Anime Crossover: Post-Apocalyptic Survival, My Stand is the World

That wasn't some deliberately mysterious riddle at all, but a signpost filled with malice and absolute confidence.

A blood-red invitation card bearing the coordinates of the final stage.

From the very beginning, she had no intention of hiding her lair.

In this way, she was issuing her most flamboyant and arrogant final challenge to Su Chen, the only man qualified to play against her.

'bring it on.'

"Come to my castle, to this throne of time, and let us settle our differences."

……

"We've found her."

Su Chen picked up the walkie-talkie and, in a calm tone devoid of any emotion, issued the final, unquestionable order to the other two squads still waiting in the rear.

"Target: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, First Main Building, North Clock Tower."

"Begin, all-out attack."

……

Half an hour later.

Su Chen had already silently sneaked into the area below the clock tower.

He didn't go in immediately, but instead looked up at the enormous building, which was over 240 meters tall.

It stands silently in the darkness, like a lurking ancient behemoth made of steel and glass.

His intuition, like the most sensitive radar, was frantically warning him.

In his perception, the entire clock tower was a gigantic, living thing.

Its interior is filled with a dense network of malicious traps, as intricate as a neural network.

Countless strands of Kurumi's aura flowed slowly within it, like the blood circulating within a giant beast.

At its very top, where the enormous heart beats, lies a terrifying, almost viscous, temporal force that is so immense it makes even him tremble.

That is Tokisaki Kurumi's throne.

It is her domain, her divine kingdom.

'Really...'

Su Chen looked at the magnificent building, which could be described as the final boss level, and smiled.

There was no fear in that smile, only a hint of bloodthirsty excitement at meeting a worthy opponent.

'Did they put on such a grand welcome for me?'

'You really think highly of me, Kurumi-san.'

He hesitated no more.

With a flash, like a shadow blending into the darkness, he silently stepped into the dark, gaping door of the clock tower, which resembled the maw of a giant beast.

however--

At the very moment his toes stepped into the absolute darkness within the gate.

hum-

A strong, ominous, and strange feeling, as if the fate of the entire world had been violently plucked by an invisible hand, instantly swept over his entire body.

It was that small second face on his forehead, [Epitaph].

It activated autonomously the moment it sensed the deadly danger.

The next moment.

That future, which was just a few seconds away, the only, absolute, and unquestionable future, was imprinted on his mind in an incredibly clear and incredibly cruel way.

The moment he stepped through the door.

In the shadow of the polished marble floor beneath his feet, in the shadow of the intricately carved walls around him, in the shadow of the towering dome above his head—in all the shadows he could see, and even those beyond his sight—hundreds and thousands of Kurumi's faces appeared without warning, like vengeful spirits rising from hell.

Their faces all wore the same eerie, malevolent smile, as if they were enjoying watching their prey walk into a trap.

Then--

"BOOM!"

He "heard" a deafening roar that was not perceived by his ears, but rather by his soul.

All the faces exploded at the same time.

It transformed into a death storm composed entirely of shadows and the power of time, with no blind spots and enough to completely obliterate the entire clock tower hall.

He saw himself being completely engulfed by the endless explosions, facing certain death without even a chance to activate any of his abilities.

"There's a trap."

Su Chen's pupils suddenly contracted, but his heart remained as calm as a mirror lake.

Without a second thought, in that eternal moment, just before that certain death became reality, in that 0.01 second before death became reality.

"KingCrimson!"

Time flies.

……

Time resumed its normal flow.

Rumble.

A violent, destructive series of explosions arrived as predicted, exactly as the epitaph foreshadowed.

A terrifying shockwave swept through the entire clock tower hall like a tsunami, leveling everything and even shattering the heavy steel doors into pieces.

However, amidst the billowing smoke and flames...

Su Chen appeared unharmed in a safe area dozens of meters away.

He stood there quietly, as if he were just an detached spectator, coldly appreciating the magnificent fireworks that should have engulfed him.

