The past few days had worn Hoshino out completely.
He'd always been the kind of guy who loved sleeping in, yet ever since crossing into this world, he hadn't had a single decent night's rest—except that first night, sandwiched between Kobeni.
He couldn't help but respect the power of circumstance.
Work had been relentless. Besides creating ice replicas, he also had to moonlight as a killer.
Whenever a villager managed to contact the outside world and mentioned anything about time, it risked exposing everything.
Hoshino's job was to snuff that out before panic spread. His jurisdiction covered the entire Okura Village administrative center.
The first step was to destroy the automatic switchboard, then control the local officials to calm the villagers down—promising that communications would be restored within a day, only for a sudden "blizzard delay" to conveniently push it back.
If the villagers understood, great. If not, he'd placate them. If that failed… he'd eliminate them.
During that time, the Blizzard Fiend called him out several times, using "task meetings" as an excuse to drink together.
Hoshino wasn't a dog, so he sure as hell wasn't going to go. He stuck to his own stash of food and water instead.
Then came the day of descent.
"Five percent."
[Avalanche (C): 100%]
[You have become the Avalanche Devil]
[Overall Amplification: 37% → 42%]
"As expected. Five percent."
While the Blizzard Fiend stood onstage giving a speech, Hoshino ambushed "Little Grave."
Everyone else had finished their assigned tasks, meaning killing them wouldn't trigger contract backlash.
[42.5%]
Tossing aside the corpse of Yuka Nakamura—the woman infamous for slaying a thousand—Hoshino muttered to himself,
"So killing the same person twice doesn't grant Authority, and three times doesn't even raise my stats?"
That's when the ice replicas began their ceremonial dance.
Hoshino stepped into the open field, joining the spinning mass of crystalline figures. His gaze lifted toward the high platform where the Blizzard Fiend stood.
Their eyes met.
At the corner of the stage, Naoto Kobayashi's eyes gleamed darkly, a snow-forged blade condensing in his hand.
Gray-black fibers slithered around Hoshino's limbs and neck.
As the dance neared its end, he took a long gulp of water.
The dance ended.
The doors opened.
The heart fell.
All three of them moved at once.
Since the ritual's offerings couldn't be destroyed, none of them dared unleash wide-scale attacks—this was a fight of blades.
Hoshino went all out, every move pushed to the limit. After only two attacks, the Blizzard Fiend switched to full defense.
Kobayashi darted in to harass Hoshino, leaving shallow cuts on his body before vanishing again, never greedy for more.
The Blizzard Fiend was pleased. The two had agreed beforehand—if they could just stall until the descent ended, they'd win.
"Pfft!"
Hoshino spat out the water hidden in his throat. The Fiend, already anticipating a trick, dodged instantly.
Six muscular arms burst from Hoshino's back, each holding a glass of water. They swung toward the Fiend in unison.
"Bang!"
Hoshino lifted his hand, murmuring softly.
The Fiend's leg exploded into snow dust.
The glasses collided and shattered; freed from containment, the water shot forward in a pressurized jet.
The gusting wind blocked part of it, but not enough—some splashed across the Fiend's coat.
White silk drank up most of the moisture, yet even a few drops spread rapidly across his body—one droplet soaking entire patches of skin.
His leg regenerated instantly, stomping down hard.
"Bang!" Hoshino triggered the Aging Authority again.
The ground cratered, forcing the surrounding ice-faced villagers to veer away toward the stage.
The ritual was nearing completion. The Primal Devil was almost here.
"Retreat!"
The Blizzard Fiend barked the order and stopped trading blows, leaping back at incredible speed.
Hoshino pursued relentlessly. The armor on his arms dissolved, crawling down to reinforce his legs, and his speed surged.
The Fiend glanced toward the stage, a faint smile forming. He raised his hand, summoning a storm to block Hoshino's final rush.
"Nice try."
The words were sliced apart by the sound of metal tearing through flesh.
The Fiend froze, disbelief twisting his face.
A snow-white blade had pierced his chest from behind, thick blood dripping down the shimmering edge.
Behind him stood Naoto Kobayashi—expression cold, hand pressed against the Fiend's back, his arm and blade driven clean through.
Even if the water hadn't drenched the Fiend completely, that blade—slick with both Hoshino's and his own blood—was enough to kill him.
A guaranteed death.
"When…?" the Fiend stammered.
"From the start."
Hoshino approached, voice calm. "Since the Mirror Devil was killed in the last loop, I wasn't sure if your schedule had changed. So the first thing I did was check whether the avalanche still occurred. Sure enough, something was correcting the deviations in fate."
He glanced toward the stage, where the Primal Devil's form was taking shape, and pinched the tip of the snow blade between his fingers.
"The second thing was finding Naoto Kobayashi at the Okura izakaya. He'd inevitably make that phone call—right near the loop's reset point. I guessed he was the first in your group to learn about the loop, and probably the one who told you. So my first target was him."
He twisted the blade slowly. Blood gushed from the Fiend's mouth and chest.
"Surprised I came back? The contract only said to send the offering into the barrier, not bring it back."
The Fiend's eyes widened. Even through the haze of death, that statement snapped his mind into focus.
Hoshino leaned close to his ear.
"Not telling you."
