The flight to the holding area took seconds. We touched down, quickly established our tactical plan for countering the Impure King, and slipped through the heavy wooden doors of the Goma Chapel, locking them silently behind us.
The interior was dimly lit by a few dying candles. The air was cold and stale, smelling of centuries-old incense and the faint, sickly-sweet scent of rot coming from the sealed altar ahead.
"This is it," Tatsuma said, his breathing slightly heavy from the high-speed flight. "The Impure King's heart is sealed right there, behind the main shrine."
"Alright," I said, scanning the dark corners with my Soul Sight. "The perimeter seals are set outside. If it wakes up, it's going to hit a wall of absolute heat. It won't last forever, but it'll turn this room into a furnace."
We crouched in the shadows behind a large stone statue of Fudo Myoo, waiting. The chapel was unnaturally quiet.
"Stay close," I whispered to Tatsuma. "I'm going to coat you."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm going to wrap you in a thin layer of my flames," I explained. "It'll hide your presence and protect you from physical impacts as well as the surrounding miasma."
He nodded as I reached out to him.
When my flames curled around his shoulders, something strange happened.
A golden light erupted from Tatsuma's chest.
A small, spectral bird made of golden fire emerged from him. Karura, The Fire Demon familiar that had guarded the Myōda for generations.
Instead of fighting my blue flames, Karura hovered before me, its beady eyes staring directly into the ruby rings of my pupils. The golden fire and my Mantle swirled together, mixing into a brilliant, purifying white-hot aura.
Whoa, that's unexpected.
"Impossible..." Tatsuma breathed, watching the two fires dance in the dim light of the chapel. "Karura is a demon of purification. It should not be mixing with your flames, that exhibits malice from Gehenna."
Karura turned its head to Tatsuma.
"You are mistaken, Contractor," Karura spoke, its voice sounding like crackling embers. "This flame... it carries no malice. It is not the fire of Gehenna that burns to destroy. It is the fire of the Sun that burns to cleanse."
The bird fluttered closer, landing on my blue-wreathed shoulder. It didn't burn. It preened its feathers in the heat.
"It is warm," Karura decided. "I accept this."
"It seems," Tatsuma murmured, a newfound respect in his eyes, "that even the Phoenix recognizes you."
"I told you," I said, watching the synergy with a smirk. "I'm different. My flames don't destroy unless I tell them to. Right now? It's just pure energy."
A few minutes later, the heavy doors creaked open.
We held our breath in the shadows.
Saburota Todo walked into the nave, wearing that creepy, benevolent smile that made me want to kick his teeth in. Mamushi Hojo walked behind him, blood streaming down her face from carrying the Right Eye in her actual eye socket.
"Huh?!" Mamushi gasped, pointing at the altar. "The sacred fire... it's lit!"
Todo paused, his eyes scanning the room. He didn't look surprised. He looked delighted.
"Hmm..." Todo murmured, placing a hand on his chin. "There must be a hidden door somewhere. Let's look for it."
Mamushi nodded and the duo began searching for the hidden entrance.
"Here it is. Let's go down," Todo said, lifting a hidden passageway in front of the sacred fire.
We watched as they descended into the depths. We gave them a five-second head start, then followed their movements silently, sticking to the shadows of the stairwell until we reached the underground cavern. I grabbed Tatsuma and hoisted us silently into the rafters high above them.
We watched them reach the bottom and stop before a massive, sealed shrine door.
"A door!" we heard Todo exclaim, his voice trembling with mock excitement. "Open it, Mamushi. Claim your birthright."
We heard the heavy click of the lock. The seal was broken.
"Give me The Right Eye," Todo said, extending a hand.
"Huh?!" Mamushi questioned. "You said it's dangerous for one of us to have both."
"We're almost there and I'm worried about your safety," Todo lied smoothly. "I'm beginning to regret involving my precious student in this intrigue."
Todo's face adopted a sincere expression. "I must consider your future. Do you regret this?"
"No," Mamushi said, reaching up, wincing as she plucked the Right Eye from her empty socket. With trembling, reverent hands, she placed it into Todo's palm.
"That's the spirit," Todo's fingers curled around it. "Now let's open the door."
I felt the evil intent rise up within him.
He's done acting now, what does he plan to do with her now? I pondered.
They stepped inside. Mamushi gasped as she saw the sealed, pulsating spore of the Impure King. Todo didn't miss a beat. He casually began to explain how the demon was originally sealed and the apocalyptic reality of what reuniting the eyes would actually bring to the world.
We watched Mamushi's posture crumble as the horrifying truth washed over her. She finally understood she was just a pawn.
"Ms. Hojo," Todo said, his tone shifting instantly from warm teacher to cold monster. "You are my dear pupil, so it pains me to say this, but I have no more use for you."
Mamushi froze, now understanding that she was a pawn. "Teacher...?"
Todo raised his hand to strike her down.
