Chapter 107

Tokyo, the edge of Ota Ward.

In front of an ordinary tour bus, a team of elementary school students here for a Tokyo spring study trip were bustling with excitement.

A teacher wearing a bright yellow vest stood in the center, waving his hand and shouting, "Everyone——hurry up and line up properly, we're leaving after one last headcount."

Within the team, a boy wearing a small yellow cap and carrying a backpack raised his head, pointing curiously at the sky over Arakawa Ward,

"Chiyoko, Chiyoko, look, why is the sky over there so red?"

The girl called Chiyoko slowly opened her eyes, revealing a sly smile: "Who knows, maybe a powerful yokai died, and its blood dyed the sky red."

This made the boy freeze, he scratched his head: "Are there really yokai in this world?"

"There are, there are, of course there are."

Chiyoko showed a sweet smile like she had eaten honey, making the boy's face turn red, and he turned aside somewhat embarrassedly.

——Even though she had long anticipated the degree of deliciousness of Nanjo Ai's heart, when she actually ate it, she discovered she had still vastly underestimated this absolutely unique sweetness.

Chiyoko……or rather, the girl whose body had already been occupied by Aibetsuri hummed a popular children's song heard in every street and alley as she thought.

Even if she had only tasted a mere trace that she had painstakingly coaxed out at the very end, Aibetsuri felt everything she had paid was so worth it.

——Using a ten-year-old girl's most innocent, pure thoughts as the base, a confidence, arrogance, and pride like destiny as the main ingredient, mixed with the bewilderment of inadvertently discovering the truth, and the puzzlement of being deceived by her closest kin to this day, and finally adding a share of solitary loneliness.

Simply, a supreme delicacy.

Just that one trace alone allowed Aibetsuri to recover from Zero-Star, having exhausted everything and possessing nothing, to Two-Star in an instant.

If she had been able to devour Nanjo Ai whole just now, she would surely have surpassed Ghost Gods, riding the incoming wave to stand at the pinnacle of this Genjitsu.

"However, good things should be saved to savor slowly, how boring to eat it all in one bite."

Aibetsuri held a spoon printed with a little bear pattern, eating the cheesecake in her hand in small bites.

Tomorrow the wave would arrive, then she would borrow the wave's momentum to sow seeds again in the dark, just quietly absorbing ordinary people's emotions in a slightly low-profile way.

Although they were all bland, tasteless, commonplace emotions, she couldn't resist the sheer number and volume of people.

This bus's destination seemed to be Ninomiya Town in Kanagawa Prefecture, hmm, she'd make that her base camp first.

In one or two months, she should be able to recover her original strength or break through to Ghost God, then she'd come find Nanjo Ai to have a good play.

Aibetsuri believed she wouldn't let her down.

Following at the very end of the team, Aibetsuri looked completely like an ordinary elementary school girl, chatting and laughing with the classmates around her, not revealing even half a trace of abnormality.

Three minutes later the bus would start, and she would be able to leave Tokyo, this city coveted by almost all yokai, without alerting anyone.

Tsk——

A cold blade protruded halfway out from Aibetsuri's chest.

Heart and aorta destroyed together, fresh blood almost instantly dyed the light-colored school uniform red, the originally clamorous surroundings seemed to have been abruptly paused.

Aibetsuri froze slightly, looking back in puzzlement.

But before she could turn her head, that cold yet fierce blade had already swept an arc, severing the elementary school student's fragile neck.

She felt her skull grabbed by someone, and then saw a pale, solemn Hannya Mask.

"Huh? How come it's Hannya? How did Hannya find me?"

Fresh blood sprayed crackling from the break in her neck, Chiyoko's small face showed an expression of incomprehension, but mixed with a trace of greed,

"Such intense, delicious anger……have I met you somewhere before, extraordinary Hannya?"

And this pain.

Aibetsuri carefully savored this feeling of dissolving agony, one she had never experienced before, whether in body or soul.

This feeling isn't bad either.

"Hey, where are you looking."

Tremendous force erupted from Uesugi Toru's palm, crushing the small head in his hand with a creak, forcibly dragging Aibetsuri's gaze back from the panicked crowd beside them.

Immediately after, Aibetsuri actually saw the white Hannya before her suddenly transform without any warning into……

A three-tailed fox?

Not an illusion technique, no Spirit Power reaction, not even a trace of bodily modification could be found.

Unlike her, who carved and crafted her own body and soul to imitate other yokai, the three-tailed fox before her was, without a doubt, the real thing.

"The inner emotional fluctuations also confirm it is indeed the same person……"

Aibetsuri murmured, her blood-seeping eyes eruptting with incomparable brilliance: "How did you do it?! Can you tell me how you did it!"

Hooked, as expected.

Uesugi Toru, wearing the exquisite face pinched out by "Thousand Faces", slowly approached the other party, smiling indifferently: "After killing me, wouldn't it work to just extract my soul and look at it slowly?"

