“M-My power is leaving me! No! Stop it!!”
The efficacy of the method could be gleamed from how Michizane stopped stammering.
But it still wasn’t enough. His power had only gradually weakened.
So she gambled on
“Engines to full power! Don’t break it now!”
『I will do my best.』
“Fu fu, you sound just like a certain someone. Let’s go!”
As she thought about that person who hated to lie, a small smile surfaced on her, and she clapped her hands, then she formed a hand seal with her hands and raised them up high.
Kamui raised the spiritual power as much as it could, and she took all of that and gathered it into a single spot, then she wove the kotodama (spirit words) of destruction.
“All evil and calamitous things, banish yourselves at once────”
She swung down with her arms and slammed everything into
“────man ma kyou huku!!”
The ultimate hammer to ward off all evil. Spiritual power filled the space.
The vortex of power enveloped
The pentagram was obliterated in the aftermath, but it has already done its job of weakening the monster.
All that was left was to exorcise the demon once and for all.
“HigyaAAaa—!!!”
An ugly yet human scream resounded as the light chipped away at the shrunken yet still excessive frame.
Then the dark blue flesh gradually crumbled like old skin peeling, and Michizane’s own body was revealed.
“Oh, you did it!”
“What amazing spiritual power.”
Some were giddy with anticipation, while others were in awe of the power behind that brilliance.
The vortex of power being unleashed in front of them was enough to send chills down their spine.
This amount of spiritual power was not something they could achieve even if they burned their own lives.
“I know the machine is assisting her, bu to think she could accomplish this much.”
The man who’d asked her for help could infer that much but still drew cold sweat.
It was a chilling reminder that she really wasn’t serious while fighting them.
“Ku… Absurd… uu.”
But the Tomoe they were so awestruck with was actually sweating in anguish too.
The reason was simple but fatal.
『Supply of spiritual power is on the decline.』
“I can tell, that much!”
She grit her teeth in frustration. The theory was right.
If his consciousness and soul were intact, then that lump of flesh was nothing more than a shell, and Michizane could be restored to his original form if she just extinguished the demon, but she miscalculated how much spiritual power that would require.
Normally, a few seconds was enough, but she’d been at this for some dozens of seconds now, and yet only half of Michizane’s body has been revealed.
This was a jutsu that combusted spiritual power to instantly exorcise a target, so holding it for this long was plenty abnormal already, but unfortunately, the malice of the demon sword just ran too deep.
“Ah.”
Her vision twisted, and vertigo and lethargy assaulted her as she was quickly drained of spiritual power.
She grit her teeth to endure the temptation of passing out.
If she were to fall here, there wouldn’t even be anyone who could slay the monster.
She had already chosen not to abandon that monster, so she could only persist down this road.
It wasn’t just because of their and Michizane’s standing.
She understood intuitively and instinctively as well that this demon couldn’t be left alone, so she tried to exorcise it.
“Fu, gu!”
However, no matter how much she roused herself, her spiritual power was quickly running out.
It wasn’t enough. Even if she used up all of her spiritual power, it wouldn’t be possible to exorcise that demon.
Strength began to leave her legs, and she looked like she was about to pass out altogether.
“Get a hold of yourself!”
But hands and voices held her up.
“Tomoe-sama, please use our spiritual power too!”
“It’s a drop in the ocean, but please use as much as you need.”
“We were originally the reason behind this mess, so we have to take at least this much responsibility!”
They must have gotten down after completing the treatment.
Ryou and the three girls were supporting Tomoe while giving her their spiritual power.
It was certainly a small amount other than Ryou’s, but their feeling and actions definitely made her happy.
Supporting them at the rearmost was Ryou, who fearlessly laughed.
“I’ve still got plenty left, use it all you want!”
“Hah, you really do have a stupid amount of spiritual power! It’s so stupid I can’t even feel envious!”
She must have been sorely worn out, yet the power that was flowing into her made her smile fearlessly too.
As strength returned to her limbs, her vision returned, and she exploded with spiritual power.
“HAAaa—!!”
“Agah, stop it, GUGYaAAAAaaa!!!”
As a wave of spiritual power shone unprecedentedly bright, all at once, the remaining flesh vanished without a trace.
It was curious if Michizane was screaming because of the pain or the loss of power, but regardless, he was restored to his human form.
Not a trace of the emptiness or that black evil was left in his eyes.
But…
“Hurry up and throw away that sword already! Do you want to die!?”
Despite that Michizane refused to let go of the sword.
“Power! There’s power here! Power to destroy everything that mocks me! It’s impossible! Unforgivable! No power could possibly surpass me!! Give me power again! Overwhelming power that would let me crush everything!!!”
Michizane was conscious, but he wasn’t sane by any means, and he continued to demand power from the demon sword.
The demon sword responded to his pleas and released evil with a pulse despite being amidst Tomoe’s light of exorcism.
“That doesn’t look good!”
“I can’t believe he’s still conscious after that jutsu! This is the worst! The demon sword is protecting him to make him use it!!”
Tomoe had only succeeded in ridding him of the outer skin.
They were yet to exorcise or destroy the demon sword itself.
Even with five of them combusting spiritual power, the demon sword continued to release evil ki unperturbed.
She couldn’t move away either because her jutsu was suppressing the corrosion from the demon sword.
“That’s ridiculous! We still can’t exorcise it with this much power!?”
“That demon sword is already on the level of myths!”
“We need to get rid of it somehow! There’s a residential district just outside the barrier!”
That’s why Tomoe couldn’t stop her jutsu.
The moment she stopped, Michizane will be possessed by the sword again, and this time, any hopes of saving him would be gone.
Above all, with no spiritual power left, they wouldn’t be able to resist.
When that happens, the only thing awaiting them is Michizane transforming into a monster and feasting on their blood.
“I’ll do something!”
“Don’t! I can’t support the jutsu if you move!”
Already, more than 80% of the spiritual power being used to seal that destructive power was Ryou’s.
The monster would revive the moment he left.
“In that case! Hey, you guys! If you want to save that idiot, take the sword away from him!”
Ryou suggested, but Tomoe shook her head.
“That won’t work either! The light of exorcism is too powerful and will affect human bodies too! They’ll lose consciousness the moment they come into contact!”
“No… By this point, we have to brace ourselves for that much!”
The black-clothed men knew that, but they knew they had to do something, so they threw their kunai-like blades at Michizane’s arms.
Surely, that torrent of power couldn’t influence physical attacks.
“Don’t get in my way, you trash—!!”
But Michizane angrily swung the demon sword in response.
That was nothing more than a beginner’s swordsmanship, but it still succeeded in spreading evil ki around.
That materialized in the form of a slash and obliterated the blades coming at him from every direction.
But the evil ki slash did not stop there. It tore through even the land, damaged the manor, and shook the barrier.
“Oh no!”
One such slash happened to make its way for Tomoe.
It was just too much of a strain on her to avoid it while maintaining the technique, so she directed her light of exorcism toward it, but even that was cut as the demonic slash approached.
She grit her teeth and positioned herself and her Kamui to take on the impact, but…
『You got pretty far but────In the end, you were a hand short.』
“Hah?”
“Eh?”
It suddenly appeared in front of them as though it had been there from the start.
A shadow, no, that was a form of darkness that was clearly different from a shadow.
Darker than the night itself with an evil more sinister than the rampaging evil ki and yet tinged so strongly with the color of the ‘night’.
Before it, the demonic slash could only shatter like glass.
『Need a hand, Princess Tomoe?』
For a moment, it seemed as though the demonic face behind that white mask was smiling at them.
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