No one would seriously entertain the possibility that an outcome already subconsciously sentenced to death could suddenly spring back to life.
Most people preferred “reasonable” over “miraculous.”
Especially at Blue Sea Academy—on the surface everyone seemed to crave the unexpected, but in practice they were obsessed with flattening every surprise under the weight of inertia, pressing it smooth, stuffing it into a box labeled “common sense,” and slapping on a tag: Oh, that’s normal.
For example—any player who shone in the lower-tier preliminary round would still fall quickly against a KING, right?
That was what the “normal BHAO players” believed.
They wanted to watch a spectacle, preferably an explosion, but the moment the explosion actually happened they would nod and say: Ah, just as expected.
Humans really were convenient creatures; even disappointment could be turned into self-comfort.
So the conclusion that “Yoruichi has been defeated” spread rapidly through the stands. Strictly speaking, it was understandable.
Besides, the visual impact of Mayne’s strike had practically carved the word “over” into the air.
Yet in the entire viewing area, there was one person whose thoughts ran completely counter to everyone else’s.
“The Night Witch’s power isn’t limited to this—I’ve watched nearly all her battle videos. Her abilities… and her control over timing, they’re not that shallow.”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it was as stubborn as a nail driven in deep.
“But he was hit! He was hit by President Mayne!”
The students around him clearly didn’t understand, their confusion carrying the tone of “Are you trying to defy fate?”
“So, although UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR has lost his duel against the KING—”
Niya-chan’s crisp commentary slid smoothly along with the crowd’s mood.
The outcome looked obvious, so the host’s job was simply to continue: announce the winner, wrap things up, next match.
Just like every “ending” in life that you didn’t want to face but had to—always packaged neatly and politely by procedure.
“However, the winner of this match is still—”
“Hee hee, big sister—don’t be in such a hurry to announce the result, okay? Mommy hasn’t left the battlefield yet, hee hee~”
The school-wide broadcast, which had been full of passion and excitement, was suddenly interrupted by a voice that sent chills crawling down spines.
The texture of that voice was like cold, damp spider silk slipping from the ear canal straight to the nape of the neck, making people instinctively want to shake it off—yet they couldn’t.
Many students who had already started to leave in disappointment couldn’t help but shudder.
“Xiao Kui did her best… Mommy, keep going, okay!”
Immediately after, several thin black threads slowly rose from the tip of Xieyi Mayne’s knight lance, like something that didn’t belong in a sacred knight system.
At the same time, the cloud of dust kicked up by the impact in front of Mayne gradually dispersed.
Then everyone saw it.
The silver lance had pierced—not the “supposed-to-be-there” UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR, but a doll stitched together from rags and buttons.
“Wait! Everyone… a dramatic twist has occurred!”
Niya-chan’s voice shot up an octave, excited enough to sound like she might set herself on fire like a firework.
“Niya-chan is really, really excited right now! Could it be that the image of NIGHT WITCH being hit earlier was just an illusion?
Or is this doll in front of us a substitute for the Night Witch?
Don’t go anywhere—keep watching this Reward Match!”
Ah, so that’s why… in any battle, when smoke or dust appears, you have to check the opponent’s status first.
That’s common sense.
Of course, people who could live decently inside “common sense” would never end up like me—relying on fate going crazy just to survive.
My vision cleared from the brief darkness.
The first thing I saw was Mayne’s familiar European-style knight braid.
She gripped her lance tightly, still facing the spot where I “should have been pierced.”
She had entered an unbreakable turn-lock state.
BHAO’s stun.
It wasn’t the old-school MMO “post-skill cooldown stun.”
It was more like the common “action recovery” in fighting games: unable to turn, unable to move, but skills could still be used.
However, as for skills—
JUSTICE PIKE’s THE JUSTICE TRIAL and its causality effect had already been confirmed to be on cooldown.
Everything was in place.
All that remained was making sure I didn’t choke to death on my own embarrassment at the critical moment.
That damn Xieyi Mayne… she actually destroyed my CHASE THE STARDUST!
I knew powerful armaments could be repaired in the BHAO system shop by spending points.
The problem was—once the cloak shattered, my “cute mysterious girl” form was essentially standing in front of everyone without makeup.
Sorry, but I couldn’t pull off the “This is the real me!” shout under the eyes of the entire school and earn applause like some shonen manga protagonist.
All I would earn was social death.
A mixture of ironclad determination and sheer mortification surged through me as the Witch’s Scythe materialized in my hands.
The sharp edge pointed straight at that silver back.
I poured every ounce of courage into my throat and let it burst out with my breath:
“Haaahhh!”
Mid-attack I briefly entered MERGE INTO SHADOW and stacked the back-attack judgment on top—this strike should deliver full damage.
“It’s here! Everyone… a cute mysterious girl has appeared right behind the KING!”
Niya-chan’s voice was practically hoarse with excitement.
“And the ID above her head… is still, still UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR!!!”
Hearing the word “cute,” the corner of my mouth twitched.
But my attack didn’t falter.
At this point I couldn’t be bothered to debate whether “cute” was praise or a curse—anyway, I had never been qualified for a normal person’s youth.
The spectator stands erupted in shouts:
“That doll… she really is the Night Witch!”
“But how is she attending Blue Sea Academy as a guy?”
