The girl looks to the boy with the straw hat.
"What are you? I will give you a name."
"They say I am bad luck. They won't let me into town."
"...They say the same about me."
A flower without scent. A flower that invites misfortune. The lonely girl cursed the world as it rejected her. She remembered, with an ancient memory as long and old as this island, the feared names of the original curses a bereaved wife cast on her husband who left her in the Underworld.
"Your name can be... Magatsuhi."
...
Yato feels the energy course through him from his new regalia as he jumps down from Heaven. He can also feel a growing sting. He couldn't look back. If he did... he was afraid of seeing Yukine's betrayed face staring daggers of guilt into him.
Just find Fudou. Find Fudou and end this...
The moon's light was returning with a dull red edge. It seemed sinister almost, like something horrible in the cosmos was about to awaken.
"How does it feel, Yatogami?" Tesso's voice grumbles within the boundary.
Yato remains stoic, "I can feel the sting from Yukine already, and the ayakashi side of you."
"It was a viable option if you wanted the boy to come with you... I just can't guarantee the consequences of abutting this perceived crime from Heaven."
"...Heaven can lick my ass right now."
The old rat chortles.
From within his chest pocket, the omamori from Hiyori seems to warm and heat up. It was gentle at first, but now seems to burn against his chest, almost like a warning.
"Magatsuhi is a powerful god, I hope you are aware... He has lived for a long time."
"I've beat other gods of misfortune before," Yato says with conviction, "And I sure as hell won't let him get away with everything he's done."
"That is a good mindset to take to battle," Tesso says sagely, "You have only just taken on my powers, while he has had centuries to hone his skill. Your conviction will have to back your blade."
No matter what... I'll protect Yukine and Hiyori...
…
The eerie flute from the mountainside resonates as the battle takes a momentary pause. As the vanguards of Heaven retreat to lick their wounds, a gigantic growth of camellias bursts from the mountain, visible for several kilometers out of town. While normally a bush, the roses of the winter intertwine in great twists of trunks as hard and sturdy as wrought steel. Atop the thick trunk blossoms unnatural bursts of the evergreen, as well as a litany of pale pink buds of the scentless flower. Rather than drop petals, entire heads of the new blooms fly off as an uncanny wind blows from the west, scattering camellias through the city as the eclipse endures the night.
"Amazing!" Children look out their bedroom windows to see it raining flowers.
Adults today generally do not remember the same warnings about camellias. The elderly might just be too demented to remember. The ones who recall the meaning of the flowers gape in confusion. An eclipse and a simultaneous flower shower are too strange.
"And here on the news, we see what appears to be an out-of-season blooming of camelias! Coinciding with this eclipse is quite an uncanny happening, wouldn't you say?" The news anchor asks his co-host.
"This is..." Daifuku looks out anxiously at the flower shower.
"Oh dear..." Kiun pales seeing the sky slowly turn a pinkish-scarlet color as a dark crack seems to appear in the sky, behind the eclipse, "This is... the Shores..."
A deep rumble runs through the entire area, seemingly leading up to the city. From below, a great forceful barrier by Ookuninushi raises just in the nick of time to halt its advance, splitting the tremor. This, however, merely triggers another earthquake and the human news soon swaps to a fearful tone over outbreaks of sudden unrest. Droves of ayakashi seem to be drawn to the movement of these fissures as the vents below worm their way to the surface. The miasma of the underworld seeps up and people begin to get angry as they are possessed by the ill will.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Ookuninushi darts to prevent another wave. Several helper shinki aid in corralling off the ayakashi. The other gods hurry down, but they are more focused on Fudou and the giant tree than with preventing human casualty. Unfortunately, much of their forces had already been diminished and they now have to deal with the ayakashi pouring out.
"... So, it will be the end if the shores are split... I see," Fudou murmurs, taking his lips off the flute briefly as he surveys hell breaking loose around the area, "I should be satisfied... But I am not. I don't understand... why they have to be bound to one another."
He stands, shortsword in hand, and he gives it a flick, "Let's cut it all."
"FUDOOU!"
The two gods of calamity meet amid a flurry of sparks. Yato had flown so fast that Fudou had not been able to perceive him. His short sword meets with the rat motif katana out of instinct. The two weapons spark as their edges meet, sending pink and green particles flying.
"...! Yatogami..." Fudou murmurs as their keen edges clash, "You survived."
"Let Hiyori go... And I'll give you a quick death!" Yato growls as he makes a wide slash for Fudou's head.
"Cleave, Ubau," Fudou invokes the weapon in his hand.
The delivery god's sword is suddenly blown off-course by a piercing shriek that cries out from the wakizashi. Yato winces as he feels the reverberations sound through and blow one of his ears. Tesso gives a loud roar and swats down against Fudou's hat, pushing him back.
"Kuh..." Yato staggers and grips his sword, "That was Hiyori..."
"Such a pained cry..." Tesso growls.
"... Are you angry, Yatogami?" Fudou assumes a short-ranged fighting stance, "All over a human?"
"Shut up!" Yato flies at him, livid, "Kotto!"
