Shizuka's eyes shook at his words. At first, she had theorized that all this might end after a few months, her basis was that when it'll get hot their muscles would rot and fall off, making them unable to move.

But that theory of hers never even got the chance to get out of her mouth as she heard Arthur's mortifying and depressing words.

"The end isn't near... This is the end."

Takashi's thoughts were somewhat similar to Arthur's at the beginning. Though he didn't voice them out. But when Arthur arrived, it didn't seem as hopeless to him, he was somewhat glad that Arthur was with them.

He reminded him of Hisashi - smart, reliable, and decisive. Arthur seemed like someone he could rely on, just like he relied on Hisashi.

"Wha- Arthur-san, is there really nothing you can do to stop this hell? Weren't you here to save the world?" Kazu turned to look at Arthur, his face despaired, just like everyone else's.

He stared at Arthur, hoping that he would laugh and say, 'just kidding, sorry, it was just a prank.'

But betraying everyone's expectation Arthur's expression remained serious.

They wanted to deny the reality. But Saeko forced them back.

"He has said his part, there isn't any way to stop this. And... He isn't here to save the world... he is here for a job. Not community service. We don't have the right to demand anything from him." She spoke, her voice and gaze as calm as usual.

"Or he's just not telling us!" Rei hissed, "He has watched all the events of this world, there is no way he doesn't know how it all ends! Ah, I get it... he wants all of us to dance on his fingers, revere him, and plead for his mercy! For him to save us and let him have his way with us!!"

'How it all ends, you ask? You all die that's how! However, you're somewhat correct though. As you're already dancing on my fingers, Rei, your anger and suspicion towards me is the proof of that...'

He rolled his eyes, "As I said, everyone is free to make their own assumptions. But Takashi, could you shut her mouth, she's kinda irritating."

Takashi gave a complicated look, how was he supposed to do that...?

Well, that's for him to figure out.

Arthur massaged his forehead, he knew it - revealing his identity also came with drawbacks... They all will want to rely on him overly. At least Saeko had some sense in her brain.

"You said that your job was to assist the Main Character to achieve his goals, right...?" Saya asked, "Since you're saying there is a new Main Character now, does that mean you'll have to assist him if his goal is to wipe the undeads off this world or to turn all the undeads back to normal?"

Arthur smiled, this girl... she was clever... that's why predictable. But if she becomes adamant to save the world thinking that he would help them anyway, she becomes trouble... if he makes Kohta the Main Character, that is. That boy is already somewhat her slave.

Too bad, Kohta was his first choice as the Main Character after Hisashi Igou, he even has the Main Cast buff.

But that's why he saved Kazu Ishi as a backup, after all.

Kazu's buff was Arthur until he becomes the main character and gets his own plot armor or until Arthur changes his mind.

"Yes," He nodded intentionally giving them false hope.

The artificial wave of hope that radiated from a single nod, washed over everyone as he said yes, a soft smile appearing on each face.

"So, this guy isn't completely heartless, after all..." Saya smirked.

"I don't even know why you think I'm heartless!" Arthur sighed in exasperation,  "But it doesn't mean I don't have my own will. I am a mercenary not a slave of the main character. I do what I think is best for the mission, that's all."

"So, what should we do Arthur-san, what should be our next course of action?" Kohta asked as he looked at Arthur with stars in his eyes.

To him, Arthur was like some cool isekai protagonist that came to rescue the world.

Arthur ignored him as he sat on his seat, Kohta realized that he was in no mood to answer that question -  it was their decision to make and he would only 'assist' them.

That is to say, he wasn't going to babysit them.

"I think, first we should find our families and then look for a safe place till the government starts their rescue operations, will that be okay, Arthur-san?" Kazu spoke as he offered a pet water bottle to Arthur.

"Hmm, agreed. And drop the honorifics already, guys..." Arthur sipped from the bottle.

"But everyone's worried about their own family, who should we go to first?" Shizuka tapped her cheeks then folded her arms under her breasts, supporting her bountiful bosom, the slight jiggle didn't escape Arthur's peripheral vision.

"The order should be from houses which are nearest to farthest, that's obvious, are you all even using your brains?" Saya humphed.

"In any case, we won't survive if we act selfishly... we should act as a team as well, if we want to live, that is." Saeko glanced at Arthur.

"Arthur-San can you carry me on your back? I'm tired, and my legs are in pain, these shoes are heavy..." Shizuka mewled.

Arthur dutifully ignored the blonde that massaged her calf in front of him.

A while later, rested up and energy recharged, they were ready to go.

All the pieces were assembled —  Saeko Busujima, Saya Takagi, Shizuka Marikawa, Rei Miyamoto, Kazu Ishi, Kohta Hirano, and finally the soon to be Ex Main Character, Takashi Komuro. And his bat.

"Takashi-Kun, where is Arthur's otherworldly gun you told about earlier? I don't see it" Kohta whispered to Takashi, a weird excitement in his tone.

Takashi twisted his brows in contemplation, "He disappeared it somewhere a while ago and hadn't taken it out since then. Rei told me that the gun has some cooldown period before he could use it again."

"Hm, perfectly understandable, Ishi-Kun told me that it could vaporize undeads in just a graze, a powerful weapon like that can have a few drawbacks like that." Kohta mused out loud.

Nothing major happened till they reached the final stairs to the main gate, a trio was struggling against a few undeads, but it was a bit too late... when Arthur and the team arrived, their bodies were already in the jaws of undeads. The students were just screaming in despair and pain from their flesh being separated by the nasty mouth of the undeads.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, these guys weren't supposed to die 'now' and 'here', he was a little behind on time. Still, nothing too major.

The others looked uneased by what was happening, even though they had seen it happen countless times in just a span of half a day, they haven't gotten used to it. And they hoped they never.

Arthur signaled Saeko with his eyes to kill the undeads so as to clear the path, she nodded as she swung her sword — internally slightly, only a little, and just a tiny bit glad he let her deal with them.

She hid her smile behind a serious frown and charged at the undeads. From one undead to another, from offense to defense, from one head to another, her movements were flawless and every strike was fatal. In just a minute all the five undeads were already down.

She turned around with a twirl in her below-knee-length green skirt and gave a nod to Arthur.

They all moved.

In just a few more minutes, they were already near the shoe locker area, hiding in the last set of stairs and a few meters away from the main gate.

For a while, they silently observed the situation.

This area wasn't hoarded by them but their density was still very high, about thirty-forty were there.

The number wasn't much problem, but the densely packed area was... Saeko won't have the freedom to move that well. She'll get caught in just a few moments.

"They can't see us, they only react to sounds...  so it will be like you're invisible to them if you don't make any sounds while walking," Saya whispered to Takashi.

He nodded, "Yeah, we all know that... Arthur told us."

Saya humphed, "Of course, that cocky non-helping bastard told you that."

"Arthur-s—umph" Saeko was saying something before Arthur put his finger on her lips, surprising Saeko.

Her delicate lips felt the ragged texture of his fingers.

"Hushhh! The numbers are too great and the area is too small, this is too much for you. This needs an assistance, an Omniversal Mercenary's assistance. Let me deal with this, okay." The blue-eyed boy said as his fingers left her lips.

She exhaled and a small puff of fog escaped her mouth, due to the coldness of the winter and the hotness of her breath.

He took out his gun, the Tesseract-Powered heavy assault rifle.

It was time to get slightly, only a little and just a tiny bit serious.

=================

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