"Psychologist Carl Carl's theory of archetypes suggests that there are common traces found in the collective unconscious and mythological motifs of humanity…"

The warm breeze of April made the students in the classroom drowsy, but Leo was intently watching the teacher, who was casually discussing the topic, with a look of earnest attention.

In reality, his focus was slightly above the teacher's head, where slight signs of soil erosion were apparent.

Floating there was a line of white text, strikingly visible against the backdrop of the blackboard.

[The Chinese literature teacher who will be completely bald in two to three years]

"Perhaps the teacher is unaware of the grim future awaiting him… No, what's most important now is to figure out what's going on with these texts."

Until two weeks ago, Leo was just a regular high school freshman.

If anything about him was out of the ordinary, it was that, due to his father's job, he had spent the last three years of elementary school and all of his middle school years abroad.

But just before the start of the school year, he began to notice various texts appearing over the heads of people within his line of sight.

A man hurrying down the street with a briefcase had [Office Worker] and [Corporate Slave] floating above his head, while the aunts chatting and laughing with their grocery baskets were labeled [Housewives], and there were [High School Students] sitting and chatting in an open-air café, among others.

At first glance, it seemed like an ID display from a game based on occupation, but Leo also saw [Idol Fan] above a cashier's head while queuing at a convenience store, which clearly had nothing to do with profession.

He had even looked in the mirror at himself but saw no text emerging.

Initially, Leo thought he was experiencing visual hallucinations, but the texts were too clear to be illusions.

Especially after he had a few close interactions with the convenience store cashier and confirmed the person was indeed an avid idol fan, Leo began to believe this might indeed be a form of superpower.

Superpowers don't necessarily mean flying or teleporting. The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by authors, could deduce a stranger's occupation in an instant, a process that was even completed unconsciously, suggesting Leo might possess a similar ability.

For instance, he might have once seen the cashier wearing fan merchandise while out shopping, leaving an impression in his subconscious.

The ability to subconsciously label people with tags that match their essence!

What an eye for stereotypes.

In any case, at this time, Leo still believed this ability could be logically explained.

But then, something even more outrageous happened.

He shifted his gaze from the teacher, who was still going on about archetype theory, and turned to look at his desk mate.

[Active Duty Magical Girl~(^_)☆].

The font was pink and decorative, ending with an inexplicable emoticon.

The girl at the neighboring desk was doodling in her textbook. She seemed to notice Leo's gaze, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a slightly embarrassed smile.

She probably thought Leo was reminding her to pay attention in class.

When the class had introduced themselves at the beginning of the school year, Leo learned that the girl's name was Xingchuan Aoi, with a beautiful appearance and medium-length black hair. He wouldn't have been surprised if her label read [Beautiful High School Girl].

But it was specifically Magical Girl.

And the oddities in this class didn't stop there.

He looked at the girl sitting two seats in front of him, with shoulder-length hair, who was sound asleep.

[Vampire].

The boy in the second-to-last row by the window.

[Romantic Comedy Protagonist].

The girl in the front right, fashionable with dyed blonde hair.

[Demi-Human (In Disguise)].

And there were others like [Thief], [Spirit Medium], [Love Comedy Loser], among various peculiar titles.

The rest had more ordinary labels like [Classmate A], [Classmate B].

Well, if all of this were true, Leo indeed felt fortunate to be in the same classroom with such a group of hidden dragons and phoenixes.

Leo was in a state of semi-belief, but it wasn't appropriate for him to directly confirm others' identities.

He couldn't just suddenly say to his desk mate, "You wouldn't want your magical girl activities to be exposed, right?"

"…The dragon-slaying hero, the exorcising fangshi, these images are embedded in the cultural structures and mythologies around the world… Alright, that's it for today's lesson."

The bell signaling the end of the last class of the day rang, marking the end of the school day.

Most of the new freshmen hadn't joined any clubs yet, so after school, they either packed up to go home or gathered in small groups to chat.

Xingchuan Aoi snapped her textbook shut and hurried out of the classroom, thwarting Leo's plan to strike up a conversation to probe further.

"Leo, have you decided on a club to join? By the way, I'm definitely joining the soccer club. Want to come and sweat it out together?"

The boy at the desk in front of him turned around, sitting backwards in his chair to chat. He was well-built, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a strange hairstyle that somewhat resembled a pompadour.

Floating above his forehead was [Friends are Soccer!], a subtly humorous bold text that had already transcended the form of nouns.

His name was Mizushima Tsubasa, and due to their desk arrangement, they had quickly become familiar with each other.

