[The End of Osamu Ashikaga]: The Great Plunge

When Heaven becomes your worst enemy, it makes sense to ask Hell for a helping hand. That didn’t change the fact that the Underworld was the last place Osamu ever wanted to return to. Thankfully, they didn’t have to pass through the Underworld’s claustrophobic caves again. 

Izanami was able to take everyone to the icy river where they found Mizuhame’s gourd and parted ways with Satori years ago. That was as far into the Underworld as they went last time, but there was still so much more to explore.

Landing on a flat, glacial surface floating atop the river, everyone scanned their surroundings for signs of demons. Surprisingly, the Underworld was quiet on this day.

“That’s strange…” Izanami said, her breath made visible by the cold air. “Last time we were here, there were demons everywhere. What’s going on?”

Carmilla and Hima’s faces scrunched up in disgust as they pinched their noses shut.

“I’ve been to mass graves that smelled like perfume compared to this.” Carmilla said. “What is this scent?”

“The legends did say this place carried a foul odor…” Hima said. “It’s hard to believe you spent so many years trapped here, Izanami.”

“I’m sorry, I forgot you guys were more sensitive to smells than we are. Will you be okay?” Izanami asked.

“This is nothing compared to what we’re after. Let’s continue.” Hima said. “Which way?”

“We’re looking for the Onyx Shrine.” Izanami said, pointing her finger towards the massive, glowing eyeball in the Underworld’s pitch-black sky. “If we follow that, it’ll lead us right to it.”

“Oh…” Hima said, her lips sagging in revulsion. “Well, that’s pleasant. Let’s make this as quick as possible.”

The group began their trek down the Underworld’s glacial river, following the strange eye in the sky. Each of them were on their guard, their eyes and ears watching out for any signs of attacking demons. To their surprise, however, they didn’t encounter a single demon as they proceeded down the river. It was the perfect example of a place being far too quiet.

“This is so strange.” Izanami said, looking around. “What’s going on? It’s not supposed to be this calm here. It’s like we’re just being allowed in.”

Osamu pressed onward. His arms were riddled with goosebumps. The odor of the Underworld made him nauseous and teary eyed. He was a man on a mission and nothing would stop him, not even hell itself. The girls followed in his footsteps as he led the way through the Underworld.

All of a sudden, Osamu came to a stop. The girls stopped too as they all saw what Osamu was seeing. Winged shikome flew like crows above their heads. None but Izanami had ever seen shikome with wings before. They possessed the same pale, decaying bodies as normal shikome, but had large, black wings protruding from their backs. 

Raven plumes descended from the night sky, the frigid breeze of the Underworld cradling them in the air and gently resting them upon the river’s surface. There must’ve been dozens of winged shikome in the air. All of them were going in the same direction like a group of migratory birds.

“The Onyx Temple is that way, isn’t it?” Taeko asked.

“Let’s go.” Osamu commanded.

Osamu and the girls walked for what felt like hours. The glacial river seemed to stretch out forever with no end in sight. Their legs began to ache and the cold air sapped the moisture from their throats. Just when they were about to give up, they finally laid eyes on a sprawling, black shrine in the distance.

It looked like any major Shinto shrine, except the buildings, pagodas, and even the torii gates were as black as night. Thick, swirling bands of shimenawa hung from the high, crenellated walls surrounding the structure. Golden wind chimes hung from the gates, swaying in the frigid breeze as their melody called the demons of the Underworld home.

Legions of monsters and spirits bowed before the Onyx Shrine. They weren’t concerned with Osamu or the others at all. Shikome, hebi-onna, mu-onna, jikininki, they were all enthralled by the shrine.

Izanami stood with her mouth agape. “Something’s wrong. They’re never this docile. What’s changed since we were last here?”

Osamu pressed onward. He seemed the most determined to handle the task at hand. He led the way, walking through the ocean of bowing demons and monsters like a god amongst thralls. Osamu passed through the black torii gate, proceeding down the shrine’s courtyard. A single, narrow path of stone steps ran down the center of a massive field of red spider lilies, the flowers all blooming in the direction of the shrine’s worship hall.

“I must say, this actually isn’t as bad as thought it was going to be. Were you pulling one over on us, Izanami?” Carmilla asked.

“No, I was serious!” Izanami cried. “Last time we were here, everything tried to kill us! We barely survived!”

