"This is the familiar summoning circle I obtained after fighting the Demon King with the Tyrant's Eye of the Wicked Lord. Of course, I successfully summon a familiar! Don't you believe me, Thunder Hammer User?"

  The girl called "Thunder Hammer User" was Sanae Dekomori.

  Upon hearing Rikka decration, Sanae immediately shook her head in denial.

  "Of course not. As the first servant of the Eye of the Wicked Lord, I naturally have great trust in you!"

  "Very good!" Rikka nodded with satisfa, clearly pleased.

  The two began studying the blueprint in their hands more carefully. In truth, this was just a strange drawing that Rikka had found by ce. She liked the design, thinking it matched her "ibyou" persona, so she brought it back. The idea of summoning a familiar was just aension of her fantasy.

  "That..." After a while, Sanae hesitated before asking, "How do we summon a familiar?"

  She couldn't just yell at a piece of paper, right?

  Sanae's question made Rikka pause and think deeply. She pced her hand on her , trying to e up with an answer. After a dramatient, she snapped her fingers.

  "Si's a familiar boo me, naturally I'll summon it with my blood!"

  "What?! You need blood for the summoning?" Sanae excimed in shock, but the atmosphere was already too intense for her to back out now.

  Rikka produced a needle from somewhere. Despite her earlier bravado, the thought of prig herself made her nervous. After all, even with her "ibyou" delusions, she was still just a high school girl.

  "Let's do it together!" Rikka quickly turo Sanae, holding out another needle.

  Sanae, visibly frightened, accepted the needle with trembling hands. "O-Okay, okay!"

  After what felt like ay of hesitation, the two girls finally pricked their fingers, produg a couple of drops of blood that fell onto the drawing.

  At first, nothing happened. After all, it was just a harmless delusion. But before Rikka could dismiss the whole thing as a failure, something ued occurred.

  "Buzz!"

  The red lines on the blueprint, which had been pletely still until now, began to glow faintly. To the girls' horror, a terrifying, twisted creature slowly crawled out from the ter of the design.

  "What… what is that?" Saammered, bag away, her body trembling untrolbly. Rikka, though frightened as well, mustered her ce and shouted at the creature.

  "Since I summoned you, take me to the Invisible Boundary!"

  Rikka's "ibyou" persona was born after the suddeh of her father. Uo accept the reality of his passing, she vinced herself that he had entered an invisible boundary, a hidden realm. For her, all her fantasies were attempts to find a way to reach her father.

  Could it be? Could I finally be close to succeeding?

  "Open the passage to the Invisible Boundary for me!" she anded.

  But the creature said nothing. Instead, it stared at Rikka and Sah a menag grin that slowly spread across its grotesque face.

  "Bang!"

  Suddenly, the door to the club room was kicked open with force.

  "I don't know about opening the Invisible Boundary, but you two sure are brave!" Ryuji stepped into the room, his eyes log onto the two girls and the strange creature before them.

  Rikka and Sauro face him, pletely bewildered by the sudden interruption. They hadn't fully grasped the gravity of the situatio.

  "Who are you?" they asked in unison, still not prehending the dahey were in.

  Ryuji g the twisted creature before them. Miko and Yukino, who had followed him, were frozen in fear, their faces pale. Even though they had entered terrifying creatures before, the sight of this new moill filled them with dread.

  "What is this?" Miko whispered, her voice trembling.

  "It's so terrifying," Yukino added, barely able to keep her posure.

  "It's not an ordinary spirit or curse," Ryuji mused as he began walking toward the creature. "If regur people see it, it must be something special. Either a uype of curse or perhaps an urban legend given form."

  As he passed by Rikka and Sanae, he gently patted their shoulders.

  "From the perspective of ordinary people, you two are quite brave," he said with a smirk. In a way, their "ibyou" tendencies had prevehem from being pletely paralyzed with fear. For that, Ryuji gave them some credit. At least they weren't losing their minds.

  As he prepared to deal with the creature, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

  "Successfully tacted a target: Rikka Takanashi!

  A goldery has been triggered. Do you want to load it?"

  "Successfully tacted a target: Sanae Dekomori!

  A goldery has been triggered. Do you want to load it?"

  Ryuji smiled. Two golderies in a row? Not bad.

  He po deal with the situation before reviewing the ries, but then the system chimed in again.

  "Host has triggered more than ten golderies. You are awarded one ce to draw a goldery!"

  Iing,Ryuji thought. He hadn't expected to unlock a special reward fering ten golderies. I wonder if this will happen again ter on for other entries.

  "Ryuji!"

  Miko and Yukino cried out suddenly, their voices filled with .

  The monster, which had been eerily silent until now, luoward Ryuji with frightening speed.

  Pah!

  Ryuji raised his hand, catg the creature's attack effortlessly, as if swatting away an i.

  "Wow!" Rikka and Sanae gasped in unison, their fear momentarily repced by awe.

  The two girls stared at Ryuji with wide eyes, admiration shining through their earlier terror. Rikka, ever in character, suddenly excimed, "Are you my Guardian Knight?"