[The End of Osamu Ashikaga]: Extermination

It was a sunny day like any other. Osamu heard the front door of the house open all the way from upstairs. He had never run down the stairs faster in his life. He knew that Izanami and Tsukiakari returned from their meeting in Heaven. The two goddesses had penned eloquently worded speeches filled to the brim with arguments supporting Heaven’s show of clemency towards Osamu.

In their ideal scenario, instead of killing Osamu to take Inari’s blood and heart, Heaven and the Exorcist Program would ensure their protection, so that no one would steal such a power for themselves. Heaven wouldn’t be able to get their hands on Inari’s dreadful power, but at the same time, it would put the fear of someone else stealing it to rest.

Osamu had a bright and hopeful smile on his face as he raced to the front door. He had always known Izanami for her diplomatic ability. After all, she spent years playing mediator between Osamu’s ex-girlfriends in their early days of living together.

It may as well have been pouring rain that day, because when Izanami and Tsukiakari stepped inside and locked eyes with Osamu, it wasn’t elation sparkling in their eyes. It was tears. Heaven had flat-out rejected their motion for clemency.

“I’m so sorry, Osa…” Izanami sobbed. “I…tried so hard! I’m sorry!”

Izanami fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands as Tsukiakari knelt to hug her close. The smile on Osamu’s face slowly faded away. He couldn’t understand it. Was their argument not good enough? Were their reasons not sound? What on earth would possess the gods to continue down this path, knowing full well it would only set Osamu and his family against them?

It all seemed so irrational, so insane. Now that he carried a god’s blood and heart, he couldn’t die of natural causes. It wasn’t like the pantheon could just wait until he died of old age and then take Osamu’s power.

The only way to take it was to kill him. Not only that, but the Exorcist Program and its personnel outright refused to offer Osamu any protection. Why would they, considering he fought alongside Inari and killed so many fine men and women alongside her?

Even if the Exorcist Program did agree to Izanami’s plan, it would’ve been a political nightmare for them. How were they to explain to the Japanese government that they were protecting one of the central figures of the Inari Standoff? It would cause outrage and confusion among the country’s political class and population.

The entire notion of sparing Osamu was treated as an absurdity on its face, a fairytale coined by idealistic murderers. Right then, at that moment, Osamu knew the pantheon was pushing him ever closer towards the only other option available to him; supporting Taeko’s plan and starting the Third Great Holy War.

Osamu’s meetings with Taeko became more and more frequent as his hopes for clemency dwindled. On this particular day, he met not only with Taeko in the abandoned bowling alley, but also with Carmilla, Anne, and Manami. That day, as the afternoon sun splashed against their faces through the rows of colored windows, the five of them huddled around a map of Kyoto and planned out the vicious attack that would take place.

“As you requested, we’ve added more targets in the attack.” Manami said, sitting in her wheelchair. “Are you two sure about this? These are civilian targets. The death toll will climb significantly if we attack them.”

“That’s exactly why we want you to bomb these targets.” Taeko said. “We need to buy ourselves as much time as possible so we can found our new nation. An attack of this magnitude will keep the Exorcist Program occupied while we prepare to fight the war at hand.”

“It’s unfortunate, but I just don’t see any other way.” Carmilla said. “We can’t risk the Exorcist Program tracking us back to Moonglow Castle. They’ll kill us all.”

Manami released a heavy sigh. “Okay then. I understand. Though, to hit this many targets, we’ll have to gather more men. I need people who can plant the bombs without drawing attention to themselves.”

“Leave that to me. We vampires were made to blend in.” Carmilla said. "While we're gathered here, there's another issue I wanted to address. It's the matter of our new nation's security. Our nation will be at war with the world from the moment of its infancy, with our immediate threat being Russia. We've done a lot to prepare our armed forces for war, but it will still take time to get ready for a fight of this magnitude. We need deterrence. As it stands, Yakutsk has none."

"The answer to that problem is quite simple," Manami interjected. "We'll use the Shoku Twins. They're our sole means of deterrence against the world. If they unlink for too long, the very fabric of time and space will tear itself apart."

Taeko crossed her arms as she turned her back to everyone, dipping her head in contemplation. "The way I foresee things, we kick this war off and destroy Kyoto. While the country regroups, we go ahead and found our own nation. The world is going to realize what's going on once we get started. If we have the Shoku Twins stand in as deterrence, the world won't be able to touch us for a while."

Osamu snapped out of his daze, his eyes darting across the room and scanning the faces of everyone in the room. He gritted his teeth as his brows sunk in a mix of disbelief and anger.

