Chapter 145: Birth and Fissure
Rumble...
The sounds of battle echoed endlessly through the ruins of Nijō Castle.
Shōko and Hagoromo Gitsune clashed again and again, divine power and demonic energy colliding in violent waves. Each impact shook the air and sent cracks crawling across what remained of the main palace.
Tsuchimikado Arima, Kurahashi Genji, Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi, and the others wanted to assist.
But the remaining Great Yokai held them down tightly.
With Twenty-Seven Faced Senju Hyakusoku already destroyed and Kidōji severely wounded, the positions of Onmyoji and Yokai had completely reversed. The Onmyoji had taken the offensive, while the Yokai could only struggle to buy time.
Even so, a battle at Shōko and Hagoromo Gitsune's level was not something most of them could easily interfere with.
If they rushed in carelessly, they might not help at all.
They might only become a burden.
"Divine Art: Divine Wheel Slaughter."
Shōko once again unleashed the Divine Art she had used against Tsuchigumo.
Two wheels of light appeared, one like the blazing sun, the other like the cold moon. Both radiated a majestic, holy aura.
One shot toward Hagoromo Gitsune with lightning speed.
The other followed close behind, but its trajectory deviated slightly.
Its target was not Hagoromo Gitsune.
It was the massive, eerie black infant gestating Nue.
"Shōko, don't even think about it!"
Hagoromo Gitsune poured demonic power into the iron fan in her hand.
Then she swept it lightly.
A colossal half-moon slash tore from the ground floor to the third floor, carrying an unstoppable force that seemed capable of shattering every obstacle in its path.
Boom!
The violent explosion thundered through the palace.
Hagoromo Gitsune's slash obliterated Shōko's Divine Wheel Slaughter.
From that alone, it was clear that in some aspects of combat, Hagoromo Gitsune was far more troublesome than a massive berserker like Tsuchigumo.
Of course, Shōko had already fought several high-intensity battles in succession. Her own power had been greatly depleted.
Even then, a smile appeared at the corner of Shōko's mouth.
"Lady Hagoromo Gitsune, you have been tricked."
An ominous premonition rose in Hagoromo Gitsune's heart.
She hurriedly looked back at the thing she was protecting.
"No!"
Her expression changed drastically.
The other Great Yokai reacted the same way, but it was already too late to intercept.
At some point, perhaps during the collision of those two attacks just now, or perhaps even earlier, a petite Onmyoji had hidden from the eyes of every Yokai and reached the massive, eerie black infant gestating Nue.
A shimmering talisman was held between her fingers.
Standing behind her was the Thirteenth Generation Keikain Hidemoto.
The girl was none other than Keikain Yūra, the current-generation Onmyoji capable of using the Keikain Clan's supreme shikigami, Hagun.
"Disperse, hundred demons! Expel calamity!"
Yūra's voice rang out across the broken palace.
"God of the East Sea! God of the South Sea! God of the West Sea! God of the North Sea! Great Deities of the Four Seas!"
"Repel the thousand demons! Eliminate disaster!"
"Swiftly, according to the laws and ordinances!"
"Hagun!"
The incantation was similar to the Ghost-Averting and Evil-Dispelling Incantation, using the power of the Four Sea Deities as its focal point.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Dozens of dense pillars of spiritual energy rose into the sky from around Yūra.
Figures emerged from within those pillars.
They were skeletons clad in white Onmyoji kariginu.
Yet the spiritual power contained within each of them was no weaker than that of a National Level Onmyoji. In fact, most far surpassed that limit.
They were the past heads of the Keikain Clan.
The Keikain Clan's shikigami, Hagun, was a secret technique that gathered the spiritual power of its past heads, all of whom bore the name Keikain Hidemoto, and concentrated that power upon the caster without side effects.
In a certain sense, it had long since surpassed the ordinary concept of a shikigami.
The longer the Keikain Clan's history became, the more terrifying Hagun's power grew.
This was one of the deepest foundations of the Keikain Clan.
"Although he stole quite a bit of that man's wisdom, being able to pass this technique down to the present proves Ashiya Dōman truly cannot be underestimated."
As Shōko did her best to block Hagoromo Gitsune's offensive, her gaze briefly fell upon the summoned past heads of the Keikain Clan.
The creator of this shikigami, or rather this secret art, had been the ancestor of the Keikain Clan.
