I loaded the geek game

"It's over..."

Masao Nagatomo muttered this as he wrapped bandages around his bleeding, lacerated hand.

Yes, it's all over.

The demonic reinforcements brought overwhelming power and a devastating victory. Throughout Tokyo, streets and strongholds that previously required exorcists to fight tooth and nail, filling in the gaps with their lives, were being reclaimed and purified at an unprecedented speed. The night parade of a hundred demons unleashed by the underworld, sweeping across the city, was utterly suppressed in the face of even greater power.

Then, a massive army of ghostly reinforcements began cleaning up the battlefield with astonishing efficiency, seizing the eerie relics imbued with the aura of the underworld as spoils of war. Finally, as the sound of the pure white ghost train resounded once more, they retreated into the void in an orderly fashion, disappearing without a trace, just as they had arrived.

“Mr. Nagatomo… Miss Shinji and Miss Yotohime are also missing. It seems… they left with the demon reinforcements from earlier.” Kobayashi Yuichi limped to Nagatomo’s side. The young exorcist’s face still showed undisguised relief at surviving the ordeal, as well as a lingering sense of bewilderment.

"Yes, it's alright." Nagatomo's hands didn't stop moving, his voice steady. "Those two young ladies don't need our concern."

"Hehe, that makes sense." Kobayashi chuckled awkwardly, then scratched his head, looking troubled. "Um... Mr. Nagatomo, how should we report the... battlefield situation to our superiors next?"

"Just tell the truth."

"Is it true?" Kobayashi repeated instinctively, his voice unconsciously lowered as if afraid of disturbing something, "Including...including that Kamiya...Kamiya..."

He was stuck, unsure how to address the name that had once been at the very top of all the reports and documents within the countermeasures office.

Previously, this name represented a legend in the industry.

But at this moment, even mentioning it made him feel a sense of dread, almost like a desecration.

“Hmm,” Nagatomo responded thoughtfully, finally finishing wrapping the bandage and gently moving his wrist, “...it’s a true description.”

Kamiya-kun...

Nagatomo silently recited this once-familiar name in his heart, a complex smile involuntarily appearing on his lips.

Can I really still call him that?

...A thick barrier has already formed between us.

He, or rather—He.

His existence has long transcended the scope that needs to be defined or concealed.

"The captain's judgment of people is never wrong... That one is already a god, Nagatomo." The slightly hoarse but steady voice of the spirit behind him sounded, "No, he has probably become some kind of being above the gods."

“I know,” Nagatomo said softly, bowing his head.

The light that cleaved through the eternal night, the floating palaces, the summoned spirits and deities... everything proclaimed the arrival of a new era, and that former friend had already stood at the pinnacle of this new era, becoming a symbol of something... extremely great and extremely sublime.

But Nagatomo felt no jealousy, only a heavy, almost proud, respect, and a touch of heartfelt joy.

“Compared to the report…” Then, Masao Nagatomo took a deep breath of the still-smelling, post-war air and turned his gaze back to Yuichi Kobayashi’s face, “Before that, we still have a lot to do.”

The stark contrast of light and shadow and the inverted, magnificent palaces that once graced the skies above Tokyo have vanished. In their place, a real, warm, and long-awaited sunrise is slowly rising from the eastern horizon, showering its golden-red rays upon this ravaged land without reservation.

This is the first time in months that people have truly seen the sunlight during the day.

However, Tokyo, bathed in sunlight, remained a desolate and bleak post-war scene. Ruins and rubble, lingering smoke, and even more so, the groans of wounded soldiers, the fear and bewilderment of surviving civilians, and the urgent need to rebuild order and life.

Yes, the apocalypse is over, and mythology has arrived.

From this day forward, the existence of gods and demons in this world will no longer be a secret to be kept, or a legend to be believed or doubted. It has become a reality witnessed and experienced by all survivors.

Everything in the world may therefore reach an unpredictable turning point.

Even so, the long and potentially arduous daily lives of ordinary people, including Masao Nagatomo, must continue.

……

One week after the final battle with Ashiya Dōman.

Eternal life, Gao Tianyuan.

In the center of the temple ruins, utterly destroyed and reduced to endless rubble, Kamiya Gawa stood silently before the still towering, endlessly spiraling ascension staircase. Lately, he had spent most of his time here, his feet resting on the remnants of the mythical era, his head gazing at the uncertain future.