"But what reason do we have to believe that the twins will agree to do this for us?" Carmilla asked. "What's in it for them?"

"Well..." Manami began, "I think they're biggest motivator is keeping Osamu alive. Osamu, if you ask them to do this, the twins will definitely say yes."

"That's unacceptable." Osamu said. Taeko, Manami, and Carmilla looked at him with wide-opened eyes and astonished gazes. "The Shoku Twins were made into gods to settle an internal dispute within the Shinto pantheon. They've been treated as means to an end for their entire existence. Now you want me to manipulate them into doing the same thing for our nation? Here's another issue with that plan; this power will need to be transferred to Hima, sooner or later. Most likely, I have to die to make that happen. If I die, the twins would lose all reason to act as your deterrence." 

"I understand your concern," Carmilla responded, "I really do. Let me ask you, then. How will we protect our nation against the world? What's our deterrence, if not the Shoku Twins?"

Osamu didn't have an answer. Carmilla knew that as she watched him slump his shoulders and break eye contact with her. The truth was that using the Shoku Twins to buy time for their new nation was the most sensible and pragmatic option at their disposal. They didn't have any other way to threaten the world.

"Osamu, think about it logically." Manami said. "The world's armies are going to be gunning for you and Taeko. This strategy protects you and the nation we're going to build. It protects the people of Yakutsk, Hima, and everyone that's vital to this plan. We'll all be massacred if the twins don't buy us the time we need to prepare Yakutsk. Then Russia, Japan, or some other nation will take Inari's Bloodcraft for themselves. Lord only knows what will happen after that."

Osamu’s eyes had already grown dark and lifeless. Taeko noticed that much when she looked at him, realizing that his outburst was the only time he had really spoken during that meeting. A small part of Osamu still believed the entire war could be avoided. He simply didn’t know how. So, he went to the only two people who could help him search for it; the Shoku Twins.

Osamu and the Shoku Twins first met in secret in the cemetery a few blocks away from the house. Flocks of wood pigeons soared across the fiery, orange sky as the sun took its seat upon the western horizon, the smallest traces of night’s darkness beginning to creep from the east. The sun cased elongated shadows from the gravestones surrounding Osamu and the twins.

“Trying to change anything we see will adversely affect our current time.” Akatsuki warned. “It’s best we avoid that. We don’t know what the results will be.”

“I understand.” Osamu said. “I only want to witness it. I want to see how this is solved in other timelines. If this war is avoided in even a single timeline, we can replicate the steps I took in our time. Maybe we might be able to save this world.”

“But…what if we don’t find an answer?” Omagatoki asked.

“I…I don’t know.” Osamu replied, his eyes sinking in sorrow. “I’ve been trying not to think about that.”

The twins held his hands, and together, the three peered into the future. But instead of finding solutions, they witnessed unspeakable horrors. They saw a thousand different scenarios play out before them, all of them ending in the deaths of Osamu, his friends, his family, and even his children. Captured, executed, tortured, and assassinated, Osamu saw his demise play out in every horrific way imaginable. Not a single timeline they saw had a peaceful resolution. It all ended in war.

Each day, he and the twins would return to their meeting spot and search through more timelines. Eventually, they actually managed to find one where the war didn’t happen.

“What? Really?!” Osamu asked, his eyes glimmering with long-lost hope.

Akatsuki nodded and smiled in elation. “We did, we found one! Let’s go see what prevented the war from taking place! Then, just like you said, we can replicate the steps here!”

“Ready to save the world again, Osa?” Omagatoki asked, hugging his leg.

“Yeah! Thanks, you guys! I don’t know what I’d do without you!” Osamu sang. “Let’s go see it together!”

Osamu’s bright and joyful expression immediately turned into shellshocked horror. The solution to end the war was not at all what he expected it to be. It was a timeline where Osamu succeeded in his suicide attempt at Izanami’s shrine.

Osamu stood before his own body, swinging from a tree in Izanami’s shrine with a rope tied firmly around his neck. A full moon hung over the shrine, enwreathing the teenage Osamu’s corpse in a ghostly veil of moonlight, a family of flies gathering around his opened mouth and sucking at the liquid coating his eyeballs.

Seeing himself swing dead from the branch of a cedar tree, Osamu finally discovered the solution to his quest for peace. He fell to his knees and covered his mouth, not to stifle awestruck sobs or cries of grief, but to hold back his own laughter. Unable to stop them, he parted his fingers and covered his face with his hands, his laughs filling the air.

