Chapter 149: The Enemy is at Honnō-ji

chirp chirp chirp*

The sound of birds chirping is heard. A rare sound to be heard in a post apocalyptic world but it has been made possible through a magic barrier surrounding a district in the city of Nara created by a group of Buddhist monks who, unlike most awakeners who achieved magic through science, harnessed the power of magic through occult studies. They are one of the occultist factions who do not get along with most of the other factions due to the difference in the way they wield magic and difference in philosophy, where the other factions disapprove of their old fashioned and religious ways, preferring greed, power and profit above all else.

Through their barrier, they managed to protect the community inside and also preserve its nature, allowing the local wildlife to survive the monsters without the use of a wall. The birds are special as they are used by the monks as shikigami (familiars) to spy on other settlements and factions in order to decide their next move.

Headquartered in the well preserved Tōdai-ji temple, the head monks gathered in the great hall to discuss the recent news, from the resurrection of Tamamo-no-Mae, the return of the Occult Killer to a recent message they received from Tokyo.

"Good day everyone. We are gathered here today to discuss the recent developments in the nearby cities. It has come to our attention that a mythical being… Tamamo-no-Mae herself, has been spotted in Kyoto." One of the monks greeted his fellow monks. His name is Aragaki. Although technically all of them have the same rank, he is widely respected and considered the leader of the elder monks due to him being the wisest and the most powerful among them.

They have heard unbelievable rumors of the appearance of the nine tailed fox, but the fact that it was brought up in this meeting, especially by the respected elder Aragaki, means the stories hold some truth in it.

"Are you sure it is Tamamo-no-Mae and not an unnatural science experiments made by one of those factions with weird fetishes?"

"We sent a shikigami to spy on the headquarters of those… Magirangers to verify the rumors and we did spot an extremely beautiful woman with nine fox tails there. The amount of magic we sensed from her is… monstrous. I believe she is the real deal."

"The Sessho-seki has been destroyed according to the Shinto Priests from Tochigi. I also believe she has been released from her seal."

The confirmation that a real mythical creature now walks among them sent shivers down the spines of the monks.

"We also received a message from the prime minister himself, requesting a meeting."

The monks sneered at the audacity of the Japanese government who once refused their help and heavily favoured the Zaibatsus and their magic science projects.

"No doubt they have heard of the stories of Tamamo-no-Mae destroying some cities and are now scared."

"Dear me. Only after a real mythological creature appeared that they started to take us seriously."

"Youngsters and their science. As if you can control magic through science alone."

The monks, to raise their dampened morale caused by the knowledge of a mythical creature now walking among them, started boasting about their power, importance and achievements amongst themselves.

"Enough." Sensing that his fellow monks are getting ahead of themselves, elder Aragaki rebuked them, causing them to become silent.

"Ahem. Perhaps they have heard of the return of Tamamo-no-Mae, but they have different concerns according to the letter. They cited the return of the Occult Killer as the danger that they needed our assistance with." One of the monks who received the message says.

Hearing the name of the Occult Killer gave the monks mixed reactions. Some of them believed the story of the Occult Killer being the one who brought the monsters to the world using profane rituals and this idea held merit among the occultist community considering they too use magic in similar fashion. Others remain skeptical.

"Is it the real deal or is it just a fake like many others?"

"Is this another one of the Doomsday Cult's scheme?"

"According to the news I received from Messiah, his power is unbelievably powerful and they believe he is the real deal."

"No matter how powerful he is, he can't possibly oppose us! For we wield true magic!"

"I won't underestimate him if I were you. I heard that he not only revived a monster, he enlarged it until it becomes the size of an Apex Beast."

"Then I guess… we need to use 'that' against him."

"Yes… I think so too."

"Agreed."

"What do you think, Aragaki-sensei?" One of the monks addressed their wisest member and all eyes turned to him for guidance.

"I…. will face this great evil myself. Then we will decide our next move." Elder Aragaki answered with resolve in his eyes, making his fellow elders panic at the thought of losing him to such a monster.

"B-But, Aragaki-sensei!"

"I have a bad feeling… and I must assess this danger that we're currently facing. If he is too powerful for me to contain… then we shall join the great alliance that the Prime Minister proposed." Elder Aragaki made his decision, the first time he has made a decision against all the other monks.

"Then I shall go too!"

"Me too!" Unable to sway him with their objections, they resolved to accompany him.

"No. We must not lose all our capable elder monks. I will only take a few capable monks with me. Do not worry. I will be accompanied by a friend."

Few days have passed since I let No. 001 escape along with the magical girls. I punished Astaroth and the other surviving members of the Doomsday Cult by forcefully and painfully enhancing their artificially created magic circuits, giving them greater power than they could ever imagine with the side effect of shortening their lifespan, which wouldn't matter as I would reanimate them upon death anyway.

I've executed most of the traitors who sided with the greedy investors who thought they could replace faith in me with money. I've also killed the spies from other factions among them, including spies from abroad, like the CCP spies who would love to steal new technologies and innovations from other countries like they have always done even before the monster apocalypse. They have spies all over the country apparently.

