Chapter 26: The Main Act Without Opening—Part One

His arrival changed the atmosphere completely. Everyone’s eyes were glued to Shiga Inui.

“Shiga Inui!”

Tsuchikurenai Bakuou’s voice rang out in surprise. The overwhelming presence made him instinctively retreat from Soui Shuryakuma. However, Soui Shuryakuma didn’t stand up, remaining hunched over with his face toward the ground.

“…Why did I… what the hell did I even come here for…?”

He clenched his fists, pounding the ground over and over. Watching him, Shiga Inui called out from behind.

“Shuryakuma… even I feel sympathy for you.”

Soui Shuryakuma slowly lifted his face. He didn’t need hollow sympathy, nor did he want to be pitied.

“What are you—”

He started to say when Shiga Inui looked at him with an extremely sorrowful expression. Then he gently patted his shoulder.

“No, seriously… I’ll go easy on you.”

Soui Shuryakuma must have looked truly pitiful. Naturally, being told such a thing nearly brought him to tears.

Watching the two of them, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei narrowed his eyes.

“Shiga Inui… and…”

He had expected Shiga Inui to make it this far to some degree. However, he thought it would be after escaping, unable to navigate the mansion’s layout. Nearby stood a Tsuchikurenai family retainer in a daze. Meeting his gaze, the man stood at attention and raised his voice.

“M-my apologies. I was forced to reveal the location…”

The Tsuchikurenai family retainer said this with a strained expression. However, Shiga Inui denied his words.

“Don’t lie. We made a deal, didn’t we? I’d spare you if you told me where they were.”

Told the truth, the Tsuchikurenai family retainer trembled.

“N-no! This is, well…!”

It was betrayal. Unable to tolerate being betrayed, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei looked at the man with cold eyes.

“…When this is over, I’ll treat you as a slave too.”

At that declaration, the Tsuchikurenai family retainer felt terror imagining his future as a slave.

“Eek! Sh-Shiga Inui, you came here to defeat that man, didn’t you?! I-I gave you the location, so in return, you’ll spare my life, right?!”

To escape this situation, he had no choice but to rely on Shiga Inui, but approaching carelessly was his mistake.

“Huh? Yeah… like I’d keep that promise.”

Grasping the Tsuchikurenai family retainer’s head, he generated flow power. Multiple sensations like needles piercing his face.

“Ah, gah… aaah…!”

The sensation of being drained from the inside. In less than ten seconds, the Tsuchikurenai family retainer had his nutrients absorbed, dying from exhaustion and malnutrition-induced starvation. Witnessing this, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei paid attention to the Flow Power attribute Shiga Inui displayed.

His body’s withering… is that the Mokuin Flow Power attribute? He’s absorbing energy like that and converting it to power.

This was his first time confirming the Flow Power attribute. Therefore, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei mistakenly believed Shiga Inui’s Flow Power attribute was Mokuin. Shiga Inui’s flow power emission was of high quality.

“I thought you only had spacetime sorcerous principles… but you can pull off tricks like that too.”

At the sarcastic words, Shiga Inui laughed while pointing his index finger at his own head.

“Guess the problem was your lack of brains for thinking I only had spacetime sorcerous principles.”

At that retort, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei’s temple twitched with a vein.

“Big words… but you don’t think I came without countermeasures, do you?”

Words suggesting he had countermeasures for Shiga Inui’s sorcerous principles. However, Shiga Inui spoke as if reading his thoughts.

“Let me guess—activating sorcerous principles requires channeling flow power, so if you read the flow power’s movements, it’s not that scary, right?”

Using sorcerous principles always generates flow power. From the emission state of the Flow Power attribute, the range is limited, so Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei thought paying attention to the emission state would suffice, but he’d been seen through.

“…”

Bull’s-eye. He closed his mouth. Seeing this, Shiga Inui laughed cheerfully.

“Ha! Seriously a hit? Listen… there’s no way a sorcerer doesn’t know their own sorcerous principles’ weaknesses. Use your head… oh, my bad.”

He repeatedly tapped his own temple with his index finger.

“Can’t think without brains, can you?”

Those words wounded Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei’s pride. However, attacking out of anger was different.

“I’ll prepare a bit. Until then, you two, stall him.”

Saying this, he left things to Tsuchikurenai Bakuou and Soui Hinari.

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

“Haah… ah…”

Naturally they objected. But Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei sent them a command.

“That’s an order. Hinari, Bakuou—you two will deal with him.”

Within this domain, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei held the highest authority. They couldn’t disobey that order.

“Ah… mm, hah…!”

“Tch… remember this later, Hyakurei!”

And so they came toward Shiga Inui and Soui Shuryakuma lying on the ground. Shiga Inui spoke to Soui Shuryakuma.

