Chapter 53: The Unexpected

It grew dark.

More precisely, the sky darkened within a kilometer of the umbrella-bearing man.

A vast fissure, as though spanning heaven and earth, appeared. At first it was no wider than a line, but it grew with the wind, becoming an aerial ravine in the blink of an eye. Ominous black vapor poured from within.

A cold wind swept through. Vengeful spirits wailed.

The baleful presence gradually descended, making everyone caught within feel as if an invisible hand had seized their chest and was squeezing hard.

“What is that?” Nakano Miku cried out. Even with Minamoto no Yorimitsu in control of her body, she could feel the oppressive force radiating from the fissure.

“It’s a passage connecting to the Underworld,” Minamoto no Yorimitsu replied, her expression alert.

“According to what I’ve heard, the gods of the Underworld have left this world and haven’t arrived yet. But that man wouldn’t go to all this trouble to open a passage to the Underworld for anything good.”

The moment she heard the words “Underworld,” the girl tensed.

The Underworld!!

‘Can we stop them?’

Minamoto no Yorimitsu looked at Tsuchigumo, who was keeping watch.

“It’ll be difficult… but we’re not without a chance.”

At that moment, Jiriku, who had just captured a wolf demon, spun around and stared in shock at the fissure above Taito Ward.

“This is bad!” he cried, already flying off before the words had left his mouth. Behind him, a group of soldiers and police officers were left utterly bewildered.

The Metropolitan Police Department.

They had no idea what the fissure was, but its sheer presence was enough to tell them it couldn’t be anything good.

“The mysterious umbrella-bearer, a great demon, and now that fissure…” Even with the command room’s air conditioning turned down low, Superintendent Hakuba felt sweat beading on his forehead.

This was a scene they knew all too well. After all, one of the most famous industries in Japan was anime and gaming. The people in high places might not all play video games themselves, but surely they’d seen enough to know what they were looking at.

This sort of spectacle meant either summoning a final boss or calling in an army.

Neither option was good news for Japan.

Given Tsuchigumo’s destructive power and the umbrella-bearer’s mysterious nature, could whatever they were summoning really be some cheap knockoff? Even if they managed to stop it, the damage would likely leave the place in ruins.

Every kind of sophisticated instrument was being pressed into service, all in an attempt to glean some clue about the thing.

Superintendent Hakuba glanced at the “experts” from the various agencies, all of them staring dumbfounded at the scene. He shook his head inwardly.

He might as well hope to receive Susanoo’s blessing and become a hulking powerhouse who could beat every demon and monster in sight.

At this point, all they could do was trust that Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Jiriku could hold off this attack.

Jiriku raced to Minamoto no Yorimitsu’s side, his expression grave.

“Lady Yorimitsu, please hold off Tsuchigumo. I must invoke my temple’s sacred treasure to suppress this fissure to the Underworld.”

That was exactly what Minamoto no Yorimitsu had in mind. When Jiriku spoke first, she nodded.

“While I’m here, I won’t let Tsuchigumo interfere with you, Master.”

Jiriku immediately sat cross-legged. He raised one palm while moving his prayer beads with the other, chanting under his breath.

“Born of royal grace, at the Emperor’s command…”

A faint Buddhist radiance appeared, resisting the surrounding darkness. The sacred verses Jiriku recited took on physical form, shining with holy light as they circled around him.

In a battlefield that had fallen strangely silent, the sacred sound of Buddhist chanting stood out all the more.

The umbrella-bearer lowered his head slightly, watching with interest.

“Are you summoning the ritual implement left behind by Sensoji Temple?”

“I don’t give a damn about any of that! Chant your demon spells, little monk!”

Tsuchigumo dug in with all eight legs and sprang forward. Before he had covered even half the distance, Minamoto no Yorimitsu met him with her blade.

Inside Sensoji Temple, a jade vase offered before the statue of the Holy Kannon suddenly began to glow with a gentle Buddhist radiance. It shot into the sky and, under the astonished gaze of the monks outside, streaked toward Taito Ward like a beam of light.

The monks, who had been debating whether they should flee, were left behind.

“What was that just now?”

“That’s the main hall where the Kannon statue is enshrined… Could it be the Bodhisattva revealing her divine presence?”

At the thought, the monks immediately perked up.

They had watched the two supernatural beings in Taito Ward fight with all their might.

