Saturday night, the second night of their vacation in Izu.
Since they had class on Monday, they would return tomorrow afternoon. So tonight was their last night in Izu.
After dinner, at 7:12, the sky outside was already draped in black.
Even at night, the bustling streets of Izu were lively and full of people.
Wearing what looked like ordinary summer clothes, Sakuya and Isumi, dressed in a thick kimono, walked onto a less crowded street.
"As expected of the night owl's Extraordinary trait."
After nightfall, Sakuya clearly felt her perception expand several times over. She could see straight into the dark woods beside the street, completely unaffected by the darkness.
She felt even more energetic than usual after nightfall, and it was only growing.
Sakuya could tell it was not just simple energy. It surpassed the body's limits, an extremely precise and overpowered state.
The definition of Sleepless was thrown right out.
"No wonder I do not need to sleep at night. No one could sleep in this state."
"Isumi, are your exorcism methods stronger, or are Sequence abilities stronger?"
Isumi thought seriously for a moment, then said,
"There is no difference."
"The reason you feel your abilities are stronger is only because you are protected by Ren. The power of the Sequence Pathways is very strong, but it all comes at a cost. The cost you need to pay is being protected by Ren, so you do not bear it yourself."
Isumi clearly understood the true nature of the Sequence's power.
It was power gained by bearing madness and chaos as the price to fight madness and chaos.
Putting oneself into madness and chaos was a gamble.
It was like betting one's life, placing everything on the other side of the scale to gain power. This was a power one would only choose when there was no other choice.
Originally it should have been like that, but now the other side of the scale was being weighed down by Ren.
He did not even pay much attention to it, simply thinking there was no cost, which greatly raised the cost-effectiveness of choosing the Sequence.
"…Indeed. Ren is still too overpowered."
He suppressed all the so-called side effects, directly raising the value of choosing this path to a very high level, so more people would choose it.
Having realized this, Sakuya fully agreed.
What was unusual was not the Sequence itself, but the Sequence led by Ren.
"He suppresses all the side effects of the Sequence, completely eliminating any worries about side effects."
"Among us, only Chika has suffered from corruption and madness."
"That was when Ren had not realized he could control madness and corruption. After Chika's incident, we have not encountered similar problems."
Judging from Chika's condition, corruption and madness were still terrifying. As for the psychological trauma she experienced, Sakuya did not want to know the specifics at all.
However, considering she would continue on this path in the future, she might consider asking Ren to let her experience it after she prepared herself mentally.
Sakuya's gaze shifted around.
There were not many people on this street, probably because it was not the bustling area of Izu.
"Isumi, are there really evil spirits here?"
"The birth of an evil spirit is troublesome and requires a more enclosed environment. When an evil spirit is born, it occupies that area and turns it into its territory, which is the domain where evil spirits appear."
"On a street like this, unless a ghost has exceptionally deep resentment, evil spirits might be born. Otherwise, they are generally earth-bound spirits confined to an area. Like those souls in the forest."
Isumi pointed toward the woods by the street.
"Eh…"
Sakuya stiffened without thinking, her neck turning mechanically. She had not seen any souls.
"Are there, are there any?"
Isumi did not explain. She stopped, reached out, and wiped Sakuya's eyes, temporarily using her miko spiritual power to let Sakuya see ghosts.
Once she could see them, Sakuya saw translucent souls drifting through the woods.
Each soul seemed to retain how they had died, which shocked Sakuya when she saw them.
"There really are!?"
"Earth-bound spirits. They were murdered in the woods and became bound to this place because of it. However, these earth-bound spirits cannot move freely and do not carry much resentment, so some will dissipate after a time… Only souls with stronger resentment can exist for long."
"Of course, the existence of earth-bound spirits requires many conditions. This forest became a spiritual field because dozens of people were killed here, which created the conditions for their birth."
Isumi explained slowly while Sakuya stood speechless in shock.
Once she calmed down, Sakuya scanned the forest. Sure enough, those souls only wandered the woods with no signs of consciousness.
"Then, do these souls have a big impact on ordinary people?"
"Generally, not much. Ordinary earth-bound spirits have little impact on people. Those who enter the spiritual field will feel a chill, and people with weaker constitutions might catch a cold or fever after leaving."
"Doesn't that make it like the Amamiya Residence?"
"The situation at Ren's residence is different. Because it is the territory of evil spirits, the three dead souls inside have all become very dangerous evil spirits due to love and hatred. So Ren's residence is actually more dangerous."
A spiritual field where only earth-bound spirits wander and a house occupied by evil spirits are completely different concepts.
Living in a house occupied by evil spirits, most people, unless they had an exceptionally strong horoscope, would be toyed with to death by them.
Isumi changed the subject.
"However, those three evil spirits should be even more afraid of encountering Ren."
"So those three evil spirits were killed, and the spiritual field that had formed in that house became something Ren deliberately preserved… A zero-energy air-conditioned room?"
"…So, Ren is still too overpowered."
Sakuya grumbled.
"Also, he probably preserved that kind of spiritual field in the room just to avoid paying too much rent, or even to use it as a free air-conditioned room, right?"
Sakuya strongly suspected that after Ren gained the ability to kill evil spirits, that was exactly what he thought.
"So, where is our target this time?"
The hotel that murder happened.
When Isumi said the hotel, Sakuya immediately recalled the news she had seen that morning.
(To be continued.)
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