He jerked the blade hard, snapping it clean in two.
Onstage, the Primal Devil grasped the space ring. Gray spread like a stain across all of Okura Village.
Time froze. Nothing could move.
The Devil descended from the platform, standing beside Hoshino. Reflected within the glossy black ring was a mocking human head.
The vortex reappeared. The world rebooted.
[Lifespan: Three days]
[You have become the Blizzard Devil]
[Blizzard (B): 100%]
[Overall Amplification: 58%]
[Sands of Time: 1 use remaining]
Inside the cave, Hoshino glanced back. Kobeni Higashiyama was gone.
His memories remained unchanged—everything from the last loop vividly intact.
Leaving the cave, he headed straight toward the hospital. The avalanche was still there. Then he went to the izakaya and found Go Fujiwara and Naoto Kobayashi drinking.
Just as he was about to strike, a sense of danger washed over him.
He pulled back, and the feeling vanished.
"The contract's not over. Even in this loop, I still can't attack members of the Organization."
He frowned. So the leftover 0.1% Avalanche Authority from the third loop was still tied to the contract, not something withheld by the System.
Which meant there was a cost.
And that cost had been his casual wish: 'May I be happy every day.' The contract had fulfilled it instantly.
That meant even if he acquired the Primal Authority and successfully restarted the loop, he'd still have to live with that price until he killed the other party.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
Even with looping, the Blizzard Fiend's death was inevitable—yet the Organization's contract still existed.
That reminded him of his earlier suspicion during the Muscle Devil incident.
"If dying doesn't end a contract… does that mean I have to replace them to truly end it?"
If every Authority he gained reset to 0.1% after each loop, then even killing the Primal Devil would only raise him to 50.1%—far below replacement level.
He'd have to carry that burden forever.
Too heavy.
The unexpected turn left him uncertain about his next move.
"Guess I'll ask someone."
At the hospital, he found the remaining Devil Hunters holed up in the medicine storage room.
Only seven were left.
After questioning them, he learned they'd been ambushed.
The enemy had sabotaged the snow slope in advance, triggering an avalanche that buried more than a dozen hunters. Most survivors had been harvested soon after; only a handful escaped alive.
Meanwhile, Himeno told him something else: in her memory, Kobeni Higashiyama hadn't even been assigned to this mission.
Hoshino whistled low under his breath, impressed again by the authority of the Sands of Time.
Then came the topic of contracts.
Himeno was firm. "If either side of a contract dies, the contract ends."
Hoshino's eyes lit up. "So if I kill the contracted Devil, both the contract and the Authority vanish, right?"
"Of course." Himeno nodded confidently.
That's when Hoshino suddenly thought of Futoshi Hoshino—his past self.
After overusing the Pain Authority, his organs had grown thirty years younger than his veins. When the pain rebounded, his heart rate spiked, rupturing a vessel in his brain. He'd died instantly of a stroke.
Yet the contract had persisted.
That clearly contradicted Himeno's rule.
Hoshino thought it through—probably System-related. Something metaphysical.
Either way, he'd have to shelve that issue for now.
As long as the Devil on the other side died, the contract would end.
He paused. "What if it's made in the Organization's name?"
Hirofumi Yoshida shot him a sidelong glance as Himeno answered,
"The Organization itself can't make contracts. Only Devils can. So if the Devil you made the contract with dies, it's over."
"Oh."
The doubt wasn't entirely cleared, but it was enough to push him toward action again.
He repeated the plan from the third loop, assigning tasks focused on disrupting the ritual—while warning everyone not to kill anyone.
They'd lie, say that once time ran out, the ritual would fail and the barrier would open on its own.
With Himeno's steady stream of "You've got this!" and "Smart move," Hoshino left the group.
Five minutes later, he stopped at a T-intersection.
"Why are you still following me?" he asked, turning.
Hirofumi Yoshida didn't even try to hide it, trailing him openly.
"When signing an Organization contract, the other party can include up to three people.
The contract only dissolves when all of them are dead.
Even if a Devil resurrects from Hell, the contract won't reactivate."
"Ohh…" Hoshino nodded slowly.
Given that his System was a special case, that part didn't concern him.
But maybe the Organization's contract hadn't just been with the Blizzard Fiend—there could be others.
Then a realization hit him. "Wait—resurrect from Hell?"
He blinked, shocked. He'd never heard of such a thing.
Yoshida watched his face carefully. "But a Devil revived from Hell doesn't retain its old personality. It's a new being born from that same Authority."
Clear and simple. Hoshino nodded in understanding.
Yoshida went on, "And if one side breaks the rules but the other chooses not to pursue it, the contract can be canceled voluntarily."
"Got it."
After a pause, Hoshino asked, "Why tell me all this? We've never even met."
"I want to make it out alive."
"Then why me?"
Yoshida didn't answer. He just turned and walked away.
Hoshino rubbed his chin.
What the hell's going on? In the third loop, he didn't know anything. Now he does—and he even knows Makima…
Well, that finger's useless now. Better toss it into a sewer.
He stopped thinking about it and returned to the cave to shed his skin.
Same as before, the molting took a full day.
[Lifespan: 15 days]
When he opened his eyes, it was the Day of Descent once more.
Time to bring everything to an end.