BOOM!!!
With an ear-splitting roar, the sky that had stopped raining suddenly poured down massive amounts of rain as if a lake had overturned.
This spectacle could no longer be described as raindrops - it was more like a massive river crashing directly onto the ground.
"Heh."
Seeing the water first slam against the ground, then twist and writhe as it gathered into hundreds of humanoid forms made of rainwater that surrounded him, Ye Xing merely chuckled and turned his gaze toward the clouds.
"Getting scared now?"
Hearing these words, the Weather God hidden within the clouds felt rage, but also exactly as Ye Xing had said.
He... was indeed feeling fear.
When he arrived at the platform this morning, the Weather God commanded those evil spirits to block Ye Xing and Hina Amano's path, merely wanting to prevent these two from entering Itomori Town. Even if they truly entered and found that Miyamizu Shrine, enabling them to discover a method to track him down, he wasn't actually worried.
After all, he was a genuine god.
Mere humans, even if they found his location, couldn't inflict any harm upon him. They could only watch helplessly as he transformed that young girl into a living sacrifice.
But what this Weather God never expected was...
This exorcist could not only devour evil spirits, but could even consume a part of himself!?
If the other party were to follow the plan and obtain the means to locate his true form...
Looking at Ye Xing's smiling face, his gaze as if appraising a delicious meal, this deity who could influence the weather across all of Japan felt genuine fear for the first time in his existence.
The other party possessed the ability to kill him.
He absolutely could not allow them to enter Itomori Town.
Right here, with all his power, he would kill this individual.
Splash...
Hundreds of humanoid creatures formed from converging rainwater began moving, step by step, tightening their encirclement around Ye Xing, who stood his ground.
Yet in the latter's eyes, excitement shone through.
Ye Xing examined the wisps of golden spiritual power within those creatures' bodies, feeling what could only be described as the joy of harvest.
"Today is truly a day for feasting."
"Come out."
When these words were spoken, what appeared wasn't Ye Xing's soul's true form, the black and white ghost hand, but rather—accompanied by a piercing roar and blinding golden light—a spectacular entrance by...
The Goat-Headed Deity.
"ROAR!!!"
The moment the Goat-Headed Deity appeared, it threw back its head and roared, its tall golden-glowing body creating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
"Stop showing off."
At Ye Xing's reprimand, the Goat-Headed Deity immediately hunched its shoulders as if terrified, obediently closing its mouth.
It had learned its lesson.
Since it couldn't win in a fight, it was better to obediently follow orders to avoid getting slapped.
"Go ahead."
Only after receiving Ye Xing's permission did the golden Goat-Headed Deity turn to look at the hundreds of rainwater-formed humanoid creatures surrounding them.
It too noticed those wisps of golden energy within the rainwater bodies—energy far superior to its own spiritual power in grade.
However, rather than feeling afraid, the golden Goat-Headed Deity let out an excited roar. With the ground trembling, its massive body charged forward, its mouth splitting into over a dozen tentacles as it began sweeping through the surrounding enemies.
Meanwhile, Ye Xing waved his hand, causing a black chair to materialise out of thin air.
He sat down, looking completely like a spectator, with no intention whatsoever of joining the fight.
Although the deity controlling the weather was far more powerful than the golden goat-headed one, these rainwater humanoids were merely puppets formed from a small fraction of his spiritual power.
After all, the golden Goat-Headed Deity had survived for centuries, evolving from a simple earth-bound spirit into a deity possessing golden spiritual energy.
The battle scene could only be described with one word.
Slaughter.
The Goat-Headed Deity merely swept with the tentacles formed from its mouth, severing several rain-formed humanoid creatures at the waist.
While it was enjoying this rare one-sided battle, Ye Xing sat on his chair, silently observing.
'I see...'
Ye Xing discovered it was just as he had guessed.
Whenever one of the rain-formed humanoid creatures was shattered by the Goat-Headed Deity's sweep, the wisp of spiritual power within it would merge into another nearby humanoid creature.
On the surface, the Goat-Headed Deity was slaughtering everything in its path.
In reality, the overall spiritual power intensity distributed by the Weather God hadn't diminished in the slightest. Instead, with the reduction in puppet numbers, the individual spiritual power intensity had become higher.
'A method devised to evade my devouring ability...'
A faint smile appeared on Ye Xing's face as he thought about his assessment.
'Clever, but utterly useless.'
Then he rose from his chair and stretched lazily.
The Weather God, watching hidden within the cloud layer, saw Ye Xing finally take action and thought: Is this powerful human finally going to make his move?
Just as the Weather God had this thought, it heard Ye Xing speak words it never expected to hear.
"You stay here and keep playing."
Ye Xing glanced toward the Goat-Headed Deity still entangled with the rain-formed monsters, casually waved his hand, turned around and began walking toward the hotel, saying lightly:
"I'm heading back first. Bye."
Seeing Ye Xing actually begin walking into the distance, the Weather God hidden within the clouds was momentarily stunned before finally comprehending the situation.
Bloody hell, this isn't right!?
