2026-05-06 23:59:28
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Chapter 10: Calling down lightning
Hikaru had no idea what dangerous thoughts the woman on his back was entertaining. If he had known, he would have seriously reconsidered whether Yin Energy could cause permanent neurological damage. Right now, every fragment of his attention was fixed on the seven pillars in front of him.Running back down the mountain was not an option. The Wraiths had sealed off the path. Standing here waiting to die was equally useless. The Heavenly Seven-Star Dipper Sealing Formation was being eroded. If the Yin Energy continued to spread, it would not only kill them: whatever lay beneath might genuinely wake.Hikaru drew a long breath. Then he slowly set Hashira down.The moment she left his back she staggered, nearly dropping to the ground. Hikaru caught her waist immediately. The curve of it was soft, but also cold, cold enough that he frowned."Can you stand?"Hashira nodded, but her hand remained clenched around his sleeve. "Yes.""Don't drift far from me.""Alright."She answered compliantly
CHAPTER 9: THE SUMMIT DEVOURED
Hikaru stood motionless at the top of the mountain.Before him, the seven steel pillars of the Heavenly Seven-Star Dipper Sealing Formation still stood driven deep into the bare earth, like seven ancient sentinels keeping their silent watch. But there was nothing holy about them now.Yin Energy. Dense, heavy Yin Energy. Black tendrils coiled around each pillar, climbing the gold dust Talisman Script the way the roots of something poisonous grip the bones of a body that has not yet realized it is dying. The talisman markings that should have radiated suppressive light were dim and clouded, as though coated in a layer of rotting oil. Along the old lightning-strike scars on the steel, dark lines seeped slowly downward like dried blood being dissolved into shadow.This was not how it was supposed to be. It could not be. Hikaru knew exactly how formidable those seven pillars were.By day, they absorbed sunlight to sustain Yang energy. During storms, they drew in lightning from the sky and
Chapter 8: Darkness
"Don't look!"Hikaru's voice dropped an instant.His hand pressed Hashira's head firmly against his chest, not allowing her to lift it even a fraction.Hashira went still.She did not know what he had just seen.And precisely because she did not know, the fear inside her spread faster. Against her ear was the sound of Hikaru's heartbeat, rapid and heavy, but steady in a way that made no sense. The smell of living warmth, of fabric, of the faint salt of a man's exertion mingled with the freezing air of her own breath, and in that moment Hashira's thoughts dissolved into something she could not organize.The room was completely dark.Not the darkness of a light going out.Not ordinary night.It was as though the entire room had been pulled out of the real world and thrown into a lightless space with no exit. The window, the door, the ceiling, the walls: all of it had been swallowed. The blackness did not hold still. It moved slowly across every surface like a layer of rotten oil, cold,
Chapter 7: Night closes in
Hashira laughed, very softly.The sound was light as wind crossing the surface of a still lake, and it eased the tension in the room by just a fraction. "No. I am only a little surprised." She paused, her gaze moving briefly over the firm line of his arm where the short sleeve left it visible. "Though... you look more like an ordinary young man this way.""I am an ordinary young man." Hikaru replied, then scanned the room once more. "Just having a somewhat unfortunate evening."Hashira walked slowly toward the edge of the bed, but the smile at her lips did not last.It changed too quickly.Quickly enough that Hikaru caught it at once.Her already pale face lost another few shades of color. Not the pallor of fear. More like someone had just drawn a portion of the blood and warmth out of her body without touching it. The deep red of her lips faded visibly.She stopped mid-step, fingers closing unconsciously around the front of her sleeping robe. "Cold..."Barely audible.But Hikaru hear
Chapter 6: Sealing Formation
The moment he saw what lay before him, his steps stopped dead.On the bare stretch of earth beneath the open night sky stood seven metal pillars driven deep into the ground.Seven of them.Of varying heights.Arranged in a formation he recognized immediately.Not randomly placed.A deliberate replication of the positions of the seven stars in the Big Dipper.The wind across the summit carried the smell of cold iron and something dry and ancient, the kind of quality that came from years of sun, blood, and lightning hammered into an object over and over until the material itself remembered it.Hikaru's pupils contracted slowly."The Heavenly Seven-Star Dipper... Sealing Formation."He murmured it almost below audible range, the words dissolving into the wind before they could carry far.He moved forward with careful steps.From below, the seven pillars had looked like nothing more than tall metal stakes driven into the earth. But up close, he could see that the dull gold tint they carri
Chapter 5: The villa on the mountain slope
An hour later, Hikaru changed into more practical clothing, slung his pack over his shoulder, and left the shrine. Inside the bag: ritual implements, talismans, cinnabar, a soul-calming bell, and a handful of other necessities.Hashira's car was already waiting at the foot of the hill.The driver was a man in a black suit who said nothing from start to finish, offered a single bow, and held the door open.For the duration of the ride, Hikaru sat with his eyes half-closed, looking like he was resting. He was not. He was quietly sorting through everything he had gathered so far.If his read of the situation was correct, Hashira was concealing a great deal.And yet the Wraith of Nakamoto was powerful enough to manifest in full daylight. That meant the circumstances of his death were almost certainly not natural.But one point kept nagging at him the more he turned it over.Even if Hashira had genuinely wronged Nakamoto in some way, a man who had died only recently, and who had been uncon
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