Ten minutes after the battle broke out.

The basement floor of the mall is minus three.

Mr. Funakoshi barely made it here, wounded in several places, and the two soul slayers who had been with him were long gone.

Knock knock, knock knock.

Funakoshi's tambourine was like a butterfly flying, surrounding him, flapping up and down.

But there is a dense drum beat.

Although the dream man in the mall was attracted a lot by Kamiya and them, the number of enemies left behind cannot be ignored.

The dream man who tried to surround the crossing, his body trembled rhythmically in the sound of drums, and those who got close kept turning into dark crumbs, falling to the ground and converging and flowing.

Everywhere Funakoshi looked, it was dark.

He's still holding on.

"That's right here, it's going to be fast, it's going to be fast."

Funegoe maintained his speed and continued to rush in the direction he sensed.

The tambourine keeps shattering the dream man who is blocking the way in front of him.

I don't know how long this isolated sprint lasted, but Mr. Funakoshi's movements suddenly stopped.

Here it comes!

Ahead, an underground garage with dimly lit clearing.

An extremely tall figure slowly stood up in the place where the light and shadow were scattered.

"Naoto."

Funakoshi heard his name affectionately called.

But it's a deep male voice, a voice that belongs to a dream man.

It made him feel sick.

"Don't call me that!"

Knock knock!

The frequency of tambourine beatings increases.

"Straight people...... You're back. ”

The tall figure that appeared in the line of sight began to become clear.

It was a woman.

Long hair and a skirt.

The skirt on her body was stained with blood, half of her face was intact, and the other half of her face was rotten, and the tissues and rotten flesh under the skin were loose.

Regardless of the inhuman tall body size, and half a dream man's face, it is the appearance of Shunhui, the wife of Naoto Funakoshi.

It was Funakoshi who was in the morgue and saw his wife for the last time.

At first, this appearance was relatively normal.

After entering the second stage, it became so terrifying to infiltrate.

"Naoto."

Phew.

The dream man who looked like Shun Hui slowly stood upright, and his broken body made a sound of bones rubbing against the bones.

He drooped his head suddenly, and the blood-stained hair behind him stood up like silver needles, whirling out like a living python.

"I said, don't call me that!" The boat is surging with blood, rushing towards the alienated dream man, "Don't become like her!" ”

……

"Poof!"

The dream-eating tapir stands out from the group of black-pressed dream men.

The red lines on the forehead and limbs continue to shine, constantly bursting into red light, and the light spreads, and the light spots are sputtered, sweeping in all directions.

There are so many dream men pouring out of the mall that it seems that you can't finish fighting.

The frequency of the tapir's attacks began to slow down, and more attention was paid to supporting the owner and other soul slayers.

The blurry red light turned into a shroud of light, enveloping the body of the soul slayer, swallowing all the bullets fired by the dream man.

In the early hours of the morning, the sky was dark and gray, and the street lights were still on.

There were originally sporadic passers-by who were scared away because of the shootout.

But after the battle lasted for a while, many figures suddenly appeared on the streets.

Those people were dressed in pajamas, or skirts, or shirts, and their bodies were old or young, male or female, tall and short, fat and thin, but each of them had the face of a dream man.

It's the dream men who belong to those parties in the predicament dream.

Dream men of different shapes poured out from the street behind them, their movements stiff and uniform, their eyes under thick eyebrows staring at the group of soul slayers in battle.

These guys are also attracted to it.

Originally, only those black-clothed dream men in the mall, with the heroic performance of the little tapir, could barely resist and suppress.

But the dream men of different shapes who appeared on the street behind them, the little tapir really didn't care about it.

"In the back, in the back!"

"Damn, there are too many!"

"Don't let them come close!"

The soul slayers turned their guns one after another, sniping at the dream man who appeared behind them.

The battlefield has become more noisy and chaotic.

……

Knock knock.

The sound of the drums faded down.

Naoto Funakoshi couldn't hold it up, and half-knelt on the ground, the tambourine around him, flying up and down weakly.

Because he was injured in the process of rushing downstairs, and the alienated dream man is really difficult, there are other dream men in black as helpers.

Funakoshi was no match for them.

If he could really beat it, he wouldn't have chosen to run away when he first beat this alienated dream man into the second stage.

