He felt as if his body was being dissolved by the hottest magma which slowly drew away parts of himself. His consciousness became hazy, feeling like a candle fire being buffeted by the wind. He felt as if his light would go out at any moment.

He wanted to shout or scream out loudly, but was unable to make a sound.

The darkness of death surrounded him. The extreme heat brought along the deepest coldness.

'No… I can't die…

'I need to live… I must live…'

Kungo used his strong will to support his own existence. He tolerated, withstood, and prayed…

'Master… Please wake up… Wake up…'

Kungo had no idea how much time pa.s.sed. He no longer possessed a concrete sensation of the pa.s.sage of time.

The loyal samurai used everything he had to resist. However, death still irresistibly approached him.

He was being consumed; he was decreasing in existence until the very limit. If he reached the limit, his existence would end.

But right before he reached his limit, he heard a sigh from somewhere.

"Silly child…"

...

"He can't take it for any longer," Yomi told Seiji in the middle of the spell.

Seiji furrowed his eyebrows deeply while looking at the spell formation before him.

Sayaka Tendo's remnant soul hadn't responded.

It would seem that the spell had failed… Kungo had sacrificed so much of himself for nothing.

But just as Seiji was thinking this, the purple soul orb in the spell formation suddenly flashed!

There was a reaction after all!? Seiji instantly widened his eyes in surprise.

He then heard a faint female voice saying, "Stop… hurry and stop…"

Stop the spell!

Seiji immediately stopped the spell that used part of Kungo to revitalize Sayaka's soul. Yomi then a.s.sisted him with the fine details, protecting Kungo's life.

This wasn't easy. Seiji constantly sweated as he worked on the spell.

The former dark red humanoid spiritual figure was now a chaotic and hazy ball of black light. It seemed as if Kungo was about to completely collapse from existence! Seiji did his very best to help maintain and resculpt Kungo's form. Seiji felt as if he was slowly pulling out someone who had sunk deep into a quagmire. This was incredibly heavy and difficult.

"Kungo, she's awake! Your master has woken up! You've succeeded! Now, it's your turn! Don't die!" Seiji couldn't help but shout out.

Someone who sacrificed so much deserved to get something in return.

Even though Kungo couldn't really be called one of Seiji's companions, Seiji still truly hoped that Kungo's courageous sacrifice would result in a good ending.

'Live, loyal warrior!'

As if Seiji's will had been transmitted successfully, the black light stopped collapsing, and slowly reformed itself.

At this time, the purple soul orb was also slowly changing, forming a hazy purple humanoid figure with two swirls where the eyes should be. These eye swirls shone with a deep black light.

"Mas… ter…" Kungo's dark red figure spoke weakly. He was now significantly smaller than before, going from the size of adult to child.

"Silly child…" The purple figure reached out her hand, and gently caressed the dark red figure's head. "Why would you do such a thing…"

Kungo didn't say anything else. It was evident that he had used up all of his strength as he weakly collapsed on the ground.

"Truly a miracle." Yomi sighed. "He still didn't fade from existence despite all this… I can only describe it as a miracle."

Seiji felt the same way. Kungo's current condition seemed just like a human who had still managed to survive despite losing half of his body. It was Kungo's incomparably powerful will to survive that had created such a miracle!

Although he had collapsed due to a lack of energy, it wasn't so serious anymore. He would recover as time pa.s.sed.

What was important right now was...

"Sayaka Tendo-san… is that right?" Seiji asked the purple figure.

Only after the purple figure confirmed that Kungo was alright did she glance at the Yin Yang Master before her.

"What do you want?" she spoke quite bluntly.

"I need information," Seiji replied. "Your experiences while you were alive… and about the white dragon and the spiritual ability Awakening experiment. I need to know everything that you know!"

The purple figure, who was indeed Sayaka Tendo, fell silent for a moment before responding, "Why do you need to know such things? Who are you?"

