Chapter 121: Clownfish (Please vote with monthly tickets)

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In the thick fog and gale, the two-story hot spring inn was like a deserted island.

A twenty-two-meter-long, ninety-ton megalodon, its mouth three meters in diameter when open, swooped over the small inn, hunting a fifteen-meter gray whale.

“Putting on a show,” the samurai raised his tachi, placed it on Horse Face’s neck, and sneered, “Kneel before me.”

“Don’t mind me!” Horse Face, lying on the ground unable to move, roared. “Turdidae, kill him!”

“Shut up,” the samurai lifted his foot and kicked Horse Face in the face. A spray of blood and teeth flew out.

The samurai then stepped on Horse Face’s cheek, pressing down hard.

“Horse Face!” Koi cried out in worry.

The samurai turned his head to look at the boy who had jumped down from the windowsill and entered the lobby.

“Kneel,” he pressed the tip of his tachi against Horse Face’s temple.

“You—” Minamoto Kiyomoto brought his index and middle fingers together at the bridge of his nose. “Are you underestimating me?”

“Turdidae!” Yuka and the others shouted urgently.

“Uncle Horse Face, I’m sorry. I can’t let everyone be at his mercy,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s azure aura, like oil on water, exploded with fierce intensity.

The divine power raged furiously.

Everyone’s breath caught in their throats. The air pressure inside the inn was even more intense than outside.

The front desk, which had been smashed by Rabbit, had shed many wood splinters.

Now, these splinters danced chaotically in the gale. Occasionally, they would strike someone’s divine power and shoot out like bullets.

“Kid!” the samurai roared against the gale. “You dare use a large-scale spell? Aren’t you afraid of attracting official practitioners?!”

“I’m not afraid of death,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s eyes were sharp.

The samurai cursed inwardly.

It was no big deal if he was discovered by official practitioners. Leaving behind fluctuations of divine power was also irrelevant—no one would care about the testimony of the Shinto sect.

But…
He glanced at Itomi Yuki. Only this person, only her testimony, was enough to condemn him to eternal damnation.

Kill the masked kid?
Or kill Itomi Yuki first?

The masked kid before him was young, but his divine power was not weak. And judging by his aura, the spells he mastered were also quite powerful. To be safe, it was natural to kill the weaker Itomi Yuki.

As long as she was dead, he could leave whenever he wanted. It wouldn’t matter if these people saw his face.

The samurai’s gaze swept over Rabbit, Koi, and Yuka.

Especially Yuka’s unbuttoned jeans. Although he couldn’t see anything, it made his heart burn.

As long as he killed that kid, he could continue his game.

The samurai, dominated by desire, changed his mind.

“Kid,” he said, “you stop your spell, and I’ll let him go.”

“Turdidae!” Yuka shouted anxiously.

The others also looked at him.

The masked boy’s explosive divine power wavered, and finally, began to slowly diminish.

‘That’s right, just like that. Just like the mother for her daughter, and these women for the man at their feet, compromise. Take a chance,’ the samurai licked his lips.

“Turdidae, don’t believe him!” Itomi Yuki stopped him.

The diminishing trend of the divine power came to an abrupt halt with her clear voice.

The samurai’s eyes were filled with killing intent, but his words were persuasive, “Kid, she’s Minamoto Kiyomoto’s woman. Do you think she wants to attract official practitioners?!”

Itomi Yuki glared at the samurai, then looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Have you considered it?” the samurai said.

“You’ll keep your promise, right?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked, unconvinced.

“Of course. I don’t want to die here for four women.”

After a moment of thought, the divine power around Minamoto Kiyomoto continued to shrink. Finally, he released the hand seal.

In that instant, a savage grin spread across the samurai’s face. The room suddenly darkened, and the tachi, trailing a brown glow of divine power, slashed towards Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Be careful!”

“Turdidae!”

“Ah!”, “Boom!”

A furious wave of energy surged, like a landslide, or a tsunami crashing down.

Everyone was thrown like kites, crashing heavily against the inn’s walls in the raging torrent.

Azure light and brown light clashed, the shockwaves vibrating violently, shaking the heavens and the earth.

In this aurora-like neon, Rabbit and the others heard the samurai’s terrified voice, “Kid, you knew I was going to ambush you?!”