At the moment, Mr. Funakoshi tried his best, but he only dragged the alienated dream man to the location of the basement floor.

His body was pierced by many black strands of hair, the remnants of which were in his body, crawling around like parasites, and the pain in his heart made his body tremble.

"Naoto, what are you running?"

The alienated dream man chased after him with a group of men in black.

"Shut up ......"

The boat lowered his head and gasped, trying to move again, but his painful and numb body was no longer listening.

The alienated dream man stopped slightly, stiffly twisting his broken neck and making a rattle sound.

"Naoto, don't you love me anymore?"

"Why run?"

"Naoto, why didn't you come to save me? You're a soul slayer, aren't you? Why can't you even protect your own wife? ”

"Naoto, aren't you guilty?"

"Shut up, shut up!" Funaoshi roared angrily, hysterical. The shouting was vented for a while, and the dream man next to him had already surrounded him, but at this time, Funakoshi slowly calmed down, "...... I'm sorry Shun Hye. ”

Knock knock.

The sound of the tambourine has become a little fuller again.

"For so many years, I can't sleep well every night, and when I close my eyes, I look like Shun Hui. I couldn't protect her, I didn't use it. At the last moment of Shun Hui's life, I was not by her side, she must have ...... at that time I must have been terrified. ”

Mr. Funakoshi's voice trembled.

Knock knock!

The drums are getting louder.

"I'm sorry for her."

"But what does this have to do with you? Shun Hui is a beautiful and gentle woman. Funakoshi struggled to raise his head and looked at the alienated dream man one last time with bloodshot eyes, "And you, shut up, you're nothing but a disgusting monster...... Shut up! ”

Knock knock!

The tambourine flew up, like a colorful butterfly fluttering its wings, broke away from Funakoshi's side, broke through the dream man in front of him, and leaped in the direction of the stairs.

Mr. Funakoshi, who had lost the protection of the tambourine, muttered, and the dream man beside him came like a tide......

"Shun Hye, ......"

……

Bang!

Kamiyagawa's pistol misses the last bullet.

But the number of dream men has not decreased.

"Damn."

Those in front of them who are equipped with guns, the more dangerous dream men, and the dream tapir can barely block it.

But the latter has already poured to the side of the soul slayers.

The crowd was scattered.

Kamiya and Onizuka were also forced to disperse.

Syllable!

Kamiyagawa smashed the butt of his gun into the temple of a salaryman dressed as a dream man, knocking him to the ground, and then raised his foot to kick a child-like dream man out of the way.

Another ray of red light shot from somewhere on the battlefield and pierced in front of Kamiya.

Smoked a few dream men into dark shards.

This is the dream tapir that is still struggling to resist the dream man and is helping the owner.

But, it's still too much.

If this continues, everyone will not be able to hold on.

"Poof, poof!"

Just when Kamiyagawa didn't know what to do, the voice of the dream-eating tapir sounded.

A strange atmosphere that is different from other dream men appears on the battlefield.

Knock knock.

At the same time, on the chaotic battlefield, there was a powerful drum beat.

This is Mr. Funakoshi's tambourine.

He's coming up from the ground!

Kamiya was a little excited.

"Poof!"

In the direction where the special dream boy aura appeared and the tambourine sounded, the red light controlled by the little tapir broke through a gap in the dream boy group.

So Kamiya was able to see—

There was an abnormally tall dream man in a blood-colored dress, half of his body rotten, and he rushed out of the mall quickly.

He was chasing a blood-stained tambourine in spite of it.

After the appearance of the alienated dream man, the gunfire from the other soul masters on the battlefield slowed down significantly.

Seeing the blood-stained tambourine, Kamiya was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted.

"That's it, that dream man is an alien body, the special existence that links the dreams of thousands of people together."

Kamiyagawa tugged at the [Cloud Outer Mirror] on his neck.

The quaint mourning objects with mysterious patterns spun rapidly.

On the side of the alienated dream man, the tambourine in front of him seemed to be out of force, and the speed of the flight slowed down.

Burst.

Dream Man's long blood-stained hair ran through the tambourine.

The drumbeat was silent.

The alienated dream man only woke up a little at this time, and he looked at the chaotic battlefield around him.

There are some completely unfamiliar buildings that are being sketched around the mall.

Abandoned factory buildings, rusty steel frames, tall chimneys......

It's covered.

