Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
It appeared that Shigure Tendo wouldn't be able to last much longer. There wasn't much time for Seiji to consider.
Seiji decided to control his [White Calamity] spirit to move closer to Shigure and try touching him.
The pure white spirit moved in front of the pitch-black demonic figure. It reached out with both hands and touched the latter, which instantly caused a large amount of black mist to begin erupting!
"Raghhhh!!!!" Shigure screamed pitifully while the three spiral runes on his forehead and eyes glowed with a blinding red.
Seiji blocked the black mist with a barrier and cautiously watched what happened.
Suddenly, all the sounds stopped! The demonic figure stopped in its movements.
The next instant, a tremendous number of black hands shot out of the black mist behind him, and dragged Shigure's entire body into the black mist!!
"What…!?" Seiji was astonished by this scene!
He then saw an immense amount of dense black mist rushing directly at him!
This black mist didn't only come from the front. Left, right, above, below, behind, black mist poured in from every direction and enveloped Seiji entirely!!
Seiji's vision was filled with darkness as his personal barrier was instantly shattered. [Bullet Time] activated to slow everything down, Yomi was shouting something, and he was filled with an immense sense of danger and tremendous, irresistible terror…
Load!!!
Seiji used his true ultimate technique when faced with this sudden unexpected threat of death where he didn't even have the time to think.
The world around him darkened as everything vanished.
Seiji returned to the passenger ship heading to Momozu Island.
"Just sitting around like this is rather boring. I want to play cards with somebody. Is anyone interested in playing with me?" A man who wore a bright and colorful t-shirt and shorts scratched his hair as he spoke up in a loud voice.
Seiji calmly watched this scene that he had experienced already. He had previously made a save file at this point in time when deciding whether to play cards or not. Once again, he raised his hand and indicated that he would like to join.
"Brother…"
"It's fine for you to just say here."
This time, he had Shika stay where she was and entered the card game by himself.
Yuuma Saitou, Daikawa Rota, Mitsuko Kitajima, and Yuuzou Yoshihara… Something flashed in Seiji's eyes as he faced these people again, particularly Rota.
At this point in time, it would seem that Rota hadn't joined the Revenge Alliance, as Rota hadn't talked about the Revenge Alliance at all in Seiji's first meeting with him in the previous timeline. Basically, Rota only met the Revenge Alliance leader and joined their faction while on this ship.
If the Revenge Alliance leader's real identity was one of the people in this card game, then Yuuzou Yoshihara was probably the most likely suspect.
He was a well-known assassin who had the nickname of "Judge". Perhaps he was the Messenger of Revenge who wanted to kill all the 7321 faction's participants and start an entire "revolution…" This all sounded quite plausible.
However, Mitsuko Kitajima seemed suspicious to Seiji as well. And from another standpoint, perhaps Saitou who was the first to draw everyone's attention but then was mysteriously forgotten about afterwards might be the true "culprit".
Well, guessing seemed meaningless to Seiji. He was no detective, so he decided to use the simplest and most direct method.
Everything happened exactly the same as in the previous timeline. Rota proposed the idea of betting half-truthful information, and everyone accepted. Seiji then lost the first round to Rota.
Seiji answered Rota's first and second questions about his name and his free time hobbies in the same way, claiming to be Shuntou Haruta once again and telling the truth about his manga, anime, and light novel hobbies.
"My third question. I'd like to ask, why did Harutsan ride this boat, instead of taking a personal boat to the island?"
"Because I want to get in touch with the Revenge Alliance."
When Seiji made such a statement, it felt as if the entire atmosphere in the ship's dining hall had frozen over.
"Due to my personal experiences, I'm quite interested in this alliance. I'd like to talk to one of its members… of course, it would be best if I can meet the person who created it." Seiji smiled.
Spying on Rota on this ship would be one possible method, but Seiji didn't feel that this method would be the most successful.
If Seiji wanted to truly be able to meet the hidden boss character, then directly expressing interest in the Revenge Alliance in public seemed like the fastest and easiest path to meeting this hidden person.
The rest of the card game was completely unimportant.
