Chapter 37: Genshikessho (Fantasy Crystal)
Kazuma Yumesaki couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle upon hearing those words.
"I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable, Asuna. You actually know about this kind of stuff."
Asuna sighed, her tone flat as she complained over the line, "Well, in our country, this is basically folklore that every single household knows about."
Yumesaki fell silent for a brief moment. "Is that so?"
"It really is," Asuna replied with certainty. "So, who exactly is this Hagoromo Gitsune anyway?"
Yumesaki snapped out of his thoughts and lowered his voice. "As it turns out, Hagoromo Gitsune is actually Kuzunoha."
Asuna remained silent.
Once again, she was completely struck with shock, unable to find her words for a long time. The only sound coming through the phone was her faint, steady breathing.
After what felt like ages, Asuna finally spoke up. "Are you saying that the legendary great Onmyoji, Abe no Seimei, isn't actually dead? And now he's directing his own mother to invade Tokyo because he wants to hold the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons here?"
"Exactly," Yumesaki murmured softly. "That is precisely what is happening."
"But why? Why would he do something like that?"
"Yeah, why would he?" Yumesaki wasn't entirely sure either, considering nothing like this had ever taken place in the original storyline. For the time being, he couldn't quite fathom the reasoning behind Abe no Seimei's actions.
"You don't know?"
"I'm not an omniscient or omnipotent god, you know. Isn't it perfectly normal for me not to know everything?"
"Then... wasn't it explained in the anime? Hagoromo Gitsune is supposed to be an anime character too, right?"
"Yes, that's completely true," Yumesaki agreed, confirming her point before continuing. "But you have to understand one thing—this is a crossover anime world, a universe where countless different anime are all mixed together."
"The characters in this crossover world cross paths and influence one another, so the storyline has long since become a chaotic, tangled mess."
"As a modern person, you should understand this concept well. It's what we call the Butterfly Effect."
Asuna understood it, of course. In fact, it was precisely because she understood it that she found the situation so incredibly troublesome. If there were certain things that even Yumesaki didn't know, then what were they supposed to do moving forward?
"What do you plan to do?" Asuna asked after reflecting for a moment.
"Me?" Yumesaki burst into a hearty laugh. He leaned back on the sofa, crossing his legs, and spoke in a perfectly calm manner. "I'm not going to do anything."
"Huh?" This answer caught her completely off guard, and Asuna's voice carried a distinct note of shock.
Yumesaki went on to explain, "Fundamentally speaking, what does Hagoromo Gitsune's desire to stage the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons have to do with me? I'm not even from this world. You can't possibly think I should risk my life to fight her just for the sake of a bunch of strangers, right?"
As he spoke up to this point, Yumesaki narrowed his eyes.
If Asuna dared to start taking the moral high ground and lecture him next, he would block her without a second thought. He absolutely loathed people who stood on a pedestal to judge others.
Fortunately, Asuna did no such thing.
She was kind-hearted, yes, but she was also a perfectly rational human being. She knew very well that Yumesaki's logic was entirely sound. You truly couldn't expect someone from another world to lay down their life against Hagoromo Gitsune. That wasn't a burden he was meant to carry.
On top of that, Yumesaki was her savior. If she turned around and demanded that of him, she would be no better than an animal.
"Alright, I understand," Asuna said slowly once she calmed her racing thoughts. "Thank you for all your help. I've decided to enroll in that school."
"Do you want to stop Hagoromo Gitsune?" Yumesaki caught the sudden resolve in her voice.
"My family and friends are in Tokyo. I can't just sit back and watch them face that kind of danger."
"Fair enough. Just look out for yourself."
"Don't worry, I will."
Asuna let out a small smile, and after exchanging a few more casual remarks with Yumesaki, she finally hung up the phone.
Yumesaki listened to the dial tone ringing out from the receiver and chuckled softly to himself. Some people were simply born to be heroes, ready to step up without a shred of hesitation whenever a crucial moment arrived.
