"…Will this be dangerous for your younger brother?""Of course it will be, but it should be fine. And even if something happens… aren"t younger brothers supposed to be used just like this?"
Yui fell silent as she felt like she sensed sharp sarcasm in Raizen"s question aimed directly at her.
Raizen looked directly at her while laughing under his minotaur mask.
"I"m not making fun of you. In fact, it"s the opposite. I think that you"re not taking enough advantage of that little brat. You"re still too kind. Protecting your younger brother like this is no different from spoiling him too much. It won"t be good for either you or him. Not only that, there"s also your younger sister. Just how long do you intend to allow her to continue being a useless NEET? You don"t really think that allowing things to continue as they are… will be fine, do you?"
"My family affairs are none of your business," Yui replied icily.
"I"m just reminding you for your own good. We are companions with the same cause, isn"t that right?" Raizen spoke in a light tone.
Yui remained silent.
"Let"s just get to the main point already. Say what a.s.sistance you require." Meisei Sorin wanted to get back on topic.
..............
The next morning was dark and cloudy, making people"s mood unhappy with the weather. Everyone went about yet another seemingly normal day under this cloudy sky.
Seiji told all his friends to tell their friends and relatives to leave the city before tonight if at all possible. He said that he just received bad news yesterday night that something terrible might happen tonight.
If the Destruction Timeline ending occurred yet again, with countless people in the city dying because of the Sakura Catastrophe G.o.ddess"s arrival, Seiji would definitely load again. However, this didn"t mean that he wasn"t going to do nothing to warn others.
Seiji had his landlord Nozomi Uehara leave the city together with Reo. He also convinced Chiaki"s father s.h.i.+ngo Wakaba and Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa to leave the city as well, traveling together with Nozomi.
Originally, Reo"s uncle Shouhei Hirai should have also left together in the same group. However, something unexpected happened—in a good way.
Shouhei had already left the hospital. He had already taken a long time off from work due to staying in the hospital for so long. He had to work his very hardest in order to get back in good graces with his company. That was when he met a woman at work whom he got along really well with. He was hopeful that things could develop between them romantically.
Since Shouhei was busy with both work and trying to get a girlfriend, it was quite difficult for him to take care of Reo. Plus, Reo was having a good time and was being taken care of properly at Seiji"s place (okay, mostly because of Kaede babysitting all the time), so Shouhei agreed to have Seiji continue taking care of Reo for the time being.
Taking even more time off work would be no small matter for Shouhei, since he had just returned recently. He was quite hesitant to do so despite how serious Seiji made the matter sound. However, Shouhei finally decided to work up the courage to explain the situation to the woman he liked. She seemed to believe him and was willing to take some company vacation time off to leave the city together with him!
So, Shouhei went on a "vacation" together with that woman. They were basically an official couple now. It seemed likely that they would be doing adult things together, which was why it was inconvenient for Shouhei to travel together with his niece.
It was fairly simple to convince Nozomi and s.h.i.+ngo to leave the city as they both previously already knew about spiritual abilities because of Seiji. It was more troublesome to convince everyone else"s friends and family as they didn"t know about spiritual abilities. Still, if things really became dangerous, Seiji felt that there was no need to hide the spiritual abilities and that his friends could all just display their own powers.
That afternoon, Seiji and his friends all gathered at Natsuya"s mansion.
Seiji asked everyone how successful they were at convincing their friends and family to leave. He learned that almost everyone was successful in the end, so that was one small burden off his mind.
He then began the party that he had promised everyone for pa.s.sing the White Sakura G.o.ddess"s trial.
"Cheers for us pa.s.sing the G.o.d"s trial!"
"Cheers!"
Just like the party that he hosted during the Destruction Timeline, everyone ate together and chatted. However, the atmosphere this time was rather subdued.
This was unavoidable.
Back during the Destruction Timeline, n.o.body knew that such a calamity would befall the city, which was why everyone had great fun at the party. But this time, Seiji told everyone the "information" he received that great danger might befall the city tonight, and even had everyone evacuate their friends and family. This made everyone highly tense about what might happen tonight.
Although everyone was tense, they were all socially apt enough not to talk about anything so serious. Everyone only talked about casual topics during the party.
