Chapter 223: The Rebirth and the Despair

The world was a blur-dim, flickering, and twisted into a sickening warp. Inside that distorted haze, the carnage began.

I pulped the Mole-thing's face. I mowed through the encroaching Spiders, shredding them, hacking them down, crushing them in my bare hands, and trampling them into the dirt. I let out a roar that thundered through the cave, a physical venting of an unstoppable, raw fury. My own beast-like scream echoed back at me, an infinite, hollow loop.

I could feel my body changing, mutating from the inside out. My muscles, my cells, my organs, my very bones-everything that made me me was being pulverized and decomposed, melting into a hot, viscous sludge before snapping back together in new, terrifying configurations. My body was being remade. A pain beyond words assaulted me from every possible direction, and yet, my body moved on its own, leaving my consciousness in the dust. It performed inhuman maneuvers with a sickening grace. It was proof. My body and my soul were deviating from the laws of humanity. Instinct-savage and primal-pushed my reason aside to drive my flesh toward peak lethality.

I felt a clear, terrifying premonition that I was ceasing to be myself. The fear of that dissolution filled my skull until I thought it would burst. My thoughts shivered. I brushed away those overflowing, weak emotions with a flick of my sharp claws and tail. In their place, an overwhelming, violent aura eroded my mind.

'Come now, shall we kill? Let us trample the weak and win the game of natural selection♪'

'Come now, shall we rule? Claim this swarm and this nest as your own territory♪'

'Come now, shall we devour? Use the flesh of the weak as the fuel to sustain your new form♪'

'Come now, shall we violate? Devote yourself to sowing your seeds and making your bloodline prosper♪'

'Let's fulfill life's true purpose. Come now♪ Come now♪ Just follow my voice and surrender to those instincts, okay?♪'

"You piece of... shit!! Just... you wait!!!!" I snarled.

It was as if a thousand voices were whispering directly into my ear. A muddy torrent of desire so thick I felt like I was drowning. It was the Great Mother's brainwashing-auditory hallucinations masquerading as the providence of nature and the logic of the wild. Something was trying to drown my reason in a sea of black ink, and unlike my fear, I couldn't find it in me to completely deny it.

I had to face it. I had to grab the reins. I had to tether this wild madness with what was left of my logic, but at the same time, I had to harness this impulse and hurl it at the enemy in front of me. This violence was the fuel I needed to keep fighting. Primal instinct was a tool, and I needed that power if I wanted to protect anyone.

...That's right. I have to protect. But who? Who? Who...? I told myself to get a grip. I know the answer. Don't forget. Don't mistake an enemy for an ally. Don't fuck this up. The woman in front of me isn't the target for this impulse. She's the one I'm supposed to save.

God, I'm pathetic. Drool is literally dripping from my chin. Even with her age, she looks so radiant, and the "Reiki"

¹ soaking into her skin smells so goddamn sweet. I want to pin her down right now. I want to keep making her scream for mercy until her throat goes raw. I want to rip those clothes off and make her dance in agony until her hips give out. I want to bite into her, suck the life out of her, and slurp it up. I want to break her until she knows she belongs to me. I want to ruin her, bloat her up, and keep her as my broken little priestess forever. ...The desire is endless. She's such a sinful bitch. So guilty. She needs to be punished-No! Shut the hell up, you idiot!

"Grah... O-o-o-oh!!" I roared.

Dammit!! Don't get it twisted! Don't forget why you're fighting. Protect her. Protect her and the others. That's the only reason you're using this power, right? So... shut up. Just stay quiet. Please, let me use this strength to protect...!!

"Ah..."

In that split second, as I convulsed from the inner conflict and let out a steaming, guttural growl, my eyes locked with the old woman's. Despite her desperate attempts to look young, her eyes held a depth of emotion that swirled and mingled with my own.

"..."

Immediately, as if sensing the chaos inside me, she reached out. Her hand was offered toward me, trembling slightly. It was the gesture of a parent beckoning a child home, a silent invitation to be welcomed back.

"Tch...!!"

For a fleeting second, I wanted to give in to that mercy. I felt the tension that had been dialed to eleven finally snap. Just like an Aratamitama

² spirit being pacified by a priestess, my humanity began to claw its way back to the surface.

Then, an agonizing pain-as if it had been waiting for that exact moment of weakness-plunged through my stomach from behind. I looked down. A massive caterpillar was protruding from my gut, and it was sneering at me.

* * *

"Gasp!! A-gh... ah...!!"

A violent chill wracked my body. Then came the heaviness-a crushing lethality that made my joints scream at my brain. My pupils felt like they were on fire, unable to adjust to the light. My limbs were lead. I collapsed, huddling against the cold ground. My senses were sluggish, like I'd been in a coma for a century, completely useless.

