Chapter 22: Infiltration of the Tsuchikurenai-ke Territory

After confirming that Soui Shuryakuma had charged in alone.

Just as Shiga Inui was also about to head for the Tsuchikurenai-ke, it happened.

People who had been walking nearby on the sidewalk turned their necks toward Shiga Inui and began walking toward him.

(What the…?)

Their eyes held no trace of consciousness.

An old man, a housewife holding a reusable grocery bag; they all walked toward Shiga Inui.

“Hey, what’s with you people? Are you being controlled?”

Apparently, the Tsuchikurenai-ke had configured their territory’s barrier to detect the Flow of any invading sorcerer and attack them using puppeted civilians from the vicinity.

Even in enemy territory, laying a hand on civilians was strictly policed by the Jutsushi Kyoukai.

No matter how much the Tsuchikurenai-ke had set this up as a trap, there was a chance he could be cornered based on the fact that he “laid a hand on them.”

“Man, if The Neutrals call out the Tsuchikurenai-ke for this, their reputation is gonna tank.”

Shiga Inui started walking, brushing aside the civilians who were closing in on him.

“That being said… I can’t exactly fight back… tch.”

Just as he thought about making a break for the Tsuchikurenai-ke estate.

He was crossing at a crosswalk. The pedestrian signal was green, and the traffic light was red, meaning cars had to stop.

And yet, ignoring the red light, a truck came barreling toward him.

“Huh? (A truck?)”

It was aiming for Shiga Inui.

And the civilians who had been attacking him suddenly stopped their assault and restrained him instead.

For a moment, Shiga Inui’s reaction was delayed.

Torn by the hesitation of whether or not to attack the civilians, the truck collided with him.

The truck continued, plowing straight into a building.

Shiga Inui was thrown into the shop amidst the building’s rubble.

Stunned, Shiga Inui looked up at the sky, spitting out the fragments of debris that had gotten into his mouth.

“Tch… Ahh, well, yeah. That’s how it is. I’m fighting sorcerers. They’d pull something like this.”

Shiga Inui brushed the dust from his head.

He took off his sunglasses, tucked them into the breast of his jinbei, and grinned so wide it bared his canine teeth.

“Taha!… Nice, Tsuchikurenai! You really know how to get me fired up, don’t you?!”

He stepped out of the store.

This time, an even larger crowd of civilians had gathered.

“Bring it on! Come on, I’ll take you all on without laying a hand on any of you!!”

He was true to his word.

A crowd of several dozen civilians was trying to attack Shiga Inui.

Some had balled their fists, others held rocks in their hands.

Construction workers from a nearby site came with sledgehammers and wooden beams.

Restaurant workers came with kitchen knives, forks, and picks.

A downpour of violence.

In response, Shiga Inui formed a seal with his fingers.

He extended only his index and middle fingers and focused his mind.

In an instant, a massive amount of Flow was released from his surroundings.

(Didn’t really wanna use this, but I guess I can’t be picky.)

A dome-shaped barrier made of Flow.

The civilians attacked, but they couldn’t harm Shiga Inui.

Walking on, Shiga Inui made his way to the Tsuchikurenai-ke estate that Soui Shuryakuma had told him about beforehand.

Shiga Inui arrived at the Tsuchikurenai-ke estate with the civilians in tow.

Along the way, the civilians stopped their pursuit of Shiga Inui and returned to their designated places.

Whether they were configured not to enter the Tsuchikurenai-ke’s immediate vicinity, or to return to their original positions after leaving a predetermined area, he didn’t know. But with this, there was no one left to attack him.

The Tsuchikurenai-ke’s gate was already destroyed.

He surmised that the person from the report must have been the one who brought it down.

Shiga Inui stepped onto the grounds of the Tsuchikurenai-ke mansion.

(Finally inside the Tsuchikurenai-ke estate.)

From the garden paved with polished stones, several people came walking.

“Hm?”

They were the enslaved sorcerers controlled by the Tsuchikurenai-ke.

Men and women, all of them had eyes as cloudy as a dead beast’s.

The moment Shiga Inui had stepped into their territory, they must have sensed that an intruder had arrived.

“Shi… ga… Inui…”

“Young master Soui also… infiltrated.”

“It’s impossible… to defeat the Tsuchikurenai-ke…”

The sorcerers were resigned to their fate.

Before the being known as Shiga Inui, they were mere dolls waiting to be killed.

Even so, they were under orders to kill any intruders, so they had to attack Shiga Inui without exception.

“…”

Shiga Inui looked at the sorcerers, whose fighting spirit had been worn away.

And he remembered them, the girls he had killed just a few days ago.

In the end, they had died as sorcerers, killed after reclaiming their dignity.

