Meanwhile, Raize's consciousness lurking within the girl was utterly speechless. The way that had come out made it impossible for the two female teachers not to misunderstand.
Telling Mashiro not to say anything, and even calling him by his given name so intimately—Chihiro was internally convinced there was definitely something going on.
That said, when it came to her naive cousin, she had plenty of ways to coax the truth out of her.
"Then, Mashiro—what kind of feelings do you have toward Raize?"
[Ra—]
Raize had no intention of stopping Mashiro, though he very much wanted Black Shiina to exercise a little restraint and stay quiet. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Once Raize was mentioned, Mashiro was never the type to stay silent.
"I like him. A kind of liking that's different from how I like Rita, or my dad and mom."
After Mashiro said this expressionlessly, the atmosphere inside the car instantly became… quiet.
No—dead silent.
Hiratsuka and Chihiro, both seated in the front, exchanged a glance and completely understood the situation.
Chihiro did not ask any further questions. Hiratsuka's lips twitched slightly as she glanced at the dazed girl in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
Mashiro might not understand these feelings yet—but were the two of them, unmarried women well past their prime, really incapable of understanding?
A girl who had already stepped into that stage—there was no stopping it anymore.
---
Back at home, Raize watched all of this unfold with a face full of helplessness. At this point, Hiratsuka and Sengoku had grasped the general picture. Neither of them was foolish, and Raize had never regarded them as simple-minded people.
Aside from combat, the one thing that had unsettled his mental state today was Mashiro.
[Ding. New game "leba's Adventure" loaded. Please proceed with the game]
The notification announcing the arrival of the new game interrupted Raize's thoughts. Recently, Nep had said her recovery was going well, and the loading speed for new games had indeed accelerated and arrived earlier than before.
Although this was still just a "mini-game," Raize was genuinely looking forward to it—because it was a Flash game adapted from the famous Dungeon & Fighter. In other words, a fan-made game.
In Raize's previous life, this fan game had been beloved by a large number of DNF fans due to the cartoon-style characters and items that never appeared in the original. After it gained popularity, it even received official recognition from DNF itself.
Anyone who had played Dungeon & Fighter knew how absurd its power scaling was—second awakenings were all walking disasters, with planet-busting as the baseline.
In leba's Adventure, the selectable classes included Swordmaster, Berserker, Soul Bender, Launcher, Spitfire, and Ranger.
Power inheritances were naturally included, and even the shop was stocked with top-tier weapons and equipment. Although Raize did not yet know what rewards he would receive after clearing it, he was certain they would not disappoint him.
Despite being "just" a mini-game, its difficulty was no joke. Even in his previous life, very few people of Raize's age had managed to clear it. Even with invincibility cheats, it was still challenging.
Getting stuck on stages was one of Raize's strongest memories of this game—you had to clear it in very specific ways to progress.
He knew how to enter all of the hidden stages. If clearing hidden content in a system game affected rewards, then it would definitely be worth it.
---
The next day, with no other pressing matters at hand, Raize's true body headed to school. Under the effect of a cognitive distortion spell, the Divine Dividing spread behind him as he soared through the sky.
The company's game project was already in its final phase—but that was not the real reason Raize personally went to school today.
The real reason was that he had sensed dozens of foreign anomalous presences entering his perception range.
They had actually appeared inside his school this very morning. Concerned about Mashiro and Hiratsuka, Raize did not send a shadow clone this time.
[Game Clear Rewards: Swordmaster—Reba's Template, Berserker—Reba's Template, Wave Secret Manual, Lightsabre: Lightsabre License, X-1 Compressed Quantum Cannon, Skill Book: Void-Cleaving Slash, Skill Book: Phantom Slash, 3,000 Terranite, 3,000 Colorless Cubes]
Two level-60 awakening-tier inheritances—Swordmaster and Berserker—pushed Raize's swordsmanship and physical prowess into an entirely new realm.
Setting aside Swordmaster's Secret Sword Art for now, the Berserker's blood-energy combat style meshed extremely well with Surge of Killing Intent. Raize was already mentally simulating how to integrate Berserker combat methods into his barehanded fighting style.
Combined with Surge of Killing Intent's blood-energy approach, the resulting power would undoubtedly rise to another level.
As for Khazan who's power contained in the Berserker inheritance, it was once again absorbed by Kirby without any side effects.
Additionally, Raize obtained a training method for the Asura's Sword Waves. This manual opened an entirely new perspective for him regarding wave-based unarmed combat.
He had no intention of becoming blind, but he did plan to fuse DNF Asura abilities with Wave-Style Unarmed Combat.
The similarity between the two was simply too strong. Whether unarmed or Asura-based, both had carved out distinct paths in the utilization of "waves."
Wave-Style Unarmed Combat and Sword Wave both used wave energy to simulate elemental attacks.
Shakunetsu Hadoken → Fire Wave Sword
Raiko Hadoken → Agni Pentacle
Both were combat techniques centered on wave manipulation. Raize could fully integrate Sword Wave techniques into his fists and kicks, elevating his combat power yet again.
In terms of equipment, he acquired an epic weapon that had long been removed from the dungeon—something very much like a Jedi lightsaber—as well as the Launcher's level 45 skill weapon, better known as the "Black Hole Cannon."
The two skill books were what truly surprised Raize. He hadn't expected that non-corresponding classes could cultivate Swordmaster techniques.
Void-Cleaving Slash and Phantom Slash—one Swordmaster skill, one Soul Bender skill. Setting the latter aside, Void-Cleaving Slash alone provided Raize with a guiding marker toward realms beyond Swordmaster.
Clearing leba's Adventure the night before had yielded tremendous gains. He had originally planned to thoroughly integrate and train these new powers—but instead, this situation had suddenly dropped on him first thing in the morning.
Raize was actually hoping the enemies would be easy to deal with. The sooner this was resolved, the sooner he could get back to real business.
The moment he arrived above the school, Raize's calm expression turned icy.
He immediately detected dozens of clustered mana sources—auras that belonged to devils, second only to ghouls in how much he disliked them.
Lowering his altitude and looking down, he saw several handsome boys and girls walking together into the school—wearing Sobu High uniforms.
What truly surprised Raize was the presence of a familiar face among them.
A boy with messy brown hair and green eyes, wearing a distinctly lecherous grin as he ogled the surrounding girls—
It was none other than Issei, who had died once not too long ago.
As for the leading figures of the group, with a little thought, Raize already knew exactly who they were.
"Wow! These transfer students are all so good-looking! Why are so many people coming to Sobu High all of a sudden?"