It all happened somewhere and some time far away, in the midst of a bloodborne dream. Amaterasu’s child self stood alongside Osamu’s younger self, the two children watching as the once blue sky turned black as night, and the pearlescent ocean shimmered with the dark, dying radiance of the solar eclipse. They stood at the shore of the world’s first island, watching as the world came to an end.

Colossal demons roamed the earth, wearing veils of oppressive darkness glittering with starlight and nebulae. Every step the demons took trampled upon the innocent lives of thousands, murdering men, women, and children alike. The pained, terrified screams of the dying filled the air. Blood sprayed like mist and lifted the scent of iron into the wind. Once-human bodies became unrecognizable mounds of flattened flesh and organs.

Those that weren’t squashed were burned alive by the fiery breath spewed forth by the colossal demons, or torn apart by the feral shikome that hungered for human flesh. The final cries of those trapped in that helpless scenario were screams for help, of agony and unimaginable pain. It was enough to break the mind of even the most hardened man.

But Amaterasu and Osamu watched it all unfold, hand in hand, with smiles of awe on their faces. To them, the mass carnage and unprecedented slaughter was the most beautiful thing they had ever witnessed.

“All the nations will be broken.” Osamu said. “All militaries wiped out. All cities cratered. We’re going to kill as many people as we can. The world can go back to square one and start anew.”

Amaterasu looked at him with glistening eyes, her heart quivering with love.

“In other timelines, the pantheon kills you.” Osamu said. “You refuse to kill me. You even help me evade capture many times over. And for that, they hang you for it. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“That’s…really what you saw?” Amaterasu asked.

Osamu nodded, bowing his head as tears gathered in his eyes. “Everyone I loved was going to die, all because of this war. But when they killed you, that’s when I felt like I truly lost everything.”

“But…why?” Amaterasu said.

Suddenly, the image of his dear friend Kenjo tending to the body of the little girl that was hit and killed by a car flashed before him.

“Because I’m me.” Osamu sighed. “After all this time, it really is as simple as that. When the world threatened to kill you, I had no choice but to kill everyone first. And you know what? I’m not sad about it. I’m…happy. Soon, you’ll no longer be the queen of Heaven. You can go back to being a normal girl. And I won’t be…”

“You won’t be what?” Amaterasu asked.

Memories of the night Osamu went to Izanami’s shrine to commit suicide came flooding back to him. He remembered the full moon, the night’s cold breeze, and even the squeezing sound of the rope straining against the branch of the lakeside cedar tree. In the end, he truly was the same person he was since that night. What that meant to him suddenly changed as those memories came back.

Osamu smiled as he held his head in his right hand, his lips trembling. “I won’t be…me…”

All Osamu could think about was his impending death, his final act in his grand scheme. It took but one glance for Amaterasu to see that he was terrified of the end. He was a little boy who was scared to die, but saw only futility and hopelessness in living in the world as it was.

His dread fueled his ironclad determination to carry out his plan, no matter how many lives it would ruin. And yet, for all his sacrifice, he wouldn’t see what the world would look like after the war.

He thought of death as cessation, the end of all things. It was the end of feeling, of emotion, of experience, and of sentience itself. Death was the end of free will. It was an ironic end for someone who had just used his power to strip the rest of the world of its freedom.

“No. You’re wrong.” Amaterasu said. “You’ll still be you. You’ve always wanted to die, haven’t you?”

Osamu nodded. “My life is meaningless. It always has been and always will be. But I never wanted my death to be meaningless. I’ve always believed my death could be used to save someone else, someone far more worthy of living than I am.”

Osamu chuckled softly as he watched the red horizon burn from the shore, knowing that thousands upon thousands were being slaughtered at his command. “If I had killed myself back then…if I had succeeded…maybe the world would’ve been spared all of this. Yoko, Isabella, Izanami, and Aika wouldn’t have had to suffer because of me. Aika wouldn’t have had her memories toyed with. Rousoku wouldn’t have taken her own life. The Inari Standoff would’ve ended differently, and this war wouldn’t have happened.

“My life is meaningless, because all it brings with it is suffering. Either I cause other people to suffer, or I cast myself into a hopeless situation to make myself suffer. Maybe it’s why I involved myself in fight after fight, battle after battle. It’s just…who I am. I was warned over and over that getting involved in the supernatural would only bring me sorrow. Is that why I chased it so relentlessly?

“It’s always been clear that my life only brings suffering. My actions, and even my inaction, will lead to someone getting hurt or killed. That’s why I’ve sought death for so long, to end all of this pain. Even now, I see how much pain I’m putting humanity through, never mind my own friends and family. Still, all of this…is who I am.

“The very fact that genocide is my solution to our problem is proof of everything I’ve feared since I was young. It takes a specific kind of person to face this world’s issues and choose this as his answer. We’ve all been trained to seek more politically palatable answers to our problems, because this world is built on a foundation of rights and liberties.

