Malphegor
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HGBW: Ch. 42
🕑 Added 2025-03-05 02:54:54 +0000 UTCOn one side, he was a little dog, locked in a cage.
On the other, he could return to being a member of the Hyūga clan, idling at home.
Having already experienced being a dog once, "Tokuma" quickly made his decision.
"Apologies, my words were inappropriate just now. I ask for forgiveness."
Tokuma lowered his head, personally crushing the last bit of dignity he had as the former clan leader.
Tanaka glanced at Tokuma, then raised his palm.
As the invisible space expanded, it enveloped both Tokuma and Hiashi. Their bodies each released a pink, heart-shaped substance.
Under Tanaka's control, the two heart-shaped substances exchanged places.
The one that emerged from Tokuma transferred into Hiashi. Conversely, the one from Hiashi transferred into Tokuma.
In an instant, their bodies and souls were swapped.
Now back in his own body, Tokuma no longer displayed the arrogance he had before. He immediately dropped to one knee before Tanaka.
"I'm back. This is my body. I'm finally back!"
Hiashi raised his hands, looking at his palms, his face filled with unconcealable excitement and pain. Even the corners of his eyes shimmered with faint tears.
Even with his strong will, the past few days had nearly broken him.
First, he had gone from the esteemed head of the main house to being turned into a dog overnight, personally witnessing the complete annihilation of the main house in a single night.
What was even more devastating was that the one who wiped out the main house was none other than Tanaka, whom he had personally branded with the Caged Bird.
He had thought that as the clan leader, he would not escape death afterward. However, beyond his expectations, Tanaka, after much pleading from Hizashi, finally nodded and spared him.
And yet, if given the choice, Hiashi would have rather perished alongside the other elders and high-ranking members of the main house on the night of the massacre.
He knew very well that Tanaka hadn't spared him out of mercy or because of Hizashi's pleas. Rather, a living main house head was far more useful to Tanaka in taking full control and ruling over the Hyūga clan than a dead one.
Keeping him alive was a constant reminder to every Hyūga clan member of the suffering they had endured under the Caged Bird.
A legitimate coup.
Fueling hatred.
Establishing an image of magnanimity, benevolence, and deep emotional bonds.
And all Tanaka had to pay for this was a few bowls of rice a day to let his former clan leader live out his days.
As Hiashi was still lost in his thoughts, Tanaka suddenly drew a ninja blade and slashed through the air more than a dozen times.
Slash!
In the flickering light of the blade, Hiashi was instantly pulled out of his agony—the pain of witnessing his clan's massacre and his own helpless downfall. He then felt faint stabs of pain throughout his body, but the sensation disappeared almost immediately.
As if the pain had been nothing but an illusion.
"What did you do to me?!"
His expression changed drastically. He checked his limbs, found his body intact, and let out a sigh of relief before glaring at Tanaka with fury.
Tanaka ignored the question.
"What did you just do to me?!"
Hiashi clenched his fists tightly, his teeth grinding audibly.
"Those slashes were nothing much. I simply severed all your chakra pathways," Tanaka spoke casually.
"What?!" Hiashi's face changed drastically.
He immediately tried to activate his Byakugan, but the moment he attempted to circulate chakra, pain erupted throughout his body.
"Ahhh!"
The sudden, piercing agony rendered him unable to activate his Byakugan. Instead, he collapsed to his knees before Tanaka, writhing in pain.
Tanaka looked down at him without a shred of pity.
If he hadn't awakened the memories of his past life, if he hadn't activated the Dimensional Gate, if he hadn't seized the Op-Op Fruit from Doflamingo—then the one kneeling here in anguish wouldn't be Hiashi, but him.
"ROOM · Amputate."
Before Hiashi could recover from the pain of having his chakra pathways severed, Tanaka raised his hand and struck at his face with an invisible force.
Hiashi, still kneeling in agony, suddenly felt his vision go black. In the next moment, he had the distinct sensation that something had been forcefully torn from his eye sockets.
"My Byakugan!" Hiashi cried out in horror.
Yes.
Tanaka had used the power of the Op-Op Fruit to extract his Byakugan from his eyes—without even touching him.
"You… You promised Hizashi. Are you… going back on your word?"
Hiashi's hands and feet turned ice-cold. His once-proud demeanor as the former clan leader had vanished. Now, having lost his eyes and had his chakra pathways severed, he resembled a drowning man, panicked and desperate.
Because he remembered what had happened to the other members of the main house who had died before him. Every single one of them had their Byakugan personally gouged out by Tanaka.
If he had died fighting on the night of the clan's destruction, he could have accepted his fate with dignity. But after enduring so much over the past few days—having his strength, status, and willpower shattered—he was already broken.
I can't die like this. I am the main house's only hope.
The legacy of the main house cannot end with me.
That was what Hiashi feared the most.
He feared death, but even more than that, he feared facing his ancestors in the afterlife—seeing the former clan leaders, elders, and members, knowing he would be condemned as a disgrace.
The dream of restoring the main house's former glory was no longer realistic.
So he no longer dared to hope for that. His only remaining goal was to stay alive—to ensure the lineage of the main house did not end with him.
That was why, despite everything he had suffered, he had not chosen to take his own life.
Of course, not every Hyūga had the courage of Hizashi to choose death.
"Don't worry. I promised Hizashi-sensei that I would let you live out your days."
"But I'll be taking your Byakugan as compensation for the Caged Bird you engraved on me a few days ago."
After saying this, Tanaka didn't forget to use the Op-Op Fruit's power to attach a Caged Bird—sliced from a branch house member—onto Hiashi's forehead.
After finishing this, he glanced over at Tokuma.
The latter understood immediately. He stood up and escorted Hiashi away.
Watching his pitiful, broken figure disappear from view, Tanaka finally withdrew his gaze.
Kill him?
Of course not.
Letting Hiashi live out his days like this—it had been his plan from the very beginning.
