eyes.
Still, he didn't stop.
"Rokugou... stop... you're going to destroy your body..."
Alice's voice came from inside the cage.
Rokugou looked at her through the blood covering his face.
Alice gazed back at him, her blue eyes glistening.
"A fool who cares for his comrades. How amusing. Then I'll show you more."
The sorcerer fired a spell into Alice's cage.
Giiiiiin!!
A shriek like a scream rang out from Alice's body.
"Alice!"
Alice clutched her chest and doubled over.
"I've interfered directly with her power reactor. In a little while, that android will explode. Until self-destruct... eight minutes, I'd say."
"You bastard...!"
Rokugou pounded his bloodied fists against the invisible wall.
The sorcerer watched him with utter delight.
"Now then. Your turn."
The sorcerer swung his hand down toward Rokugou.
Crash!
An invisible force struck Rokugou in the face.
His body slammed into the wall behind him.
Crack.
The sickening sound of ribs creaking.
"Gah—!"
Rokugou coughed up blood.
"If you hadn't stolen the magic stone, none of this would have happened."
The sorcerer slowly approached Rokugou.
"You took the source of my magical power. You trampled my pride. So now you'll taste the suffering of having something precious torn away from you."
The sorcerer grabbed Rokugou by the hair and forced his face up.
"Shall I speed up that android's self-destruct countdown with my magic? It's simple enough. Three seconds, and I'll blow up this entire school."
"Stop... it..."
Rokugou gritted his teeth.
His mouth filled with the taste of blood.
His body wouldn't move.
His fingertips were numb.
(Damn it... this is my fault... because I stole that magic stone...)
"My career... it can't end here..."
Snow's voice came from inside the cage.
"This wasn't supposed to happen... I was supposed to go so much higher..."
Snow pressed her forehead against the bars, shoulders shaking.
"It's all your fault! You had to go and steal that magic stone...! Now I'm caught up in this too!"
Snow's scream pierced Rokugou's chest.
(...She's right. It's my fault.)
For the first time, Rokugou felt it from the bottom of his heart.
(I was wrong.)
Guilt tightened around his chest.
Until now, he'd only ever thought about racking up evil points.
What happened to other people hadn't mattered to him.
But now, it was different.
Alice was suffering.
Snow was crying.
All because of him.
"...It was my fault."
Rokugou muttered through the blood.
"Oh? Repenting now? Too late, you piece of trash."
The sorcerer ground Rokugou's face into the dirt.
"You'll die here, helpless. All you can do is watch your comrades explode. That is your punishment."
The sorcerer's foot pressed down on Rokugou's head.
"Rokugou."
A quiet voice reached him.
Rokugou raised his face.
Alice, inside the cage, was looking straight at him.
"Your reckless behavior is wasting my processing capacity, you know."
Alice's voice wasn't trembling.
"But there are still eight minutes until self-destruct. There's still time. Release the limiter—use your trump card."
"Alice... what are you saying..."
"Didn't you hear me? Use your trump card. That's what you do, isn't it? You always pull something reckless at the very last second."
Alice's voice sounded just a little quieter than usual.
The heat from her reactor was raising the temperature inside the cage.
Sweat beaded on Alice's forehead.
"...You were a little less pathetic today, you know."
Her words echoed in Rokugou's mind.
What she'd said that night, hiding her embarrassment.
"When we raided the Occult Club, you tried to protect me. In your own way, you were trying to protect your partner. ...I think a little better of you now."
(That's right. Back then, I...)
He remembered the time he'd spent investigating with Snow, too.
Even though he'd been exasperated by her constant attempts to steal credit.
But still—that time hadn't been bad.
"Guess I've got no choice...!"
Rokugou searched for the switch at his collar with trembling fingers.
The combat suit's safety release switch.
Press it, and he'd get one minute of invincibility.
After that, three minutes of complete vulnerability.
(I'm scared...)
His fingers shook.
(If I fail... if I get taken out during those three minutes...)
Terror raced through his body.
"It's over. Farewell, Combatant."
The sorcerer began chanting the finishing spell.
Purple light gathered in his hands.
(Protect Alice.)
(Protect Snow.)
(Protect the two I hurt because of my own stupidity.)
Rokugou gritted his teeth.
"UOOOOOOOOOH!!"
His finger drove the switch home.
—In that instant.
The world was swallowed by light.
His combat suit blazed crimson-black.
The emblem on his chest pulsed like a heartbeat.
Thump.
Power flooded every fiber of his body.
Bones, muscles, cells—all screaming with it.
"So this is... Kisaragi's power...!"
His vision cleared.
The sorcerer's movements looked like slow motion.
(I can do this!)
Rokugou kicked off the ground.
Bang!
The asphalt shattered beneath him.
"What...?!"
The sorcerer's eyes went wide.
Rokugou's fist closed in on his face.
The sorcerer threw up a barrier in desperation.
Shatter!
A sound like breaking glass.
The barrier crumbled to pieces.
