Rig gained the support of the Progenitors.
"Alright, let's continue torturing this guy. Time is short; let's use a more efficient method to understand this matter."
While the Vampires were in the heat of interrogating the Progenitor, Yuichiro remained in a state of blurred consciousness.
"How is it going, Guren?"
"..."
"If we don't hurry, I'm afraid those monsters will notice. Especially that guy Luke; he glanced at me several times just now, intentionally or not. I suspect he's already discovered you."
Locked in special shackles, Hiiragi Shinya urged Guren in his heart to do something, occasionally observing the Progenitors to see if they had been noticed... The timeline goes back to after Guren used Mika's power to lead everyone in escaping from the Progenitor.
Yuichiro opened his eyes again, appearing in his own consciousness space.
"Yo, kid, you really have a tough life."
onikiri spoke to Yuichiro, who was still somewhat shaken.
Yuichiro was about to say something when he suddenly screamed, clutching his head and falling to one knee.
onikiri sensed something, narrowed his eyes, and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"It seems we have a guest."
A figure appeared out of thin air in Yuichiro's Sea of Consciousness.
"Yuu-chan, are you okay?!"
Who could this figure be if not Mika? As soon as he appeared, he stepped forward to support Yuichiro, who looked to be in great pain.
"Mika... are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but my Sea of Consciousness has shattered. Now I can only temporarily borrow yours. Your current condition is a side effect of the connection established between my consciousness and yours."
Mika's expression was full of self-reproach, but Yuichiro didn't mind. He smiled and shook his head, then spoke to the wary onikiri.
"Don't be nervous, onikiri. We're all family."
onikiri gave a disdainful cold snort.
"I'm not family with someone who can't tell good from bad, and I'm not family with you either. I only help you because if you die, I won't have a good end either."
Yuichiro just took it as onikiri being tsundere. Having been helped so much along the way, he had long since regarded onikiri as family. However, he soon frowned.
"Hey, onikiri, why are you still drawing your sword?!"
onikiri remained hostile and drew his sword, striking directly in one direction.
A purple blade light slashed through the Sea of Consciousness, but before it could travel far, the light suddenly stalled. Immediately after, a dark red glow lit up, neutralizing onikiri's attack.
onikiri stared in that direction and said faintly.
"I never said he was the only guest, right?"
Yuichiro and Mika were also a bit slow to react. At the spot where the blade light had dissipated, a figure that couldn't be more familiar appeared in everyone's sight.
"Guren?!"
Recognizing the face, Yuichiro couldn't help but cry out in surprise.
"Does Guren have a twin brother?"
Seeing Yuichiro's thoughts wandering off, Mika couldn't stand it.
"With that punchable expression on his face, it's clearly him no matter how you look at it."
"Is that so? That seems to make sense, but isn't he..."
"I'm not sure. Let's wait and see for now."
Ever since he saw the true faces of the Imperial Demon Army and Guren, Guren's weight in Yuichiro's heart had long since diminished. Consequently, his reaction to Guren's sudden appearance wasn't very large; after all, even now, Byakuya Akane remains missing.
Guren took in Yuichiro's reaction. It was impossible to say he wasn't hurt, but thinking about his past actions, he felt resigned.
Guren didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point.
"Idiot Yuu, do you want to save Mika?"
It must be said that Guren had mastered Yuichiro's instruction manual. One sentence piqued Yuichiro's interest, and the question of why he wasn't dead was stuck in his throat.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean? Are you really missing a brain cell? He obviously wants to use you again! Why waste so many words?"
Seeing Yuichiro wavering, onikiri felt something was wrong. He raised his sword and was about to rush forward to fight Guren.
Guren dodged onikiri's attack and then slapped onikiri's hand. To onikiri's shocked eyes, he found that he couldn't call upon any of his Demonic Aura. At this moment, in Yuichiro's Sea of Consciousness, he was just an ordinary person with a demon hand floating behind him and black smoke rising from his body.
"What did you do, you bastard?!"
onikiri's Demonic Aura rebelled and bound him. Guren walked past him with a calm expression, heading toward Yuichiro and Mika.
"When I became a demon, I gained a way to control other people's Demonic Aura, that's all."
Yuichiro watched this scene, speechless. This guy was still so mysterious.
"I'll ask one more time, Idiot Yuu, do you want to save Mika?"
"Hey, are you treating me like I don't exist?"
Just as Guren's face got closer to Yuichiro's, a sword was pressed against Guren's neck.
Mika would never allow Guren to do anything harmful to Yuu-chan.
Guren ignored the sword and just stared intently into Yuichiro's eyes, waiting for an answer. His appearance was unusually abrupt and illogical, but the plan could not work without Yuichiro, even though he had already lost the sin key in his body. So Guren decided to gamble—gamble that Yuichiro would be interested in his proposal.
Yuichiro dazed for a moment, then snapped back to stare into Guren's eyes, which had turned bright red, and finally spoke.
"Tell me about it."
Guren broke into a smile.
Ten-odd minutes later.
"Okay, I understand!"
"You only have one chance. My current speculation is that Luke holds the most sin keys, followed by Rig. But the Progenitor knows a lot of things, so I'll leave it to your judgment which one to launch a sneak attack on and forcibly take away."
Guren had already informed Yuichiro that the seven sin keys could resurrect all of humanity. He also stated that he could help merge Mika's Sea of Consciousness with Yuichiro's, allowing Mika to truly become Yuichiro's sword. The overflowing power of the Demon King upon completion of the merger would be enough to launch a sneak attack and severely wound a Progenitor while they weren't paying attention. Guren and Hiiragi Shinya had a way to briefly stall the other Progenitors, at which point Yuichiro would run off with one of them.
Yuichiro didn't have much doubt about the feasibility of Guren's plan. He just asked casually.
"What about my companions?"
Guren fell silent, and after a long while, he said.
"If we gather the seven sin keys, we can resurrect them."
"And if we don't gather them all?"
"As long as you follow my..."
"Don't say anymore! I understand!"
Guren gave a self-deprecating smile.
"You won't accept?"
Yuichiro shook his head.
"No, I accept. I'll follow your plan, but you must guarantee that my companions can be resurrected."
Guren could hardly believe it. When Yuichiro asked what would happen to his companions, he had actually given up hope. He didn't expect Yuichiro to actually agree!
"Good, there's no time to lose. I'll help you merge your Sea of Consciousness with Mika's now."
onikiri listened to their conversation with a constant frown. Just as he was about to speak up and curse their ancestors, Mika held him back and said softly.
"Believe in Yuu-chan."
You will get 30 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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