Chapter 141: A Step Closer to the Truth, The True Value of Onimaru Kunitsuna
"Die... die!"
The expressions of thousands of human faces on the head of the Worm Evil Spirit suddenly changed, roaring hideously. One of the faces suddenly extended out, twisting its neck like a twisted rope, winding towards Yoru's body.
"You are truly simple and understandable lower existences."
Facing such an evil spirit attack, Yoru just stood still. Rio pulled out a bone from Hone-Onna, throwing it like a spear, piercing that twisted face directly.
"What die, die for me, kill you, tear you, eat you..."
Yoru approached the Worm Evil Spirit, his tone still carrying a smile.
"As twisted creatures, your verbal aggression is really a bit too weak."
After emitting that roar just now, the thousands of faces forming the head of the Worm Evil Spirit instantly returned to that plain expression with empty eyes, as if indifferent to everything in the outside world.
Rio stared straight at the thousands of faces of this guy, feeling she seemed to have seen such expressions somewhere.
Rio's brain began to run at high speed again.
In less than a breath's time, she immediately realized where she had seen such expressions.
Not just seen.
Moreover, seeing them every day.
During the morning and evening rush hours, the office workers on the train all had such expressions.
Thinking carefully...
The train during rush hour is a very terrifying place.
Thousands of people squeezed into a huge metal box. Except for the mechanical station announcement sound, so many people gathered together, yet no one spoke, quiet to the point of deadly silence.
Just quietly moving towards the destination like that.
"Could it be..."
Combined with the intelligence Yoru mentioned earlier about seeing an evil spirit dressed like a doctor with a white coat and mask in the hospital morgue, Rio felt she seemed to be close to finding the essence and truth of the Otherworld.
"This guy is very tricky."
Since Tamamo-no-Mae decided to release goodwill to Yoru, even facing such a powerful evil spirit at this moment, she had no fear, not missing this opportunity to show goodwill to the opponent and improve favorability.
Don't look at her appearance as weak and delicate; she was also a hegemon in the Otherworld.
Evil spirits without even thinking ability, in Tamamo-no-Mae's eyes, were like madmen and murderers with extremely high aggression in human eyes.
Compared to fear, more was contempt.
"Here, call out My True Name."
Tamamo-no-Mae took off her wooden clogs, stepping on the floor of the carriage with her naked white small feet.
From her wide kimono, nine snow-white fluffy tails with pale golden patterns appeared.
Tamamo-no-Mae floated in front of Yoru, staring straight at that Worm Evil Spirit, opening her pink lips slightly, teeth becoming sharp at a speed visible to the naked eye, whispering.
"Tamamo-no-Mae."
The moment she uttered these three words, a hazy mist rose.
Rio frowned, thinking secretly.
Tamamo-no-Mae also has an ability like liberating the Soul True Body?
Except for slightly different wording, whether the posture or the process of calling the True Name was exactly the same as hers and Miko's.
Why is there such a thing?
Tamamo-no-Mae... isn't she an evil spirit?
Spirit mediums call the Soul True Name to manifest their soul and heart, thereby obtaining the ability to fight evil spirits.
Tamamo-no-Mae, who belongs to spirits herself, why would she have such a process?
After all...
Why would a Great Yokai like Tamamo-no-Mae, known to everyone in Sakura Prefecture, appear in the Otherworld?
Before there were "Doors," there should be no way to shuttle between the Otherworld and the real world.
After all...
Is the role of "Doors" really the bridge connecting two worlds as she originally speculated?
Or...
Before there were "Doors," the Otherworld didn't exist at all?
Rio kept thinking in her mind, but her movements didn't stop at all, directly letting Hone-Onna erect a white bone shield beside Yagami Soichiro, Marin, and the Kawasaki sisters, these four ordinary people.
Fighting the evil spirit while thinking about things in her heart.
Such dual-threading had absolutely no difficulty for Rio.
"Interesting."
Looking at that huge figure emerging in the hazy mist, Yoru revealed a smile, not stepping forward but retreating a distance.
Ghosts like Tamamo-no-Mae, much smarter than humans, were really hard to see.
