Chapter 30 - Invasion

High in the treacherous mountains of the Kameoka basin, an elite Tengu scout leapt silently from branch to branch. He swept his sharp gaze through the dense pine canopy, searching for any sign of the enemy vanguard. Suddenly, he caught the faint, unnatural flicker of firelight bleeding through the mist ahead.

Instantly on high alert, the scout slowed his pace, creeping cautiously toward the source. When he finally parted the branches and laid eyes on the devastated, flattened clearing that housed the Cult's camp, his pupils shrank in horror at the grotesque rituals taking place below.

Trembling slightly, he reached a steadying hand deep into his robes, drawing out a small ink brush and a roll of parchment to record what he was witnessing.

But just as the brush pressed against the paper, a voice whispered from directly behind him.

"Oh? Has a little birdie found our hideout~?"

The voice was mocking and horribly hoarse, sounding as if raw sandpaper had been shoved down the speaker's throat.

Alarmed, the Tengu instantly flared his youki and whipped his head around to strike the intruder. But without warning, the world around him violently warped and his own body felt as if it had been plunged into freezing molasses. Everything was moving in agonizingly slow motion.

'Time magic?!' the Tengu realized in panic.

Before he could even twitch a single muscle to defend himself, the blurred, deadly gleam of a bronze xiphos slashed cleanly through the air.

Schwing!

With a sickening spray of crimson, his severed head was sent violently tumbling through the branches. A heavy, wet thud echoed into the night as it finally struck the forest floor.

In the fleeting, fading seconds of his consciousness, the decapitated scout's vision blurred, but his ears managed to pick up a second voice stepping out of the shadows. This one was much deeper, devoid of amusement, and dripping with authority.

"Leptinos. Do not play with your prey. We are executing a divine mandate; absolutely no mistakes can be made."

"Tch..." The hoarse cultist, Leptinos, clicked his tongue in clear annoyance, seeming ready to argue.

But the fallen Tengu never heard the reply. His consciousness completely gave out, and his world faded to black forever.

**********

Inside the grand command room of the Tenko-jō, the heavy atmosphere of war had already settled. Yasaka, Yako, Captain Kōrōbō, Touji Shidou, and several of the most prominent Yokai clan elders were seated around a massive, polished oval table.

Yasaka opened the meeting, stating their purpose with clarity. "We are gathered here today because a severe threat has breached our territory," she announced, her voice calm but carrying an undeniable weight.

Instantly, alarmed whispers swept through the room as the elders began frantically speculating on what the threat could possibly be.

Before their voices could escalate into a full-blown panic, a heavy hand slammed violently against the wooden table.

BANG! The sound echoed sharply like a gunshot. "Quiet!" Kōrōbō barked. Fiercely loyal and ever the strict militant, the Tengu captain had zero tolerance for sudden disruptions in the presence of his leader.

The elders flinched, staring intently at the imposing Tengu. Absorbing the reprimand, they quickly chose to swallow their whispers and quiet down.

Satisfied with the now-silent room, Yasaka continued. "Father Shidou of the Church has been sent to notify us of this threat. I will let him explain the exact situation we are currently facing." She gestured gracefully toward the Exorcist. "Father Shidou."

Taking his cue, Touji stood up and offered a respectful bow to the gathered elders. "Thank you, Lady Yasaka. Word has come directly from the Vatican. The Cult of Time has resurfaced, and their vanguard is currently targeting Kyoto."

As he spoke, the seasoned Exorcist carefully omitted the true catalyst for the invasion. There was no need to tell the entire Yokai council that a boy named Ritsuzen Ren was the real cause.

Eyes widened drastically around the table at the mention of the Cult's name, their mouths fell open in shock.

A Gama Yokai, a pudgy, toad-faced elder wearing a pristine white robe with a long, wispy beard flowing down his chest, raised a trembling, webbed hand. "Was the Cult not destroyed a century ago?" he croaked in disbelief.

"Mm." Touji nodded, though his expression remained incredibly grim. "It is now speculated that a number of survivors had hid themselves away in underground caverns. Just an hour ago, Vatican task forces have uncovered their primary hideout deep within Greece. According to the intel gathered, the Cult is still in possession of their divine artifact."

