She was in her room and resting in bed.
"Meow. Mei. What are you going to do, meow? You don"t have to stick around and fight, meow. I think you should just kill this sage person, meow."
The white cat was floating in the air in a white s.p.a.ce. The image that appeared in Mei"s head was very difficult to see.
"Hmm. I don"t think that"s what you"re supposed to do. You"re supposed to partic.i.p.ate in events."
Mei wanted to enjoy this world. She didn"t want to change the rules. She wanted to enjoy things while following the norms and regulations.
"You don"t mind killing your friends, meow?"
"Doesn"t it sound fun? Everyone here thinks that they"re the strongest. In spite of the fact that their powers are from the sage. And yet they"ll have no chance against the power of real G.o.ds. Isn"t that just exhilarating?"
Up until now, the event had been about adventuring together. And now it was a battle royale. Mei thought that it was fun, either way.
"You"re going to say that while relying on my power…meow…"
"Oh, but maybe I"ll just keep Haruto alive."
The sage had also said that you could kill her, so Mei was also considering going down that route at some point.
"Well, do as you wish, meow. I don"t really care about who dies in that world, meow."
The voice faded away.
Mei rolled around on her bed.
"I can"t believe this. You"re sleeping lazily in my territory."
"Ah, morning, Arima."
Mei woke up after being called. She had apparently fallen asleep.
She looked around the room, but there was no one there.
It seemed that the power of carpentry allowed you to make your voice audible from anywhere in the building.
"Hmm? Why are you talking to me? You could have just killed me instead?"
"I guess I was too ashamed. But I"ve made my decision now. I"m going to kill whoever I can."
"Hmmm. Good luck."
Just then, her bed disappeared.
"Woah!"
She fell on her b.u.t.tocks. There was no damage from it, but Mei was surprised nonetheless.
And then it suddenly grew dark. For a second, she didn"t understand what was happening.
"Ahh. You trapped me."
The carpenter was able to use blocks to create all kinds of things.
And he used that to build a wall around her.
"So, what are you going to do?"
In the next instant, something hit Mei"s head with tremendous force.
Arima Osamu"s plan was simple.
He would trap his enemies in a chimney-like structure and then drop heavy blocks on top of them.
He wasn"t able to create blocks in places where people were standing, but he could create them in the s.p.a.ce above them.
Perhaps they would be able to survive the attack with their defensive ability.
However, he was able to make an unlimited number of blocks. Even if they didn"t die immediately, he could just keep dropping more blocks. Eventually, they wouldn"t be able to bear the weight any longer. And they would be crushed to death.
On top of that, they would be trapped in an air-tight prison, they might also die of suffocation.
This strategy should be very effective within his territory.
"…How…"
However, Osamu was surprised by Mei"s sudden appearance.
He didn"t understand how she had gotten through his deadly traps. And how had she traveled all the way to that room?
"Search and teleport. But I can only do it at a short distance. Ah, so Abukawa is here as well."
Abukawa Masahiro. The boy with the transporter power.
"Wasn"t the power of the Saint just about erasing monsters!?"
Abukawa said with wide eyes.
"Sorry. I was lying."
"Eat this!"
And then something fell from the ceiling.
It was magma.
The hot, melted liquid rained down on Mei.
Mei was drenched in the red substance but still looked up at the ceiling as if it was nothing.
"Ahh, so there was a door on the ceiling. And the other door must be connected to the mouth of a volcano somewhere. Interesting. So, you two are working together then."
The transporter was able to connect different doors. That"s what they used.
It seemed that magma would be too strong for most doors, but maybe the carpenter"s doors were extra strong.
"Wh-why aren"t you hurt!"
"Hmm. Because I"m invincible? No attacks work on me."
Osamu and Masahiro"s faces twisted in shock. Mei had wanted to see those expressions. And so she was fully satisfied.
"Saint Punch!"
Mei walked up to Masahiro and threw the laziest punch at him.
Masahiro dodged it easily.
Osamu had been watching. Anyone could have dodged that wobbly, slow attack.
And yet…
Mei"s fist had somehow reached Masahiro"s face.
The place of impact flashed brightly.
And then Masahiro began to fall apart, like a string that was unraveling. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
"What…what is…"
Osamu barely managed to say those words. He could not believe what had just happened in front of him.
"Ah, right. My attacks have an "absolute hit" option. And the Saint Punch completely annihilates my enemies."
"…But, if you can do such a thing…you should be able to win against the sage…then! We shouldn"t have to kill each other!"
"I could do that, yes. But what would happen after I killed the sage? Who"s going to think of an interesting event for me? To be honest, it"s not very fun being able to do whatever you want in this world. I want someone to choose a direction for me."
"Then…we can all think together…"
"I don"t think that sounds very fun. Saint Beam!"
Mei raised her fist and pointed it at Osamu.
There was nothing he could do but be erased from existence by the flash of light.
Mei left the fortress that Osamu had built.
Apparently, the structure would remain even after the builder died.
"I fulfilled the requirements, so I might as well take it easy until the next hour."
It would not be very fun to just kill everyone at once.
However, that also depended on how the others acted.
Mei opened the system window and checked the list of partic.i.p.ants.
It had only just started, and yet 5 of the 16 partic.i.p.ants were already dead.
They were, "reaper" f.u.kai Seiichi, "record keeper" Shijou Juno, "reader" Aihara Yukimasa, "transporter" Abukawa Masahiro, and "carpenter" Arima Osamu.
If things continued at this pace, it would all end within the hour.
As she wondered what to do, a notice appeared.
"Hanakawa Daimon has been accepted into the sage candidate selection match."
When she checked the list, his name had indeed been added.
For some reason, he had joined at this point.
"Since he"s here, I might as well kill him."
She had always found this Hanakawa boy to be a little gross.
In fact, she had often dreamed of killing him with her own hands.