Rota was pained to the point of almost vomiting by the powerful impact that shook his insides.

However, he didn’t need to worry about vomiting at all, because Seiji grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up!

“Waghhh…”

Rota had difficulties breathing as he felt the new power within him swiftly leaving. This caused his body to feel icy cold, numb, and pained.

‘Why…?’

As his consciousness went hazy, Rota felt something icy cold and sharp piercing through his body. The pain surpassed what he could handle and he fell unconscious.

As Seiji defeated the members of the Revenge Alliance, he also went around defeating the weakened members of the 7321 faction.

What about leaving the 7321 faction members alone to all fight against Kanzaki together?

While everyone banding up joyfully and fighting the demon king together seemed like a wonderful scenario, even if the 7321 faction members were willing to do so, what could the tournament participants that had been weakened to the point of barely being able to fight do? Would they be of any use at all?

Seiji preferred to simply remove them from the tournament by defeating them. This would allow him to absorb more black mist to power up his mysterious power.

He left the 7321 faction members that still had power to defend themselves alone.

And out of the remaining 7321 faction members, of course Shigure Tendo was the one he needed to pay the most attention to!

Seiji had no intentions of trying to defeat and remove Shigure from the tournament right now regardless. Who knew if Shigure would go berserk and enter that ridiculously powerful form from the previous timeline?

Although the mysterious power might help Seiji to defeat the berserk Shigure, that would definitely put a great strain upon him. Seiji preferred to keep as much of his power in reserve as possible to deal with Kanzaki.

Thanks to Shika, Kanna, and Izawa’s support, Seiji defeated a great number of tournament participants from both sides!

Some remaining Revenge Alliance members realized that they couldn’t win and escaped.

The remaining 7321 faction members also left this location and gathered themselves in the rear. Seiji figured that they were reorganizing themselves.

Seiji could keep track of everyone’s movements with his maphack. He chose to take a rest together with his companions.

Now then, would Kanzaki directly act after this?

If so, then that would basically be the final boss battle.

But if Kanzaki was mystified by Seiji’s new mysterious power and preferred to test things out first, then Seiji would still have some time.

If he had the time, Seiji wanted to talk to the remaining 7321 faction members after they reorganized themselves in an effort to ally against the demon king.

If they could reach an accord and ally themselves with each other, that would be excellent. Even if the 7321 faction members only provided a minor amount of assistance, that would still be better than nothing. And if they wouldn’t help him, then forget about it.

There was also the matter of the tournament participants that were judged to have lost in the tournament.

Seiji didn’t know what would happen to them afterwards or if they would be able to successfully leave this realm of black mist.

The ghosts’ attacks and the black mist’s envelopment all appeared to be connected to the tournament participants’ Lifesaving Talismans. After the first wave of attacks when an individual’s Lifesaving Talisman was consumed, they probably shouldn’t meet with such danger anymore. But, it was still difficult to say.

Seiji hoped that they would be able to safely leave.

Although Seiji hoped for this, he actually felt that it was highly unlikely.

Unless he eliminated this black mist realm entirely, nobody would be able to leave… that seemed far more likely.

As for the tournament non-participants outside, perhaps they weren’t able to enter, or perhaps they could enter but had no intention to, preferring to remain outside and allow the Spirit World to be created.

There was no way to count on reinforcements from outside… In the end, the current situation was probably acceptable and even what the 7321 faction tournament hosts wanted to see.

Kanzaki brought a tremendous amount of death upon this tournament. However, the tournament hosts and the relevant 7321 faction members were the ones who allowed Kanzaki to enact his plans upon this tournament.

Who knew just how deep the swamp ran here?

Seiji knew that he himself was likely also nothing more than a chess piece. Previously, when Yui gave him the tournament participation card, she had mentioned that it was because she had “benefits” to gain. Now that he thought back on it, perhaps she had a deep connection to this tournament that he didn’t know about.

‘Just what are you calculating, Yui?’

The night breeze blew past and lifted a few strands of the stunningly beautiful Yui Haruta’s hair.

She stood there quietly with her black hair and black clothes, watching the events unfold beneath her. She blended in with the night, although there was a sharp glint in her eyes.

