Soul of the Earth

An hour before Keshita and Miku escaped from the surveillance of Mukibutsu agents, an incident occurred in eastern Kyoto at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, a deity of fertility and industry depicted in the form of a fox.

The temple is famous for its long corridor of orange torii. If a torii is a door from the human world to the world of kami (gods), then where does a corridor of a thousand torii lead?

Among all the visitors to the temple, a guy in a black cloak with a hood pulled up stood out on a hot August day. His rather shabby loose pants and sneakers clearly indicated frequent physical activity.

As he walked through the torii corridor, he stared at the ground as if he was looking through it, further frightening the passersby.

"There you’re…"

A minute later he burst into the hayden, the prayer hall, shocking them.

"How dare you!? This is a sacred place!"

The stranger simply ignored them and scanned them. Then he walked up to one of them and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, lifting him above himself and searching the monk.

"W-who are you!? What do you…"

The intruder took the electronic card from the monk and threw him to the floor. The other monks were frightened by the stranger's strength, unbecoming his young age. He looked to be in his early twenties. Only one of the monks ran for help.

The guy didn't care, he headed straight to the honden — the "house" of the deity. The door to the room was locked, but the guy deftly broke it with his foot. Approaching the altar, the intruder carefully examined it, and then pressed one of the Inari fox statues. Suddenly, the altar moved aside, revealing a hidden passage. Having gone down there, the guy was blocked by an electronic door, for which the map was useful. The multi-ton door, like in a bank vault, opened.

"Too simple. How stupid people are."

Of all the artifacts stored there, the intruder took only a huge suitcase. On the way back, he was met by a group of monks armed with temple spears.

"Seriously? You don't even have a firearm for this? How careless. Your traditions will be your undoing!"

The stranger put down his suitcase and raised his hands. From the sleeves jumped out two handles, reminiscent of stationery knives, but larger in size and of an unusual design. The guy ran his fingers along them, and immediately two sharp blades slipped out. The stranger quickly rushed at the crowd of monks surrounding him. They lunged with their spears at once, he jumped up and landed right at the point where the blades crossed.

"Say hello to Inari!"

With a lightning-fast swing and closing the blades like scissors, he cut their throats at once. Blood gushed in a stream onto the ceiling. The guy jumped back to the suitcase so as not to get dirty.

"Consider this an offering to her. There will be a good harvest this year!"

With superhuman agility and speed, the stranger ran through the wooded area, leaving the area. Then he caught a taxi and went to the nearest metro station. He placed the suitcase right on his lap, as it was too big to fit in any other way.

"All that's left is to deliver it to the base, and we'll finally change this damned world!"

A distorted smile adorned the stranger's face.

"What a big suitcase you have! Judging by your smile, there's some kind of gift in there, right?” the taxi driver asked.

"Yes, to the whole world.”

"Eh?”

"There's the Soul of the Earth inside him!" The guy smiled widely, revealing his teeth.

The taxi driver thought he was a weirdo and decided not to bother him anymore.

“It’s amazing how such a small thing can bring about changes on a planetary scale… just like human DNA!” The stranger continued to think happily.

this last thought the guy's face changed.

"But humans turned out to be a mistake… that needed to be corrected.”

***

"Sound” that Keshita followed was an electromagnetic wave - a message - sent from the Meiji Shrine to the Shikaumi Shinto Shrine on Shika Island near Fukuoka.

Seconds before receiving it, a tall, slender girl with short white hair was calmly praying to the local kami. Next to her was a small suitcase, so it seemed that she was a traveler or a tourist, although Japanese. But certainly not a miko - you can hardly see them in a large, wide jacket hiding their bottom and legs in tights with sneakers.

"Sorry to interrupt, we’ve an emergency!” came through the wireless headphones.

“Just a minute, I’ll finish my prayer…”

"This is an emergency!” The sound in the headphones became louder.

"Well, that's it." The girl clapped her hands twice and opened her eyes.

"My soul has been stolen!”

"Soul? Whose? Are you okay, Fumiko?”

"That mysterious object we were investigating. That's its code name, Kamiko!”

The girl closed her light red eyes, which had gotten their color from an accident she’d in childhood, and, holding the bridge of her nose, began to mumble irritably.

“I told you that we need proper security…”

"This is no time to argue about company decisions! I've tracked his location, but our agents are on other missions, only you’re free.”

"Okay, give me two minutes.”

Kamiko kicked the suitcase over and it opened. Inside were massive gloves, an unusual katana in a sheath, glasses, a mask and large black boots.

"This bastard… killed ten monks of the Inari temple in cold blood…”

"He’s…”

Kamiko put on her glasses and pulled on her gloves, when she suddenly froze, as if she’d seen it with her own eyes.

”…a cyborg?”

"It's possible. He's at the Kyoto station now. Probably heading west.”

"There hasn't been a worthy opponent for a long time. He’ll pay for what he did!"

Kamiko threw the scabbard over her back, which immediately became magnetized to the device on the back of her jacket. The girl adjusted her jacket forward, pulled back by the weight of the heavy weapon, seeking balance between her chest and the katana.

"You're obsessed with missions… How do you cope?”

"Someone has to."

Kamiko came close to the suitcase, leaning her foot against it. The girl put her other foot forward, as if she was going to take off her shoe, but instead of the sneaker, the entire foot came off with it. Kamiko put her foot into one of the shoes, and then the other.

"Your obsession…"

"It won't lead to anything good?" Kamiko said seriously, looking at the powerful glove and flexing her hand.

"It was precisely our inaction in the face of them that brought us to this moment. You know that very well yourself.”

"I understand how you feel… You prayed for him, didn't you?”

"Yes. We never found him.”

"Kamiko! It's been so many years…”

"We’ll definitely find him, period!”

Kamiko abruptly ended the conversation and headed towards the exit of the temple.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant… just don't dwell on it too much, sister…”

Kamiko didn't want to hear such words from her sister and quickly ran towards the torii.

“I asked you to call me by my call sign on missions!”

"Okay, Soda.”

Kamiko gained enough speed and jumped straight through the torii, saying goodbye to the local kami and saying right in the air.

"Boots code: roller-skates!"

The top of the boots opened up and slid down, squeezing the white sole into wheels, transforming into roller skates just as Kamiko landed on the railing by the stairs. The girl slid down at high speed and descended onto the road, accelerating even more, leaving only a dusty trail behind her.

Kamiko Soda got her call sign for her impulsive character, like a soda. And also for her special jacket that looked like bubbles. Another distinctive feature of hers was the invisibility function, which Soda activated as soon as there was no one else around.

She raced along the thin isthmus between Shika Island and Fukuoka on Uminonakamichi Beach. The invisible roller skater moved with the speed of a powerful car, skillfully maneuvering between other cars.

"Oh, what a wonderful breeze! It's a great day to beat up some bad guys.”

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it seems that goal is…”

"Judging by the voice… from Mukibutsu?"

"Yes, just don't get worked up!"

"How can I be calm now! I hope at least this time it's someone more serious than small fry. And we'll be able to get to their leaders."

"Well, here we go…"

"Fumiko, we’re the Miyata sisters, the only remaining leaders of the Shinto group, the Sun Guardians! The last hope, keeping the peace of Japan in the shadows… The Mukibutsu will face retribution for all their sins!"

A collision is inevitable.