The moment Mitsuhiko saw the massive monster, he instantly realized the situation had turned dire.
He had a clear understanding of his own strength. Dealing with minor yōkai was manageable, and even groups of lower-class monsters could be handled with caution. But an existence whose aura and demonic energy screamed "upper-class yōkai" or higher—such an entity was something even the elite exorcists of the Bureau would struggle to face. Even if Master Keimei himself came, survival would depend on luck alone.
Meanwhile, within the trio of young Onmyōji, Shunta and Kaito trembled as they stared at the colossal figure near the shrine. The two were the weakest among them.
The only reason they could still stand before such a being—whose power rivaled that of high-ranked yōkai—was not because of courage, but because their bodies had been completely bound by spider silk, rendering them unable to move.
Only Hanakaiin Kaede remained unbound.
Any spider silk that approached him would disintegrate into ash upon contact with the thin barrier of light surrounding his body. However, Kaede himself appeared strange—his eyes vacant, as if he had lost all awareness, staring blankly toward the Tsuchigumo.
Perched atop the shrine's ruins, the Earth Spider took note of the boy unaffected by its web.
"Oh? A barrier capable of dissolving my threads? Interesting~ how interesting~." The massive demonic face twisted into a mocking grin. Then, ignoring the dozen meters of distance between them, it suddenly hurled a punch straight toward Kaede. "But I hope that's not just a bluff."
Facing a fist three or four times larger than his own body, Kaede stood motionless, blankly watching as it rushed toward him.
Everyone present held their breath in that instant.
Though this was merely a casual strike, the violent gust it produced as it tore through the air was enough to reveal the terrifying power contained within.
Boom...
In less than a blink, a deafening impact shook the ground, dust billowing into the air where Kaede had stood. In the eyes of the immobilized Onmyōji, the entire black-and-white Demon Domain trembled violently, fractures spreading across the ground like spiderwebs.
Under such an attack, Kaede's survival seemed impossible.
Yet none of them had time to grieve—for bound as they were, they too faced certain death.
However, what happened next was something none of them could have anticipated.
When the dust cleared, a massive barrier formed of intricate patterns stood between Kaede and the Tsuchigumo's fist. The barrier rotated in midair before transforming into a mandala-shaped flower.
"It actually blocked it?"
Even the Earth Spider froze in disbelief—and the Onmyōji were utterly dumbfounded by what they saw.
But that was only the beginning.
Kaede quietly raised his left hand and covered half his face. Through the gaps between his fingers, golden eyes shone brilliantly, blazing with an otherworldly light.
Only the Tsuchigumo noticed the change in the boy's eyes—and the moment it met that gaze, an instinctive shudder ran through its soul.
Even when it had once faced Bishamonten, it had never felt such fear.
What is this...? I am the mighty Earth Spider—how could I feel fear?
Confusion and terror twisted into unrestrained fury.
The muscles along its enormous arm bulged grotesquely as it gathered even more demonic energy, hardening its fist severalfold. With a roar, it retracted its arm and struck again.
This time, the shockwave rippled across the entire Demon Domain. The black-and-white world groaned as cracks spread across its edges, threatening to shatter entirely.
Yet Kaede remained still, his gaze calm and indifferent.
So this is it... just a piece of trash after all.
The cold golden eyes seemed to whisper silently, conveying their meaning without a single word.
And that was precisely what infuriated the arrogant Earth Spider so much.
Even Bishamonten himself could not completely subdue it, yet this mere human dared to look at it with such disdainful eyes?
However, as the Earth Spider's massive punch came crashing down, the mandala flower formed from Kaede's barrier bloomed fully. Its core faced directly toward the incoming strike—and then, from its center, a colossal beam of light erupted.
Before the demon could even react, that radiant cannon pierced clean through its arm—the same arm that could once withstand a blow from Bishamonten's divine weapon.
But the destruction did not end there.
Along the gaping hole in its arm, cracks began to spread, arcs of lightning crackling outward as the damage crawled up toward its shoulder—the attack seemed endless, devouring everything in its path.
"This power... it continues to destroy me, even through the wound itself? Until my body is reduced to nothing?"
Such power—how could it possibly exist within a human being?
Without stopping to think, the Earth Spider roared and reached out with both hands, violently tearing off its damaged arm. Then, with terrifying strength, it hurled the still-exploding limb straight toward Kaede.
For ordinary yōkai, such an injury would be catastrophic—but for a spider-like being, losing a limb was nothing unusual.
