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

I came here specifically to join, why did I have to get beaten up?

Of course, the other players believed that the four members of the white-suited team knew Asagiri, which was why they didn't join the challenge. In their minds, they had already labeled the four as "cowards" and "maybe shills".

"So……"

Asagiri reached out and caught the phantom tarot card that floated down from the sky. Looking at the twelve players standing guard in front of her, she clenched her fists and crushed the tarot card, whispering.

"let's start."

“Persona, Mira”.

The moment Mira appeared wielding a katana, the twelve players began to prepare to launch an attack. But at that moment, Asagiri suddenly unleashed that aura that sent shivers down their spines and filled them with fear.

Five players who had just drawn their longswords and other melee weapons felt stiff and numb all over, unable to even move their feet, let alone launch an attack.

"After you cleared the game, you didn't choose to strengthen your mental power at all? That's too naive."

Seeing the performance of these five players, Asagiri shook his head.

"Even if one's abilities do not require the expenditure of mental energy, but..."

"boom!"

Halfway through the conversation, an assassin-type player, thinking that Asagiri hadn't noticed him, used a skill similar to instant speed boost to approach Asagiri. However, just as he arrived at his position and was about to launch an attack, Asagiri struck him in the chest with a palm strike, sending him flying backward and crashing into the wall.

"Without mental resistance, you're completely at the mercy of mental attacks. Don't you understand such a simple truth?"

Asagiri's special class "Unruly Tyrant" has a passive effect that continuously exerts mental pressure on the surrounding area when he enters combat. For example, the five players with high mental strength would be unable to move and lose their will to fight under this pressure.

At this moment, Mira had already adopted a standard Iaijutsu stance, her right hand resting on the hilt of her katana, ready to unleash a slash at the player in front of her who was wielding a Western greatsword with both hands.

"Naive, too slow!"

The male player wielding the greatsword had a look of disdain in his eyes. He judged that his greatsword would fall before his opponent could draw his katana. Although this was just a friendly spar and there was no need to go all out, according to his judgment, this was his victory…

"too slow."

Just as the male player was thinking about this, a bright light suddenly flashed in his field of vision, and then he felt a cold touch on his neck.

Mita gently placed the sharp katana against the other's neck with one hand, while raising the other hand to push up her glasses, speaking in a tone full of chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur).

"Such slow movements, I've completely seen through you!"

82

Chapter 82 You have passed.

Seeing that her twelve players were being suppressed by Asagi alone, one of the female players frowned slightly. A simple wooden staff appeared in her hand, and as she waved it, bursts of light green light descended.

"Mental protection!"

After a shower of pale green light drifted down, the five players who had been under mental pressure regained their senses. A male player, holding a one-handed sword and shield and dressed in swordsman's clothes, looked at Asagiri standing there, tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, and reminded the other players.

"Launch the attack simultaneously, don't give him the chance to pick them off one by one!"

"have to say……"

Asagiri glanced at the twelve players present and shook her head with a hint of regret.

"If this is all you're capable of, then there's no point in forming a player faction."

"This guy……"

"calm down."

The sword and shield warrior player interrupted the player's angry complaints, looking directly at Asagiri standing there, and said calmly.

"Don't lose your composure. Facing such a powerful opponent, we absolutely cannot make mistakes in the battle."

"Oh?"

Asagiri glanced at the sword and shield warrior player who was speaking, and said with interest.

"You're a pretty good Pokémon, worth catching."

Upon hearing this, Ashikaga Miwa, who was watching from the sidelines, raised her hand and adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, also carefully observing the performance of the twelve players.

She knew that although Asagiri's actions and speaking style seemed frivolous and abstract, she wouldn't force any kind of show effect in this kind of matter, and this 1V12 challenge wasn't for showing off or being cool.

The first objective is to make these players realize that the faction they are about to join has a player who is terrifyingly powerful. After all, only when they realize the absolute difference in strength will these arrogant players be truly convinced.

Another goal is to use this challenge to select players who are worth training and supporting among the twelve.

The so-called value does not refer to the abilities on the panel, but rather to the calmness of the sword and shield warrior, or the judgment and decisiveness shown by the female player who saw that Asagiri's "pressure" was a mental effect and immediately cast a mental protection spell to restore the five players' mobility.

Players like these are worth focusing on developing.

"Then now..."

Asagiri, holding the metal chain with one hand, swung the rope dart in circles in the air, speaking in a relaxed tone with a smile.

"You have three minutes to discuss your strategy for dealing with me."

This time, none of the twelve players who took on the challenge felt that Asagiri's words were too arrogant.

In that one minute, Asagiri first rendered five players with insufficient mental strength unable to move, then instantly killed the assassin player. The cute girl he summoned, wielding a katana and wearing glasses like a homebody, didn't even need to use a single round before pressing her katana against the greatsword player's neck.

If what just happened wasn't a challenge match, but a life-or-death struggle...

Only five players remained alive.

"He should be a summoner/warrior type player."

The female player holding the staff gathered the other players in a corner of the dojo and spoke in a low voice.

"His physical attributes are very strong, his reaction speed and explosive power are impeccable, and since he is a summoner-type profession, his mental strength is certainly not a weakness either."

Upon hearing this, the assassin player who had failed in his sneak attack and was instead pushed away by Asagiri's palm frowned as he clutched his still aching chest.

"So you're saying he has no weaknesses?"

"Yes, even if he really has some weaknesses, we don't have any relevant intelligence. Even if he really has weaknesses and we know what they are, it doesn't mean we have corresponding countermeasures."

The female player said this first, and then slowly opened her mouth.

"However, this does not mean we have absolutely no chance of winning, as long as we develop a detailed strategy based on everyone's abilities..."

"We have a chance to win."

……

Three minutes later.

