Volume 6, Chapter 3: Turn@Hishigami Mai & Illness Magic User Part 10-15

This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu

Part 10 (Illness Magic User)

“Okay, found that robot brake signal. Looks like they’re abusing the cellphone tower antennae. They’ve added a command to pick up some extra signals around town and send them to a secret server. That lets me search for any car in Bozen City, not just Sachi-chan’s prisoner transport vehicle. Wow! Why is the mayor’s first secretary’s car stopped on the side of the road right now? Is he enjoying some adulterous car sex? He probably doesn’t have anything better to do while the big boss is meeting with the city council.”

“Get to the point.”

“Including decoys, there are three prisoner transport vehicles. The real one is traveling along the mountain pass.”

“The search system only tells you the type of vehicle and their location, not what’s inside.”

“I’m using a different method to pick up camera footage from near the police station. The morons let the target onboard in full view of those cameras. That’s why you need to build your parking lot underground.”

Now that I had that information, I had no more need for her. I hung up and started for the destination. There was no law forbidding a human from travelling at 400 kph on foot, so I pushed myself pretty hard.

I found a small road losing out to the dense trees and a guardrail that had turned green more to corrosion than just rust. This was one of the poorly maintained national roads I would sometimes hear about. It would have been difficult for two light vehicles to pass each other here.

And along one hairpin curve, the guardrail was badly broken.

I peered down and saw a prisoner transport vehicle on the rocky area several meters below.

Had the Byouki arrived ahead of me?

I jumped down to the rocky area and approached the vehicle that had not just fallen on its side but was stuck between two large rocks. First, I used my Illness Magic to corrode the reinforced windshield that had turned pure white from all the cracks. After dragging the driver out, I circled to the back and destroyed the steel door as well. Including the driver, there were three police officers inside. Their uniforms were all soaked red with blood.

But that was all. There was no sign of Ranzono Sachi who should have been restrained inside.

“…Uuh…”

They were just barely breathing. I wanted to ask about Ranzono Sachi, but I couldn’t treat them roughly with their injuries. As I removed all germs from the wounds and used their neckties to stop the blood, a thought came to me.

What kind of injuries were these?

I had initially thought the fall from the road had done it, but I was wrong. Their necks and chests had been torn into in one centimeter wide bands. A blunt injury would not cause that. They had been ripped and torn almost to the throat.

“Watch…”

A groaning young police officer tried to tell me something while looking me in the eye.

I brought my face close to hear his fading voice.

“Watch…out. Behind you!!”

I immediately turned around, but it was too late.

Ranzono Sachi charged toward me like a carnivorous beast and leaped toward my windpipe.

Fresh blood sprayed out.

I had immediately sacrificed my right arm. I heard an unusual tearing sound while I used a charm and Illness Magic to shut down the pain. I swung my arm and her small form flew like a ball, but she skillfully flipped around in midair, regained her balance, and carefully landed on the unstable mountain rocks.

I heard a growl that shook the blood gathered deep in her throat.

She had to have originally been a simple young girl.

She looked quite different from the picture in the documents I had seen, but even children wore makeup these days. If I peeled it all away, I would probably find the face I had seen.

But…

Even that had been blotted out by an animalistic expression.

The girl lowered her hips and let her arms dangle down like a predator crawling on all fours.

Had Ranzono Sachi done this?

It did make sense. The police officers’ injuries had looked like they were torn with human fingernails.

Then had the vehicle crashed because she had gone on a rampage inside? I could see she had broken her handcuffs, despite her slender frame. The bizarre silver bracelets shined dully on her wrists.

That was when the answer hit me.

“The Byouki.”

A Byouki was a cat Youkai from the continent that was created in a Kodoku ritual, a powerful curse made by placing countless poisonous insects in a single jar and having them kill each other. Its primary power was to apply a variety of diseases to whoever it possessed.

Or it drove them insane and made them kill indiscriminately.

The term “Toori-Ma” was used to describe normal criminals in modern times, but it originally referred to a paranormal phenomenon. A Toori-Ma was believed to possess people and cause them to commit unthinkable crimes.

Also, the Byouki user belonged to Shinshou Hitsubatsu, an organization that dealt with criminals who ended up not being convicted of their original crime because of the Youkai involvement.

“So that’s it.”

