"Hey, that thing… is a bit too absurd, isn't it?"
The enormous black shadow emerged from the mountain, raising gusts of strong wind through the forest, even blowing away Rom's tall hat.
"Th-that… masaka, this mountain is… a living sacrifice?!"
Looking at the black shadow, Takeda Mitsue was filled with shock, stepping back several steps before collapsing onto the ground.
When she first stepped into this profession that did not belong to ordinary people, Takeda Mitsue's teacher, Towako Oka, had told her about the darkness of living sacrifices.
The so-called living sacrifice, as the name suggests, was to select a Miko, send her into the shrine, and burn her, or rip out her heart or cut off her head, in order to appease the spirits in the shrine.
This was the kind of living sacrifice understood by ordinary exorcists and onmyoji, but there was another type of living sacrifice, and that was to turn humans into spirits, and use those spirits, together with suppression stones set up by onmyoji, to suppress the spirits in the shrine—no, more precisely, even more powerful monsters!
The current situation was clearly the second type!
Thinking of this, Takeda Mitsue's gaze fell on Nakano Yu at the entrance of the shrine.
Could it be that Nakano Yu had always known about the sacrifice? Did he release that monster?
"Little Misae, long time no see."
Just as Takeda Mitsue began to doubt Nakano Yu's actions, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in front of her.
Hearing the voice, not only Takeda Mitsue, but also Rom beside her, looked over in disbelief.
"Ma-Master…"
Looking at the woman dressed in exaggerated exorcist attire, the lower half of her face covered with a white cloth patterned with an eye, Takeda Mitsue's eyes were full of disbelief.
"It seems the two of you get along well, that puts me at ease."
Towako Oka glanced over Takeda Mitsue and Rom, and said with a smile.
"Master Kazuko…"
Rom also looked at Towako Oka, reaching out to touch her, but he was afraid it was an illusion, a hallucination caused by the monster beneath the mountain.
"Mmm, mmm, little Rom has also grown up, but now you're already a grown person, you shouldn't cry anymore."
Seeing Rom staring, tears sliding down his face, Towako Oka smiled and raised her hand, took a step forward, and gently wiped the tears from his face.
"Yes… but… I really, really missed you…"
Rom replied, choking up. Ever since Towako Oka died because of him, Rom had been tormented daily by inner guilt.
Born with Yin-Yang eyes, he was different from Miko. When he could see those spirits, he was only a child of a few years old. When he told the adults that he could see those monsters, his parents thought he was an idiot.
After that, he closed his heart and no longer revealed things about spirits to others, until the appearance of Okada Kazuko. It was precisely Okada Kazuko who took him away from his parents and taught him some survival abilities, giving him the confidence to move among spirits.
How could Rom not feel guilty when Towako Oka, who was like a second mother to him, died in front of him because of his foolishness?
"Alright, from now on, little Rom, you can acknowledge little Misae as your teacher. It seems little Misae has not forgotten what I taught her."
Rubbing Rom's head, Towako Oka looked at Takeda Mitsue. Although she was now only a spiritual body on the verge of collapse, she could still feel that Takeda Mitsue's spiritual power was much stronger than she remembered.
It was just a pity that Takeda Mitsue's talent in this area was not sufficient.
Towako Oka knew very well that her disciple's ability of spiritual vision was not particularly good, only below average among exorcists. If it were not for a passing thought back then, Takeda Mitsue would not have been taken as her disciple.
Thinking of this, Towako Oka smiled slightly at Takeda Mitsue, then turned and bowed deeply toward Nakano Yu, as a sign of gratitude to the young man. Now she was only a spiritual body and had nothing to offer, so she could only express her gratitude in this way.
After that, Towako Oka's figure suddenly began to collapse, turning into specks of light, and disappeared before Rom and Takeda Mitsue.
"Nakano-kun, that person just now… was wearing the same clothes as Takeda-bāba…"
Not far away, Miko clearly saw Towako Oka's figure. Earlier, she had heard Takeda Mitsue talk about the Shrine of Three Fox Valleys, but Takeda Mitsue had never mentioned that the shrine actually had her fellow disciple. No wonder Takeda-bāba was determined to come here and resolve this matter, no matter what.
"That is Takeda-bāba's teacher."
Looking at Towako Oka's disappearing figure, Nakano Yu said calmly.
"Eh?! Ma-Master?!"
Hearing that, Miko was speechless, obviously shocked by Towako Oka's identity.
At that, Nakano Yu only nodded slightly, remaining silent. He was aware of Towako Oka's identity; when Reina was still alive, she would occasionally take him and the Five Sisters to watch records of Towako Oka's exorcisms.
Among exorcists, Towako Oka was the strongest Nakano Yu knew. She could release spiritual power like a Spirit Bomb, which was enough to show the immense strength of her abilities. But unfortunately…
Exorcists were not like the onmyoji of Kyoto, who had families and the Onmyōryō, which allowed them to gather and receive formal leadership and teaching.
Exorcists often acted alone, and because of that, their methods were diverse and inconsistent. Some even relied on their own understanding, just like Okada Kazuko's spirit bomb, which simply relied on powerful spiritual energy, compression, and release, without special technique, but with an extremely high threshold.
