Mushi Uta:Volume 8 Chapter 4

4.00 Marker-user VS The Annihilators' Ashimaki Part 1

The rainbow jewel beetle emitted great light, transforming.

It inflated, then became countless tentacles.

"No—"

The glowing rainbow feelers enveloped Momo's body.

"Nooo!"

Momo tried desperately running away, but the rainbow jewel beetle didn't allow its host to escape. The feelers pierced Momo's entire body.

Stabbing her skin, the feelers permeated her body, becoming a pattern on her skin.

Her body felt like it was burning. As if molten magma was coursing through her veins.

"WAAHHH!"

She covered her pattern-covered face with her hands.

It was as if she was turning into a Formula One car. Forcibly stuffing her into the engine that contained great power, she felt like she could immediately run at several hundred kilometers per hour.

Yet Momo was a normal high school girl.

She had no brakes to control this bursting power.

She had no steering wheel with which to control this belligerence and her fear.

She was simply thrust into the cockpit of this machine possessing an unmanageable output.

"WAHHHH!!!"

Her right arm, turning by mere impulse, bumped into something.

An earthquake-like impact shook the substation ruins.

Momo's wildly swinging arm caused a transmission tower to be torn from its base and get blown away.

The cables connected to the other tower ripped apart, scratching against the ground and spreading sparks.

"Aaahhh…"

With tear marks on her cheeks, Momo folded her knees on the ground.

Momo didn't have enough fuel to move her body that was in control of this power.

It was the thing consumed in order to borrow the power of a Mushi.

The mental energy known as a dream.

Instead of overflowing with superhuman power, Momo was losing something important from within.

"Ahh…"

While hugging her own burning body, Momo recalled something.

Sepia, her childhood friend, began taking her distance from her one day.

It was around the time she'd gone to the high school in the capital. She said she'd bought a necklace with a ring and showed it to Momo.

Yet before long, Sepia had started avoiding her. When Momo asked her about it she had replied the following.

—I became Aria Varei, so I might do something horrible to you, Momo.

So she said. Obviously Momo couldn't understand her words and tilted her head.

And… was it around when they entered high school?

Momo came to know the meaning of Sepia's words firsthand.

Sepia had turned her into a Mushitsuki.

Momo didn't know how she'd done so. Even so she felt that Sepia, with her starved face, had "eaten" something from inside her.

And so Sepia was released from the burden of Aria Varei—and forgot about Momo.

She didn't know why.

It was probably something like this.

The mysterious being called Aria Varei was gone from within Sepia.

On the other hand, Momo who became a Mushitsuki was attacked by other Mushitsuki. The people wearing strange goggles introduced themselves as the SEPB.

"Nn…gah!"

Her heart was beating violently. As if a bomb exploded inside her chest. Her uncontrollable body moved on its own, pounding both hands against the ground.

Along with a tremor, a crack large enough to split the entire substation in two was created in the ground.

"Gh…Ah…"

Right—the same situation as now.

Momo had given in to her impulses, turning the tables on the Mushitsuki coming for her. The gap in their powers was clear, so it was just like swatting a simple fly.

What had been created back then was the trace of the explosion on the ground—the large crater.

She had despaired that she was turning into a monster.

She had known she couldn't go back to her normal life.

Yet the girl who had appeared in front of the beaten Momo denied that.

That girl was carrying a suitcase around. She wore glasses and her face was hidden by her bangs. She had a plain appearance, and the only thing eye-catching about her was her being tall.

Even when she looked at the monstrous Momo, that girl that appeared suddenly remained calm to an abnormal degree.

—U-umm, I'm… Satou Youko.

Although she hadn't even been asked, the girl had introduced herself.

—Umm, I will save you. I promised to do so.

While Satou Youko was speaking as if she was making small talk, Momo had seen her eyes for an instant. These dark eyes that had no glimmer in them made Momo feel that she was being paralyzed and dragged into the abyss.

—This is… an experiment I've devised.

Giggling to herself as she added this, Satou Youko had stood on top of the mark she drew on the ground.

That was Momo's meeting with Coatl Head.

This simple, single mark drawn on the ground was burned into Momo's eyes.

"Uugh—"

Groaning, Momo suddenly raised her face.

It wasn't Momo herself that noticed. The Mushi fused with her just moved her out of survival instinct.

The writhing Momo's sight was filled with countless sharp claws. The thin claws coming from afar fell around her like rain.

"Ee—"

Raising a mumbled shriek, Momo took a light jump back to evade the claws.

Or so she intended.

However, Momo's body covered by the rainbow pattern managed to instantly clear the crater with a single jump. Leaving the rain of claws behind in the blink of an eye, Momo was unable to stop her momentum and plunged into the forest of steel.

"AAAH!"

The large steel tower was crushed and the network of cables overhead rippled.

Being hit hard, the bones of her entire body creaked. Momo raised her tear-stained face.

"Kii—"

She could see in the darkness the red, glowing eyes of a giant Mushi. It was an insect only in shape, as both its size and its wickedness were far removed from normal. It was just a monster.

The large Mushi opened its maw, trying to crunch Momo with its sharp fangs.

"Eek!!!"

Succumbing to her fear, she thrust the Mushi away with both hands.

The Mushi assaulting her was blown away as if she was throwing a steel ball that weighed several dozen tons. It knocked over transmission towers one after another, breaking them into pieces thrown to the sky.

"Haa, Hah! …Wah?"

She couldn't understand what was happening at all.

Her own physical powers were heightened to an absurd degree.

Conversely her mind was being eroded swiftly and her mind felt misty.

"Uuh…Aaah!"

She fell into a state of panic. She simply understood she was being attacked by something and she wanted to run away with her legs.

Her superhuman leg strength working for nothing, she hit her shoulders against the ground. Even so her momentum didn't stop and she bounded a few times on the hard asphalt, her body flung away from the forest of steel.

"Ugh… Uuh…"

She could only utter meaningless sounds for a while now. As if she'd lost her rational thinking and became a beast.

Raising her sand-dirtied face, Momo stood on top of Coatl Hot.

"Aah…"

The black people surrounded her. Their faces were hidden by goggles and masks.

A Mushitsuki that should never be born—

Who was it that called Momo like that?

She knew that the people surrounding her were trying to kill her.

"No—"

Trying to escape, she kicked the ground.

One of the men in black opened his mouth wide. A small Mushi clinging to his tongue extended thick, gum-like claws. It launched the pointed end of these claws endlessly, raining them down on Momo.

"Aagh!"

The claws hit her leg and Momo rolled over again. Ahead of her lay waiting yet another black-wearing person.

Being attacked by a Mushi with a fiendish expression, Momo hurriedly turned on her heels. Thanks to her kick, powerful enough to make the ground fissure, she managed to barely avoid the Mushi's attack.

She lost her balance and slipped on top of Coatl Hot.

She couldn't escape the encirclement.

Not only that, but it took everything Momo had just to resist the hot impulse coursing inside her.

"UUUhhh…UUUUhhhuuu!"

From outside she was being surrounded by many people with killing intents, and from the inside she was tortured by a searing agony.

Grimacing at the two inescapable fears, she hugged her own body tightly.

The boy with a Mushi perched on his tongue approached.

"Fusion Type Musitsuki are dangerous. They sould be annihilated while they're still in zeir confused wild state…"

Since she was a Mushitsuki who should have never been born, she'd be killed—

The suitcase girl Satou Youko had said this, but was this what she meant?

Momo herself hadn't done anything wrong.

She'd simply been made a Mushitsuki by her friend—were they going to rob her of her life just for that reason?

Why was it so unreasonable?

"Uuu…"

Raising an animalistic groan, Momo glared at the black-wearing people.

I have to run away—

The choice of running away came to her mind.

She didn't want to die here.

However, on her own, she couldn't muster the courage to run away.

