Under Tamayo's nervous gaze beside her, Mitsuba smiled and subtly plucked the mandala flower in her hand.
The threads of causality leaped accordingly, and a person's fate was thus changed.
In the process of charging forward, the owl swordsman only felt his brain suddenly become completely clear. Those Flame Breathing sword techniques his older brother had taught him in the past now flashed through his mind one by one.
Driven by these memories, the owl swordsman instinctively swung his blade toward the claw demon before him.
With the crisp sound of blade meeting claws, the thoughts in his mind seemed to be completely opened up. His originally sluggish thinking was no longer blocked, and his swinging motions were no longer hesitant.
Threads of flame ignited on the blade. Following the owl swordsman's movements, one technique after another was quickly executed, the flames endless and continuous!
He suddenly seemed to have become an experienced swordsman who had been through hundreds of battles, constantly launching attacks from various angles at the weak points in the claw demon's defense!
This feeling of mental clarity and penetrating thinking was something the owl swordsman had never experienced before.
Every move and technique came naturally. The claw demon's attacks, which were originally difficult to predict, now appeared in his eyes as clumsy as a child's tricks!
This feeling was like... like his brain was connected to another powerful brain that was assisting his thinking!
Oh oh oh! What a wonderful feeling!
He felt like his whole body was about to take flight!
Under the owl swordsman's fierce offensive, the battle instantly showed a crushing one-sided trend.
The claw demon was continuously forced back, and in just a few breaths, its head was cut off, dissipating with that dumbfounded expression.
"Oh! I won! I actually won!!"
"Yes! Congratulations! Mr. Owl!"
Looking down at the Nichirin Blade in his hand, the owl swordsman was completely hyped up, and Mitsuba also timely withdrew her formation, stepping forward with a full smile to give him a vigorous high-five.
"Yeah!"
After the high-five, the owl swordsman immediately laughed heartily, sheathed his blade, and cupped his hands:
"Alright! There shouldn't be any other demons nearby! Two young ladies! We'll part ways here! Be careful on your way back!"
"Got it~ You too, little brother~ Be happy from now on~"
"Will do!"
Smiling and waving goodbye to this warm-hearted owl swordsman, Mitsuba had just turned back when she saw Tamayo impatiently ask:
"His sudden strength just now, was that your doing?"
"That's right."
Nodding lightly, Mitsuba gave a very patient explanation to Tamayo's curiosity.
"He neither hid his strength nor awakened any special ability. What you just saw, Miss Tamayo, his sudden display of strength, all originated from my 'modification' of him."
In other words, that series of fierce attacks by the owl swordsman just now were actually not the result of his own thinking.
It was just that he himself thought so.
But in reality, everything he did just now was the final 'result' achieved by Mitsuba through rapidly and continuously interfering with the threads of causality on him.
It was Mitsuba who, according to her own ideas, quickly set and planned for him what sword technique he should use for each subsequent strike, and from what angle he should swing...
It could be said without exaggeration that the owl swordsman just now was completely a "puppet" controlled by Mitsuba.
But unlike real puppets, humans cannot perceive the threads of causality that exist on their bodies.
Therefore, they naturally cannot perceive the sensation of their thoughts being "manipulated" by Mitsuba.
Coupled with the characteristic that "threads of causality make all changes seem reasonable," this ultimately caused the owl swordsman to have a feeling of—
Huh? My brain suddenly became so clear, my thinking so smooth, my thoughts so clear. I feel like if I just fight like this, I can win...
Her Blood Demon Art could actually achieve this degree?!
After hearing Mitsuba's explanation, Tamayo only felt a chill run down her spine.
Humans trapped in Mitsuba's formation, having their threads of causality manipulated, would not perceive that they were being controlled. They would view all changes as natural and reasonable.
Just like the owl swordsman just now—every strike he swung was actually a result carefully set by Mitsuba.
But he himself would completely not have this perception. He would only feel that all of this was thought up by his own brain, that he suddenly powered up.
And this sense of naturalness was precisely the most terrifying aspect of Mitsuba's Blood Demon Art.
Compared to struggling desperately in a desperate situation, the situation where one is clearly already in a desperate situation yet remains completely unaware of it, walking toward death amidst laughter and joy, is often the most despair-inducing.
Tsugikuni Mitsuba, this usurper, this demon who stole the gods' authority—she was undoubtedly the most terrifying enemy to all human-born Demon Hunters in this world!
Tamayo couldn't imagine even with all her thinking how those human Demon Hunters could possibly defeat her...
"Your ability, is there really no restriction at all against those humans?"
She couldn't help but ask again.
"If what Miss Tamayo refers to is not causality in reality, but purely influence on the human mind, this spiritual world, then there is indeed one restriction."
Saying this, Mitsuba casually picked up a small twig from the ground and, as if holding a sword, pointed it at Tamayo's throat.
"Suppose there is a Demon Hunter who wants to kill me right now, and his will is firm. For this next strike, he is determined to slash at my neck from the left.
In this situation where the goal and process are both very clear, his thoughts would be difficult to influence with my Blood Demon Art.
Even if I luckily succeed in interfering, forcing him to subconsciously change the direction of his swing, he would very likely react in the next instant and correct his swinging direction again."
Human thoughts are complex and variable, easily changed by oneself or the environment.
The reason Mitsuba could so easily influence and alter the owl swordsman's thoughts just now, manipulating him like a puppet, was completely because that child's mind was empty at the time!
He hadn't thought at all about how he would attack next or what his plan was. He purely charged forward with a burst of hot blood.
In this kind of empty-headed situation, Mitsuba could naturally easily interfere with their thoughts through the threads of causality, and thereby influence their actions to achieve the "result" she wanted.
But for those with firm will, who have clear plans and purposes for each step of their actions, Mitsuba's Blood Demon Art induction becomes very difficult, and the consumption increases accordingly.
There might even be situations where the "result" she wanted was just induced one second ago, and the next second he changes it back with his firm will.
Of course, the above problems only apply to causal changes in human thought.
If it were causal modifications in reality—for example, using some fatal hidden injury you buried years ago to prematurely induce your death outcome—then these problems wouldn't exist at all. Mitsuba can change it as she wishes, and if she wants you to die, you die immediately.
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