They would possess the criminal and have them commit another crime. They would send the criminal back to court until they finally received the death penalty. They were causing more crimes to punish criminals and they were using the very Youkai that made punishment so difficult, but it was obvious that they viewed themselves as an exception. They would probably claim they were making a noble sacrifice while letting civilians die at the hands of their Toori-Ma.

So what was I to do?

Ranzono Sachi was not the sort of Toori-Ma talked about in tabloids. Her power and desire to destroy had been amplified by a paranormal being known as a Byouki. The fact that her appearance and physical strength did not match was obvious enough from the cruel gashes in the police officers and the handcuffs broken with her bare hands.

I could of course settle this by sending out my Illness Magic.

However, I had no guarantee that her young body could withstand any further burden. I was not aware of any clinical studies to determine what happened to the human body when both a Byouki and Illness Magic were placed inside it.

That meant I could try holding back.

But that only worked if I was alone. I glanced at the barely-breathing police officers lying on the ground. Could I really hold back while also covering for all of them?

They were on the verge of death, but they were not dead yet.

Ranzono Sachi could still escape this without becoming a murderer. …Even if this would be the end of her short life.

“What will you do?”

She only growled back at me.

I narrowed my eyes and decided to question her as much as I could.

“How do you want this to end?”

I did not get a second chance.

The beast approached with a tremendous noise. She held her bloody claws and fangs at the ready, so her hostility was clear. My top priority was dealing with the Byouki user, crushing Shinshou Hitsubatsu, and removing this thorn in Hyakki Yakou’s side. Ranzono Sachi herself was only a detour.

Part of me did wonder if that was the right way to think about this.

And that hesitation would allow Ranzono Sachi’s crimes to continue and sully her soul even further.

So I made up my mind, pulled out a charm, and prepared to release the Illness Magic.

But before I could, the mountain split open as an Oomukade charged out and acted as a shield against Ranzono Sachi’s violence.

With a metallic sound, her claws were deflected backwards. I kept my Illness Magic on standby, narrowed my eyes, and asked a question.

“A centipede, huh? You were in that restaurant and on the bank with the courier, weren’t you? Your size was a fair bit different, though.”

“Will you leave Sachi to me?”

“Explain.”

“I checked around the area inside the earth. The actual user will be here soon. Defeating them is what you-…”

“No,” I cut in. “I wasn’t asking why I should leave. I want to know why you would put yourself in danger here.”

The Oomukade seemed to briefly hesitate but finally gave a clear answer.

“Sachi ended up like this because she committed a crime to protect me. She stepped out of line because I tried to protect her.”

“…”

“She is my friend, so I simply cannot allow this to be how it ends! And I made a promise with the others who stopped her crimes. I promised I would return Sachi to that place. I was hopeful that she would have a future with those people who accepted her!!”

“Then do as you wish,” I spat out.

I turned my back on Ranzono Sachi.

She was not my real enemy. I had someone else to deal with.

“I’ll deal with the insignificant Byouki. You can have the starring role this time.”

I jumped and leaped from the rocky area to the hairpin curve above and utilized my sense of smell. They were nearby and approaching. I glanced around, stopped my eyes on one point, and ran in that direction.

I left the poorly-maintained road and entered the dark, dark forest.

The users of Illness Magic and a Byouki faced each other in the corrosion and decomposition of nature.

I heard a giggling sound.

She looked thirteen or fourteen. She was not as slender as Ranzono Sachi who had been turned into a Toori-Ma, but she was still only a small girl. Her black hair was shoulder length and she had white skin with a healthy flush to it. However, she looked somehow sickly with an eyepatch over one eye and several bandages wrapped around her in places. She wore a short yellow China dress that had enough fabric removed to see her navel. On top of that, she wore a cat ear decoration and a blue jacket. She controlled a Youkai from the continent, so she was the barrier containing the paranormal creature. In other words, she was the jar used to create the Kodoku venom. The blue represented darkness and the yellow the warning color of a venomous insect. …No, she may not have been thinking too much about the symbolism. I couldn’t explain the long sock on just one leg or the comical bandages plastered all over the other leg.

“How cool.”

She sounded just like a little girl.

It was a pure and unconcerned comment like a child watching a superhero on TV.

“You really are cool. Ha ha. I’m not even being ironic, mister. Our industry is full of powers that break the rules, so it’s super cool that you can live there like some kind of samurai! I could never pull it off.”