Ashiya Dōman.
The Great Onmyoji second only to that man in history.
"The Keikain Clan's strongest shikigami, Hagun..."
Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi looked up at the figures of the past Keikain heads gathering in the sky.
"It is very similar to the effect produced when that lord used Hokuto."
The others nodded in agreement.
Indeed.
During the battle at Shinomiya Manor, that lord had summoned the guardian beast the Tsuchimikado Clan had raised for a thousand years, Hokuto, and possessed its power, obtaining the immense spiritual energy it had accumulated across a millennium.
Hagun was different in nature, but the result carried a clear resemblance.
At the same time, Keikain Yūra knew time was short.
She could not leave Hagoromo Gitsune or the other Great Yokai any opportunity to interfere.
She immediately drew another talisman and began chanting the Onmyō Art used exclusively through Hagun's power.
"Grihna, grihna, hum, trishnena, bhayamana, svaha, grihna, paya, hum, anaya..."
Her voice became solemn.
"I humbly request your descent, all gods and true immortals!"
"Slay ten million demons!"
"Expel ghosts and extend our years!"
"Sangha! Purify the body! Barrier! Yin and Yang! Break all obstacles! Purity! Illusion!"
"Bishamon-katen!"
"All Demons Subdued!"
As Yūra chanted, the talisman in her hand transformed into a hideous skull.
Within the skull's open mouth, gathered spiritual energy continuously brewed, compressing into a terrifying beam.
The pressure it released had already far exceeded the level of a National Level Onmyō Art.
It had climbed directly to the realm of a Great Onmyō Art.
Just thinking about it was enough to shock anyone.
A young girl who was not even a National Level Onmyoji was performing a Great Onmyō Art with the support of Hagun.
It was nearly impossible to believe.
"No..."
Hagoromo Gitsune's hoarse scream tore through the battlefield.
A thunderous pillar of light blasted toward the massive black infant gestating Nue.
It carried enough power to pierce through everything.
It was meant to kill Nue completely before he could be born.
"It's over."
Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi, Kurahashi Genji, Keikain Hidemoto, and the others showed the joy of approaching victory.
But in the next instant, their expressions froze.
Clatter!
More than a dozen heavy chains appeared from nowhere.
They radiated a dense aura of the Underworld and a ghostly dreamlike atmosphere, wrapping completely around the enormous black infant gestating Nue.
Facing Keikain Yūra's attack, a strike that gathered the spiritual power of the past heads of the Keikain Clan and possessed power comparable to a Great Onmyō Art, those chains blocked it directly.
Not only that.
They began devouring the spiritual power contained within the pillar of light.
Bit by bit, the attack was swallowed.
Until it dissipated completely.
"How can this be...?"
Keikain Yūra collapsed weakly to the ground.
The past heads of the Keikain Clan surrounding her disappeared one by one as her spiritual power was exhausted.
Only the Thirteenth Generation Keikain Hidemoto remained beside her.
"This dense aura of the Underworld..."
The Thirteenth Generation Hidemoto's expression turned grim as he stared at the chains that had blocked the attack.
"These are the methods of the Onigami of the Underworld."
"It has already been unsealed to this extent."
The moment Shōko saw the chains appear, her face also turned extremely ugly.
She understood exactly what it meant for the Onigami of the Underworld to be able to interfere in the human world.
She had originally believed that even if Nue wanted to completely undo the Underworld Shackles, it would still take some time.
She had not expected this moment to arrive so quickly.
"I slightly underestimated this fake."
Tsuchimikado Arima, Kurahashi Genji, Keikain Hidemoto, and the other Onmyoji also wore grave expressions.
The Underworld had been unsealed.
This sudden news weighed on their hearts even more heavily than the destruction of Kyoto's Spiral Seal.
And in that short interval, something even worse occurred.
Crack.
Crack.
Before the excited gazes of the Great Yokai and the grim stares of the Onmyoji, the enormous, eerie black infant gestating Nue began to shatter.
The chains from the Underworld that had wrapped around it slowly unraveled.
Countless black fragments broke off and scattered.
The dark, ominous aura surged to its peak.
It struck every Onmyoji in Nijō Castle like a heavy hammer, causing their spiritual power to fluctuate violently.
Rumble!
At that moment, the entire main hall finally reached its limit.
With a deafening roar, it collapsed.
