Part 7: Chapter 6

    Accompanied by the glittering of the stars, unending empty space surrounded Nakajima. Below his feet, the endlessly spinning shining blue globe looked up at him. It took him a few moments for him to realize that he was floating in outer space. Nakajima unfolded his arms. In them, he held the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, emitting a strand of light in the blackness of space. Its blade twinkled and throbbed, as if responding to the tens of thousands of stars.
    Suddenly, a sinister psychic wave hit Nakajima from behind. It appeared as if Izanami's robe had given him the power to survive and move about in the vacuum of outer space. Swinging his sword, Nakajima slowly turned around, and found his field of vision dominated by an open, gaping red maw.
    It was that of an incomprehensibly enormous serpent. Though the demon had only possessed a temporary form on the surface of the earth, the natural effect of powerful magnetic field that had forced him into space had given Set a complete body.
    Star Scorpion's 60-foot-long solar cells spread out like wings. Now a giant snake, Set's pale green scales glimmered as he coiled around the beautiful yet functional satellite lying in dead orbit.
    It looks like the insignificant humans had enough knowledge to summon me into this empty space. The voice echoed in Nakajima's mind.
    But the humans will soon know their folly in thinking that they have banished me. Pulling this satellite down with me to the surface is an easy task. And that is not all. Have a look at all the demons that were summoned here into space!
    Beside Nakajima, several pale glowing things that looked like hoods floated aimlessly.
    Soon, they will take on bodies and seek safe haven on Earth. The end of the age of the foolish humans' dominion over the earth will not be long now. Nakajima, whether or not you intended, you have become the knight that blows the trumpet signalling the beginning of the apocalypse. The only path remaining for you is to cast aside your humanity and work for me. It would be a shame to kill you. Think it over.
    Ignoring Set's call, Nakajima focused all of his anger onto the sword he held directly in front of him. The environment of outer space that had given the demon a body had also removed all restrictions on the divine power he had been granted. The Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, now an immensely long coil of light, drew an arc like that of a whip emitting red light, and came down onto the body of the enormous serpent.
    Fool, you do not value your life. Set lurched forward.
    Weaving away from the enormous serpent's attacking fangs, Nakajima was enveloped by a miasma like ice. The Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi had already produced many pale sparks striking the body of the serpent coiled around the satellite. Yet the tough scales showed no sign of injury. Not only that, but the ugly faces and disgusting tentacles of materializing new demons floated like ghosts in the space around him.
    The noisy voices of the demons amplified like they were advancing down on Nakajima.
    I'd better do something quick; I don't stand a chance against all these demons if they keep materializing...
    Even those demons that managed to materialize fully had trouble maintaining their existence in the Assiah world without a powerful magnetic field. For Set, who was aiming for a full-on invasion of Earth, destroying Star Scorpion would probably be a heavy blow. And in contrast to Set, who could not leave the satellite, Nakajima appeared to have the upper hand, being able to fly about wherever he willed. However, the longer the battle proceeded without reaching a conclusion, the more clear the difference in latent power between the two became. Nakajima's sword seemed heavy in his tired arms, and even appeared to be gradually losing its shine.
    However, he could not stop fighting. As minor demons from Set's world continued wriggling while trying to enter the Assiah world, an unmistakably familiar voice echoed in Nakajima's mind.
    Nakajima! I'm here! Aim for here!
    Yumiko! Is that you!?
    The instant Nakajima heard the voice, the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi regained a shine like a nova as it tore through the air.
    Stab your sword in the direction of my voice!
    Nakajima quickly noticed a pale, white, phosphorescent glow on a part of the enormous serpent's scale-encased body.
    Yes, I'm inside the demon! If we attack from inside him and outside him at the same time, we might be able to defeat Set...
    Led by Yumiko's voice, Nakajima stabbed his blade toward the phosphorescent glow. But an instant before the tip reached it, the tail of the giant snake forcefully knocked the blade aside and sent Nakajima flying far back. Flipping over and regaining his composure, robe fluttering behind him, Nakajima saw the rolling form of Set uncoiling, as if swimming through the vacuum.
    Foolish girl! To think you would let me know that you still live! Now I no longer have to depend on this irritating machine!
    Set's thick tail crushed Star Scorpion's wings. The satellite in dead orbit with all its accumulated human knowledge stored on it, exposed to space like a broken toy, was burned to metal junk with a flash. Just like the satellite had, Yumiko's powerful biological Magnetite formed a powerful magnetic field capable of summoning a demon. So long as she lived inside him, Set no longer had to depend on the magnetic field generated by the satellite. Nothing could have pleased Set more than learning of her survival.
    Freed from his spatial constraints, Set could now fly freely throughout space. One moment he seemed to be attacking with his foul, enormous mouth, and the next instant he appeared to vanish into the vacuum, reappearing to strike with his thick, heavy tail; dodging alone took all of Nakajima's concentration.
    However, Set's movements appeared to be slowing. Looking closely, it seemed that the minor demons had amassed at one point of the giant serpent's body, clawing at it. Now that the satellite had been destroyed, they had lost the artificially generated magnetic field and were now competing with each other to cling to Set's body in an attempt to materialize in this world. Dodging the now-slowed Set's fangs, Nakajima quickly dove beneath the body of the snake.
    Now, Nakajima!
    Encouraged by Yumiko's voice, Nakajima stabbed his sword into the throng of lesser demons.
    SPLUTCH!
    For an instant, as if time had stopped, Set's movements ceased. Like thick glass that had been penetrated by a bullet, cracks started spreading over the scales covering the body of the enormous serpent, centering around the sword lodged in its trunk. After an instant of silence, Set's body shattered into tiny fragments and dispersed into space. Reflected in the light of the sword, Yumiko floated off into space, still tied to the Egyptian cross, floating in a mass of scale fragments that looked like snowflakes.
    Yumiko!
    As Nakajima anxiously swam through space, Yumiko drifted further and further away in his field of vision. The swarm of minor demons trying desperately to remain in this world clawed at their last hope: Yumiko and the cross she was tied to. But having used the last bits of her power to defeat Set, Yumiko had no way of fighting them off. At this rate, she would be pulled into the demon world along with them.
    It's all right, Nakajima. It's best this way... Yumiko's voice echoed in Nakajima's mind.
    Don't talk like that! I'll come save you, just hang in there!
    No! Please, don't try to save me! If I am pulled into the demon world with these demons, no demons will ever come to Earth again...
    Wait! Wait!
    Fueled by a determination greater than that of his to fight Set, Nakajima bridged the distance between himself and Yumiko. Nearly within arm's reach, he started wildly swinging the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi at the demons clinging to her. Its tip grazed the cross, producing pale sparks. At that moment, Nakajima thought he heard cries of joy erupting from the mouths of the demons.
    No, Nakajima! Right now this cross is acting like a door between the demon and human worlds. If I leave it, that door will...
    Yumiko had no way of knowing how the demon and human worlds were connected. But her intuition told her that an enormous power, clearly different from that of Set's, was held in the cross she was tied to. Yumiko unconsciously realized what awful things might happen should that terrible power be unleashed upon the earth. And she felt that if she died, then such things would be prevented. She bet her life on it.
    But Nakajima, focused entirely on Yumiko, had no way of knowing what she was feeling.
    "I pick you over the five billion other humans!" Letting out a terrible cry, Nakajima embraced Yumiko's body and sliced the cross in two with the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi.
    The vacuum appeared to burn to Nakajima. An incredible flash shone throughout space.

    Still holding each other, the two flew through the vacuum. Nakajima's chest was wet with an endless stream of hot drops. Her eyelids shut tight, covering the eyes crushed by Set, Yumiko stroked Nakajima's cheek as if trying to remember the contours of his face. Her lips trembled slightly. Even though he could not hear her voice, Nakajima knew what those lips were trying to say.
    You really, you...
    Another pair of warm lips prevented them from continuing any further. Alongside the couple, several red shooting stars cut through space. One let forth a voice of joy, and another let forth a loud laugh. It was a crowd of demons that had been able to make it through the open door for a moment and take form in the human world. But presently that door closed quietly amongst the echoes of the curses of the demons left behind. The two bodies enshrouded by Izanami's robe were already near the blue planet.

Part 7: Chapter 5

    The enormous tower of flesh fought against a tremendous force it had never experienced before. Its slimy peak jutting into the sky seemed to suddenly stiffen for a momnet, and a terrible roar louder than thunder ripped through the air.
    ZZBH, ZZBH, ZZBH
The atmosphere shuddered, and the base of the several-kilometers-long tower started hovering off the ground bit by bit. Digging a crevasse large enough to swallow the entire forest, the enormous pillar of flesh gradually floated into the sky, taking houses and the asphalt roads with it as it was sucked into a magnetic field vortex like a whirlwind, a tornado tinged of blood and meat.
    At a point in the sky, the vortex opened in the center. It was a dimensional rip, like a large blot of ink splotched onto the canvas of the summer sky.
    The protoplasmic membrane of the tower rippled with the immensely powerful force tugging on it.
    A flash of light temporarily blinded the eyes of the Self Defense Force soldiers that gaped up at the sight, bewildered. By the time they regained their sight, there was nothing above them but an ordinary blue sky.