“Whatever’s going on, I’m just glad we got here with no resistance.” Hima said, stepping forth. “The lord of the Underworld lies inside, right? Which means we just need you to take the title from them.”

Osamu ascended the steps of the shrine, approaching the massive, wooden double-door separating him from the lord of the Underworld. He pushed with all of his might, prompting Carmilla and Taeko to help him. Together, the three were able to crack open one of the doors. Everyone stepped inside and were met with cold air and impenetrable darkness.

All of a sudden, dots of light sprung out of the darkness like distant stars. It was as if they were all standing in the middle of the universe rather than a shrine. The stars lit the way towards a throne down the middle of the room, the lord of the Underworld’s rightful place.

But something was terribly, terribly wrong. Izanami stood petrified in shock and terror. The person sitting on the throne was not the same one she entrusted the Underworld to.

“…It can’t be…” Izanami muttered.

The lord of the Underworld raised his head, his red eyes shining through his veil of long, silver hair. His loosely wrapped robes revealed the pale skin of his chest and the black veins throbbing beneath them.

“Osamu…” he muttered, his voice familiar to Izanami and Taeko.

Osamu stepped forth, taking his hands out of his pockets. “You did well…Satori.”

“Osamu…what’s going on?” Izanami asked, her voice shivering in fear. “Why is Satori the lord of the Underworld? What did you do?”

Osamu stepped even closer to Satori, close enough to touch him. He looked into Satori’s eyes, seeing not a trace of the man he used to be. Satori’s personality, his sense of self, even his very sentience were destroyed. He was nothing more than a hollow shell of himself.

Whatever Osamu had done, it seemed it hadn’t gone quite according to plan. Osamu shook Satori’s shoulders and called out his name, but he didn’t receive any intelligent response.

“So, you hollowed out, huh?” Osamu said. “Izanami, can you take lordship by force?”

“Osamu!” Izanami screamed.

Satori lunged from his throne and tackled Osamu to the ground. He wrapped his pale hands around Osamu’s throat, strangling him.

“You were…right.” Osamu wheezed, struggling to squeeze the words out. “You and I…really were…the same.”

Carmilla swept in even faster than Izanami, kicking Satori in the face and sending him flying back towards the throne. “Osamu, you okay?”

Izanami helped Osamu stand as he coughed repeatedly. “Hey, say something! Why is Satori here?”

Osamu pushed Izanami away, focusing entirely on Satori.

“Carmilla, be careful not to kill him. We need Izanami to take lordship.” Osamu said.

“Fine, but hurry it up, Izanami!” Carmilla shouted.

Sensing their lord was in danger, the demons of the Underworld swarmed upon the temple, banging on the doors, walls, and windows in a desperate effort to break inside. Hima, Taeko, and Carmilla formed a circle around Osamu while Izanami stepped forth to confront Satori. Osamu’s dark, baggy eyes focused on Satori. The lord of the Underworld slowly staggered onto his feet as a black miasma rose from his body like smoke from a stick of incense.

Osamu remembered the duplicitous man he met all those years ago, a noble man who wore savagery like a cloak. In his final days, all the riches in the world didn’t matter to him. He sacrificed it all for his love for Kagutsuchi. Satori was a man willing to do whatever it took to see his goals through to the end.

“It’s over, Satori.” Osamu said, closing his eyes. “Rest.”

Taeko ran in front of Izanami and flourished her black feather. In the blink of an eye, the feather switched Taeko’s and Satori’s spots. Satori now stood in front of Izanami while Taeko was teleported next to the throne. Izanami reeled her scythe back, only for her hands to be sliced clean off her arms. Her eyes widened in shock. Satori didn’t even move a muscle and managed to attack her.

Hima pulled Izanami out of Satori’s reach while Carmilla rushed him from the front. Before she could land a hit on him, something sharp sliced through the air, lopping off a small lock of her hair.

Izanami gnashed her teeth as her hands regenerated, the bone, veins, flesh, and skin all growing anew in an instant. She summoned her scythe back into her right hand, and to everyone’s surprise, threw it right at Satori’s head. Satori quickly leaned out of the way, but instead of tumbling through the air and landing on the floor, the scythe seemed to have struck something and floated above Satori’s right shoulder.

“I knew it!” Izanami growled. “Taeko! They’re phantom blades!”

“Two can play at that game! Back me up, Taeko!” Hima shouted, aiming her palm at Satori.

