Chapter 321: The Wrong Shrine
"This should be the place, right?"
Following the description provided by Hikigaya Hachiman, Yotsuya Miko relied on her memory to lead Yurikawa Hana on a frantic scramble for dozens of minutes before successfully arriving at the foot of a mountain where a shrine stood.
Looking at the weathered statues nearby—which were so eroded they could only barely be recognized as foxes—Miko hesitated. However, at the thought of the multi-armed spirit behind them, she gritted her teeth and led Hana up the mountain.
Unlike the "hidden paradise" she had imagined, the shrine at the summit was just as dilapidated as the statues at the foot of the hill. Not only that, but the moment Miko stepped through the torii gate, she felt her bracelet instantly become scalding hot.
"Did I come to the wrong place?"
Various anomalies seemed to indicate that Miko had indeed arrived at the wrong shrine. However, seeing the multi-armed spirit lingering outside the torii gate, afraid to enter, Miko's doubts wavered. Although they might be in the wrong place, it was still a shrine, so it should be able to exorcise evil spirits, right?
Thinking this, Miko pulled Hana to the front of the shrine's main prayer area. She pressed her palms together and began to pray.
"Please, Great Deity. Please save Hana and drive away the evil spirit following us. No matter what the price is, I will agree to it!"
Fearing the deity might hear her prayer but ignore it due to a lack of offerings, Miko directly promised an incredibly high price verbally.
"Oh?"
A sudden, surprised female voice appeared briefly in Miko's mind like a hallucination.
"Any price at all?"
Deep inside the shrine, an existence that had been slumbering slowly opened its eyes upon hearing Miko's prayer. However, after just one glance at Miko, the unknown entity felt disappointed. While a girl with the aptitude to see spirits was crucial to human exorcists, in its eyes, an untrained Miko was no more valuable than any other ordinary human.
"Hmm?"
Just as the unknown entity was about to return to its slumber, it caught sight of Yurikawa Hana standing beside Miko.
"Such powerful life force!"
With just one look, the unknown entity could no longer move its eyes away from Hana's body.
[If I can obtain this power...]
Looking at Hana, the unknown entity's mind began to race. Although it desperately wanted to rush out and swallow the girl whole, as a side effect of occupying this particular shrine, it had to abide by the principle of "Exchange."
"As long as you can drive away the spirit behind us, I'm willing to do anything..."
Miko's prayer drifted in again, and a smile finally appeared on the entity's face. The words "willing to do anything" had come from the black-haired girl's own mouth. As long as it acted to eliminate that little pest outside, the Law of Exchange would be automatically fulfilled...
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The multi-armed spirit paced before the torii gate, looking exceptionally hesitant. On one hand, it didn't want to let Miko and Hana escape; on the other hand, the abandoned shrine gave it an intense feeling of palpitations. It felt as if a monster was hiding inside, ready to rush out and tear it to shreds at any moment.
But how was that possible? Although its current strength was only at the peak of Special Grade, it had once been a peak Ghost Emperor just below the level of a Ghost God. Aside from a Ghost God, who else could make it feel this uneasy? Moreover, the three Ghost Gods of the Kanto region were all staying within the spirits' alternate dimension, their movements constantly monitored by those human exorcists. How could one possibly be in this shrine?
"It's just an illusion!"
Constantly reassuring itself, the multi-armed spirit finally crossed the crimson torii gate after nearly five minutes of hesitation and broke into the shrine's interior.
Clang!
The moment the spirit stepped in, countless gold-and-black chains lashed out from all directions. Following this, two small figures wearing golden fox masks and emitting faint wisps of black energy rose slowly from the ground.
"Deities?"
Seeing the chains, a flash of shock and confusion appeared on the spirit's face. Using chains constructed of divine power as weapons was indeed a common application of power for the divine faction. But what was with that layer of black energy clinging to the divine power?
However, no one was there to answer the spirit's confusion. After crawling out of the ground, the masked figures quickly manipulated the surrounding chains to lock down the spirit's body, then began to constrict...
Seeing the newly appeared "allies" suppressing the multi-armed spirit, Miko couldn't help but clench her fists in excitement, cheering for the little figures in her heart.
However, the figures she had placed so much hope in were suddenly yanked by the multi-armed spirit, shifting from the ground into the air. Immediately after, the spirit unleashed a barrage of punches. In less than a second, the two figures that had been on the scene for less than a minute turned into shards and scattered on the ground.
"....."
The air froze instantly. Miko looked in disbelief at the multi-armed spirit as it stepped toward her and Hana. She couldn't accept the fact that the "gods" had been defeated.
"I underestimated you."
Suddenly, a faint voice came from above. Hearing the voice, the multi-armed spirit's face grew solemn. In the next second, a giant fox—snow-white with nine tails but shrouded in black energy—slowly manifested in mid-air.
"The Nine-Tailed Fox?!"
Recognizing the identity of the fox, the spirit didn't hesitate for a second; it turned and fled toward the torii gate. However, a whistling sound filled the air as one of the nine tails swept the spirit away from the gate with pinpoint accuracy.
"Wait! I am willing to submit!"
Sent flying into the air, the spirit shouted its surrender. Though it didn't know how the Nine-Tailed Fox had been resurrected, it was certain the fox was short on subordinates. Therefore, if it chose to submit, there was a high probability the fox would spare its life...
"Regrettable."
However, things did not develop as the spirit imagined. Faced with the loyalty of a former Ghost Emperor (now Special Grade), the Nine-Tailed Fox showed little interest. Clearly, compared to an expendable subordinate, Yurikawa Hana's massive life force was far more attractive.
Without giving the spirit another chance to speak, the Nine-Tailed Fox opened its massive maw, caught the spirit in mid-air, and after a series of bites, swallowed it whole.
New Fanfiction!
You call this a projection?
What is a sword?
After Shirou Emiya awakened the memories of his past life and obtained a system that allowed him to travel to other worlds, his horizons were broadened by witnessing the wonders of those realms, and he suddenly reached a moment of enlightenment.
"Only swords... how could it be such a limit!"
Shirou Emiya: "Trace on!"
"False Magician's Red"
Consequently, by the time the Holy Grail War officially began...
Rin Tohsaka exclaimed in agitation:
"This isn't Projection at all!"
Crossover with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Jujitsu Kaisen and others.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting