Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.05 Tamaki Part 9 ==

The ring of light brought a storm of electricity.

A lightning bolt large enough to connect the night sky and the surface caved in the riverside area at the suburbs. The water flowing in the river instantly boiled and a large amount of dirt was blown away.

The Mushitsuki wearing green long coat and goggles were all blown away by the impact. The Mushi trying to attack the ring had their bodies crumble.

The ring’s uniliteral carnage did not stop. While going a fast rotation, an unseen power lifted the surrounding dirt and shot it with terrifying speed. Pebble bullets struck the long coats and their Mushi, causing several more dying screams.

The finisher was a surge of steam explosion and Common Albatross butterflies wrapped in white flames. The blowing, pure energy pursued the escaping Mushi and in no time scorched them to ashes.

The battle between the ring of light and the long coats did not even last ten minutes.

The ring floated several dozen centimeters above ground.

Not even a single long coat remained standing.

“Is that the extent of the SEPB’s power?”

Looking down calmly at one of the collapsed members, Tamaki smiled.

“This makes it the third branch that Kanon demolished.”

Using Kanon’s face and voice, Tamaki held hands with the lines of believers lined up on the riverbank.

“Watch this! By combining our powers, Kanon and all of you have nothing to fear from the SEPB!”

The believers raised a cheer. “Kanon-sama!” “Kanon-sama!” loud chants worshipping Kanon reverberated along the river.

“Now, people of the SEPB, will you not join Kanon as well? Rather than staying where you only follow orders, won’t you help us help you? If you believe in Kanon—”

Grinning, Tamaki whispered sweet words to the SEPB members.

“Kanon will someday erase your Mushi and save you, you know?”

Upon hearing those words, the members who rose up to try their last resistance were clearly shaken. Biting their lips, one took off their coat, then another, and yet another one.

“The full moon approaches again…”

She looked up at the sky.

A large moon floated there with the twinkling stars. In just a few more days, it would become a full sphere.

The time for her to exhibit the fourth miracle to her believers was approaching.

“During the next full moon, Kanon will save everyone.”

Agitation spread throughout all of the followers.

Tamaki looked up to the moon, smiling.

“Right… everyone who believes in Kanon…”

A moment of silence.

The next instant, a loud cheer tore the air asunder. The voices zealously extoling Kanon’s name overflowed, becoming a tremor that shook the riverside.

The first miracle happened during Kanon and Tamaki’s reunion. Although it was a joke coupled with third-rate acting, it saved Kanon and created many allies.

The second miracle gave Kanon the name of a God and a castle. The miracle able to erase Mushi turned the Mushitsuki to believers, and Kanon to a God.

After the third miracle—Kanon and Tamaki split up.

But it was not yet over.

Kanon’s lie was going to grow even larger.

The fourth miracle would probably let Kanon and Tamaki meet again.

And, at that time, by offering up a sacrifice—

Lie would become truth.

The world would be fully dyed by Kanon’s lie and the pair would obtain everything.

“If you believe in Kanon, you too will be saved during the next full moon.”

Tamaki reached out her hands toward the SEPB members collapsed around the ring.

As if to welcome them.

As if to embrace them.

As if—to save them.

“Will you believe in Kanon?”

No one could resist those sweet whispers. Even among the members who still turned eyes full of doubt at her, all of them had removed their long coats.

Tamaki wore a satisfied smile—and turned sharp eyes toward the darkness.

“—So you’re here.”

She mumbled softly.

Tamaki’s narrowed eyes saw a figure moving within the night darkness.

“Will you also come and speak to Kanon, members of the Annihilators?”

The SEPB members at the riverbank all shuddered. As they looked around to the other side, figures in the same color as the darkness appeared one after another.

There were perhaps about 20 of them. All of them wore black clothing close-fitting body suits and black masks to hide their faces.

“T-these are the Annihilators…? They actually exist?”

“What’s up with them…?”

At the appearance of the abnormal figures, the SEPB members and believers were confused.

Appearing there weren’t only the black suited people. Advancing calmly within their center was also a person with tape pasted on their mask. His height and blazing-like red hair emitted a presence far beyond any of the Annihilators around.

“You’ve got some guts, pickin’ up a fight with the SEPB, eh?”

A low voice that seemed to tremble the air of the riverbank. It even felt as if the surrounding temperature rose, so much that none would be surprised if the man exhaled fire with every breath.

Seeing him, the SEPB members disregarded their wounds and drew back.

“Ha—Harukiyo!”

“It’s Harukiyo…!”

The believers were disturbed just the same. Among them were also ex-SEPB members, and there were also those who saw him while in Mushibane.

“Waaah! It’s Harukiyo!”

