We Still Don’t Know The True Nature of the Apostle We Saw That Day

Elmira McCartney made a miscalculation by heading towards the riverbank.

The view was good and there were many spots where she could hide in the grass.

There was even a straight path towards Ryuuga’s home…but her plan backfired.

“──You idiot! If you wanted to escape from me, you wouldn’t have gone to the waterfront!”

Higaia appeared from the surface of the river.

With a big splash of water, the koi apostle landed onto the riverbank. His massive scales rattled as he took large steps towards Elmira.

“I thought you couldn’t swim!”

“The hopeless swimmers among us soil the honor of fish apostles! It only took me a few decades to figure out how to flutter kick!”

She wanted to retort to that, but now wasn’t the time for it. Elmira set down Shizuma in a grassy pit and decided to confront the enemy.

Though he was a general, he was alone. She didn’t think she would lose in a one-on-one battle.

(I’ll settle this right away. I won’t let this battle drag on!)

If she didn’t finish him quickly, enemy reinforcements would surely arrive. More importantly, Elmira’s supernatural abilities required blood, making her unsuitable for long battles.

Though in return, she had many types of moves. She could handle offense, defense, and could even use moves from a distance. Furthermore, her flame abilities would be very potent against a fish opponent.

“Oh, did you give up on running?! In that case, I’ll twist that puny neck of yours right off!”

“Shizuma, don’t worry. I’ll definitely protect you. So──don’t wake up.”

It happened in an instant. Elmira and Higaia both kicked themselves off of the ground.

“Elmira McCartney! Hand over that brat!”

“I refuse! Flamework Sonata!”

Elmira thrust her hand forward and shot balls of flame, about the size of a softball, out from her five fingers.

The five fireballs flew in a straight line towards Higaia, but bounced off of his scales.

“Did you think that would work on me?! Don’t underestimate me!”

He responded with a swing of his stout arm which Elmira dodged by ducking down. She then got ready to launch her next attack.

“Aren’t you the one underestimating the ‘Blood-kin of Eternal Darkness’? Flamework Rondo!”

With those words as a cue, a ring of fire erupted from the ground, engulfing Higaia’s body.

“Nnngh?!”

“Let’s make some grilled fish!”

Not letting her guard down, Elmira summoned additional flames around her and swung her hands like she was a conductor.

 

Meanwhile…

Another battle was taking place in the graveyard a few hundred meters away from the Kobayashi house.

Or rather, it wasn’t a battle, but a one-sided slaughter. Two generals mercilessly purged their fellow kinsmen.

“G, General Mion, please let me go…”

“Sorry, but you’re one second too late to you beg for your life.”

As the heron apostle said that, the peculiarity in front of her collapsed. The apostle had been sliced like a cucumber or a carrot.

“General Jyuri! I’ll be your follower! So please let me──”

“I don’t like disloyal men.”

The king cobra apostle also rejected their surrenders. She struck the peculiarity with her tail, causing him to crash into trees several meters away, pulverizing him like he was a tomato or a pomegranate.

…Thus, the “Evil Spirit” Qiongqi’s raiding troops were brutally annihilated, leaving only their commander Higaia.

In the end, there were forty-five apostles that were killed. After all, a group of soldiers…were no match for generals like Mion and Jyuri.

“*phew*…With this, we should be done.”

The graveyard became silent once more, and the harpy-like birdwoman sighed.

“Thanks, Mion. You did well in leading them away from the house.”

The lamia-like snakewoman approached. While combing her blonde long hair, she stared at the apostle corpses around her.

Facing them at the Kobayashi house would be easy, but they didn’t want to destroy the home. With that in mind, they drove the enemy forces to the graveyard, but it took some time.

“Jyuri, are you sure we didn’t miss any?”

“Of course. I’m a bit sweaty, so I’d like to go home and take a shower.”

“Shower for three minutes, okay? The water bill is nothing to scoff at.”

Jyuri pouted in dissatisfaction in response to Mion’s warning.

As usual, the second daughter was strict when it came to finances. Though, the king cobra apostle believed that Mion should be more lenient since she receives a salary as a school nurse.

“By the way, Jyuri. Do you know where Kiki went? I’m sure that she left the house, but she wasn’t with us.”

“I suppose she’s chasing after Elmira. Or rather, chasing after Shizuma.”

The heron apostle looked up at the night sky while astonished.

“Good grief, to think she would abandon her duty as one of the three princesses…well, I’ll let her off this time.”

“The two of us were enough. Besides, I understand her worries about Shizuma.”

“She’s even been eating all of her spinach recently.”

The two spoke to each other with bitter smiles.

Immediately following, they were soon taken aback and surveyed their surroundings.

…The corpses that should have been melting and vanishing were now squirming. One by one, they regained their original forms and stood up.

“Mion, is this…?”

“Yeah. Qiongqi──activated his ability.”

It was the “Evil Spirit” Qiongqi’s troublesome ability. The ability to resurrect an apostle who died and transformed into a spirit, even if just once.

They couldn’t help but complain about how underhanded it was to use it now.

“Jyuri, we need to kill them again. We took great pains to gather them at the graveyard, but if we let them escape, it’ll all be for nothing. Elmira and Shizuma will be in danger.”