“I already said, don’t underestimate me.”

“Who the hell are you! To have such divine power!”

“Shinto sect, Group Nine, Turdidae.”

The members of Shinto Group Nine were pressed against the wall by the shockwave. Itomi Yuki, relying on the power of her divine artifact, barely managed to hold on.

Unable to move, they watched the waves of light, their hearts pounding, their hands clenched tightly.

Minamoto Kiyomoto and the samurai fought, both holding back, not using large-scale spells. But each close-quarters exchange was all the more dangerous.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was surprised.

He had learned many close-combat spells in Hokkaido. Coupled with his inhuman body and rapidly advancing divine power, he had thought it would be an easy capture. He hadn’t expected to be unable to take him down so quickly.

The samurai, however, was even more shocked, even terrified.

He was talented, had trained for a full twenty-eight years, and participated in nearly thirty battles.

Excluding ‘village-level’ small yokai, he had fought ‘prefecture-level’ ones six times. No matter where he went, he was an undisputed expert.

To satisfy his beastly desires, he had even taken the time to practice small-scale spells that ordinary practitioners didn’t, just to silence people at critical moments.

The kid in front of him was at most eighteen. Even if he had started training at the age of four, that was only fourteen years. Not only was he no match for him, he couldn’t even fight back.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s attacks became faster and faster.

His azure divine power surged, immensely powerful, divinely brave and invincible. His attack speed was as ghostly as a demon.

The samurai’s arms were numb, his chest tight.

With each blow he took, the divine power within him, like a ship in a storm, swayed unstably, difficult to control.

Their figures intertwined, clashing and creating dazzling waves of light.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s momentum grew stronger and stronger. He suddenly let out a long cry.

He spread his five fingers and slapped down from the air, the force like the sky collapsing.

His tracksuit billowed with divine power, rustling loudly.

The others only heard a muffled thunder, their heads spinning, unable to see or hear anything.

With a thud, the samurai was pressed down from above, forced to his knees, his knees shattering the floorboards.

After a brief pause, he spat out a large mouthful of blood, his body wracked with immense pain, his bones feeling as if they had been shattered into pieces.

In the midst of the pain that nearly made him faint, a thought flashed through his numb mind:
“Impossible! How can the Shinto sect have such a person!”

To have such strength at only eighteen, who would be his opponent in another ten years?

The shockwave slowly dissipated, and the members of Group Nine fell from the walls.

“Turdidae!” Rabbit cried out in alarm.

“That’s great!” Koi and Yuka shouted.

“Are you okay?” Itomi Yuki asked with concern.

“Cough, cough, cough!” In the impact of the shockwave, Monkey, Fatty, and the monk had also broken free.

After catching their breath, they hurried to help Horse Face.

The group gathered around, and Rabbit asked, “Turdidae, what now?”

When there was no group leader present, it was usually her, Monkey, and the monk who made the decisions. But now, she subconsciously asked Turdidae.

Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t look at them, his gaze still fixed on the samurai he had pinned to the ground.

“I won’t kill you,” he said.

“Turdidae,” Horse Face, supported by Fatty, said with difficulty, “you must kill him.”

“Horse Face is right,” Monkey agreed. “Even if we write his crimes on him and leave him at the Judiciary Bureau’s entrance, as long as he says the Shinto sect did it, nothing will happen.”

“The government’s attitude towards us has always been like this. They will never trust us,” Rabbit also advised.

“Don’t worry,” Minamoto Kiyomoto glanced at them.

Although they couldn’t see his face, they could still feel his reassuring smile.

Minamoto Kiyomoto lowered his head, looked at the samurai, and said, “Letting you die like this is too easy for you.”

“Who the hell are you?” the samurai managed to lift his head and asked, struggling.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s gaze shifted, and he happened to see a beautiful coral reef floating past outside. A school of orange clownfish flickered in and out of the reef.

With a wave of his hand, he fixed the coral reef in place and then captured a clownfish.

The clownfish swam in his palm, darting back and forth, gently repelled by the azure ripples.

“Did you know?” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice was cheerful. “In a clownfish colony, one female forms a family. When the female disappears or dies, the strongest male in the colony will turn into a female.”

