Chapter 254: Miwa Ran and Riko Amanai (Patreon)

Once a century, the author drops an update for this fic lol_______________________________________________

Maybe sacrificing herself to save the world really was meaningful.

Maybe, when you're already trapped in hopeless despair with nowhere left to go, taking the option an enemy dangles in front of you, the one that might lead to a good ending, is the most reasonable choice.

But she refused.

"Because the person I respect most wanted me to live, and gave up their life to make that happen." The girl stared straight into phantom Kenjaku's eyes, her tone firm and final. "So I refuse. Besides, I don't trust you."

"…Heh… Ha." Phantom Kenjaku froze for a moment, then laughed twice, his expression darkening. "Brat…"

He was already on edge, and being turned down so flatly by a girl made him furious.

"You think your refusal means anything?" Phantom Kenjaku sneered, manipulating Cursed Energy to seize her collar and haul Riko Amanai off the ground. "The person you respect? You mean Satoru Gojo? Or Suguru Geto? Or maybe that one called Miwa Ran? They're all just fools! Like I told you before, they don't even know the truth of what happened. If they hadn't obstructed that Blue Existence, things would never have come to this! The people you respect most have brought calamity to this world with their stupidity!"

"And what about you? Aren't you a fool too?" With her collar pulled tight, the girl struggled to breathe, but she still smirked and shot back mockingly. "Anyone with half a brain knows that if you want my cooperation right now, you should be sweetly singing Miwa Ran's praises… Ha ha, lavish some compliments on the person I respect most, and if that put me in a good mood, I might even cooperate. Acting like this just makes me hate you more and more, and you still want my cooperation?"

The girl sneered through gritted teeth and raised the first middle finger she had ever flipped at anyone in her life, her face fierce. "Get lost! You despicable coward who only dares show up wearing Suguru Geto's face!"

"Tch—"

Phantom Kenjaku ground his teeth in rage and flung Riko Amanai to the floor with a sweep of his arm. She winced in pain.

With things as they stood, he knew there was no way he'd ever get Riko Amanai's cooperation.

…Damn it. Of course he knew Miwa Ran was Mahiru.

That was exactly why he had insulted Miwa Ran by reflex a moment ago.

He had always found Mahiru interesting, and impressive too. But every single plan of his had been wrecked by that girl, and even the most even-tempered man would have his blood pressure through the roof by now.

With the situation so urgent, he simply couldn't bring himself to say anything flattering about Mahiru. He had lashed out with sarcasm on instinct, and it had only stirred up Riko Amanai's defiance.

A real blunder. And a real loss of composure…

"So what now?" the white-masked man asked. "Do we move somewhere more concealed and start the ritual there?"

With Riko Amanai uncooperative, the ritual would take a considerable amount of time.

Satoru Gojo had already fought his way here, so this place was clearly no longer hidden. Starting the ritual here anyway would be unwise.

But phantom Kenjaku also knew that searching for another location was pointless.

The reason their position had been exposed so quickly was, eighty percent likely, the Kenjaku of this era. That inexplicable bastard was helping Mahiru, relying on Tengen's power to track them.

So no matter where they ran inside Japan, they'd be found in no time. Unless they ran out of Japan altogether.

But once they left Japan, they could no longer perform the ritual to create a second Tengen, because Tengen's Barrier currently covered only Japan. Running would accomplish nothing.

Which meant all they could do now was endure the assault from Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto and the rest, and start the ritual anyway!

Phantom Kenjaku gritted his teeth. "Then start right now…"

"Right now?"

"Yes! Right now! It doesn't matter anyway! Yuki Tsukumo isn't here, and Dabura can easily hold off this era's Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto. As for that blue-haired Cursed Spirit, if she shows up, you kill her!" Phantom Kenjaku's tone was grim. "Right, why should I be afraid of her? With your Cursed Technique, you've no reason to fear her at all. If anything, it's a chance for her ability to be Devoured by you. If you've Devoured her ability, no one will ever be able to stop the Culling Game's march…"

"But this isn't the world we came from. His Cursed Technique and mine only reach full power when connected to the Cursed Energy of the entire Culling Game system, and the Cursed Energy I can draw in this world is clearly insufficient," the white-masked man objected. "Never mind that I'm the only one here right now…"

"That's exactly why we have to start the ritual faster!" Phantom Kenjaku snapped impatiently, raising his voice. "Even if the creation of the new Tengen is only one percent complete, the Cursed Energy you can draw will increase!"

The white-masked man fell silent for a second, then nodded quickly. "Understood."

He walked up to Riko Amanai, raised a finger, and began to mobilize the Cursed Technique 【Chaos and Harmony】.

