A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

"I heard what you were saying."

Asagiri didn't turn around; she simply kept her back to Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga, speaking in a flat tone.

"I'll hold this guy off while you guys go find its true form."

Although Asuna Yuuki was very worried about Asagiri's condition, she knew that she couldn't hesitate too much at this moment, so she immediately nodded.

"Well, I see."

Seeing Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga leave the hotel lobby and head towards the room where the water tank was located, the floating corpse demon's face became even more ferocious and terrifying. It grinned and aimed at the two figures as they walked away.

But before it could even spray out that corrosive dark green liquid, Asagiri spoke softly.

"Human Asura, shut its mouth."

The moment Asagiri finished speaking, the human demon did not hesitate to raise his arm and shove his entire arm into the gaping mouth of the floating corpse evil spirit.

"Well..."

The floating corpse spirit made a sound similar to retching, its body struggling incessantly, and its eyes, as it looked at Asagiri, revealed a strong, twisted, and venomous look.

"Are you in a hurry?"

Asagiri leaned against the hotel reception counter, staring directly into the eyes of the floating corpse demon, a smile on her face.

"Heh, you're in such a hurry. It's no use being anxious. I'm not going to let you pass. Knowing that your true form is about to be reduced to ashes, you're powerless to do anything about it, yet you're stubbornly clinging to life, refusing to accept the reality of defeat..."

“It’s really ugly.”

............

On the other side, Asuna Yuuki frowned as she looked at the metal object in front of her, which was about two meters tall and occupied almost the entire room of nearly one hundred square meters.

"Is this the tank where that thing's main body is located...? Necro, help me find it. If it's a normal tank, it should be there..."

Before Asuna Yuuki could finish speaking, Kotoko Iwanaga had already raised her cane and pointed to the top of the water tank.

"It should be up there."

To ensure the cleanliness of the water source, the hotel not only uses filters, but also regularly cleans the water tank at the source. Therefore, the water tank is not a closed metal box, but has a cover on top that can be opened so that people can enter and clean it.

"Up there... the protection of the wind."

Yuuki Asuna used the Wind Protection spell, and her movements were extremely agile. Without wasting a single moment, she climbed to the top of the water tank by using the outer wall of the tank in a parkour-like manner.

Sure enough, there was a lid-like thing, and it wasn't locked.

Asuna Yuuki walked up to the lid and opened it. The moment she opened the lid, she immediately smelled an extremely pungent and unbearable stench. Moreover, there was about half a meter of water in the tank. Her expression couldn't help but become a little nervous.

If Kotoko Iwanaga's speculation is correct, then after she enters the water tank, she will see the true form of the floating corpse spirit, which is...

The other party's corpse was swollen and distended, having been submerged in the water tank for an unknown amount of time.

In fact, Asuna Yuuki has a slight case of mysophobia.

In the past, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to enter this foul-smelling, stagnant body water that had been accumulating for who knows how long.

But now, there are reasons why we must take action.

"Leader...Asagiri..."

Thinking about how she was delaying the evil spirit's actions, and how even though she had exhausted a lot of physical and mental energy, she was still managing to summon Asagiri, the persona, once again in a short time, Yuuki Asuna made up her mind, gritted her teeth, and jumped into the water tank.

In the dim light, she saw a bloated and distended body in the corner of the water tank, barely recognizable as human, with only black, seaweed-like hair floating on the surface.

The next second, the tip of the exorcist's sword in Yuuki Asuna's hand pierced through the corpse's forehead.

"Got you."

043 The Rebirth of the End

When Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga returned to the hotel lobby, they did not see the floating corpse spirit, which relieved Asuna Yuuki greatly.

As expected, regardless of Kotoko Iwanaga's true identity in the real world, it was clear that she had extensive experience in handling bizarre events. In that situation, she immediately recognized that the floating corpse demon fighting with the human Shura was not the true form of the strange entity in the hotel.

Only by using a magical weapon to destroy the corpse inside the water tank can the evil spirit be completely eliminated.

Just as Yuuki Asuna was starting to relax a little, she saw Asagiri sitting there with her back to the hotel reception desk and quickly ran over to ask her what was wrong.

"Chief...Leader! Are you alright?"

"I..."

Asagiri's voice was very soft, as if it might dissipate at any moment. His black eyes, which used to always be smiling, had lost their luster, and the gun-shaped summoner lay quietly beside him.

"It seems this is where I'll end it..."

"how come..."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's expression changed, and her eyes revealed a look of panic and confusion.

"No...this can't be...how could this happen? Hold on a little longer...I, I absolutely won't let you die!"

"Huh? What death?"

To the surprise of Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga, Asagiri suddenly smiled, waved her hand, and spoke in a very relaxed tone after hearing those words.

"You've misunderstood. I'm far from dead."

Asuna Yuuki paused for a moment, then murmured.

"Huh? Then why did you just now...?"

"I just suddenly felt like saying that line."

Asagiri stood up from the ground and looked at the messy ground not far away, which had been corroded beyond recognition by the dark green liquid gushing from the bodies of the floating corpses and evil spirits. She slowly spoke.

"What a formidable opponent. I'm afraid I'll never forget you, bouncy water balloon."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki looked both angry and helpless, and rolled her eyes.

"What bouncy water balloons... If someone who didn't know better heard this, they'd think the enemy we just faced was some kind of creature from a children's cartoon..."

After making that comment, Asuna Yuuki turned her head, raised her hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes, and then turned back to stare at Asagiri with a serious expression, her tone extremely earnest.

"You're not allowed to make jokes like that again!"

"walk slowly."

Asagiri first responded with a smile, then seemed to be thinking.

"Killing bosses outside the normal walkthrough should be considered a bonus in the app's rating system. It seems that the three of us can all get at least an S-level or higher completion rating this time."

