Holy Crap*Box

Tobirama, arms crossed, suddenly spoke up, "Was that Wood Release you just summoned?"

Mokushō shrugged. "Tree Yokai, huh? It does have that much power."

Tobirama frowned, thinking to himself, "Kekkei Genkai's rare to see here in a thousand years, can be used by any Tree Yokai in your land? That's absurd."

But instead of asking directly, he hinted indirectly, "You're Tree Yokai who can control trees, Izuna is Tengu who can summon wind and rain. What exactly is the power system in your world? If everyone could do that, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

Mokushō didn't shy away from the question, his tone quite frank. "You're right, things are in complete chaos."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're being so blunt?"

"There's nothing we can do about it, it's just the way it is." Mokushō shrugged. "As I said before, humans are a unique species in our understanding. Do you know why?"

Tobirama didn't reply, he just looked at him.

"Could it be that in your world, Yōkai are considered a race?" Hashirama thoughtfully.

"That's right." Mokushō nodded. "In our world, there are two intelligent races: humans and Yōkai. Humans are the dominant race here, but in our world, they're just one type of race."

"In our world, Yōkai are the mainstream, or rather, they've been forced into being the mainstream, because we have something that you don't have here."

"Evil Spirit?" Tobirama asked.

"That's right, or perhaps it's more appropriate to call them Demons." Mokushō nodded. "Initially, there were no Demons where we lived. Humans and Yōkai coexisted harmoniously. This was also because the Yōkai population was small, and most of Yōkai lived in their own sacred places, living peacefully and without interfering with humans."

But one day, a person was tempted by Ghosts and Monsters called Moryo and opened the gates of the Yomi. From then on, the barrier between the realms of Yin and Yang was broken, and Charm and Moryo ran rampant.

Humanity was slaughtered without any power to resist, wantonly annihilated and manipulated, but its advantage lay in its large numbers and intelligence. In the years of conflict, a few geniuses even emerged who figured out how to utilize Natural Energy.

Although the demon race had the ability to resist, the number of ghosts was enormous, and the resources that the demon race needed could only be found in the Holy Land. They could not completely abandon the Holy Land, and several races were slaughtered as a result.

Therefore, in order to fight against these monsters from the underworld, humans and demons reached an agreement.

People began to learn the knowledge and power of the demon race in order to fight against those evil spirits. These people were called Onmyōji.

The demon race assisted from the sidelines, forming Contracts with humans to become their helpers and expel Ghosts and Monsters. They were the predecessors of Shikigami, Summoning Beasts.

Everything was going well, but then they discovered something.

Mokushō paused for a moment.

"Those Ghosts and Monsters are actually the dead."

Tobirama frowned slightly.

This fact caused some Onmyōji who used Natural Energy to feel despair. These people were assimilated by nature because of their despair.

They should have become part of nature, turning into stone statues or trees, but at that time the gates of the Yomi were not yet closed, and their process of being assimilated by nature turned into a process of Demon.

"And so the Demons appeared."

Mokushō shrugged. "The Onmyōji saw this and knew it wouldn't work. They were already struggling against the Ghosts and Monsters, and now a Demon was coming along—that would be even worse, especially since it was Demon that had studied magic. They had to come up with a countermeasure."

Just when they were at their wits' end, a goddess appeared from the heavens— Princess Kaguya.

After witnessing the devastation on earth, she resolutely decided to swallow the God Tree Fruit, become a deity, and help the Onmyōji suppress the Ghosts and Monsters and Demons.

When Tobirama, Hashirama, and Madara heard the name "Princess Kaguya," they all frowned, but did not interrupt.

Izuna remained in a daze, seemingly lost in thought, wondering who he was, where he was, and what he was listening to.

The gates of the Yomi have been closed, the Ghosts and Monsters have vanished, but the Demons have not.

Demons and Ghosts and Monsters are just as difficult to deal with, and what's most frustrating is that you can't send them back to the Yomi, because they are not residents of the Yomi.

But the God Tree could. So the Onmyōji sent the Demons to the God Tree and let it deal with them.

But gradually everyone discovered that the power extracted from the God Tree had the same negative emotions as the original Demons, and Princess Kaguya was gradually assimilated as she recovered the power.

