The next day

"The exact intentions of those behind the attack last night are still unclear as neither the police, nor the mayor have commented on the matter. Some have speculated, however, that this was a terrorist act carried out by a sympathiser of the group Daesh, commonly referred to as ISIS. National security officials have scheduled a meeting in Tokyo for later today to talk address the issue. In-"

With a sigh and a supressed yawn, Hime turned off the radio on her phone and surveyed the room of the main temple, taking in the broken cabinet, the shattered glass that lay across the floor and the small dry stains of blood that dotted a small area around the door. Just looking at the latter made her feel sick to her stomach, not because of the sight of blood but because someone had gotten hurt when here was supposed to be a safe place.

And now it's just another crime scene she told herself as she seemed to remind her slightly bloodshot eyes that there were several police officers as well as Kyosuke and Akina here with her; both of whom were watching her cautiously in case she suddenly fell over asleep. She was always a little unpredictable when she felt this way.

It had been a rough night for all of them given the aforementioned attacks, dear readers. And yes, you read the word attacks correctly. The two culprits that had been caught had attacked several other locations that were crowded with people as they drove through Sakurashin; among them a corner chop, a small park and a lone man walking home after visiting a friend. Two people had died and about twenty others were injured. Right now, they were in police custody and had been questioned throughout the night by the police as well as Hime herself, the others in her group having also arrived to prevent her from going ballistic if they infuriated her. Thankfully, she did not. At least, not at first

The interrogation had lasted the better part of the night but it had been during this procedure when the two had revealed that they had merely been a distraction. The real attack had been on the temple that contained the dragon spear. Upon hearing this, Hime had flown into a rage and, were it not for Kotoha, Ao, Kyosuke and Akina grabbing her and holding her back, she would have throttled them. After calming her down, they quickly rushed back to the temple and were shocked to see Rio lying on the ground, knocked out and the cabinet smashed open. Thankfully, he was not badly hurt and was currently at the hospital being treated for mild trauma.

Hime let out another sigh as her eyes swept the room again, feeling guilty that this man who she treated as part of her family had been attacked and she had been far away and had fallen for an obvious trick. Wonderful! If her grandmother could see her now, she would no doubt curse her for allowing herself to be fooled so easily. What kind of stupid person would make a mistake like this?! Shows what kind of mayor you are, idiot!

No. She shook these thoughts as best she could from her head. Anyone else in her position would have fallen for something like this, they could never be in two places at once. Plus, she had to be happy that Rio was alive. Hurt, but alive. And they had manged to save potentially tens of people who could have lost their lives. They had really been successful.

"It's just guilt," Akina had told her when she had admitted to feeling this way a few hours earlier after arriving at the temple.

It had soothed her anger and annoyance at herself, but did not remove it completely. That would only come around when they found Gin, along with whoever was helping him as even he could not carry out an operation like this alone without some help, and brought him to justice.

Though, a part of her kept wondering about how long that would be. Hopefully, it would be very soon when they finally caught him.

Akina strolled up beside her. "They found no traces of whoever did this. No footprints or anything. It just seemed whoever it was leapt from one place to the next. There was some water scattered around though."

"Then that has to be a trace." Hime told him, kneeling down and picking up a piece of glass, rubbing it between her fingers. "Taking the spear is something very dangerous. If Gin has control of it, who knows what he could do with something like that."

Silence fell between them, pierced only by the sounds of the few policemen outside strolling around keeping watch or searching for any clues. Hime's mind began to turn like the cogs of a clock. There had to be some reason for Gin to do this. Obviously, whatever it was would be diabolical but not knowing was a horrible feeling. If he planned to use it against them, then they had to be careful and quick.

But what about all his rhetoric of trying to fight a 'bigger fish'? she reminded herself. If there was a huge battle here between the Yokai that long ago, which as probably likely given what the others told me, then surely he wou-

Her brain stopped as she processed these thoughts. There was no doubt that Gin had harboured a hatred for these creatures. And Auntie Kiku, as well as her grandmother, had revealed to her that he had his own dragon spear at hand. Maybe with two of them he-

"Do you think it could be because of those creatures?" Akina asked her, ironically thinking the same things as her.

She rounded on him, a serious look in her eyes. "I think yes," she answered, looking down at the piece of glass between her fingers. "And I think I know what he plans to do with them."

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Gin?"

"Akiro, sometimes you need to take a deep breath and have a few risks here and there. Relax."

Standing on top of the apartment building Akiro lived in, Gin held two objects in his hand. Both were spears. One held a jade green tip, the very one that was stolen from Hime's temple last night. The other was about the same length and made out of the same bamboo material but was a little lighter in colour with red Kanji script that also meant 'Dragon Spear'. The tip of this one, however, was a black colour. Gin had used it before when in the Otherworld and now he planned to use it here too, though with its power magnified by that of the newest weapon in his collection.

Akiro, who stood nearby, could only look on with a sense of guilt and apprehension. Should I have done this? Should I have given this mad-man a weapon?

He kept telling himself no, but … but Gin just intimidated him into doing something like this. Plus, he had promised him that there would be no trouble with regards as to how Hime would be removed. And yet I'm starting to think that's all a load of BS. Plus, he had never been told to hurt anyone, yet the innocent man who happened to be at the temple last night was injured because of his actions. Oh, this was so wrong and unfair!

"But it was all for a greater future!" Gin had told him earlier.

"I'm starting to really doubt that," Akiro had thought in reply.

Now, looking out over the skyline of Sakurashin with Gin, he watched as said person placed the tips of the spears over the other (his one getting precedence over Hime's) and held them up to the sunlight that streamed down to the world. It was as if he were some kind of worshipper, presenting a trinket of some kind to worship an unseen deity or force. The sunlight gleamed off them as if it were accepting his offer and shone brightly for a moment, forcing Akiro to look away with his arm shielding his eyes. Then, when he looked around as the light faded, he saw Gin standing with both spears now pointing down towards the roof floor.

"And now," he spoke up, looking at Akiro with a satisfied smile as if he were a construction managersurveying something he had recently built. "We wait."

For Akiro, that wait for going to be a long one.

Consciousness … movement … awakening.

Far out on the ocean floor, it moved. For untold centuries it had slept, remaining hidden from the world like a lost civilisation. It had never thought it would be awoken again. Until now.

Moving the head up, it paused and a stream of bubbles floated up towards the surface, its black skin practically camouflaged against the darkness of the ocean world that surrounded it. It could sense something. Something powerful.

And it was calling to it.

With a snarl, the creature began to move up towards the surface, its long, slithery body turning and twisting as it went. All other sea animals in its immediate vicinity quickly fled for fear of being caught by it.

Gin had awakened something, and soon the world would know about it. It was only a matter of time.