The survivors numbered only about 30 people but that's fine because I have my undead minions to boost their numbers, not to mention the Magirangers and their minions as well, although I wouldn't count on those cowards much.

The surviving members of the Doomsday Cult became even more loyal and fanatic after said punishment even though they just experienced hell. Reminds me of my Reaper Squad… though even with the enhancements obviously my Reaper Squad is still stronger and much more useful than they ever could due to difference in potential. Can't compare newly evolved earthlings to otherworldly humans who have adapted to magic since thousands of years after all.

I sat on my floating throne in the inner sanctum as Yukime entered the great hall with Astaroth in tow.

"I have returned, my lord." Yukime greets as she kneeled before me with Astaroth kneeling beside her.

"I like what you've done with the place." She remarks as she glanced at the great hall of the Doomsday Cult, which is decorated in gothic architecture with skeleton and grim reaper as the theme.

"Indeed. Although I'm disappointed at the strength of my worshippers of this world-" Astaroth visibly twitched at those words, considering he just suffered a humiliating defeat against No. 001 few days ago. "-I at least like the aesthetic of this place."

"Ohh… Gilfried will be all over the moon when he sees this place. He is among your most devoted worshippers after all."

"That he will. But that is not the reason you're here, isn't it?"

"Indeed, my lord. I came bearing… interesting news. The scouts from Kyoto reports that the monks from the nearby city of Nara has moved out and is heading for Kyoto." The monks are moving? Interesting. I have heard of the occultist factions from Astaroth's intel and they intrigued me as they use magic differently compared to other factions who relied on science to harness the power of magic. Almost reminds me of myself.

"Heh heh heh. Must be because of you. Be sure to be there to welcome them, Yukime."

"That I shall, my lord. But what will you do?"

"Naturally I will be there as well. I'm interested in what the monks have done with magic. According to these cultists, the city of Nara is protected by a large barrier that wards off monsters. If they are capable of that I must be present in order to observe their magic up close."

"Hee hee hee. Hopefully those old monks can keep you entertained. You looked so bored these days after all."

"Indeed." I hope that these occultists can amaze me with their magic. In fact, I will wait for them in a certain legendary place in Kyoto. I wonder if they'll notice the reference. Heh heh heh.

"We're here, Aragaki-sensei." One of the monks announced to their most respected elder as they arrive in Kyoto.

"You can show yourself now, Hakuro-san." Elder Aragaki called out to an empty space, which started twisting as if there's a ripple in the air.

"As perceptive as ever, my old friend." From the ripple emerged an elderly man wearing a traditional Shinto priest garb accompanied by fellow priests and shrine maidens.

"It's good to see you too, Hakuro-san. I'm glad you decided to show up." Elder Aragaki greeted his friend with a cheerful grin.

"Of course. I can't refuse a request from you, my friend. Especially with the reappearance of Tamamo-no-Mae."

"To be honest… Tamamo-no-Mae is not my main concern."

"Oh? What could possibly be more dangerous than that monster?"

"An even greater monster… one who brought this world to hell with his blasphemous rituals."

"And you believe he is in Kyoto because…?"

"My intuition says he will be there."

"Hmm… Your intuition has never failed us before and thus I shall trust you. Shall we begin our attack?" Hakuro made his suggestion, which caused some of the monks to react with confusion.

"Attack? Shouldn't we reason with the faction inside the city first? Surely we can convince even them to help!"

"They are hostile to us. My shikigami saw them attacking another city which is supposed to be their ally. I believe they have served our enemy." Priest Hakuro remarks with a frown.

"Is that why you brought so many people and so many shikigamis?" Elder Aragaki asks.

"Indeed. Brace yourselves for a tough fight."

Resolving themselves to fight and kill fellow humans, they marched towards the ruined historic city to the direction of the headquarters of the Magirangers, the Command Center.

But as they get close to the walled settlement, they sense two enormous powers outside the settlement. The one with lesser power level is waiting in the Yasaka Pagoda. The other…

"Whoa… Can you feel that, Aragaki-san?" Priest Hakuro asked his friend and fellow elder sorcerer. Elder monk Aragaki responds after a brief pause with a grin.

"Yes… I can. It seems that…" The monks, priests and shrine maidens glanced at him as they wait for him to finish his sentence.

"The enemy is at Honnō-ji!" He finishes his sentence with a famous quote from Japanese history. He grins for a few seconds before giggling.

"Ha ha ha! Then I shall take the one in Yasaka Pagoda!" Priest Hakuro laughs, understanding the reference.

"The rest of you should assault the base!" Priest Hakuro continues with orders for the monks, priests and shrine maidens.

"Yes, Hakuro-sama!" They yells in confirmation.

And so the battle for the fate of Kyoto begins.

Meanwhile in the Command Center, the Magirangers noticed the approach of the small army of Buddhist monks and Shinto priests with their shikigamis through their security cameras and have begun preparations to defend their headquarters.

