You’re Telling Me This Is a Slice-of-Life?

Set the battlefield, engage in phases.

Yuuki sprinted down the corridor, a bulletproof vest snug against his body. With the intelligence advantage he had established earlier, the layout of the building was mapped out in his mind.

He listened to the approaching footsteps while calmly strategizing.

The enemy descending from the rooftop wouldn’t be numerous. The complex structure of the building would naturally split them into small squads. That meant he could leverage his reinforcement magic to engage in brief, close-quarters combat.

His skills weren’t fully developed—he wasn’t some teacher who is capable of taking on heroic spirits with nothing but flesh and bone. But in a labyrinthine environment like this, facing elite soldiers was well within his capabilities.

(TL: Fate/SN reference Kuzuki Souichirou)

[This is the power of the extraordinary!]

Yuuki’s lips curled into a grin—one that was sharp, almost menacing. The sheer exhilaration of wielding supernatural power surged through him, heightening his bloodlust.

Right side—four targets.

He caught the sound of combat boots striking the floor. With a slight lift of his toes, he moved as silently as a cat, twisting his wrist mid-run to flick a cement bag from the corner. Then, with a quick sidestep, he ducked into a nearby room.

Ratatatat!

As the cement bag sailed through the air, the four SWAT officers immediately halted, raising their guns and shredding it to dust mid-flight. A cloud of fine gray powder exploded into the corridor, momentarily obscuring their vision.

If the target showed even a sliver of his silhouette, they were ready to turn him into a bullet-riddled corpse. But just a second later, the squad leader at the front heard a muffled thud behind him—an unsettling sound that made his instincts scream.

He whipped his head around just in time to see a long blade impale the last man in their formation, pinning him to the wall. The soldier convulsed, blood spraying from his throat.

And then—a steady hand gripped the hilt of the embedded sword.

“Turn around! He’s behind—”

Before the rest of the team could react, Yuuki had already moved. Emerging from the side room, he unsheathed his weapon in a fluid motion, ducked under a turning gun barrel, and slashed the reversed blade across the throat of the nearest officer.

Thud.

A head tumbled from its shoulders. Yuuki caught the falling corpse by the chest, using it as a makeshift shield against the incoming hail of bullets. The impact of rounds striking the vest’s plating reverberated through his arms.

Sliding his left hand under the dead man’s armpit, he drew a pistol.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The corridor was still thick with dust—he didn’t need to aim. He simply pulled the trigger.

The 9mm rounds weren’t powerful enough to penetrate body armor, but they were enough to send the remaining two enemies sprawling backward.

And once they hit the ground, they weren’t getting back up.

Without hesitation, Yuuki flung the corpse aside, lunged forward, and dragged his blade across the throat of the third man. Then, dropping to his knees, he slammed the last soldier onto his back, pressing the gun to his chest with one hand while the other drove the sword through his skull.

Huff… Huff…

Yuuki stared down at the lifeless body beneath him, its wide-open eyes still frozen in shock. A blood-soaked blade jutted from the soldier’s forehead.

Unlike the monsters in the old castle, these enemies were deceptively human. But there was no time for questions like ‘Am I really killing people?’

The rhythmic pounding of boots filled the air again. Yuuki glanced at his watch—he could feel his reinforcement beginning to unravel.

“9:48 AM. I’ve got five minutes left. This is the limit.”

Mastered-level reinforcement magic was nowhere near enough. Full-power output like this couldn’t be sustained for long. Without supernatural abilities, no matter how complex the terrain, the world would always return to one fundamental truth:

Bullets are faster than blades.

And to make things worse, the gunfire outside was dwindling. He didn’t need to ask—he already knew that bastard Li Dan had found some way to slip out of the firefight. His escape wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that now, every enemy’s attention was locked onto the building.

“Good thing I picked a favorable battlefield. Good thing I never relied on you in the first place.”

As fresh blood splattered onto the floor, Yuuki yanked his blade free and snatched a flashbang from a corpse’s belt. He pulled the pin and flung it down the corridor.

A SWAT search team of over a dozen officers was creeping along the wall, approaching the corner.

They barely had time to register the small, round object sailing toward them.

Boom!

A blinding flash swallowed their vision. Their ears rang with a piercing hum. And in that moment of disorientation, the sickening, muffled sounds of steel sinking into flesh rang out in succession.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Yuuki moved like a butcher in the dark, precise and ruthless. Every slash was a kill—skulls split open, chests pierced, throats slashed.

Five fell in quick succession.