“Protect Kanon-sama!”

The believers hurriedly caused a commotion, and yet Tamaki stopped them with a hand.

Everyone lost their calmness as if their reasoning capabilities were burned away, but a single person, Tamaki alone, still smiled calmly.

Tamaki too had once fell into panic just like them.

The power of the Mushitsuki called Harukiyo was overwhelming. The only ones who could face him and remained calm were probably those who were Rank 1 just like him.

“Finally! Does coming here only after three branches were destroyed mean you were sleeping?”

However, Tamaki was different from her past self.

Right now, Tamaki was—Kanon.

She had the confidence of many believers and she had gained the strongest guardian deity, the ring of light.

For Tamaki, who transformed into the Child of God, Kanon, the Mushitsuki in front of her—was nothing but another sacrifice. She had wished for his arrival.

“Huh? Aiming for these branches full of small fries won’t do nothing to invite me.”

Folding his arms, Harukiyo wore a devilish smile. Hot air started crackling around him, making even the surrounding Annihilators step back.

“Isn’t targeting small fries the best if one wishes to summon a small fry?”

“The fuck you just say?”

Tamaki’s provocation changed Harukiyo’s eyes. His hot eyes that almost seemed to be able to kill with just a gaze pierced through Tamaki and the followers.

“Ka…Kanon-sama…?”

“Please stop, Kanon-sama…!”

“It is fine, we will not fight now.”

Turning toward the scared followers, she calmed them with a kind smile.

“Right, if you’re not gonna fight that means I can just butcher all of you, right?”

“No, you should just pass a message along.”

Harukiyo’s tape-covered eyes twitched.

Tamaki grinned.

Until now she’d used her ability to infiltrate all organizations. Her aim was to cause confusion until her side gained power, inviting followers and the like, and she had the information she gained in the course of that.

“’I know your goal. Are you not burning with yearning for a certain person’s return? But if that person returns, the world might be destroyed’—”

“—”

For a moment, the wave of high temperature covering Harukiyo shook like a heat haze.

Tamaki was convinced.

It was just like she thought.

If it was the “real one”, he never would have had a humanlike response such as wavering.

Now that she realized this, it was all the more reason not to fear the man in front of her.

“’Kanon can save that person’.”

Harukiyo stood motionless, paralyzed, while Tamaki with Kanon’s face smiled.

“’Kanon can remove the reason for that person’s slumber’—is the message.”

The riverbank fell silent.

This space, until very recently ruled by the remnants of battle and the commotion caused by Harukiyo’s arrival, was now so quiet one could even hear the chirps of bugs.

“You know who you need to pass this message along to, right?”

Kanon smiled.

After staying silent for a while, Harukiyo finally raised his chin as if recalling something. He suddenly spread a heat wave around, wearing a smile loaded with killing intent.

“…So you’re the bitch from back then…!”

“Whatever might you be referring to? This is Kanon’s first time meeting you.”

Tamaki played dumb.

The ring emitting pure light and the crimson heatwave emitted by Harukiyo.

An explosive situation unfolded between these two people who possessed power beyond the domain of humans. As if responding to that, the Annihilators slowly parted to the sides, assuming a position from which they could attack at any time.

“…”

Harukiyo left a provocative smile behind and turned away. The believers and SEPB members, and even the Annihilators all looked at the devil’s back with shock.

“Make sure you pass it properly.”

Tamaki reminded Harukiyo—the fake devil.

The remnants of flames vanished into the night’s darkness.

Since Harukiyo drew away, the other Annihilators also apparently lost their desire for battle. Just like when they appeared, they vanished into the darkness noiselessly.

“We’re… saved…?”

“Harukiyo retreated…? Why…”

On one hand the believers were relieved, but they were confused, unable to understand the reason for Harukiyo’s departure.

“There is no need to be scared. Even if Kanon needed to fight, we would have won.”

Tamaki wore a carefree smile, looking at her believers.

As the dreary atmosphere vanished, perhaps finally relieved from the depths of their hearts, the believers raised the voice of victory.

“Kanon-sama!”

“Kanon-sama!”

While listening to the voices revering Kanon, Tamaki looked up the night sky.

The next full moon was but a few days away.

By stealing Alpha, she turned Mushibane into her enemy.

By raiding the SEPB, she declared war.

The preparations to make the next miracle happen were steadily moving—

“You’ll come back, right, Kanon? At the next full moon…”

With a voice small enough to not be heard by anyone, Tamaki mumbled.

“At that time, I’ll show you. A true miracle… the moment a lie becomes the truth.”

Receiving on her body the chanting praising Kanon’s name, Tamaki smiled bewitchingly.