Chapter 168: Stirring Up Trouble
CRACKLE!
Thunder roared!
Cindy, hiding in her room, flinched. The sound she now feared most in the world was thunder. The weather she hated most was a thunderstorm. Every time it thundered, she wondered: who had just been turned into a charred corpse?
She looked out the window. Blue-white lightning was raining down everywhere. A few bolts struck the outskirts of the town, but most were concentrated on the harbor. A sense of panic seized her. The harbor was a forbidden area for the island's inhabitants. And besides, there were no real ships there, just a few rafts, not nearly enough to get off the island.
Cindy pushed her door open and, under the cover of night, ran for the dark, stinking sewer. She had been reading the newspapers on the island, and had recently started studying the wanted posters. She would also go to the taverns and listen to the pirates' boasts. From them, she had learned that the world was vast, so vast that a normal person could never see it all in a lifetime. So vast that even the bravest warrior on Skuld Island could still be swallowed by the unimaginable storms of the great sea.
Perhaps the "God" who now occupied their island could also be defeated by the even more terrifying monsters from the outside world… The little girl had a vague hope. She wanted to hear more, about the Marine Admirals, about the Seven Warlords of the Sea, about… the legends of the Four Emperors…
Tap-tap-tap…
Her footsteps were hurried, her mind a mess of stories about the great sea. She was even imagining that one of the great figures known as the "Four Emperors" might just happen to be passing through this sea area and would, on a whim, take care of their "God"...
WHOOSH!
The air was suddenly torn apart by a great gust of wind. Cindy belatedly looked up and saw a giant, monstrous bird, flapping as it descended from the sky. It was the Priest Satori's mount, [Fuza]!
The giant bird saw the little girl and opened its mouth. A jet of flame instantly shot out. Satori had installed a [Heat Dial] in its mouth. The sky islands of this world produced many shells with magical abilities. They not only made the sky-islanders' lives more convenient but also gave them special ways to fight.
As the flames shot toward her, Cindy froze. She had no warrior's aptitude. In the face of danger, her adrenaline, instead of making her flee, had just made her mind go blank. The images of her parents' blackened corpses flashed before her eyes. Is this how I'm going to end, too?
BOOM!
The searing heat of the flames washed over her, but she felt no pain. She looked up, her pupils contracting. She subconsciously covered her mouth.
The massive bounty hunter, Orkins, had stepped in front of her, shielding her with his own back. The great, ferocious face that was always scowling was now twisted into a pained grin. "Hah. Scared you, didn't I, little girl?"
"Uncle Orkins… you…"
Before she could say more, Orkins roared, ripped a cast-iron valve from the sewer wall, and hurled it.
CLANG!
[Fuza] let out a piercing shriek as it was knocked from the sky. The Heat Dial in its mouth was broken, and it was now gushing blood.
Orkins sneered, tore the burning clothes from his back, along with a large chunk of his own flesh, and then, grabbing Cindy, he turned and ran.
In the distance, the members of the God's Guard had heard [Fuza]'s cry of pain and were converging on their position.
Outside the temple, a tall man in a purple suit, his hair styled up like a spider's legs, was biting his upper lip, his eyes rolled back in his head. "Lord Gedatsu, you're biting your upper lip!" his subordinate reminded him.
[Gedatsu] came to his senses, consciously relaxed his jaw, and was now able to speak. "Fuza has likely found Satori's killer. We're heading that way!" He tapped his feet on the ground, and a powerful gust of wind shot from his soles. A cloud of white island-cloud appeared beneath him. Gedatsu was using his [Jet Dial] and [Cloud Dial] to fly. His personal guard, also using Jet Dials, took off after him, in hot pursuit of Orkins.
[Ohm], with his two-meter-long sword, and the spherical [Shura], sitting on his own round island cloud, remained behind.
"Something seems unusual tonight," Ohm said. "The Lord has been striking with unusual frequency…"
Shura, a master of Observation Haki, closed his eyes for a moment. "The gangsters and the pirates… it seems something has happened to them. They're all trying to flee to the sea…"
Ohm touched his sword. "They know they'll be struck by lightning if they go to sea, and they're still going?"
Shura nodded. As the Priest who represented the emotion of "Joy," he was always delighted by everything. This wasn't just his personality; it was a requirement from "God."
"So," he laughed, "there must be something on this island that they feel is more dangerous than certain death at sea… hahaha…" He was overjoyed by their foolishness.
But Ohm stood up, dragging his sword, and walked into the darkness. He knew that these pirates and gangsters, who had been quiet for so long, would not all act at the same time for no reason. There had to be someone behind it, someone who was deliberately forcing them to flee. And that person was the true blasphemer.
"Humans are like this. Fleeing from one fear, they run headlong into an even greater one. The only true liberation is… death," he muttered. "Let's go, Holy."
A giant dog emerged from the shadows and began to follow him.
He moved quickly. In the gangsters' district, the thick stench of blood was impossible to hide. A killer had been here. The giant dog, [Holy], who was larger than a man, had an equally sensitive nose. It sniffed the air and then began to run into the darkness.
A short time later, they had crossed the entire district and had arrived at the outer beach. On this side of the island, there was no harbor, only the massive wreckage of a merchant ship. A slender man was in the process of lowering a lifeboat from the ship. He seemed to hear them and turned around. In the moonlight, his face showed a hint of surprise, which quickly turned into a smile.
