Eight Hot Hells: Great Wailing Hell

The faint wails coming from the basement also struck the lone guard upstairs as rather strange.

The villa's basement had actually been specially soundproofed, making it difficult for anyone outside to notice anything.

But he had worked security here for so long, handling both outside duties upstairs and internal duties downstairs.

He could safely say he knew the entire process inside out. Aside from the occasional match that went all three rounds to build up a dark horse's value, most ended after two rounds at most.

Today, the wailing seemed to have lasted longer than even a three-round match.

He remembered the original script for today: after an overwhelmingly one-sided first round, Razor would reveal his hidden strength in the second, then lose.

But judging by the commotion now, something had clearly gone wrong.

At this hour, it was unlikely that anyone else would arrive. Driven by the unease and curiosity rising within him, he entered the villa. He had barely stepped inside when he saw the boulder wreathed in black flame blocking the passage downstairs.

And once he was inside, the wails from below became even clearer.

He had no time to think about what had happened downstairs, or what that bizarre boulder and its black flames meant. Fear had already engulfed him.

Only one instinctive thought remained in his mind: Run!

He turned and ran toward his car. Just then, the flaming boulder vanished, and Toji leaped out of the basement, carrying the money in one hand and Tan Man in the other.

The guard had already reached the driver's door. Seeing the scene reflected in the car window, he shakily pulled out his keys and opened the door.

"Damn it, start already!" Cold sweat poured from his head like rain.

By the time Toji set Tan Man down, the guard had started the car and was driving out through the villa's gates.

"He got the car started. That complicates things a little," Toji muttered, watching the black Mazda.

"Let me try."

As he spoke, Tan Man looked at the car through his loosely curled right hand and chanted.

"Eight Hot Hells: Wailing!"

At Tan Man's chant, a round black hole suddenly appeared in midair at the point his gaze had locked onto. An abnormally huge maw emerged from that dark space with a piercing shriek and bit the Mazda clean in half.

As the black hole vanished, everything seemed as though it had never happened. All that remained was half a car and a burning lump of metal, with flesh and machinery crushed together.

Toji peered into the distance and could not help remarking.

"So you have other abilities too?"

Naturally, Tan Man was not about to explain that he had unlocked this new ability by committing so many sins just now. He simply said calmly.

"I only just found out myself."

[Eight Hot Hells: Great Wailing Hell: Effect: tears open space at a point within sight, summoning a monster from the great wailing hell to devour the target.]

[Distance affects cursed energy consumption, accuracy, and the size of the spatial rift. These are also affected by proficiency. Cannot drag beings or objects from the present world directly into the great wailing hell.]

Tan Man asked Toji, who was stuffing the cash into the trunk, "If I'd used that attack on you just now, could you have dodged it?"

After a moment's thought, Toji answered, "Probably. I can see your cursed technique, so it's relatively easy to dodge."

Tan Man pressed on. "Then do you think I qualify as a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer based on my cursed technique alone?"

"Without counting the illusions?" Toji asked to confirm.

"Without counting the illusions." Tan Man shook his head slightly.

"If you ask me, no. Your cursed techniques are all pretty straightforward. Once someone sees them, they can more or less guess what they do. They aren't hard to dodge." Only then did Toji finish packing away the more than 180 million yen.

The reason it was 180 million was that this was all they had found at the place handling the wagers that day. After all, Tan Man had already set that entire area ablaze, leaving them no further opportunity to search for the organizers' assets.

After all, in Japan in this day and age, dirty money was generally kept close at hand.

Though Tan Man was a little disappointed, he agreed with Toji's assessment. Equal Lives, Black Rope, Sanghata Hell, and Wailing were all abilities whose effects could be understood at a glance. While their hidden properties offered some room for tactical maneuvering, there really was not much.

The immortality of Equal Lives' Corpse, Black Rope's second-stage damage, Sanghata Hell's fixed targeting, and finally Wailing's visual lock-on-none was decisive enough to secure an easy victory.

Once they were both in the car, Toji started the engine and spoke, glancing at Tan Man out of the corner of his eye.

"Judging you by the standards of a six-year-old, you're a freak. You just killed all those people, and your face is still covered in blood, yet the first thing you think about is your cursed technique."

Tan Man rested his head against the car window, watching the blazing villa in the rearview mirror as he replied.

"Don't you kill people for money without a second thought too, cousin?"

Hearing Tan Man call him "cousin," along with what he had just said, made Toji break into a grin. Strictly speaking, he and Tan Man did share that relationship.

In fact, that was true not only of Tan Man, but of Naoya as well.

Yet only in Tan Man did Toji truly sense something similar to himself.

"Heh. Guess we inherited the same genes."

"But did tonight count as a success?" Tan Man asked cautiously. After all, it had ended in a slaughter of monkeys, a far cry from what he had envisioned.

Toji, however, did not seem to mind how the evening had unfolded. As he saw it, he had not simply killed them and robbed them at the outset. After Tan Man manipulated the match, he had merely taken what he was owed, then picked up the rest while he was at it. Naturally, that hardly counted as a failure.

Toji simply felt that he had chosen the wrong event today. If he switched to something else, he could put Tan Man's money-making ability to good use.

"It was a success. But next time, I think we should try something else. Do your illusions work on animals?"

Tan Man caught on immediately.

"They should. You want me to rig horse races?"

"Smart. With something like that, they won't suspect us so easily."

Toji wore an expression that said everything was under control. He seemed able to envision a future in which he made a fortune thanks to Tan Man.

"Even though we don't know when we'll do this again, could I ask you for a favor in advance?"

Hearing Tan Man's earnest tone, Toji grew curious about what he wanted and did not immediately refuse.

"Let's hear it."

"I'd like you to get me some weapons."

"Weapons? You mean cursed tools? With your status, even if you don't get along with the old man, he should still pick out one or two from the cursed storehouse for you if you ask..."

Given Tan Man's status as a jujutsu sorcerer, Toji naturally assumed he meant cursed tools. He did not dwell on where Tan Man had acquired his knowledge of such things.

But Tan Man interrupted Toji and explained in no uncertain terms.

"I don't want cursed tools. I want guns."

Even Toji could not help glancing at Tan Man as he drove.

"Oh? Unless you mean toy guns, they don't make those in sizes kids can use."