(Deeper into the underworld we go...)

Tsukiakari held her sword like a torch as they ventured down the Underworld's labyrinth of caves. Navigation was left up to Izanami, who took them down a seemingly endless amount of twists and turns. Eventually, even Tsukiakari began to feel like they were just going in circles.

"It feels like we've been walking for hours. How much longer?" Tsukiakari asked.

"Ah, right here!" Izanami gasped. "From here on out, the caves are going to get tighter. Be careful, and mind your spacing."

Osamu nodded. "Got it. Lead the way, Gekko."

"Alrighty then." Tsukiakari said.

The walls were getting tighter and tighter, and there was still no gourd in sight. The three had to turn their bodies sideways and shimmy through the caves.

"Makes you miss Antarctica, doesn't it?" Izanami quipped.

"It's just as cold, but not nearly as nice." Tsukiakari said.

"Izanami, you created this place, didn't you? You couldn't have made something more pleasant?" Osamu complained.

"On Earth, everything is bright and warm. That's your idea of comfort when you're alive." Izanami explained. "When you're dead, it's different. It might be unpleasant to us, but the dead want a cold, dark, and quiet place to rest. The fact we've even got a light with us might be seen as an offense here."

"What?!" Tsukiakari gasped. "When were you going to mention that?!"

"Huh? I did, just now. Besides, we wouldn't be able to navigate this place without a light.”

Tsukiakari sighed. "Izanagi would laugh if he saw how things have turned out."

Osamu suddenly felt a wave of heat brush against his back. He looked behind him and saw the an amber light illuminating the cave walls.

"Hey, guys! There's a light behind me!" Osamu warned.

"A light? It feels kind of hot..." Izanami murmured.

"Oh my god, Osamu! Izanami! Run! That's fucking fire!" Tsukiakari screamed.

A wave of searing flamed bellowed from the cave depths, threatening to roast them where they stood. Osamu and the others shimmied as fast as they could to get to the other side of the crevice.

"What the hell is this?! Why is there fire in the caves?!" Osamu shouted.

"It's probably the underworld's defenses against outsiders! It knows we're not supposed to be here because we're not dead!" Tsukiakari explained.

Osamu laughed, almost regretting his decision to come down to the Underworld. "That's just great!"

"Keep going! The end is just over there!" Izanami urged.

The three rushed as fast as they could and jumped out through the end of the crevice. The crevice spit them out into a twenty-foot fall, dunking them into a small, freezing lake. The flames spewed through the crevice opening, the lake reflecting its dazzling, amber light. Osamu, Izanami, and Tsukiakari popped their heads out from the icy waters and swam towards the black sand shore. They emerged from the lake like drowned cats, crawling onto the shore and resting on their backs as they caught their breaths.

"I am never coming back here." Tsukiakari said.

"Me neither." Izanami said, coughing water out of her throat.

"I can't believe Mizuhame made it this far." Osamu wheezed. "She came here all by herself, with no guidance?"

Izanami smiled as she sat on her bottom, hanging her arms over her knees. "She was amazing. She did her best to hold our family together after I passed. I know for a fact she heard what happened between Izanagi and I, and yet...she still chose to risk everything to try and rescue me. My only regret is that I never got a final chance to tell her how much I loved her."

(I'm sure it wasn't easy for Izanami to agree to come down here. On top of just being a hostile place to the living, the Underworld is home to a lot of bad memories for her. Her initial death, her divorce from Izanagi, and knowing her daughter died down here trying to save her. Maybe Mizuhame will be happy to know that her gourd is going to save her sister's life yet again.)

"Everyone rested?" Tsukiakari asked. "Let's hurry this up and get the hell out of here."

"Hah, you said the thing, Gekko." Osamu tittered.

"Shut up." Tsukiakari growled.

