Chapter 28 - The Cult

Later that day, the Tenko-jō received some highly unexpected guests...

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Yasaka sat formally within one of the palace’s grand reception rooms.

Standing before her were several humans dressed in long, black coats worn over crisp, white button-down shirts. Hanging prominently around their necks were silver crosses, clearly indicating their holy affiliation.

"Lady Yasaka, please forgive our unannounced arrival, but there is urgent news that needed to be conveyed to you as quickly as possible," a middle-aged man explained with a polite, stiff bow. He wore square-framed glasses, and his brown hair was swept back in a neat, professional comb. "I am Touji Shidou, the head of the Kuoh Church, and these are my subordinates."

"The Church?" Yasaka questioned, her golden eyes narrowing in slight puzzlement. "What business does the Church have with the Kyoto Yokai Faction?"

"A few hours ago, the Vatican received confirmed intelligence regarding the resurgence of a highly dangerous terrorist group. They are currently making their way toward Kyoto," Touji stated solemnly.

"Oh? A terrorist group?" Yasaka asked, her tone shifting to one of serious authority.

"Yes. I assume Lady Yasaka has heard of the Cult of Time?" Touji asked, watching her reaction closely.

"The Cult of Time?!" Yasaka gasped, her serene composure breaking in disbelief. "But weren't they completely eradicated?!"

Just as Touji opened his mouth to answer, a sudden, frantic commotion echoed from the hallway right outside the reception room doors.

"Lady Yako, please wait! Lady Yasaka is currently in the middle of a meeting with some very important guests!" a Kitsune attendant’s panicked voice could be heard, desperately trying to restrain the interloper.

"Guests?! I don't care! I have incredibly urgent news to report to Yasaka right now!" Yako shouted impatiently.

Then, without a single ounce of hesitation, the fox violently shoved the sliding doors open.

BANG! The wooden frames rattled loudly against the walls.

"Yasaka! I've got some massive news—" Yako yelled, panting slightly before freezing dead in her tracks. She blinked, suddenly realizing there was a squad of fully armed Exorcists standing in the middle of the room.

Seeing the frantic fox crash her tense diplomatic meeting, Yasaka rubbed her temples and let out a long, helpless sigh. "...Let me guess. Is it about the Cult of Time?"

Completely speechless, Yako just slowly nodded her head.

Standing nearby, Touji Shidou’s eyebrow twitched. The seasoned Exorcist leader could only stare in utter speechlessness at the chaotic woman who had just barged into the room.

**********

Meanwhile, down by the banks of the sweeping Hozugawa River...

Ren, who had been walking for several gruelling hours, had finally arrived at his destination.

And yes, he had gotten completely lost along the way. Despite holding a perfectly good map the entire time, it seemed that peerless swordsmen across the multiverse all shared the exact same tragic trait—a crippling lack of a sense of direction.

"Fuuu..." Breathing in the crisp, fresh air rolling off the water, Ren finally took in the sights around him. It was truly breathtaking.

The river carved its way through the mountains like a quiet, ancient blade, slipping effortlessly between towering cliffs that rose in jagged silhouettes on either side. The water was a cool, glassy green, shimmering brilliantly with the reflection of the dense pine forests.

"Woah..." Ren breathed, his dark eyes wide with awe.

Staring out at such an overwhelming wonder of nature, the young boy's mind suddenly went completely blank and he entered a profound, sudden trance. All of the gruelling sword training he had endured over the past few months began to replay vividly in his mind's eye.

Without even realizing what he was doing, his body moved on pure instinct. He reached down, picking up a long, sturdy fallen branch from the ground, and smoothly transitioned into his stances.

Swish. Swish.

Strike after strike, Ren swung his makeshift sword. Gradually, his slashes became slower and slower. However, with each deliberate movement, a strange, oppressive heaviness began to emanate from his small frame. It was a physical manifestation of his will, striking with such profound weight that it felt as if he wanted to cleave the very mountains in half, perfectly mirroring the awe-inspiring view before him.

When Ren finally snapped out of his trance, he found himself standing completely still, his makeshift wooden sword lowered toward the earth.

