Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.06 Akatsuki Part 10 ==
Standing nearby it, Genius's largeness defied imagination.

The fields between the mountains were left with the marks of Genius heading to town while dragging its egg for miles upon miles. Knocking down power lines, destroying a pump house and causing it to cave in, it created a small ravine.

The area with Genius in its center was another dimension controlled by white particles. They were able to barely preserve a normal space only around Akatsuki, who was comparatively close, and the other members. Among the members was someone with the ability to nullify domains.

"UOOOHHH!"

The laser beams shot by Akatsuki pierced the white space. They slipped between legs, dodged the scythes and stabbed through the head. Genius's cry shook the surrounding air.

Other than Akatsuki and the others on the ground there were also some people engaging in aerial combat. Dodging the scythes, Minion-Type Mushitsuki ripped Genius's wings growing from its back with sharp claws. Other Mushi flew around while spitting spheres of flames, scorching the orchid mantis's skin.

Genius howled.

The white particles dancing midair temporarily changed to the form of a large coffin. It opened its mouth wide to eat the Mushi flying at it. Another ball of fire was swallowed inside the coffin, and by closing the lid the flames exploded in the closed space.

Long range attacks did not pierce its tough outer shell, and if they approached it they would be swallowed by the clay coffins. Furthermore, the white pheromones filling the air would erode the Mushi's hosts' mind and cause them to be unable to fight.

"Take shelter!"

After shooting a succession of laser beams, Akatsuki heard a sharp noise and raised his head in surprise.

Genius swung its scythe toward where Akatsuki was. The mantis looming above looked like a white building collapsing.

"…!"

Including Akatsuki, the jacket-wearing members spread to all directions.

Yet there was one member who couldn't escape on time. Perhaps intimidated by Genius's pressure, he looked in a daze at the sickle aiming for him.

"Run!"

Akatsuki shouted yet the member didn't move. He clicked his tongue, making the mayfly's double tail glow.

"Tch…!"

A full-powered swarm of lasers hit the scythe threatening to hit the delayed member.

A large tremor shook the field plain.

Akatsuki floated a few meters in air. He soon recovered his position and raised his face.

Even the multitude of lasers merely changed the scythe's trajectory a bit. The scythe nearly grazing the member created a large valley in the ground.

"What a waste. Throwing away so much power for that… That guy was a low-ranked member so you could've just abandoned him."

"Don't fuck with me…!"

He immediately cursed. Genius's scythe was even thicker than the rest of its body. Akatsuki's attack did nothing but leave scorching marks on the light pink blade.

"I also said this before, but leave your cellphone open. If you won't, I can't use my ability and you'll get affected by the domain."

Akatsuki noticed the white pheromones distancing him. Looking around, he also saw that the white particles avoided the other members strewn around just like him.

"Shit…!"

Akatsuki grimaced, looking up at Genius leisurely heading to town. As always, the attacks made by the North Central Branch were simple and passive hit and run tactics.

Ever since Akatsuki came in front of Genius, he was the only one to attack with his full power. Yet due to the distance, by the time the lasers hit the white particles they were weakened. At least it lost its balance, but even causing small wounds took everything Akatsuki had.

"Fight more seriously! Haven't only the low-ranked members been attacking for a while now?!"

There were a few obvious high-ranking members around. Some of them sat on distant power poles, some flew above Genius. Some of them just used their domains to protect themselves from the pheromones, and some of them never showed up, just like those who protected the domains of other members.

Holding Genius back by himself was too much for Akatsuki. He also used up his power to protect lower-ranked members just like before.

At this rate he would simply exhaust himself.

"Hey, isn't this guy an idiot?"

"You can't just blindly attack, y'know. I mean, even your attacks aren't doin' much, Kaguya-san."

"I don't want to waste myself against such a monster… there's no way of winning."

In front of the flying unit, countless coffins materialized. A few Mushi didn't manage to turn in time and flew into the large opening coffins.

"…!"

His body moved faster than he could think. His mayfly shot some lasers, and he shot down all of the coffins attempting to devour the Mushi, leaving none behind.

He was glad to see that the escaping Mushi took their distance. Yet not long after, he felt a tremor at his feet. His body was then hurled aside.

"Kh!"

The coffin flying out of the ground covered the spot Akatsuki occupied just now. He took a safe landing and stood up, looking up at the orchid mantis.

It probably noticed who the most troublesome enemy Mushitsuki was. Genius's three compound eyes all focused down on Akatsuki.

"Ugh…!"

The pheromones around him increased in richness. The shrinking white grain storm engulfed Akatsuki.

"Yeah yeah, Domain Isolation. Geez, don't make me use my power too much."

Just before collapsing, the particles receded. Immediately after he leapt to the side, a suddenly appearing coffin swallowed the spot he just stood in.

