Mumei tried her best to stay calm.
Not as agitated as Horobi, but still visibly shaken.
She stepped forward and looked up at Nanashi, her voice laced with quiet desperation.
"Please... why do you want to kill my brother?"
Mumei, the petite girl with a tragic past, was just another soul who'd been exploited.
Nanashi placed a large hand gently atop her head. To his surprise, she didn't flinch or pull away.
Unlike Horobi, who was impulsive and hot-tempered, Mumei was calm and obedient—qualities Nanashi could tolerate. He said nothing at first, choosing instead to show her the truth.
"Archon," he said simply.
His eyes glowed like stars.
The sudden surge of overwhelming spiritual power drew Saiki's attention. He felt it—an immense force stretching far beyond his own psychic perception.
Nanashi transferred Biba Amatori's memories directly into Mumei's mind.
At the same time, he also granted Horobi a memory packet.
The two girls stood frozen, reeling from the flood of foreign thoughts as they processed the truth.
Then he looks at Ayame Yomogawa who was also suspended in time.
Nanashi released the time-freeze on her.
"Everyone, move quickly! The Iron Fortress—"
Her words halted mid-sentence.
Ayame blinked, stunned.
Wait… am I not in the Iron Fortress anymore?
How had she ended up on Aragane Street?
Confused and disoriented, she took a step back and scanned her surroundings.
Everything was still.
Time appeared to be frozen.
The gazes of those around her... the eerie silence... Kurusu Konochi and Biba Amatori were motionless, as was Horobi, suspended in the air.
A growing panic filled her chest.
More than anything, she was worried for her guards.
"Excuse me... what's going on here? Is this... the afterlife?"
Nanashi didn't answer. Instead, he lifted the time suspension on both Kurusu Konochi and Biba Amatori.
"Hahaha! I'll be invincible!"
Biba Amatori's maniacal laughter echoed, jarring and out of place.
Mumei and Horobi, who had just regained their composure, turned toward him, their eyes filled with complicated emotions.
Mumei now understood. She had merely been a pawn—used and discarded. The man she once called brother was a stranger with a dark truth.
Horobi felt an ache in her chest.
She was different from Mumei.
Mumei had simply been misled. She had trusted blindly.
But Horobi... she had chosen to follow Biba, knowing full well what he was.
Her feelings were conflicted—a blend of admiration, fear, and longing for recognition.
But now, having seen Biba's memories... she realized how utterly foolish she had been.
She once pitied Mumei for her innocence. But in truth, she herself was the greater fool.
In Biba Amatori's eyes, her value didn't even compare to Mumei's.
She was a disposable tool—useful, discardable, and ultimately expendable.
And worse still... this thing before her was no longer even Biba Amatori.
Nanashi and the others nearly laughed at the absurdity of Biba's crazed outburst.
It didn't take long for both the dazed Kurusu and the arrogant Biba to realize something wasn't right.
Just as Biba opened his mouth to speak, Nanashi interrupted.
"Go ahead—show me your strength. Let's see what magic you've cultivated."
A single thought echoed in both Kurusu and Biba's minds:
"Why am I here?"
Unlike the composed Kurusu Konochi, Biba began scanning the unfamiliar surroundings in panic.
"Where's my Soul Refining Banner?!" he blurted.
"You mean this?"
Nanashi casually raised his hand, revealing a tattered banner.
"The Soul Refining Banner!"
A savage gleam flashed in Biba's eyes. That banner represented all his hard work—his life's blood.
No one knew the suffering he endured.
Reborn into this primitive world after death, he had found himself powerless. But in this world, a paradise for evil cultivators, the opportunities were endless.
Corpses were everywhere. The weak humans were nothing but resources.
To grow stronger quickly, he eliminated any hunters who posed a threat.
He erected a Soul Refining Formation across the city.
Countless Kabane and humans alike were fed into the formation—refined into the Soul Refining Banner.
City after city. Post station after post station.
All sacrificed for his strength.
Once he reclaimed the banner, he would be invincible—he would rise again to dominance!
Kurusu Konochi stared at the banner in disbelief.
A Soul Refining Banner… here?
But the formation he set up in Aragane hadn't even been activated yet.
And these souls… they didn't belong to the people of Aragane.
How many lives were taken to craft this...?
"Give it back!" Biba Amatori shouted, nearly hysterical.
"That's mine! I made it!"
"Sure. Here."
Nanashi tossed the Soul Refining Banner to him with a smirk, as if inviting him to perform.
"Let's see what you've got."
Biba caught the banner instinctively.
For a moment, he froze.
You're really… giving it back to me...?
For a brief moment, Biba Amatori was stunned.
