3:14 AM

The goddess’s crying was very loud—but the wind that rose moments later was even louder. A powerful magical gale tore the roof off the makeshift shrine as if it were as light as a feather and hurled it far away. People nearby began to run in panic, but Marian quickly pulled herself together.

“This could be an attack! To arms!”

She herself ran to her truck and pulled out a heavily modified shotgun with an oversized barrel from beneath the seat.

Kaguya, who had rushed outside the shrine, saw that the people had quickly regained their composure and were pulling out similar weapons from various hidden compartments. They were prepared—they had to be, otherwise they wouldn’t have survived this long.

Asagi and Mr. Harada were equally eager to fight and ran toward the group lining up in front of the building where weapons were being distributed to those who didn’t have their own or weren’t equipped with pumps dispensing the black liquid. Instead of firearms, these were much simpler tools—clubs and chains—but each contained anti-magic material: threaded with glass beads painted with the black liquid.

Asagi took a thick club studded with sharp fragments, while Mr. Harada found a chain, wrapping it around his right fist and keeping his ojuzu beads on the left. Asagi did the same: a club in her right hand, but still holding her wooden sword—adorned with the talismans Aya had given her—in her left.

Everyone seemed prepared for whatever the magical storm might bring. Above them, a tornado laced with white lightning raged, tearing roofs away and seeming to warp reality itself. Everyone except Asagi and Mr. Harada retreated into the damaged shrine, while the rest—equipped with anti-magic weapons and clothing—chose to face the challenge head-on, whatever it might be. Marian and several men positioned themselves in front of the shrine doors.

Then individual demons began to drop from the tornado.

Winged, gray humanoids slammed into the ground amid clouds of dust and started advancing toward the people, hoping to spread terror once more. The first one was struck squarely on the head by Asagi’s club; the next two were hit by glass anti-magic rounds fired from Marian’s modified shotgun. All of them dissolved into black dust, quickly swept away by the powerful wind.

Encouraged by the successful defense, the townspeople launched an offensive against the ever-growing number of demons. Even when one managed to land a blow, it couldn’t cause any real harm—their fists bounced off clothing densely woven with anti-magic beads. Compared to the relatively sluggish demons, the humans were simply faster and more effective.

The next wave changed tactics and attacked from above without landing. Many demons were knocked out of the air by accurate gunfire and strikes from clubs and swords. Not everyone was so lucky—some people were knocked to the ground. Those unable to get up on their own were dragged to safety by those not directly engaged in the fight.

Mr. Harada and Asagi practically spun across the battlefield, aided by talismans and were lethally effective with their anti-magic weapons, which proved devastating against supernatural forces. The wave of demons began to thin, until it finally stopped—giving the fighters a chance to catch their breath. All who were still able to fight stared up at the sky, where the storm still raged, though more weakly now, and seemed to be moving away…

“How did this even happen?!” shouted one of the men standing near Marian.

“I have no idea! The goddess—she’s still crying… Something must have disturbed her peace! It must have been those time travelers!”

“Then let’s get them out of there! Why hasn’t anyone done that yet?!”

“But… maybe this was meant to happen?! Maybe this is what the goddess wanted…”

“I highly doubt it! Without her protection, who knows what will be unleashed on us next!”

“Look there!” another terrified voice cried out. “In the sky!”

White lightning bolts began to concentrate into a distinct shape—one that increasingly resembled… a gigantic hand. A massive claw formed of pure magical energy descended from the night sky and seized a huge chunk of earth beneath the building where weapons had been distributed. Without touching the building’s walls, the hand tore the ground away, leaving behind a sizable crater. The entire mass was hurled far away, cutting the defenders off from their weapons and ammunition depot.

The hand lost its shape, and the lightning once more scattered across the sky—but moments later, it began forming something again.

“Get those outsiders out of the shrine! Otherwise the next attack will kill us!”

Despite Marian’s protests, several people rushed into the shrine and forcibly dragged Robert, Kaguya—still clutching her bundle—Aya, and the taxi driver Suzuki out onto the square, hoping the goddess would stop crying. Tamamo followed after them.

The cry did not stop—but the magical storm did seem to calm.

“I think it’s working! Is the goddess protecting us again?” people began to wonder.

“But… wait! Look there!”

“What is that?!”

The white magical discharges converged into a single point, forming a small sphere. In an instant, it exploded like a massive firework, creating a shape in the night sky about which none of the travelers had any doubt.

“It’s Murata!”

A head made of shifting lightning appeared in the sky, long hair flowing. Its face was twisted into a mad grin.

“I’VE FOUND YOU!” a deafening boom echoed. “After all these hundreds of years, you finally came to me yourselves. All it took was a little patience!”

“Leave us alone!” Kaguya shouted back, unsure whether she was even heard.

In response, Murata’s demonic face collapsed into a single, powerful lightning bolt that streaked down and struck the ground with a crack. When the dust settled, Murata emerged from the cloud—at first glance looking just as he had when they met at Tokyo Bay, yet clearly different. Only the whites of his eyes were visible; his long hair bristled with crackling white energy. His clothes were worn and stained.

