Chapter 177: Minamoto no Raiko!
Chapter 177: Minamoto no Raiko!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
Ayami Himiki dropped the potato chip in her hand.
"Shutendoji…" She was stunned, and her mouth was wide agape.
The bonding rate was so high… No, no, she should say that this was the first time she’d ever witnessed such a high synchronization ratio. It was especially shocking as it was with the infamous demon Shutendoji!
Ayami felt like this would turn into a huge incident!
Synchronizing with the demon spirit Shutendoji was no joking matter! Shutendoji was one of the three strongest and evilest demons!! To compare this to a natural catastrophe, Shutendoji was the equivalent of an earthquake or a typhoon!!!
Ayami returned to her senses and reflexively thought about giving an official warning to the duelist Okubo Yoshiaki.
An official warning from the judge meant that there was something that broke the rules or a situation which absolutely required the duel to be paused. The moment she gave such a warning, both sides’ personnel that had been prepared beforehand would immediately stop the duel and protect both duelists.
Obviously, it was a serious matter to forcibly stop the duel.
If the judge made an official warning that was later thought of as unreasonable, the judge’s career would basically be ruined, and for the more severe cases, the judge’s life would basically be over.
Ayami judged that the situation had gone out of control and was about to give an official warning, but she paused right before giving the warning.
Wait a moment, Shutendoji… doesn't seem all that terrifying or imposing...
She continued observing the battle closely.
In her spell that projected the fight, Shutendoji had begun attacking the Yoruhana family's daughter, who dodged each attack and circled around the field.
This Shutendoji was quite powerful, but not overwhelmingly so.
Ayami wasn’t looking down on the Yoruhana family daughter, but the fact that Shutendoji didn’t overwhelm the scion immediately meant that this Shutendoji wasn’t actually all that powerful, or at least not powerful to the extent that it wasn’t allowed.
If it didn’t break the restrictions, there was no need for an official warning.
Ayami decided on her new course of action.
It was a forbidden technique for Yin-Yang Masters to summon spirits upon themselves, but that was only for their own safety. While synchronizing with a spirit to such a degree was also quite dangerous, all of this was still technically allowed by the duel as it wasn’t breaking any rules. As long as the destruction wrought wouldn’t surpass the expectations by too much, there was no reason to stop this duel.
Ayami lowered her hand and grabbed a new bunch of potato chips.
"It’s become more interesting now, Tairou… I thought that things would end like that, but I never anticipated this."
"Woof!" her husky responded with a bark.
"The Yoshiaki family’s son is really giving it his all. Even if I’m delighted that the duel’s become more interesting, to use such a suicidal method… it’s difficult to comment on." Ayami crunched on her potato chips.
"Woof woof!"
"I wonder if the Yoshiaki family's son will still be alive after the duel… Anyway, right now, the Yoruhana family's daughter needs to get past this danger first."
What would the final result be? Ayami continued observing the duel curiously.
As long as the battle wasn’t boring, she didn’t really care what the result was.
Inside Genhana High School.
Seiji was highly worried about the deafening sound that rung out from the front of the school building.
That was where Natsuya and Okubo were currently dueling…
'What is the situation like?' he thought.
It sounded as if one side had brought out something like a crazy Gundam swinging a huge battle hammer recklessly.
He wanted to hurry up and deal with his opponent so that he could go see what was going on.
Seiji’s battle with the Zombie Demon was nearing its conclusion.
His battle had started on top of the school building. As they fought, they jumped down to the ground, and they had been battling behind the school building all the way until now.
Seiji had sliced off the Zombie Demon's head at least seventeen or eighteen times already, and he was lightly injured as well, as evidenced by his slightly tattered combat clothes.
Seiji-sama, Light-chan said , this monster is no longer able to resurrect. If you take its head one more time…
"It’ll be over, I know."
The Zombie Demon lunged towards Seiji for the umpteenth time.
It had zero intelligence whatsoever and was relying purely on its instinct to fight.
Seiji was only wounded as this was his first ever experience fighting a magical monster, so he made a low-level mistake.
After he grew accustomed to fighting the demon, he didn’t repeat the same mistake.
Seiji sidestepped the zombie's pounce and swung with his kodachi, lopping off the Zombie Demon's right arm.
A few seconds prior to this, the Zombie Demon's arms and even head would completely regenerate after a moment or so, but this time it was different.
The zombie swiped at Seiji with its left claw.
Seiji blocked the zombie's hand with his sword, spun around like a whirlwind, and used his momentum to slice again!
The zombie's left claw went flying.
That didn’t hinder it in the slightest; it pursued its offense by attempting to headbutt Seiji.