It was only because of individuals like that that a country could endure and truly prosper.
It was true for Asuna, and it was just as true for the ancestors of his own homeland who had sacrificed their blood and lives.
To be completely honest, if the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons were happening in the great lands to the East, Yumesaki might actually have the interest and the drive to put a stop to it. But since it was happening in Japan, whoever got caught up in it could deal with it themselves—frankly, he didn't care.
As long as Hagoromo Gitsune didn't come looking to provoke him, they could both go their separate ways in peace.
Time slipped away, and soon the next day arrived.
Yumesaki spent the entire time cooped up inside his house playing video games. Nero would occasionally join him, picking up a controller for co-op games like It Takes Two or various fighting games.
Whenever they played, Nero would get incredibly fired up, her mouth constantly letting out all sorts of lively sounds like wa-oh, umu, and are-re.
If she won, she would tease Yumesaki to her heart's content, declaring, "You are quite incompetent, Praetor!"
But if she lost, she would clutch the hem of his shirt with teary, pleading eyes and beg, "Just one more round, just one more round, Praetor!"
Yumesaki, naturally, could never bring himself to refuse. When Nero was being this adorable, who could possibly say no to her?
As for Medea, she had poured every ounce of her attention into researching Youkai. Kidomaru and Ibaraki Doji had essentially become her full-time research subjects.
Nobody expected that in a mere three days, she would actually manage to discover something substantial.
One morning, while Yumesaki was in the middle of a heated fighting game match with Nero, Medea strolled over in a relaxed manner and placed a strange stone right in front of him.
Yumesaki noticed that Nero's character was only a sliver of health away from losing, so he intended to finish her off before taking a look at the stone.
Yet, to his surprise, Nero suddenly slapped the pause button and flashed a bright smile. "Umu! Let us pause right here for a moment."
Damn it, Nero! Are you seriously that a bad loser? You have absolutely no gamer sportsmanship—that tactic is way too dirty!
Yumesaki glared at her in annoyance and tossed his controller onto the sofa. It hit the cushions hard before bouncing off and clattering loudly onto the floor.
Nero averted her gaze, looking away with a guilty expression. Yumesaki almost burst out laughing from sheer exasperation at her antics.
Shifting his focus away from her, his eyes locked onto the object sitting on the table. "What is this?"
Medea walked over and sat down right next to Yumesaki, explaining in a gentle, melodic voice, "This is a Genshikessho, a Fantasy Crystal. I managed to extract it from the bodies of Ibaraki Doji and Kidomaru after studying them."
"A Genshikessho?" Yumesaki reached out his hand to pick up the stone. The moment his fingertips brushed against its surface, he instantly felt a dense, powerful surge of Youkai energy swirling violently inside it.
Medea continued, "Does Master happen to know anything about the Sesshoseki, the Killing Stone?"
Yumesaki nodded in understanding. That particular item, the Sesshoseki, originated from the Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox, the legendary grand Youkai known as Tamamo-no-Mae.
Near the end of the Heian period, Tamamo-no-Mae transformed into a peerless beauty and completely enchanted Emperor Toba. Once her true identity was exposed by the great Onmyoji Abe no Yasuchika, she fled all the way to Nasuno in the Kanto region.
The imperial court eventually dispatched an army to subjugate and slay her, and after her demise, her corpse transformed into the Sesshoseki.
According to legend, the Sesshoseki was the pure crystallization of Tamamo-no-Mae's demonic power. Anyone who laid hands on it would gain access to her immense strength.
Medea smiled and said, "This is an item I created by replicating the principles of the Sesshoseki. I extracted the raw power of Ibaraki Doji and Kidomaru, compressing it into this Genshikessho."
"Anyone—whether they are a Youkai, a Cursed Spirit, a normal human, or a Jujutsu Sorcerer—can transform into a Youkai and wield the exact powers of Ibaraki Doji and Kidomaru, provided they successfully assimilate this crystal."
