Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 11 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.01 Daisuke Part 11 ==

The townscape seen from the building was being swallowed by white caterpillars.

Roads and vehicles and everything up to high-rise buildings were being covered by the white waves, vanishing into the miasma.

Although the speed of encroachment was slow, at this rate—

“Please quickly evacuate, Kakkou-san!”

His boss Goroumaru Touko shouted at him through the goggles’ wireless communication.

“Is this really Shinpu…?”

Daisuke had fought Shinpu before.

Shinpu, who gave birth to Special Types that had Mushi of an indeterminate form, looked like an old man and could bring forth a swarm of caterpillars—

However, what he saw beneath his eyes was on another league entirely.

''—That thing is but a mere fragment.

Another one of the Original Three, Oogui, had said this.

''—The Central Headquarters is hiding one of the Original Three…

A girl who once belonged to the East Central Branch with Daisuke had said this.

The Shinpu that Daisuke had fought was no more than a fragment, and if the thing he saw was its true form—

“So the Central Headquarters really did hide Shinpu’s main body.”

In the past Daisuke had witnessed, Shinpu—Diorestoi—had been captured by the Round Table.

However, for some reason it was now in the hands of Central Headquarters, and it got unleashed.

“Oh, calling it a ‘main body’ is only our conjecture, and Central HQ probably won’t admit it.”

“Now that things are like this they couldn’t hide it. We need to take the initiative anyway.”

“T-that’s right, so provisionally we’ll treat it as Shinpu’s main body.”

“How’s the Central Headquarters right now? Surely they hadn’t been wiped off?”

“Ever since their request for help, it’s complete silence. We think they might be trapped in the Stronghold…”

“If the caterpillars really spread this far, even the Central Headquarters wouldn’t last for long.”

Why was Shinpu’s main body unleashed now of all times—

Although he was curious about the reason for this, it didn’t look like he had the time to carefully reason about it.

“With a target this large, looks like the only way to deal with it would be to strike the main body. I’ll keep looking for it.”

Was it his hatred for having been jailed for so many years, or another reason?

Shinpu had definitely grown stronger since the moment of his birth.

The scenery in front of Daisuke spoke of that scary truth.

“I’m telling you that you can’t! You’re already within the enemy’s range!”

“Range?”

It happened just as Daisuke asked back.

One high-rise building swallowed by the caterpillars and miasma moved.

Its zenith swelled.

A large swarm of caterpillars became about as large as a human—

“—”

And “something” looked at Daisuke from within that gap.

Red-black cloudy eyes.

For just an instant he glimpsed the silhouette of a rotten, darkened face.

Daisuke knew that face.

“Kasshi—”

As he was about to pull his gun, Daisuke’s brain was pounded by a cracking roar.

It was a horrible ear-grating sound, much like if an outrageous mass of metals were being pounded one against another.

It was the sound of bells.

“…!”

As he grimaced and looked above, he could see a huge building floating there.

It was the Church.

The medium of Shinpu’s ability.

By the time he hurried to get away, it was too late.

“Oh n—”

A storm of pitch-dark miasma blew around Daisuke.

He tried escaping, but his legs were frozen.

In the blink of an eye his sight was wrapped in darkness.

The clouds covering the sky.

The townscape of Akamaki City spreading under him.

These all vanished far, far away, covered by the pitch-dark miasma filled with malice and the ear-grating bell sound.

“What does thou want…?”

In the darkness cutting off all senses, a hoarse voice resounded.

This voice was shrill and cracked, and didn’t sound like either man or woman.

“What does thou desire…?”

A space where he was unable to see or touch anything.

Daisuke couldn’t even tell whether he was standing on his two legs or else lying down.

“What does thou wish for—”

A light flared within the darkness.

It became bigger by the second, and Daisuke realized he was standing on a surface. At some point his equipment was released and the goggles hiding his face also vanished.

The surface became soft like rubber.

“Have thou expended so many victims…?”

It wasn’t—the ground.

It was a mountain of people.