Asuna Yuuki took out her phone, glanced at the time, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Although it feels like time has been dragging on, it's only been less than three hours since we entered the dungeon..."

Just as Asuna Yuuki uttered those words, her, Asagiri's, and Kotoko Iwanaga's phones all simultaneously rang with notification sounds.

[You have eliminated all hostile evil spirits in this instance and solved the truth behind the hotel's strange events. You can leave the instance at any time through the app.]

There was another notification on Asagiri's phone.

Your Persona "Human Asura" has grown and unlocked new features.

When Asagiri checked, she found that, as expected, the human Shura's panel had changed compared to before.

[Human Asura: Facing the Fear of Death, the Persona Born Within You]

Strengths: Strength, stamina, defense, speed, agility

[Weakness: Lack of ranged attack methods]

[Human Asura's Passive Effect: When switching to this Persona, your physical attributes will be enhanced, and because Human Asura represents an unwavering and steadfast will, you will be immune to all mental attacks such as illusions, brainwashing, and hypnosis.]

[Currently available trait: Rebirth at the End]

【Rebirth of the End: Whenever the Human Asura is completely destroyed in a true battle, all its basic abilities will grow, and its resistance to corresponding elemental attacks will increase (without limit). You yourself will also receive resistance enhancements provided by the Human Asura. Currently increased resistances: Corrosion, Curse】

[Corresponding Tarot Card: The Emperor (Upright)]

Asagiri already knows what this newly unlocked characteristic of the Human Asura means.

Simply put, each time it is completely destroyed, its resistance will increase. The specific type of resistance that increases depends on the type of attack used to destroy the Asura.

For example, just now, it was melted by the corpse water of that floating female ghost, which had both corrosive and curse properties. The resistance it gained corresponds to these two properties, and it has no upper limit to growth.

However, even without the app's prompts, Asagiri could sense that only a real battle, like the one she had just fought against the floating corpse evil spirit, could allow her Shura to improve.

It's impossible to get enhanced by intentionally letting your car be destroyed, which is like exploiting a bug.

After reading it, Asagiri handed her phone to Kotoko Iwanaga and Asuna Yuuki, and said with a smile.

"My human Asura has unlocked a new feature."

"New features?"

Yuuki Asuna took the phone and read it with Iwanaga Kotoko, who was next to her. Both of them had expressions of disbelief.

"A rebirth at the end? Growth in basic abilities? Unlimited resistance enhancement? And the ability to share already acquired resistance growth with you? This..."

Asuna Yuuki returned the phone to Asagiri, pursed her lips, and said with a complicated expression.

"Seriously... isn't your unique talent, known as Persona, a bit too powerful? It's practically cheat code level, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Asagiri laughed and made a teasing remark.

"Oh, you even know about cheats?"

Asuna Yuuki rolled her eyes and said irritably.

"Didn't you tell me to learn more about the game, to put myself in the player's shoes, and to think about these dungeons from the game's perspective? I'm not the kind of person who knows I need to learn but doesn't correct myself because of laziness."

After saying that, Asuna Yuuki glanced at Asagiri, then at Kotoko Iwanaga, and couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"Sigh... You two have both unlocked your exclusive talents, while I haven't... Although most players at this stage haven't unlocked any of their classes or talents yet, it's still hard not to feel a sense of disparity when teaming up with two cheat-using players like you..."

There will be another chapter 2 later.

044 The most eerie thing in the hotel

"Don't be envious. Although my unique talent is very strong in the bizarre dungeons, it also has many limitations."

Kotoko Iwanaga said this first, and then smiled and spoke to Asuna Yuuki.

"Besides, you deserve a lot of credit for eliminating the source of the anomaly this time. You were ruthless and decisive during the operation, no wonder the Leader teamed up with you."

Just as Asuna Yuuki was about to reply to Kotoko Iwanaga's words, she heard her speak softly again.

"But next time, could you please not act like a pervert, doing something as weird as standing on the water tank and whispering the Leader's name?"

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's pretty face instantly turned bright red. She hadn't expected that Kotoko Iwanaga would have heard her whispering Asagiri's name at that moment.

At the time, she didn't have any other thoughts, but subconsciously she felt that in order to prevent Asagiri from being in danger... she had to make up her mind, even if it meant jumping into a stinking tank filled with corpses, she would not hesitate for a moment.

"I...you're the pervert! By the way, are you really the same age as us?"

Yuuki Asuna immediately launched a counterattack, sizing up Iwanaga Kotoko, who was petite, only about 1.5 meters tall, and whose face, though delicate and cute, did not look like a high school student at all, and slowly began to speak.

"Your figure...it's like a middle school student's..."

"What!? Are you saying I have a small penis!?"

Kotoko Iwanaga noticed the direction in which Asuna Yuuki was looking, and then glanced at the other's impressive size, which was quite remarkable for a high school student. Her confidence waned slightly, but she still forced herself to speak, uttering a startling statement.

"Hehe, I just developed a little late, and I've heard that if you use skillful techniques to knead it often, it will develop a second time!"

After saying that, Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asagiri and spoke frankly.

"Leader, caring for the mental health of team members and helping them grow physically is also your responsibility as a leader, right? Then I'll leave it to you."

Yuuki Asuna felt incredibly ashamed just listening to these words, her face flushed slightly, and her voice carried a hint of jealousy.

"Can you please stop spouting such outrageous things? Please don't use such a cute and innocent face to say such... such... such shocking things, okay?"

"whispering sound..."

Kotoko Iwanaga made a dissatisfied sound, rolled her eyes at Asuna Yuuki, and looked like a dead pig that doesn't care about boiling water and will not stop until it makes a shocking statement.

"I didn't ask you to massage it, mind your own business."

"you..."

"Almost got it."