Chapter 517: "Release"
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
"Wahhhhhhh!!"
After the human puppet girl devoured Akatsuki Mitarai, her screeching changed. It now sounded more like howling.
A large amount of black mist then poured out and covered the entire area!
Seiji did his best to maintain his consciousness.
The darkness that suddenly enveloped him made his head dizzy… he experienced this just a few days earlier, when he got involved in that incident at the award ceremony.
When Seiji's vision returned to normal, he saw those familiar cluster amaryllis flowers, just as he expected.
The sky was blood red, numerous black pillars reached up to the clouds, countless silver strings were interconnected, with endless puppets and human body parts pierced on the strings, hanging in midair like specimens… Seiji was familiar with this horror game-like scene as well from when he had gone to meet Shinobu's soul.
What exactly could have happened?
Just like Natsuya, Seiji also witnessed Akatsuki being devoured by his own human puppet. Seiji hadn't even recovered from his astonishment when the black mist suddenly appeared and brought him here.
Yomi mentioned before that if Shinobu Miaki devoured Akatsuki Mitarai, Shinobu would become a powerful demon. However, Shinobu's soul was currently within his body, resting as a pitifully weak demon.
In that case, why did the human puppet Spirit-branded Retainer still devour her own master? And after she devoured Akatsuki, what was with this black mist that appeared and drew them all into this realm?
None of it made sense… but no matter what, Natsuya and the others were highly likely to have gotten dragged in as well.
Seiji tried using the mental communication spell to talk to them, but it didn't work.
Was it time to use his [Interdimensional Locator Spell]?
Seiji thought about it and decided to first follow the cluster amaryllis flowers instead. Perhaps he would be able to find them where the cluster amaryllis flowers were the thickest.
At this moment, he suddenly sensed something.
Seiji felt his body being tugged forward by an invisible force. Then, the ground started trembling as the invisible force started massively increasing!
Seiji did his best to steady himself. However, the ground suddenly became incredibly uneven. Not only that, the pulling force on his body kept increasing in power. Soon, he started flying… no, he fell forwards!
Gravity had tilted by ninety degrees, with "forward" suddenly having become "down"!
With a smack, Seiji crashed into a black pillar. He saw all the puppet and human body parts attached to the strings on this pillar falling off from the impact. All these parts also started falling forward!
There had to be something in that direction. Seiji figured that it was the human puppet Spirit-branded Retainer.
After some consideration, he decided to jump forward towards another black pillar.
He continued jumping from pillar to pillar.
Seiji continued onwards through the tilted gravity in such a fashion. He made sure to dodge all the other falling objects.
After a while, he saw something.
A dark-red gigantic ball-shaped object! It was devouring all the puppet and human body parts. It expanded and contracted at regular intervals, and a strange sound came from it. The sound resembled a beating heart.
"What is this…"
"A powerful demon is about to be born," a lazy-sounding female voice suddenly spoke up in his mind. "If she's born successfully, the current you won't even be close to being her opponent. Luckily, you still have the chance to prevent her successful birth."
"Yomi… you've been sleeping for so long."
"I wasn't sleeping for the entire time. I'll wake up occasionally to see what's going on."
"I reserve the right to suspect the truth of your words."
That's when Seiji heard her chuckling.
"I apologize for not responding when you needed my assistance. Still, you took care of things excellently by yourself. You did quite well~"
"Does this mean that you're going to reward me with candy?"
"I don't have any candy, but if you like, I can make your body experience great pleasure. Would you like to try?"
Seiji was rendered speechless.
"Although I'm somewhat curious what that feels like, let's not." Seiji's cheek twitched.
"Ahh, how regrettable."
"Stop messing around. Anyways, this situation is a bad one, isn't it? How should I prevent the powerful demon from being born?"
"Destroying her is impossible. The only way to do it is by giving her release." Yomi paused for a moment. "You need to wholeheartedly, sincerely help to give her release from her pain and go to where she belongs. This process won't be easy. It's incredibly difficult. Yet, I believe that you should be able to do it."
"What will happen if I fail?"
"The powerful demon will be successfully born. She will then devour you and all of your companions."
At this moment, Seiji heard Natsuya's shouting.
He looked over to see that the student council president had arrived on another black pillar.