"Are you all ready?"

Asagiri glanced at the twelve players opposite her and chuckled.

"Judging from your expressions, it seems you're all ready, so..."

"let's start."

The moment Asagiri finished speaking, the player holding a shield and a one-handed longsword slammed the heavy shield into the ground. With a loud "bang," a strange power fluctuation spread throughout the area, the exact effect of which was not yet clear.

“Persona…”

Just as Asagiri was about to catch the tarot card and crush it to summon Mira again, the assassin-type player used his ability to increase burst speed and instantly closed in on him.

"Human Asura".

Asagiri remained completely calm, skipping the initial casting animation and instantly summoning her Persona, Shura.

"Knew it……"

Seeing this, the female player holding the staff thought to herself that, just as she had guessed, Asagami could directly skip the tedious summoning animation. Without the summoning animation, it meant that the assassin player's plan to interrupt the spellcasting had failed, and she had run right into the trap of the human Asura.

"boom!!!"

As the Asura threw a punch, just as it was about to hit the assassin player, a shield of light appeared in front of the opponent. Although the assassin player was temporarily knocked back, he was essentially unharmed. In contrast, the player holding the sword and shield let out a muffled groan, and the arm holding the shield began to tremble.

"Damage transfer... It really is a main tank skill."

Asagiri stood beside the human Shura, and both he and the towering human Shura exerted an extremely strong sense of pressure on the players present who were challengers.

"But the game of pretend ends here."

The moment the words left his mouth, Asagiri and Hitoshiro launched an attack on the players from both sides with astonishing speed.

"Block him!"

The female player holding the staff realized that Asagiri's goal was to eliminate her, who was weak in close combat, so she immediately raised the staff.

"Mental shock!"

To the female player's complete surprise, Asagiri's figure did not stop at all, as if it was completely unaffected, and continued to approach her at an astonishing speed.

Upon seeing this, several melee players immediately blocked Chaowu's path. The strongest player among them wiped his longsword, and flames immediately ignited on the blade. He then swung his longsword, causing the flames to converge into a blade of light, which he then slashed at Chaowu's body from a distance.

"boom!"

Faced with the incoming fiery blade light, Asagiri simply raised her left hand, and a hole appeared on her black glove, instantly absorbing all the flames.

"What!?"

The player's expression changed when he saw that his skill had no effect. He reacted quickly as the rope dart was heading straight for his chest, and immediately used his longsword to block it. However, this instinctive action of blocking the attack caused his longsword to deviate from its direction, creating an opening in his defense.

"boom!!"

After being punched by Asagiri, although most of the damage was taken by the main tank not far away, the player still couldn't help but take a step back. Then, he suddenly threw away the long sword in his hand, grabbed Asagiri's wrists tightly with both hands, and shouted despite the pain in his chest.

"It's now!"

Upon seeing this, the female player immediately raised her staff and aimed it at Asagiri, unleashing two skills in quick succession.

"Binding Technique!"

"Visual deprivation!"

Asagiri's vision went completely black, and a dark green magic circle appeared on the ground where he was standing. The moment the magic circle appeared, the dark green magic patterns crawled onto his body, causing a powerful binding effect with the added curse and corrosive damage.

At that very moment, the player wielding the sword and shield did his utmost to forcefully halt the Asura's advance with his shield. At the same time, all the players turned their fire and launched an attack on Chaowu, who had lost sight and whose movements were temporarily restricted.

"interesting."

Although he lost his sight, Asagiri could still sense the danger, which was enough to prove that the combined attack of these players could cause him serious and potentially fatal damage. What was even more interesting was that the "binding spell" cast by the female mage was very effective. Under the influence of this skill, he was even unable to use the King's Chariot Swap to exchange positions with Shura.

That "sight deprivation" was not a mental illusion, but rather it did temporarily deprive him of his vision; otherwise, with his human-asura characteristics, he would have been completely immune.

"You've passed."

At this critical moment, Asagiri even said something with satisfaction, and then the Shura in the distance suddenly turned into dark red lines that quickly covered his body.

"Human Asura Mode".

"It hurts so much... How could this happen..."

The "binding spell" was forcibly broken, and the female warlock suffered a severe backlash. She felt as if her head was about to split open, and her vision became blurred. Due to the backlash of her mental energy, she could no longer maintain the effect of "sight deprivation".

After regaining his vision, Asagiri turned his gaze to the players who wanted to attack him. A mental pressure that was even stronger than before, almost suffocating, immediately put those players into a frozen state, unable to move.

"It has ended."

83

Chapter 83 Asuna.

The main tank player, wielding a sword and shield, knelt on one knee, straining to raise his head. He first glanced at Asagiri standing there, then turned his gaze to the female warlock player who was suffering from severe mental backlash and was on the verge of unconsciousness. He sighed heavily.

"Yes, it's over. We've already lost."

The core of the battle plan devised by these twelve players was actually the two abilities of the female warlock player: "sight removal" and "binding spell." The most important part was binding Asagiri's movements.

Asagiri's physical attributes and melee combat abilities were simply too strong. Apart from the sword and shield main tank player, no other player could contend with him. The sword and shield main tank player's defense was very strong, and even Asagiri could not defeat him for a while. However, Asagiri was not a mindless NPC who only knew how to attack randomly, but a player with the ability to think.

If we can't defeat you in a short time, why not just deal with other players first? This main tank player is far slower than Asagiri, and can't keep up with his actions at all, let alone forcibly restrict him.

Unless Asagiri's movements can be restricted, giving all players a chance to launch a coordinated attack, it's pointless.

"You two..."

Asagiri glanced at the sword and shield main tank, then at the female warlock player who was leaning against the wall, swaying precariously, and rubbing her temples.

"You two have already cleared the third phase of the dungeon, right?"

"Yes."