Seiji avoided the zombie's clumsy attack yet again and brought his blade down upon its head!
Seiji’s attack missed.
It wasn’t due to the zombie dodging. Instead, it had collapsed!
The zombie slid a great distance due to its wild charge.
Seiji merely observed the zombie.
Despite the loss of its right arm and left hand, it tried to claw its way back up again. It attempted to support itself using the stump of its left arm but lost its balance and fell over once again.
Seiji sighed and walked over.
"Farewell."
The zombie had finally managed to climb up again when Seiji's blade descended upon its neck.
The zombie's head went flying, but it disappeared and transformed a puff of black smoke before reaching the ground.
The headless corpse slowly collapsed to its knees and also transformed into a burst of black smoke, which gradually dissipated.
Seiji watched the last strand of smoke disappear before he turned around and left.
He hurriedly ran around the school building and saw what was happening.
Natsuya was currently battling a tall, red-haired man with the aid of Hitaka and Rana.
'Oh, they must have defeated their respective opponents.'
'Er, this man’s appearance…' Seiji was utterly gobsmacked at the sight. 'Isn't this a fricking Shutendoji!?'
Look at that red hair and that huge wine gourd! Look at the handsome face that deserved a beating!!
Seiji coughed dryly. 'Alright, there's no need to get too excited.'
Who pulled that SSR card… whoops, this was a transformation from a synchronized spirit, right?
Who transformed into this? Was it Okubo!?
"Haruta-kun!"
While Seiji was still in a state of shock, Natsuya hurriedly dashed in his direction.
Hitaka and Rana combined their efforts and succeeded in drawing Shutendoji’s attention, enabling Natsuya to break free.
"President…"
Seiji was just about to say something when Natsuya suddenly pulled his arm and dragged him away!
Because Natsuya was running at such a high speed under the Body-strengthening Spell, Seiji flew through midair for a while as he was dragged like a kite.
Seiji was rendered speechless by the situation.
Natsuya didn’t slow down until after dashing quite a distance, when she finally released her kite Seiji.
"Haruta-kun, how’s your condition?"
"Pretty good—I was only lightly injured."
Natsuya inspected his wound.
"Thanks for your hard work… The current situation is just as you see: Shutendoji has appeared! That’s the result of Okubo summoning a spirit to his own body and transforming into it."
"I guessed as much…"
"It’s a forbidden technique for Yin-Yang Masters to summon spirits into their own bodies! I never expected him to do such a thing!! Not only that… coincidentally, he summoned Shutendoji!"
Natsuya looked at Seiji with a strange, indescribable expression on her face.
Seiji tugged at his mouth.
It was indeed far too coincidental.
Was everything actually not a coincidence at all?
If things were too coincidental, it was only natural to suspect that there was some unknown force behind it all… but what could possibly cause all this? Was there a force that could control it?
If it were truly a coincidence, just how unlucky was Okubo…
'Wait, unlucky!?'
Seiji’s eyes lit up as an explanation popped into his mind.
'Yes, there's one force out there that could influence all this!'
Even though the way this force acted was subtle and mysterious, it truly did exist, and it would bring "Heaven-sent Calamities" upon anyone that harmed the "Holy Maiden!"
That was Okubo’s greatest mistake.
Seiji deeply felt the subtle workings of karma as he pondered everything that Okubo had done.
"This is no coincidence, President."
He looked at her, hinting his thoughts with his eyes.
Natsuya suddenly grasped what Seiji was hinting at, and her expression became one of realization, before turning into stunned amazement.
"Shika Kagura… if the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ can even influence this matter, then it’s…"
Due to the fact that it could be "mitigated," this mysterious force seemed rather subtle, and even somewhat insignificant.
But at this moment, Natsuya felt the mystical effects of karma, just as Seiji did.
"Okubo’s fate was already decided when he harmed Shika-chan," Seiji said, before smiling widely."I am his ‘Heaven-sent Calamity.’ And now, it’s time for my appearance as the final act. No, more accurately, me and you… Light-chan."
Ahh, that’s right, Seiji- sama ! a spirited voice exclaimed in Seiji’s mind. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but it’s great that I've encountered this vicious demon again! Light-chan continued in a voice filled with battle spirit.
When I saw this demon, I remembered many things, including my name. Just as Natsuya- sama inferred, my true name is... Minamoto no Raiko!
Minamoto no Raiko, where the word Raiko contained the character for "Light." He was the legendary hero and commander, renowned as a top-class demon slayer among his fellow samurai, and the most famous legend regarding him was—
The slaying of Shutendoji!!!