“…”

“I’m hopeless. Completely hopeless. Everything about me is hopeless. I’m trying to do a good job and I have the best possible plan in my head, but it never works out. It all crumbles away in the end. So, y’see…”

She placed her slender index finger on her soft pink lips and laughed.

“Ha ha. So I can’t hold back here☆ I won’t be safe unless I kill you.”

A great roar burst out.

Dark shadows swept out in every direction from the Byouki user’s feet. They instantly swallowed up the entire surface of the ground, transforming the entire forest into her territory. The trees began to rustle like the mountain itself was talking about me behind my back.

“I hate when things get all bogged down, so I’ll explain everything from the get-go, mister.”

As the entire world throbbed and pulsed eerily, the Byouki user kept her sparkling eyes on me and opened her mouth.

“My Byouki is pretty smartly made. Simply put, even if I don’t manually set it up, it’ll find its own targets. It will search for whoever I consider my enemy and automatically produce the quantity and quality of Byouki needed to defeat them.”

With a sound like slurping mud, shadows, shadows, shadows, and more shadows rose up all around me. Masses of illness that looked just like the girl filled the world in no time at all. There were so many that numbers like one hundred or two hundred were useless.

“So it doesn’t matter how hard you work, mister. The cleverer you get, the more Byouki there will be and they’ll wear you down with their numbers. The Byouki will multiply endlessly until they’ve torn you to pieces with their long claws. Do you understand the rules now?”

“…”

I of course had no intention of sitting idly by and letting her kill me.

I scattered charms around. Inside the storm of paper of my own creation, I raised the index and middle fingers of my injured right hand and thrust them forward like I was holding a sword.

The Illness Magic gathered together like a storm and became a pitch black sword.

“Cursed Sword – Michizane.”

“Oh, c’mon. Didn’t I tell you getting serious would only create more Byouki?”

“Self-destruct. …Transform as a lesson to all disease.”

“?”

The Byouki user gave a puzzled frown when she saw the sword burst from within.

I continued regardless.

“Holy Sword – Tenjin. Cast aside your form as a tool of Sugawara’s vengeful spirit and release your divinity.”

Pure-white light surged out.

In the instant of its manifestation, it erased even the concept of sound.

A glowing sword erupted from my fingertips with double the previous force. This was a portion of the noble power that had begun as a vengeful spirit with a grudge against Kyoto and had eventually been worshipped into godhood. Just like a serum could be made from a toxin, I could transform my great knowledge of negative power into this positive power. This was the archenemy of illnesses like us.

This was not how it was meant to be used, so I could feel it tearing at me from within.

But I ignored that, aimed the tip of the blade, and stared straight at my enemy’s face.

“Ha… Ha ha☆”

“Here I go. Prepare yourself.”

“Wow! Wow, wow! How can you do things like that!? Illness users are supposed to be creepy, dirty people who live surrounded by scorn and disgust, so how can you transform that into such a refreshing lifestyle!? You’re amazing! You’re so mature!!”

The Byouki user rejoiced as if she were truly, truly impressed by something.

“But,” she added. “Didn’t I tell you? I’ll still wear you down with numbers.”

With an army of thousands…no, tens of thousands at her beck and call, the girl transformed from soldier to commander.

She claimed to be supplied with exactly the fighting force she needed. If that was true, there was no way for me to win. No matter how much strength I mustered, I was destined to fall to my knees here.

But that would only mean my defeat.

It would not mean Hyakki Yakou’s defeat. My defeat was sure to reveal the enemy’s system and provide a starting point toward defeating it. And if the Oomukade could bring Ranzono Sachi back to her senses, the girl would have a chance to disappear. As long as she did not rely on a vehicle, the search system using the robot brake system was useless.

Oh.

So even if I lose, I’ll still win.

“Ready to surrender?”

“I have no reason to. Not a single one.”

“Ha ha. Mister, you really are cool, so tell me your name. You’re making my womb throb, so I want to call your name at least once.”

My name.

That was an obvious request, but I almost laughed.

“I no longer have a flag to raise or a home to return to.”

I prepared my glowing sword of light as I answered.

So…

“You can call me a nameless soldier.”

That was all I said.

And immediately afterwards, Illness Magic and Byouki clashed head-on.

Part 11 (3rd person)

The unchanged Oomukade confronted the utterly changed Ranzono Sachi in the mountain rocks.