"NOW!" I signaled.
Tatsuma and I burst through the ceiling, landing heavily between them. The impact cracked the stone floor, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Todo!" Tatsuma roared. "It's over!"
Todo didn't flinch. He didn't step back. He simply lowered his hand, smoothed his trenchcoat, and widened that sickening smile.
"Ah, High Priest," Todo greeted, as if meeting an old friend for tea. He glanced at me, his red eyes gleaming. "And the Son of Satan. What a terrifying duo to interrupt a private lesson."
"You're pretty calm for a soon-to-be dead man," I said coolly, my Mantle spreading across my body.
"Death?" Todo chuckled. "I will soon transcend such trivial concepts."
"Enough!" Tatsuma roared. "The Impure King is a cancer. We will not let it plague another generation!
"Now you're speaking my language, old man," I grinned, preparing myself.
"Karura, lend me your flame!!" Tatsuma bellowed.
"That is our agreement so I will grant your request." Karura stated, adorned in bigger white-hot flames.
Todo's eyes widened a fraction and a smile graced his lips. "Karura, the vermillion bird, the phoenix. And with a different color? What a splendid familiar you have!"
"No more words!" I said, lunging towards him.
I used pure hand-to-hand combat, augmented by Sovereign Propulsion. The space behind my elbows and calves pushed me forward with absolute force.
I aimed a fist towards Todo's gut, but he put his hand up in time to catch it.
SPLAT.
The impact didn't feel like hitting flesh; it felt like hitting a bag of wet cement.
Todo's human disguise—the skin, the trenchcoat, the benevolent face—exploded outward in a shower of gore.
Underneath wasn't a man, but a demon. Dark, furry, feline-like ears twitched atop his head, and jagged horns protruded violently from his forehead. His eyes glowed red, and his mouth stretched too wide.
"Good power," Todo rumbled, his voice deepening into a demonic bass. "But linear."
He tried to crush my hand, but I flared my core. BOOM. A point-blank eruption of pure blue heat freed me, and I backflipped away.
"Old man, now!" I signaled.
Tatsuma was already moving. He weaved hand signs with blinding speed, his prayer beads clicking rhythmically in his hands.
"Nōmaku Sanmanda Bazaradan Kan!" Tatsuma chanted, the air around him shimmering with heat.
He thrust his hands forward.
"Karura: Flame Barrage!"
The now white-hot bird screeched and unleashed a torrent of guided fireballs. They slammed into Todo like artillery shells—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—engulfing him in purifying flames.
Todo roared, shielding his face, his ash-like skin sizzling.
"Don't let up!" Tatsuma commanded, shifting his stance. He spun the prayer beads. "Karura: Flame Eater!"
The flames surrounding Todo suddenly inverted, engulfing him.
It was a masterclass in Exorcism. Tatsuma was controlling the battlefield perfectly.
But Todo just laughed.
He swiped his hand, dispersing the flames with raw physical strength. He was charred and burned, but he was healing faster than the fire could destroy him.
So he's upgraded from the last time we met.
"Magnificent," Todo wheezed, steam rising from his body. "The power of the Karura... it truly is wasted on a guardian dog."
He snapped his fingers.
"Did you think I came alone?" Todo sneered.
Suddenly, the shadows in the corners of the room erupted. The floorboards burst open. The ceiling tiles rained down.
It wasn't just a few demons. Hundreds of Coal Tars swarmed in like black smoke, rapidly coalescing into rotting Ghouls. They poured out of the woodwork like cockroaches fleeing a fire. The sheer volume was suffocating.
"Oh, shit!" I yelled, pouring more energy into my Mantle to its maximum radius to burn a perimeter.
The swarm seemed nearly endless as I incinerated them by the dozen, my blue flames coming out in waves. But for every ten I erased, twenty more crawled out of the darkness.
"Rin! Cover me!" Tatsuma shouted. He began chanting a barrier mantra, his beads glowing bright gold to hold back the tide of filth.
"He's stalling!" I yelled, blasting a massive Ghoul into dust.
Todo ignored us. He turned his back on the fight and walked to the altar. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Right Eye Mamushi had given him. Then, from his other pocket, he produced the Left Eye.
"The set is complete," Todo announced, his voice booming over the roar of the demons.
He slammed both Eyes into the pulsating spore on the altar. The flesh fused instantly, turning a violent, sickly purple.
"Arise!" Todo bellowed. "Impure King! Feast upon this land!"
RUMBLE.
The floor didn't just shake; it shattered.
Massive, fleshy roots erupted from the altar, tearing through the roof of the chapel. The walls groaned and buckled. The Miasma exploded outward—a thick, yellow fog of rot and disease filling the room instantly.
Ugh! That smells like ass!
To me, the gas just smelled like old eggs and sulfur. It was annoying, blinding, but harmless.