Touji paused, letting the silence stretch before delivering the final blow. "...The Cauldron of Time."

The elders' faces drained of colour. The weight of that information settled over the room like a thick, suffocating blanket.

"It seems you are all already aware of the level of threat the Cult poses to us," Yasaka said solemnly, rising from her seat and bowing her head deeply to the gathered council. "I have called you here in the hope that you will contribute your forces to help Kyoto weather this crisis."

"Maa, maa. There is no need for all these stiff formalities, Yasaka-chan~" Yako waved her hand soothingly, breaking the heavy tension with her usual carefree tone. "I will personally send a hundred Field Kitsune under my command to scout ahead."

Bolstered by Yako pledging her forces first, the rest of the elders hesitated only for a moment before chiming in.

"I... I will also send the toads of the Gama clan," the Gama elder stammered, his webbed hands trembling slightly in fear.

"The Nekomata will also provide our aid," a beautiful Nekomata matriarch agreed. She sat elegantly in her chair; a slender smoking pipe held sensually between her fingers as a pair of twin tails swayed behind her.

"I will inform the Kodama living throughout the forests of Kyoto to search for the Cult's traces," an elderly, translucent spirit whispered softly, his ethereal hands gently cradling a small, potted bonsai tree.

"Sigh... The Kame will scout the rivers and lakes," an ancient turtle Yokai sighed heavily. He sat with a pronounced hunch, leaning heavily on a long wooden staff, a massive, weathered shell covering his back.

"And of course, as the main military force of Kyoto, the Tengu will not be left out," Captain Kōrōbō stated with pride.

Yasaka looked around the table at the united coalition of her people. "Thank you, elders," she said respectfully, her head remaining lowered in deep gratitude.

**********

Early the next morning, a vanguard of a hundred robed men arrived at the outskirts of Kyoto.

Standing at the very front was a man clad in a pristine white robe. He looked up, his eyes tracing the faint, shimmering dome that enclosed Inner Kyoto, a massive, magical barrier completely invisible to the common human eye.

"The Yokai, cowering in their little hidey-hole..." the man rumbled, his deep voice dripping with contempt. A cruel smirk curled his lips as his gaze dropped from the barrier to the bustling, mundane city streets below. "...leaving a swarm of insects completely unprotected on the outside."

Lowering his tone to a dangerous whisper, he addressed the hundred cultists assembled behind him. "Cause as much chaos as possible."

"YES!" the hundred voices roared in perfect unison, a sick, fanatical gleam of excitement burning deep within their eyes.

**********

BOOM! A massive explosion suddenly rocked the centre of Kyoto, completely levelling several antique Japanese townhouses in a blinding flash of heat and debris.

Screams flooded the streets as civilians frantically fled from ground zero. In the blind panic, the terrified crowd trampled over those who had been thrown to the ground by the blast's shockwave, causing countless secondary casualties.

Standing calmly in the middle of the ruined road, a man in a black robe casually waved his hand. Glowing, intricate magic circles materialized in the air around him, unleashing rapid-fire explosions left and right, reducing everything in his path to burning rubble.

Occasionally, he would thrust his hand out. With a violent, invisible burst of telekinesis, he would yank a fleeing civilian straight into his clutches. Driven mad by a century of exile and self-mutilation, the cultist clamped his hands over his victim's flesh and began to brutally tear their skin right off the body.

"AHHHHHHHHH! HEELLLPPPP!!!! IT HUUURTTTSS!!!!"

Agonized, blood-curdling screams tore from the victim's throat, answered only by the cultist's maniacal laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Throughout the unprotected streets of Kyoto, scenes like this were unfolding. Explosions, raging fires, senseless murder, and sadistic torture ran rampant, instantly transforming a peaceful, mundane morning into a living hell.

The piercing, desperate wail of police sirens quickly joined the cacophony of destruction. Desperate gunshots rang out across the city, but against superpowered, magically shielded cultists, mundane weapons couldn't even leave a dent.

