Kawashima Toya stared at the remains of Wujue, ready to finish the job. By severing the Line of Death, he would ensure the monk's absolute end. In a world where the supernatural was reality, the dead returning to life was a risk he wasn't willing to take.
"Wait! Don't kill me!" A frantic voice suddenly echoed from the body, pleading for mercy.
Yukinoshita Yukino, who had been moving closer to investigate, immediately recoiled to a safe distance.
"I'll give it all back! Every bit of the Power of Existence I stole! Please, I'm begging you!"
Toya remained unmoved, his blade held steady.
"Too late. Find your peace in the next life."
Wujue's eyes, now entirely pitch-black, fixed on Toya with a look of pure malice. "You're dead! You hear me? You're going to die too! I'll be waiting for you on the other side. You're finished!"
In an instant, the Point of Death shattered.
Wujue's body began to dissolve. Before it vanished completely, a spectral image of the monk manifested. The monstrous distortion was gone, replaced by a serene, compassionate figure that finally matched the status of a Buddhist monk.
"Benefactor, my apologies," the spirit said, bowing deeply toward Toya with sincere regret before fading away entirely.
Apologies? Toya felt a flicker of doubt. It didn't seem as though Wujue was apologizing for the lives he had taken. It felt like he was apologizing directly to him.
The thought was interrupted by the chime of the system.
[World Quest Issued: The Mother of Buddhas, Cundi, has sensed the death of her disciple, Wujue. A fragment of her divine wrath is descending to the mortal realm to manifest as a Heretical Gods.]
[O Savior, draw your steel against the God of Rebellion! Slay the divine manifestation and usurp the authority of Cundi!]
[QuestReward: 50,000 Source Points, Campione-related abilities.]
[Time remaining until the God of Rebellion, Cundi, breaks free from myth: 12 days.]
Toya stood in silence, processing the notification. He hadn't expected the death of a mere disciple to provoke a divine response this significant.
"Talk about being vindictive," he muttered with a dry chuckle. "Well, let it come. My progress has been stalling anyway. Those Campione abilities are worth the trouble."
Campione abilities were legendary. In that particular world, a normal human could reach the peak of existence simply by slaying a God of Rebellion. Toya hadn't anticipated such an entity appearing in what was supposed to be an ordinary setting, but he wasn't about to let the opportunity pass.
He finally understood Wujue's final bow. The monk had known his death would bring a vengeful god, and since he couldn't stop it, he had offered an apology in advance.
"Toya, are you all right?" Yukinoshita asked, her concern evident. "Your face went pale for a second. Was it a curse?"
"I'm fine. Let's check the Power of Existence first." Toya waved her off and turned toward the glowing essence left behind.
The lights shimmered with the weight of stolen lives. Toya reached out, tapping the clusters and watching as they scattered like fireflies.
"Don't worry, I'm just sending the energy back to where it belongs."
As the lights dispersed, two clusters remained that were significantly larger than the rest. Toya cast a meaningful glance at Yukinoshita.
"Yukino, you've got some strange luck."
Power of Existence was the fuel for life itself; the more one had, the longer they lived. These two clusters belonged to her kittens, and they were three times larger than average. It meant they would likely live for centuries.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.
"Let's head back first. I want to figure out what those kittens actually are. No ordinary cat has a three-hundred-year lifespan."
Yukinoshita was stunned. A normal cat lived twenty years at most. To hear that the strays she had rescued were potential long-lived creatures was a shock, but she didn't doubt him. An expert in the supernatural wouldn't lie about such things.
"Do Shiro and Kuro have some kind of power?"
"How else do you think you could move freely inside a Fūzetsu? Normal people have their time and thoughts frozen solid," Toya said. "Who knows, they might even become something more. I wish I had that kind of luck."
Cat-girls, maybe? Who would turn that down?
.....
In a place beyond the veil of reality, a figure wreathed in divine light sighed slowly. "Leave it to Cundi to be so shameless. She's moving in directly, and we can't even block her."
"It's because they're so blatant that we don't get along," a nearby figure with a heavy demonic aura sneered. "They always play by their own rules."
"We wait. Our turn isn't far off."
"Actually, why don't we start a pool? Let's bet on whether the Savior can actually kill her, or if she's just taking a dive to let him win."
"Count me in..."
A slightly softer voice spoke up. "Are we taking this too lightly? Our enemy is practically every pantheon in existence."
.....
On the taxi ride back to the apartment, Toya remained quiet, focused on the Power of Existence he carried.
Yukinoshita had already forgotten about the kittens again. Explaining it would just be a waste of energy. The temporary "borrowed" existence he had given the cats earlier had run out, and they had faded back into the background of people's perceptions. Everyone who had interacted with them found their memories blurred once more.
Yukinoshita sat in silence, looking annoyed. To her, it felt like Toya was simply ignoring her. The atmosphere in the car was so cold that even the driver stayed silent, clearly wanting to avoid the girl's frustration.
When they arrived, Toya looked at her and smiled. "Stop brooding. Once we're inside, everything will make sense."
Yukinoshita didn't respond, her expression like frost, but she led the way into the building.