Digital Devil Story: Reincarnation of the Goddess (8 page)

> THE MOST LIKELY CONCLUSION IS THAT SHE IS PREGNANT WITH THE DEMON'S CHILD. SIMILAR SYMPTOMS HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN EUROPE BEFORE.

"That's impossible! Ohara only had sex with Loki in a virtual world. Could it be..." Thinking of the terrible possibilities, Nakajima shuddered in fear. Could it be that Loki had already materialized several times before, only he never realized it? Meanwhile, as if in tune with Ohara's gasps, Loki's entire body started to change into something bizarre. Aside from his face, all his skin turned pink, and as if its cellular structure changed entirely, started to secrete a viscous substance.

"Aah..."

Letting out a cry of joy, Ohara tore off her clothes and grabbed onto Loki's legs. Loki's body started to jiggle like jelly and started to envelop her. Be it the gods on Mount Olympus or the monsters of Hades, many of those from other worlds had their hearts stolen by the beauty and sexual allure of human females. Most likely even for a demon as powerful as Loki, he could not resist becoming aroused by the prospect of having his way with two beautiful women.

Leaving his handsome face the way it was, he started changing into a cylindrical lump of flesh that sprouted countless small tentacles. The pink protoplasm started to glow and the movement of the tentacle fondling Yumiko's body became faster and rougher.

Yumiko lost all will to resist, and her head fell to the side limply as she passed out. Loki started to pull her doll-like body into his own. But he did not notice that Ohara was glaring furiously at Yumiko even as she was eveloped within the protoplasm.

Many women could not resist the allure of demons and fell madly in love with them once they had sex with them once, even if they despised them normally. For Ohara, who had devoted herself body and soul to Loki, watching him have sex with one of her students in front of her eyes was an unbearable humiliation. Once both of Yumiko's slender white legs had sunken into the the protoplasm until she was almost inside Loki up to her chest, Ohara went mad with jealousy, grabbed her head, and started to twist it.

"Agh!" Yumiko's face twisted into pain, and her body spasmed in agony.

"Stop! Stop it!" Crying out in anguish, Nakajima ran to her, only to be struck hard in the face by a thick tentacle. Knocked back against the wall, his vision blacked out for an instant, and when he finally managed to pull himself off the floor, Yumiko's body showed no signs of life; her head was twisted to the side unnaturally and her eyes were open and glazed over.

Sitting atop the pillar of flesh, Loki's face took on a surprised expression, and glared with displeasure at Ohara inside his body. But being closer and more used to her, she was most likely more important than Yumiko. Loki lifted his tentacle and dumped Yumiko's body on the floor.

Inside, Nakajima went mad with regret.

Why didn't I warn her more seriously last night? If I hadn't made such a half-assed phone call and instead told her everything, this never would have happened. I killed Shirasagi Yumiko!

Not only did he never think that Loki would have attained the knowhow to materialize himself, but he also never thought that Ohara might kill Yumiko. But here Loki's sinister body was here in the Assiah world and the innocent Yumiko had been killed.

And he just looked on, powerless.

Reflexively biting down in his lip, Nakajima noticed a faint scarlet light in his peripheral vision and jerked up his head. Loki's body had spread out to the entire CAI room, and the classroom looked like a jungle of protoplasm. Pink tentacles pulsated and twisted, grabbing hypnotized students, pulling them inside Loki's body where they were consumed one by one. However, the red light that had caught Nakajima's attention lay beyond the carnage. By the entrance of the room the atmosphere was permeated with red, and shook like an aurora.

There's a dimensional warp! It can't be--a demon other than Loki....!?
But as Nakajima's attention was drawn away, several stentacles wrapped around his legs.

"Loki, what are you doing to me!?" Nakajima could not believe that Loki would attack him, and was shocked in surprise to his very core.

"I bet you thought you were safe so long as you were in charge of the computer. But this woman can serve as your replacement easily enough. Now that I can appear in the Assiah world, not only are your abilities no longer useful--they're a liability." As if to back up Loki's statement, Ohara laughed inside his body.

Nakajima immediately grabbed his handheld computer and entered the command to summon Kerberos. From the liquid crystal display, a white mist wafted into the room.

