Kyoto.
An underground palace.
Hagoromo-Gitsune sat upright upon a high dais, her twelve-layered jūnihitoe robes piled fold upon fold, so opulent as to sting the eyes.
Before her, Kibōmaru knelt on one knee.
Kyoto and the province of Musashi were separated by over a thousand li, yet as a powerful yōkai who specialized in speed, Kibōmaru needed only a very short time to travel back and forth.
This was, moreover, the very reason Hagoromo-Gitsune had entrusted this duty to him.
Yet now, compared to when he had set out, Kibōmaru's condition was plainly not very good.
He had but a single arm left.
He had lost an arm.
For a yōkai, such an injury was naturally nothing too severe; given a span of time, he would grow it back.
But the meaning behind it was what truly gave one pause.
"You... were defeated?"
Hagoromo-Gitsune's voice was very soft, betraying neither joy nor anger.
"Yes."
Kibōmaru lowered his head, his voice hoarse: "That shrine maiden's arrows... were even stronger than this servant had imagined."
"And there was that oni warrior."
"He employed a means this servant had never seen before, making that entire land stand on his side. Though it merely supplied him with an endless, ceaseless yōkai aura, to this servant he was indeed troublesome."
"The land?"
Hagoromo-Gitsune's tone finally wavered somewhat: "Merely a minor yōkai—and yet he possesses such an ability?"
"Interesting."
Within the great hall, several other figures stood as well.
They were the other yōkai under Hagoromo-Gitsune's command.
There was a hunched old crone, a ferocious-visaged demon, and several shadows concealed within the darkness.
At this moment, they were all watching Kibōmaru.
Their eyes filled with gloating.
Once one of the overweening demons of Mount Ōe, Kibōmaru who had returned from hell—so even he had a day of coming up short?
"Sister Hagoromo-Gitsune."
A somewhat childish female voice came from the shadows: "Shall I go and deal with those two juniors?"
"No need."
Hagoromo-Gitsune raised a hand, stopping her: "Since Kibōmaru has already been defeated, then your going would yield the same result, Kyōkotsu."
Her gaze fell upon Kibōmaru.
That oni warrior... able to make the earth acknowledge him—it showed his means were indeed extraordinary.
"Add to that the shrine maiden whose spiritual power is so strong that even here in Kyoto it can be clearly sensed... It seems we, too, must give them a bit more regard."
Either one did not act at all, or, if one did, one must be certain of success.
She paused.
"I have a fitting candidate."
Kibōmaru raised his head.
"My lord means..."
"Tsuchigumo."
Hagoromo-Gitsune spat out the name.
Within the great hall, the atmosphere abruptly changed.
Those yōkai who had still been gloating—the smiles on their faces all froze.
Tsuchigumo.
It was a race very numerous among yōkai.
But being numerous did not mean they were all rabble, still less that there were no powerful ones among them.
The core lineage of the Tsuchigumo was said to be a yōkai cluster existing since ancient times, taking the spider as their true form, skilled at weaving webs and spinning cocoons, able to manipulate fear and illusion.
And the finest among them were existences surpassing ordinary yōkai.
They were true great yōkai.
Not existences merely infinitely close like Kibōmaru, but genuine, bona fide great yōkai.
"Tsuchigumo... has revived?"
A trembling voice came from the shadows.
"Two days ago."
Hagoromo-Gitsune nodded: "He slumbered for two hundred years in the deep mountains north of Kyoto, and now he has at last awoken."
"Just in time——"
She looked toward Kibōmaru, a meaningful smile curving at the corner of her mouth.
"Kibōmaru, go and invite him out of his mountain."
"Tell him I have a matter I wish to ask his help with."
Kibōmaru's body went still.
Go invite Tsuchigumo? That monster of odd temper and murderous nature?
In ordinary times, he would have had nothing to fear or worry about, but right now, he was short an arm; if he were entangled...
"My lord..."
"What is it?"
Hagoromo-Gitsune's tone remained calm: "Are you afraid?"
Kibōmaru gritted his teeth, and was just about to respond with something...
"This matter is indeed inconvenient for Lord Kibōmaru. Why not leave it to me?"
From behind Kibōmaru, a figure slowly stepped forth, his complexion pale and bearing an inhuman comeliness: "I am Kibutsuji Muzan."
"Though I am but a lesser oni under Lord Kibōmaru's command, I happen to be rather proficient in words."
"Please grant me one month's time."
The progenitor of oni bowed and scraped, his whole being suffused with an aura that seemed to blend in with the surrounding yōkai.
Hagoromo-Gitsune's eyes narrowed slightly, and inexplicably, she too began to smile.
Meanwhile.
The Tōkaidō Road.
Within a certain abandoned Shrine.
Nura Nurarihyon sat cross-legged on the roof of the Shrine, a pipe in hand, leisurely puffing out clouds of smoke.
Beside him crouched a short, small figure.
It was a little yōkai no more than a foot tall, its whole body woven from straw, dressed in a tattered kimono, with a box of fermented nattō perched atop its head, giving off an indescribable smell.
The little yōkai, Nattō Kozō.
He was the first subordinate Nura Nurarihyon had taken in.
But though only a very weak and tiny yōkai, he possessed his own unique network of information and intelligence.
"Boss, have you heard?"
Nattō Kozō's voice was shrill and thin: "Over in the province of Musashi, something big has happened!"
"Oh?"
Nurarihyon blew out a smoke ring: "What is it?"
"That Kōbe Hikaru! The very oni warrior you spoke of before!"
Nattō Kozō danced about gleefully: "In a single night he slew four high-tier yōkai chieftains! And he even drove back some yōkai who had come from Kyoto—word is it was the demon of Mount Ōe who had vanished for several hundred years, Kibōmaru!"
