Chapter 47 Let’s Wreck the Seiryuusai Festival with Evil Dragon! ⑧
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The clash between the two Evil Dragons tore the air apart with an ear-splitting *DOOOOM!!* that felt like it could shake the bones right out of the world.
Yaten and the Void Dragon—both beings strong enough to erase existence itself—were locked in a death match. The very sky twisted from the force of it. From the ground, black spheres bloomed and vanished like inverted nuclear blasts, each flash shoving the world sideways. It was Heavenly Calamity, plain and simple.
If this didn’t end soon, the world would literally come apart.
So I leapt up onto the floating Stage without a second thought. My target was the jet-black Orb, the Kill Switch for the Void Dragon. It lay where Seiichi and the rest of the Branch Family had been annihilated, their souls burned away like scraps of paper. The second I snatched it up and swung to smash it—
”This is—?! Crap—ahh!! Gghhhhhh—!”
—black Miasma exploded from the Orb, lashing out like it was fighting back, and instantly sank its claws into me. Even as the Head of the Shiryuin Clan’s Main Family, with all the resistance to curses and corruption my bloodline gave me, the concentration of it was so dense it ripped through my defenses. My right arm went stiff like stone, refusing to move, and the torrent of Miasma kept creeping further in, ignoring every ounce of willpower I threw at it.
*This… this must be the Safety Mechanism built into the Orb…!*
Anyone who claimed the Orb would gain power enough to rule the world. Of course the Branch Family would’ve built a trap to keep it from being stolen. I’d expected something like that—but I hadn’t thought it could tear through even my Miasma-hardened body. My right arm was dead weight now, and it took everything I had just to hold back the flood inching up my body. The idea of cutting it off flashed across my mind—and that was when the black jewel slipped out of my grip and began to burrow under my skin.
”—Ghhh! What is this, a freaking alien?! Ugh, no time to think—!”
I didn’t hesitate. The instant I felt it worming inside, I swung my hand like a blade and sliced my right arm clean off.
*SHIING!*
Blood sprayed in wild arcs from the shoulder, but I didn’t let it matter. Losing an arm threw off your balance, sure, but as Head of the Shiryuin Clan, I’d been trained to fight on with half my limbs if needed. So I stood, gritting my teeth through the fire ripping through my nerves, glaring at the blackened, possessed arm on the ground—right before something impossible happened.
The severed stump twitched—and then, without even giving me time to blink, something shot out of it at supersonic speed like a slingshotted stone.
*CRACK!*
”Ghhhhhggggggggggghhhhhhhh—!!”
It was the Orb. The soulless, inorganic thing somehow struck with will, an impossible contradiction, and before I could react it punched through my chest. In the same blink, Miasma began pouring through me like molten tar. I could feel the fist-sized Orb pressing into my heart, merging with it, and from there the corruption streaked through every corner of my body, biting into my soul itself.
All I could do was thrash on the ground in agony as it devoured me alive. My whole being was drowning in Miasma strong enough to erase the world, and the only reason my mind hadn’t cracked yet… was because this Miasma came from Yaten.
It was probably Yaten’s possessiveness clinging to me, keeping my sanity tethered by a thread.
The fact that every inch of me had already been stained by Yaten’s power was acting like a half-formed antibody, slowing the mental collapse. But the pain was still unreal, and having my mind intact didn’t give me a way out of this. The Orb had completely merged with my soul—there was no cutting it off anymore. And if I did nothing, the Void Dragon would tear the world to pieces before long.
That left me only one choice.
”Before the world ends… before Yaten gets killed… I have to give up this life.”
It was the same art all the past Heads of the Shiryuin Clan had used—sacrificing their lives and souls to forge a Barrier to seal away an Evil Dragon [t/n: a forbidden exorcist ritual unique to the Shiryuin Clan]. Total erasure of self in exchange for binding even something that could end the world. Right now, full of world-ending Miasma, I was basically perfect for it.
As long as the Orb existed, the Void Dragon was immortal. Even if Yaten managed to kill it now, the Miasma inside me would resurrect it. Maybe if I could spew out every last drop of the Miasma it would finally die, but Yaten wouldn’t last that long.
If I didn’t die, Yaten would. And if I didn’t create the Barrier with my life, the world would drown in black Miasma. This was it. The end of my road—and I had to actually end it.
”…I think I finally get a little how Father felt, giving up his life for the Shiryuin Clan’s duty.”
I used to think he was mad—burning even his soul to fuel the Barrier—but now, staring straight at my own end, I understood.
You had to be sane to give up your soul for the world. If you drowned in madness, you could never accept becoming nothing—you’d cling to yourself too hard. Only if you kept your sanity, all the way down to the last moment, and put something else above your own existence, could you complete this secret art.
It wasn’t about the duty itself—it was about devotion. The past Heads had chosen it for someone’s sake, not just for obligation, and that was the only way they found the resolve to vanish completely.
That, at least, was something I should follow as Head of the Shiryuin Clan.
”It’s a shame I won’t get to see my family one last time… but I can leave them a message, so that’s enough.”
A mental will could carry more than words ever could. I started to gather my thoughts, to leave everything behind in my last letter—
”Father! Are you all right?!”
