Eternal Saṃsāra: The Wanderer of Worlds

[11] The Creep and His Pet

Chapter 11: The Creep and His Pet

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"Still, to think Shiranui Frill was… that. You think being one of 'that' gives her advantages in acting?"

Ruby, Tsubasa, and I were walking the streets towards the train station, and my little sister was still stuck on the situation from lunch break. 

Shiranui Frill being a Yokai was apparently very surprising to her, and now she was doubtful if her acting was all talent or not. It could actually be magical, honestly.

Still, I took the chance to jab at her ribs with a finger. "I can't be sure. I'm unaware of what sort of abilities she has. But wow, did you refer to her as ‘that’? Are you being racist?”

“Ouch, I am not being racist! You’re accusing me.”

"Hey, just what are you two talking about? Include me in!"

Tsubasa had enough of our weird rant as she demanded aloud. I stopped walking, and that made the two girls pause too. Tsubasa looked a little nervous suddenly when I turned to her, worried that I got mad.

However, I only paused now because I was at my destination. Today, my destination and theirs were different. It was a crossroad and I pointed at the part at the far end of one of the roads.

"I'll be heading there, Ruby. I have some work there. Take Tsubasa back home, and tell mom that I am helping a deaf girl reach her home, that'll make her not complain."

"Huh? Why should I lie? Take me with you and then I will."

"Shut up and head home, it can be dangerous where I am going. Weakling."

Ruby clicked her tongue and was about to argue again, but when she met my serious gaze, she grumbled and pulled the confused Tsubasa away. I watched them leave, their backs vanishing on the horizon, and only then did I start walking my path.

It was a road of raw soil, with thick trees on either side. I kept my Copper Sight and Jade Perception activated on high alert. I had to be careful since I wasn’t sure what the cause of the incident really was, it could just be a magic rock or a living being.

It could be a friendly but naughty Yokai that isn’t supposed to harm anybody and was just having fun scaring them, or it can be a dangerous Phantom too. 

Yokais existed in this world, I knew that from my knowledge of DxD anime, and also from meeting Shiranui Frill. However, the concept of Yokai was a bit different than the one that the public knows of.

If you search Wikipedia, it will tell you that Yōkais are Japanese spirits or East Asian ghosts, like the Hanako-san legend or even the story of the "Slit-mouthed girl", both of which hail from Japanese legend. However, in this reality, those dead spirits aren’t considered Yokai.

Yokai in this world were a race of their own, they’re alive, and they were a “Spirit” from birth. In opposition to the slit-mouthed girl, for example, who’s a dead woman turned spirit. Due to their differences, I’ve decided to call people like her "Phantoms". Not all phantoms were evil, but most of the time they were like that.

Ghosts here couldn't be considered Yokai, they were Phantoms. However, Phantoms were more than that. They can be monsters, beasts, though one thing that’s a must was that, they're always dead. If they aren't dead, then they must be the manifestation of dark emotions from people. They bear a deathly aura around themselves.

I wonder what this lightning phenomenon was caused by. Was it a Phantom, a Yokai, a Stray Devil maybe? It could also just be an artifact, or maybe a magical beast.

I don't have any preferences, but I hope whatever it is, it's strong enough to act as nutrients for my growth. It'd be lame if I finally found a proper lightning source, for it to be insufficient.

*  * *

The evening sun was setting, and the lights of modernity filled every corner of the city. Every corner other than Kuoh Park, where the public lights were flickering in and out of existence. 

There was a disturbing feeling in the air, and it worked to make everyone walk fast to leave the park behind them. By the time the sun set, there was nobody left in the park. No human wanted to be there because their life essence felt disturbed and demanded they leave for safety.

Unless they were really depressed, where their life essence would be overwhelmed by an aura of depression, they wouldn't notice anything wrong. In fact, they might find this unsettling silence calming, until their soon-to-come demise from the beast that caused this.

Unfortunately, there was one such human in the park today. Her short pinkish-red hair was flailed downwards, she sat on a bench and stared down at her thighs. 

"Tonight feels nice, the air is cool…"

Arima Kana muttered softly, sighing and raising her head to look at the sky. Only the stars and moon illuminated the area today, Kana had no idea it would be this peaceful away from the electric lights.

"...Maybe I should go mountain hiking, or maybe camping. Alone. It would be kinda dangerous though."

To Kana right now, that didn't seem like an issue. She just hated to be in the spotlight these days. The era of the internet was too harsh to people like her, it's hard to endure even though she was used to it.

