Digital Devil Story: Reincarnation of the Goddess by Aya Nishitani Read Free Book Online

let out a hideous voice.
    "STOP."
    Seeing the youth continuing to press onwards, Yomotsu-Shikome took a step toward him. When her thick, misshapen leg struck the ground, the earth shook with a great sound. Not faltering for a moment, the youth glared at the giant form larger than a colossus in front of him, pulled a red comb from his hair, broke off one of its teeth, and threw it at the woman. The tooth of the comb lodged itself into Yomotsu-Shikome's exposed chest, and the woman's ugly face suddenly twisted into an expression of pain. As if her whole body was being affected by some strong poison, she gripped her chest in pain and vomited syrupy bile all over the ground. Even still, she tried to grab onto the youth, but her body convulsed furiously and she fell face-forward onto the ground, shaking the very earth itself.
    As the youth delicately passed by the side of the huge corpse, the sound of the sad voice sounded in his ears once more.
    "Please wait, Izanagi...."

    "Nakajima, what's the matter!?" Suddenly brought back to his senses by the sound of someone calling his name, Nakajima saw Shirasagi Yumiko looking at his face closely with a perplexed look. Her eyes were full of both fear and pity.
    What the hell just happened? Was that halluciation connected to the Demon Summoning Program in some way? Or else... For a moment, Nakajima was lost in Yumiko's eyes. But his excessively stubborn pride would not allow him to show Yumiko any more weakness.
    "Forget it, just get out of here." Nakajima's words were curt and cold, as if he was trying to blow off the situation. Yumiko looked like she wanted to say something, but was unwilling to oppose him and thus obeyed.
    "At any rate, I've got to figure out what that haze was." Recovering his composure, Nakajima turned on the modem and called up ISG's host computer.
    HELLO NAKAJIMA, WHAT'S UP?
    Checking the Craft AI's message, Nakajima changed disk drives and turned on another customized computer, an automatic translator equipped with a database of 50,000 magic and occult-related terms. Of course, Nakajima had created it himself.
    > AN UNKNOWN VAPOR APPEARED ABOVE THE SACRIFICE. I'M SENDING A ROUGH ESTIMATION OF ITS FORM AND COMPOSITION. TRY TO ANALYZE IT FOR ME.
    The data stored in the handheld computer traveled over the phone lines to Massachusetts. Nakajima tapped his fingers impatiently on the desk for a minute...two minutes. Five minutes later, Craft finally sent its analysis.
    VOLUME AND MASS SUGGESTS AN ECTOPLASMIC CONTENT FIVE TIMES NORMAL. JUDGING FROM THE SITUATION IN WHICH IT AROSE, THE CHANCE OF THE VAPOR BEING LOKI HIMSELF IS QUITE HIGH.
    > I HAVEN'T PREPARED ANY DATA THAT WOULD ALLOW LOKI TO TAKE A BODY. BESIDES, THE CAI ROOM'S COMPUTER COULDN'T POSSIBLY UNDERTAKE A SIMULATION OF THAT SCALE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
    FROM THE DATA THAT YOU PROVIDED, I CANNOT GIVE YOU AN EXACT ANSWER. THE ONLY THING I CAN SAY IS THAT THE DEMON YOU SUMMONED INTO THE COMPUTER IS LIKE A GENIUS-LEVEL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. ONE CANNOT DISCARD THE POSSIBILITY THAT HE HAS FIGURED A WAY TO TAKE FORM HIMSELF.
    > THANK YOU, CRAFT.
    Sending his closing message, Nakajima cut the connection.
    I can't possibly believe that Loki could have figured out a way to take a body on his own. Still, I had better start working on some new technology that I can use to take complete control of him.
    Thinking to himself, Nakajima walked over to the window and looked up at the black expanse above.

PART 2:
    TRANSFER

CHAPTER 1
    It was midnight at Marunouchi, yon-cho-me. Buildings with darkened windows rose up against the skyline. Not a soul could be seen along the walks under rows of gingko trees, and the only presence was that of flitting moths attracted to the streetlights, shedding their tiny scales on the sidewalk below. The office district was so quiet that you could almost hear those moths bumping into the iron lampposts.
    But the silence outside apparently made no difference to the big trading firms that held the