"Dai…ske—"

The moment she chose to run, she recalled that boy's face.

—In exchange… if that Mushitsuki comes out again, let's run away together, yeah.

And he had accepted her after saying that.

—Sure… let's run away together.

He had promised her with a smile.

If she was with that boy, with Kusuriya Daisuke, she could run anywhere.

Right now Momo should be able to run faster than anyone. She only lacked the courage.

If she was with Daisuke, she wouldn't fear anything—

"Daiske…!"

She felt as if she hadn't spoken human words in a very long time.

Kicking the ground, Momo tried breaking through the encirclement.

However, she was again assaulted by claws. She desperately dodged them, but the other Mushitsuki came in front of her.

She didn't know how to dodge or land safely. She simply ran recklessly to try and escape from the Mushi surrounding her like a child playing tag.

"I won't letch you go back to him—"

The black-wearing man said while extending claws from his mouth. Since he was speaking while controlling the Mushi perched on his tongue, his voice came out as a mumble and the pronunciation was difficult to hear properly.

"What's going to happen if you both combine your powers… mabbe you'll become a threat that could destroy de the entire country."

Being pounded on top of the Coatl Hot drawn on the ground, Momo was stunned.

Destroying the country?

A threat?

She didn't care about that sort of thing.

The most shocking of all was the fact that the people in front of her wanted to block even her reunion with Daisuke.

She wasn't even trying to destroy anything.

She wasn't even trying to kill anyone.

She simply wanted to go to Daisuke, so they could run away together—

"…Uuu—"

Momo's expression changed. A flammable anger rose to her pupils as she glared at the black-wearing people.

At this rate she wouldn't be able to run away.

At this rate she'd be killed.

Momo's haphazardous movements weren't able to run away from these guys.

She needed a different power—a stronger one.

"Waaah…! Nn…! Nngh…!"

She recklessly swung her arm.

The ground rumbled as the stepped on it, and the gale created by her arm kept the black-wearing men away.

"Aaugh! Iyaah!"

She tried every possible movement like a baby having a tantrum.

Unable to even come close, the black-wearing men seemed agitated. Yet seeing Momo was just moving her arms and legs, they mocked her.

"Iz she crazy…?"

While dancing her strange dance, Momo scowled.

"Uuwah!"

No, it wouldn't do it.

Not with these idiotic moves.

She felt like she could do something much more incredible.

She had the premonition that she could use to energy running through her body to do something unthinkable.

"Agh!"

Hit by the rain of claws, Momo was thrown to the ground again.

As she raised her head, her eyes reflected the figures of the Mushi coming to finish her off.

These guys—

All expression vanished from Momo's face.

I'll kill them—

She'd erase all of them until nothing remained.

All those who stopped her from seeing Daisuke should die.

She was unkind—so unless it was someone she could be kind to, she would show no mercy.

"Uuu—"

Leaking a bestial roar, Momo's hand touched something hard.

It was the marker case hanging from her waist.

As she widened her eyes, the swarm of Mushi pressed on her.

"…!"

The vibration of the large Mushi clashing rocked the substation.

"Wha—"

The black-wearing man with a Mushi in his mouth was astonished.

Momo avoided the Mushi's attacks with movements like a different person's. She nimbly kicked their bodies, jumping atop an especially large Mushi.

This wasn't made with Momo's will.

The Mushi inside her was controlling her body.

"Uu—"

But starting there she acted out of her own volition.

When she roused her body, she drew out a single marker. A tentacle extending from her arm fused with it, and the tip was glowing in blue.

Her actions were already complete.

It ended in an instant.

She drew the exact same mark she'd already drawn many times, dozens of times—hundreds of times before.

She ran her marker on the Mushi at her feet to draw a symbol made of an arrow intersected with two straight lines.

That mark was drawn in vivid greyish blue—the color called baby blue.

A blue light with the meaning of "purification" came bursting from the symbol drawn by her.

"W-what's zat…? Run—"

Having a bad feeling about this, the black-wearing men all turned away to run.

But it was too late.

Since she was unkind, she was merciless.

Aiming for the night sky, the newly-born Fusion Type Mushitsuki—Marker-user Tanaka Momo—howled.

"Coatl Heaaaad!"

As the glowing mark burst, the Mushi's surface started bubbling as if undergoing some chemical reaction.

The blue glow that could purify anything pierced the substation ruins.

4.01 The Others

It happened during the time spring was over and the scent of summer grew close.

The "Handyman Kirari☆" managed by Ikarino Kirari was as impoverished as ever. All she did was waiting for requests at the office day after day.

One such day, a girl came to visit the office. Apparently, she came there after seeing the advertisement Kirari had posted in a freely-distributed listing magazine for a small fee. —She simply added the line "We also accept special troubles related to 'insects'" on the page's smallest corner.

This girl, wearing a horned hat, named herself Sepia. Rarely, there were clients who didn't want to reveal their real names, but it was Kirari's first time to hear such an obvious pseudonym.

She had received quite a lot of Mushi and Mushitsuki-related requests back then.

Sepia's problem was also related to Mushi—but the particulars were on a whole different dimension than anything she'd ever accepted before.

"I want you to save my friend who's about to become a Mushitsuki."

Saying this, Sepia grasped the necklace hanging from her neck. It was an expensive-looking accessory with a golden ring attached to it.

Kirari had received requests to save Mushitsuki countless times before.

Yet being told to save someone who was about to become a Mushitsuki was a new one.

"I'll definitely be unable to withstand the 'hunger'…"

The story told calmly by the expressionless Sepia was quite hard to believe.

Sepia said that one of the Original Three resided inside her.

Kirari, who'd dealt with multitudes of Mushi, obviously knew about those designated as the Prototype Mushi who gave birth to Mushitsuki, called the Original Three.

The Original Three residing in Sepia was Sanbikime, the one producing Fusion Type Mushitsuki—she said their true name was Aria Varei. Unlike the other two they didn't possess a body; she explained that they possessed the person closest to the one with dreams of their taste.

And the one who drew Aria Varei to fused with Sepia—was the girl called Tanaka Momo, her childhood friend.

"Will you believe me?"

No matter how kind Kirari was, she couldn't immediately answer with a yes.

Even so she accepted the request—yes, because Kirari was kind.

She didn't care even if she was being tricked.

Even if Sepia was simply having a delusion, the girl looked truly troubled.

Even if it was some mischief, and Kirari was being made fun of, she would just end it with a smile. If it meant that nobody became a Mushitsuki and peace continued, that would be the best option.

Having her request accepted, Sepia smiled for the first time.

"Thank you."

The reward would be the necklace with the golden ring in it—

Making this promise, Kirari began work.

Thus she came to know Tanaka Momo. Since there were limits to monitoring her from afar, she pretended doing a survey to approach Momo. Using the pretext of the survey to conduct a psychological test, a few days later she came to her again to thank her—

Since Momo had a sociable personality, it didn't take long for Kirari to deepen their relationship. Using the opportunity to take care of another request, she hired Momo to help her out as a part-timer.

Being with Momo was very enjoyable for Kirari.

The time they spent together brought her the sense of youth she'd nearly forgotten.

Of course behind the scenes she was in contact with Sepia, but her request merely became a pretext to meet up with Momo.

If Sepia's request was fake—

If nothing had happened—

Although at first it was a calculated relationship, perhaps Kirari could come to call Momo her best friend—

She was about to think so.

"Anyway, my friend Sepia is a genius. She was accepted to a design high school in Akamaki City, but instead she decided to come to the same local school as me… what a waste, yeah."

Tanaka Momo always smiled brightly.

"But I won't lose, yeah. I plan on creating something even more amazing than Sepia and shocking the world. —No, I have to be more decisive. My passionate feelings will not be stopped by anyone, yeah!"

Even while laughing, her eyes were serious.