A massive, jagged crack had formed straight down the centre of the solid stone boulder right in front of him. Staring wide-eyed at the physical damage he had caused without using a single drop of ki, Ren’s mind reeled in shock. 'Did... did I do this?!'

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Suddenly, the slow, heavy sound of clapping echoed from the tree line behind him.

"As expected of the Chosen One," a deep, gravelly voice intoned, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Who's there?!" Ren whipped his head around in alarm, instantly raising his wooden branch in a defensive guard.

Stepping out from the shadows of the pines was a massive, sturdy man with a thick, full beard and a completely bald head. He was easily two meters tall, a literal mountain of muscle towering over the seven-year-old boy. Strapped to his broad back was a gigantic, intimidating double-headed war axe.

"Whoa, calm down, Chosen One," the burly giant said, casually raising his large, calloused hands in a placating gesture. "That was some incredibly impressive swordplay just now."

"Chosen One?" Ren repeated, his voice cold and guarded. He completely ignored the man's compliment, his dark eyes narrowing as he focused on the bizarre, unsettling title the stranger had just given him.

"Yes. We have finally found you, Chosen One. Please, come back with us," the giant of a man replied, completely ignoring Ren’s actual question and extending a massive hand toward the boy.

"Back? Back where?" Ren questioned, his grip tightening on his makeshift wooden sword as his wariness spiked.

"Back to the Cult of Time, of course!" the man proclaimed. His deep voice suddenly boomed across the riverbank, laced with a heavy, unsettling hint of religious fanaticism.

"Why should I?!" Ren refused without a single ounce of hesitation.

'The Cult of Time? That sounds like a terrible place,' Ren thought deadpan, his survival instincts immediately screaming at him. Seriously, what kind of shady organization actually put the word "Cult" right in their name when trying to make a good first impression?

Hearing the firm refusal in Ren’s voice, the giant nodded slowly, as if he had already been expecting that exact answer. A heavy, theatrical look of disappointment crossed his rugged features.

"Indeed. I knew you would say that. What a shame..."

The massive man slowly lowered his head, the thick shadows of his brow completely obscuring his eyes. "...A shame, indeed," he repeated, his voice dropping to a dangerous, vibrating rumble.

Then, without warning, his head whipped back up.

"A SHAME THAT I WILL HAVE TO HURT YOU!" he roared, his booming voice shattering the tranquillity of the riverbank.

His eyes now burned with a fanatical, violent fire. Pure rage warped his previously calm features so fiercely that he looked as if a terrifying, wrathful Asura had suddenly taken his place.

Then, BOOM! The solid bedrock beneath the giant's boots violently shattered outward in a massive spiderweb of cracks. Propelled by sheer, explosive brute force, his massive body blurred, appearing directly in front of Ren in the blink of an eye.

'Fast!' Ren thought, his eyes widening a fraction. Despite what his towering, muscular frame suggested, the burly man was terrifyingly agile.

But Ren had already been on high alert. Facing down that overwhelming, explosive speed, the seven-year-old remained perfectly calm.

Then, moving even faster than the giant, Ren simply... vanished.

Unlike the cultist's destructive, ground-shattering charge, Ren left absolutely no disturbance on the dirt beneath his feet. Slipping entirely out of the massive man's line of sight, he moved as silently and weightlessly as a swallow taking flight.

'Zornhau!' Ren roared in his mind.

Reappearing instantly in the air behind the giant, Ren gripped his makeshift wooden sword with both hands and brought it slicing down in a vicious, diagonal arc. Pouring his entire body weight, his swirling ki, and his newly awakened Sword Intent into the strike, the seven-year-old held absolutely nothing back.

'Mountain Splitting!'

Having absolutely zero time to react to the boy's impossible speed, the burly man suddenly felt as if the gravity around him had multiplied tenfold. As the wooden branch made contact, it didn't feel like a stick at all, it felt as though an actual, physical mountain was violently descending upon his spine.

"ARGH!"

Completely unable to offer any resistance against the overwhelming pressure, the massive, two-meter-tall cultist was launched entirely off his feet. Like a cannonball, he was flung all the way across the sweeping Hozugawa River, skipping over the water before crashing violently into the solid bedrock of the opposite bank.