Part 7: Chapter 4

    Without any forewarning, there was an immense change in the atmosphere. At the brink of exhaustion in his fight against Set's psychic waves, Nakajima's spirit was shattered into pieces by an immensely powerful low-frequency rumbling. The mob of zombies that had just crawled out of the lake of blood grabbed their temples with one hand, and their other extended into the air as if seeking help, were crushed in the warping of space.
    Everything was being sucked into the storm of an immence magnetic field.
    I didn't make it in time...
    A new shockwave rocked Nakajima's senses, and he knew that Feed's plan had been taken into action.
    Yumiko...!
    Nakajima had already resigned himself to his fate. Even should Set be transported into space as expected, now that he was unable to have rescued Yumiko from inside him, a conviction to share her fate had at some point overwhelmed him.
    Having come to this resolution, his soul felt light.
    Izanami, it would appear that I will have to test the power that you gave me to the limit.
    As if embracing the blade of the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, Nakajima folded his arms to his chest and concentrated.

Part 7: Chapter 3

    Meanwhile, in the Colorado Springs American Air Force Command Center, the over 2000 points displayed on the world map taking up an enormous 50-foot screen could not have been enough. The Space Defense Force was tracking Chinese and Soviet satellites with 99.9% accuracy. The Space Defense Force had decided that the 2000 satellites pointed at the surface needed marking, and that was probably less than 40 percent of them.
    The visibly moving points were surveillance satellites launched into low orbit. The slower they moved, the higher their orbits were. At intervals of five degrees, satellites in dead orbit above the equator near North America, Europe, and Japan. Among them, the blinking point at 135 degrees East was Star Scorpion.
    Star Scorpion's job was to catch enemy ICBM launch information from recent surveillance satellites, calculate their trajectories, control defense satellites and laser cannons on the surface to intercept them, and order retaliatory strikes from nuclear submarines. It was like a space defense control tower. However, with the SDI not at full capacity yet, 70% of its abilities sat dormant as the satellite floated in space.
    "The Demon Summoning Program will only control the satellite's computer temporarily. As long as the demon does not destroy the satellite, you should be able to use it again," explained Professor Baker.
    "Don't try to console me. More importantly, we need to make sure that word of this plan doesn't leak out to the Senate. Getting the Senate to recognize the existence of demons would be 100 times harder than getting them to approve an invasion of Nicaragua. And if that summoned demon destroyed the satellite, they'll be screaming over the waste of the 2.5 billion dollars that it cost," replied General Louis, always careful to consider the political implications.
    "2.5 billion dollars is nothing. True, the problem is just with one country, Japan, right now, but it's plain as day that if the demon world keeps expanding, the problem will spread to Asia, Eurasia, and eventually North America. This plan is our last-ditch attempt at stopping that." Feed could not hide his irritation.
    "60 seconds and counting. 50, 40..." The countdown to the program delivery started.
    "20, 10, 9, 8, 7"
    "Stop! A Soviet communication satellite is jamming the signal!" cried a genearl watching a circular display on the console.
    The color drained from Feed's face. But General Louis just shrugged his shoulders unconcernedly and said "Don't worry. It's just the same old reaction."
    "Give me the number of the transmission beam that was jammed," spoke the businesslike voice of another general.
    "Numbers 2 through 40, and 50 through 80."
    "Stop the corresponding beams. Use only beams number 41 through 49."
    "Yes, sir."
    The countdown to transmission began again.
    "...3, 2, 1, starting transmission!"
    The host computer started groaning. Messages checking the status of the transmission scrolled down the display one after another.
    "Program transmission complete. Ready to stand by." The command center stirred with commotion.
    "OK, shut down Star Scorpion's relay functions. The substitute satellite is 145 degrees east, Mark V. Professor Feed, you can start the program any time." General Louis transferred his authority to Feed.
    Gripping his ornate cross, Feed's gaze leapt to the small display. The SDF's RPV still was sending footage of the carnage from Japan. Set's pillar of flesh had already grown to the size of a small mountain, and judging from the whole scene, no movement resembling that of anything alive could be ascertained.
    Nakajima Akemi...I haven't seen you since before I left. Unfortunately I can't afford to wait any longer. All I can do now is pray that the gods bless Yumiko. Clenching his hand into a fist, he had no way of knowing that at that moment Nakajima had entered Set's body and was fighting therein.
    "OK, start the program!" Feed's insides churned as he called out.
    Right at that moment, 35,800 kilometers above the equator, the Demon Summoning Program started running inside Star Scorpion.

Part 7: Chapter 2

    A deafening explosion broke Nakajima's concentration.
    A star-mark-adorned F-14 jet divebombed, slicing through the clouds. Nakajima all of a sudden found himself hovering over a battlefield. Below him was a hair-raising sight.
    An unbelieveably large lump of flesh, a hideous tower of raw meat, was slowly writhing. Its pale green, transparent gelatinous membrane was greedily expanding at its base. Several long black rivers flowed into it. No, what looked like black rivers were actually the hair of the people heading toward the tower. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people tore off their clothes and proceeded forward completely naked.
    Rapid explosions echoed through the air. The SDF's F14 jets scrambled from the 7th fleet were attacking, targeting the top of the tower so as to minimize injury to the humans below. A rain of bullets from an attack helicopter's machine guns sprayed through the air. Though that ammunition was capable of penetrating tank armor, it was absorbed without any resistance into the body of the ever-expanding otherworldly creature, as if it was laughing at the pathetic attack. It was almost as if it was trying to prove that any attacks against it would be futile.
    Nakajima pictured the blue spheres within his mind. His body was wreathed in a scorching wind, and then in his right hand he gripped the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi. Gripping the hilt with both hands and holding it forward, Nakajima cut through the air, charging toward the summit of the tower.
    GRAAAAGH!
    Nakajima's attack appeared to have given his target a shock it could not ignore; the demon Set, formerly engrossed in absorbing humans into his own body, turned his attention toward Nakajima and interrupted his mind control of the people he had been manipulating. As a result, the people advancing toward the tower were suddenly freed from their trances. Around the tower, an ocean of ghastly protoplasm spread out, its gelatinous walls crashing down like a tsunami. Far above, the fighters darted amongst themselves and an attack helicopter plummeted to the ground in a ball of fire, having being hit by an attack from Set.
    The hellish sight now standing before the people suddenly brought back to their senses was far too much for them to handle. Instinct overpowered them, and a cruelty far greater than when they had been controlled by the demon possessed them as in their efforts to save themselves they blindly knocked over others, trampling their naked backs and stomachs underfoot. Seeking new victims, an ocean of blood and bile let off a great stench.
    So, you really did come after all.
    Already inside the tower of flesh, a powerful psychic wave assaulted Nakajima's mind. As if trying to shake off the headsplitting pain, Nakajima slashed his sword around. The inside of Set's body was torn up by the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi surprisingly easily.
    What you are so gleefully cutting up are the bodies of the humans that have become a part of me. Dice them up to your heart's content.
    Set's scornful psychic wave seemed to be almost pleased that a somewhat worthy opponent had appeared.
    Where is Yumiko! Give her back!
    There was no response.
    Instead, it appeared as if the space in front of Nakajima suddenly opened up, and with a sickening sound, there stood a boiling swamp of blood. One of the sticky bubbles burst, and a human hand extended out. As if on cue, one by one, naked, stooped-over humans came crawling out of the swamp dripping with fresh blood.
    Kill us, kill us! End our misery...
    As they pulled themselves out of the swamp, they pulled up their heads with one hand by their blood-matted hair. The faces of those advancing, murmuring as if chanting a spell, were clearly those of Kondo, Takai...all classmates that had lost their lives to the demon Nakajima had summoned, Loki.

