Kyoko Tachibana stood at the edge of the ruins, clutching her portable camera tightly.
Her fingertips had turned bloodless from the excessive force, and she stood frozen in place.
The sentence Ibaraki Doji had just uttered felt like a heavy hammer, making her head buzz.
“The era belonging solely to humanity is over; it is about to come to a close.”
If anyone else had said such a thing under normal circumstances, Kyoko Tachibana would have considered them a severe case of delusions or a fanatic from some emerging cult.
She might even have shown a look of disgust before turning to leave.
But now, it was Ibaraki Doji who had said it.
A demon god who, in less than a minute, had slaughtered dozens of armed police officers with her bare hands, and who was currently hovering in mid-air, wreathed in golden flames.
The reality before her eyes gave those words an irrefutable persuasiveness.
“Alien God… Resurgence of spiritual ley lines…” Kyoko Tachibana chewed over these two terms repeatedly.
As a veteran reporter, her intuition told her this was absolutely not just the ramblings of a madman.
This might be the most significant turning point in human history, and she, Kyoko Tachibana, was actually the first person to hear this secret firsthand.
She felt an unprecedented shudder shoot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.
This was not mere fear, but the shock of witnessing some grand historical process.
If what this monster said was true, then what did the civilization humanity had built over thousands of years amount to in the face of those so-called “gods” and “demon gods”?
She took a deep breath, trying hard to make her voice sound less shaky.
She took a step forward, keeping the camera lens locked firmly on Ibaraki Doji.
“Lady Ibaraki Doji, what exactly do you mean by ‘Alien God’? Aliens? Have they already arrived on Earth? And what you said about the ‘return of mystery,’ does that mean more and more supernatural creatures will appear in the city from now on?” Kyoko Tachibana fired off several questions in one breath.
The tenacity of her professional instinct kicked in; even when facing a bloodthirsty demon, she wanted to dig out more of the truth.
A flash of impatience crossed those golden slit pupils.
“Tch, you mortal, you talk too much.” Ibaraki Doji curled her lip and casually waved that pitch-black demon claw.
A gust of wind swept by, blowing Kyoko Tachibana’s hair into a mess.
“Didn’t I just say? I am merely a demon acting on instinct. I can’t be bothered to think about such profound and troublesome matters. I only know that the air tastes much better now, no longer that dead, arid feeling. As for what those gods want to do, what does that have to do with me?”
Ibaraki Doji’s words sounded very capricious, not at all like a conspirator with a grand plan.
Hibiki Tachibana sat in the system space, watching his aunt’s relentless attitude, feeling quite helpless.
The reason he had fabricated these words was to set the tone for the “resurgence of mystery,” to make governments and factions worldwide feel a sense of crisis.
Only in this way could he collect “Humanity’s Willpower” faster.
“Alright, stop asking. If you keep asking, I might find you annoying and not be able to resist eating you.” Ibaraki Doji deliberately revealed a ferocious smile, her sharp fangs gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Kyoko Tachibana’s heart skipped a beat, frightened by that look.
She knew the other party had lost patience.
In front of a demon, any laws or morals were meaningless; if the other party wanted to kill her, it would truly be as simple as stepping on an ant.
Just then, the sound of rapid braking and dense footsteps came from the end of the street.
“Quick! Block all exits! Squad One, cut in from the left flank; Squad Two, provide cover!”
“Survivor spotted! It’s Reporter Tachibana! Pull her back, quick!”
The main force of the Metropolitan Police Department had finally arrived.
This time, it wasn’t some corrupt cop just trying to get by like Kenji Sakata, but a fully armed special unit.
The police officers at the front wore heavy bulletproof vests and held anti-riot shields, while the team members behind them were equipped with submachine guns and even automatic rifles.
Such a display was an unprecedented first in the usually peaceful Bunkyo Ward.
Several armed police officers rushed over, grabbed Kyoko Tachibana without a word, and dragged her backward.
“Ms. Tachibana! It’s too dangerous here, please evacuate immediately!” a young police officer shouted, his voice filled with unconcealable fear. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
He, too, had seen the tragic scene in the ruins and the Ibaraki Doji hovering in mid-air.
Kyoko Tachibana was dragged behind the police defense line.
She looked at those dark, hollow gun barrels, then back at Ibaraki Doji.
She knew very well that these firearms were probably no different from toys in front of that monster.
“The annoying flies have increased again…” Ibaraki Doji snorted disdainfully.
She didn’t pay any attention to the gun barrels aimed at her, instead turning her head to look at the object on the ground that was still wailing incessantly.
That was Kenji Sakata.
At this moment, Police Inspector Sakata could no longer be recognized as human.
Black karmic flames burned wildly on his body, his skin ulcerating over large areas, yet rapidly healing under the drive of some eerie power, growing a thick, greenish-black layer of keratin.
His bones made teeth-grinding friction sounds, and his body was expanding grotesquely.
“Oh? You actually survived under my karmic flames?” Ibaraki Doji raised an eyebrow, her tone carrying a hint of surprise at discovering a new toy.
She steered the cloud of karmic flames beneath her and slowly descended to a spot a few meters away from Kenji Sakata.
“This is truly unexpected. It seems that your greed and malice, you fellow, are even deeper than I imagined. Otherwise, you would have been burned to ashes long ago.”
In full view of everyone, Kenji Sakata let out one last shrill scream.
He suddenly flipped up from the ground to a sitting position; his once obese body was now filled with explosive muscles, and his height had shot up to over two meters.
Right in the center of his forehead, a curved single horn broke through his skin, stained with dark red blood.
His eyes had completely turned blood-red, his pupils gone, replaced by madness and violence.
He was no longer human; he had turned into a lowest-level demon.