Chapter 107: Ghost
The Slaughter Ghost was gravely wounded.
But it was not dead.
Gin Tsumugi had known this would happen from the moment he chained together those Onmyō Arts. If a Great Yokai could be destroyed by a few National Level spells, then the title "Great Yokai" would not have carried such weight throughout the history of Onmyōdō.
They were yokai that stood at the peak of all Yokai.
Living calamities.
Creatures that had terrified generations of Onmyoji not because of exaggerated legends, but because every legend was written in blood.
The exchange just now had looked fierce. To the Onmyoji watching from below, it had seemed like Gin had seized the upper hand and inflicted a decisive wound. In truth, that had only been a probing clash.
A prelude.
The real battle was about to begin.
High above Shinomiya Manor, the scorched flesh on the Slaughter Ghost's body began to crawl.
Its right arm, which had been shriveled and nearly useless, swelled back into shape. Charred muscle wriggled beneath torn skin. Blackened flesh peeled away in flakes, replaced by fresh, blood-red tissue. The half of its body burned by the Fudō Myōō Fire Boundary Mantra regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In only a few breaths, the Slaughter Ghost stood whole once more.
Its aura had not weakened at all.
If anything, the scent of blood around it had grown thicker.
"How can that be...?"
Shinomiya Kaguya stared at the sky, her face pale.
The hope that had just risen in her heart trembled.
Only now did she understand how shallow her knowledge of Great Yokai truly was. That level of injury would have killed an ordinary monster several times over. Even a powerful spiritual disaster would have been severely weakened.
Yet the Slaughter Ghost had recovered as though it had merely shaken off dust.
Great Yokai and ordinary yokai were not creatures of the same dimension.
"It is shocking," Ouchiyama Megumi said quietly, her cloudy eyes grave, "but not unexpected."
As the High Priestess of Ise Grand Shrine, she had read far more records about Great Yokai than most Onmyoji alive today. There were many ways to harm them.
Killing them was another matter entirely.
Furukawa Oishi looked up at the sky and said in a low voice, "Lord White Fox, if you rely only on National Level Onmyō Arts, subjugating and killing the Slaughter Ghost may be difficult."
No one refuted him.
In the sky, the Slaughter Ghost flexed its regenerated fingers. Its blood-red eyes fixed on Gin.
"Onmyoji," it said, its voice no longer carrying the same careless disdain, "I withdraw what I said earlier."
The corners of its mouth slowly split open.
"You are not lowly. You are strong. Among the high-level Onmyoji I have seen, those you now call National Level Onmyoji, your strength belongs near the top."
Its gaze remained violent and bloodthirsty, but the contempt had faded.
The Slaughter Ghost loved killing, but it had not survived for nearly a thousand years by being stupid. A fool who could not recognize danger would never have lived long enough to become a Great Yokai.
It had suffered once because it underestimated him.
There would not be a second time.
The Slaughter Ghost slowly spread both arms.
"Slaughter Kingdom."
The air changed.
A bloody domain unfolded from the Slaughter Ghost's body and began devouring the world.
It did not open like a separate space. It did not pull people elsewhere. It bled directly into reality.
The sky, earth, flowers, trees, streams, and stones were all dyed crimson. The private scenic area that had once been beautiful enough to resemble a painted landscape became a world of blood and killing intent.
The hidden laws of the area shifted.
Order twisted.
The scent of iron thickened in every breath.
The lucky animals that had survived the first wave of the Slaughter Ghost's pressure were affected at once. Gray wolves, white rabbits, sika deer, birds hiding in the forest, every living creature inside the domain had its instincts soaked in bloodlust. Their eyes turned red, and they began tearing each other apart.
A peaceful scenic area turned into a slaughterhouse.
The barrier protecting Shinomiya Manor cracked the moment the domain touched it.
Then it shattered.
The Onmyoji below immediately began chanting the Mercy Salvation Mantra, using its purifying rhythm to resist the murderous impulse invading their minds. But everyone understood that this was only a temporary measure.
They were standing inside the power of a Great Yokai.
"Yokai weave Spirit Domains," Gin murmured, looking at the blood-red world around him. "Great Yokai open Spirit."
His expression grew slightly more serious.
This was the unique power of a Great Yokai.
Spirit.
It was the sublimation of a Spirit Domain.
An ordinary yokai Spirit Domain was a woven sub-space, a separate world attached to reality. The Wedding Dress Tree's Spirit Domain, for example, had been vast and flexible, a cursed space built around its own rules.
But a Great Yokai's Spirit was different.
A Spirit did not create a false world.
It claimed a piece of the real one.
