Kaede Village.
Nightfall.
The moonlight was obscured by thick demonic clouds, and the entire village was shrouded in an oppressive gloom.
The Barrier was still there.
The Barrier Kikyo had set up before leaving was still intact, surrounding the village and emitting a faint white light.
But that light was dimming bit by bit.
"How many have come?"
At the village entrance, a middle-aged man gripped a hoe, his voice trembling.
He was a farmer from the village; usually, he only knew how to till the fields and had never dealt with demons.
But tonight, he had to stand up.
Because—there were too many demons.
Outside the Barrier, dense figures writhed in the darkness.
There were wolf demons on all fours, ghost-faced creatures with tusks, snake demons dragging long tails, and some monsters whose names he couldn't even call out.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
They were all pacing outside the Barrier, staring at the people in the village with those inhuman eyes.
"Where are the Shikigami left by Kikyo-sama?"
Someone asked.
"Over there."
Another person pointed to the center of the village.
There, three Paper Shikigami stood, spiritual power surging around them as they maintained the Barrier.
These were left by Kikyo before she departed.
She said these Shikigami could hold out for half a month.
But now, less than seven days had passed, and cracks had already begun to appear in the Barrier.
"Too many..."
The man holding the hoe muttered, "There are too many demons..."
"The Barrier... can't hold..."
As soon as he spoke.
*Crack—*
A crack spread from the edge of the Barrier.
The sound was like shattering glass, exceptionally piercing in the silent night.
"Charge—!"
The demons roared and surged toward that crack.
The first wolf demon rushed in.
Then the second, the third.
The Barrier was like a bursting dam, no longer able to block that black flood.
"Pick up your weapons!"
A man's voice rang out in the chaos.
It was the young and strong hunters of the village.
"Protect the children and the elderly—all young people who can fight, come with me!"
"Kikyo-sama isn't here, but we can't just sit and wait for death!"
Although they had always been under Kikyo's protection, as people surviving in a chaotic era, they did not lack the bloody courage to fight for their lives!
...
The battle began.
If it could even be called a battle.
The farmers held hoes, sickles, and wooden sticks, facing those monsters with fangs and claws.
The first young man rushed up and was swatted away by a wolf demon's claw, three bloody gashes on his chest, twitching as he fell to the ground.
The second young man raised his hoe, but before he could swing it down, his neck was bitten by another demon.
Blood sprayed.
Screams rose one after another.
The Shikigami were fighting.
The three paper figures launched an offensive, their spiritual power turning into white light to repel the approaching demons.
But there were only three Shikigami.
And there were hundreds of demons.
One Paper Shikigami was surrounded by five or six demons simultaneously; it broke out and was surrounded again repeatedly. After taking down twenty or thirty demons, it finally couldn't hold on, and its paper body was torn to shreds.
Spiritual power dissipated, turning into specks of light that scattered in the night sky.
Another Paper Shikigami fell.
The last one was also struggling to hold on.
After all, Kikyo came from a rural shrine and was just a Wandering Shrine Maiden without a head priest, nor was she proficient in Shikigami. The Shikigami she left behind operated entirely on powerful spiritual power; without her being present to supply spiritual power, they couldn't last too long anyway.
But even so, by normal standards, these Shikigami should have been more than enough to deal with minor demons.
Usually, when Kikyo occasionally needed to go out, she only needed to leave one Shikigami to guard the place for at least half a month.
This situation had exceeded past experiences, yet it still wasn't enough.
"Uncle!"
A child's voice rang out.
It was Kaede.
She stood in a corner of the village, watching a man holding a hoe being pounced on by a demon.
He fell.
Another person took his place.
It was a woman holding a kitchen knife.
She also fell.
Kaede watched all this, her eyes red.
She wanted to rush out, but was held tightly by an old grandmother behind her.
"Don't go!"
The old woman's voice was trembling: "Your sister said for you to live well..."
"But..."
Kaede's voice choked: "But everyone is getting hurt..."
She looked at those who had fallen.
Kaede Village wasn't big, and there weren't many people. These were all people she knew—the uncles who would greet her daily, and the aunts who would weave flower wreaths for her.
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