Chapter 260: The Never-Cheating BB-chan
Within the blue, rotating vortex, white lightning roared, yet all things had fallen into a heavy silence. Everything proceeded within a soundless environment at extreme speed, like a video being fast-forwarded.
Memories—memories of things he himself had never experienced—strangely surfaced in his mind. These were the memories of the man he had once hosted during a Pseudo-Servant summoning; the man who shared his past and similar adult experiences, a counterpart from a parallel world.
After saving more people than he ever could, that man had eventually become the Heroic Spirit "Mumei" (Nameless). Then, in another world, he was summoned into the Moon-Cell, fighting alongside a girl nicknamed "Francis Zabee"... experiencing so much...
When Shirou recovered from the trance of space-time travel, his eyes finally cleared to see his surroundings. He found himself in a space of vivid purple, where a girl with a familiar face stood proudly.
"Welcome to BB-chan's Broadcasting Room! We meet again, Shirou-senpai~! To be able to encounter each other here, it must be a fated meeting," the purple-haired girl said with a smile to the boy she had just snatched.
"No, it's because you literally pulled me in here. But, fine..." Facing this nostalgic and familiar pretty face, Shirou found it truly difficult to feel any anger. For now, he asked the question burning in his heart: "My friend—the girl who was being besieged—what is the deal with Yuigahama's current state? Even if she was dragged in, shouldn't she be a player too?"
"Eh? Because... when that girl first arrived here, she was constantly babbling, shouting 'Yukino~!' and 'Shirou~!' and stuff. BB-chan figured she was probably an acquaintance of Senpai, and since she looked quite cute, I teased her a little..."
Shirou pressed his hand to his face in pain, thinking: 'So it really was this person's fault. That's why Yuigahama and Ibaraki are so miserably trapped in a constant entanglement with over seventy Spartacus-like men armed with iron swords and axes.
Even if they are beaten back, they immediately charge again; even if they are knocked down, they crawl back up to rejoin the siege. I see... this person is definitely not the Sakura I know.'
Compared to the considerate and gentle kouhai Sakura, the purple-haired girl before him clearly had far too much of the "Little Devil" attribute.
"Sorry, ehe~!" The purple-haired girl balled up her fist, lightly tapped her own head, and stuck out her tongue in a cute expression.
"That is not the kind of thing that can be solved with an 'ehe'," Shirou couldn't help but retort. He could only silently offer a moment of silence for his female friend.
'I'm sorry, Yuigahama. Please hide well for now, I'll come to save you eventually.'
"Please don't be angry, Senpai~! As the GM, BB-chan pulled the fully-powered Senpai in from the other side. This is a one-of-a-kind 'Goddess BB's Love Bundle' gifted only to Senpai! It provides a triple-buff state: Infinite HP! Infinite MP! And Ignore Physical Damage! A total cheat character!
The way Senpai slaughtered those weaklings just now was indeed wonderful~! But BB-chan deserves some credit for that too, right?"
The purple-haired girl winked at the boy, wearing an expression that said, 'Hurry up and praise me, or else I'll play a prank on you!'
"Ah... well then, thank you very much." Shirou finally understood why he could project thousands of Noble Phantasms at will and easily counter over seventy Berserkers.
But in that case, he felt that Yuigahama had become even more pitiful...
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Meanwhile, in the grand melee space, the seventy-plus "players" gathered together. Because of Shirou's full-power bombardment earlier, over a dozen had been retired, but now they were gradually catching up again.
As people with low Pseudo-Servant compatibility, they were merely mortals holding borrowed power without much combat instinct. They had not achieved "unity of mind and body" with their Heroic Spirits; many couldn't even use their Noble Phantasms properly.
But because of this, they lacked the pride of the truly strong. Thus, through communication, they formed a team to face powerful enemies together.
Among the remaining fifty or sixty players, most came from countries within the Sinosphere or nearby: Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and even some from India. Most spoke some Chinese or English, so communication wasn't an issue.
Since they were summoned into this network world, they were separated from their companions. Before finding their own leaders, they had no reason to kill each other. After all, the real battles were between those "monsters" with 100% compatibility; many other players were just followers accompanying the powerhouses of their respective nations.
Of course, they weren't blindly obedient. As long as one possessed the Holy Grail, they could instantly turn from a slave into a master. Most held onto a sliver of hope and were even less willing to lose their qualification in meaningless infighting.
And so...
"Oh, your name is Kim? My name is Lee."
"A pleasure, a pleasure. My Syngman misses your Il-sung very much."
"Oh my god, you're a salty-flavor fan? You've never known the true deliciousness of Zongzi in your life!"
"Did you just refer to Anime as 'Dongman'?"
"Do you believe in Traditional Chinese Medicine?"
For all sorts of random reasons, the people quickly huddled together.
They soon reached a consensus: they would stick together to avoid being targeted by the strong. If they encountered a lone wolf with differing opinions, they would surround and annihilate them. Along the way, this team had unexpectedly grown to over seventy members.
Kayaba, who designed the game, naturally wouldn't allow such a loophole to persist. Aside from standard combat, he had also created a swarm of monsters to actively exterminate players who refused to fight. Fortunately, in this space, besides the terrifying Bosses, there were some weaker monsters, which became their targets for collecting points.
In fact, the combination of Yuigahama and Ibaraki was much stronger than them. With several hundred times more health than the players, they could have used Ibaraki's "Disengage" skill to fight and flee.
Unfortunately, Yuigahama, an active high school girl, was just an ordinary girl despite her 100% compatibility. Facing dozens of "players" gathered like hungry wolves ready to pounce on her at any moment, she was terrified.
Ibaraki-Douji, though a famous Oni, was essentially just a child. She was fine for pranks, but fighting against the many or fighting to the death was beyond her.
Compared to the alcohol-loving Shuten, she actually preferred eating sweet snacks. Instead of fighting to the death, her instinct when facing danger was to look for a chance to run and then find an opportunity for revenge later.
The 6-million-HP Ibaraki-Douji/Yuigahama, having lost her "mother-like" reliable protection (Shuten), could only hide in the bushes under a large tree again, not daring to come out...
"Shuten...
Shirou...
Wuu-wuu, humans are so scary... I really want a piece of candy to calm my nerves." Ibaraki crouched on the ground, clutching her head and trembling.
She really wanted to go home.
If she were in Mt. Oe with Shuten, Hoshiguma, and the other Four Heavenly Kings of the Oni, plus all her subordinates, she wouldn't be afraid of anything—she would have long since crushed those cockroach-like, persistent monsters.
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