Zongman I fight weirdness in everyday world

Chapter 418: The Punishment of Destroying Life and Death

While Mai Sakurajima and Yozora were talking upstairs, Tomoe Koga, sitting in the lobby downstairs, had already explained to the members of the Excess Club that her and her sister's bodies had been switched back, and their Adolescence Syndrome had disappeared.

The reason was actually very simple.

What Tomoe Koga initially wanted was just to catch up with her sister, but due to the competitive spirit between her mother and Mai Sakurajima's mother, she had to be compared with Mai Sakurajima, who debuted as a child star, in everything she did since she was a child.

To be honest, she couldn't compare at all.

Mai Sakurajima, who debuted as a child star, only went through a short period of silence before embarking on her second peak in her acting career, starring in many popular morning dramas, had a surprising recognition rate of over 90% throughout the Sakura Province, and no one could compare to her during the same period.

Under the pressure from her mother, Tomoe Koga chose to debut as an idol, and although the road was difficult and she was not a popular idol member yet, she did see a long-lost, gratified smile on her mother's face after her debut.

Originally, things were getting better.

But just at this time, Mai Sakurajima, who had originally chosen to retire and fade out of the public eye, and had gradually been forgotten, suddenly attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Yukinoshita Corporation's building.

In the eyes of the outside world, this was a sign that she was about to make a comeback.

The pressure Tomoe Koga felt during that time can be imagined.

Because of this, she had the idea of wanting to become her sister, triggering this Adolescence Syndrome.

However, after a heart-to-heart conversation between the sisters yesterday, Tomoe Koga knew that she was irreplaceable in her sister's heart, being her favorite younger sister, and this obsession with competition disappeared.

After all, she had repeatedly said in public interviews that her favorite person was the actress Mai Sakurajima.

However, now, Tomoe Koga has a new problem in her heart that needs to be struggled with.

What exactly is going on upstairs right now?

More importantly, she doesn't even know what she hopes the situation is.

Does she hope that her sister's plan will succeed?

If it succeeds, does it mean that Yozora can't resist her sister's body, or is he willing to accept her soul?

Too complicated…

"That's not right."

Tomoe Koga suddenly realized something.

Why is she struggling with this question?

It's clearly just a harmless joke that the sisters agreed upon to tease that classmate Yozora.

Could it be…

…

Two days later, Friday night, on the Shinkansen train to Tokyo.

Yozora leaned against the window, looking at the scenery flashing by outside, looking bored.

Saika Totsuka sat next to him, with his hands on his knees, looking very well-behaved and cute, but unfortunately, he's a man.

"Yozora-kun, the competition will start tomorrow morning and last until the afternoon the day after tomorrow. It's a single-elimination system, which means that we only need to win four rounds in a row to be the first in the national competition. As for the loser's bracket…"

"There's no need to introduce that."

Yozora leaned against the window and waved his hand casually.

"For me, this can all end the day after tomorrow afternoon, and then I can return to Kyoto City. It's not a passionate sports anime, there aren't that many ups and downs."

Hearing his words, the other Sobu High School club members who were also on the Shinkansen train to participate in the national tennis club competition all looked displeased.

This is also human nature.

The so-called talent that is too outstanding will hurt others, that's what this is about.

The goal that these club members have worked hard for two years, and may not be able to achieve even if they risk their lives, is just a boring competition in Yozora's eyes, simply to make Shizuka-sensei happy, and he can easily win first place.

Even if Yagami Light didn't participate, Yozora wouldn't think this was a competition, after all, no normal person can be considered his opponent.

However, given his bad reputation in Sobu High School, no tennis club member openly expressed dissatisfaction, but they were somewhat skeptical in their hearts, feeling that even if this person who had never practiced for a day had great physical fitness and athletic nerves, he would probably find it difficult to win first place in the national high school competition.

Just then, Yozora suddenly heard a very familiar sound, like a heavy object dragging on the ground.

He raised his head and saw a strange man about two and a half meters tall, with an unusually burly figure, wearing a tattered black cloth, with a thick black mist emanating from the surface of his body, holding a huge axe in his right hand and a linen package in his left, with bandages wrapped around his face, full of oppression, slowly walking towards here as if searching for something.