Tsukiakari realized she could suddenly see her own breath. The held her hand to her face and watch as the droplets of water on her nails slowly turned into fragments of ice. She turned her gaze to the lake and saw a thin cloud of vapor rising from the waters. Osamu and Izanami shot onto their feet, noticing the Underworld was getting colder.

"You've got to be kidding me! First it tries to burn us, now it's going to freeze us to death?" Osamu cried.

Tsukiakari reignited her blade to keep everyone warm, but there was no telling how long she could keep it.

"This isn't good! If we stay here..." Izanami said.

Osamu swallowed a lump in his throat the size of a tennis ball. "We could die of hypothermia."

(It should be right about now...)

Yoko sauntered down the hall of stained glass, trying to find her way back to the bedroom. To her ire, she spotted Satori down the hall, the two going in opposite directions. Neither of them said a word as they walked past each other. Yoko held her breath as she passed by him, not even wanting to notice his scent. Satori came to a stop and shivered, a chill crawling down his spine.

"Whew. I can feel it." Satori said.

"Feel what?" Yoko asked.

"Venom."

"...The only three people I have left in this world are down there risking everything for you. Just be thankful I haven't done anything to you."

The floor beneath their feet suddenly jolted, and a thunderous boom bellowed from the garden. Satori and Yoko rushed to look through the windows, noticing the plume of smoke rising from the front gate.

"What the hell?!" Yoko cried.

Satori didn't panic. He didn't flinch. He remained scarily calm. "So, they're here already, huh? Lucrezia's faster than I thought."

"I see you never thought very highly of me, Satori."

Yoko and Satori turned to their left, seeing Lucrezia standing before them. Lucrezia's focused her fearsome gaze entirely on Satori. At long last, she finally had him cornered.

"You're Lucrezia?" Yoko asked.

"It's been a while, Lucrezia." Satori said. "I don't remember you being this banged up the last time we saw each other."

Of course, Lucrezia knew he was referring to the bandages covering both of her arms and even one of her eyes. "I can say the same to you, Satori. That's quite a nasty sickness you've got there. Have you lost weight?"

"Lucrezia, Osamu is in the Underworld right now!" Yoko said.

"I'm aware. We agreed to this, that he would scour the Underworld for Mizuhame’s gourd..." Lucrezia began, reaching into her belt and withdrawing a large, black feather. "And I would kill Satori."

Satori chuckled, slapping his palm on his face. "I should've known. So you sunk your fangs into him first, did you? It only makes sense. A man like that would attract the interest of the exorcists."

Lucrezia pointed the black feather at Satori. "Where's Kagutsuchi?"

"She's in the bedroom. I was on my way there just now." Yoko said, sweat rolling down her forehead.

"Go and get her. Now." Lucrezia ordered.

"...What are you going to do to her?" Yoko questioned.

"Just go." Lucrezia growled.

"Go ahead, Yoko. I'm going to need some alone time with her anyway." Satori tittered.

Yoko's eyes darted between Satori and Lucrezia, her arms riddled with goosebumps. She turned heel and ran as fast as she could, hoping to find Kagutsuchi before something awful happened. Left alone with Lucrezia in the hall of stained glass, Satori couldn't help but smile.

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"I did everything you asked of me, Lucrezia. Not everything went according to plan, as you can see, but I did the best I could manage."

Lucrezia nodded. "You put down a high-risk bet. Mizuhame's gourd? I wouldn't have even thought of it."

"I believe Osamu can do it. He's just that kind of guy. He makes his own luck. You wouldn't believe the lengths I went to to push him. Let's just hope it all pays off."

"I'd rather have more assurance than that, but if he does manage to bring back Mizuhame's gourd, then I'll fulfill my promise to you."

Satori closed his eyes, releasing a relieved sigh. "Thank you. Well then, I suppose we should put on our best performances and make this look realistic for the cleanup crew. Remember, you've spent years tracking down a traitor to your team, to the exorcists, and to the country. It has to be done with vengeance and passion."

"I know. Here we go." Lucrezia said, swaying the black feather downwards.

