Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

But this is far from enough.

The sewers were pitch black, but as fellow human beings, the darkness felt like home to both of them, posing no obstacle whatsoever.

She could see the fungus on the pillars and the scratches left by time on the walls, but she couldn't see the enemy's face or the hope of escaping on her own.

"You're insane! You won't escape retribution for doing this!" The woman continued to back away, hoping to buy time—her companions, elders, whoever they were, they would surely find out and come to her rescue!

If we just delay a little longer, they will definitely come!

The woman was excited to see that the other person had slowed down. Had he finally realized he was afraid of retaliation and was going to stop? — No, that was unlikely. He probably had some other interest. — In any case, as long as she could buy some time, that was fine!

"It's strange... Why do you think you're important to them?" The voice echoed faintly in the sewer's hollow. "You're just a nobody, someone they can use and discard at any time. Why would they seek revenge for you?"

"I may just be a junior, but if juniors can be killed so easily, they would never have grown to this level!" The woman could confidently assert this.

Every organization is supported by countless lower-level members. Individual lower-level members are not important, but if they are allowed to be attacked and slaughtered at will, the impact will not be limited to a single individual. As the entire lower level is shaken, any organization will collapse.

She didn't believe her organization was that powerful or mindless, and besides, she didn't consider herself to be truly from the bottom rungs of society.

“That makes a lot of sense. So, guess why I did this?” The assassin brandished his longsword, the most prominent feature of his person. “Why shouldn’t I fear the revenge you speak of?”

Her opponent toyed with her like a cat that had caught a mouse but wasn't ready to pounce. Anger and resentment surged within her, but she quickly suppressed them. She was an expert in observation and negotiation, and now she had to rely on her words to save her life from ultimate demise—anger would do no good.

She had to keep stalling for time; the knife wounds on her body weren't a problem for now, but—a blade flashed towards her, and she instinctively raised her left hand to block it, leaving a deep gash that exposed bone.

The assassin chuckled softly, saying nothing, but she knew that remaining silent would only invite more attacks.

"We can't delay any longer. You have huge ambitions, intending to escalate the conflict between the two factions and use the chaos to climb the ranks?" Such a person who wields force often hopes that force will play a larger role in the conflict, which is the first possibility that comes to her mind.

“A good answer—but the struggle between any two factions happens every day, doesn’t it?” The assassin didn’t attack, but continued to approach. “Don’t you have any more specific guesses?”

"Could it be that the Tower intends to attack the family?! What you're doing will disrupt the balance, and the final result will definitely not be good!" The woman felt panicked. If this was truly the reason, she had no chance of survival today. Even if her companions arrived, the assassin in front of her would surely kill her before leaving, in order to escalate the conflict.

“I like this guess,” the assassin said with a mocking tone, which made the woman’s heart sink. “I sincerely hope that you will think about it carefully, just like you are now.”

Something seemed off. The woman racked her brains, trying to figure out what the problem was.

The assassin was still closing in, his weapon threatening to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

The threat to her life spurred her to think, and she quickly considered another terrible possibility.

“Mei—you’re Mei’s person, you want to disguise all of this as a conflict between the tower and the family—damn it—”

The blade flashed through the air, slicing open the woman's throat. She fell backward, powerless. She didn't need to breathe, but the damage to her body was enough to render her unable to move.

The assassin stepped forward and half-pressed down on the woman. The woman, who was not yet completely dead, stared wide-eyed as the assassin placed his hand on her face.

"Greetings from someone who wishes to stay away."

Click.

Even so, the woman was not completely dead, although at this point her life force was only causing her more suffering.

Out of pity or to ensure death, the assassin pierced the woman's left breast with a sharp wooden stick.

Darkness descended, and a shadowy figure emerged from the corpse, while the assassin had vanished without a trace.

……

Without time to think about what he had seen, Yuri quickly stored what he had seen in his mind. There were a lot of technical terms and suspicious codes in what he had just heard, and it was definitely not something that could be understood in a short time.

