Okinawa Dungeon—-Floor Two-Thousand Fifty-One:
"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"
Zaria had Yūto by his collar, shaking him violently.
"Let me go, woman!"
"Not till you own up, you little shit!"
"What, you want an apology?
Zaria cracked her neck. "I'll accept breaking your face as an apology! Where did you send my friend and my master?"
"Oh, so now he's your master?"
"Sure is! Got a problem with that?"
A guard arrived in the room. "Break it up, damn hooligans!"
Zaria let Yūto go. "Me and Rika want out of this cell, now."
"You don't run shit, girl."
The guard left, and a message popped up above.
〈Rule: Escape in *20* minutes. Anyone still imprisoned in *20* minutes will be permanently restricted.〉
"Locked in this place forever? Yeah, nah, someone dig a tunnel!" Yūto shouted.
Zaria walked over to Rika. "Dunno how we're gonna escape this floor, but I've had my fair share of detention cells."
"Do I wanna know why?"
"Apparently, if someone tries bullying you or your friends, and you break their jaw, they jail you."
Rika shrugged. "Yeah. That tracks. But isn't that a little extreme?"
"No more extreme than stuffing a kid's face in a toilet."
Yūto walked over to the girls. "You ladies got a plan yet?"
"Yeah, it's called none of your business," Rika replied. "Isn't there someone else who'll entertain your ego?"
"Look at him," Zaria scoffed. "Without his goon squad, he's got no one."
"That is NOT true! And besides, I'm a higher level than you both. You Mid-Floor scrubs should be happy a Prime Kaitansha like myself is willing to accompany you."
"What's he on about?" Rika asked.
"His Floor Rank," Zaria sighed. "A thousand and five-hundred levels of jackass."
"I don't have my crew, you don't have yours. So our best bet is to stick it out, and split when we clear this floor."
"He does have a point," Rika admitted.
"Fine," Zaria relented. "Just so you know, you're still paying for your stunt."
"Yeah, yeah. Follow me to my cell. That's where all escapes start."
Once they were inside of Yūto's cell, he began digging through his desk. "Speaking of, what'd they even lock you twerps down here for?"
"Confessing," Rika answered.
"To what? That jagged bastard got me to admit to swiping my mom's credit card. The meta-awareness of dungeons scares me sometimes."
"We've done some things," Zaria stated. "That would make frail men like you scream."
"Please," Yūto laughed. "You don't join a club like Dokkōdan without some backbone."
He pulled out an object. "Aha!"
"It's…a screwdriver," Rika remarked.
"Duh! This baby is our ticket outta this joint!"
Zaria lifted an eyebrow. "Not bad. Try it on the corners of that vent over there. They fold easily."
"How do you KNOW that?" Rika exclaimed.
"Jail. Remember?"
Yūto used the screwdriver on the vent, twisting until he heard a click. "Loose! Now, ladies first."
"How surprisingly polite of you," Rika commended.
"Nah. Just in case it's a trap, you girls die first."
"I take it back."
Zaria pushed past him. "I'll go."
She dove into the vent, crawling for a while. "Dusty, but it's safe! Come on!"
Rika followed after, and Yūto was next, but an inmate pointed. "Hey! They escaping! Without us!"
Everyone turned towards the cell, attracting the guards' attention.
"Snitches!" Yūto groaned. "Alright, women! Crawl faster!"
As the guards rushed to the cell, Yūto jumped into the vent.
"Stop!" a guard ordered. "Hands in the air!"
"Can't put my hands up, doofus," Yūto pointed out. "Peace!"
The guards crawled behind them, losing track of the trio in the darkness.
"Where'd they go?"
"Keep pushing!"
Up ahead, Zaria encountered another vent.
"Shoot, I dropped the screwdriver!" Yūto realized.
"Pff, I got this."
Zaria shifted position, placing her feet on the vent. "Kicking time!"
She kicked the vent open with ease, landing on the other side, a prison-style kitchen.
"Those are some legs you got," Yūto acknowledged.
"Kicking time?" Rika questioned. "Kinda cliché, don't you think?"
"My kicks, my phrases."
