Tremolo immediately tried guarding herself with her tendrils, but it was in vain. The miasma thawed like ice in the presence of Terakomari’s light. Positive willpower to neutralize the negative. No—to swallow it. The next moment, the fist rammed into her face. “Eyaaaaargh?!” Tremolo screamed as she went flying once more. Her head hurt. She was bleeding. Still, she couldn’t allow herself to go down. She pulled the strings of her biwa—cloing, cloing—to infuse willpower into the tentacles and shape the black miasma into a mat that would break her fall. “Futile.” She heard Terakomari’s voice coming from the direction in which she was flying. This time, the girl kicked her gut. “Gebh!” Tremolo fell into the lake, jetted through the water, and crashed into its bottom. A shock. Multiple broken bones. Terakomari was too fast. Tremolo could not follow with her eyes. She spewed bubbles while looking up. The fox-eared sun glared at her from the surface of the lake. How? Terakomari illuminated even the dark depths of the water. Her power was that of the sun itself. Tremolo would boil alive if she stayed in the lake. She pushed herself up with the tentacles. A powerful splash broke as she rose from the water and touched down on dry land. Her body felt heavy. Water dripped from her clothes and hair. This was ridiculous. How could one obtain such power? Tremolo endured the sharp pain and smiled. “H-heh… Impressive, Terakomari Gandesblood. You’re not to be trifled with.” “Apologize…to everyone.” The vampire landed with an earth-shattering crash. Tremolo stared at her power in despair. Terakomari looked godly. Like the ruler of all nature. The sunlight, the root of all living things. The symbol of life worshiped by the beast-folk. The Blood Curse was the undefeatable Core Implosion of legend, said to appear once in a millennium. The miraculous power brought about by injesting beast-folk blood was that of the rising sun—the ultimate miasma-eradicating force. “Very well. I will play with you.” Terakomari’s power was simple: overwhelming physical strength and strong light to dispel the darkness. There could be no worse foe for Tremolo. She had no time to set up the Myogo String. Instead, the bard gathered all the miasma she could. The power to kill all hindrances, which was amassed in Rakshasa. Writhing black willpower converged around Tremolo within the bright cave. Whether or not she was facing an easy foe, she had to emerge victorious. It was her duty as a member of Star Citadel. “Come, Terakomari Gandesblood. Let’s begin your last batt—” Pssh. The miasma disappeared all of a sudden. Tremolo looked around in confusion. She had just been about to use the tentacles to skewer Terakomari…but they were gone now. Vaporized by Terakomari’s light. “Th-this is too…” The moment she felt a cold sweat run down her cheek… “Die.” …she saw a tiny fist right before her eyes. The light of the sun embraced her heart. All of a sudden, her glum mood vanished. The mere sight of Terakomari’s light filled her with infinite hope. The pain disappeared from Fuyao’s mind, replaced by interest in the battle unfolding before her. Tremolo’s creepy tentacles evaporated. Terakomari punched and kicked the agitated bard without a shred of mercy. It was a slaughter. Tremolo could do nothing without her strings or tentacles. It was a fantastical sight. The fox-eared vampire flew at the speed of light. “Let’s calm down, please. Star Citadel’s wish won— GWEH!” Terakomari threw her fist into Tremolo’s face again. Was that the sound of the bard’s bones breaking? “No. You will pay.” The color of bloodlust gleamed in Terakomari’s eyes. Fuyao then understood why people were attracted to her. She fought evil and was kind to those in need. Despite her bloodthirsty eyes, she wished for peace from the bottom of her heart. There was no doubt. She was more magnificent than even Spica La Gemini. “Don’t think I’ll let you keep going, you cheeky little brat.” There wasn’t a speck of serenity on Tremolo’s face. Cloing, cloing. Out of the blue, the biwa sounded again. A swarm of tentacles grew from the ground by Tremolo’s feet. Each of them writhed like they had a mind of their own, then charged ferociously at Terakomari. However, they could not hope to reach the light-speed vampire princess. The tentacles whipped Star Cave’s walls into a crumbling mess as Terakomari dodged every attack with animalistic leaps and bounds. Fwsh! The tentacles were vaporized again. Tremolo took a knife out of her pocket and yelled. “Stop! Terakomari!” Terakomari kicked off the ground to accelerate. No, that