Chapter 65: Main Quest: Duty and Truth
Shion tried to rise, but her body was utterly devoid of strength.
Her power had been entirely consumed, depleted by the countless malevolent spirits surrounding her.
In her current state, she was utterly helpless, incapable of any action.
Yet, she seemed to perceive a young woman, strikingly similar to herself—indeed, almost identical.
This spectral figure, despite having lost all her power and being engulfed by an immense despair, still managed to rise.
The white-haired maiden, clutching a Kagura suzu (TL Note: A bell used in Shinto rituals), shook it, attempting to quell the malevolent spirits surging towards her.
However, the pure white glow emanating from her was but a drop in the ocean, utterly insufficient against the hordes of thousands upon thousands of specters.
“No wonder… so that was her fate back then…” Shion mused, gazing at the white-haired maiden.
The maiden wore an attire identical to Shion’s own: a white Miko (TL Note: A shrine maiden) outfit and a golden Kagura suzu.
Yet, everything she wore was stained with blood, and still, in that moment, she appeared even purer and more radiant than when praying at the shrine or performing the sacred Kagura dance for the gods during a festival.
Upon the battlefield, beyond the soldiers whose lives were claimed by blades and swords, countless others were entangled by unseen malevolent spirits, blissfully unaware of their tormentors.
These clinging spirits inflicted a despair far deeper than any wound from a weapon—a torment that offered no glimmer of light within its abyssal depths.
Nevertheless, the white-haired maiden pressed on, performing exorcism rituals for those already ensnared by the evil spirits, using her own power.
While her power was not significantly greater than Shion’s, her skill in wielding it for exorcism far surpassed Shion’s own, proving exquisitely refined.
With merely a subtle incantation, she freed the soldiers around her from the spirits’ clutches.
However, blades had no mercy.
Even if she saved this soldier now, it would not alter his ultimate fate.
Regardless of whether the white-haired maiden rescued him in that moment, he was destined to fall beneath the swords.
Still, she could not bear to witness so many suffering.
Her body, besides being besieged by countless malevolent spirits, was also susceptible to the slashes of the soldiers’ blades and swords around her.
She had fallen many times, yet even so, she stumbled onward, relentlessly pushing forward.
Perhaps, she would continue until she could no longer stand.
Shion longed to stand, to reach for the maiden’s hand, and to say to her, “Let’s go back, back to the shrine.”
But Shion, in her current state, lacked even the strength to rise.
She watched helplessly as the maiden continued onward, step by step, disappearing into the throngs of people.
The distance between them grew, further and further, until the maiden’s form truly vanished within the crowd, never to be seen again.
She still recalled the performance in Class E that afternoon—a memory she couldn’t discern as a dream or a feeling and wish from the past.
All she knew was that the maiden who had waited so painfully at the shrine four hundred years ago would never see her Miko return.
No matter how she watched, all she saw was a bleak, impenetrable darkness of despair, leaving behind only a long sigh that echoed for four centuries.
Yet, the unwavering gaze of the white-haired maiden who had waited at the shrine now materialized before Shion.
“I promise you, we will meet again,” the waiting maiden declared, extending her hand towards Shion.
Shion accepted her promise, and thus, Shion herself could not betray it.
Shion felt a flicker of strength return.
Bracing herself with both hands on the ground, she pushed herself up.
‘As long as one more person can be saved, it is worth it.’
For some inexplicable reason, this seemed to be the inner thought, or rather, the unwavering conviction, of that Miko from moments ago—a belief that had traversed four centuries to reach Shion.
“Yes, I received it,” Shion murmured, nodding gently.
Just then, the sky above seemed to shatter like broken glass, falling away in shards.
The entire world around her resembled a colossal glass sphere being crushed, cracking and fragmenting into pieces.
“Main Quest added: Duty and Truth,” the system’s emotionless prompt echoed within Shion’s mind.
The surrounding world continued to crumble, transforming from large glass fragments into countless tiny shards.
“Sister…”
A fierce headache surged once more, yet Shion found it less unbearable than before.
“Sister, Sister!”
She seemed to hear a cry, distant yet close, or perhaps it was slowly approaching her.
Ah, no, that wasn’t it; her soul merely seemed to be striving to race back into her body, finally returning.
“Wake up, you silly sister!”
Shion finally heard it.
Ayane’s sorrowful sobs filled her ears, profoundly heartbroken.
“Stop… you’re deafening me…” Shion opened her eyes, feeling the dampness on her face.
Water streamed down her cheeks, tasting distinctly salty as it reached her mouth.
“Sister? Sister, are you awake?” Ayane threw her arms around Shion, immediately causing a breathless sensation.
This was no spiritual oppression or pain, but a very real physical constriction, suffocating her!
“Ayane, you idiot, you’re going to strangle me!” Shion finally came to her senses, pulling at Ayane’s arms that were wrapped around her.
Ayane’s embrace was incredibly tight, so much so that Shion struggled to breathe.
“Silly sister, you worried me to death! You didn’t reply to my messages, didn’t answer your calls, and… and why were you unconscious on the road?!” Ayane cried, rubbing her snotty, tear-streaked face into Shion’s chest.
Shion lifted her head, surveying her surroundings.
It was well past midnight, and the sky was exceptionally dark; save for the solitary streetlamp still burning, it was pitch-black, impossible to see one’s hand in front of their face.
Shion sat on the ground, apparently having been unconscious until Ayane had just helped her up.
From her sister’s embrace, Shion managed to retrieve her phone, noting the time was now past one in the morning.
“So… you came out looking for me?” Shion asked, steadying her breath.
Ayane lifted her head, revealing her reddened, tear-filled eyes to Shion.
“What else was I supposed to do? You said you were going to find Iori-san, and then you didn’t come back even this late.
I don’t have her contact information, and your phone was unreachable, so I had no choice but to come look for you.
I really searched for such a long, long time before I finally found you!”
Shion offered a weak smile, raising a hand to stroke Ayane’s hair.
Her sister’s hair was now a tangled mess, completely devoid of its usual smoothness.
“Don’t cry, Ayane,” Shion whispered softly, comforting her sister as she stroked her hair.
“Your sister is right here, and I’ll always be here.”
“Come on, let’s go home together.”