As Akatsuki ran away at full speed, the coffins growing from the ground assaulted him one after another.

"Oh my, he's taken a liking for you. How dangerous."

He couldn't even spare a look above. He instinctively changed course, leaping directly to the side.

A scythe as large as a wall passed in front of him. It slashed through a power line and severed water pipes, causing a large water spout.

"What about your so-called trump card? You seem to be reaching your limits."

"Actually, would even Central Headquarters be able to beat this stupid thing?"

"They'd manage somehow, right? The Vice-Director has some sorta unit directly under her. They're probably strong."

"Huh? Then we don't have to break a sweat then."

Wet with water and caked with mud, Akatsuki couldn't bear it any longer and shouted.

"What're you going to do about the town then?! Can you even imagine how many victims this will cause at this rate?!"

"Sure, we wanna help. But what's impossible's impossible. So we should run away and limit the number of victims."

"If you really want to defeat that mantis, how about you stop protecting the low-ranks and focus your attacks on it? It's a wonder you're still alive when you're soft enough and try to protect them all."

The lasers shot by Akatsuki hit Genius's abdomen. But perhaps weakened by the energy expenditure of the succession of attacks, it didn't even cause the Mushi to flinch.

"What's so wrong about wanting to protect people…!"

He was sick of seeing people collapse in front of him. Akatsuki himself turned many Mushitsuki to Fallens. But he had enough of that.

Even just fighting like this right now was unbearable.

He felt keenly that only days of peace, such as those he had spent with Ako, were what agreed with him the most.

"Being greedy ain't good. Do what you can and avoid what's impossible. That's the secret for a long life."

"Those who try to accomplish what they can't will just die."

"I already know I want too much here…!"

Although he was fighting, he didn't want to fight anymore.

Although he was losing, he didn't want to lose anything anymore.

That was the person called Ogata Akatsuki.

What was so wrong about a selfish Mushitsuki?

"Even so, I'm much better than those of you who run away without even trying!"

"What was that?"

"Wait, Kaguya-san. We're risking our lives here, too; isn't this too much?"

"Man, you're pissin' me off."

Ako, who he'd met in this town, had said that civilians and Mushi were no different.

But not wanting to save someone in front of his eyes would mean that Mushitsuki were mere monsters. Something even scarier than Genius in front of him. If he became like that as well, he would be unable to go back to his daily life.

"If I need to give up on my humanity and become a monster, I'd rather die!"

Akatsuki had not given up.

He would return to peaceful life like before, when he could hold Senri's hand.

That was way he had to cross the line—

"Are you saying that we're monsters?"

"I don't wanna hear that from a member of Kakkou's branch; now that's a real monster."

"Stop talking about that demon at times like this…"

"If you wanna defeat that thing why don'tcha bring Kakkou here? He might be able to, right?"

Agreeing voices flew all over the communication channel.

He could imagine it, but that guy was hated even in the North Central Branch. Perhaps he had caused some sort of incident in the past.

The moment Kakkou's name came out, Akatsuki felt the blood rising to his head.

However—

"Haha…"

Along with a dry laugh, Akatsuki gazed up at Genius.

Exhausted as he was, his attacks couldn't even delay the movements of the orchid mantis. The lower-ranked involved in battle were hurt.

"Aren't you thinking the same as me…"

Ako said.

''—Not fighting and running away are not one and the same.''

Indeed.

Simply because Akatsuki didn't want to fight, he ran from the battle in front of him.

The hatred directed at the person who took the one most important to him was just a pretext to protect the person important to him.

Yet he noticed that he was always running away from battle.

"I don't want to fight"—

Akatsuki had misjudged his dream.

To make that dream come true he didn't need to run away from battle.

He needed to survive.

In order to stop any kind of fighting, he could do nothing but survive to the end.

And Akatsuki knew only one person who could do that.

"Kakkou might be able to defeat this—I thought."

A silence befell the channel.

He could feel the anger of the North Central Branch.

Yet he also knew that not a single one would speak against him.

"I loathe him, but I know that Kakkou is strong…"

The Mushitsuki called Kusuriya Daisuke was trying to finish the war.

Akatsuki finally felt as he could also see the same goal.

It was rather late, but would he be able to catch up to Daisuke from now on?

Catch up to him, who was only looking ahead, and then overtake him—

Would he be able to directly face him again by doing so?

"The mantis is…!"

A voice of agitation rose from the visor.

Akatsuki could also clearly see it.

Genius was trying to spread its gigantic wings. The white particles became an updraft, and the violent wind tore off everything planted in the field from the root.

"It's flying…? If it becomes even more mobile we'd have no way to defeat it!"

Akatsuki covered his face using his jacket sleeve, gazing up Genius's colossal body.

