"This place should be good, right?"
Kazuhiro Mitogawa stepped out from the butterfly barrier.
He lifted his hand, pushing aside the bangs that covered his left eye, revealing a massive Killing Stone embedded within it.
Standing before the torii gate, Kazuhiro Mitogawa scanned the layout of the shrine. Feeling the Killing Stone in his eye radiate satisfaction, he smiled faintly at the group of shrine maiden guards standing ready before him.
"Oh my, just from teleporting a few humans, your divine power is already nearly depleted?"
"…"
The shrine maidens in the torii did not answer Kazuhiro Mitogawa's question. They simply stood there silently, observing his every movent with caution.
"Looks like no one likes to talk. Well, neither do I…"
"Although it's a bit late to ask, could you hand over this shrine to ?"
"What kind of joke is that?!"
A relatively new shrine maiden couldn't help but shout at Kazuhiro Mitogawa's outrageous request.
The shrine beneath their feet was one of the few remaining under the Inari God's control. They had painstakingly established a relationship with the Chiba exorcists to restore the shrine's influence over the area—how could they possibly just hand it over?!
"Well, then it can't be helped…"
Kazuhiro Mitogawa's face showed feigned helplessness.
At the sa ti, the swarm of butterflies surrounding the shrine changed their flight pattern, charging toward the maidens from the front of the torii.
A layer of golden barrier appeared at the mont the lead butterfly was about to pass through the torii, holding back the rest outside.
However, countless more butterflies kept charging toward the barrier, and its brightness quickly dimd.
.
-
.
"Is it here?"
Hachiman Hikigaya and Tsuchimiya Kagura were directly teleported next to the out-of-service train.
Through the darkened windows, pairs of crimson eyes swayed inside the cars.
"It's okay. Yomi should be at the front of the train. Big brother, let's hurry…"
Kagura checked the direction and ran along the tracks toward the front of the train.
Hachiman intended to follow, but he looked up and saw several swaying corpses atop the train.
"Kagura, wait!"
Seeing corpses climbing out of the train cars, Hachiman called out, then leapt to the train's roof, swinging a sword wave to eliminate the spirits above.
After dealing with the fleeing corpses, Hachiman noticed the large hole at the rear of the train.
"Ah, that's the one I opened to get out…"
Hearing Hachiman's call, Kagura also jumped onto the roof. Seeing him staring at the hole in the rear, she quickly explained why it was there.
"Alright, then let's enter from there."
Hachiman nodded and dropped into the hole.
"Eh, wait, be careful—it's poisonous…"
Kagura rembered the fat zombie from before. She wanted to warn Hachiman to hold his breath when going down to avoid poisoning, but before she could finish, Hachiman had already jumped.
"…"
Watching the hole, Kagura's words were cut off mid-sentence. She took a deep breath and jumped down as well.
"Host is poisoned."
As soon as Hachiman landed inside the train car, a strange stench hit his nose. He held his breath, and the system notified him that he had been poisoned.
"The air here is toxic too?"
Raising an eyebrow, Hachiman looked at his status panel showing he had been affected by a paralyzing toxin. He tried moving his arm—it was slightly slower than usual.
Then the next second:
"Host is now immune to toxins."
"Is this because of the Killing Stone?"
He placed his empty hand on his chest, speculating, and moved along the train toward the front.
The first three train cars were unusually safe. Apart from the corpses Kagura had dealt with earlier, there was nothing else capable of moving—just Hachiman.
However, as soon as he stepped into the fourth car, a strong gust of wind hit him. At the sa ti, a stench of stale breath reached him.
"What is this?"
The fat zombie was exhaling a green mist at him.
Although a little confused, Hachiman instinctively swung his arm, and his spiritual energy carried the mist back toward the fat zombie.
Then, with a thrust followed by a jumping sweep, the fat spirit that had tornted Kagura was decapitated by Hachiman.
Its head slid from its neck and rolled down the corridor behind Hachiman. The massive body crashed onto the floor with a thunderous thud. Kagura finally caught up.
Seeing the fat zombie's head at her feet, Kagura's expression was complicated.
Though she knew from her own observation and from the chief that Hachiman was very powerful, she had never grasped his true strength.
Now she understood. From Hachiman jumping into the train car to her catching up, no more than ten seconds had passed. Excluding walking ti, Hachiman had instantly killed the fat zombie the mont he encountered it!
In such a narrow space, instantly eliminating the enemy that had given her so much trouble—within Kagura's understanding, only her father could achieve such a feat.
And the chief had said Hachiman's strength far surpassed her father…
"Big brother, just how strong are you?"
With mixed emotions, Kagura looked at Hachiman's back, silently questioning herself.
"Let's keep moving…"
Hachiman, unaware of her inner thoughts, noticed she had caught up. He stepped over the fat corpse and charged toward another group of spirits.
It was as if slicing through vegetables—there was no obstacle in their path as they advanced toward the front of the train.
Behind them lay a horrifying scene of severed limbs and dismbered corpses.
Kagura quietly followed Hachiman, walking as if on a leisurely stroll.
Soon, the two reached the train head and reunited with Yomi.
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