Taeko aimed her black feather above Satori’s left shoulder while Hima aimed her palm above his right. Four orbs of blue light appeared above Hima’s head, quickly shifting into the shape of four short swords. 

The blades pointed themselves at Satori and were flung forth by the flick of Hima’s wrist. The blades sped like bullets before striking the air above Satori’s left side, while Taeko’s crows appeared out of thin air above Satori’s right side.

Hima’s blades exploded into a cold, lunar light that revealed two sword-wielding demons protecting Satori. The two demons looked like tall, bloated corpses, their skin a greenish-white ravaged by pungent rot. Neither of them had heads nor any clothes around their naked, decomposing bodies. At the same time, Taeko’s crows feasted upon the dead flesh of the demons the moment they were revealed by Hima’s blades of lunar light.

A flock of crows ate their way out from the inside of one of the demon’s bellies, causing its intestines to fly out across the worship hall. Osamu took the moment to pay close attention to Hima’s power. He didn’t know what to expect of her combat abilities, but it seemed the lost vampire queen wasn’t as defenseless as he thought.

(It works against demons the same way Gekko’s purifying ice did against Kagutsuchi during the Warring States. So, she uses lunar powers to fight. Perfect. It’s exactly as I saw it.)

Taeko’s crows swarmed around Satori, blinding him as Izanami rushed forward. She reached her hand into the vortex of crows and grabbed Satori by the neck. Satori clawed at Izanami’s fingers as they pressed deeper into his skin, but he couldn’t loosen her grip around his neck.

Just when it seemed like she had him, Satori suddenly vanished. Izanami stumbled forward, completely taken aback but Satori’s disappearance.

“Where did he go?” Carmilla asked, looking around.

“Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy.” Taeko growled.

The sound of shattering glass alerted them to the demons breaking into the windows around the temple. The stench of decaying flesh wafted in through the broken windows as lumbering hordes of shikome crawled into the temple. Osamu’s eyes widened in worry and anger. He wouldn’t just stand there defenseless.

While everyone surrounded Osamu with their backs facing him, he clasped his hands together and whispered a prayer beneath his breath, the words unheard by anyone around him. Carmilla slammed her palms on the floor, making all the tiling in the palace glow with a soft, blue light. The light burned the flesh of the invading shikome as if it were acid, making them all fall flat on their faces, only for the light to make soup of their skin and flesh.

Fetid steam arose from the shikome’s cooking flesh, the stench only attracting more of the Underworld’s thralls to the Onyx Temple. Making use of Carmilla’s light, Hima summoned more than a dozen lunar swords out of the glowing floor. The blades surrounded her and the others in a phalanx formation.

While Hima handled defense, Taeko took over on offense. She flourished her black feather, summoning a swarm of black crows that flooded the broken windows. The crows blew back the approaching demons and stripped the flesh from their bones. Just when it seemed they had repelled the demonic advance, they were greeted with loud bangs coming from the temple ceiling.

Pieces of the ceiling came crashing down on the ground, the light of the Underworld’s Eye shining through like a hellish spotlight. A pack of feral jikininki growled and roared from above as the stench cooked flesh and Osamu’s divine blood excited their appetite.

“Taeko, above us!” Carmilla shouted.

“Shit!” Taeko cursed, sending her crows up to the ceiling.

Unlike the weaker monsters of the Underworld, the jikininki tore through Taeko’s flock of crows. They snatched the birds right out of the air with their elongated arms and bit their heads off to kill them. They spit the severed bird heads right back at Taeko and the others, even as the rest of the flock picked at their flesh.

Izanami raised her palm towards the ceiling, focusing her vision on the monstrous face of one of the long-haired jikiniki poking its head through the hole above. She squeezed her hand tight until she made a fist. 

Suddenly, the jikininki’s face flashed with a black miasma, and when it dissipated, there was nothing left but a naked skull. The dead jikiniki crashed through the ceiling, landing on the glowing floor where Carmilla’s lunar light devoured its flesh.

“Well that’s new!” Taeko said. “Where was that when Satori was here?”

“I…I didn’t know I could do that.” Izanami said, staring at her hand.

“This is it!” Osamu warned.

Satori came out of hiding, becoming visible once again. He leaped off of the wooden support beam in the ceiling and came crashing down upon Carmilla’s lunar light. His feet were melted upon impact, bringing him to his knees. Carmilla swiped her hand across the air, making the lunar light vanish so that she didn’t accidentally kill Satori.