“We’ve all strived to use our intellect to solve problems without violence and without violating the rights of others. And yet, even after all we’ve seen, we still revert back to the same song and dance. Rationality, intellect, argument? If one’s ambition is strong enough, all of those things cease to matter. The language of reason falls on deaf ears, and all the world understands is violence.

“I’m the only one who can accept this reality, the only one who can answer it with complete honesty. This world’s problems can be solved by killing as many people as I can and crushing every country on this planet. The world order goes back to square one. Generations of venom between nations and pantheons will be burned away. If your nation ceases to exist, you won’t have to be the queen of anything.

“The boy who wanted to end his own life and the suffering it caused…grew to be the man to end the world and the suffering it caused.”

“Thank you…” Amaterasu said, wiping the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her white haori. “Thank you for ending the world, Osamu. Maybe this was the only way to fix any of it. Just wipe the world clean. Start over. Burn it all away. Whether your family wants to admit it or not, you’re right. None of us would’ve been willing to even consider this a legitimate solution. You’re the only one that did. You’re exactly the kind of person who would.”

Osamu nodded, a smile blooming on his face. “Yeah. And now you see why I have to die.”

“That’s the part I disagree with.”

“What do you mean?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“It’s simple. I don’t want you to die. You’re the only one that ever understood me, Osamu. You understand what I went through as a child, what led to the founding of the Shinto pantheon. You saw something in me that I had completely forgotten about myself. I wasn’t just some cruel tyrant or a heartless wretch of a woman. I was…in pain.

“The pain of losing my parents, of seeing my family war with itself, of being forced strip away my childhood and become a figure of worship. You saw all of that. They’re parts of myself I had pushed away for so long in order to stay sane as the queen of Heaven. You brought it all back to the surface.

“It was so horrible having to feel all of that again, but it made me realize that I wasn’t always the way I am now. I used to be kind and compassionate. I used to be…me.”

Amaterasu watched her reflection shimmer and wane in the crystalline waters at her feet, seeing herself as the child she forgot she was. “Even better than that, you made me realize that, just like you, I’m still me. Maybe that’s all any of us were trying to prove. Izanami, Gekko, you, myself…even Inari.

“That’s why I don’t want you to die, Osamu. Your life might be meaningless to you, but it means the world to me. I’m supposed to be the goddess of the sun, the source of all light and warmth in this world, but to me, you’re the source of it all. I don’t want you to die…because you’re my son. And I love you.

Amaterasu caressed Osamu’s cheek with her right hand, the oceanic breeze swaying their hair in front of their faces. “It’s not just you that decides if your life is worth anything, but all those who love you. They have a say in this too.

“Even if dying is part of this plan of yours, I won’t let you die without reminding you how much you mean to me, and to everyone who knows you! I love you, Osamu! So much that I can’t stand it! You’re not worthless! Your life isn’t meaningless! It’s my life that’s nothing without yours! So please…remember that!”

Osamu easily imagined those same words coming out the mouths of Rousoku, Inari, and Isabella. Hearing Amaterasu’s say that to him made all of the dread, turmoil, and bloodshed up until that point worth it. It wasn’t that he was happy to be told something so heartfelt and beautiful. That was only part of it.

What truly made him happy was that it was proof that Amaterasu truly was the kind, loving, and vulnerable child she always was. She was still there, buried beneath the inhuman strength and stalwart resolve of a queen.

“I love you too.” Osamu said. “Is it okay if I call you Mom?”

Amaterasu nodded. “I’d love that.”

Osamu held her hand tight, both of them turning their gaze towards the horizon. They closed their eyes and saw everything from the perspective of one of Osamu’s skeletal demons, which towered over the sea and the war ships riding its waves.

The ships formed a 180 degree blockade around the shores of Itoshima, numbering well over 250 vessels. The crews scrambled to their battle positions as Osamu’s veiled demons approached. The air filled with metallic droning as batteries of all 250 ships took aim at the colossal skeletons.

“The whole world wants you dead, Osamu…” Amaterasu gasped, taken aback by the sheer size of the enemy force.

“Thousands of years of war…” Osamu began, staring wide-eyed at the armada before him. “We’ll put an end to it!”

Amatsu lied against a palm tree just beyond the shore, surrounded by the battalion of onlooking exorcists. Takemikazuchi stood amongst them as well, his eyes glued to the sky. No one could believe what they were seeing. The earth had suddenly been turned into a living hell.

Frightened shrieks and whispers circulated among them. They knew there was no way they could ever hope to fight so many demons, let alone the various, colossal demons brought into the world. It was only a matter of time before they’d be butchered and devoured themselves. The eclipse signaled their impending demise, their agonizing deaths at the hands of the Underworld’s brood and the madman who commanded them all; Osamu Ashikaga.

“How did this happen?” Takemikazuchi asked, shivering. “Did Izanami do this?”

“The Underworld was left in control of a neutral ruler so that this very thing wouldn’t happen.” Amatsu said, breathing sharply through his teeth. “That’s why it’s hostile to all who enter it. Someone would’ve had to taken control of the Underworld from its ruler so they could command the demons themselves. Not only that, it would’ve taken an immense amount of power to transport all of them here. Not even Izanami could do all of that alone.”