"Milady!" Hitaka arrived as well.
"Meow!" Rana also appeared.
Seiji went over to them and explained the situation.
"I shall help you in giving her release from her pain. Hitaka and Rana, you two will be responsible for protecting us," Natsuya said after learning the situation.
"She won't be able to help. You're the only one who can give this demon release," Yomi told Seiji in his mind.
"Why's that?"
"Because Shinobu's soul is currently within your body. This demon also counts as a part of Shinobu's body as well. That's why you're the only one who can give her release. Nobody else will be able to do it."
"Part of Shinobu's body… Could this demon's identity be the portion of Shinobu's soul that she left behind?" Seiji furrowed his eyebrows.
"Indeed."
"Didn't you say that leaving a portion of her soul behind wouldn't lead to anything?"
"I did indeed say that. That's what I believed. However, this current situation is something that even I didn't expect. That soul portion has become demonized." Yomi chuckled lightly. "Whoever created this puppet is truly amazing. I'm even feeling a little impressed."
Seiji was once again rendered speechless.
Was it truly that Akatsuki had been too reckless? Or did Yomi intentionally leave something behind as a trap for Akatsuki?
Seiji felt that it was best not to pry any further into this matter.
He then made his preparations and began casting the spell that Yomi taught him.
Seiji made a hand seal pointed at the gigantic round object and began uttering an incantation.
"The calamity of grudges, the ceremony of pacification…
"The body of a demon, a soul filled with evil intentions…
"This is not where you belong, you should head for the next world…"
Yin Yang Seal, [Release]!
A tremendous pentagram spell formation appeared in midair and illuminated the ball-shaped object with golden light.
"Eeeeeaaaaaahhhh!!"
The ball immediately started making a sound that resembled a scream of pain. Blood mist kept emanating from it, and it began trembling violently.
Seiji immediately felt tremendous mental pressure! His body and spirit were both under pressure by some invisible power. It felt like even the very air itself had become heavy.
At this moment, a warm feeling arose in his body and mitigated part of the pressure for him.
This warm feeling came from Shinobu.
No wonder Yomi said that Natsuya wouldn't be able to assist him. If it hadn't been for Shinobu's soul, it would have been impossible for him to withstand all this pressure.
Seiji continued uttering his incantation, causig a smaller array of spell formations to appear on the five points of the pentagram star in sequence. These smaller spell formations also shot a golden light towards the ball-shaped object.
The ball's eerie screaming became even more ear-piercing. The blood mist coming out from it became even thicker. Meanwhile, something could be seen struggling within it, distorting!
Seiji was coming under more and more pressure. His hands started shivering first. Then, his entire body began trembling as well. Even breathing became difficult. He felt as if he was submerged underwater. It was incredibly discomforting.
He was no longer even able to hear what Natsuya was saying to him. He could only focus fully on casting his spell.
In his haziness, Seiji could faintly make out numerous boys, girls, and even children. They were all crying, screaming, pleading for help, and struggling in pain…
"It hurts… let me go…"
"My hands… my feet…"
"My eyes… please give my eyes back to me…"
"Wahh… Mommy… Daddy…"
"Please let me go… I'm beggin you… Ahhh…!!"
There was endless pain and countless despair…
Anger, hatred, and so many deep grudges formed by those who died unwillingly…
Seiji understood just how this demon was born.
'Akatsuki Mitarai… you deserve to die ten thousand deaths!!'
Dying so easily by being devoured seemed like it was letting this scumbag die off this easily… No, even calling Akatsuki a scumbag was an insult to the word scumbag!!
Seiji was even tempted to load so that he could brutally torture Akatsuki rather than allowing Akatsuki such an easy death. However, he immediately restrained himself.
'No, I can't let anger control my actions.'
The most important thing right now was to pacify this gathering of grudges and help them move on to the next world.
Although he was too late to save them, their grudge had been vindicated with Akatsuki's death. He hoped that Akatsuki's victims would be able to find peace.
"…Pitiful demon of grudges… be released from thy pain!!"
With great difficulty, Seiji managed to finish the incantation.
The large pentagram spell formation shot out an even more blinding golden light. The dark-red ball-shaped object screamed even louder under this light. The scream sounded like both howling and crying.