If her sons hadn't stopped her, this land would have been doomed.

The God Tree was rendered harmless by them and divided into several portions, which were then sent to various parts of the world for lengthy purification rituals.

"But without the God Tree, how could the Demons be dealt with? After much deliberation, the ancestors decided to ask the gods to suppress the Demons."

"Summon a deity?"

"Where there is the underworld, there is also Takamagahara. Our ancestors tried every means and finally managed to suppress the Demons with the help of the gods."

However, the gods do not actually have a specific consciousness, nor do they have the consciousness that they must eliminate Demons.

Strictly speaking, they only Uwagi the laws of nature; they don't care about the survival of humanity or the existence of Demons.

But people need the power of the gods.

Our ancestors racked their brains and came up with a solution: to let the power of the gods possess a person, to give the gods emotions and desires, so that the gods would actively help mankind to eliminate Evil Spirits and Demons.

Tobirama listening to this long string of words, Tobirama remained silent for a moment before speaking, "Well thought out. So that's why oddballs like you exist?"

Mokushō's voice rose half an octave. "What do you mean 'weird'! My divine position is recognized by everyone!"

Tobirama remained unfazed. "So you were still chosen after all?"

Mokushō paused, his imposing aura visibly diminished. "Uh... I don't know. But I am the Inari God."

"You really know nothing." Tobirama Dead-Fish Eyes.

"No!" Mokushō shouted, "You didn't listen to a single word I said!"

Hashirama stood to the side, going over the words he had just spoken from beginning to end, his brows still furrowed.

He glanced at Mokushō, then at Izuna.

He frowned when he noticed Izuna's absent-minded expression.

Why does Izuna look like he's never heard of these things before?

"So in your world, the main purpose of Onmyōji is to fight against Demons?" Hashirama asked.

"You're right." Mokushō nodded.

"And Demons are also transformed from you Onmyōji." Hashirama frowned, his tone carrying a simple logic. "Then wouldn't it be enough to just eliminate those Demon Onmyōji?"

Mokushō turned his head to look at him. "I told you before, Demonization is irreversible."

Hashirama's brows furrowed even deeper. "So you're saying that the ultimate fate of Onmyōji is Demon?"

"It's Demonization," Mokushō corrected him, "But there's a slight difference."

Upon hearing this, Izuna suddenly snapped back to reality and blurted out, "Holy crap! Round!"

Mokushō's eyes lit up. "Holy crap! Brilliant!"

Hashirama was dumbfounded. "Huh?"

Ban asked, "What circle?"

Izuna waved his hand, giving me a "you wouldn't understand" look. "Sigh, it's the sum of all that stuff from before. But that does make things really messy."

He paused, looked at Mokushō, and his eyes held a hint of scrutiny. "So, your role is—"

Mokushō crossed his arms, slightly raised his fox mask, and said with a tone of modesty that was just right, "I'm nothing special, just a mere air purifier."

Izuna paused for a moment, then uttered two words: "Awesome."

Hashirama Izuna's sudden realization, Hashirama couldn't help but ask, "Izuna, do you know what Mokushō was talking about?"

"I know," Izuna nodded casually. "That kid was rambling on and on; I didn't understand a word he said."

Mokushō gave Dead-Fish Eyes: "I was just giving a normal explanation. What's with all the rambling? If I didn't explain it clearly, these guys around you would be grinding me to the ground."

"It won't come to that," Izuna said with a smile. "At most, I'll just have to terminate the Contract. Aww!"

"Can you please stop scaring me!"

I wasn't trying to scare you!

Hashirama has considered all of this, then the suspicion that Mokushō fabricated the story can be largely ruled out.

But why do I have this uneasy feeling? I feel like I've missed something important.

Izuna sat next to Madara, muttering to himself.

Wow, I didn't expect my worldview to become so complete. I've even come up with "demon girl" and "female demon" stuff. The system assigning me this identity is pretty cool.

Madara was also a little worried and asked, "Izuna, is what he said really okay?"

Izuna instantly understood why they were being so aggressive.

They doubted whether what Mokushō said was true.

It's not that I doubt whether the world is real, but rather whether Mokushō intentionally manipulating things.