"I haven't decided yet, but it probably won't be the soccer club."

"Don't say that, we can burn our passion together, overcome strong enemies, dominate the national high school soccer league, and then it's on to the World Cup!"

"That's quite a leap."

After chatting for a bit, Mizushima suddenly said, "But we should head home early today, especially since there has been a murder. We need to be cautious."

Attracted by the unusual word, Leo couldn't help but ask, "What murder?"

"Haven't you seen the news? It was reported the morning before yesterday. A man's body was found in Kama Valley City next door. The victim is said to be about our age, and the death was very gruesome, with the internal organs all removed."

I've been troubled by reading text lately and haven't paid much attention to external information. But since it happened in the city next door, it probably wouldn't affect me.

If I encounter the murderer, maybe I could identify him by the text above his head and bring him to justice.

But to believe in the mystical text means that I'm indeed in a class full of strange people.

Is Mizukawa-san really a magical girl?

After saying goodbye to Mizushima, Leo, who was on his way home from school, remembered he forgot to take a textbook and turned back to the school.

When he got near the teaching building, he suddenly realized something was off.

Even though school had been out for a while, there should still be students involved in club activities and teachers who hadn't left yet.

But it was too quiet around. This feeling was like being in a stage play's set, seemingly realistic on the surface, but once you notice the artificiality, the dissonance overwhelms you like a flood.

The moment he felt this sense of unreality, the scenery outside changed.

He was still in front of the teaching building, but the sky turned blood red, extending to the ground, forming a dome over the campus.

Then, as if black ink was poured into clear water, monstrous creatures suddenly appeared in the air.

Monsters like a giant eyeball with bat wings, monsters made of human and animal limbs, monsters waving tentacles with huge mouths.

Just looking directly at them was enough to cause a huge shock to the human psyche, but in Leo's eyes, although they were different in shape, the same text floated above their bodies.

Bright red [Negative Realm Monsters].

The fear instinctively prompted him to escape from these monsters, but the emerging demons had already blocked the way forward.

He was forced to run into the teaching building, hoping to survive a bit longer.

Strangely, these monsters did not chase after him to devour him alive as he imagined, but seemed uninterested in him and moved toward the right side of the teaching building.

Now, running out might not encounter the monsters, but the red dome still covered the school, and the exit might be blocked.

Weighing his options, Leo calmed his rapid breathing due to nervousness and decided to stay in the teaching building to observe the monsters' movements.

So, he crouched in front of a window on the right side of the first floor of the teaching building, cautiously peeking out.

He saw a girl beating the monsters on the playground.

She wore a white coat with black edges at the cuffs and hem, wrapped in gorgeous ribbons, a light purple wheel rut dress, exposing slender legs, a sky-blue shawl draped in front, black hair tied with a red butterfly-shaped hairband.

Most importantly, she had a pink, cloud-shaped magical girl icon above her head [Active Magical Girl~(^_)☆].

That's definitely Mizukawa-san!

She is a genuine magical girl!

Although the style was a bit off: instead of a magic wand, she held a weapon taller than a human, resembling a double-edged axe with a broad blade as wide as a shield, connected by a diamond-shaped metal piece with patterns on its surface, with a barrel-like opening at the end.

At this moment, the weapon, like a toy, was wielded by the petite girl, creating a spray of blood and flesh on the playground, with each hit on the monsters sounding like the whistling of heavy objects through the air and the moaning of deformed flesh.

Soon, her moving speed was too fast for Leo to catch with the naked eye, only seeing the terrifying monsters being smashed and crushed like dolls.

"Phew, although it's shocking, it seems Mizukawa-san can handle these monsters."

"Indeed shocking, not sure who the real monster is now."

Just as Leo breathed a sigh of relief, he was startled by a voice from behind and quickly

In front of him was a short-haired girl wearing glasses, who curiously asked, "Are you also a student who wandered into this place by mistake?"

Leo's face stiffened, and he tried to speak in a calm tone, "Yeah, I didn't expect others to be drawn in here too. I see that the monsters have gone to the playground, and someone is dealing with them, so how about we try to leave the school?"

Before he could finish speaking, he had already started walking out.

As he passed by the girl, his left hand was grabbed.

She said urgently, "No, there might still be monsters outside. It's better to stay inside the teaching building for now."

Leo tried to shake off her hand, "I think monsters might appear inside the teaching building as well."

But he couldn't break free. The strength from her hand was surprisingly strong and kept tightening.

He sighed, turned around, and swung a right punch towards the glasses of the short-haired girl.

The next moment, he was thrown out, crashing heavily onto the concrete floor.

