Chapter 16: Boring Cubes and Circles

The first thing Naoki sensed on entering the Nihilo base was that it was full of mathematical order. It was far from the busy store it had once been. With anything organic stripped away, it was so exact with its dimensions, surfaces, light, and air that it seemed alien. It would have been perfect by numbers if not for the Mantra invasion. The walls were cracked and still being defaced while a shaft like the Amala drums was barely keeping aloft, all askew of each other.

Sensing one of the oni approach, Naoki licked his lips and opened his eyes. The red-skinned oni held a nail-studded bat over his shoulder. "Hey you! What held you up? We've already won!"

Nodding, he answered, "I knew you could, so I went and took a nap. Though it's too bad that I don't get to challenge what strong ones they have remaining."

The oni laughed at that. "Man, you're crazy! Sorry, we hammered everybody here. The wimps were no trouble at all."

Naoki doubted that. "What about their Commander and the Maiden?"

"Well I haven't seen 'em," the oni admitted. "The little rats probably scurried away, But don't you worry. The moment they poke their heads out, we'll smash 'em back down again. I was heading off to the town to see if any of them fled there."

"Go for it," Naoki said. Once the oni was gone, he said to his followers, "Unless I slept longer than I thought, it can't be that easy."

"Nihilo's members are supposed to be the clever ones, so I agree," Uzume said.

"There's nothing on this level, let's get to the elevator," he said.

Arahabaki came in use there, convincing a pair of Momunofu from Mantra to let them by without a fight. Far beneath the surface (or was this above?), they came to a far more interesting space. A geodesic dome was set in the center of a huge spherical room. Strands of magatsuhi still flowed down the central shaft in spite of the damage that had been taken. Off to one side, there was a door leading to a strange rotating hall; it made his senses dizzy trying to figure it out, so Naoki ignored it for the moment.

A larger group of Mantra demons were down here, bellowing in a victory rite. The echoes of their voices filled the chamber, much to their delight. Although, that made it hard to speak with an ikusa closer to the elevator. "What is this place?" Naoki asked.

Tilting his head and making his huge conical hat shift, the ikusa said, "Well it's a powerful engine of some kind. I dunno, do I look like a gearhead? Anyhow, it was pulling a huge swell of magatsuhi in here, so we wrecked it up good."

"Then they're not getting any more energy to this place," he said. But given how strong the flow had been into their building, there should be a sea of magatsuhi within this chamber, not a weak trickle.

"Hah, right! They'll get no more magatsuhi, so they'll crumple like paper now." He hit his tall spear on the floor, making echoes with that. "We won, so who cares what this place was?"

"What did you do with the magatsuhi that was here?" Naoki asked.

"Uh, what're you saying?" the ikusa asked, tilting his hat the other way. "It all broke up when we smashed the core, so we each grabbed some that hadn't already floated off."

That didn't account for the discrepancy. "I see. What about that door over there, where does it go?"

"I dunno," the ikusa said, not caring about it. "It's some kinda goofy mechanism, I think. Nobody could walk through there."

"I'd like to look into it," he said. Going into the core area might reveal a mechanism to it if it wasn't by the door itself.

"Well knock yourself out, cause I don't care. Nobody could've escaped that way, and we won spectacularly. We're gonna head back once we sweep around for any hiding rats; don't miss out on our celebration, we know how to party right!"

As it was too loud with the other demons bellowing, his demons didn't say anything until closer to the mystery door where it was a little quieter. "What is behind this door?" Arahabaki asked.

"A rotating hallway, it would be a pain to look at," Naoki said, checking for a panel or wiring to a control center. There was a wireless receiver in the frame, leaving no clear way to affect the hall's mechanisms. "Or cross, but a small flying demon could easily pass through."

"It's too bad that we missed most of the action," Sarutahiko said, keeping his sword at his side.

"I have a hunch that it was a farce and we'll find more past this," he said. "There might be something in the central room; there's definitely an active Amala drum in there."

While the ikusa claimed that they'd smashed the core, the structure inside the dome was intact. The drums were out of alignment, but they continued to rotate and glow. There were spiral traces through the air, like water stains left by a dried up stream. While there was no control panel like he'd been hoping for, there might be some command on the drums to stop the rotating hall. Except, Naoki didn't know how to read the drums himself.

There was someone here, someone he knew could read them. "Oh, it's you," Hijiri said, relieved but still tense. "You nearly gave me a heart attack there, what with all the bellowing going on."

