The world was being torn apart.
On one side—mystery, a vast and infinite starry sky.
On the other—a filthy abyss overflowing with malice.
A black sun sneered, radiating evil intent. Countless shining stars orbited that sun, each trying to tear apart the other's domain, a cosmic tug-of-war.
"Skull-Eboshi Ashiya Douman, on the attack! Fufufu! Hahahahahaha! Struggle all you like, Abe no Seimei! Sink into the abyss of evil!"
Waves of malice surged. The black sun bared its fangs, cold curses igniting as inky solar flames. The flames hissed as they ripped through the air, screaming like tortured souls as they bombarded Abe no Seimei.
Right now, Abe no Seimei seemed like the very center of the universe.
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars—every planet and star familiar to humanity orbited around him, each moving in time to his will.
This was the onmyōdō that Seimei excelled at—a cosmic-scale sorcery, one level above Abe no Kippei's weather manipulation: celestial manipulation.
The interior of the Fantasy Tree contained the entire galaxy. That was why Seimei claimed it was so perfectly suited to his art, and why he believed he could control it completely.
When Seimei raised his hand, the Fantasy Tree behind him trembled, its branches stretching out at dazzling speed—mysterious energies protecting Seimei at its core. The black-red barrages struck those branches, dimming and corrupting the stars nestled among them, but not harming Seimei himself, protected deep within.
"You really think that turtle shell will protect you forever, Seimei?! Dance with despair! Choke on your agony!"
With the black sun above him, Ashiya Douman flung out a great handful of sinister talismans.
"Let me show you the power of the Rasetsu King! My fingertips—can reach anywhere!"
A demon's hand, wreathed in black flames of curses, shot out from the sun, slamming into the branches of the Fantasy Tree, shaking it violently. A whole swath of stars plunged into darkness.
"Hm, hm, hmhmhmhmhm… kukuku! Hahahahahaha! What's the matter, Seimei?! Weren't you boasting about ending my delusions? You look like a turtle with its head pulled in now—not convincing at all! Hahahaha!"
That laughter—twisted and venomous—echoed endlessly. It was sharper and madder than the Joker's from Gotham, the kind of sound that could corrode your mind like a whisper from an elder god. Everyone in the vicinity felt their sanity slowly unravel.
"Look, look! Seimei! Seimei! The Rasetsu King can't even contain his own excitement! Hmhmhm, this is how it should be!"
The black sun plummeted from the heavens. Every flame within it carried a curse strong enough to kill an adult at a glance—hellfire from the deepest pits.
Inside the Fantasy Tree, the stars flickered, then in the next instant, burst out as shooting stars, bombarding the black sun.
The energy released was immense—any one of those falling stars could reduce a mighty yōkai to ashes in a heartbeat. But even as they rained down, they could only stir faint ripples on the black sun's surface. They couldn't force it back.
Spilling black flames washed over the cosmos, staining the starry sky with foreboding darkness. The black sun crashed into the Fantasy Tree's protective canopy; more and more branches rotted, burned, and snapped at visible speed, hellfire crawling up toward the trunk.
Seimei grit his teeth.
He was frustrated. Enraged. Hateful.
All his effort, his ideals, everything he'd fought for—crumbling bit by bit under that jeering, malicious black sun.
"Ashi——ya——Dou——man——!!"
"Hmhmhm! Hahahaha! Subarashii! This regret, this hatred—absolutely subarashii!!"
As Douman's hideously twisted laughter rang out, the shadows around him joined in with foul cackling, a tide of malice churning in the sea of evil.
The flames of evil surged, twisting toward the heavens. The dome above corroded and burned, collapsing in sheets. The stars faded, the galaxy boiled, the universe was pulled toward annihilation. Countless evil spirits, vengeful ghosts, and lingering dead howled as they dragged the cosmos into a hell of karmic fire.
A long, deep groan echoed out as the star-drenched Fantasy Tree trembled. A sudden wind arose—blades of force swirling around the trunk, repelling the torrent of malice.
Starlight erupted, disintegrating many of the shadowy presences in an instant. But the next moment, more shadows wriggled into place, and the grating noise that followed seemed to mock Seimei's helplessness.
"Ashiya Douman… I underestimated you."
Seimei's voice was icy, as if he were grinding his teeth to dust. "For a thousand years, you've always—always—been a thorn in my side. Even so, I never really took you seriously, never truly saw you as my rival… and now, you've reached such a height. But I will never allow you to threaten my ideals!"
"Then drown in your ideals—sink to the bottom of this abyss of malice, Abe no Seimei!"
The stench of filth surged like a tsunami, hammering the Fantasy Tree, Douman's wicked laughter swelling, ready to swallow Seimei whole.
For now, Douman's malice couldn't fully erode the trunk of the Fantasy Tree. But the onlookers—those without such power—weren't so lucky.
Even the hell-hardened gaki were helpless before the waves of resentment and agony, swallowed in an instant, their existences becoming just one more drop in that endless sea of malice.
Howling spirits rolled like breakers; the little palace couldn't contain them. A deluge of foul, viscous black mud smashed through the walls, pouring down like a waterfall.
Before that happened, Nura Rikuo and the others had already retreated to the second palace—the one Abe no Kippei was guarding. They'd even destroyed the floating bridge connecting the two palaces, just to keep the sludge at bay.
"Uwaaaah!!"
A little yōkai, sprawled on the ground, scrambled backward, just as a splash of black mud barely missed landing between his legs. Only then did he breathe a heavy sigh of relief at his narrow escape.
