Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Seiji decided against contacting the 7321 faction.
Although Shigure Tendo's grudge against him was an important factor, the main deciding reason was that there was no concrete or known way to defeat the Revenge Alliance right now.
Although Seiji obtained a new ability, the rune from Risa Kobayakawa, which might be useful against the Revenge Alliance, he still had no clue how to use it yet. In such a situation, it would be quite difficult to discuss specifics on how to cooperate with the 7321 faction. Plus, this also might elicit a response from Kanzaki.
Time passed just like that.
In the end, Kanna and Izawa refused to surrender without even fighting. They were determined to remain.
Seiji didn't say anything else regarding their choice.
It was now time for the tournament to begin with the contract ceremony. After all the tournament participants had their equipment inspected, they were then led to the contract ceremony building in succession.
"Everyone, please take note. The tournament contract ceremony is about to begin," a clear male voice spoke in an announcement that everyone could hear.
All the runes and spell formations in the room instantly lit up in unison. A red light swiftly streaked through the runes and spell formations. Seiji sensed a powerful energy welling up within the room, along with his palm starting to heat up. The tournament contract rune appeared on Seiji and Shika's palms.
So far, all of this was identical to the previous timeline.
The next moment, both Seiji and Shika placed their right palms on the spiritual pillar in front of them. When they injected Mana, Seiji suddenly felt the hidden mysterious power in his right hand becoming active!
The spiritual pillar started glowing and his right hand began to burn up to a greatly uncomfortable degree! Seiji gritted his teeth and withstood it.
The mysterious power was doing something… what would its effects be?
Seiji had no idea. However, he chose to trust—to believe in this power and trust Risa Kobayakawa.
Seiji heard the sounds of many men and women incanting. He then sensed the existences of all the other tournament participants.
The mysterious power continued pulsing within him, causing Seiji's brain to heat up. He felt the other tournament participants' existence much clearer than before, as if he could simultaneously see each person's figure.
Next, Seiji and Shika confirmed the tournament contract and stated their names.
There was a brilliant glow as the Bloodwine Spirit was formed!
"Contract signing complete," the male voice announced.
A small plate suddenly emerged from the right wall together with a *beep* sound. Two red and black talismans were on the plate, and silver crystals were notched on the talismans.
"Please put on the Lifesaving Talismans. Finally, may all of you be blessed with luck!"
The energy in the room rapidly diminished. The heat on Seiji's right hand faded as well, and the minimap senses were deactivated.
'Was that it?'
Seiji was rather confused as the mysterious power seemed to calm down just like that.
The mysterious power simply caused his hand and then head to heat up for a moment… was there any meaning to that?
"What's the matter, Brother?"
"It's nothing…"
'Perhaps it'll only take effect when I'm in that black mist realm,' Seiji thought to himself.
He accepted the Lifesaving Talisman that Shika handed to him and injected his Mana into it.
Right after he connected himself to the Lifesaving Talisman, the mysterious power within his right hand activated again. Once again, Seiji was able to clearly sense the presences of all the other tournament participants!
"This is…" Seiji had a look of astonishment.
He waved his right hand and tried to control it. The power immediately calmed down and he stopped sensing the other tournament participants on the minimap.
Seiji then tried to activate the power according to his will. The entire minimap was turned on again.
Was this a maphack!?
Something flashed in Seiji's eyes as he looked at the Lifesaving Talisman in his hand.
The Lifesaving Talisman had the ability to track the tournament participant's location… it was normal for the tournament hosts to add such a function in order to rescue any tournament participant that needed it.
The strange part was that the mysterious power could actually use this function of the Lifesaving Talisman and use it as a server to establish a maphack!
What exactly happened just now? Why did this power act like this?
Risa Kobayakawa… Yoshihara… Kanzaki… the Messengers faction… the tournament hosts… Seiji swiftly thought things over.
"Brother?" Shika was confused as she once again noticed that something was off with her adopted older brother's expression.
"Let's talk later." Seiji didn't want to think too much on this right now. He cautiously deactivated the minimap senses.
Seiji then contacted Kanna and Izawa, met up with them, and headed towards Blue Team's starting district.
After the tournament formally began, he no longer needed to keep his analysis a secret. Seiji fully explained the situation to Kanna and Izawa.