“Of course!” Osamu chuckled. “That really was the answer all along! If I had just died back then…no war would ever start over my worthless life!”

Akatsuki and Omagatoki looked on in terror. Even Akatsuki’s face wrinkled in grief and fear. Her heart threatened to beat it way out of her ribcage with its relentless thumping.

“Osamu…we’re so sorry! We didn’t know!” Akatsuki wept. “We didn’t know…”

“It’s not your fault…” Osamu said, holding his head in his hands. “It’s mine. I’m sorry I didn’t kill myself. I’m sorry I didn’t die. I wasn’t brave enough, and now…now you two will get dragged into this horrible war with me! Please forgive me! I never meant to hurt you like this! It’s all my fault!”

The twins didn’t know what to say. All they knew was that they didn’t want to live in a timeline where their beloved big brother ends his own life. They refused to accept Osamu’s death as a solution to any problem, even if it meant averting the most catastrophic war in the history of mankind.

There were an innumerable amount of moving parts and variables in the planning for the Third Great Holy War. Each thought, problem, and possible solution were like dozens of needles stabbing into Osamu's brain. Not only did Osamu have to plan for the war itself, but for the post-war world as well. He had to make certain his family and friends would survive the conflict, that they wouldn't be hunted down or persecuted after the war's end. 

With so much weighing on his mind, Osamu took a walk through his neighborhood one late afternoon. Instead of circling the neighborhood and going back to the house, Osamu kept walking until he ended up in the busy, metropolitan heart of Downtown Kyoto. The orange-golden light of the sun beamed down every street, making the traffic lines on the concrete glow with blinding radiance. Light bounced off of the windows of glass-covered skyscrapers, shining back onto the congested crosswalks and buses below.

Osamu walked among the thousands of people wafting through Kyoto's busy streets. The previous meeting with Taeko and the others, and the things he saw with the Shoku Twins all stole whatever hope and optimism once remained in his eyes. He sauntered the streets like a zombie, his mind drifting far away from his own surroundings.

(No matter how you look at it, Manami and Carmilla are right. Without the Shoku Twins, we have no way of defending our new nation. Even if this war goes well and we weaken the Shinto pantheon as well as the global alliance, that probably gives us fifty or so years of relative safety. Yoko and the others will be able to live the rest of their lives in our new nation. Our kids too. But...what about our grandchildren, and their children after that?

(What's going to happen when the world eventually recovers from the war? The world will have years to regroup their forces and make plans to take Inari's Bloodcraft from Hima. It's also a possibility that the destruction of Japan's Exorcist Program will allow technology to outpace magic and divine regalia. In which case...the Shoku Twins might not be able to defend our nation after a while. There isn't even a guarantee they'll want to continue defending it after I'm dead and gone. More than that...I don't want them to be used as weapons for the rest of their lives. I won't do that to them. I just won't.

(I don't know what else to do, though. In all honesty...the only reason why the Shoku Twins are so vital to this plan is because we have no way of taking the world out of the equation. Even with a war of this magnitude, the nations of the world will eventually come back to fight us. All we're really doing with this war is buying time, but in reality, the standoff for Inari's power is still going. It's just being escalated to a global scale.)

The crosswalk light turned green, signaling the dense flock of pedestrians to cross the street. Salarymen with expensive watches on their wrists and up-to-date cellphones held to their ears walked alongside giggling high school girls, elderly couples out on the town, and housewives carrying shopping bags back to their homes and families. But Osamu didn't walk with them. He stood with his eyes stuck wide open and his pupils shrunken into tiny, brown dots. The life and color bled from his face and his hands shook in terror.

(What if we could take the world out of the equation? What if...I destroyed the world? Not just the allied armies...but everyone the world over. Izanami was once in control of the Underworld and its demons. She commanded them to pursue Izanagi on the day of their divorce. Not to mention that Satori was able to do the same thing on a smaller scale when his servants turned into shikome. That means it might be possible to take control of them again. We would have a way to destroy the rest of the world while leaving our new nation unscathed.

Beads of cold sweat running down his sideburns, Osamu scanned the faces of the people making their towards him from the opposite end of the crosswalk. For just a split-second, flashes of each person's future appeared before him. He looked at a smiling, little boy holding hands with his father and saw the image of them both lying in a pool of blood, their bodies reduced to broken skeletons with tattered clothing clinging to their bones. 

