Vol 3 Chapter 7 (1/2)
VOLUME 3
PART 2: Hitsugi-no-Miko (1)
Chapter 7: For the Sake of this World, for the Sake of the Humans in this World
Both of my eyes opened wide.
All I could see around me was r o t t i n g f l e s h.
“Kyaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
I had no idea what was going on.
From what I could see, I was surrounded by a flock of disgusting-looking zombies.
Yes, zombies.
They clearly were not alive. I saw brown and black lumps of rotting flesh shaped like humans all around me; sidling up to me while letting out what could best be described as groans.
Their putrid smell filled my nostrils.
I had been raised in a relatively neat and proper place; also, I was still feeling a bit of trauma from when my mother had shown me her decaying body… so I was pretty sensitive now to grotesque things like this.
I felt terror run through my body as I began to scoot backwards.
“Kyaahhh!! Kyaahh?! W-Why did I suddenly get tossed into a zombie arcade game or something?!”
I was in the business district of some town I didn’t recognize.
I saw many tall buildings around me stuck into the ground like stakes.
There was very little nature to be found, and the air was clouded with pollution.
Most of the trees lining the roadside were bent or snapped, and a huge number of cars on the roadside were either turned upside down or on fire.
It was like the end of the world.
It may also be the direct aftermath of a huge earthquake.
I also saw quite a few wounded priestesses collapsed around me.
These are… spiritualists from the Tsukuyomi Shrine.
It seemed they were still alive, but not a single one of them was moving at all.
“……?”
My mind became clearer, but along with that came a sense of unease that spread throughout my body.
It almost felt like… I wasn’t myself right now.
–
“What is the matter, Tsukuyomi Juju?”
–
Somebody… was calling out to me, but it was with my mother’s name.
“Weak irregularities such as this should be no match for you. Pick up your weapon and fight. A one-sided battle makes for quite a boring one, wouldn’t you say?”
I saw someone beyond the flock of zombies standing on top of a street lamp.
His face was shrouded in shadow under this ominous, cloudy sky, so I couldn’t see him very well.
He was dressed like he was the leader of some heretic cult, and I saw a few nasty-looking skulls dangling from his staff.
His body was so thin it was almost skeletal, while his eyes had sunk into his face.
He was missing a few teeth…
He was also balding…
Atop that balding head of this old man rested a diadem. It looked like something pilfered from some ancient ruin somewhere.
The sinister aura emanating from this man filled the air around the squirming zombies. I swore it made their stench a hundred times worse.
“You have annihilated all of our organization’s vanguard troops, so come and show me your true power! Tsukuyomi Juju, the priestess of that vile Tsukuyomi Shrine, and the one heralded as the strongest priestess in history… you will take that power of the Supreme G.o.d which you inherited into your body, and you will hand it over to the people of Arahabaki!”
Arahabaki…?
What the h.e.l.l was that?
But that name did kind of ring a bell…
More importantly, now I definitely had confirmed that this skeletal man had called me “Tsukuyomi Juju.”
“……”
I took another good look at my own body.
I saw myself wearing a priestess uniform, slightly discolored by rotting flesh and blood (not my own).
Long locks of hair obscured my view… hair that was way too long to belong to me.
I was also bigger than I remembered… I was in an adult’s body.
Through deductive reasoning, I could guess that I was… I was now in my mother’s body.
Why?
Also, where exactly was I?
What was happening?
I must’ve looked quite confused. But the skeletal man seemed to see this as a good thing and began laughing uproariously.
“You do seem a bit off today, but do not think I will show you any mercy because of that! I am an a.s.sa.s.sin of the sinister occult society, Arahabaki! I am the vessel for a divine spirit, the Slothful Patron of Graves, Baron Samedi! Today will be the day where I avenge the deaths of all my fallen comrades!”
Baron Samedi was a deity wors.h.i.+pped in the folk religion of Voodoo.
Well, he was more of a saint than a deity, but close enough.
This deity was in charge of the pa.s.sage between the border of life and death, and during festivals was allowed to ascend to the human world above. At those times, he would revive the dead and partic.i.p.ate in boisterous merrymaking.
Why was a deity from such a distant land here all of a sudden?
“If I can defeat the Tsukuyomi priestess, then my own status will skyrocket! It may even be possible for me to become the vessel of the Eternal Rebel Arahabaki in Her Highness’s place!”
This Baron Samedi or whatever trembled with emotion.
“Go, my zombies! Tear that woman into shreds and turn her into fish food!”
“Eek…”
Zombies were usually pretty weak enemies in games.
However, I had no idea how to fight, so even running here was a pretty difficult path to take.
These zombies seemed to be unarmed and just attacked by grabbing onto their prey. I cowered.
Sasami, step down.
Suddenly, I heard words in the back of my head, and I felt my consciousness sink deep into my body.
This is not a place for children.
In my mind, another psyche emerged…
“Do not think that the power of the Supreme G.o.d I have inherited is just for show!”
