Watching the fully emerged being completely separated from his body, Kuuya closes his eyes momentarily and sighs.

He could never get used to it.

With a “superpower”, he could create a bare, sculpted body perfectly identical to himself. That is to say, a clone. It was a logic that modern technology cannot replicate.

Tower System. Player System. Serval.

It only took a moment for Kuuya to recollect himself.

He had always been prepared.

“Number 6.” 

Opening his eyes once more, Kuuya pointed towards an approaching goblin. 

The clone received the intent to kill.

But before Number 6 could begin, the goblin had reached him.

Its bloodshot eyes were seared with a certain madness.

A sharp dagger pierced his chest in the next instant. It had been too slow to react. The creature cackled and twisted the dagger, but instead of the tormented expression it was expecting, the “human” before it was unfazed. Nothing was reflected in Number 6’s eyes.

That moment of hesitation caught up to the goblin, as Number 6 mustered a strong wind-up and threw a punch towards its face.

“Guorrgachhh! Gaahh-keeeeieek!!!”  

It seemed to have suffered a light concussion.

From a mere human’s punch?

The goblin recovered immediately and stabbed at Number 6’s thigh in anger. 

Yet Number 6 continued to fight without flinching from the pain.

After repeated stabs, Number 6 began to dissolve into liquid. It didn’t take long before Kuuya saw the notification.

—〖Your clone has been eliminated.〗

“Fourteen stabs was the limit. …Even as the heart stops, it could still move for a few seconds.”

He looked at his palm for a moment, and nodded lightly.

“It’s really the same ability.”

Confused without a target, the goblin’s eyes darted around. It finally caught the sight of the same human it had just “killed”. Enraged at being tricked, the monster ran towards Kuuya in a frenzy.

The loud goblin shrieks called forth a swarm. The stragglers had rejoined to hunt new prey. As they flocked and ran at the sole human survivor, the scene started looking a lot like a zombie film.

Kuuya held his nerves in. A primal fear remained, but reason and experience kept him from panicking.

“...My current stats won’t do.” A chilly tone escaped his breath. If possible, he wanted to clone Number One again. No… it still wouldn’t be enough. These goblins were fast.

Despite being surrounded by an alarming amount of red dots, his eyes remained dark, staring at nothing but the screen on his phone—

“...New information?”

『Cloning』Rank 1

Clones created: 0/1

Advancement Path I:『n̴̗̐͌ō̸̧̻̅t̵̝̭̀f̸̛͔̰͠o̶̢͚̎̈u̶̹͂n̴̠͍̊ḓ̵͗̕』

Cooldown remaining: [t̸͓͊i̴̺͝m̷̯̾e̴͍̐ù̵͚̔n̷̫̭̏̑s̸̈́͝ͅp̵̭̔ͅe̶̡͋̕ć̶͈͇ī̷̥f̶̹̤̚ï̸̳͠ȅ̶̢d̶͎́͒]

The cooldown of 24 hours that used to limit his ability. It had corrupted several parts of the ability information. 

…Corrupted information?

“Aha.” It just clicked. Kuuya closes his eyes, and conjured his Player System.

“Raise Strength and Dexterity to 100.”

—Ding! The Player System was updated. He did not feel anything different, except a slight change in his weight. He felt a little lighter.

And then… would this part be corrupted as well?

“It’s your turn, number 7.”

—〖You have created a clone!〗

…I’m right.

Clones created: 1/1

But this clone had a different purpose.

Mei. A single name was uttered.

The clone, without waiting for even a second, sprinted into the distance with an incredible stride. It was a speed possible only from the combination of “status points” that defies logic of natural human growth, and the severance of these human limits.

A 100 stat value had already produced an existence that could already be considered a superhuman. 

Kuuya stared at the phone with the vestiges of humanity’s lost abilities. 

“...”

