Chapter 45: Departure!

Rip!

His trench coat tore. Eight iron-textured spider legs, gleaming with a chilling light, burst forth from behind Gin. Gin knelt on the ground, panting heavily, his chest heaving violently, his silver hair scattered. Coupled with the surrounding environment, he cut a somewhat eerie and supernatural figure.

What is this...

"Ah!!"

Rip!

Just as Gin was dazed, he was jolted back to reality by the agonizing wails of Vodka beside him. Turning his head, he saw the burly Vodka convulsing on the ground. Fortunately, he had survived the ordeal; as for the sound of tearing clothes just now, he had ripped them apart himself because the pain was simply unbearable.

"Mortal, be grateful. This is the power bestowed upon you by the great Tsuchigumo."

Tengu's arrogant jeers rang in his ears.

Regaining his wits, the continuous surge of power within his body told Gin that he was indeed different now. He was no longer a pure human. He was now...

A transcendent human!

A transcendent human who had accepted the power of a yokai.

Standing up, Gin remained vigilant, though he forced his body to relax.

"With power like yours, why would you take an interest in a mere mortal like me?"

"Your darkness. Your darkness is far greater than that of other humans. Someone like you would have naturally transformed into a yokai on your own a thousand years ago." Tsuchigumo paid no mind to Gin's thoughts; bestowing transcendence upon him was merely because this fellow possessed an exceptional shade of darkness.

To a yokai, darkness was equivalent to the power of divine faith or divine might for gods. The stronger the darkness, the greater the power of the yokai—such was the fundamental law of the world!

"Boom!"

Tsuchigumo suddenly stretched his body upward. His massive physique slammed against the mountain, causing the earth to shake and roll-stones to tumble.

Suddenly, Gin caught a glimpse of light; the hill was being ripped wide open directly by Tsuchigumo.

Possessing earth-elemental demonic power, Tsuchigumo had always been adept at such feats.

"Now, little ones, move your asses! It's time for the Hyakki Yagyo!"

As the last word fell, an overwhelming demonic aura, thick enough to blot out the sky, rose into the air, transforming into dark clouds that covered the earth!

Tsuchigumo's bold and heroic shout instantly echoed across the surrounding area. After a brief silence, the rising demonic energies linked together one after another, joining the demonic cloud initiated by Tsuchigumo.

One by one, yokai of various shapes and forms emerged from the forest, appearing before their eyes.

Inugami, Onna-onna, Mienyu Nyudo, Imorogami, Mizuchi, Rinbo...

Flying yokai ascended into the sky, while massive yokai occupied the most conspicuous positions.

Among them, the most striking were two eight-meter-tall red and blue ogres.

The scene before them seemed to transport one back to the Heian period, that distant era when great yokai frequently stirred up the Hyakki Yagyo, leaving a trail of wanton destruction.

Dozens of yokai looked ferocious, terrifying, and bizarre.

Cold sweat beaded on the foreheads of Gin and his companions.

So many yokai—did this fellow round up every single yokai born in the vicinity?

If they had followed Kudo Shinichi's intel and simply barged in hoping to capture a single yokai to close the case, they probably would have been torn to shreds the moment they stepped into the forest.

Suddenly, Gin felt the formidable power he had just acquired rise once more.

"Kid, join the Hyakki Yagyo with us. You're a half-yokai now, destined never to blend back into human society." Tengu flapped his wings and slowly descended, inviting Gin to join.

Naturally, Gin's response to this was...

"Vodka, keep up."

"Huh?"

Releasing a shallow aura of his "demonic power," Gin glared at Vodka, who had just climbed up and had yet to recover from the excruciating pain.

Vodka stumbled over to Gin's side in a daze. Seeing that this fellow still knew how to behave, a flash of satisfaction crossed Gin's eyes.

Fortunately, this idiot's brain wasn't completely broken yet.

"Boom!"

Tsuchigumo took a step forward, the earth reshaping beneath his steel feet into a smooth, broad avenue. Mountains shifted and green ridges overturned. Powered by the surging, interconnected demonic energy, the crowd of yokai cheered and leaped as they followed Tsuchigumo, surrounded by gloomy gales, ready to devour anyone in their path!