"I don't think they'll follow me, not yet anyhow," Naoki said, feeling glad that he had come in time to intercept him. Hijiri would be in trouble if the Mantra caught him on their final sweeps of the base.

"Are you allied with the Mantra then?" He seemed like he wanted to trust him, but was wary. It was a reasonable question.

"No, it's just a temporary agreement so I could get in here," he said.

That was enough to get Hijiri to relax. "Good, I'd seen some rumors; looks like they weren't true." He looked up at the column of drums. "It seems like they really wrecked this place."

"It's much worse on upper levels, some of these got knocked completely out of place. They seem to think it was good enough to declare a victory."

"What do you think of that?" he asked.

Naoki shook his head. "I think they did little more than wreck the entryway. This isn't working now, but there should be a lot more magatsuhi still here."

"That's an apt way to put it," Hijiri said, spinning his hat in his hands. "I can see why they'd think they'd won. This place is so grand, and every detail speaks of Nihilo's philosophy. Seeing that, anyone would think this was their headquarters. But this building only comprises half of this facility's total structure. When you look at its whole, it's clear that this could not be their main base."

"What do you think it is?" he asked.

"During the rituals of Creation, the bearers of Reason need to gather large quantities of magatsuhi. Remember when I taught you about the need for magatsuhi among demon summoners?"

Naoki nodded. "It's given in exchange for the demon's services."

"But it's not necessary in a world like this," Hijiri said, starting to walk over to them now. "What magatsuhi is required for here is to summon a god. The god acts like an investor into a new business. They grant an immense amount of power to the Reason bearer so that the human can use the power of Creation without destroying themselves. In exchange, the god has a greater influence over the world's next life."

Like his vision of Gozu-Tennoh's potential world. If he participated in Creation, he would get all the worship, sacrifices, and conflict that he desired. Naoki still hoped that no one would want a world with Gozu-Tennoh in a position like that.

Hijiri continued his explanations. "This half is merely the energy intake, drawing in magatsuhi to power what is in the other half. This may sound far fetched, but imagine if you could take control of the atmospheric jet streams of the world, make them flow as you desired. You would then control weather patterns on a global scale, initiating massive storms over areas you don't like and ensuring perfect sunny weather whenever you wanted. This facility has the power to influence the flow of magatsuhi in that exact fashion. You see now what he's getting at?"

"He could have all the power to call on his god whenever he wanted," Naoki said. "Or deny it to anyone who opposes him."

"If the other half has enough energy, it won't matter that this half is attacked," Hijiri said. "He could take control and make magatsuhi flow through here without this core working." He then tapped his hat. "And this is just a hunch, but Hikawa strikes me as the sort of person who won't stop with that. He'd toy with everyone until he gets bored and decides to finish things on his terms. This sort of system could easily be weaponized to destroy his opponents as well. Against a group of demons like the Mantra, it'd be even easier."

The room quieted as the echoes in the outer chamber faded off. "They said they were going to sweep the area, then return to their headquarters," Naoki said.

"I should probably head out, just in case," Hijiri said, reaching over to the enormous drum by them. "Actually, we were lucky that you slipped into the Network last time. I would have sent you directly in here without realizing the true danger. Sorry about that."

"It's fine," he said. "But first, you know how to use these. There's a rotating hall across from that door with a wireless receiver. Can you make it passable?"

He nodded, his eyes scanning over the symbols nearby. "Sure, shouldn't hard… they'd have to have some command for… here, this should work." He pressed on three characters, making them glow green briefly.

Partly closing his eyes, Naoki focused on sensing past both doors. The mechanisms were locking in place. "That did it. Thanks."

"Be careful heading that way," Hijiri said, patting his shoulder. "They're sure to have traps to catch those that manage to see through this deception."

"We'll get past them," Naoki said.

"I hope we can talk more later then." He bowed his head, then departed.

While the attack on Nihilo's Ginza headquarters was an important move, a group had to stay behind to protect their headquarters. Thor remained with those defenders, not about to let his leader's city fall. He wanted it to be impregnable, but other members of this kingdom were rowdy. If a disturbance occurred, it was sometimes hard to tell if it was their own people or someone trying to invade.

There were a few little issues. The fiend with the motorcycle was still zooming around the highway. However, Gozu-Tennoh was correct and that biker had their own agenda. Thor suspected there was a second fiend lurking about too. Over in the western passages, ghosts and demons reported hearing a bell but never finding its source. It most likely had something to do with the young fiend that had defeated him. Thor wasn't privy to the secret dealings of the Fiend clan; they always seemed to act independently in spite of pledging the highest loyalty to Lucifer.

