(I’ve done it. I saw my plan through from beginning to end. I bested all of my enemies and overcame all the odds. I killed who I needed to kill, manipulated who I needed to manipulate. All that’s left…is to die.)
Limbo and all of its space-time contortions belonged to Osamu. With Lucrezia gone, he could part both time and memory like they were the waters of the Red Sea. Osamu now had the keys to the entire universe and the freedom to travel to any point in time. Even moment throughout every age of man could be rewritten and changed to his liking. If he so wished to keep humanity in the Stone Age, he could’ve done so. If he wished to undo the very fabric of existence and prevent life from ever being born, he needed only to wish it. Despite the infinite possibility afforded to him, Osamu was still resolute in his decision to destroy the world.
Limbo allowed Osamu to look upon the smoldering ruins of the United States, Spain, Egypt, and many more countries while being invisible to the naked eye. He existed in a space between spaces, a neat little corner sitting somewhere between life and death, between waking and dreaming. The light of the sun returned to the world and brought with it bright blue skies and rays of golden warmth. It all came shining down upon craters that sunk like dimples into the face of the earth where great cities once stood. Disfigured spires of scorched and twisted metal reached like fingers poking out of a grave towards the glory of the sun.
Crows and vultures came to pick at the charred flesh of the bodies littered throughout earth, while worms emerged from the scorched ground to lick at the ribcages and skulls left in the wake of the destruction. The mountain ranges were flattened and decimated, the rivers became dry trenches filled with bloated corpses tinged a sickly, rotten green. Beaches were dyed vermillion with the blood of countless people that flung themselves into the ocean to avoid being crushed or burnt to death. The smell of salt water was replaced by the stench of sulfur and iron. The wind carried with it the fetid odor of scorched earth and hair. Most hauntingly of all, every corner of the earth was eerily and utterly quiet.
There was no greater way of feeling the devastating scale of Osamu’s genocide than to experience the deafening quiet that settled like a deep shadow upon the world. The sounds of cars honking, of conversation filling the air, of music playing outside of restaurants, it was all gone. Every trace of life, every happy memory, every bit of hope for the future were all wiped out, as though Osamu had stabbed the beating heart of the earth itself.
Osamu found himself standing on the beach he’d always used to visit with Aika and the other girls many years ago, before he was the king of a nation or the most hated man in Japan. He watched the sunlight dance upon the surface of the vermillion ocean as the waves reached out to touch his feet. An unfathomably wide rainbow arched across the south end of the horizon to the north end, its colorful stripes growing bolder and brighter with each passing second.
“I knew you’d succeed…Osamu.”
Without turning to see her, Osamu knew who was standing by his side. He would’ve recognized Inari’s unmistakable voice anywhere. Reunited after more than seven years apart, Osamu and Inari stood together on the beach and watched as the Dark Dawn turned into a bright tomorrow.
“I guess this makes you the most powerful being in all the universe. How does it feel?” Inari asked.
Osamu let out an exhausted sigh and sat down in the sand. “I feel…bored. Tired.”
Inari smiled. “I see. Are you ready to pass on?”
Osamu’s dark, baggy eyes gazed far past the dazzling ocean before him. It was like the earth was made of cellophane and he was looking straight though to the infinite universe beyond the sky. Inari saw the wonder sparkle in his eyes, but she also saw that amazement die just as soon as it was born. His gaze darkened with the pall of an incurable despair and disappointment.
The shadowy veil of Dark Dawn enwreathed the world in a shade of mystery, with only the light of the flames eating away at its surface to illuminate it. The darkness was a blank canvas on which the imagination could paint any landscape it wanted. A world reclaimed by Mother Nature, where forests and jungles rooted themselves all across the continents. A sea of glittering, golden sand beneath the summer moon. An oceanic paradise where every landmass has been swallowed by the sea.
Anything revealed by the light would never hold the same glory as the Eden conjured up by Osamu’s insatiable desire. No paradise in this world or the next could enthrall him as much as the fantastic mirages of a perfect in his own mind.
