With Big Sis Around, Still Left Alone (5)
A room spacious enough for ten people to fit comfortably. And there I was, left all alone.
This was a branch office of the Great Yokai Council.
The two who had brought me here rushed out in a panic after hearing that the barrier wall around the city had collapsed. Word was, ManShinJeon had launched an assault.
Could it be because of us?
I had more than a few guilty pangs stabbing at me. Up until that moment, I'd been half-planning to put up some resistance, but now that resolve had evaporated completely.
It might not be, but... better play it safe and stay put.
The two of them—blissfully unaware—had reassured me and dashed off, promising to lift the charm if I just waited here obediently.
Talk about bureaucrats. Mom and Dad always said Council folks never got a break, and they were spot on.
Tch.
Not that I was actually charmed or had done anything wrong, so I'd be out in no time anyway.
But I'm worried about 4-cheok Sis.
I couldn't put my finger on why, but there'd been hesitation in her movements.
The usual her would've chased down that muscled liar of a man without a second thought, even if he'd tricked her. But she hadn't.
Is she hesitating to kill people because of me?
Ever since that last incident, Sis hadn't killed or eaten anyone except outright villains.
A righteous yokai, you could say. Hard to believe if you heard it from anyone else, but it was true.
Even yokai of the same species, sharing the same roots, showed subtle differences based on their environments.
Sis was probably the most atypical 8-cheok ghost out there.
They all had base desires to devour humans, kill them, inflict pain.
Suppressing that voluntarily was like handing a cat a fish and telling it to hold back.
Unless there was something overriding their instincts.
...How long do I have to wait, anyway?
I stared blankly at the firmly shut door.
Was it my imagination?
A vibration like an earthquake was approaching from my direction. A thick strawberry scent pricked at my nose.
I prayed it was nothing serious, but bad omens never lied.
KABOOM!
The ceiling tore open like paper and flew into the sky. Amid the shower of debris and dust, a grotesque silhouette loomed through the gaping hole above.
A face covered in dozens of tentacles, body like a bloated baby's—a giant.
That's the weird freak from the ManShinJeon branch!
It had been tiny back then, sure.
Regret hit me hard. It looked like something that'd give even my sisters indigestion, so I'd left it alone.
Should've at least made sure it wouldn't cause trouble later.
All my backpack junk weapons had been confiscated by those squad members. I was totally defenseless.
No way to fight back.
Then the monster's tentacles sprouted eyeballs like suckers. Hundreds of eyes glared down at me.
A... daddy...?
What.
The absurd word left me dumbfounded. I instinctively stumbled back.
The scariest, most chilling word I'd ever heard in my 14 years.
"I'm not your daddy!"
I was only 14, for crying out loud.
And if my kid looked like that... my heart wouldn't just break—it'd hurl up stomach acid.
Did my shout hurt its feelings? The monster's tentacles thrashed wildly.
Mo... mmy! Daddy... here!
Thud! Thud!
In response to the monster's roar, massive vibrations surged from all directions.
At least dozens of them.
This is bad.
Standing here like an idiot would get me swarmed by tentacle freaks, and who knew what they'd do.
Whoosh!
A sharp wind-cutting sound sliced the air.
A black shadow grazed the monster's nape at the same instant.
Huh...?
The second the monster took a step toward me.
Slice.
Its head slid off and thudded to the floor. Blood gushed from the clean cut.
No sound of impact. The skill was otherworldly—and familiar.
A familiar figure leaped down from the hole in the ceiling.
"4-cheok Sis!"
I yelled in delight.
"Sorry I'm late, kiddo."
4-cheok Sis stepped in front of me with a curt apology.
"What about Lannancy Sis?"
Looking closer, someone's arm was draped around Sis's neck. I peered behind her in relief.
"Mmph... urgh..."
Her face was pale as death—whatever happened had wrecked her.
"You okay, Sis?" "Dizzy... gonna puke..." "Told you to exercise more."
4-cheok Sis clicked her tongue and set Lannancy Sis down. Then she snapped off her index fingernail with a crack.
I started to ask why, and she explained.
"Those tentacle clumps? Touch 'em, and they erode you. The spot rots right away."
Sure enough, the discarded nail blackened in seconds.
"Those tentacles are dangerous. They're fragments of Outer Gods."
"Outer Gods?"
"Think of 'em as unknown transcendent beings. Real mind-benders."
Then baby cries echoed closer from the shattered walls and ceiling.
4-cheok Sis extended another fingernail long and sharp. The broken one wasn't regrowing.
"Kiddo, hide with that lump."
She was gearing up to go solo. I couldn't just watch.
"I'll help too. Just need salt."
Her worsening condition lately gnawed at me. Worry was natural.
"No."
Sis approached and gripped both my hands tight.
"This time... leave it all to me. Let me protect you."
Shadows still lingered on her face, but her eyes—locked on mine—were clear and unyielding.
I couldn't say no to that.
"...Okay."
I nodded, and only then did she smile faintly.
Plop.
She pressed the hat I'd dropped firmly onto my head.
"Be right back."
My nail regeneration's slower than usual.
