Pffft~
A spurt of crimson blood burst from the Great Dog General Tōga's mouth, soon swallowed by the heavy snowfall blanketing the battlefield.
Steam, like waves of heat, radiated from his entire body. His vision blurred—this was the first time in centuries that Tōga had felt such weakness.
He tried to channel his demonic energy into the sword in his hand—Sō'unga.
But to his shock, he found that the vast reservoir of yōki that had always surged within him could no longer be moved.
No—rather than being unable to move it, he realized it had simply run out. Like a lamp whose oil had been spent, he no longer had a drop of power left.
"...Has all my yōki been extinguished? I knew those bastards were strong, but I didn't think our first real clash would end like this."
He quickly realized that the final blinding white light that had filled the heavens and earth not only tore apart the Meidō, but also burned away his very essence in reverse—turning his power to fuel for its destruction. The process had not only evaporated his demonic energy but also devastated his body beyond repair.
"No wonder you're known as the strongest yōkai of the West. Even after such a wound, you still haven't fallen... You truly are worth turning into data."
The voice—weak yet filled with taunting amusement—drifted through the void before him. From the air, the small form of Lana appeared. Her slit-like blue pupils glimmered faintly as they fell upon the weakened Tōga. In her hand floated a black magatama.
It was the symbol of the Lunar Palace—the black magatama.
The magatama spun idly in her hand, then, with a flick of her wrist, transformed into a streak of light that struck the crescent moon marking on Tōga's forehead.
Too drained to react, Tōga's eyes widened before his entire body stiffened and collapsed motionless into the snow.
Lana extended her hand, controlling Tōga's unconscious form as it levitated beside her. She then glanced toward the blazing ruins of the fortress behind them. Within the inferno, a human woman wrapped in a crimson Fire-Rat Robe fled through a secret tunnel, clutching a half-demon infant in her arms.
"...Just in time."
She murmured to herself softly, then reached toward the three swords lying beside Tōga's fallen body.
But before she could touch them, Tenseiga suddenly flared with blinding light. The sword quivered violently, radiating waves of pure spiritual energy.
Lana's hand paused midair. "Such loyalty... Since you refuse to change masters, then so be it."
At her words, Tenseiga let out a faint hum. It rose from Tōga's side, transformed into a streak of light, and shot into the sky, vanishing into the clouds beyond Lana's sight.
Of the Great Dog General's three swords, Tenseiga was the one she found most interesting.
After all, a weapon capable of slaying spirits and resurrecting the dead was exceptionally convenient—and potentially useful in expanding Lana's authority over this world.
As for the other two—Sō'unga, the blade of destruction, and Tessaiga, the blade of slaughter—they were, in her eyes, far less important.
At the end of the day, they were merely extensions of what swords were meant to do—kill and destroy. Hardly revolutionary.
"Still, the Yama King might find Sō'unga quite intriguing," she said faintly, retrieving the blade now stripped of its ancient curse.
Her gaze then turned to Tessaiga, now dulled and corroded without the power of its master—a rusted fang rather than a weapon.
Examining it closely, Lana wrinkled her nose. "A sword made from a fang? It just feels... sticky. I wouldn't want to touch it."
The weapon's brutish design—massive, inelegant, and crude—completely clashed with her sense of aesthetics.
With equal disdain, she lifted it telekinetically. The barrier that once repelled yōkai meant nothing to her, and with a flick, she sent it flying along the same path Tenseiga had taken moments ago.
Once she was done, a rippling distortion appeared beside her—a rift in time and space.
Without hesitation, Lana guided the paralyzed body of Tōga into the portal, stepping through it herself. The two vanished together into the swirling void.
...
At that same moment, Satsuki received a report through the Divine Wheel.
—"My lord, the retrieval of the Great Dog General is complete."
"Well done. Proceed with the plan as scheduled."
—"Understood."
...
Meanwhile, outside the Katori Shrine...
From one corner of the shrine, a handsome red-haired youth with crimson wings burst forth.
Countless lightning bolts crackled along the layers of protective barriers guarding the sacred grounds. Yet under the golden-red flames coiling around the youth's body, those barriers might as well have been curtains of paper—shattered instantly upon contact.
Even the sacred arrows of the shrine maidens, imbued with purifying power and lethal to yōkai, proved useless before him. Each arrow disintegrated before reaching his skin, leaving only sparks drifting in the wind.
"Damn you—put down the Shikon Jewel!"
From behind him, a towering figure wielding a golden axe shaped like a dragon's head leapt into the air, blocking the red-haired youth's path.
