Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

The fact that he could use non-spiritual tools meant that his previous praise for this guy wasn't entirely unfounded—spirits are driven by their essence, ghosts are bound by their obsessions, and there are other spiritual entities... It's said that there's a kind of spiritual entity born from the mind, called a demon? In short, a demon is also troubled by its own concepts.

This means that if someone is not born with the ability to use tools, it is very difficult for them to learn how to do so in the process of survival.

What's in front of me looks very blurry, and it's hard to tell what it is.

That is why he is of particular research value.

On the other hand, he possesses the power to both enhance matter and summon shadows… The Rat King has seen such beings before, many times. They are not spirits, but call themselves mages, wish-granters, or something else… They call themselves human.

To call oneself a mortal when one is already a supernatural being is truly outrageous—but to a spirit like the Rat King, it makes no difference.

In any case, this guy's behavior made the Rat King expect resistance (even though he didn't see the shadowy part at the time), so the Rat King put him at a rather dangerous distance before making his move.

I wonder what exactly my old nemesis, that giant piece of scrap metal in the station, said to this guy, and what he plans to do to me...

Regardless, even if this guy's plan goes smoothly, they're too late.

The Rat King realized that he had relaxed a bit after securing victory and that his thoughts were wandering. He quickly began to refocus his attention; things weren't over yet.

As it turned out, this guy did put up a fight.

It is said that humans have conducted tests, putting a person into a completely empty black or white room, and that person will quickly go insane from scaring themselves.

Indeed, humanity has made remarkable achievements in many areas.

The Rat King unknowingly traps its opponents in a mental labyrinth, and then, generally speaking, the victims quickly descend into madness and lose their minds—then their defenses are wide open, allowing the Rat King to slaughter them at will.

It was strange. The Rat King watched this guy think, think, struggle, struggle—several times, the Rat King thought this guy was about to break down. But he didn't; this guy always managed to pull through.

This guy wasn't familiar with the mind and stepped right into the Rat King's trap... But under these circumstances, he still managed to persevere to this extent... That's all the more commendable.

In fact, the Rat King even felt a little regretful. If he had known this guy would be so difficult to deal with, perhaps he should have attacked from a distance. Even simply having the guards throw short spears should have stopped him from getting close.

However, the Rat King knew he wouldn't choose that path. Greed was one of his inherent traits, not the most decisive one, but its influence was enormous. Unless there was a very good reason, the Rat King wouldn't let go.

Add to that the earlier misjudgments that had nothing to do with this guy... He already regrets not taking big gambles. If he can't afford to gamble big, can't he at least gamble small?

It seems a bit cumbersome to keep referring to him as "this guy".

However, the Rat King decided it was best not to establish a special status for the other party in his thoughts.

During the conversation, this guy displayed a very clear attitude of "I'm not entirely sure, but I'm trying to figure it out from you."

Many people are like this, full of hope.

But this actually yielded some results; this guy actually managed to make his own subjective time flow.

This is the first time... no, this has happened before, let me correct myself... this is the first time I've faced an opponent of this strength.

This is tantamount to forcing himself to speak up, the Rat King thought, this is the second part of the scheme.

If the other party is able to break free from the empty space, then increase the stakes for them.

By suppressing one's own mental pressure, one forces the other person into a mental overload.

This was my second miscalculation: the other party actually ignored my mental pressure.

Or rather, it cannot be said that it was completely ignored, but only the pressure brought about by the situation remained, without any supernatural elements.

The Rat King cannot say he has never seen this situation before; there are usually two possibilities.

Firstly, the opponent is highly skilled, having weathered countless storms, and will not be fooled by petty mental tricks.

Secondly, the person on the other end is a reckless fool.

To be honest, the Rat King thinks it's the latter, because no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like the kind of seasoned veteran who has seen countless storms.

Then, when the other party could hear his thoughts without him having any special control... the Rat King was no longer surprised.

The problem lies in speaking directly. As long as you can withstand the pressure, it's easy for each other to overhear what wasn't said.

Telepathy is something like this. Since you haven't actually spoken, but only sent what you're thinking to the other person, there's no essential difference between thinking and speaking. Moreover, you've actively pulled the other person into the center of your mental network. To not notice this at all in this situation would be the epitome of recklessness.

Fortunately, things went much more smoothly after that.

The fundamental intelligence gap prevented the other side from realizing several key issues.

This guy has never figured out why he can think faster than before, yet he hasn't come up with anything of value.

Of course, if he had thought of that on the first try, it would have been the Rat King's turn to cry foul and complain about the unfairness.

The answer is actually quite simple: every magic trick is essentially the same.

This is a network of thought, not simply a direct connection between the Rat King and the other party.

The Rat King had long ago included a large number of rats in his army, the most important of which were the rat officers.

Then, each person who is connected to the system will hand over a portion of their thinking ability for the Rat King to use.

Unfortunately, this network is still far from perfect. It doesn't show up when you're doing basic thinking, but it starts to stagnate when you try to do some creative thinking.