Words would no longer reach the girl. The slightest mistake would allow her to tear into the barely-breathing police officers and place the definitive crime of murder on her shoulders. But if he carelessly struck her slender form, he could easily kill her.

Legend had it the Oomukade’s shell was hard enough to deflect an attack from any weapon.

However, he could not rely on that either.

After all…

“Grr…grr…gwaaah!”

Each time the girl growled, drool flowed from her mouth like a starving animal.

The Byouki, a type of Toori-Ma, would possess people and reveal their violent side.

Ranzono Sachi had received the most suffering not from the changes to her outer appearance forced on her by Kasane_12 or by the personality-altering seminar meant to transform her into a genius girl. The greatest wound had been realizing no one knew who she really was.

And the Oomukade himself had rejected her criminal plan and tried to stop her.

The Oomukade believed he had been right in doing so, but she had to have wondered why he did not understand.

So…

The destructive desires forcibly dragged out of her had turned toward the Oomukade.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

“Sachi!!”

The girl’s speed completely outdid the Youkai’s.

Ranzono Sachi moved entirely outside his field of vision and approached from his blind spot. She charged at his long body and bit down into his repulsive body.

That was his one weakness.

According to legend, an Oomukade had been killed by an arrowhead with saliva on it, but the most primitive saliva-covered weapon was of course the human teeth.

No matter how large a centipede grew, it could not escape its position as a victim on the food chain.

The Oomukade heard a tremendous tearing sound as his outer shell was torn apart. A sticky sound followed and the non-red fluid characteristic of bugs poured out.

From the beginning, it had been impossible for him to attack Ranzono Sachi.

It was not an issue of strength. On a more fundamental level, it was simply impossible for him.

So he had been prepared for her to devour him like this.

But…

“Have you forgotten, Sachi?”

Even as he was consumed, he relaxed his entire body and spoke.

“The centipede became a Youkai for more than its many legs and disturbing appearance. It was believed to have a powerful enough venom to act as the catalyst for a curse. It was that collection of fear that created a Youkai like me.”

In other words…

“If you wish to eat me…cough…then eat as much as you want. But remember one thing: that venom will reach your body first of all, Sachi!!”

The short girl began convulsing. As if a switch had been thrown, she collapsed to the ground without putting up the slightest resistance. This was a neurotoxin. It swiftly sealed her movements without taking her life.

Afterwards, only her shadow stretched unnaturally out from her.

No, it was the Byouki that had possessed her in the form of a shadow.

“You are the version of Kodoku from the continent, aren’t you?”

“…”

The shadow did not move. It could no longer control the girl now that she was paralyzed and it could not move as a shadow alone. It needed to control something that cast a shadow in order to move.

“In other words, you are a Youkai created by sealing poisonous insects and dangerous beasts inside a jar and letting them kill each other. To put it another way, another poisonous insect or dangerous beast should be able to devour you.”

The Oomukade gathered all of his strength and snapped his jaws.

He would protect Ranzono Sachi. And to keep that vow, he had already offered up his own entrails.

“So let’s try this, why don’t we? Let’s see which one of us prevails and which one of us is consumed!!”

Part 12 (Illness Magic User)

I cut.

I cut and sliced and chopped.

I cut and sliced and chopped and severed and bisected.

The only sound was the constant one of my blade beheading my enemies. I had already cut down more than five hundred Byouki, but the user remained unfazed. She giggled and spun around on the spot. Something like black smoke erupted in every direction from her feet and double the number of enemies I had defeated appeared.

I was being worn down, I was being surrounded, and they were gradually closing in on me.

“Ha ha. This is just like a zombie movie, mister.”

An unnaturally impressed voice stabbed into my ears.

“That’s what makes this so amazing. Normally, you run away when zombies swarm you. You put your negative emotions on full display, shove everyone else out of the way, slam the door in their face, and lock it. So how can you keep acting like a samurai!? It’s amazing!! You have my respect!!”

She had said her praise was not ironic.

She had said she could not live this lifestyle.

The life she had lived had to have been a hopeless one. No matter how powerful she was – no, because of how powerful she was – she could not obtain anything she wanted and had been constantly rejected by everything around her. She had been treated like an infected corpse being carried to the incinerator. I could see that misguided life in my mind’s eye.

I pitied her, but the situation did not let me sympathize with her.

