Despair, like the tide of a deep sea, instantly drowned Police Inspector Sakata’s last shred of sanity.
He stared at the smiling oni loli, whose body was stained with the blood of his colleagues, his mind going completely blank.
Run?
Where could he run?
Resist?
With what could he resist?
The shadow of death had never loomed so clearly over his head.
“No… don’t kill me…”
The instinct for survival overwhelmed all dignity and authority.
Police Inspector Sakata wept bitterly, disregarding the filth and gravel on the ground as he knelt and kowtowed frantically toward Ibaraki Doji, slamming his forehead until it was bloody.
“I beg of you! Lady Ibaraki Doji! I’ll do anything! Please spare my life! Money! Power! Human sacrifices! Just say the word, and I can get you anything!”
He made incoherent promises, using everything he could think of as bargaining chips for mercy.
However, Ibaraki Doji merely tilted her head, watching him with interest.
The smile on her face didn’t change in the slightest, as if she were enjoying a farcical play.
Seeing her unmoved, the despair in Police Inspector Sakata’s heart deepened.
He knew that these worldly things were utterly meaningless to a true ghost-god.
What to do?
What to do?
What else could entice her?
At this critical juncture, his brain, stimulated to its limit by the will to live, suddenly recalled the rumors about the Mount Ooe Oni Clan from myths and legends.
Legend had it that many of the oni of Mount Ooe were once extremely wicked humans who had fallen from grace.
He, Kenji Sakata, had committed countless sins in his life—taking bribes, shielding criminals, framing colleagues…
every single act was enough to send him to hell.
He was even secretly called “Sakata the Oni” by subordinates who despised him.
If that’s the case…
if that’s the case!
A mad thought flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.
“That’s it! That’s it!” He felt as if he had grasped the last straw, his eyes suddenly lighting up.
“I’m willing! I’m willing to become an oni! I want to follow Mount Ooe! Please let me serve by your side forever, Lady Ibaraki Doji!”
Rather than clinging to the power and prosperity of the human world, it would be better to follow the leader of Mount Ooe before him and become one of the oni who brought chaos to the world!
That was true, eternal power!
Hearing this seemingly high-ranking inspector actually kowtowing in a dogeza and begging to become an oni, even Hibiki, who was playing the role of Ibaraki Doji, was stunned for a moment.
This guy…
his thinking is really flexible.
If you can’t beat them, join them?
Defecting on the spot?
This move is just too wild!
Hibiki gave the guy a mental thumbs up; this will to live was practically off the charts.
“Hahaha… Hahahahahaha!”
After a brief moment of shock, Ibaraki Doji burst into a fit of clear, loud laughter.
She clutched her stomach in delight, rocking back and forth until tears even squeezed out of the corners of her eyes.
“I see! So that’s what you’re thinking!”
“Honestly, humans are such interesting creatures! So very interesting!”
She seemed to be mocking human weakness and incompetence, or perhaps she just found something genuinely hilarious.
Seeing her laugh, Police Inspector Sakata was instantly overjoyed.
He knew he had made the right gamble!
“Thank you for your mercy, Lady Ibaraki Doji! Actually, I’ve longed for the power of an evil oni since I was a child! To finally have my wish granted today, it’s worth dying for!”
While spouting sycophantic words, he crawled on all fours like a literal dog toward the laughing oni loli.
He even stuck out his tongue, preparing to lick her snow-white bare feet to show his loyalty.
“You pervert! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Just as he was about to succeed, Ibaraki Doji finally noticed his lewd behavior.
The smile on her face vanished instantly, replaced by a look of pure disgust.
The oni loli’s slender bare foot suddenly rose—not to be licked, but to deliver a clean, sharp side kick that slammed directly into Police Inspector Sakata’s chest.
“Gwah!”
With a dull thud, a large section of Police Inspector Sakata’s chest cavity caved in.
He was sent flying like he’d been hit by a truck, letting out a strange cry like a squashed frog as he crashed heavily to the ground, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets.
Watching the pathetic creature twitching on the ground, Ibaraki Doji rolled her eyes in disdain.
“You want to become an oni… it’s not impossible. After all, I was once human myself.”
She paced over to Police Inspector Sakata’s side and looked down at him from above.
“However, that requires a trial.”
Ibaraki Doji extended a slender finger.
At the tip, a needle-sized wisp of crimson Karmic Fire ignited out of thin air.
“Within my Karmic Fire dwell the grudges of the hundred oni of Mount Ooe.”
Ibaraki Doji looked at the flickering blood-colored flame on her fingertip and spoke in a nonchalant tone.
“Since you wish to become an evil oni, then you might as well give it a try.”
“Whether you can endure the gnawing of this Purgatory Karmic Fire is the key to molting from human to evil oni. If you survive, you are my kin. If you don’t… your soul will become new nourishment for this flame.” Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping(.)com.
With the mindset of conducting an experiment and seeing how much fun this guy’s pathetic state could bring, Hibiki, acting as Ibaraki Doji, lightly tapped that insignificant wisp of Sogenbi onto Police Inspector Sakata.
The moment the black flame touched Police Inspector Sakata’s body, it was like a drop of water falling into boiling oil—it exploded instantly!
In an instant, Kenji Sakata, who had just been kicked senseless by Ibaraki Doji, snapped up from the ground and let out a wail more shrill and painful than all the previous victims combined!
“AAAAAAAGH——!!!”
The boiling blood-colored Karmic Fire seemed alive, spreading frantically across his skin and erupting from his seven orifices, wrapping him tightly from head to toe within a single second.
The fire did not burn his flesh, but seemed to act directly upon his soul.
Grinning oni faces and weeping monk faces constantly emerged and vanished within the black Sogenbi, letting out silent mockery and curses.
The extreme pain and torture instantly shattered Police Inspector Sakata’s will completely.
It felt as if thousands of red-hot blades were repeatedly slicing his flesh, while fire and ice burned simultaneously within his internal organs, and countless demons and ghosts were gorging themselves on his bones and soul!
Police Inspector Sakata rolled, roared, and twitched desperately on the ground, slamming his head frantically against the floor.
Guttural sounds that weren’t human came from his throat, like a fish hauled ashore and baking under the scorching sun.
“Hehe, looks like you’ve still got plenty of spirit.”
Ibaraki Doji enjoyed Police Inspector Sakata’s “splendid performance” with great interest, even critiquing it like a gourmet.
Hibiki felt no sympathy for this human scum.
Letting him die this way was a form of recycling waste.
Just then, a female voice, clearly trembling but forced to remain calm, suddenly sounded from not far behind her.
“What… have you done?”
Hearing that voice, which was more familiar than anything, the brilliant smile on the oni loli’s face froze for a moment.
Hibiki’s heart sank instantly.
Oh no, why is it her?
However, he quickly adjusted his state.
After all, he was now Ibaraki Doji, the oni of Mount Ooe.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Ibaraki Doji turned around flippantly, glancing behind her out of the corner of her eye.
“I am giving him a trial.”
“A trial… to molt into an evil oni.”
A woman wearing a sharp business suit and square-framed glasses, with a neat purple ponytail behind her head, was standing at the entrance to the ruins.
She was none other than Hibiki’s aunt, Kyoko.
Her face was completely bloodless, and her right hand, which was holding a portable video camera, was shaking violently.
Yet her feet seemed nailed to the ground; she didn’t retreat a single step.
Her gaze moved past Ibaraki Doji, seeing the slaughterhouse strewn with corpses and Police Inspector Sakata, who was being consumed by black flames and letting out inhuman screams.