And the head priest, newly appointed a short while ago, was also out there vanquishing demons. If they were all from Sensoji Temple, why should he be the only one who knew the sacred arts? There had to be a reason.

The Holy Kannon Bodhisattva had surely manifested!

At once, everyone turned toward the statue of the Holy Kannon, bowed down, and began reciting prayers.

The jade vase’s beam of light streaked across the city and reached the battlefield in the blink of an eye, hovering before Jiriku.

Its body was as smooth as jade and crystal, surrounded by a gentle Buddhist radiance. It was truly a wondrous sight.

“The Pure Lapis Lazuli Vase?” The umbrella-bearer’s voice rang out in surprise from above, then turned to laughter. “So it’s a replica. Still, it’s a rare ritual implement. But do you have the strength to bear the cost of using it?”

If it had been the genuine article, it could never have appeared in this island nation. But even a replica of such an artifact was beyond Jiriku’s ability to wield at full power.

It was like some sort of self-guided weapon. The people holding them could shout all they liked about unleashing their full power and sinking a continent, but with their meager cultivation, their “full power” would barely tickle the target. The resulting reaction would be like someone brushing a hand against a sleeping person; they’d just wave it away, roll over, and go back to sleep.

Jiriku respectfully held the vase up with an open palm. For an instant, his eyes met those of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who was locked in fierce combat with Tsuchigumo.

The next moment, Buddhist light burst forth. The vase suddenly blazed and flew above Tsuchigumo. Its radiance mingled with a pure white light, transforming the battlefield into something like a wondrous realm.

Tsuchigumo suddenly felt his body grow heavy. With a crack, his eight legs sank several meters into the ground. An immense force bore down on him, pinning his head in place.

Damn it! That little bald monk’s using that thing against me!

Tsuchigumo flew into a rage. Surging demonic power blazed like fire as he wrenched his eight legs free, one by one. The force of his struggle shook the ground and split it open. The power of a great demon was truly terrifying.

Jiriku’s cultivation wasn’t enough to keep Tsuchigumo pinned, even with the vase’s full power. But there was someone else on the battlefield.

As a warrior who had made his name in the Heian era, Minamoto no Yorimitsu would never let such an opportunity slip away. She leapt twenty meters into the air. The Spider Cutter in her hand burst with lightning. Turning at the waist, she brought down a boundless torrent of blade-light in an instant.

Tsuchigumo’s rising momentum abruptly stopped. Fury filled his demonic mask.

“Damn you, Minamoto no Yorimitsu! I haven’t lost to you!”

After his roar, several brilliant streaks of lightning poked out like little snakes from the path the blade-light had just cut through. Then—

“Boom!”

A circular shockwave swept across several kilometers. A tremendous blast shook the earth, and where Tsuchigumo had been trapped now lay a crater dozens of meters wide.

“Well, well. So you were going to deal with Tsuchigumo first. You gave me quite a fright. But a great demon isn’t so easy to kill.” The umbrella-bearer’s chuckle drifted down from above.

Jiriku didn’t dare relax. He turned to Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

“General Yorimitsu, please help me activate the vase and seal that fissure!”

As a warrior of the Heian era, Minamoto no Yorimitsu was also versed in Buddhist teachings. She couldn’t manage anything too profound, but she could certainly help Jiriku activate the artifact.

The next moment, the vase shot skyward. Its tiny body came to rest in front of the enormous fissure, making for a rather peculiar sight.

With the vase and the two of them lending it their power, even the mysterious umbrella-bearer who had opened the passage to the Underworld couldn’t hope to overcome them by force. All they had to do now was watch for whatever monsters might emerge from the passage. Ordinary spirits would stand no chance against the artifact, so they should be fine.

That was what Jiriku thought.

Just then, the fissure lit up.

No—not the fissure. An eye was gazing through it at the world.

What a terrifying eye. It alone filled nearly a fifth of the fissure. The rest was blocked by a neck.

The next second—

Boom!

The creature on the other side of the Underworld began ramming the passage.

The force was so great that it traveled through the Underworld and into the real world!

“Yamata no Orochi!”

Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Jiriku’s expressions changed drastically. They suddenly remembered what Tsuchigumo had said moments ago.

“Yamata no Orochi, that guy, actually got taken down in such an embarrassing way.”

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