Chapter 174

The shadows of the night suddenly cover the surroundings of the training ground.

Almost in complete darkness, with no moonlight or starlight, Kokuyo's closing ceremony manifests.

The result was made clear only a few seconds after Kokuyo uttered the name of her final dance.

In just that much time, Arthur, who had shown such strong resistance, perished.

At the same time, the darkness that had covered the surroundings disappeared, and the bright sunlight returned once again.

The only person who could understand what was going on in the Kokuyo's veil of darkness was Sukuna, who had fully released her sight and hearing limit to grasp the situation.

"What was that...?"

After seeing the effect of Kokuyo's closing ceremony, Sukuna could only mutter that.

===*

"E... is Arthur dead?"

Unintentionally, Himiko whisper.

"Yeah...."

It seems that Himiko and Hisui could not see what was going on in that darkness and looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

"Only Sukuna seems to have figured out what's going on."

"Well yeah... Kohaku too?"

"I don't know exactly what happened, But I know what Kokuyo's closing ceremony is like."

I see. It was only natural that Kohaku, who was capable of using the closing ceremony and was a disciple of Kokuyo, would know the details of Kokuyo's closing ceremony.

On the contrary, judging from Hisui's reaction, she does not know about Kokuyo's closing ceremony at all? I asked her out of my curiosity, and Hisui shook her head.

"[Oni no Mai] closing ceremony is a tightly kept secret of the oni. As far as I know, it's a technique that comes with tremendous disadvantages, so it's not something that should be shown lightly in training."

"I see."

I wonder if the fact that she showed that much skill here and now is a result of paying so much respect to A-chan.

By the way, I don't know where A-chan will respawn in a case like this. Is she going to be sent to the entrance of the village?

"If you die here, you'll be resurrected at the village's gathering point. It's not far. She should be here soon."

"As expected of Himiko, the expert of death."

"Well, there's that, too... but I'm pretty sure that outsider oni that came to the village will be killed by Kokuyo. You may not know this, but the requirement for learning the [Oni no Mai] is to damage Kokuyo in a one-on-one match."

"Yeah... I remember that Chlorobenzene{Kurorobenzen} was lamenting that he couldn't beat Kokuyo."

I know that the condition for learning the [Oni no Mai] is a battle with Kokuyo because I saw it on the Oni-only forum. I believe the name of the quest was something like [Surpass the Oni Master]. {tln1}

And I could argue that learning this dance is the best benefit to come to Oni Village.

There is no clear strategy for this quest, but if you are around level 65 and fight diligently, you will somehow complete it.

The difficulty of the quest seems to be quite high. Because quite a number of oni race players seem to have been killed by Kokuyo, though from what I can see, Kokuyo seems to have held back a lot of her power already.

After I was relieved to know where A-chan was, Kokuyo came back to us in a good mood.

"Ufufufu. Ah, sorry... but Arthur is very strong. I was excited beyond my years."

"Is that your Closing Ceremony?"

"Yes. And judging by your reaction, it seems that you can see it clearly."

The moment that Kokuyo finished uttering the name of her skill, the curtain of night fell around us.

At that moment, I saw Kokuyo split into three and surround A-chan, and their simultaneous attacks killed her in an instant.

"My final dance, [Kokuyo no Mai] can call up to 25 alter egos within the range of the night's veil. Each of the alter egos I summoned has the same status as the main body and can use my arts."

"HUH?"

"eeh...."

The maximum number of alter egos is 25, their status is exactly the same as Kokuyo, and they can even use her Arts to boot.

I was taken aback by its ability, which is too bizarre if you think about it.

"The number of alter egos I could summon depends on how much HP I have left. That's why there were only three of them earlier."

"So A-chan was able to cut quite a bit of your HP, huh?"

"It was certainly close. If she had one more powerful art, the substitute doll might have been destroyed."

A-chan was frustrated and called her effort useless because she cannot destroy the substitute doll even though she was using her SP to the very limit. However, that was probably because she couldn't see how much HP was left for the substitute doll. She only relied on her intuition to estimate the remaining HP.

From my point of view of how things turns out, I would say that A-chan has fought really well.

