Tomo-sama's Rescue Plan - Hell Chapter

Lord of Arakawa, Bai Ji.

That's my name, and it's not my name.

Compared with the long years I have spent, it is just a vague and abstract symbol.

Gods do not need names, because names are only meaningful to believers.Humans used to call me "Huang" by the name of that big river, but many years later, when a shrine was built there, they seemed to feel the need to enshrine a god, and they gave me a long list of words that I couldn't read The title was written on the ebony and gold-plated god's main tablet, but later, they respectfully called me "Master Baiji".

I used to not understand human behavior, I just loved the food they fed me on a regular basis.

I don’t know how long I’ve been in Arakawa. It’s only since I transformed into a big snake that I seem to have a little bit of consciousness, but I’m still muddled. I only know how to chase fish and play in the deep water every day, or curl up in the shallows to bask in the sun when the weather is fine. sun.Occasionally, he was seen by passing humans and fled in fright. In a few days, rumors spread in the villages on the shore that "the Arakawa is protected by a water god".The local daimyo attached great importance to it. Within a few days, torii gates were built by the water, with tables and incense burners. A group of strangely dressed people appeared on the stage, and began to hold what they called "the festival of desertion".

They threw a lot of birds into the water, even goats and pigs. I was attracted by the smell of animals, and I started my happy but unknown life of rubbing food.

Until one summer, it rained heavily.

At first, I couldn't understand the relationship between "rain" and "human sacrifices". I was happy to circle the river surface covered by rain and fog, but found that what they dropped was no longer fresh poultry, but A much smaller thing, wrapped in a pure white kimono, is particularly conspicuous floating on the river in the rain.

I swam over and found that it was a human child.

After struggling a few times, the child stopped moving and slowly sank to the surface of the water.I swallowed her curiously, and almost only got a layer of cloth. She is too small, although it is more tender than animal meat, and its bones are also fragile and broken, like a small snack with too complicated packaging. After tasting something, it slid down the throat.

At this time, there were louder and louder knocking sounds of ritual instruments, wooden fish, and chanting sutras on the shore. I heard some people cheering, some crying, and some people declaring loudly.

"The Lord of Arakawa has accepted our sacrifice and will definitely protect us!"

"Lord of Arakawa, please protect us, don't let the flood drown our crops!"

"Great, great, hurry up and offer other offerings!"

The goats and waterfowl were thrown down in great numbers again, and I was satisfied that it was a decent meal, not that little thing.

Gradually, I understood that what the humans on the shore want is that the river does not exceed the course of the river. This is very easy for me. This river is almost me. Controlling it is as easy as controlling my body to swim in the waves. It is very cost-effective to get food.

They do this once every summer, but the availability of that little treat depends on the weather.The more it rains or the drought, the more children they throw into the water, and if the year is calm and the harvest is good, livestock and poultry.

It's all food to me, and I take it all.

On weekdays, I still swim on the shore and observe human life, but I still can't understand it.They were born, grew up, and died too quickly, and the rhythm of life was completely different from mine.I just happily ate their offerings and got rid of the children they didn't want.Most of the children will be poured with spirits before they are pushed into the water, so they are very obedient, only a few will cry or have sex, and whenever this happens, I will gently coil around them and wait for them to sink to the bottom before eating them.

Gradually, something that I couldn't understand before began to grow in my heart.On summer nights, I began to float on the water to see the stars above my head, and to perceive the changes of the fragrance of flowers in the wind. I also began to perceive the joys and sorrows of human beings—when they are sad or happy, their heartbeats will be particularly obvious, which means blood flow Faster and sweeter.

Yes, with the awakening of my mind, I began to long for sweet human blood and sex.This desire accumulates in my body year after year, and I don’t feel the need to restrain it. After all, to me, human beings are animals that are smaller than cattle and larger than sheep. Although I can feel their excitement and fear, It was no different from my other prey, only the smell, they were warm, inviting, just as passionate as they sang or prayed to me, and I felt it was my duty to give back that passion, so I The safety of the river is maintained with utmost care.After learning how to hide my body, I prefer to climb to the beams of the shrine they built for me to rest. It is very cool in summer, and the air is full of the fragrance of paulownia and wisteria. It is a good place to rest.

The picture of memory begins to become intermittent here.What filled my mind more was the uncontrollable flood that year.That summer was particularly sweltering, and I became a little lethargic and even restless.One afternoon, I went to take a nap behind the shrine as usual, but when I woke up, the water of the Arakawa River had overflowed the embankment uncontrollably and gushed thousands of miles away.I rushed out in a hurry and saw human beings being swallowed up by the turbid waves in panic, and even the torii gate they built for me was overturned in the water.

An irresistible force quickly seized my body, which is the emotion that humans call "anger".I don't know where this emotion came from, and at that moment, I couldn't even tell if those high-pitched screams were coming from humans on land, or from the myriad voices inside me.

why?

