Stealth Attack

Inside the small house behind the Kagami-oboro Inari Shrine, Miketsu sat on the tatami, nodding with understanding after hearing Tsuruha's words. She truly hadn't realized that Inari had grown so large that its business scope had expanded to selling arms to America.

"Did something happen there?" Miketsu asked directly, suddenly remembering Tsuruha's previous mention of an incident. Hearing the inquiry, Tsuruha hesitated slightly before speaking.

"Well, that... it was actually just a bit of an accident. The last time Konkiku returned to the main shrine, I sent her on a visit to China. I told her to buy some decommissioned old-model tanks while she was there. But who would have thought that during her visit, the military-industrial people there would talk her into visiting an airshow? At that airshow, the person in charge kept recommending all sorts of new equipment and said if she bought them with the tanks, she’d get a steep discount. Um... Konkiku couldn't help herself for a moment. She signed several large orders and brought back a lot of military equipment that wasn't in the plan."

Tsuruha spoke to Miketsu while holding her forehead in embarrassment. Hearing this, Miketsu was stunned, her mouth twitching slightly. She couldn't help but complain internally: 'She can't resist the urge to shop as soon as she hears about a discount? I suppose even though Konkiku is a spirit fox, she's still a woman. She’s lived for over a thousand years and still falls for that? And you went to an airshow and bought weapons—how did you make it sound like a shopping spree at the mall?'

"I'm very sorry, Lady Uka. I should have gone myself, but I was too busy during that time, so I could only send Konkiku. After she returned, I gave her a stern lecture. To avoid me, she ran away from the main shrine again and hasn't come back yet," Tsuruha said, bowing her head on the screen.

Hearing Tsuruha's words, Miketsu let out a soft sigh and continued, "...Never mind. There's no need to apologize. After all, the performance of the drones was decent this time. As for the other things, just find a way to put them to use slowly or sell them off."

"Thank you for your generosity, Lady Uka..." Tsuruha said respectfully. Miketsu continued to mutter in her heart: 'Whether I'm generous or not isn't the point... Inari might be huge now, but I'm not the one managing the specifics... Only you know the true situation; I don't even have a clear idea of how much profit we're actually making...'

Miketsu thought this to herself. She hadn't directly intervened in Inari's management for over a thousand years. Inari had now expanded to an unimaginable degree; if she were forced to sit in Tsuruha's position now, she would definitely be overwhelmed. It was precisely because she didn't want to be entangled in Inari's complex affairs that she had been loafing around in this small Inari shrine in Tokyo.

"Right, Tsuruha, you mentioned buying tanks. Are there actually malicious spirits that require tanks to solve? Or did you buy them just to modify and sell them?" Miketsu asked while eating potato chips. Generally speaking, supernatural incidents occurred in human settlements, mostly in cities. Tanks would be difficult to operate in those places; after all, exorcism wasn't the same as fighting a war.

"Lady Uka, the tanks are indeed for our own use. There aren't many places in mainland Japan that warrant their use, but these tanks are mainly deployed in Okinawa and various islands of the South Seas. There, from time to time, soldiers of the old Imperial Army who died in the last Great War appear in organized malicious spirit legions. Not only are they numerous and fierce in combat, but they also operate demonic tanks and planes. They are very difficult to deal with," Tsuruha explained seriously.

Miketsu was startled for a moment, and after reflecting, she spoke with a hint of surprise.

"An organized malicious spirit legion of old imperial soldiers? Are there actually units that converted into malicious spirits en masse after death? Doesn't the birth of a malicious spirit require deep-seated resentment? There shouldn't be enough widespread resentment on a battlefield to turn so many people into malicious spirits."

Miketsu expressed her doubt. After all, malicious spirits weren't born just because one wanted them to. An environment like a battlefield, where one kills strangers, is actually not very conducive to producing malicious spirits.