His weight, by the standards of a high school boy, wasn't considered heavy, but it definitely wasn't something that an ordinary female peer could throw.

"Cough cough... Fellow student, actually I've practiced martial arts since I was young, that was just an instinctual reaction because my hand was grabbed, can we make peace?"

This extraordinary glasses-wearing girl took off her glasses, which were half broken, and rubbed her right eye with some distress, "Violence is not good, you know. But I am really curious, how did you see through me?"

Her figure gradually faded away with her words, eventually disappearing into thin air completely.

"Guess?" Leo said, looking at the line of text still floating in mid-air.

[Hidden Witch (Attack count: 1/2)]

The words in the parentheses appeared after he threw a punch, and although he was curious about what would happen if he struck again, he suppressed the urge and started to run.

Hidden Witch is the name of a monster that is rumored in the western regions of a land called Sakura Island.

Also known as the Child Snatcher, it is said to lurk in alley corners or dead angles in houses, waiting to kidnap children who come by and then extract their oil.

However, the so-called "lurking in dead angles" might be a misunderstanding.

The reason the Hidden Witch is hard to find could be that it actually has the ability to become invisible.

After confirming Mizukawa-san's identity, Leo had completely believed in the truth of the text.

The chase didn't hold much suspense. Leo's first choice was to run out of the teaching building, as the monster seemed to be somewhat wary of the active magical girl.

Unfortunately, the difference in their physical abilities was too great. The Hidden Witch's physical fitness was likely superior to humans, easily catching up to Leo and throwing him against a wall.

It didn't seem in a hurry to kill him but played a game of cat and mouse, not letting him escape the teaching building and forcing him to hide in classrooms.

He also tried calling for help, but couldn't summon the magical girl, only earning the Hidden Witch's ruthless beating.

Now, Leo was hiding in a classroom for first-year students, gasping for breath.

The monster was standing outside the classroom window, deliberately saying to itself, "Ah, I can't find it, my dinner, where did you run off to?"

Then it also made a series of footsteps sounds.

But Leo could clearly see, the line [Hidden Witch (Attack count: 1/2)] was still floating outside the window, probably wanting to continue toying with its prey.

It didn't know that it could be identified through "nicknames".

When he punched it, it rubbed its right eye.

If it wasn't just pretending, then physical attacks might actually be effective on it—actually, judging by the magical girl who was unbeatable on the playground, this monster's physical abilities weren't too outrageous.

Leo picked up a chair, pretending to be cautious, approached the window as if to check if the monster had really left.

Then he suddenly swung the chair with all his strength towards the area below the text.

He had to at least try what would happen after fulfilling the hit count mentioned in the parentheses!

With the sound of breaking glass, Leo heard the collision of flesh and stainless steel and the pain expressed in the tone of the glasses girl.

He didn't check the outcome but directly ran out of the classroom.

But he hadn't run far when a force much greater than before grabbed him and threw him back into the classroom through another window that wasn't broken.

Glass shards scattered everywhere, and Leo felt warm liquid flowing from his head and body, with severe pain in his back, likely having broken a few bones.

He struggled to sit up, picking up a piece of glass of a suitable size as a last desperate effort.

"You can actually see through my invisibility?"

The Hidden Witch revealed herself, speaking in an angry tone for the first time.

"Never mind how you did it, you're about to become my food anyway."

She walked towards Leo: "After this meal, I should return to Kama Valley. This city is truly cursed."

Kama Valley... So, was the murder Mizushima mentioned also her doing? Am I about to be eaten by this kind of monster?

The desire to survive, mixed with a disgust for cannibals, burned his brain like flames, and with the added burden of severe injuries, Leo felt himself becoming dizzy and saw twisted text appearing before him.

[Hidden Witch (Attack count: 2/2)]

[Story Element Extraction: You encountered an unclean entity at the witching hour and resisted.]

[Imagery Sublimation]

He felt numerous images crashing into his mind: a Taoist priest sticking yellow paper on a zombie's forehead, a man holding a cross driving away demons possessing ordinary people, a woman dressed as a shrine maiden dancing to expel evil, a white-haired old man carrying two swords slaying alien monsters...

[Archetype Extraction - Exorcist, default loaded]

The Hidden Witch stopped in her tracks, suddenly feeling a repulsive, wary aura emanating from the dying prey in front of her.

Leo raised the piece of glass in his hand, reflecting his own face, but above his head, instead of the invisible text as before, there emerged a line of text flickering like flames, emitting a red glow under the light cast into the classroom by the blood-red sky:

[Exorcist (Completion 3%)]