What we need to do now is to try to remember what the other image reveals, before the vague impression is completely lost.

……

In the office, the same woman approached a thin, middle-aged man, who was presumably her boss.

The middle-aged man addressed the woman as Jinghui and asked her if she was sure she wanted to embark on this journey.

Jinghui confirmed it again.

The middle-aged man then expressed his gratitude to Jinghui for her service during this time. He then mentioned that Jinghui would be transferred out of his department and wished Ms. Iwasaki better opportunities.

It seems her name is Iwasaki Shizue.

After some conversations that Yuri couldn't recall.

The middle-aged man leaned towards Jinghui, opened his mouth, and his two canine teeth began to grow longer, piercing into Jinghui's neck.

Jinghui was losing blood, but she didn't struggle; instead, she showed a somewhat intoxicated expression.

Then the image didn't change much, it stayed like that for a while, and then it ended.

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.

Yuri felt a wave of dizziness. He had expected to confirm the specific cause of death, but reality gave him more; he saw the entire scene of death, albeit two overlapping scenes.

Two deaths? Can a person die twice? Or is it that it's some kind of end? Yuri once again regretted that his ability didn't have an instruction manual.

He wanted to rewatch the two scenes repeatedly, and observe the second scene again, but focusing on two scenes at the same time was too strenuous for him, and the pain and dizziness forced him to give up the observation.

There was a lot of information, and Yuri felt he needed to organize it, but there were a few things he could confirm first.

“Mingmei, based on my supernatural judgment without any scientific basis, there are two possible causes for her death—the first is… probably from excessive blood loss a long time ago, and the second is that her chest was recently pierced by a wooden stick,” Yuri adjusted his tone, “and, based on my limited knowledge, it is obviously a vampire. And also the source of the shadow.”

"What? The wooden stick was the direct cause of death?"

“It’s hard to believe, but she wasn’t dead when her throat was cut and her neck was broken… she was close to dying.” Yuri was also finding it hard to accept. “Then the killer used a wooden stick to speed things up.”

Yuri then organized the information he had seen and told Akemi about it; it had taken quite a bit of work.

Unfortunately, although the information Yuri was focusing on was clearly more abundant, the information from the side he wasn't particularly interested in was still easier to understand.

For example, the victim's name was Iwasaki Shizue, an office worker who was drained of her blood by her boss and led to her "death." Judging from the fact that she was still able to move afterward, it's likely that she became a vampire around that time, and it was voluntary.

These are all pieces of information that sound fantastical, but are actually very easy to understand.

As for the other side... a whole bunch of things that sounded like pronouns, sounded like pronouns, and sounded like pronouns when studied filled the entire scene. Yuri couldn't even guarantee that he had relayed the information completely, because he couldn't be sure what he had actually seen.

Akemi was in the same boat; she racked her brains but still couldn't figure out which was the tower and which was the family—she had heard of Mei many times, but there were just too many, from massive corporations to countless temples and shrines, all bearing the character "Mei." Similarly, Akemi wasn't quite sure what the final "Not Returning" meant—it clearly seemed to be imitating the four cuckoo calls, but it was impossible to know what it specifically referred to.

The "clan" mentioned in the dialogue likely refers to the "vampire clan," suggesting that vampires have split into several factions and are engaged in open and covert struggles? They usually don't openly fight each other, but this time they did?

First of all, even disregarding everything else, just as a premise, this requires that this unfortunate place has a large number of vampires. Is Tokyo really that dangerous?

Mingmei spread her hands, indicating that she knew nothing about the matter.

"By the way, could you describe what that 'assassin' looked like in detail? The information you relayed didn't even include whether the person was male or female, fat or thin." Mingmei demanded more detailed information.

"..." Yuri fell silent for a moment. "Not seeing clearly doesn't mean the victim was capable of seeing but didn't notice; it means the victim wasn't capable of seeing clearly." Yuri's understanding was basically based on the victim's understanding, so he didn't see anything more.