Satori suddenly screamed in pain and clenched his right arm. He stumbled backwards as his arm morphed and expanded beneath the sleeve of his golden robe. Losing control of his limb, his arm lifted itself skyward, causing the sleeve to fall and revealing its blackened, bloated state.

The fingernails fell from his swelling hand and the skin bursted apart as his flesh kept expanding. His arm exploded into a black and scarlet mist, freeing the flesh-eating crows that festered inside of his arm. They filled the mansion with their harrowing caws, taking strips of Satori's flesh and skin with them in their beaks.

Satori fell to one knee, his face splattered with blood and sweat. "That was a little brutal...even for you..."

"Bishamon supplied you with the limbs, but he died well over a year ago. And that was after Osamu and Tsukiakari went around trashing his shrines. Someone else had to have supplied you with the limbs you have now, and taught you how to keep them fresh. Who was it?"

Satori watched as the blood poured from his empty arm socket. "No...it's not them you're truly after, is it? I bet you already know, don't you?"

"I just want to confirm it. Tell me."

Satori managed to stand up, but only for a second before he fell to the right, leaning against the stained glass windows. "Himushi and Magatori."

Lucrezia's eyes widened, her brows arching upwards. "So it's as I feared. Himushi is still alive."

"I met them after Bishamon killed Tsukiakari and Osamu. Turns out, it was Bishamon that kept Himushi alive. I wasn't expecting her to team up with the guy that almost killed her, though." Satori explained, his face drenched in sweat. "Maybe she wanted revenge against Heaven or the exorcists."

"Revenge?"

"Yeah. Bisha's son, Magatori? He was gonna be Amaterasu's usurper. I guess after that first battle, Bishamon realized he needed someone who could help Magatori slip in and out of places undetected. Who better to do that than a former exorcist?"

"I see. He tried doing the same thing with Tsukiakari during the Warring States, but he failed spectacularly. So he tried a smaller scale version of the Senkumo project and raised a usurper in secret."

"Here's the kicker, Lucrezia. Magatori said that he knows they can't do it with just the two of them. The plan was that Bishamon would help them when the time came to overthrow Amaterasu, but Osamu and Tsukiakari came back from the dead, and ended up killing Bishamon. So, they're searching for the one person besides Izanami that Amaterasu fears most."

"Inari." Lucrezia growled. "Is Himushi seriously going along with it? What exactly are they planning to do once they find Inari?"

"You'll have to figure that out yourself." Satori chuckled. "Whatever you do, you should take them out while it's still just the two of them. I have a hunch that they knew where she was at some point, and that the trail is recent enough for them to assume she's still alive. If that's the case, you'll have to beat them to her."

Lucrezia nodded. "Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure Kagu is taken care of. She won't be used or imprisoned by the exorcists. So then, as you said, let's make this look convincing."

Shinju, Rei, Aika, and the Shoku Twins walked through the destroyed front gate. Shinju shook her hand as odorous smoke wafted from the tip of her index finger, smiling as she took in the view of Satori's courtyard.

"If you're gonna go through the front gate, may as well be loud, right?" Shinju giggled.

"Osamu! Yoko!" Rei shouted, looking around the courtyard.

"I don't see them out here!" Aika cried.

"They're probably inside with Satori. If we find him, we should be able to find out where the others are." Shinju explained.

"Shinju! Look out!" Omagatoki cried.

Three shikome lunged towards Shinju, chomping down on Shinju's neck and legs. Aika and Rei bolted towards Shinju to help, only for her to hold out her hand and motion them to stop.

"Don't move! If they bite you, it's all over." Shinju said.

"What about you?!" Rei shouted.

Shinju snickered. "Take a good look, you two."

Shinju didn't seem bothered at all. She was bleeding, but there didn't seem to be any curse inflicted upon her, nor any great pain. Shinju smiled before tapping each Shikome on the forehead with her index finger. Their eyes rolled backwards in their sockets, the blood vessels inside of them popping until the white in their eyes was stained red. Each shikome fell over, twitching on the ground and completely immobilized.