After discussing the issue, he and Gozu-Tennoh had decided to stay out of whatever the fiends were doing and focus on their own group. It meant that the third issue was something he should deal with. In the eastern passages at the terminal room, there were reports of a lone demon defeating two dozen of the home defenders on its own. It was one of the servants of Kagutsuchi, another clan of demon that was probably better not to mess with, not with their true master being the source of all light, life, and energy of the Vortex World. But it had still put a dent in their defenses.

Thor entered the shop area and soon found the armored dog outside the terminal room. The dog lowered its stance, trying to be a protector but intimidated. "Stay back," the dog growled.

"This is Mantra territory," Thor said firmly. "You have no right to cause trouble here."

"I'm doing my duty, you're not allowed in here," the dog said.

He didn't stop his approach, even as the dog bared its steel teeth. "I object to that. Either tell your ward to leave this town or I will take out both of you."

After a moment, the dog wrapped itself in Fire energy and launched itself at Thor's chest. He brought his arm up to block it as best he could, then responded with a burst of electricity. Although it damaged the dog badly, it wasn't going to stop it. The dog bit his arms, tried to blast him with flaming jets, and kicked if grabbed. At one point, it dashed between his legs and tried to charge into him. Thor still defeated the dog again.

The boy that had been with the young fiend was here. "What are you…?" he started to ask in annoyance, then stopped on seeing him. "Uh, hi."

"I heard the fiend left you behind," Thor said. "If you'd simply moved on, I wouldn't have cared. But since you're here," he threw a lightning bolt through him, just powerful enough to disable him, "you should be taken somewhere more secure. Humans have some value in this world. When you agree to work with us, we might let you go where you like."

Since they were in the terminal room, Thor picked the boy up and hefted him over his shoulder. Then he transferred them to Kabukicho. Mizuchi should be able to keep an eye on this one.

The formerly spinning hallway led to a longer hallway, which led to short hallway and a long elevator up. They were crossing the highway from underneath, which didn't seem this far. Still, it was a relief to get to the other half of this facility even if he had to take a moment to process it. It was a twin silo structure of fifteen floors each. One had a spherical core like the other half, but no apparent way to get down there. The other was full of small cubical structures with few supports and lots of enchantments. While there were many demons, it was hard to tell if there were humans around.

"This will be a puzzle maze," Naoki said.

"That sounds annoying," Sarutahiko said.

"You lived in a puzzle maze," Arahabaki said.

"It wasn't a puzzle, just dark until he brought the candelabrum back," he said.

Naoki shook his head. "The First Kalpa only needed keys. This is going to be an actual puzzle."

The last elevator brought them to the silo where only the top floor was accessible. There was something like a large computer tower in the center of a spiral floored room. Being in the room, that pattern seemed important. Four glowing pillars surrounded the white tower in the center. This would be a pain, but it was better gotten over with quickly.

The upper three layers of the other silo weren't bad. There were enchanted paths between floating cubes. Inside some cubes, there were switches to rotate other cubes and change the paths. There would be vaults at one side, holding keys they were calling kilas. If it wasn't for the battles on the way, it would have been mind-numbingly boring to get through. Even then, it was not nearly as many battles as had been in the First Kalpa.

On the fourth and fifth layers, there were thirty-six cubes connected by ladders and paths. While waiting on the others to get down the ladder, Arahabaki simply floated down through the holes in the sides. "How are you doing, Demi?" he asked. "Usually places with a lot of stuff going on gives you headaches."

"It's got a neatly ordered system, so it's not bad," Naoki said.

"How are you getting this puzzle done so fast?" Sarutahiko asked while on the ladder. "All these cubes look the same."

"I can sense them through my horn," he said. "For being their defense, it's embarrassingly easy."

An echoing laugh came from close to the vault. "You won't find this one so easy! But you shouldn't have gotten this far at all."

"That's your fault," another demon called from a cube closer to them.

"Shut up and march! It won't matter if we get him now, and that's your job! I'll make things harder on him."

"Keep quiet," Naoki said, closing his eyes. There were only three demons down here; there were paths in two rings and three switches. He should be able to keep track of that all. While there was a path to the vault door, the demon closest to the vault was heading to the switch nearest to it. He turned to Uzume and Sarutahiko, quietly saying, "You two stick together, head that way, then south, you should run into one of them; I'll know where you end up after the battle." When they nodded, he turned to Arahabaki. "You can get in and out of these, so stick by me."