"Guaah?!"
Rokugou's fist caught the sorcerer across the cheek.
His body went flying.
"I'm not done yet!"
Rokugou chased after the airborne sorcerer.
Superhuman speed.
Sound itself was left behind.
"That speed...!"
The sorcerer fired a spell.
Purple orbs of light hurtled toward Rokugou.
He twisted aside effortlessly.
The orbs exploded behind him.
"Too slow!"
Rokugou closed the distance and drove his fist into the sorcerer's gut.
"Gah—!"
The sorcerer's face twisted in pain.
(Amazing...! This is what limiter release can do...!)
Rokugou was stunned by his own power.
(But there's no time!)
In the back of his mind, the countdown was ticking.
(Break the cages!)
Rokugou ran toward Alice and Snow's cages.
"BREAK, DAMN IT!"
Rokugou rammed into the cage.
Giiiiiin!!
The cage groaned under the impact.
Again.
"UOOOOOH!"
Rokugou tore the bars apart with his bare hands.
Crack-crack-crack!
The metal screamed as it bent.
"Rokugou...!"
Alice leaped out of the cage.
"You actually did it...?!"
Snow followed her out.
"Hmph. Just as I instructed."
Alice put on a brave front.
But her face was drenched in sweat, relief written all over it.
"...Thanks."
She said it quietly.
"Heh... it was nothing."
Rokugou tried to laugh.
In that moment.
Snap.
A sensation like a thread breaking.
The crimson-black glow of his combat suit went dark.
"Huh...?"
Strength drained from his entire body.
His vision lurched.
"Rokugou?!"
Alice reached out to support him.
But his body was heavy, and he crumpled to the ground.
"Gah... aaaagh...!"
Agony tore through him.
A pain like every bone, every muscle, every organ was being torn apart.
"Ha—is that all?!"
The sorcerer wiped blood from his mouth and rose to his feet.
"One minute of invincibility for three minutes of vulnerability... what a fool!"
The sorcerer advanced on Rokugou.
"Stop it!"
Snow stepped between them.
"You're in the way too."
The sorcerer blasted Snow aside with a spell.
"Kyaaah!"
Snow's body slammed into the ground.
"Snow!"
Rokugou tried to crawl toward her.
But he couldn't move a single finger.
"Now then. The end, Combatant."
The sorcerer began chanting the finishing spell.
"Rokugou-san!"
Suddenly, a girl with a bright chestnut-brown bob burst from behind the school building.
Two small horns poked from her head.
Her large amber eyes were fixed straight on Rokugou.
"Rose?! What are you doing here...?!"
Rose came running, munching on a bread roll from the cafeteria as she went.
"I was hungry, but... if Rokugou-san's in trouble, I'll do my best!"
Rose finished the bread, and her body began to change.
Her skin puffed up soft and fluffy, like bread dough.
A golden-brown crust, like the edge of a loaf, spread across her arms.
"What is that...?"
The sorcerer furrowed his brow.
"It's my ability! The traits of whatever I eat show up on my body! My grandpa gave me this power!"
Rose planted herself in front of Rokugou.
"You little...! Out of my way!"
The sorcerer fired a spell at Rose.
The purple orb struck her dead-on.
Boing!
The orb bounced right off her fluffy body.
"What...?!"
"Don't underestimate the elasticity of bread!"
Rose said it proudly.
"Tch...!"
The sorcerer prepared another spell.
That was when—
"I will not allow you to lay a hand on Rokugou-san."
A cold voice rang out.
From the infirmary window, a woman with flowing silver hair leaped down.
Her long silver hair was done up in a traditional Japanese style, and her violet-tinged eyes fixed on the sorcerer with icy contempt.
She always wore a kimono. A hairpin shaped like an ice crystal adorned her hair.
Kisaragi's highest executive—Astaroth.
"Astaroth...?!"
Rokugou was stunned.
"You're... Kisaragi's highest executive...!"
The sorcerer's expression shifted.
"Indeed. But right now, I am the school nurse of this academy."
Astaroth smiled elegantly.
"Ice Magic."
Astaroth raised her hand.
Crack-crack-crack!
The ground beneath the sorcerer's feet froze solid in an instant.
The ice pinned his legs to the ground.
"Tch...! This is nothing...!"
The sorcerer fired a spell to shatter the ice.
But the ice didn't budge.
"My ice does not melt so easily."
Astaroth kept the sorcerer in check as she walked over to Rokugou.
"Rokugou-san, are you all right?"
Astaroth peered into Rokugou's face.
Her cheeks flushed faintly pink.
"...Rokugou-san, would you rest with me in the infirmary...? I'll look after you..."
She fidgeted as she murmured it.
"Why is a top executive working in the infirmary?!"
Rokugou was bewildered, but his face went red anyway.
"Why do allies keep appearing for this wretch...!"
The sorcerer trembled with rage, struggling desperately to break the ice.
"Rokugou, can you hear me?"
Alice called out to him.
"I ca
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