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Chapter 1354: City of the Decisive Battle (11)

So what’s going on now?

Rhode crossed his arms and gazed at the mental crystal in front of him. Eleanor, who stood beside him, also leaned against the wall, looking somewhat bored as she stretched out her hand and tapped the wall helplessly. It wasn’t an illusion, but reality instead. At least for now, they hadn’t encountered another attack and soon arrived at the third mental crystal that emanated Eleanor’s aura. But what happened next was depressing to Rhode because... Nothing exactly happened.

That’s right, nothing happened. Although Eleanor went up, touched and even tapped the mental crystal a few times, it didn’t react in the slightest. It was as if it had malfunctioned and there was nothing either Rhode or her could do about it. And the fact that they expected another Eleanor to appear and fight them didn’t happen either. In one sentence, things took a weird turn.

Rhode stood at the edge of the tower, looking out into the distance. He always felt as if something wasn’t quite right as the rules seemed to be changing all the time and weren’t very logical. The rules that he predicted in the beginning were somewhat different from the ones they faced later with Eleanor and the rest. And now, they were no longer somewhat different, but entirely different instead.

It was like a track and field race, which at first was thought to be a hundred meter dash before turning into a middle-distance relay run. And now, it was as if they were going for a long-distance marathon. Even though it wasn’t impossible for that to happen in the mental world, Rhode felt like based on Karin’s character, she shouldn’t have made such a mistake. After all, as a ‘researcher’, Karin was strict with herself. If she had such a casual side in her work, Rhode would need to check if there were any hidden technical issues with the magical warships after he returned.

What’s next?

The first thing to do was to inform the GM after noticing a bug in the game. But now... Rhode looked to the left and right, before shifting his gaze above. He spread his arms apart and shrugged helplessly. It seemed like the ‘game’ system wasn’t well set up. He couldn’t reach a customer service team to complain about the issue. However, he believed that Karin should be monitoring the process and that even if he didn’t do anything, she would respond soon.

As expected, when Rhode and Eleanor were so bored that they almost decided to brew a pot of tea to appreciate life, a pillar of light descended from the sky and Karin appeared from it. However, unlike before, Karin’s face was ice-cold and serious, with anxiety in her eyes that couldn’t be concealed. However, after meeting Rhode and Eleanor, her expression softened a little.

“Mr. Rhode, seems like you’re doing fine. That’s good to know...”

“Did something happen?”

Sweeping a glance at Eleanor, who had closed one eye and behaved like she was trying to sneak an observation at Karin who suddenly appeared, Rhode responded to Karin, walked up to her side, and they started whispering to each other. Meanwhile, Eleanor saw his meaningful glance and knew not to follow him. Instead, she leaned against the mental crystal and admired the night view boringly.

“Yes, Master. The situation is a little abnormal. This was what happened...”

After listening to Karin’s narration, Rhode quickly learned what the true problem was. Just as he expected, the rules of the game that he predicted at the beginning were actually correct. After all, this was a competition, and in order to avoid unnecessary mutual annihilation, Karin and her personalities considered the rules well before setting them. But soon, they realized that something went wrong. Like all programmers, if someone pointed out that there was a bug in the program, the programmers would just look at that idiot and wonder if that idiot was the one who made a mistake instead. And all of the Karins were no exception either.

They didn’t think there was anything wrong with their seemingly perfect rules at first, but thought that the contestants themselves hadn’t figured out the rules of the game yet. In addition, those mistakes were also within the permitted limits, so all the Karins were patient and silent, waiting for the contestants to get on the right track. But that was exactly what made them lose the best timing to adjust the rules, causing it to become unmanageable by the time they realized something went wrong.

“You must have heard the rumbles and collapses, right, Master?”

“Yes, I heard them.”

After hearing her question, Rhode nodded. However, the collapsing sounds were regular and sounded every once in a while. Although Rhode was also curious as to what was going on, he didn’t raise any questions. Even though it wasn’t that he didn’t want to head over to check out the situation; the problem was that there was no pattern to the collapsing locations and he couldn’t possibly predict beforehand where it would happen and run over there to wait for it.

Thus, in the end, he didn’t do anything about it and left the rest up to the Gods. It would be best if his team could encounter one, and if they couldn’t, It didn’t matter. It wasn’t supposed to be his problem, was it?

“Earlier, we thought they were just the aftermaths from the battles between teams.”