"Saika."

Hearing Yozora's call, Saika Totsuka hurriedly raised his head.

"What's wrong, Yozora-kun?"

Yozora patted Saika Totsuka's shoulder, stood up and walked towards the other end of the car away from the bandaged weirdo, and said with a smile.

"I ran into an acquaintance, I'll go say hello."

Saika Totsuka tilted his head slightly, with a puzzled look on his face, thinking that the other carriages behind were empty, who is Yozora-kun going to say hello to?

…

On the other side, after passing through two carriages, Yozora found that the bandaged weirdo was still following him, and the eyes under the blood-stained bandages also revealed a ferocious and twisted color, tightly locked on his body.

"Oh, so you're coming for me."

Although Yozora said this, he had probably guessed it when he saw the other party.

This time, Menma didn't follow him, which means that this bandaged weirdo has the instinct to hunt down wandering spirits, but it's not just that.

Moreover, compared to the last time, although the other party's appearance hasn't changed much, it's still as strange as it was, but its figure is obviously much taller, and I don't know if it's like the Nukekubi, belonging to the same species, or if it's the same one, and it has been restored through some means.

Is it an evil spirit that originally existed in the real world, or is this bandaged weirdo also a being born in the Reverse Side?

After all, it looks similar to the Killing Oni, and it also belongs to the aberrant species among evil spirits.

"Forget it, I'll know after trying."

Yozora glanced at the camera above the carriage, and finally turned around and entered the familiar toilet.

The bandaged weirdo was still as stupid as last time, walking straight to the toilet, but this time, Yozora didn't wait for the other party to walk through the wall, and took the initiative to open the toilet door and pulled the other party in.

"Roar…"

The bandaged weirdo squeezed out a shrill and low roar from its throat, but before it could finish roaring, it received a loud slap in the face from Yozora.

"What are you yelling for? Be quiet."

The bandaged weirdo tried to swing the huge axe, but two ghostly hands, one black and one white, instantly appeared, directly and mercilessly tearing off its arms and legs.

"It should be more honest now, right?"

Yozora had the pale ghostly hand press down on the other party's mouth, slowly approached the bandaged weirdo's hideous face, which was very terrifying in the eyes of ordinary people, looked directly into the other party's eyes, and said thoughtfully.

"Why... why would you come looking for me? Judging from your... or rather, from your previous targeting of Menma, and your behavior in the original storyline, the pattern of your actions seems to be chasing after those wandering spirits who refuse to ascend obediently. Thinking about it more deeply... perhaps it's... the goal of disrupting the boundary between life and death? If that's the case, it makes sense that you would target me this time."

Yae Hoshi thought that, strictly speaking, he was also the kind of person who had broken the rules between life and death. Although Menma hadn't truly been resurrected in the real sense, it was almost the same.

As a spirit who had signed a contract with him, Menma could appear in front of those she wanted to show herself to. If she wanted to, she could even pretend to be an ordinary person all the time.

Wasn't this also escaping the laws of death in the world?

"Then... what exactly are you?"

Yae Hoshi muttered to himself, observing the bandaged monster evil spirit that had been reduced to a human stick.

"Last time I tasted you, I felt like you were half evil spirit and half deity, intertwined together, but the taste wasn't very good. There was a sense of emptiness that couldn't satisfy me. A puppet, perhaps..."

Just as Yae Hoshi said this, the outside of the window suddenly turned dark.

Accompanied by a sharp, piercing sound, the train suddenly began to slow down.

The whistling wind slammed against the windows.

The few passengers in the Shinkansen, seeing this, couldn't help but show expressions of panic and stood up to discuss with each other.

"What... what exactly is happening?"

"Why did the train suddenly stop?"

"What's the situation outside?"

Totsuka Saika, who was inside the carriage, moved closer to the window and looked up. What came into his eyes was a bright moon that was so red it was eerie.

The scenery outside hadn't changed at all...

But he had a feeling that he was already in another world, a world filled with despair and terror.

Under the illumination of the red light, black, twisted figures were slowly approaching the train from the desolate land outside, with a sense of eeriness like a cult worshiping.

"Yae... Yae Hoshi-kun..."