"Go, Kerberos!"

As if in response to Nakajima's cry, the mist rapidly solidified, and as if impatient to fully take form, assaulted Loki.

"You are a beast of the demon world and yet you side with the human!?"

Flame-like breath burst forth from the fang-lined maw, and Loki let out a cry that shook the very earth. Deftly dodging an attacking tentacle as it gave forth a slimy sound, the demon beast Kerberos bit down at its base and tore it off of Loki's body. Loki's purple blood gushed out and melted the linoleum tiling on the floor. With the two demons letting out roars like thunder, cracks shot up the plate glass window, and the ceiling and walls started to cruble. Despite fighting fiercely, Loki refused to drop Nakajima.

"Kerberos, over here!"

As Kerberos lept through the air in response to Nakajima's cry, he was finally caught by a tentacle that wrapped around his body. However, his tail split into half and became two serpents which raised their heads and tore off the tentacle grabbed onto him. Freed from Loki's grasp, Kerberos leapt at the tentacles restraining Nakajima in an attempt to save him.

As if to thwart the beast's effort, Loki bent his tentacle and smacked Nakajima's head to the floor. The impact was almost enough to crush his skull, and Nakajima's consciousness wavered as fresh blood poured from the split in his forehead, his field of vision becoming drenched in red. With his vision distorting, the ferociously fighting Kerberos seemed like a far-away illusion.

So this is the pathetic fate of the magician...

As his consciousness faded and he prepared to die, memories of those strange illusions from before spontaneously appeared in a corner of Nakajima's mind.

What were those? The woman from them called that man that looked just like him "Izanagi." Did it have any connection to the story of Izanami and Izanagi from Japanese mythology?

Even if I knew, what difference does it make now...?

Muttering to himself, Nakajima closed his eyes as if in acceptance of his fate.

At that moment, unbeknownst to anyone, the heart of the seemingly dead Yumiko started to beat faintly.

Yumiko, Yumiko!
A kind voice was calling her name.

Who are you? Is that you, Mom?
Yumiko asked instinctively in her mind.

As if recognizing that she had awakened, the voice cut off briefly, then started to speak again in a kind voice.

Stand up, Yumiko.

Yumiko did not hear the roars of the demon beast nor the sound of the classroom being destroyed. In fact, she had no sense of the terrible experience that she had had at all. All she could hear was the voice of the woman. Timidly opening her eyes, Yumiko realized that the voice was coming from the red aurora in the warped area in the air.

Through the aurora, the mirage of a peacful countryside was visible. Blue rice paddies with not-yet-ripened seeds. Rolling hills covered in summer grass. And groups of giant boulders, simple yet mysterious.

Yumiko had seen that scenery somewhere before.

Isn't that the Asuka Ishibutai tomb...?
As the thought popped into her mind, the woman's voice spoke again.

When you were Izanami in a former life, that's what you called it.

My former life? Izanami...you mean the goddess from Japanese mythology?

Yumiko was confused by the suddenness of the words. But what the voice said had the sense of an undeniable truth to them.

Stand, Yumiko. This space in the air is connected to Asuka, where I rest. Take Nakajima--no, your dearest Izanagi--and come to me.

The instant she stood in obediance to the voice, the angry cries of Loki and the roars of Kerberos filled Yumiko's ears as she was brought back to reality. Overwhelmed with a sudden dizziness, she immediately sat down again. But as blood rushed to her head and she saw the crumpled Nakajima on the floor, she was struck with an overwhelming sense of duty.

I've got to save him!

It was a feeling greater than love or friendship, but closer to instinct. It was a powerful emotion, as if the boy named Nakajima Akemi was literally a part of her, and if he was lost there would be no meaning to her continued existence. Without any idea how to save him, she stood up and clenched her teeth, and the voice sounded again.

For a moment, I am going to enter your body so you can use my power--the power to burn anything you stare at with conviction. I pray that your body can take the strain of it.

From the dimensional rift, a blinding flash pulsed, and a pure power Yumiko had never felt the likes of before rushed through her body.

"GYAAH!"

A bizarre cry snapped Nakajima Akemi back to consciousness.

