I Became the Final Subjugation Target of That Era’s Light Novel

Chapter

Let’s think for a moment.

Jjapgurasu never shared the details with me, just like always.

My shoulder is a bit stiff, but they won’t tell me what’s actually going on. They’ll only let me know the location at best.

The details are something I have to figure out myself.

“Uh, hey, young lady….”

As I walked between the uncles, one of them spoke up.

If I wander around with a gaping wound on my wrist, blood will flow. Honestly, I can’t really stop it anyway.

Even if I cover it with cloth, I can’t control the bleeding. While blood is flowing, I’m effectively connected to Jjapgurasu, so even if I can stop it, it’s better not to.

“A towel, just one….”

That said, I can’t just go around spreading blood all over someone else’s house.

My blood might scare away the yōkai, but it’s not a pretty sight.

As I bled in the backyard and said that, one of the uncles nodded and quickly went to fetch a towel.

And he brought quite a proper first aid kit. I guess a family that uses knives is different.

Guided by my instructions, he just placed the towel over the wound and wrapped it with bandages. While it wouldn’t stop the bleeding, it would at least reduce the amount that dripped onto the ground.

Good.

While taking care of my arm, I sorted my thoughts.

I mentioned solitude earlier, and that’s something I know quite well. It’s something I’ve heard of before.

The version I know is about turning it into insects or people.

Filling a jar with venomous insects and burying it, then opening it after a while to see the one that survived use its poison. That’s probably the most well-known version.

If they’re turned into a person, they said they bury a starving kid somewhere and then cut off the hand that reaches out when food is offered. The craving for food gathers at the tips of those fingers.

A dog head would likely be similar. They might just cut off the head of a dog that was buried with only its head showing.

Of course, that alone wouldn’t complete the spell. Other… ‘fantasy’ elements would probably have been involved. I mean, just cutting off a neck wouldn’t solve a problem. Someone intending to curse someone to death probably wouldn’t go for such an easy solution.

With the knife firmly in my right hand, I headed down the hallway.

Rwoof.

A chī that had stuck to my neck let out that sound. Honestly, the crying sound was kinda cute, but I wasn’t adapting well to the damp body.

It felt less like it was sticking by its own adhesive power and more like some jelly substance had risen up on my skin due to the liquid and wouldn’t fall off easily. It wasn’t pleasant. Plus, the body temperature was curiously lukewarm.

Maybe because it was a being born from my blood, I could understand what Chī was saying. While it wasn’t in any specific language, I could instinctively feel which way it was looking and where it wanted to go.

I moved my feet following that sound.

And—

Rattle.

Kyu, kyu.

…I just found an empty room.

No, it wasn’t just an empty room. It was a long, elongated space, like one where people might gather for a meeting, reminiscent of the rooms I’d sometimes see in yakuza films.

In the middle of that tatami room, Chī was crying pitifully. It was one of those formed from the blood that spilled from my wrist earlier. It looked just like the one resting on my shoulder.

The traces of Chī on the tatami were still intact. There was a faint bloodstain that would easily wash out, but… the thought of all those “Chī” sneaking all over this mansion made me dizzy.

“What’s going on?”

Kyu.

“What’s here?”

Kyu, kyu.

Malice.

Yeah. Of course. Chī chases whatever I desire.

I knelt on one knee, reaching down to touch the tatami. Naturally, it felt just like the one I touched in another room.

What to do?

Looking back, Yamashita-san and the uncles were following me and watching from outside the door. They seemed hesitant to come in.

Kyu?

“…I think I understand.”

Hearing Chī crying in the middle of the tatami room, I realized one thing.

My sword. A sword born from the pure blood drawn from the body created by foreign powers.

It was undoubtedly a weapon suitable for a yōkai, yet ironically, it was a sword meant to cut down yōkai and monsters.

It might be related to Sasaki’s blood. That blood was also used for such purposes in the novels.

I lightly pricked Chī’s waist with the sword’s tip.

At a glance, Chī seemed like a living creature. But it relaxed its body as if that was perfectly normal.

I closed my eyes and split Chī’s waist with the sword.

Slice!

I heard a scream, and Splash!

Blood splattered everywhere. It sprayed out like a mist from the bisected Chī, covering the walls in every direction.

Naturally, it hit my face too.

…It was just like the scene in a B-movie where someone cuts a zombie.

“Gah!”

I heard someone outside the door take a sharp breath.

And—

Gwahh!?

A scream echoed from afar.

I staggered up.

The uncles, who had been outside the door, were already running toward the sound.

Puddump, puddump, the already gloomy sky began to drop raindrops again. It would probably pour down any moment now.

As I swayed forward toward the sound, Yamashita-san slowly followed me. Was he planning to catch me if I fell?

“Ahhh!”

The man rolling on the gradually wet sandy floor was someone I had never seen before. After all, he was probably already inside when I entered this mansion.

“Hey, Koki!”

The name of the rolling man seemed to be Koki.

One of the uncles approached the rolling man.

“Koki, what’s wrong?”

“My, my hand…!”

The man said, extending his hand—he was missing a finger. The pinky of his left hand.

