Chapter 120 - Second Hinotori

Day 37

I made us start the day as early as dawn when the sun was barely out. Amethyst wanted to complain, but I wouldn't let her. Shiroi just went on full throttle, tearing up the ground. She had no problem with this seeing as she herself didn’t really enjoy the day time either. Sylv didn’t care either way and just wanted to abuse my poor soul.

There was nothing much to talk about so I tested out the skill [Multiple Minds] which I acquired from eating the chimera.

'Oi, oi, oi! Where the hell am I!?'

I heard another voice, like mine in my head, making me realise that I had developed another consciousness.

'I see. So you are another me.'

'What? Who are you?'

'I am you and you are me.'

'That's bullshit. Are you stupid?'

'Don't go insulting me! We are both the same person.'

'I don't know about you, but I know I am definitely not you.'

'Ok. Then who are you?'

'That's what I'm trying to figure out rig- ou a cutie. Who is that?'

'Who?'

'The busty loli.'

'Sylvie?'

'Yeah, yeah. Tell her I said she's hot.'

'Ok, you're right we aren't the same person. Fraud!'

'What? How am I a fraud!? Did I ever say I was you?'

'…'

'Exactly, so stop being stupid and tell me where I am.'

'You are in my head.'

'Is that why there's so much space in here? I feel like I could build a mansion here.'

'Eh? It’s our head you twit!'

'No, no. Forget a mansion! Let's go for an entire castle. Damn, even the great wall wouldn't be enough. It's just an endless mass of nothingness.'

'Ah… stupid. I want to turn off this ability, but it's not stopping.'

‘Good luck with that.’

'… Can I mute it?'

'Oi! Stupid me, what are you doing? Where are these hands coming from? S-stop! I want my lawyer! Nooooo… sike! I can’t be muted.'

‘Not gonna lie, you had me in the first half. Bravo.’

‘Thank you, thank you. Anyway, how’d I end up here?’

‘How do you not know? You should know.’

‘Um… how am I supposed to know that? Last thing I checked I was eating ice cream with Ken and Maya.’

‘Oh f-! You are a copy of my mind from before my death?’

‘Death? What death are you talking about?’

‘Ah… that’s right, you- I – we? We get shot in the head by some random robber.’

‘What? There’s no way I got shot in the hea- Oh f- I got shot in the head.’

‘Sigh. Welcome to our next life. And since I was here before you, you can call me Senpai. I will call you Kouhai as well.’

‘Um, how about a no?’

‘What? Why?’

‘Why should I address you as such? I don’t even know who you are.’

‘Ugh… that’s right. I don’t really like submitting to older people. You shitty brat, just listen to me!’

‘Ugh… you’re one fucking weirdo. Sa sa. When I wake up from this dream, I’ll have to visit a shaman or something to clear myself from spirits.’

‘Ah, but you just admitted to dying!’

‘Twas a lie you simpleton. Now honestly, where am I?’

‘Sigh. I don’t think you’d believe me. If only you could scroll through my memories.’

‘Your memories? You mean these disks?’

‘Eh? How’d you get those?’

‘I just thought about them and they appeared, I guess.’

‘Ah… whatever. Just look at those and when you believe me, just call me.’

‘Oi! Don’t leave me here.’

‘Why?’

‘Can’t you at least conjure up some illusion of nice German girls?’

‘This is your dream, right? So do it yourself.’

‘So you admit that this is a dream.’

‘Sigh, whatever. I can’t believe I’m this stubborn.’

After having one of the most annoying conversations in my life, I decided to test out a different skill. [Snake Head Tail].

I called forth a snake head tail. It came to face me with its dull green scales and beady black eyes, then it hissed.

‘Hi there.’

I waved at it and it licked my cheek with its forked tongue.

‘I really like pets.’

I said tiredly as I put my head on Shiroi's back to sleep once again.

DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS

[Hyakkiyako received the title []]

[This title represents your intelligence according to your second mind! What a genius!]