Karin’s expression remained calm, but Rhode caught a hint of ‘that definitely wasn’t an excuse on our part for not noticing the anomaly’ from her face.

But since she was so adamant about it, he wasn’t that evil to expose her. At any rate, this was also a matter of reputation. The technical staff would be especially sensitive in this area. Since they already knew that they were wrong, Rhode saved them some face by not criticizing them further. And watching as Rhode nodded, Karin’s eyes were filled with some strange emotion. But she eventually coughed and spoke softly.

“It was only later that we noticed that something wasn’t quite right... Perhaps you didn’t realize, Master, but your team is the only team left to be able to truly complete the mission to acquire all the mental crystals.”

“What you meant is...”

After hearing her words, Rhode instinctively froze for a moment. Then, he realized what she meant.

“Only Catherine and Little Five obtained the mental crystals? But the number of mental crystals left are... No, one more crystal is gone now.”

Lifting his head to glance at the city in front of him, Rhode noticed that the radiance of yet another mental crystal had dimmed. And upon looking at that scene, Karin frowned and showed a troubled and nervous expression. But soon, she regained her composure.

“Yes, we made a mistake in the design. In fact...”

At that point, Karin paused for a moment uncharacteristically as if she were hesitating whether or not to tell Rhode the truth. In the end, however, she bit the bullet and voiced the biggest problem.

“...The mental crystals were snatched by the other mental projections.”

“... Huh?”

Upon hearing those words, Rhode was taken aback. After Karin explained with gesticulating hands, he finally understood what she meant. As a matter of fact, there weren’t just three projected personalities in each of them. Generally speaking, the reason why the mental world projected only three personalities was that they were the most powerful. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t other personalities present; it was just that those personalities were too lacking, such as a lack in ego, discipline, or some other traits.

In short, it was as if everyone had a variety of innermost situations. And if the emotions of happiness, anger, and sadness were refined into mental projections, there would be hundreds of them.

In the beginning, all the Karins dragged the most mature of personalities into this world and closed the mental channels. But recently, they discovered that someone was secretly opening the mental channels to allow entry to less-mature projections. This surprised all the Karins greatly. The paths leading back to the various mental worlds were still sealed without a doubt, but they overlooked one thing.

The boundary was like the railing in a prison. In order to stop prisoners from escaping, the boundary would definitely not let the prisoners fit their bodies through. But the gaps between the railing were able to let out a cat or mouse without any issue. This was the problem with the current boundary around the mental world that all the Karins faced. And while the railing was tight enough to stop mature personalities, they were of no hindrance to the less-mature ones.

So by the time they realized something was wrong, a number of ‘less-mature’ personalities were already here. The towers collapsed as a result, not because of fighting, but because the mental world’s instinctive reaction was to resist the appearance of foreign objects. And now, the problem in front of Karin was a massive one. Even if she were to open up the mental channels to let the other personalities go back to their respective homes, it would be useless.

Unless she got all the personalities back, even if she just got three core personalities back, after cutting the mental channel, the other personalities would be more or less damaged as a result. Some might even lose the ability to show emotions. After all, Karin still couldn’t confirm exactly how many less-mature personalities were mixed into the competition.

“So what’s next?”

Hearing this was quite a headache for Rhode. He also felt troubled at the thought that there were an unknown number of less-mature personalities roaming around here. And it wasn’t like it didn’t affect him at all. After all, these personalities were all personalities of his card spirits, and missing one of them could potentially cause mental turmoil. Although it was still unknown who did such a thing, it was certain that this was definitely not a scenario he wanted to see.

“There’s only one way. According to our design, we can sense the mental projections around the mental crystals and fuse them altogether. Hence...” Karin spoke, gesturing to a nearby mental crystal. The mental crystal vanished and reappeared in her hands. Along with the movement of her fingers, the mental crystal shrunk instantly into the size of a bracelet in just the blink of an eye. She handed the bracelet to Rhode.

“As you have already noticed, these crystals are each made according to the card spirits themselves, so they can sense the aura of their kind. After some discussion, we have decided to temporarily change the use of the mental crystals so that as long as your companion wears the bracelet, she can sense the location of all the mental projections of her kind throughout the metropolis. Now, we want you to be able to absorb all of these personalities before the remaining mental crystals are taken away.”

“This is definitely a huge project...”

