032. Spirit Spell: Commandments

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Fengchuan Qinggao sensed that a highly dangerous Word Spirit had erupted, Uesugi Yue perceived that a mixed-blood had awakened the Black Sun, and Nangumo Uzuki finally ignited his own Word Spirit—all of it happened in the same instant.

“Damn it.”

Fengchuan Qinggao cursed under his breath.

At the rate the distant Word Spirit was taking shape, there was no time to call for support from the Snake Branch Eight Clans.

He glanced at the traffic jam hemming him in, gritted his teeth, shoved open the door, and sprang out of the Maybach.

Horns blared all around him, but Fengchuan Qinggao paid them no heed. He ran against the flow through the vast procession of vehicles.

The traffic ahead seemed to have loosened slightly, and the cars behind were preparing to move forward. Yet the Maybach remained utterly still, planted where it was.

After all, its owner was no longer inside. There was no way the luxury car could start itself.

The driver of a Honda behind it was so furious he nearly rammed into it. But after comparing the prices of the two cars in his mind, he finally suppressed his anger in silence.

When another car failed to keep up with the vehicle ahead, the Honda driver seized the gap beside the adjacent lane, cut across into it, and continued inching forward with desperate determination.

Patter, patter, patter.

Fengchuan Qinggao was already far away, accelerating as hard as he could without using his Word Spirit.

Honk—!

Horns sounded one after another from every direction. The drivers stared in astonishment at the figure that had suddenly appeared before them and slammed on their brakes.

But Fengchuan Qinggao had no intention of stopping.

A BMW ahead had just started moving when he planted one foot on its hood, used the momentum to launch himself upward, flipped through the air, and landed steadily atop the roof of a nearby Mercedes SUV.

The Mercedes driver nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up, but all he saw was a black shadow streaking past too quickly to make out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Wind seemed to gather beneath Fengchuan Qinggao’s feet. He used the roofs of one car after another as springboards, his speed not diminishing in the slightest—in fact, he only grew faster.

Though the road was broad and the vehicles in the stream moved at varying speeds, he never once slowed. With a final burst, he leaped over the last car and completely broke free of that surging torrent of steel.

“If a Word Spirit of this level were released in downtown Tokyo, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Fengchuan Qinggao was frantic with worry.

He crossed the street and turned into an alley.

At last, there were no cameras here. In an instant, his Word Spirit, “Instant,” was pushed to its limit.

Fengchuan Qinggao unleashed the speed he had once used to confront the Dragon King of the Viper Faction and raced toward his destination.

…………

“Closer.”

The blood within Uesugi Yue seemed to resonate.

It was caused by the mutual attraction between manifestations of the Word Spirit, Black Sun.

His speed was by no means slow. With the augmentation of the Emperor bloodline, he was even faster than Fengchuan Qinggao.

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…………

At the same time,

Misumi Hatsune was at home.

The high-end apartment felt exceptionally desolate at that moment.

Her mother was still working overtime, as usual leaving her alone in the house.

Misumi Hatsune sighed and sat down beside the desk in her bedroom, preparing to take out a pen and write something.

Then, without warning,

the “Vision” she had thought she could now control at will abruptly activated.

Fine crimson lines rose skyward in her eyes, and among them, the two in the distant center were especially glaring.

“What is happening?”

For a moment, Misumi Hatsune had the distinct feeling that something momentous was about to occur.

…………

Time seemed to stand still.

Nangumo Uzuki stood before Misumi Hatsune, watching her face, which had completely fallen out of control.

Her golden hair was slightly disheveled. She had just tossed her colored contact lenses onto the ground, and the Black Sun immediately swept them into the air and annihilated them.

Fortunately, this was an old alley long overdue for repair. The road looked like the sort of street Working Shoko might walk down after finishing her shift on some alternate timeline. Not a single person could be seen anywhere along it.

Otherwise, an upheaval of this magnitude would already have caused widespread panic.

“So it was because of the colored contacts…”

Nangumo Uzuki understood.

“That must be why, when I saw her eyes at the ramen stall earlier, the progress of my Word Spirit’s ignition failed to advance.”

“No. Why am I so calm right now?”

Something felt wrong.

The Black Sun before him was gathering shape, seemingly on the verge of erupting.

Shouldn’t he be fleeing on instinct? Yet he remained standing there, as though somewhere deep in his subconscious, an event like this was utterly insignificant.

Nangumo Uzuki felt his consciousness lock in place.

Whoosh!

In the next instant, the pocket watch that had once shone like a blazing sun within his consciousness abruptly appeared again in the deepest recesses of his mind.

Golden light erupted, and an overwhelming pressure rose.

It floated silently within Nangumo Uzuki’s consciousness, suspended in defiance of reason, without relying on any support.

But unlike before, all four sections of the watch were now covered in golden radiance.

At the same time, the “letters” along the edge of the watch began to drift slowly, accompanied by a strange rhythm, as though someone were reciting them aloud.

Nangumo Uzuki felt as if his consciousness had been struck by a heavy blow. His thoughts began to grow dull and sluggish.

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“What is happening…?”

He struggled desperately to gather his consciousness, but it only seemed to grow vast and boundless, as though floating above the clouds.

Then, in the next moment, it plunged downward without warning, as if tumbling into an abyss ten thousand meters deep—a feeling of falling from the heavens straight into the earth below.

Nangumo Uzuki’s consciousness was violently pulled between these two extremes.

Within his Vision, an indescribable painting slowly unfurled.

It depicted a stretch of sea.

Towering waves roared and surged. A colossal bronze pillar rose into the sky, reaching all the way to the clouds.

Seawater crashed against its base, sending out deep, muffled booms.

Upon the bronze pillar, the four limbs of a white dragon had been nailed fast with black spikes.

Its eyes were savage, as though it were roaring.

In an instant, heaven and earth shifted.

The second painting showed a verdant World Tree.

It blotted out the heavens and the sun, its crown spreading like clouds and covering the entire earth.

Dragons soared among its branches and leaves. Their wings whipped up violent winds, and every beat sent echoes rolling across the land.

Vines coiled around its massive trunk like silk woven by the gods—magnificent and solemn.

But the scene lasted for only a fleeting instant.

In the next moment, heaven and earth shattered.

The World Tree’s branches and leaves withered. Its trunk broke, utterly drained of life.

The entire world fell into deathlike silence.

Whoosh—

The hazy mist that had filled Nangumo Uzuki’s consciousness began to fade beneath the scenes in the paintings, gradually clearing his mind.

“Phew—”

Nangumo Uzuki was completely awake.

His heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it tight. Then it began to tremble violently.

It was as if some sleeping presence were roaring as it broke through its chains.

Boom!

The berserk energy finally broke through its last restraint.

Nangumo Uzuki’s pupils contracted sharply, and brilliant golden light suddenly appeared within them.

“戒律—”

In the next moment,

he softly uttered that name.

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