A Backup Plan, a Spirit Outside the Body

Reigen Arataka leaned against his motorcycle, smoking one cigarette after another. His despondent, forlorn appearance made it difficult for ordinary reincarnators to even recognize him.

But that did not include reincarnators with special prophecy and divination abilities.

A woman held a crystal ball in her palm. She wore jeans, chewed gum, and had twin ponytails—one dyed pink, the other green.

"Hey, I found him. Come over."

She pressed the microphone at her ear and casually called for her teammates.

From behind her sunglasses, she covertly examined Reigen Arataka with some regret. This man’s current disheveled appearance no longer suited her tastes.

Otherwise, after getting every possible benefit from him, she could have turned him into a new addition to her collection.

Very soon, one person rode an extremely old-fashioned Harley Motorcycle into view, wearing sunglasses.

Another sprinted over from the wilderness at top speed, trampling through the withered grass.

When Reigen Arataka saw the three of them appear, he showed no reaction. He neither chose to flee nor asked why they were looking for him.

He simply stood there like a walking corpse.

After the three reached him, he crushed out his cigarette beneath his fingers and spoke.

"You’re that kind of people, aren’t you…"

Reigen Arataka was actually very intelligent, a man capable of almost anything except psychic powers. As more and more Ability Users came looking for him, probing through their words to see whether they could find Shigeo Kageyama, he realized that these people likely came from the same "organization" and all wanted to obtain some information from him.

Without exception, he had asked them all to kill his disciple.

The repeated requests had caused Reigen Arataka immense inner torment.

Yet when he voiced his request once more, these three did not leave as he had expected.

The gum-chewing woman suddenly sneered.

"This guy actually wants to use this method to solve Mob’s problem? Tsk, what a pathetic teacher."

Her tone was mocking, and the way she looked at Reigen Arataka was full of condescension.

That teasing gaze, as though she were treating him like a mouse to toy with, instantly reminded Reigen Arataka of those people from half a year ago.

"You are…"

He abruptly rose to his feet with such force that he knocked over his own motorcycle.

"What exactly do you people want?! Where did you take Ritsu Kageyama and those children?!"

The woman blew a bubble without a care. She did not actually know how those people had carried out their previous mission, but she could roughly guess.

To provoke Shigeo Kageyama into falling to darkness, it was nothing more than taking advantage of him being occupied by something else to slaughter or abduct the people he treasured.

If they wanted to make it more elaborate, they could lay some groundwork first. For example, they could send someone to join Reigen Arataka and Shigeo Kageyama’s side, build up plenty of goodwill, and then strike at those people after Reigen Arataka had preached some grand ideals about "truth, goodness, and beauty."

That betrayal, that contrast, that sense of moral loss, combined with the pain of losing beloved family and friends, would be enough to completely tear apart the heart of an already unstable Shōnen like Shigeo Kageyama.

The woman felt satisfied that she had come up with such a plan in only a few seconds.

Her lips curled into a cruel smile.

After all, reincarnators were creatures like that.

Factions?

Reputation?

Recognition?

Everything was merely a necessary step for farming rewards. Reincarnators would never invest any so-called genuine feelings into such matters.

As long as there were greater benefits to be had, they could destroy everything at any time.

That was the choice made by the "most qualified" reincarnators of the present day.

Reigen Arataka seemed to see that detestable face again. He threw a punch at the woman’s face.

Bang!

The man riding the Harley Motorcycle stepped forward, deliberately sticking out his face to take Reigen Arataka’s blow.

Reigen Arataka’s fist immediately began to bleed, but the man showed no reaction.

"Reigen Arataka… what a weak punch."

He then grabbed Reigen Arataka by the collar and lifted him up, raising his head high as he prepared to smash the other man’s skull with his own.

The man codenamed Mork ranked smashing someone’s head apart with his own as his second favorite method of killing, letting brains and blood spray all over his face.

"Hey, Mork, wait. If we kill him directly, his Singularity rating probably won’t be very high."

"Think of a way to make him useful. Interrogate him and find out the locations of any other named people he knows."

"The payment Tree Herder offered is decent, but split three ways, it’s still a little lacking."

The man whose black bodysuit and black mask completely concealed him spoke in a muffled voice. He looked extremely slender, standing off to one side with his arms folded as though a gust of wind could blow him away.

A black katana was strapped to his back.

37 was his codename, as well as the number of reincarnators he had killed. He was the type who constantly changed his codename.

The woman, momo, impatiently extended a hand. Her powerful Mental Power instantly captured Reigen Arataka.

Just as she was about to use her ability to search his brain—

She suddenly heard a light chuckle.

"Oh my, oh my. Our host really did predict this."

"You people really won’t even spare this pitiful teacher…"

Frivolous and arrogant, just from the voice alone, one could tell that its owner was exceedingly confident in his abilities and did not take them seriously at all.

momo bit through her gum and looked up. At some unknown point, a tall man in a black high-collared boys’ school uniform was standing in the sky.

He bent over at that moment, his silver-white hair and black blindfold highly distinctive.

"Satoru Gojo? Or some cosplaying Avatar type?!"

momo did not immediately make a judgment. There were indeed quite a few reincarnators in the space who set their Avatars as Plot Characters.

It was quite a clever setup, and sometimes it could produce unexpectedly confusing effects.

Satoru Gojo flipped down from the air and landed on the ground. With both hands in his pockets, he took a few steps forward and stood in front of Reigen Arataka, looking at the three of them as he spoke.

"As a teacher deeply loved by his students, I can’t just pretend I didn’t see this, you know~"

He shamelessly praised himself.

Reigen Arataka looked around. He did not see anyone else appear, but from the movements of those three, he guessed that some kind of spirit had appeared.

Snap!

momo snapped her fingers, and telekinesis exploded instantly.

Yet Satoru Gojo remained where he was, his smile unchanged and completely unaffected.

The woman frowned, realizing that something was wrong.

Mork had already raised his right hand. His fist rapidly transformed, his body turning into silver-white Liquid Metal before becoming a long blade in an instant. He swung it with force.

Clang!

The silver-white blade also stopped in front of Satoru Gojo.

"Be careful. It really seems to be Satoru Gojo’s Limitless!"

momo realized it and shouted a warning. 37 immediately threw down several smoke bombs.

The moment poisonous smoke mixed with all manner of toxins began spreading from the ground—

Satoru Gojo had already formed a hand sign.

"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void~"

After fighting Red Dust, Satoru Gojo had deeply realized that although this group’s abilities were bizarre, his Unlimited Void… was extremely useful.