Working with Shinshou Hitsubatsu to kill Youkai-related criminals would not bring her life back on track. She had not targeted Ranzono Sachi because she wanted to help anyone. The Byouki was created by letting poisonous insects and dangerous beasts kill each other in a jar, so she had no pressing reason to attack Ranzono Sachi’s community that had gathered an Oomukade and Tsuchigumo in one place.

She had decided some other people were less important than her and wanted to believe she could prove her superiority by attacking them. Shinshou Hitsubatsu’s claimed to have a lofty goal, but they were essentially securing a target for bullying in order to create a place for themselves. They were no different from the horrible people who knew they would be targeted next, so they offered up someone even weaker so they could join the delinquent group themselves.

But this may have been the perfect ending for me.

I had betrayed my master, wandered in search of a place to die, and continued living an aimless life, so it would have been absurd for me to wish for a proper death. If I was to be killed, it would be by a horrible person, for no good reason, and at a meaningless time and place. That was the appropriate end for a fallen warrior.

Or so I had thought.

A moment later, a giant mass of metal fell toward the Byouki user.

“!?”

For the first time, she gave a look of surprise and swung her arms. A mass of blackness immediately wriggled upwards and tore apart the blunt object that would have crushed her.

Then she realized what it was.

“An aerial bomb!? But from where!?”

Both of us looked into the blue sky far overhead. A group of flying wing aircraft and some escort fighters flew leisurely above the clouds.

Then…

Is that…!?

My cellphone rang. I answered it while swinging Holy Sword – Tenjin in one hand and heard the Hishigami woman laughing.

“Ah hah hah!! Surprised, Illness Magic-chan? Hyakki Yakou’s young lady said it would be a shame to lose you, so she flew out here without thinking about the danger!! So are you still going to pretend to be a fallen warrior, hm!?”

“…!!”

It pissed me off to hear her telling me about Hyakki Yakou.

Still, this was a too much of an honor. There was simply nothing I could say.

“That’s also why the bomb had the fuse removed. But don’t worry. I’m supporting them from the surface using laser guidance. We won’t accidently drop one on your head, so keep at it.”

The Byouki user hesitantly looked my way.

She had looked impressed before, but…

“Amazing…”

Now she looked twice as impressed.

“My Byouki scans for a target or hostile element and automatically supplies the appropriate fighting force, so all I have to do is stand here.”

“But your scan has a range,” said the Hishigami woman. “It can’t reach ten thousand meters up in the air. …So Illness Magic-chan, the Byouki equation has fallen apart. You’d better live up to the young lady’s expectations.”

I once more stood before the Byouki user with my glowing sword in hand.

“Ha ha☆”

The enemy laughed.

It was a broken laugh with a somehow lonely look in the eyes.

“Amazing! You’re simply amazing!! You’re a disease, an illness, and an epidemic just like me… You’re so much like me, but you have so many friends!! And yet I…I couldn’t make a single one!!”

“Enough.”

I was no one special.

Just as Ranzono Sachi had the Oomukade, I had just happened to have Hyakki Yakou.

If this girl had had even one thing like that, she would not have ended up like this.

So…

“Once I settle all of this, you stand back up on your own two feet. I’ll be that special something for you.”

I raced through that world whose perfect equation had fallen apart.

The white curve surged out and sliced through the black disease.

Part 13 (3rd person)

An unpleasant sticky sound continued.

A sticky purple liquid dripped from the Oomukade’s great maw to prove it had devoured the formless Byouki.

With that variety of Toori-Ma gone, Ranzono Sachi changed. She was still unconscious from the Oomukade’s venom and her brow was covered with a feverish sweat, but the harsh nightmarish look on her face had relaxed somewhat.

The Oomukade took a slow breath, but it was not over yet.

An ominous sound came from his body where the girl’s mouth had torn into him. The wound was not growing. Quite the opposite. He had been attacked by his greatest weakness – a blade covered in saliva aka a predator’s teeth – but the wound was already bubbling ominously and slowly shrinking. Left alone, it would soon close.

He had eaten the Byouki.

He had done so as a part of the heretical Kodoku ritual that set poisonous insects and dangerous beasts against each other in a jar and gathered their strength in the lone survivor.

It had been necessary to protect Ranzono Sachi, but the effects were already beginning to eat into his body.

“Sachi…”

Even so, the Youkai was satisfied.

If he was given this choice one hundred times, he believed he would give the same answer each and every time.

However…

He heard someone rudely walk up through the underbrush.

