Chapter 151: The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

Whether it was due to some mutation occurring within the Interstice, the mist that had long shrouded the village simultaneously dissipated.

Bzzzz—

Inside the van, a jumble of communication signals intertwined.

Within the venue of the Exorcism Martial Arts Tournament, the black box held tightly in Asano Arisu's arms suddenly began to emit a crackling sound of static electricity.

"Is this a communication device?"

Arai Takashi remarked casually off to the side.

The Seimei Shrine didn't seem particularly busy; he even had the time to refresh his Twitter feed.

The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in Kyoto had not caused any major panic.

After all, today was Obon, and many people were cosplaying as various demons and ghosts, giving off quite a bit of a Japanese-style Halloween vibe.

With spirits and vengeful specters mingling among the crowds, there was surprisingly no sense of discord.

Many people were posting photos on social media of themselves posing with all sorts of monsters.

Of course, those netizens probably had no idea that a fraction of the entities they were taking pictures with were actually real spirits.

"A communication device?"

Asano Arisu looked down at the box. With its upright antennas, it really did look quite a bit like a router or something similar.

"I remember it should..."

Arai Takashi leaned in closer, briefly inspecting the black box before instructing Asano Arisu to take out her phone and tweak a few settings. Instantly, a cacophony of bustling noises began to stream from her mobile device.

"This communication gear looks quite high-end."

Arai Takashi handed it back to Asano Arisu.

"...Currently in the process of relocation."

Asano Arisu looked half-comprehending, only to hear a familiar voice emerging from the phone.

It was Shiniki Maki.

Intermingled with the sounds of explosions and gunfire, it sounded like a rather turbulent situation.

"Sister Maki?"

Imitating Arai Takashi's earlier actions, Asano Arisu adjusted the frequency band until she could finally hear the conversation clearly.

"Reporting to the Political Commissar, all hostages have been safely secured."

That was Sasaki Haru's voice.

"Understood, Uruz 2, get ready to use that thing."

Soon after, Qiao Qiao's voice came through.

"That thing?"

Asano Arisu was baffled.

Judging from the dialogue, it seemed they had already found the shrine maidens of Nashiki Shrine.

By hostages, did they mean the shrine maidens?

Could the teacher be facing some kind of trouble?

At that very moment, from the depths of Mount Hiei, a low, rumbling roar echoed.

"This is..."

Ayatsuji Naoyuki of the Kyoto Exorcists Association furrowed his brow, looking toward the source of the sound.

Amidst the pitch-black, impenetrable mountain forest, some malefic existence seemed to be calling out.

Calling to depravity, calling to death, calling to despair.

Asano Arisu felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, as if she had been struck in the head with a blunt instrument, and even her vision grew somewhat hazy.

"Are you alright?"

Arai Takashi appeared unaffected as he gently shook Asano Arisu's shoulder, finally helping her regain consciousness.

"Could it be that beneath Mount Hiei, a great demon is truly sealed away?"

Arai Takashi cast his gaze toward the group from the Kyoto Exorcists Association.

Although startled by this unexpected turn of events, they did not lose their composure, continuing to exchange calm discussions and formulate responses.

"Exorcists from Districts Six through Ten, please proceed immediately to the target location. The remaining exorcists are to concentrate at the Exorcism Martial Arts venue and await further orders."

Ayatsuji Naoyuki commanded.

"This doesn't look too good."

Arai Takashi seemed to be calculating something on his fingers as he muttered to himself.

"Shrine Maiden Asano, you should be safe staying here. I have business to attend to and must take my leave."

With that, Arai Takashi departed from the venue.

He vanished, swallowed up by the throngs of coming and going exorcists.

Asano Arisu was left completely bewildered.

She only heard Sasaki Haru's voice transmit through the phone.

"Report, all preparations are complete."

"Understood, Uruz 2, sing Katyusha."

"?"

Hearing Qiao Qiao's words through the phone, a question mark popped up over Asano Arisu's head.

Why on earth would they sing at a time like this?

Or did the song "Katyusha" possess some special kind of power in its own right?

However, the singing Asano Arisu had anticipated never materialized.

Only the sound of rotating metal structures echoed through the phone.

...

Qiao Qiao had never witnessed what true hell looked like.

At least for now, however, he felt the scene before him was no different from hell itself.

As the Interstice gradually collapsed, the entity within did not simply vanish into the ends of another world.

Instead, the entire thing leaked outward from within.

At the center of the village, an abyss was steadily taking shape.

It devoured the houses, the earth, and even the faceless samurai and the shadows inside the buildings.

Thick tentacles lashed out in all directions, kicking up rubble and gravel.

Simultaneously, countless monsters formed of writhing tendrils surged outward in every direction.

Dark, heavy clouds blanketed the sky, obscuring the full moon.

"Report, all preparations are complete."

Sasaki Haru spoke from inside the vehicle.

"Understood, Uruz 2, sing Katyusha."

Qiao Qiao glanced behind him.

The military-green canvas at the back of the van had been completely rolled back.

The original vehicle body had been modified, its roof sawed off.

In its place stood rows of deep green, rail-like structures.

Atop the guide rails rested several rockets.

Yes, rockets.

Hum—

Controlled by an electric motor, the launch rack aimed itself squarely at the village.

Although these rockets had been infused with a considerable degree of spiritual power, Qiao Qiao's objective was not to use them to destroy the supernatural anomaly about to break through its seal.

Instead, his targets were the trees in the village and the three houses.

He had noticed that despite the rampant destruction wrought by those anomalies, they caused no damage whatsoever to those trees and buildings.

From this observation, Qiao Qiao deduced that the descent of the anomaly—or rather, the process of breaking its seal—was not yet complete.

It still required these spiritually charged objects to carve out a pathway for itself.

In other words, as long as these trees and buildings could be destroyed in time,

the enemy's descent could be thwarted, or at least severely disrupted, to a certain extent.

Sixteen giant trees and three houses were not so easily destroyed.

Therefore, Qiao Qiao had no choice but to use this.

Katyusha.

Its formal designation was the BM-13 multiple rocket launcher. Because its factory marking at the time was a "K," and soldiers did not know the official name of this new weapon, they gave it a common Soviet female name: Katyusha.

Though it was a weapon from decades ago, Katyusha remained active in combat zones around the world to this day.

It could be mounted on a simple pickup truck for conversion; it was cheap and durable.

Since Qiao Qiao couldn't get his hands on a second 107mm rocket launcher, this could be considered the absolute best choice.

He had no idea where the boss had managed to source the inventory from.

Originally, Qiao Qiao had prepared it just in case, worrying that a situation might arise during the Exorcism Martial Arts Tournament requiring such heavy hardware, but he never expected it to come in handy in a place like this.

The rockets locked onto their targets.

The shrine maidens' mortars were also ready.

Qiao Qiao raised his hand.

"Fire."