Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

“Don’t waste your energy,” the monster’s voice was laced with laughter. “Didn’t you notice that thing hasn’t made a sound since I came in? The spirit field certainly has the function of blocking signals—if I hadn’t deliberately relaxed it, it would have lost its function the moment it flew in.”

Yuri stared at the monster, wondering what it was "of course" about, and how it could be "of course"?

The monster then lowered its head slightly. "Oh right, of course, that includes you, Hirozaki. Even if you hide the communication device in your teeth, it's the same. You should have realized the problem when you didn't get a response during your call. What's the use of calling for help now if you didn't call for help then? — Of course, even if you had called for help then, it would have been too late. The people who came would have just arrived in time to... collect your corpses."

"Minagawa-do, you won't escape revenge; you simply can't escape—"

"The wailing of trash is spiritually pleasing... although your raspy voice isn't very pleasant to listen to, well, you'll shut up completely soon."

Yuka Yamanaka's bound spirit fully materialized behind the two of them and immediately assumed a defensive stance.

"You look a bit transparent, are you alright?" Yuri squeezed Yamanaka Yuka back a step, now completely in the corridor, with much more room to maneuver than when they were blocking the doorway.

He had high expectations for the spirit binding, but now that Yuka Yamanaka had actually summoned it, Yuri realized that the black cloth that had been covering the spirit binding was becoming increasingly indistinct—did this mean that the spirit binding itself was also in a weakened state? It didn't seem like a good omen at all.

And the cloth was barely enough to cover the full suit of armor underneath.

It doesn't look like a particularly strong protective species, but armor is armor. As long as it's not armor-like flesh growing on the body, it should be able to block some attacks... right?

Yuri glanced at the armor briefly but didn't see the family crest that should have been on it—though even if it were, he probably wouldn't recognize it. This might mean that the warrior wasn't the type to charge into battle and need everyone to recognize him at a glance, or perhaps he simply didn't want others to know who he was.

Yuri's attention darted back and forth between the monster in front of him and the bound spirits behind him.

In terms of physique, the two are about the same.

In terms of sheer presence, it's obvious that different categories can't be easily compared, but from a feeling perspective... Yuri felt that the monsters were stronger.

In terms of actual behavior, the monster swaggered around, while the spirit-binding creature held its sword and stood guard.

It doesn't seem like they have any advantage at all.

"Yama, maybe we can start using that move now, Yamanaka?" Yuri whispered to the sin-eater girl behind him. It seemed that there was a way to suddenly strengthen the spirit-binding ability, which was perfect for this situation, and could be used in the final battle.

“And that—it’s not something I don’t know,” a mask emerged from the monster’s arm. “Do you know the principle behind her move? It’s quite simple; it’s nothing more than transferring all the power between the binding spirit and the binding body to the binding spirit. Most binding spirits, even with this enhancement, only gain some energy reserves, but her binding spirit can withstand much more, so it directly increases combat power. So the question is, how much power does she still have left to transfer?”

Oops.

The monster had placed the mask where it should have been on its face.

"I am called the Glass Martyr! I serve Morse, the Lord of Death! Ghosts, obey! Embrace your destiny!" The monster's roar echoed throughout the entire building. "All that is alive will die, all that is dead will vanish. There is no escape!"

Yuri quickly shielded Yamanaka Yuka behind him, but the expected impact didn't come, or at least it didn't pass through him—instead, the spirit's movements seemed somewhat affected, its dodges quite clumsy, but Hirosaki Katsuya on the ground fared even worse. This hunter, who was still able to move slightly and had been repeatedly berating Minagawa for trying to persuade him, let out a startling scream.

"What's going on?" Yuri's question went unanswered, and a very ominous scene unfolded before him.

From the bodies of Hirosaki and Anzai lying on the ground, some kind of spirit is being extracted and flowing into the monster's mouth.

Although he didn't know what was going on, he had to stop him immediately—Yuri left the mountain that was trying to stop him in place and rushed forward.

Yuri attempted to dismantle Minagawa's body by casting a spell, just as he had dismantled Hirosaki's spiritual layer, but to no avail. The spell was effective; a part of Minagawa's body vanished into thin air, but then quickly reappeared. The core was never damaged; the spell only lingered on the outer layer, and the enemy was rapidly regenerating this outer shell!