"Zan'ki, even after suffering such a miserable defeat, you and your master still haven't given up?"
The red-haired youth—none other than the Wheel Yama King, En'ō—smirked, casually holding the Shikon Jewel in one hand as his fiery eyes swept over the imposing demon before him.
"Hmph. Last time, this great me just hadn't had enough rest. This time, I'll finish you off with ease."
Having assumed his oni god form, Zan'ki's power had now risen to the level of an Upper-Class Yōkai. Empowered by the golden dragon's amplification, his strength reached the threshold of a true Great Yōkai.
With a roar, Zan'ki swung the golden axe downward with all his might.
Yet the next instant, the shining golden blade was caught effortlessly in En'ō's palm. With a light push, an overwhelming shockwave of power surged through the weapon, rebounding straight into Zan'ki's body.
Boom—!
The impact sent the oni crashing into the ground, smashing a massive crater several meters deep into the stone floor.
"Damn it..."
From the pit came the familiar groan—the universal line of every defeated anime character who refuses to stay down.
And as always, it came hand in hand with that classic combination: a tragic lack of awareness regarding the gap in strength... and the immortal cockroach's refusal to die.
To be fair, even in his Oni God form, Zan'ki's actual combat ability was far from impressive.
However, anyone who dared to call himself the "Strongest Oni God" had to have a few tricks up his sleeve—namely, the convenient support of his partners, Kōki and the sorcerer En no Ozunu.
From within the shrine came the voice of the sorcerer chanting his spell.
"Super Oni Divine Power · Vajura Mahar Samskara...!"
As En no Ozunu's voice echoed, Kōki, standing beside him, knelt and began his own incantation.
—"Five Elements Divine Power · Summoning!"
The two chants merged into a single resonance. Twin torrents of energy surged forth, converging upon the gem embedded in Zan'ki's forehead.
"AAAHHHHHHHHH!"
A thunderous roar tore from his throat as his entire body became wrapped in golden radiance.
Crimson light burst from his eyes and from the gem at his chest, while immense Vajra power erupted skyward, forming a blinding pillar that split heaven and earth.
And yet, En'ō merely yawned.
"Again with the same old 'Super Oni God Mode'? You'd think they'd stop trying after realizing it never works."
"Super Energy Fusion · Super Oni God · Zenki's Divine Advent!"
With the signature line that accompanied every transformation, Zan'ki once again ascended into his Super Oni God form, reentering the battlefield in a blaze of golden light.
High above, En'ō pressed his palm to his forehead in exasperation. "Seriously? You chant that whole line just to get your face rearranged right after—don't you find that embarrassing?"
"Lunar Palace bastard, what did you say?!"
Even though his Super Oni God form had raised his power to the pinnacle of a Great Yōkai, Zan'ki somehow found the courage to hurl his golden dragon axe toward the crimson-haired being.
"Take this! Vajra Axe · Roaring Tyrant Slash!"
The golden axe transformed into a massive dragon of radiant gold, wreathed in blazing Vajra energy as it lunged ferociously toward En'ō.
However, unlike Lana—who tended to show restraint—En'ō had no such patience. With one hand, he summoned the Crimson Lotus Shield, blocking the charging golden dragon head-on. His twin crimson wings unfurled behind him, scattering a storm of feathers that transformed into beams of annihilating red light.
The red light pierced the golden dragon in an instant, then surged onward toward the Super Oni God below.
"Great Guardian Mirror Shield!"
Just as the scarlet light was about to strike, a blue oni appeared before Zan'ki. With both hands raised, he conjured a massive barrier as clear as polished glass—a mirror-like shield of divine energy.
It was none other than Kōki, the other Oni God, equal in rank to Zan'ki himself.
But even without applying his Instant Death Authority to the attack, the sheer destructive power contained within En'ō's feathers was far beyond what beings of this world could endure.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH—!"
A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the shrine as the red light tore through Kōki's defensive barrier, riddling his body with holes like a pierced drum.
"Kōki!"
"Lord Kōki!"
In just one strike, Kōki was gravely injured. Even the sorcerer En no Ozunu was forced to emerge from within the protective array he had constructed. Only now did he realize that all his carefully prepared barriers were meaningless—if this enemy wished him dead, tearing through his defenses would take no more than a flick of the wrist.
Yet he had no choice but to appear—Kōki's life was fading fast.
"Hold on, Kōki."
Placing his hand over the gem on Kōki's chest, En no Ozunu poured his spiritual power into it in a steady stream.
