A golden cube manifested in the skies above the city; Kinkaku had revealed itself, establishing a connection with the mortal world.
No one knew what it was. Following the death of Laomoto Khan, The Lord's Virtual-to-Real Conversion Jutsu began to decelerate. At the very least, it allowed Night City to revert to being just Night City, attempting to weaken the fate protecting Ninja Slayer.
Moreover, The Lord had compelled David to completely disregard Gloria's existence all this time. For so many days, while ninja battles plunged all of Night City into chaos, David had failed to place his own mother under protection. This was naturally due to The Lord's influence.
Lucy had remained in Saburo Arasaka's safe house. That was the final lifeline of the dark megacorp's leader, a place not even ninjas could easily breach.
Therefore, the only remaining method was this: Zaibatsu Cinema had kidnapped Gloria to use her as leverage against Ninja Slayer. The Lord hoped that by doing so, he could deter Ninja Slayer from acting against him.
On the rooftop of Arasaka Tower, the Trauma Team arrived mere minutes after the battle concluded. They administered various healing agents to Takemura, stabilizing his condition at lightspeed.
To buy time for Ninja Slayer, Takemura had disregarded his own physical condition and overused 'Death · Slash'. The strain placed on the body by such a sure-kill technique was severe. Of course, the greater damage came from the exchange of Karate with Laomoto Khan; the power of the Giant Clan transmitted through the weapon directly into his body, causing massive internal injuries.
"The organization Expendable belongs to is Zaibatsu Cinema. Information regarding them is exceedingly scarce. This group of ninjas hides even deeper than the Soukaiya."
V quickly located the intelligence she had previously saved on a chip. Now that the Virtual-to-Real Conversion Jutsu had weakened, intelligence of this classification was no longer sealed.
The Lord had concentrated the power of the 'Water Basin' and his own strength entirely into the formation. Consequently, she could finally speak the corresponding intelligence without being censored.
"Is it an ability similar to brainwashing? If the opponent possesses such power, it means everything we've done might very well have been influenced by him."
Ninja Slayer thought of Laomoto Khan's final blunder. No matter how one looked at it, being sneak-attacked by V due to carelessness was too low-level a mistake. It didn't seem like the kind of error a powerhouse like him would make.
Furthermore, there was the final clash of energy. Laomoto Khan's Karate energy had been ample; he should have been able to fight for at least several more rounds.
"Does that mean both we and the Soukaiya were nothing more than pawns?"
Takemura's expression was grim. He realized that his connection with Saburo Arasaka had been severed, yet he had completely failed to notice such a serious issue!
Theoretically, the two of them contacted each other several times a day. He needed to report the situation to Saburo Arasaka, while also adjusting and confirming new plans. Accidents always happen. So, was all of this The Lord's doing? To make him completely unaware of losing contact... such an ability was terrifying.
"The problem is, we have absolutely no idea what Zaibatsu intends to do. We have zero intelligence."
"The only thing we know currently is that he possesses this super-strong 'hypnotic' ability, capable of influencing our thinking without us noticing."
For a moment, V didn't know what to do. The main issue was that they didn't know what Zaibatsu Cinema ultimately wanted, leaving them with no way to target them specifically.
"I've already contacted the Trauma Team. Gloria is indeed missing. Just tonight, while we were at war with the Soukaiya, the Trauma Team hospital was attacked."
David's expression was equally grim. The opponent was despicable enough to go to such lengths—kidnapping hostages to threaten him. And as it happened, he truly was susceptible to this tactic; his only weakness had been seized.
Naraku also couldn't say 'Let's just go kill Zaibatsu Cinema, Gloria doesn't matter at all' right now. The influence of being one mind and body was mutual; Naraku also regarded Gloria as family. The hatred born from the murder of his own wife and daughter made him unexpectedly sensitive to family bonds.
Fortunately, they soon had a clue. The golden cube appearing in the sky was the best answer.
David suddenly recalled the conversation he had with Schwarzer when he was possessed by Naraku.
"Those madmen! They want to open the connection between the mortal world and the Other World!"
Naraku realized this as well. Zaibatsu Cinema's target was Kinkaku!
This intelligence, previously concealed by the Virtual-to-Real Conversion Jutsu, was now breached by their will. After the intelligence regarding The Lord's Virtual-to-Real Conversion Jutsu was exposed, ninjas who were on guard and possessed strong willpower had the potential to break through it.
Both Naraku and David remembered now. Schwarzer had once given them intelligence—intelligence on Zaibatsu Cinema and The Lord. As a result, because they were too focused on the Soukaiya, Zaibatsu's jutsu had slipped in through the cracks and blocked these memories.
"What is Kinkaku?" V and Takemura quickly raised the question.
That is the place where Ninja Souls reside after death. Kinkaku is the final destination for Ninja Souls. The reason True Ninjas' souls do not perish after death is that they enter Kinkaku, a mysterious space existing in the 'Other World'.
David gave a simple explanation to let them understand the significance of Kinkaku.
"You mean it stores the Ninja Souls of all ninjas? Then what does Zaibatsu want to do by pulling Kinkaku into the mortal world?"
Ninja Souls within Kinkaku occasionally depart to merge with and possess near-death humans; this is the current method by which most ninjas are born.
If Kinkaku were pulled into the mortal world, millions of Ninja Souls would appear in reality. That meant millions of ninjas would emerge!
What a grand undertaking. Millions of ninjas... even if few among them were of Arch rank and they were all genin, it would be enough to overturn the entire world.
"Such a massive number... are they trying to re-establish the rule of ninjas?"
V understood some ninja history, more or less. If that many ninjas truly appeared, the world would certainly be ruled by ninjas once again. One had to realize that Ninja Souls possessed humans. It wasn't that a million ninjas would suddenly pop out of thin air, but that millions of people would turn into ninjas—and among them, there would undoubtedly be various corporate executives.
"We must stop them."
The terrifying scene of being ruled by ninjas made David and the others shudder just thinking about it. They would likely treat mortals like domesticated livestock. The power of ninjas already far exceeded that of humans; combined with the high technology of the Cyberpunk world, once formed, it would be a total monopoly.
With the power of technology that ordinary people took pride in, plus the supernatural power of ninjas... if Zaibatsu Cinema's plan succeeded, mortals would never have a chance to turn the tables again.
Abandon Gloria for the sake of 'The Greater Good'? He couldn't make such a decision at all!
Then, there was only one answer. Before The Lord opened the great gate between Kinkaku and the mortal world, he would rescue Gloria and stop them!
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