The Rat King knew that this was because he had not integrated these thinking abilities. He still needed to use them separately—just like ordering each of his subordinates to engage in creative thinking. Their already low level of ability, coupled with the fact that they only provided a portion of the thinking capacity, made it too difficult for them to engage in such complex thinking.

If the problem being considered is one that the provided thinking ability can solve on its own, then it will be solved in parallel, which is very efficient—but if not, trouble arises when the Rat King tries to break the problem into segments.

Without the first step, he wouldn't know what to think about in the second step. So while he's thinking about the first step, everything else has to wait for him to finish calculating. In the end, it's just that one thinking module is thinking.

That thinking module, which was already not very advanced and had only submitted a portion of its work, was thinking independently. The problem was that even the Rat King himself found it a headache and needed extra support.

Only a ghost could come up with that.

This means that no matter how large the network expands, the most complex problems can only be handled by the Rat King himself, and his other subordinates can't help at all.

There was nothing that could be done about it. The Rat King had a premonition that if one day he could solve this problem and use his subordinates' thoughts as he used his own, he would definitely be promoted.

As for now, the Rat King is using it in a different way.

Through this network, the Rat King forces his subordinates to pay attention to what he wants them to pay attention to—which is what they are supposed to do anyway, but they often slack off. Now the Rat King has taken away a part of their thinking ability and forced them to keep thinking about what he wants them to pay attention to... Even if it's less efficient, it's still more efficient than when they were slacking off.

Furthermore, subordinates whose thinking abilities have been reduced will be more obedient, although they are naturally weaker. But what use are strong but disobedient subordinates?

In any case, in this current confrontation, the Rat King has deliberately provided his opponent with a large amount of low-level rat thinking ability. Although these are all remnants incapable of effective thinking, if they don't realize this, they will have the illusion that their thinking speed is extremely fast.

Most people would go crazy in this situation; they feel like they can come up with a solution, but in reality, they have no control over it at all.

To reiterate, this reckless fool is one of the few; after failing to make any complex decisions, he simply gave up.

The Rat King had considered the possibility of the other party being trapped, the possibility of the other party being too mentally resilient to be pulled in, and even the possibility of the other party causing a ruckus after entering his mental network, forcing him to release the other party...

I never expected that this reckless fool would almost survive by relying on his iron head technique without discovering anything.

You really have to keep learning as long as you live.

……

The foolish and bold man's abilities are valuable, and his situation is not stable. When the Rat King advised the other side to surrender, the Rat King was serious.

He recognized at a glance that the fool was using the skills of the Vow Master... or the sorcerer, a domain that the Rat King had never occupied before.

Although the Rat King believed these skills were flashy but ineffective, he still believed that learning from others could be beneficial.

The Rat King was seriously inviting the Foolish Daredevil to become a permanent member of his mental network and serve him forever—if this required cooperation, the Rat King was willing to grant him some autonomy beyond his own abilities.

However, the other party did not cooperate, even if they seemed not to understand.

...They're called reckless fools, so it's not surprising that they would do something like this.

So the Rat King set a trap for his opponent.

The other party could hear his inner thoughts, so the Rat King deliberately let out several sentences and pretended not to notice.

The first few sentences are all completely correct, and the last sentence... is also completely correct, but it is missing a key condition.

There is indeed no way to exert extra creativity within a mental network, and stopping thinking can indeed detach oneself from the network, since no psychopathic ability can work on objects without a mind.

But stopping thinking doesn't mean you can just say "so I stopped thinking" and it will actually stop; it takes time—and during that time, you'll be completely defenseless on a mental level.

Then the Rat King can take the opportunity to completely bind this opponent.

If the Rat King could read what the other party was thinking in real time using their extra thinking abilities, he could even know what the other party was thinking. If he could do that, he would be absolutely foolproof.

Unfortunately, even the true owner of this massive network, the Rat King, couldn't find out which unit within it was being used for thinking. When it was found afterward, it could only be used for verification, not for real-time judgment.

Based on the collected fragments, it can only be said that the Rat King felt that the other party, like himself, was very gambling and would most likely take the gamble in the end.

While the foolish and bold struggled with his choices, the Rat King could have the Rat officers play chess to pass the time... The foolish and bold never imagined he had this advantage.

Now is the time to reap the rewards.

The opponent's mental activity is rapidly declining, and at the same time, the connection he has established with his own mental network is becoming weaker.

Now is the time. As long as we hold him tight until the very last moment, the Rat King will have plenty of time to study this foolish and audacious man's situation.

The Rat King launched an attack, easily invading the mind of his unsuspecting opponent.

Once he figured out exactly how the other party wielded that power and integrated that power into his own grasp, it would be like adding crutches to a healthy body, giving him an advantage in every aspect.

However, something seemed amiss—the other person's thinking appeared to have completely stopped, showing no signs of activation.

Logically, even the most sluggish spirit should wake up in this situation—human spirit and body are separate, but it's difficult for a spirit to separate its spirit and body.

Or, to put it another way, this behavior is like performing surgery on someone who is fast asleep without anesthesia—no matter how soundly they are asleep, they should wake up by now.

