Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

In any case, since the person in charge has spoken, let's follow their wishes.

This is also a way to save time.

Yuri continued forward.

After passing through the door of the next carriage, Yuri arrived at a small room.

Most of the space was empty, with only two seats facing each other and a small table in the middle, but overall, the room was well decorated.

If the carriages that had passed before gave Yuri the feeling of unpolished steel, this one had a ceramic-like texture.

A middle-aged man in uniform was waiting for Yuri there.

Yuri glanced at the man briefly. His impression was...neat. He was impeccably groomed from head to toe (if he really needed to), his square face lacked distinctive features, the most striking element being his equally neatly trimmed beard—though this was only in comparison. Overall, he seemed energetic, but nothing particularly remarkable.

“Sit down, Yuri, we have plenty of time to chat.”

Yuri recognized the voice as soon as the man spoke; it was the original spirit of Line 2.

Is this the human form he chose? It doesn't look very refined.

Yuri sat down as instructed, and Line 2 sat opposite him.

“First of all, it seems I should congratulate you for creating a miracle. With just a little help, you have given a resounding slap in the face to a high-level spirit that is far stronger than you.” Line Two paused for a moment. “Not every low-level spirit has this opportunity, and I think it is a rare event in the entire history of spirits.”

"It's all thanks to your help; I don't have that much strength." Yuri felt that the praise didn't match his achievements at all. "Asking me to hurt the Rat King, even if he just stood there and let me hit him, I wouldn't have a chance."

"No, I'm not talking about the final victory, Yuri... I'm talking about what happened before that." Line Two grinned broadly. "How was it? Facing the Rat King's mental attack?"

It felt terrible. In less than half a minute, Yuri felt like half a lifetime had passed—even excluding his own mental exaggeration, it must have felt like several days.

“That was terrifying. I just calculated that from the moment I launched my attack until you finally crashed down, it was exactly half a minute, but I feel like my mental, physical, and emotional strength have all completely exhausted.” Yuri shrank back in his seat. “I don’t want to do it again—wait?”

"?" Line 2 tapped the table, waiting for Yuri to continue.

"You know? The Rat King's mental attack?" Yuri sensed something was wrong, very wrong.

"Of course I know. We're old rivals and old friends. We might not know each other inside and out, but we at least understand each other's styles." Line 2's smile remained cheerful. "Just like he knows my tactics. As you get older, you naturally have more acquaintances. There's no way to avoid that."

"And you didn't tell me?" Yuri didn't say the last three words, but he believed his tone and eyes were enough to convey what he wanted to say.

why?

"Hey, didn't I give you a hint? I said either let me help you rush to the front, or let me help you take a hit—if the Rat King doesn't have a very powerful ranged attack, how can these two things be compared?" Line Two's smile faded, but he still tapped the table casually. "Of course, I didn't tell you it was something on a mental level, but would it have been better for you if it were javelins, bows and arrows, or laser cannons?"

That left no room for manipulation; Yuri simply died instantly.

"That's true. I even thought I could solve this part of the problem, and immediately chose a more suitable method..."

Yuri realized something was wrong as soon as he said it. He had indeed chosen a more suitable method, but it wasn't as easy as he had imagined.

After a moment of silence, Line 2 spoke up.

“You did choose a more suitable approach. Given your actual circumstances, choosing the other path would likely have meant certain death. Although, when I gave you the choice, the scenario I envisioned was different.”

Yuri was reluctant to immediately ask what the scenario envisioned for Line 2 was.

However, it didn't seem right to just wait in the same place, so he used the rest of his brainpower to find another topic.

"Excuse my boldness, but may I ask why you are willing to take action but not to go all out?"

No matter what he thought, Line 2 only had two states regarding the Rat King: fighting or not fighting. And no matter how you looked at it, "fighting, but only once" was a very strange state.

“…Hmm, you care about that…Actually, if you had a deeper understanding of spirit society, you wouldn’t have asked this question.” Line Two stroked his beard. “You’re more familiar with the human side, right?”

"Really?" At least it's more familiar than spirits or ghosts.

"If your neighbor one day loiters around your door without saying hello and starts making unauthorized alterations, what would you do? Would you immediately grab a weapon and kill him?" The train spirit tapped the table. "Is that really normal?"

"...No, humans wouldn't do that. But humans would warn such an annoying neighbor, or drive them away...If that doesn't work, it might really come down to a fight."