Kuuya Fukusei — LV 450	Class: None
Strength — 100
Dexterity — 100
Intelligence — 3
Luck — 7

〖Unassigned SP — 2051〗

His eyes gleamed with an indescribable intent. Picking up a small rock off the ground, he lightly clenched his fist.

The rock crumbled into dust.

 “I’ve really just become a cheat.”

>Emergency Quest has started!

>Due to a long period of neglect, Tower of Stone is now experiencing an Outbreak!

>Condition: Eliminate all monsters during the Outbreak.

>Remaining monsters: 150/150

 

An assignment that was understood in silence.

When he’d noticed the first movement of the goblin swarm on his map, Kuuya pulled out a blade in mid-air.

 

〖Emeraldite Migardian Sword〗

〖Durability 34,000/34,000〗

〖Weapon Attack 5,000〗

〖Requirement ➤〗

〖Attribute ➤〗

〖Passive ➤〗

〖Description ➤〗

 

Additional detail had been affixed to it at some point.

Had the Tower System been merged together with the Player System? It was the closest possibility, but this was the least of Kuuya’s concerns. 

There was no doubt that Kuuya had become an anomaly. Studying his own abilities would be left when he’d returned to a safer place.

For now, goblins were his test subjects.

As he swung the blade in the air a few times, the weight of the sword gradually became familiar to him. His hair fluttered as the blades picked up speed.

Kuuya spared a quick glance at his friend, Tomo, whom he’d only gotten to know for a few days. After catching the aggro of the goblins around the streets, Kuuya could now see the dismembered corpse more clearly.

...

......

.........

The ground trembled.

“...Too much.”

“Kriie…? K-KRIEEE-AAAHHHH!!”

Soon, the croaky voices of goblins stopped.

Everything ended in under five seconds.

Their bodies felt like butter with no resistance. The sword cut everything cleanly, down to the bones. Crimson scattered in the air like petals in season, leaving his body in a bloody mess.

It was an effortless slaughter, yet an indescribable fatigue overcame him.

Kuuya sighs deeply, and buries the corpse nearby. It didn’t take him long, and when he was finished, he stared at the burial ground listlessly.

 

>Remaining monsters: 122/150

 

It was time to move.

Kuuya was about to move his arm to wipe the blood off his cheeks, but widened his eyes as if he’d recalled something.

『Clean』

The blotch of blood stains had disappeared from his face. His body began feeling clear and refreshed again, although he couldn’t say the same to his drenched school attire.

Kuuya returned the green-jeweled sword into his inventory, and began to look around for his other missing friend. But surely, deep in his mind, Kuuya had already given up hope.

 

>Remaining monsters: 121/150

>Remaining monsters: 120/150

>Remaining monsters: 119/150

 

Once the surroundings were cleared of any stragglers, Kuuya scaled a lamppost along a hill and surveyed the surroundings. 『Map』immediately widened when he’d done so. A large number of red dots appeared, but among them were yellow dots.

Reds were hostiles, but what were yellows? Strangely, his icon had turned yellow as well. 

It didn’t take long for him to find out—

“Hey! What are you doing on that lamppost!”

Kuuya lowered his gaze to the ground where someone had called out to him.

Another yellow dot.

…JSCF.

Japanese Supernatural-ability-user Control Force. In other words, government officials, likely dispatched from early signs of the outbreak. How did they notice it this early on? Was there another ability user with precognition, perhaps?

“Hey! I’m talking to you! What are you trying to do here?! This place isn’t safe!”

More importantly, it seemed like the people fighting back the goblins don’t seem to be in a good spot. With a quick count, yellow dots only amounted to about 50 individuals; they were clearly outnumbered. But it seemed like they were making a concerted effort to keep the monsters from entering deeper into the city.

“O-Oi!” The officer’s hand reached to a gun holster on his waist.

Kuuya slid down the pole and raised his hands up.

“Officer, please calm down. I’m just a citizen.”

“What were you doing up there?”