"...It is indeed as Lady Uka says. Battlefield conditions are generally not suited for the birth of malicious spirits. However, the old imperial malicious spirits wandering Okinawa and the South Seas were not born from ordinary hatred. They were turned into malicious spirits through spellcraft. The 'Eternal Death-Soldier Project' for defending the imperial soil. At that time, a portion of the garrison in the South Seas was placed under a binding curse by accompanying Onmyoji sent by the National Imperial Way Onmyo Academy. These cursed soldiers would 100% turn into malicious spirits as shikigami after dying in battle, allowing the accompanying Onmyoji to drive them to continue 'serving the country with loyalty,' fighting the American forces to the death. This raised many malicious spirit legions at the time, causing significant trouble for the American military. Although we purged most of these legions after the war, some remnants still appear from time to time. Therefore, we need to buy weapons truly suited for war to be stationed at the Inari shrines in the South Seas."

"So that's how it is. I didn't expect those guys to have been so arrogant back then, even abusing Onmyojutsu in war just for victory."

"Indeed. Therefore, after the Japanese Empire was defeated, Inari, in the stance of a victor, forced the new Japanese government to sign a series of treaties. Among them was a strict prohibition on the militarization of Onmyoji. Thus, modern Onmyoji are comparable to police; the Onmyo Agency is restricted from holding heavy weaponry, and their missions are limited solely to exorcism."

Hearing Tsuruha's explanation, Miketsu thought to herself that this was why modern Onmyoji mostly used traditional means for exorcism. It turned out that Inari was a factor in that as well.

"Phew. Alright, let's leave it at that for today. Tsuruha, if you have things to do, go ahead and attend to them."

"Yes. Please rest well, Lady Uka. By the way, is the chaos in the Tokyo divine realm still the same as usual? Does the main shrine need to send more personnel to all the branch shrines in Tokyo?" Tsuruha asked. Miketsu thought for a moment before answering.

"Let's hold off on sending more people for now. Recently, that young master of the Nura Clan has finally come to his senses. He leads his followers out every night to slay malicious spirits, wipe out defiant gangs, and restore the order of the Nura Clan. He's working quite hard and seriously. In short, because of that Nura kid, order in the Tokyo demon realm is being restored. Once the Nura Clan's influence expands across all of Tokyo, then..."

"I see. The kid you mentioned, do you mean Nura Rihyon's grandson, Nura Rikuo? He is already stepping toward the position of the Third Head," Tsuruha said with a slight sigh of realization. Miketsu smiled and gave an affirmative answer.

"Mm-hmm, pretty much. Although that boy has only a quarter of yokai blood, he certainly has the aura Rihyon had in his youth when he is in his yokai form. Heh. Looking at it now, it seems quite possible that he will fully inherit the Nura Clan and become the new generation's Lord of Pandemonium in Kanto."

As she spoke, Miketsu gazed at the sky outside, watching the sun disk gradually sinking toward the horizon.

Daylight faded, and night arrived. On the vast outskirts of Tokyo, in a dark forest far from the city center, a thick demonic energy was currently permeating the air. The freezing yin energy caused the surrounding temperature to drop several degrees. Moonlight shone through the trees, revealing a large patch of timber that had been cut down in unison. The cuts on the tree trunks were smooth and flat, as if sliced by a sharp blade. On the ground between the felled stumps, there were countless gashes resembling sword strikes.

In the center of these dense gashes and fallen trees lay a massive body two meters tall. It had long arms like an ape. Its face was pressed into the dirt, and its long, withered white hair had been sliced away, scattering everywhere. Its clothes and the body beneath had been hacked open; bone-deep wounds were visible all over, and blood flowed freely, staining the soil red. This was clearly a corpse—the corpse of a monkey-like yokai. Scattered around this central corpse were the remains of several smaller monkey yokai. These smaller ones didn't seem as sturdy as the one in the middle, as they had been sliced into several pieces by the attacks that killed them.

Beside the large corpse in the center of the clearing, several dark shadows stood atop the neatly cut stumps. They looked down at the gruesome state of the corpse, their voices filled with disdain.

"...Is this the strength of a Nura Clan cadre? Nothing more than this. He couldn't even defend against a simple ambush and was taken down so easily."

"Hmph, just as the rumors said. The Nura Clan, once famous throughout Kanto, has declined and withered since the assassination of the Second Head. It is a shell of its former self. It seems the rumors are true."

"Such a weak and pathetic organization is unworthy of the name 'Grand Commander of Yokai.' It is time for a new master of Tokyo's demon realm."