Hiss! Seems like I've heard this voice somewhere?
Takumi quickened his pace, walking in the direction the scream came from.
"Help, help me!"
Following the sound, before long, Takumi saw the source of the voice.
Huge breasts, golden hair tied in a braid, exquisite face...
"Jeanne?"
Takumi was full of surprise.
The owner of this familiar voice was exactly Jeanne, but she wasn't wearing that familiar armor, but a set of coarse cloth clothes.
Before Takumi could figure out the situation.
Jeanne, discovering another human here, ran towards Takumi's location with surprise in her eyes, as if seeing a savior.
"Sir, please save me! There's a very strange guy chasing me over there!"
Jeanne seemed not to see Takumi greeting her, dodging behind Takumi in a flash.
Then sticking her head out, looking fearfully at the place she ran from.
"Hah?"
Looking at Jeanne's actions, Takumi had black lines all over his head, his brain unable to turn the corner in time.
But he still looked in the direction Jeanne pointed.
A frenzied voice approached the two's location quickly from far to near.
"Ehehe Jeanne! Jeanne Jeanne Jeanne Jeanne Jeanne my Jeanne!"
In the darkness ahead, a figure using both hands and feet was almost crawling on the ground, rushing towards the two like a bug.
Bulging big eyes stared straight at Jeanne sticking her head out behind Takumi; everything else seemed not to be in his line of sight.
This screaming, twisted, dark crawling person—presumably, one didn't need to guess who it was, right?
What are you doing, Marshal!
Gulp!
Looking at the scene resembling an alien invasion, Takumi couldn't help swallowing.
"Ah—, it's him, it's him! Ah—!!"
Jeanne cupped her small face, screaming loudly, almost deafening Takumi's ears.
"Jeanne! My Jeanne!"
And ahead, Gilles, staring with big eyes as if possessed by a facehugger, leaped up, pouncing on Takumi and Jeanne behind him.
"Holy crap!"
Takumi, who had never seen such a scene, subconsciously cursed, hurriedly rolling to the side.
As for Jeanne?
She had already darted to the side.
Gilles, who didn't pounce on anyone, landed face first with a bang, sliding a few meters forward due to inertia.
"Jeanne——"
But even so, Gilles, whose nose was already bleeding, acted like nothing happened. Lying on the ground, his head turned 180 degrees, his hollow eyes locking onto Jeanne again.
"Ahhh——!"
"Sir, please help me stop him!"
Jeanne screamed, lifting Takumi, who hadn't had time to stand up from the ground because of a missing hand, with one hand.
Dragging Takumi to block in front.
Me?
Young lady, are you joking?
Where is there a guy with sound limbs who can lift a male with one hand needing a disabled person to protect!!
Takumi pointed at his face with his phantom limb, looking at "Jeanne" in disbelief.
Dammit, this isn't Jeanne at all!
But seeing the "facehugger" about to pounce again, Takumi didn't have the luxury of time to complain. Hurriedly moving his gaze, searching for an existence that could help him.
Count! Where is the Count?
Takumi looked at the Count's location.
Only to see him having moved a set of tables and chairs from somewhere, drinking something comfortably, whether coffee or whatever.
Finding Takumi looking over, the Count even smiled and raised his cup to signal him.
(OMO - Kamen Rider reference)
Takumi had no mind to complain anymore because the "facehugger" rushed over again.
Knowing he couldn't sit and wait for death, he gritted his teeth and broke free from "Jeanne's" hand with little thought.
But instead of dodging again, he rushed towards Gilles.
At the moment Gilles jumped up, Takumi, closing in, pressed down on his head, throwing him to the ground backhandedly.
Eh?
Gilles obviously didn't anticipate this situation, his eyes dazed.
"Jeanne Jeanne Jeanne! Don't stop me from finding Jeanne!"
Reacting only after being thrown down, he immediately roared and struggled.
"Ah——!!"
"Jeanne" seemed to have turned into a heroine in a brain-dead movie or TV series who only knew how to scream, screaming hard backhandedly.
Poor Takumi, while suppressing Gilles with one hand, had to endure her noise attack. It simply wasn't a job for humans.
If you have time to scream, don't you have time to help!!
Pressing firmly on Gilles, barely controlling one of his hands but forced to be pushed frantically by his other hand, Takumi complained frantically in his heart.
As if hearing Takumi's inner voice, "Jeanne" finally started to act.
"Beat you to death, beat you to death, beat you to death!"
"Jeanne" made a move!
She picked up something from the ground!
She threw it hard at Gilles!
Very good!
Straw was thrown over! Hit!
Wait—straw?
Takumi, with a lot of thrown straw caught in his hair, had black lines all over his head.
"Jeanne" seemed not to notice.
Closing her eyes tightly, frantically picking up straw from the ground, then throwing wildly at the location of Takumi and Gilles.
Her two small fists were already swinging like electric fans.
"Haha, hahahahahaha..."
Under a snow of straw, the Count watching the show on the side was already slamming the table and laughing wildly.
Takumi's silence was deafening.
Ignoring the screams and laughter, looking at Gilles who was still shouting "Jeanne," Takumi's eyes gradually became fierce.
Cold light filled his pupils.
Takumi tilted his head back slightly.
Then smashed down hard.
Bang!
Like ringing the bell of decisive victory.
Gilles was dizzied by Takumi's headbutt, his head buzzing.
But Takumi had no intention of stopping.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
One after another, like a ruthless pile driver, Takumi smashed his head against Gilles' head harder each time.
The whole space quieted down at some point, only the sound of heads colliding echoing within.
Finally.
With Takumi's last smash, Gilles beneath him, who had long ceased to react, turned into a black mist and disappeared.
"Ugh..."
Takumi, who didn't count how many times he smashed, clutched his head. He felt dizzy, as if his brains had been shaken evenly in the exercise just now.
Clap clap clap!
Applause reached his ears, synchronized with the Count's voice.
"Tsk tsk, absolutely no aesthetic sense of combat. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought a beast was fighting in front of me. As the last Master of humanity, you seem to lack a bit of dignity."
"However, achieving this level with only one arm left is commendable!"
"So rejoice; you defeated your first opponent!"
Listening to the Count's voice, Takumi turned his head to look behind.
The fake Jeanne who was only screaming behind him just now had disappeared, as if she never appeared.
Takumi touched his forehead and face again.
Putting his fingers in front of his eyes, they were clean.
The forehead originally smashed open with flesh and blood also recovered to its original state, along with the blood that flowed to the tip of his nose.
"Is this really the Prison Tower?"
Takumi, full of doubts, looked at the Count, the only riddler here who seemed to know the inside story.
Although his memory wasn't photographic, he clearly knew that in the initial plot of the [Prison Tower], Jeanne didn't exist.
Moreover, Jeanne here looked like a village girl.
"Oh? Then where do you think this isn't the Prison Tower?"
The Count raised his eyebrows and asked back.
Takumi was speechless for a moment.
Indeed, he just subconsciously used the known plot as a reference.
'Perhaps because the person arriving here changed from Fujimaru Ritsuka to me, so the plot inside changed accordingly?'
Takumi guessed reasonably.