“Hey guys, I have a plan that might be pretty crazy… But I’m pretty sure it’ll save Hangaku’s life,” Lilith said with confidence. Mura turned in surprise.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Remember back at the Zoroaster Tournament, when that guy suddenly attacked us after we won the fight against him?”

“Yeah, I kinda do now that you mention it…” Mura said, trying to sort his way through the hazy memory. Zozo’s possessed hand zipped around the Ouija board as Naraka began to speak again.

“I also recall that evening. He refused to surrender after your victory, so security had to kill him.”

Lilith grinned widely, sticking a finger in the air to better make her point known.

“Yes! But remember before they zapped him? They used some kind of spell to force his Thrall out of him! Why can’t we use that?”

“Lilith might be onto something, master! We can use that spell to safely exorcise the incubus, right?” Mura asked.

“It just might, actually. But… you haven’t learned the Repulsion spell yet, have you?”

Mura and Lilith’s smiles faltered. Learning a new magic spell required a corresponding scroll detailing the secret incantation. It also required a blood offering, pressed onto the scroll’s parchment as tribute for the arcane knowledge being granted onto oneself.

“We haven’t… But that spell is restricted to military and police officials only, correct? Wouldn’t a Jikininki classify as one of those? Minister Nergal once said it held a rank equivalent to a captain or something?” Mura asked.

“… I suppose it would. But spell scrolls are kept under lock and key inside the imperial libraries. Filing a request for one, especially one of that level, would take at least a few days before I could receive clearance, Mura.”

“Shit…” Mura swore. “We don’t have that much time!”

“Hey, I tried!” Lilith sighed, throwing her hands in the air.

“Mura… If there is no way to save her, you know what must be done. I don’t like it any more than you do, but you can’t always save everyone. Not in this line of business…” Naraka spoke; a level of solemnness in his words.

The Jikininki lowered his head in defeat, wordless and frustrated. There was something they could do now, the thought had already occurred to Mura. However, the level of risk his plan posed could prove fatal. Yet, if he opted for inaction Hangaku and her mother would be dead either way.

“I know of another method. There’s a split chance it’ll work… and if it doesn’t, then the girl will die. Either way, I’m going to finish this contract by the end of the night.”

❇ ❇ ❇

Amano Residence, Ema — Later that night. Hangaku Amano was set to return any moment now from the shrine. Mura lurked within the trees outside her home. This was a stakeout. The plan was to ambush Hangaku the moment the incubus took over and escort her to the designated area.

Lilith awaited within the shrine itself, watching as Hangaku left her job once again with headphones blasting music into her ears. The girl was not aware of what awaited her, but they had to be quick and precise.

After a few minutes, Hangaku approached from around the corner of the forest trail. Mura sank lower into the bushes, awaiting that short burst of Tamashiryoku signaling her possession. Beforehand, Lilith had snuck into the house and slipped some sleeping pills into the tea of Hangaku’s mother. She was currently knocked out, unaware of what would happen within the coming moments.

Hangaku unlocked the front door, stepping inside and removing her shoes. As she did, she began to sweat profusely and rapidly like a fever was overcoming her. Her consciousness quickly slipped away as a foreign presence consumed her thoughts. Hangaku’s symbiotic Thrall overcame her, the nest of incubi dwelling within her soul awakening in the perceived solitude of the night.

Mura felt the ping of the human’s spiritual energy spike and immediately leapt into action, taking some spare rope he kept from yesterday out of its hiding place and stealthily opened the door. Hangaku moaned to herself, unaware of the demon behind her.

The Jikininki swung the rope that had been made into a makeshift lasso around Hangaku’s torso, kicking the back of her knee and causing it to buckle. The possessed girl thrashed as she fell to the floor, making the lasso to tighten its hold. Her arms were bound to her side, preventing her from getting free and attacking. Mura wasted no time in wrapping the remaining rope around her flailing legs, tying it into a sturdy knot. Hangaku was now hogtied and ready for the next step.

—Let’s hope the rest goes this well.

Mura picked the human up and slung her over his shoulder. There was no way she was escaping in this state if last night was any evidence. But once the exorcism began, there was no knowing what they’d face.