Part 7: Chapter 1

    The Kumazasa was wet with morning dew. As Nakajima left Shirasagi Mound behind him, the calm expression on his face showed not a trace of the worry that had lined it when he came here to ask Izanami's help. Turning around one last time, he sucked in a deep breath and kicked off the ground as hard as he could.
    His body seemed as light as a feather. As if coming to the surface from deep within the ocean, Nakajima floated through the air, his arms pushing in a swimming motion. The wind whipped at his ears. But it was not that of a great howl, but a comfortable sound like that of cloth fluttering in the breeze.
    Using one arm to push the air aside and twist his body, Nakajima started flying parallel to the ground. Below him, the Ishibutai tombs and roofs of ancient temples looked scattered amongst a pale green panorama. Leaving Asuka, Nakajima went in a straight line to the east. Soon, the blinding blue-black shimmer of Ise Bay spread out below him. Further ahead, the Nobi plains and the peaks of the Japan Alps appeared to be looking up at Nakajima gently flying across the sky.
    Nature gave birth to and killed millions of lives here...
    Ages ago, the gods Izanami and Izanagi had a great fight. That day, Izanami vowed to take the lives of one hundred people per day, and in response Izanagi vowed to give life to two hundred people per day. Whether or not the gods actually had any interest in the lives or deaths of the race of humans, surely there was no conflict over whether any individual life survived or died.
    In ages past, this Toyoashihara might have been the country of the gods. But present-day Japan was created by the efforts of people, and ruled by people. It would be difficult to see any opportunity for the gods to interfere.
    And am I really Izanagi's reincarnation? At the very least, that's what Izanami told me. But I do not want to be a god. I want to live and die as a person...
    If Nakajima could really compare himself with a god, things would have been so much easier for him. Then he would have been able explain away the fact that because the single program he created caused his mother, Yumiko's family, and thousands--tens of thousands--of people to die as a destiny given to the race of humans by the gods. The gods simply would have given a cruel trial to humans who put too much faith in their own power by making them face off against technology-produced demons. It would seem natural for the demons would destroy the human world, and after the people had seen just how powerless they were, then the ever-capricious gods would step in and save them by driving off the demons.
    Even if I really am Izanagi's reincarnation, I could not become a god. I only created that program to get revenge on those who hurt me for no reason. And now I am using all of the power Izanami gave me to save Yumiko, just one person that I love...
    Gaining altitude, Nakajima plunged into the coulds. Crisp, cold air caressed his cheek.
    More than accepting the fact that his attacking the demons was out of stubborn insistence on rescuing Yumiko, Nakajima was trying to hold onto his identity as a person. But ironically, Nakajima had not yet realized that destroying the many in favor of an individual was also a common act of those very same ever-capricious gods. Furthermore, from the moment he had donned Izanami's robe, his body had subtly started transforming from the inside out.

Part 6: Chapter 9

    As if to split Tokyo on a north-south line, the riot police, stationed along Loop 7, set up a thick barricade to try and push back the line of people toward Shinjuku. Here and there, young soliders could be seen cowering at the sight of the massive line of over 100,000 people and being screamed at by their superiors as a result.
    "You can use tear gas if you need to. Do whatever you can to push back the flow of people!"
    The duralumin shields futilely attempted to push back the people. Those that fell over after being knocked over by the shields were trampled underfoot casually by the next group behind them. In the face of the meaningless bloodbath, the younger soldiers trembled in fear.
    Furthermore, in the midst of the chaos, some of the army men themselves abandoned their posts and joined the line, enthralled by Set's call. At the same time, the missile launcher teams that had been waiting for the order to open fire left their vehicles and mixed in with the throngs of civilians. Their owners gone, abandoned flamethrowers and portable surface-to-air missiles littered the sidewalk.
    While being enthralled by the visage of the enormous demon tower in their heads-up displays, the Airborne SDF also appeared to have been ensnared by Set's call; unable to attack, they dived the noses of their aircraft without hesitation and crashed amongst the trees of the Soga forest.
    Before even getting the chance to find out whether or not modern weaponry would work against Set, the officers in the Capital Defense Base had no choice but to recognize that there was nobody left to operate it.

Part 6: Chapter 8

    The data from the RPV was being fed in real-time from the Ministry of Defense via American military satellite to the Space Command Center in Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.
    "The President has decided on a basic level to support Professor Feed's plan." Aide to the President Richard spoke while staring at th bizarre phenomenon attacking Tokyo onscreen. Opposite the screen, a monitor was set up on the far end of the long rectangular meeting table. Sitting at the table were Aide Richard and Professor Feed, along with General Louis of the Space and Missile Defense Command and Baker, the engineer who in essence was in control of the SDI.
    President Reagan's concerned face displayed on the monitor. The teleconferencing system in Peterson Air Force Base was connected directly to the White House.
    "So, essentially we are faced with the choice of using a satellite in low orbit, one in dead orbit, or whether we should try to fire a satellite out of Earth's gravitational pull entirely when summoning the demon." Baker pushed his thick glasses up his nose with his finger.
    "We only have two satellites currently capable of summoning a demon. The Satellite Early Warning System Satellite Hummingbird at a height of 8,000 kilometers, or the satellite Star Scorpion, which is in dead orbit at a height of 35,000 kilometers. However, both satellites are important for our country's defense, and if anything happened to either of them it could cause great problems in case of nuclear warfare." General Louis spoke disinterestedly. "Of course, this would all be moot if the Japanese Self-Defense-Force were able to solve the problem on their own..."
    Aide Richard pressed a switch by his hand and a map of Tokyo appeared on the screen. Many green dotted lines on it pointed toward a large red cross that was situated a little left of center on the map, an indication of Set's location and the people moving toward him. On the monitor, President Reagan turned to the side, apparently looking at the same diagram being sent to a screen in the White House.
    "In order for the SDF to attack Set directly, they will have to keep the civilians from getting near him. However, according to the CIA's simulations, they will need at least 300,000 soldiers to be able to pull this off. The Japanese government can barely pull together 100,000 soldiers around the capital. They would have to get outside help first." Aide Richard was clearly hinting that the American armed forces would have to get involved.
    "So, gentlemen, which satellite would be most appropriate to use?" The president spoke from the monitor. Realizing that one way or another he would be forced to lose one of his military satellites, General Louis looked up toward the ceiling and sighed.
    Feed leaned toward the President on the display and spoke. "There is only one option. We must use the satellite in dead orbit."
    "Why is that?"
    "A low-flying satellite will pass over other countries' airspace, including those of potential enemies, and the potential for an international incident is too great should any unforeseen consequences come of summoning the demon to the satellite. Furthemore, all satellites in low orbit are fated to eventually fall to earth, and should we not come up with a method to destroy the demon permanently, that would mean summoning it to the surface once more. Launching a satellite out of Earth's orbit would of course be ideal, but it would take too long to prepare. Every minute we sit here, roughly 50 more citizens of an allied country are falling prey to Set's efforts to gather human Magnetite."
    "Very well. I shall communicate to Prime Minister Nakasone our plan to use the satellite in dead orbit then. General Louis, you shall head up the operation."
    "Yes, sir!"
    First a military man, Louis stood to salute.

Part 6: Chapter 7

    Inside the makeshift Capital Defense Base set up underground beneath the Ministry of Defense, a line of people over 10 kilometers long displayed on the video screen. The RPV was relaying the situation on the ground near the heart of the city.
    "They've finally made it all the way to Shinjuku!" The voices of the cabinet ministers were full of deep dread.
    "I'll leave how to proceed up to you, Mr. President. Please let me know the results." Ending the latest of his several conversations with President Reagan, Prime Minister Nakasone hung up the receiver, his face pale.
    "The Americans have already entered into final deliberations about the Demon Banishment Project. In case of emergency, they're sending the bulk of the 7th Fleet to Japan, which is already on its way. I've just put the capital under martial law. Both Narita and Haneda airports will be closed off, and I would like to begin directions for evacuating the populace to Tohoku or Kansai as soon as possible. Kurihara, how is the SDF doing?"
    "70,000 ground-based SDF soldiers, including the Ranger units, have already been deployed. They're working with teams of riot police to attempt to split up that strange line of people. Since there's a high chance of catching civilians in the crossfire at the moments, we're having trouble using any heavy weaponry, but we are looking for a chance to come up so that we can attack." Defense Minister Kurihara's description of the situation was calm and composed.
    "The only real problem is that mobilizing the SDF any more rapidly could antagonize the Russians. Sightings of scouts from eastern Russia have notably increased."
    "I've already sent word through diplomatic channels to let them know that neither our actions nor those of the Americans have any hostility, but..." Foreign Minister Hamano's acting substitute interrupted in a weak voice.
    The writhing mass of the tower of flesh, now even larger, was now displayed onscreen. Only Ota was looking at that otherworldly life form, his eyes full of adoration.

Part 6: Chapter 6

    It was evening, and the streets of Kabukicho in Shinjuku were full of people. The alleyways leading to Shinjuku Station's eastern entrance were noisy with the sound of various music coming out of bars mixed with that of charming feminine voices. Along the roadside, a young salaryman was patting the back of a drunken woman, stooped over and vomiting. He looked slightly fed up, but seemed slightly reluctant to leave her.
    It was not as if nobody was watching; a taxicab driver was looking at the two with an expression as if he was tired of seeing the same sight for the hundredth time.
    A middle-aged woman with hair dyed red bent over next to the man.
    "Hey mister, you got a light?"
    "Eh? Sure." Not caring who it was, just happy that someone interrupted him, the man looked somewhat relieved as he held out his lighter.
    "Light it for me, will you," said the woman.
    The kindly man showed no sound of anger at the obnoxious request, flipped open the 100-yen lighter and lit the woman's cigarette. Blowing out a puff of smoke, she looked into his face.
    "You're a pretty nice guy. Why not ditch this girl and come with me?" The redhead threw a hostile glance at the woman next to him, who had not finished throwing up. Tobacco fell from her fingers.
    "I can hear the call!" She stood up, her eyes glittering with ecstacy. As if following her lead, the young man did as well.
    "Tatsuya, where are you going?" Wiping the vomit off of her lips, the young woman, still crouched over, looked up at the man.
    But as if her boyfriend had completely forgotten about her, he started walking away alongside the red-haired prostitute.
    "What's wrong with you, you jerk!? I'm never going out with you again!" Her blouse still open and her chest exposed, the woman staggered to her feet.
    Soon her eyes too stared into emptiness.
    To the west.
    The people just silently started walking.

