Ding ling ling———!!
A sharp, piercing fire alarm sounded.
Under the shrill alarm, the people who had been stunned by the sea of fire falling from the ceiling finally realised the danger and hurried to the shop exits.
During the evacuation process, many recipients of the invitation letters inadvertently revealed their capabilities.
"Damn it, isn't the Akihabara Grand Barrier supposed to prevent ability usage? Why is there a fire sorcerer running amok here!"
"The fire's coming from the upper floors. Damn, we can't even see the opponent. We have to retreat."
Driven by such thoughts and words, the panicked crowd surged violently toward the main entrance.
At this moment, Sun Seto, who was following Luo Shu toward the entrance, stared blankly at the oncoming crowd:
"Ah, we're done for, we're going to collide!"
As she spoke, Luo Shu stepped forward and looked up at the tide-like crowd rushing toward them.
Like butter meeting a sharp blade or waves crashing against a reef, the surging crowd instinctively split apart just before reaching Luo Shu, forming two distinct streams that rushed past him on either side and out of the building.
"Eh?" Sun Seto blinked in surprise, glancing at Luo Shu with mild astonishment.
Just then, Luo Shu began walking forward with a faint smile.
"Let's go, Little Sun."
"Since someone went through the trouble of sending invitations, it would be a shame not to meet them."
Hearing this, Sun Seto, who had recently joined the Familia, couldn't help muttering:
"I get the feeling you're quite excited, Luo Shu... You weren't like this before..."
Though she said this, Sun Seto still quickened her pace to keep up with Luo Shu.
The two were heading straight toward the massive hole blasted open by the fire pillar, which still radiated residual heat.
...
"Can't the people downstairs behave themselves?"
Akihabara Building, 19th Floor.
Watching the massive flames surging from the lower floors, Kazuma Yagami turned to glance at the expressionless, cold-faced Tatsuya Shiba beside him:
"Someone like you would be better off monitoring the dangerous individual releasing these attacks rather than keeping an eye on me."
"At least that would make it easier to report to the Cabinet, wouldn't it?"
"Major Shiba of the Cabinet Direct Unit."
Hearing this, Tatsuya Shiba merely turned his cold gaze toward Kazuma Yagami before stating indifferently:
"Isn't it me who's being monitored?"
"My, my, it seems you're right."
Kazuma Yagami scratched his head and spoke with an air of nonchalance:
"I almost forgot I'm the one doing the monitoring."
"How about this - I'll stop watching you, Major, and let you go stop this criminal sorcerer launching attacks. After you succeed in stopping them, you voluntarily withdraw from the True Dragon Legacy competition. What do you say?"
Tatsuya Shiba seemed slightly puzzled by this.
"Why specifically prevent me from participating?"
Hearing this, Kazuma Yagami smiled with a somewhat teasing expression:
"Because it makes reporting to the higher-ups easier. After all, as a naturalised Chinese citizen originally from Japan, I always need to harm some so-called compatriots to prove my loyalty, don't I?"
Tatsuya Shiba remained silent for a second or two before responding calmly:
"My mission is to obtain the True Dragon Sorcerer Class by any means necessary. I have no obligation to handle mystic side disasters for the Metropolitan Police Department!"
Hearing this, Kazuma Yagami scratched his head and sighed.
"In that case, I'll just have to keep watching you here. What a headache."
Hearing this, Tatsuya Shiba glanced at Kazuma Yagami's eyes before speaking calmly:
"You say it's a headache, but your eyes haven't changed at all from start to finish."
"Really? Maybe I was just born with eyes that don't move?" Kazuma Yagami said casually.
As these two kept watching and confronting each other...
...
Akihabara Building, 9th Floor.
Staring at the ten-meter-wide hole blasted through the ceiling by the pillar of flames and smelling the pungent scent of burning, Ryōko Yakushiji took out a cigarette, lit it, and said to Shin Natsume beside her:
"Are all you sorcerers monsters capable of such exaggerated feats?"
Hearing this, Shin Natsume clicked his tongue and grumbled:
"Tch, don't arbitrarily put me on the same level as those monsters."
As he spoke, Shin Natsume opened his Dragon Eye, squinting with his golden vertical pupil as he said warily: "Alright, shitty young lady, we should get further away."
Then, Shin Natsume's expression instantly turned grave.
"The monsters' playtime is about to begin!!"
As his words fell...
BOOM!
A pale grey storm pillar surged violently from the hole in the floor.
The sharp winds swept away all the shelves and miscellaneous items on the affected floors, creating explosive cracking sounds.
The storm surge, like a typhoon passing through, charged straight toward the 17th floor where Giada Kukulcan was located.
Facing the suddenly approaching storm, Giada, who had just withdrawn her attack, immediately brightened up and laughed heartily:
"It seems someone shares the same idea as me!"
As she spoke, Giada raised her right hand high and shouted:
"Awaken quickly - Ehecatl!!"
A pitch-black storm immediately descended from the dome, directly blasting through the building's roof like a storm hammer falling from the sky, crashing hard into the pale grey storm rising from below.
The two storms collided on the 17th floor, shattering glass across three floors.
With a roaring boom, the fierce winds swept up everything, sending it flying high into the air.
"Help————!!"
"Mother————!!!"
Flying shelves, people floating like willow catkins, terrified screams - all occurred in the same instant.
...
Facing this scene in the third-floor monitoring room, watching the three monitoring screens suddenly pixelate...
Amid the troubled expressions of the Central Investigation Agency staff from America, Director Joseph's face turned ashen.
"These damned monsters!!"
Joseph gritted his teeth in anger, picked up his walkie-talkie, and said without hesitation:
"No more waiting, Rad. If we let these two maniacs play around any longer, everyone will escape!"
Hearing this, in the underground ritual chamber, Rad, wearing a black eyepatch over his right eye, pinched the bridge of his nose:
"I originally wanted to use the participant slots to induce these people to kill each other, but it seems we'll have to advance the plan!"
As his words fell, the ritual circle drawn on the floor beneath Rad's feet lit up with an eerie blue glow.
Simultaneously...
Many people holding invitation letters suddenly noticed that their invitations were glowing with the same eerie blue light.
Beneath that glow, the dragon face pattern resembling both a crocodile and a deer slowly opened its eyes - one gold, one blue.
The next instant,
Everyone in possession of an invitation simultaneously saw a sky as crimson as fresh blood.