With an expression as if it was all too much for him to handle, Narukawa passed the car in front of him.
"The man that was leading the group that attacked us was Saga, one of my subordinates. I can't believe that he would be lying. What could it have been that made the Chief Secretary give out such a drastic order..."
"A demon, most likely." It was Nakajima that spoke from the back seat.
"You're saying that demons have infiltrated the government?" Narukawa couldn't help but raise his voice.
"Look at how Nakajima's mother suddenly sided with Ohara. It all makes sense if a demon was using some sort of spell to control her. Ignoring the mass disappearances, the attempt to assassinate us, Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita's sudden change of heart--it can't be a coincidence." Feed's voice betrayed clear signs of agitation.
"I just can't believe it." Narukawa sighed. For the first time since he met him, Nakajima sensed weakness in the man.
At about the intersection between Ouma Highway and Loop 8, the fog started to thicken. The number of cars on the road seemed to thin out significantly as well.
"I sense a demonic presence in this area as well," reported Nakajima anxiously, rolling down the window halfway. "There was nothing here when I scouted out the area two days ago though..."
As Narukawa's eyes darted to the rear-view mirror, his hands still gripping the steering wheel, Nakajima stuck his head out the window and stared at the empty sidewalk, letting the wind blow his hair back.
Shortly thereafter, the Corolla turned onto Inokashira Avenue. Devoid of light, the buildings in the area were like a ghost town.
"I don't believe this," Nakajima murmured to himself. "Day before yesterday, this place was perfectly normal...."
Soon, engulfed in fog, Narukawa had no choice but to slow the car.
"Don't you think it would be faster if we got out and walk?" Feed, impatient as ever, seemed as if he was about to jump out of the car at any time.
"Could be. Don't you think you should stay behind in the car though, Professor?"
"I'm sure what you mean to say is that I'd slow you down, but somehow I don't see the team of just a hero with a kidnapped girlfriend and a sidekick who knows nothing about demons producing any happy endings."
As Narukawa stopped the car, Feed took out his S&W magazine and showed it to them.
"This ammunition is full of mercuric sulfide. I'm sure it will work against demons a lot better than your handgun will..."
Narukawa bared his teeth in a grin and slapped Feed's shoulder.
"Mr. Narukawa, if you want to back out, now's the time." Nakajima was also grinning as he spoke.
"Right then. I'll run if the mood strikes me."
Now that I'm unofficially out of the CIRO, I really don't have any obligation to take on some unknown demon, but still...all I can say is that this seems like fate, or karma from a previous life. As if to keep his twisting anxiety in check, Narukawa considered his fate, which he decided to leave intertwined with that of Nakajima's.
The thick fog enveloped the three men, who had now left the car behind. It was heavy and slimy, and felt like the surface of plants in a swamp.
With Kerberos, who had been summoned from Nakajima's handheld computer, in the middle, the three proceeded toward the Soga Forest. Using only the light of the street lamps as a guide, they walked for maybe an hour. All of a sudden the fog thinned, and their surroundings clearly came into view.
But they were very strange surroundings. At the very least, they were nothing like any neighborhood in Tokyo they had known.
The lines of ginkgo trees along the roadside, which normally grew only slightly, receiving sustenance only from the carbon dioxide in the air, seemed far more robust than was to be expected; their branches were splayed out in every direction and their thick roots had shown themselves, having broken through the concrete of the sidewalk. The facades of the deserted buildings were covered in thick tropical vines, some of which were powerful enough to have shattered windows or even broken through the very roofs of houses.
"What is going on here..." Nakajima was the first to speak in surprise, having been here just a few days ago searching for Yumiko.
"It almost looks like the ancient Mayan ruins did when they were discovered...Eh? What's wrong?" Feed looked suspiciously over at Narukawa, who was pointing his Walther straight in the air.
"Look!"
Nakajima's trembling finger pointed at a whitish bird circling around them over head.
"What? It's just a nocturnal bird."
"Look at its face, Professor." Speaking in a calm and composed voice, Nakajima backed up Narukawa.