“Speaking of which, Higaia was chasing after that vampire. I hope Kiki can make it in time…”

“We can’t afford to let any enemy reinforcements reach him. Though, preventing this many of them from leaving the cemetery will be…quite difficult.”

“They definitely won’t fight fairly this time. Well, now I’m really going to sweat.”

As soon as Mion and Jyuri ended their chat, they once again began fighting.

They decided to find which apostles were reviving sooner and target those first…or at least they were supposed to, but it was easier said than done.

More than half of the apostles had already resurrected and several began to run away. There were even some praiseworthy ones who were risking their lives obstructing their opponents so that their companions could escape. Unfortunately, the two couldn’t catch up to the fleeing apostles.

“Guh, hold it right there, all of you!”

It was right when Mion shouted in frustration that something happened──

“Secret Sword, Sonic Blade!”

The voice of a girl and the death cries of fleeing apostles could be heard.

(Huh?! Just now, could it be…?!)

Another girl’s voice then reached the confused Mion’s ears.

“Swallows return, wild geese fly north, first rainbows──Secret Technique, Tree Binding Execution!”

In an instant, the branches of trees throughout the area all expanded at once. The tree branches immediately entangled the apostles and sealed their movements.

──Mion soon knew who the girls were. Jyuri could tell as well.

(Aogasaki Rei and Yukimiya Shiori…what are they doing here?)

She could only see their arrival as a stroke of luck. Mion, deciding not to bother with the fine details for now, gave Jyuri a nod as they both focused on exterminating the apostles.

…From there, their second cleanup took only a few minutes.

Forty-five apostles were defeated. They didn’t miss any.

The poor apostles were dead again the moment they revived, and were in the process of vanishing. Only the duo of peculiarities and the duo of supernatural people remained in the cemetary. A total of four people.

They were normally supposed to be at conflict with each other as fated rivals.

“Fancy meeting some unexpected faces at an unexpected place.”

“It’s further surprising that we would…work together like this.”

The “Swordswoman of the Beheading Dance” and the “Shrine Maiden of Life” said that with a grimace. They were both successors of the four gods, one holding the “Azure Dragon” and the other holding the “White Tiger”.

“Mion, Jyuri. What are you doing here?”

In response to Aogasaki Rei’s interrogatory question, Mion bluntly turned the other way.

“Right back at you. What are you people doing so late at night?”

“I’m the one asking questions here.”

“I have no obligation to answer. You marriage fraudster.”

“Oh…it seems that we’re not done fighting here.”

Seeing the two suddenly glare at each other maliciously, their respective partners calmed them down.

“Rei, calm down…we’re not supposed to fight the three princesses. Let’s talk first.”

“Mion, you need to settle down as well. It’s as that tiny-chested girl says.”

“Jyuri! I challenge you to a duel!”

“Oh my, how reckless.”

Now Mion and Rei were the ones calming down their hostile partners.

Seeing that they were getting nowhere, Rei reluctantly answered Mion’s question.

“It’s the weekend, so Shiori and Rina were staying over at my house. We decided to patrol around for a bit before heading to bed.”

“I don’t see the ‘Black Tortoise’ though.”

“We left Rina there. She pretty much ends up falling asleep once it’s past eleven. Even if she’s in the middle of a conversation or in the restroom.”

It seemed that Kurogame Rina had little sense of duty as someone with one of the four gods.

Mion wanted to leave a snide remark, but decided against it. The youngest daughter abandoned her duty as well, so she couldn’t say anything.

“So Mion, it’s your turn. What were you doing here?”

“Just purging. They were Qiongqi’s subordinates…and since we serve Taotie, they were our enemies.”

“Hmm. Is that the same reason why you opposed Kiriya and Balon…?”

While the “Swordswoman of the Beheading Dance” placed her hand on her chin, Mion bluntly said “Bye now,” and left. As Jyuri silently followed her, they returned to their human forms.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“We still have work to do. We have no spare time to talk with you.”

The shrine maiden, still agitated, glared at the two and shouted.

“Hold it, Jyuri! We still have a score to settle!”

“I told you already, small-chested girl. We’re in the middle of work. We’re not like you carefree students.”

“A, again with the tiny chest…! I won’t forgive you! I’ll never forgive you!”

“You should head home already. What time do you think it is? Do I need to baby you?”

“Don’t turn into Hebizuka all of a sudden! What’s the deal with large breasts?! Are they even that good?! They’re just lumps of fat!”

“Huh? Stop it, Shiori! What are you doing?!”

Turning around, the “Shrine Maiden of Life” rubbed the chest of her partner, the “Swordswoman of the Beheading Dance”. She grabbed her from behind, being rough.

Actually…perhaps in this scenario, Aogasaki Rei wasn’t her partner. Perhaps Yukimiya Shiori considered her an enemy.

“Aah, stop, not so rough! I’m sensitive! Especially at the tips!”

“I always wanted to say this you! How big are these going to get?! Your G cup bra is getting tight, you say?! What kind of joke is that?!”

“I, I wasn’t joking when I..”

“And I’m not joking either when I say this! Right now, Taotie’s ranked higher than you in my eyes!”

Aogasaki Rei teared up. Though she didn’t expect much, she pleaded to Mion for help using her eyes.

Mion was left thinking that the four gods were quite the unique characters.

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