thenearshore | 009 | Where Your Demons Hide

009 | Where Your Demons Hide

Who: Everyone!
What: Emergency demon fighting
When: Late May 5-Early May 6
Where: Just outside of Tokyo
Summary: The demon from the school has reared its ugly head again and needs to be taken down.

On the evening of May 5, the Heavens suddenly receive an influx of prayers from people in and around a certain town just outside of Tokyo. There seem to be a lot of people in the area that have suddenly stopped responding normally (or at all). The situation continues to spread as the night goes on until not only is the whole town suffering from this malady, but the neighboring towns are starting to become affected as well.

With so many gods and shinki on hand - including new ones that have just appeared - the Heavens have issued a request for any available gods and shinki to go investigate what might be happening down on the Near Shore. New gods and shinki will be given the low-down on what's happening, but not much more than that.

The situation will continue to expand until just a little before dawn, when the demon finally has enough power to revive.

Drained Humans

Many humans in the affected areas are walking around despondently. Oftentimes, they are just walking into things or getting hit by things. There have been a few car-related incidents as well. Anyone who was present for the high school incident will recognize these symptoms as something that was happening to people in the school. The glazed looks, the spiritless responses and reactions. So this should be fairly familiar to some.

No One's Safe

Unfortunately, being in the town will start to wear on anyone who is there. Gods and shinki alike will find themselves growing more despondent the longer they spend in the town. All of their energy will be slowly sapped from their bodies, and shinki in particular will feel almost like their existence is draining away.

Hellish Circle

There is a large park in the center of the town. Drawn all around this park is a magic circle, large enough to encompass the whole park. There are candles around the edges of the circle, and in the center there is a cup filled with blood covered by a mask with a swirling eye pattern on it. Stepping into this circle will not only make you extremely tired and suddenly drained, but it will also bring bat-like ayakashi bearing down on you.

The Demon

The Demon itself rears its ugly head just a little before dawn, springing out from the center of the magic circle and looking right pleased with itself. It stands about 5'8" tall, so it is largely unimposing, but there is an aura about it that makes it undeniable that it is powerful. The demon will gladly fight anyone who comes at it, though most he will just shove out of the way without a second thought.

In Summary:

Help the drained people
Try not to get drained yourself
Be careful about being corrupted
Fight the demon
Have fun~

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[Her mention of that immediately throws a grave shadow over his face, and a bit more wariness comes into his face as he watches the center of the circle.]

It's hard to forget something like that. So this mask is something to do with it?

[Maybe that's why Bishamon looks so disgusted by it. She seemed to respect Ebisu well enough when they talked about him, though, even if she didn't agree with the experiment, so it's worth confirmation.

And if Ebisu recently reincarnated and isn't supposed to remember any of that...there's probably something to this that he can't understand the depth of yet.]

He used a mask exactly like it. There was one found in his temple. That was the piece of evidence they used to tie him to the Sorcerer.

[ That frown never leaves her. Whatever's going on here is clearly very dark and very dangerous. The mask was all that was needed but why the blood? Why the circle?

Her voice lowers, clear building rage in it that she's trying to keep down. Charging into that circle isn't going to do any good. It's not going to make the caster suddenly appear. ]

The only other time I've seen the mask was on the same ayakashi that killed my shinki.

[Alright, he's definitely missing something here, because that sounds like something far more serious than what they've been dealing with so far, and Shun's full attention goes from the mask back to her.]

Who the hell is "the Sorcerer"? Nobody's mentioned anything about anyone like that.

[Sure, the heavens keep information close to their chest, but this sounds like a serious threat. Neglecting to tell them about something like that goes beyond questionable judgement.

Bishamon's second remark, though, brings his own expression to something bordering rage as well, a pained hiss escaping him. He's seen more than enough people die in front of him to imagine how much that must've hurt.]

Just one shinki, or...? [The word could be referring to one or more, but an ayakashi capable of killing just one shinki with her around would already have to be impressive. Killing multiple is almost something he'd rather not think about.]

[ A shake of her head. No. More than one shinki. More than five. Ten. Twenty. Enough to retain only a handful of the Ha clan. But then she'd only told Shun part of the story. Perhaps it's about time she tells the rest. The only shinki by her side right now is Kinuha, the whip that hangs by her side. She knows she can hear this and instinctively, she presses a hand against the whip before collecting her thoughts.