After all, if the hidden boss behind the scenes didn't want to expose him or herself, then obtaining half-truthful information in the card game would be a complete waste of time.
After the card game ended, Seiji and Shika walked out of the dining hall together. They approached Saitou and Rota, who were smoking together on the deck of the ship just like last time.
"Saitou-san, could I ask if you're a member of the Revenge Alliance?"
"You're being so direct… why didn't you ask me earlier during the card game?"
Seiji looked directly at Saitou and spoke seriously, "Because I want to hear the real answer."
Rota also looked at Saitou. Something flashed in Shika's eyes.
Saitou fell silent for a moment and then took a deep breath of his cigarette. He then slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"What would you like to discuss, Harutsan?"
Saitou's tone had entirely changed!
Just a change in the tone seemed to change the entire aura around the person known as Yuuma Saitou. His demeanor now faintly seemed accustomed to being authoritative.
'Looks like I won the big prize.' Seiji's cheeks twitched.
"Are you the creator of the Revenge Alliance, Saitou-san?"
"No, I'm only an agent."
Agent?
Upon hearing this word, Seiji instantly thought of the Messengers faction and the way they were named. A flash of inspiration struck his mind!
"Agent" actually meant that Saitou was a vessel for the creator of the Revenge Alliance, the alliance leader! The Revenge Alliance leader was capable of possessing his vessel and acting through the vessel's body… would that be possible!?
This seemed highly likely!
There was also the possibility that the Revenge Alliance leader could directly control the agent rather than possess him. Basically, the agent was just like a puppet.
No matter which method it was, a member from the Messengers faction… or more accurately speaking, this Revenge Alliance leader was likely to be one of the highest-ranked members of the Messengers faction. This person or even all the highest leaders in the Messengers faction all had the ability to act in other people's bodies! This would be an excellent explanation for why they called themselves the "Messengers", or at least a partial explanation. It would also explain why Yuuma Saitou's aura and behavior were so contradictory to the way he previously acted.
Honestly, Seiji had been completely fooled in the previous timeline.
"To what extent is your power to decide things as an 'agent'?' Seiji spoke in a deeply meaningful tone after all those thoughts flashed through his mind.
"There's no need for you to know that," Saitou responded. "Why don't you talk more about yourself, Harutsan?"
"My real name is Seiji Haruta, not Shuntou Haruta. I'm currently exiled from my family," Seiji stated truthfully. "I want to prove my own power in this tournament. Basically, I want to win."
"You wish to join us for that purpose?"
"I'm more interested in cooperation rather than joining you, because I'm unable to trust your Revenge Alliance with knowing so little about you. After all, the ambitions that you've shown to harbor are… a bit too grand for me."
"It's not ambition at all," Saitou said in a low voice. "It's conviction."
He didn't utter the word "conviction" in a particularly emphasized manner at all. However, both Seiji and Rota felt as if the word had turned physical, with something heavy landing on the ground.
"Harutsan, you have no idea how many sins your family has committed. Nor do you have any idea how many people have been harmed by your family. That's because the Haruta Family, as well as the other major families in Sakura Island's spiritual society, never treat the sins they commit as sins at all. Nor do they care one bit about how many people suffer because of their actions.
"You all are considered innocent because nobody is capable of judging you to be guilty. You all ignore everyone else because nobody else is worthy of your attention.
"However, sins won't simply disappear just because nobody will judge them. Nor will pain disappear because you don't pay any attention. It's always been accumulating, accumulating, accumulating, accumulating, accumulating, accumulating… From long, long ago all the way until now, forming into a tremendously tall tower of sin.
"All of the major spiritual families are at the top of the tower, high up above, enjoying their glory and stepping on their wondrously powerful foundations, yet forgetting about the material that their foundations are constructed out of.
"Every person that's become part of the material for their foundations is cursing them. Every soul that can't rest in peace is screaming. They all desire for this tower that's now overly tall to hurry and collapse.
"And now, it's time." A sharp glint appeared in Saitou's eyes. "The new generation has arrived.
"We don't intend to climb to the top of the tower.
"Instead, we intend to break it."