—And the other side didn't stand still and let Yuri move freely. The monster flapped its wings, and feather-shaped spirit nails knocked Yuri back as he stepped forward.

Yuri ducked, grabbed the weapon from Hirosaki Katsuya's hand, aimed at the monster, and pulled the trigger. Bullets rained down; it seemed this creature in its current state wasn't human—

The bullet then ricocheted off the spirit layer, followed by a spirit nail striking the barrel. Yuri managed to throw the gun away just before it exploded.

Neither bullets nor thrown guns had any visible effect, and Minagawa didn't even try to dodge.

"Don't be impulsive, that's a Reaper!" Yuka Yamanaka's voice finally reached Yuri's thinking system.

Reaper.

“The Soul-Binding Impermanence—” Yuka Yamanaka’s bound spirit spoke, “to serve the foreign Yama King.”

“You have some insight—you are indeed the most likely spirit binder to hinder me, but it’s too late.” The Reaper’s voice became ethereal. “The ritual requires the power of three spirit binders, and even I cannot reduce that number—I thought these hunters with the ability to seize the power of others could accomplish this, but I didn’t expect them to be so useless.”

Hiroki got one, Anzai got one, but Nakamichi didn't. Nakamichi only got half, the other half was still in Yamanaka's hands... What's worse for this harvester is that because Nakamichi and Yamanaka each hold half, Yamanaka's spirit is essentially banished to a place where no one can reach it.

"So that's why you helped the hunters launch the attack, and then without hesitation killed the last one after the hunters failed—it didn't matter to you whether you got it from Nakamichi or Yamanaka!" Yuri finally understood the sequence of events.

"What are you still talking about now! Even if you're right, what good will it do you!"

The monster almost agreed with Yuri's words, and at the same time flapped its wings and charged straight at the three of them.

Yuri raised his shield, creating a momentary obstacle, before being swiftly breached by brute force—he tried to retreat, but his movement speed was far inferior to his opponent's—the Bound Spirit abruptly shoved him aside, knocking over Yamanaka Yuka beside him, and the two of them dodged the charge's path together—at the same time, the Bound Spirit drew a short gun with his other hand, blocking the path between himself and the monster—

The pistol didn't pierce the monster's body, but it almost did, and it wasn't deflected. Unfortunately, before the Bound Spirit could make any further moves, the monster charged straight at the wall behind them, crashing into it.

Oh no, this guy's going to smash the spirit out of the building. In a matter of seconds, the Reaper forcefully resisted Yuri's spell and vanished before their eyes, the spirit still pinned down.

"What just happened—" Yuka Yamanaka was pinned down by Yuri and struggled to get up.

Neither of them was seriously injured, but that doesn't mean the situation is good.

Yuri saw the opponent's movements clearly, but his reaction speed was not fast enough, while Yamanaka Yuka... it seems that she didn't see them clearly at all, and she could only barely keep up with the opponent's movements, even the spirit binding.

"That's a Reaper? Are all Reapers like this?" Yuri watched as two powerful spirits entangled and disappeared against the wall, mentally estimating where they would end up with that charge.

"That's a Reaper. Not every Reaper is like that. Where did that monster and my spirit bind go?" Yuka Yamanaka unleashed her power and shoved Yuri aside. "We have to hurry and help!"

Although there are all sorts of problems with helping, she's right.

Yuri instinctively judged that the Bound Spirit was no match for the monster. He felt this way, and the monster felt the same way. Moreover, the Bound Spirit had been pushed away by the monster right before his eyes—so if he didn't go to its aid immediately, the Bound Spirit would likely suffer a severe fate. Then Yamanaka Yuka would also suffer a severe fate, and then Yuri would be left, perhaps being held by the neck and asked whether he wanted to die or surrender.

Yuri slammed his hand on the door of the opposite room, causing the hinges to rot, then kicked the door open—if nothing unexpected happened, the two spirits should have crashed through the spirit wall and entered this room together—

The room was empty.

Yuka Yamanaka rushed into the house, ran to the glass, and looked down. "They're over there!"

Yuri arrived at the same spot.

A vortex of spirit resembling a tornado appeared in the recessed part of the U-shaped inn, and the monster was pressing the bound spirit into it.

A considerable number of weak ghosts are emerging from the surrounding area, and they are completely powerless against the pull of the vortex—worse still, they are drawn to the vortex for some reason before they even feel the pull, like a swarm of rats following a piper into the river.