Of course, there were also exorcist families, but they were very rare.
"Thank you…"
At that moment, a gust of wind passed, causing the bronze bells at the shrine to ring, and a faint "thank you" reached Nakano Yu's ears.
Nakano Yu knew that it was the girl who had been sacrificed here a hundred years ago, turning into the "Mountain God."
Living sacrifices, how truly disgusting… Speaking of which, had he already gathered his ten thousand souls?
After learning that summoning a Heretical God required ten thousand living souls, Nakano Yu had sent the Messenger of the Moon God to Greece for friendly negotiations. The other party readily agreed, but there had been no news since, so he would go check later.
Thinking this, Nakano Yu looked toward the enormous black shadow emerging from the mountain.
The black shadow was huge, like a fish with a massive head, but it had thin and long limbs, looking particularly disproportionate.
That "fish" had mostly come out and was on the verge of fully emerging. It was time to go and see what kind of monster it was.
"Nakano-kun, what… are you planning to do?"
Seeing Nakano Yu about to leave, Miko quickly asked. She was somewhat worried that he intended to confront that sky-covering shadow. She knew Nakano Yu was very strong, but… such a huge monster, could he really defeat it?
"I'm going to finish things for today. Yotsuya-kun, you and Takeda-bāba should leave first, don't get caught in the aftermath."
Nakano Yu turned his head, smiled slightly at Yotsuya Miko, and waved his hand. A powerful gust of wind lifted the girl and Takeda Mitsue, and at the same time returned Rom's blown-away hat back onto his head.
"We… we're flying?!"
Looking at herself rising into the air, Miko's eyes were full of shock. She knew it was Nakano Yu's doing.
Takeda Mitsue and Rom also noticed this, looking at Nakano Yu, who was still by the shrine, with confused expressions.
Why didn't Nakano Yu plan to leave with them? Did the young man intend to face the monster beneath the mountain?
Thinking of this, the expressions of Rom and Takeda Mitsue changed. They had heard of Nakano Yu's reputation, but… no matter what, he was still human. No matter how strong he was, how could he be stronger than such a terrifying being?
However, before they could persuade him, the strong wind lifted the three of them high into the sky, carrying them toward the distant city of Tokyo.
After sending them away, Nakano Yu's figure also rose with the wind. Raising his hand, the wind swirled and the clouds churned. In just an instant, he arrived above the black shadow.
And now Nakano Yu finally clearly saw what that shadow looked like.
At the Shrine of Three Fox Valleys, he had always thought it was too far and could only see a black shadow, but in reality… this thing was completely black, with only two small eyeballs on its forehead, placed side by side. Just looking at it caused discomfort.
Extremely disproportionate.
"This monster has something unusual about it."
Looking at the shadow, Nakano Yu raised an eyebrow. Originally, he thought it was a great spirit, but now he no longer thought so, because he felt a divine aura on it.
And… it seemed to be a God of War?
"Raaaar!"
As if it noticed Nakano Yu above, the monster raised its head and reached out to grab him.
Seeing this, Nakano Yu had no intention of dodging.
Although this thing had the aura of a god, at most it was at the level of a Great Knight. Even if it was not a Great Knight, but a subordinate god, it would still be instantly killed in front of him.
That was Nakano Yu's confidence and composure as a God Slayer.
"Silver Arm, tear apart! Accept my vow, grant me an invincible blade!"
Muttering softly, Nakano Yu's arm shone with silver light. In the blink of an eye, his flesh-and-blood arm turned into a silver arm that gleamed with metallic luster.
As the young man finished his words, above him, in the vast universe, a palm-sized rock orbiting the Moon suddenly shone. The light flashed and disappeared, and along with it, the rock vanished.
At that moment, the claw of the black shadow had already reached Nakano Yu. Every movement it made shook the earth, and every step carried incredible weight.
But just as the claw was about to swallow Nakano Yu, a streak of light cut across the sky. Immediately after, the black shadow was pierced through, and a powerful explosion resounded:
"Boom!!!!"
"Raaaar!!!!!"
The wail of the black shadow echoed through heaven and earth. But before it could do anything more, the mountain collapsed, and a mushroom-shaped cloud rose into the sky, carrying the shadow downward.
After an unknown amount of time, the smoke and dust dispersed, but the Three Fox Valley mountain had disappeared, replaced by an enormous, bottomless pit!
Casting a glance into the pit, Nakano Yu twitched his lips: "Truly terrifying."
The last time he used an asteroid to test [Torn Silver Hand], the effect was slightly different from expectations, but this time it surprised him.
He had only attacked lightly, or rather, he hadn't even moved his hand.
Under such an impact, the shadow definitely would not survive; he just didn't know whether the thing emitting the divine aura was still there.
Thinking of this, Nakano Yu summoned a strong wind to probe the bottomless pit, and soon found something.
Controlling the wind, a leather drum with three tomoe symbols engraved on it appeared.
Holding the drum, Nakano Yu carefully examined it, and the system popped up with an explanation:
[Divine Tool: [Takemikazuchi Drum]—Can be used to summon [Heretical God Takemikazuchi]
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