“I don’t know…” Osamu said, his brows and the corners of his lips sinking downward. “I just keep thinking…I’d like to destroy the world again. Just…to have something to do. I have everything I want. Now there’s nothing to want anymore.”
“Well, you are the master of time and memory, after all.” Inari said, sitting down next to Osamu with her legs up to her chest and her feet dug into the warm sand. “You could go back the beginning of all of this and watch it unfold all over again.”
“Yeah…but then again, catching a bullet between eyes wasn’t very fun. Nor was getting my head chopped off.”
“Speaking of which, did you know that any of that was going to happen to you?”
Osamu shook his head and stretched his mouth open in a yawn. “The Shoku Twins and I didn’t see everything. Getting shot was a complete surprise to me. I knew I’d die in the end, I just didn’t know who would be the one to do it. I’m glad it was Izanami, though. At least now, she doesn’t have to feel guilty about saving my life.”
“Knowing her, she’ll feel guilty about killing you all the same.” Inari said. “I don’t think anyone who loved you is going to be able to live with what you did.”
“I…can’t say I care that much.” Osamu said, looking down at shifting grain of sand being rolled and pulled by the sulfuric ocean breeze. “This was far bigger than us or them. If you’re here in Limbo with me, does that mean you supported Dark Dawn?”
Inari scoffed and tucked in her lips. She stood up and brushed the sand off her legs. Osamu watched the scenery of the beach change back to Izanami’s shrine at the top of the hill. It was a cold night and the wind whistled like a flute as it traveled through the leaves of oak and cedar trees that walled the courtyard off from the city below. Standing right beneath the torii gate were the past Inari and the Shoku Twins.
Osamu took a gander at the full moon lingering in the starlit, black sky and realized this was the night that the ritual to cleanse Rousoku went wrong, resulting in her transformation into a jikininki. This was the night Inari was supposed to force the Shoku Twins into initiating the blood moon that would help Carmilla and Hima escape Japan and return to Moonglow Castle. Only, it didn’t look as though any kind of struggle was happening. Neither Inari nor the Shoku Twins looked on edge or ready to fight. Rather, Inari knelt down to the level of the childlike Shoku Twins and tried to talk to them calmly.
“Think about this rationally, Inari.” Akatsuki began. “A standoff is coming. We know that for a fact. Powerful as you are, you will not survive a prolonged conflict against the exorcists. If you let this happen, your power is going to fall into the wrong hands.”
Inari’s eyes squinted as she aimed an apprehensive glare at the twins. “So what do you suggest I do, then?”
“When the standoff happens, there’s going to be someone there for you.” Omagatoki said. “He might opt to flee the fight and run away. He might stay and help you. Knowing him, I think he’ll gravitate towards the latter option. If you two fight the exorcists together, you’ll be able to hold out for much longer. Who knows, maybe you’ll even win, somehow. However, if it looks like you’re going to lose the fight, you need to consider giving him your blood and heart.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Anyone who takes my blood and heart would only become a bigger target to the pantheon.” Inari replied. “How would that keep this power out of the pantheon’s hands?”
“Because this man is a dear friend to us…and a husband to both Izanami and Tsukiakari.” Akatsuki argued. “If worse comes to worst and you really do lose this fight, giving your blood and heart to him will ensure the pantheon can’t hunt him down without starting a war with all of us. That’s our deterrence.”
“And you plan to negotiate some sort of deal in the time you buy with this deterrence?” Inari asked. “Or is it that you want to use this man as leverage to wage the war Manami spoke of?”
“Both.” Akatsuki said. “If war can be avoided altogether, then that would be preferable. If not, we need to be able to ensure he can wage the war he needs to. We want to have as many options available to us as possible.”