description fell short of her speed. She teleported. “Divine punishment will befall you if you keep interfering with Star Citadel’s ambitions! Nefty Strawberry and Yusei will not let this slide!” “So what?” “So—” Klink! She flicked Tremolo’s knife with her pinkie finger. All color drained from the bard’s face. Cloing, cloing. Yet she would not give up. She produced a Magic Stone and aimed at Terakomari. “Shoo.” Terakomari banished the Magic Stone with an acrobatic roundhouse kick. The stone fell into the lake, and the magic escaped it in a giant explosion. Terakomari was unfazed. Emitting Effulgent light, she glared coldly at the root of all evil as the water from the lake rained down on her. “A-ahhh…” Tremolo fell on her behind. There was nothing else she could do. Fuyao watched with a flood of emotions. She wanted to take revenge by her own hand. But Terakomari was so bright, such a feeling felt trifling. Maybe this vampire could make her ideal world a reality. She was beautiful. A far cry from herself. If only she had known the girl’s true nature earlier. Or they had met under different circumstances. But it was pointless to ponder hypotheticals. Terakomari softly parted her lips. “Tremolo. Are you prepared?” “!! N-not at all. I’m afraid to die.” “Too bad. Die.” Her glowing fist came down. Tremolo watched in bewilderment. The punch hammered her face. The sound of something bursting. Bones broke and clothes fluttered in the middle of the nuclear shock wave. Tremolo Parcostella plunged into the earth. Then she fell deathly quiet. The light of mana faded. My Core Implosion came to an end. My ears and tail melted into mana particles (apparently, they weren’t physical objects), and I went back to normal. I fell to my knees the moment my powers subsided. Unbearable fatigue and sharp pain all over my body. I never use my muscles like that… “Terakomari…” I heard a hoarse voice. Fuyao was leaning against a wall to keep upright. She was gravely injured. We had to get her to a doctor quickly. “You okay? We have to get out of here.” “…I’m worried about you.” Fuyao seemed as if she was about to cry for some reason. She ground her teeth and took a deep breath before continuing, “Look at you. You must be hurting…” I was shocked, to say the least. She was worried about me? I couldn’t believe it after how she smugly she’d told me pain makes you grow. A smile escaped me. “That doesn’t matter. I mean, it does hurt… But I’m just glad you’re okay.” “…” I was completely sincere. Fuyao was a terrorist, and she had hurt me before, yes. But we’d become close after fighting Star Citadel together in Neoplus. “…There’s something wrong with you. That naïveté will be the end of you one day.” “But it won’t be by your hand. I’m not brave enough to die, after all.” “Yeah… But…” Fuyao cast her glance down in repentance. “I’m a terrible murderer. All this time, I did everything thinking it was for Lunar Village… So that no one would suffer what they did… But everything was broken from the beginning. I’m sorry to say this after you saved me, but I don’t have any right to live.” “That’s not true!” Her fox ears twitched in reaction to my shout. I felt like she would disappear if I didn’t do something now. “I’m in no position to say anything, but… I don’t think there’s anyone out there who has no right to live. You’re not just a killer. You saved me, remember? Sure, you’re a huge murderer…but I know there’s a good side to you, too.” “…You don’t know that.” “I do. That’s why I think you should live the way you want. I mean, not if it’s killing more people, but I’d like to help you…if there’s anything I can do.” “But…” “And you have Spica, too. She accepts you.” “…” Fuyao pursed her lips, then looked away. “Instead of Her Highness, I’d rather have…” “What was that?” “…Nothing. You really are crazy. I’ll kill you one day.” “Why?!” “It was just a figure of speech. What I mean is, we’ll settle this score eventually.” “O-okay…” Millicent and Flöte did talk about killing me all the time. Maybe it was just a sort of greeting for those with terroristic tendencies. In any case, that was one fight over. The miasma was purged, and clean air filled Star Cave. Fuyao didn’t seem fully recovered mentally yet, but time would take care of that. The people of Lunar would have wanted her to live in peace. A bit refreshed, I held my hand out to her. “Let’s go. We gotta find Lingzi and Spica.” “Yeah… No, wait. We have to get the Dark Core first.” Fuyao reached for my palm, but in the end, our hands didn’t meet. Cloing. The sound of the biwa flipped the