Chapter 29: Barrier Arts

“That’s enough.”

An aged hand reached toward Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei’s body. When it thrust into his torso, countless threads stretched into the gaps between skin and muscle all over.

“Guh—?!”

Wracked by searing pain from every inch of him, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei looked toward the aged infant—the true body.

“A—gah… wh-what are y-you doing to m-me!?”

The aged infant gave no answer. Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei writhed, but the nerves in his hands and feet had already been stolen, and he couldn’t move them.

“S-sto— st— it— ahhh!!”

He spewed threads from every pore, and Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei and the aged infant became one.

“…Kh— haa… utterly disappointing. Was that really me?”

He opened his fingers and rolled his wrist, checking whether his sense of touch worked. The neural linkage was good; Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei confirmed his motions were sound. Shiga Inui glared at him, visibly annoyed.

“Hey, you ruined my fun, you bastard.”

Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei flexed his fingers. A nearby corpse sorcerer lunged at Shiga Inui.

“Hah!?”

Shiga Inui clenched his fist and punched the oncoming enemy. The corpse sorcerer invoked a sorcerous principle by channeling Nichin Flow Power, bathed Shiga Inui in light, and the technique took hold. In an instant, Shiga Inui’s position shifted.

(Teleportation. No—transfer-type sorcerous principles.)

Another corpse sorcerer blinked in close and attacked Shiga Inui. It was coordinated assault enabled by shared sensation and intent. Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei made that possible.

“Shut your mouth, brat. I’m incensed right now. I’m Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei—yet earlier I showed a disgraceful side, on the verge of begging for my life. How could I stomach that? Me, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei!”

He moved his thread-wreathed hand and formed a fist. He began thundering on about the victorious history of the Tsuchikurenai-ke.

“I crushed the Haganezuka-ke, subjugated the former head of the Abarabana-ke, and drove back, face-to-face, the head of the Utsuroi-ke—one of the Ten Great Flow Kings! I, the head of the Tsuchikurenai-ke, a house with three hundred years of history!! To be mocked by some snot-nosed brat! Unforgivable!!”

A sorcerer lineage with a long history. Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei had lived on as its living witness. There was likely some exaggeration in his boast. But as one who had endured as a long-liver, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei stood out. Sorcerer lineages were short-lived by nature. Battle was everything, and they died amid it. By that measure, a man who had lived for over three centuries would rightly be recognized as a true powerhouse.

Now, he would reclaim past glory here. Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei tried to issue orders to the surrounding corpse sorcerers.

“I’ll control them myself. Make it quick—twist them to death.”

However. There was no tug at his fingertips. When he moved corpse sorcerers, he felt some weight in his fingers—now there was weightless nothing. Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei looked back; every thread of the Curse Thread Master that controlled the surrounding corpse sorcerers had been severed.

“Your speeches are too long. I already took them down—the wooden dummies.”

Shiga Inui spoke while holding a corpse sorcerer’s head. From behind him, Karizome Tenhyo and Soui Shuryakuma came walking up.

“Haa— haah! Inui, you…!! You used us as stepping stones!!”

Karizome Tenhyo shouted like he might grab him by the collar any second. Pressing a hand to his wound, Soui Shuryakuma addressed Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei. “Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei… you’ve got no pieces left. It’s just you now.”

Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei dismissed his shikigami. With no pieces on the board, he realized shikigami sorcerous principles had no purpose. Everyone thought this move meant he’d given up.

“So here’s how this goes: beg for your life. Get your last words ready. Or I’ll just let you scream your death rattle.”

Shiga Inui released Flow Power. He meant to end it here. But every bit of that was an insult to Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei.

“Don’t mock me… don’t you dare mock me!!”

With a shout, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei poured in colossal Flow Power and invoked a sorcerous principle.

“‘Thread-Core Neural Maelstrom’!!”

He invoked a Dengou-class sorcerous principle. As last-ditch moves went, it was absurdly potent. Soui Shuryakuma’s guts turned to ice. Karizome Tenhyo felt a chill up his spine. Shiga Inui reined in his Flow Power.

(A barrier.)

