Aoko Aozaki seemed reluctant to bring Kirie Fujo into the Hollow Shrine, but the moment I presented a thick bundle of ten-thousand-yen notes, her expression flipped instantly and she welcomed her with open arms.
Fortunately, it appeared that the Dual Existence granted by Souren Araya persisted even after she had transferred to a new body. Under the guidance of the highly capable Magus Touko Aozaki, Kirie began training in the usage of Dual Existence and the application of Suggestion.
After three days of effort, she became able to manipulate her Dual Existence as freely as she once did while confined to her hospital bed. Even while surveying from above in her spiritual form, she could maintain a connection to her will and communicate with her physical body.
"Dual Existence… it's certainly an incredibly rare ability. I've heard rumors of its existence within clans that deal with demonic matters, but the Fujo family is essentially a fallen lineage, isn't it?"
"It must be an ability bestowed upon her by someone," I replied.
Of course, I knew exactly who that 'someone' was.
Souren Araya—the ultimate mastermind of *The Garden of Sinners*, a man who abandoned the very idea of saving humanity... in essence, another version of Zouken Matou.
However, if Zouken Matou was a locomotive driving forward toward immortality and life through corruption, Souren Araya was a man who had lost even his reason for living. He sought to reach the Swirl of the Origin only to return himself to 'Nothingness.'
Originally, he sought information from the Clock Tower to find a 'model of the soul' and reach the Root, but he failed, succeeding only in Awakening his Origin. He tried various other methods, even contacting places like the Atlas Institute... but failed there as well. Naturally, the Counter Force would never overlook an attempt to reach the Root. He tried to eliminate the Counter Force itself, but how could that possibly be easy?
'Even with the Beasts making such a mess of things, the Throne of Heroes remains intact. The Counter Force truly is a stubborn thing.'
Naturally, Araya's plan failed. Instead of removing the Counter Force, he decided to target something already connected to the Root to minimize the Counter Force's intervention… and that was Shiki Ryougi, a woman whose body was directly linked to the Swirl of the Origin. I'm not talking about the Shiki who flirts with Mikiya Kokutou while in her dual-personality state, but the 'Root-connected' Shiki who places herself in the state of the boundary itself.
"So, how is it? Can you find that person?"
"…I don't think I can find them with my Dual Existence," Kirie answered.
"It would be easier if you remembered his name or what he looked like. It seems I've made a rather useless investment here, haven't I?" Touko prodded.
"Be quiet."
In truth, I already knew his name and appearance; I simply wasn't saying. There was nothing to gain from a head-on collision with Araya right now. If he went into hiding, things would only get more troublesome later.
Even regardless of that, Kirie's raison d'être was reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. For that purpose, using this as a pretext for her to frequently use Dual Existence would be convenient in many ways.
'Well, I suppose one could call it acting like a sucker...'
Leaving behind Kirie, who was diligently training her Dual Existence, I headed back toward the hospital.
I needed to check Shiki Ryougi's condition, and it was also about time to locate Mikiya Kokutou.
Come to think of it, Souren Araya not being wary of Mikiya Kokutou was a foolish move in many respects. As a certain great Magus once said, love is the greatest Magic and a poison that destroys everything. Just look at the absolute disasters caused by those who harbor 'love' in this world... yes, I'm talking about those Evils of Humanity.
Flying via the Rinnegan was convenient and incredibly fast, but... how should I put it? It lacked a certain sense of reality. More importantly, using such an overpowered source of motive force just to go to a hospital felt wasteful, so I chose to walk.
The shops lined up tightly along the roadside where cars whizzed by showcased the city's vitality. The people passing by and chatting were the very embodiment of 'daily life.'
A young man shouting into his phone, older men boisterously laughing together, female students having tea time at a café, and thugs dragging a woman into a back alley.
It was a perfect depiction of 'daily life'... or so it should have been.
"As if... wait, why is Fujino Asagami here?"
I thought Riesbyfe had cut them all down... why is this happening?
* * * * *
Fujino Asagami. Commonly known as Fujinon.
A student at Reien Academy and the daughter of the president of Asagami Construction. She was a top-tier student, considered one of the most beautiful girls in the prefecture, and possessed a gentle personality... she was the perfect 'Yamato Nadeshiko' as defined by the Japanese ideal.
However, she possessed three fatal flaws. The first was her Mystic Eyes of Distortion. The second was the deep-seated scars of domestic violence and appendicitis hidden deep within her body. And the third... was the murderous impulse she harbored in her heart.
To put it simply, she possessed an impulse similar to Kotomine Kirei's. While Kirei was a man who felt ecstasy at the sight of others suffering or by inflicting pain himself, Fujino Asagami was a lunatic who derived pleasure from twisting others to death.
