Chapter 119 Next...it's up to you...
"you're awake…"
Hearing the voice, Inosuke, with empty eyes and tears in his eyes, came to his senses and turned his head blankly to look at the wolf beside him. The dream-like experience just now made him unable to distinguish whether it was reality or illusion.
Seeing the other party's dazed look, Wolf did not ask him in a hurry. After glancing at him lightly, he squatted down, grabbed the collar of the unconscious old man who was wrapped in purple mist, lifted him up and slapped him in the face.
Snapped!
"Well!"
The old man who was slapped shuddered violently, covered his face and opened his eyes, only to see the wolf looking at him calmly. He said with a guilty conscience and some fear.
"That...that...the gray fog was absorbed by that little ghost..."
With trembling eyes, he looked in the direction of Inosuke, only to see him crying and in a daze. After a moment of stunned silence, he gritted his teeth slightly.
"Sorry…"
And Wolf waved his hands nonchalantly, he had more than one Battle Residue. What Wolf wanted to know more now was, in the old man's eyes, the change in karma when Inosuke triggered the Battle Residue.
Ever since he got the first battle residue, he had tried countless methods, but the battle residue showed no signs of being triggered.
Looking at Inosuke, whose dazed look was no longer there, Wolf thought to himself.
Does it mean that only the so-called destined people can use it?
Without asking the old man for the time being, the wolf walked towards Inosuke and finally stood in front of him in silence. Inosuke naturally noticed the wolf's arrival and looked up to meet the wolf's calm eyes.
After a moment, Inosuke, with tears on his face, spoke first, his words mixed with infinite love but also hidden deep hatred.
"I heard what you said to the old man just now... That gray mist is yours, right? Thank you... It reminded me of my mother's face, and I felt the warmth from her fingertips again..."
"And that damned evil spirit... Douma! I will tear him into pieces and pay for his blood with blood!"
Looking at Inosuke's bloodshot eyes and the details revealed in his words, and considering that he grew up in the mountains, Wolf quickly guessed Inosuke's background.
I see… Is this why Inosuke is the destined person for Douma’s battle remnants…
Thinking of this, the wolf's originally calm expression became a little complicated.
but…
“…Douma is dead…”
"Ok?"
Hearing this, Inosuke's face, which was twisted by hatred, froze. He made a puzzled sound and looked stiffly at the wolf with a slightly complicated expression.
"not…"
"Um…"
Directly admitting the problem that Inosuke wanted to say, Wolf didn't think it was a good thing to deceive him at this moment and let Inosuke work hard for a goal that didn't exist at all... He needed a real goal...
Seeing Inosuke's gloomy expression, Wolf was silent for a moment and then his face straightened. He tightly grasped the handle of the Kushimaru with his right hand, and with a flash of cold light, under the old man's horrified gaze, the sharp tip of the Kushimaru pointed directly at Inosuke's face.
"...Challenge me...Beat me...It means you have defeated Douma. In the days to come...make this your goal...and move forward."
Looking at the tip of the knife shining with cold light, Inosuke silently lowered his head, silent tears flowed down his eyes, then he raised his head firmly and roared loudly at the wolf.
"it is good!"
After saying this, the two looked at each other for a long time. The old man, who was originally a little panicked, now came between the two with a helpless look on his face and spoke to them.
"You two guys... go to sleep! You're waving swords and yelling in my room late at night. Be nice to the elderly!"
As he said this, he didn't care about Inosuke's previous "attack" on him and pushed him out of the door with both hands.
"If you want to become stronger, you need to sleep more!"
After saying this, he slammed the door shut, locking Inosuke out.
He leaned against the door and listened carefully, and after making sure that Inosuke had left, he turned and looked at the wolf, and at this moment the wolf asked the question he had just wanted to ask.
"When Inosuke used... the gray mist, did anything unusual happen..."
Facing the wolf's question, the old man's face turned serious. He nodded slightly and told the wolf everything he had seen.
When Wolf heard that the karma on the battle residue was actively merging with Inosuke's karma, his face changed slightly, and he spoke to the old man with a hint of hidden eagerness on his face.
“…Is there any way to make those karmas obey my command?”
Both himself and Minako had tried to see if they could trigger the battle residue, but unfortunately, neither he nor Minako were the so-called destined ones.
But the battle residue is the only thing Wolf can hope for. If even this thing can't cure Minako, Wolf doesn't know what to do...
To the wolf's disappointment, the old man shook his head bitterly, but then a hesitant expression appeared on his face, and his mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to say something.
Seeing the hesitation on the other's face, the wolf waved his hand gently to indicate that it was okay.
Nodding, the old man pointed his finger at the wolf's chest. In his eyes, a ray of red flame-like karma flickered there.
"I've already said before that this red flame can affect your own karma. If that's the case, there's no reason why it can't affect the karma of the gray fog."
Hearing this, the wolf frowned deeply and looked at the old man's serious and thin face.
"…Then you should also know the danger of the red flame…"
The wolf's faint voice reached the old man's ears, and he felt a chill on his body, but the old man's determined eyes were still fixed on the wolf.
"What are you worried about?...Believe in yourself, believe that everyone's feelings for you will awaken your rationality!...This is...the only way..."
Under the old man's gaze, the wolf remained silent. After a moment, he turned and left, walking towards his room.
Suddenly the old man was the only one left in the room. His tense body relaxed. It was somewhat difficult for him to speak so harshly to someone who could see karma and to a wolf that carried such terrible karma.
However, the old man still said it forcefully, not only because Lang was the benefactor of Tianyin and even the Demon Slayer Corps, but also because he had never seen someone as entangled and burdened with karma as Lang.
Feeling the cool breeze blowing in from the window, the old man tightened his robe and looked at the bright moon hanging high in the night sky. He thought secretly in his heart.
Mr. Hirata...you and I both know now that the source of Minako's problems still comes from you...and using that strange red flame to change the karma of the gray fog and make it point to you is the only possible way to solve the problem at present...
Next...it's up to you...