The Crimson Tide

No, no, no, no!

How could there be so many of these evil spirits?

As Shion swung the Spirit Cutter again, a sharp pain shot through her wrist, distorting her movements. The intense agony forced her to lower the blade.

She glanced at her wrist out of the corner of her eye. Several gashes had been torn open by the earlier attacks, and blood streamed uncontrollably. Until now, her heightened spirit-suppressing constitution had suppressed the pain, allowing her to focus on exorcising the spirits. But now, the overwhelming pain from multiple wounds struck her with full force, nearly making her collapse. The pain-suppressing effect seemed to vanish in an instant.

But I can’t give up… Those spirits…

For the first time, Shion truly understood what a ‘beast tide’ of evil spirits meant.

She was halfway up the mountain where she, Ayane, and Sakuya had picnicked a few days ago. The area was far enough from residential zones that no one had noticed the commotion yet. But when she arrived, she saw a surging tide of spirits. Under the moonlight, the shadows where light couldn’t reach stretched everywhere, covering the entire hillside. A bone-chilling cold prickled every nerve, making her teeth chatter uncontrollably.

The only good news was that there were no armored spirit warriors this time—only beast-shaped spirits, each falling to a single strike of the Spirit Cutter.

But the problem remained: no matter how powerful the Spirit Cutter was, against the mindless, relentless black tide, it was ultimately outmatched. Even though the spirits dissolved at the mere touch of its blade, they still surged forward like an unstoppable wave. No matter how Shion defended, she couldn’t avoid every opening, and the beast-shaped spirits tore through her skin.

‘Come on, Hoshimori Shion. You’ve faced worse before…’ She gritted her teeth and swung again, cutting down several spirits that lunged at her.

Just as she raised the blade for another strike, a metallic taste filled her mouth.

So nauseating… She couldn’t hold back and spat.

Blood. Crimson stains spread across her pure white miko robe.

Her vision was starting to blur, but she still swung the Spirit Cutter once more.

…

‘Young lady, this pressure release is completely wrong! What did you just do?’ Grandpa Butler shouted at Rie anxiously. ‘The volume released is almost five times that of a few days ago!’

At those words, the light seemed to vanish from Rie’s crimson eyes in an instant.

‘I—I just got distracted while manipulating the seal…’ Her words came out haltingly. She had been thinking about how disappointed Shion would be if she learned the spirits were released because of her.

The Igarashi family’s inherited seal, passed down for generations, was meant to guard the town and suppress evil spirits. Rie knew only that the bloodline of the Igarashi family could control the seal—and only to perform ‘pressure release,’ never to open it completely.

When she was very young, she was told that the Igarashi family must guard the seal forever, or once the spirits were released, the entire town would be destroyed. And maybe not just this town—several neighboring towns would inevitably be affected.

Rie had once believed that with all her heart. A mission is a mission.

She had also felt respect and reverence for her father, who bore that same duty.

But then… but then…

If guarding the seal was the family’s mission, why did her father leave town with her mother?

He said he was going out to find a permanent solution to the evil spirits, but Rie only saw on newspapers, TV, and the internet that the Igarashi business was expanding into neighboring towns, nearby cities, and even major metropolises.

Aside from the ever-growing numbers in the bank account—numbers too large for Rie to count—she almost never saw her father in town again. The rare times she did were over the phone, and more often than not, she was being scolded.

She dared not defy her father’s authority, but at the same time, she was deeply dissatisfied. Why did she have to stay in this town, forever guarding the seal?

And to make matters worse, the seal was growing increasingly fragile. The reason was simple: it had been maintained for four hundred years. Every year, evil spirits that couldn’t be exorcised were sealed inside. But the seal had its own limit from the beginning. Once it could hold no more, it would collapse. And if it completely collapsed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

As the inheritor of the Igarashi bloodline, Rie could sense this. But she had no better solution. After all, despite her ability to maintain the seal, her only power was to control flames, which were almost useless against evil spirits.

…

She had been distracted—just for an instant. A mistake in her manipulation of the seal released evil spirits nearly five times the volume of the previous day.

‘The Guardian Lady is already fighting. But against this scale of spirits, even she…’ Grandpa Butler trailed off.

‘She’s in grave danger.’

He left a sigh after those words.

‘Young lady, please prepare yourself for the possibility that the Guardian Lady cannot handle this.’

‘No, she can! She can!’ Rie grabbed her hair and dashed out of the house like a madwoman. Her red hair streamed messily in the night wind.

Would she make it in time?

But even if she arrived, what good would it do? Her abilities were useless against those spirits. She couldn’t save Shion.

…

When Rie finally reached the foot of the mountain, what she saw was a maiden drenched in blood, swinging the last silver flash of the Spirit Cutter.

Under the moonlight, the bloodstained miko robe exuded a strong aura of evil spirits—the lingering remnants of the spirits that had tried to tear Shion apart, now dissipated.

As if sensing someone’s arrival, Shion turned her head toward Rie. But her eyes were already crimson, seeing nothing.

The white-haired girl, bathed in moonlight, stood like a blood-soaked statue. Only the Spirit Cutter in her hand still shimmered faintly.