Akemi Kakizaki tried to approach the monster, but a random volley of spirit spikes forced her to retreat, sustaining minor injuries. —Akemi? Why is she here at this time?

"Hurry, Yuri! Let's jump down and get me as close to the Bound Spirit as possible!" The Sin Eater girl was very excited.

This path would pass through an environment where Reapers and Spirit Binders were fighting in mid-air, and it would definitely be attacked halfway through—Yuri gave up thinking about it.

Yuri opened the window, grabbed Yuka Yamanaka, and crawled out, beginning his charge down the wall towards the ground.

When they got extremely close, the Reaper in mid-air noticed the strange hybrid, and Yuri then sent Yuka Yamanaka to the ground at the cost of having a spirit nail stuck in her head.

This isn't the closest place to the Bound Spirit, but those closer are either already inside the vortex or within the monster's direct attack range.

Akemi Kakizaki was rushing along the hotel's outer wall. She spotted the two of them when Yuri popped out of the window and was trying to meet up with them.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

It landed swiftly.

"And then? Yamanaka? Your condition—" Yuri wanted to check if Yamanaka Yuka was injured first. Although he had erected a shield to block the feathers the moment he landed, it was hard to guarantee that the impact in mid-air might have hurt someone.

"Three minutes." The sin-eater girl gave only a short sentence and a timeframe.

"What—" Before Yuri could ask any more questions, her neck tilted to the side.

Yuka Yamanaka was gradually losing her breath, her eyes were becoming vacant, and her hair was beginning to glow blue. Yuri's body lost its support in just a moment.

She's heading towards death... This isn't the first time; it's probably not real death but the inevitable result of using special magic. And it certainly won't be pleasant for her either. Is it worth suffering like this at this crucial moment and losing all her mobility—

Not far away, the bound spirits, who had been almost entirely swept into the vortex, miraculously managed to stabilize themselves.

“A dying struggle!” The Reaper suddenly took a step back and began to chant a prayer with a strange pronunciation. For some reason, Yuri could understand its meaning: “Morse, the most powerful of the nameless gods of the underworld, I offer you this sacrifice. Please look at this world and take away everything that belongs to you and will belong to you!”—It was just a very ordinary prayer.

The power of the vortex was growing stronger, and the Bound Spirit tried to break free, but every time he almost succeeded, the Reaper would knock him back.

The Reaper turned in Yuri's direction. "Forced activation... unfortunately, it's meaningless except to make you suffer more before you die, Yuka Yamanaka."

“You dare not leave that vortex, Minagawa-do!” The sin-eater girl was unable to reply, so Yuri answered on her behalf, “If you leave, her bound spirit can break free, and your plan will fail!”

Although Yuri didn't know if the company would go bankrupt, he kept shouting about it anyway.

"Oh, do I need to? How long do you think she can hold out like this?" The Reaper remained completely at ease. "And even if I can't easily leave this position, I can still attack you."

Spirit spikes are ineffective against us; my shield is very effective against them, and Akemi will be here to meet us in just ten seconds.

The harvest dripped murky spiritual liquid from its body, flowing onto the ground and splitting into two clay-like puppets.

It's a doll that's about the size of a person.

"Two against two, fair enough, right? Go on, take them down."

Who wants to talk to you about fairness? Yuri stared intently at the Reaper behind the Spirit Essence Puppet.

It seems that his creation of these dolls was not without its losses; their size was reduced—by about one-twentieth. He only released two, clearly intending to drag them into the mountains until Yuka couldn't hold on any longer.

We can't follow his lead; we must rescue the Bound Spirit first—unless Yuri can quickly master his magic, the Bound Spirit's weapon seems to be the most likely thing to penetrate the Reaper's defenses.

Author's message

——The author has something to say——

I'm very sorry, as I mentioned before, I'll be taking a day off tomorrow...

185 Hobbies: Commentary

Faced with the staggering Spirit Essence Puppet charging towards him, Yuri unhesitatingly unleashed his Shadow, trapping both the Spirit Essence Puppet and the Reaper.

There is a connection between them; these dolls are closer to Minagawa-do's alter egos, so their vision must be blocked together.

The shadow is fading.

