"That's not it~" a lazy-sounding female voice spoke up in his mind.

Seiji paused for a moment out of surprise at suddenly hearing this voice. It took him a few seconds to recall who this was.

This was his newly bonded spirit!

Apart from saying a few words when she was summoned for him, this mysterious female spirit had always been "sleeping" at all other times. He recalled that Natsuya had guessed that she was...

"Tamamo-no-Mae?"

"Hmm? You believe that I'm that nine-tailed golden fox?" The female spirit chuckled lightly. "That's not it, either~"

"If you're not Tamamo-no-Mae, then just who…"

"My name is unimportant. What's important right now is this beautiful young lady, right?"

Seiji fell silent at this.

"You believed that this spider must have some sort of intimate connection with this young lady, which is why killing that spider caused her to become like this… Heehee, although the result indeed makes things appear like what you surmised, things actually aren't what you inferred them to be."

"You know something?"

"I only know what I know, and I can't guarantee that I'm one hundred percent accurate. Even so, would you still like to hear what I know?"

"…Please."

"That spider is the materialization of the 'mystical connection' that this young lady possesses. If she faces off against it by herself and defeats it, she should be able to awaken to certain powers," the female spirit explained. "However, she didn't do so, as she requested a.s.sistance from you, and you answered her call for help and slew the spider for her sake. Although you were able to defeat the materialization of the mystical connection in this manner, she was unable to receive her own mystical connection's recognition. So, the mystical connection judged that she still lost and gave her a punishment that caused her to become like this."

Seiji didn't know what to say to all this as he processed it.

"Did you not understand my explanation?"

"Well… I understand the gist of what you said, but there's various parts that I don't understand." Seiji sighed. "May I ask some questions?"

"Go ahead."

"First, what is a 'mystical connection?'"

"You can understand it as some type of fate involving a human and a demon or spirit and so on, which is why it's also called a connection."

"Could you go into more detail about this?"

"Actually, I don't know much about it, either, so I don't know how to explain."

"…Alright then, my second question. Why would Yukari's own mystical connection transform into a spider and attack her?"

"Because it was awakened."

"Awakened?"

"Yes, all humans have a mystical connection of their own, either strong or weak. Once a mystical connection is awakened, it will affect the human in question. It might be harmful, it might be a trial, or it might be something else entirely," the female spirit explained. "What this young lady is facing isn't something entirely harmful—instead, it's a trial."

Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.

"How are mystical connections awakened?"

"I don't know the answer to this question."

"…You said that Yukari's facing a trial type mystical connection, and if she defeats this spider, she can awaken to certain powers. Are you referring to Spiritual Abilities?"

"Indeed."

"If she loses—if the mystical connection judges that she lost, she's punished like this… is there a way to cure her?"

"This is a punishment handed out by the mystical connection. If you want her to recover, you can try negotiating with its main body."

"Main body… where would that be?"

"If you would like, I can help you open up a path to reach the mystical connection's main body. However, meeting it could be quite dangerous."

"There's a possibility of… death?"

"Yes. If you aren't careful, your soul might sink forevermore into the depths of the darkness."

Seiji looked at the face of Yukari who was in his arms and felt how cold she was. He came to an instantenous decision.

"I'd like to go. Please a.s.sist me in doing so!"

"You've resolved yourself so quickly… Heehee, I like men like you." The female spirit chuckled lightly.

After that, Seiji received a mental message from her and learned what he needed to do.

He gently placed Yukari onto the ground and put his right hand on her forehead and left hand on her stomach as he utilized his Mana and uttered an incantation.

"Physical body in the realm of Yang, and soul in the realm of Yin…

"Qi in the current world, breath of the mystical world…

"The five elements move in harmony, the six great divisions in the wheel of karma…"

As Seiji muttered the incantation, Yukari's body gradually lit up with a red light, and complex blood-red runes appeared on her body and floated in midair.

Seiji stood up, removing his hands from her body, and continued the incantation while making hand seals.

All the cl.u.s.ter amaryllis around them stopped glowing, and the entire s.p.a.ce fell into darkness.

"…The path leading towards a distant world, OPEN!!"

Seiji ended by extending his palms.

The blood-red runes from Yukari's body lit up with a blinding redness in the dark cave and formed a highly complex oval-shaped spell formation that resembled a humongous red mystical eye.

Seiji carried Yukari in his arms and jumped into the middle of this spell formation.

The spell formation closed up as if it was an eye that was shutting itself, and vanished in the darkness.

The Firelit Road.

In legends, this was another name for the road to the netherworld. That was because the road to the netherworld bloomed with a large number of cl.u.s.ter amaryllis, which were as bright-red as fire, making the road seem like it was burning up with flames.

Seiji was currently walking down this "Firelit Road."

He princess-carried the purple-haired girl in his arms and walked down this road with countless bright-red cl.u.s.ter amaryllis blooming, heading into the distance.

Apart from this path that was covered with blooming cl.u.s.ter amaryllis, everything else was pitch-black. If he strayed from this path, he would sink into eternal darkness.

Seiji wanted to talk more to his female spirit, but she fell silent again.

He was even beginning to wonder if he had fallen into a trap of some sort, but since she was his bonded spirit, she shouldn't have any negative intentions towards him.

If she wasn't Tamamo-no-Mae, though, just what powerful spirit was she?

She possessed the power to open up the path to the netherworld… Could she be…

Seiji thought of one possible name.

If that was who she was… if she was the spiritual manifestation of that concept, then that would be quite incredible…

He pondered this question as he walked.

Apart from his female spirit's ident.i.ty, he was even more worried about Yukari's situation. He also pondered over many things about Yukari…

'…By the way, just how long is this road going to go on for?'

It seemed like there was no end… wait a moment, he finally saw the end to this road!

Seiji immediately quickened his pace.

He clutched Yukari tightly as he began running.

There was a large pit located at the end of the road. The pit was lit up with a golden glow that seemed quite extravagant.

Seiji held on to Yukari as he jumped down this pit.

He felt his body beginning to spin as everything before him turned golden. He could hear faint noises coming from around him and his consciousness became hazy…

He suddenly began falling!

He managed to adjust his position in midair and land safely. However, he discovered that the girl he had been holding on to had vanished!

"Yukari…" Seiji felt anxious as he looked around his surroundings.

This place seemed like a forest.

There was a silver full moon in the sky which illuminated the forest. Cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers were growing everywhere on the ground… apart from that, there was nothing except for darkness and quietness.

"Walk towards where there's the most flowers," the female spirit spoke up in his mind.

"You're finally talking again. Why weren't you talking just earlier?" Seiji asked as he headed towards the thickest patch of flowers.

"I don't like talking when I'm busy doing things."

"Oh…" Seiji interpreted as it must have been inconvenient for her to talk while "opening" up a path to the netherworld for him.

"You successfully guessed my name, heehee… I originally wanted to keep the secret for a little longer."

Seiji stumbled in his footsteps.

"You… really are…"

"While that is indeed my name, I'm not the type of existence you think I am. Someone just happened to give me this name." The female spirit chuckled lightly.

"Someone gave you your name? Could that person have been…"

"Heehee… you should probably focus on what's before you for the time being."

Seiji entered the deepest part of the forest.

Cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers were blossoming thickly everywhere. There were humongous spiderwebs to be seen everywhere between the tall trees. Many animals' bones could be seen on the spiderwebs, and there were even numerous human bones as well.

There was a purple-haired girl lying on one of the spiderwebs, quietly sleeping while illuminated by the moonlight.

This girl was not Yukari.