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Ten years had passed.
She was someone that he thought he would never forget. However, her face had imperceptibly become hazy in his mind as time passed.
He still had the same feelings, and still missed her. But compared to ten years ago… his feelings were far less than before.
That was just how humans were.
Humans were good at forgetting. Humans were useless, foolish, and ugly… from ancient past to present, never changing.
What would she say at this time if she was still here?
She would probably laugh.
She would definitely laugh at seeing her foolish family members and the old ones panic.
“You all deserve to die!” She might even say such a thing.
He could imagine her expression and smile while saying such a thing.
‘Haha, you were right, Sayaka.
‘Actually, you were always right to begin with.
‘All of us deserve what we get. All of us should have died long ago.
‘Yet, us who deserve to die have lived until now, while you left us so early when you didn’t deserve to die.
‘It’s probably impossible for me to go to the same place as you. Even so, I still want to meet you one last time, if it’s still possible.’
…
At the Tendo Family.
“Activate it.”
“…Family Head, what do you mean?”
“Immediately activate the Susanoo plan. Soul Society has already noticed what we’re doing. There won’t be a chance anymore unless we activate it immediately.”
“Soul Society… But, even if they’ve noticed, we should be able to stall them for a while…”
“Impossible. They’ll definitely attack us directly without giving us an opportunity to stall for time.”
“…”
“What? Are you afraid now that things have come to this?”
“No… I just feel like this is too much of a rush, that we should still make some adjustments…”
“There’s no more time! Activate it immediately. Otherwise, I’ll kill you right here and now!!” Sougo Tendo’s expression was incredibly icy. It seemed as if the killing intent he was emanating was a physical substance. “Ten years ago, I wanted to personally kill you right there and then, slowly torturing to death! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do so. If you gave me such a chance right here, I would be truly grateful.”
“…You’re insane.”
“I’m insane? Haha… hahahahahaha! Someone like you actually dares to claim that I’m insane!?”
There was a loud thud as blood went flying everywhere. Someone cried out while collapsing on the ground.
“You’re someone who betrayed our family because you wanted to become a god! You’re the insane one who caused so many people to die!! You actually dare to say that I’m insane!?”
“Cough, cough… that was… I was… cough… into temptation…”
“Shut up!!!”
Many sounds of Sougo beating someone up could be heard. Blood kept spilling as Shinzen Tendo screamed. Their shadows flickered wildly on the wall.
“It’s all because of a trash like you, a trash like you, a trash like you… Why didn’t you die!! Die, you bastard!!!”
“Wargh… Please stop hitting me… Show mercy…”
“Hahahaha, now you know to feel afraid!? What happened to your courage in betraying our family!!? Show me some of that courage!!!”
“Wahh… I was… wrong… sorry… sorry… sorry…”
“Apologies are completely useless from you, you piece of trash!!!”
*Boom!* An incredibly heavy blow sent the begging Shinzen crashing violently into the wall. He was almost killed by this.
The rampaging Sougo then forcefully dragged the almost-dead Shinzen out of the wall, throwing him onto the ground and casting some healing magic on him, preserving the latter’s life.
“Sorry, Shinzen. I went a little out of control. Probably because I remembered Sayaka… my younger sister. She ended up dying because of trash like you, an idiot who’s even worse than a stinkbug. To be quite honest, she wasn’t much of a younger sister. She was always willful, spoke so bluntly, and looked down on others. She wasn’t cute at all… but for some reason, I really liked her. I actually felt that she was pretty cute the way she was. Although she would annoy me whenever I saw her, I also missed her whenever she wasn’t around. Sometimes, I would really hate her and want her to disappear, but I would naturally think about her if I didn’t see her for a long while… You’ve probably never felt that way in your life, have you, Shinzen? Because you’re just a piece of scum who only cares about yourself. You didn’t care how much harm you’d brought upon your own family and others, all in order to try and achieve your incredibly foolish goal. From start to finish, you only thought about yourself! You’re nothing more than garbage that should have been chopped up and flushed down the drain! You’re the worst-smelling giant sh*tbag in the world!! You shouldn’t have been born in this world!!”
“Wah… no… that’s not it… I…”
“I want to vomit whenever I see you, piece of trash! I really f*cking want to kill you!! Even making you die one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand times wouldn’t be enough for me!!”
“Wah… I’m sorry… I didn’t… didn’t think that things would become that way… I’m sorry…”
“I told you that apologies from you are useless!!!”
After an angry loud roar, all that could be heard from Sougo was low panting, along with a soft crying sound.
“Immediately activate the spell formation. This is the only use that a piece of trash like you has left in the world. After that, feel free to go die in any gutter that you want.”
“Family Head… Sougo…”
“Don’t call my name! Do you want me to tear your mouth apart!? Hurry up and activate it! Then go find some corner to die in!!”
“Wah… Wahhhhhh…”
Pained crying could be heard within this secret room.
At this moment, Soul Society’s ambush team just arrived for the Tendo Family.
…
Found her!
Kungo managed to find Sayaka Tendo’s remnant soul.
However, Kungo, Seiji, and Natsuya were all unable to wake her up.
“Master…” Kungo’s dark red humanoid spiritual form glanced at the purple soul orb before him. His “eyes” shone with a weak light that gave off a sad aura.
Seiji and Natsuya remained silent by his side.
“Yomi, do you have any ideas here?” Seiji asked for assistance from his bonded female spirit.
“While I do have a method, it requires the sacrifice of the spirit standing there,” Yomi answered. “His foundational nature seems really similar to that soul shard. If you combine him with the remnant soul, that should be able to revitalize her soul enough to wake up again.”
This caused Seiji to recall that Kungo had previously mentioned that he was created by using a portion of his master’s power!
“However, it’s only a possibility that she will awaken. There’s also the possibility that her soul won’t wake up even after sacrificing Kungo,” Yomi warned.
Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes.
“Is it necessary to completely sacrifice him? Could we just combine a portion of him with her soul?”
“Like that… although it will be more troublesome, it can also be done. However, the undead spirit Kungo’s condition is rather unstable. Sacrificing even a portion of him might cause his entire existence to collapse.”
“But at least there’s a chance for both of them to survive, right?”
After discussing it with Yomi, Seiji told Kungo of that method.
“That’s how it is. There’s a decent chance that you might end up vanishing…”
“No need to hesitate. Do it immediately!” Kungo said without hesitation. “If sacrificing me can have my master wake up again, it would be my honor.”
“Are you certain?” Seiji looked directly at him. “Wasn’t your master’s final command to you to have you ‘live on?’”
Kungo fell silent.
“Sacrificing a part of you is the only method to wake her up. However, I don’t want to see you vanish, so you must persist and maintain yourself.”
“…Why?”
“Firstly, of course I don’t want to face her anger right after she wakes up. I need to obtain information from your master, but it will be highly difficult to do so if she’s angry at me for her subordinate’s death.” Seiji then paused for a moment. “Also, I don’t really feel any enmity towards you. Although I still don’t know much about you, I know already that you’re an incredibly loyal samurai. Even if we were previously enemies, I still don’t want to see you just vanish. So, wake your master up, and continue living together with her, Kungo.