“He’s vulnerable! Do it now, Izanami!” Hima screamed.

Izanami dashed towards Satori with her scythe in hand. With one swing, she lopped off Satori’s arms, sending the bloody limbs flying across the floor. She then pushed her foot onto Satori’s neck, knocking him onto his back as she continued to crush his trachea. With Satori restrained, Izanami de-summoned her scythe, the blade fading into petals of bright light.

Satori squirmed and struggled beneath Izanami’s foot to no avail as his arms leaked black blood all across the floor. Izanami clasped her hands together as she gazed into Satori’s eyes, remembering the extraordinarily selfless man he used to be. All of his heroism, his sacrifice, it was all trampled upon by none other than her own husband.

She turned her head, stealing a glance at Osamu through the corner of her eye. He stood there with a terrifying aura about him. It was as if he was just waiting for Izanami to strip Satori of his lordship. All of a sudden, their entire foray into the Underworld didn’t feel right to her. It all felt too easy, too convenient. Satori had no reason to jump down from his hiding spot if he knew that lunar magic would kill him.

The fine hairs on her arms stood up and a chill shot down her spine as she stared at Osamu, who stared back at her with a vicious glint in his eye.

“Do it.” Osamu ordered.

Izanami returned her gaze to Satori. “I’m so sorry. Please rest in peace, Satori.”

Satori’s body instantly turned black. His skin was reduced to ashen flakes that were lifted up towards the hole in the ceiling. His flesh burned until nothing but fetid vapor was left, and his bones became dust on the floor. His ashes fell upon Izanami, while his bone dust levitated off the floor and coiled around her head, forming a circlet of ash.

The circlet turned into flame, its orange, flickering light reflecting off of the black walls of the Onyx Temple. Then, all of a sudden, the demons that had been trying to break into the temple stopped their assault. Their harrowing screams and roars went silent as they all returned to bowing before the temple. Izanami was their lord now.

Hima released a sigh of relief before falling onto her knees. “You were right, Izanami. This place is dreadful…”

Carmilla smiled as she cracked the knuckles in her right hand. “Thank god we had lunar magic at our disposal. That could’ve gone much worse.”

Taeko stepped forth, noticing that Izanami wasn’t responding to everyone’s elation. “Izanami? Are you okay?”

Taeko’s eyes widened in horror as she noticed Izanami’s facial expression. It was as if she had just seen the most horrifying atrocity in her life. Her eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of her head. She gnashed her teeth together and clenched her fists so tightly that her nails drew blood from her palms.

Izanami remembered some of the last words Satori ever spoke to her. Their final exchange was a whisper, a secret between the two of them. His words echoed in her mind.

“Bishamon knows. Hima and Magatori might know too.”

Tears fell from Izanami’s eyes as she stared off into space. The moment she took lordship from Satori, she was bombarded with the most terrifying images she had ever witnessed in her life. She saw flashes of a an eclipsed sun lording over a blackened sky, shining a ghostly veil of orange light upon a scarlet ocean. She saw the world’s armies screaming in terror as they ran for their lives.

Families huddled in their homes as a massive wave of flames torched their cities, reducing entire landmasses to blistered wastelands. Izanami heard the screams of millions as they all waited for the end. What terrified her even more than that were the bombastic voices of millions more chanting Osamu’s name. It sounded like a sea of people, like an entire nation.

Izanami saw everything so quickly she could hardly make sense of it. Osamu laid his hand on her shoulder, snapping out her out of her trance.

“We’ve done it, Izanami. With this, you’re in control of the Underworld again.” Osamu said.

“Osamu, Taeko…why was Satori here?” Izanami asked.

Osamu hesitated to give her an answer. Whatever it is he had planned, whatever he wanted out of this trip into the Underworld, he had gotten it, and he had done so while making Izanami believe that none of this was planned. But Izanami was perceptive. She picked up on Osamu’s complete lack of shock at seeing Satori on the throne of the Underworld.

“You know something about this, Osamu?” Taeko asked.

“Does all of this really matter? We got what we came for.” Hima interjected. “With Izanami in control of the Underworld, we can use a portion of its horde as our army. Now we have everything we’ll need to convince the Yakutsk Council to found our nation.

“It matters to me!” Izanami shouted. “I need to know what price had to be paid for this to be possible. You don’t get to ask for my help while keeping me in the dark. That young man’s name was Satori Sentani. He protected my daughter with his life. I want to know why he was down here.”

