The person beside the Minister picked up the phone and glanced at it.
He then tossed the phone away as if it were a hot potato.
Everyone who had seen the video turned pale.
They were all very clear about one thing.
They were dead meat!
The Higher-Ups would not let them off.
Kitamura also saw the video, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes, but he quickly calmed down.
"Minister! It's not time to give up yet."
"We still have Plan B! As long as the plan succeeds, we can pin all the blame on Akuto!"
"It was the cursed spirits that caused all this; what does it have to do with us?"
"Not only will we be innocent, but we'll also be heroes!"
The Prime Minister shot a venomous look at Kitamura.
If not for the plan this idiot devised, how could such a thing have happened?
However, the Minister soon forced himself to calm down.
He couldn't entirely blame Kitamura either.
After all, no one expected Akuto to have such an ability; the Minister even saw two sealed Special Grade cursed spirits in the video.
Fortunately, even if ordinary people saw the video, they wouldn't be able to see the spirits inside, the entire country of Japan would be in chaos.
For now, he still had to rely on Kitamura's plan.
To put it simply, no one cared who had actually caused this disaster.
All that mattered was that someone took the fall.
If Kitamura succeeded, everyone in the Exorcism Society would live.
If he failed, everyone would have to commit seppuku to atone for their sins.
That is, assuming they even got the chance to commit seppuku.
"Take the two of them and remove the tasers!"
The Minister stood up and glared intently at Kitamura. "You'd better pray your plan works."
At this moment, the Minister finally understood that Akuto had planned this from the very beginning.
Ridiculously, they had intended to use the lives of Touko and Kyosuke to stabilize or even threaten Akuto.
Instead, Akuto turned around and threatened them with the lives of the entire nation!
The Minister didn't doubt for a second that if Akuto could make people in one district see cursed spirits, he definitely had the ability to make people elsewhere see them too.
If it weren't so, Akuto wouldn't be so confident.
The Exorcism Society, which prided itself on being hunters, had all become Akuto's prey.
"Move out!"
...On the rooftop.
Akuto sat on the edge of the building, coldly watching everything unfolding below.
By now, the death toll could be counted in the tens of thousands.
"Lord Akuto, will they really compromise?" Miko was still very nervous inside the sealed space.
Akuto broke into a wry smile. "Miko, do you know what the most interesting part is?"
"Even you know that I'm inhuman and cruel."
"Yet those fools from the Exorcism Society chose to gamble their lives on my conscience, actually thinking they could threaten me with the lives of two people."
"Hahahaha!"
Akuto clutched his stomach and burst into wild laughter.
Miko couldn't laugh; she kept pacing back and forth within the Sealed Space.
Akuto dullly retracted his smile and looked down playfully, "More than you, those people from the Exorcism Society are afraid that Touko and Kyosuke will die."
Just as Akuto finished speaking, his phone rang; it was an unknown number.
"Speak," Akuto answered the call.
"Stop what you're doing. We'll bring the two from the Yotsuya Family to you, and we can hand over the mummy as well!"
Akuto sneered upon hearing this.
"You don't seem to understand the situation."
"I'll only stop once I'm satisfied. Otherwise, the next target will be the Kyoto District, then all of Kyoto, and then all of Japan."
"You're in no position to negotiate with me."
"Bring all the Higher-Ups of the Exorcism Society before me and beg on your knees for my forgiveness, then I'll consider it."
"If even one person is missing, it doesn't count."
With that, Akuto hung up... Inside a business van on the highway.
*Bang!*
The Minister slammed his fist into the back of the front seat, trembling with rage.
"He wants all the Higher-Ups of our Exorcism Society to go."
"Call Hattori, Mr. Tosou, and the others."
The atmosphere inside the van was suppressed to the freezing point.
Kitamura was still smiling, clutching an exquisite hairpin in his hand:
"Please rest assured, Minister. This plan is definitely foolproof."
"You'd better pray it is."
The Minister's gaze grew colder and colder; he completely forgot that it was his own greed that had led them to this point.
Otherwise, Kitamura's plan wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
Fifteen minutes later, the speeding vehicle finally entered Shibuya Ward.
Only upon arriving did the Exorcism Society's Higher-Ups realize just how insane Akuto was!
This place had practically turned into a living hell!
They had no idea how they would even clean up the aftermath.
But now was not the time to think about that.
After meeting up on the way with Hattori, Mr. Tosou, and four others who hadn't participated in the plan, the group of twelve arrived at the center of Shibuya Ward according to the address Akuto had given.
"Where is he?"
Everyone looked around anxiously until someone looked up.
"He's up there."
Everyone looked up and saw a black dot rapidly growing larger.
It's a person!
*Boom!*
Akuto landed heavily in the center of the intersection, then nonchalantly brushed the dust off his clothes.
Inside the Sealed Space, Miko breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Touko and Kyosuke were still alive.
"Mr. Akuto, there might be some misunderstanding between us."
"We only invited Mrs. Yotsuya and little Kyosuke to collect some tissue samples for research."
The Minister now wore a gentle smile as he slowly walked toward Akuto.
"There's really no need for things to get this far between us! We're partners, aren't we?"
With a click, Akuto lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of blue smoke.
"Your head."
"What?"
The Minister looked at Akuto in confusion.
"It's held too high."
Before the Minister could even figure out what Akuto meant, he felt his vision suddenly rise much higher.
'Why are their expressions so strange?'
The Minister saw his subordinates staring at him in horror.
'Why is my vision getting lower and lower?'
'That... seems to be my body…'
'Ah... Was I beheaded... ? How could it be so fast…? He didn't even try to communicate with me.'
These were the Minister's final thoughts.
Akuto's crimson pupils turned toward the others.
"Your heads."
As soon as Akuto finished speaking, Kitamura and the other Higher-Ups of the Exorcism Society immediately dropped to their knees!
Slice!
They clearly heard the vehicle behind them being sliced in half!
"Good."
Akuto flicked the cigarette ash, "Bring the people back to me."
The hearts of the eleven kneeling people pounded like drums, and pea-sized beads of cold sweat rolled down their cheeks.
Facing Akuto, they finally felt the mountain-like pressure of their lives being constantly threatened!
"This guy... is simply a monster..."
That terrifying killing intent made everyone tremble.
Kitamura signaled a teammate beside him, and the two immediately stood up tremblingly, staring intently at Akuto's expression, ready to kneel again at the slightest movement.
Seeing no reaction from Akuto, they then supported Touko and Kyosuke as they walked over.
One step, two steps.
In the span of just a few meters, Kitamura and the middle-aged man beside him felt as if they had walked for years.
Every step bore a terrifying pressure.
It felt as if it were going to crush them!
They could feel their bodies trembling wildly, their bones groaning, and every cell in fear.
But at this point, they could only keep walking.
Closer and closer.
Finally, Kitamura stood before Akuto.
"My lord, the two of them are perfectly fine."
Touko, her face pale, quickly broke free from Kitamura's grip, hugged Kyosuke, and then swiftly hid behind Akuto.
In that instant, Kitamura's face suddenly turned hideous, and he pulled a hairpin from his robe and slammed it into the ground.
Bang!
A sudden change occurred!