With that decided, Naoki headed for a switch just south of him. The one demon reached the switch before he did; that flipped the corner cubes around. The one he reached switched those into the inner ring. It cut them off from his other two followers, but he expected that. Right now, they were facing an armored demon on horseback. It wasn't one of the actual Riders, so he wasn't worried about them.

The noisy demon headed out of the cube to head straight for the third switch. Meanwhile, the second horseman was heading towards one of the squares Naoki could control. Did they have a safety system? He waited by the switch, finding out that the third switch moved the cube by the vault and the center square. From that, it was clear that the original layout was the only one to reach every square. He certainly couldn't get to the vault from here. The second horseman continued his patrol, heading towards the one cube… and onto the path into it. Naoki flipped the switch.

They were short paths, but the system moved fast enough that it caught the horseman on the path while the cube rotated. A loud whinny filled the silo as the horse and its rider plunged down to the bottom. While he shouldn't think so, it was kind of funny. "What are you up to?!" the loud demon called from over the cube maze.

"Not my doing," a voice deeper than the other horseman called back. And they reappeared in the cube he'd first sensed them in. Then those horseman at least were only shades.

Naoki waved Arahabaki back to a neighboring cube, then made sure his footsteps could be heard moving away from the switch. Then they waited as the loud demon headed right for the switch. Nearby, he felt his followers defeating the first horseman. Just like the other, a new shade was called up to intercept them again.

When the loud demon flew overhead, he saw that it was a strange blue and white star being. It wasn't quite a starfish since it had two halves that spun independently of each other. Fallen Kaiwan, he nulled elemental attacks and had no weaknesses. Sneaking over the path, Naoki got in the cube behind Kaiwan and punched him while he was flipping the switch with one of his bulky starfish arms.

"Ow, hey!" Kaiwan turned around, an angry look on his disturbingly human face. "What was that for?"

"You're getting in my way," Naoki replied. It was obvious.

But then so was, "You don't have permission to be here!" When Naoki readied his fist again, Kaiwan backed off. "Grrr, you're going to regret this!" He vanished into silver smoke.

"You are a damn coward, Kaiwan," one of the horseman said in disdain.

"It's a tactical retreat, they won't get this kila," Kaiwan retorted right before he entered the vault. But he didn't even lock it.

Uzume and Sarutahiko were coming in from another cube, laughing over something. "Took that guy down easily," Sarutahiko said proudly, keeping his arm linked with Uzume's.

Nodding, Naoki waved for Arahabaki to come closer. "Right, but he called up another shade. They can't reach us at the moment, but we need to flip the switches back. Arahabaki, the vault entrance is that way. There's a cube out of the main square formation there. From there, go south one, then west one. There should be a switch there: flip it back and then guard it. We'll meet you over there."

"Got it." He floated up to get to his destination; it was great that he'd evolved like this, since it helped with this puzzle.

Then he needed to give instructions to his other two. "We'll need to use a ladder to get to the central switch, then hustle back over to flip this back and reach the vault. And we do have to move quick, since those horsemen could flip the switches too."

"You might think this is easy, but I'd get so lost here now that I can't fly like I used to," Uzume said.

It was a rush to make it to the two switches and then to the vault door before the horsemen interfered. The holes in the sides of the cubes were large enough to let the horsemen through easily. And by the time they got to the north row, Arahabaki had gotten into a battle with one of them. He was at a severe disadvantage because the horsemen could use fire spells, one of the things Arahabaki was weak to. Thankfully, the horseman didn't think to try one before they arrived to help.

Past the door, they found themselves in a large hall with many doors instead of a single vault. Kaiwan was there, along with twelve shades of himself. They all laughed, slightly out of sync with each other. "Think you're clever?" all of the Kaiwans said. "You're wrong! You will never find the last kila like you will never find the true me!"

If that latter claim was true, then he wasn't there at all as the kila wasn't in this room. But it was clear to Naoki: one of them was twice as strong as the rest. He pointed out the true Kaiwan, "You, the one hiding in back of the others."

The real one sputtered. "Wh-what?!" His shades reacted with shock and anger. Unlike Naoki's followers, these shades were tied to their original and held echoes of his emotions.