He looked at a young woman jogging across the street and saw an image of her hanging herself in her dining room as colossal skeletons marched towards her neighborhood, the undead horde visible from her apartment window. He then looked at a group of four high school boys walking towards him and saw that they would burn alive in an overpacked train that was caught in the astral veil of a colossal skeleton and caught fire.

 For each and every face he saw, he had to witness flashes of their horrific and terrifying deaths, deaths that would occur if he explored the option to use the Underworld further.

(Am I...going to kill all of these people? Not just my own countrymen, but everyone across the world. Every man...every woman...every child. I would be responsible for the deaths of nearly seven billion people. It would be the worst act of genocide in human history. All of their dreams, all of their futures, their lives...it would all be destroyed. What the hell am I thinking? I can't do something that monstrous. No one would even support it. This is crazy! I...)

The pedestrians cleared the crosswalk, unveiling a horrific sight to Osamu, one he witnessed in the months before he attempted suicide and left his hometown. He saw the body of the girl he watched die all those years ago lying on the road, her chubby face and brown, curly hair soaked in blood after being struck be a car. The ambience of Kyoto's metropolitan heart gave way to deafening silence. The whole world around Osamu seemed to darken except for the body of that little girl. Even his own thoughts went silent.

All he felt in that moment was the fiery, uncontrollable will to fight back against the world, to atone for his inaction on the day he watched that girl die. Tears flooded his eyes and his hands balled up into tight fists. He was falling apart, torn between his own humanity and his desperate desire for peace. Most of all, he wanted to protect the people he loved. He wanted to set everyone free from their burdens. 

He wanted Akatsuki and Omagatoki to live as people, not as weapons. He wanted Izanami to be free from her burdensome duty as the goddess of death. He wanted Amaterasu to be free from her torturous role as Heaven's queen and her responsibility to live up to the construct of a leader. Everyone he loved was robbed of the most important choices in their lives. Osamu wanted, with all his heart, to give it back to them.

That day, Osamu went home from his walk and locked himself in his room. He hardly spoke a word to his wives and went completely silent at the meetings he attended with Taeko, Carmilla, and Manami. Everyone knew he had a lot on his mind. He was the most wanted and controversial man in Japan, after all. However, no one could have ever known that Osamu was seriously contemplating going through with the most horrific atrocity in human history. To everyone who knew him, it was unthinkable that he would even entertain the notion of murdering billions of people across the world to save his family.

Osamu knew his friends and family would be against the slaughter of the human race. So, he sought out the only two people that were utterly loyal to him and shared his newfound disdain for humanity; the Shoku Twins.

Their next meeting took place at the beach, a crescent moon hanging above the ocean. Osamu stood at the shore with his messy, raven hair tied into an unkempt bun and his feet atop the sea-kissed sand.

He had spent years looking through timelines, writing vain pleas for clemency, and sending Izanami to voice his arguments to the pantheon. But after witnessing the one timeline where he managed to avert a war, all of his efforts for peace stopped.

He never wrote another letter. He never consulted with Izanami, nor did he stay up through the night with her to draft speeches for clemency. He wouldn’t even speak to his own wives anymore.

After witnessing that horrible moment, every shred of hope and optimism died within him.

“I used to think it was absurd…” Osamu began, staring at the vast, empty horizon before him. “Why were we the only ones striving for peace? But then I realized that it wasn’t absurd at all. What was absurd…was peace itself.”

“…Osamu?” Omagatoki recoiled with a worried tone.

“Peace is just a failed project invented by the world’s idealists and sophists.” Osamu growled. “It’s a fantasy for people who believe the world’s problems can be solved by rationality and kindness. They believe everything happens for a sound reason, and so reason itself can change the world.

“It’s all bullshit. For every rational human being, there’s a thousand irrational, unhinged psychos behind him. People who will maim and kill you for seemingly no reason. People who roam the streets, talking to themselves. People who view other races as filth upon the earth. They’re ruled by passion at best, and dogmatic ideology at worst.

“To believe in peace is to willingly blind yourself to the full scope of human nature, to the incomprehensible and irrational side of this species that leads to war and atrocities. The only thing that can stop such violent irrationality…is death.”

“So you’re going along with Taeko’s plan?” Akatsuki asked.

“Yeah, but only for as long as it suits me.” Osamu said.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Omagatoki questioned.

“The reason I wanted to meet here today is because I have my own plan.” Osamu said. “I’ll need your help to carry it out.”

The way Osamu said it, Akatsuki knew it wouldn’t be anything they wanted to hear. “Your own plan?”

