Reincarnated in a Shounen Manga - Chapter 278

Chapter 278 - Why So Serious?

As soon as the barrier broke, darkness rushed in and covered the whole world. Before I could react, I found myself frozen in place by an unknown power. Although I couldn't see the terrors hiding in the darkness, I could still sense their presence.

My body shuddered as I tried to move, yet my mind was overwhelmed by a sense of horror like I had never felt before. Even taking a breath felt like a difficult task.

Creatures flew around; they were like eels with numerous human legs, floating masks whispering dark secrets into my ears. Horses with fish heads told me my regrets. Together, they overloaded my mind with so much information that I forgot what I was supposed to do.

{Perfect Me}

As soon as my ability took hold, the darkness around me was dispelled, and a pulse of pure energy pushed the shadows and outside demons away. A translucent barrier formed, and everything became clear again. We could see everything clearly now.

No demons were around, and the whole place seemed as if nothing had happened.

Had it all just been an illusion?

Wisteria was on her knees, breathing heavily, her forehead laced with sweat. Ellen had pinkish skin, dark hair, purple eyes, and two horns protruding from her head. She was in her fused demon form and didn't seem to have been affected by the demons from outside.

She looked at her hand and clenched it into a fist, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thankfully, my 'The Lovers' Demon acted on its own and protected me."

A pang of jealousy surged within my heart at the thought of having someone who would have my back no matter what. The bond between a demon and a master who had reached the stage where they could fuse was priceless.

"The barrier also seems to be working well, so Tamae no Mae doesn't seem to have played any games on that front," I said, adjusting my stance and calming my mind, ready to activate 'Perfect Me' at a moment's notice.

It had worked, somehow. Although there were some things I needed to deal with and secure, at least this wasn't the worst-case scenario. By now, smaller barriers should have been activated in all the major and minor settlements in the known world, with messages that Sun Country was a safe haven from all the impending madness.

Still, the death rate would be astronomical.

I clenched my fist.

But there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"Do you think any demons made deals with the people?" Ellen asked. Her skin had returned to normal, and her appearance had reverted. She was no longer tanned since fusing with her demon had healed her sunburned skin.

I hadn't even noticed her separation from her demon, but I had no intention of questioning it. Instead, I went to help Wisteria up and put an arm around her. "Don't worry about anything. I'm still here."

Despite the talent she had displayed, Wisteria had only recently awakened her Ord and was struggling to handle the pressure. I turned towards Ellen and replied, "Probably not, as no one had the chance to negotiate with a demon to make a deal in that short time. I doubt the outside demons even expected to be expelled so fast. But we should keep an eye on this, just to be safe."

She nodded. "So, do you have a plan for all of this?"

"Of course I do," I sighed. "But first we have to gather all the Exorcists in the country. They will either have to improve or die in some horrible way, and Ord users have taken the back seat for far too long. I mean, nowadays rarely anyone puts dangerous conditions on their abilities."

"True," Ellen agreed, looking at the capital city where people were still in a state of panic. "I'll take care of the panicked people. You focus on gathering the exorcists. At least now you can rest assured that you won't have to deal with other clans trying to undermine you."

"That's true" I agreed. "And if the Raion Clan doesn't stop its internal conflicts to select a new leader, I'll send you to deal with them. The last thing we need is one of them striking a deal with an outside demon. Those individuals have experience in such matters."

Ellen nodded, showing no surprise at my suggestion of a brutal massacre. Even she understood that we could no longer afford to be bound by our morals. It was going to be a constant battle for survival from now on.

I clapped my hands, and dozens of talismans emerged under my robes, hovering in front of my face. They emitted a soft light as the ink inscriptions shifted and wrote a message on each.

***

Anika remained in a trance, her gaze fixed on the surrounding trees. She couldn't believe that everything had returned to normal after they had been surrounded by that darkness. It made her question whether what she had seen was merely an illusion.

"Huh, would you look at that," Yamata no Orochi spoke, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. He still possessed Agon's body. "I thought I would have to keep this body possession up until I killed all the outside demons and established my territory again. But it seems like there is someone quite thoughtful on your side, and they even planned for the barrier to fall."

Relief washed over Anika upon hearing this. It seemed that someone had prepared for a situation like this. For a moment, it had felt like the end of the world, and she couldn't fathom what she would have done if that had been the case.

Yamata no Orochi glanced around, and a small smile crept onto his face as he licked his lips. "Ah, so the Gods have finally broken the barrier. How long has it been since I have eaten one of them? With me gone, they must have bred like rabbits on the outside. They must have many daughters now, just imagining biting into their soft Godly flesh! It's making me salivate just thinking about it!"

A chill ran down Anika's spine as Yamata no Orochi rambled on about consuming the daughters of the Gods. "Maybe I should make it like the old times? Where they will have to offer me their daughters as tribute or I would kill them."

Many times before, she had considered Yamata no Orochi as a protector of Agon, briefly forgetting a crucial point. Yamata no Orochi was not human. His thoughts and actions aligned with those of a monster, and for some reason, he had chosen to protect Agon.

If one day, Yamata no Orochi decided that he no longer wanted to be a prisoner, he could leave Agon's body. But what if, one day, this monster developed a taste for human flesh? Who was to say he hadn't already acquired a taste for it?

"Okay, but can you return Agon's body?" Sei asked, and their eyes met for a fleeting moment as if they could read each other's minds and silently agreed. Leaving Yamata no Orochi out too long was like playing with a forest fire.

"I will, later," he waved them off. "But for now some interesting things are happening and I want to see them directly myself. Also, it would be dangerous for Agon to just be about at a time like this. The guy is reckless as hell, and the split second it takes me to possess his body might be too late in some cases. So for now, I will hold onto it."

Yamata no Orochi’s tongue flickered out, resembling that of a snake. "As expected, there is a powerful barrier around the country, and it reeks of that fox."

"Fox?" Sei frowned.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot you're connected to her. What were you again? Her grandson? Technically, her son, because the bitch's daughters are actually clones of herself," Yamata no Orochi shrugged. "She tried to copy it from Sun Wukong, who creates clones with his hair. But unlike him, the bitch's clones sometimes revolt. Also, they're much weaker than the original, so can they even be called clones."

He was surprisingly talkative for a snake demon who had lived for thousands of years. He appeared jovial too, unlike what she would have imagined. This could also be because he had finally gained his playground, so to speak, with the barrier around the world falling.

"You mentioned Tamae no Mae. Do you know her?" Sei asked, with an outward appearance of calm. But Anika knew he must be seething just talking about the fox demon.

"Do I know her? Somewhat. Back in the day, before the barrier was formed around the human world and before that guy came into the picture, Tamae no Mae spent her free time sleeping around with emperors, toppling empires, and all that. She had a taste for married men, that's why I like to call her a bitch. What kind of fox demon is attracted to humans? Gross!" Yamata no Orochi even went as far as to fake gagging. When he noticed that neither of them quite understood why he was so disgusted, he explained, "To put it into perspective, that would be like you humans mating with dogs or cats."

But Sei didn't care about any of that and bowed down to his waist, "Please, can you tell me a way to kill Tamae no Mae? She was the reason my whole family was killed! I need to become strong enough to kill her. Can you tell me how to do it?"

"Oh, you're one of those boring humans," Yamata no Orochi yawned as if what Sei said was the most uninteresting thing in the world. "Why're you making murder so damn dramatic? If you feel so bad about your family dying, then just go and kill the bitch."