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.

Part 4: Chapter 7

    The soft sound of the geigi's nails plucking the strings of a shamisen drifted from the Crane Room in the Takabayashi Pavillion located in Akasaka. Seated on the tatami floor, several men faced each other: Hamano, Minister of Foreign Affairs and aide to the Liberal Party Chairman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita, and Chief Secretary Ota. The three men appeared to be smiling and chatting amicably, but the fact that their chopsticks had barely touched the food in front of them belied the tension that was heavy in the air.
    With a whiff, the sound of the Shamisen stopped.
    "Could you leave us alone?" Looking at Hamano straight on, Ota spoke to the geigi. The moment she left the room, he bowed down and spoke again in a dramatic voice.
    "Mr. Hamano, I have a request of you from one man to another. In this autumn's Chair Election, please support my candidacy. Of course, after two years I will turn the reins over to you. I will never ask anything of you again so long as I live; please grant my request."
    "Well, this is a shame. I had been informed that the party had been wanting me to be elected Prime Minister this autumn, but without your consent things could get messy." Hamano's reply was cold and hardly accommodating.
    "So basically what you're saying is that we'll settle this in the election?" Ota's face clouded with anger.
    "Come on, you two, let's not get carried away now..." Fujita interrupted the men.
    "Mr. Hamano, Mr. Ota, either of you are perfectly qualified to take power. Well, of course, it is true that my faction would hold a lot of sway as to who gets the chairmanship this autumn..." Trailing off his attempt at appeasing the men, Fujita removed his glasses and slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose. Full of impatience, Ota and Hamano's sharp glares turned to the forehead of the composed Chief Cabinet Secretary.
    Putting on his glasses, Fujita looked back and forth, comparing the two men.
    "However...the Prime Minister has been thinking that he would feel better if Hamano won this autumn, and then Ota take over the post afterwards. I think it would be better for the party if Ota were to concede for the time being."
    Ota's lips started trembling at Fujita's words. At this point, he had thought that Shimazaki had somehow managed to persuade these two heavy-hitter politicians.
    "Mr. Ota, don't feel bad. I'm not trying to force you, but the Prime Minister has indicated who he'd like to be his successor directly." As Hamano's mouth continued to spout excuses, he started to get up. His blood boiling with humilitation, Ota stared down at the other man's feet.
    Right at that moment, in his peripheral vision he saw a white shape dart across the room.
    "Ooh!"
    All of a sudden, Hamano cried out and bent over, his face turning purple.
    "Mr. Hamano, are you all right!?"
    As Fujita ran over to Hamano, Ota clearly saw a small white snake coil around the Chief Cabinet Secretary's leg. Taken aback, Ota turned around and saw that the sliding door to the room was open a crack; in its shadow he noticed Shimazaki's face grinning psychotically, and a chill ran down his spine.

Part 4: Chapter 6

    As Officer Nimura tried to crawl away and escape, the foul air around him started whirling around in a circle.
    What's that! What's going on...
    Still crawling, Nimura put his hand on the pistol holstered on his waist. A strange gurgling sound was audible high above him in the air. Looking up, he was struck speechless and forgot to draw his gun. An enormous serpent, its black scales glittering in the moonlight, had its red maw wide open, the end of its long tongue at the tip of his nose.