——Uesugi Toru knew well, the best method to prevent Aibetsuri from escaping the first moment was to arouse her interest.

This way, the curious Aibetsuri would voluntarily stay, even if she fully understood this was not the correct course of action. Even if it would cause her death.

This could be seen from how she previously voluntarily sought out Nanjo Ai, forcibly interrupting the Red Tide's process, and thereby falling into her current near-death state.

"Ah, that's not a bad method either……"

Before Aibetsuri finished speaking, her entire head flew out like a cannonball, passing over the crowd that had not yet fully dispersed, and crashed heavily into a public toilet on the side, buried under collapsed rubble and debris.

Uesugi Toru glanced at the headless corpse lying in a pool of blood, swung Kaga Kiyomitsu, and chopped it into charred black fragments.

Aibetsuri's kill prompt still did not pop up.

This was only natural——if Aibetsuri could be easily killed by him in two or three strikes, Uesugi Toru would instead suspect there was a trick to it.

"The crowd's pretty much dispersed, let's finish this quick."

If this dragged on until the Onmyoji here arrived, things would get troublesome.

The three-tailed fox, draped in a Chief Priest Robe yet wearing Cold Steel Arm Guards on both arms in a very incongruous manner, gazed at that swaying blood-red prompt in the smoke and dust——

【Aibetsuri (Near Death)】

【Rank: Two-Star】

【Talent: Self-Knowledge, Heart-Viewing, Myriad Transformations, Shaping, Red Tide (Unusable), Void Escape (Unusable), Love and Separation (Unusable).】

「But she was already on the brink of death long ago, yet she still lives after being beheaded and pierced through the heart... just how tenacious is the vitality of Love and Separation. 」

Uesugi Toru fastened the Hannya Mask and changed his attached talent to "Tonjinchi (Weak)."

「Angry Eyes. 」

He whispered without the slightest hesitation, feeling the power within him, his Spirit Power and the anger in his heart surge and boil like boiling water.

But at the same time, the equally doubled Will Attribute allowed Uesugi Toru to still regulate everything in an orderly manner, maintaining a mental state as calm as a mirror.

Scarlet blood vessels quickly covered the whites of his eyes, and the three-tailed fox's originally snow-white long tail also turned red as blood.

【Physique: 23→46】

【Will: 12→24】

【Charm: 14→28】

【Spirit Arts: 32→64】

Amidst the gradually dispersing smoke and dust, a corner of tall white hair was revealed.

Uesugi Toru unfolded his folding fan with a swish, and the Spirit Power within him, multiplied several times over, was almost completely consumed in that instant.

「Frightening Heavenly Thunder. 」

Under the clear sky, thunder roared.

Blue-purple Lightning Plasma twisted down like a dragon, almost forming a dazzling pillar of light reaching straight to the horizon, enveloping the blurred figure of Love and Separation within it.

Just the scattered specks of lightning light had already melted the ruins of the public toilet into nothingness, leaving only a thin layer of residue like a Crystal Layer on the spot.

He did not leave half of his Spirit Power for the release of Soul Charm as before—playing with means of mental manipulation in front of Love and Separation would only be counterproductive.

The pillar of light that made Uesugi Toru's eyes almost unable to open took several seconds to dissipate; he squinted and found that the blood-red Prompt in his vision had not changed at all.

The smoke was blown away by a suddenly rising hurricane, revealing the body of Love and Separation tightly wrapped in a dark shell.

As the lightning dissipated, that pitted and scorched yellow shell flowed like water over Love and Separation's dustless, flawless, paper-white skin, falling onto her fingertips.

Then, it transformed into ten completely different weapons or limbs.

Slippery tentacles, double-bladed sickles, densely packed pupils, and even a giant mouth dripping with sulfuric acid...

「Little fox~ this is quite a nice greeting gift, it warmed me up. 」

——She was stalling for time.

If Love and Separation on the brink of death could take a lightning strike of this level without a scratch, she had no need to flee here; staying to capture Rituna Minami and the Special Affairs Division reinforcements arriving together would be a better choice.

Even if her condition was slightly poor, she should be able to see that his Spirit Power was exhausted now, making it an excellent time for a surprise attack—Love and Separation naturally also wanted a quick battle and did not want to encounter the Onmyoji here.

Otherwise, she could neither kill him nor waste her remaining strength.

So there was only one fact—

Love and Separation's body, which appeared unharmed on the surface, was actually covered in wounds and could no longer bear the burden.

Perhaps piercing her heart and beheading her again would still not kill her, but it didn't matter.

If once wasn't enough, then keep swinging the blade, keep swinging the blade, until this disgusting face was chopped into pieces on the ground.

He hung the folding fan at his waist, and a scorching, surging heat wave blew the three-tailed fox's hair ends.

Corona Breathing Method·Form Five!