"To think that they would actually move out against us now… Even the Doomsday Cult wasn't enough to make them move their asses back then." The Magiranger Green remarks in astonishment.

"Yeah. It's unbelievable." The Magiranger Blue nods in agreement.

"But I suppose it is inevitable considering the kind of monsters we now serve." Magiranger Red remarks.

"What has our masters said about this?" Magiranger Blue asks with panic in his voice.

"Obviously we fight. In fact, Tamamo-sama has moved out to wait for them in Yasaka Pagoda."

"And… Occult Killer-sama?"

"Don't know. Tamamo-sama only said that he will be here. All we gotta do is to fight to the death." At the words of Magiranger Red, the other rangers, too used to stay away from actual combat and opting to send their minions to do the dirty work for them, are horrified.

"But I don't want to die!" Magiranger Blue shouts in panic.

"You think I don't know that!? I don't wanna die too! But we don't have a choice! Either we die to them or die to him!"

"Wh-What about our Zords!? Are they ready to use yet!?"

"I know I said the progress has been tremendously quick but it's not even close to being ready! We have to fight them head on! Occult Killer-sama's orders!"

"But… But…"

"No buts! We move! Now!" Magiranger Red shouts towards his colleague before walking towards the door.

"Hey… Captain Red." Before they can move out, Magiranger Green called out to his leader.

"What!?"

"We've strayed too far from being heroes, haven't we?" Magiranger Green, whose hands, like his fellow rangers, has been stained with the blood of innocents since their attack on their ally, the Land of Light, trembles as he asks his leader a question that has been in their hearts for some time now.

"…." Magiranger Red is unable to answer, as he have known for a long time that they never became the heroes that they wanted to be when they started, all due to how cowardly they truly are and how desperate they are to survive in such a post apocalyptic world, leading them to employ tactics much more suited to villains and even worked together with the Doomsday Cult sometimes, like during their attack on Messiah where they met the Occult Killer for the first time.

"I know that. We're not heroes… We're just villains… no… Worse… We are just minions of the villains now." Magiranger Red remarks with regret in his voice.

"Can we.. go back to being…. Heroes once more?"

"We've never been heroes, Green. If you want to become a dead hero, suit yourself." Magiranger Red remarks for the final time before leaving the Command Center to fight on the front lines as their new master ordered them to, with Blue and Green following suit.

Author's Note:

I almost made the monks easily defeated by Yukime but reading the JJK VS Bleach discourse on Twitter gave me an idea of making occultist factions in Japan, so I did. Hopefully I don't have to introduce too many elements and characters to the arc after this because it's probably getting bloated already. If it's overwhelming to read, I apologize. I'm a guy who has too many ideas. I think I have to split the Japan arc into two arcs because after chapter 150 we're gonna enter a new season (that's how I write this fanfic, with 50 chapters each season).

"The enemy is at Honnō-ji!" is a quote spoken by Mitsuhide Akechi, the retainer of the famous warlord Nobunaga Oda when he betrayed his lord and attacked him in the temple of Honnō-ji.

By the way, I've successfully taken down the plagiarist's P*treon. The stolen fanfic is still on Webnovel, which may be harder to take down but at least said plagiarist's source of income that profits off of my work has been dealt with appropriately and for now the plagiarist seems to have vanished.

DerTrap: Already reported that asshole who is stealing your work!

Also how much more powerful will Necromancer become after absorbing Thanatos? Will he gain something like the ability to corrupt souls? Because if he does then we all know a certain elf who would make a perfect candidate to test these new powers. Especially considering that Alpha will maybe not get a demon form unlike Delta, Gamma and the other shades. SO I think this would be a good way to give her an "evil" form as well. But obviously slightly different since it would be Necromancers doing.

Also could Delta be the first shade to die, being killed by Necromancer? Since she is the only one who could expose his identity as Claude/Necromancer due to his scent.

Answer: Thank you very much.

Gaining the ability to demonize the Shades is not exactly in my plan, though I may do it at some point in the future considering his staff has the ability to control Diablos cells.

We shall see which of the Shades will die first in the future.

TheVirtualPug: Opportunity to establish (for Alpha to misunderstand) the "Necromancer" as a body-hopping monster. Tetsuya was his first victim, followed by Claude.

Answer: Yes indeed.

choeyingtenzing8: Yeah but I hoped that the mc got in the action was well rather than Sherry killing the one who poisoned him.

Answer: Technically he collapsed because of his memory overload, not the poison which wouldn't work on him. Don't worry. He got plenty of evil actions too, especially on Rose.

yoksana980: Of course i will continue to read

Answer: Thank you very much.

Mr. Zeniel: Hm... If Thanatos is Necromancer's second half of the soul... does ut means that Shadow also have second part somewhere in 9 realms? I remember that after said that Minoru reincarnated in a different way and that's why he was 4 years overdue with it, but it still is relevant question.

Answer: I don't plan to have Shadow's soul being split. Let's just say that the Truck-kun method is a more normal way to get isekai'd while Tetsuya's case is… more chaotic.