"Wha... what the hell...!!?"

I was a mess of confusion. My memories from a moment ago wouldn't link up with the reality of right now. The gears wouldn't turn. It felt like a massive chunk of my life had been gouged out of my head.

"Sh... Shiryu...?"

The first sense to return was touch. I realized I was naked, and my entire body was coated in a thick, sticky fluid. Then the smell hit me-a pungent, fishy odor. I felt like I'd just been birthed from a ruptured womb. The panic rose. What the hell happened to me?

Had I been swallowed by a Mole-thing or a Spider and then shat out? Or maybe I was vomited? Did someone like Debuemon punch me in the gut until I threw up? Or maybe I just tasted so bad I gave them food poisoning? It sounded plausible... my brain was grasping at straws.

...In a way, that would have been a mercy.

"Happy Birthday."

Clap. Clap. Clap. My hearing finally kicked in, picking up the hollow sound of slow applause. An unfamiliar voice vibrated through the air.

"...Master-dono. Is that really the right way to put it? Is this even a birth?" a familiar voice asked.

"Hm. You've got a point... this was a flop. I tried to look cool for once, and it's ruined," the stranger replied.

The first voice belonged to someone I knew; the second was a complete mystery. I couldn't make sense of it. What were they talking about? Where was I? What was I now?

What about Kochou? Hayama? Shirowakamaru? Shiro? Kikyou? Asagiri? Yahagi? Kashiwagi? What happened to everyone?

"Is everyone... okay?" I managed to croak.

"Relax. Most of them made it through that little incident. They're out there living their lives, tough as ever. All thanks to 'you,' see?" the stranger said.

"Tch...!!?"

The response felt like a physical probe into my mind. I trembled and forced my head up. My eyes finally began to adjust to the light. And that's when I saw it. The worst possible outcome. An unknown man was crouching over me, looking down like I was a specimen. I saw what he was in a heartbeat. He saw me see it, and he just smiled-the kind of smile a chef gives a fish on a cutting board.

It was over. Everything. I was trapped. There was no way out, no move to make. At that moment, I knew everything I had fought for had been erased.

"Who... what am I...!!?"

"Now, now, take it easy. It's not like I'm going to eat you. You finally have a brain and a voice. Why don't you just listen for a second?" the man asked.

I was writhing, sobbing in a pit of absolute despair, and this thing in front of me was just smiling-a bright, empty, terrifyingly kind smile. The ghost leaned in and whispered a proposal.

"I've got a very generous offer for you. Something to help you protect those precious things of yours..."

It was completely one-sided. It was the irresistible whisper of a Demon.

And I? I could only reach out and grab the spider's thread, even knowing it was a trap.

* * *

"What 'goodwill'..." I muttered to myself.

I sneered at the memory-one burned into my very soul. A memory of me, yet not me. The memory of how 'I' became this. The shameful, disgusting start of my surrender.

Still, what a shitty way to go... I sighed inwardly. Without missing a beat, I spun around and let my spear-tip rip through a Shikichou

³ that had been shadowing me. I quickly covered my face with my sleeve to keep from inhaling the scales. Knowing who sent it, that dust was probably toxic as hell.

"Keep it moving...!" I told myself.

I bolted through the brush to shake the tail, using Hiding to kill my tracks. I kept glancing at the sky, waiting for the cover I needed.

Finally, the clouds rolled in, swallowing the moonlight. I ducked into a dark thicket and tried to get my breathing under control. I stayed still, listening to the wind, erasing my presence. Every sense was dialed to the max.

"...Ngh!!?"

I bit my lip to keep from screaming as the pain flared in my joints. Even with the meds, the protection, and the "blessings," moving this body felt like I was being dismantled. I swallowed the agony.

Why... why did it have to end up like this?!

I knew the answer. I'd prepared for this. But it still pissed me off. I was livid at the sheer unfairness of it all. I had so much rage and nowhere to put it-too many enemies to know who to hate first. It was a waste of energy.

Seriously, how did it come to this? All I wanted was...

"Tch!! Already!!?"

"Good evening," a voice said.

My disguise was useless. They'd seen through me instantly. I threw myself to the side a split second before the killing blow landed. I used a tree as a shield, the blade biting deep into the wood right where my neck had been. No holding back.

"It's all thanks to me♪"

I saw him out of the corner of my eye. A figure in black, swinging a spear with a horizontal sweep. His gear was way better than mine-real combat equipment, not this scrap I was wearing. It wasn't fair. But dammit...!!

"Make it a good match-"

"Gotcha!!" I yelled.

I lunged forward, my spear-tip diving for his heart. But then... a rope tangled around my weapon.