Then, just as he paused to catch his breath, his gaze snapped toward the eastern stairwell—where a swarm of SWAT officers was charging up in force, laser sights painting the air like a constellation of red stars.

[Shit.]

Yuuki hurled himself backward, diving into the nearest room just as the gunfire erupted.

Ratatatatatat!

Bullets tore through the walls, sending splinters and dust flying.

Some of the stunned officers in the corridor barely had time to stand before they were gunned down by their own squad’s crossfire.

Still just as insane, with no regard for their comrades’ lives. Yuuki crawled back a few steps, unable to peek out under the suppressive fire. Pressing a hand against the ground, he could feel the floorboards trembling slightly.

There was no telling how many were flooding the tenth floor. The thundering whup-whup-whup of rotor blades filled the air—three helicopters circled the building, their spotlights piercing into the rooms.

The glare blinded him.

No hesitation—Yuuki rolled deeper into the room.

Ratatatat!

The choppers opened fire. Bullets stitched holes into the walls and floor, shattered debris stinging against his skin.

Only after reaching the far end of the room and finding cover did he take a breath—not that there was time to relax.

The precise, synchronized footsteps of heavily armed SWAT officers echoed from the hallway.

Like a death warrant, he didn’t even need to look to know that over a hundred armed SWAT officers were closing in in tactical formation. At the front, there would undoubtedly be heavy ballistic shields, while those in the back already had flashbangs clutched in their hands.

[Stay calm. This was still within expectations.]

He steadied his breathing, tilting his head slightly. “Hasaka, what’s the situation?”

Just like how radios evolved into tablets, after all this killing, the technology within this dungeon had subtly surpassed reality. That tablet could now display ally positions—something the U.S. had long dreamed of with its “Future Soldier” program, yet here it had been achieved so effortlessly.

In a dimly lit underground parking lot, Hasaka stared at the screen, lips dry, tension gripping his face. Rich guy, peering over her shoulder, was just as speechless.

The map was a sea of blue dots.

Nearly every enemy had funneled into Building A—some were still searching for Li Dan, but over 90% had swarmed onto the tenth floor.

Yuuki’s red dot was drowning in a tide of hostile markers.

“I can’t say exactly how many are near you, but just as you predicted, the eastern stairwell is the most congested. The western side has fewer, mostly those rappelling from the rooftop. Watch out—some are already scaling the outer walls.”

Because Li Dan had fired the first shot, the bulk of reinforcements had entered from the east. Naturally, the closest stairwell was also the most populated.

“They look human, but they aren’t really human.” Yuuki chuckled.

Back when he was playing Need for Speed through the city, he’d already noticed—their behaviors were governed by instinct.

Just like sharks drawn to the scent of blood.

Tactical maneuvers, gun handling, even technological upgrades couldn’t mask their fundamental nature. They weren’t so different from the castle-dwelling monsters that stacked corpses into ladders.

“Got it.” Yuuki cut the call and switched channels. “Senpai, is it done?”

“It’s done! Now get the hell out of there!”

Heavy breathing. Sakurajima Mai was clearly running for her life. But the radio remained silent.

Her heart clenched.

She had already escaped Building A, turning back to witness a hellish sight—

The crimson moon flickered in and out of sight. On the east side of the abandoned building, police lights flashed, helicopters circled overhead, and the glow of countless flashlights shone from within.

The building stood like a bonfire in the night, drawing in moths by the swarm.

How—how was he supposed to escape this?

Faced with a scene straight out of a blockbuster film, Sakurajima Mai had no idea what to do. All she could do was move mechanically, dragging the cable as she hurried toward Building B.

It was an absurd sight—if this were Earth, it would have made front-page news.

Yuuki leaned against the wall, listening to the flood of footsteps. He didn’t blink as he checked his watch.

9:50 PM. Two minutes left on his reinforcement magic.

Lowering his hand, he turned his gaze to the corridor outside, where dozens of bags of cement and lime were piled up.

Click.

Yuuki flicked off the safety on his rifle, gripping a defensive grenade in his palm. He took a slow breath.

His innate trait was of little use in this situation—he had only one last card to play.

“Then I’ll use it!!”

The moment several flashbangs were tossed into the room, he flung the defensive grenade out as well, then leaped backward at a speed beyond human limits.

Boom! Boom!

Explosions erupted on both sides. Yuuki had already ducked into a corner, so all he got was a ringing headache. But the SWAT officers in the open corridor weren’t so lucky—many were knocked flat on the spot.

Some were wounded, some killed. But those behind them didn’t care, stepping over the fallen as they surged forward. The explosion blasted apart the cement bags, filling the air with thick dust, making it impossible to see anything.

