Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 96, Section 94: The Sacrificial Ritual

Akabane dared not hide anything and, trembling, revealed everything he knew about Iwasaki Toshitaka's house.

Although Toshitaka Iwasaki would never tell him these things, how could he not have some backup plan?

"Which families are you still working for?"

"Besides the Iwasaki family, there's also the Utsu family of Utsu Foreign Trade Company and the Koizumi family of Koizumi Jewelry in Edo Ward."

Akabane quickly finished the report.

"Where is the woman Iwasaki Toshitaka asked you to deal with?"

Akabane could feel the faint, elusive touch on his neck, and he was certain that if he uttered even one wrong word, he would be beheaded instantly.

"We lied to him and said he had dismembered the body and thrown it into Tokyo Bay."

Before he could finish speaking, an invisible hand suddenly grabbed his neck, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

Akabane's face flushed red instantly as he struggled, "But...we didn't...dismember!"

After struggling to finish speaking, the restraints on my neck finally loosened a little.

Akabane dared not take more than a few breaths, fearing the other party would misunderstand, and quickly continued speaking.

"We're not psychopaths, cough cough, after we kill someone we usually bury them near an abandoned factory. I know where that is, I'll take you—"

Before he could finish speaking, the other person's gloved hand pressed down on the top of his head.

"Your soul will answer for you."

"Ahhh!!!"

Akabane felt as if a rusty meat grinder had been shoved into his brain, and he could almost hallucinate that his brain tissue was being frantically ground into mud.

His body was twitching involuntarily, but the sound was quickly drowned out by the loud music outside the office and did not attract any attention. His henchmen also dared not approach the office at will.

Soon after, in intense pain, he stopped breathing completely, his eyes wide open, cerebrospinal fluid mixed with blood flowing from his nostrils and eye sockets, his eyeballs cloudy and white.

Soul sorcerers' soul-searching is not a delicate task and is not easy to control.

First, it is necessary to break down the opponent's psychological defenses, making them extremely fearful of the soul searcher, thus losing the will to resist.

Then you need to make the other person recall the relevant events you want to know, and then perform a soul search at this time to maximize the chances of getting the information you want.

This is why he left Akabane to be dealt with last, so that he could witness the deaths of the others.

Then, by asking questions to trigger his relevant memories, Iwasaki basically got the information he wanted after searching in this way.

He intends to eliminate all the families behind the Arakawa Ryuzaku group in order to confuse the public.

Iwasaki Miyabi was indeed dead. They lied and reported that they had dismembered Miyabi and dumped her body at sea, just to make themselves appear more professional and cruel, and to collect more commission.

In reality, they had a fixed burial site, which was known only to the team leader and a few cadres. The most crucial steps were all done by one person, so that they could take the blame if something went wrong.

Iwasaki remained silent for a few seconds before turning and walking towards the door.

Just as it was about to reach the door, its body turned into mist, emerging from various gaps and then regrouping behind the door, as if it had passed through it.

Moments later, various shrill screams could be faintly heard from outside, but under the cover of the music, they sounded like off-key howls.

Click, the office door opened.

After dealing with the henchmen outside, Iwasaki felt a rare moment of peace, and his black robe remained spotless, untouched by blood.

Using the hands of a sorcerer, these corpses, whether whole or mutilated, were gathered in the open space in the center of the billiard hall. Then, using the bodies of the sinners as pens and blood as ink, patterns of a sacrificial ritual were drawn on the floor and ceiling.

These are two strange patterns.

The floor was painted with what looked like an upside-down umbrella, or a gaping maw of an abyss, with bizarre patterns.

The ceiling features a sacred eye, staring mercilessly at the corpse below.

At the pupil location, it appears to be composed of countless tiny eyeballs. Upon closer inspection, they are indeed eyeballs, gouged out from the eye sockets of these deceased individuals, still dripping with fresh blood.

After the ceremony was set up, Iwasaki turned off the music, sat upright in the host's seat, and began to chant softly.

I offer:

A mind nourished by lies, a spine forged with violence.

A heart consumed by greed, pupils stained with filth.
This is a filthy body, this is a sinful soul, offered to the "unknowable" to purify the world.

I ask for strength.

After speaking, the large mouth below and the eyes above seemed to slowly come to life.

Amidst the faint screams, wisps of souls were locked onto by the eyes, finding no way to hide, before being chewed up and swallowed by the giant mouth of the ground, vanishing without a trace.

The body remained unchanged, but Iwasaki could sense that the surroundings had become much cleaner.

A beam of light shot into Iwasaki's body, and soon he felt his magical power increase slightly.

This is his upgrade path.

Increase power by sacrificing sinful souls.

Ordinary evil souls, unless they are numerous, can only pray for power; only when they encounter an exceptional evil soul can they pray for knowledge.

He didn't know if he could destroy the remaining ritual site, but out of the mystery of the "unknowable," he chose to preserve it to avoid causing any unpleasantness.

Da da.

Footsteps and conversations came from the stairs outside the billiard hall. Iwasaki casually unlocked the door, his figure suddenly changed, turning into a cloud of black mist, and flew out of the ventilation duct towards the abandoned factory area.

"That cost me a lot of money again. I've found where that bastard lives! I'll teach them a lesson they won't forget!"

"Hiss, say less, don't be so energetic. If you look too pitiful, we'll have to ask Ruotou for help."

The two Yakuza who had been beaten up by Nobi's father that day had just been discharged from the hospital. One of them had a rather serious head injury; the original stitches on his head had reopened, and he had another wound added. He was forced to stay in the hospital for a few days and was now bandaged up like a Sikh, unable to even turn over while sleeping.

"Huh? Why is it closed today?"

"Is it a meeting? Why didn't we receive a notification? Is it because we're injured?"

The two whispered to each other and then casually opened the door.

"Everyone—click!"

The man who opened the door was speechless, unable to move forward or backward.

What a bloody scene that was.

Piled-up mutilated corpses, bloody and bizarre patterns, converged on the ground into a trickle of blood.

All of these events dealt an extremely strong blow to his mind, causing his brain to seemingly crash and become unresponsive.

"Hey, why are you blocking the door? Did they get drunk and sleep together? Is that wine on the floor?"

The guy who injured his head has poor eyesight; he's squinting and there's someone in between, so he can't see very clearly.

"Someone's dead! Someone's dead! Waaaaaah!!!"

The Yakuza, whose brain had finally responded, let out a wail of agony. He turned around abruptly, disregarding any camaraderie, and shoved aside the other Yakuza, who was already unsteady on his feet.

However, due to excessive force and weak legs, the two accidentally tripped and rolled down the long staircase like an invincible whirlwind.

"Ouch! I just got stitches!"

This was the last word uttered by the Yakuza, who was pinned down, as he looked at the blood dripping from his head before losing consciousness.

(End of this chapter)