Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  The purple-haired girl kept glowing red.

  Every time she flashed red, she would "freeze" in her movements. As the flashes of red kept occurring more and more frequently, the scene became rather strange.

  Seiji felt like he was witnessing what would happen to a video game character if the person playing as that character had a terrible internet connection. Lag, lag, lag…


  For him who had been defending against her attacks just earlier with great difficulty, he was now free enough to stand around and simply observe the situation.

  Finally, a large amount of red light was emitted from the girl's body as her movements froze completely.

  "Get… the… hell… out!"

  With this shout, there was a sudden blinding red flash as a red shadowy figure exited the girl's body!

  Yukari instantly felt a sensation of release.

  She instantly discovered that her body completely belonged to her again, causing her to be overjoyed.

  "Seigo! I did it!!" she shouted out joyously to him, but saw that he had a dazed expression as he stared at her.

  'What's the matter?'

  Yukari looked at herself, and noticed what was wrong.

  Her clothes were gone!?

  She was completely naked, revealing every bit of her skin as well as certain private parts that shall not be named…


  "Ah… ahhhh!!!"

  She suddenly crouched down as her face heated up and tears welled up in her eyes.

  'Why did all my clothes disappear?

  'I'm totally naked… he saw everything!

  'I'm so embarrassed!! This is so humiliating!!'

  The purple-haired girl really wanted to dig a hole and hide in it right now.

  Seiji finally regained his senses when he saw how Yukari was becoming embarrassed.

  'I saw something nice… No, no, I can't think like this, now's not the time to be thinking of such things!'

  Yukari had recovered to her original state. Although he didn't know why she became naked, this was still a good thing.

  The part to focus on right now was the thing that just left her body!

  Seiji looked towards the red shadowy figure.

  It kept changing its form. It resembled a spider, yet also a human, or a mix between a human and a spider…


  "Is it possible to communicate with that?" Seiji mentally asked the female spirit in his mind while walking up to Yukari, taking off his jacket and placing it on her body.

  "I don't know. You can attempt to communicate with it."

  What should he even say? Should he ask what it was?

  Seiji attempted to ask the red shadow what it was.

  There was no response.

  The purple-haired girl beside him stood up.

  "Seigo…" Although she was still feeling embarrassed, Yukari knew that now wasn't the time to be too worried about embarrassment, as it was more important to understand what was going on with the current situation.

  "Yukari, I don't know what exactly this red shadowy figure is, but according to what my bonded spirit tells me, it's a fated mystical connection between you and a certain demon or spirit…" Seiji explained things to Yukari. "I'm not sure about the specifics, but apparently, as long as you obtain its recognition, you can awaken to Spiritual Abilities. However, if you fail, you'll be punished, just like how you were earlier…"

  Yukari blinked as she listened to Seiji's explanation. "So, that is to say, this is actually similar to a trial of power that you can see in anime and manga? And this is the judge for the trial?"

  "Yes, you can think of it like that."

  Something flashed in the purple-haired girl's eyes as she looked towards the red shadowy figure.

  Under her gaze, the red shadowy figure changed into the form of a woman wearing Sakura Island clothing and stopped fluctuating in form.

  After exchanging glances with it for a while, Yukari bravely walked up towards it.

  Seiji reflexively wanted to stop her from doing so, but stopped himself. Instead, he followed her silently and prepared himself for battle just in case.

  Yukari walked up to the red shadow and spoke cautiously, "I don't know anything about you… If you have anything to tell me, please let me know."

  The red shadow woman slowly reached out with one hand to Yukari.

  When Yukari saw this, she hesitated for a moment, but slowly reached out with her hand as well.

  Their hands touched.

  Seiji witnessed a bright red flash. Then, the purple-haired girl shouted as she retracted her hand and clutched her forehead.

  "Yukari, what's the matter!?"

  "I'm… fine…" She forced herself to speak. "I'm fine… I just… saw…"

  What did she see?

  Seiji looked at her in a worried manner.

  Moments later, Yukari finally slowly put down her hand and revealed a complex expression.

  "I had a bad headache just now… I saw many things. The scenes were rather scattered, but I understood the basic meaning…" She paused for a moment. "My ancestor… appears to have been a spider."

  "What?"

  "A large spider that came from somewhere transformed itself into a human form, married a human, and had a child… That seems to be what happened."

  Seiji was rendered speechless.

  "Is such a thing even possible?" he wondered out loud.

  For demons and humans to join together as one and have children together, this type of story was indeed quite common. But was it really possible in reality?

  Even if they loved each other, having children… wouldn't there be any physical problems with that!?

  Yukari smiled wryly, shaking her head to indicate that she didn't know the answer.

  "It's indeed possible," Seiji's female spirit answered him. "In an earlier generation where there were fewer differences between demons and humans, this type of thing would happen."

  Seiji fell silent, digesting all the information he just received.

  Everyone was silent for a few moments.

  "It wishes to give me the power of my spider ancestor," Yukari continued speaking. "And if I'm to receive this power, I must face it by myself, without relying on others."

  "…Will you be alright?" Seiji was quite worried.

  "I will be alright. Although I've always been afraid of spiders, I'm no longer that afraid after witnessing what I just did." Yukari smiled as she looked at Seiji. "Could you accede to one request of mine?"

  "What is it?"

  "Please loan me your wooden sword."

  "Wooden sword…" Seiji looked towards his spiritual weapon. "Of course, if it's of any use to you."

  He handed her the Kapok tree bark wooden sword.

  "Thank you." Yukari accepted the wooden sword as she smiled brightly. "I'll feel even braver with this!"

  Seiji looked directly at her face.

  She also looked at him for a while before turning towards the red shadow with a resolute expression in her eyes.

  "Let's begin."

  The red shadow flickered slightly, then floated backwards and began transforming. Soon, it turned into a gigantic red spider with eight pitch-black eyes.

  Yukari faced off against it with the wooden sword in her hands.

  Seiji nervously watched this scene. However, his vision suddenly became hazy.

  "What's going on!?"

  "It's time for you to leave," his bonded spirit told him.

  His hazy vision suddenly turned golden, and he was unable to control his body as he began spinning. Then, he suddenly had the sensation of falling!

  Seiji fell down onto the ground without having time to adjust his posture.

  "Ack… this place is…"

  The Firelit Road.

  This was the dark road filled with blossoming cluster amaryllis that he had just passed by while holding on to Yukari in his arms.

  "What do you mean by this? Yomi," Seiji asked his bonded female spirit as he spoke her name out loud.

  Yomi… the name of the representation of the netherworld. It could even be said that it was the representation of the concept of death.

  He had guessed that she was the spiritual manifestation of this concept. However, she denied it, saying that she had only been given the name Yomi by someone else.

  "I felt that you shouldn't stay there any longer."

  "Why?"

  "Her battle will surely be difficult. I believe that she wouldn't want you to watch her struggling in such an unsightly manner."

  Seiji was rendered speechless.

  "Just wait here silently for her. That young lady seems pretty good. She should be able to win."

  Seiji sighed upon hearing this.

  "Don't you believe in her?"

  "Of course I believe in her, it's just… I'm really worried."

  "Heehee, so you're quite concerned with this beautiful young lady. I also feel that she's quite an appropriate one for you. Why don't you simply marry her?" The female spirit chuckled.

  "That's none of your business." Seiji sat down on the Firelit Road and folded his arms as he contemplated. "Yomi… or, I should call you Yomi-san, was it Seimei Kamijou who gave you this name?"