Where to begin. ]

Ebisu had been sentenced for attempting to tame ayakashi. This in itself is an act deemed more unforgivable than utilizing a nora. Heaven had known someone called the Sorcerer had been controlling ayakashi... that the sorcerer was behind the ayakashi that attacked my shinki and my estate.

[ Her fist clenches. It's an almost immediate reaction to remembering that day. ]

They thought they had dealt with the Sorcerer. They thought Ebisu was the Sorcerer. He didn't have to die... he was innocent.

[Well, Shun's definitely taking this much more seriously now. Even if he has no way of knowing how many more than one were killed, it's enough to deepen the pained lines on his face. For a moment, he looks as exhausted as he actually is right now, before he pulls himself back to a restrained neutral.

This, though, is hard to listen to and keep that kind of face. Shun had assumed that Bishamon, Amaterasu and their ilk represented the highest authority this place had, but hearing her refer to Heaven as "they" is putting a bit of a different image into his head. By the end, he looks somewhere between angered and conflicted, trying to piece together this with what he already knows of this place and what had happened last time he'd seen people like this.]

I thought you and Amaterasu and your circle would have been the ones in charge here, but if there's something else... [Then there's still questions they don't have answered, and it's still possible some aspect of the heavens is behind all this.] They sentenced him without being sure he was the Sorcerer? What the hell kind of oversight is that for a heavenly bureaucracy?

[In any case...] Then maybe whoever this is provided that principal who originally summoned the ayakashi to that school with what he needed to do it.

[ An exhale. This was a complicated story from the start. She seems to relax slightly, if only to collect her thoughts and try to decide how best to explain the situation. ]

It was an oversight because then, the other gods had assumed there was only one sorcerer. Only Ebisu had been experimenting with ayakashi. They found masks just like his on his estate. In a way, he had been sentenced for that charge. It was easy to assume Ebisu and the sorcerer were one but we were wrong. That's the only conclusion I can draw here. Either the principal has been given the means to summon an ayakashi himself or... we could be dealing with the true sorcerer.

[ A beat as she closes her eyes. For gods, they were certainly a blind bunch. Time to let the other shoe drop though. ]

Amaterasu may have placed the order against him but... this Amaterasu has no knowledge of it. I wasn't part of the conclave that decided this. When they sentenced him, I was somewhere else with another god named Yato. We were retrieving him and Ebisu from Yomi.

[While that does make sense, it's hard not to still wonder what exactly they were thinking. The masks could have been planted, at least...and it's looking like they may have wanted to look a little deeper into who exactly had been experimenting among the Heavens.

Shun clearly doesn't like it, but after a few moments of distaste, he accepts the explanation with a reluctant nod. It's done now, so arguing over it isn't going to help anyone.]

If the "true sorcerer" last time wasn't one person or possibly even the right person, we might not even be dealing with one true sorcerer. And whatever this is, it's far bigger than last time. I'm not going to assume it's the principal behind this again.

[That guy was seedy as hell, but even with what happened at the school, he didn't get the impression he'd be capable of something on the scale a power circle this size implies.

As she goes on, Shun pays more attention - he's been wondering about how the heavenly bureaucracy really works. But the real information there is the last thing she says, because while he assumed there was some kind of underworld or hell if the Heavens existed, he wasn't aware it was accessible to them.]

You went to the underworld to bring other gods back? [He has to assume something stopped them reincarnating.]

It doesn't sound too far off to assume the principal was a decoy.

[ There's a small shake of her head though. Things have only become more complicated with all these newcomers and some of the old gods disappearing. It's insane. ]

I apologize. There's actually little I know about the incident that happened involving the school and the principal. Kazuma and I had left briefly a few days before it happened.

[ But moving on. There's quite the story behind that but it isn't anything probably like what Shun thinks it could be. ]

Ebisu went there of his own volition. Yato knows more about what happened there than I do as he was there with him. I'd only heard that they went to Yomi and went to get them back.

