Chiba Katori Grand Shrine—not the head Shrine, Katori Jingu; if using a school as an analogy, Katori Jingu would be the 'main campus' while Katori Grand Shrine is the 'branch campus'.
Although it was merely a branch base of Katori Jingu, because a considerable amount of time had passed for the branch shrine, the relationship between the two had essentially become quite distant long ago.
Unlike the main Shrine, Katori Jingu, which primarily operated around rituals inclined toward 'Shinto affairs' and 'martial god ceremonies', Katori Grand Shrine mainly dealt with all kinds of lively festival-style celebrations.
In fact, although the specific circumstances could no longer be verified due to being buried too far back in history, the current chief Priest of Katori Grand Shrine always felt that the main reason Katori Jingu developed a branch shrine was simply that the main shrine—enshrining a martial god and being strictly dedicated to traditional Shinto—couldn't bring itself to host carnival-like festivals, especially ones with Buddhist elements like the Obon Festival.
Regardless of whether those guys at the main shrine were putting on a fake reserved front or something else, at the very least, the current chief Priest was quite proud of his own shrine's long history. Holidays like the Obon Festival, after centuries of being hosted by his shrine, had already become large-scale, exceptionally lively major festivals of considerable proportion.
As long as he worked hard enough, he would surely be able to better pass down these shrine traditions within his lifetime—
"What do you mean it doesn't meet the City Hall's fire safety standards, so all the lanterns for this Obon Festival must be recalled? Even the ones set floating in the watercourse have to be scooped up?"
Looking at the police officer in front of him, the chief Priest of Katori Grand Shrine had a look of complete bewilderment: "How are we supposed to do something like that..."
"That's your problem."
The police officer said with a smile: "This officer is merely accepting reports from the public."
"It's clearly just slander!" The chief Priest argued forcefully: "Our shrine's Obon Festival has been held for over five hundred years! It has been like this since ancient times—"
"Is being like this since ancient times automatically right?"
The police officer let out a soft huff and uttered a sentence that seemed quite philosophical: "According to the rules five hundred years ago, maybe building a bridge or paving a road would require hitobashira (human pillars); why don't you try doing that now?"
Aren't the Tokyo yakuza still encasing people in concrete?
The chief Priest of Katori Grand Shrine grumbled in his heart.
Of course, he wouldn't say such words out loud.
After pondering for a moment, he leaned in close to the officer and held the police officer's hand with great warmth, using his wide Kariginu sleeves to conceal the motion of slipping a bulging wallet into the other party's hand.
"Please show a bit of leniency, Officer..."
Perhaps this 'sincerity' was indeed heavy enough, such that the fake smile the police officer had maintained since earlier finally became much more heartfelt and sincere.
"My, my, what is the meaning of this... But the report indeed seems a bit suspicious. This officer will head back to the police station to verify it before coming back to have a good talk with you, chief Priest-san. As for this matter..."
Before the officer could finish speaking, he suddenly received a phone call.
The moment he saw the name displayed on the caller ID, his expression instantly turned somewhat unsightly. However, he still answered the phone with utmost deference, bowing and nodding repeatedly, cold sweat gradually breaking out on his forehead as he was clearly being berated by the person on the other end of the line.
Seeing this, the chief Priest of Chiba Grand Shrine couldn't help but feel nervous as well.
Although he couldn't clearly hear what the person on the officer's phone was saying, he could vaguely pick up words like 'Senior Commissioner', 'Superintendent-General', and 'Fujiwara'.
We're just an ordinary shrine here—though we have a bit of shared history with Katori Jingu, it isn't much—is there really a need for an ordinary Obon Festival to alarm even the Superintendent-General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police? People who don't know any better would think we're planning to take a modified water pipe and go shoot the Prime Minister...
After hanging up the phone, the police officer's expression underwent an obvious change, turning much more stern and cold.
"I'm sorry, chief Priest-san. Although this officer would really like to help you, however... according to legal regulations, either you start clearing out those lanterns right now to prevent fire hazards, or you and everyone affiliated with your shrine can all come take a seat at our station."
"Officer, you can't do this—"
"Oh, right. There's also your attempt to bribe this officer. We'll need to calculate that matter properly as well."
"..."
Motherfucker, why!
No matter how unwilling he felt in his heart, the situation was stronger than the person. In the end, the shrine's chief Priest could only resign himself to fate and compromise with the police, promising to recall the Obon Festival lanterns as quickly as possible.