For Tatsuma, the white-hot synergy of my Mantle and Karura's fire acted as an absolute shield, burning away the toxins before they could even touch his skin. He coughed from the sheer density of the smoke, but he could breathe.
In the chaos, Mamushi was lying on the debris, staring blankly at the monster she had unleashed. A massive chunk of the ceiling was coming down to crush her, while the miasma was slowly approaching her area.
"Move, you fool!" I shouted, preparing to intercept.
But I didn't have to.
A golden staff spun through the air, shattering the falling debris. Juzo Shima burst through the side wall, looking annoyed but relieved.
Just in the nick of time.
"You really messed up this time, Mamushi," Juzo sighed, covering his nose and hoisting her over his shoulder.
"Juzo!" Tatsuma called out, maintaining the air pocket. "Get her out of here! We'll hold the line!"
"Don't have to tell me twice," Juzo grunted. He glanced at me, gave a curt nod, and vanished back through the hole in the wall with Mamushi.
"Rin! The King is growing too fast!" Tatsuma yelled. He was sweating, his focus split between maintaining the Flame Eater vortex to keep himself from suffocating and fending off Ghouls with his staff. "We need to fall back!"
"Not yet!" I argued, burning a path through the roots. "We need to finish off Todo before he becomes a major problem!"
I was busy holding back a wave of Ghouls, my attention split. Tatsuma was the anchor, his chanting keeping the Miasma at bay for his own survival.
That's when Todo made his move.
He snapped his fingers, and the horde shifted tactics. Instead of attacking randomly, dozens of massive Ghouls dog-piled the space directly between me and Tatsuma.
"Tch!" I grunted, unleashing a wave of blue fire to incinerate them, but the sheer mass of rotting flesh forced me to step backward, separating me from Tatsuma by a dozen feet.
So the geek figured it out, huh? I mused. He realized that as long asTatsuma and I stood near one another, the white-hot flames made the priest virtually untouchable.
The white-hot synergy connecting us stretched, flickered, and broke. Tatsuma was still coated in Karura's golden fire, but the absolute defense of my Mantle was gone.
Todo lunged out of the smoke, moving faster than he had during the entire fight, zeroing in on the isolated High Priest.
"Old man! Behind you!" I screamed.
Tatsuma spun around, raising his arms defensively. He knew he didn't have the physical strength to block Todo's raw demonic power. So, he had to strike first.
"Karura! Attack!" Tatsuma bellowed.
The golden bird detached from Tatsuma's shoulders, shrieking as it launched itself directly at Todo's face, a blinding projectile of holy fire.
Todo didn't dodge. He smiled.
No way! I realized too late who his actual target was.
As Karura struck, Todo's jaw unhinged. He snapped his massive, demonic teeth directly onto the spectral bird.
SNAP.
"NO!" Tatsuma screamed, his eyes rolling back as the spiritual connection to his familiar severed violently.
The golden light vanished. Karura's fire died out.
"Delicious..." Todo moaned, landing heavily on a pile of rubble with the struggling, fading essence of the bird in his mouth. "The power of the Phoenix... finally."
With Karura gone and my Mantle out of range, Tatsuma was completely defenseless. The yellow fog of Miasma rushed in. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest. He gasped, his face twisting in pure agony as the toxins began to sear his lungs.
I stood there, surrounded by ash, watching the fight drain out of Tatsuma's eyes.
Todo swallowed. "Amazing!" he said as his body regressed in age in an instant, as he flexed his hand.
He didn't just get younger; his power spiked massively. But how?! I wondered, before my eyes widened in realization. When Todo ate Karura, my Mantle was still mixed with it. So the geek must have absorbed a trace of my Sovereign Fire along with it. Tch, Damn. That's not good at all!
He looked at us, licking his lips. "I have what I came for, and then some. Enjoy the rot."
With a burst of speed even quicker than what he showed, Todo leaped backward, vanishing into the thick cloud of miasma and darkness.
Damn it! I thought as I incinerated the last of the Ghouls with a massive wave of fire, clearing the space.
I rushed over to Tatsuma and grabbed him. He was wheezing, his skin already turning a sickly shade of gray from the poison..
The Impure King roared, its body swelling to the size of a skyscraper, tearing the rest of the Goma Chapel to shreds.
CRASH.
The roof was gone. The night sky was choked with spores.
"We have to get outta here."
I grabbed Tatsuma by the back of his robes.
"Wait... Todo..." Tatsuma gasped, blood bubbling at his lips.
"He got more than what he really came here for," I said grimly, gathering my energy. "It's time to initiate plan R."
I kicked the ground, engaging my Sky Step. Blue fire surged around my calves as I defied gravity entirely, launching us straight up. We shot through the missing roof, breaking into the cool night air just as the Goma Chapel was completely swallowed by the Impure King's expanding flesh.
Below us, the mountain began to rot.
"Hang on, old man," I said, banking toward the rendezvous point. "We're regrouping with the others. The real battle is about to begin."