”Sakuya…?! What are you—”
”Mom’s fighting like crazy up there in the sky! We got worried, so we came!”
”Uigetsu…!”
Seeing my beloved daughters, Sakuya and Uigetsu, right at the edge of my death… my heart twisted with both joy and dread. I was glad, honestly glad, to see them again—but I hated the thought of making them watch their father die too soon.
They rushed to me where I lay crumpled on the floor.
”Miasma eating away not just your body but your soul, too…”
”This is awful! Why… why does Dad have to go through this?!”
”Damn it, you two—! It’s too dangerous! Stay back! I’m about to create the Barrier with the secret art and—”
They refused to move. Clinging to me like they’d never let go, their small hands wrapped around me even as the Miasma licked at them. But of course, they were born from both the Evil Dragon and the Shiryuin Clan’s blood—they could endure world-ending Miasma like it was nothing, and they wouldn’t let go, like their very will had turned solid.
”Taking your own life… you must not! Absolutely not!”
My daughters clung to me, their hands gripping my robes like they could anchor me to this moment forever. Sakuya’s eyes blazed with defiance, her voice slicing through the tense air. “This is totally ridiculous, Dad! No way am I just gonna roll over and accept this!” Her words ended in a sharp huff, her fists balled up tight, ready to fight the universe itself.
Uigetsu stood beside her, quieter but no less determined. “But… if we don’t do this, the world’s done for, isn’t it?” Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from the sheer weight of the truth. It hit me hard—my little girls, facing the same impossible choice I was.
As their father, a shikigami master, I could’ve ordered them to let go. One word, and they’d have to obey, their hands falling away like petals in a storm. But this was maybe our last real talk as a family—no way could I just command them like puppets. So, I forced the words out, explaining the mess we were in. The black Orb fused with me pulsed with dark energy, tied to the Void Dragon. Their mother, Yaten, was up there in the sky, locked in a deadly clash with it. If I didn’t complete the secret art, the world would end. Full stop.
”If I give my soul,” I said, my voice rough as gravel, “I can save Yaten. I can save the world you two live in.”
Sakuya’s eyes narrowed, her head tilting like she was sizing up a puzzle. “Then why doesn’t Mom just bail? She’s as strong as that dragon, right? If she dips out, she could avoid the fight altogether, couldn’t she?”
I shook my head, the pressure crushing me. “If she runs, the world’s finished. If Yaten backs off, the Void Dragon will go berserk, wiping out every living thing on the ground.”
Sakuya’s voice dropped, and she paused, her gaze sweeping the scene. She looked at me—her dad—then at Uigetsu, her little sister, standing close. Her eyes flicked upward to Yaten, a distant figure battling in the sky, then to the crowd in the Seal Dragon Festival plaza [t/n: *Fūryūsai*, a ritual festival for sealing dragons]. Their faces mixed awe and terror. “So… we have to choose between you and the world?” Her tone was steady now, but a spark of rebellion flickered. “If that’s the deal, then I pick you, Dad. Every time.”
”What… Sakuya?!” My heart lurched, her words crashing over me like a wave. My ultimate papa’s girl, ready to toss the whole world for me without blinking. Uigetsu nodded deeply, her silent agreement just as fierce. I stood there, stunned, but Sakuya’s face shifted—a tiny flash of hurt—before she pushed on.
”But that’s not what you want, is it, Dad? So, I’ve got a plan—a way to make this work for everyone.”
I blinked, my mind scrambling. “A plan? There’s a way to fix this?”
”Yes,” Sakuya said, her voice brimming with certainty. “And it’s something *only* we can do. Absolutely, no one else.”
Her words hooked me, and Uigetsu leaned in, just as curious. High above, the sky roared with Yaten’s battle, like a kaiju showdown straight out of a blockbuster. *RUMBLE!* If Sakuya had a real fix, I needed it now. I must’ve looked desperate, because she licked her lips—a quirky little habit—before answering.
”The Miasma from the Evil Dragon, eating away at your body and soul,” she said, locking eyes with me. “We can calm it. We can cycle it through our bodies, spread it out, dilute it. Since Mom’s the source, and we’ve got her Evil Dragon blood, Uigetsu and I can handle it—”
”Wait, Sis,” Uigetsu cut in, her voice sharp with realization. “You mean—”
”No way,” I blurted, my gut twisting as it clicked. The black Orb was Yaten’s Evil Dragon Miasma [t/n: A toxic, supernatural aura tied to corruption], a force so vast it could end everything. Tame it, and I could control the Void Dragon’s rampage. But for Sakuya to say only *they*—my daughters, with their mother’s blood—could do it…
”It’s sexual yoga, Dad,” Sakuya said, calm as if explaining a math problem. “We use courtesan arts to cycle the Evil Dragon’s Miasma through our bodies.”
Uigetsu’s eyes widened, but she didn’t flinch. “Then we’ve gotta hurry and have s*x with Dad! It’s for Mom’s sake too—she’s fighting up there!”
—We needed to perform an incestuous union in order to quell the miasma of the Evil Dragon, which corrupts and corrupts not only the body and mind, but also the soul.
Notes:
• Seiichi – Branch family head, loyal but quietly disturbed by the clan’s decline. Cautious, more grounded.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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