The shrine and its surroundings faded into wispy trails of charcoal-grey smoke, forming a fog that soon dispersed and put Osamu and Inari in the abandoned bowling alley together. Inari bent over and picked up one of the bowling balls, then stood before one of the lanes. She reeled her arms back and forth to try and aim her shot while Osamu sat on the pew in front of the row of colored windows.
“I only knew there’d be the possibility of a Third Great Holy War if I saved you.” Inari said. “When I gave you my heart and blood that day, I didn’t do it because it’s what the Shoku Twins advised me to do in the event we lost the fight. I did it because I loved you. I wanted you to live. You were my reason to die.”
Inari let go of the bowling ball and watched it roll down the lane, striking every pin down. “Not once did the twins mention that you were going to destroy the world. In fact, they made it seem as though they didn’t really know the outcome of the standoff in the first place. Were they telling the truth? Were they really unsure of what would happen? I guess we’ll never know. I have my own opinions on the subject, considering everything went how you wanted.
“I’m sure you’ve wondered if it was me that manipulated you into doing this, even if it was unintentional. Well…I don’t really have any answers for that, either. I honestly don’t know if I did or didn’t manipulate you. I detested humanity for so many years. Even I wished for their complete eradication. My heart was so full of hate until I met you and fought against Belle. I would hate to think you inherited my hatred for the world, but none of the love that I discovered with you.”
Osamu folded his wavy hair behind his ears and looked off to the rays of colorful light splashing onto the dilapidated, wooden floors of the bowling alley. “I don’t have any definite answers either. All I know is that I never felt more like myself until the day I decided I’d destroy the world. I never felt more free…more hopeful. They say you cannot separate mankind from violence. Well…I did. Whether it was my will, yours, the Shoku Twins’, or everything combined, I will never regret that.”
Inari’s expression soured with the bitter taste of sorrow in her mouth. “The Shoku Twins never tried to force your hand. Now I see why. They didn’t need to. They wanted you to have the freedom to choose. Then, they let your nature do the rest.”
“So then…I take it you don’t really support Dark Dawn either.” Osamu said.
“Honestly…I don’t know how to feel about it. Part of me thinks you did the right thing. But…the weight of over seven billion lives is an unfathomable burden to carry on your conscience. Regardless, it was my heart and blood that helped you achieve your goals. Whether I agreed or disagreed with you was irrelevant. I was shackled by your convictions either way. I had no choice but to do what you wanted and go where you went.”
Osamu couldn’t help but chuckle. Between the accusations of his personality being altered by Inari’s will and the Shoku Twins’ manipulation, he never once considered the possibility that he was the one controlling Inari, that his will infected and controlled her like a cordyceps controls its host. Still, it was only a possibility. Even in death, no one had any definitive answers to what happened to Osamu. Perhaps nothing happened at all. Perhaps Inari was right; the Shoku Twins didn’t need to manipulate him. He was destined to go down this horrific route ever since the day he watched that little girl die in front of him.
“So? What will you do now?” Inari asked.
“There’s nothing else to do.” Osamu said. “I’m going to pass on and die. Though, I don’t know where we’ll be going. If I deny Heaven, the Underworld, and Limbo, then I can only guess that nothingness awaits.”
“The end of all things…” Inari gasped. “The end of all burdens.”
Osamu stood up from his seat and approached Inari. He took her pale, white hands into her own and gazed into her scarlet eyes with the utmost love and respect. “We didn’t get to fulfill our promise when you died. You saved my life at the cost of your own. Now, we can finally go together. Do you remember what we used to say?”
Inari’s lips rose from their mournful sag into a melancholic smile. She gripped Osamu’s hands tightly, savoring his confident grip and comfortable warmth. Whether or not she supported Dark Dawn didn’t matter to her. Ever since the day they met, Inari supported Osamu himself. She was his accomplice in all things and his partner in every fight. She could never forget their adage, nor the promise they made in the airport where they both fought for their lives.
Inari began the phrase, “Fight together…”
And Osamu completed it. “Die together.”
