Chapter 61: Spectre

After leaving the luxurious villa district, Wakaba glanced at the time—it was only ten o’clock at night, still quite early.

“Huh, has it already spread this far?” As Wakaba departed from the villa area, she encountered the Kiyosho River.

This was the very river she had been warned about by Madoka—not to enter that foggy realm.

“Just right, I’ll try again tonight...” Wakaba murmured.

The pressure from the Kinmei Group’s affairs weighed heavily on her, intensifying her yearning for greater power.

“But before that...”

She shifted her consciousness across space, returning to her original body.

——————Original Body——————

...

Miyagi Momoka Academy.

It was past ten in the evening now, and the academy was enveloped in serene silence. The air still retained the day’s lingering heat, while the faint glow of street lamps lined the winding paths.

Here, free from the pollution of city lights, the night sky stretched out like an exquisite, unfolding masterpiece—deep and vast. Countless twinkling stars converged to form the Milky Way, sprawling across the black canvas above.

The moonlight was pure and clear, casting an eerie brilliance upon the shattered giant crater at the lunar south pole.

If one gazed far enough, the faint geometric outlines of human bases could be discerned etched upon the lunar surface.

At this moment, behind the top students’ dormitory, tranquility reigned. Flowers bloomed brightly, trees lush and verdant.

The bathhouse, built here, was adorned with carved beams and painted rafters. Its doors and windows were tightly shut, while a thick veil of misty steam concealed all the room’s beauty and charm.

Splash!

Within the steaming bath, a girl of ethereal beauty stood gracefully. Her exquisite features resembled a flawless jade—perfect, untouched by any imperfection, radiating a captivating allure.

Her slender, alabaster legs were barely submerged in the pool, ripples shimmering with each gentle movement.

Her skin was incredibly pale and tender, like that of a newborn. Her long hair cascaded down her back, the ends drifting in the water.

Her luminous, spirited eyes were closed, brows slightly furrowed as if enduring some inner turmoil.

Her small, moist lips beneath her delicate, straight nose were pressed tightly together.

The young beauty’s slender figure was still somewhat youthful, yet already bore subtle curves.

Her jade-like hands clenched into fists by her sides, her slender waist devoid of any excess flesh, she exerted herself with all her might, embodying the utmost grace and poise.

Beneath her outward restlessness, her consciousness was undergoing a violent upheaval.

A full four hundred spirit points, transformed into the fire of spirituality, were refining her awareness, gradually causing a profound metamorphosis, an ascension...

——————

In recent nights, she had ventured into that foggy realm each time to challenge the corrupted beast. Although she was swiftly slain with a single blow every time, she had not returned empty-handed.

The corrupted beast continuously lured outsiders into its domain, devouring them relentlessly.

Thus, many had jumped into the river along its banks in recent days.

Most of the spirit points left behind by these lost souls were gathered by Wakaba, accumulating to more than four hundred points by now.

At Miyagi Momoka Academy, preparations for an upcoming inspection two months hence required them to practice dance late every night. Only tonight had she found the chance to elevate her consciousness.

Sizzle—

The young beauty’s snow-white skin began to flush a rosy hue, tiny beads of sweat mixed with impurities slowly expelled from within...

This process lasted a full ten minutes.

With a splash, Wakaba collapsed into the bath, then gradually stirred awake.

The moment she opened her eyes, she felt a sudden clarity. Her large, jet-black eyes gleamed with a newfound brilliance, surpassing before—like the most precious black gemstones in the world.

“Cloud ladder... no, this is the density of the mist...”

Wakaba realized she could now perceive subtle changes in the water’s mist density—not as crude as ordinary human sight, but with the ability to discern the mist’s gradual layers.

She focused her gaze on her retina and opened her status panel.

“Name: Wakaba

Age: 11

Spirit Points: 17

Spirit Point Collection Range: 550 meters (including clone range)

Consciousness Ascension Count: 9

Number of Clones: 1

Maximum Clone Capacity: 1”

“One more time... Once I ascend my consciousness again, I’ll break through another threshold, and gain a second clone slot...” Wakaba sensed intuitively.

Closing the status panel, she projected her awareness into her clone. “I’m now nine times smarter. I should be able to see that corrupted beast’s blade clearly this time...”

Excited, she urged her clone to immediately challenge the beast.

Meanwhile, she cleansed her own body of grime, donned a thin bathrobe, and happily skipped back to the dormitory for a long rest.

Inside the dormitory, only the living room light remained on. Everything else was silent. The temperature held steady at about twenty-five degrees Celsius.

The summer heat outside failed to penetrate.

——————

Wakaba still hadn’t figured out what kind of new-age air conditioning technology this was.

She glanced at Keiko’s, Karen’s, and Evelyn’s rooms—all doors firmly shut and silent.

“Everyone’s asleep so early—”

She spoke softly as she entered her own room, lying upon the soft bed and inhaling the scent of sunlight lingering on the linens.

“Not bad at all,” she murmured as her eyelids began to flutter.

The bedding had been freshly laundered and aired by the logistics department’s laundry room just that afternoon.

Wakaba soon slipped into dreams, though most of her consciousness remained with her clone in battle.

Time passed slowly, and soon midnight had come.

A shadow of dark clouds drifted over the academy, obscuring the moon and casting a vast darkness.

The sliding door from Wakaba’s room to the side yard quietly opened, and a figure cloaked entirely in black slipped silently to the bedside like a ghost.

The shadow was just that—a silhouette, with a head completely black, devoid of features or hair, its contours indistinct to the naked eye.

It reached out, gently feeling the pulse at Wakaba’s neck, then carefully pried open the girl’s eyelids to check...

Only after confirming Wakaba was completely unconscious did it proceed.

Rustle—

It lifted the thin blanket from Wakaba, wrapping the young beauty tightly like a bundle. Then, cradling her gently on its shoulder, it vanished from the room in the blink of an eye, reappearing atop the courtyard wall.

In another instant, the figure was suspended mid-air over the garden about thirty meters to the north of the courtyard...

Pop—!

As if bitten by an invisible giant maw, one of the shadow’s arms was violently torn apart mid-air, blood spurting as the severed limb fell into the flowerbed below.

Whoosh!

The shadow’s form crashed clumsily onto a nearby rockery, electric arcs rippling across its body as its camouflage dissipated, revealing the slender figure of a woman.

Had Wakaba been awake, she would have recognized her immediately—Kazuko Kawamoto, who had been stealthily watching her room just days before.

Kazuko still clutched Wakaba protectively with one intact hand, but her expression was grim, eyes darting anxiously all around...

“What a joke. I’m wearing an A-class battle suit, and even activated the berserk mode—yet I didn’t even see the attack coming, and I’m already severely wounded?” Kazuko, or rather Chihaya Kazuko, was filled with shock and disbelief.