Chapter 456
"Yes..." The samurai girls glanced at each other, then nodded softly. No matter what, they would stand with Lord Raikou. Perhaps this was the easiest choice.
When Raikou approached Shirou frowned, but stepped back, allowing the woman to walk towards the Demon King.
The purple-haired woman walked up to the Ghost King, who was lying on the ground, and extended her hand to him.
"Hehehe! That's right! Well done! Protecting me is protecting your Emperor, your country! Get this bastard out of here! Don't let him ever show his face in front of me again!" The Demon King grabbed the woman's hand, used it to help him stand up, and glared at Shirou, laughing smugly.
"..." Shirou stared coldly at the Demon King. His sword was ready. If Raikou chose to stand on the Demon King's side, he would force his way through and kill the Demon King, even if it meant risking injury.
The Raikou Four Heavenly Kings looked at the purple-haired woman with her head down upon hearing this, feeling somewhat uneasy. Did they really have to listen to this bastard? Judging from Shirou's stance, he didn't seem to be stopping.
On the other side, Enma-tei, who was holding a small bamboo cage and using props to heal her wounds from inside, also looked this way. She let go of the medicine bag and placed it on her treasured sword. If necessary, she had to act immediately.
"Hmph! That's more like it! This is the Bushido spirit of the Yamato people! Oh, and this judge of the underworld, why don't you just kill her? Otherwise, if she goes back and tells those King of Hell, the underworld won't let it go!" The Demon King suddenly said with a sneer, looking at the Enma-tei was healing on the other side.
"You... you're truly beyond saving, chu." Enma-tei said, looking at the Demon King.
Immediately afterwards, Raikou slapped the Ghost King across the face, knocking him to the ground.
Before the Demon King could stand up straight, he fell to the ground again. Raikou pressed his head down and slammed it into the ground.
Nationalism arose in modern Europe, which is a false proposition. It forcibly categorizes races that have been passed down for thousands of years and have been constantly merging and changing into one's own people. As long as they are of the same ethnicity, even if they are people from two thousand years ago, with different surnames, clans, and birthplaces hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart, they are considered great just because they belong to the same ethnicity, as if it brings glory to one's own people.
But in reality, that person's thoughts, values, character, and environment are completely different from his. If he were to appear in front of him, it would only cause trouble, or even disgust.
The emergence of nationalism, populism, and head of household has influenced people's ways of thinking and triggered many events, but in reality, nothing has really happened.
Humans are selfish; this is an instinct ingrained in our genes for survival since ancient times. After all, in a primitive society where survival was precarious, it would be difficult for selfless people to survive. When a large number of people gather, some kind of division will inevitably occur, and various scheming cliques will emerge.
Even within the same religion, Christianity includes Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodox Church; Islam is divided into Shia and Sunni, as well as Kharijites and Murji'ites.
Before this, people would talk about being from the same hometown or forming cliques when they were away from home. Even two neighboring villages could kill each other over water for irrigation fields. After this, the same thing still happened within a village, with the closest brothers fighting fiercely over family property.
Nationalism, as a mode of thinking, can allow hundreds of millions of people to find a common ground and unite them. At the same time, this ideology is highly inflammatory, but it is also often destructive.
Nationalism can easily evolve into extremism, such as Nazism, the KKK, and other forms of racial discrimination.
The closer a group is, the easier it is to exclude outsiders and create a common enemy. Conversely, the stronger the desire for unity, the more necessary it is to exclude those who do not conform, leaving the group with only one ideology and one voice. When that ideology is brutal and evil, the consequences can be terrible.
For example, on the day the British colonists left, Britain merely used some means to divide India into India and Pakistan. But on Independence Day, Muslims and Hinduism, who had lived together for thousands of years, suddenly gained freedom after the colonists left, leading to conflict that resulted in the deaths of more than 500,000 people.
The purple-haired woman pressed the Ghost King's head into the ground.
"Do you know which family founded the Kamakura Shogunate?" Raikou asked, smiling as he looked at the Demon King once again.
"Lord Raikou (the eldest)! Well done!" the Four Heavenly Kings said with a smile.
Raikou smiled at everyone; she had long disliked the Demon King! Influenced by Shirou, she too chose to rise up in rebellion!
"Aaaaaah... you traitors who betrayed their nation and their country..." The Ghost King collapsed to the ground in agony, seemingly having targeted the wrong person.
"So your ideas are outdated." Shirou shook his head helplessly as he looked at the fallen demon.
Generally speaking, although a country is nominally ruled by an emperor, there will always be interest groups vying for power with the emperor and engaging in power struggles.
For example, the Guanlong Clique of the Tang Dynasty produced emperors from four dynasties, and even Li Shimin dared not offend them easily. It was not until the time of Wu Zetian that she finally managed to achieve a balance of power with the powerful clans by continuously promoting loyal talents through the imperial examination system.
For example, the Donglin Party, composed of scholars from Jiangnan Ming Dynasty, constantly launched factional struggles for their beliefs, even at the cost of harming the country and its people. However, they always protected the interests of wealthy and powerful people from their hometowns and changed national policies that were beneficial to the court. For instance, they considered where to mobilize laborers for water conservancy projects, how to provide disaster relief when there were natural disasters, and which merchants to cooperate with when purchasing supplies.
In ancient times, the world did not belong to the common people, but to the emperor and the scholar-officials. As the saying goes, "family comes before country," and the basic principles of Confucianism are self-cultivation, family management, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. Therefore, the interests of one's hometown take precedence over the interests of the country.
Otherwise, you would be accused of being ungrateful. How could you return home in glory in your old age? How could you face the landlords and wealthy merchants who sponsored your studies, your trip to the capital for the imperial examinations, and provided you with substantial financial assistance to cultivate relationships with officials and eunuchs, thus enabling you to rise in rank and make a fortune?
As for loyalty to the emperor, this is not a thought that aligns with human nature; it never has been!
896 Raikou's astonishing strike
"You traitors who rebelled! Scoundrels without a shred of Bushido spirit! Ungrateful bastards! You are sinners against Japan! Traitors to the Yamato people!" The red-skinned demon king struggled to his feet, hysterically pointing at the samurai girl and the others, and shouting curses.
With a whoosh, a flash of sword light appeared.
The golden scales were cut open, and tiny golden figures fell out from the broken pieces, tumbling in the air, becoming thinner and thinner until they disappeared into the air.
"How annoying! Since you've already made up your mind, let's just end it all!" Minamoto no Raikō's long purple hair was lifted by the wind, then fell like a fragile waterfall as she swung her sword and pierced through the scales.
"Aaaaaah!!! My dragon energy!!!" The Ghost King roared in shock and rage, stretching out his claws to try and plug the broken end, but the golden little man still managed to squeeze out from between his fingers, and he lost his last reliance.
The emperor and the common people; the scholar-officials and the wealthy merchants and landlords; they were two opposing sides of the same public entity. Generally speaking, the emperor was a lonely figure, while the common people were the most vulnerable and vulnerable at the bottom of society.
However, there are a few exceptions where things can turn around. For example, during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty was known for its benevolent rule and extreme hatred of corrupt officials. Officials' salaries were among the lowest in the dynasty, and the common people enjoyed a high social status. However, this fostered a later culture of collusion between officials and merchants, where everyone was expected to take bribes.
In modern times, being an emperor or King has become increasingly difficult. If it weren't for countries that respect tradition or are religiously based, kingdoms would have been overthrown long ago. Why should some people enjoy privileges? Before the law, everyone is equal. Democracy and freedom are two major themes in modern times, seemingly impossible for people to achieve, yet they clash fiercely for them.
Moreover, compared to the emperor or King who are high and mighty, politicians and unscrupulous merchants are clearly more likely to give the common people some petty benefits. As a result, once the people have solved their basic needs and start to have other pursuits, such as wanting to rise in status, they will not be able to get along well with the emperor.
The emperor has become a superfluous figure...
"Admit defeat! Come with me to the King of Hell to be judged. It's not too late to repent! As long as you atone for your sins, you can be reincarnated and start anew." The Enma-tei put away the small bamboo cage and came out to persuade the Ghost King. Although he was beyond redemption, the underworld's system was constantly being reformed, so even for beings like the Ghost King, they would try their best to save him, so as not to abandon anyone.
The Demon King looked at Shirou and the others in despair. He realized that he was helpless. Killing and begging for mercy, the skills he relied on to survive and succeeded with, had become ineffective. He seemed to have become like those who were weaker than him in the past, whom he had toyed with and then killed.
"Bastards! Bastards! You lot have guts! If I can't be emperor, then none of you will get away with this! You abandoned my people, and I don't need them anymore! I'll drag the whole of Japan down with me!!!"
The golden dragon energy, the national destiny composed of millions of tiny figures, was swallowed into the Ghost King's mouth. Then his belly swelled up continuously, emitting a high-energy light that pierced through his red belly, as if it were about to explode.
"Oh no! He's trying to detonate the dragon energy and blow this place up!!" The Miko, Take, exclaimed in alarm upon noticing the Demon King's actions.
The Ghost King realized that it was actually the biggest failure, because it knew nothing but killing. When it encountered something it couldn't defeat, it would kneel down and fawn over it.
But when he couldn't win over the other party, nor could he kill them, he was at a loss and became utterly useless.
The Ghost King collapsed at this moment. It remembered when it first entered this hellish realm and struggled relentlessly. As an Extreme Evil ghost in this hell, it was merely a mountain king in life and a minor general in death. But by chance, it met a special ghost, which led to its current state.
Survival of the fittest! This is a rule that Ghost King understood as soon as he became a bandit. You either bully others or you get bullied; there is no other choice.
Weakness is a sin! Stupidity deserves to be deceived! To survive, you must be ruthless, not only to yourself but also to others! Even a stray dog, as long as it dares to take a bite before it dies, will not be bullied.
If you dare to fight and seize, you can become powerful. The more powerful you are, the more you can take.
And if a demon like Hirohito forgets these rules, that's why he was eaten. Even if he was once of noble birth, even if he clearly possessed strength, if he had no desire to fight or plunder, he would just hide in a cave, enduring hunger and waiting to die. But as a demon, he's a fool who can't starve to death. The evil spirits that do evil become after death are not creatures native to hell, but are even more despicable. There is no creature more vile than this kind of demon.
He went to great lengths to invade other countries and wage war on multiple fronts, hoping to achieve imperial hegemony, but ended up in a miserable state, leaving behind an infamy for all time. He couldn't even commit suicide, and instead managed to save his life by groveling before a marshal of another country's military. Even after death, he didn't become Servant, but just a skeleton in his tomb.
The Demon King absorbed the Emperor's memories, learning a great deal about the memories and thoughts of World War I and World War II. He absorbed fascist ideology and naturally also absorbed the resentment of the Emperor's entire life, making him unwilling to experience those things again.
The Ghost King roared, "That Emperor was too miserable! He was such a failure as a human, and even as a ghost, he was no good. So I ate him and took his place. These abilities are my rightful reward! That's why I became the Ghost King! I will become stronger and stronger! Then I will unify Hell, overthrow the Underworld, devour King of Hell and Ksitigarbha, and become the sole Emperor!"
"The mandate of heaven is with me! I've found such a rare place as the crack leading to the human world. Sooner or later, I'll fight my way out of hell and become the emperor who rules the entire world! That's how it should be!!!"
Historically, Emperor have always lived a very frustrating life. Centralized power was never achieved; the shogun held the reins of power, and the Emperor became a deity placed on an altar, a lucky charm who could only preside over rituals.
When needed, they would be brought out and used, symbolically granted some official titles, so that their descendants could receive the treatment of nobles and live with a prestigious name.
If you no longer need it, just throw it away like a rag.
897 The Ghost King's Last Counterattack
The reason why the Japanese Emperor is famous overseas is because the Confucianism ideology of loyalty to the emperor subtly influenced the samurai. After fermentation, it finally took effect. In addition, the corruption and incompetence of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the decline of the shogunate, and the overseas trends of thought led to the awakening of the samurai class.
Thus, those reformers who wanted to serve their country shouted the slogan of "Respect the Emperor and Expel the Barbarians," launched the anti-shogunate movement, and wanted to return power to Shogun rightful ruler, learn from the British Empire, and establish Lord.
This was the first time the Emperor had gained the right to rule Japan. Before this, no Japanese Emperor had ever completely ruled the entire country.
The Japanese Emperor, who was enthroned by the samurai, reciprocated by building an imperialist state with militant factions at its core. For the military, expanding territory was like nature, making it a warmongering nation full of aggression.
However, the world is changing too fast. During World War I, the world was still governed by the law of the jungle, where the victorious countries could plunder the defeated countries, seize land by force, and exploit enemy countries. The idea that whoever has the bigger fist can do whatever they want was no longer accepted by the mainstream society.
If we go back a few hundred years, this logic was universal.
The Manchu were able to conquer China and establish the Qing Dynasty. The Eight Banners descendants enjoyed guaranteed stipends, and all of this was taken for granted. Back then, the rule was simply who had the bigger fist.
When someone with a stronger fist comes along, the Qing Dynasty will be overthrown; it will be either a Han Chinese or someone of another ethnicity.
All of this is simply following the natural order of things: what is divided for a long time will unite, and what is united for a long time will divide. Overthrow one dynasty and establish a new one. Initiate the Imperial Examination System, and naturally, scholars will come to serve you and help you govern the country. Then, govern the country according to the original customs and collect taxes every year.
By World War II, the situation had changed. China was now filled with shops and factories invested in by various countries. Cheap labor and huge demand for goods made it a goldmine. How could any one country possibly monopolize such benefits?
Every war involves the interests of all countries, and is no longer just a dispute between neighboring countries over land, but can easily trigger a world war.
At this point, countries that embarked on the extreme path of fascism transformed from the survival of the fittest into evil and brutality, no longer conforming to the mainstream ideology of the world. As economies around the world developed, the trend of globalization became necessary. Ignorant and backward countries were no longer in the interests of Western powers.
As a result, Western countries actively supported less developed countries, which led to a global awakening. With the export of education and culture, social values and moral standards have risen, and people no longer condone overt acts of aggression and colonization.
Therefore, fascist extreme nationalism has several characteristics: inciting national hatred towards foreign powers and racial discrimination; advocating complete obedience of the individual to the collective; engaging in literary inquisitions and controlling and suppressing public speech; emphasizing the development and control of the military; and exhibiting a fanatical tendency towards expansion.
These characteristics are completely contrary to the trend of social development, and are destined to result in failure.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh..." The ever-growing demon king had now surpassed the highest point of its city, the castle tower, and seemed to want to fill the entire ancient capital. Golden energy churned violently inside its belly, and because the demon king's skin had stretched to almost transparent, the situation inside became clearly visible.
The dragon energy grew increasingly explosive, and even the battle-hardened people felt a sense of impending doom. Every inch of their skin screamed at them to leave, to escape as far away as possible.
... The situation is getting worse and worse...
The Ghost King has already seen its future. If it surrenders, it will be taken to the King of Hell, where the King of Hell will strip it of its power and subject it to all sorts of punishments for hundreds or thousands of years before it can finally be released to be reincarnated.
The Ghost King knew that it, like the Emperor it had devoured, had been abandoned by the times. It was powerless, rejected by all, and had become a dispensable existence.
When World War II ended, US General MacArthur forced Emperor Hirohito, the chief culprit of the defeated nation, to issue the "Humanity Declaration," declaring to the entire nation that he was just an ordinary human being, just like any other common people, not a god. Only then was the Emperor officially dethroned.
He was pressured by Americans to visit people's homes, give speeches everywhere, recount his own failures, and praise the greatness of the United States.
In the end, he will either become a major sinner who controls everything, or a puppet who takes the blame. Either way, he will be a pitiful wretch that everyone hates.
Although these things seem somewhat comical from a modern perspective, the fact that we can no longer see them doesn't mean they never existed in the past.
To some extent, for those ancient samurai who believed in Shintoism, this was a radical change.
The Demon King was unaware of these things. It devoured Emperor Shōwa and gained more of the Emperor's memories of his prime, which were also memories of World War II. It was not interested in the tragic memories after the defeat.
It readily embraced the fascist ideology and survival-of-the-fittest mentality of the old Japanese Empire. However, in the end, it proved utterly useless, and it was ultimately worthless. When the dragon energy that the Demon King relied on for survival and hoped to rise to power was rejected by Shirou, Raikou, and others, it was all in vain.
It was an evil person in life and an evil ghost in death. The Ghost King does not deny that it is an incorrigible bad guy. Rather, it would be said that if it were not bad enough, it would not know how it could survive.
But... at least it can face its own destruction in its own way.