“Hey, how long you gonna lie there?”

“…”

Forcibly, Shiga Inui grabbed his neck and made him stand. Then he told Soui Shuryakuma to chase Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei.

“Sorry, but I’m not chasing that bastard. Capturing your mother without killing her is too much trouble.”

Killing would be simple. However, capturing without killing was extremely difficult. In that time, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei might escape. To prevent that, he asked Soui Shuryakuma to stall, but…

“…I don’t know that person anymore…”

He had already lost his reason to fight. He’d fought for his mother’s sake, but it didn’t matter anymore. To him, now dispirited, Shiga Inui delivered a kick.

“Hey, you’re a sorcerer, aren’t you? …I’m not telling you to act as a human—fulfill your duty as a sorcerer.”

“As a sorcerer…”

At those words, Soui Shuryakuma ground his teeth. He remembered what he must accomplish as a sorcerer.

“That’s right. Leave the small fry and your mother to me. If you don’t, someone coming later will take the credit.”

Karizome Tenhyo would arrive here eventually. Then he might take the credit. Soui Shuryakuma rewrote the commands using his demon mask sorcerous principles. Then he pleaded with Shiga Inui.

“…Mom, don’t kill Mom, no matter what.”

No matter how despicable a person, she was still the most beloved person he couldn’t abandon.

“No matter what kind of person she is… she’s still my blood relative.”

“Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

This time it wasn’t a careless response. Soui Shuryakuma started running. Tsuchikurenai Bakuou and Soui Hinari didn’t pursue. Their opponent in battle was Shiga Inui alone.

“You bastard… did you just call me small fry?”

And Tsuchikurenai Bakuou resented the words Shiga Inui had just uttered.

“Huh? Did I hurt your feelings by telling the truth? My bad for calling small fry small fry.”

Provokingly, Shiga Inui said this to him. Tsuchikurenai Bakuou had trained flow power manipulation since childhood, and his body had grown to a massive physique far exceeding ordinary people.

“Say that one more time, come on!”

Puppet Sorcerous Principles: Gou. Manipulating his own body, he released the limits normally controlled by the flesh. He could wield enough strength to destroy rocks with his fists and turn them to gravel in less than twenty seconds. Furthermore, born from the Itoin used by puppet sorcerous principles users and the Meiin given by sorcerers of other families, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou possessed an extremely rare Shichiyou Ryuin called Suji’in, allowing him to wear flow power like muscle fibers. This granted him the ability to exercise overwhelming violence—even average sorcerers couldn’t completely defend against Tsuchikurenai Bakuou’s strikes.

He approached. His enlarged body’s defensive form from Suji’in, through which no attack could penetrate, was both offensive and defensive armor.

He anticipated that Shiga Inui’s sorcerous principles were spacetime sorcerous principles. Attacks from high-speed movement wouldn’t deal significant damage to his steel body. Forming cosmic space and body boiling in vacuum—he’d heard this also required a few seconds to charge. If the opponent activated it, he’d just dodge, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou thought. No matter how much he stopped time across entire spaces, attacks shouldn’t penetrate this body.

Then… Shiga Inui’s attacks would certainly be powerless. Furthermore, his strength could definitely beat someone to death with a direct hit. Even if the opponent fled with high-speed movement, it wasn’t a problem. As a Dengou-rank sorcerer, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou possessed barrier techniques to confine targets.

It would be a long battle, but he was confident he could corner his opponent. When he approached and tried to attack, Shiga Inui caught the giant fist made of pseudo-muscle fibers with his own body strengthened through flow power manipulation. With one arm, no less.

“What?!”

For a moment, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou thought he’d collided with a building. His core was that strong, impossible to push back even with monstrous strength.

“…D-don’t fuck with me! You bastard!”

Tsuchikurenai Bakuou covered the words that flashed through his mind with angry shouts. Twenty years of time—a body strengthened to the limit through flow power manipulation. And yet Shiga Inui possessed perfected power that mocked his training. Flow power manipulation. Circulating it through the body stimulates muscles, creating a physique suited to flow power. Having spent twenty years finally reaching a domain where he could glimpse the essence of flow power manipulation, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou could discern a person’s skill just by clashing fists.

What panicked him was that Shiga Inui was a newcomer who became a sorcerer just months ago. Yet despite twenty years gaining the Tsuchikurenai family’s best flow power manipulation ability, Shiga Inui easily surpassed it.

“I called you small fry, but… that’s an insult to small fry.”

Shiga Inui was the superhuman possessing ultimate martial prowess. Unable to accept this fact, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou raised his fist again. Attempting recklessly to attack again to deny the facts, he faced Shiga Inui who looked extremely bored as he clenched his fist.

“You’re not even fit to be an opening act.”

