Chapter 296: No Way To Run!
Mei nodded upon hearing that. Then, she took a deep breath and looked at Otome Sakagami, whose head was on the ground in front of her. Her fear slowly disappeared. After all, she got used to it after looking at it for some time.
Otome Sakagami's length of time while standing up was shorter than the length of time when her head was on the ground. However, looking at the paralyzed villagers of Sakagami Village around her, she could not help but feel pity for them.
If what Otome Sakagami said was true, then she did not do anything wrong and she was only a victim. However, these villagers of Sakagami Village were also victims. Otome Sakagami should have seeked revenge from the person who hurt her instead of them. There was no point in seeking revenge from hurting those who did not know anything about her.
She conducted some research about it at the back just now. She estimated that Otome Sakagami's claim for revenge was fake, but her intention to do something with the Formation seemed to be true.
Regardless of what she was planning to do, she was still not allowed to kill innocent people.
While thinking, Mei reached for the bow bag from her back and placed it in front of her. After she opened the zipper, an iron colored bow came into Kimura Kazuki's sight.
It was a standard Maruki bow which was about 2.2 meters long. The Maruki bow had the characteristics and curves of a Han bow. Due to its great shooting power, the target shot by the bow would suffer great damage as if he was accepting the Maruki punishment. Thus, it was known as the Maruki bow in some areas. For close encounters, the archer would remove the bowstring and insert an iron tip into one end of the bow to convert it into a spear.
The Broken Demon Bow in front of her looked like a Maruki bow. At one glance, it looked as if it was made of iron but it was actually made from an unknown kind of wood when observed carefully. Its whole body was as black as ink without any fancy patterns. No one would even know what was in Mei's hands in a night as dark as this one if they did not observe carefully.
Kimura Kazuki noticed a stench of blood as soon as the Broken Demon Bow was taken out. The stench came from the bowstring.
Noticing that Kimura Kazuki had his attention on the bowstring, Sei Shigeru smiled and said, "The bowstring of the Broken Demon Bow is made of dragon tendon. It was drenched with dragon blood when it was made and the smell lasts for a long time, giving it the ability to control demons and ghosts! This is also the origin of its name, 'Broken Demon Bow'."
Kimura Kazuki nodded but did not take it seriously. It would be really stupid for him to believe that it was made from dragon tendon. He had smelled the dragon blood in his previous life during the recuperation of reiki when snakes were cultivating into dragons before they finally became a Deity Dragon. One of the dragons spent all its money in the cultivating and evolution process so it took its own blood and sold them to the Spiritual Academy during its free time.
He had been observing that dragon from afar.
That was why he could tell that the smell was not from dragon blood. It was probably the blood of some monster.
Mei was a little nervous at that time. However, she could sense a calming energy coming from her palm whenever she was starting to get nervous. After exhaling, she held the Jade of Four Souls and felt the pure power from within. She then looked at Otome Sakagami who was not far away. Looking at her pretty and pure face which was revealing curiosity, her heart got a little hesitant but as soon as she saw the villagers nearby, her reluctance dispelled immediately.
She pulled the bowstring very slowly. The Broken Demon Bow was very heavy but she was used to it as she had been carrying it every single day for some time. However, although the weight caused no problem for her, it was still difficult for her to draw the Broken Demon Bow fully. She could only make three full draws with her current strength.
The draw took her half a minute. As the bowstring bent gradually, the reiki in Mei's body was gradually condensing from her hands. An arrow transformed by reiki was soon formed. The Broken Demon Bow had no specific arrows. Only reiki could form an arrow for it.
The arrow on the Broken Demon Bow this time was different than the previous golden arrow formed by reiki. Since the power of the Jade of Four Souls was integrated into the golden arrow this time, Mei could sense that something was different. The difference was due to the integration of the power of the Jade of Four Souls, which made it even more difficult for Mei!
When it was being formed, Mei's face started to turn pale and she was sweating bullets. She did not expect that the pure power mixed with the Jade of Four Souls could make it so difficult for her.
Asuka, who was next to her, took a towel to wipe off her sister's sweat. Sei Shigeru was also concerned. "Mei, are you ok?"
Obviously, it was worrisome as this had never appeared before.
Mei was clenching her teeth. Instead of answering her grandfather's words, she looked at Kimura Kazuki and said, "Kimura-kun, I can only shoot three arrows at max and I can't draw the bowstring fully."
She had been calling him Master Kimura before this but Asuka and Mei changed how they addressed him after they got familiar with him, which made them feel closer to each other. Kimura Kazuki naturally did not object since he never cared about how people addressed him.
"I see." Kimura Kazuki nodded solemnly upon hearing that.
He would have to deal with Otome Sakagami by himself if the three shots did not kill her.
When Otome Sakagami, who was observing the scene from not far away, saw that the Broken Demon Bow was drawn, her heart thumped as a strong sense of crisis came to her and she wanted to flee. She had a premonition as her body was targeted by the Broken Demon Bow.
The arrow would definitely hit her as soon as the bow is released.
Otome Sakagami's heart was pounding frantically. She opened her mouth but before she was able to say anything ...
Swish—
A swishing noise was heard as a golden light mixed with the color of a white moon came in a flash and struck her.
"Ah!" A shrill voice was heard from Otome Sakagami. The next moment, her newly resurrected body exploded. However, surprisingly, no flesh and blood were seen from her body. There were blood colored clouds rising instead.
It was a good shot!
In an instant, Kimura Kazuki tracked Otome Sakagami with his senses and found that her physical body was completely eliminated and there were only blood colored clouds and smoke left. They filled the air before a figure made from the cloud and smoke was formed.
"Impossible! Why?" Otome Sakagami lost her sweet voice at that moment. Her voice became hoarse and unpleasant to hear. Without her body, she was just a cloud of smoke. That was when she realized that she could not let her body come back to life.
Although the blood colored clouds formed a human shape, it was blurry and could not be seen clearly at that moment. It was as if she might dissipate immediately if blown by the wind. Of course, that would be impossible. After all, Otome Sakagami's original form was a blood colored cloud.
Mei did not speak. She could feel Otome Sakagami's fear and it made her feel inexplicably excited. All this while, she thought that she was only following her grandfather to take a look at the world. But now, she felt like she was a part of the team.
Otome Sakagami's expression would have dramatically changed the moment she saw that, if she still had her face.
"Stop moving or I will have no mercy to these villagers even if I'm dead!"
However, Mei was not moved at all. When she was drawing the bow, she said wearily as if she was trying to persuade herself, "Although I want to save the villagers from Sakagami Village, I will be deemed irresponsible by others if I let you live. So, even if you threaten me or murder all the villagers, I will not show mercy."
She then stopped talking and shot another arrow, which almost drained all her physical strength.
Sei Shigeru nodded with satisfaction upon hearing that.
"You bastard!"
Otome Sakagami turned around and wanted to flee.
However, Mei wanted to tell her that it was useless as she was already targeted by the Broken Demon Bow. She might run, but since she was already shot once, her breath was already picked up by the bow.
There is no way for you to run.