Why kill those who feed me?Why destroy the river I have carefully maintained?

Why is it so contradictory?Contradictory?

It's really annoying, eat it, eat it all.

The desire for flesh and blood that had accumulated in his body for a long time finally broke out.Not long after, I found the nobles who had broken the dike, revealed themselves amidst their terrified howls, and devoured them one by one.Except for that daimyo, I hated his face, and spit out part of him again.

Those on shore will thank me, I think.The river will not be destroyed anymore, I have solved the problem, and there will be more offerings in the future.

However, what I greeted were only hundreds of warriors with torches in their hands, and a dozen thunders summoned by the Onmyoji.

In the agony of the burning body, I heard the godlike voice proclaim to me:

"Lord of Arakawa, you have done a lot of evil, you have made offerings to mortals, and you are even more polluted by killing. Therefore, I will deprive you of your god name 'White' and give you a new name 'Dye'. Go to hell and reflect on yourself!"

Struggling desperately to raise my head, I found myself plunged into darkness at some point.

Oops, I got hit.

Just as he was about to use the knife to support his body, a childish voice came from somewhere behind him.

"so cold."

I turned around in horror, and saw a child with a vague face standing in the boundless darkness behind me.

"so cold."

she says.

More children emerged from the darkness and surrounded me.

"It's so painful."

"I can't breathe, it's so uncomfortable."

"Mom, where is Mom?"

As they sobbed, flames spewed from my body.The flesh and blood melted in the crimson, and quickly regenerated for unknown reasons.I fell to my knees, unconscious in pain.

Soul Shou, whose face was covered with white paper, appeared in front of me, and asked loudly again:

"Lord of Arakawa, do you remember your sins?"

Yes, I did it.

You have come to hell because you did something unforgivable.

Just stay here and make amends. Forget about all those things.

Forget it all.

Ding.

Suddenly there was a silver bell ringing in the silence, and an equally crisp voice.

"did you find it?"

I turned my head, and there was a petite and white shadow among the layers of impenetrable children's grievances.I can't see her face clearly.

"Have you found him? You promised me you would."

Through the burning of karma, I tried my best to search for this shadow from the depths of my memory.

"Are you... Bai?"

The shadow showed no expression, but the crisp voice seemed to be smiling slightly.

"No, I am you. You are Bai, have you forgotten?"

"Have you found the child?" she repeated, "Don't give up, because this is our agreement."

what did you find?What agreement?

"No matter how long it takes, no matter what it looks like, you will find him. This is what you promised me, and you can't go back on it!"

"Wait! Who the hell are you?"

I screamed and suddenly regained my sanity.

Hun Lingshou took a step forward and clenched something in his hand.

"Lord of Arakawa, are you still unwilling to repent?" He snapped.

"Why should I repent?" I sneered, standing up slowly with a knife under my body covered in flames, looking directly at the faceless god, "It is human beings who pushed these children into the water. It is the name of human beings, Priests and even their parents dedicated them to me! I just eat what they don’t want, what’s wrong with me?!”

Probably shocked by my shameless remarks, Soul Hunter was speechless for a while.

I grabbed the handle of the knife and approached him step by step.

"You gods are really funny. The famines, wars, floods and droughts that humans have encountered have never stopped. Where is your salvation? After death? I don't understand. Is the happiness of the living or the retribution of the dead important? You stand idly by when a disaster strikes, claiming to be free from karma and non-interference in the human world, and then you start talking about rules after death? Who is more shameless?"

I slashed at the white paper, and the god's figure flashed, and he was no longer in place.

"Bai Ji, how dare you kill a god?!" He yelled angrily, and a red thunderbolt landed on me.

There was a layer of indigo blue ripples on my knife and my whole body, which could withstand the red electric current.

"My name is not Bai Ji, have you forgotten?" I curled the corners of my mouth mockingly, "You guys took my name away. My name is now Ran, and I quite like this new name. What about killing god? I I used to be a god! Ah, do you want to say that you have never seen a god like me..."

I tilted my head, showing an innocent smile, and then my figure flashed again, and the gleaming long knife sliced ​​through the body of the god from bottom to top:

"Then you are really pitiful."

Soul Shou's body was torn apart like paper, revealing a dead bone inside.At the same time, the black space I was in was also broken, together with the phantom of the child, which turned into sparks flying all over the sky in the fire of karma.

This is still a puppet.Gods are things formed by thoughts, only destroying entities cannot really kill them, but when you understand what kind of thoughts they are incarnations, at least you can resolve their harm to you.

It wasn't until the illusion faded that I realized what was wrong.

...Why am I in the air?

Still falling? ?

This is not a problem, the problem is, what the hell is that lake below?

The originally calm blood lake was like boiling water, and a huge black vortex formed in the center. What was even more frightening was that countless pale arms protruded from the lake, and those arms twisted in the vortex like white maggots. , It seems that under the bloody water, there are countless ghosts waving to me.