“It’s simple.” Osamu said. “Satori became the lord of the Underworld because I told him to do it. I’ve been preparing for this war for much longer than you think, Izanami.”

“…You did what? Why?” Izanami asked, the breath sapped from her lungs.

Taeko turned her head towards Osamu, her mouth agape. “When did you…”

“It was all to make this part of the war easier.” Osamu answered. “Instead of having to fight our way here, we were able to walk right in. The only issue was that Satori wasn’t able to stay human while he was lord. Like Hima said, we got what we came here for. We can talk about this when we return to Earth.”

Izanami was no fool. She saw no desire to tell the truth in Osamu’s eyes. What scared her more was that even Taeko didn’t know that Osamu had done all of this. Izanami could only surmise that Osamu had a plan of his own, one he couldn’t even share with his closest ally.

“Good work, everyone!” Hima sang, trailing her fingertips across Osamu’s forearm as she passed by him. “Izanami, if you’d please take us back. We can’t afford to waste time. Now that we’ve tamed the Underworld’s monsters, it’s time for the next phase of our plan. Osamu, Taeko, Carmilla, Annabel, and myself will all be going to Yakutsk. It’s time for my debut as the new queen of vampires.”

“…Fine.” Izanami sighed. “Just remember that when the time comes for you to use these monsters, you’ll be entirely at my mercy. No one here is able to take lordship from me by force.”

“We’re well aware of that.” Carmilla said. “We’re placing our trust in you, Izanami. We only need a small portion of the monsters here to bolster our forces. We’ll share our military strategy with you as soon as consult with the Yakutsk Council.”

“Okay.” Izanami said, her shoulder slumped low. “Well then, let’s go back to the castle.”

Everyone huddled Izanami, letting her take them away from the Onyx Temple and back to the serene halls of Moonglow Castle. Their journey was far shorter and easier than anyone expected, the sole exception being Osamu.

Carmilla sniffed her underarms, her face scrunching at the stench. “Goodness, I think it’s already time for another bath.”

“It was all worth it!” Hima tittered, her cheeks pink with joy. “And not a moment too soon. Carmilla, how soon can we get the Yakutsk Council to assemble?”

“Everyone’s already on standby, so they’ll be ready within twenty-four hours.” Carmilla answered as she stretched her arms towards the ceiling. “I can’t believe we’re at this point. It won’t be long before our safe haven officially becomes a new nation. Dracula would be proud.”

“Yes, indeed.” Hima said, turning her gaze towards Osamu. “Which means it’s about time we make good on the next portion of our deal, Osamu. Since we’re all returning to the baths anyway, do you want to do it there?”

“Fine by me.” Osamu answered.

“What portion?” Izanami asked.

“In order for Hima’s body to mature into adulthood, she needs to feed on human blood.” Carmilla explained. “Osamu has agreed to have her drink a portion of his own blood to achieve this. We’ll be taking a sample via syringe so he doesn’t turn into a vampire.”

“A vampire…drinking a god’s blood?” Izanami gasped, her lips trembling in fear.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Hima sang, throwing her arms around Izanami’s waist. “Everyone will be forced to recognize me as the queen! My lineage and scent will be undeniable! And now, all thanks to you, my nation will have an army! I don’t know how I can ever repay you, Izanami!”

Rather than fill her with joy, Hima’s smile and jovial mood terrified Izanami. Osamu noticed the confused horror on her face, the regret lingering in her trembling frown and bloodshot eyes. She wanted nothing more than to trust Osamu, but she couldn’t ignore the gnawing feeling that he had just used her as a mean to an awful end.

Izanami turned away from Hima and the others, storming off down the hall. A perplexed Hima turned to Osamu and Taeko, her elation soured by Izanami’s mood.

“Well, she doesn’t seem too happy about this.” Hima said. “Who was that guy we fought down there? Someone special to you?”

“Satori was a friend of mine who helped me rescue Kagutsuchi from the exorcists.” Taeko said. “He died to make that happen, which is why I don’t understand how you were able to get him to become the lord of the Underworld, Osamu. When we drafted our plans for this war, you neglected to mention the fact that you had already enacted plans of your own. Mind explaining why you left me in the dark? What happened between you and Satori?”

“When a lord of the Underworld is succeeded, the new lord inherits the memories of the old one.” Osamu said.

“…What?” Taeko recoiled, confused.

