Chapter 29: The Fiend and The Flayer
Chiaki looked over the fairy 'fortress' of Yoyogi Park again. This time, she was going inside no matter what they said. There was smoke beyond the construction barriers this time, a few scattered plumes. Was it the fairies, or another invader? Whichever it was, she might be able to slip in through the chaos and get the Yahirono Himorogi. That was the most important thing.
She passed through the normal gate, finding no fairies there to stop her. Considering how they'd treated her last time, it was strange. There was someone in the courtyard. She looked like a beautiful woman, wearing a nearly sheer dress decorated with gold. A pink veil was drawn across her face, attached to a lovely headdress. According to Persephone's knowledge, this was somehow a fiend, like Naoki and the evil Trumpeter.
"Are you with the fairies?" Chiaki asked, keeping some distance. She didn't want to back down like a coward. At the same time, she'd seen the kind of power that fiends had. If she could defeat one of them, then she'd definitely have the power to do as she wanted.
"Occasionally, but not now," she said, turning her head to glance at her. The veil completely obscured her face, which was a pity since she seemed so lovely. "Oh-ho, you're one of the Reason bearers, are you? Let me guess, you're after the key to Kagutsuchi's road."
"That's right," Chiaki said. "And the power to call on my goddess. Gabriel said she was the most powerful one out there."
The fiend laughed. "Is that so? In a way, in a way, although if you're speaking of Gabriel, nobody would have the power to summon that one here or anywhere. You must mean one of the avatars. Still, quite ambitious."
Was she making fun of her? Chiaki felt annoyed. "It will prove that my Reason is best. Who are you anyhow?"
"They call me Mother Harlot," she said, bowing her head. "I was thinking of hanging around here, for my own reasons. I have no interest in the Yahirono Himorogi, so go on ahead if you wish. Although, I wonder if it would have the power to call on," she chuckled again, "the goddess you have in mind, even just a face. I've seen the artifact and it certainly holds a great deal of magatsuhi for such a small object. But in my opinion, it'd only have enough to call on one of the false or faded gods."
"As long as I get the artifact, I can go elsewhere for more magatsuhi," she said. "Like Ikebukuro."
Mother Harlot shook her head. "No, Nihilo drained the area dry of magatsuhi some time ago."
Crud; she'd been hoping to get some assistance from the Mantra, but had failed to find any of its members so far. "Well, the Diet building has a lot."
"I've heard from one of my peers that Nihilo's leader is holed up there," she said.
"Really?" Chiaki grumbled to herself. But the fiends might know that because their Trumpeter had defeated Hikawa.
"Really," Mother Harlot said, calling out a goblet out of nowhere to take a drink. "We're keeping an eye on things. Would you care for a drink? I could tell you a bit more."
"No, I don't want it," Chiaki said. The fiends would be working against her purposes so she didn't want to get too friendly with one of them.
"Too bad, it'd be better than anything else you can get in this sandy wasteland," she said. "Hmm, but I always like a strong girl fighting for her place when the men assume they should be in control. Okay, I'll tell you anyhow." She crossed one arm over her chest, keeping the other free for her goblet. "I know of three places that hold a great concentration of magatsuhi. But the Obelisk is out of the question; the soul of the world lies there."
"That's obvious," she said. Actually, that was one of the rules of the Creation rites. Kagutsuchi forbid the summoning of gods within the Obelisk. Hearing that the soul of the world was there, it made more sense about why it was a rule.
Mother Harlot shifted her goblet and pointed out a direction with a thin finger. "The Amala Temple would be a great place to summon a god, plus you'd need to take the Yahirono Himorogi there anyhow. However, I hear that one of the other Reason-bearers is already there, some boy with deep connections in the Amala Network."
"That'd be Isamu," Chiaki said. Which could be an obstacle; Reason bearers weren't supposed to be attacked or defeated before they held a proof of Reason after calling their god. Then again, that wasn't an absolute rule. The place and artifact would be enough to challenge him then; Kagutsuchi probably wouldn't complain about that.
She then pointed out another direction, back where Chiaki had come from. "Then there's Mifunashiro at the center of Asakusa, which is also a place with an immense amount of magatsuhi. It's not particularly important to the rites of Creation otherwise. Although, the manikins have settled there and one of them is apparently a Reason bearer."