“Alaaa…”

A girl's voice, filled with surprise yet tinged with a knowing smile, drifted down from the very top of the clock tower like the song of a nightingale.

The sound pierced through the roar of the explosion and reached Su Chen's ears precisely.

"Mr. Su Chen."

"It seems your eyes..."

"You can even 'see' the future. That's really..."

"This is getting more and more interesting."

Chapter 147 The Hunter's Patience

"It's getting more interesting."

Kurumi's voice, full of pleasure and amusement, echoed slowly in the aftershocks of the explosion, like a witch offering the most elegant praise for the opening of her brilliant drama.

It was as if she was applauding and cheering for her perfect opening trap, and also as if she was genuinely excited to have met her match for the man who had once again escaped her deadly trap, whose abilities were equally unreasonable.

The smoke and dust slowly dissipated, like the curtain of a stage play being slowly drawn back, revealing the only actor.

Su Chen stood amidst the chaotic ruins, his clothes spotless.

He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the layers of buildings and the distorted air, meeting precisely in mid-air with the petite figure at the top of the clock tower who was also looking down at him.

In the air, it seemed as if invisible sparks were crackling. Time seemed to grow thick and slow at that moment.

"...".

"..."

Neither of them spoke anymore.

Words have become superfluous at this moment.

Because they both read the same message in each other's eyes—an absolute fear of each other's near-identical, dangerous ability to glimpse the trajectory of fate.

'Can one foresee the traps of the future...?'

At the top of the clock tower, Kurumi looked at the unharmed man, and a hint of real seriousness flashed in her beautiful, wine-red right eye, which was always full of playful smiles.

Her fingertips unconsciously traced the railing in front of her, the cold touch making her mind even clearer.

'This is a more troublesome ability than I imagined.'

'Whether it's the time erasure in "King Crimson" or the "Epitaph" that allows one to foresee the future, this man seems to exist solely to restrain me.'

'It seems that simple traps are no longer enough to kill him.'

She slowly raised her right hand, and in her palm, a dark shadow began to writhe and gather as if alive. Since her scheme had failed, then…

'The only option left is the simplest, but also the most effective, method.'

She planned to summon the endless shadow legion once more, using sheer numbers and an unstoppable "human wave" tactic to completely wear them down here.

however--

Just as she was about to activate her power.

Downstairs, the man who should have been her prey, Su Chen, did something completely unexpected and utterly unconventional.

He gave her a provocative smile.

then……

He turned and ran!

He ran swiftly and decisively.

They ran without any hesitation or delay.

His movements were so fluid, and his will so resolute, that it was as if he had infiltrated this place simply to check the trap, then clock out and leave.

His figure vanished instantly into the shadows of distant buildings, leaving no trace to follow.

Niger Ludayo!

"……Eh?"

The top of the bell tower.

Kurumi stared at the ruins that were now completely empty, her posture, which was ready to launch a full-scale attack, instantly froze in mid-air.

Even the shadow army that was about to take shape in her palm disintegrated into wisps of black smoke due to the wavering of its master's will.

Everyone was stunned.

They...they ran away?

This guy… at this crucial moment when the atmosphere of the final battle had reached its peak, on this solemn stage where both sides had revealed their strongest trump cards and only a final life-or-death struggle remained, he actually…

Just ran away?

Doesn't he have any awareness of what it means to be the male lead?

……

A few minutes later.

In a safe building a full two kilometers away from the clock tower of the capital, Su Chen leaned against the cold wall and let out a long, long sigh.

"Ya le ya le daze..."

He silently complained to himself, feeling somewhat helpless.

"We really can't be careless at all."

The seemingly easy "future vision" duel that just now, which lasted for less than a minute, actually took a huge toll on his mental energy.

· ········Requesting flowers··· ··

The time deletion effect of [Crimson King] is an extremely mana-intensive trump card.

In addition, due to the high-intensity future calculations [Epitaph] performed to foresee the death storm that covered the entire hall, his current mental state is not at its best.