Within the area covered by a Spirit, the Great Yokai could directly interfere with the rules and order of reality. It could distort principles, suppress techniques, confuse the flow of Onmyōdō, and weaken the power of Onmyoji by cutting them off from the foundation they relied upon.
In terms of sheer size, the Slaughter Ghost's Spirit could not compare to the Wedding Dress Tree's Spirit Domain.
But in terms of authority, they were worlds apart.
The moment the Slaughter Ghost deployed its Spirit, it meant the warm-up was over.
It was finally using its true power.
"Onmyoji," the Slaughter Ghost said, "let us begin the second round."
It clenched one claw toward Gin.
Thump.
A dull, sickening sound echoed through the crimson world.
Invisible force erupted from the Slaughter Kingdom itself, crushing Gin's body in midair.
He burst into blood mist.
Below, Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes widened. Isayama Yomi's hand tightened around Shishio's hilt. Tsuchimiya Kagura nearly cried out.
But before any of them could speak, the blood mist scattered.
Dozens of talismans burned away in the air.
"A substitution?"
The Slaughter Ghost sneered.
"Such tricks cannot fool me. Not inside my Slaughter Kingdom."
Its eyes snapped toward the upper right.
"Slaughter, Blood Blades."
Countless blades of condensed blood formed in the air.
They hung for half a heartbeat, then shot forward like an army loosed from formation, tearing toward the empty space where Gin had hidden himself.
Gin's figure appeared.
Trying to evade a Great Yokai's perception inside its own Spirit was unrealistic. He had only done so to test the degree of its control.
Now that the answer was clear, he no longer bothered hiding.
"Ancient crow of the gods, softly proclaim the grace of origins long past. Seven calamities extinguished, seven miles of stars."
A talisman ignited between his fingers.
"Swiftly, as the laws and decrees command."
"Seven-Pointed Barrier."
A seven-layered barrier unfolded before him, each layer marked by luminous points like stars linked in a ritual pattern.
The blood blades slammed into it.
The first layer shook.
The second cracked.
The third trembled violently.
"Onmyoji," the Slaughter Ghost said, appearing behind Gin, "not so easy."
It had moved through the Slaughter Kingdom like a shadow passing through blood.
Claws raised, it prepared to strike from behind while the blood blades battered the barrier from the front. It intended to crush both the Seven-Pointed Barrier and Gin in one motion.
Gin's eyes remained calm.
"Crucifix Sutra Thunder Technique."
Dozens of talismans flew from his sleeve.
He abandoned the full chant and activated them directly. The talismans flashed, and pure cyan lightning burst out from every direction.
Boom!
The area around the Seven-Pointed Barrier became a thunder prison.
Lightning filled the air, carrying destruction and rebirth in equal measure. The blood blades were shattered one after another, dissolving into crimson mist beneath the cyan thunder.
At almost the same time, Gin stepped away.
"Uho."
His body blurred and slipped out of the Slaughter Ghost's rear attack by a hair's breadth.
The Slaughter Ghost's claws tore through empty air.
It turned its head slowly.
"Onmyoji," it said, "you are running out of options."
Then its eyes sharpened.
"Sever Onmyōdō."
Rumble.
The entire Slaughter Kingdom changed.
The laws inside the crimson world shifted again, this time with open violence. Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the spiritual order that formed the basis of Onmyōdō, all came under the Slaughter Ghost's suppression.
The world inside the Spirit began to groan.
Space became unstable. The ground trembled. Trees twisted. The streams turned thick and red. Even the air seemed to lose its structure.
Suppressing Onmyōdō slightly was one thing.
Severing it outright was another.
Onmyōdō was rooted in Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements, the fundamental framework through which the world was interpreted and manipulated. To cut it away inside a defined space was like ripping beams from a house while people were still standing beneath the roof.
"Not good."
Furukawa Oishi's face turned ugly.
"The Onmyōdō here has been completely suppressed."
The other Onmyoji felt it too.
The spiritual power in their bodies became heavy and unresponsive. The spell formulas they had prepared dissolved before they could take shape. Talismans that should have reacted instantly now lay inert between their fingers.
Onmyō Arts could no longer be performed.
In this moment, they had been reduced to ordinary people.
No different from civilians without the strength to bind a chicken.
"This is... a Great Yokai?"
Tsuchimiya Kagura's eyes trembled.
Beside her, Isayama Yomi's expression was no better.
The tip of the iceberg had already left them shaken to the core.
This was not merely overwhelming power.
This was suppression at the level of rules.
They both looked toward Gin.
What could he do against this?
The hidden observers watching through secret arts also fell into heavy silence.