“Yes, for spirits of our level, this is an action between a warning and being driven away.” The train spirit nodded. “This may be a little hard to accept for you who just went through a life-or-death situation, but that’s the truth. My attack is not a full-scale war… and if this attack brings catastrophic results… then of course it’s the fault of the weakling who dared to provoke us.”

Something seemed off, but Yuri's mind hadn't caught up yet.

“Well, I’ve really had a hard time with you.” Yuri wanted to lie undignifiedly on the table, but he decided it was better not to be so impolite. “I sincerely hope the Rat King won’t come back for me for hundreds of years.”

"Huh? What? Hundreds of years?" The person on Line 2 across the street looked surprised. "You have that kind of ability?"

Yuri raised his head and stared intently at the train spirit in front of him, who seemed to enjoy making things worse.

I hadn't noticed this before, but the train spirit's human form is a head taller than Akemi, and it's just as obvious when it sits down.

The train spirit withdrew its expression and stared at Yuri with unwavering composure.

Yuri felt like he was about to explode.

Chapter 106 Journey to the Shadow Realm: Decision-Making Principles

"Of course I'm talking about the resurrection time. I know that spirits don't die completely after disintegrating in the material world; they return to the shadow realm to regenerate. And the higher the level of the spirit, the longer it takes to regenerate—I hope the Rat King doesn't come back for me for hundreds of years—what are you laughing at?" Yuri's words were cut off by the train spirit's suppressed laughter.

"Where did I say something wrong?" Yuri thought it over and over, but it seemed like there was nothing wrong with it.

“Yes, in this era, what you said is indeed correct, but I think the Rat King’s return is not far off—not that he will definitely launch another attack immediately.”

"Huh?" Yuri blurted out the first thought that popped into his head. "Wait, how long was I unconscious?"

Several hundred years is the upper limit, while the lower limit could be several decades or even a dozen years.

If you've been in a coma for decades and have just woken up—

“I don’t think you’re unconscious. It’s more like you suddenly relaxed and received a lot of information, and got caught up in thinking,” Line 2 waved his hand. “As for the time, from when you boarded the train to when you started walking around, it was probably less than a minute.”

This seems reasonable, and it explains why Yuri still feels unwell all over; he hasn't rested at all.

"So you're saying the Rat King will be back soon because we simply—" Then there's only one possibility left.

“Yeah, it’s not dead at all. I didn’t hit its main body; the feel is completely different. Besides, if it were its main body, it should have been able to put up more resistance, and there would have been no way it could have been killed by my one-hit kill.” Line Two spread its hands.

"But you promised beforehand to send him back to the Shadow Realm—" Yuri immediately seized on a statement made by the Train Spirit a long time ago... oh, actually just a few hours ago, "Didn't you say back then that if you hit him squarely, you could finish him off, or at least severely injure him if you didn't hit him squarely!?"

“I did make that promise, and my original plan was to crash him into the portal to the Shadow Realm that he opened himself, and send him back on the front of the train—I was a little surprised when I saw him shatter in front of me.” Line Two shook his head, then seemed to suddenly remember something, “But this does not diminish your achievement at all—don’t be discouraged. In my judgment, his mental strength has not weakened, it’s just that his physical strength is far inferior…although he is still much stronger than you, right?”

“I don’t care about this at all!” Ignoring the train spirit’s attempts to comfort him, Yuri stood up.

Actually, it wouldn't matter if he didn't stand up, but he felt that he should stand up in this situation.

The train spirit did not stand up, but returned to its seated position, looking at Yuri.

“What I’m concerned about is—damn, what do we do next?” Yuri began pacing around the table.

"What do you mean, how? In my opinion, it's already over—with the Rat King gone, the Shadow Realm Gate he opened is closing, and with the loss of both the Shadow Realm Gate and the Rat King, the resonance is beginning to fade." Line Two seemed quite calm. "Then the Spirit Rats will be expelled from the material world and return to the Shadow Realm. The more rats leave, the faster the resonance dissipates, and the faster it dissipates, the more rats will leave—your efforts have already succeeded, you've reversed the situation, so why are you still so anxious?"

"How should we deal with the Rat King?" Yuri returned to his seat, but hadn't sat down yet.

A part of Yuri's mind reminded him that this seemed a bit impolite, but Yuri decided not to sit down until he got an answer.

