"It was like this…"
Yotsuya Miko started explaining.
After she met up with Yurikawa Hana, sure enough, Hana had been targeted by an evil spirit again. Miko had to waste a bit of effort to draw it away first.
Only then did they take the train to the shrine.
They hadn't picked the shrine in advance.
They met up in Kawaguchi City first — because Hana, while scrolling online, found out there was a really good sweets shop over there, so she set the rendezvous point there.
After meeting, Hana took out her phone and started navigating.
The route took them to a mountain area on the outskirts, where almost nobody seemed to live. Deep in there was an old shrine.
So the two of them went to make an offering.
Everything was normal… until they were about to go back.
Out of the corner of her eye, Miko suddenly saw something she absolutely did not want to see.
A "god."
More accurately — a giant fox that looked like the shrine's patron deity.
Its whole body was glowing gold, looking super sacred and proper.
Beside it stood two "divine envoys."
They had human-shaped bodies, but their faces were fox faces.
Even though the light on them looked "holy," Miko still felt… wrong.
Very wrong.
Like it was pretending to be divine.
And more importantly—
She caught a flash in the "fox god's" eyes.
A greedy, coveting look.
And the one it was eyeing… was Yurikawa Hana.
Not just "I want a blessing from this human" kind of look.
It was the kind of look that said: I want to take her. All of her.
That discovery made Miko even more nervous.
She didn't know what that thing's origin was, only that it was not simple. So she didn't act rashly.
…
While Miko was talking, Arthur pinched his chin lightly, eyes narrowing in thought.
He'd thought of it.
The "mountain god."
The one made of lots of bell-like arms — that super-weird fox-shaped spirit.
In the original plot, that was basically the first big boss around Miko.
Just like how Guanyin gave Sun Wukong three hairs to save himself, that mountain god also gave Miko three "saves."
But once the three were used up…
She would have to repay it.
And the "repayment" it wanted… was a sacrifice.
That "sacrifice" was most likely Yurikawa Hana.
It could also be Miko herself.
Or, honestly, it could just want both.
Arthur hadn't expected Miko and Hana to get noticed by that thing this fast. Looked like it was just fated in this worldline.
But now the situation was different.
When Miko finished, Tohru glanced at Arthur. "Arthur, do you want me to go burn that 'god' down?"
In her world, gods were all ridiculously strong.
She didn't know how strong the ones here were.
Zhu Ran Ya'ai also said calmly, "I can go too."
Moka lifted her lips slightly. "I kinda want to see how strong this fox mountain god Miko's talking about actually is."
Zhu Ran Xin'ai: "…"
Akasha just sat there smiling at Arthur.
Arthur laughed. "Since everyone's interested, let's all go take a look."
"Okay."
Everyone nodded.
Miko's eyes flickered.
There wasn't a single weakling in this room.
Even if she didn't count the still-mysterious Zhu Ran Xin'ai or Akasha, she was for sure the weakest one here.
A moment later, everyone was ready.
Arthur spread out his spiritual sense toward Kawaguchi. In no time he'd locked on to the exact shrine Miko was talking about.
There was a distorting force wrapped around it.
Like a concealment barrier.
Arthur raised his right hand. Two fingers flicked — a Space Card appeared between them.
"Let's go."
Before the words even fully left his mouth, the Space Card flashed with pale light and wrapped everyone inside.
The seven of them vanished from the house without a sound.
The next instant—
Kawaguchi, mountain outskirts.
Arthur's group of seven appeared at the foot of the stone steps leading up to the shrine.
Up ahead was a long flight of stairs.
Every single one of them could tell this place was off.
"??!!"
Seeing themselves arrive at the shrine in just one blink, Miko's eyes went wide. So this was his new ability?
Space teleportation?
She hadn't seen Arthur use that before.
"Let's go up," Arthur said. "And rein in your aura a bit. Don't scare it to death."
His spiritual sense covered the whole mountain.
He "saw" a bunch of evil spirits hiding here — and one of them was clearly stronger than the rest.
That should be the mountain god.
Tohru's eyes flashed faint red.
She was sensing too.
After Arthur reminded them, she swallowed back the little urge she had to just blast the entire mountain with dragon breath.
Everyone suppressed their aura.
They walked up the steps pretending to be normal people.
The next second, the mountain god appeared.
And so did its two envoys.
The mountain god's gaze swept past everyone and finally landed on Yotsuya Miko.
It had just seen this human girl earlier.
It hadn't expected her to come back.
"...So weak," Moka frowned slightly.
Tohru was disappointed.
This "god" was way too weak.
She felt like one swipe of her claw could erase half its body.
Zhu Ran Xin'ai: "…"
(…Is it really that weak? It… doesn't feel that weak to me…)
"Y–You can see me!!"
The mountain god suddenly got excited — like it'd just taken a shot of adrenaline.
Under the eyes of Arthur and the others…
Its form started changing.
It still had a fox-like outline, but its eyes turned into brass bells, and its whole body was full of clacking bells inside.
Dozens of arms stretched out from under it.
Like a centipede's legs.
Ugly, creepy, twisted.
Black miasma wrapped around it.
It looked nothing like the holy, golden "shrine guardian" from a moment ago.
"Bind."
Arthur said it lightly.
A Myriad Phenomena Card floated up.
This was the Binding Card.
Pure binding force crashed down and instantly froze the revealed mountain god in place.
It stopped.
Couldn't move.
Couldn't even use its power.
Sensing something was wrong—
"Yaaah!"
One of the mountain god's envoys screeched and lifted both hands, about to attack Arthur and the others.
But in the next instant — bang!
The other envoy suddenly hit it and sent it flying.
"Huh?"
Tohru and the others were all a little surprised.
Turning coat that fast?
Arthur's eyes flickered.
A thread of mental power flashed out.
The envoy that had been knocked away was instantly killed.
Arthur looked at the remaining one.
If he remembered right, this one had originally been a human exorcist.
"K… kill…"
The envoy tried to speak, but her throat was damaged. Her voice was muffled and hard to make out.
But Arthur understood.
She wanted him to kill her.
"…Rest well."
Arthur said it quietly.
A Purification Card appeared.
Pure cleansing power fell onto the envoy.
Black filth peeled off her body in wisps.
In the end, a woman's figure appeared in front of everyone — and then slowly dissolved into light.
Right before she vanished, she was smiling.
Full of relief and gratitude.
"What was that?"
Seeing that scene, the girls — especially Miko — couldn't help asking.
Arthur glanced at the still-frozen mountain god. "This thing's been eating people and spirits for a long time. That envoy used to be human. It's fine now."
He stepped forward.
"Now… let's talk about you."
The mountain god, completely bound, could only stare at Arthur.
Those bell-eyes finally showed fear.
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