[Inari Standoff]: Epilogue -- The Third Great Holy War

Shunned by Osamu and his family, Amaterasu stood in Heaven's War Room, her white robes and porcelain skin glowing in the sunlight pouring through the window. She stood with her hands behind her back and her long, raven hair tied into a ponytail. Uzume sat at the long, rectangular table, having just heard of her argument with Osamu.

"We really did make a terrible mess of this, Lady Amaterasu. How long does he have?"

"Depends. If those kids are as talented as we believe, probably seven or eight years."

"...And then the courts will rip their father away from them. You can't be okay with this."

Amaterasu bowed her head as she fought back tears. "Taeko would often warn me about the state becoming a god in and of itself. I thought I could control it, but this standoff proved me wrong. And now my son-in-law has to be put on the sacrificial altar."

"You're not solely to blame."

"Uzume, I think I would feel better if I was. What I do wrong I can also set right. But this...I can't control this. Tell me something, Uzume. Humans pray to gods when they need help. Who are we supposed to pray to?"

"I...I don't know."

Amaterasu turned around, her face soaked with tears. "Please help me, Uzume..."

Uzume stood from her seat, her heart shattering as she watched Amaterasu weep. Never in her many years of her service had she ever seen Amaterasu cry, not even during the misery and carnage of the Warring States period. She had created a pantheon out of a broken family, forged order from chaos itself. She ruled over the nation for ages and spent every waking minute of her time has queen keeping her safe from enemies both inside and outside of it. Not once did she ever break from the pressure.

Losing her relationship with Osamu, his family, and her newborn relatives was the breaking point. The state would stop at nothing to kill Osamu to take Inari's power, but his family and friends would stop at nothing to protect him. There Amaterasu was, standing in the middle of it all, wishing everything had turned out differently.

Back on earth, Manami lied unconscious in her hospital bed. The only noise in the room was the rhythmic beep of her vitals monitor tracking her heartbeat. Outside of the room, however, the shouts of the guards stationed to watch her faintly bled through the walls. The sounds of bodies slamming upon the floor and glass shattering soon followed. It went on for just under a minute until the halls fell silent.

Anne and three men barged into Manami's room, their faces hidden behind white meshes hanging from the brims of their hats. The men had their hands clasped and kuji-in signs already woven. They checked every corner of the room for more guards, finding Manami all alone in her bed.

Anne's face was black and blue, her cheeks and bottom lip swollen from the vicious beating she received from Inari. She marched over to Manami and unhooked her from the vitals monitor. One of the men set down a black body bag on the ground, zipping it open for Anne.

"All clear. Let's grab her and get the hell out of here. No coming back to the Exorcist Program after this." one of the men said.

Anne carefully lifted Manami out of bed. Seeing what Taeko had done to her and just thinking of what kind of torture her fellow exorcists would've inflicted upon her filled Anne with a seething rage. "Taeko is only delaying the inevitable, Manami, but that's okay. At least it'll give you time to recover. I just hope your bet pays off...and she makes the right choice."

Anne slid Manami into the body bag and zipped it shut, carrying her out of the room. "If she's half the woman you said she is, she'll burn the entire fucking pantheon down."

It had become clear that Manami was planning all of this for a long time. She had many more supporters hidden within the Exorcist Program, all of them willing to follow her into hell if need be. Getting Manami to talk in her state was already next to impossible, and now that her supporters freed her from exorcist custody, the notion had become futile. Whatever Manami's end-goal was, it seemed she got what she wanted when Taeko was pushed into a corner, forced reveal the 'way-out' plan to Osamu and his family.

While Anne and her team escaped with Manami, Osamu met with Taeko and Shinju in the abandoned bowling alley. The golden glow of the afternoon sunlight pierced through the row of stained glass windows behind Osamu, painting him and the wooden floors in a rainbow of color. The purples, greens, blues, and reds shining on the floor bounced off of the wood and illuminated Osamu's face, his hair tied into a messy bun.

"So...I guess we only have a few years of breathing room." Shinju said. "Once Yuuto is ready and Gekko has a kid too, they'll want Osamu to turn himself in, right?"

Taeko nodded. "That's correct."

"Still, I can't believe you're planning to threaten the pantheon by using Hima. It's an ingenious plan, if just a little insane." Osamu said.

"No, you misunderstand." Taeko growled. "My plan is not to threaten the pantheon."

"It...it isn't?" Shinju mumbled, perplexed.