"Actually, should I quit?"

She hesitated to make a decision. Soon, despite the thick negative essence in the air, her answer was a firm no.

"...No, I don't want to quit yet. A bit more."

Kana decided to stand up. Suddenly, as she reaffirmed her decision to stay, this place felt weird. It felt… wrong. What was it, she couldn't point out, but it felt odd.

"I should leave. It's been a few hours since school ended… not that there is anybody back at home to worry if I'm late." Kana said and quickly shook her head, slapping her cheeks. "Ugh! I sound so depressed, I am being dramatic. This isn't the first time one of my shows failed. I should get going."

Kana decided and began to walk away. She took a step toward the direction of the exit and then another. Only on her fourth step did she realize something odd.

She wasn't closing any distance with her steps. She froze and looked around to realize she was still in the same spot where she started.

"W-what?"

Was this a dream? She had experienced such a thing in dreams before. But she felt too awake, her mind was clear.

"How sad, I was going to play with your mind a bit more. But you turned out to be stronger than I expected."

Kana flinched when she felt breath falling on her neck, coming along with a smooth old voice.

Turning back, she found an old man with grayed-out hair on the side of his head, and brown in the middle. He had pointy ears, and he wore a creepy grin. The weirdest part about him, however, was the blackbird sitting on his shoulders. It had four wings, and electricity flickered around it.

'This doesn't feel right.' 

Kana gulped and tried to take a step back, and to her relief, she could take a step back. She tried to run away right away, but then she couldn't increase any distance again. 

Kana paled while the stranger's grin widened.

"Hah! That look of hope that vanished just now is pure ecstasy. Ahh, do that again, make that dreaded expression again!" The creepy middle-aged man, or whatever he was, began to laugh as Kana shuddered.

What was going on? A nightmare would be acceptable, but this felt too real. Was she going to die today? She heard the rumors of this park recently, but not enough to pay any heed to them. Did she make a mistake?

The man walked over to her. He reached out a hand, and she noticed his black nails were long and pointy. She shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut when his cold fingers ran across her cheek.

"Huhuhu, look at you shaking… so pleasant." He leaned over to smell her hair, and she tried to hit him with her fist, but he caught it midair. He grinned at her. "Man, this is fun. I came here just to kill the two obnoxious devil princesses as a 'Fuck You!' to the two Satans before I'm inevitably hunted down for killing my King, but this is nice. Maybe I can spare a night before I move with that mission."

What this mentally ill man will spare the night with was pretty clear, as he grabbed her neck with his hand and gently caressed it, while staring at her shaky eyes with his hungry ones.

In one last desperate attempt, Arima Kana gathered all her energy into her throat and yelled. “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!”

The devil-like man didn’t stop her from yelling, he just grinned down at her more and watched her yell. He found it amusing, and that filled her with dread. Even if someone did come to help, would they be able to do anything against this supernatural being?

“Oi, stop yelling.”

Yet, someone did come. Kana’s voice froze in recognition, as she looked over the shoulder of the devil to see who just talked. With blonde hair raining down his shoulders, and bright blue eyes shimmering like stars, Aqua stood a few meters behind the devil in his school uniform.

“Hoh? What is this, someone actually came?" The devil let go of her throat by pushing her towards the bench, where she fell on her butt and was frozen, unable to move. “Odd how I couldn’t sense him, however. Huhuhu, you’re special.”

“A-aqua! Run, this is dangerous! He-”

“You’re safe, Arima Kana. Stay put.”

* * *

After shutting down the little girl, I gave the knock-off vampire-looking Devil an amused look. I couldn’t help but smile, what a stroke of luck.

This situation was bigger than I expected, I was hoping to meet only one supernatural, but there were actually two. The bird on his shoulder seemed to be his pet, yet it was stronger than him; the devil himself focused on mind magic, I think, while the bird's only there to deal heavy hits.

A black ThunderBird. Black Lightning was powerful, killing it will be hard, but fruitful too. As for the devil, he doesn’t appear to actually have been a Vampire before reincarnated as a Devil, his appearance just looks like it. There was nothing really special about him other than that, it’s a thing to wonder how he managed to kill his King, as he claimed. He was a stray, so killing him myself shouldn’t cause any political trouble.

All that thinking blitzed through my head in a second, and by the time the devil spoke for the second time, I had already finished planning the entire fight.