Cursed Energy surged. At the center of the cavern, the burning sphere flared bright. The black threads fixed to the surrounding walls began to flow one after another, flowing together with the Cursed Energy. The entire space warped. Countless murmurs rose from every direction and closed in around the girl.

Riko Amanai gave a bitter smile.

But her eyes remained resolute.

She had already decided to die.

For all her fearless words a moment ago, she was only a lamb awaiting slaughter. She might say she wanted to live, but whatever she chose, she could not escape death. That refusal had been nothing more than one last act of willfulness.

"…Or maybe that one called Miwa Ran? They're all just fools…"

…Damn it.

Riko Amanai was not resigned to it.

She couldn't bear to let this life, saved by Miwa Ran, be thrown away for nothing. She couldn't bear to let the man in front of her, who had slandered Miwa Ran, keep up such an arrogant air.

If only she could slap him. And if she couldn't slap him, at least she could have thrown a few more retorts at him…

But maybe it was true. Miwa Ran, Satoru Gojo and the others really had obstructed that Blue Existence from saving this world. Maybe they really had been in the wrong…

The girl felt her thoughts growing murkier and murkier. Amid countless murmurs, her body was wrapped in countless threads of Cursed Energy. She felt her consciousness being dragged into an abyss, and little by little she couldn't even tell what she was thinking.

Thread after thread seemed to coil around her soul, like countless gentle poisoned needles injecting venom into her mind.

Thinking was hard.

Just as a computer rescans its hard drive before being formatted, her own memories blended with those of the New Shadow Style old woman and played before her eyes, scene after scene.

Hazily, she saw the old woman as a young girl, founding the New Shadow Style.

Dimly, she saw herself sitting around a bonfire on a beach with Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto and Miwa Ran.

From far away, she recalled what Kenjaku had said the last time they met: that she would die a meaningless death.

And at the very end, she saw the old woman's memories again, how Miwa Ran had come carrying a coffin with Riko Amanai inside, feigning death, and crushed the New Shadow Style's old woman…

Ha. Come to think of it, back then she had thought this plan of Miwa Ran's was seriously twisted… Who on earth fakes a hostage's death, stuffs her in a coffin, and hauls her in front of the enemy like that?

Back then, she'd thought Miwa Ran had simply lost her mind.

But…

But, you know…

"Ha ha ha ha…"

"Time to say goodbye… Hm?" The white-masked man, who had just raised his hand to fully activate the ritual on Riko Amanai, let out a wary, puzzled sound. "What are you laughing at? What's so funny?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha… Because it's funny, it's just really funny… Because this whole thing makes me so happy…"

Had she gone mad?

The white-masked man couldn't understand it.

Meanwhile, phantom Kenjaku was shouting impatiently from the side. "Why haven't you started yet?!"

The white-masked man finally decided to write off the girl's madness as a last burst of strength before death, and fully activated the Cursed Technique.

Then he saw her, wrapped in countless virtual threads, her eyes already clouded, forcibly lift her head. She looked at him, then at Kenjaku in the distance, and a grand, smug smile spread across her face. "See! I told you! There's no way Miwa Ran is anything like what you said! She isn't stupid! You are the stupid ones!"

Riko Amanai felt no more fear and no more resentment. Not a trace of despair remained in her heart, because she now believed with certainty that she would not die here. She also understood that the person she respected was not the so-called "fool" the enemy claimed.

Because she had seen the memories of the New Shadow Style old woman.

Because when Miwa Ran had gone to the New Shadow Style's mountain gate to pick a fight with the old woman, she had exposed her Cursed Technique.

And the New Shadow Style old woman had known it: Miwa Ran was the Blue Existence.

"She isn't dead! How could you fools ever understand her!" the girl laughed.

The white-masked man froze. Just as he made contact with the girl's soul to begin the ritual, a virtual card appeared out of thin air and fell in front of him.

On the card, a portrait of a shirtless, powerfully built man met his gaze. He saw the man give a wicked grin, then slam his hands together in a sharp clap.

"Clap."

The crisp sound rang in his ears, and a strange ripple of Cursed Energy shook the space.

The laughing Riko Amanai vanished, and her laughter vanished with her. In her place, standing before the white-masked man and phantom Kenjaku, was the blue-haired girl they knew all too well, a white light of Cursed Energy already compressed to its limit in her hand.

They stared at each other for an instant, and the air fell silent for a moment too, now that Riko Amanai was gone.

Then the blue-haired girl raised her left hand and flipped them both off, while the 【Remains】 in her right hand blazed with blinding light.

"Heh…" Phantom Kenjaku bared his teeth. "Damn Boogie Woo—"

BOOM!!!!——————

The light of Cursed Energy swallowed the entire underground cavern in an instant.