Taeko shook her head. "Shinju, Osamu...I spent my entire life fighting against the concept of the state as the world knew it. Kings, queens, presidents, prime minsters, their titles only hold as much value as their subjects agree it has. But somewhere along the course of human history, they decided their positions entitled them to use the lives of soldiers and civilians as chess pieces.

“I was orphaned because of that very reason. The Senkumo clan might not have worked out, but my beliefs haven't changed. The social contract needs to be rewritten and power shifted over to a military rather than a noble."

"Taeko...what are you saying?" Osamu asked, growing increasingly worried with every word she spoke.

"Force majeure." Taeko said. "The Inari Standoff created a political, personal, and ideological impasse too steep for either side to ignore. Amaterasu didn't heed my warning about the state becoming a god unto itself, and now she's realizing she's created a monster that can't be stopped. The few years we have left before shit hits the fan isn't there because the gods are conjuring up a way to avoid killing you, Osamu.

“They're using this time to convince themselves that killing you is just. The same thing the government did to my father and mother. All these years later and nothing has changed. The state will always resort to barbarity and murder to achieve its goals and protect its interests.

"For that alone, any chance Amaterasu had of reconciling with me is dead, and it's the personal aspect that sets your family against the pantheon. For the gods, it's the political side of things that sets them against us. None of this can be resolved peacefully. That's the conclusion I've come to in these past few days."

Taeko held up her index finger. "There were two great wars in this pantheon's history. The First Great Holy War, or the War of Kin. It was fought between two factions in Izanami's family. One side wanted to retrieve Izanami from the Underworld and reinstate her and Izanagi as their leaders. The other side wanted to abandon those two and install Amaterasu as the queen of a new nation. It was family versus the state.

“The Second Great Holy War was fought between the pantheon and vampires during the Warring States era. It was during this war that Hima Chinagaregawa was born. The Senkumo clan was caught in the crossfire of a power struggle within the Shinto pantheon. Gekko and I were the only ones that managed to survive. That was our family versus both the Japanese and Shinto states.

“The same thing just happened to Inari. No matter the era, the exact same conflict plays out in repeat. Families and friends are torn apart by the state, all to protect their national interests. To service a new ruler, to take a powerful weapon for themselves, the state scavenges whatever dregs of humanity it can from its subjects. It’s a cyclical battle between individuation and collectivism, between man and his Frankenstein; civilization itself. I find it amazingly poetic that the next great war will be fought over the power to control people.”

"Taeko...don't tell me..." Shinju gasped, covering her lips.

"Yes." Taeko said. My plan isn't to just threaten the pantheon. My plan is to destroy it. I am going to start the Third Great Holy War. When our time is up and they come for you, Osamu, we'll wage a full-scale war against the Shinto pantheon, and we'll use Hima to do it."

"You're going to start a supernatural world war?!" Osamu shouted. "Taeko, that's insane!"

"Perhaps it is." Taeko responded firmly. "But in a few years' time, we're going to have an entire pantheon gunning after you. If they won't stop, then neither will I. It'll be a war to protect you, to stop the pantheon from getting their hands on the power to erase free will as we know it. The stakes have never been higher for the gods. They'll put up a vicious fight. It's funny, actually. I came here to save the world from disaster, and in the end, my only recourse is to plunge it into the worst chaos it's ever seen."

"But...we can't do that to Osamu's family. Gekko, Izanami, Kagutsuchi..." Shinju began. "You're asking them to go to war with their kin. We'll all be sacrificing everything for this. Their lives will be completely uprooted."

"And yet, that's preferable to losing the man they all love." Taeko said.

Osamu leaned forward, a sheen of cold sweat glistening on his face. "So this is the only option left to us?"

Shinju held her tongue. She didn't have any other ideas. Both sides had gambled all they could and neither had anything left. The only solution was war. The two sides simply could not coexist.

"We're just one family against a country of gods." Shinju lamented. "We don't even have the resources to fight ten of those guys outside of this bowling alley. How the hell are you going to pull together the resources and manpower needed to start the Third Great Holy War?"

"Like I said, we're going to use Hima." Taeko responded. "She's Dracula's heiress. Between Gekko helping Carmilla in the past and Inari launching that blood moon, Hima and her ilk owe us quite a few favors. That's the best asset we have. Hima's legitimacy as the queen of the Vampirical Monarchy can't be questioned."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Shinju questioned. "The Vampirical Monarchy was destroyed after the Second Great Holy War. Once Dracula died, what was left of it pretty much disintegrated."

"No, that's not true." Taeko said.

