Like a playful child lying on the ground, hugging all its toys to its chest and refusing to let even one go, pussy fluid dripped from the corners of its mouths.
Sū ěr couldn't help but shudder at the association; this morbid and disgusting sight made his brow furrow even tighter. He didn't even want to look at it anymore.
He liked the rivers of this world, the blooming wildflowers, and the river-fish so stupid they would jump onto the bank themselves. Perhaps he should also add the dazed youkai to the list. These beautiful memories in his mind shouldn't be crowded out by disgusting things.
He didn't know any magic, nor did he know any techniques. All Sū ěr could rely on was imagination, and imagination was all he needed—the Earth Dragon turns.
And so, it turned.
Black soil and dark rocks were twisted into a mass. According to Sū ěr preference, chain-like patterns were even carved into the spiraling joints, though they were quickly wiped clean under his gaze once he realized it. There was no trace of youkai energy, nor any trace of spiritual power; it was as if this piece of earth had gained its own consciousness. It wanted to stand up, to take a good look at everything on the surface, and to bask its body in the light.
Since being forcibly transformed into Oni, they had never once set foot on the surface. For those Oni who had lived through both eras, the days when they were revered as Shinjin felt like only yesterday. Simply not having something doesn't cause much pain; it is having and then losing it that makes people cherish it, and the unending pain that follows.
At the very least, these Oni could only recall from the depths of their memories what the warm sunlight looked like, and the wind, and the rain... but the children they had sired underground didn't even possess such memories. To them, the sun and everything else were just illusory words in speech.
But today, everything changed.
Piercing white light shone through the fractures in the rock and soil. After long deliberation, many Oni finally realized what this was: the sunlight they had been separated from for so long. However, more shocking than this dreamlike sunlight was the earthen dragon rising toward the sky.
The ground shook to the point that it was nearly impossible to stand. This underground city of Yamato had been built with three massive elliptical hollows. Adjacent to the surface was the area where humans of relatively high status lived; the second layer was where the Oni lived; and the deepest third layer was where the master of all Yamato, the Tenson, resided.
This singular structure only avoided collapse through the support of divine and youkai power. Naturally, when that support was broken, it should have collapsed into the subterranean pit, burying all life within.
Yet this logic was easily shattered. While all the soil and rock on one side seemed to have twisted into a unique lifeform, the entire underground city showed not a trace of collapse. It was as if three separate sheets of white paper were held between five fingers; they extended in parallel, not touching even in the furthest corners.
The massive earthen dragon rising toward the sky hauled the meat-monster completely out of the ground. Sū ěr even saw the monster's flesh-tentacles, buried in the cracks of the earth for centuries, being ripped out by the force, like pulling the veins from a fish.
Under the gaze of all the Oni and humans, the monster was pulled through the fissures in the earth and violently hurled into the outside world. From below it, a rain of bones and corpses fell, emitting a stench as they were smashed into a pulp at the edges.
"What... is that?"
The same question existed among the humans and even the Oni. The current state of their master, the Tenson, was a secret even to them. But this was undeniably the most evil of youkai... no, they couldn't even categorize the monster's race. They could only see its evil in the countless faces covering its body and the snake-like, twisted tentacles of meat.
But it was also holy—the surface of its flesh undeniably shimmered with the brilliance of the sun, the most revered power in this kingdom.
This was an evil that even they could not accept.
Even though it had lost most of its wisdom, when it was hurled high into the air by Sū ěr earthen dragon and basked in today's sunlight, the flesh-monster formed from the Tenson began to wail through the mouths of its countless faces.
The fragments of sunlight shimmering inside and on its body now seemed to gain even more power, scorching it and producing wisps of green smoke.
The dragon made of the dark soil and rock from the deepest underground coiled above the entire Yamato City like a true god. Ignoring the gazes of the mortals below, who stared up with their mouths agape in shock, it caught up to the flesh-monster it had flung into the air, laden with the anger of the one who had summoned it.
The massive earthen dragon—whose body should have been incredibly heavy—drifted in the air, free from the constraints of gravity. Under Sū ěr will, it continuously coiled its body, using the meat-monster as its core. It squeezed, spiraled, and bound it infinitely, ignoring the painful wails from the monster being ground into a pulp, until even the sound was sealed within the body of earth.
When Sū ěr finally let out a long breath, the anomaly in the sky also temporarily ceased. The dragon of soil and rock had lost its form, becoming a sphere floating in the air.
No longer hiding her form, Think appeared beside him and wiped the sweat from his brow. Such a massive display was not an easy feat even for Sū ěr.
Smiling and nodding at Think, Sū ěr slightly retracted his raised right hand, seemingly exerting force. The sphere in the sky followed suit, changing its position—an undeniable posture of getting ready to throw something.
"Wait, wait a minute, where are you throwing that?" Hoderi couldn't help but ask. He was still in shock from everything he had just seen—this power comparable to a god's.
Since it concerned his father, he felt he had to ask.
"Ah... probably—back where you came from!" Sū ěr drawled out the words, but quickly gave his answer. Ignoring Hoderi presence, he half-closed his eyes to aim, marshaling all his strength. His clenched fingers seemed to be gripping something physical—then with a surge of power—and another—he threw!
With Sū ěr motion, the sphere floating over Yamato City suddenly accelerated to its limit, shooting straight toward the clouds!
The target! Takamagahara!!