473 The ties of blood surpass even hell” (1/2)

A drop of blood landed on Kaede's face.

Since they were currently flying at a high speed, all the blood flying off of his body seemed like bright-red flower petals.

Kaede and Hisashi realized that they had overlooked something very important upon seeing this scene.

What they'd overlooked was just how large of a price Seiji would have to pay in order to help them!

He only mentioned that he would be able to help, but never said anything about what price he had to pay.

Nor did either of them think of asking.

Why had they overlooked such a thing? Being able to help for only ”a maximum of one minute” obviously meant there was more to it than seemed on the surface. They should have thought of it, and they should have asked more…

Kaede felt a pain in her heart.

Hisashi blamed himself for not realizing.

They could only widen their eyes and watch as more and more blood began seeping out from Seiji's body, continually dripping downward.

Seiji's body gradually began to turn entirely crimson.

He felt tremendous pain all over his body as if something incredibly heavy was forcefully squeezing him. He felt like he was dissolving.

His consciousness became hazy as well.

His strength was reaching its limit.

'This still isn't enough yet, I want just a little more… just a little more time…'

This was the only chance he had to help the Juumonji siblings. He had to do his very best! He wanted to work his hardest to stretch his strength to the utmost limit!!

”Wragh!!!!!”

Seiji began roaring in a low voice.

After proceeding onward for a while longer, his body was no longer able to withstand the pressure. Cracks appeared all over his body that blood sprayed from in fountains.

What Kaede and Hisashi witnessed was that the entirely blood-red Seiji slowly began shattering to pieces.

”Seiji!!!” they shouted loudly.

Seiji slowly turned to look at them with a faint smile on his bloody face.

”I'll be… waiting for… you in reality…”

His body shattered entirely before his words even finished echoing.

”Cough cough… cough cough cough… cough cough cough cough… wow…”

Back in the real world, Seiji was kneeling on the ground as his body trembled violently. He suffered from a vicious coughing fit that had him spitting up blood.

”You went overboard.” Yomi sighed.

Seiji was unable to speak for quite a while due to his continuing coughing fit. Only after he spat up some more blood did his body slowly stop trembling. He finally weakly breathed a sigh of relief.

”That was so unpleasant…”

”I already warned you, but you didn't listen. How foolish.”

”I didn't think that it would feel so unpleasant… I definitely wouldn't have forced myself so much if I knew.” Seiji wiped off the blood on his mouth.

She was highly suspicious of the veracity of his words just now, feeling like he would have done the exact same thing even if he'd known that. She wanted to comment somehow but didn't know what to say, so she decided to simply remain silent.

”I already did the best I could… I hope that they can succeed.”

Seiji slowly stood up and looked at Kaede and Hisashi.

The siblings were still quietly lying there on the ground.

Seiji already did what he could. There was nothing more he could do apart from wait.

Earlier, during his coughing fit, there had been the sound of a system notification. Seiji thus decided to open up his system and check things out.

[You have been rewarded with 44 points and the item ”Hell's Curse” as a reward for traveling through hell and returning for the first time.]

[Mental suppression card –”Hell's Curse.”]

[This card contains the evil curse of the pitch-black abyss. You may use this card on any one person. That person's mental spirit will have a probability of instantly being destroyed.]

Seiji was rendered speechless.

Although the explanation itself was quite simple, it was easy to tell that this was a highly dangerous card.

Just what would a person whose mental spirit had been destroyed be like…? He didn't want to imagine.

The effect was highly dangerous. However, its actual usefulness seemed rather subtle since it didn't appear to be a 100% effect. The system's explanation merely said ”a probability.”

What exactly was that probability anyways? Was it a fixed probability? Or did it depend on the target's mental condition or power level? And if he used this card in tandem with the [Mental suppression card – Desire to Retort] that he received from his sister Hana, would that increase the [Hell's Curse] card's success rate?

Seiji thought about it but decided not to think too much into it right now.

After he closed his system, he cast [Healing] upon himself.