“Oh, look at you. So brave and young. Hah! You have no idea what sort of situation this is.” The Devil was proud for some reason as he yelled that, I gave him a blank stare.

“Not surprised that devils are pedophiles, but still, you’re looking at me with the same eyes even though I am a guy. Homosexuality is a sin, indeed.”

“…What would you know, you brat?” the old man growled, angry at his fetishes being displayed.

My expression was gentle like the tranquil sea as I smiled. “What more is there to know? You were all touchy with her earlier, but you haven’t approached me yet. You are scared. Is that what you’re trying to say? Not only are you gay and a pedophile, but you’re also a weakling loser, scared of anyone with a bit of magic inside them. No matter, forget it. I am going to finish you now.”

Of course, he wasn’t expecting a sudden change in attitude. I didn’t like how he looked, so I decided to finish him quickly.

The old man probably didn’t expect me to attack right after I said I would, because he tried to say something. He paused when my straightened palm which was coated in crackling lightning was inches away from his face.

My nails were glowing blue imbued by the lightning, and my entire hand was hundreds of degrees hot; I blitzed from my spot and right in front of him, with my hand going right to his nose. It was supposed to push through his nose and into his skull, but seldom do things go that smoothly. The bird moved from his shoulder fast enough to clash with my hand with its beak, too gleamed with black lightning.

In a pure lightning clash, I would lose to that black lightning in my current rank. However, lightning wasn’t my only power. I made a slimy movement with my hand so that it just moved from the clash point, and grabbed the bird’s neck. The four-winged bird gagged, but I wasn’t planning to end it yet, I couldn’t. If I tried going for a killing blow now, the devil would attack my opening.

So, I used one of the three currently available techniques from my Path. These three techniques each use Lightning, Water, and Wind Qi respectively. While the basic Lightning technique was for pure destruction—the technique I killed that shut-in with—the Water technique allows defense, and the Wind technique allows movement.

The [Water Bubble Technique] would act as a defense if I wished, but also as the name suggests, it’d act as a binding technique if I wished too. So I cast it on the bird, immediately wrapping it in a circular prison of water, and threw it far in the distance. It’ll be able to break free and come back soon, but not soon enough to save its master.

“Y-you! What do you think you’re doing?!”

The devil yelled in shock and desperation, his hand reached out with a bolt of mana on its fingertips to blow my skull off, but I shoved it away with my left hand and attacked again with my right.

Then, I used the [Wrath of the Roaring Sky] to simply shove my hand through the gap between his eyes. I didn’t apply it in a form that’d pulverize his entire body since I wanted to loot his items, but instead had it coated on my palm that shoved through his brain like a hot knife cutting butter.

“Auckgh…” With a weird groan, the foolish devil lost his life and fell on his back.

Immediately, I heard a screech come from Kana, but by the time I looked at her, she was already unconscious. Huh, the scene of seeing a murder was too much for her little heart.

“Kreaaach!”

I heard another screech, but it was from a bird. The black thunderbird rushed towards me with an angry scowl, with lightning crackling around its four wings. It appeared pissed, angry enough that it would tear my head with its beak. Its body size increased as it flew, and surely its beak was now big enough to actually do just that.

The massive bird flapped its wings a few dozen meters above me and then waved its wings down to shower lightning at me. I ran from the spot to keep Arima Kana away from the lightning’s trajectory, and the bird was too enraged, or dumb, to not take her hostage. It followed me with its lightning, and I ran while dodging.

Then, I kicked the ground when I found a big stone and used [Whirlwind Blink], my Wind technique. This technique utilized the Wind Qi to perform rapid movements, but at the same time, it allows me to execute short-range teleportations by momentarily merging with the wind.

One moment I was on the ground, and in the other, I was above the bird. Before the bird could even realize what was going on, I took out a utility knife from my school bag at a rapid speed. I let go of my bag and it fell, but before it could touch the ground, I was done with the bird.

The superheated blade extended in a light of burning Qi. The Blade Qi cut through the bird's wings and neck in countless slashes, and it fell to the ground first before the bag.

The bird would have been mostly immune to my lightning attack, but it wasn't the case when it was attacked with a hot Blade Qi.

"Krea…"

The bird moaned on the ground as I landed gently on top of it. I looked at its sad eyes but didn't feel any pity, it chose the wrong master, and now it was paying for its sin.

"Better luck next time."

I shoved the Blade Qi deep into its eyes, penetrating into its brain as its cries died out.

The battle ended in under two minutes, and I stood victorious on top of the dead bird's corpse.

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