Then again, this result was allowed to happen due to Kokuyo herself using very little of her art.

The only time she seemed to use arts was when she moved instantly to A-chan's back, but other than that, she was practically fighting using her status alone.

I would have liked to have seen Kokuyo earnestly using her original fighting style, but then again, I was satisfied to see how A-chan fought back from that situation, and the way she connected those attacks was beautiful.

So I guess I'll have to wait until another time to see how Kokuyo fights.

"Well, Sukuna. That's how you activate the final dance and its completed form. I'm sure you've gotten used to using the [Oni no Mai] by now, but did you notice an oddity?"

Kokuyo asked me, reminding me of the battle she had just had.

It's probably too much to call it an oddity, but there was one strange thing. {tln2}

"Ummm..... is it about the simultaneous casting of [Moroha no Mai]{Double-Edged} and [Kikoku no Mai] {Wailing} Dance?"

"That's correct. [Kikoku no Mai] will provide a very powerful buff, but due to its nature of strengthening defense, it cancels out the effects of the [Moroha no Mai], which reduces your defense to zero. Therefore, these two buffs are incompatible with each other."

What Kokuyo said is true. These two buffs are incompatible. In fact, the effect will be rewritten by the last activated dance.

And as far as I could tell from Kokuyo earlier, there was no indication that one of the buffs had been rewritten. Because I could see that the color aura representing each buff hadn't been disappeared, but I didn't know what had actually happened.

But the fact that Kokuyo confirmed it meant that my assessment was correct.

"The moment you want to activate the final dance, you need to activate all of the dances from the first set to the fifth in sequence. It cares not about the cool down of your skill. It is mandatory. You will never be able to activate the final dance unless you go through this process."

"That's quite a disadvantage in combat, isn't it?"

"Indeed. Therefore, you should avoid using it alone as much as possible to ensure your safety when performing it."

No matter how fast you dance, if you go through the entire dance from one to five, it will take a few seconds.

It was quite scary to spare that much time unprotected in the midst of battle.

"Ah, by the way, the effect of the closing ceremony changes depending on the user, right?"

"It is said that the most suitable Closing Ceremony will manifest depending on the user, one example is the ultimate strike for Kohaku-sama or the alter-ego generation that specializes in the power of number like me. And it's not always an offensive technique, and there are records of people who have developed shields in the past."

"is that so... then I wonder what kind of Closing Ceremony would I have?"

Kokuyo's Closing Ceremony was powerful. It's on a level that completely destroyed the game balance.

It probably has invisible disadvantages and limitations that she dares not mention, but even if you subtract those, it is definitely one of the strongest techniques.

When she defeated A-chan earlier, Kokuyo simply used three of them to attack from three different directions, but considering the alter can also use arts, perhaps the strongest way to use it is just to let the alter do a suicide attack.

It's obvious that it's incredibly powerful compared to the strongest arts of other skills, so I really wanted to learn it.

As I was pondering my own Closing Ceremony, Kokuyo hardened her expression and began to speak.

"...Sukuna-san, have you already mastered the fifth form?"

"Yeah, I learned that when my strength went to 500 points."

The armor I'm having Konekomaru create for me will be made from the [Kikoku no Tsumugi], an equipment material exclusive to the oni tribe.

You need 500 Strength points to equip that item, so I've assigned the extra bonus status points so that my Strength value is exactly 500.

At that time, [Fifth Form - Douji no Mai] was unlocked, so I had already mastered all the basic arts of [Oni no Mai].

Hearing my reply, Kokuyo put her hand on her chin and looked distressed. She then spoke with a hint of complexity in her voice.

"The Closing Ceremony of [Oni no Mai] should appear at the same time when the fifth form [Douji no Mai] is unlocked; it's the moment when the user strength value goes over 500 points. That's why it strange for Sukuna not to have already learned the Closing Ceremony."

"Huh?"

I couldn't help but let out a surprised voice because of Kokuyo's explanation.

Because I haven't learned my Closing Ceremony, all I learned when my strength value reached 500 is the [Douji no Mai].

I took a peek at my status again, and nothing changed.

