Chapter 94: My Turn, Draw a Card!
After retrieving his exorcism tool, Luke returned home.
Mikasa, who was trimming the plants in front of the door, saw her master carrying the weapon shaft and understood the general situation.
She spoke softly.
"The tool the miko brought over has already been placed on the table in your room. Do you need my help?"
"Mm."
Luke nodded, thought for a moment, then said to Mikasa, "This matter… requires you and Annie to help me a little."
The tool Kasumizuki had sent over was a mirror.
It was the same mirror she had used before when Luke suspected there was a problem with the origin of Miko's acquired Yin-Yang Eyes. Back then, Kasumizuki had used the reverse-clap method to observe Miko's past life through it.
Because this mirror could reflect the soul, it could naturally reflect dreams related to the soul as well. It allowed people in reality to observe another person's dream.
He did not know where Kasumizuki had obtained this tool, but she called this mirror the Mirror of the Soul.
Right now, he needed Mikasa and Annie to watch the Mirror of the Soul after he fell asleep.
If the cultists really made a move inside Miko's dream, they would be able to see it through the mirror and tell Kasumizuki about the situation.
After all, according to Kasumizuki, cultists were a group of gamblers planning to bet everything. Once their hidden cards were discovered, they would impatiently go all in.
Because of that, Luke had prepared himself to fight at any time.
Mikasa listened carefully to his request and nodded lightly.
"I understand. I'll go tell Annie."
"Wait."
Luke stopped the highly efficient Mikasa.
"Mm?"
Mikasa looked back in confusion.
"Try this."
He handed her the glasses he had bought at the shopping center earlier.
Mikasa looked at him in confusion, but still put the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
Luke held her face in both hands and carefully examined Mikasa with glasses.
Her usually clear and beautiful face, along with her firm eyes, gained a slightly quiet air under the enhancement of the glasses. It felt very cute.
But there was still no heart-skipping feeling.
What a pity.
"Okay, like that. Not bad. Keep them as an accessory."
He let go of Mikasa's face and took out another pair of glasses, handing them to her.
"This one is for Annie."
"Mm."
Although confused, Mikasa still walked into the room wearing the glasses.
Having learned from experience, Luke carefully held the exorcism tool guandao, which was one and a half times the height of a person, at his waist and slowly brought it into the room to avoid damaging any furniture.
There was still a long time before the hour he had agreed on with Miko, so he once again thought through the preparations he needed to make.
However, after thinking everything over, there did not seem to be anything else he needed to prepare.
"Why do I feel so nervous? It's like I'm taking an exam."
Luke muttered strangely.
He clearly felt that everything was ready, yet for some reason, his heart felt a little restless.
He simply picked up his phone and started playing with it. As for the Murakami Haruki works he had bought, he would wait until his mood calmed down before reading them.
Time slowly shifted into night, and the room gradually grew dim.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Luke, slightly sleepy, sat on the bed, reading a novel in the darkness while waiting for Miko to message him. Then he saw a picture notification on his phone.
After opening LINE, he saw a picture of a pink cake sent by Yuigahama Yui, along with the message that had just arrived afterward.
[Yui]: We ordered cake, and we saved you a piece too~ I'll bring it to you on Monday.
He gave a simple reply.
[Yui]: Golden Week is coming soon, so let's all go out together then.
Buzz~
His phone vibrated again.
Miko's message had arrived.
[Miko]: Sensei, I'm getting ready to sleep.
"Sleep."
After replying, he gripped the exorcism tool standing at the head of the bed and lay down.
According to Kasumizuki's instructions, he did not use a pillow. Instead, he lay straight on the bed and placed the Mirror of the Soul above his head, its surface completely reflecting his entire body.
He did not know whether it was his imagination, but lying like this made the top of his head feel chilly, as if someone were summoning him through the mirror, calling to him, ordering him to raise his head and look at the contents of the mirror.
Luke took a deep breath and resisted the call from the mirror according to Kasumizuki's explanation, then continued his actions.
He let go of the weapon shaft with both hands, turned his hands over so the backs faced each other, and gently struck the backs of his hands together, just like the ritual Kasumizuki had used to view the past life.
Unlike the sound of clapping with the palms, the sound of knuckles striking the back of the hand was lower and shorter.
From above his head came the faint sound of waves.
It was like the sound he had heard when Kasumizuki performed the reverse clap before, only this time, it was clearer and more obvious.
