The bustle and joy were only temporary. The festival had to be left to the people, while the shrine maidens, priests, and Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had been dispatched from Chaldea to resolve the Singularity, needed to deal with some unpleasant matters.
"Come to the mountain."
That unknown voice rang out again, as though it were speaking directly into everyone's ears.
"The wind is about to disperse."
The shrine maidens stopped dancing.
The priests lifted the sacred body.
Amid the cheers of the townspeople, who knew nothing of the truth, they followed the streets they had come down and headed out of the village.
As though answering some kind of summons.
"Walk."
"Walk."
"Climb toward the mountain."
"What awaits you will be the ending you deserve."
Jingle—
The village gate was already deserted.
Only Sakumura remained, his face still smeared with filthy scraps of flesh left behind after the Chang Ghosts died.
He looked toward the village, toward the streets.
The sound of the kagura bells changed, becoming more ethereal and louder—it sounded as though it would resonate with the human spirit itself.
Sakumura took several steps back, moving to the side of the road—the Chang Ghosts had all been slain, and they would no longer affect the sacred body's return to the mountain in the slightest.
The shrine maidens shook their kagura bells and led the way. Four priests carried the mountain god's sacred body, following behind the shrine maidens as they stepped onto the blue-gray stairs and climbed upward. The others had a trace of bewilderment in their eyes, yet they too moved their feet and ascended with the rest.
Sakumura followed, taking up the rear of the procession.
The path up the mountain was not difficult.
Only the wind rustled through the forest, perhaps stirring up stray thoughts.