Tokyo Psychic

"Those guys may have human bodies, but their inner selves have been completely stripped of all 'humanity', becoming mere puppets of some evil force."

An and Subaru, who have been deeply influenced by the "ACGN" culture, accepted this supernatural setting very quickly. Even Kurusu Akatsuki only needed to give her a start, and she could begin to spontaneously understand and diverge to come up with a series of related settings... But when her senses returned to reality, she began to feel scared.

After all, An He Subaru is just a high school girl who has some acting skills, is good at playing drums, likes to play games and is proud of her beauty... Well, it is undeniable that she is just an ordinary person... It is impossible for her to yearn for this kind of life-and-death superpower battle, and she only has a kind of helpless fear.

Kurusu Akatsuki walked ahead and pushed open the metal door of the ward. "As long as we reach the bottom floor, we can leave this place."

As he said this, the thief who had just left the ward pulled out the pistol from the inside pocket of his coat and pulled the trigger at the burly guard who suddenly rushed out from the corner.

It was hit accurately between the eyebrows, and it didn't even have the chance to release its true form as "Shadow". It immediately exploded into a ball of black mist and dispersed.

"Gun..." An and Subaru originally thought that only the demon summoned by Kurusu Akatsuki could use firearms.

No... where did he get all that equipment? After all, a grappling gun that violates modern physics and materials science is just a figment of entertainment, right?

Kurusu Akatsuki led the way in the corridor. In order to ease An and Subaru's overly nervous mood, he deliberately made his tone relaxed and cheerful.

"You should have seen 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure', right?"

"Yeah." An He Subaru found that he couldn't speak freely in front of Kurusu Akatsuki at all. Even making a short and polite answer seemed difficult. Just using interjections to respond to the other party's questions seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

"The power I wield is called 'Personality'. It's a reflection of the user's inner thoughts, similar in principle to 'Stand'. Based on the state of mind of each Persona user upon awakening, corresponding concepts are reflected in the cognitive world, allowing them to materialize and grant extraordinary combat capabilities."

"Then, the public perceptions infused into it will also affect the persona's wearer. For example, my persona is named 'Arsène,' a thief created by French author Maurice Leblanc and the originator of global phantom thief culture... Upon reaching this conscious world, influenced by this perception, I will truly become the 'Phantom Thief' that the public subconsciously perceives. As the persona is released, I will adopt the Phantom Thief's attire and acquire a range of gadgets and weapons that people consider 'a Phantom Thief' to possess."

Kurusu Akatsuki said this as he pulled out the pistol he had just used. "This gun only appeared after I entered this world. There's no model that corresponds to it in reality. Just like the enemy we just called 'shadows,' they are products of 'cognition.' The difference is that the former originates from the cognition of this 'palace,' while the latter stems from the collective cognition of society."

The two walked in the corridor one after the other. Occasionally they encountered guards blocking the way, but they would be quickly defeated by Kurusu Akatsuki as if they were strolling in the garden.

As the trust and sense of security accumulated along the way, An and Subaru gradually gained the courage to ask about some details that were not mentioned in Kurusu Akatsuki's topic.

"Arsem is clearly a righteous thief who punishes evildoers, so why is he portrayed as a demon?"

"Perhaps because there are so many evil 'gods' that they need to give secular heroes the appearance of demons."

"According to this setting, humans should not be able to defeat God."

"Let's assume that this Phantom Thief has a demon powerful enough to take on the gods within his body... 'As long as I can survive, I can borrow even the demon's power'... I remember that's how it's portrayed in anime."

Kurusu Akatsuki pushed open the fire door in front of him. The word "1F" was painted on the wall of the fire escape.

He turned around and looked at An and Subaru behind him, "We are almost at the exit. After returning to reality, you can rest on the bed outside for a while. No one will disturb you tonight."

"how about you?"

"Punish the wicked and eliminate the evil." The Phantom Thief said as he reached into his pocket and handed his phone to An Hesuba. "The password is 0305. Whether you want to call the police or let your family know you're safe, it's up to you."

"Calling the police probably won't help..."

"So it's up to you to use it."

Kurusu Akatsuki stretched, feeling a bit sleepy. "Things have developed to this point. Even if we startle the enemy, it won't have any effect."

Based on his observations in this palace, there were probably only a handful of victims left in the real campus. Most of them were either transferred away in advance or were ambushed in the rooms on each floor by those personality masks that had almost lost their "human elements".

An and Subaru entered the password into the screen and looked at the wallpaper of "Jotaro Kujo and Star Platinum" on the desktop. "March 5th is Amamiya-san... Is it Amamiya's birthday?"

"It was the graduation day for a senior who was very important to me."

"Oh..." An He Subaru was smart enough not to ask any further questions.

As we got closer to the exit of the building, the number of guards we saw along the way decreased sharply.

There was almost no trace of "shadow" along the entire road.

When approaching the gate, Kurusu Akatsuki waved at the infrared sensor above, and the glass door slowly opened to both sides.

At this moment, he suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu and familiarity in his heart.