“Was his entire family in on this? All of them combined could’ve pulled it off.” Takemikazuchi said.

“Maybe. But still…why? Why cause this much destruction? Why kill this many people? This just doesn’t seem like their work. Did Osamu and Taeko do this?”

“We’ll have to figure it out back at Heaven! We can’t stay here, Amatsu!” Takemikazuchi urged. “The rest of you, raise a national alarm to all exorcists! Notify the government as well! Form defensive perimeters around every city!”

“What?” cried one of the exorcists. “We can’t fight this! There’s too many!”

“Are you just going to leave us to fend for ourselves?!” screamed a second exorcist.

“Of course not!” Takemikazuchi said. “The gods will regroup and distribute our forces across the nation! We have to get Amatsu to safety first!”

Takemikazuchi wasted no time. He placed a hand on Amatsu’s shoulder and vanished in a flash of golden light with him, leaving their battalion to stare down the legion of demons flooding into their world. The exorcists stood breathless like statues. They had been given impossible orders, and by all appearances, abandoned while the gods stayed safe in Heaven’s palace.

An American admiral stood on the deck of his battleship, his hand gripping the railing as the violent, ocean waves rocked his ship back and forth. Some of his crew stood beside him and looked towards the veiled skeletons marching over the sea. Never had they seen an enemy like this. Their foes had always been their fellow man, not the unthinkable monstrosities of the Underworld.

Their panicked heartbeats drowned out all other thought. The blood rushing the veins in their heads seemed louder than the roaring wind itself. They could neither blink nor swallow as they gazed upon the horrors marching towards them.

And yet, despite the impossible odds before them, his men stood at the ready, waiting for his command as they have in every other battle. He looked around at their faces, many of them young and pale. They were terrified. That much was clear to a veteran like him. Perhaps they knew he was scared to, but everyone there had a job to do.

For the first time in human history, all nations stood united and resolute against a common enemy, a great evil named Osamu Ashikaga. They stood against a man who plotted the merciless deaths of thousands of innocents, a man who now threatened the very existence of mankind. If they wouldn’t fight him, who would?

The admiral raised his hand, pointed it towards the marching skeletons, and let out a ferocious scream. Benighted by the eclipse, the world was plunged into a horrifying darkness. The bursting cannons of the ships flashed like thunder on the waves, the shells exploding against the legs of the veiled skeleton. It had no effect whatsoever.

Osamu and Amaterasu saw the crews of the ships scattering towards their lifeboats, realizing the fight was pointless. The skeleton continued its marching, its dark, starry veil draping over the ships and burning all it touched.

The screams of the crews quickly fell silent as the veil draped over their bodies, burning them alive until nothing was left but glimmering stardust. Only a few managed to escape the star veil, casting themselves into the violent waves of the sea to drown.

The veiled skeletons would continue their march towards the continent and turn everything in their wake into stardust. All people and things would become like jewels hidden in the ashen craters of their once bustling cities.

Looking back, Osamu and Amaterasu saw the eye of the Underworld steadily rising above the city of Itoshima beyond the beach. It’s crimson iris shined like a red star in the sky before it suddenly glimmered and shifted. The city was engulfed in a quick, blinding flash of light. A massive wave of flames splashed out in all directions from the light’s epicenter, exploding like a nuclear bomb above Itoshima.

Building were set ablaze. Flesh burned away to ash, leaving charred bones out of those who stood close to the blast. They died without realizing what had even happened. They were the lucky ones. Everyone else who stood farther away from the blast lived to feel their skin sting with burning ulcers and their fat melt into a hot, boiling liquid against their searing flesh. They lived to feel the fluids steam inside their eyeballs and their hair burn away.

They died with severe burns, their faces melted and petrified into expressions of surprise and agony. They died with their mouths agape, clutching their screaming, dying children close to them. The thermal flash imprinted their shadows upon the concrete.

Seeing everything from atop one of the colossal skeletons, Osamu and Amaterasu looked around them with ear-to-ear smiles on their faces. They were in complete awe and elation at what they were doing. All of the suffering, all of the indiscriminate killing, the sheer scale of Osamu’s genocide, it all symbolized so much more to them. For them, this was the road to peace. This was the breaking of the chains that shackled both mankind and gods.

This was a strong and determinate answer to man’s most profound, philosophical question; is world peace truly achievable? To Osamu, this was the only answer. The world order couldn’t be salvaged. It couldn’t be made to see reason. Just as Amaterasu once told him, dogma and ideology had blinded everyone to the very concepts of reason and compromise.

All the world understood now was violence. And so, he would reenact the same horror that Japan endured in the final days of the Second World War. Osamu would kill as many people as he could and wipe out entire races and nations, all to destroy the political framework of the modern world.

In doing so both he and Amaterasu would reclaim themselves. They would reclaim the children they once were and all that had been stolen from them.