"Weren't they already standing still when they were having their conversation? How could you not see them clearly at that point?"

Yes, I just couldn't see clearly. The person was blurry; all I could tell was that they were shorter than Akemi and were holding an exceptionally long katana (the blade was over a meter long) in one hand. That was all I knew.

The criterion of "shorter than Mingmei" doesn't exclude many people, meaning that even if you meet them in person later, you might not recognize them.

That was a terrifying character who took lives without hesitation, and Yuri sincerely hoped he would never see him or her again. Judging from the footage, if Yuri were to face that guy, he would probably only try to become a spirit and escape; there was no other way.

"Hmm... I've heard that vampires have all sorts of abilities, but unfortunately, I've never seen any of them. I guess that's a kind of ability too, and it sounds like it would be quite suitable for an assassin."

That's true. If an assassin can't recognize you even when you're face to face, that would be a great thing.

The firelight flickered on and off.

Mingmei put the dying torch aside and replaced it with a flashlight.

"This looks complicated. People of our size aren't suited to get involved—didn't you just say there was more information about the shadowy figure?"

Yuri nodded every time Akemi spoke.

Chapter 41 Blood Magic Inscriptions

The shadows originated from the remains.

It began to appear after the victim's death.

The assassin likely anticipated the appearance of the shadowy figure. He used a wooden stick... or perhaps a stake... to deliver a fatal blow to the victim before swiftly leaving without hesitation, without encountering the newly formed shadowy figure.

After a brief discussion, the two concluded that if the shadow was not caused by a vampire's chest being pierced by a stake, then there must be something wrong with the stake itself.

The problem is that the only way to make a final determination is to pull out the stake—and neither of them is quite sure what that will cause.

"Can you take down another shadowy figure?" Mingmei asked. "Or what if the victim suddenly stands up and lunges at us? Do you think we can handle that?"

Yuri glanced at the dying torches on the ground and replied, "A shadowy figure? It's fine now—but it'll be hard to say once the torches are completely out. As for the victim... she's not very fast. Even if she can't beat them, she can definitely escape if she runs as fast as she can."

“Then let’s pull it out. I’m worried that something might happen afterward.” With the determination of someone jumping into a river and closing their eyes, Akemi made the decision to do it.

So, with Akemi holding a torch and flashlight in preparation, Yuri prepared to begin the activity of pulling out the wooden stakes.

This inevitably involves contact with the remains... or to put it bluntly, it is desecration of the remains.

After silently repeating "I'm so rude" to himself for who knows how many times, Yuri knelt down on one knee beside the body, pressed down on the body's waist and abdomen with his left hand, and began to slowly pull the wooden stake outward with his right hand.

The body was very stiff; Yuri felt as if he were pressing down on a piece of wood.

Pulling out the stake was a troublesome and difficult task. Yuri struggled to resist the urge to reduce friction by rotating the stake to break the connecting parts, and tried to pull the stake out in a straight line.

Inch by inch, the wooden stake was pulled out little by little—the grotesque scene of flesh and blood that Yuri had imagined did not appear. The joint was very clean, without even a trace of meat on it. Perhaps it was because it was a vampire's corpse.

Finally, after much effort, Yuri completed the task. Fortunately, at least the tip of the stake didn't have barbs; otherwise, it wouldn't have resembled wood at all, and even if it were real wood, it would have been scratched with huge cracks.

As the stake was completely pulled out, Yuri's hand, which was pressed against the body, suddenly felt it sink.

Startled, he jumped up on the spot, took a few steps back, and held the wooden stake he had just pulled out in a defensive stance.

Under the flashlight beam, the corpse is undergoing some kind of rapid change.

A strange smell wafted up, and Akemi began to slowly back away.

The body was decomposing rapidly—at the end of the decomposition, about a minute later, the body's pale skin had turned a pale blue, and the tough skin appeared somewhat...soft.

Yuri took a few steps back and met up with Akemi, who was wrinkling her nose.