Nurarihyon's movements paused.
"The demon of Mount Ōe, Kibōmaru?"
"That's right!"
Nattō Kozō nodded like a pestle pounding garlic: "I hear that shrine maiden even shot off one of Kibōmaru's arms."
"Now all of Kantō is abuzz, saying that this Kōbe Hikaru is some 'Thunder-Severing Oni,' 'Pure Land Asura,' 'Oni God'——"
"All sorts of titles, anyway!"
Nurarihyon fell silent.
He put away his pipe and looked toward the western sky.
The direction of the province of Musashi.
"Interesting."
he murmured.
"That fellow... is even more intriguing than I thought."
He rose to his feet, his golden hair drifting in the wind, sketching out a shape like a sickle.
"It seems I, too, must quicken my pace."
"Otherwise——"
"I just might lose the right to go and recruit him, you know."
On another side.
West of the province of Musashi, toward the direction of Kyoto, a tall tower stood within the courtyard of a Shrine.
The Tahōtō.
This was where Tsubaki's school lay.
It was said that beneath this tower was sealed an exceedingly powerful and uncanny demon.
And at this moment.
In the rear hall of the Shrine, Tsubaki knelt upon the tatami.
Before her sat two young shrine maidens.
The one on the left looked about fourteen or fifteen, dressed in white robe and red hakama similar to Tsubaki's, her jet-black long hair tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, her features delicate and pretty, her expression seemingly aloof, yet her eyes carried an innocence.
Her name was Momiji.
The one on the right was a little younger, looking only twelve or thirteen, likewise dressed as a shrine maiden, her round little face still carrying baby fat, her pair of large eyes full of adoration.
Her name was Botan.
Both were Tsubaki's junior sisters, and the youngest disciples in this Shrine.
"Senior sister, has something happened, for you to come back this time?"
Momiji spoke up first, concern in her voice.
"Yes, yes!"
Botan leaned in too: "Master said you'd gone off to slay demons—how did you come back so soon?"
Tsubaki lowered her head, a "pained" expression surfacing on her face.
She acted it out very well.
"I..."
Her voice carried a hint of trembling: "I ran into a very terrifying enemy."
"An enemy?"
Momiji and Botan exchanged a glance, both showing surprise.
In their impression, their senior sister was a powerhouse second only to their master.
An enemy who could make their senior sister feel fear—how terrifying must that be?
"It was a shrine maiden named Kikyō."
Tsubaki bit her lip, as if recalling something dreadful.
"Kikyō?"
Momiji knit her brows: "I think I've heard that name before... Isn't she a shrine maiden from over in the province of Musashi?"
"Yes."
Tsubaki nodded, a flash of sinister malice crossing her eyes—but before her two junior sisters, she quickly put back on that victim's expression.
"She... she is a fallen shrine maiden."
"Fallen?"
Botan's eyes went wide: "Can a shrine maiden fall, too?"
"She can."
Tsubaki's voice grew low.
"In her hands she holds that evil object called the Shikon Jewel—a thing that can grant any wish, but also corrodes the human heart."
"Kikyō has been corroded by that jewel; she is no longer a normal shrine maiden."
Momiji and Botan listened, entranced.
Young in years and shallow in experience, they could not at all discern the truth or falsehood in Tsubaki's words.
"Not only that..."
Tsubaki continued spinning her lies: "She has also subjugated a vicious yōkai as a shikigami."
"That yōkai is called Kōbe Hikaru—bone spikes can grow all over his body, and he kills without batting an eye."
"When I went, I saw with my own eyes how he..."
She paused, making a face as though she could not bear to recall it.
"He killed so many people."
"He slaughtered an entire village."
"And Kikyō just stood by, watching, doing nothing."
"This——"
Momiji's face changed.
"How could there be such a shrine maiden!"
"Right!"
Botan clenched her fists too: "Aren't shrine maidens supposed to protect humans and drive away demons? How could she kill people together with a yōkai!"
Inwardly, Tsubaki sneered coldly.
These two little girls were indeed easy to fool.
"So..."
She lifted her head, her eyes glinting with a "grief-stricken indignation."
"I would like to ask the two of you, my junior sisters, to help me."
"Help you?"
Momiji was taken aback: "Senior sister, what do you want us to do?"
"I want to subjugate Kikyō."
Tsubaki's voice turned resolute.
"But my strength alone is not enough; I need your help."
"Momiji, you are skilled in barrier arts; you can lock down that yōkai's movements."
"Botan, though your shikigami arts are not yet mature, using them to pin down the foe should be no problem."
"So long as the three of us join forces——"
"we can surely bring that fallen shrine maiden to justice!"
Momiji and Botan looked at each other.
In both their eyes, the flames of righteousness blazed up.
"All right!"
Momiji was the first to stand: "Senior sister, I'll help you!"
"I'll help too!"
Botan sprang up as well: "We can't let the wicked roam free beyond the law!"
A barely perceptible curve lifted at the corner of Tsubaki's mouth.
"Thank you both."
She rose and patted the two of them on the shoulder.
"Then we set out tomorrow."
"To the province of Musashi."
"To go find that—Kikyō."
Her gaze concealed a sinister cruelty.
Of course, she had not told her two junior sisters her true purpose.
What she wanted was not Kikyō.
What she wanted—was Kōbe Hikaru.
So long as she sowed chaos in the battle and seized the chance to snatch that yōkai away... Ah yes, those oni she had encountered before could also be put to use...
A plan had already taken shape in Tsubaki's heart.
As for the safety of her two junior sisters?
She did not care.
So long as she could obtain that yōkai, what was the sacrifice of a few junior sisters?
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