A Greater Shadow

Osaki Hachiman Shrine was originally founded by Sakanoue Tamuramaro during the Heian period in Mizusawa City, Iwate Prefecture as the Chūshūfu Hachiman Shrine.

In 1663, Date Masamune, the lord of the Sendai Domain, moved it to Sendai and named it Osaki Hachiman-gu Shrine. It was later renamed Osaki Hachiman Shrine during the Meiji era.

This shrine has been revered by successive Sendai feudal lords and residents as a place of prayer for warding off disasters, bringing good fortune, and ensuring safe childbirth.

The temple enshrines the guardian deity of the Hōtai-gami custom worshipped in the Sendai region, who is especially revered by people born in the years of the Dog and the Pig.

By this time, the night was deep, and the pilgrims had long since dispersed.

As the ancient shrine sank into the night, it was no longer just the whispers of the breeze and old trees, but also the faint, mechanical humming that drifted from both inside and outside the city, like the panting of a sick beast...

The innermost room of the shrine is a dark Japanese-style room, next to a thousand-year-old sacred tree wrapped with huge shimenawa rope, which looks particularly eerie.

Inside, a middle-aged man with long black hair, wearing a dark-patterned kimono, was leisurely playing with a jade talisman in his hand, scrutinizing the talisman and the other people in front of him with a pair of strange eyes.

"Priest-sama..."

A shrewd-looking, obese man, who was fiddling with prayer beads, respectfully bowed to the man holding the talisman in the superior position, and then respectfully presented a register filled with names.

"These are the ungrateful, troublemaking, and journalistic bastards from the dyeing factory..."

"Please, Your Excellency, unleash divine punishment... let them disappear quietly; this would be beneficial for both of us..."

Hearing this, the man holding the talisman, referred to as the priest, paused for a moment, then spoke coldly:

"Why is there another list? The last one hasn't even been settled yet."

He picked up the roster and tossed it onto a low table, his tone slightly displeased. "Do you think I'm your dog? Always meddling in your affairs?"

"No, no, no! Your Excellency, please forgive me! It's just that rice prices have risen sharply lately, and these lowly creatures are having a hard time. They're constantly causing me trouble, so I..."

"Hey! Sasaki, what kind of talk is that? You didn't benefit from the rice price increase, and now you're complaining about it?!"

The man who spoke out was Ichiro Nakajima, the head of the rice trading company. The other men with shifty eyes beside him were Takahashi from the money exchange, Shingo from the clothing business, and Morii from the brokerage firm.

This small Japanese-style room houses the capital power of the corporation behind them, which controls most of Sendai City.

However, among these people, Sasaki of the dyeing and weaving company was the most greedy.

Morii nodded. "Lord Nakajima is right. This is the fourth time this month that you, Sasaki, have asked the High Priest for help! Don't you have any other methods of management besides killing people?!"

"Why don't you give me some profit? You're so stingy I can't stand it. A steady, long-term approach is the right thing to do..." Takahashi from the money shop didn't look at him, but just mocked him with cold words.

Listening to their arguing, the priest felt a surge of irritation and simply closed his eyes to rest, waiting for them to reach a conclusion.

Click...

A slight cracking sensation came from the priest's hand, causing his brow to twitch.

He looked down and discovered that the jade talisman he had been playing with had suddenly shattered without warning, and the aura it contained had also vanished.

Hmm? The priest frowned and checked the other three jade talismans in his pocket, finding nothing amiss.

"Someone shattered my Blood Demon Art?" The priest was somewhat surprised, his half-open eyes darting around uneasily, revealing the patterns and numbers inside.

Part Two

That's right, he's not a priest.

It is the second waning crescent moon of the Twelve Demon Moons, the Rokuro!

The jade talisman in Lulu's hand is actually the true form of his Blood Demon Art: Shadow Puppet.

The shadow puppet can move independently of his body and go to nearby villages to hunt prey according to his will. This was once an important guarantee for his survival, which was a key factor in his timid and steady nature.

However, it soon discovered that instead of relying on shadow puppets to capture humans for it to eat, it would be better to cooperate with some ambitious people with ulterior motives and do some shady things for them, while the other party would simply prepare food for it.

From robbing and plundering to hiring murderers, and finally, by sheer accident, becoming a priest at the Osaki Hachiman Shrine... things have progressed beyond Rokuro's expectations, but they are indeed getting smoother and smoother.