The samurai’s pupils dilated. He squeezed a sound from his throat, “What are you trying to do?”

“I heard that Minamoto Kiyomoto created a spell that can fuse with yokai. I also created a spell,” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked into the samurai’s eyes, “that can fuse a person with an animal.”

“Impossible! How can there be such a spell!” the samurai’s voice trembled.

The expressions of the others were also filled with shock and disbelief.

“Is there or isn’t there,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said coldly, the divine power around him suddenly surging.

“Stop, stop! I was wrong, I was wrong, I beg you! Let me go!” the samurai was terrified.

Whether it was a calamity or a god, they had no sympathy. They did as they pleased.

“Heaven and earth are of the same root, all things are one!” Minamoto Kiyomoto recited the incantation without hesitation.

The samurai let out a painful wail. In the fearful gazes of the others, his body slowly dissolved, turning into a ball of taupe-colored divine power.

Minamoto Kiyomoto took this ball of taupe-colored divine power and pressed it onto the clownfish.

The clownfish’s small body twitched continuously.

“The clownfish is still a clownfish, and you are also a clownfish. You will eat the leftovers of the sea anemone with it, change from male to female, and choose a strong male to be your mate and lay eggs.”

“It’s not all bad news.”

“You will fuse with the clownfish. Although you can’t control your body, you can still live in the water and won’t be in a constant state of suffocation.”

“By obtaining your capacity, this clownfish will become stronger, ensuring it becomes the strongest male, preparing to become a female in the future.”

“In addition, the clownfish, which originally had a lifespan of 10 years, will live even longer.”

“Go to the bottom of the sea and enjoy your borrowed life.”

With each sentence Minamoto Kiyomoto spoke, the intensity of the taupe-colored divine power’s struggle increased.

But under the azure divine power, it eventually all flowed into the clownfish’s body.

The clownfish stopped trembling. There were no abnormalities; instead, it seemed more spirited.

Minamoto Kiyomoto released his hand, sending it back to the coral reef fixed in front of the inn.

Seeing it return, a noticeably larger female clownfish swam up to meet it.

Rabbit and the others felt a chill run down their spines as they watched the two fish affectionately touch heads and swim back to the coral reef together.

In the gale and fog, the coral reef, protecting the pair of clownfish, swam off into the distance.

“Turdidae…” Koi wanted to say something, swallowed, and then stopped.

Rabbit said it for her, “Could it be… you’re a great villain?”

“Please don’t touch upon my essence,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said in a boyish tone.

He scratched his head and added, “Was that too much? I saw him cut off Uncle Horse Face’s hand and bully you all, and I got angry.”

Hearing him say that, the group remembered the humiliation they had just suffered and recovered from their shivering fear.

“Well done!” Yuka said with a resentful expression. “Living for only a dozen years is letting him off easy!”

“Mhm, mhm, mhm!” Fatty also nodded vigorously.

“Let’s not talk about it. Scum should be forgotten,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “I’ll reattach the uncle’s fingers first.”

“Can… can you reattach them?” Horse Face stared at him with wide eyes.

“Of course, leave it to me!” Minamoto Kiyomoto patted his chest.

A spell that could reattach limbs was either inaccessible to ordinary practitioners or too profound. To be able to reattach a finger that had been severed for any length of time as if it had never been broken was probably something only the Twelve Shrine Maidens could do.

The Suiten Miko of Suiten-gu was the shrine maiden most skilled in healing spells, even able to regrow lost limbs.

The guy who had “cooperated” with Minamoto Kiyomoto’s act at Lake Shikotsu last time had his leg broken for so many days, yet it ended up perfectly fine, just a little tender and in need of some sun.

Although Minamoto Kiyomoto had never practiced healing spells, with his talent, reattaching a finger that had been severed for a few minutes was no problem at all.

Under the watchful eyes of the others, the finger and palm slowly merged, and the finger gradually moved, becoming more and more flexible.

“Yuki, did you see that?” Yuka said proudly. “Our Turdidae is the real genius, much stronger than that Minamoto Kiyomoto.”

“Is that so?” Itomi Yuki asked Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Hmph, hmph,” Minamoto Kiyomoto snorted proudly. “What is Minamoto Kiyomoto? A mere pebble, not even a fraction of me.”