“I was surrounded by monsters. I was trying to look around so I could find a safe place to hide or escape to.”

The officer pondered over those words as he stared intently at Kuuya.

“Is there anyone else with you?”

“...No. My friends died before I could come to my senses. I am the only one alive, or at least to my limited knowledge.”

“...And how did you manage to get out, alone?”

“...I played dead. I guess I was lucky that the blood had covered up my presence, so those monsters left me alone.”

“Luck huh. …I see… In that case…”

The yellow dot slowly turned into red.

“...Die! … …Eh?”

The officer’s hand which was supposed to be holding a gun, was now dissected and spurting copious amounts of blood.

“M-My haaaand?! Uuahhh!!!” Collapsing to the ground and clutching his arm painfully, the officer cried out in agony.

In the corner of his eyes, he’d suddenly caught the existence of a sword that wasn’t in the boy’s possession earlier. Yet in his panic-stricken state, the officer was unable to question that very anomaly immediately.

“...You pointed a weapon at me. You can’t blame me for this.”

“Y-You… guhhh… Do you know what you’ve done?! You’re going to be arrested!”

“...Arrested?” Kuuya tilts his head.

In a brief moment of comprehension at those words, he suddenly began to laugh.

“W-Why are you laughing, asshole?! You cut my arm!?”

“...I already know the JSCF kills ability holders.”

“Wha…” The officer’s face flinched, holding in the pain.

“To attempt murder so openly, seems like the directives have changed a lot in just a year.”

“...What… bullshit… kuhhhh?! D-Don’t even dare to move—”

“—I wish I had the time to ask, but unfortunately, you and I are on a time limit here, officer.”

Kuuya crept up closer with his sword raised up high in the air with a strength of 100.

“No, you d-don’t mean to… stop… d-don’t…”

“Your kind deserves death.”

“W-Wa-Wait just a moment! I’llspeakI’lltellyouwhatIknowIdidn’tmeantoattackyouIswearIwasjustactingonorderspleasedon’tkillmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

The blade hung just before the officer’s face, and then he began to hear words close to his ear.

“Summarize it. Ten seconds.”

After an audible gulp, the officer nodded.

“Ten,”

“...! T-The bureau held records—”

“Nine,”

“— of monsters in human—”

“Eight,”

“—skin! Th-That’s why we’ve cast a wide net over the entire tower to fully exterminate the area! Believe me, I didn’t want to take this kind of job either!”

Seeing that the sword had been slowly lowered, the officer’s face began to brighten and he began slowing down his words.

“S-So… I thought you were a monster, and then we would—”

The officer stopped speaking.

“—Zero.” A different voice came from behind Kuuya.

The body of the grown man imploded into a gory mess.

…『Clean』

 

The boy turned around, keeping the shock from showing on his face. 

The map showed no signs of a presence at all.

Even now, the individual before him did not exist on the map.

A woman in white tunics with a halo above her head, with pure white hair and eyes, and a pair of feathery wings hung behind her back.

Her eyes had no malice, but appeared puzzled at the wariness hanging in the air. 

Kuuya’s arm had instinctively reached towards his invisible drawer of golden weapons.

“Eh? Didn’t you give the human 10 seconds to live? ...Oh no no no, I didn’t miscount, did I?”

“...You… Who are you?”

“Ahhh… uhmm… for the time being, you can call me Angela.”

As if being urged to continue, Angela nodded and smiled.

“You see, Angela is just here to give you a warning.”

“...A warning?”

“Mhm. God has found that you’re an anomaly in the world she wants to create, so you’re to be removed if you continue interfering.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying… human, don’t participate in this emergency quest anymore. Or rather, relinquish your will to climb the towers and assistance to the climbers.”

Angela’s blank white eyes without irises narrowed, as she gave Kuuya a benevolent smile.

“Effective immediately, the human Kuuya Fukusei is to relinquish his rights to the Tower System.”