9:00 am August 5th 2018
The barrier still held up around the temple, but today it was an exception. It was even more powerful then ever before as it glowed with a thin yellow light.
"It is time.", Kotsuki said.
Hoshiko hugged Shiro one last time before leaving with her grandfather and the rest of the phantom troupe. The other three S.N.A.D members were in charge of watching the barrier.
Shiro of course was very upset. There was nothing that he could do to save Hoshiko.
"This isn't goodbye, it's a see you later."
Even when Hoshiko said this, she was smiling, but she was defiantly holding in a lot of pain.
Although Shiro was crying too, he smiled as he wave back.
Enji, Arashi and Shiro were positioned at the very edge of the barrier. The Psychic power of the Kybui was leaking from the temple, so even with the barrier up, spirits were still being attracted.
It was the job of S.N.A.D to take them out, as well as any other threats.
After what seemed like 30 minutes worth of battling, Arashi noticed some odd. Everyone was connected through a comms device, so he voiced out his concerns.
"Somethings wrong. Kotsuki said that a blessed woman should've been sacrificed once every 10 years right? After Hoshiko dies... who would be sacrificed next? As far as I know, there is no other successor."
Shiro chipped in,
"All the spirits that's been coming were weak as well. Akira might have some hand in this."
Suddenly, Enji then asked Shiro to go check on Hoshiko and the others. Since Arashi was the fastest among them, he would temporarily take on Shiro's position. Arashi complained but he was threatened with a pay reduction.
Although Shiro didn't know where the Kybui was being sealed, he instinctually knew where he had to go. The shrine where he and Hoshiko first met.
When he arrived there however, he found the bloody mess of the phantom troupe band.
Everyone was dead except Mr. Repent himself. At the base of the shrine, the statue which Hoshiko used to pray too had been destroyed. Revealing the hidden stairs underneath.
Upon taking steps closer to it, Shiro could feel the psychic power of the Kyubi radiating out of it. He heard a scream echo from it which prompted Shiro to run down there with haste.
At the same time, Arashi made quick work of the last spirits which were attacking. The barrier was safe, and the job was almost done.
"Condition check? Is everyone okay? I've finished dealing with the last bunch."
Before he could even get a reply, an earthquake spawned out of nowhere. Or rather it wasn't an earthquake, but the stampede of hundreds of spirits.
The forest which led up to the temples mountain was being destroyed as they climbed up.
Arashi quickly backed away into the barrier, while all the spirits slammed into it.
"Dammit!? Is this the work of Eclipse? How many spirits can that guy use?"
Arashi tried to contact Shiro and Enji for help, but Shiro somehow entered a place with no signal while Enji was stuck in a similar predicament.
The spirits were too weak to break the barrier which gave Arashi some time to rest. But then they started to behave very strangely. They made a path for a single boy around the same age as him.
"So you must be Akira huh? If I kill you, what would happen to all these spirits?"
Akira was incredibly sleep deprived, and he looked like he would pass out at any moment. But even then he felt as if he could do anything.
"That place.... as long as I can get to that place then we win..."
The Gheki spirit of his mother emerged from his shadow, and with its hair it fired several shadow spikes at the barrier.
Each attack managed the crack the barrier which worried Arashi, but it easily regenerated.
"Although I can't sense it, this barrier is made from divine power, not psychic energy. Breaking something like this on the gods own land is impossible. Even for our leader."
The barrier which covered the place suddenly began to fade.
"What!?"
The horde of spirits which had no choice but to wait, suddenly broke into the temple, and made a mess of the place. Arashi tried to hold them back, but there were far too many for him alone.
He tried to go after Akira, their master, but he was easily overwhelmed.
5 minutes prior to the barrier being destroyed and Shiro entering the underground
"I was alone. Even if grandfather was there, I still felt like I was alone. Whenever that feeling did come to me, I always went to go pray to you. Ever since Shiro came, I stopped feeling like that. So why did you task me with this burden?"
After praying to her god, Inari no Okami for the last time. Kotsuki easily smashed the statue with a sledge hammer. This scared Hoshiko, but she understood as she saw the hidden stairs underneath.
"You can feel it right?", Kotsuki asked. "The power of the divine and that sits under us.
Since you were blessed with the fox gods blessing, it must've felt familiar to you. It's the reason why you've been praying to this statue instead of the ones in the temple. Well its a good thing anyway, since that means your connection to the fox cub inside you is especially strong."
Before they entered, Kotsuki gave some order to the phantom troupe band. They weren't allowed to go down any further, but the buff from Mr. Repents music would still reach him.
"ALL RIGHT! LETS ROCK!"
The two descended into the mountain, while Mr. Repent and his crew played their music.
The infinite spiraling stairs stretched into the darkness for an eternity. They led to the basement of the mountain, which was made to contain the Kyubi's ever growing power.
Once the two reached the end, Hoshiko was met with a truly disturbing sight.
The entire inside of the mountain was hollowed out, and the floor was covered in black water. In front of the two, was the sleeping nine tailed fox.
Its fur was white and red, while radiating an aura of divinity but also chaos. As it sensed the two grow closer, it suddenly woke up.
"Is it time? The third moment of truth?"
The Kyubi possessed the voice of a woman.
Something was strange about it. It was not restrained at all, and it felt as if it could easily break out of here.
Hoshiko looked back to his grandfather to ask about it, but she was met with a horrific smile.