The Warrior Princess and the High Priestess

"It's......Watanabe. My familial name is Watanabe, since you've politely insisted on using the sama honorific when speaking to me, Tojo-san."

Kikyo expressed as best she could, albeit while biting her lip, clutching the divine sword rather nervously, and then feeling the small, carved, oval-shaped pink diamond that was now neatly embedded in her forehead. Kikyo didn't know what felt stranger: being sent to what could be described as another world as a Savior and Warrior Princess as foretold in an ancient legend and the prophecy therein - or that she was now going to be addressed with the sama honorific!

"Watanabe-sama. A familial name that is just as beautiful as you - as beautiful as Princess Saotome once was."

Asuka replied as she closed the distance between herself and Kikyo, gently stroking the back of her hand down Kikyo's face, and gently feeling the pink diamond that was part of the talisman that had fused with Kikyo. 

"The pink diamond talisman wouldn't have fused with you and bestowed its magic upon you, nor could you effortlessly wield the divine sword, Watanbe-sama - if you were not truly the chosen successor to Princess Saotome."

Asuka said with a deep smile, trying to hide her attraction to Kikyo, while Kikyo was blushing to a great extent, feeling mutually infatuated with Asuka. Though, this blush quickly gave way to a silent expression of awe, as with the waving of two fans that Asuka had produced out of nothing - one depicting in a nishiki-e style, a crane engaged in combat with a snake, and the other, cherry blossoms and snowy mountains, also presented in a nishiki-e style - Kikyo now found herself sitting cross legged on a comfortable pillow in front of a low, stained cherry wood table with an elegant porcelain tea set between them. Asuka smiled to herself, closing the fans and then sitting gracefully with Kikyo.

"TOJO-SAN, HOW DID YOU DO THAT!? THOSE FANS, THAT I'M NOW SITTING DOWN, THE TEA SET, THE TABLE -"

Kikyo blurted out with a combination of admiration and increased attraction! Though it wasn't just a sense of awe and wonder that captivated her, it was also that Kikyo knew that she could feel safe with Asuka, learning from her and perhaps being able to fulfill the divine destiny she'd been bestowed, while also getting home to Kyoto!

"I may be a High Priestess and steward to your reign - yet I'm also a shōjo - and you should know as one yourself, Watanabe-sama, that we have many talents!"

Asuka responded sweetly, winking and almost making a kissing motion with her lips. It was the concentrated magical energy that flowed through Asuka which made her able to what she did, but Kikyo would learn about that in detail soon enough!

Asuka then proceeded to elegantly prepare and serve the tea between the two of them, humming lightly as she did so with grace. 

"Watanabe-sama, it goes without saying that since you're here - you know of the prophecy and the story of Princess Saotome. Yet you must now learn the darkest aspects of the story: those that you will be tasked with defeating once and for all - for they have awakened."

Asuka stated as she sighed gracefully - making her fans appear once more as she then waved them outward, and before both her and Kikyo, a nishiki-e scroll larger than both of them appeared and livered, unfolding on its own before their very eyes! And yet - the various deities, namely kami,  yokai, and humans on there were not only simply evil as they were depicted, but they moved across the scroll as if they were scripted!

"WAIT - WHAT.......HOW......I'll listen, Tojo-san."

Kikyo responded, taking a breath and boding slightly to Asuka. No matter how academically knowledgable she was about pre-1945 Yamato history and culture - she was never prepared for a magical display like this, having only understood displays like this to be the elements of myths and legends. 

Asuka nodded and smiled supportively at Kikyo, which only caused Kikyo to blush, before then posing lightly to Asuka as she put herself in the all too familiar mindset of a student. 

"They move across the scroll, because these are the trapped essences of these evil beings - bound with my magic and the blessing of Amaterasu herself, and thereby trapped her for an eternity. As you can see, there are many yokai here, namely onryo and yurei, as well as deities that are specifically kami of the evil persuasion, along with humans who gave themselves to these combined forces of darkness. Now pay close attention, Watanabe-sama, for what I'm gong to tell you will be the key to fulfilling the prophecy of Princess Saotome."

Asuka said as Kikyo nodded politely, minding herself that she didn't become distracted by the magical essence prison that looked like magical artistry.

"See these four figures above them all, Watanabe-sama? They are from right to left,  Harada, the Devourer of Souls; Kyashi, the Courtesan of Blood; Arashi, the Perverter of Purity; and Boroshi, the Scion of Avarice. These are the four strongest of the evil Kami, those deities rightfully scorned from ever being greater deities due to their malice, hatred, and violent cruelty in the name of relishing in the suffering of others. So powerful they were - that Princess Saotome could only incapacitate them with the combined magical powers of the divine sword and the pink diamond talisman - before they were imprisoned between the worlds of the mortal and the divine. Like the others, these depictions of them are their essences. They will awaken, all who are shown here - but these four are weaker to such a state now that when you defeat them, they will be vanquished once and for all."