It was my mother.
This air of intimidation…
This imposing presence…
She quickly drew her blade, unsheathing the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from her staff.
This blade made from divine energy cut through the surrounding zombies like b.u.t.ter, sending them flying from the impact.
“Hngh..?!”
Baron Samedi panicked a bit, raising his staff and calling out to his army of living corpses.
“It seems you are back to normal… my zombies, do not let that woman near me! She may be the Tsukuyomi priestess, but she is still a mere human! She will tire! Surround her and crush her!”
“Tch, how troublesome…”
My mother muttered to herself as she easily sliced the surrounding zombies into ribbons.
“These are the living dead. The dead belong to the Underworld. The Underworld is not under the control of the Supreme G.o.d Amaterasu. It may be rather difficult to cast an alteration and render these zombies all powerless.”
So instead, my mother directly confronted Baron Samedi.
“What is your goal?” My mother asked bluntly.
“You members of Arahabaki generally take glee purely in making people suffer through your crimes, but this time I cannot confess to understand your actions. Why would you force the dead to move and attack others? Is there a meaning to that? It does not even seem you have directly brought back the souls of the deceased, but rather, you have possessed these corpses with low-level G.o.ds and are controlling them by those means… however weaklings such as these cannot possibly give you any significant advantage in a real battle.”
“Kufufu, you do not understand, do you? You do not understand my sublime aspirations!”
Baron Samedi twirled his cultist clothing in the air and spoke boomingly.
“Just as you said, I have merely possessed these corpses with lowly G.o.ds, and they are nothing but my puppets! However, these puppets will move at my command and will never betray me!”
Samedi spoke boomingly, but he made zero sense.
“My goal is the conquering of this nation! First, I will kill all the country’s politicians, possess them with G.o.ds, and turn them into zombies! Then I will control these newly-born zombie politicians, and I will become the grand king! If other politicians defy me, I will kill them too and turn them into zombies! As for all the people who do not vote for me, they will also be killed and turned into zombies! Democracy demands majority votes! So if I turn all the politicians and all the people into zombies who have no way of disobeying me, then I will control everything! Zombie cabinet approval rating?! A hundred percent, of course! Guhahahaha!”
This guy was an idiot.
“Hmph, do not think I will allow you to do such terrible things!”
Wahh, my mother actually responded to that insane rant pretty sincerely. Mom, you’re pretty cute…
“I see you have this quite planned out… by those means, certainly in a certain sense this land might fall under your control; however, the Tsukuyomi Shrine exists for the sake of this world, and for the sake of the humans in this world! We will put a stop to those ambitions! G.o.ds and humans do not exist to be your playthings!”
My mother declared that and then took a familiar pose to cast a spell.
A cool-looking pose, like she was an ally of justice.
The Chant of Returning Roads.
“The Great G.o.d of the Returning Roads refers to the boulder placed at the boundary between Earth and Underworld to seal Izanami when she tried to escape from the Underworld! It has an instantaneous effect on the dead! To speak in words that may be familiar to you… return earth to earth, and ashes to ashes!”
Along with my mother’s words, all the zombies around us fell to the floor, almost as if something above was pressing down upon them.
“Deity from another land, repent for your sins… and begone!”
My mother teleported herself to where Baron Samedi was standing.
She majestically swung the exposed Totsuka-no-Tsurugi down.
The blade ate into Baron Samedi’s shoulder and quickly cut his body into two, dispersing it into the wind.
It was an instant kill.
The Slothful Patron of Graves, Baron Samedi, was by no means weak.
In fact, he had defeated all those other priestesses.
However, he was no match for my mother.
My mother was strong. Stronger than anybody.
She had to be.
Even if she had to do the impossible, even if she started coughing up blood, she had to put her all into it.
For the sake of this world. For the sake of the humans in this world.
“Wasting my time like that… hm?”
Breathing heavily, my mother suddenly looked up at the sky.
Something was flying towards us at high speeds, seeming to tear through the clouds.
“Juju-samaaaaaaaaa!!!”
My mother squinted her eyes, seeing a strange thing flying through the sky.
It was the size of a car, but it looked like a huge human head.
This was a demon called a “flying head” youkai (2), or a “long-necked” youkai (long-necked might make you think that it’s a youkai that can stretch out its neck, but there were many types of this youkai that could detach its head and fly through the skies).
The Tsukuyomi Shrine used a lot of low-level youkai as servants.
The flying head soared towards us with the speed of an airplane, and I could see a single priestess sitting atop its head.
“That is… Micchan?”
My mother stared upwards, a hint of puzzlement in her eyes.
The flying head suddenly looked like it was holding something in.
“A… A… A… Acchooo!” It let out a grand sneeze.
The force of the sneeze threw this Micchan priestess person completely into the air.
“U… Ugyaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!”
“Micchan?!”
Micchan began speeding towards the ground head first.
“Phew… that really scared me. I thought I was going to die.”