Chapter 23: That Day, the Maiden Met Her God (Patreon)

As the young man's fist descended—[BUDDHA-SLAYING TYRANT FIST]!—Akeno Himejima found her mind cast back ten years, to an afternoon etched forever in her memory, one she desperately wished to forget.

Flames roared, consuming the shrine, the flickering crimson light bathing her mother's chilling body, staining her pure white miko robes with the indelible hue of death. The usually tranquil woods echoed with the bloodthirsty shouts of the Himejima clan's Exorcist Squad.

"Grab her! Don't let the bastard child escape!"

"Nothing else matters! She must be captured! Those are the Clan Head's orders!"

"She's the accursed offspring that whore Shuri bore after betraying the Himejima clan with a Fallen Angel! If word of this ever gets out, our entire clan's reputation will be finished!"

"Kill her!"

"Kill her!"

"Kill her!"

Someone... please save me...

Save... Mama...

Behind her, bloodcurdling shouts echoed through the mountain forest, while on a wooded slope to the west, a small figure, a young girl, ran for her life.

Her hair streamed behind her, unbound. The usually comfortable, loose miko robes now felt like lead weights, snagged and ripped by grasping branches as she fled through the undergrowth, leaving a trail of red and white tatters like unintentional breadcrumbs.

But the girl had no time to care. All she could remember were her mother's last words, spoken just before she fell protecting her daughter.

'Akeno, run! Go find... Papa.'

But where was Papa?

He was a Fallen Angel executive, away on a mission assigned by the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels.

And that's why the Himejima clan came. They killed Mama, and now, she too was about to be killed...

The pursuers' shouts were drawing nearer. This time, the clan had dispatched its elite squad to hunt her down. Despite the short time, the faint trail she'd left in her desperate flight had ultimately been found.

"Over here! She went this way!"

"Follow the tracks and the cloth scraps! This is the way!"

"We must kill her!"

It felt like a countdown to death. Hearing the heavy tread of the main group closing in behind her, the young girl, nearing the brink of both physical and mental exhaustion, finally crumbled.

"Papa, where are you... cough, cough!!"

Her raw, dry throat, tasting faintly of blood, couldn't sustain the cry. The words dissolved into violent, wracking coughs, forcing her to stop running. She collapsed into a crouch, hands braced on her knees, gasping raggedly, the taste of iron flooding her mouth.

They're going to catch me...

There's no escape...

Mama... Papa...

I think... I'm going to die too.

Whether out of numbness or resignation, the girl—no longer truly fearing the blade that would soon pierce her chest—wiped the faint trace of blood from the corner of her mouth and slowly straightened up.

She tilted her head, intending to take one last look at the afternoon sunlight filtering through the dense canopy above. But her gaze fell not upon the leering, triumphant faces of the clan's elite Exorcists...

But upon a boy, seemingly a traveler, with a pack slung over his shoulder, who was regarding her with simple curiosity.

"Uh, hey," the boy said. "I'm not your dad. Also... are you okay?"

Run!

She forced her mouth open, desperately trying to warn the boy to flee. She knew the cruelty of the clan's Exorcist Squad—men willing to slaughter their own kin just to conceal the 'shameful secret' of her existence from the world. They wouldn't hesitate to eliminate an outsider who stumbled upon them.

If she had to die today, she had to ensure this stranger escaped with his life!

But her parched throat refused to make a sound.

Just then, the shouts of her pursuers broke through the trees.

"Well now, that took some effort. Finally out of steam, are we?" one of the men sneered as they emerged into the small clearing.

"Still," another added, "she's only seven or eight. Quite remarkable she made it this far."

The leader stepped forward, voice dripping with contempt. "Such stamina... what a pity. If only she were human. With proper training in the Himejima clan, she might even have become an elite Exorcist. But alas, tainted by the filthy blood of a Fallen Angel. If you must blame someone, girl, blame that whore mother of yours, who lacked all decency and went consorting with deviants and heretics!"

As if delivering a final verdict before an execution, the leader raised his naginata and advanced.

Akeno squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the end.

But then, the boy's calm voice cut in.

"Those uniforms... Himejima clan Exorcist Squad, right? Shouldn't you be off clearing out Cursed Spirits with the Sorcerers, instead of chasing a little girl through the woods?"

"Hmm?!"

Only then did the leader truly register the other child standing beside the girl.

"A stranger's kid? Can't be helped. Apologies," the leader said gruffly, "but since you've stumbled upon the Himejima family's secret, I'm afraid you'll have to die as well."

"Huh?"

The boy seemed visibly taken aback for a second, before muttering incredulously under his breath.

"'Kill me'? Wow, you've got guts. Seriously, if you actually pull this off, the folks back in Hero Village owe you big time..."

...

In just a few short moments, following several earth-shattering impacts that gouged massive craters into the mountainside as if struck by meteorites, the woods, which had echoed with the sounds of the chase all afternoon, finally fell silent.

The Exorcist Squad's leader was the last one left conscious. In his final moments, his armor lay shattered around him, its pieces flaking away like scales at the slightest touch. His spirit-infused naginata, veteran of countless exorcisms, lay snapped in three nearby.

But even facing death, his thoughts were still fixed on the power of his clan.

"You... you can't kill me! You can't kill me! If you kill me... the Himejima Clan Head will never forgive you!!"

"Oho? He really won't?" The boy, remarkably still immaculate, regarded him condescendingly, casually cleaned his ear with a pinky, then blew the dust off. "Well then... guess there's no helping it."

With that, his fist descended, finishing the job.

"...Hey, you alright now? Want some water? Something to eat?"

Walking back over to the stunned girl, the boy rummaged in his pack and pulled out a well-made water flask bearing the character '花' (Hana) and a large bag of plain potato chips, handing them to her.

"Here, take these. Take this flask with you, get on the Shinkansen to Kyoto. When you get there, find a certain... generously endowed... fox-spirit lady at Yasaka Shrine. Just show her this flask, she'll understand. She'll look after you; you'll be safe there. Oh, right, here's some money for the train ticket. Just happened to have some change."

He noticed her unasked question. "Hm? What about me? Don't worry about it. I don't really need this stuff anyway. My mom just worries and made me pack it before I left."

He pointed. "Head north from here, about twenty minutes to the main road. Find the Shinkansen station. It's about a two-hour ride to Kyoto. If you hurry, you can make it to Yasaka Shrine before sunset."

He slung his pack back over his shoulder. "Alright, I've got other business to attend to, so this is where we part ways."

He gave a slight nod. "My name is Hanakain Fubuki. Fubuki – the 'Fubuki' written with characters that mean 'Where All Gods and Buddhas Take Refuge'. Current Acting Representative of the Hanakain Family of Kyoto. Just traveling alone."

The next day, major news dominated the headlines:

The Himejima Grand Shrine Headquarters had been leveled overnight. Clan Head Himejima Suzaku was dead, his severed head mounted upon the lintel of the shrine's main torii gate.