Asuka stated before she bowed to Kikyo, while Kikyo marveled in admiration and fear at the four idling figures positioned above the vicious mob below. Her instincts as a graduate student and a museum intern automatically compelled her to study each of them, wanting to be familiar with the artistically depicted and imprisoned embodiments of true evil that she had silent accepted, she would be forced to vanquish. In turn, Kikyo dutifully took out her notebook and quickly wrote down the names of each of these four from short term memory, as Asuka as told her, before writing down their respective descriptions:

Harada was shown to be an extremely muscular, humanoid figure siting cross legged with his fists on his knees - save for the two long and thick, black horns on his head that curved pointed outwards, towards where he faced. He also had five yellow eyes on each side of his face, wearing the tight leggings that held in the lower half of his baggier silk pants from the knees down just as Samurai wore. However, the upper half of these black and white silk pants featured screaming souls with flowing hair, grimly appropriate for him. 

Kyashi was also shown to she sitting cross legged, though she was a mostly beautiful woman with a perfectly toned effeminate body and bihaku skin - mostly because her mouth was slit open and bloodstained, revealing rows of small but viciously sharp, bloodstained teeth, curiously wearing the same style of a thigh length, short kimono as Princess Saotome was in her statue at the Kyoto National Museum and which Kikyo was now. Kyashi's hair was also curiously done in the same style of ponytail as Kikyo and Princess Saotome - yet Kyashi's kanzashi was of a stick design - though they were shown to be sharpened and bloodstained ivory sticks. Curiously, Kyashi was barefoot, and she had a sword that was identical to the one that had been passed down from Princess Saotome to Kikyo, resting across her lap - yet the base color of Kyashi's was white, and it was patterned with what appeared to be magically-infused, moving bloodstains! 

Kikyo shuddered before moving onto studying the next artistically and magically imprisoned essence of these evil four - for she knew she would have to ask Asuka about Kyashi. All the while, Asuka stood over Kikyo mindfully to support her, should Kikyo have become overwhelmed. 

Arashi was shown to be a "clown" of sorts - with bright red hair and skin so pale that hit could be considered bihaku in terms of its shade. His face looked relatively human and thus normal, except for that his eyes were a spectrum of blue, yellow, red and white - with his lips also matching these colors! The shorter length and overall fit, white, blue, yellow, and red yukata that he wore depicted countless eerily laughing yurei  on it - while being shown to be  sitting cross legged and juggling six human skulls in his idle state, all with a sickening yellow aura bout them. 

Kikyo took breath as she finished her notes on Arashi, finally shifting her gaze to Borsohi. 

Boroshi looked as if he was a shining, golden skinned human who was muscular in his arms and legs, yet had a rounded midsection, sitting cross legged in his short-fitting, white, silver, and purple yukata that was patterned with countless diamond shapes in this colors. He was also bald, and his eyes and lips were as black as the midnight sky. Boroshi was further depicted as holding a tall, rounded, red, white, gold, and black vase that reached halfway up to his neck level with how he was sitting and holding it. The vase itself depicted painted scenes of exceptionally gaunt, famine-stricken humans fawning over gold, silver, and precious jewels. 

As Kikyo finished taking her her notes on Boroshi, she gently set her notebook down next to the divine sword, and with a deep exhale, carefully laid back on the tatami mat floor, before she looks up at Asuka.

"Tojo-san, why do I feel this way......and why does Kyashi, the Courtesan of Blood, look so much like Princess Saotome and well, myself as I am now?"

Kikyo asked as Asuka gently knelt beside her, stroking Kikyo's flowing pink ponytail hair, and ensuring her stick kanzashi was made comfortable for Kikyo while she laid there to catch her breath. 

"You're not fully used to coming into such close contact with the pure evil, even the essence of it, Watanabe-sama. If it were not for you being infused with the powers of Princess Saotome as he successor, well - you wouldn't be as clearheaded and stable as you are now. As for the other part of your question - Kyashi is the leader of the four, and thus of all those whose essences are imprisoned in that magical scroll. She was the only one to be able to make Princess Saotome bleed - and the reason that Princess Saotome couldn't fully vanquish them, as you will now have to do. As such, Kyashi used the blood of Princess Saotome that she had come in contact with, during their ferocious combat - to essentially turn herself into a powerful, corrupted version of Princess Saotome. This is not spoken of outside of when this scroll is revealed by me, for the anguish of this truth need not be shouldered by anyone except for the Saotome's successor, such was part of the Princess' dying will, in strict confidence." 

Asuka recounted as she stroked Kikyo's hair, gently lifting Kikyo's head into her lap so that Kikyo could rest. Kikyo then closed her eyes, knowing that a peaceful period of rest would be necessary before she could embark on the quest as defined by her newly bestowed destiny to slay the four evil Kami in command - and thus, their malicious hordes along with them, once and for all!