The moon was bright, the stars numerous.
The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, but without clouds to block the view, the night was nearly as clear as day. The moon illuminated the earth—it truly glowed with its own light rather than reflecting the sun.
"Do you feel it yet?"
"Not yet."
"Oh. Okay."
Two voices held a brief dialogue before silence returned.
They were in a forest clearing far from Izumo. Though called a clearing, it contained a modest pond, about the size of a room. The tall trees acted as a windbreak against the cool night air. Despite the dense foliage feeling somewhat profound, it wasn't frightening.
Small, lively creatures hopped among the branches, tilting their heads curiously at the figures by the pond. In this wilderness, the number of crows was far greater than Sū ěr had imagined.
"Do you feel it yet?"
"...No."
"Ah? Still nothing?"
The speaker's voice carried a hint of disappointment and confusion. Undoubtedly, only Sū ěr group would be here at such an hour. He had cleared out all yokai within a few miles to ensure no accidents would ruin the night.
"Could something have gone wrong?" Sū ěr asked Think, looking like an anxious father outside a delivery room. "Is it because the moon isn't full enough? Should we come back tomorrow?"
He used his hand to frame a circle, comparing it to the lunar disk above. He was baffled by Yukari lack of progress. He was starting to get impa— Thump!
With a dull sound, Sū ěr felt a heavy blow to his back.
"Be quiet. The time hasn't come yet. Why are you so flustered?" Think glared at him before returning to her inspection of the ritual arrays around Yukari.
She looked exactly like a Head Nurse.
Beside the pond, Yakumo Yukari sat in a chair, looking extremely tense. It was the first time Sū ěr had seen her so nervous she subconsciously fiddled with the hem of her dress.
One could hardly blame her. Unlike the peaceful, natural pond nearby, the grass around Yukari had been scraped away and replaced with dense, mysterious engravings. They currently emitted a faint cyan-blue glow, inhaling and exhaling a staggering amount of spiritual energy. Except for a few special locations, Yukari had never seen a place so saturated with energy.
And this place had gone from ordinary to extraordinary right before her eyes in just a few hours.
To be honest, when she first saw that translucent soul carving these incomprehensible arrays around her, Yukari had to fight the urge to flee. She only stayed by repeating to herself that if she survived, she would earn a massive favor.
After all, these arrays looked suspiciously like they were meant for a sacrifice—a feeling that only faded once the spiritual energy began to flow.
As a yokai, Yukari couldn't use spiritual energy directly, but it worked fine once converted. The arrays Think had carved served exactly that purpose. Upon closer inspection, the pure spiritual energy turned dark and demonic as it flowed toward Yukari, shifting from pure to eerie, and then...
"...I... I..."
"A reaction at last!" Sū ěr appeared instantly in front of her, his eyes shining. "How is it? Can we start?"
"...I... I feel so stuffed," Yukari said weakly. Her internal demonic energy had never been so abundant. She felt like someone who had eaten so much at lunch that she didn't want to move, becoming drowsy.
This feeling was too blissful, as if she were soaking in an ocean of demonic power. She could squander it however she liked. Could she swim in it? She could, right? It was so light, so warm.
"Hey! You there?" A voice woke her up. "Try it! Give it a try!"
"...Okay." Finally remembering why she was here, Yukari answered with difficulty. This was a sensation unique in her life—the instinctual urge to hibernate that a bear yokai feels when the snow falls.
She looked up. The round moon had reached its zenith, pure and white without a single impurity, like a glowing jade plate. It was a perfect circle; the mere sight of it implanted the concept of perfection into the mind.
Going to the moon? Linking that thought to her next action, Yukari revealed an expectant smile—the joy of discovering a hidden secret in something long familiar.
There was a moon in the sky. There was a moon on the mirror-like water.
Like the finest, most fragile silk, Yukari could only faintly sense the connection. However, in the next second, energy was injected into one end of that connection, causing it to swell. Though it still looked delicate, it was far better than before.
The man had put away his smile and sat before her, eyes closed... Was he the reason?
She shifted her gaze and reached out. She wasn't grasping a physical object, but her fingers splayed as if she could see formless concepts. She opened her mouth.
"—The Boundary of Real and Unreal."
A half-withered leaf spiraled down, landing on the smooth water. As Yukari spoke, everything around them remained peaceful. The wind didn't stop, no special light flashed, and there was no crushing pressure. It felt as if nothing had happened.
But Sū ěr, Think, and Yukari all knew this was an illusion. They could clearly sense a qualitative change in the pond. The calm surface was no longer water—it had been replaced by something else: the Moon.
Yukari had succeeded. Their plan worked.
Even ignoring the profound sense in their hearts, the disappearance of the massive spiritual energy and its conversion into a flood of demonic power that nearly drowned Yukari proved it. Feeling the inescapable weakness in her body and her power vanishing into the void, Yukari grew even more exhausted.