I'm a demon in Tokyo!

Chapter 401: Super Intelligence tells me I need to use super power! Just beat everyone and all the monsters to a pulp!

The palace official is dead.

All that remains is this inexplicable riddle, with no beginning or end.

Even though his body still contained a lot of life force derived from Uesugi Tetsuya's blood, he died quietly and simply.

It's as if it was forcibly erased by something.

A moment later, Uesugi Tetsu could see a new notification appear above the head of the closed-eyed Miyaji.

—【The deceased chief priest of Shiratsu Shrine】.

Even with his All-Seeing Eye and True Sight Eye open, Uesugi Tetsuya could only confirm that Miyaji was indeed completely dead, without even a trace of his soul remaining.

All the clues were abruptly cut off with the death of the chief priest of Shiratsu Shrine.

"He even pretended to be a riddle-solving expert before he died, which is really baffling..."

Uesugi Tetsu silently murmured the last words of the priest in his heart.

"Kill the girls you can see before the blood moon rises."

However, although the last words were quite a riddle, Uesugi Tetsu had a "quite insightful" understanding of the second half.

A girl you can see...

Uesugi Tetsu didn't turn around, but silently stared at Kujo Machi not far behind him with his All-Seeing Eye.

When Kujo Machi saw the crimson eyes surrounding Uesugi Tetsu all turn to look at her, she subtly and skillfully shifted her gaze without revealing any extra expression.

She had already figured out how to "get along" with the eyeballs on Uesugi Tetsuya's body. Although those eyeballs were terrifying, they were very obedient to Uesugi Tetsuya's words. As long as she didn't make eye contact or "provoke" him, she would be fine.

Even so, Uesugi Tetsuya caught the subtle shift in Kujo Machi's gaze.

He thought,

The girl mentioned in the Tsukasa's dying words is most likely Kujo Machi.

Because she could see all the strange things in Asahikawa City, and even his six-tailed fox disguise could be seen through at a glance.

Uesugi Tetsu had never met anyone more capable of seeing than Kujo Machi.

However, he did not rashly take action against Kujo Machi.

Just kidding, why would Uesugi Tetsu completely believe a dead man who was still uttering riddles before his death, a statement whose cause and effect are unknown, whose truth is unknown?

To think that Uesugi Tetsuya would kill Kujo Machi, who had helped him and Chisa a lot since arriving in Asahikawa City and was equally important to the entire Asahikawa City area...

Only a reckless fool would think they've found some "secret to success" and excitedly try to do it.

Even so, Uesugi Tetsu still greatly admired the actions of the priest during his lifetime.

He used his spirit control technique to slightly activate the earth elemental yin-yang magic, digging a pit in the ground.

After thinking for a moment, he used lightning to turn the palace chieftain's body into powder and then buried it in the ground—to prevent the palace chieftain's corpse from being used by ghosts or imposters after his death.

Uesugi Tetsu raised his hand and erected a simple stone tablet for the priest.

Engraved above—

The Tomb of the Chief Priest of Shiratsu Shrine

Onmyoji Che Zang

After finishing, Uesugi Tetsu clapped his hands and said to the komainu pack and Chisa Machi, "Just wander around Shiratsu Shrine and see if you can find anything useful."

Uesugi Tetsu was willing to spend some time doing this because he feared that there might be something important in Shiratsu Shrine that could block the detection of the All-Seeing Eye but could still be seen with the naked eye.

"Ouch."

The Komainu General nodded and howled a few times to disperse his squad leaders and soldiers.

Chisa and Machi stayed together for mutual support.

……

In one hour, Uesugi Tetsu practically turned the entire Shiratsu Shrine, now reduced to ruins, upside down.

He collected the shrines that had fallen into ruins, the plaques of various halls, and the fragments of statues scattered in different places.

However, all that he had plundered were ordinary items, none of which contained the crucial clues he had imagined that would help him gain a deeper understanding of Asahikawa City.

"I wonder where all the documents and records in the shrine went..."

After leveling the entire mountaintop and still finding nothing, Uesugi Tetsu shook his head in frustration and had no choice but to lead the two of them and the komainu down the mountain.

When he arrived at the foot of the mountain, he saw that large, almost motionless, purplish-black mass of flesh again.

After silently watching for a moment, Uesugi Tetsuya carefully wrapped the [Shrine Ema] with his aura and gently placed it on the fleshy mass that the shrine maiden had transformed into.

The ema landed on the sticky lump of flesh, but Uesugi Tetsu didn't see any prompts pop up in front of him.

The task was not completed.

He sighed silently.

This is normal.

The "shrine maiden" before us is no longer the same species as the original shrine maiden; even the shrine maiden's consciousness and soul have long since vanished.

