You say this is a love game?

"So, the clue is hidden in the crack?"

Mizutani Makoto muttered to himself, with a bad feeling rising in his heart.

The air was filled with a strange, fishy-sweet smell. He stood at the edge of the blood pool, looking at the scarlet, ink-like, thick, and sticky liquid, and couldn't help but frowning deeply.

Without any hesitation, he stepped into the pool of blood.

The sticky and warm liquid instantly wrapped around his legs, and he felt a slippery touch on the soles of his feet.

He was actually having trouble moving forward.

Push aside the floating corpse in front.

Mizutani Makoto had already recognized them. These people were all members of the student union of the private Hiiragigaoka Academy. They were wearing student uniforms from the Taisho period, with frozen expressions and empty eyes, like rag dolls with their souls sucked out.

He moved forward, forward, and forward continuously, pushing aside one corpse after another, and finally saw the girl in the center of the pool.

——Mai Yajima.

She lay quietly, soaking in the center of the pool of blood and corpses, welcoming the bloody dark light descending from the dome, like a flower blooming in hell.

Of course he was familiar with the girl's face; her delicate features hadn't changed at all. Even the faint scar on her forehead was exactly the same.

She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, as if she had just fallen into a deep sleep.

When he saw the girl's face clearly, Mizutani Makoto's heart suddenly sank and a chill ran up his spine to the back of his neck.

"Why is Mai here?"

He wouldn't admit it.

Tongzi's suggestion also confirmed this.

But Mai Yajima was clearly in the present world, so how could she suddenly appear in the crack?

Also, what does "bird in a cage" mean?

The existence that was previously dubbed "the bird in the cage" by the system was the vengeful crow under the command of the Guhuo Bird.

Unless the Guhuo Bird dies, no matter how they grow, they will never be able to escape from the control of the Guhuo Bird... It is accurate to say that they are a bird in a cage that cannot escape.

But now, why is Mai also considered a "bird in a cage"?

Mizutani Makoto thought of something terrible.

That girl is clearly a super powerful monster with a strong rank as her foundation. She wouldn't be like Madara, who was set up by some shady creature and could be backstabbed at any time, right?

“This is the soul.”

On the contrary, Chidori seemed to have noticed something.

"Mai's soul?"

Mizutani Makoto's eyebrows suddenly frowned.

Chidori shook her head: "No, this is a human soul...but the 'Yajima Mai' you know is not human at heart."

Mizutani Makoto was stunned.

His tone couldn't help but be surprised: "You mean to say that the soul in front of us, she is..."

"Yes, she might be the real Yajima Mai."

Chidori calmly analyzed: "I don't know what exactly happened, but based on the information I know, I can infer a lot."

"The Yajima Mai you know is essentially a monster that escaped from a fissure... We won't discuss exactly what kind of monster it is, but her origin lies in the fissure. And according to what Miyamizu said, Yajima Mai's existence is also an important bridge for the fissure to erode the real world."

"And the reason she's active in the real world is because of the real Mai Yajima's suicide. That girl died wearing a mask, and in return, she became the Mai Yajima of today."

"Then we must consider one thing. After death, the soul will go to the afterlife, but the rift will trap the soul and obsessions of the person... The real Yajima Mai committed suicide wearing a mask born from the rift. She was so close to the rift, can her soul really go to the afterlife?"

"It seems her soul has indeed been captured by the Rift... and the mask she wears, now Yajima Mai, must have a very special place in the Rift. Otherwise, the real Yajima Mai, a mere human soul, wouldn't be able to appear here."

It is easy to understand the current situation with the explanation of an expert.

"The real Yajima Mai."

Makoto Mizutani walked quickly forward and reached out to touch the soul sleeping there.

But nothing happened.

Nothing serious has happened yet due to the ghost wandering and the hands of the ancestors, but no new pop-ups have appeared.

Mizutani Makoto felt like he had touched nothing. The girl in front of him was clearly there, but it seemed as if nothing existed.

He calmed down.

Upon closer inspection, the temperament of the girl in front of him was very different from the Mai he knew.

To put it more intuitively, it is "gloomy".

The Mai Yajima that Mizutani Makoto knew was always lively and cheerful, full of energy, like a curious baby full of vitality, but the girl lying here had a frown on her face, and even in her sleep she revealed a repressed emotion, and her melancholy temperament enveloped her like a haze.

Due to the hint from [Clue 7], Mizutani Makoto wanted to move this soul away, but after several attempts, even the [Gorgeous Golden Box] had no explanation.

"bad thing."

Mizutani Makoto didn't understand the inside story, but he keenly realized that this hidden pool of blood must be crucial to the rift.

"Is there nothing else here?"

Mizutani Makoto looked around. There were no monsters or bosses in this place.

Chidorimaru floated beside him, and crackling electric light illuminated the underground space for him.

Mizutani Makoto thought about it and summoned Satori Yoshiko from the amulet. With the help of Satori Yoshiko's instinct of [seeking good fortune and avoiding evil], he began to explore this wide space of tree roots.

