❛ 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐒 ❜ ━━━ (𝗼. 𝘆𝘂𝘁𝗮)

| xxxvii ; another one bites the dust

"I'm not sure if this counts as interest... but I have a strange urge to kill you."

Choso stood his ground, looking at Kenjaku with a blank look. Kenjaku looked around, noticing that it was only Choso. Yuki and Tengen were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Tengen?" Kenjaku asked.

"That talking thumb doesn't want to see you," Choso replied. "Guess you're not well-liked."

"Then I suppose you're disposable fodder. Please do try your best," Kenjaku said with a sly smile. "The Culling Game has already served its purpose. The preparations for the merger of all non-sorcerers in Japan have ended."

Choso's eyes widened in shock. Already?! What happened?! Are Yuji and the others okay?

"Once I seize Tengen here, I'll make my move to find the Fujiwara girl. Then, this country and the whole world will meet its end," Kenjaku told him. "Let me show you one possible conclusion to this affair."

Suddenly, the empty barrier above the Tomb of the Star Corridor changed to form a movie theatre. Yuki Tsukumo's face appeared on the screen as Kenjaku began his explanation to Choso.

"In Shibuya, Tsukumo explained that merging with Tengen, which I'd prefer to call optimising cursed energy, means becoming a sorcerer. To me, that's just a step before the merger. A verification check on the Culling Game essentially. I've said before that unlike her, what I want isn't a world without Cursed Spirits. I was surprised when she even worried about the Japanese being used as cursed energy resources. Rather, it made me happy—the way she thinks is close to mine. Anyway, I've gotten off-topic."

Choso clicked his tongue in annoyance and leaned back on the chair as he crossed his arms.

"From the beginning, I even considered the potential of Cursed Spirits as an option alongside sorcerers. Perhaps a new form of cursed energy could be born advancing Cursed Spirits to a higher level. Because of that, I had high hopes for half-breeds between Cursed Spirits and humans like you. What a disappointment. You were all too ordinary."

"If you talk about my little brothers like that again, I'll kill you without waiting for this sideshow to end," Choso warned him with a glare.

"After evolving, Tengen will become more like a Cursed Spirit than human, similar to Fujiwara. So if all the non-sorcerers in Japan merge with Tengen, I think it'll become a Cursed Spirit bearing the cursed energy of a hundred million people. Maybe it'll be like 'Uzumaki' and capable of extracting something too. I wonder what it'll look like. Right now, I feel like a kid holding crayon in front of a blank piece of paper."

The movie theatre dissipated around them and they were brought back to the space previously.

"What exactly do you want?" Choso asked.

"Did you not understand a single thing I just said?" Kenjaku asked back, frowning at him.

"No, I'm asking you. What do you get from this? What is it that motivates you?"

"I'm fascinated," Kenjaku replied. "I just think it'll be fascinating. But I won't know for sure until it happens. On top of that, if the accumulated cursed energy of a hundred million people is just a laughable clown face, then what would you do? I know I'd laugh."

"Tsk... Piercing Blood!"

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

NOVEMBER 15TH, 22:09, SENDAI COLONY.

Y/N let out a yawn as she laid on the bed, waiting patiently for Yuta as he was still showering. She got under the covers, laying on her side and watched the door to the master bathroom, trying to will Yuta to hurry so that they could go to sleep.