And there was also the fact that since their cla.s.smates had been fortified by the gift of the sage, drugs and curses may not have worked on them.
Which left David as the perfect candidate to be used as bait. He seemed to be close to Yogiri and appeared to be a royal but not as strong as a sage candidate. Also, it was clear that David wasn"t looking to do anything to Yogiri either.
He gave David the drugs he had obtained in the royal city, made him delirious, and suggested to him that he should head to the cliff.
The cliffs had been cracked in advance in order to make them easier to collapse.
This would be Yogiri"s weakness, to be forced into another area without him knowing. For example, if once he pa.s.sed through a certain point an arrow flied towards him, or a giant rock fell his way then it wouldn"t work because he would realize it was a trap, since there was the possibility someone could be killed.
But what if the cliff were to collapse and fall? In that case, he would be the one falling, so he wouldn"t be able to stop it because no one would be directly trying to kill anyone else. In the first place, Yogiri had been forcefully brought to this world and couldn"t avoid it either.
That said, it was only a matter of luck for his plan to be successful.
A dinner party would be held and Yogiri would naturally want to be by himself.
That way he could also handle David easily.
Yogiri would notice David going towards the cliff.
Then David would head for the cracked surface.
Yogiri would try to stop David from falling.
And the cracked cliff would collapse under their combined weight.
Even so, nothing could be said for sure. Just a little change in the success of events would break the chain and throw his plans in disarray.
But that was still okay by him. If he was certain he would succeed, it could increase the likelihood that Yogiri noticed him.
He did something which he wasn"t certain would work and left the rest to fate.
There was no murder there, they were just a series of accidents which would end up in a sudden death.
That was Haruto"s strategy.
"Well, everything"s been going just fine until now. We haven"t had any hard time yet, haven"t we?"
"Yeah, right? Tomorrow should be fine as well."
"We won"t know until we reach the seventh level. However, if we work together, I think we will manage somehow. "
"It"s kind of a problem that everything is going so well and without any issues, isn"t it?"
The voice echoed clearly in the hustle and bustle of the dinner party.
I was a fascinating sound that grabbed everyone"s attention and appealed to a certain instinct, which made them think that whatever that person said shouldn"t be ignored.
Suddenly, a woman in a white dress stood in the middle of the dining hall.
It was the sage Shion.
Most people hadn"t expected to see her here since the last time they did was when they met her on the bus.
The noise in the room subsided and everyone"s eyes focused on Shion.
"Do you need something? I don"t get it, since as you just mentioned, everything"s been going fine until now."
Haruto wondered if she had come to check on his plan to end Yogiri. Since so far it seemed to have been a success, it wasn"t a strange timing for her to appear.
"Oh, that"s fine, just go ahead with it. This time I"m here for something else. As I said, I think this is a little too easy for a trial. If it keeps going this way, then it seems there is a high possibility that a sage won"t be born even if you can defeat the demon."
"Wwait a minute! What are you talking about!? Weren"t we going to become sages just by accomplishing a great feat!?"
Shouted Yazaki.
"There"s no way that would be the case now, right? Becoming a sage happens by awakening to that power and acquiring the ability through the process of trying extremely hard to accomplish a certain feat. However, you don"t seem to have had any particular difficulties so far, and it"ll be a problem if you keep at it like that.
You see, that"s why I think it"s around time for an awakening event.
Something like being overwhelmed by an unavoidable enemy or having a close friend die will make you exert power beyond your own limits."
An ominous, unpleasant feeling started spreading through the crowd. Everyone had just been having a fun time until now and that seemed to be about to abruptly change.
"That"s why I wonder if I should make you all kill each other. It"s about time you got used to your own powers, right? Wouldn"t it be a good idea to put them to good use and kill each other until only one of you is left?"
No one managed to speak as everyone froze where they stood.
Shion"s shocking proposal astounded all of the cla.s.smates.
But there was one of them, who might"ve as well though Shion"s words were irrelevant.
It was Ninomiya Ryoko.
She wasn"t even looking at Shion, but instead stared at the smartphone, which vibrated in her hands.
Its screen flickered violently, as if giving flagrant warnings that something was happening.
"…wait a minute…why is the second gate…?"
She uttered, her face looking as though the world was coming to an end.
The cliff collapsed and Yogiri fell with David right into the abyss.
He was left to his own abandon and there was nowhere he could grab onto.
After that, he just kept falling due to gravity.
Haruto had been right.
Takato Yogiri"s abilities only included the power to detect killing intent and the ability to kill immediately, however, physically, he was still nothing but a normal human being. If he fell from a certain height, he would die just like anybody else.
However, anyone who knew Takato Yogiri wouldn"t have helped but think that:
There was no way he wouldn"t have thought something like this would happen.
There was no way he wouldn"t have tried something like this before.
There was no way something like this would end him.
And, that if Takato Yogiri were to die from it, then that meant the world would"ve already been saved a long time ago.