According to normal plot development, shouldn't both sides first demonstrate some of their abilities - like myself using spiritual power puppets formed from rainwater to battle the contracted god summoned by this human - with both parties countering each other's moves, engaging in prolonged strategic combat, before finally going all out to determine victory?
Since when is there such a thing as suddenly running away mid-battle?
It was then that the Weather God suddenly realised it had misunderstood one crucial matter.
The initiative in this battle didn't lie in its hands.
This human had absolutely no need to engage in combat with it.
For the Weather God, whether Ye Xing and Hina Amano entered Itomori Town together, or whether something intimate happened between Ye Xing and Hina Amano during this long night...
Both would represent its utter failure.
There was only one way to win.
Right here, kill this human.
Thinking this, the deity controlling the weather finally resolved to play its most crucial trump cards.
"Huu..."
A breeze resembling a woman's mournful sigh swept across the area.
From the sky, fine rain began falling once more.
The Goat-Headed Deity, currently entangled in combat with the remaining dozens of rainwater humanoid creatures that had swollen to three or four meters tall, suddenly froze.
Lifting its head, which had split into over a dozen tentacles, it looked into the distance, several dozen meters ahead along the road, where several young women holding paper umbrellas and wearing kimonos, their faces indistinct, were stepping through the rainwater, approaching step by step.
Sensing the terrifying aura emanating from these young women, the Goat-Headed Deity trembled inwardly, its tentacles retracting to reform its head as it turned towards Ye Xing, opening its mouth anxiously.
"@＆＆＃＆@*＆@!"
"What nonsense are you spouting? You should spend more time learning how to speak properly, you uncultured goat head."
Ye Xing first spoke with slight contempt, then similarly turned his gaze towards the distant young women.
Though he couldn't understand what the Goat-Headed Deity was saying, he could roughly guess it was warning him.
These young women holding paper umbrellas, dressed completely differently from modern people - one could call them human, but they weren't purely human anymore.
Or rather, they were formerly human.
Just like the two fox-faced little girls beside the Goat-Headed Deity.
These young women were so-called divine messengers - humans who, like Hina Amano, had once been selected by that Weather God to serve as living sacrifices.
"How utterly disgusting."
Seeing the Weather God dispatch its divine messengers, Ye Xing offered an evaluation that felt strangely familiar to the Goat-Headed Deity.
It had a feeling that although the other's expression always remained so relaxed...
Whenever he uttered the words 'utterly disgusting'...
That was when this professional exorcist truly began to feel anger.
"Onimaru Kunitsuna."
At Ye Xing's call, the entirely black Onimaru Kunitsuna materialised in mid-air, actively offering its hilt into his hand.
Though Onimaru Kunitsuna could assume human form, her self-perception was quite clear.
She was merely a tool in her master's hands, to be used as he pleased.
Moreover, compared to fighting separately, Onimaru Kunitsuna much preferred the feeling of being wielded and used by Ye Xing.
The rougher his movements, the more pleasure she felt instead.
"Step back."
Upon hearing Ye Xing's command, the Goat-Headed Deity didn't dare utter another word and obediently retreated to the side.
Ever since those divine emissaries appeared, it had already realised this was a battle far beyond its capabilities to participate in.
Merely being divine emissaries, they emitted such a terrifying presence.
If their master were to appear, what kind of terrifying existence would that be?
Even among gods, there are differences.
"Cease your resistance."
One of the young women holding a paper umbrella walked before the rain-formed creature. The umbrella obscured her face as she kept her head lowered, making her features indistinct. Only her mournful, cold tone could be heard as she slowly spoke.
"Being chosen by our master is her honour. This is the duty of being the Sunny Girl - to sacrifice her own life to restore normal weather."
Seeing Ye Xing remain silent, merely standing quietly, the divine emissary spoke again.
"Do you think killing our master will restore normal weather? No, this is how the weather originally is. It is our master who has been helping humanity maintain weather stability all along. The requested compensation is merely a few insignificant living sacrifices. Even if you kill our master, you'll only become the criminal responsible for the weather going out of control, and that girl called Hina Amano will also..."
"Hmph."
Before the divine emissary could finish, Ye Xing interrupted with a contemptuous laugh.
"Trying to play the emotional manipulation game with me? Fortunately, I have no morals to speak of."
Then, Ye Xing swung Onimaru Kunitsuna in his hand and looked up towards the clouds in the sky, his eyes turning nearly manic as he chuckled softly.
"As for weather going out of control? Being a criminal?"
"After I devour you bit by bit, consuming every last scrap, then we'll see what happens."
Without giving the divine emissary another chance to speak, Ye Xing directly raised Onimaru Kunitsuna, holding it horizontally before him. A layer of pitch-black flames covered his body's surface as he softly uttered his true name.
"Annihilation of all evil, The End of Eight Million."
The hem of his black flame-like coat fluttered in the gentle breeze.
A pure black mask covered Ye Xing's face once more.
His eyes locked onto the distant divine emissaries, not concealing his killing intent in the slightest.
"You've been emotionally manipulated yourself, yet you want to drag others into sacrifice with you."
