novelraw Chapter 76 : Advancing Toward Shibuya
Chapter 76 : Advancing Toward Shibuya
Chapter 76: Advancing Toward Shibuya
The streets of Shinjuku.
Chaos had already spread here.
Although it was not as severe as in Shibuya, the fear ripples spread by the 【Mad King】 still caused mild hallucinations among the people here.
Some saw tentacles reaching out of the sewers; others saw the faces of passersby become blurred and indistinct.
Screams and the sounds of car crashes rang out without end.
Just at this moment.
A neat and resonant hymn, carrying a strange rhythm, drifted over.
“May all spirits return as one… may truth endure forever…”
“Where the light shines… darkness retreats…”
The panicked crowd looked on in astonishment as, at the end of the street, a procession slowly advanced.
Walking at the very front was a man whose entire body radiated a gentle white glow.
With every step he took, pure white illusory lotus flowers bloomed upon the ground beneath his feet.
Even more miraculous was that, as he drew closer, the terrifying hallucinations in people’s minds truly began to fade away!
Those ferocious tentacles reverted into ordinary manhole covers, and those blurred faces became clear once more.
Asahara Shoko used the faith power he had absorbed to counteract the chaotic mental waves spread by the 【Mad King】.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this was nothing short of a divine miracle!
“The monsters… the monsters are gone!”
“It’s that lord! He drove away the demons!”
An office worker who had been driven to the brink of mental collapse by hallucinations looked at Asahara Shoko as he approached, burst into tears, and rushed forward to cling tightly to Asahara Shoko’s leg.
“Save me! Take me with you! I’ll do anything!”
Asahara Shoko stopped walking.
He extended a hand and gently stroked the office worker’s head.
He expended a tiny amount of faith points to stimulate the other party’s brain to secrete dopamine and endorphins, while repairing minor neural damage.
In an instant, the office worker felt a warm current pour down from the crown of his head. All fear, anxiety, and exhaustion were swept away, replaced by an unprecedented sense of peace and joy.
“God…”
The office worker lifted his head, his eyes already hollow and fanatical. “I am willing to offer everything…”
The smile at the corner of Asahara Shoko’s mouth grew even deeper.
He looked toward the surrounding onlookers, those crowds whose eyes were filled with yearning and hesitation.
“Come.”
He spread his arms wide, his voice brimming with temptation. “On this night abandoned by the gods, I am your only ark.”
“Join us, or… be devoured by evil spirits in the darkness.”
Thus, Asahara Shoko’s group expanded like a snowball rolling downhill.
From an initial few hundred people, it rapidly swelled to several thousand.
The vast procession occupied the main thoroughfare, and the glow of their torches even overwhelmed the neon lights.
They sang loudly the hymns Asahara Shoko had improvised on the spot, their eyes fervent, their steps firm, advancing in the direction of Shibuya.
……
“Director!”
“Our people are… are killing each other…”
“The front line is requesting a retreat! The front line is requesting a retreat!”
At the Metropolitan Police Department command center, a young communications officer removed his headset and reported in a trembling voice.
Sato Masayoshi stared at the live footage, only feeling wave after wave of chill surge through his head.
“Report! A call from the Prime Minister’s Office!”
“The Cabinet demands an explanation within thirty minutes!”
“An explanation? What the hell are we supposed to explain with?!”
Sato slammed his fist onto the console.
“Tell them Tokyo is being invaded by demons!”
……
Shibuya, Dogenzaka.
This was one of the main arteries leading to the crossing.
At this moment, this usually bustling street had already turned into the entrance to hell.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and scorching.
Twisted wrecks of cars burned with raging flames, illuminating faces contorted by extreme terror.
People crashed about like headless flies, screaming, flailing their arms, and attacking everything around them that moved.
In their eyes, their own family members, friends, and compatriots had all turned into evil spirits crawling out of hell.
Right at the edge of this desperate slaughterhouse.
A neat and solemn chant, carrying sacred power, came from afar and drew near.
“May all spirits return as one… may truth endure forever…”
The chaotic crowd froze for a brief instant.
They all turned their heads, looking toward the source of the sound.
Then, they saw the light.
A procession composed of several thousand people was moving in this direction.
And the person walking at the very front of that light radiated milky-white holy brilliance across his entire body.
Asahara Shoko led several thousand fanatical believers behind him, chanting hymns aloud, their eyes firm and fervent.
They were like a crusader army that had crossed over from the Middle Ages, charging into this modern steel metropolis.
“They are… who are they?”
“Aren’t they afraid of the monsters?”
A man trembling beneath a car looked at that procession and muttered to himself.
“Look! That glowing person!”
“The light… such warm light…”
Wherever Asahara Shoko passed, the black, terrifying miasma retreated to both sides like a tide.
Those “evil spirits” that had been baring their fangs and claws in the eyes of the survivors instantly reverted to human form under the illumination of the holy light.
Although they were still covered in blood and their eyes were filled with terror, they had returned!
“The monsters… the monsters are gone!”
“It’s God! God has come to save us!”
“God!!!”
A man who had just been fighting the air moments ago looked at his own hands covered in blood, then looked at the distant figure that seemed like a god descending to the mortal world, and his psychological defenses completely collapsed.
He scrambled and crawled toward that light, kneeling before Asahara Shoko’s procession.
“Save me! Please, save me!”
Asahara Shoko’s believers automatically parted to form a path.
Asahara Shoko walked up to the man, extended his hand, and holy light flowed from his fingertips, enveloping the man.
“God loves the world.”
He said with a smile.
The man’s body stopped trembling, the madness in his eyes receded, replaced by boundless gratitude and worship.
A strand of faith far thicker than that of any previous believer rose from the top of his head and poured into Asahara Shoko’s body.
“Holy shit…”
Asahara Shoko felt his scalp tingle with pleasure inwardly.
Souls saved from despair could provide faith power that was simply a hundred times greater than before!
This place was practically his gold mine!
“Full speed ahead!”
Asahara Shoko waved his hand broadly, pointing toward the center of the Shibuya Crossing. “Go, spread the glory of God across this land occupied by demons!”
“Woah!!!”
Several thousand believers roared in unison, their momentum shaking the heavens.
……
“Look around you.”
Asahara Shoko advanced while spreading his arms, his gaze sweeping across those passersby with twisted expressions.
“This is the fate of those who turn their backs on God.”
“Those who turn their backs on God, even God cannot save!”
If it were normal times, upon hearing such chūnibyō declarations, passersby would definitely have taken him for a lunatic, perhaps even pulled out their phones to record him and mock him on Twitter.
But now, it was different.
Now, all they saw were ghosts.
“Save… save me…”
The nearest hostess was slumped weakly on the ground.
In her field of vision, Asahara Shoko was the only person who had not turned into a monster.
Not only had he not changed—just one glance at the gentle white light around him was enough to slightly calm her wildly pounding heart.
Asahara Shoko walked over to her and looked down at her from above.
“Are you guilty?”