“The stakes seemed to have prevented the deceased’s…transformation.” Yuri carefully chose his words. “Now it seems that what was prevented has finally caught up with her.”

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.

The two stood still a little further away, where the smell had not yet spread to their location.

“I don’t really want to stay here any longer, but I still need to check the stake first. There seems to be something on it.” Mingmei shone her flashlight on the stake.

Yes, there are. Strange patterns are carved on the front and middle section of the wooden stake, and the patterns are painted with some kind of red dye.

Yuri stared at the patterns, which were projected onto his mind, causing him to feel dizzy.

“I’ve never seen this kind of writing before. It might be some kind of rune, and the dye is blood—Yuri?” Noticing that her companion was not in good condition, Akemi threw down the torch that was no longer needed and waved her hand in front of Yuri’s face.

The patterns in Yuri's eyes grew larger and larger, swirling around him as if they contained endless knowledge and wisdom, yet they were not quite there.

Yuri knew these things were wrong, full of fallacies and illusions, but he couldn't control himself, couldn't stop himself from reading them. Just like what he instinctively sensed, each time he read them, before he could decipher them, they changed further, the information becoming full of errors and confusion.

This... isn't right. Yuri's mind, filled with a multitude of strange, flying characters, began to sluggish. The sluggishness was slow, giving Yuri ample time to react. But if he did nothing, the situation wouldn't improve.

Yuri felt that he could actually read the text—he really felt that way—but it would require a deeper commitment, like a high-stakes gamble, and he instinctively refused to participate in this gamble, his intuition telling him that even if he did understand it, it wouldn't end well.

He tried to sever his perception of the words, but failed—in the entire world he tried his best to ignore, strange clusters of words were desperately proclaiming their existence—not through sight, but through perception; the established connection could not be easily severed.

The long-dormant shield was activated, and the text seemed to vanish for a moment—then it imprinted its own image on the shield. The shield was pierced, its protective effectiveness completely breached.

The number of characters that could break through the shield has decreased, possibly because they have been used up. If Yuri could continuously activate the shield to fight back, this might be the safest way to solve the problem, but unfortunately, Yuri's spiritual essence has already been exhausted, and he can't even open it once more.

"Damn it..." Yuri wrapped his right arm around the wooden stake, gripping the patterned area and straining with all his might. He didn't have time to think about whether blocking the pattern itself would work; he just had to try everything first.

The words floating before my eyes disappeared, replaced by a sharp pain in my hand.

But Yuri didn't let go. After experiencing that state of mental confusion, he even began to feel a slight enjoyment for this clear-headed, excruciating pain.

Spirits shouldn't feel pain, so the only explanation is that the structure of the hand is being destroyed. This is not a good thing, but it can stop the erosion.

The pain came and went quickly. By the time Akemi, who was standing nearby, started to get anxious and even tried to take the wooden stake from his hands, the pain had already disappeared. He felt a wave of weakness wash over him, and he even had difficulty controlling his floating posture.

After Mingmei pulled the stake from his stiff right hand, Yuri instinctively glanced at the marks on the stake, but he felt he saw nothing—it seemed the matter was over.

—Except for the new problem of the right hand, it was completely frozen. Yuri raised his arm, dragged his right hand to his eyes, and turned it to examine it.

It looked as if it had been completely charred by flames. Yuri's right hand was blackened and unable to move; Yuri could hardly even sense its presence.

"What's going on, Yuri? What happened? Answer me now! Give me some feedback!" Akemi seemed to have said the same thing several times already, but this time Yuri had the energy to answer.

"These patterns...the characters...are inherently aggressive, and I somehow triggered their effect, but I've barely managed to break free now."

The cost was that one of his hands was temporarily disabled.

Akemi took Yuri's hand. "Are your hands alright? They look completely charred."

"Of course it's bad," Yuri shook his head simply, then comforted Akemi, "Although this hand is temporarily useless, it'll probably feel similar to when my hat got eaten last time—"