Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

It was a calamity that created something out of thin air... no, it should be said that the calamity exploited an unknown loophole in this world to create its own monstrous companions.

Calamity hasn't evolved to the point where it can create minions out of thin air. In fact, creation is a power that only a complete world can possess. Calamity, despite devouring so many individuals, cannot create even the most ordinary insect.

It can assimilate countless individuals into its retinue for its use, but it cannot do the same with creation.

Calamity is like flammable material, but no matter how much it accumulates, without a spark, it can never ignite its own flame.

—That's how it should be.

But after the calamity was infused into the empty shell of the concept of the "Despair Monster" that did not have a physical form, the calamity and despair produced an unexpected reaction, like flammable material meeting a fire that had not yet been extinguished and was buried deep in the ashes.

A new desperate monster has been born.

Furthermore, it possesses an incomplete but undeniably existing soul.

This consciousness was not brought about by the calamity's assimilation, nor was it left in the empty shell of the original Despair Monster. It was born out of thin air and took control of this body.

This does not mean that the calamity has begun to seize the power of creation, but rather that the calamity has begun to perceive loopholes in this world that can be exploited.

The eccentricities of this world are like accounts created by spiritual veins. After the previous owner of the account disappears, the account is cleaned up and transferred to the next owner.

Among these are accounts that have been permanently banned by administrators for violating regulations and are no longer able to log in through normal means.

Like [despair], or some other attribute, although they are few in number, they do exist.

Accounts that are blocked are not deleted, which gives the calamity an opportunity to infiltrate.

It cannot create its own account in this world, and the accounts that are in use are protected by the administrators and insured by magic, but it can simply steal those accounts that are not used and are not protected.

It turned out to be true.

These permanently banned accounts, in a sense, represent the weakness of this world, the weakest point in its defenses.

The attributes that are not recognized by the world are actually the pain points of this world.

The Despair Monster's fighting ability is nowhere near that of Mayumi Haga, but that's not its advantage.

After defeating the Despair Monster once again, Mayumi Haga sensed that something was wrong.

Because there wasn't enough time, she didn't project her Guardian form, but instead engaged the Despair Monster directly in battle. In fact, even without wearing the Guardian suit that boosted defense and attack power, Mayumi Haga was more than capable of suppressing the Despair Monster, forcing it to retreat and only raise its arms to shield itself while taking hits.

But after only a few brief touches, Mayumi Haga felt a numbness spreading from her hand to her forearm, and her right leg, which she had just kicked in the Despair Monster's ribs, also began to lose sensation.

If you were to lift her clothes now, you could see the grayish-black spreading across her fair skin. The aura of calamity did not immediately corrode her body upon contact; instead, it spread rapidly after a few seconds due to vigorous activity, before detonating after a delay.

This isn't too bad for Mayumi Haga, since it's not the first time she's taken this kind of damage.

She had already figured out the correct solution.

That is to immediately replace the body with a clean one before the calamity spreads to the core.

That is--

—[Self-destruction].

Instead of cautiously creating distance despite the mark the Despair Monster had left on her, Mayumi Haga launched an even more ferocious attack. Completely disregarding the life-threatening aura emanating from her, she abandoned more skillful fighting techniques and grabbed the Despair Monster's arm.

"Bang!!!"

Because the area was a residential area, Mayumi Haga managed to control the force of the explosion.

After replacing his right arm with a self-destruction, he used his free left hand to grab the head of the Despair Monster, whose body was swaying from the close-range explosion and whose reaction was obviously a beat slower. He then slammed his left knee into the monster's chin.

Then came another self-destruction.

Whether it's a fist, elbow, or knee, anything that touches the enemy or is touched by the enemy will explode without hesitation in that instant. The splattered flesh and bone fragments will turn into orange liquid in the next second, visually resembling orange smoke constantly exploding during the physical confrontation.

However, the Desperate Monster learns very quickly.

The Desperate Monster, protected by a magic shield, could only passively take hits at first, but soon its reaction speed increased rapidly, and its body shape also changed.

The originally bloated and disintegrating body gradually solidified, and the initially slow reaction speed rapidly improved. It was even able to occasionally block Yuga Mayumi's attacks, blocking the attack with its arm before the self-destruction destroyed its shield.

His original height of over 1.9 meters has shrunk, and his figure has become slender. Short black hair has grown on his bald head, and facial features have appeared on his once flat face. Blood red has gathered in the black whites of his eyes...

The little bear only realized something was wrong when it raised its head.

