Everyone attacked in unison with their ultimate abilities and instantly defeated the snake monster… No, such a thing didn’t happen at all.

Although the “Tremendous Light” spell suppressed the snake monster somewhat, the seven-headed snake monster was still a powerful opponent that required caution when dealing with it.

Kaho released an insect swarm and Kazuko summoned a tremendous number of Sakura samurai demons. Mika and Yukari used the insects and demons as cover to approach and attack the snake’s heads. Kaede flew in the air while carrying Hisashi as they combined long-range magical wind and thunder-based attacks. Kagura and Idelia (Mayuzumi) teamed up to cast powerful AOE ice magic together. Hoshi swiftly shot out arrows of light that exploded into thorns. Natsuya created numerous spiritual blades that Hitaka and Rana rode on for a combination attack…

Everyone worked together and fought fiercely against the snake monster! The snake monster seemed to go berserk as it furiously spat toxic mist, venomous liquid, Mana Bullets, and released countless smaller snakes. Each snake head was biting or swinging itself like a whip…

The fight was so fierce that it would surely make for a good fantasy film fight scene if it was filmed.

Seiji maintained everyone’s formation and focused only on supporting and protecting his companions.

Against a snake monster with such powerful regenerative abilities, it would be impossible to strike it down in one attack. A battle of attrition would be needed.

Although the snake monster’s energy seemed limitless right now, it was impossible for the humans who combined into this monster to have limitless energy and Mana.

As long as everyone in Seiji’s group worked together and fought their hardest, winning would only be a matter of time!

…………..

Chiaki was feeling so tired.

She felt like her hands and feet were becoming like heavy wooden blocks. Her throat was becoming hoarse. She really wanted to stop and rest, or even just fall asleep right here.

But, she couldn’t.

The god’s trial wasn’t over yet. She had to persist!

Chiaki knew that Seiji and the others were fighting for her sake right now. So, for their sake, she absolutely couldn’t allow herself to collapse first.

‘I have to go on, I must go on, I must persist…’

Chiaki’s consciousness became hazy as she gradually lost her sense of self. Some unknown period of time later, she reached a previously unknown realm.

“Excellent job,” a mysterious female voice spoke in her mind. “You and your companions have all done an excellent job. You have passed my trial. Apart from what I promised you, your companions will also be rewarded. Thank you all for defeating that snake for me.”

Chiaki then suddenly felt a warm feeling enveloping her body as her consciousness was gradually restored.

“Chiaki…” someone called out to her.

Chiaki slowly opened her eyes to see a woman before her.

This woman was wearing a one-piece dress and had long hair which was the same silver shade as Chiaki’s. Chiaki instantly widened her eyes upon seeing this beautiful woman who had such a gentle smile. Lost memories suddenly flooded into Chiaki’s mind as forgotten emotions welled up within her heart. Chiaki trembled all over as tears flowed unstoppably…

“Mom!!!”

Before her mind could even think of anything else, Chiaki’s body started moving first as she shouted out and jumped over towards her mother.

Chihiro welcomed her with open arms as they embraced. Tears also flowed unstoppably from her eyes.

Mother and daughter tightly hugged each other as tears fell everywhere.

Pure white cherry blossoms slowly fell around them in this void-like space.

………..

Seiji was currently standing beneath a large cherry blossom tree.

He found himself teleported here after he’d finally managed to kill that seven-headed snake monster.

The cherry blossoms were white. The falling flower petals made for a beautiful sight.

Seiji opened up his fan to reveal the words “peaceful heart and mind.” He lightly fanned himself while calmly waiting.

“Please, become my protector…” a young-sounding female voice spoke to him.

“What specifically do I need to do?” Seiji inquired as he closed his fan.

“It will be very similar to what you just did.”

“How frequently will this happen?”

“I don’t know…”

“What payment will I receive?”

“I will protect you and your companions.”

This goddess was requesting protection, yet she was also offering protection as payment… Although this sounded contradictory, this actually meant mutual assistance.

“Then we can sign a temporary contract for now.” Seiji decided to agree for the time being and try things out. He could always refuse to carry on later if things didn’t work out.

