Mina could not help but feel stunned by the unexpected situation unfolding before her. A man she had never seen in her life was suddenly claiming to be her ancestor. Yet that surprise only flickered briefly in her eyes. Very quickly, Mina regained her composure.
Her reaction seemed to surprise Ousa as well. The corner of his lips curled slightly into a faint smile. Then Mina spoke, accompanied by a faint, polite smile.
"So… ancestor?"
"Oh, you don't have to call me that. Just call me 'Lord.' Because I—and the ancestors of our bloodline for generations—have always been of noble descent…"
Mina seemed as if she was about to say something, but then she stopped herself. She glanced toward Tomi and Nyoko standing beside him. Did they not find anything strange about this situation?
Mina had already seen all kinds of bizarre abnormalities, demons, and monsters before, so nothing surprised her anymore. Still, she had never expected that her own family might be connected to a man like this. The thought left her somewhat shaken.
So this was what Shana had warned her to be careful about? But was the truth really that simple?
Even from where she was standing, Mina could already smell that extremely familiar scent. Perhaps he himself did not even realize that she was capable of sensing it.
Mina lifted her chin slightly, her expression unmoved.
"So, Lord… forgive me for asking such an ignorant question, but hasn't a very long time already passed? Shouldn't you have…?"
"Shouldn't I have died?"
Mina paused for a moment before giving a small nod. Ousa merely laughed when he heard that. He took a drag from the pipe in his hand and exhaled a stream of white smoke while casually placing one hand in his pocket and walking around the room with a dreamy expression, as if recalling something from long ago.
"I thought I had died as well…"
On that day, in that year—so long ago that time itself could hardly measure it. The corpse of Kamakiri Ousa lay there motionless, his chest torn wide open, surrounded by the bodies of dozens of his soldiers. His face still carried an expression of terror, as if he could not believe what had just happened to him.
A long time passed.
No… perhaps not merely time—perhaps many seasons had come and gone. Even his body had already decomposed, leaving behind only a skeleton covered in moss and rot, lying there as the heavens and the earth changed around it.
Only then did he realize something horrifying. He could not pass on. Perhaps it was because of obsession. Or hatred. Or perhaps the sins he had committed were too heavy, condemning his soul to remain trapped here forever, bound to this useless body.
Every day he murmured the same name.
"Shigonami Shana… Shigonami Shana…"
His voice was bitter, filled with hatred—yet somehow also unbearably sorrowful.
At the moment when he knew with certainty that death had come for him, he had seen Shana take that shimmering turquoise light and press it against the body of the girl he had just cut down. What a painful betrayal Shana had inflicted upon him. Or at least, that was how he chose to see it.
But he could never stop asking himself.
What was the true power of that light? Shana was strong. Strong to an unreasonable degree.
He had believed he could control her. Yet in the end, a mere mortal like him had died so miserably, as if his life meant nothing at all.
All his life, Ousa had pursued only one thing—absolute power.
And yet he died like this?
Nothing compared to Shana?
Then that absolute power he had always sought… the thing he lacked… Was it strength?
But alas… Did he still have another chance? Could he somehow… Become immortal?
Perhaps it was only his imagination, but he heard rustling sounds somewhere nearby. Probably rats, or the countless carrion-eaters that had once come to gnaw at his corpse. But something felt strange.
Suddenly, countless black snakes slithered over his skeleton. A chilling sensation spread through him. Even though he was already dead and should not have been able to feel anything at all.
Yet something deeply sinister seemed to be emerging.
A man stepped forward. He had long hair and wore a black coat from head to toe. He looked down at Ousa with a mysterious smile.
"… I should try something like this."
With a snap of the man's fingers, the corpses of the soldiers surrounding Ousa suddenly began to twitch violently. From them rose streams of dark smoke, all rushing toward Ousa's remains.
Then something miraculous—or perhaps monstrous—happened.
Flesh began growing back over Ousa's bones. Muscle and skin regenerated rapidly from head to toe, accompanied by his agonizing screams that pierced the sky.
Ousa suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils were blood-red. At first everything he saw was blurry.
But then he realized that was not the case. His hearing had become incredibly sharp. His sense of smell surpassed even that of a hunting beast. Saliva dripped uncontrollably from his mouth like a rabid dog.
For a moment, he was no longer himself. The man watching this scene seemed extremely satisfied.