"Hah. I'd forgotten. Of the four priests, you're the one with the big, obedient dog."
At that moment, [Holy] let out a low growl and began to charge across the sand. The dog was larger than a yak, and as it grew enraged, it rose onto its hind legs, its front legs windmilling like a human's fists.
BAM!
Holy threw a punch, and the air itself seemed to tear with a dull thud.
Ohm dragged his long sword. "Don't underestimate Holy. He is… very strong."
Kaito knew the dog was strong. It was fast and powerful. But…
"Holy, lie down!" Kaito shouted, his voice loud and clear.
BOOM!
In the middle of its charge, Holy obediently dropped to the ground. Its forward momentum sent it tumbling across the sand, carving a massive trench. This powerful dog, who could understand human speech, had one problem: it would obey any command, regardless of who gave it.
Ohm froze. He now realized he had trained Holy to be too obedient.
"Stand up, Holy!" he commanded. The great dog stood.
"Lie down, Holy," Kaito said again. The dog lay down.
After a few more times, the dog was completely confused, shaking its head and looking back and forth between the two men.
Ohm realized that this man was a problem.
Kaito put down the lifeboat. He could see the lightning still falling in the distance. He didn't have much time. He wasn't going to put all his hopes on Bellamy and those useless gangsters. They were just cannon fodder to draw fire. If he had tried to escape the island alone, even with his suppressed vital signs, there was a chance Enel would have noticed him.
Ohm, however, and this dog, had been an unforeseen complication.
"Ohm, is it? I'm short on time. Draw your sword. Let me see your [Ordeal of Iron]."
As the strongest of the four priests, Ohm presided over the ordeal with a 0% survival rate. He pushed up his sunglasses. Wearing them at night didn't affect his fighting ability; he had long since grown accustomed to relying on his special sensory abilities in battle, not his eyes.
He suddenly drew his sword.
[Iron Cloud]!
A flash of white light. A dozens-of-meters-long gash was instantly cut into the beach, the white sword-light extending as if it were a solid object. Kaito saw the attack and took a single step forward. The sword-light passed by him. Ohm, holding the sword in both hands, suddenly pulled back. The sword-light instantly changed direction.
Ohm's swordsmanship wasn't pure swordsmanship. He hadn't reached the realm of a true master who could throw flying slashes. He had simply installed an [Iron Cloud Dial] in his sword, which allowed the blade to extend and change shape, while remaining as hard as iron.
Kaito, thanks to his intel advantage, was not surprised by this. He raised his right hand and flicked two fingers.
CLANG!
With the sound of metal striking metal, the curving blade was instantly deflected. Ohm's heart seized. He spun his body, and as the white blade shattered, a new one was already forming. A sharp wind was at his back. He stabbed backward, without looking.
Kaito just smiled. He didn't even look at the blade. His right hand was a great spear, and he thrust it forward.
SPLAT!
Two sounds of flesh being pierced, almost at the same time.
Ohm's sword had pierced Kaito's chest. The Iron Cloud instantly extended. He tried to rip downward, but his opponent's muscles suddenly tensed, clamping down on the blade, making it impossible to move.
Ohm looked down. A crimson hand-spear was protruding from his own chest. His strength was rapidly fading.
Kaito yanked, and Ohm was sent flying. He pulled the special longsword from his own body, swung it twice, and then dropped it to the ground. An item that couldn't be taken out of the world was of little value.
As he turned, the wound in his chest was already healing.
"A pity, Ohm. If you had met me sooner, we could have had a real fight."
It had been an incredibly one-sided encounter. Kaito knew all of his opponent's information; Ohm knew nothing of his. Kaito had deliberately created a fatal opening for a normal person. Both of them had struck a vital point. But Kaito… no longer had the concept of a "vital point."
He turned and began to push the lifeboat into the sea. The great dog, [Holy], was still lying on the ground, faithfully obeying its last command, but it was whimpering, as if urging Ohm to give it another order. But Ohm was silent.
[You have killed the Priest, Ohm. You have gained 800 Dimensional Points.]
[Side Quest: The Fall of the God's Guard updated. Current completion: 41%]
Kaito's heart and breathing completely stopped. A powerful force pushed the small boat into the waves. He sat in the boat and began to row, the boat quickly cutting through the waves and heading for the open sea.
The blue-white lightning was still raging over the harbor on the other side of the island.
[You have left the Kingdom of God. Main Quest 1 progress has been halted.]
Kaito's lips curled. The Nexus's mission descriptions were, as always, precise. Main Quest 1 required him to "Survive for 30 days in the Kingdom of God." Most Reincarnators would have assumed this meant they were trapped on the island. But Kaito, from his experience of being in a coma in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, knew that for a mission that didn't explicitly state "Annihilation upon leaving," the coordinates were not locked. He could leave the island; he would just have to pay a penalty for the overstay at the end.
If he wanted to face both Enel and the higher-level Reincarnators who would be arriving in nine days, he had to make this place as chaotic as possible, to drag as many people as he could into the vortex.
"Don't thank me, Enel. I'm going to make your kingdom truly lively."
The next day, a big story spread through the pirate town of Mock Town. The legendary [City of Gold] had reappeared on the former [Skuld Island]. And someone had brought back a large chunk of gold from it, of an astonishing purity.