However, how many failures had she tasted, being near her friend hailed as a genius? She was probably suffering on the boundary between jealousy and friendship.

Yet the girl accepted it all and was intent on surpassing her rival.

"One day I'll fill the entire world with my art… I'll take over the world, yeah!"

Shudder—Kirari had a bad feeling about this.

The girl called Tanaka Momo was so bright that Kirari was jealous of her.

She shone with her dream to a frightening degree.

On the other hand, with Sepia—her mind became more and more eroded by the "hunger" with each passing day.

"That's an amazing dream."

Even while she was outwardly smiling, Kirari felt tense on the inside.

What if the things Sepia had told her were true?

What if Momo was shouldering the fate of becoming a Mushitsuki?

She, meanwhile, had no way of saving Momo, not a single one—

"—U-umm… there's a Mushitsuki I'm looking for."

During that time Kirari carried yet another worry.

Around the same time when she accepted Sepia's request, another person came to visit her through the "Handyman Kirari☆" advertisement.

"I want you to look for the person using a 'red queen bee'… there's something I have to return to her, so I want to meet her…"

It was a girl with a tall, glamorous body that would make anyone jealous, yet unfortunately she hid it within plain clothing. Her long bangs and simple glasses hid her expression, and since she was whispering, Kirari thought she was trying to hide her own presence.

If you're fine with it taking time then sure, she readily accepted it, but it was a mistake.

"U-umm, have you still not found it? …I-is that so? Because I just requested it? Sorry, then please take your time."

The girl's second visit was a mere few days later. Like the last time she came in a plain outfit, carrying a classic-style suitcase.

"I was just a bit interested about how the investigation's going. It's fine, I don't have any expectations. …I see. Not yet, huh. Yeah, I get it, it's fine…"

Her third visit was a single day after the previous one.

She came for a fourth visit, then a fifth, and the girl kept indirectly pressuring her.

"Haa… oh, not really? This sigh just now was, you see, just to wipe off my glasses. See? Haa, squeak, squeak. I hate that red queen bee-user, I can't do anything fun because of her—"

…She felt as if some wicked spirit was haunting her.

That somewhat creepy girl, called Satou Youko, came to the office at any opportunity, complained in the reception room then left. This continued for a while.

Kirari was already so mentally fatigued that she was about to reject the request by making an excuse she failed the job.

Satou Youko appeared again, complaining like the usual.

"Aah, will this never go away? But I also feel like it made me feel better as well, somehow. The little experiment I tried a while ago also seemed to have an effect… Oh, but obviously I can't make them not get born. Sealing them, though, should be theoretically possible."

Sorry, I failed your request. Please leave already.

Kirari wanted to say so, but swallowed her words.

Sealing—

Satou Youko would complain out of her own volition, not caring if anyone was even listening to her. Although Kirari barely understood anything she just said, that single word was exceedingly close to what she was looking for.

"Can't I find some good guinea pig somewhere? If possible someone with abnormal thinking who was just born, fresh from the oven… If only I still had Loci-chan it would be so easy to create one…"

"Will you tell me about this in more detail…?"

The bespectacled girl, Satou Youko was someone dangerous—

She didn't seem to be a Mushitsuki, but Kirari had this premonition. That was why simply facing her eroded her mind, and she wanted to decline her request and severe their ties.

But what if?

Perhaps the girl in front of her possessed what Kirari wished for?

As Kirari leaned closer, Satou Youko wore an enchanting grin. She licked her lips bewitchingly as if she smelled her prey.

"No, it is I… who wants to hear more."

And thus.

Kirari took the gamble of her life.

"—WAAAAHHH!"

Sepia, already unable to bear her hunger, went to the electrical substation, the location designated by Kirari herself. She chose a place where there would at least be no victims.

Yet something unimaginable happened.

She was probably quite hungry. Sepia had called Momo quite a lot earlier than planned, eating her dream.

By the time Kirari and Youko finished preparing and headed there, Momo had already become a Mushitsuki.

If that wasn't enough, the column of light was noticed by the members lying in town. The battle between the SEPB assassins and the rampaging Momo unfolded.

Kirari couldn't believe her eyes while watching that.

"WAAAAAAH!"

Momo fought recklessly while screaming. While she was mowing down her enemies, none of whom could be called powerful Mushitsuki, Kirari could see Sepia knocked out on the ground. —If what she'd said before was true, Sepia was no longer Aria Varei and had lost her memories of Momo.

"AAAAAH!"

Tanaka Momo's body, glowing with a rainbow pattern, was covered in wounds.

And flowing from these wounds was—

"Once they figure out she's a Fusion Type Mushitsuki, the SEPB will be gathering their forces to kill her."

While drawing a large mark on the ground with paint, Satou Youko spoke casually. She seemed somewhat cheerful.

"I don't know much about them… but after letting a few Mushitsuki like the Spear-user or Fuyuhotaru, as well as Kakkou, go free—they've had enough of trying to manipulate Fusion Type Mushitsuki."

"…"

Kirari understood everything.

She understood.

"Yet she's apparently already… way beyond that level."

Having finished drawing the symbol, Satou Youko smiled happily like never before.

On the other hand large tears started plopping down from Kirari's eyes.

Something like this was definitely bad.

A Mushitsuki like this should have never been born.

The destiny carried by Tanaka Momo was much too heavy—

"I hope this goes well. I'm also interested in what happens if it fails, though. —Kirari-san. When we're done you'll do what I say? You need to recover Sepia-san and Momo-san… oh, and don't forget to destroy the SEPB's goggles, too. Since they have recording devices there'll be evidence, you know?"

"…"

"You don't have to be that worried, it'll be fine. The important thing is getting them to forget what happened here… during normal life, the brain arranges the small details of memories in the way most convenient for the person involved. Such is the way people's minds work."

Leaving a smile to Kirari who was still standing there and crying, Satou Youko approached Momo.

Even after defeating the SEPB members, Momo was still unable to stop her rampage.

Aiming for her next prey, she stared at Satou Youko who appeared in front of her.

However—seeing Youko's black eyes peeking from within her bangs, she became paralyzed.

Her eyes, as deep as the abyss, restrained Momo by invisible arms.

"U-umm, my name… is Satou Youko."

This was the first time for Youko and Momo to meet. She politely introduced herself.

"Umm, I will save you. I promised to do so."

Momo didn't move.

"—This is… an experiment I've devised."

Smiling, Satou Youko removed her glasses. Sweeping up the bangs that hid her face, she revealed her bottomless ocean-like eyes. Removing a button at her neck, she showed a peek of her ample chest.

The beauty, having transformed to a completely different person, smiled bewitchingly at Tanaka Momo.

"Everything that happened here… is a mere dream created by a dream."

Momo becoming a Mushitsuki.

The large hole opened in the ground.

The SEPB members turned Fallen.

The unconscious Sepia.

Kirari who stood there dazed.

The large mark drawn on the ground that was watching over this nightmarish scenario—

"All of them will be erased here. Underneath this tombstone of Coatl Head—"

Just as this solemn announcement claimed, the nightmare was erased.

Making sure this nightmare would never be revived again was Kirari's job.

And so Kirari fulfilled her own mission.

"Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins"—

That Mushitsuki, bearing the fate of not being allowed to be born, fell asleep without being disturbed by anyone.

—It was supposed to be asleep.

Anyone and everyone were supposed to forget about the Mushitsuki born back then.

The one who'd made Momo into a Mushitsuki as well.

And the one who became a Mushitsuki herself too.

They were supposed to forget this incident as a mere explosion of an unknown cause, with eventually even the SEPB calling the search off.

Even so—

On top of the exposed ground, Ikarino Kirari bit her lips.

There was a column of light visible in the distant sky viewed from the empty field.

She wasn't able to hide it perfectly—

Everything was supposed to have proceeded according to plan, so what went wrong?