Part 6: Chapter 5

    It was 3:00 PM the same day, in Asukamura, located in Nara prefecture. Bathed in the burning rays of the sun, the green of the trees was bright enough to pain the eyes. Blisfully unaware of what was going on in the capital, the faces of the hikers treading the gravel road were drenched in sweat.
    "Hey, want to head to Okadera next?" The college-age girl with the bob-haircut spoke coaxingly to the man with her.
    "We're still a far clip from Tonomine Hotel. If we make too many detours the sun will go down while we're still on the mountains." Taking off his sunglasses, the man pointed toward the mountains nearby.
    "We'll be fine, the sun is still high in the sky. Ah, a car."
    At the woman's voice, the man sluggishly moved to get out of the way.
    "Hmph, a Cadillac out in the sticks like this? Wish they'd give us a ride." Watching the car kick gravel aside as it drove out of site, the man turned and followed the woman.

    "Can you let me out here?" Nakajima spoke to the black man driving the car as soon as he saw the stone tumulus. Opening the rear door of the car as it slowed to a stop, he jumped out onto the ground of Asuka.
    "Good luck!" The driver showed his white teeth in a smile, than turned around, waving his hand.
    Narrowing his eyes and looking at the far-off scenery with deep emotion, Nakajima sighed deeply and started walking to Shirasagi Mound. The rays of the sun pulled Nakajima into a sense of surrealness, as if his feet were not touching the ground. With effort, by imagining Yumiko trapped inside the fleshy pillar of Set's body, he was able to pull himself from the strange sensation back to the world.
    Will I really be able to find Izanami again? The road between here and Yomi should have been sealed ages ago!
    Nakajima pictured himself standing dumbfounded in the stone room, unable to find the pathway into Izanami's burial chamber. Even the instant he stepped onto Shirasagi mound, he could not seem to be able to convince himself totally that his memory from the month before was not just one big illusion. The traces of Kerberos' passing before had been completely concealed by the overgrowth. Nakajima stepped into the cool air blowing out from the Kumazasa-covered entrance to the tomb. As he saw the small hole from within the stone burial chamber that the cold was flowing out of, Nakajima's eyes finally lit up with a purpose.
    For several hours, he gradually climbed down the long sloping passage. At the end of the long burial pathway, the silver relief marking Izanami's burial chamber was glowing. But the walls bore clear marks telling the tale of just how ferocious the battle with Loki there had been. The shattered fragments of of the pots in the room lay there as before.
    Nakajima stepped up to the side of the white granite dais. Taking some of the pomade from one of the few unbroken pots, he sprinkled it over the human-shaped ash on its surface.
    With a feeling of awe, Nakajima put his palms together and closed his eyes. Shortly, as he sensed the scent of the pomade being blown by a fresh breeze, there stood the unmistakable form of the goddess Izanami before him.
    "I've been waiting for you." Though her voice was laden with the kindness of a mother greeting her child, Nakajima could clearly hear the anxiety in it.
    So Izanami doesn't know exactly what is going on in the human world them...
    Nakajima briefly explained to the goddess about his brief reunion with Yumiko, the battle with Set, and the banishment project that Feed had been secretly working on.
    "I feel sorry for what happened to Tsukuyomi," said Izanami as Nakajima finished his tale.
    "Tsukuyomi...you mean Narukawa? Was there some sort of deep connection between me and him?"
    "Tsukuyomi is the god of the evening light. In an earlier life, he was one of your most powerful children."
    For a moment, the two were silent. Nakajima felt a sense of deep guilt for Tsukuyomi, who had been killed by demons without any chance to be glorified in his reincarnation. But there was no time to be held back by sorrow.
    "Izanami, if Professor Feed's test succeeds, what will happen to Yumiko?" That more than anything is what Nakajima wanted to know.
    "Nothing like that has ever been tried before. Unfortunately that lies beyond the bounds of my knowledge." Izanami sighed softly.
    Without any other sort of plan of action, if Feed managed to convince the American government, the demon summoning program would be activated on the satellite in dead orbit within a day or two. Somehow, Nakajima had to rescue Yumiko before that happened.
    "Please, I beg you, give me the power to defeat Set. Even if it costs me my life, I have no regrets."
    "I have no other power to give you. However...." Izanami, who had hesitated for a moment, was taken aback by Nakajima's concern for Yumiko, and quietly removed her robe, handing it over to him.
    "Wear this robe. With it you will gain the ability to race through the heavens."
    Averting his eyes from Izanami's pure, shining white naked body, Nakajima gently took the robe. It was as light as feathers and had the warmth of human skin.
    "That robe was given to me by my husband Izanagi. It is also my connection to the human world. If you take that robe, then I may never be able to appear in the human world again. Nor even be able to possess Yumiko..."
    Nakajima stiffened at Izanami's unexpected words.
    "But that is also the soul of Izanagi. Truthfully, it would be most fitting if you wore it."
    Izanami's voice became fainter and fainter. Looking up timidly, Nakajima saw her white skin lose its form, as if melting away into the darkness.
    "Now go. Please take care of Yumiko..."
    "Lady Izanami!"
    As Nakajima instinctively extended his hand, it passed through Izanami's holograph-like transparent body and clutched the air. Only a small amount of ash remained in his grasp.

Part 6: Chapter 4

    In his manor, about a dozen reporters were crowded around Prime Minister Nakasone, who remained impeccably dressed in a business suit despite the heat of the summer.
    "Prime Minister, what is this emergency cabinet meeting about?"
    "Is there any progress regarding this autumn's election?"
    There was no end to the reporters' questions. But there was a look of irritation on every one of their faces. The mass disappearances centered around Musashino Ward were now an open secret. But under strict orders of silence, none of them could ask nothing about it.
    While Set had craftily been gathering only the residents of an individual ward, after losing Isma, his Assiah-word co-conspirator, he had started indiscriminately absorbing humans from all over. The situation had gone far beyond the point where it could be concealed.
    "I only wish I had the answers you are looking for." Leaving this one comment, the Prime Minister disappeared into the cabinet room with a pained expression on his face.

    "I have been waiting for you, Prime Minister." Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita's cracking voice called to Nakasone as he entered the cabinet chamber.
    The prime minister looked painfully at the tired face of the loyal retainer who had been the motivator of his rise to power.
    He's been the one who has been fiercely insisting on keeping the disappearances quiet. Now that things have gotten as bad as they are now, I have no choice but to make him take responsibility.
    Having to do so was one of the weights on the Prime Minister's mind. He had no way of knowing that the Chief Cabinet Secretary was possessed by an Apep.
    "Minister of Home Affairs, report on the situation."
    "As of 10:00 Am this morning, the number of those missing ranks at 42,500. The areas hit have spread to Nerima Ward and Suginami Ward in the east, and Koganei City in the west. Immediate measures must be taken." Minister of Home Affairs Hanashi, who had been forbidden to send out any search teams, replied with an irritated voice.
    "Have a look at the area right now." Defense Minister Kurihara stood and pressed a button on the table.
    The image of the streets of Musashino City flickered on a screen in front of them.
    "This is footage taken from one of our RPVs. (Remotely Piloted Vehicles)"
    Since Set had started indiscriminately hunting people, the veil of fog that had blanketed the area had started to clear more and more, and the RPV sent a clear picture of the surroundings for two meters all around to the liquid crystal display. The business district in by Kichijoji station, the great green scenery of Inogashira Park, and quiet residential districts sped by onscreen. The image looked eerily peaceful as hardly anything onscreen was moving at all. Spinning the dial by his hand, Kurihara zoomed in on the screen. The rays of the sun reflected off the hoods of abandoned cars strewn about Inogashira Avenue. Cats wandered the human-free town as if they owned it.
    "What on earth is going on?" Murmurs broke out in the room.
    Shortly the RPV started moving toward the west. All of a sudden, it appeared as if the scenery onscreen had changed to that of a tropical jungle.
    "What the hell is that?" There was a stir amongst the entire cabinet.
    Manipulating the dial, Kurihara zoomed the camera in even further, and its bizarre form filled the screen.
    The wet, slimy, gelatinous thing appeared to be an immensely enormous one-celled organism. It was clearly alive, as the membrane enveloping its central core throbbed gently. Silently, Kurihara moved the RPV, rotating it around the otherworldy creature, which appeared to be like a skyscraper of flesh jutting into the sky.
    "Hey, isn't that a human?"
    Nobody responded to Nakasone's exclamation. The ghastliness of the scenery had stunned everyone. A line of people, hundreds of them, led out of the forest, advancing toward the tower. As they approached it, they tore off their clothes and naked, extended their arms in front of them like sleepwalkers before being absorbed into the protoplasm. The transparent jelly dissolved their bodies almost instantaneously, fusing them with the lump of meat that was its nucleus.
    "Chief Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Minister Hamano, it was you two who so forcefully suggested we cover this up, no...?" The speaker was Minster of Education Shiokawa. But even the Minister of Education's voice, known wide for its forceful complaints, sounded dry and scratchy.
    "This was an unexpected development. There's nothing we could have done!" The words sounded nothing like those of the Prime Minister's right-hand-man, the man so well-known by everyone for being forthright and honest.
    Has he gone mad?
    The thought was in everyone's heads as the sound of a telephone broke the silence.
    "I told you to shut out all calls during the cabinet meeting, no matter what they were!" The officer that picked up the phone spoke into it in a hushed voice, but as soon as he heard the speaker on the other end, his face drained of color.
    "Prime Minister, we have an emergency phone call from President Reagan of the US."
    "What is it!?" Suspiciously, Nakasone took the receiver. Nakasone was famous for being the most fluent speaker of English amongst Japanese politicians. Still, he couldn't help but cry out "I don't believe it!" in Japanese during his conversation with Reagan.
    Right at that moment, there was a scream from behind him. As Nakasone turned around, he nearly dropped the receiver, forgetting for a moment that he was speaking to the President.
    Fujita and Hamano were screaming in laughter, yet without out making a sound. Their faces became more and more purple by the moment. Fresh blood spewed from their lips, their ears burst, and their eyeballs, staring emptily into nothingness, were expanding as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. A horrible rotting smell permeated the meeting room.
    "Let the SP and the paramedics in! Don't let any of this leak to the media!" Ota, who had come to his senses earliest, ordered the officer who had picked up the phone, who was standing still, his mouth agape.
    Well, I suppose it can't be helped. If these two die here, nobody else will know my secret. Ota's greatest wish had come true.
    The heads of the two men, whose features were now distorted far beyond anything normal, limped loosely, and their bodies dissolved into puddles of slime like rotten fruit on the ground.
    In the chaos of people running about in the room, not a single person noticed the two small white snakes slip out of the now two formless bodies lying in a pile on the ground.
    Meanwhile, Ota was laughing inside as everything had seemed to proceed as he had planned, but the next instant, his face twisted in an expression of terror.
    The red eyes of the snakes were watching him closely.
    "Aagh!"
    As Ota reflexively took a few steps backwards, his feet slipped on the blood-drenched carpet. He tumbled to the ground, and the two serpents quickly slithered toward his head.
    Meanwhile, the enormous pillar of flesh continued to display onscreen, though nobody was watching it any longer. All of a sudden the camera angle changed sharply. It appeared as if the entire screen shook for a moment before it was filled completely with green as the flow of data from the RPV stopped.