The madmen were unstoppable, spreading bloody chaos everywhere they went.

**********

"Lady Yasaka! The Cultists have been spotted! They are already causing mass chaos in the streets of Outer Kyoto!"

A small, brown Field Kitsune burst violently into the war council, sputtering out the frantic report between desperate gasps for air. The scout jumped anxiously around the room, waving his paws at the gathered higher-ups in sheer panic.

"WHAT?!" Yasaka screamed, her voice cracking under the sudden, crushing weight of shock and fear. She whipped her head to the side. "KŌRŌBŌ! The Tengu!"

Captain Kōrōbō’s eyes widened in horror. Instantly regaining his strict military composure, the Tengu pushed off the table and bolted for the exit.

BOOM! Shattering the sliding doors with a violent sonic boom, the Tengu Captain launched himself directly into the sky toward Outer Kyoto. Thrusting two fingers into his mouth, he unleashed a piercing, high-frequency whistle. The sharp, screeching sound tore through the air for miles, instantly signalling all airborne Tengu troops to converge on the human city.

Back in the ruined council room, Yasaka fell heavily back into her seat. Her expression turned incredibly grave, her face paling rapidly.

She hadn’t accounted for the safety of the mundane civilians. It wasn't because she was a foolish or scatterbrained leader; an open attack on a human populace was just completely unthinkable in the modern era. If this were the Middle Ages, she absolutely would have planned her defences around the millions of humans living in Kyoto.

But a pact had been signed a century ago among all the major supernatural factions—Devils, Angels, Fallen, Gods and Yokai alike. It mandated that they could never appear openly before mankind, nor drag them into their wars. If anyone broke that sacred pact, the rest of the supernatural world would instantly unite to wipe the instigators off the face of the earth.

'But the Cult is already exiled...' Yasaka realized, a cold sweat breaking out on her skin. 'They are already hunted by the entire world. They truly don't care about the consequences at all!'

"T-T-The Gamas will e-erect a barrier around the rest of Inner Kyoto!" the Gama elder chimed in, his voice stuttering in terror now that the situation had escalated into a public massacre. "B-But we cannot stop the intruders already inside! We can only block those still outside!"

"Sigh... Do it. That is all we can do for now," Yasaka exhaled tiredly, rubbing her temples as a massive headache formed.

"I will also go out and assist the Tengu," Yako stated, her voice devoid of its usual cheerful lilt. She stood up and marched briskly toward the door, her golden aura flaring violently around her in barely contained, murderous anger.

"I will have the Nekomata assist with the human evacuation," the Nekomata matriarch softly said. She took a long, deep drag from her smoking pipe, desperately trying to calm her own racing heart.

**********

KRA-KOOM! KRA-KOOM!

The once-calm, azure sky above Kyoto was suddenly swallowed by a churning sea of heavy, dark clouds. An oppressive, suffocating gloom descended over the burning city. Jagged streaks of lightning flickered through the bruised heavens like wrathful dragons, accompanied by the bone-rattling rumble of thunder.

Having separated from his rampaging troops, the white-robed leader of the vanguard walked at a leisurely, unbothered pace down a quiet, deserted alleyway.

Glancing up at the unnaturally fast-forming storm, his lips curled into a faint smirk. 'It seems the gods are angered,' he thought calmly, unfazed by the divine display of power. 'Well... no matter.'

Turning his attention forward, he stopped just inches away from the massive, shimmering dome of the Kyoto barrier. It stood before him like an impenetrable wall of pure energy.

Raising his dominant hand, he pressed his palm flat against the rippling ward. Instantly, an intricate, glowing magic circle flared to life between his skin and the barrier.

The magic circle then began to rotate. Its glowing, concentric rings shifted and aligned, turning smoothly as if deciphering a complex lock. Like a stone slipping seamlessly into calm water, the barrier of the Yokai Faction yielded.

Without a single ounce of resistance, his hand passed right through the barrier, followed smoothly by his arm, his torso, and finally, his entire body.

Just like that, the white robed leader had breached Inner Kyoto, unhindered and undetected.