“My finger, it hurts…!”

“….”

I looked at Yamashita-san.

“Years ago, he made a big mistake and cut off his finger.”

Well, that’s quite yakuza-ish.

But what on earth does that have to do with the fact that I just slashed Chī?

“….”

At that moment, a thought crossed my mind.

“Yamashita-san, perhaps.”

“Yeah, that room.”

Yamashita-san said calmly.

“I cut it off in that room.”

—Malice lurks everywhere.

Jjapgurasu had said that.

I closed my eyes.

…Is this just another prank?

*

After that, the game of hide-and-seek with the malice hidden around continued.

From the attic.
“Uwaaaah!?”

A man collapsed, holding his groin. I didn’t really want to know the reason.

In a warehouse with a dog head and another.
“Gehh.”

A man clutched his belly and fell. I heard he was famous for beating up underclassmen.

In a well-maintained garden.
“Eeeek…!”

A man with his head in his hands had once treated women like toys and tossed them aside.

Most were perpetrators, yet at the same time, many were close to being ‘victims.’ The malice didn’t follow their good or bad; the stronger the malice they harbored, the more the men writhed on the floor.

Naturally, the gazes of the uncles watching this scene also slowly changed as time passed.

Some trembled as if watching someone receive divine punishment.

Some glared at me with intense hostility.

Some couldn’t comprehend what on earth was happening.

…Most importantly, I myself was at a loss.

Only after sacrificing a few of them and soaking my body completely in blood did I begin to realize what I was doing.

I too was creating solitude.

Of course, it was weaker than that dog head. It was a quick thought made in a short time, so the uncles didn’t take any severe damage.

They just suffered.

Okay, now I think I get it.

Shura Nirlas has a terrible sadistic side. They probably like anything that tortures people. The pain is perhaps the ‘payment’ for this act.

They’re currently receiving pain as a price to settle the anguish.

And the most dense and vile pain within that is probably my suffering from bleeding. The act of slowly dying from blood loss over time.

“Huh.”

I exhaled and bit down on my teeth again.

I stood up and stumbled forward once more.

Now, none of the uncles following behind me spoke. Whatever the reason, whatever emotions triggered it.

My heart thudded faster as if I wanted to pump the blood flowing more quickly to provide my head with oxygen, or maybe it was just fear. Fear that I might die in vain like this. The fear of being hated by Yamashita.

Thinking about a friend I had known for just over a month, I felt that way.

The reason I hadn’t called Yuuki was also because of that.

“Haa.”

Still, I dealt with almost all the malice that Chī directed me to. It felt like as soon as I cleared out the small things, a big one remained.

But it just so happened.

“Ge, brother.”

As I headed towards the last gathering point of Chī, it turned out to be in front of Mori-san’s room.

It was the shōji, the unique paper door of a traditional Japanese house, where Chī was thickly stuck at the bottom. Kyu—Kyu—the sound of their cries could be heard, yet Chī’s cries only wouldn’t be loud unless listened to very closely.

I wasn’t sure if they heard the sound from the thin wood and paper door or not, but.

Those sticky, indescribable, insect-like beings wriggling and crying down below the door kept the people guarding inside from getting out, while they were all terrified but too hesitant to touch it.

That was fortunate.

“Yamashita-san.”

“Ah.”

Even without me saying anything, Yamashita-san, who had followed me, had already realized what I wanted as he observed what happened when I dealt with those creatures.

“…I’ll do it myself.”

The men who had understood nodded, attempting to enter the room, but Yamashita-san raised his hand to stop them.

I sidled aside, hiding by the door.

Yamashita-san placed his hand on the door, glanced at me for a moment, nodded slightly, swiftly opened the door, entered, and closed it behind him.

Chī couldn’t keep up with the speed of those writhing beings.

…

The surroundings fell silent. The drizzle that had been falling steadily was now completely pouring down. The relentless sound of rain drummed at my ears.

But that didn’t mean everyone was standing around absentmindedly.

They were all looking at me.

‘Shouldn’t you have just come here from the beginning?’

I wasn’t really sure if it was my own sense of victimhood or something else, but it seemed a few people thought so. No, there were definitely some. If I had been watching without knowing anything and without observation skills, I would have thought the same.

But I felt a bit wronged.

Jjapgurasu had been aiming for pain from the start.

Naturally, I had brushed past this front numerous times while wandering through the corners of the mansion before. If I had realized that this room was my ultimate destination in that process, I would have acknowledged it.

But I didn’t get that feeling when I passed by.

After taking care of all those Chī scattered all over the mansion, here I was in front of what seemed like an uncountable number of Chī that were hiding somewhere.

Leaning against the wall beside the door, I caught my breath. I felt like it would be troublesome if I delayed for too long.

I heard someone rise from the front.

“Daddy…?”

It was Yamashita’s voice.

“Yuuki.”

Then came Yamashita-san’s voice.

“Dad, what are you trying to—Gah, what’s going on!? What are you doing!?”

There were sounds of thrashing and slapping. I also heard something crash.

“What the!? Where are you going!? Why are your eyes—”

Thud.