Opening his eyes, he saw that Loki's tentacle was spasming over his head, smoking and giving off the stench of cooked meat. Enduring the headsplitting pain, Nakajima sat up. Pillars of flame burst out of various spots on Loki's body, and his charred tentacles flailed through air like waves, all giving off the same smoke with the cooked meat smell.

Furthermore, Yumiko--who he thought was dead--was facing off against him; gouts of flame shot out of everywhere she stared at. In medieval Europe, when magic use was at its height, the ability was called spontaneous combustion.

What the heck is going on...?
Nakajima stared dumbfoundedly at Yumiko, wielding a power he could never have imagined her controlling. But soon, Nakajima noticed that her face was unusually pale, and that her entire body was shuddering. Just with the force of her will, Yumiko was channeling the immense power of Izanami, and her body was getting close to the limit of what it could stand.

Meanwhile, under intense attack from the flame, Loki ejected Ohara from inside his body and started to chant a spell in an eerie rythm. The pink protoplasm started to condense, changing back into the form of the bronze-skinned youth that Loki had first appeared as.

Yumiko desperately channeled her will and attempted to incinerate Loki with the power of Izanami, but the flames simply dispersed harmlessly off of the bronze skin, showing no effect at all. However, Loki did not budge and inch and simply stood still as if waiting for her to expend all her energy. A wave of intense exhaustion swept over Yumiko's body, and her vision started to waver. Right as she felt like she was going to drop to her knees, no longer able to withstand the effort, the voice sounded once more.

Hurry, get Nakajima and escape!

Her courage restored by the voice, Yumiko ran over to Nakajima, but slipped and stumbled. However, determined not to show any weakness, she immediately looked up and glared at Loki. Looking at her determined expression, something awoke in Nakajima's despair-filled soul. Ever since he was beaten up over a foolish misunderstanding and made the decision to summon a demon, Nakajima sealed off his emotions, but in that instant they came back, and he felt a kind of love that he had never experienced before.

For her sake, I can't die!

Nakajima's dizziness dissipated. He quickly looked around the room. At some point, the still-naked Ohara had gone over to a terminal's keyboard, and was looking up at the screen while typing in commands. She was not as nearly as skilled as Nakajima, but she was clearly used to operating a computer. As Nakajima realized that Ohara was saving the changes in the data that had occured when Loki materialized, he immediately understood his unusual actions.

The reason that Loki was staying close to the terminal was almost undoubtedly because he was not completely confident in his own materialization. There was a very good chance that his protoplasmic blob-form was a result of a coincidental bug in the transfer of the data. Loki must have been practicing transforming into that form. He probably did not know what would happen if he tried to leave the magnetic field generated by the computer in his true form. It may have very well been that he had gained his freedom by escaping the limitations of existing digitally, but there was still a danger of anhilliating himself entirely. Just in case, Ohara was saving all the data.

In the instant Nakajima realized this, he decided that he would be able to escape if he tried now. As he quickly used his handheld computer to recall Kerberos, who had been defeated in the battle and was now lying on his side as if he was dead, Loki noticed Nakajima's movement.

No matter what happened, Loki could not let Nakajima escape; he knew everything about him. Even knowing the danger it would put him in, Loki stepped toward Nakajima, away from the computer.

"Nakajima, look out!" Yumiko desperately stood up. At that moment everything went red, and Yumiko's lips moved in words that even she was not trying to say.

"Back, demon!"

For a moment, Izanami took over Yumiko's body entirely and released all her energy. A gout of flame erupted on the approaching Loki's forehead, at the one spot where his body was still in gelatinous form. Loki let out a cry like an enranged beast, and the Izanami-possessed Yumiko grabbed Nakajima's body and headed for the aurora.

Overcome with shock and rage, Loki let out a roar and went after them. For an instant, Loki's body wavered like heat haze and his bronze skin became almost translucent. Numbers flowed like mad over the terminal's display, and Ohara powerlessly glared at the screen.

However, a few instants later, the host computer stopped going haywire and Loki got back his form. Right before the folds of the aurora enveloped Nakajima and Yumiko's bodies, billowing as if being carried by the wind, Loki clawed at the two.