Chapter 142: Cleaning the Scene

The initial explosion originated from the center of the abandoned village.

Plastic explosive-like material, adhered to the load-bearing walls of a building that once served as a community center, detonated with tremendous force. As wall after wall was blown out, the structure lost its foundation and began to collapse under its own weight. Simultaneously, other buildings began to erupt in sequence, turning the entire village into a churning cloud of dust, as if it were being leveled by a demolition crew.

"All units, calibrate. One, two, fire."

In the open field outside the village, the shrine maidens had erected three makeshift mortars. At Haruka Sasaki’s command, grenades were launched from the barrels. In the night sky, the three projectiles traced precise parabolas before striking three separate empty lots within the abandoned village.

*Boom.*

The shockwaves from the explosions disturbed the nearby woods, startling a flock of birds into flight.

"Second volley. One, two, fire."

*Boom.*

As the buildings crumbled under the explosives, the grenades further raked the village, leaving no part of it unscathed. After a total of three volleys, the shrine maidens from Shimogamo Shrine produced long, rod-like objects.

Ariko Asano recognized them instantly; they were the man-portable incendiary weapons Qiao Qiao had previously used to destroy the Tree of Fate. Each of the five shrine maidens held one.

"...Ms. Nishimoto, it seems they have no intention of stopping."

"...Indeed. It appears the source of the resentment has not yet been thoroughly eradicated."

"I wonder where the final source of resentment could be?"

"To conduct destruction on such a scale... it is truly astonishing."

The two commentators only spoke after a long silence.

"Fire."

On the screen, Haruka Sasaki issued the order. Five points of light, trailing long smoke plumes, descended toward every corner of the deserted village. As they neared the ground, the projectiles burst, blanketing the village in countless white shards. Upon hitting the ground, these fragments ignited violently, and the inferno immediately engulfed the entire area.

Amidst the flames, something seemed to be shattered. The final source of resentment had been extinguished.

At that moment, exactly twenty-five minutes had passed since the exorcism began.

"What exactly was the final source of resentment?" Ariko Asano wondered, her excitement tinged with curiosity. Given the scorched-earth tactics used by Maki Shinoki and the others, it would likely be impossible to verify where that last source had been. "Come to think of it, why didn't Maki-san and her team use this total destruction strategy from the very beginning?"

It was clearly more efficient. Ariko was genuinely intrigued.

"Well, for starters, saturation bombardment comes with a certain cost. Unless absolutely necessary, I do not recommend relying on it," Qiao Qiao explained. "Furthermore, because such methods are overly crude, they can lead to poor exorcism habits. That is why I limited the use of heavy weaponry for Maki-san and the others. I told them to use this method only when all other options have been exhausted—and that once they commit to it, they must do it perfectly."

He glanced at Ariko. "As for the final source of resentment, it was actually the architecture of the village itself." He pulled up the village’s blueprints on his phone and pointed to a few areas. "The layout, arranged by the organizers, functioned as a source of resentment, much like certain urban legends involving specific alleyways or city blocks. While simply destroying a few key buildings would have sufficed, completely leveling the abandoned village was a safer insurance policy."

"Oh!" Ariko nodded. So, that was the trick. As expected of her teacher.

***

Inside a room at the headquarters of the Kyoto Exorcist Association, several people were gathered around a table, engaged in a heated discussion.

"The exorcism speed was rapid. This must be the fastest of this year's cohort. I recall Yasaka Shrine took twenty-eight minutes," said a middle-aged man wearing a blue-and-white *kariginu* robe.

"However, this method of exorcism is difficult to accept," a man dressed as a Shinto priest replied, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Indeed. The style employed by Shimogamo Shrine brings to mind a rather unpleasant presence." A master wearing traditional monk’s robes stroked his white beard, his expression lingering with unease.

"While Shimogamo Shrine’s methods are overly brutal, they did accomplish the objective of the martial demonstration. I believe we should not discriminate based on the choice of means."

"But one cannot use such methods in a real-world exorcism. The damage caused far outweighs that of the malevolent spirits; the costs of the aftermath would exceed any earnings."

"It is not entirely impossible. There have been precedents—entire villages bloodied by *yokai* and occupied by vengeful spirits, leaving no choice but to raze them completely."

"Wait, that example is over seventy years old. How could a situation involving an entire village being massacred occur today?"

"I believe Shimogamo Shrine’s approach is well within the rules permitted by the Exorcism Demonstration. We cannot allow the fact that they used firearms instead of traditional bows to influence the judging criteria. Our principles must remain focused on speed and technique," said a gray-haired man in a suit, tapping the table. He appeared to hold the highest status among those present.

"Let us cast our votes, then." Seeing that no one else had further objections, he gestured for them to proceed.

Everyone in the room picked up the tablets that had been resting on the table.

Indeed, exorcists were not stagnant or obsolete; the timely introduction of advanced technology was part of the craft. It was said that in Tokyo, to counter *yokai* that might utilize firearms, the Exorcist Association had begun equipping exorcists with helmets and bulletproof vests. While Kyoto had not yet placed such importance on it, the use of electronic devices in daily operations was common.

In the conference room, they were using an app on their tablets to submit anonymous votes. The system would only display the final aggregate, not individual scores, making it a simple and fair process.

A moment later, the man in the suit took a breath. The app displayed the total score for Shimogamo Shrine’s performance: 90 points.

While not a perfect score, in previous years of the Exorcism Demonstration, an 80 was already considered exceptional. Given the averaging mechanism, a 90 was significant enough to be written into the history of the Gion Festival’s exorcism trials.

"The next two shrines are... well, it seems the first-place winner for this year’s demonstration will be Shimogamo Shrine." The man in the suit glanced at the schedule. The remaining two shrines were not particularly famous, and he already had a clear idea of their proficiency.

"Let us leave it at that. Go and announce the results."