Soui Shuryakuma was afraid. This wasn’t the usual Dengou-class sorcerous principle fired across an entire domain.

(There are two kinds of Dengou-class barrier arts: a territorial barrier that dilutes the effect to cover a vast area, and this—an area barrier that concentrates the sorcerous principle’s potency while narrowing its range.)

It wasn’t a barrier to defend his own territory. It was a barrier to make every invader submit. The world was stained into Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei’s own. Multiple thread-woven dolls were manipulated by a giant hand. Wooden puppets capered merrily outside a circle centered on Shiga Inui and the others. They’d been forced onto the stage of a creepy puppet theater.

Karizome Tenhyo moved to act at once.

“What the—!? (I try to move my legs and my right hand moves!)”

The moment he tried to move, he pitched to the ground. His hands and feet were reversed; if he tried to move his right index finger, his left pinky toe twitched.

“Ha—huh!? (Move my arm and my leg jerks backward!!)”

When he tensed the muscles of his right arm, the muscles of his left leg slackened and he dropped to a knee. This was the law-subordination of Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei’s barrier arts.

(He cross-wires the limbs’ nerves of anyone inside the barrier. It’s only logical—tangled strings can’t make a puppet move freely. As if the likes of you could break this!!)

Shiga Inui tried to deal with it coolly. He drilled into his brain, in an instant, which motions moved which parts—finger motions, foot motions, what controlled what.

(Right hand moves right leg. Right pinky moves left thumb. Switch from automatic, natural motion to manual control, and…)

After one step, two steps, Shiga Inui dropped to a knee. The haphazardly spliced nerves were severed and re-spliced again. The method he’d just memorized for moving his limbs was now useless.

“…It switched. I see. Annoying sorcerous principles you’ve got.”

Shiga Inui praised his opponent without reservation.

(Every second, the nerves in the hands and feet are being reconnected differently. Practically unbreakable. We can’t move.)

Shiga Inui stared down his enemy. By ramping up his Flow Power output, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei had also stopped moving. He was forcibly imposing his sorcerous principles onto the targets within the barrier by sheer Flow Power pressure. That made it hard for either side to move, but—

“Time to die. Scream.”

The wooden puppets around them began to move. Their hands and feet were sharp as needles, and they aimed to kill Shiga Inui and the others, who couldn’t move.

“D-dammit! I’m not dying in a place like this!!”

Karizome Tenhyo invoked his suture sorcerous principles. Using the threads connected to his own body, he moved himself directly with his brain.

Soui Shuryakuma invoked his demon mask sorcerous principles and shifted into auto-movement via the Mask. But neither action amounted to anything.

“Feckless fools. Don’t think you can break free with paltry sorcerous principles like those.”

Under law-subordination, the effects of their techniques were forcibly rewritten and stacked. The two were again compelled to endure the barrier arts’ effects and couldn’t move.

“Grovel in disgrace and die like caterpillars.”

It was a moment of absolute doom. Even so, Shiga Inui was calm.

“Beating barrier arts… is simple.”

Shiga Inui stayed cool. Even like this, he said he could overturn things. They could hardly believe his so-called strategy.

“You smash it with a barrier art of your own.”

To them, Shiga Inui’s words were impossible. Karizome Tenhyo was a Kigou-class sorcerer, and Soui Shuryakuma was a Shougou-class sorcerer. Neither had the power to overturn this barrier art.

“I can’t do that.”

“Me neither… no—”

Soui Shuryakuma was the first to realize it. Could he really do something like that? It shocked him. Because Shiga Inui didn’t use sorcerous principles, he’d assumed the man simply couldn’t. But Shiga Inui—a monster with bottomless talent—

“I’ll shatter this rinky-dink space easy.”

At long last, he lifted the weight. Having made one decision, he swelled his Flow Power inside his body.

“I’m just a little worried, is all.”

Cold sweat beaded on Shiga Inui’s face. He had a reason to be concerned.

“If I go all out… I don’t even know what’ll happen.”

He’d never truly fought at full power. So if he did—

“So—I’ll apologize to you two in advance.”

He was saying even he didn’t know. Shiga Inui, for no real reason, offered his apology to the two.