Yumesaki had a sudden realization. "Ah, so that's how it works."
However, this item wasn't particularly useful to Yumesaki himself, given that his own demon tales were already capable of granting immense power to humans.
Medea was well aware of this fact, of course. She offered a warm smile and added, "Right now, this Genshikessho is merely an initial prototype. I am currently working to refine it so that a human can safely absorb its contents without experiencing any adverse side effects."
Yumesaki offered a casual nod of approval. "Oh, that sounds great. Keep up the good work."
For him, researching this item wasn't an urgent matter by any means, but he saw no reason to stop Medea. If anything, he gave her his full backing, genuinely looking forward to whatever grand surprise she might cook up next.
While Yumesaki and Medea were conversing, Nero quietly unpaused the game. Gripping her controller tightly, she quickly maneuvered her character to unleash a relentless counterattack against Yumesaki's defenseless avatar. With a flawless, fluid combo string, she entirely depleted his health bar.
"Umu! It appears victory is mine, Praetor!"
Yumesaki was instantly struck dumb. This... was she seriously doing this right now?
"Nero!!!"
He truly never expected Nero to possess such a blatant lack of combat ethics. Since she wanted to play dirty in the game, she couldn't blame him if he decided to take things offline and engage in a real physical duel with her instead.
Medea watched the chaotic drama unfold right in front of her and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Between Nero and her Master, how exactly was she supposed to describe the two of them? Honestly... they were both incredibly childish.
...
Meanwhile, at the exact same time.
Kyoto.
Inside a certain luxurious villa, Hagoromo Gitsune let out a lazy yawn as she sipped her tea.
The weather today was simply wonderful. The sunlight felt soft and pleasant, the vibrant flowers bloomed with a brilliant luster, and a faint, delicate floral fragrance seemed to drift lazily through the air. The ambiance was so comforting that it made her want to crawl right back into bed.
"Have Kidomaru and the others still not returned?" Hagoromo Gitsune spoke in a slow, measured tone after tasting her tea.
"Not yet," a Youkai taking the form of a young child replied, shaking its head with a face full of anxiety. "Could Kidomaru and the others have run into some sort of trouble?"
"They went after the Nakiri family. What possible trouble could they encounter?" another massive Youkai, Gashadokuro, rumbled in response.
"Danger doesn't only stem from the Nakiri family, you know. Tokyo is by no means a simple place, especially with those Jujutsu Sorcerers running around. If I recall correctly, the current generation's Six Eyes is exceptionally powerful."
"The Six Eyes... yes, that indeed poses an issue."
"True, that cursed Six Eyes."
At the mere mention of the Six Eyes, a wave of uneasy whispers broke out from the surrounding shadows. However, the moment Hagoromo Gitsune cast a calm, sweeping glance over them, every single voice instantly vanished into absolute silence.
"Kyokotsu," Hagoromo Gitsune called out.
"I am here, Hagoromo Gitsune-sama," the child-like Youkai immediately responded.
"The Book of Friends—has it been retrieved yet?"
"Not yet, Hagoromo Gitsune-sama. The human youth named Natsume is incredibly slippery. He has numerous Youkai by his side who are entirely willing to exert every ounce of their strength to protect him, including a grand Youkai known as Madara."
As Kyokotsu spoke those words, he couldn't help but instinctively pull his head down, terrified that Hagoromo Gitsune-sama might fly into a rage. After all, out of all the tasks she had assigned to them, they hadn't managed to successfully execute a single one.
"Ah, so it is that creature," Hagoromo Gitsune mused, a look of realization crossing her face. "No wonder you have been unable to seize it. In that case, let Tsuchigumo handle the matter. With his immense strength, he should be more than capable of dealing with Madara."
Hearing this, Kyokotsu quickly bowed in agreement, but then he hesitated, asking once more, "Then, what should we do regarding Kidomaru and the rest?"
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