The Killing Stone. The crystallized malice left behind after the death of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
What Kenmei and Toji didn't know was that the Sorcerer Association had already tried researching this thing ages ago. The results were catastrophic. It was completely unusable. Once implanted, the subject would lose all control, their mind eroded by the lingering will within the stone until they became a mindless monster that knew only destruction.
Because of this, the experiments were scrapped. The "Killing Stone" was classified as Top Secret within the Association—on the same level as the fingers of the King of Curses. It was designated a Special Grade Cursed Object, strictly sealed and guarded.
If this thing really is a fragment made from the essence of the legendary Tamamo-no-Mae... then being a little rough with it shouldn't be a problem, right? Probably.
Holding Mei in his arms, Kenmei coated his fingers in psychic energy and gently touched the eerie, crimson stone.
He had already run a diagnostic. The Cursed Energy density was insanely high. His touch caused white smoke to hiss from the contact point, but the stone didn't dissolve. Instead, it felt freezing cold to the touch.
It confirmed his suspicion: the reason Mei had changed so drastically was this stone. And the little nastiness was trying to corrupt him, too.
Even with his psychic shielding, the moment Kenmei made contact, a wave of madness slammed into him. It was an emotional shockwave designed to drive a person insane, attempting to invade his mental landscape.
[Passive Trigger: Unyielding Will]
The mental attack was instantly neutralized. The corruption trying to seep into him was infinitely weakened before it could even take root.
The only side effect was a flash of a vision.
In his mind's eye, Kenmei saw a snow-white fox, massive enough to blot out the sun, roaring in fury. Its scarlet eyes were wide with rage, and its nine tails whipped around, destroying everything with unbelievable amounts of Cursed Energy. It was a horror made of pure tyranny, death, and resentment.
But then, the perspective shifted. Kenmei saw a man standing in front of this colossal beast. Compared to the fox, he was the size of an ant.
The man had four arms and two faces covered in tattoos. He was staring up at the legendary monster not with fear, but with amusement. It was the look of a predator finally finding a prey worth hunting.
The vision cut to black.
Kenmei snapped back to reality. In the physical world, less than a second had passed.
"Boss?"
Toji didn't miss the slight glitch in Kenmei's demeanor.
"I'm good."
Kenmei waved his hand dismissively.
"Here. Take this back."
Seeing the look on Toji's face—like he wanted to ask for his weapon back but didn't want to sound desperate—Kenmei tossed the Inverted Spear of Heaven back to him.
Toji caught the blade and immediately shoved it back into the Inventory Curse's mouth. He was genuinely relieved. He already had a 500-million-yen Special Grade tool held hostage by his "Boss." If he lost his spear too, what was he supposed to do? Fight with his bare hands?
He was overthinking it, though. Kenmei wasn't that petty. Besides, the spear worked best in Toji's hands. Kenmei was a mage; he needed a staff, not a dagger.
Kenmei turned his attention back to his sister.
His scan revealed that the stone was now the core of her body. Like the roots of a tree, tiny tendrils had spread from the stone, digging deep into her limbs and fusing with her blood vessels.
The body and the Killing Stone were inseparable now. It was a symbiotic relationship, not just parasitic.
That was actually better than Kenmei had feared.
He had a theory. He might be able to save Mei—or at least, a version of her.
If he could siphon out the aggressive, corrupt Cursed Energy from the stone and replace it with his own pure, psychically-converted energy, he might be able to stabilize her. His energy was clean; it wouldn't damage her remaining soul.
But the risk was massive. He didn't know if her body was being sustained by the Cursed Energy itself or by some specific trait of the Nine-Tailed Fox's vitality.
Plus, tampering with the stone now might shatter it, leading to irreversible consequences.
Caution is the better part of valor. Kenmei decided to wait until his psychic mastery was higher before attempting such a delicate surgery.
For now, the success rate was too low. He would seal Mei's body in a Psychic Crystal Coffin to halt any decay. He'd transport her back home and carve a psychic array to maintain a stasis field.
Once he was powerful enough, he might even be able to use the revived Tamamo-no-Mae as a vessel to resurrect Mei's will.
Just as Kenmei was formulating this plan, flickers of blue light appeared in his peripheral vision.
"Butterflies?"
Why would there be blue butterflies in the city at night? And why did their wings glow when they flapped?
In the next instant, a massive swarm of them erupted from the darkness. It was like the fly-head trick Toji had used earlier, but prettier—and deadlier. The swarm coalesced into a dense cloud and charged straight at them at breakneck speed.
Toji had the Inventory Curse on him, so Kenmei didn't activate his [Tyranid Slayer] fear aura to avoid friendly fire. That hesitation let the swarm get close.
The buzzing of thousands of wings was deafening. But Toji's enhanced hearing picked up something else mixed in with the noise.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
There were heavy, sharp objects hidden inside the butterfly cloud, whistling through the air, aimed precisely at Kenmei.
"Old man."
Kenmei didn't even look up.
"I'll handle the crowd control."
Hearing this, Toji didn't drop his guard, but he didn't charge in either.
As the tidal wave of insects loomed over them, Kenmei glanced at them with bored, cold eyes.
"Ignite."
Pyromancy.
The moment the word left his lips, the air around them turned into an inferno. The temperature spiked so drastically that if Kenmei hadn't thrown up a psychic heat shield, they would have been drenched in sweat instantly.
The scene defied logic. The hidden attacker watching from the shadows widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Impossible!"
The entire swarm was consumed by blue fire. It wasn't just burning; the insects were disintegrating into ash in mid-air.
The high-temperature psychic flames melted the fifty-centimeter steel spikes hidden within the swarm, turning them into droplets of molten slag that rained down harmlessly.
Each blue butterfly turned into a miniature fireball, looking tragically beautiful as they fell from the sky like a meteor shower of sparks.
Ten thousand insects weren't enough to fuel the fire for even a few seconds.
"Damn it. I have to scrap the experiment."
The figure hiding in the distance gritted his teeth.
He turned to run, but before he could take a step, a ruthless fist smashed into his face.
WHAM.
The force lifted him off his feet and sent him flying ten meters backward.
He tried to scramble up, but a heavy boot slammed onto his chest, pinning him to the concrete.
CRACK.
The sound of ribs snapping was crisp and clear.
"Yo. It's just a brat."
Toji looked down, adding a little more crushing weight to his foot just to hear the bones grind.
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