Shinju smiled with a sadistic glee. "So it really is Kagutsuchi. Stay behind me, everyone."

"Holy crap, she's strong!" Rei recoiled, flabbergasted.

"I think I get it now. Shinju's a descendant of Mizuhame, so maybe the shikome curse doesn't effect her. If you have divine blood, you're far less likely to get cursed." Aika explained.

"That definitely explains it..." Aika said.

The girls watched as Shinju jumped on top of a shikome's head and then jumped along the heads of several other like they were just platforms to be traversed. The shikome looked around, confused.

Shinju landed on her feet and waved her hand. "Yoo hoo! Over here, ladies!"

The shikome swarmed on Shinju, only for one of them to be grabbed and tossed into the others like a bowling ball into bowling pins.

Shinju dusted off her hands. "Let's go, you guys."

"Uh...okay..." Aika stammered.

Shinju and the others barged through the front door of the mansion and proceeded through the antechamber. The halls were a mess of partially destroyed walls and dead shikome sprawled across the reflective, marble floors. Shinju knew from the crows feasting away at the shikome's flesh that Lucrezia had already gone after Satori.

"Let's find them!" Shinju shouted, sprinting down the hall.

The only thing guiding them through Satori's maze of stained glass hallways were the sounds of screaming. Shinju guided them through ever sharp turn, the sound of battle growing louder. The mansion was suddenly rocked by an explosion, nearly knocking Shinju and the others off balance.

"What was that?!" Omagatoki cried.

"Sounds like it's just about over..." Shinju said. "Follow me."

Everyone turned the corner and were immediately met with the stench of smoke and ash. The hallway where Lucrezia and Satori fought was a blackened mess of soot and flaming debris scattered across the broken, marble floor. Lucrezia stood tall with her black feather in her hand and Yoko at her side. On the other end, Kagutsuchi stood in front of a kneeling, bleeding Satori.

"Shinju? You sure took your sweet time." Lucrezia said, noticing the others had arrived. "We have a bit of a problem."

"Yeah, that's quite apparent." Shinju said, focusing her gaze on Kagutsuchi. "Aika, take Rei and the twins. You need to find your friend's remains, don't you?"

"That's right! Izzy's remains are here!" Rei said.

"We'll protect you from any shikome. Let's go." Akatsuki promised.

While the others ran off to fetch Isabella's casket, Shinju marched forth and stood alongside Lucrezia and the utterly shellshocked Yoko.

"Satori Sentani, darling." Shinju began. "You've been a very, very bad boy. Possession of Shikome, kidnapping two goddesses, and cheating death to try and live longer than you should. I have to say, I'm very impressed with you. I think you're the first human to ever be able to do something like this and get away with it for so long."

"I won't let you hurt him!" Kagutsuchi roared. "Stop this! Please!"

Shinju laid eyes on Yoko and caressed her lips with her thumb. "You are absolutely stunning, young lady! My name is Shinju Miyakawa. It's a pleasure! If you don't mind, your friends are looking for you, and I've been tasked with killing this man. Please do stay out of the way, it won't take long."

"Wait! Kill him?! Lucrezia!" Yoko cried.

"Yes, that's correct. We're not here to arrest him. What's the point?" Lucrezia said. "He's a dead man walking anyway."

Shinju marched towards Satori. Kagutsuchi stood firm, but found herself unable to attack her.

"Why do you...look so familiar?" Kagutsuchi asked. No way...are you Mizuhame?! That can't be, you must be one of her descendants!"

"Oooh!" Shinju gasped. It just keeps getting better and better! Are you Kagutsuchi? You're Mizuhame's sister, huh? Well, your hunch is right. I'm her descendant."

"Kagu, don't stand in her way!" Yoko urged.

"No!" Kagutsuchi screamed.

