Don't force me to use my right fist.

He thought of the mocking look the fox had given him before it disappeared, and he also thought of his father, who was still lying on the ground, and the innocent pregnant woman.

If he really did that, wouldn't he become a sinner like the village chief, protecting her?

For a moment, Sentaro was at a loss for what to do. Regardless of the god's true purpose, it was clearly targeting Ai. If he chose to help Ai, it would be tantamount to indirectly harming the entire village.

The self-proclaimed righteous youth, faced with such a choice for the first time, could only be drawn into the crowd of villagers who had completely lost their minds, and was taken along with them towards the Shibata family's residence.

Chapter 483 Betrayal

When the group, who had completely lost their minds, arrived at the Shibata residence, they were met with a scene of Shibata Ai's parents entangled with the two guards responsible for watching over them.

Inside the door, the girl who was supposed to be the final sacrifice was nowhere to be seen. Only her parents had a sudden sense of foreboding when they saw these people.

A commotion arose again in the crowd, and almost instantly they surrounded Shibata Ai's parents and the two men guarding them, their eyes practically blazing with murderous intent. The two villagers assigned to guard the Shibata family were unaware of what had just happened; they were simply frightened by the group's unusual behavior.

They honestly recounted what had happened, pointing to the woods in the distance.

"It's over. That cursed child has escaped. How are we going to explain this to the gods? The villagers will all lose their lives because of this."

Upon hearing this devastating news, the villagers who had rushed over wore indescribable expressions.

“The gods will surely be angry because of this. We will all die here. I don’t want to die. I still have children and parents to support. Why did this happen?”

"Why can't you even keep an eye on a child..." A hint of despair flickered in the eyes of everyone in the crowd, especially after witnessing the fox's terrifying strength and its ruthless, bloodthirsty actions. They all knew one thing: if Shibata Ai escaped, they would have to bear the wrath of the gods in her place.

Even Sentaro couldn't help but recall the mocking look the monster had given him. The corpse in his hand seemed to have transformed into the likeness of him and his father, and the fear made him unable to even stand still.

Suddenly, someone noticed Shibata Ai's parents, who were tied up. After someone shouted, the confusion and resentment of the crowd seemed to find an outlet, and all of them rushed towards Shibata Ai's parents.

A group of villagers, who had gone into a semi-mad state, lifted the two of them up as if they wanted to devour them alive, venting their anger on these two parents who were only thinking of their child.

"Wait a minute! I know where love is."

Sentaro, who had been swept up by the villagers who had gone mad, saw his beloved parents being brutally beaten. Whether it was the despair caused by his shattered beliefs or the fact that his whole being had broken down, he silently propped himself up and stood up.

The voice, though not particularly loud, rang out from the crowd, instantly silencing the restless villagers.

What Sentaro was saying was like a lifeline to them; if they could find that girl, it was still not too late.

"Sentaro, what are you doing? She loves you and trusts you so much, are you going to betray her?"

Shibata Ai's parents, who had been enduring the abuse inflicted by the riotous villagers, stared in disbelief at the boy who had spoken those words. They had been prepared to sacrifice themselves for their daughter, but now, the person she trusted most had betrayed them. "These people—everyone—the entire village, including the elderly and children, all the innocent people will die because of this."

His expression was indistinguishable between crying and smiling. Sentaro covered his face in despair, but with the help of others, he stood up and led the villagers, who had completely fallen into madness, toward the nearby forest.

Behind them, the remaining villagers still stared at the Shibata couple lying on the ground with bloodthirsty eyes.

The gods might only need Shibata Ai as a sacrifice, but the source of the villagers' resentment wasn't simply directed at her. Shibata Ai, frantically fleeing from the house, was naturally unaware of all this.

She ran wildly towards the bottom of a deserted waterfall in the forest, where the girl found a tree hollow and curled up her small body, waiting for that familiar figure to appear in her sight.

This was always the place where she and Sentaro secretly played together, and no one else knew about this place except for the two of them.

That's why she chose this spot to meet Sentaro; after that, if she just walked up the waterfall, she would soon reach the nearest town.

Once they reach the town, the villagers' arrogance will be useless. After all, the town is governed by officials, and they can't just let these villagers take her away like that. Besides, if she goes to the town, she might even be able to meet that gentleman again.

The thought of Saya's figure caused Shibata Ai's tense body to slowly relax. In the girl's heart, he was a somewhat strange but reassuring figure.

The girl, who was still thinking about how to find Saya's whereabouts, suddenly became alert after hearing approaching footsteps nearby.

Fortunately, the figure of that familiar boy appeared in her sight.

"Sentaro, you really kept your promise. My parents are still..." Shibata Ai, who had just emerged from her hiding place, suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Looking at the villagers slowly emerging from behind her most trusted cousin, she looked with trembling eyes at the boy who kept his head down.

"Sentaro?"

Chapter 484 I Hate All of You

Shibata Ai's heart is dead.

She didn't die when the villagers beat her to the ground, nor did she die from the blows they struck her on the head with wooden sticks.

The physical pain was nothing compared to the mental anguish. She simply stared in disbelief at the boy, who seemed familiar yet had never felt so strange to her, with her jewel-like, brownish-yellow eyes.

"Why? You clearly said it yourself, you said you would..."

Even though she was completely tied up and her hands and feet were broken with sticks, the girl's eyes never left the boy.

