Chapter 4: The Moment of Release

If he is set free and regains his body, the first thing he will do is devour humans.
Whether they are children or adults, he has no room to be selective.
The moment he finds them, he will seize them and devour them—that is his only option.

As he sank into his thoughts, he saw a light beyond the crack.
All he could do was pray that the seal would not break.
If it were to break during the day, while he was surrounded by tengu, it would be the worst possible outcome.

On a passing whim, he peered through the crack—and there it stood.
A single young girl, her childishness not yet faded.
There was no one else. No help.

Believing that this was his only chance, he strained his voice to its utmost.
“Help me! Get me out of here!”

Whether his voice was reaching her, whether she could see him—none of that mattered.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—he had no choice but to stake everything on this slender thread of hope.

He shouted as if to crush his throat and kept striking the crack.

Before he knew it, the girl was standing before him.
And the weight had returned to his body.
His arms and his legs moved with solid mass.

It was a miracle.
The seal had truly been broken.

“Good. You saved me. You have my thanks.”

The hand he held out was, of course, not for a handshake.
It was to seize the girl and take her away.
To devour her.

A vulgar thought flashed through his mind.
If she was a tengu’s child, she would likely be more nourishing than an ordinary human.
He would torment her thoroughly before devouring her.

The instant his fingertips were about to touch the girl’s shoulder—
a fist rushed into his field of vision, and in the next moment, his back struck the ground.

“...Wh—what... happened...?”

He could not even comprehend what had occurred.
When he turned his eyes toward the girl, she was holding a feather fan, her brows slightly drawn together.

When the girl swept the feather fan upward from below, an inexplicable force burst up from the ground and hurled him into the sky.

Reflected in his eyes was the ground, receding farther and farther away.
It was high—far too high.
If he was going to fall, then at least on his feet—he desperately tried to twist his body.

But there was no time to steady himself.
He was mercilessly slammed into the ground.
The impact, as though his entire body had shattered, left him unable to move.

As his consciousness and vision faded, the last thing he saw was—the girl.

Holding the feather fan quietly in her hand, she looked down at him with a clear expression, as though nothing at all had happened.