Intuitively, maybe hard to judge.
But just comparing with Hachishaku-sama, the gap was obvious.
That tall Hachishaku's favorite thing to do was squatting at home drinking milk after completing Kyoto's daily patrol.
Let alone scheming.
Since joining the Super-Quant Club, Hachishaku's brain had fallen into a standby state, almost degenerating.
On the contrary, Tamamo-no-Mae.
Did she actively engage this powerful Worm Evil Spirit because she felt Yoru and Rio needed her help?
No.
Although the resentment on this Worm Evil Spirit was heavy, compared to that ten-meter-tall Titan Evil Spirit, its power was still quite inferior.
Tamamo-no-Mae's move had only one purpose.
She wanted to let Yoru know her true strength.
Only by completing this first, combined with the goodwill actions last time and this time, could it be possible to start the next step of in-depth cooperation.
After the mist slowly dispersed, through the fine cracks of the bone shield, Yagami Soichiro and others finally saw clearly the figure of that behemoth in the mist.
Roar!!!
A huge Nine-Tailed Fox slapped its white paw on the ground.
Its sharp teeth flashed with cold light, eyes revealing undisguised killing intent, staring straight at the Worm Evil Spirit in front.
"Th... what is this thing!?"
Yagami Soichiro was dumbfounded.
He originally thought the biggest problem the Police Department had to deal with was the criminal "Mask," who appeared and disappeared unpredictably and left the professional police force armed with guns helpless.
But it seemed now...
The opponent was at least a human!
Yagami Soichiro couldn't help but swear.
"What the f*ck is this monster!?"
As soon as he said this sentence, Kawasaki Saki beside him frowned and said coldly.
"Chief Yagami, there is a child here; please mind your language."
"Uh..."
Stared at by Kawasaki Saki's sharp eyes, Yagami Soichiro looked embarrassed, scratching his head.
"So... sorry."
Actually, Keika didn't hear what Yagami Soichiro was saying at all.
Her gaze was all on Yoru at this time, little stars almost twinkling in her eyes.
Too handsome.
Last time she saw Yoru in this outfit, Keika didn't know his true identity, and at that time Yoru hadn't obtained Onimaru Kunitsuna yet.
Now with new equipment, he looked even more handsome.
And Keika had an indescribable excitement in her heart.
Others present didn't know Big Brother's true identity; only she knew.
Simply...
Waku Waku, too exciting!
"Kill you..."
The Worm Evil Spirit's huge body twisted. Thousands of stacked faces twisted and fused together at this moment.
Eyes, noses, mouths.....
Features on the faces wriggled and squeezed together, looking disgusting.
"Kill me?"
Although Tamamo-no-Mae revealed her true form, she still possessed the ability to speak.
Her voice was still that gentle, but the tone carried disdain and contempt.
"Just by a monster like you?"
As her voice fell, Tamamo-no-Mae had swung her sharp claws. Sharp nails pierced flesh and blood, penetrating deep into the Worm Evil Spirit's disgusting head.
Her slender eyes flashed with the desire for slaughter and destruction, opening her mouth, two rows of sharp teeth shining with cold light biting fiercely on the Worm Evil Spirit's body.
Then with a twist of her neck, she tore off a large piece of flesh and blood, turning into black mist and dissipating.
Boom...
The huge body of the Worm Evil Spirit jumped, causing the ground to tremble.
Immediately after, thousands of mouths on it emitted meaningless whispers simultaneously.
The moment the whispering sounded, hundreds of slender ghost shadows exactly the same as before emerged from the underground passage, figures weird and twisted, rushing towards the people behind Tamamo-no-Mae at extremely fast speed.
Bang!
They hit directly on the hard white bone shield, but seemed not to feel pain at all, numbly repeating the action of retreating and hitting forward again.
Even the hard shield created by Hone-Onna gradually produced cracks under this continuous impact.
Kawasaki Saki's pupils shrank slightly, protecting her sister behind her.
From the cracks of the bone shield in front, she could feel those slender ghost shadows, although faceless, locked their gazes on herself, her sister, Yagami Soichiro, and Marin, these four ordinary humans.