world. Fuyao whimpered. Dazed, I stared at her face. Why did she look so surprised? Why did she scream in so much distress? “Uh…” I felt something rising from the pit of my stomach. Blood spurted out of my mouth. I collapsed. The next thing I knew, a black tentacle had struck my belly. “TREMOLO!!” Fuyao turned around, roaring. The tentacle that had pierced my torso slithered back to its master. It drew back into the vestment of Tremolo Parcostella, still sunken in the ground. Why? How? She was supposed to be unconscious. Then I saw it. The band covering her eyes was torn apart. Her wide-open, full-moon, bright-red eyes were exposed. “Core Implosion: Necrocurse Mandala.” The moment she parted her lips, a terrifying volume of miasma oozed from her every pore. The miasma took the form of a serpent and attacked. What? This can’t be. I won. Amatsu’s words crossed my mind. “She has a hidden power.” Right. So Tremolo’s hidden power was Core Implosion. “Ugweh.” I was out of energy. The pain and blood loss racked my brain. It took me a moment to realize I was lying on the ground. I couldn’t stand up. Fuyao was yelling something, but my ears were out of service already; I heard only noise. For some reason, all I could hear clearly was the cloing of the biwa. “I’ve exhausted the full extent of my power. Terakomari Gandesblood, I’ll show you to hell.” A voice that pulled me to the world of the dead. It was the miraculous power materialized by Tremolo’s rancor. A curse that brought me down with her. Cloing, cloing. Tremolo Parcostella’s body vanished with the wind, as though it were ash scattered at a funeral. What remained were her biwa, her torn blindfold and vestments, the cursed mass oozing from her body, and myriad writhing tentacles. Fuyao Meteorite’s tail bristled. She never imagined a person’s emotions could take such a dreadful shape. Tremolo Parcostella had consumed her life in exchange for activating her Core Implosion. She had been prepared to give herself up for the sake of Star Citadel’s ambitions. The world of light Terakomari had purified returned to darkness. Tremolo’s willpower was too powerful. How could one possibly shatter it? “Goddamn it… Terakomari! Wake up!” The small vampire was limp. No response. The girl was breathing, but bleeding terribly. Her heartbeat was slowing, too. She would die in less than ten minutes if Fuyao didn’t do something; the foxgirl knew this from experience. The tentacles attacked her all at once. Fuyao slashed back with the Null Night Blade, but the tendrils were too firm. Her sword was repelled, as though she’d hit it against a boulder. She felt her hands grow numb as she lost her balance and was smacked to the ground. “Gwah…!” Yet the tentacles hadn’t been after her in the first place. Their dreadful trajectories were aimed squarely on Terakomari. Why go for someone who couldn’t move? Fuyao had no time to pontificate over it. She mustered the last of her strength to rise to her feet and grab Terakomari in a mad dash for their lives. Despite her multiple broken bones, Fuyao ran with all her might. “What the hell is it with these things?!” She turned and tried using her momentum to strike one of the approaching tendrils. She could not slice it. The tentacle changed direction and crashed into the wall, making the ground tremble. Fuyao stumbled but put her entire body into making sure not to drop Terakomari. She kept running in a frenzy as the tentacles ravaged Star Cave like giant serpents. They were after Terakomari. She shined so brightly, her light amplified the grudges of those in the shadows. Tremolo should have died alone. Why bring someone full of hope for the future down to hell with her? How could one be so wretched? “Terakomari!! Don’t you die!!” The girl under her arm said nothing. She didn’t want this dumb vampire to suffer any more. She had to live. Her kindness changed the hearts of others. She was not meant to die here. “Ugh!” Then another voice popped into Fuyao’s mind. The voice of the killer born from the miasma. Die. Die. Die. No one must get in the way of the star’s ambitions. “Shut up! You die!!” Hail. Glory to Yusei. Hail, hail, hail. The world belongs in Yusei’s hands, so it will be embraced by perpetual peace. “That’s not happening! Your methods are wrong!” Terakomari Gandesblood stands in the way of the star. She will die here. Die. Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die. “I told you to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” Fuyao swung the Null Night Blade at the tentacles, but the effects remained minimal. Instead, Fuyao was blown away and slammed into a purple wall. The heart-gouging shadow of death crushed her spirits. But she could not let go of Terakomari. Abandoning her would be a blemish to Fuyao Meteorite’s beliefs. No, forget about conviction. She simply burned with the desire to keep this small vampire alive. Black tentacles attacked from every direction. Fuyao raised her katana with explosive vigor. The moment her blade struck, the tentacle crumbled, and its black willpower dissipated. They had hard parts and soft parts. So long as she could aim correctly… A shock, followed by sharp pain. Another tentacle had stabbed Fuyao’s side. That didn’t matter. She yelled and swung her sword. Blood spilled, and her fox ears were torn, yet she fought frantically to keep Terakomari alive. But perhaps her efforts were in vain. Tremolo’s dying willpower far exceeded Fuyao’s. The tentacles struck her wrist, and the Null Night Blade spun in the air away from her. She had no opportunity to recover it. The sharp tentacles were already charging at her. I’m dead. The moment she thought that, one of the walls of Star Cave crumbled. It exploded, to be precise. The blast sent debris flying, blowing away the helpless tentacles. Fuyao shielded Terakomari while desperately trying to comprehend the situation. She had been saved by a hair. Was Terakomari’s rainbow mana still active? Then she heard an out-of-place, shrill voice. “Owaaah?! What are these?! Varmints?!” Standing by the destroyed wall was Lonne Cornelius. Behind her was a man in Eastern-style clothing holding a Magic Stone. “That must be Tremolo Parcostella’s finishing move. This tiny explosion won’t take care of it.” One of the Lunae, Kakumei Amatsu. He looked around, the thoughts behind his eyes as incomprehensible to Fuyao as ever. Their eyes met, and he appeared to grasp the whole situation. “You’re in better shape than I thought.” “Are you blind?” “Terakomari isn’t, though. We must retreat. Cornelius!” “Got it!” The tentacles writhed by the wall. The explosion had slowed them, but Fuyao’s gut told her they weren’t greatly damaged. Cornelius rushed her to her feet, while Amatsu lifted moribund Terakomari. “Let’s hurry. Defeating her won’t be easy,” he said. “You knew?” “Kind of.” Amatsu went through the hole in the wall. Cornelius helped Fuyao follow behind him. She looked back. The tentacles wriggled in search of their prey. Amatsu threw another Magic Stone. A huge explosion made the ceiling collapse, forming a wall between them and the tentacles. “Just focus on leaving. We have a route back to the exit.” Amatsu, Cornelius, and Tryphon’s job was to find Governor Sandberry, but they had hurried to Star Cave after the giant explosion. Incidentally, Tryphon was elsewhere looking for Spica. “I think they’ll break the wall at any moment… Those things are spooky as hell,” Cornelius said. Black willpower oozed from behind them, accompanied by the sound of the tentacles knocking on the debris. It was only a matter of time before the tendrils caught up with them. Fuyao looked at Terakomari in Amatsu’s arms. The mere sound of her pained breathing suffocated Fuyao. It suffocates me…? There really was something wrong with her. Fuyao Meteorite didn’t worry for other people. Terakomari had the mysterious power to change the heart of even a cold-blooded killer. “I’ll keep it short,” Amatsu said while running. “Tremolo Parcostella’s ability won’t stop until it’s killed its target. Her willpower also grows stronger with time, so the attacks will only get tougher.” “Whoa, whoa.” Cornelius sighed. “How do you know? And that’s Tremolo’s power? To me, it looks like a mass of willpower that’s been given a specific objective, like the Varmints.” “No, Kakumei Amatsu is right,” Fuyao said, short of breath. “Huh? Really?” “That’s Tremolo Parcostella’s Core Implosion. I saw it with my own eyes. But why do you know?” She glared at Amatsu, enduring the pain. The kimono man looked away. “I don’t have the time to explain all that. What you should know is we can’t do anything against Tremolo like that. The sole reason she’s clinging to this world is to kill her target.” “What does that mean?” “Her pitch-black willpower won’t disappear even in the face of any attack. It might have the power to rewrite the physical laws of the universe… From what I’ve heard, not even Effulgent Magic can defeat it.” “Not even Effulgent Magic?! Then we’ve got no hope!” “No.” Amatsu shook his head. “There is one way. That thing is a monster powered to the limits to fulfill a simple objective. Which means it will disappear after achieving