"Why… why is this non-existent Mushitsuki waking up again?"

Barely raising her body, she glared at the girls with eyes full of tears.

"If only she'd been left asleep, everything would have ended peacefully…!"

If everything would be done and forgotten, then another peaceful today that was the same as yesterday would come.

They were supposed to be able to reach a tomorrow that was the same as today.

Not just Momo.

Kirari and including other people, everyone would live peacefully.

"Chiharu—"

The bespectacled girl called Chami was probably the leader. She clicked her tongue with an agonized face, turning toward the casket-wearing girl carrying the unconscious Ubuki.

"Yeah. The reason I was suddenly unable to sense Aria's smell… just like I thought, it was because they gave birth to a new Mushitsuki. I think they're gone back to sleep."

Hearing Chiharu's words, Chami cussed with a Shit.

"Our goal is simply Aria Varei. —Well, I did think about getting to the new Fusion Type before the Annihilators and make them our ally if there really was one."

Chami glared back at Kirari on the ground.

"Also… you said that 'it would have ended peacefully'?"

"…"

"Does that mean for everything to keep peaceful like this for all eternity?"

Kirari's expression tensed. She unconsciously grasped the ground.

"I now understand that Mushitsuki mustn't be born."

Kirari's agitation was probably apparent. Chami clicked her tongue again.

"But there's somethin' I still don't know. How have you hidden the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins so perfectly until now?"

Chami asked her.

"You couldn't've done it by yourself. Who put that idea in your head?"

Kirari hesitated whether or not she should talk about that.

The secret she'd kept close in her chest so far.

That could be said to be a kind of ritual.

That suitcase girl had erected a tombstone to seal a Mushitsuki.

On the other hand, Kirari's mission was—protecting that tombstone.

Without being found by anyone.

Without being revealed to anyone.

To hide a single grave, she hid it amongst countless identical ones.

"That person called Satou Youko-san…"

Yet everything ended in vain.

There was no point hiding it anymore.

"…That woman!"

Chami exploded.

"I warned her, but she's still involving herself with Mushitsuki? She's dashing through that road that leads to nothing but destruction without a moment's hesitation…!"

She apparently knew Youko already. Kirari already half-guessed it.

"The Mushitsuki using the red queen bee… she was probably looking for you. At first she apparently wanted you to lift the ability placed on her, but she probably started getting interested in your ability on the way…"

"This isn't fucking funny! I have my hands full taking care of ex-SEPB and ex-Mushibane members, not to mention an ex-Aria Varei… I don't want no ex-Demon Lord too!"

They were probably the girls' circumstances that Kirari didn't know about. Chami grabbed her shoulders violently.

"What have you done to her?! How have you hidden something as overwhelming as this?"

"Using suggestion… Satou Youko-san called it a 'burial ceremony', though."

It was a theory that an ordinary person like Kirari didn't think about.

Although dreams were exceptionally vague, they seemed to have deep ties to a person's deep psyche. It sounded fake, but Satou Youko had claimed to utilize this in order to give birth to Mushitsuki.

If so, then how could she seal a Mushi that was already there?

She said there were various methods.

Youko spoke about one proposal among them with enjoyment.

Since she was knowledgeable about the human mind, Youko proposed the method of suggestion, created by hypnotic effects.

"Suggestion? You mean like hypnotism…? Could such a thing even—"

"A very, very strong suggestion. To allow it to exhibit its effects continuously, you need to have a keyword close to the target at all times to maintain the hypnotism…"

Everyone there became speechless.

Never mind Chami, even Lucy who was in the middle of speaking on the telephone was frozen like a statue.

They probably all reached the same conclusion.

They probably all thought of the same symbol.

"That suggestion caused Momo-chan to… forget she was a Mushitsuki."

"—Y-you're insane… Both Satou Youko and you…"

Chami barely squeezed out a hoarse voice.

The other girls couldn't even get out a single word.

"Are you saying that this entire marking fad was created just to hide a single Mushitsuki?"

The hypnotizing and planting of a suggestion was a success.

Tanaka Momo had completely forgotten about her becoming a Mushitsuki.

And Kirari had fervently sought to spread this marking fad.

The suggestion was powerful, and the fad involved the entire country, continuing its effects.

The propagating Coatl Heads also had the meaning of hiding the true tombstone that was Coatl Hot—

"I'd understand it this was a temporary thing… but there really wasn't any other method?"

Just like Chami said.

The suggestion wouldn't hold forever.

The flow would be just temporary.

The fad would someday be gone.

So until then she would look for ways to save Momo.

Yet she didn't make it in time.

The fad was disturbed, and Momo reawakened.

She was unable to fulfill Sepia's request.

"Indeed… I can't think of any other method."

Chami groaned in anguish.

"What were you supposed to do other than seal that sorta Mushitsuki…!"

Yes, she could only "seal" it. Just looking for a place to hide it would mean nothing.

"Chami-sama. Just now, the Mushibane forces I called for support have arrived in town."

Lucy, handling her mobile phone, turned to her.

Chami interjected through this news.

"Have them all withdraw."

"So horrible. I wanna divorce. What a waste. —Actually, even if you didn't use me, the counselor, you could've just joined Mushibane directly. Or are you worried since you let Harensis' sister die? They're treating her as missing; they don't know yet, so it's fine.

Chami groaned "Shut your mouth already," while glaring at the distant sky.

"Since it's gotten like this, we lost. Nobody can win against the people related to that Mushitsuki…"

Exactly so.

Now that the situation was like this, no one would be able to stop Momo.

No one would be able to save her.

"Even so, if there's anyone who can do something in this situation—it's him."

Chami squeezed out a low voice. Kirari widened her eyes.

"The Annihilators said this earlier… he's in town, right?"

Raising her face was not only Kirari. Chiharu also looked worried, biting her lips.

The sky of the substation was dyed in a vivid blue color.

Kirari recalled that there was another Mushitsuki like Momo in town.

If it was him, then maybe—

No, he would be the only one who could save Momo.

"The only one who could handle a Fusion Type… would probably be a fellow Fusion Type."

Other than Ubuki who opened her eyes while groaning, all people there turned to look at the same direction.

"If you're really here, it's 'bout time you got out… Kakkou!"

4.02 Marker-user VS The Annihilators' Ashimaki Part 2

The substation was enveloped in a blue glow.

The light bursting from the mark drawn by Momo swallowed the Mushi one after another.

The Mushi's body touched by the purifying baby blue began to crumble, disperse and vanish.

"Kh—"

Only one of them, the leader of the black-wearing people, managed to dodge the torrent of light. The claws extending from the Mushi perched on the man's mouth turned to dust as they touched the light.

When the glow vanished, all of them were collapsed apart from the man keeping a Mushi in his mouth. Although none of them were physically hurt, all life was lost from their barely-open eyes. Seeing this scene, Momo came to know that any Mushitsuki who lost their Mushi became a living corpse.

"D-dis is Asimaki…! Dis girl's using some kind of strange ability—"

The man facing Momo shouted as he put his hand to the goggles. He was apparently talking to someone.

Having unleashed her power through the marking, Momo shouted.

"WAAAAHHHH!"

She felt as if the hot impulse coursing through her body slightly lessened.

Yet it wasn't enough.

If she didn't let out much more energy from her body, everything around her would explode.

"Daiske…"

Her bloodshot eyes turned to the direction of town.

She had to go back to the boy. He had promised to run away with her.

She hadn't a moment to spare; she needed to get as far away as she could.

"Daiske…!"

Her body was swaying. With that unbalanced gait she started walking to town.

However—

"Hurgh!"

The black-clad man called Ashimaki shot his Mushi's claws through his mouth.

Blown away by the claws that extended like rubber, she crashed into the forest of transmission towers. Her body covered by the glowing pattern bent the steel columns and tore through cables.