Accompanied by the sound of the river, a path of reincarnation that appeared in all kinds of myths, he gradually fell asleep.
...
Outside the window, the world was once again filled with black night.
Miko stood in her room before the windowsill and gently pulled open a gap in the curtain, looking outside.
At the intersection of the street, several black garbage bags were piled together. The streetlight shone on them clearly.
Everything in reality looked normal.
But the evil spirit she had seen there before was gone.
It had not been solved because she had mustered her courage, but it had already vanished several days ago.
In her heart, she vaguely understood that she had been pulled into a vortex.
"Sigh."
Unable to stop herself from sighing, Miko looked at her reflected face in the glass. Her fingers gently climbed to her cheek, then slowly approached her eyes.
Golden eyes.
Black pupils.
Eyes that could see ghosts ordinary people could not see.
Although Sensei and the miko repeatedly called these eyes a talent, she did not want this talent that felt like a punishment.
Now, because of these eyes, she had even been targeted by a group of perverts. Not even her dreams were her own anymore.
Thinking of what Sensei had told her at noon, worry rose in Miko's heart.
Her lowered eyelids gently opened. She parted her lips slightly and breathed softly onto the glass, then lightly wiped away the thin mist on it.
At least in this kind of life, she still had Sensei, the miko, and Hana helping her.
Sensei would also wait for her in the dream and help her again.
So it would be fine!
"The moon is so round tonight."
After cheering herself up, Miko glanced at the moon in the night sky and closed the curtains.
Just like usual, she tightly held the exorcism tool dagger wrapped in its sheath and slipped into bed.
"I wonder if Sensei has fallen asleep yet."
Miko opened her phone and waited for a message.
...
"We can't wait any longer. The exorcist has already intervened in that Yin-Yang Eyes girl's dream! Let's move today, Cult Leader!"
Listening to the deputy cult leader's roaring voice, the cult leader said nothing. His eyes held not the slightest emotion as he stirred the coffee in his cup with a spoon.
The believers below him, each wearing different expressions, were also waiting for the cult leader's decision.
Although this was a plan the cult had decided on long ago, they had only begun implementing it in the past few weeks.
And even today, regarding the matter of making a move, the cult leader still seemed not to have made up his mind.
"Cult Leader, let's move!"
Among the gathered believers, someone shouted in a howl-like voice.
The other believers followed and echoed him.
They were fanatical like…
No. They were gamblers.
They did not care about the True Lord their cult leader spoke of, the one who represented fear and blood.
All they knew was the cult leader's promise.
As long as the True Lord descended, they could use the fragments already buried inside their bodies to surpass others, obtain wealth, and reverse their lives.
Although this was only the cult leader's one-sided claim, they firmly believed it.
Because their souls and bodies were their final chips.
Besides, they had already obtained power beyond science and reason.
So they believed without doubt.
"Cult Leader, let's move!"
"Cult Leader? Look…"
The deputy cult leader looked at the fanatical believers below and quietly reminded him beside his ear.
The cult leader smiled lightly and handed the coffee in his hand to the deputy cult leader.
"Drink a cup of coffee first and calm down… Don't worry. It's only death. Today… I will go."
"Good!"
After receiving the cult leader's promise, the deputy cult leader's spirits rose. He hurriedly accepted the coffee and drank it in one gulp.
"A little hot!"
The deputy cult leader stuck out his tongue after being burned by the coffee.
"Hehe."
The cult leader smiled lightly toward the guardian who had been serving him all along and spoke.
"Prepare the operating table."
"Mm."
The deputy cult leader watched their interaction. With his tongue still sticking out, confusion also filled his heart.
Then he saw the cult leader turn his head and look at him again with a smile.
Wrong.
His heart screamed that something was wrong.
He hurriedly shoved all his fingers into his mouth, trying to dig out all the coffee he had just swallowed.
"Urgh! Urgh! Urgh!"
"It's useless."
The cult leader did not explain. He only picked up the disinfected gloves nearby, gently put them on, and lightly pressed his hands together.
The believers below instantly fell silent.
Beside him, the deputy cult leader was already lying on the ground, vomiting saliva and stomach acid everywhere. However, his body had already begun growing limp beyond control.
"Today, we move."
The cult leader murmured softly.
The believers erupted in cheers.
