Chapter 140: One Day, You Will Accept It
"I already told you, didn't I? You're just too weak."
Facing the gigantic Ranguren charging at him, the boy's face didn't show the slightest panic. Instead, he shook his head, his tone filled with pity and regret.
In the next moment, the blue butterflies that had been fluttering around the boy froze in midair, then transformed into countless steel needles that shot toward Yomi Isayama.
"!"
Ranguren immediately retreated to Yomi's side, attempting to shield her from the incoming assault. However, the needles pierced its body in an instant.
Ranguren let out a mournful cry and reverted into spiritual energy, returning to the blade.
The clash of metal rang out as Yomi desperately deflected the flying needles, retreating step by step. After pulling back more than ten meters, she finally escaped the range of the steel needles' assault.
"Is that all?"
The boy looked at the battered and bloodied Yomi, who was panting on the ground, and sneered.
Seriously? She could barely handle his most basic attack, and yet she had the nerve to chase him?
"So strong…"
In stark contrast to the boy's relaxed, scornful demeanor, Yomi clutched her wounded right arm, her face grim.
She couldn't understand.
She wasn't the type to blindly charge in out of anger after an attack. In fact, after the ambush, she had first gauged the boy's spiritual energy and only pursued him after confirming he was weaker than her.
But in just a few minutes of chasing, the boy's energy had completely transformed.
If his spiritual power had previously been a small stream, now it was like a raging river — the gap was massive.
"You look like you're wondering why my power suddenly increased?"
He held out a finger, and a blue butterfly perched delicately on the tip. Watching Yomi's confused expression, the boy, now sitting casually on a tree branch, began chatting.
"What are you trying to do?!"
Realizing she wasn't his match, Yomi watched his every move with heightened vigilance.
She had no idea when or from where he might strike next.
"No need to be so tense. Your life still has value to me, so I won't kill you — for now."
The boy spread his hands. The butterfly still fluttered gently at his fingertip.
"You want to use me?!"
Yomi's expression instantly darkened.
To say so brazenly to her face that she was still "useful" — he clearly had zero regard for her abilities.
No… maybe he didn't even consider her a person of interest!
She gripped her sword, Shishio, tightly. This was humiliation — total and utter humiliation.
"Feeling bitter, aren't you?"
The boy rested his chin in his hand and spoke as though reading her mind.
"You train and train day after day, pushing yourself relentlessly… and just when you think you've achieved something, someone four years younger than you easily surpasses it all. Deep down, you must hate her, right? You wish she'd just disappear."
"Shut up! What nonsense are you talking about?! Kagura and I are like sisters — I would never be jealous of her!"
"I never said who you were jealous of. You said it."
The boy feigned an innocent look, then once again shifted to a mocking grin.
"You—!"
Yomi reflexively lunged forward in anger, but a steel needle, formed from a butterfly, whizzed past her delicate neck and embedded itself into the ground behind her.
A cold sweat broke out across her back.
Frozen in place, her body stiffened, Shishio gripped tightly in her hands.
"I ask you, do you desire power?"
The boy, now suddenly behind her — she didn't even know when he had moved — dangled a small red stone, no larger than a fingernail, in front of her eyes.
"If you embed this in your body, you'll gain strength far beyond that girl's."
His voice turned seductive and low, whispering beside her ear.
"Power far beyond hers…"
A trace of confusion flashed in Yomi's eyes.
She murmured his words softly.
"That's right. Power that surpasses hers! Just put it into your body…"
The boy's voice continued its tempting lilt, but his expression had already shifted to one of boredom.
How dull.
He had expected her to resist more — after seeing how close she and that girl were, he thought it might take some convincing.
But the moment she heard she could overpower her, she had faltered. What a letdown.
"Kagura…"
Just as Yomi's hand rose toward the red stone, her mind suddenly flashed with the image of Tsuchimiya Kagura's face.
"Kagura!"
Her heart jolted, and her eyes snapped back to clarity.
"Ranguren!"
With her shout, the massive lion-shaped guardian spirit burst forth from Shishio once again and charged straight at the boy.
Caught off guard, the boy was struck by Ranguren's claw and sent flying.
Sword in one hand, blade braced with the other, Yomi lunged forward in a thrust, chasing after his body midair.
Then she leapt and swung her blade downward in a vicious arc, cleaving his body diagonally in two.
Landing and turning, she executed a cross-slash, slicing his body into six pieces.
"Now… that should be enough, right?"
She exhaled lightly, staring at the scattered remains.
"Heh heh…"
The boy's severed head lying on the ground let out a carefree laugh.
"Now that's a bit more interesting…"
"You're still not dead?!"
Yomi was stunned to hear him still speak and immediately moved to finish him off with Shishio.
"No rush… seems you won't accept the stone just yet. But that's alright. One day, you'll come asking me for it."
With those final words, the boy's head and the rest of his body scattered into countless blue butterflies, disappearing into the forest.
"..."
Yomi stood still, silently sheathing Shishio as she stared at where he had vanished.
Following the path she had taken to chase him, she returned to the highway.
There, Tsuchimiya Kagura, who had been sitting on the ground resting, ran over to her immediately.
Iwahata was still unconscious.
"Yomi, are you okay?"
Kagura anxiously looked at the wound on Yomi's arm.
"...I'm fine."
Yomi stared blankly at Kagura's concerned face for a moment.
Then, her expression softened. A smile bloomed on her lips.
Returning to her usual self, she ignored the dirt and blood on both of them and pulled Kagura into a tight embrace.
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