The two "masters" felt a trap spring shut.
"My lords," Ozaki said, his voice laced with a new urgency. "Which shall we deal with first? The Takaonna who set the fire, or the Yamawaro who are making people sick?"
I'd prefer to deal with neither, Tanaka thought desperately. He turned to his colleague. "Priest Tomioka, what is your judgment?"
Tomioka's face was a picture of pious regret. "Alas, my lord Susano'o has already journeyed to Yomi to negotiate with the Queen of the Underworld. He seeks to seal the path, to prevent more Yokai from emerging. The spiritual interference from the underworld prevents me from borrowing his power. The task of cleansing the mortal world must therefore fall to you, Master Tanaka."
It was a masterful excuse. Tanaka immediately countered. "My own shikigami spirits were dispatched earlier to assist the great Lord Susano'o in his noble quest. I am afraid I am… without my primary tools." He saw Ozaki's crestfallen face and added, "However, even without my spirits, a low-level Yokai like the Takaonna would normally be no match for me. But I am still recovering from a grievous spiritual wound I sustained while sealing away the great demon Shuten Dōji three weeks ago."
"You were injured?" Tomioka asked, his voice dripping with false concern. "You look perfectly healthy."
"The wounds are not of the flesh," Tanaka retorted gravely. "And you, priest? Two days and your spiritual power hasn't recovered at all?"
Ozaki's expression slowly shifted from reverence to suspicion. These two sounded less like powerful mystics and more like two office workers trying to avoid a difficult assignment.
"Thump. Thump. Thump."
The soft, rhythmic sound of geta sandals on pavement echoed from behind them. Ozaki and his special forces team spun around, weapons raised. Standing there, having appeared from nowhere, was a small girl in the white and red robes of a shrine maiden. Her face was solemn, her presence radiating a chilling, sacred aura.
"The Great Priestess Reiko," Tomioka breathed, bowing his head instantly.
Leo, in control of Reiko's body, had decided the farce had gone on long enough. It was time to make his entrance.
Ozaki's relief was immense. "Great Priestess," he said, bowing low. "We are in your debt."
Reiko nodded slightly, her voice as clear and crisp as a temple bell. "What belongs to the Yokai, belongs to the Yokai. What belongs to humans, belongs to humans. This was the law set down by my Lord, Ame-no-Minakanushi. These creatures have violated his decree. They will be punished."
She raised a small hand. Divine power, converted into pure spiritual energy, coalesced into a gleaming longbow. She drew the string, and an arrow of pure white light materialized, humming with power.
"A Hama Yumi and Hama Ya!" Tanaka whispered in awe. "A demon-breaking bow and arrow!"
Reiko released the string. The arrow streaked through the air, a comet of white light that crossed the city in an instant and struck the distant, flaming form of the Takaonna. The giant woman didn't even scream. She simply dissolved into a cloud of white ash that scattered on the wind.
"Incredible," Ozaki whispered, a shiver running down his spine. The power was terrifying, absolute.
One by one, Reiko fired her arrows of light. Each one found its mark, purifying the Yokai that plagued the city, turning them to dust. Soon, silence fell over Nara.
"It is done," Ozaki said, sighing in relief. "The Yokai are gone."
"The ones in the city are," Reiko corrected, her small face turning towards the sky. "But the intersection between your world and Yomi has grown stronger."
As she spoke, a horrifying vista tore open in the sky above them. A dead, ochre-colored land under a sky of dust. A sluggish, brown river snaked through it. In the distance stood a colossal, domed structure wreathed in a grey mist of tormented souls, their silent screams visible as distortions in the air. A stone path led from that dark citadel to the edge of the vision, where a massive boulder lay pushed to one side. The gate to the underworld was open.
And the entire apparition was slowly, inexorably descending upon Nara.
The tops of the tallest skyscrapers touched the vision first, their steel and glass taking on a sickly yellow hue. The people inside froze instantly, turned to statues in mid-motion.
"Yomi is descending," Tanaka stammered, his face bloodless. "It's pulling the entire city into the Land of the Dead."
"My power can only delay it," Reiko said, her expression grave.
"Please, Great Priestess, you must stop it!" Ozaki begged, his mind reeling at the thought of an entire city being erased from existence. Failure here wasn't just career suicide; it was a cataclysm.
Reiko sighed, a heavy weight seeming to settle on her small shoulders. Her face was filled with a saintly resolve. "There is only one way. I must summon my Lord Ame-no-Minakanushi himself and pray he will sever the connection between the worlds."
She looked at Ozaki, her gaze piercing.
"But to perform such a grand ritual, I require four artifacts."