Reincarnated in a Shounen Manga

Chapter 135: The Demon in Disguise

This girl, in the middle of nowhere, was… Uwabami in his… err, her human form. So instead of a he, he was actually a she?

"So, do any of you have sake or not?" she pouted, acting cute as if she hadn't slaughtered exorcists in droves just a week ago. "Ah, no, I'm becoming sober again."

Her hiccuping ceased, and she sniffed Agon, whom she held in her arms. "Huh? You smell like Master Orochi. But you also feel and smell like a human?"

She tilted her head, appearing confused for a few seconds. Then, her eyes widened. "D-Don't tell me!! You're Master Orochi's half-human son!! Master Orochi had children?!"

Upon uttering those words, tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to cry again. "Waaah, Master Orochi, I promise to protect your offspring with my life! I won't disappoint you ever again!"

None of us had uttered a word during this chaotic turn of events. Even I was wide-eyed and unable to comprehend what was happening!

…

After we had calmed down, we all gathered around a fire, including Uwabami who was hugging Agon's arm. It was already nighttime, and we had set up camp at the foot of the mountain, seeking warmth from the chillingly cold night.

"Can you let go?" Agon pleaded, attempting to shake her off. However, Uwabami was an Ultimate Class demon, and even in her human form, she could easily overpower him without using any Ord.

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"Because it's kind of annoying having you clinging to me for so long," Agon spoke bluntly.

Uwabami didn't take this well, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Waahhh! Master Orochi's son hates me!"

For an Ultimate Class demon, she was quite a crybaby. So much so that I had to remind myself to keep my guard up.

Thankfully, Uwabami's tears quickly stopped, and I tried to maintain a poker face.

"Anyway, what is your relationship with Orochi?" Bets asked.

"He was like a father to me!" Uwabami exclaimed with a wide smile. "I was one of the very few demons who could resist his residual poison. Orochi traveled around, searching for creatures who could resist the poison that his body released naturally. He spent a lot of time traveling and bringing more demons to the Sake Mountains. We were all like a family!"

Sei appeared intrigued by her story. "What did he do before he found you?"

"Well, I was the first demon he found who could resist his poisons. Before that, he spent his time drinking in the Sake Mountains," she shrugged. "At least that's what he told me."josei

Agon stared into the fire, his expression unreadable. "He must have been pretty lonely."

Uwabami smiled. "Maybe, but he always had weak and strong demons around him. As long as someone could resist his poison, they became his drinking buddy."

However, Uwabami's perspective of Yamata No Orochi was skewed. While technically, what she said was true, it was horrifying to consider how many innocent people Yamata No Orochi may have killed with his towering body and residual poison while searching for demons who could resist his residue toxins.

From what I had seen so far, Uwabami and most demons didn't consider humans anything more than bugs, similar to how humans could destroy an ant colony just to build a new road.

"Amongst other demons, my only special power was being big and having a strong stomach!" Uwabami exclaimed, pride written all over her face. "I am the only creature to ever exist who once out-drank Master Orochi under the table."

After some small talk and storytelling throughout the night, the others fell asleep, and I took the first watch. Unsurprisingly, Uwabami, who didn't need sleep, was still awake and staring at me with no attempt to hide it. After a few minutes, she got bored and said, "Wow, you're quite boring, ain't ya?"

I turned to look at her but remained silent, then looked back toward the dark mountains surrounding us. She pouted and approached me, poking my cheek insistently. "C'mon, do something. It's boring."

Although I tried to control my emotions, there was a limit. Uwabami was an ultimate class demon that could kill me with a swipe of her hand. I had never expected to meet such a creature in the middle of nowhere and have her act almost like a friend of the group.

However, ten minutes later, Uawabami had wrapped her legs around my midsection and had me in a choke-hold. "You know, if I try pushing this harder, I could break your neck. You're scared, aren't you?"

I had no idea why she was doing this, and it made no sense. She then glanced at Carpy, who was staring at us with clear hatred. But I had ordered him to stay still since Uwabami could kill him with one slap. Besides, from what I had seen so far, it was unlikely she would kill me out of nowhere because I was a friend of who she assumed to be Yamata No Orochi's half-human son.