Totsuka Saika tried to dial Yae Hoshi's phone number, but found that he couldn't get through at all.

"What... what is happening...?"

Chapter 419: The Debt-Collecting Bandaged Evil Spirit, SERN's Two Plans

On the other side, Yae Hoshi, who had devoured the bandaged monster, walked out of the train's restroom.

Looking at the carriage, which was in a dim state and only illuminated by some viscous red light, and listening to the strange sounds from outside that sounded like whistling wind, or like hundreds of people whispering at the same time, his eyes flickered as he muttered to himself.

"Another Reverse Side... It seems we have already entered Tokyo's territory."

In areas where the Reverse Side doesn't exist, neither spirit power users nor evil spirits can pull ordinary people into the Reverse Side. After all, how can you pull someone into a place that doesn't exist?

Of course, like Yotsuya Miko's 'All Seeing', Futaba Rio's 'Bone Prison', and Yae Hoshi's 'Godly Purification and Demon Subjugation', these abilities that were originally part of their own powers can still be used as usual.

"Should I use it...?"

Looking at the carriage, which seemed somewhat inexplicably eerie under the illumination of the red light, Yae Hoshi finally shook his head and walked forward step by step.

At the same time, somewhere two kilometers ahead of the train.

Several SERN members wearing white half-face masks, black and blue combat uniforms, and guns hanging from their waists were waiting quietly.

"Can the plan really succeed?"

"According to 'Mask's' personality, it should succeed."

A male SERN member holding binoculars observed the track in the distance and said in a calm tone.

"That area has completely merged with the Reverse Side. Without knowing the composition of the evil spirits, and without knowing if there are any people on our side among the passengers in the carriage, according to Amadeus's analysis, there is a 92.67% probability that 'Mask' on this timeline will make the same choice as before, using his Domain Expansion ability to ensure the safety of those ordinary humans first."

"After he pulls that evil spirit, or deity, that has merged with 'the Door' into his domain, the merging with the Reverse Side will be undone, the train will continue to run, and the passengers will be safe. These are all things that have already happened."

"Then, we just need to blow up this train, making 'Mask'... no, making Yae Hoshi, the only survivor of the train explosion accident, and also the prime suspect in the explosion accident. After some media hype, something like a miraculously surviving boy, the mystery of the train explosion case, the public likes these kinds of stories."

"Let him enter everyone's field of vision, and then let everyone pay attention to him, but without revealing his identity, letting him feel that he can still continue to play the roles of himself and 'Mask' well."

"Destroy his spirit bit by bit, shattering him little by little, thereby weakening his abilities. This is the Professor's plan."

Hearing the leader's words, the other SERN members showed complex expressions, not knowing what to say.

The plan was formulated... without any problems. Soul manifestation is an ability that is generated according to the user's heart. If the user's heart wavers, the performance of the ability will naturally be affected. Minimizing the weakening of 'Mask's' ability is the only way to have a hope of winning.

It's just that the SERN members thought that, even with this plan that wasn't targeting 'Mask' himself, they wouldn't be able to complete it on the future timeline. Even continuing to maintain the organization's existence was an extremely difficult task, and a sense of sadness couldn't help but arise in their hearts.

Fortunately, after arriving on this timeline through the time machine, they finally learned the true identities of 'Mask' and most of his assistants through the intelligence channels of SERN on this timeline.

In this way, they can prepare in advance, just like this time.

"But if..."

Just then, a SERN member raised a question.

"What if 'Mask'... makes a different choice?"

"Then there are two possibilities."

The leading SERN member slowly opened his mouth.

"First, Amadeus has malfunctioned, and the calculated results are not trustworthy. But that is a perfect artificial intelligence created based on that person as a prototype. As long as it doesn't involve predictions about 'Mask', she has never been wrong. The probability of her making a mistake this time is very small."

"Second, 'Mask' on this timeline... possesses some ability that we don't know about. Because the information is incomplete, it caused Amadeus's analysis to produce an error."

"But even if this situation occurs, it's not a complete loss."

The leading SERN member showed a fanatical expression of excitement, and even his voice became somewhat agitated.

"As long as we grasp all of 'Mask's' ability information, we can use Amadeus to analyze all of his next actions. Victory... ultimately belongs to us SERN."