Innumerable people were lying beneath him, and many were familiar to him.

“Thy dream has eaten this many dreams.”

The Mushitsuki turned into Fallen by Daisuke’s hand.

“Is thy dream truly that valuable…?”

The Fallen all stood up, clinging to his body.

Their weight caused Daisuke’s shoulders to creak, and sharp nails ripped his skin.

“Thy dream… for the weak, it is naught but a nightmare…”

At this unbearable suffering pain, Daisuke’s scream—wouldn’t come out.

He gritted his teeth and slowly closed his eyes.

Sensations of his neck being wrangled, nails digging into him, and his inner organs being gouged gripped his brain. This pain, as though all the nerves in his body were being ripped out numbed him, and the taste of his own fresh blood spread warmly in his mouth.

“Thou have dreamed for too long…”

Pain, hatred, and fear were trying to fill his heart, but Daisuke made no move.

While all five senses raised shrieks, he looked for a door inside him.

There was definitely a door.

He searched for the hidden door covered by all manner of torture—

And finally found it.

Inside this space of darkness was a door leaking light.

“Thy long-standing dream… is a nightmare…”

He wrenched open the door.

That door, which brought light into that world filled with darkness—

Was Daisuke’s eyelids.

“I already knew that for a long time—”

As Daisuke opened his eyes, he saw the townscape dominated by white caterpillars.

There were heavy clouds in the sky.

“I told you this before. Don’t think the same trick will work on me again and again.”

Daisuke’s sight pierced through the distant building.

He couldn’t see the “something” supposedly there anymore. There were just caterpillars.

Seeing that Daisuke repelled his mental attack, he probably escaped.

It wasn’t that he became stronger than before.

He became more devious and more guarded—

Daisuke clicked his tongue and put a hand to the goggles.

“Touko-san. I’ve just been mentally attacked by Shinpu.”

“Weh? A-are you alright?! I told you to get away! That’s probably what finished off those North Central Branch scouts! What attack was it?”

“The same kind of mental pollution Shinpu attacked with before. Since he could even take control of my sense of pain, it might’ve been stronger. If you see a human figure inside the caterpillars, you probably shouldn’t lock eyes with it.”

“U-understood…! I’ll pass it along to all branches! Are you fine, Kakkou-san?”

“Not a big deal.”

He underwent training to resist mental attacks and experienced them a lot.

He’d never get beaten by a mental attack—

He prided himself on that.

“…”

However, the moment he infiltrated Akamaki City, Daisuke was easily taken into an illusory world of the past.

It was supposedly another kind of mental attack.

Why had he fallen prey to it so easily?

Because he hadn’t felt any hostility within that milky mist?

Even if so, it was certain he was weaker than he was before.

He didn’t have much power remaining and wasn’t sure if he could fight with his full strength even one more time—

“…We need the Central Headquarters’ power.”

Daisuke mumbled.

The large swarm of caterpillars encroaching Akamaki City only increased.

This wasn’t a situation that Daisuke could handle alone.

Calmly accepting this truth—was because he’d saw the illusion of the past.

He met people who fought Mushi without using the power of Mushitsuki.

Humans were far stronger than Daisuke gave them credit for.

His comrade in arms also told him this before, but Daisuke was apparently too conceited—

“I-I agree. But the entrance to the Underground Stronghold is fully covered in caterpillars…”

“So we can’t approach?”

“Yeah, once we tried it, they were immediately battered and defeated… they probably got hit by the mental attack you mentioned. We are discussing whether we should send some high-ranking members, but every branch fears the risk of sending in their aces, so we can’t quite reach a conclusion…”

Immediately after the Central Headquarters went silent it turned like this. He now ironically missed HQ’s absolute authority.

Daisuke clicked his tongue. He couldn’t see any hope like that.

“I’ll go. Guide me to the nearest entrance.”

“Eeeh! B-buuut, I just let everyone in the branch know that the missing Kakkou-san was found to raise morale.”

“It’s fine, come on.”