Seeing the devastating result of his strike, Ren immediately bent his knees, preparing to leap across the river and chain his attacks together. He wasn't going to give the giant a single second to recover.

But before he could launch himself forward, a second, shadowy figure suddenly dropped from the dense pine canopy on the opposite bank.

Without uttering a single word, the slender newcomer hoisted the battered, two-meter-tall giant over their shoulder like a sack of rice. Then, with a burst of unnatural speed, they turned and vanished into the thick forest without a moment's hesitation.

Ren abruptly halted his momentum, his wooden branch still raised defensively.

He could have chased them. With his newfound speed, he might have even succeeded in hunting the duo down and finishing the fight. However, it wasn't those two specific cultists that made him hesitate, it was the potential trap lying in wait just beyond the tree line.

They were actively hunting him. Charging blindly into unknown enemy territory was exactly what a foolish prey would do. He had to be careful.

'I have to get back to the palace and inform Yasaka-obasan about this immediately!' Ren thought urgently, his grip tightening on his makeshift wooden sword.

In his haste and the lingering rush of combat adrenaline, the seven-year-old didn't even bother correcting his internal monologue. He completely forgot to use the mandatory, highly-demanded title of "Onee-san," blissfully ignoring the fact that the Nine-Tailed Fox Leader would normally smack him for calling her an old lady.

**********

Meanwhile, back inside the Tenko-jō reception room...

Yako was now seated quietly beside Yasaka, her usually cheerful demeanour gone as she listened to the Exorcist leader explain the dire situation.

"We currently have no clue what the Cult’s true aim in coming to Kyoto is," Touji Shidou said gravely, adjusting his glasses. "But our intelligence states that an army of roughly seven hundred zealots is currently marching toward this location. And based on their movements, they seem to be actively searching for something."

"Hmm... What object in Kyoto could the Cult possibly want?" Yasaka murmured, tapping her chin as she thought aloud.

Yako, who had been sitting uncharacteristically still, suddenly widened her golden eyes as a terrifying realization struck her. Springing up from her chair in pure alarm, she shouted, "It’s not an object they want! It’s a person!"

She whipped her head toward Yasaka. "Where is Ren?!" In her panic, the motherly fox didn't even bother adding his usual affectionate -chan honorific.

Yasaka’s blood ran completely cold. The pieces instantly clicked together in her mind. The faint hint of divine blood in the boy's veins... Lady Amaterasu’s sudden interest in him... It all added up perfectly.

The Cult of Time was hunting the seven-year-old boy.

"Ren is at the Hozugawa River right now! We have to hurry!"

Without another word of explanation, Yasaka bolted from her seat and rushed for the sliding doors. Sensing the sudden, desperate urgency, Touji and his Exorcists immediately followed close behind the two panicked Fox Yokai.

But just as Yasaka reached for the door handles, a heavily winded, childish voice suddenly echoed from the hallway right outside.

"YASAKA-OBASAN!"

...Obasan... Obasan... Oba...

The forbidden, deeply offensive title echoed repeatedly through the tense, dead silence of the reception room.

GRIP! Yasaka's hand seized the wooden doorframe with such terrifying, white-knuckled force that the sturdy wood groaned and splintered into pieces.

'Obasan?! YOU DARE?!' In a single instant, all thoughts of Ren’s safety evaporated from the Nine-Tailed Fox's mind. Her aura flared with demonic wrath.

"Pfft!" Yako immediately slapped both hands over her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently as she desperately tried to restrain her laughter. Now that Ren’s safety was confirmed by his shouting, her maternal panic vanished, allowing her to sit back and enjoy the show.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Yasaka shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Blowing the sliding doors completely off their tracks with a resounding BOOM!, the furious Yokai Leader lunged mercilessly at the boy in the hallway.

"Ah! Crap!" Ren gasped, his dark eyes going wide with pure, unadulterated terror as he stared down the rapidly approaching, wrathful woman.

'Ah... Okaa-san...' Ren thought numbly, his survival instincts completely short-circuiting. 'I think I am coming to see you in heaven.'