In response, the enormous mandala before Kaede unleashed a sharp blade of light from its center, slicing the incoming arm cleanly in two. Kaede's figure slipped through the gap between the severed halves unharmed.
The next moment, he was met with a vast net of gleaming spider silk, stretching across the air like an all-encompassing snare.
The mandala instantly shifted shape, transforming back into a barrier that deflected every thread of webbing.
At that very instant, from behind Kaede, the gigantic Earth Spider erupted from beneath the ground, its many eyes narrowing in cold satisfaction as it looked upon him.
"So that's it... you can only choose to attack or defend, not both at once. Now you're defenseless, aren't you?!"
Believing it had finally discovered his weakness, the Earth Spider lifted its remaining three pairs of arms and slammed them all down toward Kaede in unison.
Yet none of those watching noticed that something was rapidly descending from the heavens above.
Just as the monster's massive fists were about to crush Kaede's shimmering barrier, a thunderous whistling roar tore through the air.
Before anyone could react, a blazing object—like a falling comet—plunged from the sky and struck the ground where the Earth Spider had stood.
BOOOOM——!
The deafening explosion shattered the silence. A shockwave burst outward, obliterating everything in its path. The Demon Domain itself, unable to withstand such overwhelming force, fractured and collapsed entirely.
The ground quaked violently, mountains trembling as torrents of dust and debris surged outward.
The immense force swept through the area, cutting through every thread of spider silk that bound the Onmyōji—yet, miraculously, not a single person was harmed.
Even so, the exorcists were too stunned to care about their newfound freedom. Though battered and covered in dust, every one of them stared blankly toward the epicenter of the explosion.
As the smoke finally cleared under the pale moonlight, a lone figure came into view.
A woman stood upon the motionless, massive body of the Earth Spider—draped in an alluring black kimono, her long dark hair cascading down her back, golden eyes gleaming coldly in the moon's glow.
Her indifferent gaze swept across the surroundings before falling upon the slain monster beneath her feet.
"What? So the so-called god... was nothing more than trash after all?"
Beneath her, the once-mighty Earth Spider's body lay twisted and limp, its form grotesquely contorted in death.
The upper-class yōkai—the powerful Earth Spider—had been slain outright by this mysterious woman's single, merciless strike.
Realizing this, every Onmyōji present swallowed hard, the sound of their throats echoing in the stunned silence.
Had they not witnessed it with their own eyes, none of the Onmyōji present would have believed such a thing possible.
No— even having seen it firsthand, they still found it hard to believe.
A high-class yōkai was a being capable of destroying cities and kingdoms in the blink of an eye. And this Earth Spider had once even been worshiped as a god—one of the rare few capable of manifesting a Demon Domain.
Though the domain didn't appear to alter the surroundings much, in truth, it shared the same properties as a Divine Domain. Anyone below a certain level of power could not even exercise their abilities within it. That was why, once the Onmyōji had been entangled by the spider silk, they had been utterly helpless.
They couldn't draw upon their spiritual power, and their physical strength alone was nowhere near enough to break through those threads—tens of times tougher than steel.
If not for Kaede's miraculous awakening and the sudden arrival of that mysterious woman—who had descended like a celestial being—they would have all perished here today.
Kaede, being the closest to the Earth Spider's corpse, had already regained clarity in his eyes. It seemed he had no memory of what had just transpired.
But the figure standing nonchalantly atop the monster's corpse left an indelible impression upon every young Onmyōji present.
"Satsuki... the shrine maiden?"
"That miko is that strong?"
"But the miko I've heard of—none of them could possibly crush a high-class yōkai underfoot!"
The sheer impact of what they had witnessed sent waves of shock through their hearts. Even after being freed from the Demon Domain's restraints, they only now realized their backs were drenched in cold sweat.
It wasn't until a cool breeze swept past, the chill crawling up their spines, that they finally returned to reality.
"If I hadn't come, I'd probably be attending your memorial services tomorrow morning. And honestly, that sounds far too troublesome. I'd rather prevent that from happening."
Satsuki stepped gracefully down from the Earth Spider's massive corpse. As she walked, strands of green and golden light spread like a web across the monster's body, gradually enveloping it entirely.
Crackle... crackle...
Finally, amid a series of sharp, crackling bursts, the creature's enormous form was dissected into countless fragments. Even those fragments were not spared—tiny destructive motes continued breaking them down into dust.
—"Though it cannot yet be incorporated into the framework of Vipralopa, this 'perpetual' variant of demonic energy does have certain noteworthy traits in terms of its damage type. However, its raw destructive power is rather average."