"Isn't that a bit much? It was only a few drops of black water. You weren't going to get eaten."
"I'm not risking my life over that! Did you not see those gaki from hell? The moment they touched that stuff, they didn't even get to scream before they were dead!"
And those two weren't the only ones arguing—everyone who'd just witnessed this mythic, terrifying battle was too rattled to stay calm.
Fear was natural. Frustration, too. Excitement, confusion—it all made sense.
"If Limbo-san really is Ashiya Douman… then he's the one who should be fighting Seimei."
Rikuo stood at the front, his eyes reflecting the divided sky—darkness and starlight at war overhead. He bit his lip, unwilling to accept the situation.
And of course… right now, I just don't have the strength to step into that battlefield myself.
"Why is everyone gathered here?"
Gradually, people started arriving along the floating stairs, finding their way to Rikuo's palace.
Ushigami, Kubinashi, Kurotabō, Aotabō—members of the Nura Clan—along with several Keikain onmyōji.
"Sorry, young master Rikuo! We're late!"
"Young master Rikuo! Are you all right? You look badly hurt!"
"Young master! What happened here? Did Seimei do something?!"
With a rare moment of calm, Rikuo started addressing the Nura Clan yōkai, while the Keikain onmyōji stared, shaken, at the mythic war in the sky.
Only one person, seeing the figures splitting the sky, blinked her round, bewildered eyes.
"That guy up there… why does he look so much like Limbo-san?"
"Yura?"
Drawn by Keikain Yura's absentminded words, Rikuo walked over. "You know that Limbo…"
"Hey! Filthy yōkai, you're standing too close to Yura."
Keikain Ryuuji stepped in front of Rikuo, scowling. "Back off. If you don't, I'll exorcise you myself."
"What the hell is this onmyōji brat talking about?!"
"How dare you disrespect the third heir!"
"He's just a brat with a few tricks—thinks he can run his mouth?!"
Ryuuji's sharp words set the Nura Clan yōkai bristling with anger. If it weren't for Rikuo and a few cool-headed officers, a fight might have broken out already.
"Sorry, sorry! My brother just has a bad way of speaking. He doesn't mean any harm."
"Yeah, let's all calm down. We're allies now, remember? If we start fighting each other, the real enemy will be laughing at us."
Yura quickly apologized for Ryuuji, and with Rikuo's help, the yōkai finally calmed down.
Of course, part of it was probably just that the pressure from the battle overhead was overwhelming—the sky torn by starlight and the seething black sea left nobody in the mood for infighting.
Ryuuji clicked his tongue in irritation, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Yura's apology.
Once things were smoothed over, Rikuo, still wounded, turned to Yura with a serious look.
"Yura, that person fighting Abe no Seimei up there… do you know him?"
"Eh?"
Yura looked startled, then stammered, "N-no, I must be mistaken. He just… looks a lot like someone I know, but… it can't be, right?"
Rikuo clearly wasn't satisfied with her answer; his expression grew even heavier.
"But I heard you call out his name just now—Limbo. That's the name he used in front of us too."
Rikuo's words left Yura dumbstruck. She even dared a glance upward, almost not believing it.
Did I really hear that right? That mischievous, sometimes mean but generally gentle onmyōji big brother… has the same name as that guy up there? The one who looks even more like a yōkai than any actual yōkai, more like a final boss than even Seimei—a man who could be the last demon king at the end of the world…?
That's so weird. I have to look again…
"Seimei! Seimei! Seimei! Die like a kitten abandoned in an alley on a rainy day, battered and broken! Be devoured like a pumpkin smashed to pieces, left to rot! Taste this despair, this regret—let your soul become the filth beneath my nails! Fufufufu… HAHAHAHAHA!!"
"…"
Yura stared up, speechless for a solid ten seconds. Then her mouth curled into a smile with absolutely no humor at all.
"…What the heck, it's just a coincidence, right? There's no way Limbo-san could be that kind of lunatic. Poor Limbo-san, to have to share a name with such a madman… uwaaaah!"
"Told you Limbo was shady from the start, but you never listened."
Looking completely exasperated, Ryuuji rubbed Yura's hair with a heavy hand. "Honestly, it's annoying. My own sister, fooled by someone besides me… can't you be a little smarter, just once?"
"Is that really something a brother should say? What kind of big brother talks like that?!"
Yura swatted his hand away and glared, cheeks puffed in annoyance. "Limbo-san is way more considerate than you are!"
"Still in denial? That's why you're hopeless. It's obvious—that guy up there is your Limbo. Did you sleep through class, forget what 'Limbo' even means? Anyone who'd choose a name like that can't be a decent person."
"Guh…"
Trying to out-argue Ryuuji was always a losing battle. Yura could only gape, at a total loss for words.
Even seeing her frustrated pout, Ryuuji just turned away, unconcerned, and faced Rikuo.
"Hey, yōkai, what's going on here? Why are you all gathered in one place? Why aren't you fighting Nue? And that fraud up there—do you even know who he is?"
Ryuuji's tone couldn't be called friendly—it was more like an interrogation. Rikuo frowned, but when asked about Limbo's identity, his face turned oddly complicated.
"That Limbo… His real name seems to be Ashiya Douman."
The air froze.
Every onmyōji from the Keikain clan turned their eyes toward Rikuo.
Even Ryuuji's eternally grumpy expression stiffened, his mouth working soundlessly for a long moment before he managed to squeeze out a shaky question.
"…Who did you just say?"
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T/N: damn u just called ur ancestor a fraud better commit seppuku