That twisted aura was like evil ghosts in hell, trying to pull everyone into the dark red blood pool.
"Damn, damn..."
Looking at more and more cracks on the white bone shield, Kawasaki Saki protected her sister with one hand, gritting her silver teeth tightly, unwillingness in her eyes.
If this continued...
She couldn't protect her sister and Kitagawa-san.
"Damn..."
Kawasaki Saki almost crushed her teeth.
For the first time in her life, she felt so powerless.
"Still can't do it..."
Rio, who had been holding back, watched the reactions of Marin and Kawasaki Saki through the cracks of the bone shield, finally just shaking her head helplessly.
"Sure enough, awakening isn't that simple."
Rio confirmed one point.
What Yoru said about throwing people into the Otherworld and dying if not awakening was indeed unfeasible.
Facing the true self wasn't something that could be forced.
If one didn't even know one's true thoughts clearly, how to talk about facing them?
It seemed now that Marin and Kawasaki Saki hadn't met such conditions yet.
"Going up, Hone-Onna."
Hearing Rio's order, Hone-Onna nodded slightly.
Immediately after, she disappeared from the air.
Rio, wearing a white coat like a lab coat, walked slowly towards those slender ghost shadows constantly hitting the bone shield.
"Bone Spur."
As these two words were uttered, dozens of sharp spikes suddenly extended from the bone shield.
Those slender ghost shadows hitting the shield ran into them directly. After their bodies were pierced, they turned into faint black mist and dissipated in the air.
Seeing this scene, the Worm Evil Spirit fighting with Tamamo-no-Mae emitted that weird sound like thousands of people whispering simultaneously again.
The remaining slender ghost shadows turned direction instantly, targeting Rio who was walking slowly.
Facing hundreds of slender ghost shadows composed of pure black mist, Rio just looked calm and extended her right hand.
"White Bone Hell."
The moment her voice fell, the ground in the passage bloomed with large patches of forest-white, beautiful, yet extremely sharp bone spurs shining with cold light like bamboo shoots after rain.
Not even a second.
Hundreds of slender ghost shadows, annihilated.
Kawasaki Saki and others seeing this scene couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
Rio didn't have any emotion of surprise, just murmuring to herself.
"Too weak."
These slender ghost shadows were really too weak.
Weak enough to make Rio feel strange.
Let alone in the Otherworld.
Even in the real world, the power of slender ghost shadows was only below the standard line.
Although slender ghost shadows could kill those rescue personnel and members of the Police Department silently.
But thinking from another angle.
If not needing to follow the rule of "Observation," as long as it was an evil spirit, for ordinary people, it was a completely irresistible monster.
What made Rio feel most strange was one more point.
The feeling was wrong.
She didn't have the feeling of killing evil spirits.
Only a weird touch like eliminating empty shells.
"Captain."
Hearing Rio's call, Yoru walked over carrying Onimaru Kunitsuna in one hand.
"What's wrong?"
Rio looked at the Worm Evil Spirit fighting with Tamamo-no-Mae, her face under the mask thoughtful, making her habitual gesture of pushing glasses when thinking.
"This thing seems not to be an ordinary evil spirit."
Rio spoke slowly.
"These slender ghost shadows, rather than evil spirits loyal to it, are better said to be tools for predation, somewhat similar to the weapons you create using evil spirit power."
"What!?"
Seeing Yoru's pupils shrink in shock, just as Rio felt puzzled, wondering why an evil spirit of this level could make the always calm Yoru show such an expression, she heard him speak in a deep voice.
"This Bastard (BYD) actually plagiarized me?"
"Uh..."
Rio was speechless: "Does this count as plagiarism?"
"Why doesn't it count?"
Yoru spoke seriously.
"You have to know, I am the protagonist of this world."
"What is a protagonist?"
Facing Yoru's sudden question, Rio shook her head honestly, asking tentatively carefully.
"Is it... the strongest?"
"Not necessarily the strongest."
Yoru waved his hand and explained very seriously.
"But the protagonist must be special, possessing uniqueness; otherwise, not called a protagonist."
"This guy not only plagiarized my ability."