Getting himself focused, Naoki told his demons, "Don't use magic against them, we'll just hit them all hard and fast."

"Got it," Sarutahiko said, readying his sword to dive right in to the battle. Arahabaki's eyes flickered, focusing himself as well.

Naoki tapped into Kamudo's skills to activate Heat Wave. He wasn't sure what it would do, but it curled up his right hand like he was about to grip something. When he did, a blade of bright magic materialized in his hand and was swept out in front of him. The resulting wave of energy tore through the Kaiwans; some even died immediately. The original would take more of a beating, but the shades would quickly be mopped up.

"..."

"Hmm?" Futomimi opened his eyes, barely awake. He couldn't feel anything but pain; he wanted to go back to sleep even though it wouldn't be refreshing. However, it seemed like someone had called his name.

"...Futomimi..."

Not wanting to respond, he closed his eyes. It might be one of the jailers. If he was quiet, they'd think he had little magatsuhi at the moment. He was trying to maintain that illusion, to regain energy to heal with. It might work.

Images of glowing butterflies danced across his vision.

He opened his eyes and saw the floor of his cell. No one was in here with him. No, wait… no one was physically here. There was a presence, though. "Who are you?" he whispered, closing his eyes again.

The butterflies returned. "Aradia. Keep hope in your hearts and we will find a way to thrive even here."

"Those are..." his words, one of the first things he'd said to his people.

"I am a goddess of hope, a goddess for people like you," Aradia said. Her voice was sweet and airy, but something wasn't right with it. "You need a god for Creation, right? You have little but hope on your side; I answered your need."

"You can get us out of here?" Futomimi asked. This could be an incredible blessing; he could have a goddess for his Reason well before the rest. But something didn't feel right. Was this too easy? Calling on gods took some kind of sacrifice and a great deal of magatsuhi.

"You can get out of here. Don't give up and your prayers will be answered."

She couldn't be seen except as blue-green butterflies when his eyes were closed. Butterflies… beautiful, flighty, frail… they lived brief lives moving from flower to flower to draw nectar. Aradia… beautiful, gentle, delicate… she existed on hopes of the desperate, those who had little but hope. Butterflies could not move prison doors, not even in a mirage.

"No," he said. "You're a false goddess. You have nothing but hope to offer."

Thin wings caressed his skin. "If you change your mind, simply call my name with hope. Your hope is beautiful too; please don't let it die." Then she flew away. Prisons couldn't hold that butterfly.

Even if she was false, it was true that he couldn't let his hope die. Futomimi dropped his feelings of pain and reached for the state of his visions. Finding a god could wait, he needed a Reason first. It needed to be something for all manikins.

He could see that dream so well. His kin working in sunny fields for a bountiful harvest, towns where the children played without needing to hide in fear, everyone doing their part to bring happiness to all: a gentle people deserved a gentle life and no one deserved a painful one. But what would be the Reason that would bring such a beautiful dream to life?

What was the name of his Reason?

In Ikebukuro, the demons drunk on victory gathered to get drunk with beer and ale. There were a lot of wild stories being passed around, more tales of glorious kills than the authentic number of fallen Nihilo members. From the way they were acting, one would think they had won a war, not just one battle. It was all wrong to a hilarious degree.

Not that Hikawa laughed at much. And there was one thing that bugged him: the Mantra's second in command was not at their headquarters. Thor had picked up the indecisive boy and taken him to Kabuchiko Prison. That could lead to issues later. Brushing his fingers across the drum of the core, Hikawa changed the view it was giving him. The girl was traipsing through a dark passage… she was headed to Ikebukuro. She was lucky to be going now, when she might not find much resistance upon arriving.

As for the Demifiend… the door to the core room opened up, letting four demons inside. Hikawa had been preparing for this meeting. This could be the only thing to cause him any difficulty because the Demifiend could have the power to oppose him. "I'm surprised that you brutes made it this far," he said as if he didn't know.

"We're not part of the Mantra," he said. His three followers obediently left the conversation to him.

"Is that so?" He turned around, looking them over. While his demons weren't of a beginner's stock, they were still low ranked. Hikawa wouldn't have his demons traveling with him; he only had Ose out to dissuade Kagutsuchi. "Wait, you're that boy from the hospital. You've changed greatly; you must be the Demifiend."

That caught him off guard. "What?"