“We have no way to deal with the Rat King, and I don’t intend to either. Sit down.” The Train Spirit pointed to the seat Yuri had just left a few seconds earlier.

Yuri glanced at it, then reversed his previous decision and sat back down.

If Train Spirit is determined not to fight this battle, does he expect Yuri to go to the Rat King's lair in the Shadow Realm to confront him? In the end, Train Spirit and his "us" aren't exactly pure either.

"Are we just going to let the Rat King remain a threat forever?" But he was still somewhat indignant.

“The Rat King has always been a threat, just like me. Line 2 has always been a threat too—don’t look at me like that. You are a threat too, of course.” The train spirit waved its hand, as if to chase something away. “You’re like your old friends in that respect, but that’s something I don’t dislike… although, obviously, it’s not very practical.”

Yuri looked at the other person with some suspicion.

"I think you're referring to threats to humanity, right?" After Yuri nodded in agreement, Line 2 continued, "So, the question is, what constitutes a threat to humanity?"

Yuri didn't answer immediately; he hadn't really thought about the question.

"The answer is simple: everything. The Rat King is a threat to humanity because he will attack humans without hesitation, and I am also a threat to humanity. If human behavior clashes with my actions, I will not back down. As for you—you may think you would never attack humans, and I will not question that, although I do not believe it—but even so, you may still place the fate of humanity on your own gamble, which is of course also a threat to humanity."

As Yuri received the information, the Train Spirit continued speaking.

"Vampires are a threat to humanity; they drink human blood and manipulate humans. Werewolves are a threat to humanity; when werewolves feel that humans do not abide by their unspoken spiritual rules, human flesh and blood are no different from paper to them. Other supernatural beings are also a threat to humanity. No matter how unrelated they may be to humanity, their power alone can cause irreversible damage to humanity at any time. Even humanity itself is a threat to humanity—humans have created the fastest way to kill humans and have carried it out many times. Supernatural beings may have been involved in it, but do you really believe that humans will not do it?"

Yuri was already somewhat bewildered.

"Wind is a threat to humanity, fire is a threat to humanity, and water and earth are of course threats to humanity as well—where can they be eliminated, they will be wiped out completely?" The train spirit's long speech finally came to a pause. "I can completely understand if you want to protect humanity... but if you want to protect humanity by killing all the threats to humanity, then... I think in the end nothing will be left."

“I…” Yuri rubbed his forehead, “I think you have a lot to say, but the Rat King is still a bigger threat. He has already shown his aggression and intentions. He has already attacked once, and he may very well attack a second time.”

“Of course, but it certainly won’t be any faster than the other eyeing players.” Line Two was very certain. “He can’t possibly open the Shadow Realm Gate a second time in a short period of time, I guarantee it.”

Yuri, who had been given a beating in a daze, gave up on pursuing the matter. If the Rat King really wouldn't be appearing in the material world for a while... well, that's probably the best that could go.

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 environment quieted down.

Yuri carefully examined the layout of the carriage.

At first glance, he did find the carriage inexplicably exquisite, but upon closer inspection... of course, it was still better than the previous ones, but the exquisiteness was concentrated in the exterior.

The actual furniture wasn't increased; it was still just two chairs and a table... Adding a table would be nice, but with so little furnishing, the small carriage already felt empty.

...What exactly is this small carriage for?

“This is the crew rest room, which is also the conductor’s room. I set this up like a human train… Then I realized that there are no crew members on this train who need to rest, and the conductor… which is myself, is not even usually inside the train.” The voice from Line 2 pulled Yuri back to reality.

"You can read my mind too?" Yuri wanted to raise his defenses immediately, but to be honest, that wasn't something that could be set up right away.

“No, it’s just that you look confused… and some humans who have been here, not many, have all asked what this carriage is for.” Line 2 said this in a serious tone, “At their suggestion, I added chairs and tables and turned it into a meeting room.”

Yuri still had doubts. Although Line Two's explanation made perfect sense, he was still unable to regain his previous trust after just experiencing the power struggle with the Rat King.

To ease the awkwardness and avoid making his attitude too obvious, Yuri decided to quickly find another topic to talk about.

"Speaking of which, is the Rat King's telepathic ability common among spirits?" That's the topic we've decided on.