It seems that my behavior was too unfamiliar just now, which aroused their suspicion.

But patching things up now seems too deliberate, so let's just get straight to the point.

"I think it should be fine," Izuna said. "This kid just makes things too complicated. If he just told me how Onmyōji and Demons came to be, I could immediately recall it. He just had to bring up history with me."

Mokushō: "Wow! How am I supposed to explain all this without talking about history?!"

Izuna said, "If you just said that Demons are a desperate version of Onmyōji, then I could understand."

"Don't your brothers want to listen?"

"Give me a concept first, then explain."

Mokushō seemed to have something to say, but knew that some things he said would get him beaten up, so he could only keep quiet.

Madara continued, "Then what exactly is the difference between Demonization and Demon?"

"Oh, one is fine, except that it might actually become a real Yōkai because it lives too long. The other is that it goes berserk indefinitely and will explode after death, infecting people."

Holy crap! A boat!

Izuna looked at Mokushō, "Isn't this a case of post-mortem mining disease spreading through the air? How much more did you melt, kid?!"

"Furthermore, although the gates to the Yomi are closed, for various reasons we Onmyōji still have to deal with the netherworld. Contact with ghostly energy increases the level of chaos and deepens the degree of Demonization."

Chaos level? How can this be considered shameful? Wait, if that's the case, isn't this so-called ghostly energy just the void?

Holy crap! Sky Knight!

Speaking of Demonization, Demonization... Ugh! The Demonization trope is so overused! Who knows what this guy was thinking!

Izuna felt he might have been playing too many games; his associative abilities were truly unparalleled.

Madara observed Izuna without making a sound.

Izuna is actually very good at disguising himself. It's not that he can perfectly replicate another person's behavior, but rather that when he really wants to hide his emotions, even Madara can't understand what he's thinking.

For example, when he was talking to the lord of the country, and when he was talking Quhai the envoy from the Land of Whirlpools, Oki.

When facing outsiders, he can always perfectly hide his emotions, using his most aggressive side to deal with external hostility.

However, Izuna never hid his emotions when facing them.

Izuna now seemed to know what Mokushō talking about, and had connected it to something, his expression becoming somewhat serious.

Mokushō asked, "Hey, did you guys understand what I was saying?"

Tobirama said, "I think I understand now. So, in your world, Onmyōji must be very unpopular, right?"

Mokushō shrugged. "It's alright, after all, not all Demons are transformed from us Onmyōji."

"After the gates of the Yomi opened wide, the boundary between the realms of Yin and Yang became blurred, and because people's spirits are connected to nature, our thoughts can also give rise to Yōkai or Demons."

Tobirama frowned. "This will also induce the birth of Demons?"

"That's right," the brown eyes behind the fox mask gleamed, "And such Yōkai are omnipresent in our world; some hide in the shadows, some soar through the skies, and some are right beside people."

They come in all shapes and sizes, but they are all inhabitants of the other side.

The only people who can see them are animals and children.

And then there are those who connect with nature, wandering between this shore and the other.

That is, Onmyōji and Shikigami.

People's longing, especially those dark thoughts and filthy ideas, if gathered in large numbers, may give rise to Yōkai, or attract Yōkai that already exist.

If the emotions are even more extreme... they could even give rise to Great Yōkai far more powerful than Onmyōji.

"So you're saying these are the main targets that Onmyōji need to exorcise?" Tobirama. "So, longing only spreads out after humans Link with nature? Then all we need to do is sever..."

Tobirama paused, realizing that if they cut off the attack, they would have no way to deal with the Demons.

"To deal with Demons, we must learn how to connect with nature." Mokushō lowered his eyes. "Even if we know that not learning is the right thing to do, if we don't learn, we won't be able to sense the approaching danger. People have no choice but to retain this skill and live like this."

Tobirama frowned. "Your world sounds incredibly chaotic."

Mokushō sighed, "It was quite chaotic."

Madara looked at Izuna, and sure enough, Izuna's skills were something that people living in a peaceful era could not possibly possess.

This explains his seemingly naive personality.

Their main enemies are Demons, not humans, which is why Izuna is so kind to people and so vehemently hates things like Black Zetsu.