The mist was now everywhere, dense and icy cold.
Seiji was greatly fatigued both physically and mentally as he forced himself to trudge onward.
Although he could previously hear some sounds, he was uncertain if he was heading in the right direction with how the environment was now. He could only numbly continue trudging forward.
And then, he saw a figure standing before him.
This person wore rather tattered samurai garb, and he was also missing his left hand. He seemed to be looking off into the distance.
He was Shigure Tendo.
However, it was also impossible for this person to be Shigure Tendo, for Shigure's consciousness was still in the dream world, reading Seiji's light novel.
"Who are you?" Seiji asked.
The youth slowly turned around. His handsome face had a downcast expression, but there was also a sharp glint in his eyes.
"Harano… why couldn't you have died?" he spoke in an icy tone.
Seiji immediately furrowed his eyebrows.
"If only you had died, there would have been two available bodies, and my master wouldn't have…" The youth stopped speaking halfway through his sentence.
"You're Kungo?" Seiji asked.
The youth—or, more accurately, the existence which took over Shigure's body—didn't reply.
Seiji took this as tacit admittance.
Kungo was now inside Shigure Tendo's body! How had this been accomplished?
Had the "woman" accomplished this? Where was she right now?
Seiji looked all around, but saw nobody else.
Kungo turned around, and started walking away. It seemed like he was about to leave.
"Wait!" Seiji stopped him. "That body doesn't belong to you."
Kungo stopped for a moment.
"No matter who he was in the past, I am now him," he stated with his back still facing Seiji. Kungo then began to walk away again.
"Stop!" Seiji chased after Kungo, and blocked him with his sword. "You need to return that body, Kungo!"
Kungo glanced sidelong at Seiji with an icy expression. "What if I refuse? Are you going to kill me?"
Seiji was rendered speechless.
Of course Seiji couldn't kill Shigure's physical body.
He needed to think of some method to force Kungo out from Shigure's body… but how would he even do that? And if he forcefully tried to do something, what would happen to Shigure's body…
"Get out of my way. If you try to stop me, I'll kill this body completely," Kungo stated icily. "Although I might have lost most of my power for the time being, it will still be easy enough for me to kill myself instantly."
That was how things were now.
Shigure's body that he was now in had basically become a hostage!
Seiji didn't know what to do.
"What do you want to do now that you have this body which doesn't belong to you?"
"…Continue to live." Kungo had a downcast expression again. "That was the final order that my master gave to me."
To be honest, he didn't really want to live anymore without his master. But, since his master wanted him to live, he could only follow the command.
"How do you intend to live?" Seiji slowly put away his sword. "First of all, do you even know how to leave this place?
Kungo was rendered speechless.
All he could see everywhere was nothing but thick mist. Where was he even supposed to go?
He indeed wanted to leave this place and go to the "real world" that his master had mentioned. But now that he was asked such a question, Kungo noticed for the first time that he had no idea how to leave here.
"I will keep walking until I find something."
"It's likely that you'll die before you can find anything here," Seiji told him in a serious tone.
Right after he said this, he suddenly sensed something.
Kungo sensed the same something simultaneously. Both of them turned around.
Gigantic figures appeared in the mist.
There were Samurai Demons approaching!
Seiji immediately pulled Kungo after him when he saw these powerful spiritual monsters approaching. "Run!!"
Kungo could also tell that these monsters definitely had hostile intentions. He didn't try to resist when Seiji pulled him along.
Both of them swiftly ran away together. They then saw more spiritual monsters appearing from other directions. A Snake Demon suddenly sprayed a wave of Mana Bullets at them!
Seiji managed to grab Kungo in time to dodge this wave of attacks. He then carried Kungo on his back, and started running at full speed!
At this moment, he suddenly heard someone shouting out to him "Seiji!"
It was Kazuko!
"Kazuko, are you alright!?"
"I'm fine…"
Seiji noticed that Kazuko was holding something that appeared to be a broken sword. However, he didn't have the time to ask about that right now.
Run! Run! Run away at full speed!!!
As Seiji used all his remaining energy to gain as much distance between him and the monsters, Kazuko was able to safely open up a portal back to the real world.
***
In the end, Seiji's knight order never received a summons to join him. He had returned first instead.
Although Seiji appeared rather wretched, it seemed that he wasn't seriously injured, so everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
As for Shigure Tendo's body… Seiji had indeed brought back Shigure's body, but something seemed to be off.
