Slap slap slap
"I'm sorry, Master! Next time I'll definitely tell the truth!" Angra, now thoroughly bruised, raised his hands begging for mercy.
"What if that's another lie? I can't trust All the World's Evil." I punched him once more, my face full of rage.
You're probably wondering how things ended up like this? There's a reason, of course.
Specifically, a few minutes earlier:
"Master, this dark alley is perfect! We can operate right here!" Angra said cheerfully.
"Yeah yeah, now we just wait for some random passerby to scare the crap out of, then I'll be the one responsible for spreading the urban legend about you." I was still in my school uniform, looking around cautiously.
To boost Angra's fame in the direction of "a ghost that drags people into nightmares," I had to make him as terrifying as possible so people would think he was some kind of entity.
This method worked with Nero—according to the notebook, people treated Nero like Satan, and that gave birth to Draco!
…Or at least I think so. Nasuverse has so many things I don't understand at all. I read just a little and I'm already super confused.
"Look, Master! Someone's coming through!"
"Best not to kill him."
"No worries! The Authority I'm planning to use will only plunge him into a nightmare!"
"…Okay? Go ahead."
So Angra shifted into spiritual form and sneaked up behind the person.
Then he materialized—and USED HIS NOBLE PHANTASM?!
"VERG AVESTA!"
The passerby heard a voice behind him and turned around.
A deafening roar pierced the air. A monstrous beast-like creature shrouded entirely in darkness appeared.
To Magus or other Servants, this form might look fairly normal.
Unfortunately for an ordinary person… not at all. The guy looked at Angra and nearly pissed himself in terror.
And yeah—he straight-up fainted from sheer fright.
"Hehe, success, Master!"
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO??"
Verg Avesta is the Noble Phantasm Angra usually uses in combat (specifically to reflect received damage). It costs very little mana, so using it wasn't an issue in terms of resources.
The problem is NO ONE uses a Noble Phantasm just to scare someone! If this isn't the first time in history, I don't know what is!!
"Using an Authority from my body would be a waste, so I just used my own Noble Phantasm instead."
"I really want to beat the shit out of you right now."
"Heh, you can't hit me, Master. In this state, I'll reflect all damage back anyway."
"How about I unplug the TV so you can't watch anymore?"
"Okay I'm sorry."
I sighed, then quickly snapped a photo that included both the unconscious man's face and Angra, planning to post it online later.
But one victim isn't enough. We needed a few more.
Watching Angra bounce around happily after returning to his normal appearance, I sighed again.
Fulfilling my wish is seriously exhausting. I have to raise this lazy bastard's reputation so he gets a bit stronger and unlocks new abilities… and then figure out how to use them when my mana pool is pathetically small.
Is finding some entertainment really this hard?
I pulled out the notebook again and continued reading about Angra.
"…Hm?" I paused. There was a carefully written piece of information.
The four-day loop—Angra's unofficial Noble Phantasm.
Although it noted that a Holy Grail was required, the reason was to accumulate enough souls—specifically, energy from the dead—to manifest the "All the World's Evil" rebirth.
In other words, every time the loop resets, everything that happened inside gets "packaged" and sent to the Grail.
Meaning this loop was designed to generate profit for the Grail.
Therefore, it doesn't consume mana. The issue is maintaining it—and the way to maintain it is actually quite simple: choose a crowded place, create the loop, and it will sustain itself by killing those trapped inside and using their souls as fuel. Angra would even benefit from the excess mana gained after each kill.
"…Hey, Angra."
"Hm? What's up, Master?"
"…That four-day loop—does it consume mana?"
Angra froze, then looked at me with the most innocent face imaginable.
"Of course it does! It consumes a ton of mana!"
"…Did you leave anything else out?"
"No? Of course not! It really uses a huge amount of mana! Come on, hurry up, Master—it's getting dark!"
"…"
I grabbed him by the throat and beat the crap out of him for deliberately withholding information.
Back to the present.
"Do you understand your crime now?"
"Yes, sir…"
"Why did you lie to me?"
"Uh, well…"
"Well?"
Looking at his deliberately evasive expression, I immediately knew why.
This bastard was too lazy to do it, so he chose a different method—specifically, he was messing with me.
"Master! There's a misunderstanding!!" Angra raised his hands, desperate to explain.
"Go on."
"A-Actually, I didn't want to tell you because I'd have to carefully study the city you live in! The four-day loop is based on my memories, after all!"
"You could've just said that earlier—would anyone have died?"
"Uh, well…"
So here I was, stressing and preparing for days, only to find out this guy could do it the whole time but was just too lazy.
You said you'd fulfill my wish! Your lying skills are honestly impressive!
"Ugh… Fine, just do it already."
"Fine fine. But where do you want to set the loop, Master? It needs the will of a person to shape the reality inside—otherwise it'll just be a dull gray hell that collapses easily."
"Hmm." I thought for a moment, then looked at Angra.
"Why don't I do it?"
***
Once someone is trapped in that loop, the living become the ones who make the inner reality feel more real. If they die, congratulations—their soul gets absorbed by Angra, and their real body will never wake up again.
As for those already dead… well, they become fuel and the primary targets for both Angra and Vincent.
Every time the loop resets, it returns to the starting point. But the living will gradually wear down, losing part of their life force. If the loop repeats too many times, they'll become completely hollow shells.
And with seven randomly selected people trapped in the loop, they will fight each other until one emerges victorious in this dream Holy Grail War.
If someone unfortunately dies, they will remain trapped in the loop forever.
Those who survive can escape.
The memories of those who escape will be extremely hazy—even to the point of not remembering it at all.
For the winner, the memories will be slightly clearer, but still not significant.
So let's pray for the seven unlucky souls chosen by Vincent and Angra—because they might never open their eyes again.