"Kagu, she's right! Leave!" Satori begged.

"I have no intention of hurting Kagutsuchi. It wouldn't be justified." Shinju said. “Not one bit. In fact, I think I've inherited a little bit of love for you, Kagutsuchi. Satori, however, is a wanted man and a traitor to his country. I don't want to have to fight a relative, so you're gonna have to just move out of the way."

"I can't just let him die!" Kagutsuchi cried.

"Damn it, Kagutsuchi! Get away from him! If you defy her, you won't have a future anymore! If you love him, you'd live for yourself! You wouldn't throw your own life away to pay for his crimes!" Yoko reasoned.

Kagutsuchi stood frozen. "But he...he took care of me! I know he's done terrible things, but he still saved me!" Kagutsuchi said. "I did terrible things too! I'm the reason the shikome are here! I'm the one who put the curse on Satori! Everything he did originates with me! Why aren't you here to kill me?!"

Shinju put her hands on her hips. "Sorry, Kagu. Life just didn't work out that way."

Kagutsuchi stood shaking, her swollen, pink eyes burning and overflowing with tears.

"Kagutsuchi, listen to me. What happened wasn't your fault! You meant no harm or evil." Yoko said.

"Even if you were the one to supply Satori with the shikome, he still decided to use them for his own ends." Shinju interjected. "So, I can't really count you as evil in that case, since such a curse is often inflicted unintentionally. But I'm sure he went ahead and made it seem like you were some sort of murderous psychopath who just killed for fun, didn't he? It would've worked out very well if he did. He would've suckered his own captives into sympathizing with him rather than you. Good old Stockholm Syndrome, huh? Poor Satori was a victim in all of this! He was put in a desperate and urgent situation because of a malevolent goddess who can't stop spreading misfortune! Pathetic."

Kagutsuchi turned her head. "Satori. Did you? Did you say that to them? It was an accident, and I didn't know how to stop it! You know that, right?! Why would you say something so horrible about me?! I would never purposefully do that to you!"

"Kagu. Leave." Satori wheezed.

Shinju sighed. "I'm wasting too much time. Kagutsuchi, though I don't want to lay a finger on you, you'll leave me with no choice if you don't move."

"Kagu! Think about yourself for once! Satori did not love you!" Yoko screamed.

Kagutsuchi's tears streamed down her cheeks and blurred her vision. "But I...I love him so much! I don't care if he's evil!"

"Kagu!" Satori roared.

"Satori, I love you! You saved me from solitude and gave me a home! I'm sorry I brought you so much pain!" Kagutsuchi sobbed.

"Yoko is right!" Satori shouted.

Kagutsuchi's heart nearly stopped. Everything went black and white. Everything fell silent. It was as though the whole world had died upon hearing those words.

"I don't love you. Perhaps I was captivated by you when we first met. Maybe, just maybe, there was something there back then, but it's all gone now. Truthfully, I despised you since the day you cursed me. You're a burden. You're too heavy for a man like me to carry. I cannot support you, and I do not love you."

Kagutsuchi shook her head. "No...no, don't say that..."

Running out of breath, Satori continued. "I'm sorry, Kagu, but this is farewell. I implore you to go find happiness. Be with someone better than me, and less despicable than me."

"You were the first one! You were the first to make me feel this way!" Kagutsuchi sobbed.

"And there will be many others, Kagutsuchi." Shinju said. "The end of the first is not the end of it all. As long as you're young, there is a future awaiting you. You can be happy."

Waiting no longer, Shinju lifted her hand and aimed her finger gun at Satori.

Satori bowed his head and chuckled. “So this is it. An eventful climax to a terrible screenplay..."

"Please....please don't..." Kagutsuchi begged, still shielding Satori.

"I'm giving you twenty seconds to get out of the way, Kagutsuchi." Shinju warned. "If you stall my judgement any longer, I'll have to consider you Satori's accomplice, and you will have to die as well. The countdown begins now."