“…Every last one of them has a face full of misery…”

To be fated to die as mere slaves was just pathetic.

“That’s boring, isn’t it?… But.”

That is precisely why.

Shiga Inui showed them a consideration.

“The one standing before you is me, Shiga Inui.”

Slowly, he announced who he was.

It was information they already knew.

But that wasn’t it, that wasn’t all there was.

“Facing a sorcerer… you shouldn’t be making that face, should you?… So.”

No matter what kind of person they were.

Shiga Inui was a sorcerer, and if his opponents were not also sorcerers, it would be a mere slaughter.

To make them realize that, Shiga Inui delivered a formal challenge.

“Vassal to Mineki Shian of the Hiryuuin-ke, Shiga Inui.”

“This is a killing ground. Man or woman, if you stand against me, I will see you as a sorcerer.”

“If you want this head, then come at me with the pride of a sorcerer!!”

Both the men and women received those words, and their miserable, ravaged spirits began to recover.

The man before them was not scorning or looking down on them; he was treating these people, who had been treated as less than human slaves, as sorcerers.

“Oh…”

At Shiga Inui’s words, a voice escaped one of them.

“Ah, ahhh…”

Someone began to weep, feeling as if their soul had been saved.

“O-OOOOOOHHH!!!”

Someone roared, rejoicing at being able to fight as a sorcerer once more.

They were not slaves moving on command.

Now, by their own will, they would face Shiga Inui.

“Come on, I’m your opponent! Don’t you dare hold back!!”

He circulated his Flow.

Through his mastery of Flow manipulation, the strength of his body was at its peak.

The sorcerers, freed from slavery, confronted Shiga Inui.

Two of the sorcerers, using their Flow, rushed toward Shiga Inui.

They were not blessed with natural ability.

So they had trained their Flow relentlessly.

Because even if one couldn’t use sorcery, by developing one’s Flow characteristic, it could become a unique power surpassing sorcery itself.

(There’s a limit to simple Flow manipulation.)

Many who train their Flow learn their limits.

With Flow manipulation, there is a limit to physical enhancement.

It’s a matter of the body’s simple structure.

A constitution that easily overexerts the body when generating Flow.

Conversely, if one’s compatibility with Flow is good, there are no such limits, and one can train endlessly.

This sorcerer was untalented.

He couldn’t master sorcery well, and he quickly learned his limits in Flow manipulation.

Even so, he continued to strive and train to fight as a sorcerer.

If physical enhancement through Flow manipulation had its limits, then he would focus on his Flow characteristic.

The Suin Flow, with its property of mixing with and permeating liquids.

He channeled Flow into his own blood, forming a path for it to circulate.

With the Flow mixed into his blood, he stimulated his bloodstream, forcibly remaking his body to be compatible with Flow.

(That’s why I worked so hard! Everything I can do as a sorcerer! All to crush the genius before me with sheer effort!!)

The sorcerer’s resolve and determination.

With thrusts, entanglements, and grabs, he tried to bring Shiga Inui to the ground with pure skill.

(Thrust, entangle, grab… predict leg or arm from the hip movement, predict thrust, grab, entangle, or sweep from the shoulder movement, predict thrust or grab from the finger movement.)

Shiga Inui calmly dealt with the barrage of attacks unleashed at high speed.

A sweep against a thrust, an entanglement against a grab, and if the opponent predicted his thrust and moved, he would switch to a kick.

Acting faster than his opponent’s movements, the Suin sorcerer was unilaterally battered by a fierce onslaught.

“Gah, hah… Hah!”

The Suin sorcerer, having been punched in the face repeatedly, felt his consciousness fading.

As he was about to collapse to his knees, he remembered the training he had built up until now.

(Was it all useless? My fifteen years, never resting for a single day, recklessly, single-mindedly pushing forward just to get stronger… My everything…)

An overwhelming difference in power.

He would die facing the sheer absurdity that was Shiga Inui, embracing despair.

But… at the last moment, he regained his senses.

(But… so what?! Am I going to break here?! I’ll die with my fists clenched to the very end!! Even if it’s meaningless, this is everything I am!!)

He raised his face.

He poured Flow into his bloodstream, pushing himself to his absolute limit even as his blood vessels burst.

This all-or-nothing strike, Shiga Inui dodged.

(Dodge…! If this fist had landed… would it have dealt you a fatal blow? If so, then for this one instant, just let that be my win!)

As Shiga Inui clenched his fist, he slammed it into the Suin sorcerer’s head while releasing his Flow.

The man’s face was destroyed, his skull cracking as a spray of blood erupted.

After the one-hit kill, Shiga Inui grit his teeth.