Ignoring Ms. Yoshida who was still lying on the ground, she immediately changed her body. The giant teddy bear burst open with a bang, and the core shot out from it.

The bear, transformed into human form, stood in front of Mayumi Haga.

She stared intently at the desperate, strange man before her.

The face of the Despair Monster is still changing; it's like a lump of black mud being gradually shaped, eventually transforming into the appearance of the original owner of the despair it devours.

Having consumed enough despair, it is becoming like Mayumi Haga.

Main Text: Chapter 120 The Despair of Haga Mayumi's Non-Existence

The "Despair Monster," which originally had no specific appearance, was rapidly approaching Mayumi Haga's face.

As a rule-breaking account in this world, the Despair Monster didn't actually have a basic design in terms of appearance at the beginning. At most, it was just a blurry black mist, like a black shadow with scattered edges.

The man that Ms. Yoshida bumped into some time ago was actually a victim image that it stole for its own convenience.

The male victim attempted suicide by cutting his wrists, but thanks to the world's advanced medical technology, he is almost ready to be discharged.

Now, having come into contact with Mayumi Haga, it has absorbed enough despair from this extremely ferocious enemy. This is causing its image to rapidly resemble Mayumi Haga's, and it is also gradually mastering Mayumi Haga's fighting skills.

No, that's not all.

Calamity possesses the ability to assimilate and devour, which allows it to quickly turn the settlements of intelligent beings into dead zones when it invades the world of Mayumi Haga.

Originally, the level of calamity's devouring stopped at life force, but after absorbing a portion of the power of the original world of Yuga Mayumi, even though it was only a small portion, it was enough for the calamity to complete a subtle evolution.

Having devoured and assimilated a considerable number of guardians, and after analyzing the guardian cores to a certain extent, the battle between Calamity and Mayumi Haga this time underwent a qualitative change.

After being interrupted in her battle with the Despair Monster by the bear, Mayumi Haga sensed that something was wrong.

Her right wrist, which had just been blown off, appeared to have recovered, but the bone was still numb and the wound had not completely healed.

Although the wound disappeared completely in the next breath, it was indeed slower than her usual self-healing speed.

During the brief battle with the Despair Monster, her healing rate visibly decreased slightly.

Was it absorbed by the other party...?

wrong.

The next second, Mayumi Haga rejected the idea herself.

It's not that her power is halved by the individuals in front of her, but rather that her own state is suppressed when confronting her own despair.

The little bear understands this even better.

Despite having never encountered a Despair Monster before, she knew very well what kind of abilities the monster in front of her possessed.

"Mayumi...! Don't contact it anymore, I'll take care of it." Her voice trembled slightly for some reason. "After the Despair Monster eats your despair, it will amplify your despair thousands of times and exert a special restraint on you."

In other words, the Despair Monster is adept at exploiting people's deepest weaknesses. After transforming into that person's appearance, it not only reads the other person's memories and copies all their abilities, but also exerts a special attack suppression effect on that person.

In short, it's a demon that became at least three times stronger after turning evil.

It knows best how to break down a person's psychological defenses.

If it were just an ordinary person, it wouldn't be a problem, but the fact that it chose Mayumi Haga as its target... that alone was enough to make the little bear feel extremely troubled.

The people in this world are generally in good mental health, but Mayumi Haga is different.

The sadness she felt during her first meeting with Mayumi Haga made Kuma realize that Mayumi Haga's mental state was far from normal.

Even though she seems normal and doesn't have any strange words or actions, just a bit indifferent, Mayumi Haga's heart is indeed riddled with holes, and her rationality is on the verge of collapse.

It's a miracle that he can still maintain such rationality.

If such a true archery were to be invaded by a desperate monster, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The Despair Monster took shape so quickly that Little Bear was only half a step too late to help. The Despair Monster in front of him looked almost exactly like Mayumi Haga herself.

The Despair Monster, in disguise as Mayumi Haga, has the same length of short black hair as the original, identical facial features, and clothing in a color scheme that contrasts with Mayumi Haga's usual Guardian outfit. The only difference is in her expression.

No, it should be said that there is a considerable difference.

Because the Despair Monster's eyes are completely black on the whites, but its pupils are snow-white.

It... or rather, "she," looked much more cheerful than Mayumi Haga herself.

Ignoring the parts that Little Bear, this emotional series of oddballs, can perceive, the Despair Oddball actually seems more upright and reliable than Mayumi Haga herself.

Compared to Mayumi Haga herself, who always has a gloomy face and is dressed in drab, dark clothes, the Despair Monster's color scheme is completely opposite; it is pure white.