"It is what they formally call you, correct?" Hikawa said. He stayed where he was; sound would carry just fine in this space. "In the Scriptures of Miroku, everything is written with certainty. Save one part, Passage 13. This passage speaks of the theory of the Demifiend, a human and demon hybrid to be raised as Lucifer's heir in hopes that they will finally break the eternal stalemate between the forces of Heaven and Hell in favor of the latter. You are not a requirement of the processes of Conception and Creation. However, the state of the Vortex World allows for your existence. Had someone like you emerged in a normal world, marked as the heir of the devil, you would have been hunted down ruthlessly and killed while you were still weak."

"I haven't been called that yet," he said. His attention was drifting some, given that he was observing the area.

"They would keep as much from you as they could," Hikawa said. "You should pay attention, listen to as many sides as you can in spite of the current state of the world. But first, what brings you down here if you're not with the Mantra?"

"An..." he stopped, then said, "Yuko. I'm looking for her."

"Ah, that is the obvious reason," Hikawa said. What had he nearly said? "Unfortunately for you, she's not here. She never was here. And as things stand, you won't easily reach her. She has a great importance to this world as the Maiden of Creation and a key part of the Assembly of Nihilo. Don't worry, she's safe where she is."

"What are you doing with her?" Demifiend's eyes looked right to him now; the glowing lines on his skin pulsed quicker. He was a half-demon without peer now, so his nonverbal cues weren't simple to read. But he was most likely angered.

But he was still human, so perhaps he could be shamed? "Don't be so hasty to assume things," he said.

His eyes narrowed. That was a more normal sign that it wasn't working. What now? Negotiating with a demon was so much smoother when he knew their backgrounds and boundaries. No matter how chaotic they claimed to be, demons could not step out of their lines.

"If you must know, she is helping me with her powers as an oracle." Hopefully that phrasing didn't set him off. Now a quick distraction. "Did you know about that? She had a natural talent as a medium, but when that emerged, she was still a college student without the means to afford the extra lessons. I had offered to sponsor young people with such rare talents; that is how we initially met. Later on, she came to me and offered her assistance as the Maiden without my even asking." He'd hinted about it and let her borrow the scriptures, but strictly speaking, that was mostly true.

"Why did you end our world?" he asked.

"If you want a plain and simple answer, it's because it was too noisy," Hikawa said. "But there is far more behind that. As I told you before, history was caught in an endless cycle it could not escape. Anything that could be new got blocked from being created; any revolution was resisted with all the effort that fools could muster."

"The world was fine as it was." Demifiend approached him, seeming like he could attack.

Hikawa took his summoning charm between his fingers and quickly cast a ward to dissuade him from getting too close. "Not everyone would agree with that," he said, feeling like he'd said that to a tiring degree to others.

"Not everyone would agree with you." He did not stop, even though his followers did due to the ward.

He could still salvage this; Hikawa resisted an impulse of fear. This half-demon couldn't be that strong, not if those were the demons responding to him. "What I am seeking is a worldwide sense of serenity," he said.

Thankfully, that interested Demifiend enough that he held off on attacking. "Can you really find serenity like this?"

"It was the only way to find it in a pure uncontested state," Hikawa said. "In the old world, there were too many needs that went unmet, too many injustices that went ignored. People clamored for their problems to be solved. But even those of us who seemed to have everything could not do enough to alleviate those pains. Perhaps if all of those of my status contributed, it may have helped. But too many were greedy and did not care. Even if they had, there as no guarantee that those rescued from poverty and need would put forth the work to repay the world for helping them.

"You see, people did not live for the world. They lived only for themselves, which contributed to the expanding problems." Feeling more confidant, he took a few steps towards him. Ose kept close. "That crushes the health of the world when people should exist for the world. There is much clutter and noise that blocked what must be done, so yes, starting over completely had become necessary. With the power of Kagutsuchi, there are many problems that can be removed: the strife caused by nationalism, the greed caused by consumerism, the resentment caused by classism.

"The Reason of Shijima will remake the world so that such division will make no sense. The people will be given a peaceful nature that will appreciate silence and unity. Everyone will contribute equally, to be rewarded equally. The good of the world as a whole will be held as the highest ideal and what we see as evils will find no fuel to burn society away. For this purpose, I have sacrificed everything I have so that the perfect world can exist. What do you say? Will you renounce the flames of desire and seek with me a world that exhibits the pure serenity that one can see within the Amala drums?"

Demifiend had been listening, but then a strange calm overcame him. It was similar to watching Yuko enter those trances of hers. Was it the same power? What would he be seeing?