Chapter 152: Incomplete
"Defend."
A talisman activated between Gin Tsumugi's fingers.
A thin defensive barrier unfolded around him, blocking the violent whirlwind crashing down from all directions.
Even through the barrier, the storm howled like a living disaster.
Gin looked at Daitengu and sighed softly.
"Even your attacks have become this crude."
There was no mockery in his voice.
Only disappointment.
"You really are incomplete."
It was like seeing an old friend after a long separation, only to find that the other party had fallen into a state of unbearable decline.
The storm Daitengu had unleashed shattered the Ghost-Averting and Evil-Dispelling Incantation that had been continuously purifying Nue.
The incantation broke apart.
The clones surrounding Nue were destroyed along with it.
Gin's defense looked casual, almost effortless.
But from another perspective, Daitengu's seemingly unconscious strike had far surpassed the power of the previous Great Onmyō Arts.
It was not something an ordinary Great Yokai could compare to.
And this was only an incomplete Daitengu summoned through a flesh sacrifice.
If it were Daitengu at his peak, his power would be even more terrifying.
Legendary Great Yokai of this level and ordinary Great Yokai were simply not existences of the same dimension.
"Good!"
The moment the Ghost-Averting and Evil-Dispelling Incantation shattered, Nue felt as though he had survived a calamity.
He did not dare hesitate for even a second.
He only cast a sinister glance at Gin, not even daring to leave behind a threat, before immediately using Uho to flee rapidly toward the west.
Nue was not stupid.
Nor was he a fool who could not read the situation.
He naturally understood that in front of Gin Tsumugi, the true body, he had been completely suppressed from beginning to end.
The previous battle had already made the result obvious.
When the incomplete Daitengu first appeared, several thoughts had flashed through Nue's mind.
Such as whether he should join forces with Daitengu and kill Gin together.
But the moment those thoughts rose, he crushed them himself.
First, Nue had truly been frightened by Gin's beating.
The shadow of death still clung to him.
Second, Nue did not believe this incomplete Daitengu, who seemed to lack self-awareness, would make a good ally.
It was highly likely that once Daitengu achieved a certain goal, Nue would be abandoned.
Of course, it was even more likely that Gin would simply sweep them both away.
Before this, Nue might not have believed it.
But if he still clung to his old judgment now, that would be true stupidity.
"Not good. Nue is escaping."
Kurahashi Genji, Keikain Hidemoto, Tsuchimikado Arima, and the other high-ranking members of Onmyōdō watched helplessly as Nue disappeared into the gray night sky.
They were still defending against the storm unleashed by Daitengu.
They wanted to stop Nue.
Unfortunately, they lacked the strength.
If Nue escaped this time, he would undoubtedly become an enormous hidden danger to Onmyōdō and all of Japan.
Once he recovered, the supernatural incidents he could stir up might not be inferior to the Kyoto Incident.
After all, Nue possessed the strength of a Great Onmyoji.
"No matter."
Gin looked in the direction Nue had disappeared.
"He won't get away."
Since Gin had said so, the heavy stones pressing on the hearts of Kurahashi Genji, Keikain Hidemoto, Tsuchimikado Arima, and the others slowly lowered.
On the other hand, Hagoromo Gitsune, Shōko, Shōran, Ro, and Taiyin had shown no anxiety from the beginning.
Within their range of perception, a familiar presence was already lying in wait.
Nue was merely throwing himself into the net.
"Daitengu."
Gin drew a talisman from his robe and looked at the figure whose remaining sparks of sanity were gradually fading.
"Your appearance is far more useful to me than a few more Great Yokai. This is quite a pleasant surprise."
His eyes remained calm.
"Unfortunately, your loyal subordinates clearly overestimated your current state."
A pause.
"Or perhaps they underestimated my methods."
With that, Gin held the talisman between his fingers and began chanting a strange, obscure mantra.
"Om hrih strih vikrtanana hum. Sarva shatrun nashaya. Stambhaya, stambhaya. Sphata, sphata. Svaha."
His voice resonated through the storm.
"Heaven and earth are fixed. Radiance descends in majesty. Dispel the curse. Let the serpent venom reveal its form."
"The left bears three stars. The right seals three prisons. Heaven and earth overturn. The nine paths are blocked."
"I humbly invite the Heavenly Shrine to descend in brilliance."
"Tenpō. Tennai. Tendō. Tenfu. Tenkin. Tenshin. Tenshu. Tenjin. Tenei."
"Clear Yang becomes Heaven. Turbid Yin becomes Earth."
"I summon the guardian gods. Grant mercy and protection."
"Swiftly, as the laws and decrees command."
"Great Victorious Virtue Rite."
A massive dharma image shimmering with magnificent radiance was outlined in the sky.
It stood between heaven and earth like a giant.
The dharma image of Yamantaka appeared, six faces, six arms, and six legs.
The first right hand held a sword.
The second right hand held a wish-fulfilling treasure staff.
The second left hand held a wheel.
A necklace of skulls hung around its neck.
A tiger skin wrapped its waist.
Its body was wreathed in raging flames, the Fire of Great Wisdom, representing the flames that burned away the karmic afflictions of all sentient beings.