He then activated his minimap senses again. Seiji was able to clearly sense the names and locations of every single tournament participant on both Red and Blue Team.
Not only that, Seiji was also able to sense that Yoshihara and Saitou's condition was currently changing!
Yoshihara's existence gradually became hazy on the minimap. Seiji surmised that Yoshihara had probably become the host to create the black mist realm spell.
Saitou's condition… to use an analogy, his existence seemed to darken from gray to black, becoming incredibly powerful and dangerous. Seiji surmised that Kanzaki must have taken over Saitou's body to a great degree.
Black mist started appearing and soon grew rather dense. Brilliant cluster amaryllis flowers grew everywhere from the ground and bloomed.
Seiji sensed that the mysterious power in his right hand was reacting to all of this.
As he expected, this power was connected to the black mist realm… As for why it was able to create a maphack for him, it must also have been because either the Messengers faction tampered with the Lifesaving Talismans or the tournament hosts even directly cooperated with the Messengers faction in secret so that a new Spirit World could be created here.
Right after that, Seiji then sensed Daikawa Rota and many others' condition suddenly changing. It was as if their existences changed from white to gray, becoming much stronger than before. However, the "quality" of their existence was far weaker than Saitou's.
Then, with Rota as their leader, many Revenge Alliance members began heading towards the enemy Red Team starting district.
Meanwhile on the Red Team, a tournament participant's condition was changing as he was then judged to be defeated from the tournament. Then, his condition changed yet again. He became an existence similar to Rota and the Revenge Alliance members but also different. If Seiji had to use a color analogy, it was as if this person became dark gray.
This person had probably been possessed by ghosts.
Judging from the fact that this person's existence felt similar to the Revenge Alliance's existences, perhaps Rota and the others' condition was something akin to being possessed by ghosts but being able to retain their intelligence.
After thinking of this, Seiji suddenly sensed something at his feet.
*Crackle crackle crackle crackle*—numerous black hands suddenly broke out of the floorboards and viciously grabbed on to him!
Seiji reflexively opened up his right hand which was now glowing silver-white from his palm.
The black hands that were illuminated by the silver-white glow instantly collapsed. The black hands then transformed into a mist that was absorbed by his palm… this was quite similar to how the Awakened absorbed mist from defeated spiritual creatures in Inner Worlds.
Shika created an ice blade and cut through all the black hands surrounding her. These black hands also transformed into a mist that Seiji absorbed as well.
Seiji continued using the silver-white glow to illuminate all the black hands tangled on Kanna and Izawa, absorbing all of them.
After Kanna and Izawa broke free, they didn't collapse on the ground while having nightmares like in the previous timeline. Instead, they woke up immediately.
"What are these things!?"
"We can talk later. There's still more."
A low sighing voice sounded inside the room. Several hazy figures with black mist swirling around them appeared. These ghosts had unclear appearance and kept emitting strange sounds.
Seiji once again used the silver-white glow against these ghosts and increased the illumination's intensity!
*Gagagagagaga!!!!*
The ghosts all screamed pitifully as they collapsed into black mist, which was absorbed by Seiji's right hand. Their hazy figures became much clearer and they gained the appearances of normal humans.
After the black mist was completely absorbed, the ghosts fully returned to having human forms and their screams quieted down. Their faces revealed relieved expressions as they disappeared.
Seiji felt that the power in his right hand had somewhat increased after absorbing so much black mist.
"I see…" Seiji understood what was going on.
This was indeed a holy sword that could defeat the demon king! However, it wouldn't be able to do so right away. It needed to become stronger first.
How would one become stronger? Of course, defeat monsters!
What were the monsters here? That would be the ghosts, the tournament participants that became possessed, and Rota and the Revenge Alliance!
He would defeat all the monsters, maximize his level, and finally fight the demon king, just like that! It was a classical hero's journey.
His team had four people, a hero (himself), knight (Izawa), assassin (Shika), and mage (Kanna). Although they lacked a healer, and the mage's abilities were rather worrisome, it was still a balanced party… Cough, he shouldn't be getting sidetracked.
Now, it was time to hurry. Seiji planned on rushing over to the Revenge Alliance and 7321 faction's battle as quickly as possible and making a major wave there!