Chapter 57: It's Over
"Onmyoji Dairenji Suzuka hereby offers reverence to the gods of the Underworld and to Taizan Fukun..."
Suzuka held the prayer text in both hands, her face stripped of its usual arrogance. What remained was pure solemnity.
As she recited each line, blood-written talismans poured from her sleeves like a crimson tide and rose into the vortex of black clouds overhead.
Then, with the final verse spoken, her voice sharpened.
"Swiftly obey, as law and decree command!"
The moment the last word fell, the entire sky changed.
The black clouds above the Sacred Mountain flared with a sinister brilliance. Something began to descend from within them, something formless and wrong, like a lump of filthy liquid condensed from misfortune itself. It did not resemble a god. It did not even resemble a spirit.
It looked like a thing that should never have existed in this world.
A chill spread through the air.
Then that mass of turbid darkness dropped from the sky like a lid slamming shut, swallowing both Suzuka and the corpse lying upon the fourth lotus altar.
At once, every living thing on the mountain sensed it.
Birds went silent. Insects vanished. Beasts curled into their dens and trembled.
Even the wind seemed afraid to move.
"That is definitely not a god."
Tsuchimikado Natsume's face had gone pale.
She had never seen the gods of the Underworld, nor had she ever witnessed the Taizan Fukun Ritual with her own eyes, but one thing she knew for certain: no true god would carry such naked malice.
Hirotaka let out a low, bitter breath.
"It failed."
His gaze was fixed on the altar, heavy with resignation.
"No. Something was summoned, but it was not the being Suzuka intended to call. That is an ominous thing from the Underworld. If this continues, it will likely use Dairenji Lishi's body as a vessel and force its way into the world."
From where they were bound, Natsume and the others could only watch.
To anyone looking on, the result was obvious. The ritual had failed. Not only had it failed to restore the dead, it had dragged up something horrifying in the process.
But Gin Tsumugi, who stood closest to the altar, quietly said something different.
"The Taizan Fukun Ritual succeeded."
His eyes never left the altar.
"For Suzuka, though, it was still a failure."
Natsume and the others stared at him.
Succeeded?
How could this possibly be called a success?
Then the black, ill-omened substance began to move.
It sank into the corpse on the altar, flowing into every inch of dead flesh. The vortex clouds overhead thinned. The pressure in the air shifted.
A heartbeat later, the body on the altar twitched.
Then its eyes snapped open.
They were no longer the eyes of the dead boy who had once lain there.
They burned with bloodlust and disaster.
Its mouth split grotesquely wide, like a shark baring its maw, and a long tongue slid out to lick its lips. Slowly, deliberately, it turned its gaze toward Suzuka.
She stood frozen in place.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Despair.
All of it was written plainly on her face.
The thing wearing Dairenji Toshiya's body smiled.
"What a beautiful world."
Its voice was wrong. Wet. Distorted. Full of delighted cruelty.
"Suzuka, thank you for reviving me. As payment, give me your soul."
It reached for her throat.
The fingers were less than an inch away when Gin moved.
"Uho."
His figure vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he appeared before Suzuka, pulled her into his arms, and tore her out of reach. The force of his movement sent sharp blades of spiritual power screaming out behind him, ripping through the air.
The possessed corpse raised a hand lazily.
The invisible pressure shattered those spiritual blades before they could touch it.
But then it saw Gin's face clearly.
Saw him.
Saw the soul hidden beneath that body.
And all at once, the thing's expression twisted.
Fear flooded its eyes.
Real fear.
Impossible fear.
"You should already be dead!"
Its voice rose into a harsh shriek.
"How are you here?!"
Gin lowered Suzuka gently beside Natsume and the others.
She still looked dazed, as though her mind had not yet caught up to what had happened.
Then he stepped forward and faced the creature on the altar.
"You do not belong in this world," he said evenly. "You have no right to remain here."
The possessed body's eyes trembled.
It stared at Gin as if looking at something out of a nightmare that had clawed its way back to life.
"You've grown weaker..."
