"Ho, should I say this is unsurprising, or completely unsurprising? The only ones who could pierce through this darkness and find me were bound to be you."
"Say you're in the library and you're actually in the library—look at the mess you've made! Get ready to be pummeled!"
"Little one, don't be so rude when you speak... It's only been a few days, and you've already found a new partner besides me?" Enjou adjusted his glasses, surprised that his place had been taken by Sangonomiya Kokomi. "But I wouldn't let such trivial things bother me. What does bother me is—why are you cooperating with them?"
"My Paimon won't be tricked by the same trick twice! You're just trying to stall us with your chatter again!"
"Oh? I can understand that seeing me makes your blood boil, but to still be full of energy after all that running… how troublesome. In that case, let me join your exercise."
Enjou performed a flashy transformation. Not to be outdone, Paimon waved her hand and commanded, "Lumine! Victor Wang! Get him!"
…
"Wait, wait! Stop! If you keep hitting me, I'll die!!"
Lumine raised her fine eyebrows and pointed her sword at him. "That's exactly why we're here!"
"That woman—the one with the long, narrow pupils—what did she call herself?"
"We didn't see Tsumi's eyes, so how are we supposed to know who you mean?"
"Her name is Tsumi, right?" Enjou frantically dodged attacks while trying to buy himself some time. "Hmph, a lizard pretending to be human—quite the performance!"
"Lizard…?"
Lumine's attack faltered slightly. Thinking he'd found his chance, Enjou continued, "You've realized it too, haven't you? The Bathysmal Vishaps are intelligent, rapidly evolving creatures. There were even legends of Vishap-men as far back as a thousand years ago!"
Paimon muttered, "Vishap-people? Sounds like a nickname I would come up with…"
"A long time ago, Enkanomiya had a legend like this: after the Bathysmal Vishaps were driven back, they began imitating the victors' forms in order to survive, eventually evolving into a race nearly indistinguishable from humans—save for their pupils. They infiltrated Enkanomiya, replacing important figures. Hearing this, doesn't anyone come to mind?"
Sangonomiya Kokomi pursed her lips and coolly shattered Enjou's plan to stall for time and open a portal. "Stories about Vishap-people only exist in novels. Tsumi being able to control the Dainichi Mikoshi is solid proof that she's an envoy of the sea, isn't it?"
"Ga—? Who even are you? You don't know anything, stop talking nonsense!"
Sangonomiya Kokomi smiled and shook her head.
Seeing Lumine trust her new teammate and getting ready to strike again, Enjou panicked. "No matter who Tsumi really is, she's using you! She used you to dispel the black fog, and now she's using you to get revenge on me—don't let that woman deceive you!"
"Still making excuses."
"I formed an alliance with the Vishaps! I shrouded Enkanomiya in black mist so their elite could slip beneath the Dainichi Mikoshi to rescue their imprisoned kin. In return, they allowed the Abyss Order free passage through their territory and even helped me rebuild the three towers! But they didn't realize that the Abyssal fog is toxic to elemental creatures—they thought I betrayed them!"
"Didn't you?"
"I admit, the power of the Abyss is too overwhelming—it suffocated the Vishaps! But what did I gain? I turned this damned library upside down and still didn't find the book I wanted! And now the Order's right to pass through their land is gone! Sure, it looks like betrayal, but I didn't profit from it at all—it wasn't on purpose!"
Paimon caught the flaw. "But if we hadn't shut down the Sub-Space Towers, wouldn't Enkanomiya have fallen completely under the Abyss Order's control?"
"Who didn't know you'd come fix the problem? I even said back then, 'We'll probably meet again,' didn't I? I just didn't expect the Vishaps to be so weak! What was supposed to be cooperation turned into betrayal—it's not like I wanted that! Do I look like someone who'd do something that hurts others and myself for no reason?"
"Then you did cause us trouble on purpose!" Lumine raised her fist, not wanting to wait a second longer.
"But now that woman's probably sneaking under the Dainichi Mikoshi to rescue her comrades—hey! This is important! Let me finish—ow, ow, stop hitting me!"
"Didn't you like getting beaten up?" Victor Wang added dryly from the side.
"Who in their right mind would actually like that?!"
"So, you don't like being hit," Paimon sighed in disappointment. "Enjou, you've completely shattered my image of you…"
"Stop, stop! If you still care about the future of Watatsumi Island, you'd better hurry!"
"Thanks for worrying about Watatsumi Island. Now then, shall I heal you?" Sangonomiya Kokomi's Bake-Kurage floated toward Enjou's Pyro Abyss Lector form.
"You… you're demons! Aren't you?!"
After a few well-placed kicks, Victor Wang finally relented, giving Enjou a way out. "You went to the Dainichi Mikoshi before us, right? Did you take anything from there—like a pendant?"
"Y-Yeah! Let me find it!"
Enjou took the chance to catch his breath, patting himself down while obviously stalling for time. Everyone noticed but said nothing.
As he searched, he subtly stepped back, and a starry portal opened behind him.
"This time, I'll take my leave first. We probably won't meet again. Here—take this as a farewell gift."
He tossed the pendant symbolizing the Dainichi Mikoshi to Victor Wang before vanishing into the portal.
...
When the three pendants were combined, Tsumi solemnly returned the one representing the Dainichi Mikoshi to its place, and handed the pendant of Sangonomiya back to Sangonomiya Kokomi.
"Let's use these as symbols from now on. Every few centuries, when people from Sangonomiya come to harvest coral, those who bear the pendant won't be attacked by the Vishaps of Enkanomiya. The Vishaps carrying coral will offer it willingly... With no reason left to fight, let this all end here."
"Alright," Sangonomiya Kokomi nodded. "I'll make sure this is properly recorded."
"Then… farewell."
Considering the human lifespan, they would likely never meet again.
Tsumi left, leading the vast procession of Vishaps away. Enkanomiya was left in silence—only the coral, revived by the Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri, continued to grow. The massive coral even reached up to the Dainichi Mikoshi, shining bright and beautiful.
"So, it's really over?" Paimon asked anxiously. "Kokomi, you released the Vishaps with transplanted coral. What if Tsumi goes back on her word?"
"I wouldn't gamble the future of Watatsumi Island so carelessly. In fact, communicating with the Vishaps was part of Watatsumi Omikami's original plan. But if they do go back on their word... we do have a contingency."
"After all that, what contingency could you possibly have?"
"The answer lies in what we experienced this time. But, if possible, I'd rather not resort to it. Doing so would feel like... like moving the Vishaps from the bottom of the Dainichi Mikoshi to a larger cage. It would make me feel very sad."
"A larger cage?"
Paimon puzzled over her words, while Lumine and Victor Wang exchanged a knowing glance—they understood exactly what she meant.
"Still, now that I know how the Bloodbranch Coral works, as the current Divine Priestess of Sangonomiya, I'll have to come up with a new way to counteract the spread of the Holy soilification."
In the vast, silent halls of Enkanomiya, Sangonomiya Kokomi cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the emptiness, "If only every problem could solve itself!"