"Miko, why on earth is your 'talisman' a bra?! Your master has some truly questionable tastes!" The shortest of the three girls, her twin-tails quivering with indignation, couldn't help but voice her complaint even in their dire situation.
"I'd like to know the answer to that myself!" Yotsuya Miko snapped back, her eyes locked on the terrifying, ox-skull-masked entity looming in the shrine's courtyard. A palpable, malevolent aura radiated from it, making the air feel thick and cold. "And is this really the time to be worrying about that?"
The twin-tailed girl flinched, offering an awkward, sheepish smile. "You… you're right."
Her name was Niguredou Yuria. Since childhood, she had possessed the "Spirit Sight," the ability to perceive low-level spirits and residual emotions. This unwanted gift had branded her a freak throughout elementary school, leaving her isolated and friendless.
Upon entering high school, however, she immediately sensed two extraordinary individuals among her peers: Yotsuya Miko and Miko's airheaded best friend, Yurikawa Hana. Miko's own subtle, guarded awareness of the unseen world confirmed she was a kindred spirit, sparking a desperate joy in Yuria. She had actively sought Miko's friendship.
As for Yurikawa Hana, the bubbly, well-endowed girl was a walking anomaly. Her entire being glowed with a dense, almost blinding vitality—a beacon in the spiritual darkness. It was a miracle she hadn't been devoured by malevolent entities long ago.
In recent days, Yuria had noticed Miko behaving secretively, even catching glimpses of a sacred, protective light shimmering around her. Clearly, Miko had encountered someone powerful.
Driven by a lifelong need for answers and protection, Yuria had pestered Miko relentlessly for an introduction. For a girl who could see problems but was powerless to solve them, finding a true practitioner was a matter of survival.
Miko had been internally debating whether to bother Hozuki Nozomi when Yurikawa Hana's potent life force, like a spiritual dinner bell, attracted something truly horrific. The entity was so powerful it began to nullify the protective shield card Nozomi had given her. With no other options, Miko had dragged her two friends to the relative safety of Chiba Shrine.
Initially, it seemed to work. The pursuing evil spirit was intercepted and destroyed. But the victory revealed a far more terrifying truth: the presiding 'deity' of this shrine was itself a malignant entity that had usurped the holy ground. This false god had summoned two masked, shrine maiden-like attendants.
Together, they subdued the chasing spirit before the ox-skulled entity itself opened a grotesque, gaping maw and consumed it.
Then, its attention turned to the three girls.
It held up three thick, bony fingers.
Miko, bewildered and terrified, shook her head in instinctive refusal. The entity seemed to take offense. With a low roar, it expelled a thick, silencing black mist that engulfed the entire shrine grounds, severing all modern communication.
It was then that the "Angel's Blessing" bra—an embarrassing but undeniably potent gift from her master—began to glow. A desperate idea struck Miko. Using the garment's holy energy as insulation, she managed to wrap her phone and place the fateful call.
Yurikawa Hana trembled, peering over Miko's shoulder. "Miko-chan… when will Master get here? We're not going to be eaten, are we?"
Since the last supernatural incident, Hana had also gained the Spirit Sight, but it only amplified her fear. She vowed that if they survived, she would cling to Hozuki Nozomi and demand proper training and tools. Being a helpless, trembling damsel every time was unacceptable.
"Don't panic, Hana-chan. Master will be here any second," Miko assured her, though her own voice wavered.
"So, who exactly is your Master? Is he really that strong?" Niguredou Yuria asked, trying to project calm despite her own pounding heart.
"Of course he is! That thing outside? My Master could erase it with a single glance!" Miko boasted. But as she spoke, the protective shield flickered violently, its light dimming. Her confident expression instantly paled.
Finally, with a sound like shattering glass, the shield card's energy dissipated completely. The shield vanished.
Yet, the black mist did not immediately rush in to consume them. The towering, ox-skull-masked figure simply held up three fingers once more.
The three girls stared, utterly confused.
Ordinarily, Yuria's sight shouldn't have been able to perceive an entity of this level, but it was allowing itself to be seen—a deeply unsettling privilege.
