[Spirit of Challenge]

“Huh? What’s up with you? Hey~.”

Ayako and the small bird collapsed out of nowhere. I poke her with the tip of my nodachi, but she shows no reaction, as though her power has been switched off.

What happened to her? This never happened to Ayako in the original game. Has she run out of battery or something?

“Phew, I really couldn’t do it as skillfully as my mother. Tōru, I’ve finished repairing the bar—wait, what’s going on here?”

“Dunno, she just dropped dead out of nowhere.”

“You know that doesn’t explain anything, don’t you?”

I mean, she did drop dead out of nowhere. That’s all I can say.

Look at what I’m holding, it’s Ayako’s soul. ‘Soul Strike’ allows me to grab souls. It slipped out of her body when I poked her, so I grabbed it without thinking.

The fact that her soul has left her body means that she’s dead, right? What do we do with her soul?

“I can’t see it, I know nothing about souls, don’t ask me.”

“Are you really a priest?”

“Priests are not necromancers, okay? But seriously, what happened to them…?” Ethel says, poking the odd-shaped bird with her toe. Confusion is clearly visible on her face, indicating that she truly has no clue about what happened.

I doubt Joseph did anything for the bird to suddenly collapse in the middle of our conversation, and seeing that the same happened to Ayako, it is unlikely to be her doing.

And to my knowledge, there was no such event in the original game, either… this would be a real pain in the neck, I reckon.

(The ‘Nexus Crystal Ball’ Cordelia-san gave me is connected with the one Iris got. Since it hasn’t shown any activity, it must mean Joseph hasn’t caused major trouble on their side.)

I thought while checking the crystal ball I’d been keeping in a small case in my pocket.

To deal with unexpected troubles, you should start by checking the situation around you. I look around and try to see what differs before and after Ayako collapsed.

“…The forbidden section’s barrier?”

“The barrier? What’s wrong with the barrier?”

“Ayako collapsed right around the time you finished fixing the barrier. So, there may be a connection between the two, right?”

The hole in the barrier.

Other than it having gotten fixed, there’s no other change around here; it’s safe to assume that it is the cause.

To confirm this assumption, the quickest way would be to tear open the barrier again, but to do so I need to use both of my hands.

And using both of my hands means I have to let go of what appears to be Ayako’s soul in my hand. It’s floating like a balloon. I don’t know what will happen if I lose sight of it.

Even when I push it back into her body, it simply slips out again. I can’t leave the great library without first resolving this.

I mean, Ayako has an important role to play in my plan to defeat Joseph. She’s the only one who can lead us to Joseph’s main body, the only one who can lower his guard, and the only one who can get close to him with her innocent face to ensure a successful surprise attack.

If she ends up dead here, my would-be experience points (Joseph) will slip through my fingers. I have to revive her no matter what…!

“Soo, daemon. You’re a regular at this great library, aren’t you? Got any idea of what caused this? Please tell us.”

“Human, why you! How dare you!”

To find information, I pulled out my acquaintance from the bookshelf. It should be familiar with the inside of the barrier, but the local resident seems to be in a bad mood.

I wonder if it’s so prone to get irritated because it lacks sunlight in this dimly lit library? Sunlight… in other words, I just need to give it light, right?

I’ve got just the thing. Here, ‘Flame Sword’.

How is it? Isn’t it brighter now? It’ll probably give you some warmth, but so does sunlight, so you don’t need to worry about it and just enjoy it.

“…………On one condition.”

“What is it?”

“From now on, you are not to get involved with me ever again. If you accept, I will grant you my wisdom this once.”

‘Book of Daemon’ is a grimoire that contains myriad wisdom, and the daemon is the creation of the information itself for self-protection. The daemon kills people to protect the information, and by doing so he may gain information stored in their heads which he then will write in the grimoire. Thus, the more humans it kills, the more wisdom will be stored in the grimoire—at least that’s how the setting goes. So, it’s no exaggeration to say that it is a database of sorts.

Seeing the daemon’s reaction, it seems that it has an idea about the situation. If I don’t want to kill it to obtain that wisdom, I can only accept its condition.

By the way, did I ever do something to make him hate me that much…? It’s the one who attacked me first, so no matter what I do to it, it’ll just be the case of paying for one’s mistakes, isn’t it…?

“So, what caused this girl to collapse?”

“It’s the barrier set up around the forbidden book section. Unlike the barrier that surrounds the cathedral, this barrier is more elaborate and seamless. Therefore, magic wires (circuit) can’t pass through it, and that must be the cause.”

“Magic wires?”

“Think of it like strings to manipulate a puppet. Puppeteer(Doll Master) creates magic wires to connect themselves to their puppets, and through them, they channel magic power to operate and control them.”

According to the daemon, some grimoires can emit brainwashing electromagnetic waves through magic wires, and as a countermeasure, the barrier here is so meticulously made that it can block magic wires.

Joseph, being a puppeteer, must be using magic wires to connect to his puppets as well. With them being cut, it’s only natural that his puppet(Ayako) would collapse—so it explains.

So, how do we fix her? You’re not gonna tell us you don’t know, right?