it.” “And the objective is…?” “Likely killing Terakomari Gandesblood. We could leave her here, and no one else will be hurt.” “…” Fuyao’s mouth went dry. This man couldn’t be trusted, but he didn’t seem to be being facetious. Yes, Tremolo was after Terakomari. The tentacles were against her and only her; they never showed any hostility toward Fuyao. They didn’t even care about her. “Oh, that’s solved, then! Throw her down already!” “I won’t let you.” Fuyao’s words were a surprise even to herself. “Eep!” Cornelius tensed. Amatsu turned back with a surprised expression. “Why? Didn’t you want her dead?” “She’s still a kid. She’s not ready to die.” “But everyone else will be spared if we leave her here. Meanwhile, if we let Tremolo run free, lots of innocent people will suffer.” “I won’t let you. And I won’t let Tremolo do that, either.” She couldn’t let Terakomari die. She had no logical reason. She simply wanted her to live. Fuyao had a plan to solve it, too. An ace up her sleeve. A gamble only she could take. She had no reason to run anymore. Fuyao came to a halt. “It’s weird, you know? I hated her to death until just the other day, but now I don’t feel the tiniest speck of that.” The rubble creaked and cracked. The monsters roared. “The world would be better off with her alive rather than me. I realized this when she saved me.” Fuyao turned around. Terakomari would save a lot of people in the future. She would shine light on the hearts of so many. Nobody else but her could do it. So Fuyao had to use the last of her strength in this moment. “Are you sure?” “Yes.” Fuyao nodded vigorously. The barricade broke. The tentacles approached. She trembled. She held down the shaking with sheer willpower and chanted: “Core Implosion: Inari-Avatar Reflection.” Poof!! Fuyao’s appearance immediately changed. The foxgirl became a small vampire. “Tell Terakomari I said thanks,” Fuyao told Amatsu and Cornelius, turning only her head toward them. A farewell. “Tell her it wasn’t so bad.” Amatsu ran for the exit with the wounded Terakomari in his arms. A terrific battle began behind him. Tremolo had mistaken Fuyao for her target. The chances of the real Terakomari being hurt had plummeted. Now the question was whether they could heal her. “…” It was unavoidable. Only Fuyao could do it. Sacrifice the few for the sake of the many—Amatsu had done that countless times before. And if she was fine with it, then it was pointless to worry about it. So he had to convince himself to keep his legs moving. “Awful. This is just awful.” Amatsu shuddered. However, Cornelius’s comment wasn’t aimed at him. “I’m not sure even Dr. Kuya could heal wounds this bad. What do we do?” “Can your Core Implosion do anything about it?” “Are you suggesting I craft a Divine Instrument for healing? Look, the tools I make aren’t omnipotent. But I guess I’ll try…” “Please.” Cornelius looked at him suspiciously. “Are your expectations that high for Terakomari or something?” “Not really. I just don’t want people dying.” “…Mm-hmm.” All lies. This girl’s power was essential for Karla to arrive at a peaceful future. Only Terakomari Gandesblood could illuminate people’s hearts and transform the wicked world encroached in miasma. After a while, the exit appeared before them. They had to run to the hospital first. He jumped out into the light, when… “B-B-B-B-B-BROTHER?!?!” “!” …a familiar voice hit his eardrums. It was then that Amatsu realized he was caught up in a string of bad luck. There she was, Kakumei Amatsu’s cousin and Goddess of the Heavenly Paradise: Karla Amatsu. Her fingers trembled and her face went red as she stared at him like she was hallucinating. Upon further inspection, there were some familiar faces accompanying her. Koharu Minenaga of the Kidoshu and Crimson Lord Sakuna Memoir. Along with multiple government VIPs and even his coworker Kilty Blanc. He had heard they’d sent a survey team to the Netherworld, but he had no idea they had already reached Neoplus. “Koharu, are you seeing this?! That’s my brother, right?! Am I dreaming?! I’m pretty sure I’m awake! Could you pinch my cheek?! O-o-o-ow, ow, ow, ow! I’m not dreaming! That really is my brother! My dear brother!” “Pipe down. Yes, it’s me.” “Huh! I-I’m sorry…” Karla shrank back, red all the way to her ears. “There’s bigger news here.” Koharu tugged on her master’s kimono. “Things aren’t looking good.” “Th-they certainly aren’t! He yelled at me… He thinks I’m noisy! How do I recover from this?!” “There’s no recovering from that. But I wasn’t talking about you—look.” “Huh?”
Chapter 207
20 min read