Furthermore, the Shadow Puppet's killing is not just simple slaughter; it can also absorb the life force of its victims to nourish itself. Even if it is discovered by the Demon Hunter, it will not be affected. This is a deal that is profitable no matter how you look at it.

Later, he was chosen by that person to become one of the Twelve Demon Moons, creating chaos and disasters for that person in the northeastern region, keeping those annoying demon hunters busy.

But now, his Blood Demon Art has been broken...

"Either they saw through the Shadow Puppet's weakness, or they used their power to tear apart the ghostly energy I left inside..." Rokuro quickly judged, no longer paying attention to the discussion among the greedy merchants in the arena.

If it's the former, that's fine. But if it's the latter... that means you've been targeted by a "pillar," which is definitely not good news...

Should we run away? Or find another place to go?

Thinking about it carefully, I realize that I have indeed been a bit too high-profile lately.

He also played a part in the escalating unrest in Sendai, and given that he killed three demon hunters who came to investigate the anomalies, he may have already been exposed.

"Tsk... I should have just hidden. I shouldn't have gotten involved with those lowly laborers and the demon hunters!"

"Priest-sama? Priest-sama?"

"What are you doing, you idiot!"

Frustrated by being called repeatedly, Rokuro's anger surged, and he glared fiercely at the incessantly chattering Sasaki.

The other party was, after all, a greedy human merchant. When the windmill roared at him with its surging ghostly energy, he was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground. Even the expressions of the other merchants changed again and again.

Seeing the fear in everyone's eyes, Rokuro's previously agitated emotions actually calmed down somewhat.

Yes...that's it, be afraid of me...I'm no nobody...

It composed itself and regained its calm and leisurely demeanor:

"Sorry, sorry, I just remembered something that made me angry... How should I put it, have you made up your minds?"

"...Yes, High Priest," Sasaki bowed respectfully, his voice trembling slightly. "Regardless of anything else, we would like to request that you kill one person first..."

"name?"

"Harada Chuichi!"

When he said that name, Sasaki's teeth itched and his eyes were filled with hatred.

"That damned laborer! I don't know what kind of twisted ideas he picked up from Lucia's anti-democracy movement! He's actually promoting rebellious views in my factory!"

"His sour poems in those communist publications—'Our lives have already seen the light'—are utterly absurd! Saying that workers can also take over the world! This has brought huge trouble not only to me, but to the entire city of Sendai!"

Several other business leaders nodded in agreement, expressing the same view.

Takahashi added, "These days, Harada has gathered quite a few radicals, and even some cabinet ministers are starting to have enough... Sir, if you can get rid of Harada, we will definitely give you the most generous reward!"

"...I need two-thirds done now!"

Before the group had finished their kneeling and bowing, Lulu spoke up first.

It rolled its demonic eyes, looking at Sasaki and the others with displeasure:

"I need to get paid first, including the last portion, plus this Harada guy!"

"...at least twenty girls around sixteen years old, you can distribute them yourselves!"

Sasaki's face drained of color instantly, his fingers holding the prayer beads froze, Nakajima's face twitched, and Shingo and Takahashi instinctively held their breath, staring at Rokuro in disbelief.

Twenty! That's twenty lives!

Although they treated ordinary people no differently than cattle and livestock, and had previously made offerings to them.

But twenty at a time... they were still a little apprehensive.

"This... Your Excellency... I'm afraid..."

"Thirty!" Lulu's voice was cold and resolute, his gaze growing increasingly dangerous.

"Okay! Okay! We'll figure something out!"

Those who were well-versed in business understood that the current conditions were the best they could get, and things would only get worse later, so they quickly agreed to Lulu's request.

The windlass wasn't acting out of arrogance; it knew that cooperation required building trust and taking a long-term approach.

There might be a pillar outside... It's thinking of running away... Maybe it should squeeze as much money out of it before it leaves...

Leaning back in his superior position, the winnowing wheel tossed aside the shattered jade talisman and once again uttered a request that unsettled them:

"Three days, I'll only give you three days."

"If the offerings are not made properly within three days..."

The winch revealed a set of sharp, menacing teeth, swept its light over the ashen-faced capitalists, and said, word by word:

"...I'll go to each of your homes and collect it one by one!"