"Seriously?" She didn't recall running into any manikins, but Persephone knew of them as accidental creations, dolls that were little more than batteries of magatsuhi. "Those weaklings managed to conceive of a Reason?"
"Kagutsuchi is supposed to be perfectly impartial," Mother Harlot said. "If the manikin Reason bearer manages to pass the road to it, Kagutsuchi will listen, probably even grant them the world they desire. I hear they're looking for a world of equality and safety."
"More like they'd make everyone weak to be equal to them," Chiaki said, disgusted at the idea. It'd be like the girls who whined about their families not having the sort of money hers did. They didn't deserve it, but they'd drag down those who did for what they thought was fair.
"Could be," Mother Harlot said. "I think that's all the relevant information I have for you. Good luck, girl, I'd like to see you prove that women are conquerors too."
"Sure, I'll do that," Chiaki said. Seeing as there were no fairies here to stop her, she went ahead into the construction site itself. The Yahirono Himorogi should be obvious to Persephone's perception. It wouldn't be hard to acquire.
"Oh, you're the demon that's been helping us," a manikin by the side gate said. "Thank you; we couldn't have come back without your help."
It was getting a little embarrassing; Naoki tried to hide that and simply nodded. "Sure. Is Futomimi around? I was going to ask some others, but they were busy."
"He's down in our holy land of Mifunashiro," he said, pointing towards the center of the crater. Sight of it was blocked by a wall, but Naoki knew what he meant. "Word went out a little while ago that he had a big announcement to make soon. I'd love to go see, but I was assigned to keep watch here."
"Can we go down there?" he asked.
The manikin patted his head. "Oh, well, I don't know. You can go that way, but I don't know if you could get in the holy land. Futomimi might meet you at the gate if he sees that you're coming."
"All right, I wanted to check in with him," Naoki said.
"The gatehouse down is just ahead," the manikin guard said. "And, yeah, there's something else there. Some kids took refuge in the arcade in that gatehouse; they'd like to talk with you too if you have some time."
He was killing time anyhow, so he figured he might as well see the manikin kids. But that idea flew out of his mind as he entered the gatehouse and felt one of the magatama nearby. Geis. Maybe a shopkeeper was nearby and they'd found another. Would he have the money for it this time? There was also whatever the fusion needed him to buy. Could he barter this time? He'd used up all of the incenses that he'd gotten in the Second Kalpa, but there might be something.
Taking a closer look… no. The kids had the magatama. Well, he'd been able to restrain himself other times. He should be able to do the same here, especially since he was dealing with kids. Naoki took a deep breath, then knocked on the door to the arcade before entering.
There were two boys and a girl in here. Although with how the manikins were, the only visible distinction was that the girl had very short pigtails sticking up at the sides of her head. "Are you taking everybody away again?" one of the boys said, fearful at their appearance.
"Um, no, I think this is the Demifiend everybody was talking about," the other boy said.
"That's right, I'm the Demifiend," Naoki said. "I'm not here to take anybody away, or hurt any of you."
"And you got everybody back home?" the girl asked. "Thank you! It's great that it's not just us here anymore."
The boy who'd been afraid rubbed his head, still nervous. "Oh, sorry. But yes, thank you. Um, hey, you should give him that thing the shopkeeper told us about."
"What, no," the other boy said. He was the one who had Geis. "I found it and it's my treasure."
While Naoki bit his lip to keep his compulsion in check, the girl manikin wapped the boy clumsily with her arm. "Come on, don't be a doo-doo head. The shopkeeper said those bugs belonged to Demifiend and we're helping him too. So you should give it to him."
The boy with the magatama still seemed reluctant to give up what he thought was his. Naoki crouched down, meeting him eye to eye instead of threatening him. Considering what the kid might want to hear, he said, "I'm going to meet with your leader Futomimi soon, to talk about how we can help each other. I'd like to see you manikins triumph when no one else in the Vortex World expects you to. But those bugs have my powers. I could really use that one soon."
That affected him, forcing the kid to weigh keeping his treasure against possibly seeing the manikins as a whole do better. "Well, if you put it that way, okay." He took Geis out of his pocket and offered it. "But you better make good use of it cause I found it."
"Thanks, I will," Naoki said, taking it to swallow.
A few minutes after they'd left the arcade, Naoki felt guilty about telling the kid that when he didn't know if he would take the manikins' side. Or if they even had a side to support in this competition over Creation. But if they did, they might have a good one. It had to be better than what he'd seen so far.