“It feels so unpleasant here…”

After coming out of the amulet, Yoshiko Satori was trembling.

She felt fear, not because of any particular corpse, but because she felt inexplicably depressed and terrified as long as she was in this scarlet space.

But Yoshiko Satori tried her best to overcome this fear. She took Makoto Mizutani around twice, and seemed to have caught a glimpse of something. She immediately ran to a corner of the blood pool with her short legs.

She picked up an unexpected prop.

[Eyes of the Witch]

Description: A pair of amber eyes, belonging to the shrine maiden Furuya Ruriko. As a shrine maiden serving the gods, she had lost her reverence for them. This utter disrespect for the gods was the very reason for her conviction. Yet, these deprived eyes still hold unanswered questions and a sense of unwillingness.

[Review: What did the shrine maiden Furuya Ruriko see in her eyes during her audience with the gods?]

"..."

Damn, the eyes of the witch!

Mizutani Makoto was immediately shocked.

His miko did say that her eyes were buried in a corner of the private Hiiragigaoka Academy. He searched the map thoroughly but couldn't find them. So, were they hidden in this hidden map?

What a damn quest chain?

You have to kill Tang Shizi first and get Kagura Hokorin before you can enter this hidden map and complete Miss Miko's side quest, right?

This task is quite a set...

Satori Yoshiko was filled with fear of the eyeball and hurriedly handed it to Mizutani Makoto. Mizutani Makoto held the eyeball in his palm and felt particularly tricky... He had to return it to the miko as soon as possible.

"This place is indeed a small treasury, but it is definitely one of the most critical places for the loophole."

Mizutani Makoto looked around.

This blood pool environment is perfect for boss battles.

He looked back at the soul of Mai Yajima in the center of the blood pool, suppressed his inner uneasiness, turned around and left.

Next, of course, we had to go to the school building.

Just when Mizutani Makoto was about to start teleporting, this underground space welcomed the second visitor.

Kurosawa Ryohito.

He was still thin, his face, burned by the flames, a stern expression on his face. Unlike the honest and simple-minded persona he had pretended to be during his "deception," he now looked more like a superior Yin-Yang master. If it weren't for the flames' disfigurement, he might actually have possessed some aura.

He stood at the edge of the pool of blood, his eyes sweeping over the floating bodies of the student council members, finally landing on a certain being in the depths of the pool.

He buried all of these here with his own hands.

But that was before he died.

This was the first time he had set foot in this area blocked by tree roots since he usurped the authority of the Rift three years ago.

"God's Egg..."

As if in response to his arrival, the pool of blood began to boil slightly.

The originally calm blood pool suddenly began to ripple, and a low vibration came from the bottom of the pool.

"Gulu...Gulu..."

Bubbles kept coming out from under the pool of blood, as if some huge monster was breathing underneath.

The bloody liquid slowly surged, and a strong fishy smell filled the entire space.

This pool of blood, which should have been shallow, suddenly became unfathomable.

There was actually a huge black shadow slowly wriggling under the blood pool.

Its outline was vague, not human, nor any other known creature. Its form was completely blurred, like a mass of animated darkness or filth, constantly deforming and twisting as it slowly swam beneath the pool of blood.

This is the Egg of God.

Faced with this "divine name" that was enough to put him at the top of the food chain, Kurosawa Ryohito couldn't help but tremble all over.

The limit that humans can reach is only the strong level. Even if there are Onmyojis who are able to fight against the big monsters of the evil level, most of them have relied on the power of gods or Buddhas. There are endless magical powers such as guardians and possession. It is because of the gods' guidance and blessings in mythology that humans can fight against the big monsters that wreak havoc on the world time and time again.

What kind of realm is that god in?

"mad……"

Cruelty and madness are not made for human beings.

Being evil is the end that a monster can go.

As for madness, it is a field specially designated for the gods in the pantheon.

"The egg of the god of trouble."

The ticket to the rank of Madness.

Soichiro Hiiragihara has been planning his ultimate goal for who knows how long.

Abandon the mortal body and become a god.

He didn't know how Soichiro Hiiragihara achieved this unprecedented feat, but when he thought about his future as a "Kuang", Kurosawa Ryohito couldn't help but tremble with excitement.

He walked forward quickly and stepped into the pool of blood, but suddenly stopped in the next moment.

His face showed suppressed confusion and anger.

"he's not here."

"Even the God's Egg...he didn't hide here..."

The next moment, Kurosawa Ryohito suddenly lost his voice.

"—!"

The amorphous God's Egg that was slowly swimming in the depths of the blood pool seemed to be calling for something.

Deep inside Kurosawa Ryojin's body, something was responding to the call of the God's Egg.

"me?"

He covered his chest, but felt that his hand was being slowly pushed away. He lowered his head in a daze and saw a hand tearing out from his chest, grabbing the palm of his hand covering his chest and slowly pushing it away.

Soichiro Hiirahara.

Or rather, Yajimazu.

"Shadow Girl."

He called softly.

A twisted shadow was flying towards the school gate.

……