Part 4: Chapter 5

    Isma had realized that the bizarre life form that had torn itself out of Ohara's belly was a temporary body for Set, who had been planning to take form by possessing Loki's child.
    According to his theory, summoning a demon via a computer would require creating a magnetic field with which to summon the demon and the processing of the demon's data to be materialized, both of which would have to be done at virtually the same time. If the magnetic field was weak, the point of connection between the demon's world and the Assiah world would narrow, constraining the amount of data that could be processed. On the other hand, no matter how powerful the magnetic field was, unless the digital data could be processed quickly and concisely, the demon would never be able to take form. It was quite possible that even a supercomputer would not be able to handle the massive amount of data that would be needed to materialize a high-ranking demon.
    Despite that fact, the high-ranking demon Set was able to to take form in the Assiah world, even if it was only in a makeshift body. Something must have added a great deal of power in setting up the necessary magnetic field for a summoning; this in turn would ease the restraints on the data processing.
    Isma was convinced that something was Yumiko. Most likely, the high concentration of biological Magnetite within her body had been a major player in creating the magnetic field for the summoning. The divine constitution that she had inherited from Izanami was nothing but a giant retention of that highly concentrated Magnetite. While meager in comparison to that of Yumiko, ordinary humans also retained some biological Magnetite. If enough of it was collected, it might be able to create a permanent overlap of the Atziluth and Assiah worlds entirely.
    Therefore, having already formed a contract with Set, Isma borrowed his power to summon many people and attempt to create a tower of human flesh. And everything was proceeding just according to plan. Even know the heavens split with a terrible thundering, and Set's most powerful servant, the great serpent Typhon, reared its head into the air as if slithering from behind a black curtain, knocking over the Soga Forest's trees as it went.
    "Typhon, welcome. Breathe deeply and take in the air of the Assiah world."
    Isma looked kindly at the enormous snake. "Take a look, your first victim awaits in the shadow of that tree."
    As Isma pointed to the copse where Officer Nimura was, Typhon vanished beyond the trees. Meanwhile, Set had transformed into a gigantic, vile pillar of flesh, his sinister, red glowing eyes at its peak darting all around the area.
    Typhon's presence is proof that the demon world Set rules is starting to meld with the Assiah world. Now all that remains is to gather more biological Magnetite and solidify the connection...
    Isma's eyes shimmered even brighter with madness.

Part 4: Chapter 4

    It was 10PM in Miyamaedaira, a residential area in Mitaka near the Soga forest.
    I wonder if Akinao is studying about now...
    Tanouchi Midori's large eyes shone like the heroine of a girl's comic book, her slender face framed by short-cropped hair. Even though summer vacation was about to end, her skin was still white and smooth. It looked like vacation was going to come to a close without her getting a single chance to get into a bathing suit.
    I doubt any other 17-year old out there has had a summer this boring.
    Midori looked out the window with glazed eyes. She had been taking her college entrance exams lightly, thinking that even if she blew them off for a little bit, she could still get into a decent private liberal arts school. There should have been at least a little bit of time to go to the pool. The reason that she didn't end up doing so was out of duty to her boyfriend, who was studying to get into Tokyo University's engineering school.
    "Maybe I should give him a call."
    As she stood up, she thought she heard something.
    "Eh?" Reflexively, Midori looked at her stereo. Often she would leave it on accidentally. But the power was off. As she tilted her head in confusion, she heard it again but much clearer--a voice echoing in her head.
    Come, come to me...
    "Who's there!?" Midori looked all around the room, a stern expression on her face. The voice sounded again in her head.
    Come, Midori...
    Midori's body naturally turned toward the direction of the voice. An inexplicable sensation of ecstacy, difficult to resist, urged her onward.
    "OK." With a glassy-eyed expression on her face, Midori nodded. As she left her room, her family was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. They all had an eerie, lifeless expression on their faces as if they were dreaming. However, this did not seem to trouble Midori in the least.
    "Come on, Midori!" Midori's younger brother, who was in the third grade, had his hand on the door as if he couldn't wait any longer.
    "Are you going to go in your sandals?" Midori's mother asked.
    "Good point." Putting on her favorite heels, Midori left the foyer after her brother.
    None of the family knew where they were going. But the voice in their heads told them there was no need for doubt.