Upon hearing her explanation, Rhode reached out his hand to hold his forehead. Then, he quickly remembered something.

“Wait, aren’t the mental projections only able to absorb other personalities of their kind? I only have Eleanor with me, while Little Five and Catherine are nowhere to be found. I haven’t met another Dona either, so if I am to run into any other personality, I wouldn’t be able to absorb them.”

“That is something we have also noticed. In fact, earlier on, my two other selves and I were seeking out personalities that qualify for the mental crystals and giving them the same instructions. And that is what I am giving you now, Master.” As Karin spoke, she reached out her hand and pointed to a neighborhood park not far away. Then, she blinked and continued.

“Please head there at the shortest time possible. The other mental projections will meet you there. Do note that mental projections who wear the bracelet will not be absorbed even if they are defeated in battle. The only mental projections that can be absorbed are those who are not wearing the bracelet. And, just to be on the safe side, we will guard the final passage. This is all. Please excuse me...”

“Wait.”

After hearing her narration, Rhode widened his mouth to call out to Karin who was about to turn around and leave. When Karin heard his voice, she came to a standstill and turned back around.

“May I ask if there is anything else?”

“I suppose you have already found a clue about the dark side of this conspiracy, Karin.”

Staring into the eyes of the young lady in front of him, Rhode spoke calmly. It wasn’t too surprising. After all, this was no small matter, and they were also in Karin’s world. Since all the Karins had realized the issue, it was impossible that they couldn’t even understand the root cause of the problem. After all, this place was like the inside of the human body; no one knew better than the person concerned how painful it was to have something go wrong. But in the face of Rhode’s question, Karin fell into an unexpected silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry, but as of now, we don’t have enough evidence or clues to confirm the true masterminds. But rest assured, I will inform you if I have any definite information.”

After saying her piece, Karin disappeared into the darkness completely while Rhode, on the other hand, gazed quietly and didn’t say a word. He had a feeling that Karin actually knew exactly who was responsible for this. But out of some consideration, she didn’t explain to him.

Even if she didn’t clarify his doubt, he could still guess a little bit. After all, in this mental world, there was only one person who could do it right under Karin’s nose without her finding out. But now...

It looks like I don’t have the chance to play the famous detective’s game any longer.

At this thought, he turned to Eleanor, who was staring at him curiously at the side, smiled, and handed over the bracelet in his hand to her.

“Miss Eleanor, would you be interested in playing a game of hunting?”

After hearing what happened from Rhode, Eleanor nodded in agreement and accepted his invitation. After all, she was no fool and knew that things were rather strange, so she agreed to his offer without any question. Then, Rhode ran off with her in the direction of the neighborhood park that Karin pointed out earlier. After all, according to Karin, several other core projections would be joining him there as well. This was normal, since it was always better to head into battle with more people.

Although Karin didn’t specify, Rhode was well aware that the other core personalities also probably understood the implications. It would have been fine if the secondary personalities were simply fooling around. But since they actually did something to the mental crystal, it meant that they probably desired to grow stronger and take over as the core personality.

Perhaps Eleanor was also aware of this fact and that was why she agreed. Ultimately, no one wanted their position to be replaced by another, let alone being replaced by a personality that was supposedly irreplaceable. There was a good chance that the loser would be chewed up without even a scrap left; something that no one would smile and accept wholeheartedly... Perhaps.

With Rhode leading the way, the two of them soon arrived at a neighborhood park. Unlike before, the shadowy monsters had completely disappeared and didn’t show up to stop them. Rhode wondered if it was due to the fact that Karin had removed them to avoid accidents, but one less obstacle was always better for him.

“Now it seems like we’re the only ones who’ve arrived early. I wonder what the situation is like for the others.”

Gazing at the empty neighborhood park, Rhode mumbled under his breath. He had already asked Eleanor to sense their presence and she found that there were around seven to eight of her mental projections in this competition venue. Although this wasn’t a small number, it was still acceptable compared to hundreds or thousands of them. It was just that even Eleanor had almost 10 mental projections, so perhaps the others also didn’t have too many either mental projections...

“Ah, Mr. Rhode, I’ve finally found you!”

While Rhode pondered, he suddenly heard a familiar voice that interrupted his thoughts. And without the need to turn back, he guessed the owner of the voice. As expected, the moment he turned to the voice, he saw two figures he couldn’t be more familiar with.

Little Five and Catherine.