It was as if... he had been here many times.

Every time, he stood at the door with the same movements and gait, and then waved at the infrared sensor.

The moment the glass door opened to both sides, the thief chose to trust his intuition and roughly pushed An and Subaru beside him to the ground.

At the same time, the personality mask "Arsene" immediately appeared above his head, folded its dark wings, and tightly protected the two of them behind it.

The moment he made this decision, crimson flames swept in from outside the door like a flood. Everything in the space was burning and evaporating. The flames surged in all directions, stirring up waves of flames like a sea tide!

"Yasen"'s folded wings suddenly opened up, and then flapped vigorously, and a strong wind blew around, immediately extinguishing the sea of ​​fire on the entire floor.

The Phantom Thief glanced at the counter that had been burned beyond recognition, then reached out and pulled up Ann and Subaru who were slumped on the ground.

"Hide well."

He didn't say anything about promising to send An and Subaru away, but just looked at the humanoid creature slowly approaching the door with anger and hatred.

"You, the 'god' who plays with the world, have finally stopped hiding."

"Thirty-five times," lamented the self-proclaimed "god." "No matter how I manipulate time, you'll always be standing here at this moment, confronting me like this... But the girl beside you this time is a stranger."

On both sides of the messy lobby, the tattered fire doors were kicked open, and girls in hospital gowns who had mastered the power of driving personality masks flocked in, then knelt down devoutly and fanatically to the glowing human figure in front of them.

"That's great! No matter how many times we restart, you still firmly believe in the name of 'Yaldabaoth'."

As He clapped His palms together, a terrifyingly vast light immediately burst forth from behind Him. The majesty and holiness beyond words struck the hearts of everyone present like a sledgehammer, demonstrating the greatness and sublimity of divinity.

Those personality masks that remained in a kneeling position began to ooze blood from their mouths and noses, and then their bodies became stiff like stage puppets and were uncontrollably "lifted" by invisible objects. Immediately afterwards, individual personality masks began to appear and rapidly mutated with the infusion of divinity.

Yaldabaoth chuckled contentedly, "Every time I see you, I feel genuinely happy."

As the divine attributes quickly replaced the remaining "human" elements in their bodies, the girls' flesh began to gradually turn into petrification, becoming hideous plaster statues in mid-air, and then shattered on the ground.

At the same time, in the gray mist emitted by the broken plaster, their personality masks almost materialized and fell to the ground, emitting a powerful aura that could not be ignored, and at the same time staring at the two people surrounded in the center.

This exaggerated momentum almost made An and Subaru unable to breathe.

"Don't worry." The thief muttered to himself...he threw away his windbreaker and put it on the girl.

"I've said it before... 'I am invincible.'" He tugged at the collar of his shirt and took firm steps towards the "Yaldabaoth" where a special ceremony was being performed.

Yaldabaoth's laughter suddenly stopped, and then an extremely low and disgusted voice came out, "It's always like this. Arrogant, ignorant, self-righteous, ugly and dirty heart... Amamiya Ren, you are a heretic who must be eliminated in this era."

In response, Kurusu Akatsuki growled, "[Yasen], [Spear of World Reversal]!"

The bloody demon raised the musket and pointed it at his jaw, then pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The pitch-black bullet instantly pierced through its head. No blood flew everywhere, but a deep blue flame burned with unprecedented intensity. Then, countless dark blue chains pierced out from it, like a group of angry snakes, turned around, and then madly "bite" at "Arsen's" body.

Soon, the demon-form personality mask was pierced by chains so that its original appearance could no longer be seen. Only the chains collided and rubbed against each other, making a snake-like hissing sound like a tide.

Kurusu Akatsuki almost ignored the rampaging Personalities around him and quickly rushed towards "Yaldabaoth" in front of him.

Beside him, countless chains that were entwined with each other and continuously shrinking until a critical point suddenly exploded silently. Then, a huge gunpowder that seemed to be made of quartz stretched out from the void, pressed against the right side of Kurusu Akatsuki's body, and hit "Yaldabaoth" in the face, knocking him almost backwards.

At this moment, one could vaguely feel that behind this huge gunpowder, there seemed to be a terrifying and evil existence that was so huge that it could not even be contained by this space.

Immediately afterwards, an armor-piercing bullet, seemingly condensed with all the desires and ugliness of this world, also stretched out from the void and squeezed into the barrel of the gun rifle.

It was like the sound of thousands of pieces of porcelain shattering at the same time.

The bullet was loaded.

"Yaldabaoth" looked at the huge gun muzzle in front of him that almost completely stuffed his fabricated body into it. The strong fear and discomfort as if he had encountered a natural enemy would embarrass him no matter how many times he experienced it.

He has died from this bullet thirty-six times!

How on earth did this monster manage to take advantage of such a large amount of desire?!

"Yaldabet" knew that this attack had failed again.

He deliberately arranged for those "believers" to attack Lai Qi Xiao one after another, but failed to find out more of the other party's cards.

No matter what tactics they arranged, they would be easily dealt with by the other side.