Shinju's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"It's true that their numbers thinned after the war, and the vampires were fragmented after Dracula's death." Taeko explained. "On top of that, Hima's existence was kept a secret in order to protect her. Any vampires still roaming the world had no legitimate leader to rally behind, as far as they knew. Starting today, that's going to change. Before we met here, I called and spoke with Carmilla herself. She's already laying down the groundwork to make the Third Great Holy War possible."

"You contacted Carmilla directly?" Osamu gasped.

Taeko nodded. "Shinju's right. We can't wage a war of that scale by ourselves. We're going up against a nation. So, we need a nation of our own."

"Holy shit, Taeko..." Osamu said. "You're going to use Hima to rebuild the Vampirical Monarchy, aren't you? That was why you only returned a portion of Satori’s legacy to Amatsuki. It’s why you kept Lucrezia’s plan a secret. ”

“Yes." Taeko said. “Everything was building up to that standoff, Osamu. What I decided to do, how I would choose to proceed, it would all depend on the outcome of the fight to save Inari. Believe me when I tell you that I took every path possible to avoid this. The last thing I wanted was for the people I loved to get sucked into a war they might not survive. Even so, I still had to prepare for it.

“I held onto the bulk of Satori’s fortune to finance a possible war. I know all of the personnel in the Exorcist Program, their weaknesses, the locations of their bases, which companies supply everything from weapons to toilet paper for them. I know a wealth of state and pantheon secrets that we can use against them once this war kicks off. All we need now is a nation of our own.

“Even with all the predictions Lucrezia and I both made, neither of us could’ve foreseen the situation we’re in right now.” Taeko explained. “Nevertheless, I’m prepared for what comes next. We’ll be bringing back Heaven's greatest enemy from its grave. Once it's all set up, I'll have everything I’ll need to start the war."

"Even if they owe us a favor, isn't going to war for our sake a little too much to ask? Why do you think they'd be so eager to do that for us?" Osamu asked.

"Vampires enjoy a bit of blood, Osamu. And you have the blood of a goddess inside of you, blood with the power to control every living thing on this planet." Taeko explained. "I'm sure we can work something out."

Shinju had to take a seat next to Osamu. Her legs were on the verge of giving out as her heart thundered inside of her rib cage. "Taeko..."

"Take these next few years to prepare yourselves." Taeko said. "Once our time is up, the Third Great Holy War begins."

The overcast sky sent forth a blade of wind to comb through the endless field of vibrant, green grass. Mountains cradled the hillocks on both sides, the valley stretching for what seemed like an eternity. The wind blew through the opened glass door of a castle balcony as a young girl leaned over the railing, her unbound, raven hair fluttering around her naked body.

She closed her eyes and sniffed the flower-scented air, sighing with glee. She opened her eyes, unveiling her blood-red irises. Her satisfied smile revealed vampire fangs in her mouth as the clouds parted and allowed the sunlight to shine like a spotlight upon her creamy skin.

"Good morning!" chimed a young, girl clutching the hem of her lace dress. She wore a crown of daisies around her head of voluminous, blonde hair, the strands swaying in the wind. Her bare feet slapped against the wooden floors of the castle. "You're up early, Hima! Did something happen?"

The raven-haired girl on the balcony was none other than Hima Chinagaregawa herself. She looked no older then twelve, but she in fact the centuries-old heiress of Dracula.

"Sorry if I worried you, Annabelle." Hima said. "Carmilla left early today. She said she won't be back for quite a while. We have the whole castle to ourselves now!"

"Oh...is that why you're naked?"

"Yep!" Hima cheered.

"Where did she go, anyway? It's not like her to rush off like that." Annabelle said, joining Hima on the balcony.

"Yakutsk. East Siberia" Hima answered.

"Isn't that the coldest city in the world?!" Annabelle recoiled. "Why on earth did she go there?"

Hima smiled. "To make sure everything is ready. It's almost time, Annabelle. In a few years, we're going to have our kingdom back. Do you smell that? It's faint, but give it a whiff."

Annabelle sniffed the air a few times, struggling to find what Hima was talking about. She sniffed a bit too much and ended up sneezing, rubbing her tiny, red nose with her index finger. Hima patted her head and snickered.

"You did that just to make me sneeze didn't you..." Annabelle pouted.

"Maybe you can't smell it, but I can. It's sweeter than any of the flowers in this country. It's coming all the way from Japan. The blood of a magnificent, young man."

"You can smell it all the way from here? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're definitely his daughter. I wonder why you can smell him all the way from here. What's his name, anyway?"

Hima smiled, her scarlet eyes glittering with anticipation and glee. "Osamu Ashikaga, is it? So...are you going to help me rebuild my kingdom?"