The guards piled out of the vent, and Yūto took off.
"Well, time to ditch!"
He jumped over the kitchen counter, running down the hallways. Zaria and Rika did the same. Once they reached the end, the officer who interviewed them blocked their path.
"Enough running. You will serve your sentence."
〈Rule: Defeat Seigi no Bukotsu Keiji—-Gōki.〉
Gōki cracked his knuckles. "Put away a lot of stubborn cats in my day. You'll join them."
〈Domain Effect: Gōki can unleash *K-9s* to inflict damage on opponents.〉
Zaria ran up, slashing at Gōki with her spear, but he dodged. A dog burst from a room, jumping onto her arm and biting her.
"Paws off, you dingy mutt!"
Another dog growled at her, creeping from behind. She kicked it, but it was only stunned for a moment. Taking the opportunity to slam the other dog against the wall, she jumped back.
"Just me, or am I not denting these things?"
"We're over two thousand floors in," Yūto pointed out. "A level 51 warrior like you is only lucky that thing didn't rip off your arm!"
"Then what now, genius?"
〈Avoid standing still for prolonged periods to delay *K-9s.*〉
More filled the halls, and Gōki pointed at the kids. "Nab them."
Rika pressed her hand to Zaria's back. "Hey, Rika! It's just a scratch, I don't need heals!"
Rika pointed to Zaria's wound, where bone could be seen. "Or not."
"Look, I can only manage to heal one more time today, so please don't get hurt again!"
Yūto tossed up his hands. "Seriously? Do I have to do everything?"
He extended a hand. "Jugen-Kōbisha: Cursed Manifestation Cage."
A van formed, trapping the dogs and their owner inside and driving backwards.
"Whoa," Rika gawked. "Why have you just been watching all this time?"
"To watch you fail."
The dogs tore through the van, and Gōki stepped out. "A primitive skill. You'll need better."
"Then try this!"
A plane formed, trapping all parties inside it. A band of wires restrained Gōki, and an electrical current shot through them.
〈Boss HP: 100% → 92% → 88%〉
"Slowly but surely," he thought. "Spear girl, hit him!"
"Don't call me that! You know my name!"
"Just hit him!"
Zaria slashed Gōki in his chest.
〈Boss HP: 88% → 87%〉
"Dude," she complained. "Not this bullshit again."
Yūto slapped his forehead. "Useless."
Zaria kicked Gōki in the face.
〈Boss HP: 87% → 86%〉
Gōki broke free of his bindings and pushed her back with a simple backhand. "Go, my children! Punish the evildoers!"
The dogs barked and charged, with Yūto waving his hand and forming a cage that trapped them.
"Good thing this plane is my domain," he taunted. "Means I can whip up a whole boatload of traps!"
The dogs chewed through the bars, lunging at the hunters. "Ugh! Defeating a Floor 2,051 boss is well beyond me! We need a different strategy!"
"Like what?" Zaria argued. "You heard the rules! We have to defeat the boss!"
"Maybe defeat doesn't mean kill," Rika noted. "If we can't overpower him, why don't we try a different route?"
Zaria and Yūto turned to her. "Like?"
"What does a detective hate the most?"
Zaria pondered for a moment. "A case he can't crack!"
"Exactly!"
"That makes no sense!" Yūto interrupted. "We aren't under investigation!"
"Maybe not us…" Rika mused. "Drop the plane trap! There's gotta be a case file room around here somewhere."
Yūto reluctantly released his skill, and they returned to the hallway. Rika scanned the door labels. "There! Case Files!"
Gōki pulled out a gun, firing at her, but Zaria blocked the bullets with her spear. "Rika, I hope this works!"
Rika pushed open the door, revealing a room with a mountain of case files. Yūto formed a small car that trapped Gōki. "You've got less than a minute! Hurry and search!"
Rika skimmed through the files. "Where is it, where is it?"
She stopped at a certain one. "There! Omariro Nyugawa. Just like I thought! He has nothing on him!"
"Clean record? Man, Mr. Nyugawa really is awesome!" Zaria gushed.
"That's obviously fake, no one has a squeaky clean record in this business!" Yūto disputed.