Looking at the shrine chief Priest's expression, which looked as though he had eaten a bitter melon, the leading police officer let out a slight sigh of relief.
To tell the truth, he didn't know why the higher-ups specifically had him come make things difficult for this small shrine owner.
It would be one thing if it were just their own Senior Commissioner, but even the Superintendent-General had spoken up, and it seemed the request had come from the 'Fujiwara' side. If that was truly the case, then the police system being so meticulous was understandable—as long as they could gain the favor of that clan, such a minor matter was completely trivial, not even counting as a favor owed.
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Looking at the shrine staff beginning to collect and extinguish the lanterns that were originally used as decorations one by one, and even scooping up as many as possible from the small river beside the shrine, Chika nodded with satisfaction.
Whether it was that girl wearing an eyepatch or the initial shrine maiden possessing Miko's body, both had confirmed that the 'lanterns' were part of the ritual.
If the grand shrine located in the otherworldly realm was the energy center, the lanterns were the network that transmitted power and completed the ritual—although not done consciously, when putting up the lanterns, the shrine workers passively completed the step of 'stringing up power lines'.
Therefore, to control and compress the range of influence of the Ritual of Ryūri, it was necessary to dispose of as many of those ubiquitous lanterns as possible.
"However, over the years, many tourists have bought small hand-held lanterns to take home... I wonder if that will affect the final result..."
Chika let out a sigh.
Although she had no choice but to rely on her family's power this time—and would definitely be questioned by her family about what happened after returning home—thinking about how she could help Mr. Asakura made the pink-haired girl feel it was well worth it.
Rather, even if Kaguya were here, as long as there was this opportunity, even if it meant ruining her usual background-character persona in front of her father and elder brother, she would desperately find a way to use her 'Shinomiya' name to facilitate this matter.
Of course, as for how much of it was calculated self-interest and how much came purely from the maiden's own fluttering, romantic thoughts, that remained unknown.
"I wonder how things are going on Asakura-kun's side..."
The girl sitting beside the fried noodle stall looked at the fried noodles in her hand, which were reasonably delicious, yet for some reason lost her appetite.
"When I used to sneak out to eat ramen by myself, I didn't feel this way at all... Why do I feel that eating alone now is a bit lonely..."
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The ground in front of the grave mound had already begun turning into glass.
There was an indisputable odor in the air, mixing decay, dirt, and a certain scorched, sweet bloodiness. That smell was not strong, yet it hovered repeatedly in the stagnant air, refusing to dissipate for a long time.
Flames rose before the grave.
Chiba Katsutane, having crawled out of the grave, stood in the center of the flames.
He had clearly managed with great difficulty to reverse life and death, acquiring near-infinite life, two joys overlapping to bring him what should have been a dreamlike, blissful time ruling the world... Why did it turn out like this?
He couldn't understand.
His skin was like being slowly drained hollow, becoming brittle from the edges, curling, and then fragmenting.
Immediately after, the flames seeped deeper along the cracks, clinging onto the skin.
That layer of dry, cracked skin rapidly changed color under the high temperature, shifting from dark teal to charred black; its edges shriveled, cracking open with fine patterns as the fissures widened to reveal the darkened (dried-beef-like) muscle and skeleton underneath.
The flames spread downward.
From shoulders to chest, from chest to abdomen, and flowing all the way along the spine to the four limbs.
That was no ordinary consumption by fire, but rather felt closer to thorough, total destruction.
Wherever the flames passed, the structure there swiftly collapsed. Skin peeled away, muscles contracted, tendons snapped, and bones emitted subtle sounds amidst the high heat as if fractures were forming within.
Charred debris peeled off from his body and fell to the ground, turning into fine ash before even landing firmly.
His entire body was completely engulfed in fire as the flames curled upward, forming a constantly twisting silhouette; the shadows of the graveyard were driven away, while stone pagodas and tree trunks cast violently swaying shadows in the firelight, their edges distorting endlessly as if they too were being devoured by the flames.
Amidst those flames, the body began to collapse, turning into flying ash.
Normally speaking, everything would have come to an end by this point.
Yet right now, that was clearly not the case.
Standing before the grave mound, Asakura watched all of this with cold eyes.
Before the other party's body could fully disintegrate, those parts that had already turned to ash and vanished began undergoing a change.