Then, the corners of his lips curled into a twisted grin, followed by a burst of wild laughter.
"Hahaha! You're going to regret this. I'll show you what true power looks like!"
He rose into the air, the Soul Refining Banner flaring in his hand.
Dark clouds surged across the once-clear sky, plunging the world into sudden twilight.
His aura surged, suffocating and cold, bleeding menace into the very air.
Stray beams of sunlight pierced the rolling clouds, casting hazy rays onto the trembling earth.
Then—
A piercing shriek shattered the silence, slicing through the skies like a banshee's cry. It made everyone shudder.
The sound was harrowing—like the wails of millions of tormented souls, crying out in pain, rage, and despair.
They twisted and writhed in the darkness, struggling to escape the depths of suffering.
"Aaaah!"
"Woooo!"
"Raaagh!"
One after another, the howls echoed, layered atop each other.
It created a symphony of horror.
With every wave of that sound, the air grew heavier—thicker with anguish and dread.
A chilling wind swept in from all directions. It felt like the world itself had plunged into ice.
Leaves trembled on their branches, shivering as though mourning the sorrow of the dead.
The ground trembled beneath their feet, disturbed by the sheer torment resonating from those trapped souls.
As the wails of the souls continued, Mumei and the others couldn't help but remember the tragedies that had unfolded on this land.
The slaughtered.
Those who became Kabane.
Their resentment and fury now coalesced into a massive force—howling for justice.
Amid this haunted scene, even hardened warriors like Mikasa and the others felt an unshakable fear creep into their hearts.
In the cries of these souls, they could see distorted faces twisted in anguish. They could feel their pain.
Mumei and Horobi, having witnessed Biba Amatori's memories, stared at him in disbelief.
He had destroyed entire post stations. Cities.
He had fused the souls of both humans and Kabane into the banner he now wielded.
Those souls would never reincarnate.
"Hehehe… this is my power!" Biba Amatori shrieked, his laughter rising to a deranged pitch.
It was as if he could devour several Soul Hall elders in a single breath.
Thousands of howling ghosts coiled around his body, forming a grotesque shroud of death.
Kurusu Konochi's throat bobbed as he swallowed.
"A perfect Soul Refining Banner…" he murmured.
That level of refinement would take tens of millions of souls. How had he done it?! I'm jealous!
Vivi trembled.
"Terrifying…"
Mikasa tightened her grip on her blade.
"What are those things?"
Even the normally stoic Saiki was visibly disturbed.
"They're souls," he said darkly.
He had seen souls before—usually at peace, occasionally looping through the obsessions of their past lives.
But this… This was something else entirely.
Millions of souls, each screaming in agony.
"This man…" whispered Seitenshi, eyes grim.
"He's slaughtered countless innocents."
Nanashi nodded.
"Even from a distance, I can sense the evil radiating from him."
He looked at the swirling, malevolent cloud of death overhead.
"This is power forged entirely from resentment. If left unchecked, it will refine every last human on the surface."
He raised a hand.
"You've finished your performance… now go to hell."
Nanashi gently pinched his palm.
"Hahaha—gghhk!"
Biba Amatori's laugh caught in his throat.
His face went pale.
His body froze, the grin on his face rigid and lifeless—as though time had stopped mid-laughter.
Fate had finally caught up with him.
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
A monstrous scream tore from his throat.
Air rushed into his mouth, nose, and ears.
His body swelled grotesquely, like an overinflated balloon.
Then—
BANG!
He exploded.
Flesh and blood burst in all directions.
But not a drop touched the earth.
The tormented souls from the Soul Refining Banner swarmed like starving beasts, devouring every last piece of his remains—flesh, blood, bone… soul.
"..."
Mumei and Horobi watched in silence—entranced but unmoved.
There was no sadness. No pity.
Only disappointment.
Biba Amatori was gone. Truly gone.
"How… how is this possible?!" Kurusu Konochi's body trembled.
The soul-refining Evil Cultivator—once powerful beyond reason—had been annihilated in an instant!? He hadn't even fought back!
He realized something terrifying: these people… they were the true final threat!
Snap!
The cursed souls drifted aimlessly above, and the now-lifeless Soul Refining Banner dropped to the ground—landing in front of Kurusu Konochi.
Nanashi narrowed his eyes, smiling slightly.
"Care to put on a show?"
Kurusu Konochi's eye twitched. He clutched his head, as though fighting off a headache.
Then, seemingly regaining his senses, he turned quickly to the stunned Ayame and asked with genuine concern:
"Ayame-sama, are you hurt?"
"Huh?" Mikasa and Vivi blinked in confusion.
What just happened?
This man… didn't seem like a Evil Cultivator anymore.