Is this also due to the peculiar nature of this fool? Is his spirit so chaotic that even if it were taken over, it wouldn't be noticeable?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"I never expected that something that was originally just an extra part would yield such a result. It turns out that fate is truly on my side." Although it was a bit strange, the Rat King did not feel any resistance. "Thank you, you fool. I will make good use of your power after I finish my research."

“Actually, I have a name. Just call me Yuri, though it might not be my real name. Your Majesty Rat King, calling me ‘Foolish Daredevil’ is too disrespectful.” Another voice rang out, then added, “I’m not foolish, and you’re not much smarter, Your Majesty Rat King.”

Chapter 104 Rock-Paper-Scissors

"You're awake? Too bad it's too late." The Rat King's voice held a hint of confusion. "I'm already—"

Yuri interrupted the other person somewhat rudely, but he figured that no matter how many times Yuri was impolite, it wouldn't make up for what the other person was trying to do to him.

“You’ve already mastered my body, right? But you’re still a little short, oh, actually, you’re still two short.” Yuri sighed in the mental world. “I couldn’t move to begin with, so there’s no difference between now and before. In fact, I can move a little bit now.”

Although Yuri only heard very incomplete parts of the Rat King's inner thoughts, with more and more missing the earlier parts, he at least heard the last part completely. Although he didn't know what the Rat King had done or knew before, Yuri heard the part about what the Rat King planned to do to him.

"You—" The Rat King realized what was happening, "You're still going to struggle—"

“Ah, yes, there are some things that can only be done by deepening my connection with you, and that’s something I only realized after you caught me.” Yuri suppressed his excitement. “After becoming a formal member of this mental network, I discovered that as a formal member, I can actually refuse this acceleration. In fact, I have already refused access from other minds—since they are running parallel to me in the mental network, they don’t have the privilege of forcing me to accept information.”

Furthermore, the other rats were unable to resist because they were already in the Rat King's hands from the beginning—but Yuri wasn't; he was just a little short of that.

Based on the information obtained from the field of vision, the descent has started again, although it is still in slow motion, but at least it is clearly visible that it is moving.

“It’s the same. Now you’re almost completely under control. With just this last bit of consciousness, what can you still do?” The Rat King tried to rally his strength, a surge of resentment echoing through his mental network. “I’ll crush your last bit of consciousness completely!”

"Don't do that, Your Majesty the Rat King, it's too embarrassing." Although Yuri was also a prime example of someone who was willing to suffer for the sake of saving face, it didn't stop him from mocking back after being ridiculed for so long. "Now no one can stop me from doing what I have to do—or rather, I have already done it."

After time resumed its flow, Yuri activated the beacon before even speaking to the Rat King, without delaying for too long.

He was a little worried that the Rat King would immediately control him once he realized what was happening... Although he didn't know if the Rat King could do it, it was not a good risk to take it, and now he didn't want to gamble anymore, not at all.

"You, the beacon sandwiched in your body?" The Rat King immediately noticed what Yuri was pointing to. "Stop it immediately, or you'll die a very painful death!"

“…Good question, but I stopped that beacon because it needs to—” Yuri received a response before he could finish sending the message.

"I promise you a considerable degree of freedom. Don't even think about negotiating with me. Even if that beacon is activated to the very end, I can still inflict severe psychological damage on you—you're still in my hands. Don't forget that." Clearly, the Rat King had realized the threat posed by the beacon.

"Don't be in such a hurry, Rat King. Stopping that beacon requires me to know things I don't. I just remembered, I only asked how to start it, not how to stop it." Yuri put on an act of being forced into it, trying to infuriate the Rat King as much as possible.

"...Did you come here with the determination to die?" To Yuri's surprise, the Rat King's attitude calmed down. "You're willing to die to become my enemy?"

Yuri sensed the tense atmosphere and stopped his taunts. "That's not how it is, Your Majesty the Rat King. At first, I just wanted to rush to your side and activate the beacon to give you a quick thrashing—your power and my recklessness have put me in this predicament where I could die either way...and it's obvious that fighting to the end gives me a better chance of survival."

"Then let's each rely on our abilities."

The Rat King seemed to have regained some composure, which wasn't good news for Yuri... but he had no other choice.

In reality, Yuri felt the speed of his descent increase, indicating that the Rat King had further relaxed his interference with his mental state.

But he was still unable to move. Perhaps he would have to wait for Line Two to take action to solve this problem, at least severely injuring the Rat King, before he would have a chance to completely break free from control.

Then, a rat emerged from the black mist before them—it looked very similar to the spirit rat guards outside, but stronger, though only slightly stronger.

Perhaps they were guards specially left behind by the Rat King?

There was no time to do a detailed analysis of the rat; Yuri saw it raise the spear in its hand.

I felt I could only endure it once. Fortunately, I was a spirit, not a flesh-and-blood being—if I were flesh and blood, the angles would have been perfect, and Yuri would have been stabbed.

Continuing its descent, it came within a meter of the black mist. The Guardian Rat, its upper body exposed in the mist, made a gesture as if it were gripping a long pole with both hands, ready to swing it.

Oh no!