The final utterance of their adage brought an end to both their burdens. The bowling alley and all of the light and color inside slowly faded away into nothingness like grains of sand swallowed by the sea. While the world experienced the light of a new dawn, Osamu and Inari embraced each other in the dying light of their final sunset. At long last, after thirty-four years of living, Osamu’s life would come to an end.
But as the bowling alley faded away into a dark void, a faint sound caught Osamu and Inari’s attention. Tens of thousands of small, muffled voices seemed to close in from all around, getting louder with each passing second. In seconds, the voices rang out like a never-ending barrage of artillery fire, bombarding Osamu and Inari with their own adage.
In the blink of an eye, the people of Minavere, including Hima, Carmilla, Annabel, and the rest of the Vampiric Lords stood before Osamu and Inari in the void. Minaverian flags waved and fluttered all around as the men, women, and children all chanted in unison, “Fight together, die together! Fight together, die together! Fight together, die together!”
Osamu saw the grins of satisfied vengeance on the faces on Minavere’s widows and orphans. He saw the hope and wonder beaming through the eyes of the nation’s children as they wore paper crowns on their heads in honor of him. The ignited smiles of Minavere’s men both young and old shined like suns all on their own. It all served as a final reminder that Osamu’s life was worth something to so many people. He was a devil to the world, yet to the people of Minavere, he was a national hero whose memory would live on until the end of time.
“What…is this?” Inari asked.
“Hima has our heart and blood.” Osamu said. “She must have announced my death to Minavere. And we’re seeing it happen…”
Osamu smiled as tears welled in his eyes. He was so overcome with surprise and joy that he couldn’t even form a sentence. He looked on at the crowd of 320,000 people all cheering his names and filling the void of Limbo with the thunder of their voices.
“Long live Osamu Ashikaga!” Hima shouted, raising a saber upwards. “Long live our founding king, the savior of our race!”
In patriotic unison, the crowd echoed Hima’s words. “Long live Osamu Ashikaga!”
Those were the cheers and cries of a people liberated from persecution, subjugation, and the very concept of war. Every single one of them would inherit the world built upon all of Osamu’s sacrifices and all of his fighting. They would live in the Eden he toiled and suffered to build. In seeing everyone around him, in seeing the hope in their eyes and the sweat-stained joy on their faces, Osamu realized that this was the paradise he was looking for. His Eden wasn’t a place nor a country. It was the restored hope of a nation. It was the smiles upon children that knew that they were going to be safe for the rest of their lives. It was the sight of people truly happy to be alive in the world of his making. That was Eden.
A little girl in a long, white dress walked through the crowd with a single sunflower in her hands. She skipped and hopped towards Osamu with a brilliant beauty in her emerald-green eyes and roses blooming in her cheeks. It was the girl he saw die on the street all those years ago. Seeing her alive and happy, Osamu knelt down to greet her.
She handed him the sunflower and jumped into his arms, hugging him. “Thank you, Osamu.”
In that moment, Osamu felt a warmth ignite the walls and valves of his cold heart, a warmth he hadn’t felt since met Inari. Every drop of sweat, every bead of blood, every life taken, and nation burned was worth it just for that moment. With tears of happiness rolling down his face, he hugged the little girl back and held her tightly.
“I’m the one who’s thankful.” Osamu wept. “You saved me…”
The girl smiled as she gazed into his eyes and took hold of his hand. “Ready to go?”
Osamu nodded as a delighted grin bloomed across his face. “Yeah. Happily.”
And with that, Osamu, Inari, the little girl, and the people of Minavere vanished from the void. For those left on Earth, there was hope yet that the world they lived in from that day onward would never see another war again. For Osamu and Inari, their burdens finally came to an end. They would find the darkness and rest they both longed for ever since they bore their hearts to each other in the airport.
No matter where his soul went, no matter how many worlds apart his spirit would travel, there would always be a nation to cry out his adage, to shout a simple string of words that had the power to conjure both memories and miracles; long live Osamu Ashikaga.