"I am Seiji Haruta, a member of the Haruta Family… who's currently in exile." Seiji paused for a moment. "I suppose you could still treat me as a member of the Haruta Family. And, I need to know all this because of the current situation…"

Seiji then summarized the current situation to Sayaka.

After Sayaka listened to his story, her first question was to ask what year it currently was. She seemed to sigh after hearing the answer.

"Ten years have pa.s.sed already… that plan actually continued for so long?"

After her sigh, she fell silent once again.

Seiji was about to try and convince her to cooperate when his system suddenly sent him a notification that many people had entered his Spirit House. Seiji couldn't help but pause in surprise.

"Seiji!" a voice soon called out from behind him.

Mika and the others had arrived.

Every single member of his group had arrived.

"An incident happened outside!" Mika swiftly explained things to Seiji.

Everyone had suddenly heard a tremendous b.e.s.t.i.a.l roar that shook the entire city. They then saw a bright red light expanding everywhere in the sky, with countless red lights falling down which brought a deep chill…

Seiji's expression became grim after he heard this.

Catastrophe had come upon the city yet again!

Soul Society had been unable to stop this… just like in the previous timeline!

'd.a.m.n it all…'

Seiji gritted his teeth in anger. He really wanted to vent, but that wouldn't help the situation at all!

He had done so many things, but it still hadn't been enough.

'd.a.m.n it! G.o.dd.a.m.ned Soul Society! They're so useless!!!'

Seiji also thought of Yui, and really wanted to curse at her. But, he forcefully restrained himself.

He knew that he needed to calm down and that anger was useless.

Soul Society… and Yui… had probably tried their very best.

It was just that the Tendo Family had been even stronger.

The Tendo Family was one of the seven major Yin Yang Master families, after all. Even if Soul Society detected their scheme, it would be difficult to stop them.

But at least… not everything had been useless in this timeline. Seiji had learned that the Tendo Family was behind everything. Also…

After Seiji calmed down, he looked at Sayaka Tendo again.

"Tendo-san, you also heard what happened outside. A catastrophe is currently happening and threatening the lives of millions of people in the city. I beg of you, please tell me everything that you know! Your information might be the key to saving everyone."

Something flashed in Sayaka's eyes as she faced him.

"Okay… But, I have a condition. You must guarantee my and Kungo's safety."

"I promise!" Seiji directly agreed. "I and my companions shall definitely not harm you."

After receiving this promise, Sayaka began to tell her story.

Ten years ago, s.h.i.+nzen Tendo, a member of the Tendo Family, attempted to steal the Yasakani no Magatama artifact that the Tendo Family was in charge of protecting at the time. His attempt was discovered.

After s.h.i.+nzen was captured by his own family, he announced that he had tampered with the Yasakani no Magatama using a certain spell already. This spell was capable of destroying the mystical artifact at any moment. s.h.i.+nzen also proved that he was capable of doing this.

The reason he did this was for his personal and the family's evolution.

If the Tendo Family refused to a.s.sist him, then he would destroy the artifact and commit suicide!

After an emergency family discussion, the Tendo Family's higher-ups were convinced by s.h.i.+nzen, and chose to protect him, covering up this incident as a failed attempt to steal the Yasakani no Magatama. The Tendo Family also ended up a.s.sisting with s.h.i.+nzen's plan.

This plan was known as the Susanoo plan. It originated from a mysterious person whose true ident.i.ty was unknown. He called himself the "Abbey Master". The Tendo Family was unable to find out who the Abbey Master really was. However, the spiritual techniques that the Abbey Master taught to s.h.i.+nzen Tendo were real and highly valuable.

After the Susanoo plan was carried out for some time, Sayaka Tendo was chosen to be in charge of the first large-scale experiment due to her outstanding talent. However, something went wrong with the experiment. A giant white dragon was summoned, and everyone partic.i.p.ating in the experiment ended up peris.h.i.+ng!

"Even I don't know what exactly went wrong with the experiment. But, my personal feeling… is that perhaps it's because of the Tendo Family's sins," Sayaka told Seiji.