Epic of Caterpillar

Chapter 2438: Returning To The Monk Clan Territory



The day had yet to end, even after everything, Frank, Matsuo, and Harumi had to quickly go back to their organization headquarters and report what happened. After seeing Saburo disappear, Frank noticed there were a few items dropped left behind.

Namely, a purple-colored, poisonous-looking potion, another potion but of blood, a few dozen large blue crystals packed full of Otherworldly Mana, and also a large skill book with the silhouette of this ancient demonic ninja, and snakes crossed on his back.

"Are those his dropped items? Wow, even now it dropped things..." Frank thought, walking towards them and picking them up.

Matsuo was still unconscious, so they had to bring him back home asap so he could have his soul healed. Without his sacrifice, Frank didn't know if things would have gone well.

"We have to quickly bring him back," said Harumi. "Frank, can you carry him?"

"Yeah, I can," nodded Frank, carrying Matsuo on his back. "Let's go!"

"Follow me!" Harumi nodded.

Frank felt Matsuo's body becoming colder with each passing second. Even when he used Gift of Life to heal him, it wouldn't change much at all.

"Hang in there, Matsuo! I won't let you die!"

As he ran through the rooftops of several buildings, jumping from one to another while following Harumi, another person noticed them moving rapidly without using a Domain to hide from plain sight.

"Huh? Harumi and... oh, that boy Frank? What are they doing together?"

It was a mischievous young werewolf girl noticed them with her sharp canine eyes, her long, blonde hair and her tanned skin, combined with her schoolgirl clothes, which she had modified to look more sexy and colorful, gave her quite the striking appearance.

"Hey, Harumi! What's up?"

With a single jump from the streets to the rooftop of the buildings, she reached Harumi in a single second, scaring her and Frank.

"E-Erika?! I have no time for you right now!" Harumi said.

"Whaaaat? So mean!" said Erika, teasing her as she suddenly winked at Frank. "Hey boy! How are you doing? Hm? Why are you carrying around that guy?"

"He's about to die, we have to get him to his clan headquarters quickly!" Frank gasped for air, continuously moving.

He quickly realized just how fast Erika was, easily keeping up with him. She was a girl he had barely interacted with, but that always acted like she knew him from childhood.

She was a werewolf, member of the Werewolf Family of Tokyo, led by a powerful Werewolf Pack Leader, her father himself.

Similarly to Harumi who was the adoptive daughter of the Vampire Duchess, she held a status within the entirety of Tokyo as someone dangerously strong and with an even more dangerous backing protecting her.

Despite all of that, Erika was always kind of friendly... Although Frank didn't know much else about her, aside from all the "memories" from his dreams, which he was still trying to figure out if they were truly real or his own imagination, or prophesies of the future.

"Hooh, so Matsuo got himself into trouble-?" Erika wondered, acting cute as she wagged her tail.

"No! It wasn't that we battled a demon so strong we almost all died...!" Harumi said. "If it wasn't for Matsuo's help... we would have all perished."

"W-What?!" Erika gasped. "A Demon? Are you kidding me? We would have already detected such a thing!"

"It was inside a powerful Corrupted Domain," said Frank. "Hahh... Ah, there they are!"

Frank noticed they finally reached the shrine territory, as he jumped across the walls, making several monks and priests walking around the clan's territory enter in a bit of panic.

"Who's there?!"

"He pierced through the barrier!"

"Eh? Ah, Frank and Matsuo... and Harumi and... Erika?!"

The guards gasped in surprise due to this unlikely group. They had been seeing Frank and Matsuo hanging together all the time, but Harumi and Erika with them was the stranger part.

"Matsuo...! He used a forbidden ritual to help us, to save us, but he had to use a piece of his soul! We need to heal his soul, he's getting colder!" Frank said, desperately.

"A-Ah!"

"Hurry! Bring him over!"

"Call the Soul Spiritualists!"

The clan quickly started moving, people of all shapes and sizes wearing similar uniforms of white and gold color resembling ancient Japanese clothes, quickly started gathering around.

In a matter of seconds, Frank, Harumi, and Erika glanced as they placed Matsuo over an altar within the highest point of the shrine, where a beautiful Japanese woman, with long black hair, fiery red and golden eyes, and wearing a Japanese shrine maiden clothes with a crown resembling a radiant sun of gold stepped forward.

"W-Who's that woman?" wondered Erika, surprised by her tremendous divine presence.

"That's... the Clan's Great Ancestor," said Frank. "She's the highest form of authority in the clan, and a descendant of Amaterasu-sama."

"You mean she's a member of the Japanese Imperial Family?!" gasped Harumi. "M-My mother never told me that much..."

"Yes, I suppose she is... the Imperial Family does claim publicly that they're descendants of Amaterasu," nodded Frank.

"Huh..." Erika smiled, crossing her arms. "To think that's a thing! Eh... I guess they're a bit stronger than our clans then, hm? My dad's super strong but he's no god descendant."

"My mother is very ancient though," said Harumi. "She does possess something similar to... Ah, I shouldn't really talk about this, please forget about it."

"Hahaha! I would have loved to hear more info," giggled Erika.

FLAAASH!

As the two girls conversed, Frank noticed a huge beam of light coming from the sunny skies above descending over Matsuo, as he saw his soul, shaped exactly like his body, heal a huge chunk that was missing.

"He sacrificed almost a third of his soul? It wasn't small at all..."

Frank sighed, feeling a bit sad that his friend had gone so far for him, he gritted his teeth, thinking that despite everything, he was still weak.

The ritual ended, with Matsuo finally healed, he slowly recovered as he was gently moved to the infirmary area, where priests left him resting over a Magical Formation that healed the body and washed away impurities.

"Matsuo should be fine now... Thank you for bringing him quickly, Frank, Harumi," Matsuo's mother appeared, almost in tears. "My boy almost went to see Amaterasu-sama... Thankfully, she allowed him to stay here for longer."