Then someone’s face poked out from behind the broken guardrail.

“Hi, hi! I knew something interesting had to be going on here. I was right to delay our plan until the last second.”

“Who are you?”

“Hi there. I’m the Aoandon. It might surprise you, but I’m the final boss. Nice to meet you☆”

The female oni wore a white kimono, had long bluish hair, and a single knife-like horn on her forehead. The Oomukade had heard the legends of her appearing at the end of the Hyakumonogatari.

She casually snapped her fingers.

That was all it took for Ranzono Sachi to wake up from the Oomukade’s neurotoxin.

This did not please the Oomukade.

It felt like this other Youkai held a switch or remote control for the girl.

“Now, now. Don’t you worry. I’m the being found only after bringing together one hundred different fears. You need more than your fingers to count the number of paranormal powers I can use. Removing the poison from her body is a piece of cake.”

“What do you want with us?”

“I want to give you an invitation.”

The Aoandon grinned as she replied.

A bluish-white phosphorescent light burned at the tip of her horn all the while.

“I was thinking of destroying Japan a little, so if you like, would you join my team? It looks like you two have an interesting enough reason to do so.”

“Wha-…?”

“I’m the ally of anyone who wants change, so I respect Sachi-chan’s decision to create an equally repulsive world for the Oomukade, Tsuchigumo, Nue, and any other Youkai called creepy or disgusting. I’m willing to chip away at my own body to help you fulfill that. So what’ll you do?”

“You can’t. You can’t, Sachi!! You must not listen to what she says! You came to your sense in Noukotsu Village, didn’t you!? Remember what the people there said!!”

But the Oomukade’s words did not reach her.

But that was not because Ranzono Sachi had become so fixated on one thing that she lost sight of all else.

“I…I can…help all my friends…”

“Sachi!! …No, wait. What is this!?”

The Oomukade glared at the Aoandon, but the female oni was still smiling with her horn emitting its phosphorescence.

“Eh? Oh, c’mon. All I did was open the door to Sachi-chan’s heart. I’m not writing anything extra in there.”

“That bewitching flame on your forehead… It doesn’t affect Youkai, but it does something to the human heart, doesn’t it!? You’re using that to deceive Sachi!!”

“It’s apparently a type of hypnotism. But you can let this much slide, can’t you? The Hyakumonogatari ritual I was made by involves lanterns or candles in a dark room. You wouldn’t believe how many fools have tried to write me off as brainwashing, suggestion, or mass hysteria. That’s a problem for me, so what’s wrong with making up for it by using those methods for myself?”

Even as we spoke, Ranzono Sachi began to move.

She moved unsteadily up from the rocky area and toward that Aoandon on the cliff.

Her feet were about to slip and she was on the verge of falling into the abyss below.

“I won’t allow you to spread the violence any further…”

“So? Didn’t I tell you I’m the being found only after bringing together one hundred different fears? You’re just one of my meals, so what can you hope to do?”

There may indeed have been nothing he could do.

She was on a higher level than him as a Youkai, so sitting idly by may have been the right decision.

But…

If he resisted, he would be killed and he would not even provide a distraction that allowed the girl to escape.

He knew that, but he still held a hope deep in his heart. After his friend had made up for everything she had done, he wanted to see her face those boys from Noukotsu Village again. He wanted to see Ranzono Sachi as she was truly surrounded by human smiles.

So…

A great roar rang out.

In that moment, the Oomukade became a dragon. The wind swirled around him and he rose upwards. He leaped over Ranzono Sachi and tried to devour the Aoandon on the cliff.

He did not actually harm her in the slightest.

He was blocked by an invisible wall and his jaws were stopped right in front of her face.

“Ah ha ha!! Yes, that’s it! That ‘but’! That ‘so’! That’s what’s so beautiful! See, you can do it if you try! I was certain you were going to devour your own belly to commit suicide and rob Sachi-chan of her motivation, so…”

A proud look filled her face, but she trailed off.

A purple liquid dripped down from the Oomukade’s mouth.

This was his new trait gained by devouring the Byouki and overwriting himself with the Kodoku ritual.

That single drop fell right on the Aoandon’s beautiful face.

“—————!!!???”

An intense sizzling sound followed like someone was stir frying in a wok.

She held her face and finally took a few wobbling steps back. But then she revealed why.

“Ha ha.”