“I see,” Itomi Yuki’s voice held a hint of laughter that only the two of them could understand.

“You’re the group leader’s sister?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was reattaching another of Horse Face’s fingers.

With the experience from the first time, it was even faster this time. In the blink of an eye, the wound had healed.

Horse Face was ecstatic, carefully wiggling his fingers.

“Mhm. Where is my sister?” Itomi Yuki asked a question that, again, only the two of them could understand.

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s at sea, or maybe she’s right here in Kyoto.”

“By the way,” Yuka asked as if she had just remembered, “Turdidae, why are you here?”

“Ah! I know, it’s a school trip! You’re here on a school trip, right?” Although it was a question, Rabbit’s tone was certain and a little proud.

Minamoto Kiyomoto scratched his head, seeming embarrassed at being found out, and also a little troubled.

“Don’t worry!” Rabbit patted his shoulder affectionately and said with a laugh, “We won’t investigate your identity.”

“It’s not that, it’s just… I should have a cooler reason for being here. A school trip is so lame.”

“Hahaha!” Yuka suddenly clutched her stomach and laughed. “So that’s why you said you were guided by crows?”

“The calamity of evil?” Rabbit added.

“The god of the new world,” Itomi Yuki said with a smile.

“What’s it to you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said irritably to Itomi Yuki.

“Oh? Are you sure you want to use that tone with me?” Itomi Yuki said with a slight smile.

“Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re the group leader’s sister. I’m not afraid of you!”

Itomi Yuki crossed her arms, putting on a superior air, and said, “I’m not just the group leader’s sister, I’m also Minamoto Kiyomoto’s woman.”

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto changed the subject and asked Rabbit, “Sister Rabbit, why did you guys come to Kyoto? And with this annoying woman.”

“Annoying?” the annoying woman confirmed.

“If you broke my bones and made soup with them, the soup would be honesty, and even the bone fragments would be honesty,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “That’s how honest I am.”

“That sentence itself is a lie,” Itomi Yuki said sarcastically.

“It’s called a figure of speech.”

“Turdidae-kun, it seems you didn’t study well in school. Concealment, lying, sophistry… since when did these become figures of speech?”

“None of your business!”

“Haha,” Koi suddenly laughed. “You two get along really well. Yuki, why don’t you just give up on that Minamoto Kiyomoto and be with our Turdidae?”

Itomi Yuki glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto. “Too ugly.”

“Too… too ugly?!” Minamoto Kiyomoto pointed at Itomi Yuki. “You’re the ugly one! Ugly hag!”

“Ugly… ugly hag?” Itomi Yuki took a deep breath. “I’m not bragging, but any man who sees me will fall in love with me.”

“I don’t like you.”

“Because you’re not a man,” Itomi Yuki said suggestively.

“It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?”

“No,” Itomi Yuki showed a charming smile. “It’s precisely because it’s you that I say this.”

“I—”

“Alright, alright,” Rabbit interrupted them. “Yuki, actually, we came to warn you.”

“Warn me?” Itomi Yuki looked at her, puzzled.

“Mhm,” Rabbit nodded. “We’ve been secretly protecting you. When you went to Tokyo, we were there. Not long ago, we saw you and Minamoto Kiyomoto hugging.”

“…” Itomi Yuki’s face turned a little red.

She looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto. Although he was wearing a mask and she couldn’t see his expression, she felt like he was looking at her with a grin.

Itomi Yuki glared at him.

“Yuki,” Yuka said, “Minamoto Kiyomoto has rounded us up before, and he’s very close to the Divine Medium. He’s probably getting close to you to lure out your sister. He’s done this kind of thing before.”

“That’s right,” Rabbit agreed.

“Thank you for your concern,” Itomi Yuki said, looking at them. “But as I said just now, I won’t join you. Please let me leave.”

“It’s dangerous outside right now. No matter what, you should go back after the fog clears,” Koi advised.

Itomi Yuki shook her head gently and insisted:
“Minamoto Kiyomoto is looking for me everywhere. If what you say is true, and he has ill intentions towards me, he has probably marked me. If he finds me here, you will be in danger.”

The group looked at each other, hesitating.