Part 6: Chapter 3

    Later that afternoon, Shimazaki visited Ota's office in Nagatacho. Not yet aware that Isma had died, he drew closer to Ota with an air of confidence.
    "Now you've done it, Chief Secretary. Professor Feed has left the country!"
    "You said that all you wanted is for his project to be dissolved, so what's the problem? I'd have thought you'd be pleased that he decided to leave the country of his own accord."
    "That's true, but that high school student Nakajima has apparently disappeared..."
    "Oh, come off it! Do you really think someone of my stature can be bothered with some high school student?" Ota's voice was laden with irritation.
    "He might become a great interference in our plan."
    "Our plan?" Ota looked at Shimazaki haughtily.
    "I don't ever remember asking you for anything. Events just happened to turn in my favor, that's all. Rather than dealing with that sort of nonsense, rumors of the bizarre occurrences in Musashino Ward has become a real problem for the cabinet. Using Fujita and Hamano I've managed to keep things from getting out, but if things start spreading to the 23 wards, we can't just sit by and do nothing. You better ask your precious Saint to stop playing demon."
    "I'll do what I can..." Shimazaki responded with a long face.
    Without Isma, he had no teeth; Shimazaki could not approach the opening to the demon world. Furthermore, since he didn't know just how much power the demons had, if Ota put on a bold front, there was nothing he could do to counteract him.
    "At this rate, we may just have to use the SDF." Watching Shimazaki's expression, Ota spoke as if trying to gauge his reaction.
    "After all this, you want to oppose the demons!?"
    "Too much of even the best medicine will make you overdose. It wouldn't bother me in the least of the demons just up and vanished."
    "If the demons heard you saying something like that..." Shimazaki was clearly losing his compsore.
    "Oh, don't worry. What I say now will never leave this room. At all..."
    Baring his teeth in a grin, Ota snapped his fingers. A tall man who was waiting in the adjacent room approached casually. Ota pointing with a jerk of his head, the man slipped around behind Shimazaki. Shimazaki stiffened reflexively and a slight stabbing pain shot into his thick neck.
    "What are you doing!?" Shimazaki leaped up from the sofa.
    "I won't let anyone try to pull anything funny on me--even you, Mr. Ota!"
    However, greasy blobs of sweat were already appearing on his red face, and his legs started wobbling.
    "You'll die painlessly. That was an anesthetic they use to execute prisoners in Texas. Go ahead, take a nap...though you'll never wake up."
    "Wha...t?" Shimazaki's body tumbled forward as he bit hard down on his lip.
    "OK, Kuroda. I leave the rest to you. The Cabinet is waiting for me."
    Acting as if nothing had happened, Ota strolled out of the room, not once looking at Shimazaki's corpse sprawled on the floor.

Part 6: Chapter 2

    Early the next morning, two Cadillacs under heavy guard drove away from the mist-enshrouded American Embassy toward the west. One headed to the Yokosuka Military Base, and the other headed west down the Tomei Expressway. A black sedan tried to follow them, but perhaps was afraid of the guard, as it quietly made a U-turn as soon as the two cars split up to head to their respective destinations.

Part 6: Chapter 1

    "There was nothing we could have done. If he hadn't sacrificed himself so that we could get away, neither of us would be alive right now." Feed's voice sounded distant.
    Sitting on the soft leather sofa, Nakajima finally opened his heavy eyelids and looked outside the window in a half-awake, half-asleep daze. At some point the wounds on his arms and legs had been bound in bandages, but he had no memory of who had treated them or when they did.
    As if unaware that Musashino had turned into a demon city, the cars on the freeway sped past, their headlights forming a river of light. For a brief moment, Nakajima thought he saw the smiling face of Narukawa-turned-Tsukuyomi in those lights. More importantly, Nakajima could not understand why Narukawa had gone so far to protect him, even in defiance of his own organization. He could only think that there had been some sort of connection between them that defied logic, much like his own connection with Yumiko. All he wanted to do now is cling to the hope, however, small, that Narukawa had survived somehow.
    "Hey, where are we?" Nakajima opened his mouth as if something had just come to him.
    "We're in the American embassy. We're safe here." Almost right after Feed's reply came a knock on the door. A tall, elderly gentleman entered the room.
    "How is our guest doing, Professor?"
    The man's gentle, slender face turned toward Nakajima, and Nakajima realized that he had seen this person on television several times before. It was Blackwood, the American Ambassador to Japan.
    "He looks a lot better. Thank you." Feed responded with a calm expression that Nakajima had never seen on the man before. Looking at Feed speak so casually with an important American government official and getting a glimpse of just how broad the professor's world was, Nakajima felt a twinge of loneliness. He knew better than anyone else that he had no place that he belonged at the moment. As he hung his head in shame, the Ambassador appeared to have mistaken it for anxiety and came over to shake his hand.
    "Everything's all right. Professor Feed has told me everything. We will never hand you over to the Japanese government, even if they demand it." Blackwood's Japanese was flawless.
    Nakajima said nothing and took the man's warm hand to shake it.
    "By the way, Ambassador, have you arranged for a jet?"
    "We've got an F14 waiting. It'll depart for the US at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning."
    "Thank you, Ambassador."
    "No need to thank me. Say hi to the President for me."
    As if waiting for the ambassador to disappear behind the door, Nakajima spoke to Feed.
    "Are you going back to America, Professor?"
    "Yes. About that..."
    Feed sat down on the sofa across from Nakajima and leaned forward. His eyes were glittering like those of a mischievous child.
    "I've finally discovered a fool-proof way to banish the demon."
    "What!?"
    "I know it's difficult to believe, but this is a sure thing. Remember what I said a while back? If there are two magnetic fields that simultaneously attempted to summon a demon, if the difference in their strengths was large enough, the demon would automatically be pulled to the field that was stronger. What is it that determines how strong the magnetic field would be?"
    "The makeup of the atmosphere, gravity, the geomagnetic polarity...and the state of mind of the people would probably also have a large effect as well."
    "You've got it. I'd have expected nothing less from my best pupil." At some point, Feed had decided that Nakajima was his student. Confused, Nakajima shook his head at Feed's words.
    "Don't you understand what I'm getting at? Here, take a hypothetical example. What do you think would happen if you could create a magnetic field that had no interference from the atmosphere, gravity, and geomagnetism?"
    "Well, of course, in theory it would be immensely powerful. But trying to artificially create such an environment would take enormous amounts of time and money, and..."
    As if he had thought of something, Nakajima stopped in the middle of his sentence.
    "I get it! In outer space! You're going to use a satellite!"
    Feed nodded in satisfaction.
    "There's no way to predict what a demon banished into outer space would do. But if we were able to pull Set onto a satellite raised into dead orbit, he would never be able to meddle on Earth again so long as the computer kept running. There would be plenty of time to develop a weapon capable of taking him out in the meantime. I have to return to the US to get the government's approval to use a satellite in dead orbit."
    "Is there a satellite with a computer powerful enough to summon a demon?"
    "Of course. My country has launched a satellite in geosynchronous dead orbit at 135 degrees East as a base to control the future SDI satellites. Currently it's only operating at 30% capacity. It'd be perfect for summoning Set." Feed's voice was full of confidence.
    "What will you do? Trying to take on Set all by yourself at this point would be nothing but foolishness. I would think it be best for you to stay here until everything is resolved..."
    As if chasing an illusion, Nakajima's eyes drifted to the window.
    "I think your plan has a very high chance of succeeding. But there's something you forgot, Professor."
    "What?"
    "If you pull off your plan, Set's temporary body, which is currently fusing the human world with the demon world, will experience a tremendous shock as its environment suddenly changes. I think it would be safe to say there would be no chance of saving Yumiko, who is currently inside him."
    Feed was silent.
    "I'm going to fight Set again. But before that, I want to find the goddess Izanami. Izanami may have some wisdom as to what to do..."
    "So I fight for humanity, and you fight for your girlfriend. Well, that's fine, then."
    Feed stood up and offered Nakajima his hand.