The door received a shock from inside. The uncles standing next to the door quickly opened it up to make way.

Kyu—Kyu—

The pitiful sound that Chī had been making rushed inside through the opened door.

“Uwaah!?”

As Chī stuck to his leg, the uncle quickly moved his foot to shake it off. The Chī that fell to the ground left bloodstains on the floor as it hurriedly rolled around before disappearing inside.

“…Wha, what’s going on….”

Yamashita, tightly clutching Yamashita, mumbled. Her eyes were hidden under Yamashita’s big hand.

When someone’s eyes are covered, they naturally focus their other senses more. Sounds, smells, and touch.

“What’s that smell?”

Yamashita muttered in fear.

Yamashita-san looked at me.

I nodded. Yamashita-san looked at my face and immediately turned, walking away towards a distant room.

He must know Yamashita shouldn’t be in this vicinity.

…They said a priest, right?

I wondered how much the uncles knew. How deeply had Kagami infiltrated this household?

There was so much I wanted to know, but for now—

I barged through the open door.

Chī was huddled together in that place.

I was really glad it wasn’t on Mori-san’s body.

…‘Solitude,’ right?

The location has its significance. But more importantly, it’s where that location and subject connect.

“…If you’re going to tell me, why not just say it straightforwardly….”

I lamented out loud.

My blood, that is, the blood flowing through this body from somewhere beyond the universe, has the effect of suppressing yōkai that roam this land. To what extent, I don’t know.

You counter solitude with solitude.

If there’s something ‘used on a person,’ I can just pour my blood there and sever the ‘connection.’

…I didn’t think of that this time and couldn’t do it properly, but I’ll make sure to utilize it next time.

Thinking that way, I lightly stabbed the tatami with my sword.

Then, I slashed through the mass of Chī, which seemed like it would bunch together and squish into a slimy blob.

Splash!

Now, a vast amount of blood splattered that would be enough to startle anyone in the adjacent rooms. I had already seen how efficiently blood could splash all over when just a small amount goes into one of those little beings.

In other words, if you just slice them all at once like this, it splatters more than if sprayed from a mist.

…My clothes were just turned completely red. Thankfully, they weren’t a school uniform—

—was a thought I couldn’t complete.

The sky is visible.

The next thing I thought was that.

I had heard somewhere, maybe it was some YouTube video, where someone once said that in fighting games when one gets hit into the air too easily, in reality, one would just die from the force of impact if it happened in real life.

Which is a reasonable thing to say. How often does a person receive an impact hard enough to get lifted? Most likely when they collide directly with a car at full speed. If one were to come through even a thin paper-and-wood door, the shock would be indescribable.

At least I was lucky that the window was open toward the outside. If I had gone through two doors, the shock would have doubled.

Hmm, but I didn’t die.

That’s fortunate.

I rolled on the floor a few times and quickly got up.

Amazingly, I was still holding onto the sword despite the situation.

“Haa….”

My whole body was soaked. The rainwater mixed and dripped with vaguely red liquid. Given I was practically drenched in it, that’s to be expected.

“Grrahh….”

While gripping the sword, I heard a noise come from the distant window.

Leaping lightly, something plopped down in front of me; it was a dog.

But it looked somewhat human-like.

A bizarre appearance, as if a dog’s head was lumbering and crawling on the ground. It was truly a yōkai.

“Ah, it was you.”

Its body was transparent. It wasn’t just merely transparent; I’m sure people couldn’t touch it. If something like that had been on a person, it would’ve been recognized during a care process.

If just left alone, it would have probably continued concealing itself and gnawing away at Mori-san’s life.

The reason it couldn’t do that is certainly due to my blood.

On the transparent dog’s body, there was blood all over. Although it was a dog, its fur stood up toward the sky like a cat’s, which looked very bizarre.

“Grrahh….”

When the dog made a sound, its back fur bristled.

It wasn’t simply because I was facing a yōkai.

…It was as if the dog had always been a fearful creature. An instinctive rejection.

No, fear.

Ha.

I hoped it wouldn’t stick too close to the original work in this regard.

In the original Lovecraft, dogs had killed the hybrid offspring of Shub-Niggurath. Given the fate of those who inherited the blood of foreign powers trying to summon Shub-Niggurath, it was an absurd death.

I was afraid of that dog.

No, if you’re going to add originality, at least don’t just change the name. Change the settings properly too.

Besides, that thing is far from being man’s eternal friend! Just by its appearance, it looks like a ghoul! Ghouls also looked somewhat like dogs in myth, but that wasn’t a real dog!

If you’re going to reflect on the settings, do it properly!

I lifted the sword.

The dog’s legs bulged grotesquely, then sprung forward like a spring.

With the sword, I swung at the dog’s head.

The dog bent down, its mouth gaping open and moved towards my abdomen. Was it about to devour my innards?

I hurriedly backed away.

The end of the cardigan I was wearing ripped slightly. If I had been just a moment late, my innards might have been ripped out.

Cold sweat rained down my back.

…Alright.

From now on, I might as well completely turn to the cat side.

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