"Saved by the bell♪"

"What the hell is that!!?" I barked.

"Good boy, good boy-"

A rope, looking more like a living earthworm, had surged from 'my' chest and coiled around my spear. It constricted with a sickening force, killing my momentum. It even started to haul me upward.

"Give it everything you've got!"

"Kuh... agh...!!?"

The tug-of-war ended instantly. I was pulled off my feet, dragged toward 'me'-who was waiting with his own spear leveled.

"Let's share a little misfortune-"

"Don't you look down on me!!" I screamed.

"Tch!!?" 'I' grunted.

"I wonder what we'll get-"

I readied my arm. 'I' knew exactly what was coming and tried to bail.

"Hmm-"

"Too slow!!"

"Dammit!!?" 'I' yelled.

"Whoa-wa-wa!"

The explosives I'd hidden under my sleeves blew. Shrapnel and lead shot rained down on 'me' from point-blank range.

"Tomobe Face Shield!"

"That was a close one," a voice chirped.

* * *

"Nostalgic, isn't it? Rigging a gauntlet with custom gunpowder," Matsushige Botan said.

She was watching the gruesome display of self-mutilation from a safe distance. To the red-haired girl in her priestess robes, this was a trip down memory lane.

The gunpowder was a special blend made with the Onitsuki curse-tool master. It had an explosive force that made standard black powder look like a firecracker. Packing it with metal scraps was a simple but brutal tactic.

"Oh? Is that so? We didn't see anything like that in the gear we seized," Kaya asked.

The Juuyaku woman spoke with an innocent curiosity that made Botan's skin crawl. The Mantis-woman was way too into this.

"He hasn't used them lately," Botan replied coldly. She knew why.

The custom powder was a pain to manage, and rigging the gauntlets was a time-sink. Once you used it, it cost a fortune to replace. Plus, the risk of blowing your own hand off was high.

But more than that, he'd been leaning on youkai transformation lately. Ever since he found out he could use the Divine Spider's blood for a quick fix, he'd been abusing it. It trashed his body, but the power was too addictive to ignore.

"But... he's using those tricks now without the transformation," the other Kaya muttered.

"Yeah. That's what it means to be desperate. Shishimai-san, you hanging in there?" Botan asked.

"Ugh... how could I be okay with this...!!" Shishimai Asami groaned.

The woman was clutching her mouth, visibly sickened by the spectacle. To the shiki known as Shishimai, this fight between two versions of the same man was nothing but a stomach-turning atrocity.

"I get it," Botan said.

"And that person over there... nyaha. Looks like they've got an interesting internal structure too," Kaya noted.

Botan ignored the Mantis-woman's scientific curiosity. Kaya and Hana were different. They were the result of countless failed experiments-meat-slabs and deformities. To them, watching 'their brother' tear himself apart was just another Tuesday. Their empathy was broken by design.

"You guys are way too detached..." Shishimai muttered.

"It's not our problem. Why feel bad about it?" Kaya replied.

"Besides, you're the one who wanted to keep existing like this, right?" Hana added.

Shishimai went quiet. She didn't know if she was really 'alive' or just a recording playing back in a body, but it was better than the alternative. She was no longer a slave to that estate, at least.

"He's really making a mess of it," Shishimai noted, looking back at the muddy brawl. "Why not just gang up on him and end it?"

"Because he's a man who doesn't know how to live a simple life. If he were rational, he wouldn't be in this mess," Botan said.

It was the cold, hard truth. Sentimentality was the only thing keeping this quagmire going.

Did you really think I'd hesitate? Botan thought.

If she were asked, she'd rip his limbs off in a heartbeat. She could beat him within an inch of his life without breaking a sweat. With her current strength, she could end this in seconds.

"What happens after?" Kaya asked.

"After?" Botan replied.

"Yeah! He won't die just from losing some limbs, right? You're planning on taking him alive?"

"..."

Botan went silent. She hadn't realized it until Kaya pointed it out. Why was she planning on taking him alive? Since when had she gotten so soft?

"Don't be stupid," Botan muttered, shaking the thought away.

The ugly fight in the mud showed no sign of stopping.

* * *

"Hakuya: Sky-Roaring Echo

⁴!!" Hotoya Tamaki shouted.

It was one of the heavy-hitters of the Ako style. The shockwave swallowed the area, the sound vibrating through the air like a physical weight. It was a technique designed to shatter youkai spirits by syncing with their own aura. Tamaki moved through the crowd of possessed statues like a blur, her Spirit Sword turning steel into clay.

She kicked through the temple doors in a mid-air spin.

"Drop your weapons! Surrender in the name of the Hyakuyain Family crest!!" she commanded.

But there was no one left to surrender. The temple was filled with husks-people dried out like mummies.

