Chapter 85

Out of the blue, but the reason I wake up early in the morning is just one.

It’s for two hours of training.

From morning till night, the invasions of demons and monsters continue, so if it’s not now, there’s hardly any time to train.

Considering emergency dispatches or overseas assignments, it’s unavoidable.

And then, when evening comes, it’s time to train the juniors…

After that, honestly, I just want to rest at night.

It’s not anything else, but because I’m always being eroded by the [Madness Extreme Poison] that my senior left behind, it’s better to rest at night for mental stability.

Although I’ve gotten so used to it that I look perfectly fine to anyone, it’s not like I have an infinite level of bizarre mental strength.

So, if I don’t stabilize my mind a bit, I don’t know what will happen to my mind someday.

“……”

By the way, right now… I’m training in an incredible space where two months are compressed into two hours by spacetime magic.

At first, I thought it was a lie, but they’re adjusting gravity and temperature to suit my training needs.

Although the output has increased a lot compared to the beginning, I still don’t know how strong the gravity is or how high the temperature is.

Anyway, I’m enduring all this with my Third Ability, 「Rampage」, fully unleashed.

Still, I don’t need Recovery Magic now.

I did at first, but I’ve adapted.

I’m human, but now I’m a magical girl infinitely close to a fairy.

What should I say? This body is based on a human, but the cells themselves are of a fairy.

In other words, even though the foundation is human, the components of the body are the same as a fairy.

And this fairy body… has an incredible ability to adapt to the environment.

Thanks to that incredible adaptability, I’ve now adapted to the environment set by the Fairy Queen.

In other words, in game terms, my defense has increased tremendously.

“Well… shall we go again?”

Anyway, this place is such a crazy environment, but that’s all it is.

Just a lukewarm wasteland with nothing special.

It’s a place where you can’t help but sigh because there’s really nothing.

So, what kind of training do you do in such a place?

Well, it’s obvious.

Just destroy everything in this space while running countless brain simulations.

Besides simple strength growth, improving movements through data from numerous demons and monsters is a great help in training.

But even so, no matter how much data you have, it’s hard to do proper training at the level of brain fantasies.

I’m not an AI, nor an android.

So, what the Fairy Queen gave me is this item that creates illusions of enemies.

Since they’re illusions, they have no meaning, but they show the best movements based on the data in my brain.

And I just face them.

Since they’re illusions that properly respond to attacks, I can build up my skills like real combat experience.

Well, they break after one use, so I need a lot of them.

But since the Fairy Queen is directly supporting me, it’s a relief that there’s no waste of points.

“「Ether Blast」…!!”

Grabbing the illusion’s neck and stabbing a light sword into its chest, I end this illusion with a full-powered 「Ether Blast」.

…Maybe it’s because I’ve been training for too long, but lately, it feels a bit stale.

I need stronger attacks, more diverse and unpredictable attacks from enemies… things like that.

If this continues, I’ll just be repeating the same things like a machine… falling into the worst rut in training.

“…Still, has my strength improved tremendously? After all, it’s a place where one hour in reality is stretched into one month.”

A full-powered 「Ether Blast」… can easily split the Earth.

And 「Domain Collapse」 can instantly swallow huge lands like China or the USA.

Does this mean my strength has increased by about 10%?

If I had only trained in reality, it would have been hopeless.

I should be infinitely grateful to the Fairy Queen who created this place.

…No, to the Fairy Queen who is ‘maintaining’ this place 24 hours.

At least, I should surpass the Fairy Queen here to feel satisfied.

“By the way… being here alone makes me talk to myself a lot. Well, the most helpful thing is probably my own illusion, right? I wish a chimera-like creature that mixes everything would appear…”

Well, it’s the last illusion of today’s training anyway.

I’ll finish it quickly, meditate for a bit, and then leave.

…More than that, lately… something feels strangely different.

I thought I had perfectly mastered the 「Concept」, but for some reason, it feels like something is slightly off.

Isn’t it just about governing the 「Concept」?

Then what is it?

Have I misunderstood it from the beginning?

……I don’t know.

For now, let’s stick to fighting like this.

Leave what you don’t know as it is, and just think about it on the side.

If you’re swayed by what you don’t know, you’ll only become weaker.

“Is there something worrying you?”

“…Fairy Queen?”

“Somehow, it seems like you’ve already hit a wall. What do you think? Now…”

“I don’t know. But I think I shouldn’t cling to it.”

“Certainly, you don’t have much knowledge about ‘that’, Rampage.”

“So, what’s the knowledge about ‘that’?”

“You know, right? It’s the 「Concept」.”

“……”

Has the Fairy Queen realized something about the power of the 「Concept」?

But considering her tendency to hide things unnecessarily, there’s no need to ask.

Asking itself is a waste of time.

“So, why? Finally thinking of teaching me something?”

“…This is something you need to realize and change your mindset on your own, so I can’t tell you. Originally, you should have realized it when you bloomed your Third Ability…”

“What, then it’s the same as your usual hiding act.”

“It’s the difference between what needs time and what doesn’t. This much… you need to realize the essence. Governing the 「Concept」, and why the Third Ability matches the magical girl name…”

“Oh~ giving a hint? Wow, what a grand hint?”