Minagawa-do opened his mouth wide—not that Yuri was entirely sure that the spot on his face was still a mouth, but the mask opened in perfect unison—and shadows were streaming into his mouth.

"However... that's all." The monster's voice paused strangely in the middle, as if it had suddenly lost its strength halfway through speaking, but did not want to expose its weakness, so it forced itself to continue.

He absorbed the shadow created by Yuri into his body, but he was not able to quickly convert it into his own power. Instead, he felt uncomfortable because he had absorbed foreign energy into his body—Yuri quickly determined the other party's symptoms.

If those two spirit phallus puppets hadn't rushed towards Yuri during that time, he might have started repeatedly trying to create darkness—oddly enough, after other powers became unusable, Yuri's control over the mysteries of death had noticeably increased.

Unfortunately, now is not the time for research. Yuri generated a protective barrier, enveloping himself and the fallen Sin Eater girl within it.

The spirit puddles pounced on the protective wall, landing in a comical, starfish-like position—but it did indeed cause significant damage.

Moreover, even without any new actions from them, the protective barrier is being slowly weakened.

Corrosive... no, Yuri could see that the two puppets were transferring energy to Minagawa-do, it was devouring?

Then, Akemi, who was rushing in from the side, suddenly kicked the two dolls off the wall. They were almost stuck when they landed, but before Yuri could help, she managed to break free with her skills, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Why are you here?!" Yuri had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but he hadn't found the opportunity.

According to the plan, Mingmei should have tried to threaten the hunters (although she ultimately failed, there was a period in the middle when it looked like she was about to succeed), rather than getting herself involved in the chaos.

"The little girl who rushed in at the last minute before the ritual site was sealed looks a lot like you—" the monster commented slowly. "It's a pity. I have no hatred for the living. You're so healthy, you shouldn't have been in any trouble... But since you've already entered the ritual site, you shouldn't leave."

"What ritual are you talking about!?" Time was ticking away, and Akemi probably hadn't heard the three-minute limit. "What are you trying to do by gathering such a large number of ghosts?"

Ghosts are still pouring in from the edge of the spirit field.

“At first I suspected that the recent ghost craze and people’s repeated chanting had activated a large number of ghosts, which was the reason why the overall ghost concentration in the surrounding area was so high—” Akemi continued, “but you are obviously controlling them, deliberately gathering such a large number of ghosts here. What kind of conspiracy do you have?”

Very well, now Yuri knows why the hunters seem to have an inexhaustible supply of ghost cannon fodder even though this is an inn... While Yuri was holed up in the inn preparing for defense, Minagawa-do brought over a huge number of ghosts.

“How can you call it a conspiracy? It’s simply a matter of the living living and the dead dying—” Minagawa Dojin drawled.

Delaying time is advantageous to this monster, and Yuri would be better off interrupting him as soon as possible if he wants to win—but only if delaying time is more beneficial to the monster will he be able to reveal his plans—and then it will be possible to find his weakness.

Yuri came up with a plan and began testing it on other ghosts in the vicinity.

“What do you mean by ‘the living return to the dead and the dead return to the dead’? The density of ghosts around here is already so high that it would make ordinary people feel physically uncomfortable!” Akemi said to Minagawa Katsuya while keeping an eye on the two spirit dolls that had stopped moving. “And you’re still gathering the ghosts around here to this place? Gathering them into this… whirlwind?”

The whirlwind has grown to a considerable extent. Although its power has not increased, both its size and the energy it carries continue to rise.

The ghost that enters is likely to be "integrated" in the literal sense.

"There are too many ghosts in this world, which is not good for the world—we harvesters bear the responsibility of separating the Yin and Yang realms, and we should do our best for this—" Minagawa Tojin did not deliberately drag out the time in each sentence, but it is estimated that his plan could not be finished in three minutes.

And now there should only be two minutes left.

"How exactly are you going to put in your best effort?" Akemi stood in front of Yuri and Yamanaka Yuka, slowly moving sideways while keeping an eye out for the two dolls.

Minagawa Dojin shrugged, his wings fluttered, and the falling spiritual energy turned into liquid, joining the ranks of the spirit puddles. "Of course, it's all gone in a flash!"

Sweeped clean, as Yuri pondered the words, Minagawa Doto spoke again, "Do you know the principle behind the Gates of the Underworld? Why can you reach the Underworld from one place but not from another?"