"—"

When she came to, she had already taken a landing posture and stepped with both legs on the side of the tower. She preserved her horizontal position with momentum, raising her tear-stained face.

"I can't let you meet up with Kakkou… I'll kill you before your ability fully awakens!"

She no longer understood words.

What she did understand was that the black-wearing man in front of her wanted to kill her very much. He wasn't allowing her to go back to Daisuke.

"AAaahhAAhh!"

Using the recoil, Momo kicked the pole. She launched herself at Ashimaki like a flying arrow.

Yet that was advantageous for him.

"Hergh!"

"…!"

Ashimaki retreated while still shooting the claws, and these kept knocking Momo off without ceasing.

The ground was cracked as if by an explosion.

Momo's body sank into the asphalt.

"…Nnngah!"

Yet Momo soon rose up again, leaping from the within the rubble. Furiously rushing toward Ashimaki, her momentum caused cracks to appear on the ground.

Closing the gap in the blink of an eye, Momo's marker attempted to touch Ashimaki.

However, since he could easily see her, the black-wearing man evaded.

"Hurghhh!"

Hit by the claws from extremely short range, Momo was blown backwards. Also, since these claws were as flexible as whips, they kept landing blows on Momo's head as she rolled on the ground.

"Ugh…!"

Even while ducking onto the hard ground, Momo moved her hand.

"Coatl Heaaad!"

The blue mark drawn on the broken piece of rubble glowed.

"It's useless… I've seen that ability before!"

The moment before the glow touched him, he withdrew the claws hitting Momo. The thick, rubbery claws were drawn back inside his mouth.

"UUUuuugh!"

Momo right now couldn't even understand the word "useless".

Withstanding the pain in her entire body and standing up, as if repeating her foolish mistakes she charged toward the enemy again.

Naturally, she was intercepted by Ashimaki's countless claws. These rained on her from all directions and angles.

"Wah—"

There was no way for her to even know how to dodge. Momo, charging ahead recklessly, was hit by the claws.

"—AAaah!!"

However, her legs wouldn't stop.

Wildly swinging her arms, she kept running as if swimming inside the rain of attacks.

"So this is a Fusion Type… is she really human?"

Approaching the shuddering Ashimaki, Momo threw her body to the ground as though trying to roll ahead.

She didn't want it to hurt anymore.

Still keeping the momentum of her roll, she stabbed in the marker glowing in blue into the ground.

This guy's Mushi… I'll blow it away, too!

She engraved a glowing mark on the ground in the blink of an eye.

"Coatl Head!"

The purifying baby blue blew the surroundings away.

"Tss…!"

Along with a muffled clicking of tongue, Ashimaki retreated.

Several claws evaporated after being engulfed by the light. Yet that was all.

"…!"

When the baby blue light was gone, the counterattack began.

Hit and blown away by the claws, Momo rolled on the ground. She heard something creaking. Perhaps one of her bones had broken.

"It's a pain of an ability, bud… there's a time lag from touching the light until the Mushi vanishes."

Raising her face, she saw the destroyed claws regenerating from their base. The claws extended from Ashimaki's mouth entwined, forming the shape of a spear.

"If I can hit you with a single attack from long range—it will be the end."

Momo grimaced with pain and frustration.

"Uuh…"

The enemy in front of her had seen through the power of baby blue.

At this rate—she would be killed before meeting with Daisuke.

When Momo thought this, an indescribable fear pushed on her.

I need another power—

She couldn't fight him right now.

She needed a stronger power.

"Dai…ske…"

On the tip of the marker grasped by Momo—

The blue light was slowly changing to another color.

4.03 The Annihilators' Hakamori VS The Annihilators' Shera

He felt as if he could hear Momo's voice calling for him.

"Momo—"

He walked through the now-silent alley.

Until now many glowing lights engulfed the distant sky above the substation.

A melody rang in his chest pocket. It was a prepaid cellphone that he had been made to carry during the day in case he needed to get in contact.

"Please save Momo-chan…"

Pressing the call button, he soon heard a shaky voice. It was Kirari.

"She has remembered that she was a Mushitsuki, so please…"

He closed his eyes, biting his lips.

—There was a Mushitsuki here… but she's gone now.

On top of that mark in the substation.

On top of the original, the one and only Coatl Hot.

Lying next to each other, while gazing up at the starry sky, Momo had said this.

—She was a coward and a weakling… just a normal kid unsuited to be a Mushitsuki.

So it was Momo.

She was the Mushitsuki born and gone at the substation.

The Mushitsuki that mustn't be born was none other than Momo herself.

"Please… Daiske-san."

Kirari called his name as if clinging to him.

And so, having his name called, he nodded silently.

"I know…"

He cut off the call with a smile. The already unneeded cellphone that he knew he wouldn't ever use again fell to the ground. He already didn't have enough power to hold it despite it weighing only a mere few hundreds of grams.

Opening his eyes, he looked up at the distant light. He began walking again.

He had to meet up with Momo as soon as possible. She was waiting for him.

—If that Mushitsuki comes out again, let's run away together, yeah.

—Sure… let's run away together.

She was definitely waiting for him.

To fulfill their promise to run away together.

He had defeated all of the Annihilators that surrounded him. The black-wearing Fallen were collapsed here and there in the gloomy alley.

In his hand, with its cracked skin, he grasped a scarp of black cloth ripped during his battle with the Annihilators. Unconsciously holding it in hand, he dragged his legs to get out of the alley.

There was the sound of someone stepping on gravel from behind.

"I won't let you… You are going to die right here—Kakkou."

A gloomy woman's voice called him.

He ignored it. There were marks of him dragging his legs on the asphalt.

"…Momo…"

When he had been about to die there, Momo had found him.

After that, although he was living on borrowed time, Momo hugged him tightly and didn't let go.

That was why, this time, it was his turn to save Momo.

She had acquired a supernatural power and went on a rampage, so he had to go and hug her with his own hands.

"I'll first kill you, then also kill that other Fusion Type."

Kill Momo—

Those words made him turn around.

His bestial eyes glared at the trench coat-wearing woman standing in the alley. All of the liveliness in his face was already gone, and his skin began turning black.

"—"

The woman's expression inside the hood froze.

He knew that woman's name.

Head of the Annihilators, Shera. She was an excellent assassin, and unlike the other Annihilators, even her original power was enough to make her ability be near the strongest.

"Y-you—"

Shera was supposedly always calm, but she widened her eyes more than ever before.

As he slowly turned toward the woman again, he looked directly at his foe.

"You… who the hell are you?"

Kakkou—

The woman in front of him called him that.

Yet that very person was surprised when she saw his face.

Was it that his appearance was unlike what she was expecting?

Or did she have the wrong person?

"…"

He unconsciously wore a smile.

Shera was supposed to know him, but her reaction was laughable.

Although he'd always hidden his face using a mask, Shera was supposed to have been one of the few who knew his real face. She was different from the small fries who just stood in the way while thinking that he was Kakkou.

Even so, was the fact she hadn't immediately recognized him perhaps due to his appearance changing that much? Or perhaps she simply thought that he'd already died like a wild beast somewhere.

He took the black cloth in his hand and wrapped it haphazardly on his face. —Hiding his face was a habit he had before coming to this country. He'd also been educated to hide his true identity as much as possible.

He wrapped the remaining cloth around his elbow and wrist, using his mouth to tie it together.

Now that he regained the fighting posture his body was used to, his felt the exhalation before a battle. As if exposing these dark feelings, a corrupted miasma started gushing out of his body.

Seeing his stance, Shera finally recalled.

"Y-you are—"

"Fuhaha!"

As he laughed self-derisively, white objects appeared at his back. They scattered in air and started swelling.

It was a white-colored scarab beetle. A grotesque Mushi divided to six legs, head, torso and abdomen—fitting for him, it was an empty carcass with nothing inside of it.