Ousa suddenly lifted his head and tilted it at an unnatural angle, as if trying to listen for something. Then with a supernatural leap, he shot into the bamboo forest at terrifying speed—so fast that only a blur slicing through the wind could be seen.
A young village woman had gone into the forest early that morning to gather bamboo shoots. Suddenly, a terrible chill ran down her spine. When she turned around, she froze in terror.
A naked man stood before her. His blood-red eyes glowed fiercely in the darkness.
Instinctively, she dropped her basket and ran. But she was not fast enough.
In the blink of an eye, her head was severed from her body. Too fast to react.
From that detached head, the girl could only let out a faint sound before dying.
Ousa immediately lunged forward, tearing into the corpse's neck and devouring it like a starving demon.
The mysterious man slowly walked closer and snapped his fingers once again. Only then did the madness in Ousa's eyes begin to fade. His sanity slowly returned when he realized what he was doing with the mutilated body in his hands.
"Chi… yte… bns…"
"You've only just come back to life. You still can't speak properly yet."
Ousa looked up in panic at the man in black standing before him. He could not clearly remember the man's face. But what he could describe was this—
The man was extraordinarily beautiful, even for a male. A beauty that felt almost genderless.
And somehow, it reminded him of Shana.
His entire being radiated a terrifying aura of death, as if countless lives had perished by his hands.
"Huy… Toiu… Jnds…?"
Ousa tried to speak, but the words came out garbled. The man simply smiled at him.
"Hungry like a pack of starving ghosts. But what good will that do you?" He paused. "Do you want to become immortal?"
"Im…mor…tal…?"
The man nodded and began walking around him.
"In principle, humans are not gods, so they cannot become immortal. Let alone obtain the power needed to oppose Shana. But if you want such power… You must receive the recognition of a living god."
Ousa could not speak clearly, but his mind quickly understood what the man meant. Immediately he knelt down, bowing desperately before the man, his mouth still dripping with blood.
"Ple…ase… he…lp… me… be…come… im…mor…tal…I… must… re…venge… her… Sha…na…"
When Ousa mentioned Shana's name, the man's lips curled into a mysterious smile.
"You wish to grow stronger. To become immortal. That is not difficult. But to stand equal with Shana…" He shook his head.
"Dream on. But… I can help you with something."
Then he turned away and looked back at Ousa. With another snap of his fingers, a pillar of black smoke rose from the corpse at Ousa's feet, and Ousa absorbed it entirely.
A terrifying beast-like scream tore from his throat.
Moments later, the atmosphere around him had completely changed. He had become stronger. Faster. His vision was no longer blurred—he could see over a hundred meters away. His hearing and sense of smell were unbelievably sharp. And his mind had grown cold and eerily calm.
"This is…"
Ousa unconsciously touched his face, realizing he could speak normally again. Meanwhile, the corpse at his feet had somehow become shriveled and rotten.
"Well?" the man laughed. "Doesn't it feel better? More refreshing?"
Indeed, Ousa felt as if everything about himself had changed completely. Perhaps he had absorbed something from the girl's body. He tilted his head and licked his lips, savoring the taste as if it were the finest wine in the world.
But something was still missing. Something he could not yet understand.
"Shigonami Shana…"
He suddenly looked at the man again, his voice now filled with a hint of reverence.
"So… what must I do?"
"Didn't I already tell you? You need the approval of a living god. And you—being a member of the Kamakiri family… The goddess Ama. Does that name sound familiar?"
"Ama…"
Ousa murmured the name suspiciously. As a narcissistic man, he had once dismissed the existence of gods as meaningless. Yet worshiping the goddess Ama had always been a tradition passed down through generations of the Kamakiri family.
But meeting a goddess?
How could such a thing even be possible?
The man merely smiled strangely.
"…Isn't the answer already within your own descendants? Among the successors of the Kamakiri bloodline, there will be two who receive Ama's blessing. One of them is your daughter."
"And the other…"
From that flashback, the scene returned to the present moment, inside the room where Mina and Ousa were standing. Ousa had been talking endlessly, recounting everything that had happened in the past—how he met Shana, and how Shana had killed him.
"Ever since I came back to life… I've been searching tirelessly for Shigonami Shana. She is an immortal being and will never die. So she must be somewhere. That is why I went to Tochigi—the place said to hold the stone that sealed the soul of the nine-tailed fox."
Ousa recalled how, at that time, he had his men surround the Demon Sealing Rock. But there, he encountered a strange historian named Kim Yongsuk, who was risking his life to protect the stone. Ousa could have easily killed the man.
