As everyone was preparing themselves for the inevitable encounter with the Yokai, I was forced to stay behind because I was still carrying Recordia who was still deep inside her own system looking for information about Kitsuneki. I'm not quite sure how long has it been since Recordia shuts herself off from us but if I had to take a guess, Recordia is definitely returning to us very soon. I just don't know when exactly, but she's coming, alright.

"Lin, should we go now?" Hemrietta suggested to Lin.

Lin shakes her head and said, "Not yet, we have to wait until the time is right."

"When is even the good time?"

"Attacking now will just make things more complicated if they have reinforcement from the other side of the river. We don't really know how many of those Yokai are over here guarding the riverside."

Then, Aspye agreed, "She's right. We shouldn't fight with brute force. Not when we don't even know what they are capable of and how many of them are there."

"Then what are we supposed to do now?" asked Azreal.

Lin then suggested to us, "How about we thin them out one by one?"

"What do you mean?"

"I meant what I said. We kill them one by one without alerting the whole riverside Yokai."

Then Kallen added, "And maybe we can also send someone to sneak through the enemy line and find out what they are guarding?"

"That's a good idea, Kallen." Lin was considering his idea as well.

"So how are we going to execute this again?" asked Hemrietta.

"In order for this plan to work..." Lin leads us in for the plan, "We have to split up and take out the Yokai at different place. Doing so will quicken the pace on thinning down the numbers of the enemy. Everyone can do this but there's only one problem left, who can sneak through this thing without being noticed a lot?"

Then I said, "I can perhaps...try that?" as I slowly raised my arm.

Lin then wondered, "Maybe...maybe you can."

"Why do you think she can?" Azreal asked.

"Zenith's ability is controlling the snow, right? And with the way her personality works, she'll be just the perfect person to infiltrate the enemy ranks."

Hemrietta stopped her, "Now hold on, Lin. What exactly are you talking about? How can Zenith here infiltrate the enemy ranks with the help of her ability and personality?"

"Have you heard of a Yokai by the name of Yuki-onna?"

"Yuki...onna?"

Lin explained to us, "A Yuki-onna or Snow Women in our language is just as its name implied, it's a lady that has relation with the snow. For some odd reason, Zenith's personality is kind of similar to the Yokai and she also has long beautiful hair so that's way better than what we're hoping for. Let's not forget, Zenith here has a cute face."

"How can she be cute? I don't see what you are talking about, Lin." Hemrietta was unconvinced.

"Well I'm not the one who said that, those testimonies only came from White as far as I can tell."

My face turned red as soon as Lin mentioned about him and his 'testimonies'. Really? At a time like this? We really should be focusing on what's in front of us right now instead of talking about someone who isn't right here right now. It's not like I miss him or anything...

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Can we not talk about White? We're running out of time?" I told Lin.

Lin simply replied, "What are you talking about Zenith? We're not pressing for time, you know?" Lin gave me a smile that I despised a little and moved on by saying, "In any case, let's get ready. Zenith, come with me."

"Where are we going?" I asked her.

Lin brought me away from the boys and brought out something from her Dimensional Bag. A few minutes later, I was a completely different person thanks to Lin's Disguise Card. I look like a Yokai thanks to that.

"Are you sure this will work?" I was unsure of this as I asked Lin about it.

She assured me, "You'll be fine. You are the perfect Snow Girl I have ever seen. I'm not letting this opportunity away from me, you know."

"Sometimes I wonder what kind of personality you have..." I let out my confusion as I was looking over the river.

-

After that, I waited out in at the side while Lin and the boys sneak their way to the other side of the river. Kallen took out a Kappa by forcing down a bunch of shadow crows into the Kappa's mouth, swallowing it. Aspye pretty much did what he did before to a Kappa, while both Hemrietta and Azreal took out two Funayurei with how I believed to be very ironic in that they drowned those Yokai with the river. Meanwhile, Lin was taking off a bunch of Yokai in such a short time from what I can see at this distant.

As time went on, I figured that it was time for me to infiltrate into the Yokai defences. As I finally got through river, a bunch of Yokai just walked past me as if I was one of them or something. Looks like my disguise kind of worked. I got to give Lin some props for that. In any case, as I walked around the enemy line, I noticed that there wasn't any sort of hostage or item that they were protecting.

"This isn't a camp...this is a Yokai village..." I sighed. "What the heck are we doing?"

I continued to walk around until I saw a long bridge that leads to somewhere I'm not sure of until I saw a sign next to the bridge. The sign says, 'To Atomic City'.

Atomic City...I never heard of a city like that before. I wondered what it was. Through my curiosity, I walk to over the bridge to find out what was this Atomic City. But halfway into the bridge, I suddenly felt a strong presence near me. The earth suddenly started to shook. Something weird started to bubble up down the bridge and it quickly jumped and landed onto the bridge, standing right in front of me.

It was very huge. It looked like a devil but when you consider the obvious, this thing was a Yokai. It was wearing white robes, white face-paint, an iron trivet, and carrying five candles. Upon closer inspection, it was a female Yokai.

It then talked to me, "I am Hashihime and I am the guardian of this bridge!"

Hashihime...from what I gathered in my previous readings was that Hashihime is a Yokai that ferociously guards the bridge they inhabit. They are very competitive and jealous when someone talks about another location or bridge. Despite their fearsome nature, they are highly honoured by the people who live nearby, and shrines are established in their honour near the bridges they inhabit. In times of war, residents will beseech their local Hashihime to guard the bridge against invaders.

In times of peace, Hashihime are goddess of separation and severing, and are asked to aid people in things such as break-ups, divorce, and severing bad luck. So strong is their power of severing that it is considered taboo for lovers to pass in front of a Hashihime shrine together, or for wedding processions to pass in front of one. If newlyweds need to cross a bridge inhabited by a Hashihime, they will instead pass underneath it on a boat rather than risk cursing their marriage.

The Hashihime that was in front of spoken to me, "What are you doing over here, human?"

I tried to think of something and simply said, "I was...curious about this bridge. It looks...so different."

"What do you mean human?" Her voice was intimidating. "Are you saying that my bridge isn't as good as other bridges?"

I gulped down my saliva and said, "No, that's not it. Your bridge is bigger when compared to any other bridges I come across." I had to lie in some way if I wanted to get out of this situation alive even though I already experienced a bridge that was way bigger than this before.

"I see. Then you must be wondering what this bridge was made of, correct?"

"I...guess?" I said so in a very unconvincing manner.

But thankfully, the Yokai didn't notice that because of our size difference.

She went on told me about the history of the bridge until I suddenly said that I had enough of that and said that I wanted to cross the bridge. It was at that moment where I was wrong.

"You wanted to cross the bridge? Why don't you say so earlier..." I thought I was free but then she asked me, "What are you trying to do at The Atomic City, human? Are you going to ruin it like how you guys do it years ago?"

"I don't quite understand what you meant..."

"Well then, how about I show you something then." The Hashihime dropped her candles on the bridge and snaps a few bones at her necks. It was preparing for something that I truly am not ready...

I took on stance and prepared for what's to come for me...

TO BE CONTINUED