"A messenger brought word that the Emperor intends to send the Abe family's Angel to eliminate the two-faced, four-armed monster in the Aizu region."
Candlelight flickered in the quiet chamber.
Several middle-aged men in court robes and black court caps sat there, their faces submerged in darkness.
Recently, rumors had run rampant across the land of a "two-faced," "four-armed" monster slaughtering commoners everywhere. The rumors described it as cruel and cold-blooded, with no regard for life.
It supposedly delighted in twisting commoners into ugly hemp ropes or slicing them to pieces without even touching them. Even the Fujiwara Clan's advance force had been killed by this monster.
The lords present naturally knew how much of those rumors had been fabricated.
The two-faced, four-armed monster was real, and so was its disregard for human life, but the twisted, rope-person-like things appearing across the land had nothing to do with it.
Some time earlier, after discovering that the monster's movements overlapped with the villages used for sacrifices, the Fujiwara Clan's elders had linked their own rope person incidents to that pink-haired monster.
After the two rope person incidents in Heian-kyō, the nobles had been gripped by fear. Once this rumor spread, they tentatively held a few gatherings. When no more rope people appeared in Heian-kyō, they returned to their old decadence and refined amusements.
As for the several incidents of mass civilian deaths reported from various regions, those were not among their concerns.
The two-faced, four-armed monster was immensely powerful and a creature of few words. The scattered jujutsu sorcerers who went to challenge it left no survivors, and the Fujiwara Clan's lies had yet to be exposed.
"Has the Emperor grown suspicious of our Fujiwara Clan?"
The Fujiwara patriarch's face was stern and cold as he spoke. His narrow eyes lowered slightly, his expression grim.
The reigning Emperor was only in his early teens, and his consort, the Empress of the Chūgū, was the Fujiwara patriarch's daughter. The couple had no children yet, so this Emperor could not be removed from the throne.
The Fujiwara Clan had always acted as regents to young sovereigns through their position as imperial in-laws. Yet now this little Emperor actually wanted to make decisions privately, on his own.
The cursed technique of the Abe family's Angel was nullification, with a particularly potent effect against monsters, demons, and similar beings.
If that two-faced, four-armed monster truly was a demon, Angel was well suited to deal with it. The Fujiwara Clan's elite force and Angel had always stayed out of each other's affairs, but the Emperor had assigned the task to the Abe family without breathing a word to them. That inevitably gave the Fujiwara Clan cause for suspicion.
None of those seated there quite dared to respond to the Fujiwara patriarch's remarks.
"What about that Six Eyes from the Sugawara Clan?"
"Brother, a creature called Yamata no Orochi recently appeared in Harima Province along the San'yō Circuit. Sugawara Satoru was sent to exorcise it," Fujiwara Michimitsu replied.
The Fujiwara Clan and the Sugawara Clan had been at odds for a hundred years, constantly obstructing each other at court. The previous two rope person incidents had implicated too many nobles, and the Fujiwara patriarch had promised the Sugawara Clan certain benefits. As a result, Alluka's existence had remained secret to this day.
But now the Emperor had actually begun to suspect the Northern House of Fujiwara, leaving them to wonder whether Sugawara Satoru had said something.
"When an opportunity arises, arrange for someone to eliminate him. And prepare to make another wish."
After considering it for a while, the Fujiwara patriarch swept his hand and laid out their next course of action.
At dusk, the sunset glow stretched across the sky.
The shrine's eaves formed a black silhouette against the madder-red light.
A black-haired girl stood beneath the vermilion torii, gazing upward curiously. Several sparrows fluttered and played on the sacred rope hung with ritual paper streamers.
The two locks of black hair beside her cheeks were bound with golden bells bearing expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight. She wore a plain white ritual robe, and the tips of her shallow shoes peeked out beneath the layered folds of her scarlet hakama.
Alluka had been brought to this mountain shrine over a month ago, and her movements had not been restricted here.
She could usually wander freely within the shrine grounds. Occasionally, some lords from the Fujiwara Clan would come and beg her and Nanika to make demands of them.
Alluka did not quite understand what these people wanted, but Nanika was being fed very well, and that made her happy too.
"Lady Alluka, it's nearly time to begin."
While she was watching the sparrows, a woman's voice gently interrupted her.
Alluka turned around. A pretty girl with long pink hair had appeared behind her at some point.
"All right."
She answered obediently and slowly followed the girl toward the quiet chamber.
Ever since someone had put Nanika to sleep last time, the masked person had assigned this girl to the shrine.
Her ability was rather interesting: she could pull down the sky as though it were cloth.
Alluka liked playing with her, but whenever she asked the girl's name, she would say, "Those in the Sun, Moon, and Stars Squad live in the shadows. I have no name."
The two slowly made their way along the long approach path. Two rows of maidservants held lanterns, illuminating the deep, shadowy corridor.
Inside the room, several eminent monks sat solemnly on cushions, prayer beads in hand, their chanting and prayers rising and falling without pause.
Although the Fujiwara Clan already understood Alluka's ability very well, whenever they themselves were involved, they would have the eminent monks retained by their clan purify the area and pray for blessings in advance, hoping only that every wish would proceed smoothly.
Through the drifting incense smoke, Alluka saw a man she had never met appear before her.
"I am Fujiwara Daolong. Would you make demands of me?"
The Fujiwara Clan had made more than a dozen wishes in succession. By alternating between their own people and sacrifices, they had never borne any price themselves.
The previous wish, made by a Fujiwara elder, had been to clear away all the curses around Heian-kyō.
The Heian Era was the golden age of jujutsu sorcerers, and the curses opposing them were likewise remarkable in both number and power.
After the elder made his wish, thousands of curses had truly vanished in an instant, and sacrifices had already paid the price for it.
The difficulty of making a wish this time would therefore return to its initial level.
Sure enough, after he spoke, the black-haired girl replied, "Sure, Fujiwara Daolong. Can you lift me up high?"
Desire knew no end.
When people could obtain whatever they wanted without paying any price, everything would become a web of desire, dragging them into an endless abyss.
The initial demands were easy to fulfill.
When Nanika opened her eyes again, dense negative emotions slowly flowed through her hollow features.
"Do you have a wish?"
"Can you make the Emperor obey my orders?"
The middle-aged man raised his head and voiced his request one word at a time.
"Sure."
Nanika slowly stretched her mouth into a grin. Her voice was shrill and sharp, indistinct within the mist.