“Haah, acting independently yet again… well, no one’s going to follow you in this situation anyway.”

“Just in case anything happens, have Akatsuki wait nearby.”

A map appeared in Daisuke’s goggles. It told him the location of the entrance connected to the Stronghold was.

“Please report properly, alright? I hope you won’t get lost again.”

A green checkered beetle landed on Daisuke’s shoulder. Its body transformed explosively, becoming countless tentacles and fusing with his entire body.

“Got it.”

His entire body glowing in a pattern, Daisuke kicked the ground.

He went back to the edge of the roof, sprinted to gain momentum—then leapt.

His black long coat fluttered in the sky of Akamaki City.

Cutting the wind, Daisuke used his enhanced leg strength to land on the neighboring roof. The green glow passed through his entire body, causing the concrete-made floor to cave in.

Leaping further from building to building, he approached the ground.

After he landed a few times to stand on the national road, the caterpillars appeared right in front of him.

However, Daisuke ignored the caterpillars, took detours and ran toward his destination.

“Just a biiit more. I don’t know what’s waiting for you there, so be careful.”

“Yeah.”

Daisuke finally arrived in front of a large building.

During the time it was disguised as the entrance to the Central Headquarters’ underground base, it was the former site of an old hospital complex with surgical and medical departments.

At present, it became a place completely unrecognizable from how it was before.

Squirming white covered the entire building, covering even the colors of the walls.

“That’s bad—”

If it looked like that from the outside, the inside must be even worse.

As he grimaced and approached the building, the caterpillars immediately leapt at him.

“Tch.”

So they tried launching an attack to test the waters—

It happened just as Daisuke pulled his gun out.

“…!”

A roar and a tremor shook the air. His sight was dyed in gold.

A bolt of lightning fell on the area swarmed by white caterpillars.

The electrical attack and shock wave blew them away.

“Wha…?”

As Daisuke hurriedly assumed a defensive posture, a golden outline floated in front of him.

The two legs standing on the scorched ground were long and slender. It had a slim waist and a chest drawing a modest hill.

However—it wasn’t human.

This silhouette growing gold raised crackles, and the ends of its swaying, long hair further burned and erased the caterpillars spread about.

[[File:Mushi Uta 11 p253.jpg|thumb]]

It was the figure of a woman sculpted from electrical discharge.

She was probably around twenty years old. Daisuke didn’t think he’d ever seen her beautiful face.

“Who’re you?”

He probably thought of her like a ghost met at a graveyard in night. However, the situation being what it was, it was doubtlessly a Mushitsuki ability.

She glared at Daisuke, silent.

“…?”

The woman turned her back to Daisuke. She swung her hand to the side.

An electric storm blew around, reaping through the caterpillars.

Heading toward the hospital, she created a scorching path.

The woman turned around and glared at Daisuke again.

“Is this… a trap?”

Daisuke mumbled this with caution, and the woman suddenly smiled—

Then her form burst and vanished.

Still readying his gun, Daisuke stood in place, shocked.

Even after the woman vanished the caterpillars didn’t seem like they were going to block the path into the hospital. They slithered on the ground as if avoiding that specific spot.

“Touko-san… I might be able to get underground.”

Putting a hand on the goggles, he informed his boss.

“Doesn’t look like it’ll last for long, though.”

He was able to avoid the caterpillars now, but there was an apparent time limit. They slowly came to narrow the road again.

“There’s no time. Give me an order.”

He could feel that his unseen superior was worried.

However, she apparently decided.

“—Approved.”

Goroumaru Touko gave him an order with a muffled voice.

“Blaze Class Rank 1 Kakkou. Sneak inside right away and check the situation.”

Daisuke wore a bitter smile. He started walking.

“Meaning, get inside there and clean it all up… what a bland order.”

“Can you do it?”

It might be a trap.

However, there was no choice but to move forward.

“I was simply thinking that you’re sounding like Haji.”

While mouthing the name of his previous East Central Branch Head—

Daisuke entered into the hospital.