Kyoto City, in an izakaya.
"Haruhara-san, Yoshiko only gives me 10,000 yen monthly allowance, and on top of that, she glares at me every day when I get home. I really can't take it anymore. Is this any way for a person to live?"
"I just want to die... If I were dead, I wouldn't have these troubles anymore."
"Kawasaki-san, you're drunk."
"No, I can still drink another glass... no, two glasses~"
"Cheers~~"
Woo~ woo~
The sound of sirens grew louder.
Haruhara Ryohei, who had just finished work at the logistics company and was drinking beer with colleagues, glanced at the entrance and complained:
"What's going on this afternoon? The sirens keep blaring nonstop."
The izakaya owner, wiping tables, looked up at the door:
"I heard the police headquarters is conducting a large-scale fire drill."
Haruhara Ryohei suddenly understood, then grumbled:
"Ah, come to think of it, most houses in Kyoto are wooden. Guess they do need the training."
As he turned back, he saw his junior Kawasaki slumped over the table and froze:
"Kawasaki? Kawasaki!!"
"He's only had a few drinks~" Haruhara Ryohei glanced at the half-finished beer bottle on the table and sighed: "His tolerance is worse than my son Yohei's, seriously..."
Just then, he heard a thud and turned to see the shop owner collapsed on the table.
"The owner's drunk too?"
Another thud!
Haruhara Ryohei stared blankly at the seventy-year-old landlady lying on the floor, took a sip of his beer, and muttered:
"Everyone... got drunk?"
...
Near Nijo Castle, in a park.
Yomi Isayama sat before a temporary computer setup, gripping her earphones as she frowned:
"Mass unconsciousness?"
"Then proceed with the plan and alert the hospitals immediately... What? The nurses have collapsed, too?"
"Activate the protective barrier now! Prioritise transporting medical staff inside for revival. Hey... hey?!!"
Hearing only dead silence from the receiver, Yomi Isayama stood up abruptly and gazed towards Nijo Castle.
Through her spiritual vision, she saw black torrents converging from the heavens like rivers flowing into the sea, all pouring into Nijo Castle.
Witnessing this, she murmured:
"It's already begun? The resurrection of Nue..."
...
Nijo Castle, Inner Citadel Palace.
As Abe no Yoshihira declared that the time had come...
Boom... Boom...
Low rumbling echoes reverberated.
The sound resembling an approaching mudslide began resonating through the hall.
The next instant.
With a deafening crash.
The hall's walls were obliterated as a black deluge mixed with wood splinters and debris came surging violently inward!
Seeing this, Abe no Yoshihira leapt first, smashing through the ceiling to evade the oncoming black tide.
A split second earlier, Luo Shu's eyes narrowed as he swiftly drew Tenseiga and slashed through the air. A crescent-shaped Netherworld gate split open, swallowing the raging black torrent completely.
For that moment, the black floods rushing from all directions seemed to hit an iron wall, diverting around Luo Shu's position as they surged outward from the Inner Citadel Palace.
At that very instant, before the palace gates...
BOOM.
Tsuchigumo swung his massive fist, smashing it into the ground with a thunderous impact. In that instant, bricks and stones flew as the earth was blasted open, leaving a crater stretching dozens of metres.
Outside the crater, swarms of black bats converged from all directions, finally coalescing into the human form of Kaname Kuran.
Raising his right hand, he exerted a powerful telekinetic force that pressed down on every cell of Tsuchigumo's body.
The crushing pressure made Tsuchigumo's movements falter momentarily. He took a deep breath before unleashing a bestial roar towards Kaname's direction:
"ROOOAAAR—!!!"
The roar materialised into a shockwave, vibrating the air and forcing Kaname back, blood trickling from his features as his internal organs suffered severe concussive damage.
But thanks to a Vampire's regenerative abilities, Kaname's injuries healed within seconds. He leapt back, putting distance between them while wiping the blood from his face, his gaze fixed on Tsuchigumo:
"Seems you're the brute-force type—my least favourite to deal with."
Meanwhile, Tsuchigumo shook off the telekinetic grip with a cold snort.
"Slippery bastard. More annoying than a yokai like the Earthquake Catfish!"
Standing at his full seven-metre height, Tsuchigumo loomed like a wall of flesh and blood. His voice was icy.
"I've lost interest in you. The next punch will finish you."
No sooner had he spoken than the roaring sound of a raging torrent reached their ears.
"Hm?"
Tsuchigumo paused, turning his head towards the gates of the Inner Citadel Palace behind him.
Kaname glanced at Tsuchigumo's neck, calculating the cost of severing it telekinetically.
Having made his decision, Kaname chose to retreat with Hanabusa Aidō in tow.
In an instant, he appeared before Hanabusa, exchanging a silent glance. The next moment, both dissolved into swarms of bats, scattering towards the outskirts of Nijō Castle.
Watching them flee, Hidemoto Keikain, who had been spectating, was dumbfounded.
"Hey, hey, hey! At least take me with you, Lord Kaname!!"
Hidemoto tried floating after the retreating Kaname, but after a few futile seconds, he gave up with a resigned sigh.
"Honestly, this sort of ally really can't be trusted. What a failure of a supervisor."
Shaking his head, Hidemoto observed the black torrent surging towards Tsuchigumo—only to be deflected by the yokai's colossal frame. Narrowing his eyes, he murmured:
"A flood of Kyoto's citizens' negative emotions... Just how long has Nue been stockpiling this?"
As Hidemoto muttered, Tsuchigumo, standing firm against the tide, burst into laughter.
"This aura—it's unmistakable! Is that you, Nue?! Crawled out of hell, have you?!"
"ANSWER ME!!!"
His thunderous voice reverberated through the air.
In response, the surging black torrent shuddered before abruptly contracting.
Crumbling tiles and wooden beams clattered to the ground as the receding flood formed an enormous black sphere over two hundred metres in diameter atop the ruins of the Inner Citadel Palace.
At the very top of the sphere, the tiny figure of Hagoromo Gitsune hung limply, her head drooping like a grotesquely disproportionate doll.
Facing this scene, Tsuchigumo didn't even glance at Hagoromo Gitsune. His face filled with excitement as he stared at the black sphere, observing the faint golden patterns flickering within. He laughed heartily:
"I've been waiting for you for so long, Nue!!"
As if in response to the loud laughter, a cold male voice slowly echoed from within the massive black spherical shell:
"The human world remains as noisy as ever!"
The former Lord of a Hundred Demons, the being who simultaneously possessed the dual identities of Great Youkai Nue and Great Onmyoji Abe no Seimei, had now returned from Hell.