The goddess had no objections to this.

A certain flower petal started glowing as it floated before Seiji.

Seiji reached out his hand and took the cherry blossom petal, which then transformed into a white mist that entered his hand.

Thus, the temporary contract was formed.

……….

Back in the dojo at Seiji’s Spirit House, Natsuya and the others gradually woke up from Visualization. They all felt like their minds were in a daze, with minor headache. It took quite a while for everyone to feel fully awake.

Then, they noticed that both Seiji and Chiaki were still in a state of Visualization.

Some time later, Seiji woke up from his Visualization.

“Is everyone alright?” He first checked on his companions’ situation.

Everyone was alright, albeit rather fatigued.

Mika was worried about her best friend Chiaki. Seiji told her that Chiaki would likely be waking up soon and that she was probably fine with nothing to worry about.

After passing the god’s trial, everyone’s spiritual power received a noticeable improvement with new realizations. If it wasn’t for everyone’s fatigue, they would have all wanted to immediately begin cultivating to transform their new realizations into actual abilities.

Seiji told everyone about how he, or rather “Seiji Kamijou,” signed a temporary contract with the goddess.

“That goddess… she’s called the White Sakura Goddess. Her ‘protection’ is actually a blessing that will increase the quality of our future Visualizations. In exchange, we need to protect her from her enemies and defeat them just like in the trial she gave us. She doesn’t know who her enemies are or where they came from. However, my inference is that those enemies are from the Messengers organization. That snake monster… those seven people are highly likely to be from the Messengers.

“As for why they attacked the White Sakura Goddess, that’s still unknown. However, ‘Seiji Kamijou’ believes that we should intervene because the White Sakura Goddess is a kind goddess who is friendly towards humans.”

Seiji had a rather subtle relationship with “Seiji Kamijou.” Seiji himself was also “Seiji Kamijou,” but he also wasn’t “Seiji Kamijou.” It was more like Seiji was acting as “Seiji Kamijou.”

To use an analogy, it was just like a person who was acting as a character quite similar to himself in a movie. Or, it could even be said that the person was acting as himself. But no matter how similar, the character would only be a character, a person who existed in the movie, but not in reality.

Deeply pursuing this topic would pertain to the philosophical, which was why Seiji didn’t want to think about this too deeply. In summary, Seiji and “Seiji Kamijou” were basically the same, but not identical existences.

Seiji himself would have been far more cautious regarding the White Sakura Goddess’s request for protection. He might have even directly refused. However, Seiji Kamijou directly agreed.

‘Hey, we might be dealing with the Messengers in real life as our enemies… Which is really a pain. Mr. Kamijou, you might not mind, but we’ll all have so much trouble on our plates!’ Seiji couldn’t help but make such a comment in his mind.

He supposed that this was a side effect of acting as Seiji Kamijou.

Well, since Seiji Kamijou had already signed a temporary contract in his place, Seiji could only try to carry it out.

This trial wouldn’t have been possible to pass without Seiji Kamijou’s assistance. But in the end, not only did everyone pass, they even received the White Sakura Goddess’s appreciation. Still, it was unknown if this would be a blessing or something even more troublesome in the end. But since Seiji had borrowed power from Seiji Kamijou, he decided to take responsibility for the results.

“The White Sakura Goddess is a friendly and kind goddess? Wasn’t she the one who took away Chiaki’s mother?” Mika doubtingly asked this question.

“I don’t know about this part, either. We should know more after Chiaki wakes up,” Seiji told her.

Right after he said this, Chiaki woke up.

She blinked as tears streamed silently down her cheeks.

Everyone looked at her as they noticed that Chiaki had woken up.

“Chiaki, are you alright?” Mika asked concernedly.

“I’m alright…” Chiaki wiped her tears away and smiled at her best friend.

Seiji took out his handkerchief and helped Chiaki to wipe her tears away.

Chiaki also smiled at him. She then slowly stood up while looking around at everyone.

“Everyone… I’m truly so grateful to all of you.” After standing up, she then bowed at a ninety-degree angle towards everyone. “It’s all because of everyone that I was finally able to meet my mother again… and get back the memories about her.”