"That's not the case. Most high-level spirits possess some degree of telepathic ability, but it can only be used for everyday tasks. By the time we master telepathy, our combat style is basically set. A novice using telepathy in combat is far inferior to their usual methods. As for transitioning... why bother?"

“But the Rat King uses telepathy in battle—not as a sudden inspiration in a crisis, but as something he has used many times before.” Yuri quickly found a counterexample…it was impossible not to notice.

The Rat King claimed that he had used this trick against some opponents, and his proficiency proved that his claim was true.

“The Rat King is a bit different in this respect, I’ll tell you later. What I want to say is… you’ve already tried your best, although I don’t know exactly what you did, but the situation you’re facing is actually worse than I expected.” There was a hint of admiration in his voice. “If I had known you were facing this situation, I might have put in more effort—no, it would have been better if I hadn’t.”

Yuri lowered his head, trying to figure out what those words meant... Why would the train spirit in front of him take the initiative to say that he could have given more support?

Of course, Yuri already knew this. Line 2 and the Rat King's levels wouldn't differ much. He only gave them this much because he didn't want to expend too much power, but deliberately saying it out loud was another matter.

"That's good, but can I ask why?" Yuri felt that his mental and physical energy hadn't recovered yet, and he hadn't come to any conclusions, so he asked directly, "Why would it be better not to exert more effort if it might have been possible?"

“Well… I have to tell you, I don’t know everything about what’s going on in the city… I can only see what I want to see. Before you came to me, I didn’t have a complete understanding of you, but I did hear some rumors.” Line 2’s expression was slightly embarrassed.

"What kind of rumors?" Yuri thought and thought, but there seemed to be no news that could bring him into the sight of a high-level spirit.

"Well, it's not exactly devastating news. It's just that there's a lower-level spirit that can run around everywhere. It even fought with some strange spirit that overstepped its bounds a few times recently... The most amazing thing is that the stronger strange spirit disappeared afterward, while the weaker lower-level spirit is still wandering around."

Yes, this sounds exactly like Yuri himself, but how did this get to Line 2's ears?

Yuri nodded. "It seems like it's basically me..."

Seemingly anticipating Yuri's question, Line Two continued, "Your information is in the information package provided by the Glass Eyes, categorized as 'Possible Rat King Outpost'... I'm fairly certain they also provided the Rat King with a copy, but I don't know what the label for you is there..."

"And then you recognized me?" Yuri was still unsure. "Also, what is a glass eye?"

“Then the Rat King made his move, and Glass Eye, that is, the spirit you saw who came in and told me this, reminded me which one of the files you are.” Line Two spread his hands. “At first, I didn’t know who you were, so don’t worry about that—although it’s unlikely I’ll forget from today onwards.”

"What does this document say? How does it relate to the help you're providing?" Yuri pressed.

“Well, you’ve been spending a lot of time with people associated with werewolves, so I immediately and very reasonably assumed that you’re a friend of the werewolves. Then those arrogant guys didn’t have enough power to solve this problem, so they sent you here to gather information, and even told you not to say that you were associated with werewolves, so as not to give them any information.” Line Two gave another awkward smile. “When I realized this, I judged that your actions were orchestrated by the werewolves. Naturally, whoever actually carried it out would receive the full support of the werewolves.”

...I was indeed told not to mention my connection to werewolves, but the main reason was to avoid being beaten up for provoking someone.

"So in my expectation, seven or eight werewolves would rush forward to clear the way, and then a strong and fearless one would bravely embrace the Rat King's body while gloriously calling for my arrival." Line Two tapped the table. "When I arrived at the scene and realized that there was only one werewolf nearby, I was a little surprised. Fortunately, you did complete the mission in any case."

Chapter 107 Journey Through the Shadow Realm

Yuri slumped firmly onto the table.

"I think I should take a break."

“Great, perfect timing. We’re almost through the rift. Let’s take a look at the scene in the Shadow Realm—to be precise, there are still two minutes and forty seconds left.” Line 2 stood up.

And as it stood up, its form gradually became transparent.

“Wait, I just feel—I still have a problem—” Yuri immediately tried to prop himself up from the table.

"You can ask about this anytime, there's no rush." ​​These were the last words spoken by Line 2.

Then you can't see it anymore.

Or rather, it had always been visible. It was obvious that the entire train was part of Line 2, and Yuri had been staying inside the train spirit.