I loaded the geek game

The once sturdy door trembled and groaned amidst the relentless pounding, appearing incredibly fragile. And just as the door was about to crumble—

"Hurry up as a law!"

A sharp shout pierced the noise of the corridor like a spear, clearly reaching the ears of the Matsumoto couple.

A blazing orange-red line of fire shot out from the end of the corridor, unfolding in the air into a rotating flame seal, and accurately struck the distorted figures gathered at the entrance of the Matsumoto family's house!

boom--!
The talisman shattered, unleashing a scorching wave of air. Purifying power danced within the orange-red flames, instantly engulfing the figures at the forefront. Inhuman, piercing screams echoed through the corridor, filling the air with a pungent, burnt stench.

The chaotic banging on the door came to an abrupt halt.

Another sound came from outside the door.

The sound of steady yet swift footsteps, and the tense yet resolute voice of a young man: "Mr. Nagatomo, leave the left side to me!"

"Hold your position, Kobayashi!"

Next came Masao Nagatomo's highly recognizable, young yet composed voice.

Mr. Matsumoto, who was in the entryway, had no idea what was happening outside. As the male head of the household, he mustered all his courage and tremblingly peered through the peephole.

The door was radiating heat, and through the small glass lens, he witnessed a scene he would never forget:
In the gloomy corridor, the neighbors who had gathered earlier now lay sprawled on the ground, their bodies twitching intermittently, shrouded in a faint, charred black aura. Amidst this mess and filth, two bright yellow figures stood as firm as rocks.

Two strangers burst into the apartment building during a crisis—

One of them held a flashlight that emitted a blinding white light tightly in his hand. The beam of light acted like a physical barrier, suppressing the twisted black shadows that were trying to get up and pounce again.

The other person standing in front had his back to the door, so Matsumoto could clearly see the stone hammer wrapped in talisman paper behind him, which was now emitting a reassuring, warm spiritual light. Even more unsettling was that the man's right fingertip was holding a cinnabar talisman paper with its edges still shimmering with the red glow of embers, and wisps of green smoke were rising from the talisman paper.

Ms. Asano stood a short distance away, the fire talisman from before leaving terrible wounds on her body.

Her upper body was burned through, and countless white maggots swarmed from beneath her charred skin. Her remaining half of her face was contorted in agony, staring intently at Nagatomo Masao, a low, beast-like growl emanating from her throat:

"You...cannot stop a miracle..."

Before she finished speaking, her limbs suddenly bent in the opposite direction at an angle that defied physiological structure, and with a "click," she climbed up the wall like an arthropod. Her charred body, with maggots constantly falling from it, crawled along the ceiling at an astonishing speed towards the dark stairwell on the other side, disappearing into the shadows in the blink of an eye.

Ms. Asano's defeat seemed to send a signal, and the temperature in the entire apartment building suddenly dropped by several degrees.

But the invisible, nauseating sense of oppression did not dissipate; instead, it converged from all directions, surging towards the higher floors like a tide.

"She ran upstairs!"

Yuichi Kobayashi gripped his flashlight tightly, the beam of light uneasily sweeping across the stairwell, which seemed like a dark maw leading to the esophagus of a giant beast.

“Nagatomo, what’s upstairs?” Nagatomo Masao’s spirit warned him at the right moment. “These fallen people who have worshipped evil gods are making a bigger scene than we expected.”

With the help of the spiritual vision provided by his predecessor, Nagatomo looked around and then tilted his head slightly.

In the psychic vision, the surrounding air felt viscous, and dark red, blood-like stains began to seep from the walls. Whispers, cries, and groans echoed from the apartment building rooftop, cascading down like a tide.

Masao Nagatomo immediately pressed the intercom button and spoke rapidly: "Attention all squads, target the top floor of the apartment building. Repeat, target the top floor. Squad B, seal off the building exits. Squads C and D, clear out the remaining debris floor by floor and remove any uncontaminated survivors. The rest of you, follow me for the assault!"

"Roger that!"

"Group B understands!"

"Group E is in position and is moving towards you!"

After a brief commotion, the walkie-talkie fell silent. At the same time, hurried footsteps came from below the stairs, and six exorcists, also dressed in bright yellow raincoats, broke through the ash veil and appeared before Nagatomo and Kobayashi.

"go!"