"The Slaughter Ghost has fully revealed the power of its Spirit. If White Fox Gin Tsumugi has no means to deal with it, he may fall here."
"In a certain sense, Spirits are absolute restraints against Onmyoji."
"That is true. Unless one advances to the level of Great Onmyoji and allows one's Onmyōdō Framework to complete its final nirvana, resisting a Spirit is extremely difficult."
"A National Level Onmyoji cannot fight a Great Yokai's Spirit head-on."
"Then this may be the end."
"..."
Most of the Onmyoji observing the battle were no longer optimistic.
The standard of three National Level Onmyoji being required to contend with one Great Yokai was not based on the crude idea that enough people could overcome quality with numbers.
Anyone watching this battle could see how laughable that idea was.
Once a Great Yokai opened its Spirit and severed Onmyōdō within that space, no matter how many ordinary Onmyoji gathered, they would all become fish on a chopping board.
The true reason three National Level Onmyoji could contend with a Great Yokai was a special secret art.
Only by performing that secret art together could they temporarily resist a Great Yokai's Spirit.
And the minimum number required to perform it was three.
Gin Tsumugi was alone.
But then someone suddenly spoke.
"Wait. Haven't you noticed? White Fox Gin Tsumugi doesn't seem affected by the severed Onmyōdō."
That reminder startled many of the observers.
They looked again.
Sure enough, Gin was still standing in the air.
The technique supporting his flight had not collapsed.
His spiritual power still flowed smoothly.
The Onmyō Arts he had performed showed no signs of being suppressed.
"How is that possible?"
"Could his Onmyōdō Framework have already completed nirvana?"
"Impossible. He is only at National Level. To complete nirvana, he would have to advance to Great Onmyoji first."
"Then what is happening?"
"..."
Several people familiar with Gin fell into thought.
Amami Daizen.
Miyoshi Tougo.
Tamamo-no-Mae.
Ryōyū.
All of them thought of the same possibility.
In the blood-red sky, the Slaughter Ghost also noticed.
"The Onmyōdō has been severed," it said, narrowing its eyes, "yet you can still use Onmyō Arts."
For the first time, real surprise appeared in its voice.
Then the surprise twisted into a cruel grin.
"Good. This is becoming interesting."
"Interesting?"
Gin looked at it.
A mysterious light surfaced in his eyes, deep and fluid.
"Then I should return the favor."
Spiritual power rose from his body.
He lifted one hand toward the Slaughter Ghost and clenched his fingers.
Thump.
The same dull crushing sound echoed through the Slaughter Kingdom.
This time, the force did not descend on Gin.
It descended on the Slaughter Ghost.
The Great Yokai's body shuddered under a crushing pressure born from the Slaughter Kingdom itself.
The force failed to injure it. The Slaughter Ghost dispersed it almost immediately with its own authority.
But the result was not the important part.
The meaning behind it was.
For the first time since the battle began, disbelief flashed across the Slaughter Ghost's hideous face.
"You..."
It pointed at Gin, unable to hide its shock.
"How can you mobilize the power of my Slaughter Kingdom?"
That force had been the same power it used earlier to crush Gin's talisman clone.
It had come from its own Spirit.
From its own authority.
Gin lowered his hand and shook his head faintly.
"In the end, it is still the power of a yokai. Forcibly using spiritual power to mobilize the laws and order here is far too inefficient."
The small attempt just now had consumed more spiritual power than casting a National Level Onmyō Art.
Not worth the cost.
At the same time, the Onmyoji watching from afar realized what had happened.
One after another, they rose from their seats, expressions shaken.
"It's Myriad Laws."
"White Fox Gin Tsumugi's Onmyōdō Framework, Myriad Laws."
"Myriad Laws... commanding all paths, driving all laws... So it does not simply refer to Onmyōdō?"
"He has been using Myriad Laws to learn and analyze the Slaughter Ghost's Spirit."
"That is why severing Onmyōdō did not affect him. He has already understood part of the laws and order inside the Slaughter Kingdom."
"And because of that, he can borrow a small portion of the Spirit's authority."
"This is absurd."
"An all-encompassing Onmyōdō Framework..."
"..."
Inside the Imperial Palace, Tamamo-no-Mae gave a soft sigh.
"I originally thought there might be a difference between Myriad Laws and Gyodō. Perhaps a flaw. A gap. Some loophole in that nearly perfect framework."
Her blurred features carried an emotion difficult to read.
"But it is exactly the same as in his previous life. Still so unreasonable. Still so impossible to solve."
What Myriad Laws had revealed so far was only the smallest corner of its true nature.
Its real terror remained hidden beneath the surface.
And those words were clearly heard by a certain consciousness sleeping within her body.
.....
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