“There are many major tremors in the surveillance data wavelengths. It would seem that things are about to escalate to the next stage,” a blond-haired boy reported to her.

“Yep,” Yui responded lightly.

“Should we enter and investigate?”

“No. Wait a bit longer.”

“That will mean that ‘he’ will have greatly increased risk of danger. Is that alright?”

“It’s fine.”

This wasn’t heartlessness, but rather trust.

The blond-haired boy could tell that his master trusted in Seiji Haruta’s power. She trusted that Seiji wouldn’t meet with a terrible fate just because of this degree of danger.

Just how much time had it been… Seiji Haruta’s growth rate was astonishingly fast!

Should he say that it should be expected of his master’s younger brother?

He recalled the first time that he met Seiji and could only exclaim before concentrating again on his work.

Seiji suddenly sensed that all the remaining Revenge Alliance members’ condition changed. They were all judged to be defeated in the tournament, and transformed into dark gray existences on his minimap… basically, they were completely taken over by the ghosts possessing them, with their souls and lives being drained.

It would seem that Kanzaki judged them to be useless after having been defeated. Kanzaki must have transformed all the remaining Revenge Alliance members into complete puppets!

Should it be said that it was to be expected of the Messengers’ faction’s style?

Right after that, the black mist in the environment became even thicker, to the point where it became impossible to see more than twenty meters ahead even with Astral Vision. The cluster amaryllis flowers popping out of the ground also greatly increased in number, creating some blood-red flower patches.

The most noticeable change was that a blood-red moon also appeared in the sky!

Although it was impossible to see for more than twenty meters, such a red moon was visible in the sky? It was quite obvious that this moon wasn’t the real moon at all.

Seiji recalled the Blood Moon Mountain dungeon that he and the national idol Miyuki Sakuraku had previously conquered together. He felt that the current atmosphere resembled what was in that Inner World.

If this Spirit World was allowed to fully develop, would it become similar to that type of Inner World?

If it really became a high-level Spirit World similar to the Blood Moon Mountain, that would doubtlessly be highly dangerous.

“I think that things are getting really bad,” Kanna commented after looking at the blood moon and then glancing back at the endless darkness. “This is just like watching a horror movie. I feel as if something scary will appear out of the black mist at any moment.”

“I agree,” Izawa added. “This false red moon and the mist that’s hiding unknown things both feel quite ominous.”

Just as Izawa finished speaking, faint strange sounds could be heard from within the mist.

In this situation, people would instinctively not want to leave the house they were in at all. However, this was no scary game, and staying in the house couldn’t be considered safe at all. Instead, it might be safer to take action as quickly as possible.

“Let’s go,” Seiji told everyone.

“Go where?”

“Go to find survivors.”

He was referring to the remaining tournament participants from the 7321 faction.

Seiji had a feeling that it would be too late for the 7321 faction if he didn’t go to find them soon.

Seiji and his party set out and traveled through the deep, dense mist.

Not long after, they once again heard strange sounds that sounded both like howling and sighing. This time, the sound was much clearer, as if it came from right beside them.

“Be careful…”

Seiji reminded his companions to be vigilant. Right after he said that, several dark-red ghostly figures suddenly swooped down from above!

*Bang!* Seiji punched and crushed one with his right fist and absorbed it.

Shika dodged the attack and counterattacked, slicing through a ghost. However, she was unable to cut through it.

Izawa protected Kanna and they both managed to avoid this ambush as well.

These ghosts then hid in the surrounding mist right after their attack failed. The next moment, several more ambushed Seiji’s party from the right!

Then, the ghosts came from the left, then the left again, then above, then the front, then the back… The ghosts kept swiftly attacking Seiji’s party from various directions. This was quite dangerous to deal with.

The power in Seiji’s right hand easily destroyed the ghosts that attacked him. However, Shika, Izawa, and Kanna’s attacks were all relatively ineffective against the ghosts. Not only that, the ghosts seemed to be incredibly numerous. They kept up an unending stream of attacks.

“We need to hurry! Don’t let them stall us!!”