Part 5: Chapter 4

    All of a sudden, Narukawa extended his arms out wide toward the heavens and called out.
    "Soul of the light of heaven and earth, light of the moon, come here to me, Tsukuyomi!"
    Feed turned around in shock.
    "So you've finally lost it." Isma also stopped the giant serpent, its mouth wide open and ready to swallow Nakajima, and turned to stare at Narukawa.
    But the rumbling of the heavens and the earth that started the next instant wiped the sneering grin off his face.
    The sky is falling, Nakajima thought as he looked up.
    The stars in the sky, which were shining far more than usual, became a single band of light and shot down toward Narukawa, leaving a streaking tail behind it. Or at the very least, that was what it looked like to Nakajima.
    "Mr. Narukawa..."
    But it was no longer Narukawa that was standing up to fight the demon, but his identity in his former life, that of the moon god Tsukuyomi. Not waiting a moment, he threw the light that was gathered around his right hand at the enormous snake.
    GYAAAAAGH!
    Like a laser scalpel, the arrow of light split Typhon's body in two down the middle. As Isma tumbled to the ground, Narukawa showed no mercy as he launched another attack on him. With no time to even cast a defensive spell, in an instant Isma was wreathed in flames, and screaming in anger and pain, attempted to grab Narukawa as he crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.
    The sight reminding him of the death of his mother, Nakajima shrank back as a sudden shock ran down his spine. The air around him suddenly compressed, and a surge capable of freezing body and mind alike shot through the ground.
    At last, Set had decided to fight directly.
    The surface of his protoplasmic membrane rippled, and as the tower of flesh undulated, it came over Narukawa's head like a tsunami. Not retreating a step, Narukawa fired an arrow of light at the fleshy pillar, which stabbed deep into it with a slimy sound. But that appeared to have done no damage to Set whatsoever.
    "Hurry! Hurry and escape with Nakajima! Hurry, while I hold him off! He is an important warrior!" Narukawa cried out to Feed.
    "...OK. Good luck!" Nodding regretfully, Feed smacked Nakajima in the back of the head with his pistol as he tried to run and help Narukawa.
    "Kerberos, run!" Putting Nakajima's unconscious body on Kerberos' back with surprising speed for a man of his age, Feed leapt up onto the beast after him.
    "Forgive me, Narukawa." As if in response to the tear-choked cry, volleys of light beams fired into Set's body again and again. But they soon became less and less frequent, and the Soga Forest was again surrounded in an eerie silence. The fleshy pillar writhed into the sky triumphantly, and increased the speed at which it fused the demon and human worlds together. In the center of that protoplasmic mass, Yumiko, tied to the Egyptian cross, cried tears of blood.

Part 5: Chapter 3

    Right about that time in Yomotsuhirasaka, Izanami looked anxiously into the black skies. Her connection to the human world was largely dependent upon Yumiko's senses; so long as she was captured by demons, Izanami could not view it, nor could she possess Yumiko to save her.
    The movement of the stars was the only connection between the human world and the netherworld remaining. And Nakajima's star was becoming visibly dimmer. Yumiko's star, right next to it, had dimmed so much it was not even visible without squinting. Meanwhile, the ominous red star around them was shining brighter and brighter.
    "What happened!? I can't stand this. But I don't have the power to affect the human world..." Muttering with irritation, Izanami's eyes stoped at another star next to them, twinkling slightly.
    "What's that...?"
    Could it be another reincarnated god?
    Kneeling, Izanami started praying frantically. "I don't know what god you are, but please awaken, for their sake."
    As if in answer to the prayer, the star started glowing brighter and brighter. Momentarily, like a supernova, its light brilliantly lit up that area of sky.

Part 5: Chapter 2

    The sun had already halfway set. The white Corolla that Narukawa had procured was driving westward down Ouma Highway. Afraid that they might be trailed, he had picked this car because it stood out the least.
    "It doesn't look like they've set up any checkpoints to look for us." Trying to cheer up the dejected Narukawa, Feed spoke wtih an optimistic tone in his voice.
    "If the've sent the CIRO special forces after us, it means they want to take us down in secret. However..."
    With an expression as if it was all too much for him to handle, Narukawa passed the car in front of him.
    "The man that was leading the group that attacked us was Saga, one of my subordinates. I can't believe that he would be lying. What could it have been that made the Chief Secretary give out such a drastic order..."
    "A demon, most likely." It was Nakajima that spoke from the back seat.
    "You're saying that demons have infiltrated the government?" Narukawa couldn't help but raise his voice.
    "Look at how Nakajima's mother suddenly sided with Ohara. It all makes sense if a demon was using some sort of spell to control her. Ignoring the mass disappearances, the attempt to assassinate us, Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita's sudden change of heart--it can't be a coincidence." Feed's voice betrayed clear signs of agitation.
    "I just can't believe it." Narukawa sighed. For the first time since he met him, Nakajima sensed weakness in the man.
    At about the intersection between Ouma Highway and Loop 8, the fog started to thicken. The number of cars on the road seemed to thin out significantly as well.
    "I sense a demonic presence in this area as well," reported Nakajima anxiously, rolling down the window halfway. "There was nothing here when I scouted out the area two days ago though..."
    As Narukawa's eyes darted to the rear-view mirror, his hands still gripping the steering wheel, Nakajima stuck his head out the window and stared at the empty sidewalk, letting the wind blow his hair back.
    Shortly thereafter, the Corolla turned onto Inokashira Avenue. Devoid of light, the buildings in the area were like a ghost town.
    "I don't believe this," Nakajima murmured to himself. "Day before yesterday, this place was perfectly normal...."
    Soon, engulfed in fog, Narukawa had no choice but to slow the car.
    "Don't you think it would be faster if we got out and walk?" Feed, impatient as ever, seemed as if he was about to jump out of the car at any time.
    "Could be. Don't you think you should stay behind in the car though, Professor?"
    "I'm sure what you mean to say is that I'd slow you down, but somehow I don't see the team of just a hero with a kidnapped girlfriend and a sidekick who knows nothing about demons producing any happy endings."
    As Narukawa stopped the car, Feed took out his S&W magazine and showed it to them.
    "This ammunition is full of mercuric sulfide. I'm sure it will work against demons a lot better than your handgun will..."
    Narukawa bared his teeth in a grin and slapped Feed's shoulder.
    "Mr. Narukawa, if you want to back out, now's the time." Nakajima was also grinning as he spoke.
    "Right then. I'll run if the mood strikes me."
    Now that I'm unofficially out of the CIRO, I really don't have any obligation to take on some unknown demon, but still...all I can say is that this seems like fate, or karma from a previous life. As if to keep his twisting anxiety in check, Narukawa considered his fate, which he decided to leave intertwined with that of Nakajima's.