Changyou let out a low shout, ripped the stone hammer off his back, and rushed up the stairs.

The talisman on the stone hammer moved without wind, emitting an increasingly intense purifying light. Together with the talisman in Nagatomo's right hand, it burned away the thin black shadow that tried to pounce out of the shadow.

The other exorcists followed closely behind, their flashlight beams piercing the thick darkness gathered high above like sharp swords.

At the end of the rooftop corridor, an ordinary wooden door that originally led to the rooftop now exudes an ominous and unsettling aura.

The door panel had turned a charred black, as if scorched by fire, and twisted, dark red growths resembling blood vessels were growing around the door frame, slowly pulsating. From beneath the cracks in the door, a viscous black liquid was constantly seeping out, emitting a pungent stench.

"This is it! Prepare for battle! Kobayashi, breach the barrier!"

"understand!"

Yuichi Kobayashi took out three specially made barrier-breaking talismans from inside his yellow raincoat. Spiritual energy flowed from his fingertips, and the talismans instantly ignited with pure white flames. With a flick of his wrist, the three talismans shot through the air like arrows, accurately striking the evil door panel.

boom--!
The talisman exploded with blinding white light, and the black liquid seeping from the crack in the door instantly churned violently like boiling water. The charred door panel trembled wildly, and several distorted human faces emerged from the fleshy chunks on its surface, emitting silent wails.

The next moment, something unexpected happened.

The writhing chunks of flesh detached from the door, rolled to the ground, and then rose up, transforming into several twisted human figures.

And Ms. Asano, who had just escaped, was among them!
These monsters let out inhuman screams, their emaciated bodies contorting at incredible angles, and countless white maggots gushing out of their bodies, coiling around the group who had just arrived at the top floor like living tentacles.

The other six exorcists in the group immediately sprang into action, forming a triangle of three. These six well-trained exorcists, all dressed as monks, each took out a copper bell engraved with intricate runes and shook it simultaneously.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling

The clear, melodious sound of bells echoed across the top floor, and three golden beams of light burst forth from the copper bells, intertwining in the air to form a huge triangular light array that enveloped all the fallen ones, led by Ms. Asano.

At the same time, Nagatomo finally made his move.

The white spirit behind him swelled into a gigantic humanoid shape as if inflated, hovering behind him. The stone hammer shone brightly, as if constructed of pure light, with fine white arcs leaping and flashing around him, crackling and popping.

"break!"

He roared and swung his stone hammer, smashing it with immense force towards the fallen ones within the array of light.

boom--! ! ! !

The violent purifying energy swept through like a storm, and the deafening roar seemed to threaten to lift the entire rooftop!
The Fallen One, bound by the light array, was instantly overturned by the violent impact. The black aura surrounding him melted away rapidly like snow being directly exposed to sunlight, and his emaciated body collapsed limply to the ground, no longer moving.

Behind them, the charred door shattered inch by inch in the white light, the dark red tumors melting and evaporating like wax in a raging fire. From behind the door came a piercing, ear-piercing scream, filled with resentment and pain.

As the light faded, the original flesh-and-blood gate had turned into a charred, broken hole, leaving only sizzling black debris on the ground. The suffocating sense of oppression receded like the tide, and the stains on the wall gradually faded.

Those fallen beings who worshipped Izanami and Ashiya Dōman, though they borrowed the power of the underworld, were ultimately just weak vessels. Even the maggots that bred within them were pale imitations, not their original, pitch-black forms. Such enemies were naturally no match for well-trained exorcists.

"The danger is over."

Changyou reported in a deep voice into the walkie-talkie.

But the response from the other end of the walkie-talkie was a broken, urgent report: "Buzz...within Tokyo...buzz...several locations...have experienced large-scale riots by fallen people..."

What happened in this apartment tonight seems to be happening simultaneously all over Tokyo.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Masao Nagatomo picked up the stone hammer and led the group through the hole in the wall to the rooftop.

We need to figure out what these degenerates are up to.

On the rooftop, a distorted magic circle drawn with blood and ashes remained, with scattered pieces of human limbs strewn among it.

These horrific objects together constitute a blasphemous altar.

Clearly, the Fallen Ones held some kind of ritual here.

"Is this some kind of altar? These fallen ones are utterly insane..."

Seeing this, Kobayashi Yuichi, who had only recently participated in actual combat, felt a chill and subconsciously moved a few steps away from the eerie altar.