But when he sensed something—He realized that the stone did not actually seal the soul of any nine-tailed fox at all. It was nothing but a deception.
So he spared Kim Yongsuk and left.
"…But I couldn't find anything. Shigonami Shana—where exactly was she? Still, it doesn't matter. I don't have much time left anyway…"
Ousa looked at his own reflection in the glass. The rough, scaly mark spreading across his face had become increasingly visible. He might have become a ghoul, but for some reason he was still incomplete.
Consuming the souls of the dead no longer increased his strength. Let alone reaching the same level as Shana. At this rate, he might not even be able to keep this body from rotting.
He sighed, then turned to Mina and gave a polite smile.
"That is why, Mina, you are the final key that I need. You can serve as the bridge for the Kamakiri clan to communicate with the great Sun Goddess and—"
He stopped there, as if deliberately hiding the rest of what he intended to say. He extended his hand toward her.
After hearing the entire story, Mina could not help feeling overwhelmed and surprised.
So Shigonami Shana had been connected to the Kamakiri clan for such a long time?
But communicating with the Sun Goddess Ama? What kind of ridiculous nonsense was that?
Mina knew very well that Ousa did not merely want revenge against Shana. He had some far more terrifying ambition.
Still, she chose to smile and extend her hand toward him.
Ousa cheerfully led her to a pair of curtains and pulled them open. What appeared before her widened Mina's eyes in shock.
Below their feet lay a massive laboratory. Rows upon rows of chemical tanks…
Containing people.
Scientists moved constantly back and forth, diligently working—but what on earth were they researching here?
Suddenly Mina stiffened when she felt Ousa's arm wrap around her waist. He laughed proudly.
"Do you see it? This is the future of humanity. We will guide mankind toward ultimate power. I believe that one day I can create great armies. Even Shigonami Shana will not be able to—will not be able to…"
He trailed off.
"This will take more time, and we must keep it secret. But once it is perfected—just imagine the entire world kneeling beneath our feet, Mina."
Ah…
Mina was certain now. She had completely guessed his plan.
Ousa turned to her and smiled.
"So, what do you think?"
Mina remained silent for a moment as she looked at the scene before her. She seemed strangely calm and cold. Then she gave a faint smile—one just as wicked as Ousa's. He found it extremely pleasing.
"Yes, I find it quite interesting as well."
"That's more like it."
He laughed with delight and removed his sunglasses, no longer bothering to hide his blood-red eyes.
"Although the inheritance ceremony will take place tomorrow, I think you should keep wearing that ring, Mina. That position belongs to you and no one else. I have waited a very long time for this moment."
Mina glanced down at the ring on her finger. She spoke softly.
"…Yes. Please allow me to keep wearing it until tomorrow, my lord."
Ousa nodded in satisfaction.
"And perhaps you should get plenty of rest. Tomorrow will be a very long day for someone as important as you."
At last, Mina was able to leave the room.
The moment she stepped out, Ousa's expression suddenly changed. He coldly said to Nyoko,
"Send someone to watch her. I don't want her going anywhere until tomorrow."
Nyoko nodded obediently.
"Yes, sir…"
Ousa tilted his head and nodded with a smile.
"That girl is very sensible. But I still need to be careful… What about those other women?"
Tomi immediately reported,
"I have placed them in another area far from here."
Ousa replied coldly,
"…Kill them tonight."
"Yes, sir."
---
Mina walked calmly down the pristine white hallway. But she was no amateur. She immediately noticed that she was being watched.
The cameras had been staring at her ever since she stepped out of the room. And of course, there was also someone following her. It was not difficult to guess that Tomi and Nyoko had sent him to monitor her.
The man hid behind the corridor corner. He did not notice a shadow slowly appearing behind him.
A tall, muscular man wearing a black leather cowboy hat emerged from the darkness.
He grabbed the man's neck and mouth, then with a swift slash across the throat sent him to the afterlife—right there in the hallway.
Mina calmly turned around and folded her arms. Because she already knew it was Amuro.
"So?"
"The one claiming to be your ancestor—Kamakiri Ousa. In truth, he is a ghoul. He has absorbed a large number of souls to maintain that condition."
"Right." Mina nodded. "I could see that as well."
"So what do you intend to do, my lady?"
Mina laughed softly when she heard that.
"You understand my thoughts already, don't you? What else is there to do?"
Mina turned around with a new determination.
"If I don't put an end to this nonsense, then who will?"