First of all, Shigure's body was now missing its left hand.
And then, most importantly, someone else had taken over his body!
Seiji told everyone about all his experiences and who Kungo was, right in front of Kungo.
Everyone remained silent afterward. Nobody said anything for quite a while.
Everyone was now looking at Kungo, the samurai who had taken over Shigure's body. Kungo was calmly facing all of them.
He no longer had the power to resist. However, he was fully confident that he could at least commit suicide before anyone present could do anything to him!
Kungo was in fact even hoping that they would try to do something to him. This way, he could finally have a reason to accompany his master in death.
Seiji had a big headache regarding what to do with Kungo. He looked towards Natsuya, but she shook her head. It seemed that she also didn't have any good ideas.
So, the issue of Kungo would have to be set aside for the short time being.
Apart from Kungo, there was also one other important matter.
"Kazuko, what's that item you brought back with you?"
Kazuko was still holding onto the something which resembled a broken sword.
"I picked this up."
"Picked it up?"
"Yeah…"
Kazuko then told everyone about her experiences.
After she followed Seiji through the torii, she was unable to enter the mysterious town that Seiji had. Instead, she got lost in the darkness.
Then, she could sense a mysterious something in a certain direction, so she cautiously approached it.
She then discovered a broken sword.
She placed the broken sword on the table for everyone to see. This part of the broken sword included the entire bright red sword hilt and part of a golden sword. The entire sword blade and hilt were covered all over with intricate runes that seemed rather mystical.
"Could this be…" Natsuya picked up the broken sword and gently touched the runes, identifying the runes and the sword's material. "Totsuka no Tsurugi?"
Totsuka no Tsurugi?
That famous "Totsuka no Tsurugi"!? The legendary weapon owned by a god!? Just about everyone present widened their eyes in surprise.
Everyone here was familiar with Sakura Island's myths. The Totsuka no Tsurugi, also known as the Sword of Ten Hand-Breadths, would often appear in many myths and legends. Its most famous achievement was having slain the Yamata no Orochi!
That was why this sword would often appear in many manga and anime. Any story which involved the famous Yamata no Orochi would often see this sword show up as well, appearing as the weapon destined to slay the evil snake.
Some people believed that the Yamata no Orochi had been instead slain by the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the sword which was later renamed Kusanagi, and became one of the three major mystical artifacts of Sakura Island alongside the jewel Yasakani no Magatama and the mirror Yata no Kagami. However, that would be a mistake. The Kusanagi had actually been discovered inside the Yamata no Orochi's body, much like how slaying a boss in a video game would reward one with some top-level equipment… Seiji suddenly began to wonder if this historical incident had been the inspiration behind video game designers making bosses drop equipment upon death.
At any rate, the Totsuka no Tsurugi was still an unbelievable divine weapon that even ordinary people knew was incredible! Of course everyone would be astonished when Natsuya identified the sword.
The student council president blinked as she saw everyone else's reactions.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not referring to the divine weapon Totsuka no Tsurugi. The Totsuka no Tsurugi is also used as a common name for spiritual artifact swords of this length. Basically, these Totsuka no Tsurugis can be reproduced as artifacts to help spellcasting." Natsuya placed the broken sword back on the table. "Even a single Totsuka no Tsurugi will still be a top-level spiritual artifact. They're very precious, and highly difficult to craft. I have never even seen a real one before. That's why I'm not absolutely certain if this broken sword is one or not, but I feel that it is. We'll have to find an appraiser in order to get a more certain evaluation."
A spiritual artifact… why would Kazuko have picked up such an item deep within the Realm of Cherry Blossoms?
"Why would this spiritual artifact appear there? Why was it broken? What was it used for there?" Seiji furrowed his eyebrows as he asked several questions.
"It might be something left behind from a failed ritual or spell," Natsuya explained. "If the spell was successful, then this artifact shouldn't have broken. Since Totsuka no Tsurugis are incredibly expensive, I doubt that any faction out there would use one as a consumable item… probably."
"Expensive? What's the price for buying one?"
"I'm not sure about the exact price that they go for on the market, but I think that it would be at least 3,000,000,000 sakuras for a single one."
3 trillion sakuras!?
Just about everyone was astonished yet again.
This broken sword on the table… was worth 3 trillion sakuras? At the very minimum!?
Kazuko had practically picked up a priceless treasure!
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