    At about the same time, a pair of sweat arms grabbed Yukiko's waist in an apartment in Miyamaedaira.
    "Come on, not where it's bright!" Crying out in embarrasment, she pushed her boyfriend Tooru away. She had only met him two weeks ago on a trip to Okinawa. Even holding each other all day long, they never tired of it.
    I get the sense I could love him forver... thought Yukiko.
    She was a 20-year old college student. Tooru was still a high school student and a little irresponsible, but he had a very bright personality and always made her laugh with his jokes. But more than that, Yukiko liked his handsome looks.
    "OK, I'll turn out the lights." Bowing to her wishes, Tooru flicked the light switch. Then he immediately grabbed her in a kiss.
    As Yukiko murmured "I love you" in her mind, another voice echoed in her head.
    Come...
    "Did you say something, Tooru?"
    "I was going to ask you the same thing!" As the two looked at each other perplexed, the voice sounded again.
    Come....
    There was something hard to resist in that voice. The two stood up simultaneously.

    A huge line of people proceeded from Miyamaedaira toward the Soga Forest, seemingly going on forever. Those in it numbered at nearly two thousand.
    At 10:15 PM, Officer Nimura, on dispatch in Miyamae, saw the first member of the group approaching.
    What the hell is going on? Looking at the massive crowd approaching, Nimura scratched his head in confusion. Mothers leading their children. Couples walking hand-in-hand. There were even a few salarymen in the line, still in their suits and ties, looking as if they had stopped for a drink on the way home from work. Each one of them was just an ordinary citizen. But there was a strange air about the crowd that gave any onlooker the shivers.
    "It doesn't look like they're here for some sort of event..."
    Watching the procession, Nimura realized that not a single person in it was speaking. Feeling that there was just something not right about this, Nimura contacted the station and asked them what to do.
    But the response he got was less than helpful.
    "At this time of year they're probably going to a Bon dance or something. Don't bother the station with trifling matters like this!"
    Irritated at the dispatcher, Nimura grabbed the arm of a salaryman at the end of the procession and spoke to him.
    "Excuse me! Where is everyone going at this time of night?"
    But the man did not respond.
    Nimura immediately realized that he was not being deliberately ignored. The man's glazed-over eyes looked forward without focus, and it was as if he did not even notice the police officer next to him.
    Nimura spoke to the boy in front of the salaryman, who appeared to be a student. But there was no response from him either. The group simply proceeded to walk forward like a pack of lemmings. After a few moments of indecision, Nimura decided to join the end of the line.
    He walked for maybe a little less than an hour. Residences became more and more sparse, and as the street lamps became further and further spaced apart, a deep fog enveloped the unusual procession. The fervor in the mob's eyes grew ever more insane.
    "They're heading to the Soga Forest...?"
    A bizarre stench assaulted Nimura's nostrils. It was like a musky, sort of rotten smell. Unconsciously Nimura gripped his police baton and stopped walking. Two meters ahead in a fog too thick to see through, the footsteps of the people became ever more distant.
    Gradually, Nimura was overtaken by a creeping terror. When he finally started walking again, it might have been less because of his duty as a police officer and more that he did not want to be left all alone in the middle of the fog. Stumbling and tripping, Nimura ran ahead, several times nearly running into huge larch trees.
    Soon the fog cleared ever so slightly. And in contrast, the strange smell became stronger. Right as he caught up to the end of the line, Nimura let out a sigh of relief and hid in the shadows of a large tree as he watched the people start to form a large circle. From somewhere in the middle of the circle, he heard the words of an incantation being chanted like a sutra. As the the voice became audibly louder, the crowd of people prostrated themselves on the ground.
    When Nimura saw for the first time what was in the center of the ring of people, he had to use all his resolve to suppress a cry. A completely naked girl was tied up on a T-shaped Egyptian-style cross, which glowed with a dull silver light.
    Is she a doll?
    Her beauty seemed so perfect, that was the first thought that popped into Nimura's head. But her face, which every so often twisted in contortions of pain, gave lie to the fact that she was indeed a real human. The girl was encased in a veil of a clear, jelly-like substance. Nimura observed that the veil occasionally writhed like a living creature.
    Is this for real? Are they shooting a movie here or something?
    Nimura knew all too well that he was trying to make excuses to try and hold the terror at bay. His entire body was rooted to the spot as if he was frozen. The sound of his breath assaulted his ears, almost sounding deafeningly loud.
    What the heck is going on...?
    How long had he been waiting there? An hour?
    As it looked like the jelly veil rippled around the girl's head, two red lights started flickering in it, almost as if ornamenting her hair. Strapped to the cross, the girl writhed her head around. Nimura realized that she was stuck inside the body of some sort of mysterious creature that could only be described as a gigantic amoeba.
    And that otherworldly creature was expanding rapidly. The two red points of light glowed brighter and brighter, before becoming two demonic eyes that darted over the area, glaring. The gelatinous substance had already engulfed the entire cross the girl was tied too, and was still getting bigger.
    At that moment, Nimura noticed a man clad in a black robe standing behind the cross. Even from a distance, the lines on his face clearly delineated the features of a foreigner. The strange sutra-like incantation that he had been hearing was coming from this man.
    All of a sudden, the incantation stopped. Silently, the man raised his right hand to the heavens. And as if on queue, the innermost ring of people in the circle stood up, tore off their clothes, threw them aside, and started advancing toward the cross in the middle. The amoeba pulsated, and engulfed their naked bodies. At that moment, their expressions were those of pure ecstacy.
    The ring started to fall apart. Irritated that disrobing was taking so long, they all jockeyed to be first to be absorbed into this otherworldly creature's veil--young and old, man and woman. The girl tied to the cross had already become completely obscured by the mob. People climbed over one another, and Nimura thought he heard the dull sound of bones breaking. As all the people that had made up the ring appeared to transform into a massive mountain of bodies, lights ran through the membrane of the amoeba.
    A low, rumbling roar that sounded as if it sprung from the very depths of the earth sounded, severing the last bare thread of Nimura's sanity. All the strength flowed out of his legs, and he fell to the ground on his backside; not being able to stand even if he tried, Nimura let out an incomprehensible wail as he started desperately crawling along ground, trying with all his might to get away as soon as possible.