"It wants to snatch my protagonist position!"
Rio sighed slightly, helpless.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"What else can I do?"
Yoru stood up, looked at the Worm Evil Spirit fighting with Tamamo-no-Mae, waved Onimaru Kunitsuna in his hand, and said faintly.
"Make it pay the price for this."
While saying this sentence, Yoru had already flashed to the center of the battlefield.
"Tamamo-no-Mae, retreat."
Tamamo-no-Mae, who was already struggling a bit, heard this and nodded obediently immediately. Her huge body shrank instantly, turning back into human form, silently retreating a distance.
She felt a bit ashamed.
At first, Tamamo-no-Mae could suppress this huge Worm Evil Spirit, even saying it was a one-sided beating.
But not knowing why.
In the process of fighting, the opponent's power was still increasing continuously.
As a Great Yokai with rational thinking ability in legends, Tamamo-no-Mae looked down on this kind of twisted evil spirit that only knew slaughter and didn't even have a human form.
The problem was...
She couldn't beat it.
It was really too shameful.
However, the initial goal of expressing goodwill and true strength was achieved.
"Chief Yagami."
Facing the roaring Worm Evil Spirit, Yoru spoke to Yagami Soichiro not far away with a chuckle.
"This is the reason Onimaru Kunitsuna is loyal to me."
Before Yagami Soichiro could reply, Yoru slashed down with Onimaru Kunitsuna across the air aiming at the Worm Evil Spirit in front.
"Slash."
As this word was uttered, the black flames attached to the blade of Onimaru Kunitsuna turned into a sharp sword qi, slashing straight towards the body of the Worm Evil Spirit.
This slash directly cut off a small half of the Worm Evil Spirit's head forcibly.
Those human faces wriggled on the ground, not dissipating into black mist directly, still emitting sharp ear-piercing roars from their mouths.
"Truly disgusting."
Yoru walked forward slowly, turning the tip of Onimaru Kunitsuna downward, without any mercy in his eyes, piercing the still howling human faces directly.
"Quantum, help me with crowd control."
Hearing Yoru's words, although Rio was a bit tired, she still stood by his side, hands aiming at the roaring Worm Evil Spirit, saying word by word.
"White Bone Hell."
This time, the white bones didn't extend from the ground but from both sides of the underground passage.
Several sharp bone spurs pierced the body of the Worm Evil Spirit directly, making it unable to struggle for a while.
"Say, does this count as a lover's combo skill?"
Hearing Yoru's smiling inquiry, Rio's pretty face under the mask flushed, patting his shoulder grumpily.
"Don't be crazy here; be crazy at home. Eliminate this evil spirit quickly and go back; I want to go to bed and sleep."
"Sure."
Yoru nodded with a smile. The Pale Ghost Hand and Pitch-Black Ghost Hand in mid-air disappeared.
Not that he canceled the summon.
But used the ability to integrate with the Soul True Body.
Onimaru Kunitsuna was originally a large tachi used with both hands.
Yoru held the hilt with both hands for the first time.
"Chief Yagami."
The hem of his black coat turned into burning flames.
On the black blade of Onimaru Kunitsuna, a thick aura that looked like both black mist and flames emerged.
Yoru stared straight at this huge Worm Evil Spirit in front of him, his calm words allowing Yagami Soichiro to hear clearly.
"Watch closely."
When saying these three words, Yoru already held the blade with both hands, slashing down across the air aiming at the Worm Evil Spirit in front.
This time, the blade qi formed by black flames was more than ten times stronger than the one just now.
The vertical blade qi passed through the middle of the Worm Evil Spirit's body.
At this moment, the air seemed to quiet down.
Yoru turned around, looked at Yagami Soichiro standing not far away, and sheathed Onimaru Kunitsuna at his waist.
As he sheathed the blade, the huge body of the Worm Evil Spirit trembled.
Immediately after, it slowly split into two halves from the middle, the cut surface incredibly neat and smooth.
Amidst the ground tremor, Yoru stared straight into Yagami Soichiro's eyes and said faintly.
"This is the reason Onimaru Kunitsuna is qualified to be used by me."