Chiaki then stood up and was about to begin her same performance from the Destruction Timeline. However, she suddenly paused in her movements as she went into a daze.
"What"s the matter, Chiaki?" Mika was the first to notice that something was off with her best friend. Seiji and the others also immediately noticed.
Chiaki soon returned to her senses.
"Seiji… the White Sakura G.o.ddess is in danger!"
Everyone was surprised to hear this. Seiji was the only one who furrowed his eyebrows.
The White Sakura G.o.ddess was requesting a.s.sistance… Had Yakus.h.i.+"s attack against her happened earlier than in the Destruction Timeline?
"What"s going on?" Seiji pretended to know nothing at all as he asked Chiaki to explain.
"I heard the White Sakura G.o.ddess calling out to me, and then I learned… the information that she pa.s.sed to me," Chiaki explained. "An even more powerful enemy that the one from her trial is approaching her. This enemy is an incredibly powerful warrior who obtained the power of the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess!"
What?
Seiji was truly surprised by this.
A warrior who obtained the power of the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess, the other name for the Sakura Catastrophe G.o.ddess?
Yakus.h.i.+ wasn"t the one behind this attack?
Not only had the attack happened earlier than the Destruction Timeline, even the attacker was different?
Seiji didn"t know what had happened. He could only a.s.sume that his actions had caused some sort of b.u.t.terfly effect. But right now wasn"t the time to think about it, as the most important thing right now was to go and protect the White Sakura G.o.ddess.
"Since she went to the trouble of letting you know about the situation, then it"s probably the same as her trial. Will you be casting a spell to bring us all over there?"
"Yeah." Chiaki nodded in affirmation.
"Let"s go, then. We must help her." Seiji stood up and looked at everyone else. "You all heard that this enemy will be even stronger than the ones from the previous G.o.d"s trial. No matter who the enemy is, we must be cautious while fighting!"
Everyone agreed to this.
Seiji then opened up his Spirit House and everyone entered the dojo to begin Visualization in front of the Spirit Image.
Chiaki began to dance, causing cherry blossoms to appear as dense white mist began to pour out from the Spirit Image…
Several large black-armored Samurai Demons currently had a much smaller human surrounded.
This person was wearing white samurai garb and a black mask on his face. Three blood-red rune swirls were located on the eyes and forehead of the mask. They were rotating and giving off an eerie glow.
This person didn"t have a left hand. He held a sword in his right hand, and his samurai garb was covered in chaotic blood-red runes. A black flame was burning on his sword, and dark red light flowed all around his body. He gave off a powerful demonic aura.
Two Samurai Demons viciously slashed with their swords directly at him while releasing powerful shock waves!
However, this person didn"t even try to dodge. He responded with his own sword, which easily knocked away the Samurai Demons" much larger swords with two clear clangs. Flames explosively shot forward as the swords were repelled!
The two Samurai Demons whose attacks were stopped had their bodies slow down. It was obvious that they were off balance.
The next instant, the one-armed warrior suddenly vanished. He reappeared above one of the Samurai Demons who was off balance. He used a single slice to pierce through the Samurai Demon"s head, slicing all the way down and cutting the gigantic demon in half!
The other Samurai Demons attacked him in unison.
This person still didn"t dodge. He blocked everything with his longsword.
The one-armed warrior"s sword appeared far more fragile and thinner compared to the Samurai Demons" greatswords. Yet, his sword contained such power that not only could he block every blow, he was even able to knock every sword away, leading each Samurai Demon to lose their balance. He then slew all the Samurai Demons while they were off balance with just one sword attack each!
After a fierce fight, all the Samurai Demons were vanquished. The warrior didn"t have a single injury.
Suddenly, the flowing light around him became agitated as it suddenly expanded. A large amount of dense red mist started pouring out at a furious rate! The runes on his body began to flash a bright scarlet red. The black flames on his sword also started burning all the way to his arm.
"Arghhhhhh!!!" The warrior shook all over as he screamed in pain.
The demonic mist around him became even more agitated. With him at the center, the mist whirled towards the sky, seeming like a black dragon that wanted to roar against the heavens!
In his extreme pain, the warrior seemed to strenuously try his very best to move his right hand. He slowly aimed his own sword at himself.
And then, he sliced right at his own neck!