A Mind Unhinged
Chloe, the elite troops, and I stood in awe before the overwhelming sight spread out before us. "This... is the current level of game company technology?" Maybe the developers captured an alien and forced them to research this in exchange for military rations? How else could they have created something like this?
"Oho... Quite impressive." The Blood Demon's voice echoed from within the glove. Colorful crystals embedded throughout the cavern cast a beautiful radiance, and at the center gleamed a single sparkling gem with a person trapped inside. I couldn't quite put it into words, but the scene radiated the very essence of fantasy.
"...You said we'd make contact with that guy's consciousness, right?" Chloe asked, eyeing the faintly ominous red gem. I tapped the hourglass and replied, "If we end up wasting time, we can just use this to get out, so don't worry. In the meantime, please hold the line."
There was no time to stand around marveling. The other two teams were already fighting hard, so I needed to hurry and do my part. As I approached the red gem and placed my hand on it, a slight dizziness washed over me. In the game it had simply cut to a loading screen, but actually entering like this made me feel like I was about to throw up.
"Se... bas...!" The princess's voice calling my name grew fainter and fainter. A strange sensation—part fear, part oddly comforting, like being wrapped in a mother's embrace—washed over me. Sleepiness crept in, and my consciousness flickered on and off. So this is what doing drugs feels like...
"Hey!"
"Shit, you scared me!"
Just as I was savoring the atmosphere of this space, someone beside me bellowed loud enough to burst my eardrums. It was the first time anyone had ever shouted at me like that.
"I asked what you're eating today! You didn't answer!"
From the way the person next to me was rambling about food, it seemed I'd successfully entered the hallucination. I'd nearly lost my mind for a second there.
"No, seriously, what are you eating?"
After silently thanking the person beside me, I pondered what to say before answering, "I don't know. Just eat whatever."
"You crazy bastard...!"
I ignored the noisy person next to me and fell into thought. This place was the academy right before the attack, when Yitz had his body taken over while working as a security guard. So the first thing I needed to find was Yitz, who was stuck in a loop. If he died, the loop would reset for certain, so I had to keep him safe first.
"Haa..." I checked the number of blood packs in my pocket. Since whatever items you carried were transferred into the hallucination, I'd hoped the blood packs would come along too—and thankfully, they had. I could just use these.
If the blood packs disappear like they did back in Starlight when they weren't treated as items... Well, nothing for it. I'd just have to kill everyone here and drain their blood. Since this was all an illusion anyway, it couldn't be helped if I wanted to get out.
"...Why'd you suddenly go quiet?" The guy next to me asked as if he'd read my thoughts, but I ignored him, dusted myself off, and stood up.
"Hey... hey, what are you doing! Class is about to start!"
As I tightly gripped the glove-shaped Blood Ghoul in my pocket and double-checked the blood pack count...
"Agh... I'm getting dizzy as hell."
...Huh? Why is the Blood Demon's voice coming from here?
"The glove... is talking...?" The student beside me looked shocked at the talking glove. It was probably his first time seeing something like this. After a moment's thought, I bolted.
"Hey! Stop right there! Explain yourself before you go!"
After hiding safely behind a wall where no one would spot me, I spoke to the Blood Demon. "No, why are you here?"
I'd thought only I would enter, but apparently the Blood Demon came along too? I'd assumed I'd only be able to use the glove's abilities like in the game. I never expected the person himself would tag along!
"I don't know either!"
People can't enter if more than one tries, but the Blood Ghoul seems to be treated as an object rather than a person, so it just gets let in. Treating a person like an object... these developers are seriously messed up.
"Phew, fine. Two is better than one anyway." I was thinking the axe-wielding intruder who comes to the academy—the biggest threat in the repeated loops—might be too much to handle alone. If I found Yitz, I could just let him commit suicide when things got dangerous to reset the loop from the start. But if I died here, I'd actually die. If my timing was even slightly off, things could get ugly. Having the Blood Demon around would reduce the chance of that kind of mistake. This was actually a good thing.