“It’s the AR system, duh~ Maybe the Witch already infiltrated THE EARTH RING and stole some plugin!”
The noise from outside the arena could no longer reach me.
The scythe’s blade had sliced cleanly into the side of Mayne’s neck.
Data squares sprayed out like peeled skin.
My goal advanced further—strip, pierce, finish.
Zzzzt—
Mayne’s Life Points plummeted at high speed.
I had used this exact strike to take down plenty of high-tier players before.
In BHAO, HP and attributes didn’t increase with tier.
In other words, unless you had some special multi-phase health bar, everyone’s fundamental fragility was fair.
The burning damage from the black flames stacked on top—this strike should have finished Xieyi Mayne.
But the moment that sacred-patterned health bar was about to hit zero—it froze as if someone had nailed it in place.
Solidified. Stopped. Unable to advance even half a step.
At the same time, a “divine warning” rang in my ears.
Solemn bells intertwined with violin melodies, so holy it made me want to laugh.
AVE MARIA.
“Eh… what the hell is this?”
An incredulous groan escaped my throat.
Mayne turned her head, the corners of her mouth curved in a faint smile.
That smile seemed to say: You thought you’d won?
No, you simply walked exactly where I wanted you to.
“This is my LAST SKILL, Yoruichi. Effect: twenty seconds of invincibility. During these twenty seconds I will take no damage whatsoever.”
She raised her lance, spun the tip, and—exactly as she had once pinned down those delinquent upperclassmen—nailed me to the spot in the most unreasonable way possible.
I finally understood.
She hadn’t stopped the health bar because I wasn’t strong enough.
She had stopped it because she simply refused to let me end things.
What she wanted was to drive me into a corner with no escape, then—under the eyes of the entire school—decide for herself the exact posture in which I would fall.
And then—
The lance thrust forward.
In that instant, only one very practical question flashed through my mind:
It’s over. I have no moves left…
I didn’t want to admit it, but when humans were on the verge of death, the first thing they usually thought about wasn’t dignity—it was whether they could survive.
But just as the lance tip was about to pierce my chest—
The air suddenly grew cold.
It was the absolute zero that seeped from the marrow on a winter night.
The entire racetrack’s light seemed to freeze solid, and even the roar of the car engines was muted by frost.
Immediately after, a massive shadow covered the track.
It wasn’t dust, it wasn’t a special effect—it was a colossal dragon forged from death and frost—
Death Frost Dragon.
Ice crystals exploded in the air.
Black frost mist spread along the racetrack, instantly turning the asphalt into gray-white tombstone patterns.
The dragon dove downward, claws extended—
Crack—!
It seized Xieyi Mayne’s lance in an iron grip, forcibly pinning it in place.
The strength felt like it had been hammered in from an entirely different set of laws.
Mayne’s lance let out a metallic wail, and even her posture was frozen mid-air.
The spectator stands exploded.
“Wh-what the hell is that?!”
“That’s not a unit from the match system, right?!”
“This… this is way too ridiculous—!”
Niya-chan’s voice even cracked:
“W-wait! Everyone! Sudden development! Niya-chan… Niya-chan received no notice of any such performance! No, this isn’t a performance at all! A new character has forcibly entered the Reward Match arena!”
And on the back of that giant dragon—
A figure clad in a black cloak and black armor appeared.
Skull masks on the armor still exhaled chilling white mist.
He didn’t decorate himself with “holiness” like Mayne. Instead he announced his presence in a more violent, calmer way: the order of death itself. The black cloak unfurled in the freezing wind like a corner of the night sky being torn open.
Even more exaggerated was what stood behind him.
An endless undead legion spread across both sides of the racetrack—like a tide, like storm clouds, like fear turned into an art form through sheer numbers.
Death Knights, death mages, skeleton infantry, armored ghosts… countless, thousands strong.
It looked exactly like an undead monarch had brought his entire kingdom to take over the stage.
I could even hear the echo of iron boots on the ground, the crisp clack of staves against bone, and the low whispers of the undead threading through eardrums like a choir.
Then Ameno Yotsuba raised his eyes. His gaze landed on Mayne.
“To use your LAST SKILL against a mere Tier 6 Witch.”
His tone was eerily calm. “Don’t you think that’s a little too bullying, Rider King?”
—Ameno Yotsuba.
And standing beside him was another person I absolutely did not want to see in a situation like this.
Kiyama Yune.
PROGRAM TAMPER.
The one known as the “cheater” stood casually at Ameno Yotsuba’s side as if they had always belonged on the same shadowed path.
The spectator stands erupted into total chaos.
“Who is that?! Why can he bring an army in here?!”
“Wait… that ID… PROGRAM TAMPER?! Is that real?! Isn’t that a KING?!”
“They hacked into Blue Sea Academy’s BHAO KNOCKOUT?! This isn’t a match anymore—it’s an incident!”
Niya-chan’s voice trembled as she tried to maintain professional composure:
“E-everyone! Please stay calm… no, you can’t stay calm! Th-this is not an ordinary sudden development! It appears an external force has forcibly invaded the BHAO KNOCKOUT battle arena! The school’s technical department is currently troubleshooting!!”
I stood there, chest still tight from the lance that had nearly run me through, yet my throat felt even more blocked.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.