There were fires all over the construction site now. As Chiaki passed over the knocked down blockades and bridges, more and more kept starting. If she'd been fully human, this would be a dangerous place to be. She was able to cast a spell to filter out the foul-smelling smoke and chemicals to continue on her way. Thankfully, the smoke was rising instead of settling within the failing maze.
She'd not run into any fairies yet. It was disappointing as she wanted to fight some more. Would the Yahirono Himorogi have a guard to fight? That be nice; it'd satisfy this itch. It should be just ahead. As it was an important artifact to the rites, it had a significant presence. The fires seemed newer as she approached it. The things they burned were easier to identify: traffic cones, a sawhorse, a construction helmet, even a bundle of newspapers.
In a more open rectangular space, she finally saw one of the manikins standing amid the flames. He was a disturbing creature, wearing a coat woven from empty faces. He was more powerful than he should be as a manikin; they were accidental incomplete creatures that wouldn't exist once the Vortex World's purpose was fulfilled. From his fiery presence, it was clear that he was the one responsible for all the fires. And he held a small pyramidal object in his hand, the key to the road to Kagutsuchi.
"You shouldn't be handling that artifact," Chiaki said as she approached him.
"And what makes you the judge of that?" the manikin asked.
"I'll show you what," she said, readying herself for attack. All she had to do was knock it out of his grasp and take off with it. But then, what was the point of starting this battle if she wasn't going to finish it?
Entering the cave that led to Mifunashiro, Naoki felt like he was heading into a mythical place, like the entrance to the underworld. It didn't seem like a place that had been in the Tokyo he knew, but then maybe he'd not found it himself. There were Shinto gates along the passage down that seemed to distance it further and further from a mundane reality. And that was with him coming out of the sand-covered Vortex World; this was a place that felt as if it was full of unseen life.
He wasn't too surprised that a terminal was along the way, close to a large sealed door. The door's seal was set up in a way that it couldn't be opened up from this side. In that area, a few manikins were waiting. "Futomimi is meditating in the depths past here," one of them explained. "He was going to update us on things sometime soon, but we're not sure exactly when."
"If he has another vision, it could delay him," another said.
"I understand," Naoki said. "I'd like to speak with him, but once the full Kagutsuchi arrives, I have other places to be." That is, if he could figure out where Aradia took Yuko.
"We'll let him know," the manikin said. "There was another man who was here talking to him a little while ago. Hijiri's in the terminal room here, though we're not sure what he's doing. The terminals are weird things."
"Good, I was looking for him too," he said. And now that it was pointed out, he did sense someone in the terminal room amid all its information. He went to speak with Hijiri first.
At first, Hijiri didn't even look away from the terminal. "Oh, hello Naoki. Did you need to use this? I'm on the trail of something..."
"Not immediately," he said. "I haven't really gotten a chance to speak to you since our first meeting, and I did agree to tell you what I saw around the Vortex World. I've got some time to spare now, although if you're busy..."
"Ah, no, it's fine," Hijiri said, fiddling with his hat. There was a taste to his magatsuhi that reminded Naoki of his compulsion with the magatama. It was odd, but it got Hijiri to leave his terminal research to take out a notebook and pencil. "In researching things, I've realized that you're actually pretty important in the scheme of things in this world. You're unable to conceive a Reason yourself, but your growing power will be a major factor in which Reason makes it to Kagutsuchi. The prophetic Scriptures of Miroku go so far as to suggest that any Reason you deny is as good as stillborn."
"I've seen three of the four Reasons and don't like any of them," Naoki said. "I just need to track down Yuko again to see what that last is."
Hijiri shook his head. "No, she's not the last bearer. Futomimi is."
"Futomimi?" Then that was another good reason to try catching the manikin prophet soon.
"Yes, and from what I've seen, it's a fair one. Make sure you speak with him before you leave Asakusa." He stopped flipping through the notebook on finding a blank page. "I saw that you were involved with the fall of the Mantra; that'd be good to know about."
"Sure thing," Naoki said. That had been in the middle of things, but seemed like a decent place to start.
The girl actually dodged the Shock spell entirely, nimbly dancing around the various violet sparks. While her jean skirt didn't seem like good fighting clothes, she managed to kick extremely hard into Sakahagi's mud body. He tried jabbing her in the chest with his knife; she backed away just in time and attacked again.
