As midnight descended, the moon, a stark orb in the heavens, cast its pallid light across the land.
Deep in slumber, Hoshimori Shion was abruptly roused from her sleep, utterly without premonition.
A profound chill permeated her being.
As Hoshimori Shion’s phone flickered to life, the sudden burst of white light from its screen assaulted her vision, causing a sharp sting.
The digital display confirmed it: midnight, precisely twelve o’clock, neither a second early nor late. Confronted with this ominous hour, so frequently a harbinger of dread in tales of terror, Hoshimori Shion’s heart gave an involuntary lurch.
Even though it was the cusp of autumn, the midnight air was so piercingly cold that Hoshimori Shion felt as though she had plunged into a frigid abyss. The sensation was one of biting, agonizing chill.
Hoshimori Shion was already quite familiar with this sensation; it was the burgeoning aura of malevolent spirits, though not yet potent enough to trigger a system notification. Having spent the evening studying, she had been too exhausted to offer her customary prayers to the divine, which otherwise would have allowed her to detect the anomaly much sooner.
Adeptly, she donned her Miko attire, then proceeded to the main hall of the shrine to offer her prayers to the divine. As the words of her invocation flowed, Hoshimori Shion’s senses began to extend, gradually encompassing an ever-widening radius.
However, the moment her senses registered the presence of the malevolent aura, a profound shock coursed through her.
The surge of malevolent spirits was not emanating from the rear mountain, but from within the town itself!
A sudden, icy sweat broke out over her skin. Could the malevolent spirits truly be converging upon the town? If anyone were to be harmed by them, the game’s outcome would immediately plunge into a ‘game over’ scenario! Hoshimori Shion had always believed that incidents like Iori Grandma’s possession were isolated anomalies, and that spirits should not appear in the town on such a large scale.
Upon reflection, however, it wasn’t entirely surprising. As the game progressed, Hoshimori Shion herself grew stronger, yet the malevolent spirits simultaneously became increasingly formidable adversaries.
‘This damned stat inflation…’
Grasping her Spirit Cutter, Hoshimori Shion swiftly exited the shrine. The wooden clogs on her feet produced crisp, echoing sounds as she traversed the stone path.
From her vantage point on the shrine’s mountain, she could survey the entire town below. The settlement was now wholly enveloped by the shroud of night, its inhabitants largely lost in the embrace of sleep. Unlike bustling cities, this place knew no such thing as ‘nightlife’; here, people retired with the setting sun, and the profound stillness of the night was its customary state.
Yet, Hoshimori Shion’s gaze fell upon a corner of the town where a dark aura was visibly spreading, tendrils of black mist drifting upwards into the air.
Never before, in all her previous exorcisms, had she witnessed such a vast scale of malevolent spiritual energy!
Hoshimori Shion quickened her pace down the mountain. ‘Such a massive surge of malevolent spirits, yet no system notification?! What good is this wretched system anyway!’
The only lights illuminating the town were the few incandescent bulbs, flickering dimly as if clinging to life. Hoshimori Shion hurried along the town’s paths, where light and shadow ceaselessly intertwined, until…
Upon reaching the source of the malevolent spirits’ appearance, she gazed upon the scene before her with a rising sense of dread.
At least several dozen malevolent spirits roamed the streets, drifting aimlessly like mindless automatons. These spirits were unlike any Hoshimori Shion had encountered before. The ones she had previously exorcised typically manifested as highly aggressive animals, such as wolves, but the specters now wandering before her were humanoid figures, clad in Sengoku period armor and wielding axes, halberds, hooks, and spears.
Even though the malevolent spirits were merely amorphous masses of black mist, their strikingly human-like forms still sent a shiver of cold dread down Hoshimori Shion’s spine.
The scenes from her dreams seemed to be replaying before her very eyes in this moment.
A white Miko, stained crimson with blood, clutched a Kagura suzu, fruitlessly striving to halt a war of immense casualties. Countless lives vanished, their passing imbued with bitter resentment, and pure souls became tainted by the blood-soaked malice. No matter how the white Miko endeavored to appease them, her efforts proved utterly futile.