Osamu gave the twins a hellish, haunting glare. He had clearly thought long and hard about what he should do, and he had finally accepted the answer provided to him by his base instincts, by the ‘incomprehensible and irrational side’ of himself.

“Listen carefully. I’m going to destroy the world. I’ll open up the Underworld and order the demons I set free to exterminate mankind.” Osamu said. “Entire nations and races will burn away, and with them, humanity’s capability to wage war. That’s the first step of my plan. The second step is follow through with Taeko’s strategy to use the vampires to found a new nation. That nation will be the only superpower left standing by the time the war is done.”

“Your solution…is genocide?” Akatsuki recoiled, her teeth chattering in fear.

“Yes.” Osamu said. “We won’t solve this problem if we only destroy the Shinto pantheon. Even if we wipe out the gods, the governments of the world will punish me and my family. Gekko, Izanami, and the others will do for me exactly what they’re doing now; take a stand. It’s a Fourth Great Holy War waiting to happen. It will only sow the seeds for a fifth, a sixth, and so on.

“My mission is to eliminate war entirely. To do that, I have to destroy the world and eradicate mankind. Otherwise, the world order stays the same. My family and I will suffer while other nations benefit or even profit from these wars. I refuse to allow my family to inherit a world like that. So, I’ll do it. I’ll murder as many people as possible. I won’t stop until the human race is left in shambles.”

“But you can’t just decide the human race is collectively guilty of that!” Akatsuki argued. “Sis and I understand all too well that war is a scourge upon this world. We want to see it come to an end just like you do. But…to doom all of humanity like this? It’s not right.”

Osamu’s expression was soured by anger. He had a glare in his eyes that shined like the reddest blood moon. His hands grew hot with hatred as he looked towards the sea, thinking of all the people living out their lives in their own nations, ignorant and apathetic to what was happening to him and his family.

“You’re right. They’re not guilty of anything. They’re complicit. As long as they all have their bread and circus, the unfettered horrors of this world are invisible to them. As long as they parrot some meaningless, virtuous phrase, they feel involved in this world. In reality, they’re simply watching it rot. You really believe a world full of people like that will ever find the will to end war?

“You two have shown me so much of this world’s history. It all leads to a future where everyone I’ve ever loved will be killed. How am I supposed to put my faith in humanity when that’s the outcome? You both know I’m right. This whole world knows I’m right. But by the time you reach that conclusion, this world will already be hanging off the edge of annihilation. You, Yoko, Gekko, and everyone else we know will already be dead.

“This world already stole your lives and deprived you of the rest you deserved in death. I won’t let them do it again. I’ll wipe out the human race and put an end to all of this.”

“What…what’s the third step?” Omagatoki asked.

Osamu looked to the moon as the wind tugged along a sheet of clouds to obscure it, blocking the last bit of light left in the night sky. “The final step…is to enslave this world. Seven-hundred million people will be all that’s left of the human race by the time this is finished. I’ll force my will upon them, and they’ll force it upon their children, then their children’s children. Everyone bound by my ideology will renounce war.

“I’m going to murder billions of people across the world, all to create the framework for everlasting peace. You two will have to get your hands dirty as well. I’ll undo Izanami’s seal and let you use your full power, if I must.”

“Osamu…” Omagatoki murmured, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“You two have never abandoned me.” Osamu said. “You’ve always valued my life far more than I ever did. This is all to protect you two, as well as all the others.”

Osamu knelt down on his knees, taking the hands of the twins into his own. “Akatsuki. Omagatoki. Will you help me destroy this world?”

The entire world would witness the twins’ answer when they blew up the exorcist prison as well as their headquarters. Osamu knew he could count on their help, for the Shoku Twins loved Osamu like a brother. Just like Taeko and the others, Akatsuki and Omagatoki weren’t willing to just let Osamu and everyone else they loved die.They had already been victimized by one war. They wouldn’t stand to lose all they’ve rebuilt in another.

And so, they agreed to destroy the world with him. They agreed to his plan to initiate Dark Dawn, the great reset of the human race. They knew every step in Osamu’s plan, from the attack on Kyoto to the very enslavement of what remained of humanity.

But they saw no other way. They saw no path to peace. Circumstances pushed them to choose between their beloved big brother and the world, and they made their choice.

The twins remembered it all as they let go of each other’s hands, standing at the window of their hotel suite in Yakutsk. They knew what they had just done and the enormous consequences of it all. Even in that moment, all they thought about was Osamu.

“Big Brother Osamu…” Omagatoki cried. “Good luck…”