The dark patterns that were originally hidden in a low-key manner became clearly visible after the garment was turned into a white base.

The decorative patterns on clothing, which have been overlooked for a long time, actually give people a rather exquisite texture. When paired with a girl's white clothes and neat outfit, they appear heroic and spirited, with a beauty that is completely different from the world.

Those heroes in those stories, those warriors whose tales are told, those legendary saviors of the last... perhaps this is how they dressed.

It should have been Mayumi Haga's despair, but she seemed more like a hero and closer to a righteous character than the original owner.

After transforming into this form, the Despair Monster did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, it raised its hand, looked at its outstretched palm, and seemed somewhat bewildered, as if it was still pondering why it was there.

Then, she saw Mayumi Haga standing calmly behind the bear.

Two pairs of eyes, one black and one white, met, and the latter's face showed an expression of disbelief.

Completely immersed in the theme of "Mayumi Haga's Despair," the Despair Monster's body was completely out of control at this moment. Driven by that intense emotion, his body began to act on its own.

Ignoring the bear's attempts to stop her, she hurried toward Yuga Mayumi's true form. Unable to utter any words, she could only make "uh-uh" sounds, but her panic and disbelief were palpable.

She reached out to Yuga Mayumi, but red gradually seeped from beneath her white clothes. The sound of bones being crushed echoed, and her body gradually twisted, melting like minced meat. The little bear was terrified, its scalp tingling, and it dared not touch her.

Mayumi Haga stood still, her gaze gradually moving downwards until she looked down at the struggling thing on the ground. She realized that once the thing lost its vitality, it would turn into orange juice or revert to the original black mist state of the Despair Monster.

This thing looks like her own self, with her healing abilities completely out of control.

Mayumi Haga was not surprised at all by this result.

She had long since abandoned her own despair.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to remain rational until today.

Main Text: Chapter 121 Mental Protection Fails

Mayumi Haga will not be crushed by her own despair.

This does not mean that she has completely lost her negative emotions; in fact, she is still a relatively emotionally healthy person.

This is the content of her contract with the world's consciousness.

Her mind is protected by the World Consciousness Contract, so she will never reach the point of collapse. Even if the pressure keeps accumulating, she will only stay on the verge of collapse and will not completely lose her mind.

For her, despair is an emotion that can only exist on the verge of collapse, but it will be expelled by mental protection in the next second and will not affect her.

This is why, although the Despair Monster can absorb Mayumi Haga's despair, it cannot take shape and can only collapse.

Mayumi Haga calmly watched as the person who looked exactly like her gradually lost their shape.

It is obvious that the Despair Monster does not possess Mayumi Haga's regenerative abilities. Therefore, after his body collapsed, although he tried his best to piece his shattered body back together, he still turned into a puddle of unknown liquid on the ground.

This scene might be horrifying and disgusting to others, as it looks like "themselves" are dying in front of them. Even if they know they are fine, seeing someone exactly like themselves in such a horrible state would make any normal person's skin crawl.

However, Mayumi Haga was already used to it.

I even feel a little nostalgic.

After arriving in this world, her corpse would be quickly disposed of, and there would be no more rotting before she could collect it... It had been a long time since Mayumi Haga had seen herself in such a disheveled state.

Whether it was being swallowed by the water demon Megarane and then resurrected to tear open her stomach, or being smashed in front of Hitomi Tono, it meant nothing to her.

To lure the carrion demon, Mayumi Haga smashed her own corpse's head to pieces, then cut open her stomach and pulled out her intestines to make it look like it had been torn apart by a wild beast. She then left it in the wilderness, pretending it was the remains of an unfortunate traveler who had died. She guarded that thing for thirteen days until the carrion demon chewed up the corpse's head.

The weather was very hot, the smell was terrible, and it rotted very quickly.

Having experienced many more outrageous things, this scene is nothing compared to what's to come.

However, what puzzled her was why the desperate monster in front of her didn't immediately turn into a puddle of orange juice.

Is it because the Despair Monster is still alive?

Indeed, to simply absorb the despair of others and collapse as a whole, such a death would be far too hasty even in this world.

Since the body has not yet lost its vitality, the Despair Monster is still "alive," so it cannot be judged as turning into orange juice.

With a flick of his wrist, Yuga Mayumi produced a short blade inlaid with a pale blue gemstone.

Dig out the core and crush it; that will kill it completely.

This is information that Mayumi Haga obtained through some data stored in the agent's certificate.