The hollow scarab head covered his head like armor. In exchange for his arms, now robbed of their movement, claws were floating around.

"You're Hakamori!"

Shera shouted.

Call me whatever you'd like—he muttered coldly in his art.

His name had no meaning anyway.

"—Lend me power, Diorestoi."

As he erased his smile, black miasma burst from his body.

It was as if the scenery around was being painted over into a completely different space.

The expanding darkness of the night that didn't let any light sneak in was the same as it was before. Yet jutting out from the exposed ground came countless grey slabs—tombstones.

The ability to expand a domain and create a different space.

It was equivalent to the Church, the unreal space created by Shinpu.

Shera's groaning voice reverberated throughout this space that was transformed into a desolate cemetery.

"I thought you were killed by Kakkou… have you managed to recover your self-will?"

Black miasma coiled about the scarab's hollowed carapace.

"Also, that ability… does that mean you're in full control of Diorestoi's Fragment? So that's why you managed to disappear without resonating with the Fragment at the HQ…!"

"Hakamori… is that the name of the Mushitsuki who'd been purposely captured by the SEPB a few years ago?"

Shera's expression froze.

"Or perhaps—the name of the person who, despite infiltrating the Annihilators, became a guinea pig for Central Headquarters, a failed product that merged with Diorestoi's Fragment…?"

"What… did you say?"

"Or are you referring to the disposable pawn made in order to kill Kakkou that recovered his self-will and ran away from the SEPB?"

"You—"

"Or maybe… you refer to me, the one called Kusuriya Daisuke in this town?"

The one who made him a Mushitsuki, Oogui, perhaps did it only on a whim.

If she ate only sweet things, she wanted to try other flavors once in a while—perhaps she had that much of a human sensibility.

Sent to this country for a certain mission, he immediately caught Oogui's eyes.

—Will you tell me your dream?

His answer to Oogui's question wasn't even a dream in the first place.

It's cold here… I wish for someplace warmer—

Unlike his motherland, this country was cold no matter where he went.

That time, he was already exhausted.

And so he wished.

…Give me a place I can die in—

A slipshod, idiotic dream.

He didn't need a place to live in, anymore.

He simply wished for a place that would warm his heart, where he would feel no fear or anxiousness, and where he could die blissfully.

—Such a bitter dream's not bad, either.

Oogui had turned him into a Mushitsuki.

And, just like his original goal, he became a Mushitsuki, infiltrating into the SEPB.

However, something had been planted inside of him by the secret experiments of the Central Headquarters.

Diorestoi's Fragment—for some reason, the Central Headquarters were in possession of those being which were a single part of Shinpu who was able to split himself. The experiments using these Fragments were diverse. Many effects and side-effects were confirmed, but still not fully understood.

He'd become a guinea pig because it had been estimated that the effect on him would be the largest even among the numerous experiments.

They made the Fragment itself react to his Mushi, fusing them—

Amplifying his power like that was unlike the other Annihilators. He was also different from the escapees Minmin or Centipede, who'd been controlled by the Fragment itself and vanished while unable to adapt to it. —To say nothing of Shinpu's body doubles that were wandering around.

The other guinea pigs expired following rejection of the Fragments, but he survived. Even though his mental faculties were on the verge of destruction, eroding both mind and body as he was unable to fully suppress the large power, he still lived.

However, in exchange for that he carried the fate of turning into a living corpse.

"You—who the hell are you…!"

Shera repeated the same question.

It was a foolish exchange.

She herself called him Kakkou and yet asked him who he was, called him Hakamori and then repeated the same question.

"Originally, we should've been the same…"

"…"

"I somehow realized it by your smell. You're a person who came from outside… you feel no loyalty for this country. You were probably sent here by some higher-ups to secretly look for Mushi, right?"

Shera's movements stopped as if her body froze.

"Now the world's watching this country… both you and I are just part of that."

"…"

"But that doesn't matter at all. Right now, I'm—"

The reason he managed to survive the experiments was definitely not due to him being strong.

It was because he made a contract with Diorestoi's Fragment he fused with.

—Becoming the King of Mushitsuki.

He didn't understand the meaning of that term. He couldn't even tell if it meant a literal king.

Yet as one of the conditions, he needed to defeat the current King candidates.

And one of those—was Kakkou.

His ability to sense the location of those people like Kakkou and Fuyuhotaru who had the so-called qualifications of a King by Diorestoi's Fragment was viewed as important data even by the Central Headquarters. They also realized they could resonate the still-unstable Fragment inside him with another neutral Fragment. This meant that no matter where he was, the SEPB would be able to sense him.

However, as they were unable to get any more data, they ended up doing one final test.

A simple measuring of annihilating power.

"I have no name right now…"

He would aim for the moment when one of the King candidates would make an independent move—

The one who first fulfilled this condition was Kakkou.

He'd immediately been dispatched to annihilate Kakkou who left the East Central Branch.

And then he fled.

Unable to suppress the power of his Fragment's power, he went on a rampage, and Kakkou went on a rampage as well. He could do nothing in front of that monstrous strength, but a lucky hit made Kakkou flinch. Perhaps being exhausted as well, Kakkou tried desperately controlling his own Mushi. He stole Kakkou's goggles perhaps because he was trying to unconsciously substitute for his destroyed mask.

Consequently, as he ran away from the frontlines after this apparent tie, he managed to recover his rational thinking. Influenced by his battle with Kakkou, the control of Diorestoi's Fragment weakened.

Suppressing the Fragment's power, he escaped the SEPB.

And, he'd been picked up by Ikarino Kirari and Tanaka Momo.

"No—"

When he'd been asked by Ikarino Kirari if he was Kusuriya Daisuke, he answered unconsciously.

—If I said I was… what would you do?

He himself didn't really know why he was becoming Kakkou.

However, he also felt vaguely resigned.

Although he'd supposedly escaped from the clutches of the monster known as Kakkou, he wandered into the clutches of another monster. He thought that perhaps he couldn't run away from destiny.

He thought that might be his place to die.

When he gave up, another emotion welled inside him.

The happiness he felt at having a name.

Even in this faraway land, the desire that someone would know his name.

If I'm going to be killed anyway, then at least until then—

I'll take your name—

He stole that monster's name with such mean, ugly envy.

"I'm… Kusuriya Daisuke."

The Fragment he'd suppressed didn't tell him Kakkou's location anymore. However, since he was with someone who knew Kakkou, he would find him before long.

When that moment came, it would his last.

Yet until then—he was Kusuriya Daisuke.

The girl who called to him by that name was in this town.

More than any other time he was called by any other name, when she called him by that name he felt he was the most like himself.

"It wasn't that I was given this by someone… I called myself that."

Expelled from his motherland, he had been sent to this country to investigate what was going on. Yet his allies had been erased by the SEPB one after another, leaving him as the sole survivor.

He'd already lost his reason to live by the point he'd been exiled from his motherland.

He searched for a place wherein he could at least die happily, but every place he found was full of suffering. When he was young he was often laughed at for being weak against the cold, so the cold wind kept chasing him about. The fact that this coldness wasn't gone even when it approached summer… was probably due to his body and mind reaching their limits.

Yet in this town—

Only in this town—

There was warmth.

"No, at the very least, you're not Kakkou."

Shera recovered quickly from her agitation. The coat wrapping her body shrank, transforming to a body suit clinging to her slim body. The smooth, black material even covered the face of the woman with dark bags under her eyes.

"However, you're dangerous. —And I will eliminate any and all danger."

The arm covered by the suit that stretched toward him changed. Countless needles were fired as if from a gun.

"No matter who you are… I will not allow anyone to snatch this country."

"Diorestoi…"

He made no move. The scarab emitted miasma that swallowed the needles.

Touched by the foul miasma, the needles decayed and fell apart.