“If I kill you by accident… my bad, yeah?”

At that, Karizome Tenhyo shouted.

“Don’t screw with me, Inui!!”

Even if it was his full power, Karizome Tenhyo had no intention of being killed so easily. So, in words, he gave Shiga Inui the go-ahead to go all out.

And then. The one who bristled at those words was Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei. As a sorcerer with pride, defeat by this man was unacceptable.

“I… am the Tsuchikurenai-ke with three centuries of history!!”

With his pride, he had to crush this detestable brat.

“A brat who’s lived only a dozen or so years! Do not obstruct me!!”

He shouted. Shiga Inui, in response, laughed.

“I’ve been a sorcerer for three months. What is it—about three months? The threes line up nice, huh?”

Slowly, he let Flow Power spill outward.

“Your three hundred years or my three months—let’s see which one outranks the other.”

Shiga Inui’s sorcerous principles. A Dengou-class sorcerous principle layered with time-space sorcerous principles. That barrier art—

“‘Mukyuu Taikyoku.'”

A Dengou-class sorcerous principle. A law that comes before shikigami construction and points to heaven and earth. By laying down his sorcerous principles over a limited space, he stained it into his own world.

“‘Reikokuukyo.'”

Time-space sorcerous principles. Sorcerous principles that govern time and space. Shiga Inui borrowed the name of the barrier art used by his predecessor. “Mukyuu Taikyoku: Reikokuukyo.”

“Wh—what is this—gwaa—agh!! (M-my body— I can’t even breathe— what is this space— they’re gone… they’re nowhere! Anywhere!?)”

A recreation of an infinitely expanding cosmos. Targets selected within this space couldn’t control inertia in zero gravity and were thrust to distances approaching infinity; their bodies boiled in vacuum; nuclear fission occurred under gamma rays radiated from supernova remnants.

(M-my skin—ripping— inside’s hot— I—I have to protect my insides with Flow Power! Gah— just circulating Flow Power— m-my cells— tearing—gaaah!?)

The finisher was a gravitational vortex. Gravity warped around the target, and cosmic dust bit into the target’s body. It invited the target into a prison of darkness. In other words, it formed a black hole within the target’s body.

(R-ridiculous—such outlandish power— a-agh—why— why can’t I die— why— I— I’ve lived three hundred—)

Within this space, even the sensation of physical time stretched, and until life functions ceased, the target experienced death’s agony in infinitesimal slices.

(H-how many years has it been— three hundred— no, a thousand!? I—I don’t want this anymore— someone— anyone! I don’t care who— k-kill me… kill me!!)

Light couldn’t escape that darkness. Fortunately, that power was constructed by one sorcerer alone. When his Flow Power ran dry, the barrier arts dissolved at that point.

“Kah— hah. Enjoy the space trip?”

However. The target’s body had already died out; the cells had weathered away into dust finer than sand.

And then. Shiga Inui awoke amid the rubble.

“Kh— that hurts…”

He rose and looked around. The building had collapsed; the Tsuchikurenai-ke mansion was demolished. That heap of ruins was what had once been the Tsuchikurenai-ke mansion.

“…Hey.”

A voice reached him. Shiga Inui stood, turning his gaze toward the source. There stood Karizome Tenhyo, his body covered in wounds.

“You… what the hell was that?”

Hearing that, Shiga Inui grasped what he meant.

“Ah… you hurt anywhere?”

Shiga Inui asked with concern. At the very least, the fact Karizome Tenhyo was alive meant he’d escaped Shiga Inui’s rampage.

“…No, Shiga Inui.”

Looking him in the face, Karizome Tenhyo spoke.

“I’ve got nowhere to go. Now that I’ve gotten my revenge, there’s no road left to me.”

Karizome Tenhyo had been hell-bent on destroying the Tsuchikurenai-ke. Now that his wish had been granted, nothing remained for him. Even so, Karizome Tenhyo found a new path.

“This mess of feelings—it’s your fault. Keep me by your side.”

Karizome Tenhyo said he’d become Shiga Inui’s ally. Still, it didn’t seem likely Shiga Inui would nod so easily. Given his personality, that was only natural to assume.