[That sounds a little odd, but maybe there was business they had to attend to or something. It might explain why he didn't notice her around the school, at least. Since she's given him quite a bit of information, though, Shun doesn't have a problem sharing what he himself knows, even if it's not that much, and his look is thoughtful as he recalls the details.]

I don't know all of it, but I arrived here that day, so I was involved in the investigation. The whole thing seemed to be some kind of cover for fraud, and all we found in the guy's office was some occult books and a shrine of some kind full of pictures of the students and teachers. That's why I don't think the principal could've pulled off something like this - I don't know much about the occult, but something like that seems amateurish compared to this.

[This has no sign of needing any sort of focus or target, and the lone offering is protected by something a lot more powerful than anything the school had to offer.

Bishamon's elaboration on the underworld grabs his attention, though, and he can't help but give her a wary, almost confused glance.]

Why the hell would they have gone to the underworld voluntarily?

[ Sadly, it was less business than it was leisure. Mostly that she went to punch a taboo dragon in the face and was in a really bad shape that her exemplar decided they take a few days off. What could go wrong?

What could go wrong indeed?

Clearly, she's just going to have to put off vacation time until this entire matter gets wrapped up.

The frown on her brow only increases the moment Shun asks about that trip into Yomi. Now we're getting into the good stuff. ]

I was told it was to retrieve an artifact known as the Mandate of Hell. It seems this item was integral to controlling ayakashi. As for where this item is... no one knows.

[ And she finally releases the breath she'd been holding in. ]

It doesn't sound too ridiculous to think it might have found its way into the hands of the sorcerer.

[Something with a name like the Mandate of Hell already sounds dangerous enough, and the description of what it does puts a grim frown on Shun's face. The idea of something like that in the hands of their enemies isn't a pleasant one to think about, but he only takes a moment to digest the notion. There's at least one advantage to having dealt with a constant, overwhelming enemy for the last few years.]

If they really do have something like that, then what's stopping them from an all-out assault? An item that powerful, if they've figured out how to control ayakashi with it, could do us a hell of a lot of damage even in untrained hands. And if this has anything to do with whoever started that fire, they're not untrained. They left no trace except the notes, and you never mentioned finding any leads on it.

[Since she did say she'd keep in contact if information came up, he has to assume that she has as little idea of who did it as they do.]

But if nobody knows where it is, assuming the worst is safer than assuming they don't have it.

I don't know. Assuming the worst, they might be biding their time and building an army. Seeing how many of us there are to begin with, even with an artifact that powerful, the sorcerer would be easily overwhelmed.

[ She can't help but keep focus on that mask. Its presence looms like a sign of possible doom and portent. Whatever this portal is, whatever they're summoning, it can't be good. ]

You didn't see anything else, did you? Anyone else near here?

But they're inviting our wrath by attacking us like this. Either they have an ace we don't know about, or they're relying completely on the fact that we'll never find them. And if they're that convinced of that fact, then it raises even more questions about who it could be.

[Nobody should be that confident they're never going to be found that they'd lay their life on the line on that assumption. In a strange way, it's unsettling, because if the fire is any sign, it's not necessarly overconfidence.

At Bishamon's question, Shun gives a frustrated sigh and shakes his head.]

Only other people investigating. I'd guess whoever's responsible for this didn't hang around.

Whoever was responsible probably felt confident enough that we wouldn't be able to disrupt whatever it is they were doing.

[ Her arms are crossed over her chest, still scrutinizing the mask before turning her attention back to Shun. ]

Either way, it probably wouldn't be wise for us to stay any longer than necessary. I'm going to continue my patrol. It'll be best if I search the area for anything that could have resulted from this. If I find anything, I'll let you know.

[Shun can't say she's wrong about that, and with a bitter hiss through his teeth, he glances over at the circle again.]

It doesn't look like they're wrong this time. If we can't find a way to break this thing's power, there's nothing else we can do but wait for the result and fight then.

[There's a faint note of frustration in his tone at that, and for a moment, he bends his head to squeeze the bridge of his nose, trying to focus himself more. He's still exhausted, and he knows that if they have to wait for something to come of this to battle, there's a good chance his consciousness won't last the whole thing.]

Right. I'll keep looking as well. The more eyes we have out, the better.

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009 | Where Your Demons Hide

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