Chapter 164: Kūkai
One-third of the Onmyōryō's foundation.
That was the Onmyōryō they were speaking of, not merely the Onmyō Academy or the Onmyo Bureau.
Taken literally, one-third of its foundation might already equal everything currently possessed by the Onmyō Academy.
And that was only the most conservative interpretation.
Kurahashi Miyoshi, Amami Daizen, and Otomo Jin all understood that the Onmyōryō Gin Tsumugi referred to was certainly not the institution that had declined to its lowest point four hundred years ago.
He meant the Onmyōryō of a thousand years ago.
The Onmyōryō of the Heian Period, when Abe no Seimei was still alive and the institution stood at the absolute summit of Onmyōdō.
If these two objects truly represented one-third of that Onmyōryō's foundation, then their value was almost impossible to measure.
Kurahashi Miyoshi had never imagined that such astonishing treasures had remained inside the Onmyō Academy.
Though calling them hidden was not quite accurate.
They had always been there.
The academy simply regarded them as useless antiques and left them gathering dust in an abandoned warehouse because no one had recognized their true nature.
She did not know whether to lament that they had failed to recognize priceless opportunities right before their eyes or to feel relieved that the artifacts had survived unnoticed until Gin returned.
Kurahashi Miyoshi, Amami Daizen, and Otomo Jin exchanged bitter smiles.
They had all seen the two objects in Gin's hands more than once.
Some of them had even handled and examined them personally.
"Actually, you do not need to blame yourselves."
Gin immediately saw through their thoughts.
"Both of these Onmyōdō treasures possess powerful concealment properties."
"Even a Great Onmyoji could easily overlook them without conducting a deliberate and thorough examination."
He glanced at the stone compass and bronze sphere.
"Furthermore, the incantations and hand seals required to activate them were lost long ago."
"Failing to recognize them is understandable."
The three elders felt somewhat better after hearing this.
After all, Great Onmyoji had effectively vanished from modern Onmyōdō.
Over the past several centuries, the only people who had truly approached that realm were the Thirteenth Generation Keikain Hidemoto and Tsuchimikado Yakou.
Gin himself naturally could not be placed in the same category.
From that perspective, it was hardly surprising that no one had uncovered the truth of these artifacts.
"Lord Seimei, what exactly are these two treasures?"
Otomo Jin asked curiously.
Kurahashi Miyoshi and Amami Daizen also fixed their eyes on Gin, or more precisely, on the bronze sphere and stone compass in his hands.
What were they?
What abilities did they possess?
And how did they compare with the Senji Ryakketsu, once known throughout the Onmyōdō world as one of its greatest treasures?
Gin had no intention of keeping them in suspense.
He first raised the stone compass.
"This is the Arena I mentioned earlier."
"Kūkai."
"Kūkai?"
The name was completely unfamiliar.
Kurahashi Miyoshi, Amami Daizen, and Otomo Jin searched through their memories, but none of them could recall seeing it in historical records or ancient Onmyōdō texts.
It was most likely a hidden trump card of the old Onmyōryō.
When Gin explained Kūkai's abilities, all three widened their eyes in disbelief.
"Kūkai can perfectly replicate a complete region of space and separate that copy into an independent dimension."
Gin held the stone compass in his palm.
"For example, if I activate Kūkai at full capacity, I can reproduce the entirety of Tokyo within another dimension."
"Everything except living beings would be copied."
"The terrain, buildings, streets, and even the physical laws governing that space would be almost identical in strength and structure to those of the real world."
The warehouse fell silent.
"With Kūkai serving as the Arena, Master Dōman and I can conduct our duel entirely within that replicated space."
Gin continued calmly.
"As long as neither of us deliberately attacks the spatial nodes maintaining the dimension, nothing that happens inside will endanger the real world."
"This..."
Amami Daizen stared at the unremarkable stone compass in astonishment.
"This is far beyond anything I imagined an Onmyōdō treasure could accomplish."
"It is almost the same as creating another world."
To think that the end of Onmyōdō did not merely involve prolonging life or reversing reincarnation.
It could even reproduce a world from nothing.
Though Kūkai created only a parallel dimension rather than an independent universe, that space still possessed almost everything needed to be called a world.
"It is indeed astonishing."
Otomo Jin subconsciously adjusted the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, trying to conceal his own shock.
Kurahashi Miyoshi, however, noticed something else.
"Kūkai is certainly extraordinary, but using it only as a place for an Onmyōdō duel seems wasteful."
"Naturally."
Gin nodded.
"That is merely the simplest use of Kūkai."
His gaze lowered toward the stone compass.
"Kūkai was created a thousand years ago, during an era when demons and Yokai roamed freely and the Night Parade ruled after sunset."
"In such an environment, Kūkai was a strategic treasure of war."
"It could divide massive tides of Yokai across separate sections of replicated space, splitting an overwhelming army into numerous isolated battlefields arranged like a honeycomb."
"By separating the enemy and controlling the terrain, the Onmyoji of the Onmyōryō could obtain the greatest possible results while expending the least amount of strength."
Gin's explanation allowed the three elders to understand Kūkai's true purpose.
The Onmyōryō had once stood firm during an era when the Supernatural Recovery had nearly reached its peak.
Kūkai had played a major role in that survival.
Their gazes toward the stone compass gradually changed.
Fervour and hope appeared in their eyes.
If Kūkai could truly achieve everything Gin described, then it had enough strategic value to alter the outcome of entire wars.
For modern Onmyōdō, which was already struggling beneath mounting pressure, it could greatly reduce their burden.
Amami Daizen and Otomo Jin understood that better than most.
During the Kyoto Incident, the Onmyoji had faced both Hagoromo Gitsune's Night Parade of One Hundred Demons and the endless Yokai gestating from the source of Yin energy.
If Kūkai had been available at the time, they could have separated those enemies into controlled battlefields.
The Onmyoji would have been able to coordinate their forces more efficiently, while the advantage held by the enormous Yokai horde would have been weakened.
Kūkai truly deserved to be called a strategic treasure of Onmyōdō.
"If Kūkai is a strategic treasure created to confront armies of Yokai, then Kingyo is an inheritance treasure designed to prevent the Onmyōryō's legacy from ever disappearing."
Gin raised the bronze sphere.
"An inheritance treasure?"
The three looked at the object with renewed attention.
"Talking about preserving the Onmyōryō's inheritance in the present era may sound somewhat ironic."
Gin shook his head.
"But that was indeed the purpose for which Kingyo was created."
The moment he discovered Kingyo in the warehouse, Gin had already understood that the hopes of those who forged it a thousand years ago had not been fulfilled.
It had been created to ensure that the inheritance of the Onmyōryō would continue forever.
Yet history had carried it in an entirely different direction.
Time was the most unpredictable force in existence.
No one could know how much an original plan might deviate after centuries of change.
Even the smallest accidental shift, once magnified by the passage of time, could eventually become an abyss separating intention from reality.
....
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