Sometimes, it was humbling to see just how lucky Agon was. It seemed like the world was telling me: Look at the chosen one!

As Uwabami tightened her chokehold, I knew I stood no chance, so I kept my body still. But my nerves got the better of me when I smelled sake on her breath - she might be drunk enough to actually kill me!

"Did you know that Yamata No Orochi is sealed?" I asked Uwabami, trying to unnerve her enough to stop what she considered as 'fun.'

"Pfft, pahahaha!" Uwabami let go of me as she tried to cover her mouth so as not to wake the others. Her giggles lasted for an annoying amount of time before she could finally catch her breath.

This wasn't the reaction I had expected her to have to this news. She acted as if what I had said was the most ludicrous thing in the world.

"You really believe that?" She asked me.

"Don't you?" I countered.

There was so much to unpack there, but I chose my words carefully and said, "I mean, Tamae No Mae was sealed, and there were many eyewitnesses when that happened. The Nine-Tailed Fox was considered equal to Yamata No Orochi."

Uwabami cringed, as if admitting that there was someone as strong as Yamata No Orochi was like eating the sourest lemon in the world. "Yeah, sure. But Master Orochi and the Tailed Bitch - I mean Tamae No Mae - have different powers. She was only able to match Master Orochi because she had learned thousands of spells, barriers, and was considered the best mystic."

She frowned, but her face slowly turned into one of sadness. "But Master Orochi was the opposite. He had so much raw power that it was impossible for him to be sealed. No matter the seal, he could easily break it and erode the item he was sealed in."

As she said that, every dot connected together, and I suddenly realized something - the Magician Exorcist was a mad genius!

If what she said about Orochi being unable to be sealed was true, then it was safe to assume that he could break out of Agon's seal whenever he wanted! However, this was where the complication arose. A human body could only hold so much energy before breaking down.

So if Orochi wanted to break out of a physical seal, he could just erode it. But if the sealing catalyst was a human, then he would have to use his Ord to break out forcefully. Before he could do that, he would likely kill Agon, as his human body wouldn’t be able to handle it.

In a way, the only way for Orochi to escape would be to kill Agon, which would likely result in his own demise. It was a crazy way of imprisonment, something that only a mad genius could come up with. Yet, at the same time, using his own son for something like this made The Magician seem like one crazy bastard!

***

Agon groggily awoke in the middle of the night and heard Uwabami and Kon speaking. He couldn’t hear what either of them was saying, but he didn't care as his mind was preoccupied with something else.

He thought back to Uwabami's words about Yamata No Orochi. For a demon with the power to kill anyone around him, he must have been pretty lonely.

With that in mind, Agon closed his eyes and focused on the deepest part of himself. Suddenly, he was drafted up onto his own sea of consciousness and found himself staring at the small moon where wooden stakes were piercing Yamata No Orochi’s eight heads and eight tails, with one giant stake piercing through its body. Every time he looked at the demon sealed inside of him, Agon couldn't help but marvel at just how big Yamata No Orochi was.

But he didn’t dwell on that as he saw the giant snake’s sixteen eyes turn toward him. Agon knew he didn't have much time left, so he concentrated and utilized his imagination to its fullest potential. Since this was his own mind, he could do a lot of things. He remembered the taste of alcohol from the time he drank with Gem, Bets, and Kon after completing their mission and defeating the giant eel.

A large jug, as big as a house, manifested next to him. Agon learned the hard way that manifesting things here didn't take Ord, but it took mental power as he immediately started feeling sleepy. Nevertheless, he mustered up the power to smile and offered the Ultimate Class demon, "I bet you've never tasted sake created out of someone's imagination before."

With that said, Agon passed out in the mental world and woke up in the physical world. However, he was still tired, and as he looked up at the bright sky, he couldn't help but swear. "Damn it, it's already morning."

Despite his fatigue, Agon couldn't help but wonder if one day, Yamata No Orochi and he could become drinking buddies.