Substantial pure white heat spread to every blade of Kaga Kiyomitsu, like flowing fire.

Uesugi Toru's figure vanished in an instant, leaving several illusory afterimages along the path of his extreme speed.

The surrounding buildings and scenery had already turned into blurred colorful lines, and the whistling wind was brushed past by him in an instant.

Love and Separation still wore an unchanging smile, as ten weapon limbs surrounded her like a heavenly net and earthly web.

Kaga Kiyomitsu hummed, slashing upward.

The fierce Blade Light suddenly flashed!

Shattering the Short Sword, severing limbs, piercing the giant mouth...

The effect of Tonjinchi had never been so obvious as now; no matter what he faced, as long as it was part of Love and Separation, Kaga Kiyomitsu could split them in two more easily than cutting paper.

Finally, surprise flashed across Love and Separation's face again: "Interesting... how is this done?"

Uesugi Toru did not pause even slightly, squeezing the body of the three-tailed fox that was already howling to the utmost.

He once again vanished from the spot with completely unreasonable acceleration, roaring toward the naked Love and Separation from the dissipation of rolling white steam.

The blade slightly raised, Uesugi Toru once again assumed the stance of the Three-Stage Thrust while advancing.

But Love and Separation simply turned both arms into blades, standing in place watching him charge like that.

「Something is not right……」

Before swinging the blade, Uesugi Toru kept a Mental Eye.

Clang!

The Blade Light rushing in hard severed Love and Separation's two arms, then spun back, stabbing straight into her chest.

Twist the blade, horizontal slash!

Crystal-clear fresh blood sprayed out violently, about to fall like rain in a pattering drizzle.

Uesugi Toru, who was originally preparing to swing the blade again, inexplicably felt a cold chill as if a thorn was in his back.

This blood is problematic!

The folding fan at his waist lit up slightly, and the Spirit Power prepared for this flowed into it.

Qingfeng Planet!

The speed at which Qingfeng Planet activated was so fast that even Uesugi Toru himself had no time to react before being carried dozens of meters away.

A moment later, blood drops fell onto the ground with a splash, but strangely did not seep into the ground and dirt; instead, they stood upright one by one on the spot.

Then, they actually floated into the air and returned into Love and Separation's body.

Seeing this scene, Uesugi Toru's forehead twitched slightly, recalling Ai Betsuri's "Shaping" Skill.

If he had been touched by that blood just now, his life would likely have been forfeited here.

"Even on the verge of death she's this troublesome... Just how did Nanjo Sister deal with this kind of monster."

Uesugi Toru panted heavily, pouring two drops of Awakening Spirit Mist into his mouth: "But Ai Betsuri should have exhausted all her means by now; her only mental attack seems to Affect me Not Much."

Correct, from the Instant Ai Betsuri Discovered him, an extremely hidden and weak Spirit Fluctuation had been continuously Affecting Uesugi Toru's thoughts.

Its content was not something Obvious like making Uesugi Toru Abandon resistance or not oppose Ai Betsuri, but constantly hinting that "he would freeze for an Instant at a Critical Moment."

If not for Zanshin, Jade Heart Technique, doubled Will, and the Swordsmanship Realm jointly defending, perhaps Uesugi Toru would have frozen in place Just Now, unable to Activate Qingfeng Planet in time.

Uesugi Toru gripped Kaga Kiyomitsu tightly, staring at Ai Betsuri who, even with her body severed into two sections and blood drained dry, still kept her eyes open.

Her flesh was still wriggling non-stop; if left alone Regardless, she would probably achieve Complete Recovery in a few Minutes.

But now he stands here.

"Was that your last resort just now."

Ai Betsuri moved her remaining Shoulder: "Although I'd like to say Not Only... it's regrettable, yes."

She Blinked playfully, saying indifferently: "My Luck isn't good, too few people around and they ran too fast; even with more cannon fodder I could have glimpsed your secret."

"And that Strange power of yours, little Kitsune!" Ai Betsuri made a thoughtful Expression, "Clearly the Sword Blade in your hand is Impossible to sever my specialized limbs."

"Also! I transferred here less than a Minute ago and encountered you, and you just happen to possess a special power that can easily kill me."

She exclaimed happily: "If these are all coincidences, then there are truly many coincidences in this world."

Listening to Ai Betsuri's incessant chatter, Uesugi Toru Fell Into an extremely brief contemplation.

A trap, or has she truly run out of options?

But soon Uesugi Toru stopped thinking further.

Because No Matter what lies before him, he must walk past it, and swing his blade again.

Uesugi Toru carefully Avoided all fresh blood along the way, Maintaining the highest Vigilance as he approached Ai Betsuri, hearing her murmur regretfully,

"Just a pity, couldn't taste all of little Love."

Uesugi Toru did not respond, merely swinging down Kaga Kiyomitsu indifferently.

End of Chapter