"What...?"

She snapped back to reality. A momentary lapse meant death. She felt a presence by the Homa altar

⁵.

"Behind you!!"

"Whoa, scary!" a voice replied.

She blocked the dagger without looking back, her blade catching the steel perfectly. The attacker jumped back. Tamaki finally turned.

"You... from the mountains...!!"

She recognized him from the Yamanba incident. The man who had killed her servant, Tokiwa. Her blood boiled.

"Don't give me that look. A pretty face like yours should smile more," the man joked.

"Shut up, you monster!!"

"Too bad... I'm an enemy of the state now!"

Tamaki didn't argue. She lunged, her speed enhanced by her spirit power. She sliced him clean in half. But the two halves just snapped back together like smoke.

"Tch!!"

"My line! That actually hurt!!" Kamui yelled.

Tamaki didn't stop. She used the momentum to circle behind him, throwing a hidden dagger into his skull.

"Merciless...!" "Wind-Cut!" "Gah!!"

She followed up with four wind strikes, aiming for the head. He was shredded, but he kept regenerating.

It's not a conscious healing. It's an automatic authority, she realized. She analyzed his movements with the cool head her masters had beaten into her.

She charged again, this time aiming for his arm. She knocked his dagger away and unleashed a whirlwind that sent him spinning into the darkest corner of the room.

Did that work?

She stayed on guard. Impact seemed to hurt him more than blades. He'd actually screamed that time.

Suddenly, a projectile flew from the darkness. She batted it aside.

"I knew it!"

The dagger she'd just knocked away was the exact same one she'd disarmed seconds ago.

"You're syncing with the shadows. That's how you're moving through the room," she stated.

"Not bad. You've got good eyes," Kamui said, stepping out of the dark with the same dagger in hand.

"Iruka told me about you. He said he wants to beat you to death," Tamaki said coldly. "Surrender now. I know the trick. You aren't invincible anymore."

"Think you can do it? A little girl like you?"

The answer was his arm falling to the floor. Tamaki had used 'Eye-Blind,' reflecting light off her blade to kill every shadow in the room for a split second. Without the shadows, his authority failed. He didn't regenerate.

"Surrender. Or I'll start with your head," she warned.

"Hah... hahaha..." Kamui laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"He's here," Kamui whispered.

The temple doors were kicked open. Kamojiya Misao and Inugoku Ikumi burst in.

"Did we miss the fun?" Misao asked.

"Is this the guy?" Ikumi added.

They surrounded the wounded Kamui. Misao pulled out a spirit-binding rope.

"One move and I take his head," Tamaki said.

They had him. Or so they thought.

"You're acting pretty bold for a bunch of girls," a deep, dry voice rumbled.

The light of the Homa altar dimmed as a massive shadow fell over them. Tamaki looked up and saw a figure nearly ten feet tall.

Then, the world exploded.

Tamaki was blown through the air by a force she couldn't even see. She only survived by reflexively using her sword to parry the shockwave.

"Wha... what...!!"

She was spinning through the air, her arms numb, her sword rattling. She looked back at the temple. The entrance had been reduced to splinters, the ground gouged out.

A silhouette emerged from the dust. It was a titan of steel-gray muscle, steam rising from its skin. And from its head grew a single, massive horn.

"A Demon...?"

It was a nightmare made flesh-the result of a forbidden ritual that turned a human into a god of slaughter.

---

Summary:

Protagonist survives a horrific, forced transformation induced by the 'Great Mother' and an enigmatic 'Master-dono.' In the aftermath, a battle ensues involving custom explosives and dopplegangers, monitored by Botan and others. Meanwhile, Tamaki's investigation of a temple leads to a confrontation with the regenerative Kamui, which is interrupted by the arrival of a massive, demonic titan.

---

Character Insight:

Protagonist is struggling with the loss of his humanity, using self-harming combat tactics out of desperation. Tamaki demonstrates analytical growth, successfully identifying and countering Kamui's shadow-based immortality.

---

Behind the Scenes:

The use of 'custom gunpowder' and 'Onitsuki curse-tools' hints at a deeper technological/magical black market within the world setting.

---

TL Notes:

1↵ Reiki: Spiritual energy or life force often used for healing or combat in supernatural contexts.

2↵ Aratamitama: The rough or violent side of a Shinto deity or soul, representing the power of destruction and chaos.

3↵ Shikichou: A paper-bird familiar used for surveillance or spreading toxic powders.

4↵ Hakuya Sky-Roaring Echo: A specific high-level technique of the Ako swordsmanship style utilizing sonic shockwaves.

5↵ Homa Altar: A sacred fire altar used in esoteric Buddhist rituals for purification and offerings.