The long-haired men seemed to be pushing against an invisible wall—whether they accelerated or decelerated, the girl always stayed twenty meters ahead.
"Time-based or space-based ability. Two possibilities: either time deletion or a spatial barrier. Either way, this girl is no amateur."
The long-haired men seemed to sense something was wrong and began channeling their abilities to attack the girl.
One had a kamaitachi-like power, firing air blades that could fell tree trunks, but every blade the girl's fingers launched was neutralized by an invisible barrier, dissolving into nothing.
The other could command plants. At his activation, vines from ahead came alive, coiling around the girl's pale legs, and she tumbled to the ground.
Since they couldn't close the distance, both men simply rested, waiting for the girl's ability to drain.
"Based on the remaining video time, the outcome should come in the next second," Warren analyzed.
A strong gust swept through, and a shower of leaves drifted down from the canopy, settling on all three of them.
At that moment, both long-haired men froze.
Looking closely—though they still stood upright—both had had their necks severed by some razor-sharp implement. The instrument of their death was none other than the seemingly innocuous leaves that had just fallen from the sky.
Moments later, the two men dissolved into data and vanished. The seemingly fragile girl no longer played the victim—she called out toward the other side of the forest.
A dapper youth, carrying a wooden sword, emerged slowly from the trees. He seemed to know the girl already. Together they quickly cut through the vines binding her legs and disappeared into the mist of the forest.
"This video had no helmet obstruction, so we were able to identify them. The boy is Fujimoto Kai—his father is a high-ranking Japanese politician, a very young and promising statesman, a strong candidate for next prime minister. The girl is Natsuki Ri—something of a child star in Japan, she played a princess role in a major historical drama when she was very young. The problem is, her father is a political enemy of the boy's father. The two young people seem to be in a relationship, eloped because their families objected... they came to Aokigahara to commit suicide together..."
"What's interesting is that the two men behind them weren't friends of the couple—they were strangers they'd met on a suicide forum. Seven people went to Aokigahara together to die, and something happened that turned all seven into ability users, and then they started killing each other."
"So your point is..."
"My point is, as often happens in manga, some people are born protagonists and some are born side characters. Even though all seven fight, each person is assigned different abilities and scripts. Some are pre-selected candidates; others are just NPCs along the candidate's path to awakening."
Warren pondered for a moment, then used his water to draw a moon in the air:
"You believe the advanced civilization behind the scenes is actually using one person—or one couple—as their candidates, then expanding the circle around their social network for further selection and testing. The rest may seem to have equal chances, but the script has already been written for them."
"Correct. It's a bit offensive to say, but based on your intelligence, do you think you're the protagonist in your Holy Grail War?"
"Me? Could be."
Warren gave a bitter laugh:
"Let's be real... based on current intel, the focus of my match is most likely centered around my unlucky tenant. Both he and his girlfriend are on the roster, while I'm a lone wolf with no dependents. Which means, as you said, I'm probably an NPC along his path to awakening—or a level boss."
The prince hadn't expected such candor. He fell silent for a moment before deciding to steer the conversation elsewhere—after all, his old friend was currently participating in a Holy Grail War, his life at risk of being data-erased at any moment.
"By the way, are you familiar with the uncanny valley theory?"
"Limited understanding. Why?"
"The uncanny valley is a hypothesis about human emotional responses to robots and non-human entities. Proposed by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, it suggests that as robots become more similar to humans in appearance and behavior, people feel increasingly positive toward them—until a specific point where the reaction suddenly becomes intensely negative. Even a tiny difference from a real human becomes glaring and unsettling, making the robot seem stiff and creepy, like facing a walking corpse."
"The more humanlike a robot or toy appears, the more affection people feel—but right before reaching 100% similarity, this affinity drops dramatically. The more human it looks, the more disturbing it becomes, plunging affinity to its lowest point. This is called the uncanny valley. However, when the robot's appearance and behavior become even more humanlike, emotional responses become positive again, approaching normal human empathy."
"I understand that. So? What's the connection to the mastermind?"
"The hypothesized causes are several. One theory: the unease stems from uncertainty about whether something highly realistic is genuine or fake. Low realism doesn't scare people, but beyond a certain threshold, people can't tell—mistaking real for fake or fake for real, both are unsettling."
"Another theory: it comes from a sense of threat. Something that looks so human yet isn't triggers a perception of potential danger."
"A third possibility: there are visual similarities between sick bodies and corpses and certain humanoid robots, evoking the same alarm and emotional turbulence. This reaction is worse for robots than corpses, because people easily understand their revulsion toward a corpse, but can't pinpoint why they feel the same toward a robot. Behavioral deformities—disease characteristics, neurological states, or even mental dysfunction—can all provoke severe negative responses in observers."
"But there's actually a fourth, genuine possibility, isn't there?"
"The existence of the uncanny valley is shocking. We're frightened by things that look almost human, but aren't."
"Yet other animals aren't."
"Which means that at some point in our evolution, we had to avoid creatures that looked almost like humans."
"This influence was so profound it was etched into our genes."
"You're saying humanity isn't the only civilization on Earth—that another, more advanced civilization has been with us in some form, perhaps... guarding us?"
"Your words are too gentle. What's closer to the truth might be..."
"Domestication."
"Domestication? Like keeping cats, dogs, and hamsters?"
"Exactly. Just as wizards in Harry Potter need house-elves, why couldn't humans be a domesticated species of some higher civilization?"
"The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Bermuda Triangle, the Moai of Easter Island, Maya rocket reliefs, the ruins of Atlantis... There may have been an earlier prehistoric civilization on this planet. For some reason, that civilization left Earth—perhaps to other planets, or even other universes. But they left anchors and coordinates here on Earth. Every sixty years, they return to select a certain kind of warrior, or... offering."
"From what you're describing, it sounds like Predator warriors coming of age by hunting the most powerful aliens on Earth. And unfortunately, we're the aliens."
"What's your plan?"
"I don't think we should sit and wait to be slaughtered. If the situation is what you describe, then at minimum we shouldn't be meat on the chopping block. That's not my style. So I intend to form as many alliances as possible and unite all the ability users to negotiate with the mastermind."
"An alliance? Doesn't sound like you. Afraid of losing?"
"We're given abilities, forced into a deathmatch, and even the victor might just be assigned to some high-risk mission they know nothing about. What meaning is there in such a hollow victory? This is cricket fighting—they throw two strangers into a pit to maul each other while they watch for their own amusement. I refuse that. I at least want to lunge out of the pit and take a bite, even if it's just one bite."
"Then... good luck?" The prince seemed ready to hang up, bidding farewell to his old friend.
"Keep an eye on a kid named Axel Zhou. Help me get that item to him quietly if anything happens to me... you know." Warren's voice suddenly dipped, as if delivering a last will.
"You... you won't lose. My friend, he's just a kid who doesn't know anything. How could you... don't think like that."