    The thick fog enveloped the three men, who had now left the car behind. It was heavy and slimy, and felt like the surface of plants in a swamp.
    With Kerberos, who had been summoned from Nakajima's handheld computer, in the middle, the three proceeded toward the Soga Forest. Using only the light of the street lamps as a guide, they walked for maybe an hour. All of a sudden the fog thinned, and their surroundings clearly came into view.
    But they were very strange surroundings. At the very least, they were nothing like any neighborhood in Tokyo they had known.
    The lines of ginkgo trees along the roadside, which normally grew only slightly, receiving sustenance only from the carbon dioxide in the air, seemed far more robust than was to be expected; their branches were splayed out in every direction and their thick roots had shown themselves, having broken through the concrete of the sidewalk. The facades of the deserted buildings were covered in thick tropical vines, some of which were powerful enough to have shattered windows or even broken through the very roofs of houses.
    "What is going on here..." Nakajima was the first to speak in surprise, having been here just a few days ago searching for Yumiko.
    "It almost looks like the ancient Mayan ruins did when they were discovered...Eh? What's wrong?" Feed looked suspiciously over at Narukawa, who was pointing his Walther straight in the air.
    "Look!"
    Nakajima's trembling finger pointed at a whitish bird circling around them over head.
    "What? It's just a nocturnal bird."
    "Look at its face, Professor." Speaking in a calm and composed voice, Nakajima backed up Narukawa.
    The bird, which was looking down at them with sparkling azure eyes, clearly had the face of a human woman.
    "It's a harpy. I've seen them several times in Siberia before; it's quite beautiful, isn't it?"
    Letting his guard down at Feed's blasé reaction, Narukawa lowered his pistol.
    "Isn't it dangerous?"
    "Oh, it would definitely attack given the opportunity. But we're safe so long as Kerberos is with us."
    As if it heard Feed's voice, the harpy shook its wings as if to fake out the demonic beast and dropped its altitude. Without any forewarning, a brown beast leapt out from amongst the treetops and smashed the monstrous bird's wing with its thick arm. Caught by surprise, the harpy plunged to the ground. As it did, the brown, monkey-like monster quickly leaped to the ground and with its sharp fangs bit into the neck of the harpy as it struggled to get up.
    Kyaaaeeh!
    Crying out in a shrill voice, the harpy desperately beat its wings. But its opponent had a leg up on it. Within moments, its thick arms had snapped the harpy's neck in a quick motion.
    "Well, now we have proof that there's a food chain in the demon world," Feed rasped.
    Dragging the harpy's corpse with it, the demon monkey climbed up a tree. Right before it entered a vine-covered house, it turned around in curiosity and looked at Nakajima's group. The single, foul eye in its heavily-wrinkled faced darted all around, sizing up the three. As it made eye contact with Kerberos, it made a simian screech and bounded out of sight.
    "Oh, my. At this rate there's no telling what might attack us. Let's go into the forest now. We're sitting ducks out in the open right here," said Narukawa in a surprised voice as he returned to his senses.
    "No, so long as we have Kerberos with us we've got the advantage on the ground. If we go into the forest and get attacked from above we're done for."
    Nakajima had a point, so Narukawa decided to go along with him, and the three men once again proceeded slowly along the broken sidewalk, taking care not to trip over the stones and boulders strewn about.

    We're surrounded.
    With the Soga Forest in front of his eyes, Narukawa's sixth sense was buzzing. Kerberos lowered his head and crouched into a fighting pose. Nakajima also felt hundreds of eyes staring at them from amongst the trees. And those eyes were drawing ever closer.
    Gluf, Gluf
    Crying in a voice that sounded like it was coming from a strangled throat, a monster appeared from out of the darkness. It looked like a human, but its body was covered in shiny black scales. Its extruding, crimson eyes burned as it stared at them, and the red tear through its face that was its mouth was distorted and ghastly.
    Another. And another. As if they were creatures born of the darkness itself, the monsters emerged from the cover of the trees. Gripped by primal fear, Narukawa fired his Walther over and over again. The nine-millimeter ammunition buried into the stomachs of the creatures with a splatting sound, and thick, milky white liquid oozed from the wounds. But they showed not even a hint of faltering and approached, their arms stuck out in front of them. Unable to suppress his hostility any longer, Kerberos attacked the mob without any command from Nakajima, and in moments had downed several dozen of them.
    "Mr. Narukawa, get back!" Realizing that he had no choice but to fight, Nakajima pictured the two blue spheres in his mind. Just from his concentration, an eddy of flame formed in the air and a moment later the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi appeared in his right hand. Gripping its hilt, Nakajima slashed the sword with a tremendous battle cry.
    The chests of the monsters were cleaved in two, and like a wave being drawn back into the sea, their scales vanished, leaving only white skin behind. Just like Ohara had, until recently these monsters had been living as ordinary people. Only Set could have transformed them into such demonic beings.
    "Damned demons..." Nakajima gripped his sword and bit his lips, his eyes filled with indescribable desolation. Looking over at Feed, Nakajima saw that he was firing his Smith & Wesson over and over again while gripping his ornate cross. The mecuric sulfide bullets instantly killed the monsters that they struck, but far more of them were missing their targets than aiming true.
    "Professor, the battle is just starting," called out Nakajima. "Please don't waste your ammunition!"
    Indeed, it appeared that no matter how many of the monsters they defeated, their numbers seemed only to increase. There were probably almost a thousand of them. Nakajima called Kerberos and took a step back, glaring back at what appeared to be a writhing, infinitely thick wall of creatures.
    I'm just going to have to force my way right through them... Right as Nakajima had set upon a plan, the hostility vanished from the eyes of the monsters. As their arms flopped to their sides, every one of them turned around and shuffled back into the depths of the forest. Their empty stares were as if they were all in a trance.
    Nakajima turned around, startled by a growl from Kerberos, and noticed that Feed and Narukawa also had a strange glimmer in their eyes.
    "Professor! Mr. Narukawa!"
    As if trying to cut through an invisible thread, Nakajima brought down the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi in front of their eyes. Suddenly returned to their senses, the two men looked at one another.
    "That was close. We almost became enthralled by the demon as well." Shuddering, Feed flicked the safety of his pistol and put it in the pocket of his coat.

    Following the creatures, the three continued into the Soga Forest, which was now an extension of the Atziluth World. Occasionally, a harpy flew overhead, beating its wings as if to mock them. Soon the fog cleared, and there waiting for them was a scene, bizarre far beyond any of their imaginations.
    "That's....!!" At the same time, the three cried out in surprise.
    Next to the shimmering red-and-green striped surface of the swamp, an enormous fleshy tower jutted dozens of meters into the sky. One by one, the pack of creatures were climbing it. Those that ran out of energy on the way up were slurped into the protoplasm right there and absorbed into the tower of flesh. The surface of the tower was covered in the half-broken bodies of the creatures and countless writhing tentacles, the latter of which gave it the appearance of an enormous one-celled organism.
    Feed and Narukawa forgot themselves and were entranced by the repulsive sight as if possessed. However, Nakajima quickly brought them back to their senses, and noticed a silver-haired man approaching, appearing from behind the shadow of the fleshy pillar. Nakajima got the sense that he recognized this man from somewhere, and soon Feed's cry made clear why this was.
    "So, you really were behind all of this, Isma."
    So this man is Isma...Professor Feed's brother.
    "Nakajima, there's no need to hold back," cried Feed, "so long as he lives, the world will never be safe!"
    Isma grinned coldly. The black robe that enveloped him whipped in the wind.
    "Get him, Kerberos!"
    At Nakajima's order, Kerberos charged Isma, but all of a sudden, bounced away as if he had hit an invisible wall in the air.
    "Ha ha ha!"
    Isma's body appeared to float in the air as he laughed, and two unusual lights appeared by his feet. Covered in jet-black scales, the great black serpent Typhon stared at Nakajima with its golden eyes as it slowly rose into the air with Isma riding on its back, as if the earth had suddenly given birth to an enormous tree. With its head nearly extended to the full height of the tower of flesh, the huge serpent shuddered and assaulted Nakajima. The lower half of Isma's body had been fused into Typhon's; perhaps it was another sort of fusion the demon could do in addition to its innate ability to absorb the earth and the air into its own body.
    The sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi could do nothing against Typhon's rigid scales. Nakajima had no choice but to flee, pursued by Isma's loud laughter.
    "You must have been quite lucky to have been able to defeat Loki like that! Stop struggling and become the next sacrifice!"
    Meanwhile, Feed, realizing the gravity of the situation, whispered something to Narukawa as he handed over his pistol.
    "Whatever you're planning, it won't work, Charles!" cried Isma from atop the serpent's head. "I'll eat you right after Nakajima!"
    Kerberos jumped in attack from the side, but was knocked away like a rubber ball by Typhon's whip-like tail.
    "Die, Nakajima!"
    Holding the Smith & Wesson with both hands in a firing stance and aiming it at Typhon's gaping red maw as it attacked, Narukawa pulled the trigger.
    For an instant, the great serpent stopped as if in discomfort. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nakajima leapt up and plunged the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi into one of its golden eyes.
    GYAAAH!
    Crying out, Typhon whipped and spasmed. Sword and all, Nakajima was thrown aside, but Kerberos leaped into the air and caught him. Right at that moment, Nakajima got the sense that he heard Yumiko's voice from far away. Looking around in confusion, the image of Yumiko, bound to a cross and writhing in agony, appeared in his mind. Most likely, Set had sent him the picture of her current state as the core of his enormous protoplasmic temporary body. Nakjima noticed that one of the eyes in her lovely, terrified face was dripping blood.
    "Hah, hah, hah! Brave young man, do not forget that Yumiko is Set's prisoner!"
    Don't listen to him! The demons need my body! They would never kill me! Yumiko's voice cried out in Nakajima's mind, encouraging him.
    Isma's laughing voice penetrated Nakajima's ears. "Indeed. The girl is needed to fuse this world and the demon world together. However, even if we cannot kill her, we can still torture her with unimaginable pain."
    It was hard for Nakajima to withstand the awful sense of guilt and self-reproach he got when seeing Yumiko frantically trying to withstand the agony. Yumiko's remaining eye started to fill with tears of blood.
    "Stop it!" Unable to withstand it any longer, Nakajima cast aside the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi and dropped to his knees.
    "Nakajima, wake up! You can't listen to them! If you give in, what will happen to this country? What will happen to the world..."
    Listening to Feed yelling his lungs out calling to Nakajima, Narukawa was overwhelmed, and was punching the ground with his fist.
    This sort of thing has happened before!
    Try as he might, Narukawa could not shake off an overwhelming sense of deja vu.
    I must have some sort of power. Some sort of power to save that boy! Someone--god or buddha, I don't care--please awaken my power! That power will surely reveal my connection with the boy as well...

