The Strange Cat from Fuuto

The black boy, still coughing, looked gloomy. After Iggy brought him back, he didn't care about him anymore. Instead, he lay in the kotatsu, turned on the TV, and casually browsed the programs.

In the small one-bedroom apartment, the only sounds besides the occasional cough of the black guy were the television programs.

Half an hour later, a spatial rift opened in the room.

Miku, covered in rolling mercury, walked through the crack into the one-bedroom apartment with a frustrated expression. After quickly evaporating the mercury and expelling the harmful gases, the cat plopped down on the carpet.

Behind him, the spatial rift slowly closed. Black Ghost Boy struggled to turn his eyes, only able to see a raging sea of ​​mercury on the other side of the spatial rift.

"Awoo?"

"It's nothing. I just accidentally fell into a sea of ​​mercury while doing archaeology. It took me half a day to get through the sea of ​​mercury, but I didn't expect it to be an empty tomb."

"Crack, crack, crack..." Ichi chuckled, glancing sideways at Miku, who shook his body to make his fur drier.

"Alright, stop making fun of me. I was just taking things too for granted. The Knight Universe is much more complex than I imagined."

"I never expected that the First Emperor of this universe would build so many fake tombs for himself. It's one thing that they're fake, but the fact that there are automatically driven puppet soldiers inside them is a bit surprising."

"However, we've already eliminated some fake tombs, so finding the real tomb will be much easier!"

Miku, radiating an astonishing heat, glanced at the barely alive black boy lying on the ground and said, "What happened to him? Why is he lying here like a dead dog?"

"Awoo!"

Iggy corrected Miku very seriously, and Miku rolled her eyes: "Okay, okay, we won't use the word 'dead dog' anymore."

"But what happened to this guy?"

"Awooooo..."

After Iggy, who had been howling, briefly recounted what had happened, Miku looked at the black boy and pondered for a moment before lashing his tail across the boy's forehead.

Amidst the soft golden light, Blackie's injuries were slowly healing, while his eyes reflected a series of images.

It covers everything from meeting the White Ghost Boy to being rescued by Iggy.

Miku rewound the scene after watching it once, then froze on the moment when the white ghost boy took out the giant eye soul.

If Miku hadn't planted a backup plan on Blackie beforehand, Blackie would probably have been killed today.

"Tsk, this guy's still alive!" Miku clicked his tongue, staring at the platinum-colored eye spirit in White Ghost's hand. "And has that woman regained some of her power?"

With just one glance, Miku could see the whole story. It was clear that after the Great Eye deliberately shed her tail to escape, she returned to the Eye Demon World and did something that Miku was unaware of.

After that, without Miku's knowledge, she chose White Ghost as her spokesperson to fight Miku from afar.

"This woman is really petty. All she did was eat half of her source, right?"

Miku muttered under his breath and slapped the black guy again, the projection shrinking back into his eyes.

"Well..."

The black guy, gritting his teeth as he got up from the ground, knelt down on one knee, head bowed, and said, "My God, I've let you down!"

"It's alright. You've suffered an undeserved misfortune this time. I didn't expect that woman's counterattack to come so quickly."

"But she actually gave the Eye Soul Driver G to your partner. It seems the spy I planted in the Eye Demon world has been eliminated!"

Miku, squatting on the carpet, scratched his chest, while Blackie remained kneeling on the ground, head down and silent.

"Forget it."

"Since that woman is so eager to play, I'll play along. It's just a battle between representatives, isn't it?"

"Heh, then I'll just play along with her until the end. Besides, I don't have any intention of showing my face right now."

"Then let's do it this way!"

"My God?"

"Come with me!"

Miku, having ripped open a spatial rift, led the black boy into it. Iggy glanced at him, then looked away, showing no intention of moving.

Beyond the spatial rift lies a desolate world.

The water's surface, varying in depth, resembled a dog-gnawed bun, with crooked torii gates leaning precariously on the surface, and some even floating in the azure sky.

A two-colored crack stretched across the sky, one half pitch black and the other half crimson gold.

Upon seeing the dark cracks, Blackie felt a strange sense of dread, as if he had encountered a trace left behind by someone in a higher position.

Even if one cannot look directly at its face, it still makes those of lower status tremble with fear.

The black-clad boy who silently followed Miku could also see fleeting images in the void, like a cassette tape projector.