Normally, Sakahagi loved being in battle. But he realized now, he loved being in a battle where he utterly overpowered his opponent. He'd been looking forward to a good match with a human. When she'd spoken up, he felt like he was fulfilling some long-buried desire. He wanted to kill a human, strike with so much frustration and repressed shame. In this match where his victim could fight back? Sakahagi did not like this situation at all.
His general tactic had been to use a powerful spell, then stun the victim to kill them slowly with his flaying knife. Now he wasn't sure what to do. Keeping close wasn't working since all of her attacks so far had been kicks. Sakahagi gave it one last shot, immolating his fist with the power of the bug he'd picked up to burn her severely. While she tried to dodge away, he still caught her in the left arm. The smell of her burning flesh was satisfying, as was her shriek of pain.
And then she summoned out a large purple and silver vacuum cleaner; the canister was shaped like a human skull. It briefly caught Sakahagi off guard. "What the hell?"
It had the most grating whine when she turned it on, cutting through his skull like one of his own knives. The girl turned it on him and sucked the life and magatsuhi right out of him. When he tried to break free, the pull was far too strong. No, he wasn't going to let himself die in such a humiliating fashion! Sakahagi grabbed his strongest knife and used the vacuum's pull to launch himself at her and cut right into her shoulder.
That took her burning arm completely off. She screamed again and punched him with her remaining fist, equally desperate to not lose. While she had a decent punch, a shard flew off the ring she wore right into his eye. Sakahagi lashed out with his knife, hoping to take her head off like he'd done to her arm.
Whether he did or not, everything stopped for him in an instant.
Exploring Asakusa and talking with Hijiri had taken up a lot of time. Not enough for Futomimi to come out with the announcement the other manikins were looking forward to, but enough that Naoki was able to transport back to the main town to access the cathedral there. It seemed silly now, but he tried to keep a line of thought open back to his human half during this full Kagutsuchi. At least it was easy to keep the demon and human thoughts apart for now.
"Welcome back, Demifiend," the minister said, his compendium under his arm this time. "The heavens shine brightly; have you made a decision?"
He nodded. "Yes, we're going through with this fusion. But who am I supposed to sacrifice?"
"There's only one demon that qualifies for this particular fusion," Mido said, opening the large book to an already marked page. "Uzume."
"Really, her?" It made Naoki uneasy for a moment, even in these conditions. Uzume was the one who'd helped him with three of the fiends and the First Kalpa. Technically, she was still with him in the form of Yagatarasu, and would keep being with him no matter what this turned her into. But to sacrifice her? But who would come?
"It'll make sense," Mido said. "You won't need to reconfirm your contract with her, but there is a fee associated with resummoning her."
"Sure, let's do this," he said, checking the fee to pay it. When she got called back, Naoki said, "Sorry about this, but you're going to be part of a sacrificial fusion now."
"It's fine, Demi, don't worry about it," Uzume said, smiling in the same way she did before. "We'll be great together."
"Just think of it as fusion with three demons," Yagatarasu said.
"It's about time we get this done," Mikazuchi said.
"Yeah, go ahead," Naoki said
When he held out his hands for Mido, he finally saw who they had been working towards: Deity Amaterasu. She was powerful, enough that he could barely summon her as a follower. And Mana Refill was good for her since she had a number of powerful spells at her disposal. She could be stronger than him for a time.
The cathedral was normally lit from within. But perhaps in preparation for this fusion, Mido had opened up some hidden windows up high to cast the bright blue light of Kagutsuchi over the pillars. It certainly made the area look peaceful. That is, until Mido changed his hand motions and large black spikes impaled Uzume on the third pillar. Naoki winced at how painful that looked. Although, he didn't sense any pain. Maybe she expected it and prepared herself, even in this brief time.
The air darkened with red magatsuhi, charged with energy that tickled at his skin. Yagatarasu and Mikazuchi both faded into black magatsuhi. In his mind, Naoki saw flickers of mythology that he was familiar with. The Japanese gods of the heavens challenged the gods of the earth and won. But as they were from the same heritage, they did not wipe them out nor oppress them.
In contrast, the god of law from the deserts would make sure no one could rise to oppose him.