Part 4: Chapter 3

    In the VIP room of the Akasaka Plaza Hotel, Ota of the Liberal Party was sitting with Shimazaki in conversation. He was in a good mood; as a result of his successful passage of an important bill, he had risen fast to become a star of his party. "I hear Chairman Matoba suffered a bizarre death--a shame, isn't it?" Set's avatars, the Apeps, could possess humans and control them however they desired. However, because of the Apeps' innate poison, those who were possessed would start to rot from within. This was how Matoba had died, though Ota had no way of knowing that.
    "So, Chief Secretary, what's the deal with the New AI Project? Can it be shut down?" Shimazaki eyed Ota with displeasure.
    The AI Project, of course, was the "official" name of the Demon Banishment Project.
    "Right. Well, since Fujita started it up of his own accord, in theory it should be perfectly plausible to cook up some sort of trumped-up reason to shut it down, but it's being backed by the American Aide to the President. We can't just ignore that. Come on, I've already seen to it that you get all the contracts to the Capital Reconstruction Project; don't be so greedy." Watching Shimazaki like a hawk, Ota laughed heartily.
    "So why are you making such a big deal about this AI project anyway? Does it interfere with your business somehow?"
    "I suppose you could say that." Shimazaki lit a cigarette.
    "Fujita's a tough customer. I'd prefer not to go up against him if possible." Ota's face was stern as he spoke.
    "Planning to announce your candidacy for the party chair, then?"
    "Think whatever you want."
    Shimazaki's eyes glinted with cunning. "What do you think your chances would be?"
    Currently within the Liberal Party, Ota was thought to be a strong candidate for party chair, but his faction held only a moderate amount of backing in the Lower House, his supporters there holding seats in the low 60s. In order for Ota to win the election, he'd need either another faction to support him or to crush one of his rivals entirely. Therefore it was only natural for him not to want to face off against Fujita.
    "If only Hamano would support me in the election..." Ota stared at Shimazaki willfully, as if trying to communicate something implicit. And as if he understood entirely, Shimazaki nodded.
    "I am sure things will turn out just as you would like. There's no need to worry."
    "I never asked you to do anything! Still, since when have you been able to wield that much influence?" Ota asked the question in hushed tones.
    "I am sure I will get the chance to tell you some day."
    After all, you'll get to directly experience it for yourself eventually...
    Shimazaki bared his yellow teeth in a grin.