The bird, which was looking down at them with sparkling azure eyes, clearly had the face of a human woman.
"It's a harpy. I've seen them several times in Siberia before; it's quite beautiful, isn't it?"
Letting his guard down at Feed's blasé reaction, Narukawa lowered his pistol.
"Isn't it dangerous?"
"Oh, it would definitely attack given the opportunity. But we're safe so long as Kerberos is with us."
As if it heard Feed's voice, the harpy shook its wings as if to fake out the demonic beast and dropped its altitude. Without any forewarning, a brown beast leapt out from amongst the treetops and smashed the monstrous bird's wing with its thick arm. Caught by surprise, the harpy plunged to the ground. As it did, the brown, monkey-like monster quickly leaped to the ground and with its sharp fangs bit into the neck of the harpy as it struggled to get up.
Kyaaaeeh!
Crying out in a shrill voice, the harpy desperately beat its wings. But its opponent had a leg up on it. Within moments, its thick arms had snapped the harpy's neck in a quick motion.
"Well, now we have proof that there's a food chain in the demon world," Feed rasped.
Dragging the harpy's corpse with it, the demon monkey climbed up a tree. Right before it entered a vine-covered house, it turned around in curiosity and looked at Nakajima's group. The single, foul eye in its heavily-wrinkled faced darted all around, sizing up the three. As it made eye contact with Kerberos, it made a simian screech and bounded out of sight.
"Oh, my. At this rate there's no telling what might attack us. Let's go into the forest now. We're sitting ducks out in the open right here," said Narukawa in a surprised voice as he returned to his senses.
"No, so long as we have Kerberos with us we've got the advantage on the ground. If we go into the forest and get attacked from above we're done for."
Nakajima had a point, so Narukawa decided to go along with him, and the three men once again proceeded slowly along the broken sidewalk, taking care not to trip over the stones and boulders strewn about.
We're surrounded.
With the Soga Forest in front of his eyes, Narukawa's sixth sense was buzzing. Kerberos lowered his head and crouched into a fighting pose. Nakajima also felt hundreds of eyes staring at them from amongst the trees. And those eyes were drawing ever closer.
Gluf, Gluf
Crying in a voice that sounded like it was coming from a strangled throat, a monster appeared from out of the darkness. It looked like a human, but its body was covered in shiny black scales. Its extruding, crimson eyes burned as it stared at them, and the red tear through its face that was its mouth was distorted and ghastly.
Another. And another. As if they were creatures born of the darkness itself, the monsters emerged from the cover of the trees. Gripped by primal fear, Narukawa fired his Walther over and over again. The nine-millimeter ammunition buried into the stomachs of the creatures with a splatting sound, and thick, milky white liquid oozed from the wounds. But they showed not even a hint of faltering and approached, their arms stuck out in front of them. Unable to suppress his hostility any longer, Kerberos attacked the mob without any command from Nakajima, and in moments had downed several dozen of them.
"Mr. Narukawa, get back!" Rea
lizing that he had no choice but to fight, Nakajima pictured the two blue spheres in his mind. Just from his concentration, an eddy of flame formed in the air and a moment later the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi appeared in his right hand. Gripping its hilt, Nakajima slashed the sword with a tremendous battle cry.
The chests of the monsters were cleaved in two, and like a wave being drawn back into the sea, their scales vanished, leaving only white skin behind. Just like Ohara had, until recently these monsters had been living as ordinary people. Only Set could have transformed them into such demonic beings.
"Damned demons..." Nakajima gripped his sword and bit his lips, his eyes filled with indescribable desolation. Looking over at Feed, Nakajima saw that he was firing his Smith & Wesson over and over again while gripping his ornate cross. The mecuric sulfide bullets instantly killed the monsters that they struck, but far more of them were missing their targets than aiming true.
"Professor, the battle is just starting," called out Nakajima. "Please don't waste your ammunition!"