She clenched both fists, inwardly tutting.
Fragments of something dubbed a god, huh.
One slash, and her regen had noticeably slowed. Good thing it was just a nail.
Nine more to go.
No room for waste. But she couldn't rely on her little brother mid-fight or put him in danger.
I've got this.
That first strike confirmed it.
She was stronger than these grotesque hybrids now.
Back then, fighting an Outer God fragment wouldn't have even crossed her mind.
Thanks to leveling up twice near the boy.
If I hadn't met him in that forest, I'd still be snatching people to eat.
Her physical prowess now rivaled—or surpassed—a Swordmaster's.
All yokai dreamed of this realm.
Explosive power surged through her body.
Rip!
She tore off the hem of her cumbersome dress. freer movement now.
She kicked off the floor and leaped into the air. A light jump carried her five stories high.
Floating slowly down, she scanned around.
Nine total.
The giants closing in.
Humans were holding them off, but thinly spread. Prioritizing civilian evac, plus dealing with other yokai pouring through the broken wall.
It's all on me.
The weight of no mistakes pressed on her shoulders.
Then a familiar woman's voice echoed.
- Why do you have to? I don't wanna. Don't lean on me.
Words that might've shaken her before steeling herself.
Weak nonsense.
Intruding thoughts meant her focus was slipping.
She landed silently on a nearby rooftop, crouched low, then launched forward.
Whoosh!
Wind battered her ears. The first giant's nape rushed into view.
Dozens of tentacles on its head stretched grotesquely toward her.
But they looked glacially slow to her eyes.
A slight head tilt dodged the first.
She shook off the second arm-squeeze with fluid motion. The third sneak attack missed empty air as she twisted her waist.
Not systematic martial arts, no.
Obviously. Yokai honed their innate traits—that was the way.
Just razor-sharpened senses.
That was it.
Honed through hunts for survival and satiation.
Now it was different.
Maybe because she now carried the weight of someone atop her own life. Her slash at the giant's neck carried new heft.
Shlick! Shlick!
She bounded off the falling giant's shoulder, slashed the next nape. Stepped on an incoming blunt hand, spun midair, decapitated the third.
Each nail swing filled her with one thought: Back to little bro, fast.
Thud.
The ninth head hit the ground. She snapped off her last tainted nail and tossed it.
Nails now stubby and ragged, but her brother would understand the rough edges.
Done.
She turned with a sigh of relief.
"...Insane."
Gurgle. Gurrrrgle.
The severed tentacle clumps reattached to the torsos, regenerating.
Life force tough is one thing—but this?!
No nails left as weapons.
The reformed giants pivoted toward her brother and charged.
"Damn it!"
Biting her lip, she hurled building debris like shuriken.
Splat! Thunk!
Debris embedded deep, but they only stalled—flesh swelled, ejecting it.
Need to break the regen.
Maybe her brother's mysterious power could.
It neutralized even rule effects.
Even against Outer God regen, perhaps.
Her eyes met his through the distant ceiling hole. Lannancy struggled with the jammed door beside him.
Salt. If only salt...
The thought flashed—
Blurble...!
Changes rippled over the giants. Over their bulky frames, tentacles wove like armor, hardening.
Daddy... daddy...!
"...!"
Their speed exploded—matching hers now.
Decapitation must've stimulated the tentacles.
No!
In a blink, her brother's face vanished from view.
Too far to reach in time.
Tentacle erosion she could handle, but that mass crushing down? No chance.
What do I—!
In the stretched eternity of a split second.
The woman's voice returned.
- ...How far would you go for your little brother?
Right.
She still had two chains unbound around her heart.
The voice demanded: for him, what would she stake?
To reach him before those rampaging beasts, she needed at least double—no, triple her current power.
The stronger the power, the higher the realm, the steeper the constraint's price.
Power was a yokai's ultimate value.
"..."
She gazed quietly at her hands.
My most valuable possession.
Her brother came to mind first. But she couldn't stake him.
He was her most precious, but not an object to wager.
Not hers to own—and even if, she'd never.
So, only one thing left.
"..."
The chains around her heart halted abruptly.
This...
Her body rejected the constraint.
Like brakes locking, her hands wouldn't clench.
It demanded that much resolve.
Huuu...
Exhaling slowly, she shoved aside reality's clamor.
Faced the anxiety buried deepest in her heart.
The question she'd lacked courage to ask him.
...As much as I cherish you.
Do you cherish me?
I hope so.
Her sole remaining desire, that wish.
Grip!
Fists clenched tight.
I'll stake my power. All my realm.
To a yokai, power was survival, proof of existence. Forsaking it meant yokai death.
- ...Giving up your power? Think this won't happen again? You're so optimistic.
She chuckled at the resentful sneer.
- Think he'll stick around a powerless you?
No need to answer.
You don't know him, specter.
The brother she knew wouldn't.
And even if he did, she didn't care.
Her unwavering gaze pierced beyond the giants' bulk.
With reason to live right there, who needs power?
So.
One minute would suffice.
Clink.
Feeling something lock around her chest.
She became the wind.