Satsuki lightly touched the Yasakani no Magatama embedded at her kimono's chest. Though the artifact wasn't particularly strong by itself, it was an excellent vessel for containing power.
Fortunately, the combination of her Status Infusion and Energy Control authorities complemented its function perfectly. The power she had extracted from Sesshōmaru's body now resided within this magatama.
Having used that strange energy for the first time, Satsuki quickly assessed its nature.
Its most distinctive property was this: anything damaged by it could never recover. The destruction was continuous and eternal, persisting until the target's complete annihilation.
For beings capable of infinite regeneration—those without the concept of death—it served as the perfect countermeasure.
Take, for example, Hassan-i Sabbāh from the Fate world.
That man had survived countless fatal strikes from her before, even when torn apart or hit by instant-death attacks. He could still function, because he was death itself.
But had her attack carried this 'perpetual' attribute back then, the result would have been vastly different.
Still, in terms of pure destructive output, the energy was somewhat lacking.
"The next step," Satsuki murmured, "is figuring out how to integrate this property into my other powers."
...
Around her, the gathered Onmyōji slowly began to approach.
Though the sight of the Earth Spider's disintegration was astonishing, it hardly compared to the image of Satsuki descending from the heavens and crushing the creature to death. After that, nothing seemed surprising anymore.
Leading the group, Mitsuhiko—their captain—stepped forward. Struggling to suppress the tremor in his voice, he bowed deeply to Satsuki.
"My lady... thank you for saving our lives."
The other Onmyōji soon gathered as well, bowing low before Satsuki. Their reverence nearly reached the level of a full prostration reserved for deities.
But to Satsuki, the awe of the weak held no interest.
"It was just a trash yōkai," she said flatly. "Nothing worth mentioning."
A trash yōkai...
Hearing this serene yet dismissive remark, the bowed Onmyōji could only smile bitterly. None dared to refute her.
The being that had utterly overwhelmed them—a high-class yōkai beyond their power to resist—was, in her eyes, nothing more than refuse.
If that monster was considered "trash," then what did that make them? Less than trash? Pickled vegetables, perhaps?
Satsuki paid no attention to their internal turmoil. She merely approached Kaede and gave his shoulder a light, almost imperceptible pat.
"You did well just now," she said. "You have potential."
"Indeed, Kaede," said Mitsuhiko, smiling despite the lingering shock. "You really surprised Kaito and me."
Several other Onmyōji following behind Hikaru stepped forward as well, nodding in agreement. "Truly worthy of the Hanakaiin family name. To wield such powerful onmyō arts at your age... you'll surely become a great Onmyōji someday."
The young trainee blinked in confusion at the sudden praise from both the beautiful shrine maiden and his seniors.
Ever since the giant Earth Spider had appeared, his memories were fragmented—he couldn't recall anything that had happened afterward. The last thing he remembered was the creature's overwhelming presence. Then, when he came to, Satsuki had already descended from the heavens.
He had no idea what he'd done to deserve such admiration—or why everyone was treating him like a hero.
"Ah... no, not at all..." he stammered awkwardly.
Of course, all of this was precisely within Satsuki's plan.
During their earlier meeting at the shrine, she had subtly placed a control seal upon him.
Unlike her earlier, simpler control methods, this new version carried multiple integrated functions—energy transfer, spatial positioning, and reverse summoning among them.
It was this control seal that had allowed Kaede to unleash such tremendous power moments ago. Unfortunately, the boy's foundation was still far too weak; he couldn't contain much of her energy.
Thus, once Satsuki had completed the divine record and spiral-seal node at the statue of Ukanomitama, she activated the seal and transferred herself directly to his location.
Everything that followed—the spectacle witnessed by the Onmyōji—had been the result of that activation.
Satsuki's particular interest in this case stemmed from what her Tenseigan had observed earlier on Kurotsuchi Takeshi: the unique curse energy entwined around his body.
It was a distorted power—somewhere between divine energy and demonic energy—containing fluctuations of both. At first, Satsuki had thought this meant a much larger threat was involved.
But the result had been disappointing.
It was nothing more than a lowly trash yōkai.
Still, that was hardly surprising. After all, Takamagahara—the Plain of High Heavens—was said to house eight million gods. It was only natural that not every one of them possessed world-shattering might.
Most so-called deities were no stronger than ordinary yōkai. Even among the Three Precious Children, their full power in this world likely wouldn't surpass that of the greatest demons by much.
Judging by Satsuki's ever-expanding experience and her growing insight, the so-called gods of this world were, to her, little more than fodder.
The "Eight Million Gods" were nothing but eight million pieces of ants.