Part 4: Chapter 2

    The next morning, Nakajima and Feed were sitting in the Demon Banishment Project room, waiting for Narukawa's arrival. Lately, the role of the three men in the project had changed. Nakajima was more of a warrior than a programmer at this point. During the day he spent his time training with the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, and at night he went scouting with Kerberos to look for any traces of Yumiko. While Narukawa was working with the police to track down Ohara and Yumiko, he also was totally absorbed in tracking down computers capable of being used for demon summoning. As the operation was top-secret, it was unlikely that there would be any further help joining the project. While leading the team as a whole, Feed was immersed in writing the Demon Banishment Program.
    "Nakajima, are you sure you shouldn't let your father in LA know about your mother?" Feed's reddened eyes did not leave the screen as he asked the question.
    "If I did, my father would probably just come back to Japan. And he might end up as yet another casualty. In retrospect, it was foolish of me not to have thought of Yumiko's family and mine...."
    Nakajima looked at Feed with an expression of conflict the likes of which he had never shown before. To him, the death of his mother was difficult to separate from his own fate; she had died at the hands of demons which he had initially called. It only reminded him all too well that he would never be safe until those demons were defeated.
    Feed sighed and saved his program.
    "Is it finished, Professor?"
    "For the time being, yes. If you had done the programming I bet I would have finished it a lot faster." As if he was relieved regardless, Feed stretched his weary muscles.
    "I think I'll be able to help in the debugging at least."
    "No, that would just be a waste of time for a warrior. Don't forget about Craft; it can help in that regard." Mentioning the AI set up in Massachusetts, Feed set up his modem. He most likely was intending to send the program to Craft and have it perform the finishing touches. As Feed started communicating with Craft, Narukawa burst into the room, apologizing for being late.

    "From analyzing some hair left at the scene, we were able to determine that it was Ohara that slaughtered the Shirasagi family. The police are going nuts. The missing persons incident at Jusho High hasn't even been solved yet, and now one of the missing student's families gets murdered. We currently have 1000 patrolmen searching for Ohara right now." Unable to restrain his emotion, Narukawa gave his report.
    "So, have they found any leads?"
    "Yes. There have been some people who spotted her, but...on the night of the murders, several witnesses reported seeing her both near Kichijoji and Ota Ward, so the search is in total disarray right now."
    "I think the former is more likely. Have a look." Interrupting, Nakajima pointed at the display next to him. On screen was a map of Tokyo with several red lines drawn on it.
    "I've had Kerberos try and track Yumiko's path that night. After coming to my house from her own, she headed off in the direction of Musashino." As if holding back emotion, Nakajima paused a moment.
    "I think that Yumiko was chasing Ohara. And right after that, something must have happened to her..."
    "But doesn't Yumiko possess great psychic power?"
    "I'm sure that Ohara herself wouldn't have been any problem for her. But when you take into account Yumiko's state of mind that evening..."
    Nakajima could say no more. Even though Yumiko had saved his life that night, he still held some uncontrollable resentment toward her for what she did. But considering what she must have felt when she had come to see him that night, he felt an even greater regret and affection for her. In fact, his direct participation in the Demon Banishment Project at this point was solely to find where she had gone.
    "Hmm...I can't understand why anyone would have spotted her in Ota Ward. Of course, if there's some sort of organization behind all of this, I could see how false information could have gotten spread to throw us off the scent...Narukawa, is there any chance the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office could help? I know the Japanese police force is excellent, but I think they're a little out of their league here."
    "Our main job is to collect information from abroad. With less than 1% of the manpower of the CIA, we can't work on collecting domestic information as well." Narukawa's response was not accomodating.
    "Besides, I think it's a little bit rash to say that this is the work of an organization on some level. At the very least, just connecting the dots from what we know, it seems perfectly plausible that this was all done out of Ohara's personal grudge."
    Right at that moment, the sound of a signal arriving from the modem echoed throughout the room.
    "It's from Craft."
    "The Demon Banishment Program is finished then?"
    As if drawn in by the other two that rushed over to the main computer, Narukawa also looked at the display.
    "How much with the Demon Banishment Program help?"
    "If we install this program into a computer's OS, it will destroy any digital devil sent to it. At the moment, it will only work as a self-defense mechanism though."
    "So what you're saying is, no demon could be summoned to a computer with this program in it?" Narukawa nodded as if he wasn't really sure whether he understood or not.