Chiba City.

As the seat of the Chiba Prefectural Government, blessed with an exceptional environment and proximity to Tokyo within the Tokyo metropolitan area, this city was different from other cities that had been sucked dry; it exuded an aura of vitality.

In an elegant private room, Yukinoshita Yuko gently sipped her matcha tea, her eyelids lifting slightly as she looked at her two daughters before her.

Yukinoshita Yuko, already in her forties, still possessed exquisite beauty and a graceful figure. The loose kimono could not hide her voluptuous curves, which were by no means inferior to those of her youthful daughters. On top of that, she carried a mature charm that lent her an even more alluring appeal than the two girls.

Her white-tabi-clad feet were pressed closely together—the epitome of traditional matronly etiquette.

Having just concluded a business deal, she had come to this family-owned establishment to have a frank and open conversation with her younger daughter. Seeing the silent Yukinoshita Yukino, she did not sigh inwardly as she usually did, but instead looked at her eldest daughter.

"Yukino, you explain."

Yukinoshita Yukino glanced sideways, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Mother's demeanor... wasn't she planning to continue lecturing her?

She had assumed her mother was angry about her idling away her time in Tokyo and failing to befriend scions of high society as instructed. Now, however, that didn't seem to be the case.

Ayano nodded, her expression filled with a solemnity Yukino had never seen before.

"Yukino, you must promise not to be frightened by what I'm about to tell you." Following their conversation with their mother, the two had unanimously agreed that Yukino deserved to know the truth about the world.

"Has the family gone bankrupt?" The second-youngest miss, who rarely concerned herself with family affairs, could only think of this possibility.

A vein throbbed slightly on Mrs. Yukinoshita's forehead.

Ayano's lips twitched.

Although the eldest miss of the Yukinoshita family was gradually beginning to get involved in company affairs, the true helm of the family was still this very lady. Wasn't this remark practically questioning her mother's competence?

Fortunately, the importance of the matter at hand outweighed Mrs. Yukinoshita's impulse to discipline her younger daughter.

The room grew quiet. Yukinoshita Ayano solemnly educated her younger sister about this dangerous world. The experiences sounded far too real, causing Yukinoshita Yukino to listen with a furrowed brow.

Even after her older sister stopped speaking, she remained immersed in the narrative.

With trembling lips, she looked toward her mother: "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Our family isn't influential enough to make the Superintendent-General of the Police Department play a joke on us. Those were all your sister's personal experiences."

To this day, Yukinoshita Yuko was still gripped by lingering fear.

She had been agonizingly close to being separated by death from her eldest daughter—her carefully nurtured successor.

Yukinoshita Yukino clutched her head, her delicate brows knitted tightly together.

The sheer volume of information was too much for her clever brain to process all at once.

She was not some delusional youth; she didn't harbor daydreams about monsters attacking or transforming into Kamen Rider or Ultraman in front of the entire school and her goddess/crush.

She needed a moment to process this.

Turning her head, she looked out at the distant, sparkling river, flowing quietly and serenely along with the current. Yukinoshita Yukino slowly calmed the violent beating in her chest.

Neither of them rushed her; the shock of shattering one's worldview required time to heal.

Gazing at the distant river, Yukinoshita Yukino felt completely lost inside.

So this was the real world after all...

Suddenly, her gaze was drawn to a patch of dark clouds. Those clouds were black in a way ordinary storm clouds weren't, evoking a sense of dread even from afar.

The height of this establishment was just right, offering a panoramic view of the distance.

Yukinoshita Yukino gazed out as she often did, gazing out...

"Boom!" With a sudden start, she sprang to her feet, her slender hand slamming heavily onto the table, startling the two people who were waiting for her to recover from her shattered worldview.

"What is it?"

Yukinoshita Yuko frowned slightly. Born into such a family, one should never lose composure so easily.

Yukinoshita Yukino widened her eyes and pointed straight ahead.

"Over there."

The two of them followed the direction of her finger.

"Boom!"

"That is!"