"What does it mean?" Hana whispered, her voice weak.
Yuria frowned in concentration, then her eyes widened with dawning horror. "I think… I think it's saying it will help us three times!"
As if in confirmation, the entity lowered one finger, leaving two raised.
Yuria's face went ashen. "It means one opportunity has already been used—destroying that first spirit. Two remain."
Hana immediately sagged with relief, patting her ample chest. "Phew! So it was helping us all along? Why didn't it just say so?"
"You idiot!" Yuria hissed, fear sharpening her tone. "Do you really think this is a benevolent deity? Help from something like this always comes with a price! What if, after helping us three times, it demands our souls? Or turns us into mindless puppets like those two attendants?"
Hana's face lost all color.
Their debate was cut short. The tall figure grew visibly impatient. It raised both hands, bringing them together. Several writhing, blood-red runes coalesced in the air before drifting down to land at the girls' feet. The two masked 'maidens' nodded in unison, then made deliberate gestures of touching their own hands, clearly instructing the girls to reach out and seal the contract.
Sign such a thing? They'd rather die.
Just as the oppressive, soul-crushing pressure became unbearable, a furious shout tore through the heavy silence of the shrine.
"Monster! I can tell at a glance you're no god!"
The voice was followed by a searing pillar of sacred light that slammed down from above, aimed directly at the false deity.
With an enraged roar that shook the very foundations, the entity tore through the holy beam and lunged toward the new arrival—Hozuki Nozomi, who stood silhouetted in the shrine's torii gate.
No longer feigning benevolence, the creature revealed its full, terrifying visage. Thick, black-red tendrils of blood and shadow erupted from its body, coiling around it like vengeful serpents. Its eyes blazed with a hellish crimson light. The two attendants shed their maiden masks, revealing dark, featureless, and deeply unsettling faces underneath.
Nozomi raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised. His opening Spirit Sight strike had been physically torn apart. This thing isn't simple.
Since that's the case, he thought, a spark of genuine focus igniting within him, I'll have to show a little bit of my true power.
As the creature's bloody, bone-taloned hand shot toward him with terrifying speed, Hozuki Nozomi's internal energy shifted. His vast reservoir of magical power surged forth, instantly transmuting into a purer, denser form of sacred energy. His body became a conduit for blinding, righteous light.
There was a flash—too fast for the eye to follow—as Nozomi and the false deity passed each other in the courtyard's center.
He landed softly, hands calmly clasped behind his back, turning to regard the three girls whose faces were now etched with stunned hope and relief.
"Gah… ack…"
The towering figure froze mid-stride. A low, guttural sound escaped it. Then, a brilliant, pure light erupted from a fissure that had appeared across its chest.
Thump.
A soundless, yet profoundly felt, implosion occurred. The creature's form disintegrated from the inside out, dissolving into motes of dark ash that were instantly purified by the lingering sacred energy. The oppressive black mist shrouding the shrine began to rapidly dissipate, allowing the late afternoon sunlight to filter back in.
The three girls stared, slack-jawed, their minds struggling to process the instantaneous victory.
Then, Yotsuya Miko and Yurikawa Hana exchanged a tearful, ecstatic glance and scrambled to their feet, rushing toward their savior.
"Master! You finally came!"
"Waaah! I was so scared!"
They threw themselves into his arms, clinging to him. Watching her two friends shamelessly latch onto the powerful, handsome stranger, Niguredou Yuria's mouth twitched.
After a moment's internal debate, she shuffled forward, her face flushed, and quietly joined the group hug, sneaking her own arms around him. We're all friends here, right? This is probably fine… She wasn't about to miss her chance to establish a connection with a real protector.
Hozuki Nozomi felt the third girl's tentative addition and couldn't help a wry internal smile. "Alright, alright. Let's get out of here."
Leading the three shaken girls away from the now-cleared shrine grounds, he didn't look back. Behind them, as the last vestiges of corrupt energy vanished, the weathered plaque above the shrine's entrance flickered. The old, faded characters for "Chiba Shrine" blurred and reformed, settling into a new, unfamiliar name:
[Miyamizu Shrine]