Their element of surprise lost, Osamu’s children, his executioners, sat down at the opposite side of the kitchen island. Their father had prepared for this very scenario, something they didn’t account for in the lead-up to this day. Yuuto exchanged glances with Kiyoko and Chiya, silently communicating his intent to sit and listen to Osamu. They would feign interest in what he had to say, wait for reinforcements, and regain the element of surprise with a pincer attack.

“Keep your hands on the counter. All of you.” Osamu commanded.

“…Do as he says.” Chiya ordered, all three of them putting their hands flat on the countertop.

“When a child receives the order to kill his own parents, what possesses them to say yes?” Osamu hissed.

“Possess?” Yuuto scoffed. “Funny hearing you of all people say that. You’re the one who’s possessed! You’ve been possessed ever since you met Inari! She begged for you to help her and fight alongside her. You lost your free will to her Bloodcraft ever since. Don’t you get it? Even though she’s dead, you’re still following her will! You haven’t been Osamu since the day you met her!”

“Even though it looks like you, we’re really fighting Inari.” Kiyoko explained. “We’re stopping her from wreaking havoc upon the world by proxy. That’s why we accepted this mission.”

Osamu turned his cold gaze towards Chiya. “And you, Chiya?”

Chiya tucked in her lips and lowered her head, her fingers curled inwards. “You’re not our father. You’re just…Inari’s will possessing our father’s body. That’s all you are.”

Osamu sighed. “Everything I’m doing now is of my own free will. You’re the ones possessed by your superiors, your orders, and your blind loyalty. We’re here because the Shinto pantheon ordered the death of someone I loved dearly, someone who was a beloved friend of Izanami and Gekko. How dare you say such things about her when her blood flows through your veins? You’re only half as powerful as you are because she gave her life to save mine.”

“You don’t know for sure you’re not being possessed.” Yuuto argued. “Victims of Bloodcraft never know when they’re being manipulated. They just think they’re acting out of their own free will. Even our mothers can see how much you’ve changed in recent years.”

“I didn’t change because of Inari’s influence. I changed because I knew you three would try to kill to me. I changed because I know that no matter what I say to you, you won’t turn back from your mission. You’re slaves to your dogma, and that’s exactly what’s going to push this world towards the edge of total destruction.”

“Just what are you saying?” Kiyoko growled.

“They chose you because they knew Gekko and Izanami wouldn’t be able to retaliate against their own children.” Osamu said. “That was a good move. I can’t picture either of them raising a hand against you, even if you kill me. I used to feel the same way. What father would ever fight a death match against his own children? But then I saw glimpses of the future, particularly what happens to you three.”

“The Shoku Twins…” Kiyoko gasped. “Did they betray us?”

“Nothing I can say or do will save you. The only way for you to avoid what’s coming is for you to make the choice yourself. Drop this mission and come with me. We’re putting a stop to the Shinto pantheon, a stop to all future Great Holy Wars.”

“Damn it, we should’ve known you’d have people on the inside helping you.” Yuuto snarled.

“There are far more people than you know that want me to stay alive, even if that means retaliating against you three.” Osamu warned. “Chiya, what time is it?”

Surprised at the question, Chiya looked behind Osamu to check the time displayed on the microwave. “It’s 6:45 A.M.”

“It should be starting soon.” Osamu said.

“It? What do you mean?” Chiya asked.

“You can still stop this, you three. Forfeit your mission and come with me.” Osamu ordered.

“Is that a threat?!” Yuuto roared.

“Yeah, it is. Because if you don’t surrender right now, thousands of people will die in the next few minutes!” Osamu shouted. “Your friends, your superiors, the boys you like, the girls you crush on, all of them are about to get vaporized unless you surrender.”

Kiyoko, Yuuto, and Chiya were stunned silent. They couldn’t tell if Osamu’s threat was real or if he was just bluffing. His cold eyes and fiery voice gave off the impression he was being serious, and the fact that he knew ahead of time who his executioners would be was proof someone tipped him off. Still, to carry out an attack that murderous and destructive would require more than just a few inside men. It would require an entire support network, weapons, logistics, and loyalty.

The children all looked at each other and decided to take a gamble.

“We will not surrender.” Yuuto declared. “Your threat is just proof that you’re no longer Osamu Ashikaga. You’re Inari Okami using Osamu’s corpse like a puppet. That bloodlust…that hatred…it’s all Inari.”

“…So that’s your final decision? You’re absolutely sure?” Osamu asked.

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“Yes.” Kiyoko affirmed.

“We’re not surrendering to Inari’s will.” Yuuto said.

“We’re going to kill you. That’s that.” Chiya added.

Osamu closed his eyes. It was just as the Shoku Twins had shown him. Even if he had tried to take them all by force, it wouldn’t have changed anything. They were convinced he was just the incarnation of Inari, and that made him a threat. And so, knowing what would happen next, Osamu made his own decision as well.

“Very well. You’ve made your choice and I’ve made mine. You want a bloodbath? I’ll give you one.” Osamu snarled. “If my death means handing over this power to the Shinto pantheon so they can rule everyone in this world like they rule you, then I won’t let you kill me.”

“This means we have a fight on our hands.” Yuuto warned.

“A fight? No. This means war.” Osamu said.

The time had finally come. It was a busy day at Kyoto Station, the center of the city’s metro system. A young woman donning a white face mask and chef’s apron silently cut red onions atop a steel countertop in the back of her fried food restaurant built within the station. Hordes of people went up and down the escalators, stampeding across the grey, tiled floors towards their destinations. Rays of golden sunlight cut through the skylights above as chatter and conversation swelled all around.