An unknown samurai had already made them feel the helpless vulnerability of being on the verge of life and death.

If it were Minamoto Kiyomoto, who had defeated Ashiya Doman and become one of the Thirty-Six Kasen, even with Turdidae present, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Turdidae, what should we do?” Rabbit asked Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Let her go,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s tone was light.

“But it’s full of monsters outside, and there’s this sudden wind and thick fog. There might be other dangers,” Koi said.

“If what she says is true, and she’s Minamoto Kiyomoto’s woman—” Minamoto Kiyomoto glanced at Itomi Yuki, who tilted her snow-white, swan-like neck at him.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked away and continued, “…it’s full of official people outside right now. She might be safer out there than in here.”

“That’s right,” the group had a sudden realization.

“As long as it’s not a guy like the one just now, other official practitioners will definitely protect her if they know her relationship with Minamoto Kiyomoto!”

“Yuki,” Rabbit reminded her, “if you insist on going back, we won’t keep you. But after you go out, you must immediately find and join the official people. And, don’t reveal your divine artifact.”

“Divine artifact?!” Monkey, Horse Face, Fatty, and the monk, who hadn’t been able to get a word in, shouted in unison.

“Minamoto Kiyomoto gave it to me,” Itomi Yuki said to Minamoto Kiyomoto from a superior position.

“Oh,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said perfunctorily. “That’s really amazing.”

“Didn’t you say your bones, boiled into soup, are all honesty? Why are you lying now?” Itomi Yuki said with contempt.

“…If you weren’t the group leader’s sister, I’d turn you into a swan and make you lay goose eggs the size of a fist every day.”

“Do you dare? Don’t forget, I’m not just the group leader’s sister, I’m also Minamoto Kiyomoto’s woman.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto ignored her and said to the group, “I’m leaving first. I can’t be away for too long. You all be careful.”

“Mhm, be careful on your way,” Rabbit said on behalf of the others.

Minamoto Kiyomoto jumped out of the same windowsill he had entered through, closed the window, waved at the group from outside, and then leaped into the air, disappearing into the thick fog.

When Itomi Yuki looked away, she saw Rabbit and Yuka still gazing reluctantly.

“Then I’m leaving too,” she said.

“Remember to be careful of Minamoto Kiyomoto,” Yuka came back to her senses and reminded her again. “That person is the best at deceiving women’s feelings.”

Itomi Yuki wondered if Yuka had been deceived before. She had wanted to ask, but thinking that Minamoto Kiyomoto was definitely waiting for her outside, she gave up on the idea.

She walked out the main door, stilled the raging wind around her, and her slender figure was swallowed by the thick fog.

But after walking just a few steps, the small, island-like hot spring inn behind her had already disappeared from sight.

What had happened in the inn felt like a dream.

Itomi Yuki came back to her senses, observed her surroundings, and looked for Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Just then, the sun came out.

The sun?
Itomi Yuki looked up.

Within a cylindrical area with a diameter of one thousand meters, the fog was pushed away like seawater, and the gale ceased.

In the dark night sky, a golden sun slowly descended.

The deep-sea monsters that had been swept away with the fog crowded around the cylinder. Seeing that sun, whether it was the twenty-meter megalodon or the fifty-meter octopus, they all fled in panic.

The sun drew closer, hovering above Itomi Yuki. Only then did she realize that it was a ten-meter-long, red-gold dragon.

“Where have you been? My little sister Yuki,” a hearty laugh, a pleasant voice. It was Minamoto Kiyomoto.

The members of Shinto Group Nine, also exposed in the “sunlight,” hid behind a window, watching the girl and the dragon before them with a mixture of surprise and fear.

“If my combat power is 132, he must have at least a million!” Fatty exclaimed in a low voice.

“Is Turdidae okay?” Rabbit and Yuka looked around for Turdidae’s figure.

The one-thousand-meter radius was as bright as day.

Through the windows of the houses, they could see residents standing still for some reason, but there was no sign of Turdidae.

“Roar!”

With a clear dragon’s cry, the red-gold dragon, carrying the girl, soared into the sky.

The thick fog slowly rolled back in. The residents, as if nothing had happened, continued what they were doing.

None of these people noticed that on this night, a few minutes had been stolen from them.