(Acting like you won at the very end… You got to die thinking you won, you bastard?!)

He gave his hand a light flick to shake off the blood.

As if aiming for that opening, the other sorcerers closed in.

“Hah!”

One swung his fist with all his might.

Shiga Inui parried the punch with one hand and plunged his other into the man’s neck.

His fingers sank deep.

They broke the skin, tore the flesh, and grasped the bone.

“Guh-agh!”

The man’s face twisted in agony.

With his Flow-enhanced arm, Shiga Inui lifted the sorcerer with all his strength.

“Like I’d let you!”

Another sorcerer, likely thinking he was about to deliver the final blow, rushed toward Shiga Inui.

“Here you go!”

Shiga Inui threw the sorcerer he was holding at the one charging toward him.

“Guah!!”

“Gahak!”

The sorcerer with the neck injury, after colliding with the other, clutched his throat and slowly closed his eyes.

He vomited a large amount of blood and died of asphyxiation.

(This opening!!)

(We won’t miss it!!)

Two female sorcerers, with identical faces and builds, stepped forward.

They added sorcery to the Flow rushing like a storm in their palms, and a wind whipped up.

The wind, gathering the surrounding sand and dust, compressed its pressure and moved the grit in a sharp trajectory, like the blade of a chainsaw.

(Wind Flow Art, ‘Whirlwind Weasel’!!)

The fine grains of sand could likely shred an opponent’s flesh.

(Behind him!)

The other twin sorcerer circled around to Shiga Inui’s back.

(Current Flow Art, ‘Numbing Catfish’!!)

She added sorcery to her Flow, generating electricity upon contact with a target.

“Tch.”

Though the current was weak, it had the effect of scrambling the target’s electrical signals, causing a few seconds of physical paralysis.

The sorcerer, convinced this technique had stopped Shiga Inui’s movements, met her twin’s gaze.

“We got him!!”

She moved to decapitate Shiga Inui with the wind chainsaw.

“No, you don’t.”

But Shiga Inui’s smile never faded.

He took a defensive stance with the Flow emitting from his body.

Her wind chainsaw could also shred a target’s Flow.

The Flow burst and scattered into the surroundings.

It rang out with a loud clang, like sparks flying from steel grinding on steel.

(S-So hard! Why, how is he so—!!)

Even so, it couldn’t reach Shiga Inui’s body.

His Flow was powerful and well-trained.

Because of this, Shiga Inui was left without a single scratch.

“Get ready to die!!”

The twin sorcerers felt the shift in Shiga Inui’s Flow.

“This is bad—”

“Tch!”

Their instincts screamed that it was dangerous to stay near him.

They tried to escape at once, but.

Shiga Inui’s hand grabbed her wrist.

As if the chainsaw made of wind was nothing at all.

Shiga Inui yanked her violently toward him.

He then unleashed a massive amount of Flow, and she was swallowed by it.

Shiga Inui’s Flow erupted, engulfing those around him.

Most of the sorcerers gasped for breath.

(Flow, Kain!)

(Not just that! It’s boiling… from the inside of our bodies!!)

Hearing the sound of water bursting from flesh, their bodies were burned to cinders.

“Ka, ah.”

(Ah… ahh…)

(Todoroki-sama…!)

The younger twin thought of her husband.

“I-ah.”

(I’m coming… to you… now.)

The older twin also thought of the same man.

A memory of the three of them walking together down a road lined with cherry blossoms.

Thinking of the happy times etched into their hearts.

The twin sorcerers drew their last breaths.

“Next!”

The sorcerers were dying gruesome deaths.

Still, without rest, they targeted Shiga Inui and closed in.

A sorcerer held up his hand.

A sorcerer with Nichin Flow.

The Flow, which possessed the property of light emission, couldn’t increase its heat source just by being released, much like shining a flashlight.

From there, it had to be converged, the Flow focused to amplify its heat and light to form a laser.

(Converging the Flow will produce maximum firepower in about five seconds. Until then, I have to somehow—)

However, Shiga Inui, who sensed the Nichin Flow being aimed at him, pinpointed which sorcerer was targeting him from the angle of the light.

“There you are.”

(He noticed? But by the time he gets over here, my convergence will be complete!)

The Nichin sorcerer thought Shiga Inui’s only options were to dodge or defend.

However, Shiga Inui did the unthinkable; he twisted his waist on the spot and clenched both fists.

On one hand, he extended his index and middle fingers, concentrating Flow at his fingertips.

(Tch, don’t tell me… Nichin?!)

(But if it’s a quick draw, I have the advantage!)

The Nichin sorcerer’s prediction was wildly off.

Shiga Inui unleashed the Flow gathered between his index and middle fingers with immense output.

