Chapter 421: Yuri Sees Hell!!!
It was nearly dusk.
Thus, the overly golden-hued rays of light poured over the city, making it appear more beautiful than at any other time of day.
Especially where the light pierced through darker areas, visible golden bands shone with extraordinary splendor.
Although it was nearly twilight, office workers hadn't yet finished their day, but it was precisely when students were leaving school, so the pedestrian walkways grew crowded.
Some shopping streets also became slightly livelier.
O night—the time ruled by the Queen of the Underworld! Answer this one's call and draw down the curtain of heaven!
"Sister?"
"Yuri?"
"She's having a vision."
Thus, Yuri, who had been in a daze, gradually returned to awareness.
What had she just heard?
Was that the voice of a god?
An illusion?
But the sudden significant loss of cursed power in her body clearly indicated she had activated some technique.
And the only technique that fit the current situation was spirit vision.
"Yuri, you activated spirit vision, didn't you? What did you sense?"
Ena asked with great seriousness.
Though both were Hime-Miko, her expertise didn't lie in spirit vision. The most skilled person in this regard was none other than Yuri before them.
For spirit vision to activate involuntarily like this was extraordinary—it could be an instinctual premonition of danger.
"I... I think I heard a goddess's voice. She seemed to call herself the Queen of the Underworld."
Yuri spoke with unease in her voice.
The Underworld generally referred to realms like the netherworld or hell. Claiming to be its queen meant the other party was a ruler among the Gods of the Underworld, right?
And in mythology, which goddesses were queens of the Underworld?
She knew of some, but based solely on that voice, she couldn't identify which one it was.
Of course, she could use process of elimination.
First, Heretic Gods usually descended in regions related to their myths.
Meaning, the Queen of the Underworld she heard was most likely from this country's mythology.
And who was this country's Queen of the Underworld? That would be the Earth Mother Goddess associated with Yomi—Izanami.
"Queen of the Underworld? Izanami?"
Kaoru also immediately thought of this goddess.
"That... I'm not sure."
With insufficient information, Yuri naturally couldn't give a definitive answer.
If she were wrong, it could cause major problems in preparing for the possible descent of that Heretic God.
"Let me try sensing more carefully."
So, the others quieted down, watching Yuri intently.
Closing her eyes, she carefully traced that faint sensation she'd just felt.
The direction was—Tokyo?
The very place they had left?
Then, in her perception, a vague image surfaced in her mind: Tokyo under twilight?
Suddenly, in Tokyo's sky, a black curtain rapidly expanded, blotting out the twilight sky and bringing nightfall?
Moreover, she noticed vehicles on the ground gradually stopping one by one, becoming immobile.
Even the Shinkansen had halted.
What... what was happening?
Focusing her mind, Yuri tried to clearly see which Heretic God was causing this.
Its form was gradually taking shape from an amorphous black shadow, as if transitioning from black to color.
As if aware of her gaze, the shadow looked back at her and gave a faint smile.
"Ah!"
As if jolted from a nightmare, she let out a cry of fear.
"Yuri, what did you see?"
"Who was it?"
Kaoru and Ena pressed her with tense questions.
"I'm not sure, but it's not one of our gods. It's a deity from another country,"
Yuri could confirm this much.
"Tokyo—it's descending in Tokyo!"
She added this in a panicked voice.
"Tokyo?"
"Look outside!!!"
Ena's pupils contracted as she stared out the back of the vehicle. The others turned to look as well, witnessing a black curtain spreading across the horizon from Tokyo's direction.
In the span of a few breaths, the dark curtain swept over their heads.
Simultaneously, the car came to an abrupt halt as if its engine had died.
Without needing Yuri to explain anything, Ena and the others, being Hime-Mikos, immediately realized that the reason the car had stopped was due to this dark curtain.
Pupils contracting, Ena spotted something flying, spreading out from the direction of Tokyo.
"Watch out!!!"
She gave this warning and prepared to retrieve something from her cloth bag.
The object was very close, but it didn't seem intent on attacking; it merely flew across the sky, and they could see some scattered feathers drifting down.
"Is that an owl, sis?"
"Yeah."
Yuri nodded at her younger sister, though there were just too many owls.
And these owls were clearly messengers of that Heretic God, making it even easier to deduce the other's identity.
Thud—!
Something fell down, causing everyone in the car to tense up.
Were some of the owls dropping something?
"Snakes!"
"This—!"
Their faces changed color once again, but the snakes didn't attack them, instead slithering away in all directions.
"What is that?"
Through her spirit vision, Yuri faintly saw something faintly spreading from the snakes' bodies—black mist? Miasma? Poison gas?
But it didn't seem to be something visible to the naked eye.
She also saw these things slowly seeping into the bodies of people who had gotten out of nearby cars.
Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't good.
So, she needed to see more clearly what those things were and strained with all her might to peer deeper.
The next instant—
"!"
Yuri was left speechless, her face drained of color, her mind blank with terror.
Because at that moment, it was as if she had crossed over into a world littered with corpses.
Each person seemed infected with some unknown virus, with not a single part of their body left intact.
Those still alive were barely clinging on, coughing so violently with each fit that it seemed they would cough up their lungs; the agony made them wish for immediate death.
They desperately wanted to become one of the cold, black-spotted, rotting piles of corpses.
This was hell.