Chapter 368: Heavy Blow
Inside the Isayama household, Tsuchimiyaka Kagura, who was conversing with Isayama Naraku, suddenly felt a wave of restlessness in her heart. Suddenly, her chest ached, as if something vital had departed from her; tears flowed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.
"Kagura, what's wrong?"
Isayama Naraku looked at the suddenly weeping Kagura with confusion, asking the reason for her sorrow.
"I... I don't know, I just suddenly feel incredibly sad..."
Wiping the tears from her face, Tsuchimiyaka Kagura shook her head with a dazed expression, yet she felt her heart was still filled with grief.
"Suddenly feeling incredibly sad? Could it be..."
Isayama Naraku was, after all, a man of experience. Thinking back to the conversation Kagura had with him yesterday, he realized that the worst-case scenario had occurred.
"Uncle Naraku, do you know what happened?"
Hearing Naraku stop halfway through his sentence, Kagura turned her gaze toward him.
"Indeed."
Isayama Naraku gave a bitter laugh. He looked up at the lampshade above his head and, using every ounce of his strength, voiced his suspicion.
"Your father, Tsuchimiyaka Gaku, has likely fallen..."
As he finished speaking, Tsuchimiyaka Kagura felt as though Isayama Naraku had aged decades in an instant. However, she could not spare any concern for Naraku's condition now.
"Father... has passed away?"
Sitting blankly in place and replaying what Naraku had just told her, Kagura found it hard to believe. She had spoken with Tsuchimiyaka Gaku for a long time just last night; though his health wasn't great then, he should have been able to hold on for at least a few more months. How could he have suddenly fallen?
Just as Kagura was at a total loss, her phone rang.
"Hello?"
Seeing Hikigaya Hachiman's name displayed on the screen, Kagura hurriedly answered the call.
"...Kagura."
After a long silence, Hachiman's heavy voice echoed through the phone.
Clatter...
Hearing Hachiman speak to her in such a tone, Kagura's grip failed, and the phone slipped from her hand directly onto the floor. On the other end, Hachiman's voice continued to emerge.
"I am very sorry, your father has passed away!"
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Time reverted to ten minutes ago.
Once Tsuchimiyaka Gaku received aid from Hikigaya Hachiman, he again wrestled with the Nine-Tailed Fox for control over Byakuei. During this time, the two sides attacked each other several times, attempting to disrupt the other's concentration, but all ended in failure.
The stalemate lasted for several more minutes. Just as Hachiman thought the standoff would continue indefinitely, Tsuchimiyaka Gaku made a decision that he completely failed to see through. Gaku actually abandoned control of Byakuei directly and released his own seal on the beast!
"What?"
By the time Hachiman realized what Gaku had done, it was too late to rectify it. Byakuei was sucked directly into the Nine-Tailed Fox's body, completing most of the spiritual stone in its heart—leaving only a few tiny cracks to be repaired!
Sensing the aura behind the Nine-Tailed Fox surging violently, Hachiman didn't have time to question what Gaku was trying to do. He wanted Gaku to take Isayama Mei and leave so he could face the Nine-Tailed Fox in a final battle himself.
However, Gaku—whose strength had not even reached the Emperor Grade and was roughly at the mid-Imperial level—shook his head and refused Hachiman's proposal. After saying a few words about looking after his daughter in the future, he charged head-on toward the vastly strengthened Nine-Tailed Fox.
"I'll Kill you!"
Facing the overconfident Tsuchimiyaka Gaku, the Nine-Tailed Fox—whose confidence had skyrocketed along with its recovered power—raised its head and fired a pillar of light that reduced him to ashes.
Yet, before the Nine-Tailed Fox could revel in its victory, the earth suddenly shook. A magic circle that completely covered Tokyo manifested before everyone. From a distance,
Hachiman—holding Isayama Mei in the sky—saw that every node of the formation was guarded by roughly three spiritualists. Although these people were generally low-level, they were sufficient as conduits for transmitting spiritual power!
Tsuchimiyaka Gaku used his life as the price to let the formation covering Tokyo lock onto the Nine-Tailed Fox's power fluctuations. Driven by the Tsuchimiyaka clan members who had been arranged in advance, the massive formation began to operate rapidly. Spiritual power was extracted from countless ley lines running beneath Tokyo, transforming into several massive chains that firmly bound the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Simultaneously, the entire grand array began to rotate, emitting a white light capable of purifying all evil spirits!
Everything happened too suddenly. Hachiman only felt a flash of white light before his eyes, followed by the shrill, agonizing howls of the Nine-Tailed Fox in his ears. When his vision finally cleared, the Nine-Tailed Fox had long since vanished, leaving behind only a mess of ruins.
"Was it purified?"
Hachiman looked at the scene before him with some doubt. The power of that purifying light just now had greatly exceeded his expectations, especially since it was launched by the combined ley lines of all Tokyo. It seemed logically sound if the Nine-Tailed Fox had been annihilated because of it.
[The Nine-Tailed Fox has only suffered a heavy blow; please do not let your guard down, Host.]
Unlike Hachiman, whose vision was obstructed, the system clearly perceived how the Nine-Tailed Fox escaped from the white light and fled with its heavily damaged body.
[The system suggests the Host immediately pursue and kill the enemy.]
"I know that, of course."
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. Now that the Nine-Tailed Fox was seriously injured, it was the best time to eliminate it; Hachiman naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity. But before that...
Thinking of Tsuchimiyaka Gaku's final request before death, Hachiman sighed and took out his mobile phone.
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"Damn that Tsuchimiyaka family!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox, in human form, stumbled back into the abandoned shrine. When it saw Isayama Yomi standing in the hall like a puppet, its pent-up resentment could no longer be contained.
A crisp Slap! rang out in the hall. Seeing the red mark rising on Yomi's face, a glint of gratification flashed in the Fox's eyes. But then, remembering that Yomi was its last puppet, it immediately retracted its urge to slap her a few more times.
"I'll deal with you once you're useless!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox glared resentfully at Isayama Yomi. It then restored Yomi's consciousness, repaired its own appearance slightly, and entered the inner sanctum of the shrine to recover.
A few minutes later, Isayama Yomi, whose memory had gaps, slowly woke up. As she looked around at the hallucinations of her surroundings, wondering why she had returned when she was supposed to be at the Isayama household, the Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly called her inside.
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