Indeed, it appeared that no matter how many of the monsters they defeated, their numbers seemed only to increase. There were probably almost a thousand of them. Nakajima called Kerberos and took a step back, glaring back at what appeared to be a writhing, infinitely thick wall of creatures.
I'm just going to have to force my way right through them... Right as Nakajima had set upon a plan, the hostility vanished from the eyes of the monsters. As their arms flopped to their sides, every one of them turned around and shuffled back into the depths of the forest. Their empty stares were as if they were all in a trance.
Nakajima turned around, startled by a growl from Kerberos, and noticed that Feed and Narukawa also had a strange glimmer in their eyes.
"Professor! Mr. Narukawa!"
As if trying to cut through an invisible thread, Nakajima brought down the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi in front of their eyes. Suddenly returned to their senses, the two men looked at one another.
"That was close. We almost became enthralled by the demon as well." Shuddering, Feed flicked the safety of his pistol and put it in the pocket of his coat.
Following the creatures, the three continued into the Soga Forest, which was now an extension of the Atziluth World. Occasionally, a harpy flew overhead, beating its wings as if to mock them. Soon the fog cleared, and there waiting for them was a scene, bizarre far beyond any of their imaginations.
"That's....!!" At the same time, the three cried out in surprise.
Next to the shimmering red-and-green striped surface of the swamp, an enormous fleshy tower jutted dozens of meters into the sky. One by one, the pack of creatures were climbing it. Those that ran out of energy on the way up were slurped into the protoplasm right there and absorbed into the tower of flesh. The surface of the tower was covered in the half-broken bodies of the creatures and countless writhing tentacles, the latter of which gave it the appearance of an enormous one-celled organism.
Feed and Narukawa forgot themselves and were entranced by the repulsive sight as if possessed. However, Nakajima quickly brought them back to their senses, and noticed a silver-haired man approaching, appearing from behind the shadow of the fleshy pillar. Nakajima got the sense that he recognized this man from somewhere, and soon Feed's cry made clear why this was.
"So, you really were behind all of this, Isma."
So this man is Isma...Professor Feed's brother.
"Nakajima, there's no need to hold back," cried Feed, "so long as he lives, the world will never be safe!"
Isma grinned coldly. The black robe that enveloped him whipped in the wind.
"Get him, Kerberos!"
At Nakajima's order, Kerberos charged Isma, but all of a sudden, bounced away as if he had hit an invisible wall in the air.
"Ha ha ha!"
Isma's body appeared to float in the air as he laughed, and two unusual lights appeared by his feet. Covered in jet-black scales, the great black serpent Typhon stared at Nakajima with its golden eyes as it slowly rose into the air with Isma riding on its back, as if the earth had suddenly given birth to an enormous tree. With its head nearly extended to the full height of the tower of flesh, the huge serpent shuddered and assaulted Nakajima. The lower half of Isma's body had been fused into Typhon's; perhaps it was another sort of fusion the demon could do in addition to its innate ability to absorb the earth and the air into its own body.
The sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi could do nothing against Typhon's rigid scales. Nakajima had no choice but to flee, pursued by Isma's loud laughter.
"You must have been quite lucky to have been able to defeat Loki like that! Stop struggling and become the next sacrifice!"
Meanwhile, Feed, realizing the gravity of the situation, whispered something to Narukawa as he handed over his pistol.
"Whatever you're planning, it won't work, Charles!" cried Isma from atop the serpent's head. "I'll eat you right after Nakajima!"
Kerberos jumped in attack from the side, but was knocked away like a rubber ball by Typhon's whip-like tail.
"Die, Nakajima!"
Holding the Smith & Wesson with both hands in a firing stance and aiming it at Typhon's gaping red maw as it attacked, Narukawa pulled the trigger.
For an instant, the great serpent stopped as if in discomfort. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nakajima leapt up and plunged the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi into one of its golden eyes.
GYAAAH!