It seems that I won't be able to complete this third side quest.

"Brother Fox, I'm so sorry..."

Uesugi Tetsuya had no choice but to put the blank ema back into his storage backpack and turn his gaze to Asahikawa City, which was now a shade redder and darker.

He sensed the eerie atmosphere emanating from various parts of Asahikawa City, listened to the screams and cries coming from all over the city, and then noticed that these sounds were rapidly fading away.

Uesugi Tetsuya understands.

The situation in Asahikawa City is deteriorating every moment.

This grinding mill of flesh is transforming into a living hell ruled by ruthless evil.

He let out a soft breath and closed his eyes at the foot of the mountain where Shiratsu Shrine is located.

The more pressing issue now is where to go and what to do.

The priestess has mutated, the priestess has died, and Kujo Machi's parents are still missing...

Uesugi Tetsu realized that he had no clues or useful leads left.

No wonder Asahikawa City is an area that can be cleared by completing only two mandatory tasks; its difficulty is several levels higher than the previous areas.

He had only been in the area for about three days, and during that time he was a little over 30 hours late just to make his breakthrough stronger.

In just a short time, Asahikawa City has been transformed into a state that is almost irreversible.

Uesugi Tetsuya focused his attention on [Core Mission Two].

"Closed loop, closed loop... what exactly is a closed loop?"

No one knows.

If Uesugi Tetsu had Karuta burn himself to forcibly explore the truth, he could have bypassed the process and obtained the answer directly.

But Uesugi Tetsuya could not do that.

Therefore, the remaining information can only be guessed little by little from the task prompts on the panel.

First, there are things he cannot do—

Firstly, Chisa cannot be allowed to die.

Secondly, Kujo Machi's death must not exceed 99 times.

Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the safety rating.

[Current safety level of Qiansha: Extremely dangerous.]

So they put another thick and warm Zhou Tian Yan Armor on Qian Sha.

The former was relatively simple after my arrival; I only needed to use a little trick to save Qian Sha's life.

But the latter... does this mean that perhaps letting Kujo Machi die at the "right time and in the right place" is the correct "strategy"?
Kujo Machi can die, but her death cannot exceed a certain "limit".

I wonder how many times Kujo Machi has died now.

After thinking it over, Uesugi Tetsu decided not to waste any more time and to ask her directly.

[Current Trust Level for the Nine Insights: 65 (Relatively Trustworthy)]

Anyway, she still trusts him quite a bit; after he showed off his skills, Kujou Machi's attitude changed almost 180 degrees. Uesugi Tetsu asked bluntly, "Miss Kujou, how many times have you died now?"

Facing the bewildered and confused look on Kujo Machi's face, Uesugi Tetsu's palm was filled with a series of images: a water sphere, flames, soil, trees, and golden light.

Then, the five elements combine with each other and cycle through the universe.

He smiled and said, "If Miss Kujo can give me the answer I want, then I will pass on all of this Five Elements Yin-Yang Technique to you."

Almost instantly, Uesugi Tetsu could hear Kujo Machi's breathing become heavy, and his heartbeat pounded.

The eyes of the girl, who had trained for a long time but had never achieved extraordinary success, were filled with longing.

It wasn't until Kujo Machi truly realized what Uesugi Tetsu had just asked that she opened her mouth slightly, even more bewildered.

"How many times have I died?"

She kept asking herself questions—isn't it said that if someone is killed, they die? If she had died, how could she still be standing here alive?
Kujo Machi intentionally wanted to lie.

But she understood even more clearly that lies could never convince a true master who could crush fierce monsters with his bare hands and control the sea of ​​thunder.

In an instant, an extremely strong sense of unwillingness welled up in Kujo Machi's heart.

After several tens of seconds, the girl clenched her fists and sighed helplessly.
"I do not know."

Kujo Machi bit her lip and said,

“I never died, Mr. Uesugi.”

Never died?
How can this be.

Uesugi Tetsuya maintained the flow of the five elements above his palm and continued to ask,

"Then how did you avoid so many ghosts on your way to school and figure out their killing patterns? And why were you able to avoid hearing the bell ghost's bell?"
Sometimes, seeing something doesn't mean you can avoid it.

"I think it's mostly... an intuition."

After pondering deeply, Kujo Machi said somewhat uncertainly, his eyes still fixed on the materialized Five Elements Yin-Yang Technique.

—The truth.

Both the physical data of Kujo Machi observed through the All-Seeing Eye and the inner thoughts of Uesugi Tetsu were telling him this.

This is the truth.

Uesugi Tetsu's expression darkened slightly.

Now, the worst-case scenario has occurred—even Kujo Machi herself doesn't know how many times she has died, so naturally she wouldn't know what would happen after she dies.