The scene is in black and white, but the characters are still discernible: a battle between a masked monster exuding an ominous aura and a masked monster radiating terrifying heat.

"You're curious, aren't you?"

"No."

“Telling you won’t hurt. This was once the battlefield for me and my son.” Miku led the black boy forward with an unchanged expression. The black boy’s face changed: “This is a battlefield?”

"Yeah, we fought really hard back then. That brat even chopped me with an axe. He really didn't hold back, even though I loved him so much."

"However, that kid is a man who can stand on his own now, so I might as well give him another push."

Do you love your son very much?

"Of course, what father wouldn't love his own son, especially such an outstanding one? It's just that my parenting style was different from most people's, and now I don't know if it was right or wrong."

"Well, it's all in the past anyway, and what's done can't be taken back. Let's talk things out when we meet again."

We've arrived!

Miku, who had stopped before a cracked throne, looked on with reminiscence. Blackie saw this but remained silent, simply standing by and waiting.

After a moment, Miku's tail, now completely gone, appeared on the surface of the water.

If ink is dropped into clear water, a large black halo will quickly appear beneath the surface.

Blackie stared at the water beneath his feet, a hint of fear in his eyes.

"You'll stay here and train for now. You can leave when you defeat this guy."

"If you can't win, you can just die here!"

With a cold and ruthless voice, Miku tore open a spatial rift and left, leaving only the black-haired boy facing the ever-expanding black ripples. The ripples resembled sharks swimming on the surface, slowly revealing parts of themselves above the water.

Like a shark's dorsal fin splitting the water's surface, an arm covered in silt extends from it, pressing against the water's surface, followed by the upper body emerging from the water and slowly straightening up.

"this...."

The ghost child's pupils constricted, reflecting a monstrous beast covered in black mud, its crimson eyes filled with murderous intent.

"Roar..."

.............

One-bedroom apartment.

Miku stepped out of the spatial rift, and Iggy asked without turning his head, "Huh?"

"Let's leave him somewhere first. Whether he can survive depends on his ability and will to live. If he survives, it's worth my further investment. If he doesn't survive, then I'll cultivate a new pawn."

"Ow!"

"I'm going to continue my archaeological work. You take good care of the house. I'll be back as soon as possible if anything happens."

"Ah."

Iggy nodded slightly as he watched Miku disappear through the spatial rift and vanish again, while he lay on the carpet watching television.

But if you look closely, you'll notice that his ears are twitching constantly and his nose is flaring slightly.

It was clear that Iggy's attention wasn't on the television, but rather on the two cats, one big and one small, outside the room.

at the same time.

In Lutang City, a series of murders occurred within a few days. The victims were all young women, aged between 16 and 17. Although the methods of death varied, all the victims' faces had been stripped off.

In the deep alley.

The sun was shining brightly outside, and the place was bustling with noise.

But inside the alley was another world—dark, cold, and damp, with no one in sight.

"Huhuhu..."

Amidst rapid breathing, a girl in a red dress ran barefoot through the alley, her expression a mixture of panic and resentment.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it."

"Has that woman gone mad?"

"To actually launch a massacre against us, even if you are one of the prototypes, isn't that a bit too arrogant? Aren't you afraid of attracting the wrath of some powerful figure?"

As the woman turned the corner, her panic turned into despair, and the resentment in her eyes intensified.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The crisp sound of footsteps rang out behind her, neither hurried nor slow, but the woman had nowhere to escape.

Because in front of her was a three-meter-high wall, and it was a dead end.

"Aren't you afraid of being punished by that person?"

The woman, her back pressed against the wall, screamed loudly. A knight in a bright green hooded tunic approached her and grabbed her by the neck.

"Anyway, after you die, another batch will be born from your flesh and blood. As long as I don't go too far, that lord will just turn a blind eye!"

"You filthy bitch, do you think killing us all will make a difference?"

"Ultimately, we're just copies. I'm a secondary copy of the higher-ranking one, and you..."

"Crack!"

Tomie Kanon, who snapped the neck of her secondary form right in front of her, revealed a ruthless glint in her eyes: "Shut up!"

"I am Kanon, the only Kanon!"

"No one can compare to me, not you, not even Fukami Kanon!"

Chapter 30: Searching for the Soul of the First Emperor