Fortunately, her impulse was not so strong that it made daily life impossible like Kirei's. After receiving a 'true education' from Shiki Ryougi in *Remaining Sense of Pain*, she lived on while barely suppressing that impulse.
In other words, out of all the pawns prepared by Souren Araya, she was the only one to experience a 'happy ending'... or so I thought.
"She's been enduring this horrific state since before?"
According to the facts I knew, Fujino Asagami was gang-raped by thugs while on her way to the hospital for spinal meningitis and appendicitis. Due to experiments her father performed to seal her supernatural powers, her body's senses—excluding sight and hearing—were paralyzed, leaving her unable to feel anything.
However, after being brutally assaulted and beaten with a baseball bat by the thugs, the shock of the incident caused her senses to return. In a state of unconscious awakening, she used her supernatural ability to twist and kill the thugs who were trying to murder her.
Souren Araya had treated the wounds inflicted by the baseball bat, and using her regained senses, Fujino began hunting down and killing the thugs who attacked her. Eventually, she fully realized her nature as a killer, murdering a thug who had nothing to do with the incident, which marked her as Shiki Ryougi's target.
To put it another way... her problems stemmed from the child abuse and human experimentation perpetrated by her scumbag father. I had thought that if I could cure the analgesia, insensitivity, and lethargy resulting from that abuse, her Mystic Eyes of Distortion would return naturally, and that would be the end of it.
"I didn't think she was already being victimized this early."
"Huh? Who the hell are you!"
Honestly, it was a bit difficult on the day I killed Ryuunosuke Uryuu.
But since I am now intertwined with this world, my hands will inevitably be stained with blood many more times. I don't particularly follow a 'no-killing' rule anyway.
"This brat... Hey, kid, get lost!"
At that moment, one of the punks grabbed my shoulder and glared at me. I transformed my finger into a barrel and shot him in the head.
"Bang!"
They're gang rapists anyway, and they were destined to die with their bodies twisted into knots... getting shot in the head is a merciful death for them. If not, well, whatever.
"W-What the hell is this guy?!"
"Hey, that's a gun!"
"Now that I think about it, I should prepare some spare bodies for the Six Paths of Pain."
Human souls are, in the end, just another fuel source.
Atrum Galliasta used primitive Alchemy to sacrifice humans and convert them into magical energy, and Servants can maintain their manifestation by devouring human souls.
"Animal Path—Summoning Jutsu."
While I couldn't summon the massive, powerful creatures Pain used, I had become capable of calling forth dogs enough to deal with these thugs.
Dogs emerging from my fingertips lunged at the surrounding delinquents. Before long, only a purple-haired woman and a puddle of blood and flesh remained in the alley.
Fujino Asagami, like a woman who truly couldn't feel anything, just stared at me blankly. I looked at her cautiously and finally spoke.
"Um, shall we get up first, miss?"
"…"
"…Is she in shock? Look, I understand you're flustered, but it might be a bit dangerous to stay here."
"…Oh."
"Pardon?"
Staring intently at me, she opened her mouth slightly and whispered.
"Bend."
"FUCK!?!?"
* * * * *
Fujino Asagami's ability was powerful.
When I saw her crush the manifestation of the King of Hell from the Naraka Path and instantly scrap two cars beyond the human-repelling Bounded Field, I glimpsed her potential as an A-rank scrapyard employee.
Seeing her tear apart the hounds summoned via the Animal Path, and twist the blades and bombs of the Asura Path as they approached—even tearing through the Deva Path's Shinra Tensei—truly made me realize that the Mystic Eyes of Distortion are quite the cheat.
However, while her 'ability' was powerful, Fujino Asagami herself was not.
She was, after all, a patient suffering from appendicitis, analgesia, and insensitivity. Her Mystic Eyes were a pseudo-Magic Circuit, an organ that overheats the more it is used.
'Still, that sent a chill down my spine. I never imagined Seal Absorption wouldn't be able to block the power of the Mystic Eyes of Distortion.'
It was a good thing I attempted Seal Absorption through a Preta Path puppet; if I had tried to parry the Mystic Eyes directly, my hands would be splinters by now.
Of course, no matter how strong she was, she couldn't handle the hounds swarming from all directions. Perhaps due to the distorted ability or her returning senses, she clutched her stomach and collapsed after using her power about five times.
"Phew... I never expected to meet Fujino Asagami like this."
Is this what they call the absurdity of coincidence?
The only silver lining was that I secured Fujino Asagami before Souren Araya could get his hands on her…
"First, I need to clean up."
Exposure of the Phantasmal was a grave matter for both the Clock Tower and the Holy Church. If I didn't clean up the evidence, it was certain that Riesbyfe or the Clock Tower's enforcers would come running to take my head.
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