The night was not awakened by the sun.
It was awakened by fire.
The first to wake was the hunchbacked Village Chief who had led the way.
He hadn't really slept; he had been thinking about the two outsiders who were staying there—especially the priestess who called herself Kikyo. He had heard the name Kikyo before; she was the most powerful priestess in the vicinity.
The arrival of such a being always made him both hope for something and fear something.
And while he tossed and turned.
The night sky outside the window suddenly turned red.
It was a bright red, a burning red, a red as if someone had overturned a basin of blood from the heavens.
"Is there a fire?"
The old man got up, throwing on his ragged clothes and pushing open the door. In that instant, a heat wave carrying a scorched smell singed the edges of his white beard until they curled.
He raised his cloudy old eyes and looked deep into the village.
It was the direction of the shrine.
That high and mighty shrine that had still been eating people during the day was now burning like a giant torch.
In the firelight, there was no sacred silence, only the popping sounds of bursting fat and that... scream of a dying beast.
"Is that... God?"
The men in the village ran out while pulling up their pants, and the women covered their children's eyes.
They saw it.
Illuminated by the soaring firelight, behind the collapsed Torii gate.
There was no god clad in feather robes, no benevolent immortal or Buddha.
There was only a lump of flesh.
A giant toad covered in oozing pus and lumps all over its back, rolling and roaring in the mud.
It rolled in the fire, crushing several side halls that had previously been used to house'sacrifices'. Disgusting long tongues whipped around like charred, rotten ropes, smashing the stone lanterns on the shrine's perimeter that the villagers usually bowed to even when just passing by.
"Is that... a toad?"
A woman who had just lost her son murmured to herself.
Her voice was very soft, yet it exploded in everyone's ears like thunder.
Every month, they had to hand over the last bite of food in their homes.
They had to send living people inside.
They knelt on the ground until their heads bled, begging it to grant them favorable weather.
Just for this thing?
Just to sustain a rotten toad from the gutters?
"Liar..."
The village chief's hands began to shake, his walking stick trembling at the same frequency.
He knew it was a demon, but he had thought it was a powerful Great Demon, an invincible 'god'.
But now, the way that thing was rolling around in the fire made it look as pathetic as a stray dog.
It could feel pain too.
It could scream too.
It could bleed too.
But at a certain realization, the village chief also began to feel afraid.
Afraid of what would happen after that thing was exposed.
What would the village do then?
"It ate my Goro!"
Someone in the crowd was the first to shout.
It was a cry of blood and tears ripped from the depths of their throat.
"It's a demon! It's not a god!"
"Kill it!"
The mountain named 'Dread' that had been weighing on their hearts shattered the moment that ugly true form was revealed.
In its place was a near-insane humiliation and rage from being fooled for three whole months.
Someone grabbed a hoe.
Someone picked up a stone.
The villagers, who usually didn't even dare to speak loudly, were now like a pile of ignited dry wood. Their eyes were bloodshot, and low growls like angry beasts came from their throats as they surged toward the shrine like a tide.
...
In front of the shrine.
The heat was oppressive.
Kanbe Hikaru stood on a boulder that hadn't yet been corroded by the venom, his Muramasa pointed diagonally at the ground as a drop of murky demon blood slid off the tip of the blade.
Opposite him, the giant toad finally caught its breath amidst the sea of fire.
It sat upright, its ugly face covered in compound eyes twisted with murderous intent.
"Mortals... ants..."
Its belly bulged as poisonous gas accumulated within.
"How dare you destroy this god's temple!"
"This god will turn you all into bloody water! Not even a fragment of bone will remain!"
Even at this stage, the cloak it wore called 'God' had not yet dissipated.
That was the momentum it had cultivated for three months.
It was 'Dread'.
It firmly believed those villagers were still afraid of it. As long as that fear remained, its demonic power would be inexhaustible, and this poisonous swamp covering the ground would be its Absolute Domain.
"Kikyo."
Kanbe Hikaru ignored the toad's bluster and called out as he turned his head.
Three steps to his side.
The priestess stood silently.
The flames licked at the night sky, outlining her figure with exceptional clarity.
Her white robes were as pure as snow, and her red hakama swayed like a long skirt. She didn't look frail; instead, she appeared incredibly powerful because of the longbow she held drawn.
Her hair was disarrayed by the hot wind, a few strands sticking to her slender, slightly sweaty neck, looking bright and moving.
Her legs beneath the red hakama stood firm as a rock, the lines of the taut fabric hinting at an explosive power ready to be unleashed.
"I'm here."
She responded, the tip of her arrow as steady as if it were cast onto the string.
"If it tries to run later, then—shoot its legs."
"It won't be able to run."
Kikyo's voice was calm and confident.
The moment she finished speaking.
The toad moved.
"Gua—!"
Its belly suddenly contracted, and it spat out a torrent of dark green venom. It swept across like a high-pressure water gun, making even the stones smoke wherever it passed.
If this hit directly, Kanbe Hikaru's ghostly qi armor might hold, but he wouldn't escape the physical pain.
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