Fine cracks first appeared on the charred surface, after which the cracks extended inward; inside the fissures was no hollow void, but rather a new structure generating. That newly born portion was darker in color and denser in texture, constructing itself outward step by step starting from the skeleton—snapped ribs reconnected, shattered spines reorganized, and missing muscles covered over at an exceptionally rapid pace.
The 'Ritual of Ryūri' was still operating at the moment the other party was burned down, allowing him to continuously remain 'immortal'.
Therefore, the flames originating from the spell [Candle] did not diminish.
It remained continuously attached to the newly born portions, scorching the structure the other party had just generated all over again; no sooner had the skin formed and before it could fully cover the body surface, it was once again scorched, curled, and peeled away by the flames.
Muscles were charred at the exact time they generated—the surface layer carbonized while the interior continued to extend; bones were baked by the fire during the process of reorganization, fine cracks surfacing on their exterior, yet before the cracks could spread to the whole, they were covered over by new structures.
Destruction and regeneration occurred at the very same time.
This process repeated continuously.
"Tsk tsk... Rather than a blessing, this feels much more like a form of torture." Asakura muttered under his breath.
As a side note, he was doing this on purpose.
If he fired at full power, the spell [Candle] could instantly melt away 'Chiba Katsutane's' very existence—if even existence itself vanished, then because the 'Ritual of Ryūri' could not find a target, his body naturally wouldn't be able to regenerate.
Asakura wasn't a devil who took pleasure in torturing others; if anything, when it came to enemies, he had always belonged to the type who preferred a one-shot instant kill to prevent more variables from arising.
After all, he was well aware of the trope where villains die from talking too much.
It was just that the situation this time was rather special.
The 'Ritual of Ryūri' had accumulated far too much power over five hundred years, and keeping 'Chiba Katsutane' (a name Asakura heard from 'Miko') immortal was the most fundamental and original function of this ritual.
In other words, as long as the matter of 'making Chiba Katsutane immortal' was not achieved, the ritual would operate with that as its highest priority.
Considering that the transmission capacity of the lantern network had an upper limit after all, as long as enough power could be depleted here, the process of the 'reversal of life and death' elsewhere would naturally be dragged down and delayed.
Therefore, Chiba Katsutane needed to be continuously interrogated... I mean, barbecued.
Asakura soon noticed that each time the other party regenerated, it was slower than the previous time—presumably, Miko, who was currently controlling the divine statue in the Core Room, or Chika, who was utilizing her family's influential power to eradicate the lantern network, had already succeeded.
Great; this way, resolving this incident was merely a matter of time.
The speed at which Chiba Katsutane's body structure generated gradually fell lower than the speed at which it was being burned away, leaving his body still unable to maintain a complete form amidst the flames.
To this end, Asakura even had to slightly turn down the firepower to prevent directly burning the other party to death.
Because of this, the fire of [Candle], which originally possessed bizarre properties, had its mystery reduced, gaining a few more traits of ordinary flames.
The outline of the desolate graveyard constantly shifted between light and dark; the air began to warp slightly, and heat currents slowly rose in the space, causing sightlines to become unstable as distant scenery swayed gently in the firelight.
"ROARAAAAAH—!"
Suddenly, having already turned into a flaming man who wouldn't even need special effects to play Human Torch in a Marvel movie, Chiba Katsutane leaped high into the air, pouncing toward Asakura with lightning speed!
"Have you already adapted to the pain of being burned down to a certain extent?" Asakura looked at the other party, composed and unfazed.
Then Human Torch slammed into an invisible wall, sliding down slowly in a spread-eagle shape, giving off a strangely comical feeling like a cartoon character.
"Spare me..." The burning man said to Asakura: "I can... offer everything to you... My wealth, my power... The glory of Chiba... Everything..."
"Sorry." Asakura shook his head.
"Why!" The burning man said in agony: "Is it just because... you pity those commoners whom I ordered killed... to serve as the foundation for the Ritual of Ryūri..."
"Oh, new intel." Asakura said softly: "That, I actually didn't know."
"Wh...at..." The burning man looked toward Asakura, trembling weakly.
The firelight illuminated the young man's face, yet he could read no expression from it.
"I just wanted to say," Asakura stood up, looking down at the burning man crawling on the ground: "It's already been five hundred years; everything about you is long outdated and buried in history."
"So the same goes for you—go ahead and have a big helping with your "glory.""