At the same time, a vast and boundless demon-subduing power spread outward, directly dispersing the surrounding Yin energy.
A hole was purified in the gray sky above Kyoto, revealing the original night beyond.
And that opening continued to expand, as though the very sky were being rewritten.
The majestic power that purified all evil even showed faint signs of suppressing the entire source of Yin energy in Kyoto.
The sight was utterly shocking.
The cultivation method centered on Yamantaka was known as the Great Victorious Virtue Rite.
It was also called the Great Victorious Virtue Wisdom King Mantra.
And it was a true Great Onmyō Art.
The Great Victorious Virtue Wisdom King was the command-wheel body of the Western Lotus Division, possessing great majestic power.
He was also known as the Vanquisher of Yama and the Six-Legged Lord.
He could sever all demonic obstacles and crush all poisonous dragons.
He was one of the Five Great Wisdom Kings, guardian of the West.
In Esoteric Buddhism, Yamantaka was one of the highest supreme deities.
Within the Garbhadhatu Mandala, this deity was located in the Hall of Mantra-Holders, to the left of Prajna Bodhisattva.
His duty was to subjugate and exorcise demons.
His six faces, six arms, and six legs represented the purification of the eighteen realms, the six sense organs, six objects, and six consciousnesses.
They also symbolized the purification of the six destinies, the fulfillment of the six perfections, and the achievement of the six supernatural powers.
The sword in his first right hand represented wisdom and subjugation.
The wish-fulfilling treasure staff and trident represented the highest symbols of destruction.
The purification power generated by this rite far exceeded the Acala Demon-Subduing Mantra and the Trailokya-Vajra Heart Mantra.
More importantly, although the Acala Demon-Subduing Mantra, Trailokya-Vajra Heart Mantra, and Fudō Myōō Fire Boundary Mantra could unleash power comparable to a Great Onmyō Art in Gin's hands, they were not true Great Onmyō Arts in essence.
The mysteries and characteristics contained within them were fundamentally different.
Otherwise, there would be no distinction between Onmyō Arts and Great Onmyō Arts in the world of Onmyōdō.
Daitengu seemed to instinctively sense the threat and discomfort brought by the enormous, radiant dharma image of Yamantaka.
His aura quietly rose.
He intended to resist it by instinct.
"I didn't expect it to be the Great Victorious Virtue Rite."
Kurahashi Genji stared in shock at the massive Yamantaka dharma image purging all evil with its magnificent radiance.
The Great Victorious Virtue Rite was not unfamiliar to the upper ranks of organizations such as the Onmyo Bureau, the Onmyo Alliance, and the Onmyō Academy.
It was one of the few Great Onmyō Arts they were capable of performing.
However, it required the combined efforts of more than a hundred people.
And in terms of momentum and power, what they could produce was far inferior to what Gin had just unleashed.
Furthermore, what they summoned was only the most basic pentagram formation.
It was nothing like the terrifying Yamantaka dharma image that appeared when Gin performed the rite.
Otherwise, when they were fighting Hagoromo Gitsune and the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, they would have simply unleashed the Great Victorious Virtue Rite and ended everything.
Why struggle so hard?
Ultimately, it was because the Great Victorious Virtue Rite they could perform was only enough to deal with ordinary Great Yokai at most.
Against Great Yokai like Hagoromo Gitsune and Tsuchigumo, it would be almost useless.
Let alone against Nue and the incomplete Daitengu before them.
As Kurahashi Genji, Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi, Tsuchimikado Arima, and the other high-ranking Onmyōdō figures sighed inwardly, the Great Victorious Virtue Rite fully activated.
The massive Yamantaka dharma image, shimmering with divine radiance, slowly rose.
The terrifying purification power contained within it spread in ripples, quietly annihilating the storm that had enveloped the area like a natural disaster.
Then all six arms moved at once.
It was as though the entire space had been pressed down.
A pillar of golden light filled with ultimate purifying power descended from the sky.
Daitengu tried to release an even more terrifying storm to resist.
But the moment the storm bloomed from his hands, the Yamantaka dharma image crushed it apart.
Before this Great Onmyō Art, which acted as the natural enemy of all evil, that storm could not endure even briefly.
Immediately afterward, the golden light enveloped Daitengu, who could neither react nor escape.
Starting from his black wings, his body began to dissipate bit by bit under the purification, visible to the naked eye.
It was as if he were being burned away.
Then his arms.
His legs.
His limbs.
Within the golden pillar of light released by the Yamantaka dharma image, that terrifying purification power was like lethal poison to any Great Yokai.
Daitengu had almost no ability to resist or defend himself.
Before everyone's eyes, he was purified cleanly.
The scene matched exactly what Nue had once suspected.
This incomplete Daitengu had no resistance before Gin.
He had been crushed.
If Nue had chosen to resist Gin alongside this incomplete Daitengu, he would likely have been purified together with him.
If it had been Daitengu at his peak, Gin might have needed to be more cautious.
Unfortunately, no matter how much power this incomplete being possessed, something lacking even self-awareness could not pose any real threat to Gin.
"You have grown even stronger, Seimei."
Suddenly, a man's voice rang in everyone's ears.
Clear.
Elegant.
And strangely familiar.
....
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