Although in extreme circumstances he could personally kill Kujo Machi to see what was going on, who knows, she might have already died 99 times?

If she dies again, the second main quest will be a failure.

Correspondingly, the difficulty in the Asahikawa City area will immediately rise to its peak and then undergo unknown changes.

Only then will everything truly be beyond repair.

The deaths of the priest and the shrine maiden at Shiratsu Shrine just now told Uesugi Tetsuya that missions within the area wouldn't just wait for him to come and do them.

Sometimes, if you're even a little late, the task will simply disappear.

As Uesugi Tetsu's thoughts raced, his All-Seeing Eyes had already spotted several lanterns with human heads hanging from rough hemp ropes floating straight toward them from a distance.

He frowned, then waved his hand, unleashing hundreds of bolts of lightning that annihilated them all.

These human-shaped lanterns are as numerous as ants. After devouring their own bodies, they will randomly attack anyone they encounter. How could an ordinary person possibly survive in such an environment?

"It's so troublesome."

When Kujo Machi saw Uesugi Tetsu sigh deeply, a sense of panic inexplicably arose in his heart.

Uesugi Tetsu stared at his fist, and through it, he glimpsed the physical deity that was shining brightly in the sea of ​​calamity, attracting thousands of mayflies to pause for a while.

His superior intelligence told him that it was time to use his superpowers.

If you can't find the right answer or the enemy no matter what, then just destroy all the enemies in your sight that aren't immediately appealing.

Anyway, he can be resurrected in the mortal realm, and as long as he is willing to burn, the power brought by the Divine Treasury of the Calamity Sea is limitless.

No matter what kind of ghosts or spirits they are, no matter what kind of lanterns with human heads they are, no matter what kind of "things" they are in the sky, just blow them all up and everything will be fine.

Two lives are nothing, they can be refreshed again tomorrow...

At this moment, endless scenes of suffering emerged from the already formed embryonic heart.

That was what he experienced, and it is what the people still alive in Asahikawa City are experiencing now.

Uesugi Tetsuya then vented his anger by crushing hundreds of floating, motionless human head lanterns in the distance, suppressing his radical thoughts slightly.

—Think about it, Uesugi Tetsu.

How would Asahikawa City have changed and developed if I hadn't come?

First, all the "local superhumans," represented by the priestess of Shiratsu Shrine, died out, and after that, no one was able to resist the fierce evil.

The scale of the resurgence of the supernatural is growing larger, while the number of living people in the city is decreasing.

Given Kujo Machi's personality, she would definitely stay at home until she has no choice but to leave.

Finally, perhaps it was the "blood moon" that the priest mentioned that rose, and Kujo Machi may have died, or she may not have died.

Then, the entire city of Asahikawa was destroyed.

In short, at this ferocious pace of recovery, Asahikawa City will be completely depopulated within a few days.

and many more.

Uesugi Tetsuya caught a key point.

Asahikawa City will be destroyed in a few days, and Chisa just happened to enter it at the exact time when the myriad ghosts began to revive.
Is it such a coincidence?

If that were the case, Asahikawa City would probably have been destroyed a thousand or eight hundred times over.

Things are probably not that simple.

Uesugi Tetsuya's mind raced: "Blood Moon, what exactly is it?"

Is it a noun, or a pronoun?
He didn't know.

But the answer is most likely written in the sky.

If you want to get the answer, you need to look up—look at the sky.

The shrine maiden of Shiratsu Shrine turned into a mindless, unknowing lump of flesh after accidentally looking at the sky.

It doesn't matter if Uesugi Tetsu himself dies.

Will Chisa be affected by this, and how much will she be affected?

Just as Uesugi Tetsuya's thoughts were racing, Chisa, who was standing beside him, seemed to sense something and asked,

"Master, what are you thinking about?"

"If possible, you might as well tell us about it and let us give you some ideas."

After a moment's hesitation, Uesugi Tetsuya revealed some of his thoughts.

Upon hearing this, Chisa smiled, her fingers pressed against her small face.
"I see... Even a great Onmyoji like Master would hesitate."

Uesugi Tetsuya said,

"If things continue as I intend, Chisa, you might die."

Chisa's eyes were serious.
"Master, is there no better way?"

"I can't think of anything right now."

Uesugi Tetsu shook his head.

"Then let's do it."

Chisa winked at him and said with a smile,
"Although Chisa also really wants to live, desperately wants to live, what could be better in this world than unconditionally believing in your chances of survival, Master?"

The girl asked herself and answered,
"No—it was Master who saved Qian Sha's life."

"So Master, please do as you please."

Chisa raised her small fist and spoke to Uesugi Tetsuya, who was silently watching her.
"Please don't hesitate any longer, even if it's just for our sake!"

(End of this chapter)