When I got this Soul Seal, my friends believed what I just said. Soul Seals are definitely the real deal! With this Soul Seal, even I can save that kid.
I got a false confidence because of this Soul Seal of mine. I planned everything, to take the girl out of here. I made sure that my plan is flawless!
But... here I am now! Agonizing because of my own weakness. Now that I think about it, Kenji also said that I'm a coward! He actually noticed how pathetic I am!
He's trying his best fighting, but here I am thinking running away is an option!? Don't make me laugh! Just when will I stop being a coward!? My friend trusted me! What kind of human am I if I don't even answer to his trust!
I want strength, and power! Power to save anyone! Power to turn this upside down!
"Do you want power? You coward."
A dialogue suddenly came talking to me. Is it myself again?
"It's not yourself. I'm a different persona. Well, I'm a Soul Seal, to be specifically, my name is Lust. You're deeply depressed because of your a coward, so I came here to give you power."
You're a Soul Seal? I already have a Soul Seal, is it possible to have multiple Soul Seals?
"Of a different kind? It's impossible. Only the same kinds of Soul Seals can band together. But... you have two depressions, it means you can have two different kinds of Soul Seal."
A Soul Seal with a persona? You said that you will give me power, is that true?
"Of course! I'm Lust, and to use me, we have to use an equivalent exchange agreement. My power is really powerful but It's not free, you have to pay for it. That's why my previous Master hardly use me."
I see. An equivalent exchange, huh? With the power that he will give me, Can I defeat them? No, I need to defeat them! This Soul Seal is my last ray of hope! That's why I'm going to take it!
"I see! Pleasure doing business with you! You'll know what I took from you once you woke up."
Wait, I'm asleep!?
+++++
Yukimura awoken from his slumber, noticed that blood was gushing out of his forehead. He tried to touch it and noticed that he's missing an eye. Specifically, his left eye.
"So this is the price, huh? I didn't changed after all. I'm still a coward, for relying on something like this. But for now..."
He stood up, while touching his bleeding left eye and thought to himself...
"I will need to be a coward!"
He looked around to look for Kenji and saw that he's still fighting him. Yukimura only slept for 3 minutes so this scene is still happening.
"All right! This is it! Time to check out what's the power I got, Lust!"
He called for the Soul Seal, but nothing happened.
"Did that Soul Seal just tricked me?"
Yukimura tried to close his eyes to see the persona again but It's not working. The moment he opened he opened his eyes, he's already in front of Kazuya, attempting to strike.
"What the fuck is this?!"
Yukimura said that on his head, but when he said that...
"Yukimura, is that you!?"
"Kenji!? You can hear my thoughts!? Is the power I got telepathy!?"
The power he got is not telepathy. Because why is he in front of Kazuya right now?
"Wait, something's wrong here? Why am I holding a bat?"
Yukimura tried to look everywhere and saw his own body standing on the floor.
"What the hell?! That's me, right?"
"Yukimura, I can't see, is this your doing?"
At that time, Yukimura already realized the power of Lust. It's to steal someone's eye! He can steal someone's eyesight and make it his own. In short, he's like a CCTV.
"Now, let's see if I can still access my own eyes."
He closed his eyes again, and he goes back to his own eyesight with only one eye.
"With this power, we could win!"
Kazuya is still standing in front of Kenji, while Kenji is still holding his head because of the sudden event. Kazuya is waiting for Kenji to make a move.
He still not forgotten their goal, but he makes sure that the two of them will never use the power of Soul Seal for this kind of thing. In short, he has two goals in mind.
"He's not making a move? Is it the right time? He's not making a move, did he gave up?"
While Kazuya was judging his decisions, all of a sudden, Kenji rushed in towards Kazuya. A complete surprise move, is what you're going to think! But Kazuya, thinks "Finally, he made a move!"
While Kenji was rushing in towards him, Kazuya used Presence Erasure to be invisible and have gone behind Kenji. He used Dead Calm just in case.
"Thanks for your carelessness! This is finished, leader of The Deadly Sins!"
But when Kazuya was about to deal the final blow, Kenji suddenly turned around and blocked the blow with his baseball bat.
"How?!"
Simply, because of Yukimura's new power. Kenji really rushed in towards Kazuya because he was forced to do so. Their options are clearly limited.
So he has no choice but to rush in and finish it with one blow. But while he's rushing in, Yukimura took his eyes and talked to him with telepathy.
"Kenji! Listen! That guy has a Soul Seal that can make himself invisible! So stop for a moment!"
He told Kenji the secret about Kazuya's disappearance. And that Kazuya... always aims behind his opponent while he's using Presence Erasure.
(Check his battles with Kakuju, and Hajime if you want some proof.)
Although, Kenji can't see anything, with Yukimura's guidance, he was able to do what he was just told. In short, Yukimura is something like a guide to a blind man, telling him what's left and right.
Addition to that, since Yukimura has the eyes of Kenji, he can telepathically connect with his thoughts. Their greatest weakness, is now solved by them! Now, what will Kazuya do?
