Chapter 25: The Hands of the Mountain Hag

Deep within the radiance, an anomalous entity composed entirely of lightning manifested. It was a thunder beast, shaped like a giant wolf with razor-sharp claws.

Yet, the beast’s paws, head, torso, and jaws were pierced by five massive vajras. These pillars, each the size of a house column, were inscribed with dense, intricate scriptures, radiating the power of deities and Buddhas.

"Awaken... Wolf of the Wild Thunder."

Kohagi raised her nodachi. From the enchanted blade, *Ararai-rengan* (Wild Thunder Grinding Fang), glowing chains emerged, connecting to the five vajras. They bound the lightning-formed beast, causing it immense agony. Luminous, spell-wrought chains formed shackles, cinching tightly around the giant wolf’s body and jaw.

By nature, a thunder beast is a spirit of the elements, a manifestation of the raw power of storms—violent, feral, and cruel. Suppressed by the vajras and constrained by the chains, its fierce fury sparked crackling electrical discharges in the void, with lightning striking intermittently from the sky.

Sakuru Nonuraza, along with the Earth Spider and the Great Monk Akasho, lost their composure. A creature approaching the status of a divine beast had been summoned with terrifying speed, and should its master be slain, the beast would be unleashed.

"Go! Destroy my enemies."

Kohagi tightened her nerves, manipulating the chains while stoking the beast’s rage. "Sealed by Kobo Daishi with the Five Dragon Vajras, vent all the fury I have captured upon them! Obliterate them!"

The wolf-shaped thunder beast roared. Vast spiritual power converged, as if connecting through that glowing maw to the depths of a destructive thundercloud. Then, the flash erupted—

Light, so brilliant it changed the color of heaven and earth, poured from the beast’s mouth. A pillar of lightning blasted forth, swallowing everything in its path with searing light and heat.

...

Several hours later, the small shrine dedicated to an unknown deity, along with the entire mountain peak, had been leveled. The fierce conflict between a transcendent exorcist and great demons had altered the very topography.

...

"Liars... that kind of monster—"

The woman in the red kimono fled the battlefield in a wretched state. Despite her regret for the Earth Spider and the Great Squid Monk, Sakuru had escaped with all her might. One of her arms was missing, and her beautiful long hair was matted with ash and dust.

Her left eye was gone from her delicate face, leaving only a bloody hole. She gritted her teeth, spitting words of hatred from her lips.

"Beast... how could she be that strong? Is the bloodline of the Kurohimeyama house truly so formidable?"

She stumbled as she walked, her wooden clogs long lost, leaving her barefoot. Her remaining hand pressed desperately against her stomach to keep her intestines from spilling out. Under such injuries, an ordinary person would have died long ago.

Fortunately, she had inherited the blood of the great demon "Yama-uba." The demonic blood granted her excessive vitality; such wounds were not yet fatal.

But the pain remained unchanged. She pressed forward, enduring the agony. With nearly every step, blood dripped, leaving a trail upon the ground. Finally, unable to hold on any longer, she collapsed.

"...Cannot die."

She lay on the ground, her chest heaving, blood spilling from her lips as she struggled for breath. She could not die in a place like this.

"Cannot die here..."

She had not yet completed her revenge against the Kurohimeyama house.

"I will never forgive you... Kurohimeyama... The Young Master will surely..."

She lost consciousness before she could finish. A small, pitch-black bird circled from the sky and landed slowly beside her.

...

At daybreak, the morning light shone through the gaps in the trees.

The terrain of the mountain forest had been completely transformed. Countless ancient trees had collapsed, as if hit by a mudslide. The fractured fibers of the trees, splintered by the immense force of last night’s battle, were exposed. Soil and low-lying shrubs had been gouged out, forming mounds of earth.

Nearby, not far from the scene of destruction, the corpse of the Earth Spider—the "god" once worshipped by the locals—lay on the ground, its massive body like a small hill.

"What a ferocious warrior! Even the multiple barriers, mixing curse-reversal and physical fortification, were shattered by you..."

From the base of a broken cliff came a voice filled with pity. The great squid demon, over five hundred years old, had been sliced in two; its tentacles were still. Pale blue viscera and blue blood flowed onto the ground, forming a small lake.

"I never imagined I would die here..."

"..."

A slender arm gripped a delicate katana. The tip of the blade pierced deep into the demon’s vitals before being pulled easily from the Great Monk Akasho’s head. The monk's eyes widened, and the demon's two pupils ceased to move.

"Too much chatter."

The ibis-colored kimono Kohagi wore had been torn during the battle; she now wore an exorcist’s uniform better suited for movement.

"What a pity, I rather liked that outfit..." she muttered to herself.

...

"Truly a pathetic sight."

At that moment, black, bat-like wings beat rhythmically as a strange figure descended.

"To be so disheveled while dealing with such enemies, and losing your own faction’s men, as well as those from the Sako house—could your strength be regressing, you gloomy woman?"

Kohagi was not surprised; she had long noticed someone watching. It seemed the other party had been secretly controlling a demon known as a "Jetsuki"—a flying, ox-headed Yasha that had been tailing her the entire way.

*So she guessed I would be ambushed and wanted to uncover my trump cards.*

The eldest daughter of the Kurohimeyama house understood perfectly what trick the woman was playing. However, the methods the other party used to control shikigami were bizarre. Katsura's ability, the "Ritual of the Ruin’s Filth," could not normally control such powerful Yasha.

The Ox-Headed Yasha was a powerful specter, a mid-tier malevolent demon; ordinary practitioners struggled to command them even with all their might. Her younger sister used a clever shortcut, planting invisible bacteria into the Yasha’s brain to dominate it. Because this method was so "cunning," it avoided the massive expenditure of energy required to maintain control over strong demons, allowing Katsura to manipulate multiple great demons or even malevolent ones simultaneously.

What was unsettling was that if she could control a demon’s brain, controlling a human’s brain might be just as easy.

Yet, this was only a fraction of her revealed capabilities. Katsura hid her trump cards deeper than even she did; Kohagi knew this well.

*Releasing this Yasha specifically—is it to show off to me?*

Kohagi remained expressionless. She spun her enchanted blade, "Shadow Butterfly," carving an arc in the air to flick off the blood and fat clinging to the steel.

"Is peeking from the shadows that interesting? You really are a bore."

With her left hand, she tossed a white, fleshy object toward the Ox-Headed Yasha.

"...What is this?"

Controlling the Yasha shikigami from a great distance, Katsura caught the object, only to realize it was an arm.

Five long, slender fingers, a delicate limb—it appeared to be a woman’s severed hand.

"It is the hand of a Yama-uba," Kohagi added. "No, rather, the hand of a woman who carries the blood of a Yama-uba. You should know the legends of the Yama-uba; every inch of their bodies is a treasure, especially their 'hag-skin'... Take this back and make a protective tool for him. After he becomes a Chunin, the dangers he faces will only increase."