At the invocation, the fur pelt on his body shifts with live movement. It grows the snarling head of a large rat and lunges to snap at Fudou.
"Impressive... You can't have had long to learn a new weapon..." Fudou clashes against the lines of steel teeth and Yato's katana, "Especially something with multiple components."
"Hrah!"
With a solid thrust, Yato clips Fudou's shoulder and snips off a share of his straw hat. Fudou jumps back swiftly and blasts Yato back a few steps with a barrier. Around them, the tree's expansion seems to have paused, though it still creaks. Their movements cause myriad flowers to flop off and float down.
"Your father is allowing this?" Fudou murmurs, head tilted slightly as blood drips down his arm, "Allying with Heaven's bounty so soon?"
"I don't give a damn what he wants," Yato growls, "Release Hiyori."
"... Froth," Fudou commands.
Suddenly, the pink string tied on the wakizashi flies like a whip at Yato. Tesso blocks it with his own tail. He and Yato can see now, the feral cat thing that resembles Hiyori slightly... Though it seems so much more like just an ayakashi now. It was that frightening thing from the day Hiyori nearly turned... but now, it's a nightmare come true. Yato narrows his eyes and steels his nerve.
"Hanyo against hanyo... This is yet another riddle," Fudou chuckles and tosses off his hat, revealing his dark abyssal eyes that spark with excitement, "Come! While this world is barely holding together!"
"Rrgh... I can see why my dad wanted to work with you... You both just see everything as toys!" Yato roars.
"Toys?" Fudou's look only grows more frenzied, "I suppose you're right!"
They meet amid a blast of unnatural energies as the screeching cries of both human beasts' echo through the rumbles of the night.
…
"Let go of me!" Yukine growls against the other gods in the courtyard now. They maintain a hand on the regalia, and their shinki repel his attempts to barrier them off.
"This is that hafuri that god left behind after breaking the prisoner out..."
"What the heck is going on..."
"Lord T-Tenjin?!"
Yukine turns his head to see Tenjin walk through the emptiness of Heaven's courtyard, followed closely by Tsuyu. The god of knowledge seems rather serious, having donned a more resplendent robe than usual, like that of the sorcerers from times of olden times.
"...Yukine," Tenjin looks to the hafuri and gestures to the other gods, "Release him."
The other gods seem at a loss and let Yukine go. Yukine runs up to Tenjin with a desperate face.
"Yato, he... He left with some other shinki and...!" Yukine can't stop his voice from wavering as his insecurities boil over. He … got left behind.
"... He's gone to face Fudou, I'm afraid," Tenjin says quietly.
"...Why?!" Yukine wails, gripping the hem of Tenjin's robe, "We said we'd... save Hiyori together!"
His orange eyes are near the verge of tears as he faces the ground, not comprehending. All he can do is feed this new burning in his heart... Why did Yato take another weapon? Because he wasn't strong enough? Because...
"Yukine," Tenjin says with some sternness, "I'm sure you're aware of the dire situation Hiyori is in."
"In spite of her innocence, can you cut her down?
The question shatters Yukine's festering thoughts like a ton of bricks. His eyes widen and his hands loosen their grip.
"...Yato has killed many people before. But you..." Tenjin speaks softly, "He likely wanted you to stay clean of that."
"...no..." Yukine mumbles, "...won't let... him..."
"Hm?"
Suddenly, a burst of crackling energy emits from Yukine. Even Tenjin has to take a step back. The other gods are startled and ready their weapons. His form seems almost like pale light and his orange eyes burnish with clear hue.
"I'm Yato's guidepost! I'm not gonna let him commit any more of that crap!" Yukine declares, "We're gonna save Hiyori!"
"Yuki-"
With a loud and thunderous step, Yukine jumps and flies back down, out of Heaven and into the mortal fray. The other gods are left in mild shock at what just happened.
"What... what was that?"
"That's the true power of a hafuri...?"
"...I need to speak with her majesty immediately," Tenjin composes himself and walks briskly towards the inner hall.
"What? B-but, lord Tenjin! It's the eclipse and her majesty..."
"There is vital information she must know about the calamity god. I hope it is not too late," Tenjin ignores the other gods as he walks, "A god that lacks human followers..."
A god of curses. A god of the greatest curse.
As the night of disaster drags on, flames run and flare from fallen electrical lines and the tremors do not cease. Amid the chaos of the gods, humans run rampant as small altercations escalate with civilians and authorities alike. A reddish hue from the persisting eclipse is amplified by the entropy of the events below, with the glare of fire, blaring lights, and roiling smoke.
Above it all, a shower of camelia flowers fall. Many are squashed underfoot as an afterthought. Above the din of shouting, sirens, and cries, there is the clashing of blades. It sounds almost like the gnashing of teeth as two beasts fight tooth and nail, flecking the air with their froth and blood.
Deep within the heart of the tree, a lone girl smiles quietly. To her, it is a beautiful melody harkening the end of the world as they knew it.
A sour plum... no, it is a flower that blooms in the dead of winter... which has no scent.