"So, we're heading to the security office now?"
"Yes. He's probably sleeping around this time."
Why would he be sleeping? To manage his mental health, Yitz followed a pattern of sleeping three times and moving six times within each loop while searching for a way out. Dying in his sleep meant a clean decapitation—no pain, and he could briefly set aside his exhausting thoughts. It was the method he'd chosen.
But even that is reaching its limit soon. He was breaking down in real time, and a completely broken Yitz would turn into an erratic enemy, becoming the main reason Ankillé's difficulty spiked.
Still, just seeing my face should give Yitz far more hope. No matter how many thousands of times he repeated the same actions, Yitz was the kind of character who never gave up easily.
"According to the story, it takes an hour from the start of the loop until the intruder attacks the academy."
Checking the clock when we entered showed that thirty minutes had passed since Yitz started his loop. Of course, killing Yitz once and starting over might be faster time-wise, but there was no need to gamble on a part that could have variables.
I learned that from the Dane incident... Never blindly trust game information. Just do what needs to be done in the given situation. Honestly, even if this operation fails, it wouldn't be a big deal. Yitz would know someone was trying to help him and fight harder within the loop, and Unknown would lose some of their forces thanks to us. It would definitely deal damage to Ankillé.
Eventually, we arrived at the security office by the academy's main gate. The distance was convenient, at least.
"This is the security office. Let's go in... huh?"
I grabbed the metal handle and opened the door, but the room—about the size of a single room—was empty.
"Why isn't anyone here? You said he'd be sleeping."
In the game, Yitz was usually made to sleep when you entered his mindscape to make contact easier. So I'd naturally assumed he'd be asleep...
"...I don't know either." My mind went blank for a moment. Even if Yitz wasn't sleeping, he usually stayed inside the security office pondering escape methods. Even when he did act, it was usually only about ten minutes before the intruder arrived, so the student variables wouldn't interfere with the operation.
Just then, I heard a voice calling me from behind.
"You there, what brings you to the security office?"
I clutched a blood pack and turned around, only to see a kind-looking man with green hair standing before me. Ah, maybe he'd just gone to the bathroom... I'd gotten nervous for nothing. I thought there might be some variable change...
"It's good to see you, Yitz."
"...Who are you?"
Yitz looked at me with a puzzled expression. What? In the game, he'd always cheered the moment he saw someone who didn't exist in his loop. I guess this is different.
"I'm someone who came from outside the loop to save you."
His expression crumpled slightly, then he suddenly beamed with a bright smile and said, "Thank you so much! I thought I'd be trapped and die... I'm so glad... so glad..."
What the hell? Why is he acting like this? Watching Yitz stutter like a malfunctioning robot, a wave of unease washed over me. Actually, it wasn't that strange—like someone with a speech impediment, or a computer lagging. But something about it felt deeply off.
How long has it been since I last fought a properly corrupted Yitz as an enemy? At least two years. After that, I'd always skipped straight to quickly killing the axe-wielding intruder for fast clears. Yeah, that sounds about right.
This feels like... that pattern. Right before fighting a broken Yitz, if you time the first encounter perfectly, there's a rare pattern you can trigger—a twisted state of mind at the midpoint between sanity and collapse.
"Ah, my apologies. Shall we talk inside?"
Yitz spoke to me like that. Something was definitely wrong. I hadn't noticed at first, but now the sense of wrongness was unmistakable.
"That bastard's eyes look weird. Am I the only one seeing this?"
No, he was right. There was no focus in those eyes. At this point, I could be certain. The Yitz standing before me wasn't the Yitz I knew—
Whoosh!
Before I could finish the thought, something sliced through the air from behind, aimed straight at my head. I ducked as low as possible and burst a blood pack, vanishing instantly as someone swung a weapon at where I'd been.
"He... dodged that?"
We were screwed. Seeing Yitz spout villain-like lines, I finally realized the worst-case scenario had become reality. A deranged Yitz who mistook everyone he saw for the culprit trapping him in the loop. Now I had to face him.