“You only had to listen to me,” he said to Kaguya and Robert. “You just had to hand over the bundle. With the power of the kami, I could have undone the destruction you caused and saved hundreds of millions of lives… This is all your fault. You forced me into this!”

“It would’ve ended the same way!” Kaguya snapped back. “You would’ve used the kami’s power for your own purposes! Even more people would have died!”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Murata said with a demonic smile. “But what’s done is done. Give me the bundle willingly, and I promise to kill everyone quickly and painlessly. Just a snap of my fingers—and you’ll all fall asleep forever.”

“Never!”

“As you wish.”

Murata prepared to attack—but at that very moment, he was struck simultaneously by two blows. An anti-magic club and a magical wooden sword hit the same spot, snapping Murata’s forearm. The demonic grin vanished, replaced by a grimace of pain and shock. Instantly afterward, both of Mr. Harada’s fists slammed into Murata’s face, sending him flying backward and crashing to the ground. The entire crowd gathered around the shrine froze in terror.

Murata slowly began to rise, muttering under his breath.

“I’ll murder you all… The last talismans will vanish, I’ll destroy your goddess and her anti-magic… There will be only me. I’ll gain such power that I’ll rewrite the laws of the universe and create a paradise for myself…”

“We won’t let that happen!”

Mr. Harada and Asagi attacked Murata again. He had no chance to defend himself and soon collapsed once more, lying motionless for a moment.

Then he started laughing.

A sinister, insane laugh echoed out, terrifying everyone present. In an instant, Murata transformed back into a white lightning bolt and began jumping between buildings and people, too fast for the eye to follow. Anti-magic beads were knocked loose, clattering to the ground, only to be swept away moments later by the rushing air. The lightning was so fast that its sheer momentum stripped everyone of their anti-magic protection—Murata didn’t need to touch anything.

At last, the powerful mage stopped in the square. No one had any anti-magic protection left.

Asagi tried again, striking Murata with both weapons at once—but it did nothing.

“You’ll only hurt yourself, young lady,” Murata said, casually batting Asagi aside and throwing her several meters back. The exorcist barely kept her balance.

The mage raised his hand high, and white lightning began raining down from the night sky, striking buildings and tearing them apart. Soon, at the center of the rubble, only the shrine of the still-crying goddess remained.

“Next come the people,” Murata hissed. He raised his uninjured arm again, preparing to unleash a murderous flood of lightning.

At that moment, a cart filled with anti-magic beads slammed into him, pushed by Aya and Marian.

“You—!”

The cart tipped over, burying Murata under anti-magic beads. Aya pulled every talisman she had from her bag and began hurling them at Murata, the magic burning him as if with living fire.

The most powerful mage in history was brought down by a tiny shrine maiden. He tried to crawl, but he had little strength left. Desperately, he stretched his hands forward, grasping for even the smallest chance of salvation.

“Tamamo, my slave… I summon you…”

The swirling cloud seemed offended at being called a “slave,” but slowly drifted toward Murata as if against its will. It was suddenly sucked toward him and caught in his outstretched hand. Murata lifted the cloud high above his head and, consuming Tamamo’s spirit to reinforce the remnants of his power, summoned a massive white lightning bolt.

Tamamo’s cloud scattered and vanished the instant the lightning struck the pile of glass beads. In a single moment, all of them transformed into time-travel crystals. Murata surged to his feet, knocking Aya onto the heap of crystals. Her body glowed with a pale light—and then… vanished, along with most of the crystals.

“AYA!!!” Asagi screamed in despair.

Everyone stared in horror at Murata, who seemed to be gradually regaining strength after absorbing Tamamo.

“What now?!” Robert shouted. “Should I try using the power of the kami?!”

“Maybe we still have a way out… The crystals! Run!”

The entire group—and several others—ran toward the shrine. Kaguya, Robert, and Suzuki reached it first and touched the crystals surrounding the goddess. Asagi and Mr. Harada followed right after. A transparent shell quickly formed around them, restricting their movement as time itself began to slow.

They felt everything outside the crystal losing importance, fading into irrelevance. They saw a few more people run into the shrine and touch the crystals; after that, no one else came. They looked up at the sky—the magical tornado had torn the shrine’s roof away—and saw the glowing remnant of the Moon hanging above.

Everything around them began to disappear: the shrine building, the crystals containing people outside their group, the goddess herself, the earth, the water—until only the sky and the Moon remained. Finally, even that vanished, swallowed by a single, blinding flash of the Sun turning into a supernova.

They remained in complete darkness, illuminated only by the distant lights of stars—soon, even those faded away.

And then, after what felt like an eternity compressed into a single instant, the crystals shattered with a crack—and they found themselves in total darkness, lit only by… car headlights?

“That’s my taxi!” Suzuki exclaimed happily.

“Welcome back, my friends!” came a cheerful voice they had heard once before—long ago, back when they were still in Edo.