……

The real world.

An abandoned textile factory on the edge of the Hanabata River.

All the soul slayers gathered here focused their attention for a moment.

From their point of view, there is a huge shopping mall that appears in the factory out of thin air.

Reality and the dreams of 10,000 people began to overlap.

This shows that the ghost disciple Kamiyagawa who infiltrated the dream was successful.

In this special space where the virtual and the real are intertwined, an incalculable number of dream men also appeared.

None of the dream boys reacted to what was going on.

In the next ten minutes, abandoned textile factories and shopping malls overlap each other, real and virtual, regardless of each other.

The situation in the dream can affect reality, and the situation in reality can also affect the dream.

Because of the overlapping realities, the soul slayers in the textile mill are not restricted by dreams and can freely use spiritual power.

"Fight!"

Fu Youyi's fingertips bellflower rune paper jumped.

As she entered the combat mode, she tilted her head slightly and looked at the stretcher bed next to her.

Maybe it's because the Kamiya in reality and the Kamiya in the dream are both in the same place, and the red light on Kamiyagawa's body at this time has woken up.

He rolled over from the stretcher, his eyes shimmering and shimmering.

An indigo-blue, long, narrow and gorgeous Notai knife was pulled out by him, and the knife was wrapped with bright yellow thunder.

"Let's go!"

Kamiyagawa took the sword, and without hesitation, he crossed Fu Yuyi and rushed straight towards a certain part of the battlefield.

The lightning sputtered on the text, and the high temperature caused the surrounding air to expand, making a crackling sound.

And beside him, several figures emerged......

……

In an alley next to the mall.

After Onitsuka and Kamiya were scattered, they were forced to move here.

She was running out of bullets.

Raising the gun again to knock down a few dream boys, the little witch felt abnormal.

I don't know where the battlefield is, and there seems to be a strange atmosphere similar to the dream men, but a little different.

This breath should belong to the alienated dream man.

In other words, Mr. Funakoshi's operation was successful, and the alienated dream man was really attracted to the ground battlefield by him.

But before Onizuka could be happy, abnormal situations followed.

Her mood suddenly became extremely depressed.

"Is it because of the appearance of that alienated dream man, so it affects me?"

At first, Onizuka was able to distinguish the current situation, but after a while, it became difficult to even think.

Dream men on both sides of the alley continue to pour in.

The little witch's hand with the gun began to tremble.

Everything in her sight was changing strangely.

The stiff and moving figures of the dream man around him seemed to be getting taller and elongating upward, while Onizuka's gaze was slowly decreasing.

It's like a child surrounded by a group of adults.

I can only look up at the adults around me.

The faces of the Dream Boys become blurry, and Onizuka begins to lose sight of them.

I just heard the people around me keep talking and whispering to each other. These people had different tones and timbres, but all of them spoke in a friendly tone with a touch of sympathy and pity—

"It's so pitiful, my father is gone."

"The life of a mother and daughter must be very difficult, it's not easy."

"Even if you don't have her parents, she can live a good life, she is a great child......

"Thank you for your hard work, Hotaru, it's great to grow up healthy. That's great, Hotaru-chan. ”

"Thank you, Hotaru...... Hard ......"

"Hard ......"

“……”

Onizuka's gaze began to lose focus, and he really looked around in fear like a helpless child.

She felt at a loss and at a loss.

"Stop, please, stop......"

Stop.

No.

Please don't say that.

"Don't praise me in that tone, don't, please, don't ......"

I'm not hard.

I really, didn't feel the hardship.

I'm just breathing normally, living a normal life, growing up normally, just like everyone else, isn't it?

I don't see what to praise about this.

I don't understand why everyone around me looks at me with sympathy and whispers behind my back.

Stop.

Don't look like this.

I'm really the same as everyone else, isn't I?

No...... Is it?

And my mom and dad, they......

Mom and Dad......

They......

I do not know......

Perhaps, perhaps, they could have lived just fine?

If it weren't for me......

If it weren't for me.

"It's not easy."

"It's really rare that the child can grow up healthy."

"It's great to grow up."

“……”

The friendly and sympathetic voices around him continued.

As the figures approached, Onizuka felt breathless, as if he had sunk into the water.

"Say no more, please. Say no more, stop talking! Please, woo-stop talking......"

(End of chapter)