The questions she asked, coupled with the girl's uniquely hoarse voice, sounded like cries, but the boy who had betrayed her simply lowered his head and followed silently behind the villagers who were carrying her back.

What could he possibly say? So many innocent people were in the village; was he just supposed to stand by and watch them die because of it?

Love may not have done anything wrong, but was Wan really the one who caused it?

Sentaro, whose heart was completely confused, seemed to have found the only explanation for the past, and the idea automatically became the default in his mind.

Perhaps love was just an unintentional mistake, but mistakes must be punished.

Faced with so many innocent people, Sentaro felt he couldn't make the choice to protect a child who had made a mistake.

People only see what they want to see and only draw the conclusions they want to reach.

Sentaro is human too, so he ultimately chose to do this.

So all he could do was ignore the girl's desperate, tearful questions and silently follow behind the crowd.

But for Ai Shibata, the despair was not just a little bit.

When she was carried to the shrine that the villagers had quickly cleared out, and saw the bodies of her parents, who had completely lost all signs of life, lying on the torii gate, she was unable to even cry out.

Extreme grief and despair left her mouth agape, as if she could no longer speak, and her breathing stopped.

Sentaro also witnessed this scene, but after a fleeting look of sadness in his eyes, he turned his head away, no longer looking at the two corpses that had been tortured beyond recognition.

But the ritual will not stop because of their reaction.

Several villagers roughly dressed Ai in a white ritual kimono and then led her to a pit that had already been dug.

“Great God, the offerings you requested have been brought to the newly built shrine for you. Now, let us soothe your angry heart!”

The hastily summoned priest, having also experienced the terrifying will of the previous incident, spoke with absolute reverence and fear, as if performing some incredibly sacred ritual, pressing Shibata Ai's body before a hastily sculpted fox statue. "You shall be the one to strike first in this prison."

The priest forcibly pulled Sentaro, who had been too afraid to watch, behind Ai, explaining what he was about to do while placing a wooden shovel on his hand.

"Sentaro? Why, why did you do this?"

After seeing her parents' corpses, the girl, who seemed to have lost her soul, finally came to her senses and asked the boy behind her in a low voice.

With her arms and legs broken, she couldn't even turn her head.

Even so, she still wanted to know why this person, whom she had always trusted and who had even vowed to protect her, would do such a thing.

"You're wrong, Ai! If we don't do this, everyone else in the village will die! Everyone will die because of you, they will die!"

Upon hearing this soul-searching question about love once again, Sentaro seemed to finally be unable to contain his emotions and broke down in tears.

But at the same time, the shovel he was holding slammed into the girl's back, causing her body to fall into the dark pit.

"It's all because of you, so please, let's end this!"

While crying and shouting, Sentaro shoveled up the soil beside him and filled it into the hole where Ai was lying.

What was buried was not only the girl named Ai Shibata, but also the boy's completely distorted conscience.

The other villagers, seemingly eager to end this nightmarish situation, frantically filled the hole with dirt.

The expression on his face not only showed respect for the gods, but also a sense of pleasure as if he were venting his resentment.

Perhaps they all went mad the moment that monster appeared.

As Shibata Ai lay in the cave, she looked up at the soil falling down and burying her. A tear of blood slowly flowed from her clear, amber-like brown eyes.

As if stained with blood, her eyes turned a jewel-like red, yet what flowed from them was a resentment that was about to materialize.

"I hate you all! I hate every single one of you! Even in death, I will hate you!"

In the final moment before the soil completely buried the girl's head, Shibata Ai left behind a sentence filled with extreme resentment for everyone present.

Then, the hole was completely sealed with mud, and the girl's resentful voice was also silenced.

It's so painful.....

The girl was tormented by both physical and mental pain, which ultimately manifested as a tangible resentment, as if she wanted to destroy everything present through the soil covering her body.

Naraku, who had been lurking nearby and orchestrating all of this, knew that all he had to do was wait for the girl to die, and then he would have the most desperate and resentful soul he needed.

but.

That is, assuming that guy doesn't arrive at this time.

Like a bolt of lightning piercing the night, a boy dressed in a T-shirt and shorts that seemed completely out of place appeared above the spot where the girl had been buried. He parted the crowd who were still filling the hole with mud.

Ignoring the villagers who were looking at him with terrified eyes, and ignoring the murderous gaze from Naraku, the boy simply swung his shovel a few times on the ground, completely clearing away the soil that had just been filled in.

With one hand, Saya helped up the girl who was gasping for breath after regaining air and couldn't even speak. He gave her a very apologetic look.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

Chapter 485 Kill them

"You dare to obstruct the divine sacrificial ceremony? Do you have a death wish?!"

The villagers, who had mustered their courage, loudly accused Saya. In their eyes, Saya's actions were blasphemy against the gods, and they would also be punished along with him.

But Zuoyou didn't even bother to look at them. After taking out a bottle of regeneration potion from his backpack, Zuoyou carefully fed it to the girl in his arms.

The healing effect was quickly apparent; the girl's injuries gradually healed, and her breathing slowly became calmer.

"That guy looks like the same Taketo who brought back that cursed child last time. What's he doing here?"

The surrounding villagers were still whispering among themselves, but due to the shock of Zuoyou's sudden appearance, they simply surrounded Zuoyou and did not yet have the courage to come up.

Meanwhile, Shibata Ai, who was in Saya's arms, slowly opened her eyes after a cough. Amidst the blood-red light, Saya's handsome face came into view.

"I'm glad you're alright. I'm so glad we made it in time."