"Like emotional manipulation?"
"Then I'll happily send you on your way."
Watching Ye Xing after he activated his Soul Materialisation ability, his spiritual power intensity suddenly skyrocketed, nearly condensing into physical substance and making the surrounding air seem to solidify, the Goat-Headed Deity trembled as it hid to the side, completely dumbfounded.
This was the first time it had seen him use such power.
While feeling intense fear from that overwhelming pressure that seemed to come from a natural predator in its very bloodline, the Goat-Headed Deity also felt a trace of relief in its heart.
Fortunately, it hadn't targeted people close to him, like that weather-controlling god demanding living sacrifices, truly angering him.
Otherwise...
The scene would be too brutal for the Goat-Headed Deity to even imagine.
"It seems we still have to fight..."
Just as the lead divine messenger was halfway through speaking, she saw Ye Xing - now clad in his Mask attire - suddenly vanish from where he stood.
The next moment, she heard a dull thud beside her.
Turning to look, she discovered another divine messenger's head had been pressed to the ground by Ye Xing's foot.
The sharp Onimaru Kunitsuna had directly pierced through the divine messenger's body.
"First one."
The black blade of Onimaru Kunitsuna swept through, cutting the divine messenger's body in two. Then Ye Xing slightly parted his lips and devoured the entire spiritual power-constructed form. In an amused tone that sent chills of fear through the remaining divine messengers, he remarked:
"Sashimi served raw tastes rather good."
Watching one of his divine messengers being consumed like this, the Weather God hidden within the clouds felt genuine distress.
He could only accumulate enough power once every hundred years to transform a pure human girl with exceptionally high spiritual power talent into his divine messenger.
Finding suitable candidates was already difficult enough.
On top of that, it required expending vast amounts of spiritual power to cultivate them.
This was different from the strand of golden spiritual power Ye Xing had consumed earlier.
When a divine messenger was devoured, they were truly gone, beyond recovery.
BOOM!!!
Thunder roared again in the sky.
Several divine messengers holding paper umbrellas maintained expressionless faces upon seeing their companion being eaten, merely raising their hands toward Ye Xing as pale golden spiritual power fluctuations emanated from their bodies.
Multiple lightning bolts descended from the clouds toward where Ye Xing stood, moving at speeds completely imperceptible to the naked eye.
...
BOOM!
Hina Amano sat on the steps outside the inn entrance, watching the swaying teru teru bōzu dolls in the wind, listening to the abnormally frequent thunder in the sky and the drifting rain, her eyes revealing deep concern.
Just then, the elderly woman's voice came from behind.
"Can't sleep either, young lady?"
Hina Amano turned to see the elderly woman bringing a chair to sit beside her, wearing a kindly smile.
She forced a slight smile and nodded.
"Yes... That's right. You too?"
"When you get to my age, any noise will wake you."
The elderly woman chuckled, then, looking at the abnormal weather outside, slowly commented:
"This weather... It's been getting stranger these past few months, really... as if the gods have been offended and sent down divine punishment..."
Hearing these words, Hina Amano pressed her lips together, her eyes clouding with faint gloom.
As the Sunny Girl chosen by that particular god, even though she had resolved her inner conflicts, hearing such topics still made her unconsciously consider this the consequence of her unwillingness to become a living sacrifice.
"Have you... heard the legend about the Sunny Girl?"
"Sunny Girl..."
The elderly woman seemed to search her memory before smiling.
"I'm surprised someone as young as you would know such an old legend."
Hina Amano managed a weak smile, unable to resist asking further.
"So you think... a chosen Sunny Girl should sacrifice herself... for her duty... right?"
"How could that be?"
"Eh?"
To Hina Amano's surprise, the elderly woman frowned slightly, her expression serious as she waved her hand dismissively.
"How could someone as young as you think that way? Allowing an innocent girl to willingly sacrifice herself to restore normal weather? How could such a thing be permitted?"
Hina Amano was stunned, murmuring.
"But... if there's no sacrifice..."
"You silly girl."
The elderly woman took Hina Amano's hand, speaking with deep concern.
"Then tell me, what's the essential difference between such behaviour and those kidnappers on television who make unreasonable demands while threatening innocent people's safety?"
Without waiting for Hina Amano's response, the elderly woman continued on her own.
"Since you and your lover plan to enter Itomori Town, you must have heard of Miyamizu Shrine, right?"
Hina Amano nodded: "Yes, I've heard of it."
"Exactly! Although the deity worshipped at Miyamizu Shrine requires some repayment, it never demands any shrine maiden's life - just some simple ritual ceremonies. Using such conditions to gain protection for Itomori Town's residents - that's what a true deity is. Demanding live sacrifices - what kind of deity would do that? That's just evil."
While the elderly woman was speaking, Hina Amano's attention wasn't focused on her.
Because she saw that as the woman spoke, red threads appeared in the air again, forming a human-shaped pattern that danced and swayed animatedly.
It was almost as if it was saying...
"Hear that? Look at this evaluation—I'm the true deity."