Isekai Mizuki S1 - A World With Demons

Chapter 69 - Consciousness

The scientist experimenting on Kanao was still on her case about the constant shut downs of her body. Within the 2 days, he still hadn't found any external or internal connections that could be causing this. Meanwhile, he had been trying to make wiring connections with the inner parts of Kanao's brain, trying to figure out what could be causing this.

Muzan stood behind him, waiting for any updates on the Kanao situation. The man began to concern himself even more with the ideas of what could be happening, and he eventually came to a conclusion. "Someone must be infiltrating her mind. Nothing's getting in... No, no, no! The transmission has been terminated!" he yelled, bashing on his control panel. Muzan was interested to ask what he meant by "someone."

"What do you mean by someone? Are you saying that someone's changing the trajectory of the connections, or is directly preventing you from going in? That kind of sounds unlikely," he asked, thinking that it was improbable. The scientist shook his head. "I deeply apologize for how I'm about to step out of line, master, but isn't it obvious? Each time I've tried to make connections with her mind, something new comes to throw a wrench into my plans. If it isn't someone trying to stop me from curing her of her condition, I would've already stopped the periodic fainting."

Muzan understood his explanations, but was still rather doubtful about it. "But don't worry yourself, master. Nothing other than you can overwhelm genius like mine. I AM going to find out what's doing this." he says, booting all possible tools to pinnacle output, maximizing their usage.

Inside Kanao's mind...

Inside her brain, multiple wires were connected, each sending signals throughout the brain, but never reaching the central core, nor either of its five parts. Apparently, an evil force-field of some sort was stopping anything from reaching to it. Inside the core was an unconscious Kanao, trapped in chains.

"Trapped."
"Immobilized."
"Loss of consciousness."
"Loss of sanity."
"Caged."
"Lifeless."
"Emotionless."
"Breathless."
"Confinement."
(The words that are heard begin to be said at faster intervals, and begin to overlap.)

"Do you really want to remain like this, Tsuyuri Kanao?"
"Fight it."
"I SAID FIGHT IT!"

After hearing those last words, Kanao's consciousness snapped awake. She realized her predicament, that being that her limbs were locked in chains, and she was unable to move. She looked in front of her, and to her surprise, she could see a spirit of some sort that looked much like her. Her entire body and outfit were gray. The only difference was her mouth and eyes, which were glowing white. The soul had a demon's tail, which was also gray. The soul sported the school uniform Kanao was wearing upon her becoming kidnapped.

"So, you're finally awake," it said. "If you're wondering who I might be, I'm your soul. I'm not the one controlling this body, but I'm also the key to getting out of here."

Kanao was interested to hear this if it meant she gets her body back in human form. The soul continued. "You have to beat me in a deathmatch. If you win, you'll get a certain percentage of your body back, depending purely on luck, not by my choice. Nothing'll happen if you lose, you just get to try again. But, let's not get hasty here. I want to have a bit of fun," she said, a floating microphone appearing in front of Kanao as she was released from the shackles.

She was rather confused and asked what was happening. "I want to have a short sing-off. Nothing wrong with that, right?" she asked. Kanao agreed to it.

Back to the laboratory...

The scientist was looking at the statistics machine, and the brain waves began to fluctuate to a certain beat, almost like a song. The scientist was rather intrigued and confused by what was happening. "I've picked up brain waves. Something's happening, and it's going beyond what I intended!" he said, trying to study the brain waves.

Muzan was becoming more confused, as even he couldn't tell what was happening, despite having control over every demon he created. The man began to get desperate and initiated a brain shocker to stop the brain waves.

While both the soul and Kanao were having a fun time doing a little sing-off, Kanao's consciousness suddenly got tired. The music stopped, and the soul asked her what's wrong. "I... I don't know! I was just singing, and I suddenly felt tired after I saw a big blue flash...!" she replied. The soul immediately realized what was happening. "That man's still trying to get your consciousness completely killed? Ignore it, and keep singing! As long as I have this energy barrier protecting your core, you won't get hurt further," it said, the music kicking back up again, and both of them continued to sing.

"What? The brain waves stopped for a minute, now they're back up?! What's going on?!" he yelled, trying to figure out what's happening.

Later, after a little longer, they finished singing. "Ah, that felt great. Anyway, now let's get to the real stuff. You can't leave your demon body until you kill me. Defeat me in a deathmatch, and you'll regain a certain percentage of your body. Tell me when you're ready, and I'll fight you. Don't worry about me. If you manage to kill me, we'll both go into unconsciousness for a long while is all. Even then, there'll be an hour-long delay before you do faint."

In the statistics panel, the brain waves stopped. The demon Kanao inside the tube opened her eyes, signaling that she was awake. "I apologize. I couldn't fix it." Muzan shrugged, accepting his apology. He knew not the first thing about science, so he couldn't argue. After getting Kanao out of the tube, she went back to her domain in Muzan's stronghold.

To be continued...