The cold wind blowing from the rooftop slightly dispelled his discomfort, and it seemed to blow away the gray haze that had been hovering over Japan for days. Kobayashi felt the bright light falling on him.

Is it moonlight?

It's been a long time.

but……

An indescribable, strange feeling lingered in my mind.

...There shouldn't be moonlight.

He instinctively looked up, then froze. His trembling finger pointed to the sky:

"Mr. Nagatomo...am I hallucinating? Or..."

Where the young exorcist pointed, a circular tear appeared in the gray sky—

A torii gate, beyond comprehension, stands majestically against the sky!

Its grandeur makes all other buildings in the world seem like children's building blocks.

The torii gate is entirely black, devouring everything, like a fragment torn from the night sky, with dark red veins twisting and pulsating slowly with an inexplicable rhythm on its surface.

The moonlight seeping through the gaps in the broken clouds gilded it with an ominous silver glow, a luster thick and cold, unlike anything found on earth.

Deeper within this forbidden torii gate, the outline of a shrine emerges from the void. Its structure is twisted and grotesque; its eaves are not elegant curves, but rather formed by countless interlocking, white, withered bones, piercing sharply in all directions as if to tear the entire sky apart.

Not only Xiaolin, but all the exorcists on the rooftop at this moment were captivated by this blasphemous scene, and a chill originating from their life instincts rose rapidly up their spines.

"It's not...a hallucination..."

Even Nagatomo's voice trembled at this moment.

The torii gates and shrines of Izanami are no longer illusions, but real phenomena that have descended upon the heavens of the present world!

……

While the exorcists' gazes were still fixed on the strange phenomenon in the air, the desolate city beneath their feet was awakening in another way.

The bright moon hangs high in the sky, its clear light shining down.

Under this unusually bright moonlight, the shadows of the entire city seemed to boil over—

Countless eerie silhouettes seeped from the glass curtain walls of office buildings, slipped through the cracks in convenience store doors, and surged out of subway vents. Things not of this world were emerging like a tide from the shadows of street corners and alleyways. They were diverse in form, bizarre and fantastical:
The Snow Woman danced in the air, snowflakes and ashes swirling around her, intertwining at the hem of her dust-covered kimono to form a flowing curtain; the Wet Woman emerged from the puddles in the street, slithering across the surface, her long hair as sticky as seaweed, leaving shimmering, phosphorescent trails in her wake, weaving into a writhing net; the skeleton army of Hyosugi trampled the asphalt, rusted swords clanging against each other, rising in formation from the depths of the earth…

The maiden, her hair disheveled and face veiled, held a bronze mirror, her black teeth opening and closing as she sang a mournful song; the demon Yinmo stood atop a streetlamp, its raven wings spreading and dropping decaying feathers; a ghostly mouth coiled in the shadows of the crossroads, its gaping maw devouring the glow of the streetlamp...

Several distorted windlass heads stood like a deformed metal forest, their rusty steel necks colliding with each other, emitting a harsh friction sound.
On the surface of the high-rise building, a human-faced sore with a diameter of more than three meters is grinning silently. With each opening and closing of that twisted giant mouth, it chews up and devours large sections of glass curtain walls and concrete structures. The entire building is being eaten away at a visible speed.
Further away, from the direction of Shinjuku Station, came a continuous series of collapse sounds. The railway spider tore through the ground, its massive body crowding every street, its segments made of twisted rails crushing the exterior walls of tall buildings, its compound eyes flashing red like signal lights, staining the night sky blood red.

A procession of demons is flowing through the veins of the city.

A myriad of strange and monstrous creatures thronged the streets, filling every corner as far as the eye could see. They roared, shrieked, and wept, proclaiming their existence in bizarre ways. Ancient and modern, traditional and new, countless monsters converged into a destructive torrent, rushing along the streets of Tokyo.

At the same time, not only Nagatomo and his group on the rooftop, but almost all exorcists active in Tokyo simultaneously emitted ear-piercing static from their walkie-talkies, followed by intermittent but undeniable announcements:
"Buzz... Battle preparations... All units... All personnel... The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons begins—"

The intermittent communication only rang a few times before abruptly ceasing, leaving only a deathly silence of busy tones, while the myriad eerie cries that had taken over the city still echoed clearly in the ears. (End of Chapter)