He wasn't from the same mythology as the Japanese gods. However, he was still a part of humanity's beliefs as much as the rest. Putting that aside for now, Naoki watched as a bright light pierced through the dark haze. Amaterasu didn't have the same radiance that the angels did; her light was empowering sunlight, as opposed to the pure white radiance that felt like it could bleach out everything. She had her black hair in a close braid and wore white and gold clothes.
"Thank you, Demifiend," she said. "I am the Deity Amaterasu, being the light at your side as always."
"More than before," Naoki said, smiling at her. "But, uh, why did you show up in the body of a man?"
Amaterasu laughed and put her hand to her face. "I just felt like it, or maybe it's an influence of the souls you fused me from. Where now?"
"We're going to stick around for a bit to see if we can talk with Futomimi," he said. Then he looked to the minister. "But first, I was given permission to summon Anubis through fusion recently."
"Lucky for you," Mido said, impressed and already excited at the prospect. "Some beings are like that; they'll refuse to send even a shade to a summoner unless they meet with their approval. It's like how you must defeat your clan kin to get permission to call on them."
"How would I go about fusing for him, then?" Naoki asked.
Mido rubbed his chin, giving it some thought. "Hmm, it may be difficult in this world with the demons that have arrived. You may need to fuse other demons just to make it possible, and only certain clans will allow fusion into the Deity clan in the first place."
"Would it help trying to get demons of Egyptian origins? Several in Amaterasu's fusion lineage are of Japanese origin."
"If you want to call on Anubis through special fusion techniques, then that would undoubtedly help." He put his hand back on the compendium. "Let me give it some thought… asking Baphomet for advice wouldn't be a bad choice either."
At that point, there was a knock on the door before one of the manikins opened it. "Demifiend? I heard you wanted to talk to Futomimi, and he supposed to be coming out in a couple of minutes. You'd better hurry over there if you want to catch him."
"Thanks, I'll head over then." Naoki nodded to Amaterasu and Hanuman, then led them back to the terminal.
...must keep safe…
Her arm was burning. Chiaki tried to grab it, finding nothing there. Not even blood. It was because of quick healing, or because of that blazing hot knife, moving so fast that it became a steel glint in the air. Still, her arm burned and the pain wasn't stopping.
Keep safe.
"I will be strong," she muttered, trying to declare it but not getting energy into her voice.
She stumbled into a door frame. A glimmer of red light came off the door. Safety, somehow there was safety back here and she needed to keep safe. Keep alive, until she could face the power of Creation. She didn't need to be cautious, she could grow stronger if she didn't. But the voice to keep safe was firm, unrelenting on that point. That was… purpose.
Once the door moved aside, she came into the cool stillness of the Terminal room. What was she doing here? She didn't like using the terminals; it was a point to prove, not giving in to what some idiot believed. No, that didn't matter, this was a safe escape. Where? Something could be done in Asakusa, Shibuya was full of ghosts and demons, Ikebukuro didn't seem to have demons, the Mantra had been in Ikebukuro and they believed in power, so they might be good supporters…
"How did this go?" Chiaki asked herself as her remaining hand moved the middle drum. Pick transport, pick… Ikebukuro.
The Amala drum whirred to life and drew her within.
In a place of white radiance, beside a pure river and among the waving grasses, Gabriel appeared. "I have a report on the girl."
"How's she doing?" Michael asked, keeping his eye on a scrying glass. He couldn't see what exactly the Demfiend was doing, but there would be obvious signs if he died again.
"She's faced the wicked manikin Sakahagi," she said. "It could be called a draw; she defeated him but lost her arm in the process and forgot to get the key. Since it's meant to be held by humans, I couldn't retrieve it."
That could be a problem, losing that advantage. "Of course, we'll have to remind her of it."
"The mind of Kagutsuchi's servant was enough to get her to seek a refuge after healing her wound," Gabriel went on. "But she went to Ikebukuro, where the soul of Gozu-Tennoh remains strong."
"He can't be called on as a god of Creation," Michael said. An idea came to him, so clear… he made mistakes before of making plans without the proper insight of God. But this should be it. This should be His will. "However, she is relying overly much on her own strength, not truly seeking the strength of God. If she manages to contact Gozu-Tennoh, don't interfere. It will either be a way we can make good use of his power, or a way we can undo her power in the new world if she doesn't allow God to have the influence He should have."
"Very well, we'll see what she does."