Part 4: Chapter 1

    A week passed. It was 10:00PM in Inogashira Park. Being the latter half of August, the heat during the day was as blistering as ever, but this late it was a lot easier to bear.
    "Cut it out, not here!" A high-pitched nasal, entreating voice blended in with the chirping of the cicadas.
    The voice of a heavily-breathing man responded. "Aw, c'mon, this is the perfect place!"
    Shortly later, the woman realized that the cicadas had stopped their chirping.
    "Hey, is someone watching?"
    "Who cares? Let 'em peek!"
    As the two continued, ignoring whether or not the insects were making any noise, a third, rapidly approaching voice sounded.
    "Kerberos, make sure that Yumiko's trail hasn't split into two different directions somewhere!"
    The woman looked up in surprise, and stifled a scream.
    "What's the big deal all of a sudden!?" The irritated-sounding man looked around, and he too was struck speechless.
    A handsome man with a bizarre, gigantic beast like a tiger was sifting through the underbrush, searching for something. It was like a scene out of a movie. The woman gulped, but after recovering from her initial shock, it was clear that she was not focused on the strange beast, but instead on the young man's good looks. Looking back and forth between him and the man currently fondling her breasts to compare the two, there was an expression of clear disappointment on her face.
    Regardless of whatever happened between the couple thereafter, Nakajima gradually climbed the slope ahead of him, following Kerberos, who was cautiously walking, his muzzle was stuck out in the air as if to take in every particle of scent in the atmosphere.
    "So this is where the trail ends..." Murmuring to himself, Nakajima opened the case of his handheld computer. Shortly thereafter, the demonic beast vanished as if sucked right into the small liquid crystal display.

Part 3: Chapter 9

    Squelch.
    As Ohara quietly drew her last breath in Yumiko's arms, there was a grisly sound of flesh rending. As Yumiko reflexively tossed Ohara's body to the ground and took a few steps backward, lukewarm bodily fluid burst out and flew into her face.
    "Augh!" Feeling a stabbing pain in both her eyes, Yumiko dropped to her knees.
    Hya! Hya!
    A laughing voice that sound like fingers scraping on a chalkboard echoed in her ears. Sensing something inexplicably foreboding in that voice, Yumiko stood up into a ready stance. However, robbed of her sight, Yumiko could scarcely even be sure of her footing, let alone fend off an attacker.
    Moments later, a huge amoeba-like writhing creature crawled out of Ohara's torn-open belly and gradually started floating in midair.
    An almost unbearable stench wafted through the air. Unable to withstand it, Yumiko's knees buckled and she started coughing uncontrollably.
    Hya! Hya!
    Yumiko blindly fired her psychic power in the direction of the voice. But her psychic wave merely passed through the gelatinous blob, engulfing the larch tree behind it in flames.
    The blob gradually floated up right above Yumiko's head, and as if it had melted all of a sudden, poured itself all over her body. Momentarily, the amoeba had Yumiko's body entirely encased in translucent jelly and two points of red light on it, clearly sentient, flickered with satisfaction.