“Yeah… sure. Do what you want.”

And just like that, Shiga Inui agreed.

“More importantly… where’s Ryakuma?”

Shiga Inui asked. Karizome Tenhyo gestured his gaze outward.

“After taking the Tsuchikurenai-ke’s head… he went to look for his mother.”

At that, they looked toward the garden. Scratching his head, Shiga Inui started walking.

“Still… what’s it gonna be like? I mean, I’ve got a pretty good guess…”

Muttering, Shiga Inui walked. Hearing that, Karizome Tenhyo asked, puzzled:

“What do you mean?”

To that, Shiga Inui said:

“He used a sorcerous principle, right? A big one. Use something like that and your memory gets foggy. It’s a time-space sorcerous principle. Your memory around the moment before and after using it just blanks.”

So. Shiga Inui apparently didn’t like using time-space sorcerous principles much. Powerful abilities had their price, it seemed.

“Hey, Ryakuma.”

Inside the Tsuchikurenai-ke mansion. In a corner of the garden, Soui Shuryakuma held his mother. Nearby lay the head of the Tsuchikurenai-ke head, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei.

“Shiga Inui… so it’s over, then.”

Soui Shuryakuma said, looking at Shiga Inui. With Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei’s death, this war had been brought to an end.

“No. Not yet.”

So it seemed. Shiga Inui still had something left undone.

After reporting to The Neutrals. Before the sorcerers were taken into custody for processing. Shiga Inui took Soui Hinari away.

“Um… where are we…?”

He rented a nearby hotel. There, Shiga Inui took her. Stripping off his clothes, Shiga Inui spoke.

“I told you I’d take you, didn’t I? I’m not letting you wriggle out of it.”

That’s what Shiga Inui said. She averted her eyes, rubbing her body.

“Come on—you know what comes first, right?”

Under Shiga Inui’s pressure, she nodded and undressed herself. Then, when she moved to get on the bed, Shiga Inui stopped her.

“After all that work, I’ve got nothing to show for it… First, you’re going to apologize for that.”

With her clothes off, Shiga Inui forced her to kneel with her head to the floor.

“Eh… ah… y-yes… I—I am truly… sorry. As an apology… I’ll devote my whole body and soul to serving you… so please, show me mercy…”

(Good… she really is a masochist.)

Seeing her so disgracefully aroused, Shiga Inui was certain of it.

Haa… haa… ah, more… more…

Not yet, okay? From here on, I’m going to love you… a lot more…

Nn—ah… f— nn… no— not there, don’t— not just the weak spots…

No— I said don’t— haa— aah— I’m the one who… gets off… too easily…

N—f— i-it’s… no— ah! Ah— nnnnn— guh— kuh…

N-not yet— ah— don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t… nn—

D-don’t pull my hair— ah— that’s… my weak spot—

I l-love you… love you, love you… love… more than my husband, more than anyone!

No— don’t— the most— the most off-limits— Ryak-kun is the most important— so that’s the most off-limits! Nnnnn—oh!

Hah… ah… ah… hah…

When the acts had run their course. Shiga Inui felt like her power was coursing into his body.

(You’re a bad person… to love a guy like me.)

A widow, however you sliced it. Shiga Inui savored the illicitness of being loved by a woman like that. When the acts had run their course, just as he was about to rest—

“Um… you can still go, right?”

Her cold fingertips traced his neck. Shiga Inui swallowed. Just a moment ago, she’d been spasming like a frog in disgrace. Even so, she’d recovered and was begging again.

“…Fine by me. I’ll make you gasp till you die.”

Shiga Inui grabbed Soui Hinari’s hair and yanked, then seized her lips. Her temperament was fundamentally masochistic—in other words, a masochist. To satisfy her lust efficiently, Shiga Inui decided he simply had to play the brute.

“Stick your tongue out.”

She opened her mouth and put out the tip of her moist tongue. Shiga Inui spat into her mouth.

“Ah… ha— hah… hah… nn—”

Shivering, she squirmed in arousal at being treated so roughly. Seeing her panting with her tongue lolling like a dog, Shiga Inui went at it with her yet again that night.