Fortunately, Kōki existed only as a shikigami manifestation beside En no Ozunu. Thus, even though his physical form had been devastated, his core soul—anchored within the sorcerer's bracelet—could still be restored.
Meanwhile, the battered Zan'ki could only grit his teeth in despair. The fight had made it painfully clear: before the might of the Lunar Palace, his so-called power was utterly meaningless.
In just one exchange, his treasured weapon—the Oni God Axe—had been reduced to ash.
"How boring," En'ō muttered from above. "After our last encounter, I actually expected you might've grown stronger. But apparently, you've done nothing in all this time."
He glanced down with contempt. "One of you screams about being invincible because you can use some fancy 'Super Oni God' mode. The other has decent potential with the Five Elements, yet all he ever does is cast shields. No matter how loudly you shout, it's meaningless. If I were you, I'd have killed myself out of sheer embarrassment by now."
Zan'ki, red-faced and furious, could find no comeback. "You... you bastard!" he shouted, though his defiance rang hollow.
As the two exchanged words, a sudden streak of violet light shot upward—a Purification Arrow loosed from among the crowd of shrine maidens.
Unlike ordinary sacred arrows, this one brimmed with immense spiritual power—far beyond that of a typical miko.
However, despite its potency, it still fell short of harming En'ō. Flames burst to life around his body, forming a blazing shield that disintegrated every arrow midair.
"This spiritual power... It matches the readings of that Shrine Maiden from the database, doesn't it?"
Glancing down at the Shikon Jewel in his hand—its barrier now fractured—En'ō murmured to himself, "Hm, so the barrier linked to the jewel's seal has been broken. The Spirit King's Status Chain works beautifully. Well then, my task here is complete."
A faint smile crossed his lips. "Only having Instant Death Authority active limits what I can do anyway... How dull."
In the next instant, his entire body ignited in flames. With a flash, he vanished into the sky—leaving behind only the smoldering ruins of Katori Shrine.
"—You're not getting away!"
Seeing En'ō vanish into the sky, Zan'ki, driven by impulse rather than thought, prepared to give chase—only to be stopped by En no Ozunu's sharp command.
"Don't pursue him, Zan'ki. Right now, we are no match for the Lunar Palace. Even if you caught up, it would only lead to needless deaths."
Meanwhile, within the main hall of Katori Shrine, a young woman stepped forth, her expression grave and resolute. She held a divine bow in hand—the shrine's most sacred weapon. This was Kagura Gen Senrō, the Saiō Priestess of Katori Shrine.
Behind her, the complex sealing barrier that had kept her confined within the shrine finally dissipated, its intricate light fading into the air.
It was that very barrier which had prevented the Saiō—Katori Shrine's strongest miko—from joining the earlier battle. Yet the instant she broke the seal, she understood she had been deceived.
Not because the barrier was particularly powerful, but because the moment she dispelled it, her spiritual sight revealed that the secondary seal she had placed upon the Shikon Jewel had also been shattered.
At that same moment, the intruder—En'ō—had vanished from the scene.
That coincidence was far too precise to ignore.
"—So their true target was the Shikon Jewel. But why would a being of such power be interested in that?" she murmured to herself, brows furrowed.
As the Saiō of Katori Shrine, Kagura Gen Senrō was more familiar with the Shikon Jewel than anyone else alive. Though it was a gem containing immense spiritual energy, beings of Great Yōkai class or higher usually found it worthless—it could neither enhance their strength nor influence their spiritual state. For centuries, it had merely circulated among lesser and mid-tier demons.
Over time, protecting the jewel had become more of a high-level ritual trial for shrine maidens than a task of true importance.
But this time was different.
The people of the Lunar Palace possessed strength surpassing even that of Great Yōkai. For such entities to act personally to seize the Shikon Jewel could not have been without reason.
"Could it be... that the jewel hides some secret I've yet to uncover?" she wondered aloud.
Though the intruder had refrained from mass slaughter, it was clear that everything had been carefully planned. The timing—when most shrine maidens were absent—was deliberate.
Even more puzzling was the strange barrier that had trapped her. Not only had it severed her ability to commune with the gods, but it had also completely restricted her movements.
But the most important question of all remained unanswered:
When—exactly—had that barrier been placed?
Even as one of the strongest priestesses in existence, Kagura Gen Senrō could not fathom it.
This was, after all, a divine sanctuary—a realm of the gods. For someone to construct a barrier here without alerting the deities themselves... was nothing short of unthinkable.
—
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