"Treating me like those trash who only know how to beg for mercy was your biggest mistake, so die! Your souls will be absorbed into hell along with mine, never to be reincarnated!!! Hahahaha!!! Serves you right! Serves you right! If you won't let me live well, you won't live well either!"
"Do you know how many lives you'll cause to die in Hell by doing this?" Enma-tei angrily questioned the swollen demon king.
"Hahaha!!! Are you scared now? But it's no use! Since you can't let me live a good life, then this world has no meaning to exist!" The Ghost King laughed hysterically.
As the Ghost King continued to grow larger, its body became bloated and deformed into a round sphere. Its originally enormous head, in comparison, looked like the cap of an inflated balloon. With its face turned towards the sky, the ground was no longer visible, but this did not stop it from laughing wildly.
898 Mashiro's kiss to Shirou
The demon king's body, which was constantly swelling and growing larger, had exceeded its previous maximum size limit. Golden and red lights were intertwined inside its belly, flashing like lightning or rolling lava. The surrounding air also became dry and sultry, like the calm before a storm.
Shirou and the others retreated towards the outside of the valley. Now they could clearly see the Demon King's body without even entering the valley, as it had already risen above the nearby mountains. Its ever-expanding belly was gradually covering the entire valley, and it wouldn't be long before it blocked the whole valley.
Shirou had a premonition that when the valley was completely filled, the Demon King would explode. At that time, the explosive force would likely cover a radius of tens of kilometers.
"This guy is going to raze everything to the ground," Hikari asked as he retreated to Mashiro and the Horse-Headed Miss Shinigami.
"No...the ground might also be blown up into a crater tens of kilometers deep," Shirou interjected.
"That would be very troublesome. If the barrier of Hell is broken, ghosts from other layers will find a chance to sneak in," said the Enma-tei, who had her small arms crossed.
"That's... that's... a bomb? The one the US dropped on Japan back then?" The Explosion Head Uncle broke out in a cold sweat, shouting as if his teeth were chattering.
"What to do? What to do!" Miss Shinigami's horse ears twitched back and forth as she frantically spun around in circles.
"At this point, our only option is to escape. But with a bomb like this, it's too late to run now."
"A gap! There's another gap! The gap that connects to the human world. The Ghost King once stretched out a claw, and with our size, we could have squeezed through it."
"I know," Mashiro said. Although she had fainted when the Demon King captured her, she vaguely remembered the feeling of passing through the gap in the boundary wall. Mashiro looked at the sky, then pointed to a place and said, "Right there!"
It's unclear whether it was her innate artistic sense or the special aura that attracted the Demon King.
The warrior Take shot an arrow at the spot that Mashiro had pointed to. As expected, the white arrow created a ripple upon contact, flew into the ripple, and disappeared. The passage was hidden there.
"That's great! If we can escape from here, we won't have to worry about being affected by the explosion," Miss Shinigami said with delight.
"I see! That's right! We'll just go out like this and return to Kamakura. Miss Shinigami, you'll need to take a detour to get back to the underworld! That's fantastic! Mashiro has been rescued, and my picture is done! Let's go back and have a banquet! It's on me!" The Explosion Head Uncle laughed heartily and said.
"Roar, hehehehehe..." At this moment, the enormous demon king's face, stretched to a grotesque length, with only the whites of his eyes remaining, emitted a sinister laugh.
"Oh no! It's included this in its calculations!" The older sister, Hikari, who was holding a gun, realized something was wrong and looked at the Ghost King.
"Yeah! How come I didn't think of that?! The rift was originally his, and he said he would drag everyone down with him? Does that mean even the human world will be affected?" the Explosion Head Uncle shouted in panic.
"Mashiro, you should come with the others and go back to the inn." Shirou walked up to the girl, patted her head, and said.
"Wait, Shirou! What are you doing? Do you mean you want to stay behind alone? Mom, you can't do that!" Raikou said urgently upon hearing Shirou's words.
"Slay this demon king, and destroy the space connecting this place to the outside world!" Shirou said resolutely, knowing that only he could do such a thing now.
Shirou gripped the sword hanging at his waist tighter. After this period of nurturing, combined with the spiritual energy emanating from the demons he had slain in Hell, the sword was becoming increasingly close to its original form. However, wielding a divine weapon in a human body might still be somewhat dangerous. At this moment, Shirou was even somewhat envious of the omnipotent feeling one experienced when their true form merged into a white god.