“Advance!”

“Target is in the left-side room!”

“Suppressive fire!”

Yuuki didn’t look back as he sprinted ahead, slipping through an unfinished hole in the wall into the next room just as bullets pinged off the floor behind him.

“Cease fire! After him!”

The gunfire stopped as the pursuers realized he hadn’t returned to the corridor. They rushed forward, high-powered flashlights sweeping every doorway.

The thick dust slowed the advance from the east, but the western flank was closing in fast.

Yuuki had no time to wipe the sweat from his brow. He slipped through another room, then suddenly pressed himself against the wall. Footsteps approached from both sides, and outside, someone was rappelling down the exterior wall.

One minute, fifteen seconds.

His breathing and heartbeat steadied as he clenched a blade between his teeth and drew an axe from his back. He counted to three, then spun into the hallway.

Thick dust swirled in the air. A SWAT officer in black tactical gear emerged from the haze—only his eyes visible. He barely had time to raise his gun before the gleaming axe blade came down.

Crunch.

The Axe blade sank into his skull. He let out a bloodcurdling scream—then black branches burst from the wound, sprouting through his head.

Item: Frontal Lobe Fragment.

Just like in the old castle, the petals fed on blood, growing wildly. Razor-sharp, they shredded the men behind him, forcing the tactical squad advancing down the hallway to an abrupt halt.

One minute left.

Yuuki didn’t stop to admire his handiwork. He yanked the axe free and bolted. Two seconds later, gunfire erupted, shredding the petals, and someone, ignoring their comrades, hurled a grenade.

Boom! Boom!

The hallway trembled. The floor felt like it could collapse at any moment. Yuuki staggered as bullets slammed into his bulletproof vest, shoving him forward.

He couldn’t stop—he mustn’t stop.

He kept pushing himself, hypnotizing his own mind as he spotted shadowy figures ahead in the dust. Without hesitation, he raised his rifle.

Ratatatatata.

No need to aim—held under his arm, the rifle spat fire. Some enemies fell, others ducked behind cover, one reached to throw a grenade.

Thirty rounds emptied in seconds. Yuuki didn’t stop—he tossed the empty gun away and opened his mouth.

Forty-five seconds.

His blade fell into his grasp, and he moved even faster. Spotting something rolling toward him down the corridor, he kicked it back.

BOOM——

The grenade detonated in the midst of the enemy ranks. Screams rang out as shrapnel tore through them. The fireball hadn’t even died down before his blade struck.

No one who blocked him would live!

One slash—a head flew. A knee strike—sent another flying. He leaped off the wall, rebounding just before the barrels could track him.

Swish.

Blood and shattered weaponry filled the air. Yuuki’s head throbbed with pain, but his rampage continued—his blade slicing man and gun in half as one.

Thoughts froze in the agony of his headache. He didn’t even bother finishing off the wounded. All that mattered was cutting down anything in his way and using their corpses as shields.

His sword impaled two men, running them through like skewered meat. As he wrenched it free, he twisted his body, hurling the two corpses behind him to block the incoming bullets.

Thirty seconds.

No more enemies ahead. The gunfire behind him reached a fever pitch—hundreds of rounds tearing into the makeshift barricade of flesh.

Yuuki didn’t care. He couldn’t care. He saw the empty stairwell ahead and leaped.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Bullets sparked against the stairwell walls. What remained of the two bodies was shredded by the onslaught. But gravity yanked Yuuki down—out of the kill zone.

As he fell, he drove his sword into the wall, carving a deep gouge. The mutated weapon groaned under the strain, warping—but it slowed his descent just enough.

Thud.

He crashed onto the first floor. Even with a mattress breaking his fall, he was completely dazed. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself up. The noise had already alerted the enemies rushing into the building—they were closing in fast.

Fifteen seconds.

No time to hesitate. Not even a glance—hesitation was death. He burst into a full sprint, dashing through the corridor, hurtling toward the west side. Just before the pursuers opened fire, he flung himself through a window.

The pale-red moonlight was clearer than ever. No more floors to shield him—above, the helicopter closed in, its searchlight sweeping for him. But before it could lock on, Yuuki had already sprinted dozens of meters, bolting toward a darkened stairwell.

Behind him, countless muzzles lined up on his back. A sniper chambered a round. The helicopter’s spotlight bathed him in brilliance, turning him into the brightest star in the night sky.

Five seconds. Ten meters.

Yuuki locked eyes on the entrance to the underground parking lot. He pressed the radio on his chest.

“Mai—detonate!!!”