Crying out, Typhon whipped and spasmed. Sword and all, Nakajima was thrown aside, but Kerberos leaped into the air and caught him. Right at that moment, Nakajima got the sense that he heard Yumiko's voice from far away. Looking around in confusion, the image of Yumiko, bound to a cross and writhing in agony, appeared in his mind. Most likely, Set had sent him the picture of her current state as the core of his enormous protoplasmic temporary body. Nakjima noticed that one of the eyes in her lovely, terrified face was dripping blood.
"Hah, hah, hah! Brave young man, do not forget that Yumiko is Set's prisoner!"
Don't listen to him! The demons need my body! They would never kill me! Yumiko's voice cried out in Nakajima's mind, encouraging him.
Isma's laughing voice penetrated Nakajima's ears. "Indeed. The girl is needed to fuse this world and the demon world together. However, even if we cannot kill her, we can still torture her with unimaginable pain."
It was hard for Nakajima to withstand the awful sense of guilt and self-reproach he got when seeing Yumiko frantically trying to withstand the agony. Yumiko's remaining eye started to fill with tears of blood.
"Stop it!" Unable to withstand it any longer, Nakajima cast aside the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi and dropped to his knees.
"Nakajima, wake up! You can't listen to them! If you give in, what will happen to this country? What will happen to the world..."
Listening to Feed yelling his lungs out calling to Nakajima, Narukawa was overwhelmed, and was punching the ground with his fist.
This sort of thing has happened before!
Try as he might, Narukawa could not shake off an overwhelming sense of deja vu.
I must have some sort of power. Some sort of power to save that boy! Someone--god or buddha, I don't care--please awaken my power! That power will surely reveal my connection with the boy as well...
CHAPTER 3
Right about that time in Yomotsuhirasaka, Izanami looked anxiously into the black skies. Her connection to the human world was largely dependent upon Yumiko's senses; so long as she was captured by demons, Izanami could not view it, nor could she possess Yumiko to save her.
The movement of the stars was the only connection between the human world and the netherworld remaining. And Nakajima's star was becoming visibly dimmer. Yumiko's star, right next to it, had dimmed so much it was not even visible without squinting. Meanwhile, the ominous red star around them was shining brighter and brighter.
"What happened!? I can't st
and this. But I don't have the power to affect the human world..." Muttering with irritation, Izanami's eyes stoped at another star next to them, twinkling slightly.
"What's that...?"
Could it be another reincarnated god?
Kneeling, Izanami started praying frantically. "I don't know what god you are, but please awaken, for their sake."
As if in answer to the prayer, the star started glowing brighter and brighter. Momentarily, like a supernova, its light brilliantly lit up that area of sky.
CHAPTER 4
All of a sudden, Narukawa extended his arms out wide toward the heavens and called out.
"Soul of the light of heaven and earth, light of the moon, come here to me, Tsukuyomi!"
Feed turned around in shock.
"So you've finally lost it." Isma also stopped the giant serpent, its mouth wide open and ready to swallow Nakajima, and turned to stare at Narukawa.
But the rumbling of the heavens and the earth that started the next instant wiped the sneering grin off his face.
The sky is falling, Nakajima thought as he looked up.
The stars in the sky, which were shining far more than usual, became a single band of light and shot down toward Narukawa, leaving a streaking tail behind it. Or at the very least, that was what it looked like to Nakajima.
"Mr. Narukawa..."
But it was no longer Narukawa that was standing up to fight the demon, but his identity in his former life, that of the moon god Tsukuyomi. Not waiting a moment, he threw the light that was gathered around his right hand at the enormous snake.
GYAAAAAGH!
Like a laser scalpel, the arrow of light split Typhon's body in two down the middle. As Isma tumbled to the ground, Narukawa showed no mercy as he launched another attack on him. With no time to even cast a defensive spell, in an instant Isma was wreathed in flames, and screaming in anger and pain, attempted to grab Narukawa as he crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.
The sight reminding him of the death of his mother, Nakajima shrank back as a sudden shock ran down his spine. The air around him suddenly compressed, and a surge capable of freezing body and mind alike shot through the ground.
Digital Devil Story: Warrior of the Demon City Page 8