It was just like the North Central Branch members said. Since it was slow and on the ground, they could hit with their attacks. If it got further they couldn't hit it.

[[File:Mushi Uta 7 p357.jpg|thumb]]

Yet the worst case scenario went unfulfilled.

Genius moved its wings in an attempt to take flight, but soon landed back without even rising. Apparently the part of its body fused with the egg was too heavy. Akatsuki sighed in relief.

"T-that was freakin' close… If that stupid thing could even fly we wouldn't be able to even run away…"

"We're saved because its right scythe is stuck to the egg. If not, perhaps we'd have all been wiped out already."

"Well, let's just run for it while we can. Retreat, retreat!"

"Wait!"

While looking up at Genius, Akatsuki pleaded.

"Please. Wait for just a little bit more…!"

"How long d'you want us to wait?"

Genius lowered its head looking frustrated, and kept dragging the egg giving up. It advanced toward the town.

"Until I'm dead."

Glaring at the large Mushi, he asserted cleanly.

"…!"

"If I die, then just scram off. But as long as I'm alive, if a chance comes then I want you to attack with your full power."

With Akatsuki's words the channel returned to complete silence.

"If even this isn't enough to get you to try fighting, I'll laugh and go back to the East Central Branch."

He asserted it on purpose to sound like sneering.

"I'll tell Kakkou that all North Central Branch are a bunch of cowards."

"Fuck you."

"Die already."

"We're not gonna pick up your body."

"I can at least offer some backup without getting emotionally involved in the mission… but if you're about to die and my fingers get all mixed up, I'm sorry."

"Go to hell…"

The responses came immediately.

By getting their ready consent, Akatsuki ran toward Genius. To stop the mantis he first had to enter its field of vision. It would be dangerous, but there was no other way.

Standing in the way of Genius, he showered it with a rain of lasers.

The damage was almost nonexistent, but it managed to stop its advance. The richness of white particles around Akatsuki grew. The coffins created one after another from the ground leapt to try and eat Akatsuki.

Genius swung down its scythe.

Although he had immediately evaded and defended from the direct attack, Akatsuki was blown away by the eruption of dust. A rain of pebbles hit his body. He nearly lost consciousness from the violent pain, but he couldn't even stop for a second, evading the next appearing coffin.

It was just like someone said just now. If it could use both scythes he wouldn't be able to evade. It ended without any fatal wounds because it only had one shot at a time.

Just like the North Central Branch high-ranking members said, they simply escorted him. Thrown alone in the space filled with white particles, he would probably become unable to fight in a few seconds.

"UOOOO!"

He gave up aiming his attacks at the distant head. He was aiming at the legs moving toward the town. Every time a focused barrage hit through one of its legs, Genius raised an agonized howl.

This time Genius swung its scythe horizontally.

Even by rounding his body reflexively and evading, he was blown away by the delayed gale. Waiting for Akatsuki in the air was a pulsating coffin. Crashing into the open inside, his whole body was slammed.

"Guh…!"

The coffin enclosed Akatsuki. The completely dark space was filled with orange light.

The laser shot from inside burnt the coffin to cinders. Even while dragging his legs, Akatsuki managed to escape.

Genius gave him no time to rest. A mad dance housing strength off the charts assaulted him.

"Umm… I guess that letting a Rank 2 die like that would be pretty bad, nah?"

"…"

The North Central Branch members sank into silence for a while.

Yet a certain girl spoke as if unable to bear it any longer.

"All hands, prepare for a simultaneous attack."

"…! But, with things as they are, hitting with our attacks is—"

"Then are you just going to stand there watching? That's much more stupid than running away…!"

"I mean, we can't win this…"

"But we'll be just cowards, then. Kakkou's gonna laugh at us again…"

"Don't screw me with me. We're not retreating because we're scared or anything! I don't care what that demon thinks about me!"

Seeing Akatsuki wounded with no way out, the opinions among the members were split.

"You can just back me up!"

Yet he still stopped the members from attacking.

"Preserve your strength…!"

Asserting this, he attacked Genius's leg with a laser.

He was single-mindedly trying to stop Genius from walking, and asked the North Central Branch members to preserve their powers for the time to come.

Before that, Akatsuki had told them to wait until he died.

Yet he had no intention of dying.

There were many things he had left to do. He couldn't die there.

He intended to make them wait as long as he could until the chance came.

In exchange, when that time came they would have to work properly—

"Ugh…!"

The umpteenth attack by the scythe blew Akatsuki away. He crashed into the ground from the height of several meters, and his breathing stopped for a moment.

"Are you ready? Once I give the sign we'll all go in."

"No! It's too early…!"

Spitting out blood, Akatsuki rose. He tried dodging the successive coffins, but his legs got entangled. Pounded by the hard coffin, he fell to the ground.

