Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Like startled birds, they braced themselves and instantly assumed a defensive posture, looking warily toward the source of the sound.

If the manor owner revives so quickly, their chances of winning this round of the game will likely be dashed again.

Following the sound, a figure appeared at the corner of the stairs.

He wore a crisp, wrinkle-free black butler's uniform, his hair meticulously combed. His face was calm and expressionless, his eyes serene, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

He walked slowly down the stairs, as if he were just conducting a routine inspection.

But he ignored the rubble, the congealed black blood, and the broken furniture—a scene that should have been shocking.

They didn't even take the three strange creatures, which looked miserable and were on high alert, seriously.

His gaze passed straight past them and landed on the statue of the angel with open eyes.

"housekeeper?"

Taki's voice was wary.

She had never met the butler, of course, but Iwasaki and the others had given him a general description.

Park Min-woo tensed up and opened his toothless, bloody mouth.

Tian stared intently at the butler's every move, his eyes wide with excitement.

Shinichi Higashiyama paid no attention to them, as if they didn't exist in his eyes. He walked straight to the angel statue, so close that he could reach out and touch the stone base.

He stopped, bowed slightly, and clasped his hands in front of his chest:

I pray for you.

"Please end the game, let the angels rest in peace."

The words fell.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment at the manor.

Immediately afterwards, a long sigh drifted from somewhere and reached everyone's ears.

A relieved smile slowly appeared on the angel's compassionate stone face.

He responded to the butler's prayer:

"Thank you."

With that whisper, the angel statue's open eyes slowly closed, as if it had finally attained eternal sleep.

As if a chain reaction had been triggered, fine, spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the stone surfaces of both the angel statue that had just closed its eyes and the demon statue that had already closed its eyes.

With a crackling sound, the crackling spread and intertwined, instantly covering the entire statue, clinging to the face of the person with a relieved smile, and also covering the demon's savage grin.

Click.

These two stone sculptures may represent the light and dark personalities that split off from the manor owner. Large chunks of stone peeled off and eventually shattered, pouring down like quicksand and raising a thick cloud of dust.

It's as if they were originally made of sand and gravel, and now they've finally returned to their origin.

After witnessing all of this unfold in a daze, the fog in Tian's mind was finally dispelled.

So that's how it is; this is the rule of exploitation implied in that letter.

Only the rules themselves can truly end the rules.

Of course, this was on the premise that he glanced at the banquet hall, where the manor owner had turned into a pile of rubble.

They must first kill the entity to which the manor lord is attached, temporarily removing his influence over the rules, before this final prayer can take effect.

The prayer can be performed by anyone; the butler's appearance may be the final act of mercy arranged by the game's rules.

It could also be a backup plan by the manor owner's positive personality.

To avoid them getting stuck at the last minute and having to start all over again.

Objective: Kill the manor owner.

【Goal Completed】

The system flashes a box indicating that the task has been completed in the field of view.

"call"

Park Min-woo let out a trembling sigh, his tense nerves finally relaxing completely.

Taki's wings went limp, and she almost lost her balance.

A gentle yet irresistible force enveloped their broken bodies, like a warm tide.

Exhaustion, pain, tension—all negative feelings are rapidly fading away.

Their vision began to blur, their consciousness was fading, and their bodies were gradually sinking into the warm white light.

In the last instant before their consciousness was completely swallowed by the white light, their blurred vision seemed to catch a glimpse of an object shimmering with soft silver light emerging from the dust of the shattered angel statue, lying quietly on the gravel, bathed in the morning light.

It appeared to be an antique-style silver wine glass, with intricate patterns engraved on its body, shimmering with a mysterious luster under the light.

Before they could take a closer look, they were forcibly kicked out of the game.

After watching the three players exit the game, Shinji Higashiyama reached out and picked up the silver cup from the sand.

[Pure Silver Cup - Perfect Replica] (Platinum Reward)

【Effect:

1. Amazing grace – instilling faith and willpower, which can bring down healing nectar on a large scale. Those who receive the nectar may have their faith and willpower transferred to the one who bestows the nectar in the future.

2. Angel Game – Extracting blood from twelve animals and one's own blood initiates the Angel Game. The pure silver cup transforms into a tainted silver cup, losing its "Amazing Grace" ability but retaining some healing effects. It can be used with limitations, while ensuring the cup holder cannot be killed. Once the game begins, it cannot be stopped unless the game is lost or the player successfully completes thirteen rounds to become a legendary creature.

Each successful round of the game allows you to transform into that animal and gain special abilities.

3. Poisonous Spring Silver Cup – Upon successfully completing the Angel Game, the polluted silver cup transforms into the Poisonous Spring Silver Cup, locking onto a body of water as its source and entering a state of assimilation and slumber (the larger the body of water, the longer the assimilation period). Upon awakening, it officially becomes a legendary creature and gains complete control over the body of water in its source.

The silver cup now possesses the abilities of "poisoning (brewing toxins and modifying normal organisms)" and "spreading (polluting normal water bodies and engulfing and expanding)".

##%#！ (Malignant capabilities detected; these capabilities have been automatically removed)

Note: If the legendary creature dies, the Poison Spring Silver Cup will revert to a "broken, contaminated silver cup," becoming an unclaimed object, unable to activate the Angel Game, and impossible to revert back to the pure silver cup.

This is the first reward that Shin Higashiyama had to personally collect in the game.

Although it seems to have many functions, the only one that can actually be used is the ability of Amazing Grace.

The fate of the manor owner had already shown him that once the Angel Game was activated, he would lose himself and become a monster.

For him, the gains outweighed the losses. Besides, there didn't seem to be many benefits to becoming a monster. As for immortality, he could achieve it by consuming longevity pills; there was no limit to that.

However, the conditions for winning this round of the game are too harsh. The game is indeed based on reality, but the "players" who are involved in this round of the game in reality cannot achieve this outcome.

This means that the manor owner has finally succeeded in transforming into a legendary creature, and may have awakened from his assimilation slumber, with the dark side completely overwhelming the last vestiges of humanity.

For pure evil, destruction and killing need no reason; it's just that nothing big has happened yet.

But since the player completed the game before the manor owner made a real-life appearance, he must have been well-prepared, so there's no need for him to interfere.

The three players all saw the silver cup appear. Given Tian and Taki's personalities, they would normally keep quiet about it.

The only thing he might not care about is the addition of Park Min-woo. In his heart, there is always only one thing that has the highest priority.

Therefore, it is very likely that this intelligence will be used to gain actual benefits.

If Park Min-woo chooses to reveal this to the other players, Jeon and Taki, after weighing the pros and cons, should not continue to hide it.

As a result, all players know that when the manor owner dies, he will drop a treasure that resembles the legendary Holy Grail.

Could this lead to a Holy Grail War among the players?

Higashiyama Shin had no interest in recycling the contaminated silver cup; he should instead plan how to better allocate the rewards.