Part 5: Chapter 1

    The rays of the noontime sun scorched the interior of the Demon Banishment Project room.
    Narukawa, who had been away from the Project for several days after having been called back by Chief Secretary Fujita, looked positively haggard as he approached the table where Nakajima and Feed were arguing about something.
    "Oh! You're finally back, Narukawa!" Feed stood up from his seat and arms apart, welcomed Narukawa almost as if to embrace him.
    "While you've been away, we've nearly pinpointed where the demon has been summoned. If you had come any later, it would have been too late; Nakajima was about to rush headlong into the demon's lair by himself, and I wouldn't have been able to stop him...."
    As Feed spoke, Narukawa looked at Nakajima with a complicated expression on his face.
    "Could you tell me where that summoning point is?"
    In response to Narukawa's question, Feed silently pointed to the monitor next to him. On it was displayed a map of Tokyo, the middle of which had a red light which was blinking profusely.
    "It's an area about two kilometers in diameter that overlaps Mikata City and Musashino City. Right in the dead center of that area, there's a wooded area known as the Soga Forest."
    "I see...By the way, Professor, Nakajima, I would like you to listen closely to what I have to report." Handing a file to the two, Narukawa's voice sounded unusually impatient as he began to speak.
    "In the past week, nearly ten thousand people have vanished from Tokyo, and that's only the those we've received notice of. Most of them are residents of Mitaka City, Musashino City, and Nerima Ward, but since yesterday there have been noticeable disappearances in Koganei City and Suginami Ward as well. Nakajima, when you were exploring those areas, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"
    "I did notice that there weren't a lot of people out, but since I was going out with Kerberos I had to do so in the dead of night, and I always assumed that was the reason I wasn't seeing anyone..."
    "Still, ten thousand people..." Struck by the sheer size of the number, Feed looked over and exchanged glances with Nakajima.
    "There have even been areas where as many as 2000 people have completely vanished."
    "I'm surprised it hasn't been all over the news," said Nakajima.
    "We've been doing everything we possibly can to keep it that way." So saying, Narukawa pulled a black-and-white photograph out of his pocket.
    "Professor, you probably have heard about this. This is a photograph that was taken from America's Far East Spy Satellite."
    In the center of the photo was an area that seemed to be wreathed in clouds. Feed groaned as he looked at it.
    "This is almost the exact area that we've pinpointed..."
    "This photograph kind of looks double-exposed." Just as Nakajima indicated, the center of the area in question looked indeed as if there were two different landscapes superimposed over one another.
    "I can't explain why it came out like this, but this is indeed the point known as the Soga Forest. We've already sent out several operatives from the station to investigate the area...."
    "This is way out of their league," spat Feed as he adjusted the photo in the light.
    "Indeed, just as you say, not a single one of them has come back. It would seem that as soon as they get close to the Soga Forest their radios and sensors just cut out."
    "How does the government intend to proceed?"
    "Well..." Narukawa looked away.
    "What's wrong?"
    "Yesterday at the cabinet meeting they decided on a 'watch and wait' policy."
    "What!?" Feed's white hair seemed to stand on end as he approached Narukawa.
    "I'll go and persuade Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita myself. No, strike that--I want to talk to the Prime Minister directly. I see that unless I explain in detail the danger of the demons, these stubborn politicians will never realize the gravity of the situation."
    "Unfortunately that is impossible." Narukawa placed his hand gently on Feed's shoulder.
    "That wasn't the only decision the cabinet made. They ordered the New AI Project--in other words, this Demon Banishment Project--to be dismantled as of today."
    For several moments, Feed stood silently, his mouth agape. He couldn't understand just what it was that Narukawa was saying. Or perhaps it would be better to say that he didn't want to understand. Soon, in response to the cynical smile that had formed on Nakajima's face, he admitted to himself just how bad the situation had gotten and started speaking furiously in a mishmash of English and Japanese blended together.
    "Why the hell did he break his promise!? Just why did those politicians think I came all the way to Japan in the first place!? As arrogant as it may sound for me to say it, I came to save this country from being overrun by demons! They don't give me the tools or manpower I need, and now they shut down the project at such a crucial juncture--what are they thinking!? Nakajima, come with me to America. I'm sure my country will let you use whatever tools we need."
    Smiling slightly at the enraged Feed, Nakajima looked around the tense and chaotic room.
    "Thank you, Professor. But I still have the responsibility to rescue Yumiko. I'm sure she was hurt far more than she should have been over what happened to my mother; at this point I'm the only one who can save her."
    "Wonderful. Do you Japanese ever operate out of any other motive besides duty?"
    "...Perhaps love is a type of duty." Perhaps even thinking his own comment to be a bit corny, Nakajima hid his face as he turned on his heels and put his hand on the doorknob.
    "I'll come with you." Narukawa's voice echoed behind Nakajima.
    "....?" For an instant, Nakajima looked back skeptically at Narukawa's determined face.
    "I'm still a member of this project," responded bluntly, without adding the And I still feel strangely connected to you somehow that he was thinking.
    "Geez, you two are so impatient." At some point, Feed had taken a handgun out of the drawer in his steel desk.
    "A Smith & Wesson there, eh?...If anyone had known you had that, the Project would have been dismantled immediately," said Narukawa in surprise.
    "Now that the Project is slated for termination anyway, there's no need to hold back. Besides, the ammunition in this gun is a little bit 'special.'" Sticking the magazine in his pocket, Feed smiled mischievously.

    The elevator expelled the three men into the underground parking garage. Nakajima and Feed started to walk towards their car when Narukawa's arm shot out to stop them. As it did, Nakajima started looking around warily as if he had sensed something as well.
    "What's the matter?" Midway through his sentence, Feed was suddenly shoved aside by Narukawa. That instant, a bullet whizzed over Feed's head and buried itself in the concrete wall behind him, leaving a hole.
    "Looks like it's the Special Forces from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, but I can't believe they'd actually shoot..." The second shot sped by Narukawa's face.
    Narukawa dove behind the Crown parked next to him, pulling the other two men with him. His hand already gripped a Walther PP Super.
    "I am Narukawa from the Second Unit of Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. Did you know that when you shot at me?"
    In response to his question a burst of bullets shattered the windshield of the Crown.
    "I've got orders direct from the Chief. It's nothing personal."
    "I know that voice--Saga, it's you, isn't it? Hear me out!" Narukawa started to stand, but Nakajima pulled him down. An instant later, dozens of bullets flew over their heads.
    "We don't stand a chance against those full automatic Berettas. And there are at least five of them." Still, Narukawa didn't loosen his grip on the Walther.
    "We're just wasting time fighting here!"
    "There's no other way out!" Before Narukawa had fully voiced his irritated reply, Nakajima had entered a command on his handheld computer.
    "Kerberos, go get 'em. Try not to kill them though."
    The demonic beast that leapt from the liquid crystal display gave a great roar and bounded over the ground in the direction of the gunshots. Moments later, the underground parking lot was filled with cries of pain and splashes of blood.

Part 4: Chapter 8

    The next day, the reporters in the Politics section of the Tokyo Daily were abuzz with the news that Hamano Masahiro, Minister of Foreign affairs, had pulled out of the upcoming elections.
    "Now where the heck did I stick that file on Foreign Minister Hamano?" The young reporter Motoyama dug through a veritable mountain of manila folders piled up on his desk.
    "Now Ota is a shoo-in for chairman," murmured the veteran reporter Watanabe while shaving. The phone in front of him had been ringing, ignored, nonstop.
    From behind a desk, Imura chimed in. "That guy's just been on a roll since passing the National Secrets Protection Act."
    "Don't you think this whole thing is Fujita basically giving his approval of Ota in light of his ability to get that thing passed?" responded Watanabe.
    "So you think that Hamano abandoned his bid once Ota got Fujita's support?"
    As the two grizzled veterans chatted amongst each other, Motoyama picked up the still-ringing phone next to them. With a skeptical look on his face, he listened to the voice on the other end of the line for a while before hanging up with a curt "You want the Society section for that."
    "What's up?" Watanabe asked the question as if he wasn't too interested one way or the other.
    "Oh, it's just more people talking about recent chains of mass unexplained disappearances in Musashino ward. It's probably just a load of crap, though."
    "Come to think of it, I've heard that Tanouchi over in Econ hasn't shown up for work lately--doesn't he live in Mitaka city?"
    Not thinking of the disappearances any further, the two reporters headed out to interview the politicians they were in charge of.