The demon walked out of the house, walking around to the side of the traditional abode to the garden. There were several different tools present for such a hobby, including a wheelbarrow. Mura unceremoniously dumped the human into the wheelbarrow and steered her into the forest path, back towards the shrine.

Hangaku’s moans turned to shrieks the closer they got to the holy grounds. The wheelbarrow buckled and shook along the stone-lined path, jostling the possessed girl’s body around like a ragdoll. She struggled to remove herself from the binds, even if it meant falling out of her makeshift carriage. Mura thought otherwise, however. There was no way she’d be getting out of this.

“Lilith! Get ready!” Mura yelled out, approaching the tori gate leading into the side entrance of the shrine.

The yokai girl was in position, just as they had planned. The shrine was empty, as Hangaku was always the last to leave anyhow. Lilith was positioned in front of the large bell at the apex of the shrine, grasping tightly onto the rope attached.

She gave Mura the signal that everything was A-OK once he entered her line of sight. With one mighty push, summoning all of his supernatural strength, Mura shoved off against the wheelbarrow. Letting go, Hangaku and the wheelbarrow blasted through the tori gate while Mura retreated out of the area. The girl and the wheelbarrow tore through the shrine’s entrance and into the middle of the area, right next to the purification bell.

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Lilith yanked hard on the rope, kneeling down to get some extra leverage. The bell wavered back as the pulley drew it towards that direction. The wheelbarrow’s wheels snagged a rock, causing it to topple; spilling the writhing possessed girl out onto the shrine’s stone surface.

Letting go of the thick braided rope, the bell rang out; letting loose a thunderous clang. The sound waves ripped through Hangaku’s body, causing her eyes to glow purple as a sickly aura emanated around her body. She howled, her pained screams transitioning to choking sounds as she flopped onto her side; vomiting some unknown black substance onto the polished surface.

“Ring it again!” Mura yelled out from the forest, covering his ears.

“A-Alright!” Lilith replied.

At his behest, Lilith rang the bell again; causing Hangaku to vomit up more black jelly as she convulsed on the ground. Lilith looked at the human girl with a face contorted with sympathy and revulsion. She noticed that a tendril was flopping around outside of Hangaku’s mouth, coming up from her throat. Tears ran down her face as her eyes rolled back.

“I’m gonna ring it again! I think it’s coming out!”

Lilith rang the bell a third time, then a fourth. With each chime of the holy bell, the tendrils spasmed and more lumps were expelled from Hangaku’s mouth. The aura around her body glowed brighter and brighter until it was nearly shining like a light.

With a fifth chime, her body emitted a flash that nearly blinded Lilith. When she let go of the bell to rub her eyes, she saw Hangaku motionless as not one, not two but multiple grotesque orbs crawled from the human’s mouth. They wriggled like newborn insects, covered in a thick film of mucus and other unknown fluids.

Slowly the orbs rose from the ground, levitating. As they did, a tentacle emerged from Hangaku’s torso. The tendril phased through her skin, forcefully unfusing itself from the host’s soul. As the bell’s chimes slowly faded away, Mura neared the tori gate to inspect the situation.

“Holy shit…” he muttered to himself.

Multiple tentacles started to emerge. It looked like a demonic octopus was rising from the girl’s chest. It lifted itself up, its black slimy appendages pulsing as it began levitating off the ground like the other small orbs. The largest creature finally extracted itself entirely, revealing a misshapen spherical body with the tentacles attached to its top. Along its orb-like body were misshapen humanoid faces with gnashing teeth and wriggling tongues hanging from its slack jaws.

“So that’s an incubus, huh?” Mura stated, bowing at the tori gate before passing through. He wasn’t in as much discomfort as the first time he travel into the divine realm, this time simply feeling off-kilter. It wasn’t the best feeling, but it still allowed him to fight.

Mura summoned his weapon, twirling the spear as it flashed into his hands.

“You’re one ugly son-of-a-bitch, anyone ever tell you that?” Mura said, with a confident smile on his face.

The incubus’ mouths opened, howling at him in response. Its screams sounded thick and phlegmy but animalistic, like a cross between a pig and a baboon. The smaller orbs hovered around the larger incubus, sticking close to its alpha. They snarled, revealing a mash of clenched teeth.

Lilith meanwhile dragged Hangaku away from the bell and into a nearby room located on the grounds.