She was laughing.

She was not overwhelmed with rage. She was overwhelmed with pure delight. She had caught a glimpse of a world outside of the pre-established harmony and that world was created by those who wished to help others via change, so she formed a sublime smile.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Amazing! This truly is amazing! Rejoice! I was really only planning to bring Sachi-chan with me, but you’ve piqued my curiosity. I’m so, so interested in you now!! So I’ll take you too and let you join my team!!”

“I never asked for that!!”

“But Sachi-chan will join me.”

She turned around. By the time she tilted her head, the brilliant burn that had to be there had entirely vanished. More importantly, her words had torn into the Oomukade’s heart.

“And once she leaves, you’ll never be able to find us again. So what will you do? Personally, I think you should come with us if you really want to save Sachi-chan.”

He had no choice.

He snapped his jaws opened and closed, but he had to obey.

He thought back to Noukotsu Village and the boys who had stood up to save Ranzono Sachi. He expressed his deep, deep thanks to the one who had it in him to call Sachi pretty after seeing her true face.

And after that, he made up his mind.

Even if it meant straying from the proper path, he would bring Ranzono Sachi back to those boys.

“Understood. I will do as you wish.”

“Heh heh. I would expect nothing less from someone who wants change! I really do like that decisiveness.”

“But are you sure? I am prepared to do anything to save Sachi. I will almost certainly destroy your plan from within.”

“So you’ll be a fly in the ointment? Or maybe a centipede in the ointment!? Just kidding!!”

The Aoandon laughed like a young girl, but not because she did not see the Oomukade as a threat. He had in fact harmed her, but she was still accepting him. After all…

“Didn’t I tell you? I’m the ally of anyone who wants change.”

Part 14 (Illness Magic User)

I had defeated the Byouki user.

Holy Sword – Tenjin was not a deadly blade. It had been given the name of a god that loathed blood, so that was to be expected. It cut through distortions in the world’s laws, so it corrected the fluctuations in people’s hearts. And it did so as forcefully as possible. A normal mind would be left bedridden for two or three days.

“All done?”

The Hishigami woman appeared holding a large binoculars-like unit that was likely the laser guidance support device for the bombing. The small canine Sunekosuri was trembling and looking around at her feet.

“That should be obvious.”

“ ‘I’ll be that special something for you’? C’mon, are you saying Hyakki Yakou did all this just to help an umbrella-making ronin find a wife? I can’t believe this!!”

“Stop twisting my words.”

“Twisting your words? What could you possibly be talking about? Tee hee.”

“Quit acting like a child. It’s creepy for someone as old as you.”

“Shut up, you gloomy wifeless pedo. Don’t you realize it’s things like calling me ‘old’ that causes people to take what you say the wrong way?”

“More importantly…”

“Yeah, how about you go bow down to the young lady? She can’t exactly land here, so it’ll have to be at the nearest airport.”

But as we were speaking, something else suddenly arrived on the scene.

The murderous intent was so overwhelming that both the Hishigami woman and I nearly stopped breathing.

“Wha-…kh…ah!?”

I sent Illness Magic throughout my body to consciously control the movements of my organs and blood, but even then, I had my hands full simply keeping myself from blacking out.

The Hishigami woman was…not going to be any help. She had supposedly modified the structure of her human body itself, but she also had her hands full remaining conscious. We were in no state to fight.

Needless to say, the Sunekosuri had passed out cold.

Meanwhile, “he” arrived.

He rudely trudged right into Hyakki Yakou’s field.

“What a pain. I thought I understood what she was like when I joined forces with her, but I didn’t expect her to play quite this fast and loose with her own plans. It leaves me with so much work to do.”

He was an expressionless young man in a dark suit.

I silently glared at him and he responded without even moving his lips, like he was a ventriloquist.

“My name is Saiki Kazu, former assassin, former fortuneteller, formerly suicidal, formerly unemployed, and now…what even am I? Not even I know.”

Even as he gave his offhand introduction, he was not looking at us.

He was looking at the Byouki user lying on the humus.

“What are you…planning to do?”

“Retrieve her. The Aoandon wants her. I don’t want the Aoandon in a bad mood, so I’m granting as many of her selfish whims as I can.”