He punched through his invincible armor with his fist. The impact coursed through his entire body, and Tsuchikurenai Bakuou was sent flying as if caught in an explosion.

“Gbuegh!”

He collided with a building. His flow power dispersed, and unable to completely neutralize the impact, Tsuchikurenai Bakuou collapsed, bleeding from his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. Shiga Inui lightly rotated his arm, thinking he wasn’t in top condition as he looked at her.

“Soui… what was it? Her first name.”

Shiga Inui said while looking at her face. She walked as if tormented by fever, drawing a long sword taller than herself and taking a stance.

“Haah… hah… mm…”

Writhing, she released flow power. Seemingly ready for combat, Shiga Inui also generated flow power.

“Your body looks hot. When this is done, keep me company.”

Saying this to her as she writhed in heat, Shiga Inui clenched his fist.

She swung the long sword. A blade infused with flow power. Shiga Inui visually tracked the attack. The moment he moved to evade, pale blue light overflowed from the blade’s tip.

Homura’in.

Realizing it was the Shichiyou Ryuin ‘Homura’in,’ Shiga Inui immediately kicked off the ground to escape the slash’s trajectory. As a result of acting and evading immediately, pale blue flames erupted where he’d been. Pale blue fire running across the ground. Shaped like a blade, it closed in on Shiga Inui.

Not demon fire sorcerous principles—this power from simple flow power emission…

Shiga Inui smiled. A threatening existence. His battle with her differed from other sorcerers. Indeed, she lived up to what Soui Shuryakuma said.

But what’s this slash? Does she have two Flow Power attributes? No, if so Shuryakuma would’ve mentioned it first. Then… can she turn flow power into flying slashes only with that weapon?

Itoshimari Tsuneyoshi’s beloved sword, the ‘Kakakiri Tachi.’ Weapons and tools used devotedly for years absorb the sorcerer’s flow power. The weapon’s structure itself becomes an organ defining the flow attribute’s characteristics, and channeling flow power into the weapon can generate the previous owner’s flow power. Itoshimari Tsuneyoshi’s Flow Power attribute was ‘Zan’in.’ After flow power emission, blades released from the sword body became flying slashes.

Interesting.

Identifying her as strong, Shiga Inui closed in. A long weapon compensating for distance.

“…Ah!”

She moaned. Her face was red. Yet her eyes held a sorcerer’s color. Soui Hinari took her sword stance again. There Shiga Inui felt a sense of crisis. She swung the sword toward him. Evade that attack and enter her guard. Then attack and neutralize her. He visualized and executed that process in his mind. But—

“!”

He took an attack from behind. Shiga Inui had preemptively wrapped his body in flow power, taking a defensive stance. Defense considering the possibility of ambush. However, receiving an attack without even sensing killing intent—what did that mean?

“Tch.”

While losing his stance, he looked behind. Pale white fire took shape as a skeletal phantom.

I see, that’s how you use it.

Shiga Inui removed his jinbei. Homura’in flames don’t extinguish even with firefighting efforts. Sleeves and loose clothing become ignition sources. So he became lighter. The flames burned through the jinbei top.

Flow power flame emission—if dodged, use demon fire sorcerous principles to turn them into skeletal demons for attacks… I see, strong.

Shiga Inui smiled. Flow power depletes. Emission means taking a loss. But combining demon fire sorcerous principles, using once-emitted flow power as sorcerous principles for servitude eliminates the loss itself.

Anyway, a skillful method. She hadn’t been the Soui family’s female head for nothing.

“Then… water for fire.”

Using the effect of 『 』, he changed the flow power’s Shichiyou Ryuin.

Shiga Inui performed Suin flow power emission. For advanced users, Suin flow power has fluid properties, operable as liquid. Additionally, Shiga Inui mixed in Kin’in flow power.

Suin flow power refined through Kin’in Flow Power attribute training. The thinly stretched circular flow power rotated continuously like a circular saw.

“Hup.”

Physical abilities strengthened by circulating flow power. Using his strength, he swung up greatly and hurled the circular saw flow power. Slower than a Nichin laser but still gaining sufficient speed, facing the circular saw flow power, she thrust her palm forward.

“Ah…! Hah!”

Generating flow power, simultaneously channeling sorcerous principles. Demon Fire Sorcerous Principles ‘Sarasebi.’ Flow power instantly released by Homura’in’s eruption properties forms demon fire. A skeletal head wreathed in pale fire. Constructing the entire body’s bones, simultaneously, the flow blade contacted the demon fire. In less than a second, it defended against the attack as she performed evasion. The demon fire’s body was destroyed, tumbling to the ground. The bones constructed from flow power had been severed by the circular saw flow power. But the pale fire melted the bones back into flow power, connecting like molten iron, reconstructing the bones.

The demon fire was constructed autonomously as long as flow power lasted, made to revive.