"There are several possibilities... One is because Sukuna is a Traveler and not a native resident of this world. Second, it's because of your Douji profession blessing. The third is that the curse eating you has some negative effects. Or... sorry, those are the three that come to mind right away."

"Those all sound possible; this is troubling."

All three possibilities that Kokuyo presented to me sound plausible.

The first and second of these are something that another player can verify.

For example, since other [Douji] players like Meguru have learned the [Oni-no-Mai], I can just ask them if they has learn the Closing Ceremony when their strength value reached 500.

As for the third theory that the curse was the cause, we'll have to wait for the moon wolf to lift the curse to find out.

The problem is if all of these are not the issue. if that's the case, then I don't know what the cause is, so I'll have to go on in agony until I find the cause.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"I guess so."

"Well, Sukuna is unique in many ways, so take your time and learn as you go. You can't enjoy the game if you're in too much of a hurry."

"Since that coming from Himiko, it's sound very convincing."

These are the words of Himiko, who has been stuck in the oni village for more than a month since she started the game. It sure has some weight in it.

But she's right, there's no point in rushing now. The first thing to do is to concentrate on lifting the curse that has become an annoyance.

"Well, the conflict between Sukuna and Hisui has been resolved, and I've fulfilled my promise to Arthur for the match. Now all that's left is for you to help me with to spar with Kokuyo-gumi, as originally planned."

"Sure."

"I think I'll go over there and practice setting traps. I'm feeling a little motivated."

At first, Himiko wanted to run away to a corner of the training ground, but now she seems to have become a little more motivated. The hard breathing she made somehow relaxed my tension.

I'm curious about her trap-setting practice. I guess it's to raise the proficiency of the rare skill [Master Trapper]. I might ask her permission to see it later.

"Then, Sukuna-dono. Why don't we have a hundred-man Kumite over here? I'm sure everyone will be curious to see how strong you are."

"Are they really?"

Hisui said this happily, but aside from her, blood has drained from the face of Kokuyo-gumi.

I'm not sure if they want to experience what she's just gone through, or perhaps she innocently really thought they do. Either way, this surely become a nuisance for the other member of Kokuyo-gumi.

"Then Hisui, please keep Sukuna company for a while. And Kokuyo, can you join me for a little chat?"

"No problem..."

As we were getting ready for hundred men Kumite, Kohaku took Kokuyo away and went somewhere else.

I thought about listening in for a moment but quickly reconsidered. I don't really like to listen to private conversations.

When I was in elementary school, I couldn't fully control my five senses yet, in the end, I was fed up with hearing a lot of secret talk and backbiting that I didn't want to hear.

"Really, I'm bad at judging people... Oh, where's Kokuyo-dono?"

"Welcome back, A-chan. Kokuyo is talking to Kohaku right now."

"Oh, well. I'll talk to her later."

A-chan then sat down in the shade of a tree, saying she would take some rest. Interestingly she looked refreshed.

I'm sure she's come to accept that there's nothing more she can do after being beaten so one-sidedly.

After that, I did a hundred-man Kumite with the members of Kokuyo-gumi. And in the middle of Kumite, A-chan and Himiko decided to join. That day, we deepened our relationship with the NPC of Oni Village.

===*

The Closing Ceremony of Kokuyo is by far the craziest cost-to-performance among all other Closing Ceremony, especially if you use it while using the substitute doll. The cost is very minimal.

Still, it has huge disadvantages, such as once you use it, you can't use it again for a month.

By the way, the substitute doll is an item that adds another invisible HP gauge; since this Kokuyo used the HP remaining HP of the doll to trigger her Closing Ceremony, there's not much risk for her.

But normally, it was a very high-risk technique because it drained your own HP value to 1.

Tl note:

Tln1 : welp another jap wordplay, surpass the oni Master, that can also mean 'surpass the strict trainer'.

Tln2 : don't shoot the translator; it is literally how it is written.

RIP Kokuyo-gumi. Himiko you bastard, is that why you setting the trap inside the training ground?

Anddd it might be too close, but I made it, my quota for this month is fulfilled, I want to do more but geez, I was so busy towards the end of the year... I haven't touch my pc games in two days, that's how busy I am.

Anyway, Happy new year! May the fortune be with us this year, and let's keep making smile for years to come!