The pack of incubi howled at Mura as he assumed his fighting stance. The alpha swam through the air at an intense speed towards the demon, faster than Mura thought was possible based on its sluggish demeanor.

Mura expertly dodged the basic attack as the incubus swiped its heavy whip-like tendrils at him. The Jikininki lashed back with his own attack, slashing through the air with his spear and severed two of the eight tentacles with one clean strike.

The beast cried in pain, causing its smaller pack of younger incubi to swarm Mura. He grinned and took a step back; spinning his razor-sharp spear like a fan at blinding speed. The smaller incubi rushed Mura with salivating jaws wide, heading straight into the path of his weapon.

Blood and chunks of incubi splattered the temple floor, releasing a noxious smell into the air that pounded Mura’s nostrils relentlessly.

“Geez, you’re as nasty on the inside as you are on the outside!”

The faces on the alpha incubus’ body grit their teeth in fury at seeing its young slaughtered so easily. It turned around to face its enemy and screamed at the demon with unbridled anger and bloodlust. Using its remaining tentacles, the incubus propelled itself into the air to perform a leaping strike.

Mura readied himself and quickly slid towards the direction of the incubus, passing directly underneath the foul monster. Spinning around to face the incubus’ backside, the beast couldn’t adjust itself in time to match Mura’s faster reflexes. Mura swung his spear down on the incubus like an executioner’s axe, snagging it out of the air and slamming it down into the stone floor.

Pulling back on his spear, Mura dragged the incubus towards him as it spasmed in pain at the blade hooked into the top of its head. Yanking it out of the pinkish-black flesh with a gush of blood, Mura mounted the beast to the floor with his boot while raising the spear over his head.

“Sweet dreams,” Mura spat with sardonic victory in his voice.

The faces of the incubus stopped struggling to look up at Mura’s weapon poised above them, gasping in horrific unison. He plunged the full length of the blade into the creature’s malformed body, twisting it around inside to sever any connecting tissue and organs.

The incubus gasped and choked at different intervals as every face expressed a different form of pain. Blood expelled from the beast’s multiple mouths as a bright red pool formed beneath it. After several seconds of agony, the incubus ceased movement. Its flopping tentacles became slack like lifeless cord.

Mura pulled his spear from the monster’s body with a slick plop, swiping it through the air to remove any blood collected on the blade. With a simple twirl, he retracted the weapon back into his slipstream ring.

“Lilith? Is she okay?” Mura called out, walking over to the building where the two girls were currently.

“She isn’t breathing, but she still has a pulse!” the yokai called back, having already removed the ropes around Hangaku’s body.

“Alright, fuse with me quickly!”

Lilith didn’t waste any time. She ran over and immediately joined hands with her friend, fusing with him in a short white burst of light. The enthralled demon hurried over to Hangaku, placing his hands on her chest.

“Renewal!” Mura spoke, closing his eyes and focusing his magic as a golden light emitted from his hands.

He focused his magic, closing his eyes as a golden light emitted from his hands. The light began to course through the human’s body, healing her from the inside.

“Wake up, come on. Wake up…!” Mura said, passing more of his restorative magic into her.

With a jolt, Hangaku’s eyes shot open as she began violently coughing. Mura leaned back a tad to give her space to breathe as her body began to catch up with her.

“Are you okay, Amano?”

Hangaku looked around wildly, wiping the sweat that had accumulated on her brow away.

“Why I am back here?! Who are you?!” she cried out before noticing the remains of the slain incubi a meter away. “Oh god, what is that?!!”

Hangaku panicked, crying and thrashing around. Mura quickly placed his hands on the girl’s shoulders, trying to calm her.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! You’re okay now! It’s all okay!”

“I’m okay?? What happened to me?!”

“You might not believe me… but you were possessed by that thing. I exorcised it from your body.”

“Y-You… what. T-That was inside…?!” Hangaku shook, her pupils shrinking in horror. The girl gasped, then backed away from Mura and bowed down on the floor before him.

“T-Thank you God for sending this spirit to help me and my family!!” Hangaku proclaimed, not daring to raise her head to look at him. Mura stood up, confused.

“Hey, come now. I’m no spirit.”

“A-Are you… a god yourself?!! Oh, could you be Lord Idaten??”

“No, my name is Mura. I’m definitely not a god… I’m the furthest thing from it.”