The Disillusioned Land

Chapter 9 - The Infernal Night (Reprise)

The door I find myself in front of next is strikingly out of place considering where I was previously, instead of an otherworldly and perfected design, it consisted of rotting wood and scorch marks. I pressed onward and opened it, and was suddenly blinded by a white flash of light. I shielded my eyes and when I opened them again, I found myself somewhere I thought I wouldn't see for a while longer: the streets in The Human City.

Three things stood out to me, first, the sun was nowhere to be seen and in its place was the moon, a sight that has gone unseen for a few years now. Second, I was not in my home district, I was in one of the districts on the other side of the City, particularly one that was in close proximity to where the original Yakumo Corporation facility had resided. Third, it was unnervingly quiet, you could probably hear a strand of hair hit the ground.

I spotted multiple smoke pillars forming in the distance, I figured whatever brought me here intended for me to witness whatever was happening over there, so I went to investigate. Turning the corner I was greeted with a whole other hellscape, buildings on fire and bodies of both human and youkai alike were strewn about the streets. In the midst of the chaos I spot 2 figures a few meters away, the two appear to be attacking each other. One of them wore a red and white outfit with a red bow in their hair and I immediately recognized them as a Hakurei shrine maiden, the other appeared to be a crow tengu in patient scrubs covered in talismans. The tengu charged at the shrine maiden but she swiftly dodged out of the way and stuck a talisman on its back, promptly exploding a moment later and incapacitating them. The shrine maiden rushed over to the tengu and shoved what appeared to be a bunch of large needles through the back of its throat, killing it.

That can't be right, I distinctly remember the Hakurei upholding and enforcing the use of spell card rules and forbade humans and youkai from outright killing each other. To see one of them kill a youkai so ruthlessly and efficiently betrayed their image of being peacekeepers who opted to resolve incidents without bloodshed.

As I finish that thought the shrine maiden turns in my direction and points the gohei in her left hand at me "Hey! What are you doing here? This district is under lockdown and you should've already vacated the area!" She shouts at me, I raise my hands in response and tighten the grip on my knife.

"Wait I-" I let out before being cut off

"Drop the blade and walk slowly over here with your hands up, now!"

I hesitated for a moment. "I come with no ill intent, miss shrine maiden."

"Likely story, comply or I will not think twice about slaying you."

"Tch" I drop my oversized weapon and slowly approach her.

"That's close enough, turn around and don't try anything" I turn around and she slaps something on my back and goes silent for a moment, after a seemingly long moment of silence she mutters "so you're human after all." I turn around slowly and she asks "why were you walking around with that thing? Evacuation happened an hour ago, depending on your answer I might have to take you into the shrine for questioning". I racked my brain for an excuse, I highly doubt she would believe me if I claimed I opened my eyes and I was just here.

"I...I slept through the evac order, that's all"

"An awfully heavy sleeper you are, considering how much of a ruckus we made about it, I think I'll just take you in instead"

"Ok that was a lie, I er, I'm a journalist, I wanted to investigate what was happening around here for a story"

"I don't recall any journalists I know skulking around with a knife, which paper do you hail from, Bunbunmaru Newspaper or Kakashi Spirit News?"