The Hollow Shell

On a small hillside in the distance from Mount Inari, a dozen men in black emerged from the shadows, clutching wicked blades as they lunged toward Kaki. Facing these assailants striking from all directions, Kaki furrowed her brows and gripped her talismans tightly. Against such numbers, she was completely overwhelmed.

Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air. Several arrows shot forth with lethal precision, striking the two leading men in black. Following a burst of blue spiritual power, the two fallen men were blasted into fragments.

"Who is there!"

Startled by this sudden intervention, the men in black halted in shock. They turned their heads toward the direction the arrows had come from. There, a cold, stern girl dressed in a red and white miko outfit with long black hair tied back stepped slowly into view. In one hand, she held an azusa bow, while the other reached into the quiver on her back to draw a fresh arrow.

"You are..."

Looking at the miko girl who appeared much younger than herself, Kaki couldn't help but mutter. The miko glanced at Kaki before answering in a chilly voice.

"Kikyo. I am the miko of Lady Uka..."

Lady Uka? Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami!? Hearing the girl's self-introduction, Kaki was stunned. She remembered clearly that the deity known as Uka was the Inari Okami. Weren't this Inari Okami and her followers currently being subjected to divine punishment by Kanako?!

"What... a miko of Inari! Why is she here!"

Out in the wilderness, Minamoto no Yorimasa, who was monitoring his subordinates' actions through a shikigami, widened his eyes in shock the moment Kikyo appeared. He never imagined that a miko of the Inari Okami would show up at this time. In his mind, Kikyo should have been on Mount Inari, trapped within the storm of divine punishment sent down by Takeminakata-no-Kami!

Stunned, Yorimasa turned to look at the massive storm enveloping Mount Inari. To his surprise, the storm was no longer maintaining itself; instead, it was rapidly weakening. Soon, the dark tempest dissipated into nothingness. Beneath the night sky, the lush Mount Inari reappeared, illuminated by thousands of lanterns, looking completely unscathed.

On Mount Inari, within the shrine, the crowds attending the festival saw the giant wind barrier vanish entirely and broke into cheers of admiration.

"Look, look! The wind is gone! It's completely disappeared!"

"It's true! What the miko said was right after all. A miracle would manifest on Mount Inari tonight, and so it has!"

"Tsk tsk, that wall of howling wind was truly magnificent. If we hadn't been told beforehand that this was a miracle performed by the Great Inari Okami, we probably would have been terrified..."

Regarding the wind barrier that had just surrounded the entire mountain, the people attending the festival were buzzing with excitement. Many were thrilled to have witnessed a divine miracle with their own eyes. Some educated nobles even began composing waka on the spot. Because the miko had warned them in advance, there was no major panic; instead, the excitement only served to heighten the enthusiasm for the festival.

Thus, the festival on Mount Inari continued in an orderly fashion. Meanwhile, on a small hill outside the mountain, another drama had just reached its turning point.

"The situation has changed! Retreat!"

The moment he saw the Inari miko appear, the leader of the men in black realized their original plan had gone horribly awry. He decisively ordered an immediate withdrawal.

But at that moment, another anomaly occurred. The men in black discovered that their surroundings had changed... the world itself was being rewritten.

The night sky turned into a twilight dusk. The lush forest around them transformed into a parched, cracked wasteland. Countless skeletal remains clad in tattered armor littered the dead earth. Heavily rusted weapons and tattered banners were thrust into the ground everywhere. Massive Onbashira, seemingly tall enough to pierce the heavens, stood driven into the earth, stretching into the distant horizon.

"divine realm... Ancient Battlefield of Weiyuan..."

"Heh... I thought what manner of foul demon dared to desecrate me with such petty schemes. It turns out to be nothing more than a few rats. What, is your master so cowardly?"

A majestic female voice drifted down from above. The men in black looked up to see Kanako sitting atop one of the Onbashira, looking down at them with contempt.

"Takeminakata-no-Kami..."

The moment they saw Kanako, despair filled the eyes of the men in black. Beneath their feet, the decayed skeletal warriors began picking up the weapons they had held in life and slowly stood up.

...

When the world returned to its original state, Kanako slowly descended from the air. Beside her lay a pile of mangled corpses in black. Kaki, standing next to her, was clearly still unsettled.

"Kanako-sama! What on earth is going on? Weren't you performing a divine punishment? Why did you suddenly return? And the target of the punishment..." As Kaki spoke, she looked toward the distant Mount Inari. The mountain was bright with lanterns and thick with trees, showing no sign of having endured a violent storm.

"And why does the target of the punishment look completely unharmed?"

"Oh, that. It was just for show. That so-called divine punishment looked imposing, but it was actually just a hollow shell. Aside from a dense outer wall of wind, the interior wouldn't suffer any damage at all..." Following Kaki's gaze toward Mount Inari, Kanako spoke nonchalantly. Kaki was stunned by the revelation.

"There's... such a thing as a storm like that?"

"Hmph, why wouldn't there be? Don't forget, Kaki, my divine authority includes being a wind god..." Kanako said as she looked at the corpses at her feet.

"I originally made such a big commotion to lure out the mastermind behind this conspiracy. I didn't expect that fellow to be so cautious. Only these small fry came. I thought there was someone stronger hiding in the dark, so I opened my divine realm and dragged every living soul on this hill inside. To think it was really just these few... what a waste..." Kanako rubbed her arm with a sigh, seemingly annoyed that she had wasted too much spiritual power on such insignificant trash.

"It's impossible to catch the one behind the scenes. Even their proxies are extremely cautious and never show their faces easily. You should be satisfied that we managed to trick them this time... Besides, these minions aren't entirely useless."

At that moment, a soft female voice rang out. Kaki and Kanako turned toward the sound together. They saw a white-haired girl in a white robe and scarlet hakama, wearing the Heavenly Mirror Crown, slowly descending from the sky atop a massive fox. Miketsu, in her full divine regalia, had arrived on the scene.