Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Someone at Soul Society would definitely know what was going on. Or, at the very least, Yui knew. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have sent him that message.

The issue about going to Soul Society… more accurately, the Soul Society base that Natsuya knew about was whether or not they could obtain the information they wanted there.

While rescuing his companions, Seiji hadn’t seen a single conscious person anywhere. Due to the pressure of the giant mystical red cherry blossom tree, even ordinary spiritual ability users and Awakened had fallen unconscious. What was Soul Society’s base currently like? Were there people that had managed to remain awake there? And if so, would those people know anything? All of this was unknown.

Although the result of going there was uncertain, Seiji agreed that this was probably the best option to go visit first.

Right as Seiji made up his mind to go visit Soul Society, he suddenly heard a voice…

“Help me…”

The White Sakura Goddess!

What could have happened for her to be calling out for help?

While Seiji was still surprised, Chiaki suddenly went into a daze. As she had a stronger divine connection to the White Sakura Goddess, she immediately received a more detailed message from the goddess.

“Seiji… the White Sakura Goddess is in danger!” Chiaki immediately told him this.

Everyone looked at her in astonishment.

“You also heard her plea for help?” Seiji asked.

“You were also able to hear it?” Chiaki countered with her own question.

“Yeah, I heard her request for help, but that was all I could hear… Do you know more?”

Chiaki nodded.

“Just like last time when she gave us a trial, I suddenly recalled… no, I suddenly understood the situation. An even more powerful snake than the one from the trial is approaching her, together with enemies that are also more powerful than the new snake. She’s in extreme danger right now!”

A more powerful snake, combined with even more powerful individuals… Seiji had a serious expression after hearing this.

He would definitely help her. Not only had he signed a contract, he couldn’t afford to lose her assistance right now.

The enemy was quite strong. Seiji figured that it was highly likely that these people were elite members from the Messengers! He would have to be prepared.

“Since she informed you of the situation, then will it be the same as her previous trial? Will you be casting a spell to bring us over there?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go, then. We absolutely must help her,” Seiji said as he looked around at everyone. “As you’ve all heard, the enemies this time are much stronger than in the previous trial. It’s likely that they’re the Messengers’ elites. We must be absolutely careful during battle!”

Everyone agreed in understanding.

Then, everyone went to the dojo and all sat down together in front of the Spirit Image.

Compared to the previous trial, one additional person would be fighting with them today: the maid Mai.

After everyone sat down, Chiaki began to sing her elegant and divine song as she slowly started her dance.

Cherry blossoms started falling as the miko danced and the song echoed…

The three figures on the Spirit Image transformed into many hazy figures as an icy and deep white mist poured out. Everyone was soon absorbed into the mist.

……..

Heikai Takagi… no, he was no longer Heikai Takagi.

Who was he? Or, more accurately, what was he now? He no longer knew.

Just thinking about it made his head hurt… it felt like hot water was boiling around in his brain, bubbling painfully and annoyingly. He felt like he was in so much discomfort that he would go crazy!

Or, maybe he had already gone crazy.

He was barely managing to hold onto some intelligence due to a powerful magical restraint upon him.

The restraint came from… a man who was currently standing on top of his head.

This long-haired man wore a white doctor’s coat, black pants, and gold-rimmed eyeglasses. This man addressed him as “Snake #9.”

Takagi’s head would always hurt whenever he tried to think about who he had been in the past. It was far more comfortable for him to accept being called with this name.

And so, Takagi became Snake #9.

Snake #9’s current physical appearance was that of a tremendous snake monster with seven heads. He was currently fiercely fighting against an equally large black-armored Samurai Demon!

The Samurai Demon kept attacking with its greatsword. Each attack contained such power that shock waves were sent out with each swing. Snake #9 took great damage from this, and several of its heads were even cut off.

Meanwhile, Snake #9’s ability to damage the Samurai Demon was rather limited. Many of his attacks were even dodged, making the snake monster seem rather wretched.

However, Snake #9 had incredibly strong regenerative abilities. He continued to fight no matter what, even if all his snake heads were cut off. Only several seconds would be required to regenerate every single head!

The Samurai Demon was more powerful and had strong techniques. However, the damage it took gradually started accumulating until its body showed obvious signs of collapsing and slowing down.

Finally, Snake #9 used all its heads to simultaneously bite the Samurai Demon everywhere. Snake #9 then viciously tore the latter to tiny pieces!

To Snake #9, this had been a difficult battle that made him lose his heads dozens of times.

However, the doctor coat man yawned, acting like he was quite bored.

“Too slow.” He stomped on Snake #9’s head.

Snake #9 roared angrily, but was unable to resist.

“You should have killed it within 69 seconds, yet you spent 437 seconds, which was 5.3 times greater than calculated,” the doctor coat man told him. “Your combat efficiency is far lower than what I’ve expected. Although I never had high hopes for you to begin with, this low efficiency is far too unseemly.”

*Hisssssss!!!!!* All of Snake #9’s heads hissed angrily in unison.

“You’re too noisy. Shut up.” The doctor coat man forcefully stomped on Snake #9’s head again.

Snake #9’s entire body shook all over as all of his snake heads instantly shut up.

“Continue going down this path,” the doctor coat man commanded.

The now silent Snake #9 slithered forward deep into the white mist.

Not long later, he saw a red torii.

This torii was far smaller than the giant snake monster. It was obvious that Snake #9 would be unable to pass through it.

The doctor coat man gave another command. “Destroy that.”

A snake head bit down on the torii and forcefully tore at it.

Mist poured out and increased the chill of the surrounding air. However, this was unable to stop Snake #9. The torii gradually started shaking and turning black as if it was being corrupted by snake venom.

After most of the torii had become black, the snake head tore it out of the ground and viciously crushed it to pieces!

There was instantly a sound resembling a thunderclap as mist explosively poured everywhere together with flying cherry blossoms.

Several seconds later, a shrine appeared in the mist.

Meanwhile, a group of people were standing in front of the shrine.

They all had different appearances and clothing. However, they were all wearing white masks with beautiful cherry blossom emblems.

Something flashed in the doctor coat man’s eyes when he saw these people. He showed off an interested expression.

“Snake #9. Do you remember anything when you see those people?”

Snake #9 only replied with a low hissing sound.

“You’re truly useless. Forget it, I’ll just directly ask them.”

The doctor coat man commanded the snake monster to go over.

Seeing the giant seven-headed snake monster approach, Natsuya and the others all prepared for imminent combat!

“Don’t move yet,” Seiji said in a heavy tone while opening up his paper fan to reveal the words “Immovable mountain”.

He then walked by himself towards the enemy and shouted from a certain distance away, “This is a divine location. Invaders are not welcome here!”

When the doctor coat man heard this, he stomped Snake #9’s head again to make the snake monster stop.

“May I ask who you all are?” he inquired with interest in his voice.

“We are the guardians of this divine location! Invader, who might you be?” Seiji looked at this doctor coat man.

Seiji could tell that this doctor coat man wasn’t the type who wanted to instantly rush into battle. So, Seiji wanted to talk to him and at least obtain some information first.

The doctor coat man narrowed his eyes as his lips arched upward.

“I am Yakushi.”

Yakushi?

When Seiji heard this name, he instantly thought about some characters from a certain famous manga in his previous world.

Wasn’t this just like Yakushi and Orichimaru from Naruto!?