After dealing with the evil god that had attacked the city, all that remained was the special cleanup work that followed such incidents. Ye Ming and Mobius returned to base together, arriving just as Acheron was returning from a similar mission.
"Hey, how did it go?" Ye Ming greeted her.
"The situation was similar to your report," Acheron replied, a trace of solemnity in her tired eyes. "Just a common evil god, though its strength wasn't bad. It took me a bit of effort to take it down."
"Lately, the evil gods have been appearing more frequently, and they're getting stronger," she continued. "More importantly, the incidents of humans being contaminated and transforming into demons are also on the rise. Things were fine a few days ago, but the situation has suddenly taken a turn for the worse."
"I don't know why, Ye Ming, but I have a really bad feeling about this," Mobius added.
"The feeling is mutual," Ye Ming agreed, his brow furrowed in thought. "However, I've already been in contact with the higher-ups in Izumo. We've organized a team of elites to form a special department to research the cause of this abnormality. At the same time, they've also approved my request and are allocating resources to find a way to enter Takamagahara."
"A way to enter Takamagahara?" Mobius repeated, stunned. "You want to...?"
"Enter Takamagahara and wipe out the evil gods for good," Ye Ming finished, his expression firm.
Mobius opened her mouth, about to protest, but seeing the resolve in his eyes, she swallowed her words.
"This is an idea that Acheron and I share," Ye Ming explained. "Staying in Izumo and passively defending against the gods as they appear puts us at a great disadvantage. If we wait too long, we'll only be reacting to avoid casualties. Instead of being on the defensive, it's better to take the fight to them. We will enter Takamagahara, use it as our battlefield, and eradicate the evil gods at their source. That is the only way to achieve a true and lasting victory."
"But..." Mobius began, looking between Ye Ming and Acheron's determined faces, but she was left speechless.
Weaker evil gods could be dealt with by ordinary swords. But against the more powerful ones, even the wielders of the twelve Protector Blades had to be cautious, risking contamination with every battle. Over the years, many Blade Wielders had fallen to the gods. Among them, only Ye Ming and Acheron possessed the overwhelming power to crush the gods with relative ease, a fact that made them exceptionally rare. And yet, even after two years of relentless fighting, they were still locked in a bitter struggle. With the situation worsening, they had no choice but to act, but to take the fight to the gods' home turf seemed almost hopeless.
"...Is that really possible?" Mobius finally asked, her voice barely a whisper. She couldn't bring herself to say it aloud, but she knew the idea was completely unrealistic.
"It is dangerous," Ye Ming conceded. "But we can't refuse to act just because there's danger. We can't just remain on the defensive. This isn't just about a few of us; it's about the fate of all of Izumo. We have to stand together and fight."
This was his unwavering conviction. This world was similar to the one in his memories, but also fundamentally different. Here, there was no history of a great calamity rewriting their past, so the leaders of Izumo understood the true threat from the very beginning. They had formed a consensus: the evil gods of Takamagahara had to be completely eliminated. The Blade Wielders, who witnessed the horrors of contamination firsthand, fought with even greater fervor. And when they were forced to put down a contaminated comrade, they were seen as heroes, their actions understood by the families of the deceased. There was no societal discrimination against the uncontaminated Blade Wielders; everyone knew that those who fell to contamination were heroes who had sacrificed themselves for Izumo.
"This is one of the reasons why so many are willing to fight, and why the number of Blade Wielders has increased," Ye Ming said. "Entering Takamagahara is dangerous, of course, but we have to take it one step at a time. First, we must find a way in. Then, we can reassess our plan."
He let out a sigh. Finding an entrance to Takamagahara would not be easy. Throughout Izumo's history, others had proposed similar plans, but none had ever succeeded. He didn't know if this time would be any different. All he knew was that remaining on the defensive was not an option.
The attacks were becoming more frequent, the gods stronger, and the amount of the unknown substance they contained was increasing. This was almost certainly the reason more people were being contaminated. And now, even a Blade Wielder as powerful as Acheron was beginning to show signs of it... If this continued unchecked, one day, the people of Izumo would all be transformed into demons, and this world would become a paradise for the gods.
That was a future he would never accept. Ye Ming had never wanted to be a hero, but he could not stand by and do nothing while countless people—people he knew, his friends Mobius and Asagami Fuuka, Acheron, the one who watched over him—were transformed into monsters.
Even if this was all just a false dream, he refused to let it become a tragedy.
And that was why he had used the Art of One Heart, One Dream.
[You know that the unknown substance is likely the source of the contamination. You know that using the secret art of One Heart, One Dream will draw all of the substance within a certain radius into your own body. And yet, you did it anyway.]
[Because by doing so, Acheron and your other companions could be spared from the danger of contamination.]
[You know you can't be by their side forever. Eventually, you will all be separated. When you fight the gods alone, the most you can do is slow down the rate at which everyone else becomes contaminated.]
[You believe in your own will. You believe you can bear more of the contamination than an ordinary person.]
[You hold onto the hope that one day, you will find a way into Takamagahara. There, you will destroy all the evil gods, and then, perhaps, the contamination will finally disappear.]
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