"We'll see."
Rika grabbed the file. "Hey, Detective! You might have dirt on us, but what about Mr. Nyugawa?"
Gōki stopped. "Where did you get that?"
"From your filing cabinet, obviously. I see you sentenced a lot of people on this floor. Has Mr. Nyugawa been here recently?"
"Give that back, girl! It's not complete!"
〈Find a way to destroy the file to deal damage to Gōki.〉
"Catch, Zaria!"
Rika tossed the file at her, and Zaria sliced it, causing some of the pages to split.
〈Boss HP: 86% → 61%〉
"My case! Stop, in the name of the law!"
Dogs hounded them, and he fired bullets at Zaria, but they ducked off into another hallway, causing Zaria to drop the file.
"A case file as his weakness?" Yūto wondered. "Some bosses really are strange."
"Hit it again, Zaria!"
Gōki ran toward the file, but Zaria threw her spear at it, further ripping it.
〈Boss HP: 61% → 42%〉
Dogs swarmed Zaria, pinning her down. "Ow, ow, ow! Watch the hair!"
Rika looked between the file and Yūto.
"Get the stupid file!" Yūto ordered. "I'll help the girl!"
Rika dove onto the file, but Gōki picked it up, kicking her across the floor. "Still salvageable. You will atone for damaging it so."
"What do I do?" she thought. "Not like I can fight him! Wait, I still have a sigil, don't I?"
She reached into her pocket, finding her last sigil. "What does this one do?"
〈Sigil Ability: Voodoo. Description: Allows damage inflicted on user to be transferred to an opponent with double the effect. Charges: 1〉
"A voodoo sigil? Okay. Looks like I don't have a choice."
She tapped the sigil.
〈Sigil: Activated.〉
Rika bit her tongue and grabbed three fingers on her right hand, breaking them with a wince.
〈Boss HP: 42% → 30%.〉
Gōki stumbled back, the file clattering from his hand. "What?"
"Not as much as I hoped! But he dropped the file!"
She reached out with her remaining hand and grabbed it, preparing to rip it. "Case closed!"
She bit down and ripped the file in half with one hand.
〈Boss HP: 30% → 0%〉
Gōki grabbed his head. "No! The case…wasn't finished…"
〈Boss Defeated. Challenge Completed.〉
A totem appeared out of thin air. Rika touched it and put it in her pocket.
〈Totem Seal Acquired. Level 2,052 Clearance Enabled.〉
Zaria and Yūto walked over to her.
"Rika! What happened to your hand?" Zaria worried.
"Nothing, just broke my fingers a little."
"They're BENT!"
"Oh…yeah. Can't heal them though. I might need it."
Zaria put a hand on her shoulder. "But…nice job. I'm sure Mr. Nyugawa would be super impressed! Hopefully with me, too."
Rika looked away. "Yeah…I hope."
"Yeah, earning your mentor's approval is cute and all," Yūto coughed. "Now let's get off this floor!"
They both glared at him.
"Still possible to ditch him?" Rika suggested.
"Once we hit the next floor," Zaria agreed.
"Ha, ha. Very funny."
The entrance to the next floor opened below, and they walked into it. What awaited them was a floor full of lanterns and balloons, with cheerful yokai in masks clapping to the music.
"This isn't what I expected," Zaria said.
"Great, we've landed on one of the worst imaginable floors," Yūto moaned. "A 'save spot.'"
Unknown Floor—-
Flaming red eyes pierced the darkness, and opposite that darkness was a cage.
"♪ Hmm hmm hmm…♪"
"Your tune remains upbeat, even in your perilous situation. Why?"
The pale, bare feet of a girl could be seen, rhythmically tapping. "♪The World's Strongest Man…"
A smirk played on her lips. "Is on his way here…!♪"
With a surge of lightning, a feed appeared, one showing Omariro advancing through the dungeon.
"Let him come. Omariro Nyugawa, and all who aid him, will fall against the might of Raizen."
Red wings emerged from the shadows, along with a fierce maelstrom of lightning. "Michiko, soon your sacrifice will be repaid…"
"…With blood!"
—-