Another chef entered the kitchen, a middle-aged man that stood two feet taller than the young girl.

“Good morning!” The man sang

The young woman smiled and bowed her head. “Good morning!”

“Early bird, as usual.”

“It’s been busy lately. I’m just making sure we’re prepared for today. Oh, and I hauled in all the new ingredients today. They’re in the fridge.”

The man snapped his fingers. “Oh! I’d forgotten about that. I’ll go check them and join you in a second.”

“Got it.”

The man entered sauntered over to the large, stainless steel door of the walk-in fridge. He effortlessly flung it open and saw more than two dozen boxes stacked inside. He pulled one to the side and opened it, seeing some of the tomatoes he ordered.

“Ah, these look beautiful.”

He continued to check each tomato by hand until he noticed a smaller box beneath the produce. Curious, he took the lid off of the smaller box, seeing a strange, silver case inside.

“The hell is this?”

Sitting before his children, Osamu checked the time on the microwave again. The time was 7:00.

“It’s time.” He said.

All of a sudden, Kyoto Station was ripped apart by five massive explosions. Fireballs erupted out of the massive, grey and silver structure, hurling debris into high into the sky until it came falling back down on the ground. Chatter and conversation turned into screams of shock and horror as hallways collapsed into ashen rubble, and restaurants instantly turned into fireballs.

The female chef opened her eyes, suddenly finding herself staring up at the station’s skylights from the middle of the hall outside the restaurant. The explosion had knocked her far away from the kitchen. Her blood slowly dyed her white chef’s jacket red. She tried to move her legs, but both of them were crushed beneath two chunks of concrete blown off from the walls and support pillars around her.

Her nose, left eye, and part of her right ear had been blown off, coating her face in soot in blood. She looked around and saw people running and screaming, many of them trapped under rubble just like her. To her right, she saw dazed and bloodied men trying to free some of the people trapped under rubble. To her left, she laid eyes on the bodies of a mother and her child, their faces burnt to char and completely unrecognizable as anything human.

Golden sunlight was replaced by the hellish glow of fire consuming the entire station. Legions of people ran to escape the station, all of theme coated in ash, dirt, and soot. Some of them coughed out visible puffs of smoke and ash from their mouths. Limbs and body parts littered the ground both inside and outside the station. Men and women screamed the names of their missing loved one, who seemed to vanish in an instant after the explosions.

It was hell on earth, and Anne watched from her black SUV in the distance. This was a deliberate attack, a brazen act of terror perpetrated on Japanese soil, and it was just the beginning of Osamu and Taeko’s plan.

Anne checked her silver watch before turning the engine of her car on. “The next one in five minutes.”

Osamu and his children heard the massive explosions all the way from their suburban home, but Osamu was the only one who wasn’t surprised or startled.

“Yuuto, you should turn on the news.” Osamu instructed.

Yuuto rushed over to the couch and snatched the remote, turning on the television in a panic. He quickly flipped over to the local news station and couldn’t believe the images he was seeing.

“Massive explosions have rocked Kyoto Station just minutes ago.” The news anchor announced. “Authorities are currently scrambling to assist the wounded and put out the fires, and we’ll continue to update you all as to what’s happening.”

“What did you do?!” Yuuto roared.

“The exorcists like to use this station to transport personnel and goods in plain sight.” Osamu said. “With this, one of your major supply lines has been severed.”

“There are civilians there!” Kiyoko cried

“I know.” Osamu grumbled. “It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. Kyoto Station was only one of the targets we planned to strike. There are five more. Before 8:00, we’ll cripple the entire exorcist infrastructure.”

Yuuto, Chiya, and Kiyoko clasped their hands, each of them prepared to weave signs and use magic to kill Osamu. Now, more than ever, they were convinced Inari’s lingering will had corrupted him beyond salvation. He had inherited her calculating brutality and was now unleashing it upon his own country.

“Go ahead and try it.” Osamu said. “Killing me won’t stop this. Everything has already been set in motion. Since you’re after Inari’s power, you can’t kill me in a way that would spill too much of my blood, and you can’t risk damaging any vital organs either. You have to be very particular about how you do this, which was why you needed to maintain the element of surprise. And like I told you, there are far many more people than you know who don’t want me to die here.”

The glass door leading to the back yard shattered, startling the children. Kiyoko and Yuuto turned to face the intruders while Chiya kept her sights trained on Osamu. The intruders were none other than Taeko and Shinju. Taeko wielded her black feather while Shinju pointed her finger gun at Kiyoko.

“Of course.” Kiyoko growled. “We should’ve known you two would be helping him.”

“So they really did mean to kill him…” Shinju said.

“Give up. You have no hope of winning against us.” Taeko warned.

“Damn you!” Yuuto roared. “You’re just a disgraced exorcist! A fraud who barely escaped death!”

All of the commotion prompted Yoko and the others to race downstairs. All of them stopped dead in their tracks when they made it down to the kitchen and living room. Osamu sat calmly while Chiya looked like she was about to kill him. Taeko and Shinju were at a standoff with Kiyoko and Yuuto. The news showed images of a broken, flaming Kyoto Station while sunlight glimmered off of the shards of broken glass strewn about the floor. They had no way of making sense of what was going on.

“What’s happening?!” Tsukiakari screamed.

“Ah. You’re all awake. Good.” Osamu said. “Say hello to my executioners.”