A stream of incandescent light from converged Flow.

(His convergence charge… is fast!)

The Nichin sorcerer cut off his beam.

A nearby Do’in sorcerer, sensing Shiga Inui’s attack, took a defensive stance.

He concentrated Flow to his head and arms to defend.

This sorcerer, who possessed Do’in Flow, could mitigate the energy of the Flow with the ‘Buffer’ characteristic, but.

(It pierced… through?!)

Shiga Inui’s stream of Flow was so high-powered it surpassed the very nature of the defense.

It pierced the Flow barrier, bored through the sorcerer’s body, and then tore a hole in the sorcerer standing behind him.

“Ga-ahhh!!”

The Nichin sorcerer had avoided a fatal blow, but the beam had penetrated his Flow-hardened body.

He clutched the hole in his side, biting his lip as he glared at his enemy.

(That wasn’t just Nichin! It was a Nichin stream, forged by the Kin’in characteristic ‘Forging,’ and its power was doubled by ‘Amplification’!)

The being known as Shiga Inui.

Until now, he had seen many Flow characteristics.

If he were a dual-type, the versatility of his Flow would be explainable.

But using two or more Flow characteristics was something an ordinary sorcerer could never achieve.

(This is the prodigy… this is the monster… this is Shiga Inui!)

Covered in wounds.

The sorcerers who were barely alive narrowed their eyes.

Shiga Inui wielded a variety of Flow characteristics, and he had trampled them without even using a single sorcery.

(As a sorcerer, he’s so absurd, so chaotic, so unconventional… and yet.)

And yet, strangely, he didn’t feel angry.

Shiga Inui was a lump of pure talent.

To think that this man would be his final opponent.

It made him feel that he had fought and fulfilled his duty as a sorcerer.

A certain kind of respect and admiration.

He was a being worthy of praise.

(Against this man… you could even say it can’t be helped. With this man… I’m certain he can destroy the Tsuchikurenai-ke.)

The sorcerers around him were all dead.

He too would die now.

Before that happened, the sorcerer endured the pain and stood up.

“Shiga Inui!!”

He called his name.

As if in reply, Shiga Inui spoke.

“Huh?”

It was a gruff response.

Still, he didn’t even find it unpleasant.

This was Shiga Inui’s way of showing respect.

His eyes fixed on his form, the sorcerer said.

“…We are able to die as sorcerers. We have reclaimed that pride.”

They were supposed to have ended as slaves.

They were supposed to have been killed as puppets.

But.

The reason they could die as sorcerers.

It was because Shiga Inui had given them back their dignity.

So much so that one could say that not a single one of them resented Shiga Inui.

“The only tragedy… is that we will not see the fall of the Tsuchikurenai-ke… But you…”

I will die.

I know nothing of what comes next.

But one thing is certain.

“You will surely destroy them, won’t you?”

That Shiga Inui will destroy the Tsuchikurenai-ke.

To the sorcerer’s question, Shiga Inui snorted.

“That’s a stupid question, old man.”

Don’t state the obvious.

Deliberately, Shiga Inui did not answer.

“For the answer, go ask the guys who are about to die.”

Slowly, Shiga Inui approached.

To finish off the last remaining former slave.

The man smiled faintly.

Because his words were synonymous with an answer.

“Hah… I’m looking forward to it. …Thank you, Shiga Inui.”

And then.

The sorcerers who had been made slaves were nowhere to be found.

“…Was it a good death?”

Shiga Inui asked the corpse, but it did not answer.

He walked through the pools of blood and entered the Tsuchikurenai-ke mansion.

Looking around, Shiga Inui thought something was strange.

(The hallway is covered in blood. Did that bastard Shuryakuma do this?)

He walked down the corridor, thinking such thoughts.

Gradually, the corpses of sorcerers were strewn about.

Most of the bodies were hacked to pieces, many of them sliced in two.

Wondering if Soui Shuryakuma had done this, Shiga Inui continued walking down the path of corpses.

And then, he arrived at a large hall.

The doors leading to the veranda were slashed open, revealing the scenery outside.

In the center of the hall, a mountain had been built.

A mountain of bodies.

Unlike the other sorcerers, they were lightly dressed, in no way prepared for battle; from this, he could surmise they were retainers of the Tsuchikurenai-ke.

Sitting atop them, a figure was breathing heavily.

“…Who the hell are you?”

The figure reacted to his words and slowly stood up.

He gripped a scabbard in his hand, and with his other, he gripped the hilt, then turned around.

It was a man whose body was covered in stitches and patchwork.

“Shiga Inui… right? You here to destroy the Tsuchikurenai-ke, too?”

It was Karizome Tenhyo.