Yet the needles were just Shera's feint. He saw her kicking the dust and the next instant she evaded the miasma to directly approach.

Her fist covered in lustrous black was blocked by the scarab's hollow leg.

Shera's strength was beyond the average human. The strong impact blew his body away along with his Mushi. Crashing against a tombstone, the shell of the scarab covering him shattered.

"Die."

He heard her gloomy voice behind him as he fell to his knees with an expression of pain.

The pitch-black phantom swung her arm with artificial doll-like movements. It was as if he himself jumped backwards faster than he'd been blown away.

"…!"

As she tried attacking his defenseless body, Shera turned around with a start.

She managed to stop the white object swinging toward her at the last second.

An impact rivaling Shera's blow from before made her bodysuit sink into the ground. Earth flew around as though by an explosion, creating a large crater.

"Mmgh…!"

Shera had stopped the scarab's leg that was supposed to have been broken.

There was nothing inside his Mushi. Even if she broke its carapace, the fragments could gather and restore again. As long as this scarab wasn't completely exhausted, since it was an empty husk in the first place, it couldn't be defeated.

"—Vanish."

Even while being crushed by the hollow leg, Shera turned her palm up. A rectangular object flew from within the suit.

"Diorestoi…"

Using his scarab as shield, he launched the miasma toward Shera.

The foul miasma and whatever Shera launched clashed directly.

They caused a large explosion.

The explosive wind knocked over the tombstones stabbing the ground.

"Kh—"

Even while blown away, he somehow managed to climb on top of the ground. The scarab's smashed body parts assembled in air and began regaining their form.

The smell drifting in the desolate graveyard was that of gunpowder.

"Was that amount not enough?"

Despite calmly mumbling this, Shera was not unhurt. One part of her body suit that had been touched by the miasma rotted, exposing her skin.

"Plastic… no, vinyl?"

Seeing the suit's cross-section, he mumbled.

It was his first time seeing the ability of Head of the Annihilators, Shera. The way her suit that covered her entire body from head to toe crumbled was more like it was solid rather than made of threads.

"It's resin. My ability as a Special Type takes the medium of artificial resin. The plastic or vinyl I control can block and support weight several hundred times its own."

The strongest assassin among the Annihilators didn't even try to hide her abilities. Other parts of the suit expanded, instantly filling up the exposed part.

Her ability was already strong, but by supplementing her own body she achieved a fighting style like that of a Fusion Type. Although she mainly used it for hand to hand combat, the usage of her ability could be said to be logical and without any blind spots.

Her movements becoming superhuman after donning the body suit probably originated from not using her own muscles to move her body. What made Shera move was her very suit itself.

"Even if you try controlling the powers of a Minion and a Special Types at the same time… you will never defeat me."

Kicking off dirt, Shera pursued him.

The repeated punches and kicks pulverized the defending scarab's body. She didn't give the broken parts time to regenerate.

Now that he couldn't defend himself, the phantom's charge assaulted him.

"No, it's enough for me to know that you're a Special Type."

Black miasma blew.

"—Tch."

Clicking her tongue, Shera leapt back. The part of her suit touched by the miasma started rotting away.

"This graveyard is my domain… once drawn into it, a Special Type can't create its medium. Once I destroy all that currently exists of your medium, you'll be no different from a flesh and blood human."

"You don't look like you want a drawn-out battle, though."

Shera's suit began quickly repairing itself. —Outwardly it looked like it was regenerating, but he knew that she just made the material covering her body slightly thinner.

The calm assassin's conclusion was correct.

"—Ugh…"

The more he used his powers, the more his skin turned black. Even controlling Diorestoi's Fragment reached his limits. Having his ego destroyed was only a matter of time.

His goal was to run away with Momo.

He needed to defeat the assassin as soon as possible and head toward the substation.

"Diorestoi… grant me more power!"

"Ooh!"

The scarab's claws clashed with Shera's fists.

The impact created by the clash of these overwhelming powers caused the ground to swell and explode.

With broken fragments of tombstones pouring about them, his battle against Shera continued.

They were about equal in attack power. He was inferior in defense, but his sole advantage was that when push came to shove he could nullify Shera's attack using Diorestoi's ability.

Even so, there was a decisive and unbridgeable gap between them.

"Guh…!"

With the scarab's leg pulverized, the boy fell to his knees. He was exhausting physical and mental energy so suddenly that it was becoming difficult for him to even support his own body weight.

By him flinching, a momentary opening was created.

When he raised his tired face, he saw that Shera's form was suddenly gone.

"Wha…?"

As long as he didn't absolve his domain, it was impossible to escape the tombstone space.

Even so, looking around he could only see the ruined lines of tombstones.

"Die."

The voice came from behind.

When he turned back, he saw Shera who wasn't wearing anything.

Wrapped around the nude woman was an inflated, transparent mass of artificial resin—a large lac scale insect.

She had apparently concealed an ability that allowed her to change the color of the resin to blend in with the surrounding scenery. The lac scale insect instantly shrunk, transforming again into a body-hugging suit.

When he readied himself, the small lump thrown by the assassin was in front of him.

"Gwah!"

He immediately defended using the scarab's shell, but was unable to fully block the impact.

The resulting large explosion blew him away along with the tombstones around. Like a pebble skipping over the surface of the water, his body landed on the ground and kept rebounding and rolling.

"If you mix artificial resin with gunpowder inside small pipes, you can create a synthetic plastic bomb. —If you'd been hit from point-blank range, even you wouldn't end unhurt…"

His and Shera's fighting styles resembled one another. Their Mushi would protect the host, which was originally their weakness, and would be used to attack as well.

Yet Shera had other things as well.

Not only her body suit granting her superhuman strength. At times she controlled sharp plastic needles, or used camouflage to vanish. At time she would mix her hidden gunpowder with resin, creating the normal weapon known as a bomb.

These weren't the kinds of abilities she could gain in one or two years of training.

He'd never seen such a mold-breaking Mushitsuki whose ability was so protean and malleable.

"Gh… Ugh…!"

Although he barely managed to stand up, he didn't have power left to control his Mushi. The scarab, shattered to smithereens, scattered on the ground without regenerating.

"So you can barely stand… Retaining your ego from being controlled by Diorestoi was hard, I see."

He blankly gazed at Shera who was walking toward him.

Momo…

While he stood there frozen, Tanaka Momo's face rose to his mind.

When the Mushi ate his dreams, his memories were rapidly dimming.

It was the sign of his dream nearly being fully eaten.

"Fuhaha—"

An unfitting laugh rose from him.

The moment before Mushitsuki had their dreams fully eaten, it was said they would see memories regarding their dream.

Like the so-called life flashing before one's death.

However, the scenes that rose to and vanished from his mind were not past happenings.

There was Momo.

Kirari as well.

The three of them lived in a today that was the same as yesterday.

After forgetting the duty he'd been sent to this country for, running away from his duties as an Annihilator, losing even his own name and becoming an empty husk—these were days of happiness.

No battles. No fear of killing one another.

His figure when he lived through the same today as tomorrow—

He was smiling happily at living toward an impossible future.

"Fuhaha, haha…"

He had no regrets.

The proof he had been living remained in Momo and Kirari's memories.

Not the illusory tombstones surrounding him.

Momo and Kirari would hold the days they've spent together in their hearts and keep living.

For that purpose, he didn't fear to stop there.

"Shera…"

Standing in place like a puppet, he mumbled.

"Do you know what Diorestoi—the fragment of Shinpu who's still wandering around, needs to possess in order to give birth to Mushitsuki?"

The black phantom stopped her legs.

"…It's dead bodies."

Although he couldn't see Shera's expression, with it being covered by her suit, he knew she was agitated.

The contract he'd exchanged with the Diorestoi's Fragment wasn't simply beating Kakkou to become the King.

The Fragment had given him a time limit.