Dust and smoke billowed into the air.
"This is bad..."
After avoiding the aftershocks of the collapse, Miyoshi Tōgo, Otomo Jin, and the other Onmyoji stared in horror at the figure slowly rising beneath the gray sky.
The face was faintly familiar.
But the dark, eerie aura emanating from him felt completely alien.
"Is that Nue?"
"The dark side of the Great Onmyoji Abe no Seimei..."
"He really does look very similar to that lord."
"...Indeed."
"Nue has been born after all."
"It seems we must prepare for a fight to the death."
Many high-ranking members of Onmyōdō exchanged glances.
The worst-case scenario had occurred.
All of them silently prepared themselves for a desperate battle.
"Lord Seimei..."
The heavily injured Kidōji looked excitedly at the figure in the sky.
Their thousand-year wish had finally been realized.
The other Yokai knelt on the ground one after another, welcoming the descent of their master.
"Kyoto is as filthy as ever."
The newly born Nue, whose face looked almost identical to Gin Tsumugi's, looked around from the sky with arrogance and dissatisfaction.
"It seems cleaning it up will take some effort."
Then he spoke one word.
"Disperse."
The colossal tornado of Yin energy scattered at once.
The terrifying scene startled countless Onmyoji.
Such power from Word Spirit Technique alone was difficult to imagine without seeing it with one's own eyes.
"Seimei..."
Hagoromo Gitsune gazed at the newly born Nue with excitement.
Her eyes were filled with endless longing and love.
This was the child she had spent a thousand years trying to bring into the world.
Her only child.
Just as Hagoromo Gitsune excitedly moved forward to embrace him, Shōko stopped her.
"Shōko, you..."
Hagoromo Gitsune looked at Shōko in dissatisfaction.
But Shōko's gaze remained fixed warily on Nue.
"Lady Hagoromo Gitsune, you must not act rashly this time."
Her voice was cold.
"He has never considered you his mother."
"What nonsense are you saying?"
Hagoromo Gitsune frowned.
Then, to her shock, she realized that Nue's gaze toward her was completely cold.
It was nothing like what she had imagined.
"Mother. Shōko."
Nue merely glanced at the two of them.
When his gaze passed over Shōko, a trace of hatred flickered in his eyes.
Then he pointed a finger downward.
"Open."
Terrifying seismic waves erupted.
Both Onmyoji and Yokai struggled to keep their footing.
The ancient buildings of Nijō Castle collapsed one after another in the tremors. Massive stones rolled down from high places. Then the entire castle grounds split apart.
A rift like an abyss tore through Nijō Castle.
Dense Yin energy and the aura of the Underworld poured out from within.
"Is that... a passage to the Underworld?"
Otomo Jin's expression changed.
"What is he trying to do?"
Inside the rift, pairs of blood-red eyes stared greedily at the human world.
Figures filled with bloodlust clawed upward, trying to climb out.
But just as they were about to touch the outside world, they were stopped by an invisible barrier.
"Mother. Shōko."
Nue looked down at them with cold indifference.
"Become sacrifices to fully open the Underworld."
His tone carried no mercy at all.
"With your two bloodlines as catalysts, the shackles of the Underworld will surely be completely undone."
"Seimei..."
Hagoromo Gitsune stared at Nue in disbelief.
"What are you saying?"
For a moment, she instinctively thought she had misheard him.
"Lady Hagoromo Gitsune."
Shōko's eyes were icy as she stared at Nue.
"I told you long ago."
"He is only a fake."
Just then, Underworld creatures began breaking through the barrier inside the rift and appearing in the human world.
They slaughtered both Yokai and Onmyoji with bloodthirsty frenzy.
Although these were only low-level creatures and did not pose too great a danger by themselves, many Onmyoji could clearly sense several Onigami within the abyssal rift.
Their strength was no less than that of Great Yokai.
They were constantly slamming against the invisible barrier.
If the barrier and shackles between the Underworld and the human world were completely broken, the human world would likely become a hunting ground for the creatures of the Underworld.
Several high-ranking members of Onmyōdō gritted their teeth, preparing to sacrifice themselves by rushing into the rift to reinforce the barrier.
Then, a cold and unquestionable voice rang in everyone's ears.
"If you dare appear in the human world, I do not mind repeating the great war from a thousand years ago and sending every last one of you back into the depths of the Underworld."
....
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