Osamu stepped closer to Taeko, his oppressive presence making her take three steps back. “Izanami now has Satori’s memories, which means she’s seen all that’s happened between him and I. You want to know what happened? Ask her.”

(Of course…it also means you’ve seen a glimpse of the future, haven’t you, Izanami? I wonder what you’ll do now. After today, Izanami may no longer be on our side…)

Izanami’s footsteps echoed through the halls of Moonglow Castle in search of the only person who could help her make sense of what was happening. She eventually found Shinju standing on one of the many balconies of the castle, watching as the morning sun rose over the ocean of green hills to the east.

Startled, Shinju spun around as the Welsh breeze combed through her voluminous, orange hair and saw Izanami standing before her.

“Izanami…” Shinju murmured.

“Shinju, you were there when they made their deal with Hima, right?” Izanami asked. “Please, I need you to tell me what happened.”

Shinju smiled as she shook her head and turned back around. “The funny thing is, Izanami, I’m not even sure I understand what happened myself. Osamu and Taeko…they really planned all of this out. There’s so many moving parts to all of this.”

Izanami’s brows shot up as she realized something strange about their conversation. “Wait..aren’t you going to ask where I’ve been? I wasn’t here last night.”

“I already know. Those two roped you into taking control of the Underworld, didn’t they? What I’m really wondering is why you agreed to help them. You must really love Osamu.”

“As bad as things are right now, I want to believe in him just as he always believed in me. I still believe he’s the kindhearted boy I’ve known all these years.”

“Kindhearted? I love you, Izanami, but you’re a fool if you don’t see what’s happening here. He’s no longer to boy you knew. I’ve known him for half the time as you and I don’t even recognize him anymore. We’re talking about a man who masterminded an attack that killed thousands of innocent people, his own countrymen. This is a man who sacrificed his own daughter so he could start a massive war. What part of that is kindhearted?”

“Then he must have a reason!” Izanami cried, holding her right hand over her heart. “A reason for him to go this far. A reason to do all these terrible things. I want to believe that! I don’t want all of this to be for nothing!”

Izanami covered her sobbing face with her hands as the wind sent waves through her floral-patterned, summer dress. “I don’t want to believe what I saw will come to pass. Attacking Kyoto was one thing, but that? He would never do something so monstrous!”

“What do you mean? What’s going to happen?” Shinju asked, her voice trembling with concern.

“Shinju, I know you’re loyal to Taeko and Osamu, but there might come a time when…”

Izanami stopped herself, purging the thought from her mind. Despite everything she saw, she still sincerely believed in Osamu. She truly believed that she could stop the catastrophe she witnessed through Satori’s memories.

“Shinju, please. I’m not asking you to share their entire plan with me. I won’t force you to betray them like that. But I do need to know why Osamu agreed to give her Inari’s blood. I need to know what they plan to do after their meeting with the Yakutsk Council.”

Shinju clutched her arm in her hand and turned away from Izanami. With what she knew, she could hardly stand to look into Izanami’s eyes. She had no way of breaking to her that her husband had planned his own death, all so he could give the terrible power of Bloodcraft to Hima.

Knowing that Osamu would soon make widows out of his wives was a burden upon her heart. She had always extolled the values of truth and justice, and yet she found herself unable to be honest with her own relative, unable to betray two friends that were going down a dark and horrific path.

Shinju’s lips parted and she sucked in the air to speak. “Hima is only taking a portion of Osamu’s blood. This won’t give Hima any of Inari’s powers, but it will help her mature into a young woman in time before the meeting in Yakutsk. She can’t rule the country if she’s still just a small girl, after all. As for the next step…well…”

“What is it?” Izanami asked.

“…Carmilla, Annabel, and Taeko are going to become lords. Osamu is going to become the king. He and Hima will have a devoted and fully militarized nation under their command, exactly what they need to fight against the Shinto pantheon and the armies of the world.”

Izanami had no words to say. All she could do was stand petrified by the magnitude of what Osamu planned to do. Never did she think that the sweet boy she once met at her shrine would one day become a monarch of his very own nation, nor the catalyst of a global war. And of course, if Osamu was going to be Hima’s king, it meant that Hima would soon become a sister wife to Izanami and the other girls.

Osamu marched down the halls of Moonglow Castle with a determined fire in his eyes. He was inching ever closer to one of his most important goals; becoming the king of his new nation.

(I wonder what you’ll do…Izanami.)