“…”

“Stop that. I don’t want to do this either. Ranzono Sachi, the Oomukade, and the manager of the Ubasute Apartments…was she called Yamame Kyouka? Anyway, she chased after those prisoner transport vehicles to recruit them. And now it’s the Byouki user at the center of Shinshou Hitsubatsu. Mix such a motley group together and it’s almost laughable. Does she believe in world peace or something?”

When I connected the names I head together in my head, something felt intensely wrong.

“Bringing them together would never make a cohesive fighting force.”

“No. They’ll most likely end up killing each other. But that’s fine as long as the battle provides the winner with enough experience points. In the end, it will still give us a powerful addition to our team.”

I was reminded of the Kodoku ritual.

Countless poisonous insects and deadly beasts were stuffed in a jar where they would fight to the death to increase the power of a toxin or curse.

What if the strange aura I felt from this man named Saiki Kazu was the same?

What if their “team” was the exact opposite of a group that licked each other’s wounds?

“The Aoandon will make her move before long.”

That evil monster carried the limp Byouki user over his shoulder and spoke without moving his lips.

“Once the time comes, you will understand all too well.”

Finally, he seemed to notice a change in the formation of flying wings in the sky. The escort fighters had swiftly changed positions.

But it was too late. If he had noticed the change, he needed to leave us and escape at full speed.

Saiki Kazu looked up in the blue sky and formed a gun with his hand.

He said “bang” and pretended to fire.

That was all he did.

The flying wing carrying Hyakki Yakou’s highest leader was destroyed.

I was caught completely off guard.

I briefly forget all else due to the burning tension and impatience.

Meanwhile, countless fragments rained down on the rural city. The great height of ten thousand meters seemed to demonstrate that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

“This is our power. So you cannot stop anything we are doing. Not one thing.”

That voice seemed to be coming from hopelessly far away.

“So tremble in fear and wait for the world to change.”

After whispering those words, the shadow in a dark suit left with the girl over his shoulder.

He left nothing at all behind.

Part 15 (Illness Magic User)

I ran.

I ran and ran and ran and ran.

All around the rural city, windows had shattered and obstacles fallen from the sky had caused traffic accidents. The city was wrapped in dark smoke and soot. I even spotted some houses with entirely collapsed roofs.

As I moved further and further in, the rubble grew larger and the flickering orange flames grew more common.

At one point, the wreckage of a flying wing stuck up from the ground like a gravestone and a group with the same scent as me was gathered around it. They surrounded something…no, someone.

Hyakki Yakou cared about bloodline more than all else. When met with troubles like this, they would naturally gather around and cling to “blood”.

So who would they obey first and foremost? Who had the noblest blood?

“Hafuri-sama…”

The name escaped my mouth.

The last time I had seen her, she had been ten years old. What would have happened had that small girl been caught in the explosion and thrown into the air at ten thousand meters up?

“Hafuri-sama!!”

I forced my shaking consciousness to cooperate and ran to the center. The group turned toward me. The wave of people split to either side as if creating a path and revealing the truth.

And there in front of me, I found…

“There is no need to worry. I am here, Illness Magic.”

I found a dignified voice.

Hyakki Yakou was not dead. It may not have been much, but that “blood” had been preserved.

The Mamedanuki that acted as her body double stood next to her and Hafuri-sama’s small hand soothed a crying Sunekosuri child.

The other four of the Top Five had been aboard that flying wing. Plenty of Youkai had as well. One or all of them must have used their powers to protect Hafuri-sama. They were so very loyal when compared to someone like me who could only kill.

“Illness Magic.”

Hafuri-sama spoke to me.

I immediately bent my knees, placed my hands on the ground, and pressed my forehead into the dirt.

“You took part in a coup d’etat and remained on the run after it was quashed, so I would normally be forced to pass judgment on you. But given the situation, you know this is no time to get held up over those matters, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“I cannot allow this scene of flames and smoke I see. The Aoandon’s group intends to spread this scene throughout the entire nation, so we must stop them. We are the descendants of those who failed to become crabs at Dan-no-Ura. We are those who accepted our fall and began working behind the scenes rather than on the main stage of history. But we still live and have decided to create a world in which we can smile alongside those who live here with us.”

“Of course.”

“Illness Magic.”

At that moment, Hyakki Yakou’s highest leader was kind enough to speak to an outlaw.

“We will defeat the Aoandon and her group and we will save this country. If they have stolen anything, we will retrieve it all, whether it is a person or an object. Join me in that effort.”

No other words could possibly have surpassed those.

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