[Hyakkiyako slept the whole day away]

[Three goblin minions evolved into hob-goblin minions]

[Five rat men minions evolved into High-Rat Men minions]

Day 38

I missed out on the previous day, so I decided to make up for it with today. The sun severely weakened me and I needed to find a solution to it, soon. Maybe using shadow manipulation to will a cloud of shadows above me? As I pondered a solution, I remembered a skill I got. [Twilight Zone]

I set up a barrier, curious at what would happen. It was a barrier that boosted all twilight magics inside it and also protected me from external forces. When I tried it, Amethyst said she felt really energized and so did I. It also protected me from the sun's rays which tempted me to use it, but setting it up costed 100MP and constantly activating it costed 20MP per second, so while thinking up a solution, I came up with the idea of redirecting the power source of the twilight barrier to the surrounding air which was literally filled with mana. The idea seemed plausible enough, so I tried it.

The attempt ended in failure. I asked Sylv for help and she said she could create clothes that would protect me from sunlight if I gave her the right materials. Luckily for us, the materials could be found in the South.

Mud Alligator scales, typrids mane and claws of a swamp tortoise.

How she knew this, she herself had no idea. I was sure it was because of her unique skill. It was a blessing having a friend who had such a helpful unique skill.

***

The girl dropped down from the balcony on the second floor, using wind magic to slow her descent. Upon touch down, her hood fell off, revealing her silver hair which had been wrapped up in a ponytail.

Shiro quickly put her hood back on, lest she be recognized. She looked up and saw the wall that was unbelievably tall. Still, it would be no problem for her to simply use wind magic to carry herself over it. The problem was the magic defenses that had been set up to protect the Family House from attack. Or to keep the children trapped as she would put it.

But, over the years, Shiro had noticed that her bodyguard Kai would occasionally leave the mansion secretly. This was definitely not on any orders by his superiors, or so Shiro assumed. Because if it was, what was the point in leaving an almost impossible to differentiate magic clone. Fortunately, she had mastered the art of discerning clones from their creators.

Magic clones would never possess the same amount of magic as their master. No matter how close in power they were, the clone would never possess 100% of the exact power its creator had. And these years, Shiro had monitored her bodyguard to the point she knew his power scale. She had seen through his strengths and weaknesses. She had calculated how strong he could possibly get. She had seen the strength he assumed he was hiding from the clan head and herself.

So whenever he left his magic clone back, Shiro would observe where he went without the clone noticing. Even 1% less observation ability was more than enough for Shiro to do her work.

Right now, ever since the incident with Hinotori, Kai hadn’t appeared. It was almost a month now and not even a single word from him. Even his clone had disappeared. One might assume she was worried. Well, she wasn’t. In fact, this was the best news she could receive.

Kai was as sketchy as they came. How he had come to a role as important as protecting the Clan Head’s daughter was beyond her. Her mother was probably planning something out of this world and Shiro couldn’t figure out what exactly. Kai’s disappearance was proof that her mother’s plan was coming along or something unexpected happened.

Either way, she wouldn’t let this one chance to escape pass her by.

In the wall, there was a tiny crack. Normally impossible to pass, but Shiro had met up with the Paladin of Space once. This paladin had told Shiro a secret about spatial magic that she used. It was honestly surprising advice to the teenager.

After boosting her physical abilities with mana, she ran quickly, using wind as a sort of stepping stone. Spatial magic would have been good, but Mr. Sotomura had put up devices that would detect the formation of stepping stones, just to prevent Shiro from running away.

Wind on the other hand, he hadn’t done such. Doing so would be useless since the wind blowing was a normal occurrence.

Now she wouldn’t leave any footprints on the grass.

A few feet away from her destination, the wall suddenly cracked. She halted her approach and went back a bit. More cracks appeared on the wall spelling doom.

‘W-What is happening?’

BOOM!

There was a powerful explosion from the wall that sent her flying. She landed on the ground in a violent manner, but quickly recovered.

When the dust from the explosion settled, a man in black wretched armor came through. There was a large sword strapped to his black and his eyes glowed a dull golden. He seemed to possess horns and grey skin.

“D-Demon? What’s a demon doing here? Tora.”

A summon gate appeared to her left and out of it came tiger with six legs, black stripes on blue cales with hungry eyes. It licked its lips at the sight of the intruder.

‘I have come at your beckon, princess.’

“Ah! W-Why are you here again? Where’s Tora?”

‘Hehe, the master says he’s too tired today.’

“Ah… whatever. We should d-“

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a powerful shockwave to her side. Followed by ear deafening silence and blood on her face.

Her eyes widened in shocked.. The demon walked closer to her while saying some words.