In the end, this gun, and the bullet inside it with the "power to kill gods", will be aimed at oneself...

Is he really human? No matter how many times he restarts, "Yaldabaoth" can't help but wonder.

The pale-faced thief did not give the other party any chance to negotiate. He stretched out his right hand and suddenly hit the trigger of the gun beside him.

"[Sin Armor-Piercing Bullet]."

The moment the firing pin of the rifle hit the primer of the bullet, it seemed as if time in the whole world had stopped.

Another gray-white figure appeared out of nowhere behind Kurusu Akatsuki. He raised a dagger, but the hand holding the dagger that was stabbing towards his heart could not drop it.

Because the world has really been put on pause.

It can be seen that at the moment when everything stops functioning, "Yaldabaoth" radiates materialized light all over its body, ready to launch a dying counterattack.

At this moment, the Phantom Thief turned around without warning and looked at the white figure that appeared out of nowhere with a sharp gaze. At the same time, half of the barrel of a second huge gunpowder extended from his head, aiming at the "assassin" who was waving a dagger to pierce his heart.

There is no doubt that this was a victory for Kurusu Akatsuki. Even if he had to pay a heavy price for it, he successfully counterattacked the assassination attempts of two "gods" with his human body.

Intuition that transcends the laws of matter, combat techniques beyond common sense, unrivaled spiritual power, and a personality mask engraved with the great cause of salvation...

Even if it is a god, if he repeatedly restarts time to plan assassinations, the best result he can achieve is nothing more than "mutual destruction."

But obviously, the current situation has not yet developed to the point of "mutual destruction".

If the bullet had been faster, Kurusu Akatsuki might not have even been scratched.

But having achieved this step, it proves that if they continue to restart time, they will definitely be able to kill this "resurrected" "Mind Thief" again at the same time as they die.

"But such a result is something the world cannot bear."

The soft voice whose gender cannot be distinguished resounds in people's hearts, and they can't help but feel fondness and closeness to it.

In a world where time was suspended, a blue butterfly flew slowly and gracefully past An Hesuba's eyes, and finally hovered on her fingertips.

*

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(I lay in the hospital on an IV drip for two hours and am feeling much better now. I have to go back tomorrow. For now, I'm back to normal using voice input, but my eyes keep tearing up uncontrollably, making it difficult to correct spelling and grammatical errors.)

(By the way, please give me a monthly ticket~)

053. Daily Life Returning to the Origin (Two-in-One)

The world where time is suspended is black and white with all colors stripped away.

The walls collapsed and dust sprayed out like a rainstorm, but they instantly solidified in mid-air. Together with the silent and solemn images of gods and demons and the flames floating around, they formed an epic and magnificent Ukiyo-e.

The protagonist of the ukiyo-e painting is at the very center of the painting. A young thief, surrounded by a massive gunpowder, a faceless figure, shrouded in a radiant white light that resembles ink, and a man, draped in pure white cloth and seemingly cast from a single block of silver, approaches the thief from behind, dagger in hand...

All of this appeared statically before An and Subaru's eyes.

There was a blue butterfly on the back of her right hand.

"Please remain calm and composed."

A hollow voice echoed in her heart.

An Hesuba wanted to ask about its identity, but was surprised that he couldn't say anything and could only lip-sync in vain.

Then, that voice reached her heart once again, "How lucky! We found a new variable before the Phantom Thief was completely locked in death."

The butterfly fluttered its wings and flew up, circling An and Subaru. "This is the consequence of tampering with time without authorization. Even the smallest change to the past will have a drastic impact on the original future."

"Why me?" An Hesuba suddenly found that he could speak.

"Because I chose you." A cold female voice sounded behind her.

An He Subaru stood up and found that it was a girl of similar height to him, with long black hair and purple eyes, and wearing a high school uniform. However, the difference was that compared to An He Subaru, this girl looked more childish, like a junior high school student.

The blue butterfly slowly landed on the tip of the other person's hair, and it was becoming dimmer at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the three figures confronting each other in the distance were gradually regaining their original colors in the black and white world.

The girl who suddenly appeared looked at An and Subaru in front of her with a cold expression, "Time is running out. Next, with the help of Philemon, I will give you the power of 'Time Rewind'."

"Don't even think about abusing this 'privilege'. Due to various factors, the conditions for its activation are extremely harsh. Furthermore, every time it's activated, those self-proclaimed gods over there will follow you back to that specific time point and hunt you down at all costs."

She looked at An and Subaru, who were somewhat bewildered. "If you are unwilling to accept this power now, once the flow of time in this space returns to normal, you will be immediately crushed into a pool of flesh by the aftermath of their battle."

"If you want to survive, you will have no choice but to follow that Phantom Thief and use this power to assist him in every decision he makes."

"Why don't you just give him 'Time Reversal'? ...I'm just an ordinary high school student, there's no way I can do it..."

"So, you in this time and space will soon be killed by a force beyond imagination... Are you willing to accept this fact?"

An and Subaru were silent.

The girl stared at her with those same violet eyes. "This power must not be given to Amamiya Ren."