"Wasn't this your wish? Why are you so afraid? I remember you told me before… that you would pay every chip for the future, including your body and soul."
The cult leader looked happily at the deputy cult leader, whose limbs were already powerless, and delightedly inhaled the fear radiating from him.
"Me? I just love everyone's greed. The thought of greedily betting everything on the gambling table, yet clinging desperately to life once everything is lost…"
"It's delicious."
"The Lord's soul tells me so."
The deputy cult leader's body could no longer move. Only his trembling eyes still conveyed his final terror.
He knew the next procedure all too clearly.
"Don't worry."
As if answering his wish, the cult leader comforted him.
"Although some boundaries between your body and soul have been peeled away, leaving your body unable to move, none of the senses you should have will be missing."
"During the surgery in a moment, when you watch yourself being cut open and have one organ after another removed, you will be able to clearly feel pain and enjoy pleasure."
"Don't worry."
"Because a fragment of the Lord was placed inside your body, you won't truly die until you become completely numb to everything. You won't die just because your organs are removed."
"Don't worry."
"Today, the believers and I will follow right after you."
Amid the deputy cult leader's terror, he was slowly carried onto the operating table.
"Begin the blood sacrifice."
Under the moonlight from the skylight, blood gradually flowed to the ground and gathered into a pool.
The cult leader felt the soul inside his body rapidly absorbing the surging fear from the operating table.
"Really not durable."
After who knew how long, the chips were finally exhausted.
The cult leader felt his body, which clearly had not changed, ache all over as if swelling. His breathing became violent and short.
Looking at the fanatical believers below, he slowly spoke.
"The soul of the True Lord is within my body. Under the gaze of the Yin-Yang Eyes, it will descend into the world and awaken in reality."
The believers spoke after him.
"We shall sing songs to welcome the True Lord's descent."
"The Lord shall forever be great."
"We shall carve an immortal statue."
The cult leader lay in the pool of blood, and under the believers' gazes, he swallowed one sleeping pill after another.
…
Looking at the familiar night sky, where the streetlight could not pierce the pitch-black haze, Luke entered Miko's dream.
He caught Miko, who had once again ended up sitting on his lap, and grabbed her shoulders to move her aside.
"Sensei?"
Without answering Miko, he turned to look at the spiritual body standing nearby.
It was not an illusion, but a spiritual body that truly existed.
Just like the evil spirits he saw in reality, the malice covering its body was clear enough to smell.
He could even vaguely hear venomous curses continuously coming from the air. In his own heart, a trace of fear inexplicably rose as well.
Was this thing responsible?
Sensing something wrong, Luke stared at the spiritual body before him.
"Miko?"
He looked worriedly at Miko, the owner of the dream, who was also affected.
As expected…
"S-Sensei… it's so noisy by my ears."
Miko crouched on the ground in terror, both hands tightly covering her ears.
For now, that spiritual body seemed to be affecting this entire dream.
He had to think of a way to construct an environment. He could not fight on its home ground.
First, he had to change Miko's emotions.
Thinking that, his plan was set.
After hesitating for a moment, he turned his back to Miko and released his spiritual power, influencing another person's dream like this for the first time.
At the same time, he paired it with words.
"Miko, has anyone ever told you... you're actually a little erotic?"
"Huh?!"
Miko's confused voice came from behind him. Under the influence of his mental energy, her fear had begun to fade.
"Especially when you lift your skirt right in front of me to brush the dust off your legs without a care in the world..."
"Eh? E-Eh?"
"And when you sat on my lap in that bathroom dream... Holding you in my arms, you felt so soft... so cuddly."
"E-Eh? Ehhhh?"
"And when you encounter those disgusting, terrifying evil spirits, that expression on your face—like you want to cry but don't dare to—I absolutely love that."
Miko went silent. She stood there, unconsciously kneading the hem of her skirt, her eyes wide and trembling. Her lips quivered as if she wanted to speak but couldn't find the words.
Her heart hammered against her chest, her expression a chaotic mix of panic and sheer embarrassment...
Although his back was turned to Miko, judging by feeling, the surrounding environment had already broken away from the initial emotions of fear and panic.
It had shifted into panic and shyness.
But none of that mattered now!
"Next is my turn! Draw!"
Luke stared at the spiritual body before him and felt the power from the real world, manifesting the power of his exorcism tool within Miko's dream world.
…
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