"I want two bodies."
Looking at the guy who clearly had her dead to rights, the fox bound to Judah glanced at the certain miko, fell silent for a moment, and then stated her condition.
"If you can agree to that, I'll give you Jizo Mitama."
"Two bodies?"
Li Zihan followed Higokumaru's gaze and saw the miko who bore a suspicious resemblance to Amiya, and smiled.
He had a rough idea of what Higokumaru wanted two bodies for.
If one were to draw a one-to-one correspondence between the people of this era and the previous one, the character corresponding to the Herrscher of Erosion, Ling, would be Yae Sakura's younger sister, Yae Rin.
And Sakura, one of the MANTIS soldiers of the Previous Era, corresponded to the miko of Yae Shrine—Yae Sakura.
"No wonder a miko who has, at most, hunted low-level Honkai Beasts could withstand the erosion of an 'Apostle of God'."
Li Zihan mused thoughtfully.
"So it was because you saw your sister's shadow in Yae Sakura?"
Yae Sakura looked identical to the Previous Era's MANTIS, Sakura. For the siscon Higokumaru, completely destroying the will of someone who looked just like her older sister was, to put it mildly, a bit difficult.
"Human, you're overthinking it! I'm just keeping a spare body!!"
As if some private matter had been exposed, Higokumaru, who should have been completely powerless, pushed herself up on her hind legs in a fluster, looking as if she were about to leap up.
"Lending it to that miko is just so she can help me train my spare body!!"
And then—
Before Higokumaru's hind legs could even prop her up, the chains of Judah glowed once more, and she was pulled back down, slumping onto Judah again.
Bound tightly, her tail and ears drooped limply, the entire fox looking like a suckling pig about to be placed on a roasting spit.
Noob. Higokumaru. Noob.
"Lend the body... to me?"
Yae Sakura, who had been standing to the side as a spectator all this time, was stunned.
She didn't quite understand why Higokumaru would want to request a body for her.
"To Higokumaru—no, to Ling—you're probably a substitute for her older sister."
The young man, a spoiler-maniac at heart, patted the certain fox's head, then turned and explained with great interest.
"After all, you and her sister look exactly alike."
"She and her sister had a very good relationship, no worse than the bond between you and Rin."
Yae Sakura was stunned.
She suddenly recalled how, over all these years, although Higokumaru had always spoken of taking over her body, most of the time she just chattered on and on.
So that was the reason?
The miko, who had become almost like a doll after losing her own sister, looked at Higokumaru with a newly complicated gaze.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a very punchable mouth?"
The fox, who after spending so much time together had involuntarily transferred some of her longing for her sister onto Yae Sakura, sounded extremely irritated.
Of course, she knew Yae Sakura wasn't her sister.
But Yae Sakura looked identical to her sister, and her personality was like it had been carved from the same mold...
"So, are you doing it or not?"
Seemingly feeling a bit embarrassed, Higokumaru stiffly changed the subject, shouting.
"Give me one body and one spare body, and I'll give you Jizo Mitama."
"Not a problem."
Li Zihan, who didn't think Higokumaru's request was an issue, agreed, then extended his hand towards her.
"Don't you know the principle of one hand washes the other?"
Higokumaru, clearly unwilling to hand over Jizo Mitama prematurely, glared at the guy who had exposed her secrets and roared.
"Transferring consciousness into a magical doll isn't difficult, but crafting a high-level magical doll is delicate work. I need to make an appointment with a professional."
Li Zihan explained very seriously.
Higokumaru's face instantly darkened.
So you're telling me you didn't even have the goods ready before you started this negotiation?!
"Of course, if you absolutely must have it now, I could bite the bullet and do it."
Seemingly sensing the shift in Higokumaru's expression, the magus, who had spent some time with a certain puppeteer in his youth, spoke up.
"But—my sculpting classes were never a pass. Are you sure you want me to make the magical dolls for you?"
Higokumaru's expression froze.
Although she was currently in the form of a fox, she was still a girl at heart. She didn't want her face ruined.
"You'd better just use the power of Jizo Mitama."
Higokumaru, having failed to secure the goods upfront, sullenly patted the Judah she was on, signaling Li Zihan to release her.
She herself possessed the ability to create a body, but that part of her power had already been absorbed by the still-incomplete Jizo Mitama.
If she herself weren't a part of Jizo Mitama, preventing her from activating its power, she would have slipped away long ago.
"OK."
The magus, who clearly didn't mind projecting two bodies for Higokumaru and Yae Sakura using Jizo Mitama, snapped his fingers.
The chains binding Higokumaru retreated as if they were alive.
Like a rising tide, her nullified power reawakened within her body.
It feels so good to have power.
Finally free from Judah, Higokumaru almost shed a tear.
She glanced at the certain someone not far from her and sharpened her claws on the ground.
She desperately wanted to give this guy a good beating.
Then she saw his half-smiling, half-mocking face.
Higokumaru's ears drooped instantly. Her form dissolved into black mist, converging on a single point.
Then, a crimson, sinister, dark-red tachi manifested there.
Higokumaru had chosen to release her power, completing the unfinished Twelfth Divine Key—Jizo Mitama.
Li Zihan walked over to Jizo Mitama, pulled it from its unseen sheath, and felt a slight sense of regret.
When he proposed the deal, he was hoping to see if Higokumaru would suddenly make a tough-guy face and shout, "But I refuse!" (Daga Kotowaru).
If she had, he could have justifiably thrown her out of his body and then tested Judah's Zeroth Power.
But in the end, the fox chose to complete Jizo Mitama.
"Hey, what's with that look?"
The black fox, although she had lost her power, re-formed her body since she was in a stigmata space and hadn't vanished completely. Seeing the somewhat regretful expression on the guy's face, her heart skipped a beat.
She had a bad feeling about this guy.
"It's nothing."
The magus, who had been hoping for a different outcome, caressed the crimson tachi in his hand, contemplating its Zeroth Power.
Divine Keys were weapons made from Herrscher cores. In a mode called the Zeroth Power, they could, for a short time, reproduce the most terrifying aspect of the Herrscher.
Finally, I have the capital to negotiate and trade with Otto.
The young man grinned, a brilliant smile.
"Let's go."
The young man, having acquired the power that had once brought ruin to the Previous Era, turned back and smiled gently at Yae Sakura and Higokumaru.
"You've both just arrived in this era and are probably not used to modern society. For now, I'll be your tour guide."
"Where are we going to play?"
Higokumaru, who was actually quite playful, was taken aback and asked without thinking.
"The Tokyo Skytree."