Hoshimori Shion had no knowledge of how that war concluded. Yet, she surmised that a conflict of such magnitude, a battle to the death, typically culminated in the absolute defeat of one side. What immense price, then, must have been paid for such an outcome?
Regardless, as the Miko of this era, whether to safeguard the town or to protect her own happiness, she was compelled to exorcise these malevolent spirits.
Hoshimori Shion’s spirit-鎮靈 (TL Note: A special constitution or innate ability to suppress or attract spirits) physique seemed to possess an inherent allure for these malevolent spirits; the moment she arrived, they were drawn to her aura. Their collective gaze, if they possessed eyes, turned in her direction.
Clutching her Spirit Cutter, Hoshimori Shion stood ready, poised for battle.
The nearest malevolent spirit, brandishing a katana, charged towards Hoshimori Shion with a sharp, piercing roar. Just as it closed the distance, its sword stance shifted to an Iai (TL Note: A swift, drawing cut from the scabbard), slashing down at Hoshimori Shion.
Hoshimori Shion took a deep breath, raising her Spirit Cutter to meet the incoming strike head-on.
The Spirit Cutter, when pitted against a blade forged from malevolent aura, proved to be as effective as cutting through mud. Hoshimori Shion’s swing, imbued with a remarkably fierce blade wind, not only parried the spirit’s Iai but cleaved directly through its armor.
The malevolent spirit’s aura immediately diminished. Capitalizing on her momentum, Hoshimori Shion delivered another swift strike, utterly exorcising the now defenseless spirit. Its dark essence vanished into the night in an instant.
Even Hoshimori Shion herself felt a flicker of surprise. She had initially perceived this malevolent spirit as exceptionally powerful, and her senses had confirmed as much, yet she had not anticipated that she was, in fact, far stronger than she had ever imagined.
Sensing Hoshimori Shion’s presence, the surrounding malevolent spirits immediately converged, forming an organized formation.
Though she had vanquished one spirit, Hoshimori Shion clenched her jaw even tighter. For the malevolent spirits before her had adopted combat formations, precisely like actual Sengoku period soldiers, awaiting her offensive.
Hoshimori Shion drew a deep breath. ‘If these malevolent spirits could truly think, this situation would become far more troublesome.’ The spirits she had previously encountered were mostly manifestations of negative emotional chill, but they fought without strategy, making them easy targets for her to defeat.
‘But if they possessed the capacity for thought, then indeed, this would be a grave predicament…’
At that moment, three of the malevolent soldier-spirits, positioned in the foremost rank, suddenly surged forward, charging towards Hoshimori Shion in unison.
Hoshimori Shion had just prepared to block with her Spirit Cutter, but the malevolent soldiers did not charge directly. Instead, they instantly fanned out, encircling her.
‘No, a pincer attack from three sides?…’
By the time Hoshimori Shion registered the tactical shift, the three malevolent soldiers were already assailing her from multiple directions.
Her physical strength had not significantly increased, and under the onslaught of the encirclement, despite unleashing several consecutive flashes of her blade to eradicate the spirits, she sustained multiple injuries. The stinging pain in her arms and shoulders was so intense that Hoshimori Shion nearly lost her grip on the Spirit Cutter.
‘What should I do?’
As Hoshimori Shion gritted her teeth and resumed her combat stance, five more malevolent soldier-spirits once again closed in, completely surrounding her.
‘This is truly problematic now.’ This was the last thought that surfaced in Hoshimori Shion’s mind at that moment.
However, a faint flicker of light suddenly ignited in the distance: a scarlet flame that landed upon one of the malevolent spirits poised for attack. Though not particularly potent, the fire undeniably captured the spirits’ attention.
‘What could that be?’ Hoshimori Shion wondered, but she immediately shook her head. ‘There’s no time to ponder it now.’
Once more, the blade-wind swept through, and the body of another malevolent spirit disintegrated. A breach was torn open in the spirits’ encirclement.