After Kaori quietly closed the door and left, Maruhi’s spacious bedroom fell into a heavy silence, broken only by the soft glow of the golden lantern and their ragged breathing. Hikaru sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes still carrying a trace of worry after tending to her.Maruhi stirred slightly. Her long lashes fluttered, then slowly opened. The moment her deep, captivating eyes met Hikaru’s, her previously pale face lit up with uncontainable joy and raw desire.“Hikaru… you’re still here…”Her voice was hoarse, laced with a vulnerability rarely seen in such a strong woman. Without waiting for him to respond, Maruhi sat up, her long arms wrapping tightly around his neck as if terrified he might disappear. Her tall 187cm body pressed firmly against him, her massive, soft breasts crushing against his chest, radiating warmth and the intoxicating scent of camellia flowers.She kissed him.It wasn’t a gentle, exploratory kiss — it was wild, desperate, as if she wanted to pour all the f

A short while later, the rear courtyard of the Hashira estate had grown busy.Bodyguards and servants moved in and out without pause. A temporary altar had been raised in the middle of the yard, facing straight toward the main residence. Seven braziers of charcoal had been arranged according to the bearings Hikaru had specified. Yellow paper, cinnabar, raw rice, clean water, and the various improvised ritual implements had all been laid out neatly to one side.Hikaru stood in the center of the courtyard, the sleeves of his kariginu drifting faintly in the early morning wind.The sky today was not in good temper.Grey clouds hung low, the sunlight pressed into a thin, hazy glow. The Hashira estate had always been cold, but this morning it felt more like a great wooden box left out in damp fog, every corner faintly carrying the scent of age and rot.From the floor above, several members of the Hashira Clan were watching down through the windows.They did not bother to conceal the contem

Down in the rear courtyard, Hikaru paid no attention whatsoever to the commotion on the second floor.Even if he had heard it, he would not have cared.From the day he had stepped into the trade of an Onmyoji until now, he had heard far too many barbed remarks. Some had said he was too young to be trusted. Some had said his shrine was poor, certainly without any true line of inheritance. And some, after watching him succeed at an exorcism with their own eyes, had switched immediately to calling him Master.The living were often quite ridiculous.Before danger fell on their own heads, they could judge anything with their mouths. But the moment darkness truly began to crawl up behind their backs, they were the ones who ran the fastest.Compared to those scornful and jealous gazes, Hikaru cared far more about the formation before him.He had replaced the yellow paper with the high-grade kind Maruhi had brought.The brush tip dipped into cinnabar, brushed across the gold dust, then came t

At the same time, somewhere else.Inside a suburban villa with its windows covered by black curtains, Genda was sitting in front of the Devouring Wraith Furnace, slowly drinking tea.Kujou Raito sat across from him.Raito’s expression did not look good, but he still forced himself to maintain the calmness of a man used to giving orders. Outside, several of his subordinates stood guard. In the backyard, temporary livestock cages had been set up. The smell of blood, fur, and filth mixed together, forming an atmosphere that was both fishy and suffocating.Genda, on the other hand, looked very relaxed.He was fat, with a short neck and fingers covered in bone rings. The filthy yellow robe he wore swayed from time to time with the black smoke rising from the bronze furnace before him. Inside the black flames burning in the furnace, starving faces would occasionally surface before sinking back down.“Raito-sama, there is no need to worry.” Genda took a sip of tea, his voice full of confiden

In the rear courtyard of the Hashira estate, the ten black-star Wraith lifted its head.It roared.The sound split every pane of glass on the second floor at once.The crack of breaking spread through the estate like a cold wave. The glass panels had been pressed until thin white lines crept across them, as if one more beat of that sound would crush the entire upper floor into a rain of glass shards. The members of the Hashira Clan could no longer hold on to the lofty airs they had carried so long. Those who had stood behind the windows waiting to enjoy a spectacle now staggered back in panic. Some even crawled across the tatami, terrified the massive figure below would lift its head and see them.Nazekawa was not faring much better.He was still seated, but the hand gripping his cane was visibly trembling.That was a ten black-star Wraith.Not the clan’s curse eroded by time.Nor the starving fragments of soul from earlier.What stood in the rear courtyard now was a temporary malign