“Someone has to be the new puppeteer, or you can put the soul you’re holding into a new vessel,” the daemon says.

“Before you ask, I’m not into babysitting, okay?” Ethel states.

“Not that there’s enough time for us to raise our level of ‘Puppetry’ to be high enough to do so, anyway.”

I mean, yeah, if there’s time, I’ll do it. I mean, I want to do it. I mean, please let me do it.

Besides, if we left her like this, Joseph would disappear without a trace, leaving us a hidden danger to worry about in the future. That’s what my gut telling me.

Therefore, the best course of action we should take right now is to revive Ayako ASAP, convince her to cooperate with us, and then go beat Joseph, but in that case, finding her a new vessel is the only option we have, huh?

“By happenstance or fate, that puppet girl surprisingly has a soul. We can simply create her a magical power-powered vessel that she can move with her will. And since her puppet body is still intact, we can just make use of it as the base of the vessel,”  the daemon explains.

“For real? What are you waiting for then? Get to work! Chop-chop!” I urge with a clap of my hands.

“Hey, Tōru. Is it okay to give it free rein? Wouldn’t it be dangerous if it were to set something up?” Ethel asks.

“I’ll just burn this whole place when that time comes,” I say nonchalantly.

“At least pretend to hesitate a little, will you!?” Ethel screams.

“Curb your anxiety, little girl. I will not try to do anything that this human may use as an excuse to come back to me in the future. I have not the slightest intention to see his face ever again,” the daemon says, stressing his last words.

“Ah, I get you where you’re coming from…” Ethel mutters.

Seeing it so insistent, it looks like it has seen through me. I was planning to turn him into my experience points if it gave me the justification, even if minor.

It’s a shame, but if it understands that much, then it means that it won’t try anything funny. In which case, there’s not gonna be a problem in giving it free rein.

What happens after that is something I can’t make heads or tails of, as I don’t have the slightest bit of knowledge about magic.

The daemon deploys a magic circle and places Ayako’s body in the center of it, after which many numbers of light balls appear around the magic circle.

As the light balls are changing position, they continuously shoot what appears to be a laser at the body. It seems as if they are rewriting something, not to say I’m sure that that is what they’re doing, though.

(A deluxe Ayako doll that glows and moves… you can get it for 5,980 yen…)

Useless thoughts start to surface in my mind, as such, I began training my Shishū skill by playing cat’s cradle while waiting for it to finish.

I’d rather practice-swinging, but since I’m holding Ayako’s soul in one hand, it would be inefficient.

‘Flame Sword’ is a big no because we’re at a place that can easily catch fire, whereas training my ‘Soul Strike’ is also going to be inefficient exp-wise unless I train with proper stance and form.

Therefore, within the range of actions I can take at the moment, ‘Shishū’ is the only skill I can train most efficiently, so please shut up and quit… hang on a sec.

(Ayako’s soul… this shape… I remember seeing it at the boxing gym.)

If my memory serves me correctly, it’s called a punching ball, wasn’t it? The type that hangs from above.

In the game, there were no combo moves or combined skills that involves both  ‘Shishū’ and ‘Soul Strike’, so I’m not sure if it’s possible to bind the soul with a thread, but if it is, I may create a punching ball using Ayako’s soul, right?

I have never actually used a punching ball in my previous life, so I don’t know how effective it is.

However, punching a hanging soul will possibly give me ‘Soul Strike’ exp, and since I’d be using a thread to hang the soul in place, I may gain ‘Shishū’ exp as well.

The efficiency of each may not be good enough, but if I can get exp for both at the same time, isn’t it worth considering? At least, I think it’s worth trying.

Then, let’s get right on to it—no, wait, hold on, this soul is not a stranger’s. it’s the soul of Asanaga Ayako, whom I will have to negotiate with when she revives.

Didn’t I fully perceive with my five senses when I was in a soul-state back in the ‘Netherworld’?

There’s no saying that Ayako doesn’t perceive us at the moment. In such a state, if she remembers that I have beaten her up after tying and hanging her with a thread, there’s no doubt that it would affect the negotiation later.

If only Iris was here, I could ask her for confirmation… no, regardless if Ayako can or cannot perceive her surroundings, she’d be more likely to stop me. In the end, trying to turn her into a punching ball is highly risky, huh.

(But, isn’t a spirit of challenge important to have?)

A spirit of challenge—or in other words, courage—is important to have in any situation.

Many have proven that possessing the courage to push forward will lead one to achieve success against all odds.

That’s why even without any proof, the possibility that Ayako can’t perceive anything at the moment, that she won’t remember anything after she revives no matter what I do to her, and that I will succeed in combining ‘Shishū’ and ‘Soul Strike’ in one try is not zero.

Since they’re not zero, is it wrong for me to bet on that possibility and take action?

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way, huh. That’s how the great people of the past achieve greatness… Alright! Let’s do it!!”

“It’s done, human. All that is left to do is to return the soul.”

“Goddammit!!!”

The battle is already over just before it begins.

I can’t but let out a scream of frustration at the unreasonableness, wondering why I’m facing so many obstacles to doing what I want to do.