“It might seem like a strange hint, but it will greatly shorten the time until Rampage realizes it. Definitely. The difference between knowing the hint and not knowing it is as vast as life and death.”

“…Alright. More than that, I’ll meditate for a bit and then leave, so stay out.”

“Well, alright. The rest… I don’t know if it’s faster for the time to come or for Rampage to realize it, but personally, I hope it’s the latter. If I had to wish… right here?”

“Go away.”

Tsk… Fairy Queen, always saying strange things.

More than that, the 「Concept」… indeed, I haven’t thought much about why the magical girl name and the Third Ability match.

…Wait, come to think of it, when Magical Magician used her Third Ability, she even turned herself into magic, right?

Does that mean…? Perhaps…

“……”

…The hint the Fairy Queen gave, it wasn’t a strange hint, but she was outright telling me…!

Indeed, with this, I can handle my power more easily than before, as if it’s a part of my body.

……No, I’m not handling 「Rampage」.

The 「Concept」 of 「Rampage」 itself is ‘me’.

In other words, I am 「Rampage」.

“Ha… this power wasn’t given to me by someone else. This 「Rampage」 is my talent, born from me. The Crystal Stone just awakened it as a magical girl.”

Damn… there was a door right in front of me, shaking the doorknob, and I didn’t notice it until now…

I was more of a fool than I imagined.

I was only looking far ahead, so of course, I didn’t see what was right in front of me.

Even Magical Magician realized it immediately after blooming her Third Ability.

…Well, I don’t have the memory of when I bloomed, so it couldn’t be helped.

“…The hindrance when I rampaged my body is gone too.”

With this, I can rampage as much as I want without burden.

Huu~… well, I wish the performance wouldn’t change depending on my mindset.

Especially for someone like me who keeps missing things close and simple.

“Well, then…”

By the way, let’s check again.

…「Chaotic Frenzy」.

“…Hmm, good.”

It’s good that the output has improved, but it’s also very comfortable even while it’s active.

Well, it’s a pity that my magic power hasn’t increased or anything… but this alone is a big gain.

Skill and efficiency are very important in battle.

“Still, even with this, [Madness Extreme Poison] doesn’t disappear…”

Tsk, what did that senior do to me…

More than that, what did he make and shove into me that [Madness Extreme Poison] is still intact?

Normally, at this level, everything would go berserk and shatter.

“……”

…Could it be because of this Crystal Stone I always carry?

This Crystal Stone that sometimes glows on its own… it’s suspicious.

I should have had it checked.

But that senior wouldn’t have put such an unknown [Madness Extreme Poison] on me for no reason, nor would he have given me the Crystal Stone.

Surely… both of these things have some meaning.

“Sigh…”

Well, whatever… for now, I’ll just meditate for the remaining time.

……Ah, I can’t because it’s bothering me.

I’ll just create one more illusion and roughly check the feeling before leaving.

“By the way… that monster without a head…”

But well, since it’s about the feeling of destroying, it doesn’t matter.

Alright… 「Ether Blast」.

…The output of 「Rampage」 has increased, so the sword speed is faster.

And the power increase of 「Ether Blast」… well, my talent is simple, so it’s strange if the power doesn’t increase.

But still… this power increase is bigger than the strength I’ve built up training in this space until now.

Tsk, it’s still hard to believe that I didn’t realize this until now.

More than that, there’s still time left… so shall I check my movements a bit?

First… a diagonal downward slash.

Then a horizontal slash, slightly raising the angle, slashing again, and thrusting.

…The movements have suddenly become faster, but they feel more comfortable and familiar.

The 「Concept」 is still something I don’t quite understand…

“…Shall I leave soon?”

Even so, there’s still a bit of mental dissonance, and I need to fix that to be perfect.

Well, then, since it’s over, let’s return to daily life.

Honestly, I don’t want to stay in such a place forever.

“You realized it so quickly in that short time. As expected.”

“What, were you waiting in front?”

“Hehe… somehow, I had a feeling. More than that, Mad the Darkness… he’s awake. Would you like to meet him?”

“…The senior’s Responsible Mascot?”

“Yes. If it’s Rampage… he might answer a few words.”

“Alright. Then take me to him.”

“Understood. Please follow me.”

Mad the Darkness… finally awake.

I thought he’d be in a vegetative state forever, but he managed to wake up.

What did he do to end up in a coma for so long…

“If you hear everything related to Lunatic Poison that Rampage is curious about, it would be fortunate.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rampage… whether Mad thinks the ‘time’ has come or not, it’s up to him to confirm.”

“Really… you’re exactly the same. Unnecessarily hiding things.”

“Hehe… but Mad is the type to tell everything when he speaks.”

“You don’t tell me what you should?”

“I do tell you what I should, don’t I?”

“Lies should have limits.”

“That’s too harsh~.”

“Look back at what you’ve done so far.”

Mad… even so, there’s not much to ask.

Just about [Madness Extreme Poison] and the Crystal Stone.

Ah, and what he was looking at.

I wonder if he’ll answer properly… curious.