In exchange for letting him use these abilities, his body would approach death while he was alive.

"The more my body approaches death, the more the Fragment retrieves its true form…"

When he was finally overtaken by the Fragment, when he became a living dead—

He would completely become one of Diorestoi's body doubles.

—The owners of dreams that cannot come true no matter how much they struggle and writhe are fit to become my vessel.

Once, when he was being controlled, the Fragment whispered this to him.

"You told me to die. But it's not like that."

He had no regrets.

He'd lived a dreamy life up to the very, very end.

He gained a peaceful daily life that held enough value for him to put his life on the line.

"But the one's going to die—will be the both of us."

This place was where he searched for.

Despite being empty and nameless—

I have—

Managed to find a place he could die happy.

"I'll give you my dream… Diorestoooooooi!!!"

As he was shouting, he was swallowed by the foul miasma.

The desolate graveyard changed again.

The perfectly-sealed darkness started swallowing the tombs.

"…!"

Shera looked up the starless sky.

The sound of a bell echoed.

That cracked sound was incredibly ear-grating, and every time it rang the air seemed to decay. In this dark space, depriving her even her sense of direction, something sticky wrapped her body.

The unseen clouds cleared.

A light rose in the moonless sky.

Slightly revealing itself overhead was—

"This is… Shinpu's Church…!"

The bodysuit assassin groaned in shock.

The image of a decaying church floated in the sky.

The corrupted bell sounds permeated everything in this controlled space.

"—"

The boy felt his body slowly dying, starting from his very fingertips. All of his cells were dying and he began losing his pulse and all sensations.

That was fine.

Once he completely turned to Diorestoi, he should be able to defeat Shera.

He had no other way to save Momo.

He wanted to lose his consciousness while he still felt satisfied.

However—

"I waited for this."

Shera spoke in a gloomy voice. She lowered her body to the ground like a bug.

"I knew that even if I killed you the Fragment will just go out of control. —To erase the Fragment, I needed it to take a physical form first."

Shera stretched and leapt high.

By the time she rotated in air, the black phantom passed over the church.

"And if it's just right after materializing… Even Shinpu's ability would be unable to defend against a preemptive attack."

The assassin produced two bombs in her hands, pounding them against the church.

Explosion on a completely different scale than before swallowed the desolate church.

Simultaneously—cracks formed in the dark space they both resided in.

The space created by Diorestoi's ability crumbled down loudly.

"…"

His knees fell on top of the dirty pavement with a thud.

The blinking city's lights lit his profile as he became frozen there.

In the world of reality they came back to, it was raining.

The scene in the empty alley was distorting.

"—"

Looking up the sky like a statue, his expression was gone.

He no longer felt anguish.

He no longer thought of anything.

Being pelted by the merciless rain, Shera landed next to him.

"So you're a Fallen…"

The bodysuit covering the phantom transformed to a long coat.

For some reason—there was a while of silence.

Shera gazed down at him, apparently thinking of something.

Yet she soon stopped.

"Just who the hell were you…"

Leaving this melancholic mutter behind, the cold assassin's footsteps grew distant.

4.04 Marker-user VS The Annihilators' Shera Part 1

"Coatl Head!"

The substation was enveloped in a blinding light.

The light's color was a vivid reddish-yellow.

—A marigold of healing.

"Uugh…!"

Enveloped by the light, Momo rose up. Orange light gushed out from her tear-stained face—from the Coatl Head mark drawn on her forehead.

Once again she felt a large amount of something within her chest being consumed. In exchange the wounds all over her body closed and she felt her fatigue being restored.

"Wha—"

Watching this unexpected sight, Ashimaki was frozen.

"You have a healing ability…?"

Biting her lips, Momo looked up the enemy ahead.

This wasn't enough.

The hot impulse surging through her body wouldn't settle down like that. Just healing her wounds wouldn't allow her to match the black-wearing man.

At this rate she'd be killed.

At this rate she wouldn't be able to get with Kusuriya Daisuke—

"Blergh!"

Ashimaki was apparently also feeling the pressure. Weaving together countless claws to form a spear, he launched it at Momo.

Momo nimbly bent down, drawing a new mark on the ground.

With the power of baby blue, Momo would be pierced by the spear before it would be fully erased.

She needed a new color that possessed another effect.

Ashimaki's spear pursued her—

"…Coatl Heaaad!"

Momo's vision was dyed in white.

The mark at her feet glowed, and the substation was covered in so bright of a light it seemed like it was the middle of the day.

"How—"

Ashimaki was frozen with shock.

The minute before piercing Momo's brow, the spear broke apart.

"How many powers does she—"

Momo grabbed the negated claws in air.

"Uaaah!"

She pulled the claws forcefully toward her.

Ashimaki had no way to resist her superhuman pulling strength. Along with the Mushi grabbed on his tongue, the black-wearing man was instantly pulled to Momo.

Momo stuck out her hand toward the man who looked like he was flying to her.

From Ashimaki's wide-open mouth—she plucked the Mushi stuck to his tongue.

"…!"

She could feel the Mushi being crushed in her hand.

The man widened his eyes, and his body twitched backward. And—when Momo let go, he collapsed on the ground and didn't move anymore.

The bright light around vanished, and the substation sank to silence.

"Haah… Haah…"

For a while Momo just stood there, but soon began walking.

She started walking toward town.

She had defeated her enemy.

Now she was finally able to head to Daisuke—

"Daiske…"

Something like a faint shadow rose from Momo's body as she walked with an unsteady gait. The pattern covering her entire body simmered, producing white smoke.

She felt power coursing through her body and the hot impulse inside her.

However, contrary to that her heart was rapidly weakening and her mind grew blurry. Her thinking was paralyzed, and she was unable to think rationally.

"It's hot…"

She had to get to Daisuke as soon as possible, but she might explode from inside before that.

"Daiskeee…"

A drop hit Momo's cheeks.

It was raining.

The sky covered in dark clouds started a fierce rain at once.

Rain wild enough to cover her entire sight—

"…!"

There was an explosion.

Unable to do anything, Momo rolled vigorously on the ground.

"You are sturdy… well, that's expected from a Fusion Type."

Along with this gloomy voice, appearing in the rain was once again a person completely clad in black. With the pitch-dark body suit covering her from head to toes, she was like an enemy of some Tokusatsu show.

"Uh—"

Momo stood up, swaying.

"UUUUuuuUUuUUhhh!!!"

Raising her face, her shining eyes gazed at the newly appeared enemy. A bestial groan leaked from between her clenched teeth.

She hated it.

Why did she have to go through all this?

Why was everyone trying to kill Momo?

"Why?!"

She shouted while shedding tears.

"I didn't do anything! I never hurt anyone, and never got involved with any Mushi or Mushitsuki! I was just living normally! So why's everyone and their mother trying to kill me?!"

Momo's howl reverberated around the substation.

"Why am I not even allowed to run away!"

For a second—the bodysuit person looked as if she was standing frozen.

Now mixed with the killer intent radiating at her was the presence of some agitation.

"Ta—Tanaka… Momo…?"

Momo felt as if the suited woman's surprised voice was familiar.

Yet she lacked the presence of mind to recall that voice's origin right now.

"If you're still going to stand in my way…!"

The pattern appearing on Momo's distorted expression was shining in multicolor. The marker she gripped so tightly it nearly broke was continually changing its colors.

She wasn't kind.

Only to people whom she found precious.

Against those she determined to be her enemies, she was ruthless.

"I'm going to kill everyone who's not me or Daiske… yeah!"

Marker-User, Tanaka Momo.

Her shout was the howl to keep living.

"That is… my line."

The phantom who was until now paralyzed asserted in a low voice.

"Fusion-Type Mushitsuki are dangerous. No matter who they are… I'll kill them."

Tanaka Momo, ruled by fear and murder—didn't notice any of the hesitation coloring that voice.

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