Standing before the coffin, Nakano Yu looked at the thin line extending from Chika Tachibana's body.
Normally, when Nakano Yu activated Cut Through and looked at people, countless thin lines would appear before his eyes. Some of those lines represented illness, some memories, some emotions, and they were generally colorful.
But now, Chika Tachibana had only one line in Nakano Yu's eyes.
A long, black line, and that line represented... [Death]!
Raising his hand, Nakano Yu decisively cut through the black line that represented [Death]. The moment the thin line was severed, the black line dispersed like smoke, and Nakano Yu felt his mind sink as his brain became clouded for a moment, but the feeling quickly disappeared.
His gaze fell upon Chika Tachibana once again, and this time Nakano Yu saw various thin lines before his eyes.
However, among those colorful lines, Nakano Yu discovered one line as red as blood.
The moment he saw that red line, the information it represented appeared in Nakano Yu's mind:
[Izanagi's Curse ~ Root]
Looking at the red line, Nakano Yu raised his hand without hesitation and slashed toward it.
"Bzzzz!!!"
With a buzzing sound, the red line snapped with difficulty, but after breaking, it did not disappear like the black line. Instead, it twisted and writhed, looking exactly like a parasite!
Once severed, the red line that had become the curse writhed several times along Chika Tachibana's arm, then suddenly shot outward, rushing toward Tachibana Marika beside the coffin.
Judging by its movement, it was obvious that the curse intended to attach itself to Tachibana Marika.
But with Nakano Yu here, how could he allow the curse to succeed?
With a casual wave of his hand, a gentle Wind blew, carrying the curse along with it and bringing it before Nakano Yu.
"A curse? Heh."
After examining the red line that the curse had transformed into, Nakano Yu let out a mocking laugh. With a single thought, the Wind swirling around the curse immediately crushed it.
"Yu? Did you... solve it?"
At this moment, Tachibana Marika, seeing that Nakano Yu's frantic movements had finally stopped, asked somewhat nervously.
"Mm... mostly."
Nakano Yu nodded, then looked at Chika Tachibana lying in the coffin and casually severed all the illnesses Chika Tachibana had suffered from because of the curse over the years.
"I'm going out for a while. Aunt Tachibana will wake up soon."
Patting Marika on the shoulder, Nakano Yu smiled faintly. After saying that, he flashed away and disappeared from the room before Tachibana Marika could respond.
Nakano Yu's sudden departure made Marika somewhat uneasy. Just as she wanted to follow the young man outside, she took one step and heard a confused and bewildered female voice behind her:
"Marika, why... are you here?"
Hearing the voice, Marika froze, then turned around in disbelief. When she saw Chika Tachibana alive and well before her once again, the emotions the girl had been suppressing in her heart could no longer be controlled.
"Mother!"
As soon as the words fell, tears began streaming down her face as well.
Before her mind could react, Marika rushed toward Chika Tachibana. Chika Tachibana was still confused and bewildered, looking at the girl who had run over to her, still unable to understand the situation.
If she remembered correctly, shouldn't the curse have tormented her to despair and then killed her? How could she be here?
Moreover, Chika Tachibana felt unbelievably comfortable in her current body. After living for so long, Chika Tachibana had never felt so relaxed. The curse... was gone?
This is... a coffin?
Could it be that... she had been revived?!
In the courtyard of the old Tachibana family residence, Nakano Yu sat idly on the edge of the roof.
He was not particularly accustomed to such emotional scenes, and it was not appropriate for him, a grown man, to be present during the moment between mother and daughter, Tachibana Marika and Chika Tachibana.
Rather than being an extra, Nakano Yu could do something more important.
Thinking that, Nakano Yu waved his hand, and a square piece of parchment appeared in his hand.
The moment the parchment appeared, golden light burst forth from it, and rings of holy radiance rose behind Nakano Yu.
Looking at the parchment, Nakano Yu revealed an interested expression.
"Izanami's face, huh?"
Nakano Yu murmured as he looked at the description provided by the system.
The parchment in Nakano Yu's hand had appeared the moment he crushed the curse, but he had been quick enough to immediately store it in his system space.
This parchment was a divine artifact, one that originated from Izanagi, but actually belonged to Izanami.
That's right, this divine artifact was called [Mother Gods Skin]. And the description given by the system did not make Nakano Yu's expression look very pleasant:
[Mother Gods Skin: The beautiful face of the Neon mother goddess Izanami. After the mother goddess Izanami gave birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi, she was burned to death. The deity went to the Underworld, and under the influence of the Underworld, Izanami rotted away. In order to preserve her appearance, the mother goddess skinned her own face.]
[When the father god Izanagi, driven by longing, broke into the Underworld and saw the rotting goddess Izanami covered in worms, he fled in terror, but unexpectedly and accidentally took Izanami's face with him and brought it into the present world.]
[Divine Tool Ability: [Mother Gods Skin] possesses extremely powerful transformation abilities, capable of completely changing the user's face, body, and voice according to the user's thoughts.]
[Note: This divine artifact can be used to summon [Izanami].]
"I didn't expect it to be something like this, Izanami... But why would it carry Izanagi's curse?"
Nakano Yu murmured as he stored away [Mother Gods Skin].
As for Izanagi's Curse, Nakano Yu currently had two theories.
First, the curse was not aimed at the Tachibana family at all, but was actually a curse that Izanagi cast upon the Underworld after escaping from it, or perhaps a curse directed toward Izanami after she became a rotting goddess.
Second, there was another source of this curse that he simply did not know about yet.
But none of that mattered anymore. At least now the root curse had been resolved, and the Tachibana family's problems were over.
Thinking that, Nakano Yu, who was waiting for Marika to leave the room so he could take her back to Tokyo, suddenly froze, and then a smile appeared on his face.
The divine artifact for summoning [Disobedient Melqart] had been found!
His ears twitched, and Nakano Yu heard Marika and Chika Tachibana talking in the room. Feeling that the two of them would not be separating anytime soon, he took the first step and returned to Tokyo using Moon Authority.
He reappeared on the rooftop of an apartment building, and when he saw the four Moon God Envoys playing marbles, Nakano Yu's face darkened.
What the hell had these guys learned in human society?!
Nakano Yu's lips twitched. Before he could speak, the four Moon God Envoys noticed his presence, quickly got up from the ground, rushed toward Nakano Yu, and presented the divine artifacts they had collected.
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