It sounded confused now. Uneasy. Its earlier savagery had cracked.
"No... that is not it. Your reincarnation has not fully awakened? Or is it something else? But your soul was torn apart before the gods of the Underworld. I saw it. That should have made reincarnation impossible..."
Its voice faltered.
Then the panic worsened.
"No... no, that is wrong. You are him."
Natsume frowned.
Chizuru's breathing grew tight.
Harutora, still sprawled weakly on the ground, stared in silence.
Who was this "him" that could terrify such a thing to this extent?
Only Hirotaka's eyes changed.
At last, the final piece fell into place.
"So that is it," he murmured.
His voice carried no triumph, only awe.
"Family Head... your judgment was correct."
The thing in Toshiya's body slowly drew itself up, though the fear in its face had not faded.
"If I could, I would kill you here," it said, each word thick with hatred.
"But just like a thousand years ago, those two loyal dogs, Zenki and Koki, still guard you. How disgusting. How infuriating."
Its gaze shifted.
Toward Suzuka.
Toward Natsume.
Toward the bound Tsuchimikado couple.
Its killing intent spread like poison.
It had realized something.
Gin cared whether these people lived or died.
"Since I knew you might be summoned," Gin said, "did you really think I would come here without a backup plan?"
"Hokuto."
The dragon answered at once.
Its massive body descended in a coil of earth-colored light, and in the next breath its accumulated spiritual power flowed into Gin once more, overlaying his form like an ancient heavenly guardian.
The possessed corpse sneered, though the expression looked strained.
"You want to kill me now?"
Its voice dripped with mockery, but not confidence.
"Even with that dragon, you are not my match in your current state. A thousand years have passed, and you have grown arrogant."
Gin looked at it without expression.
"I never intended to fight you head-on."
He pulled out a fresh prayer text.
"I only intend to send you back."
The creature's expression changed.
"And while I am at it," Gin continued, "I will use this chance to perform the Taizan Fukun Ritual to its completion. There are questions I still need answered."
Now the thing truly understood.
Its face warped.
"So that was your plan from the very beginning. To use the law of the Underworld itself to expel me."
Gin did not answer.
He simply opened the text and began to chant.
"Onmyoji Gin Tsumugi hereby offers reverence to the gods of the Underworld and to Taizan Fukun..."
The moment the incantation began, the heavens responded.
Black clouds returned.
They twisted into a vast vortex above the Sacred Mountain, far larger than before, so dark they seemed to devour even moonlight. Dense Yin energy rolled out in waves. The aura of the Underworld flooded the mountaintop until the very air felt soaked in death.
Somewhere within that darkness, one could hear the distant roars of evil spirits and ghost gods.
The possessed corpse stiffened.
This time it did not laugh.
This time it did not sneer.
Because it knew exactly what was happening.
Gin's voice continued, steady and precise, each syllable falling into place with terrifying accuracy.
The resistance of the world and the authority of the Underworld collided at once.
A vast suction descended from the sky and locked onto the possessed body.
At the same time, another force pressed back against Gin himself, rejecting him, blocking him, denying him any deeper connection to that place beyond life and death.
The Underworld still regarded him as an anomaly.
But Gin did not move an inch.
He finished the final line.
"Swiftly obey, as law and decree command!"
The authority of the ritual came crashing down.
The corpse let out a shriek of pure unwillingness.
The thing inside it was dragged upward, stripped away by the pull of the Underworld. It clawed, twisted, and raged, but it could not resist the order woven into the completed rite.
As it was torn free, its final scream rang through the mountain night.
"Seimei!"
Then it was gone.
Banished back to the Underworld.
The vortex clouds above the mountain began to collapse. Layer by layer, the darkness faded. The oppressive aura broke apart like mist beneath sunlight.
Moonlight returned.
The stars reappeared.
The Sacred Mountain, which had seemed moments away from becoming a gate to hell, slowly settled back into silence.
The wind stirred again.
The night was once more just night.
Gin lowered the prayer text and looked up at the sky.
"It's over."
.....
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