"Give us a break! You don't have a trump card, do you? Just admit you're trying to make us all fight a hopeless battle!"

The girl shouted. She wrung out such a loud voice she could almost kill with it.

"Do you think we'd let our allies die for nothing? This isn't a fucking joke! I know that there are times when, if you want to have two people survive, you have to sacrifice one person! When we wanted to retreat there was a guy who'd volunteered to be the rear guard, but have you noticed? The others risked their lives to let him escape! We're all ready to die to let one of us escape if it comes down to it!"

The voice abandoning all rationality was the shout of the Mushitsuki surviving battles.

"But this is different! If you die here no one will be saved! You'll just perish like a dog! The kind of death I hate the most!"

"Are you saying that if you continue letting one person die to save two, you'll just get used to do sacrifices?"

Wiping the mud stuck to his face, Akatsuki replied with anger.

"…!"

"Also—don't just decide what's going to happen. I won't die. I won't allow myself to die here."

He wasn't stubborn.

He wasn't desperate.

Akatsuki fought because he could see a hope of winning this battle in front of him.

"To let everyone survive, I believe in you. So you need to believe in me too."

The possibility was slim, but if there was a way to fight without any victims, he would never collapse no matter how hurt he was. He was going to survive, clinging to the thin ray of hope.

It happened just after the girl's voice went silent.

He heard the noise of the channel changing, and then an unfamiliar voice.

"Team 2, transmission complete. We will attack the listed points."

All people who've been soliciting the communication until now grew lively. 

"Huh? Why're Team 2…!"

"What list are you talking about? Team 1 didn't hear anything about it!"

"Commencing attack."

The abnormality happened behind Akatsuki at the town.

From various places in town, visible from the field, white particle columns erupted.

"The heck's that?"

Ignoring the people from Team 1, Akatsuki was relieved.

He had received a certain list from Ako.

A list that showed the Spirit Zone created in town.

How much time would it take?

How much effort would it take?

The journalism club president and ex-Demon Lord, Haemori Ako, hadn't just pursued Youko, but also found out which places were made into Spirit Zones. Places like the museum and radio tower that Akatsuki found or the cherry tree were only a mere few.

And Akatsuki had sent that list to the North Central Branch.

Since he didn't get a reply from them, he was worried that they'd ignored it because it was too dangerous. Yet they finally reached a decision.

"The coffin appeared. Confirming the trapped Mushi as well. Commencing elimination."

"…Wait!"

Although he was just relieved, Akatsuki raised his voice reflexively.

"You can just break the Spirit Zones! The Mushi inside are irrelevant!"

"We cannot. The rampaging Mushi already caused victims. —Commencing elimination."

Akatsuki clenched his fists.

The Mushi-eating Mushi, Genius.

If the source of its power was the Mushi inside the Spirit Zones—

"…Now Genius should be weakened."

He wrung out a raspy voice. The Mushi created by Youko bore no sin. He wished to save them as well, was it only his selfishness?

Genius howled.

The white particles filling the area grew thinner. The color of the body glowing in faint pink soon faded.

"As promised. Commence attack."

Barely supporting his tattered body, he looked up at Genius.

A large coffin rose up from Genius's legs. Inferring the danger, it was probably intending to escape back underground.

Conversely the North Central Branch members felt the chances for victory.

Different from when they'd ridiculed Akatsuki, a sharp voice rang through the communication channel.

"We won't let you run! —Sense Isolation!"

A loud noise shook Genius. The movements of the coffin enclosing it stopped, freezing in place.

"Hah… Hah… I-it worked! We can do this!"

"Trying to control its domain…"

The sky colored in red was encroached by raining rust.

After a damp wind blew, a crimson rain poured down on Genius. The white particles were polluted and erased one by one.

"It won't last even a minute…"

"Not a problem."

"Let's do it."

A Mushi jutting from the ground pierced Genius's abdomen. 

Jutting from the ground the Mushi, pierced Genius's abdomen. Penetrating through its chest, the Mushi entwined its body around Genius and tightened.

Another Mushi danced down from the sky, landing on Genius's shoulder. It blurred for a moment, and then Genius's scythe fell apart. Along with a giant tremor, it fell to the surface.

"Keep sealing its movements like that."

Weaving through the rain of rust, a wavy paper-like Mushi approached Genius. The instant it touched Genius's chest, the air vibrated. A large cavity was opened up in the mantis's chest.

Genius cried toward the heavens.

Genius's howl, leaving its echoes behind, sounded like the death throes of all Mushi Youko had created.

Akatsuki had no idea who its host was.

Yet he knew that there was something that he had to do.

"…I'm sorry."

The golden mayfly shot its lasers.