+++++
Yukimura can now read Kazuya Satoru like an open book. Kazuya tried to penetrate and attack Kenji, but all of his attacks are blocked.
"What's this!? Just earlier, He can't even keep up with my speed, but all of a sudden, he's blocking my attacks!? What kind of joke is this?! The boy who has my Foresight is just standing there, could It be that they have some kind of way to pass information without me knowing?"
Kazuya can't help but to assume that. Yukimura is just judging Kazuya's next attacks based from his battle style.
"Good! Let's keep at it, Kenji! We're driving him into a corner now!".
"Really?! I can't see what's happening but is that true!?"
"Yup, 100% true!"
Kazuya tried several ways, but none of them got through. Right now, information... is Yukimura's greatest weapon. Even he has a chance of defeating Kazuya now, and Kazuya doesn't even know that.
Is this his defeat? Can he still come up with a breakthrough to this situation!? Meanwhile, Master Kanzai felt something wrong inside Yukimura's body.
"Wait, what's happening here? Just earlier, that boy's left eye is still intact, but all of a sudden it got removed? What happened? It can't be... that Soul Seal? I'm feeling something weird here."
Master Kanzai already felt the Lust from Yukimura's body. It's his Soul Seal after all, it's natural that he can feel it very clearly.
"Something's definitely wrong here! Should I stop them from fighting? But I swore to Kazuya that I won't interfere! Should I make an exception right now?"
Master was still hesitating if he would stop their fight or not. He's still choosing between a hunch that he's not even sure of, and his promise to Kazuya.
"If something bad happens, my promise to Kazuya will not matter anymore! So... I should just stop the fight! Pride!"
At Master's shout, all of Kazuya and Kenji's movements suddenly stopped. This is the Soul Seal of Chizuru that Master extracted 4 years ago, and even now, he's still not using it.
It's the power to stop any living beings from moving for 7 minutes, the power of the Kings, Pride! Even talking is stopped if he uses it, so Kazuya can't even complain.
After Master activated it, he slowly walked towards Yukimura's body and inspected it.
"As expected, one of my Soul Seal is here. But he already wielded it, so I can't extract it anymore."
While time is still stopped, Master took Kazuya's Tiger Saber and raised it at Yukimura's neck. He's going to decapitate Yukimura and take back the Soul Seal from him.
This is the other way of extracting, killing the host.
+++++
"Master, why are you raising my sword against him?! Are you killing him!? I know that we can't extract my Soul Seal anymore but we can just discipline him like Kakuju did!"
Kazuya wants to say that, but because of Pride, the words won't come out from his mouth. He wants to stop his Master from killing Yukimura.
"Before I do this, Kazuya, I know what you're thinking. You don't want to kill this boy. But... I'm different from you. I know that you avoid killing people because of this world, but... in our world... killing an enemy... is only natural."
It's a fact. In the Edo Era, If you defeated an enemy, It's natural to kill him. But in this world, It's not a fact. But the truth is that... Kanzai Hakuto came from that world.
"I want to avoid killing too, as much as possible. It will bring trouble because of this world's police. But in this situation, we doesn't have any choice. Do you have any assurance that he won't use the Soul Seals?"
Kazuya can't deny that. Even if he disciplines him with Fear, Violence or kind words, there's still no guarantee that he will obey him. But still... Kazuya doesn't want to kill him.He doesn't have any merit and benefits at sparing him, but he doesn't want to kill him.
His Master already stopped talking and came back to raise his sword against Yukimura's body. Meanwhile, while all of this is happening, Yukimura just stared at his own body going to be decapitated by Master Kanzai.
"Am I really going to die? Here and now?"
"Yukimura!? What are you thinking!? You're not going to die! We're going to defeat that guy, save Reiko and survive, right!? But why the hell I can't move!? Answer me, Yukimura!!"
Yukimura didn't replied to even one of Kenji's questions. Since he's the one occupying Kenji's eyes, he has the privilege to see his own death from a third person perspective.
"I guess this is it for me. It's kinda pathetic being killed this way, but..."
"Yukimura!? Don't think like that! Think positive! We're going to survive and defeat this guy, right?"
The Tiger Saber was slowly cutting Yukimura's head. Red blood are already gushing at the wound. It's still not that can be fatal, but if Master continues to cut Yukimura's head, it will be decapitated.
"Here I go! Goodbye, young boy from the Deadly Sins!"
"Cronus! Advance!"
Just before Master decapitate Yukimura, a voice from a girl can be heard. She shouted something, and all of a sudden, Pride's effect wore off.
The girl has a long brown hair, a hairpin at the back makes her hair a ponytail. Just from her shiny porcelain skin, you can tell that she's the same age with Kazuya. She wears a uniform and a green skirt, judging from her uniform, she's from Kizaka Girl's Private High School, a prestigious high school exclusive for girls.
Beside the girl, Chizuru and Reiko are standing. What's the meaning of this!? What exactly is happening!?
END OF CHAPTER 22