Chapter 271: The Bunny Girl No One Else Can See, Sakurajima Mai!
In the endless void, Ren stood as if at the peak of a colossal mountain, overlooking the vast and boundless universe before him.
At this moment, he felt he had become a force that could truly influence the cosmos itself.
He could control and manipulate the composition of the universe, orchestrating its changes and even its destruction.
This was the most direct sensation his newfound power gave him.
The power of Space was now strong enough to shatter the very structure of the universe with ease.
The universe's Death Lines were also laid bare before his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. The endless phenomena and laws within the cosmos became things that he could simply "kill."
Although he couldn't destroy this universe as easily as he had the Insect Swarm Star System, he was confident he could annihilate it completely given enough time.
Ren felt somewhat unaccustomed to such a massive leap in power.
What made it even stranger was a peculiar sensation he felt as he perceived the finite within the infinite.
He had a distinct feeling that even if he destroyed this universe, it would not truly perish.
He chose to trust this intuition.
A world containing three 12-star Apocalypses and SCPs could not possibly be just a simple, ordinary universe.
But he also knew that this was not something his current strength should be concerned with.
Do what you can with the power you have.
He was still self-aware enough for that.
He retracted his gaze, and his perception of Space quickly converged back into himself.
"Ren, what happened?"
Yukino and the others all looked at him with concern.
Just moments ago, the power within their own bodies had shifted; the power of the Time Sequence had suddenly grown much stronger.
Ren explained with a faint smile, "It's nothing. My strength just improved a bit. I might need to leave for a while, so you can all head home first when school is out."
After speaking, Ren's figure vanished.
He had gone, naturally, to the Apocalypse Battlefield of the Doomsday Chat Group.
Reality was no place to test his new abilities to their fullest, but the Apocalypse Battlefield was the perfect arena to go all out.
After spending the better part of the day there, Ren finally mastered all of his abilities.
Primal Stone Vector Manipulation, Zanpakuto Dominator, and King of Chronos had no substantial changes, only quantitative improvements. It was similar to the effect he'd felt when Source of Space had been upgraded.
The Ten Thousand Realms Death Perception Eye and Source of Space now both possessed the power to destroy a universe by affecting its fundamental composition, though it would take some time.
He had already blown up the universe of the Apocalypse Battlefield twice, and it had quickly recovered both times. It seemed that dimension had its own secrets.
As for the Chaos Wings, he hadn't yet tested the individual-focused abilities of the Seven Deadly Sins.
However, Monster Creation, Reality Alteration, and Corrosive Shadow proved to be incredibly powerful derivative abilities. Their effects were already comparable to an S-rank Lv8 ability.
This made Ren feel that the potential of the Chaos Wings was far greater than he had imagined. He found himself increasingly looking forward to what would happen when the Redemption Wings and the Wings of Sin were finally balanced.
The only ability with a truly substantial change was Gluttony.
Based on his current understanding, Gluttony could devour anything. It was now capable of devouring an entire galaxy. Unfortunately, the galaxies in the Apocalypse Battlefield were illusory, so he didn't gain any energy from them.
He couldn't understand how the Apocalypse Battlefield managed to perfectly simulate an entire universe, including its structure and laws, yet have everything within it be an illusion.
The power of Gluttony wasn't just about the strength of its devouring ability. It had also gained a new function.
The energy purification process had changed.
Initially, the energy purified by Gluttony would only transform into Primal Energy. Now, it could also extract and purify energy characteristics, transforming them into Characteristic Energy.
The process was very similar to the doom furnace in the Doomsday Chat Group. Primal Energy was pure, raw power. Characteristic Energy, however, could be integrated into other objects, causing them to gain the traits contained within the energy.
These characteristics were determined by what Gluttony devoured.
The difference from the doom furnace was that the furnace could only smelt objects, while Gluttony could devour objects, living beings, and pure energy.
After Ren fully understood his abilities, he spent some more points and time to thoroughly master them, wielding them as easily as his own limbs.
School had already ended.
Ren was preparing to leave as well.
Before he left, he glanced out over the empty campus.
"Hmm?"
He was somewhat surprised.
A lone bunny girl had just walked out of the school gate. She looked quite helpless.
"It's her again."
Ren felt a sense of familiarity seeing the girl in that outfit. It was the same girl he had noticed once before.
With that attire, it has to be Puberty Syndrome, right?
Ren pinched his chin, watching her leave before shaking his head and teleporting home.
My name is Sakurajima Mai.
[Note: Sakurajima Mai has no gravure history. This has been magically modified to avoid spoilers!]
I wore a bunny girl outfit at school and on the street, yet no one could see me.
When would this abnormal phenomenon end?
Sakurajima Mai was wearing an extremely revealing bunny girl outfit, walking brazenly through the crowded street.
But everyone seemed to ignore her. No one paid her any attention.
This feeling of loneliness was becoming unbearable.
"...Grumble!"
Rubbing her rumbling stomach, the bunny girl walked into a convenience store.
She picked up a piece of bread and walked to the cashier, but the clerk couldn't see her at all.
Her expression darkened. After leaving money on the counter, Sakurajima Mai left.
Walking home, she ate the bread while lost in thought.
Besides her own problem, Sakurajima Mai had another concern.
Just a short while ago, at night, she had seen terrifying monsters and... espers.
That day, she had been outside trying to see if anyone could see her. She returned home very late. The experiment was a failure, and she walked through the night with a tired and disappointed heart.
Suddenly, she heard a girl's cry for help.
After a second of hesitation, she ran towards the sound.
But as she rounded the street corner, she saw an unbelievable scene.
A monstrous woman composed of disjointed parts, and girls with psychic abilities!
One girl blew the monstrous woman away with a single breath, while another's body emitted a white mist that froze the monster into an ice sculpture.
Then a man appeared silently.
And then, everything she saw vanished from her sight, as if it had all been an illusion.
The only thing that left a deep impression on her was that they were all wearing the second-year uniform of Sobu High School.
"If... it were true, that would be great."
Sakurajima Mai wished for it with all her heart.
If espers were real, they should be able to help her solve her own problem.