"About two more months."

Kamiya felt the increasingly clear call and pull emanating from the long-empty "divine throne" at the end of the stairs, and he made a mental assessment.

After he personally buried Xu Fu in the "Ruins", the power of the old laws left by Izanagi began to slowly weaken. According to Kamiyagawa's extremely conservative estimate, the power of the old laws would become unsustainable in about two months.

At that time, the seals on the Dark Side of the Moon and Yomotsu Hirasaka will be broken.

Therefore, before that, Kamiya River must sit on the throne and write new laws for Izumo.

The "qualification" to compose new laws was actually already in his hands the moment he absorbed the second divine skeleton and shattered the shackles of the old laws.

However, just as Xu Fu said, after that, Kamiya vaguely felt that something was missing from him.

That missing element became clear after defeating Doman—

In fact, after Ashiya Dōman's death, Kamiyagawa did not receive any power or inheritance from him.

It can be said that there is nothing substantial about it.

All he received were a few fragmented yet clear echoes of Ashiya Dōman's memories.

And those memories are precisely Dōman's answer to the most fundamental question he left behind on the former Takamagahara—

"Why, then, do you want to ascend to the throne of the gods in Takamagahara?"

That is a kind of original intention, or rather a vision.

Yes.

Ashiya Dōman always maintained his original intentions throughout his journey to become the ruler of all spirits and demons.

That was Daoman's unique answer, which, to outsiders, lacked any heroic flair and was even somewhat laughable: "to become the ruler of all gods and spirits."

However, by the time Daoman was able to become the ruler of all spirits and deities, this original intention and vision had already disappeared...

"Then why do I want to become the ruler of all spirits and deities?"

Kamiya asked himself this question.

Thinking about it this way, it's no wonder that Izanami chose to launch a final attack on Takamagahara before the seal loosened and Kamiya ascended the throne of Takamagahara.

If the final "perfection" truly exists in Ashiya Dōman in any form of matter or energy, Izanami could have waited until the old laws were broken, until Kamiya himself was helpless against the throne of Tōten Kami, and until the seals of the two "Ruins" collapsed over time, before launching the inevitable final battle.

Izanami cannot wait for this.

The final "perfection" required to ascend to the throne is one's own strong aspiration, or rather, a kind of mental anchor.

This has nothing to do with external forces; it only concerns Kamiyagawa himself.

Perhaps Kamiya's own answer already lies in his heart, or perhaps if he dares to take the risk of ascending to the throne, his true intentions and vision will emerge at the crucial moment.

If such a thing were to happen, Izanami would face the situation where the seal would be completely solidified once again, leaving her in the awkward position of "suffering humiliation without a fight."

……

Kamiya's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar presence approaching.

However, his perception was too strong, and it took about half a minute for the source of this aura to finally arrive at the shattered Takamagahara.

"Owner."

Princess Iso quietly approached her side, her slender and beautiful dragon tail hanging smoothly to the ground behind her, her steps so light that they didn't stir up a speck of dust.

"Ah."

"The Blacksmith's wife is all ready, and the reconstruction of the Takamagahara Shrine can begin this afternoon. Throughout the reconstruction process, the Divine Craftsman Satoru will provide comprehensive assistance."

As instructed by Kamiyagawa, reconstruction work will begin on the Takamagahara Shrine.

This reconstruction will completely bid farewell to the remnants of the old era. The new temple will not replicate the past form and layout; it will grow from the ruins of the Age of Gods, giving rise to a completely new look that belongs to the new era.

All traces left by the old gods were completely destroyed and obliterated in the final battle between Ashiya Dōman and Izanami.

Even if it is rebuilt, there is absolutely no possibility of it being repeated.

In time, what will stand here is a temple bearing the sole imprint of Kamiyagawa's personal supreme sovereignty.

This marks the complete end of the old era.

"Also, there's this, the draft of the appointment, which I've already prepared."

Princess Isohime reported in a routine, subordinate-to-superior tone. But beneath her cool demeanor, one could glimpse a barely perceptible gentleness that she only revealed when speaking to a specific person.

As she spoke, she handed over a document. This, too, was prepared under Kamiyagawa's direction, and it contained a complete list of high-ranking personnel appointments needed in Takamagahara. Essentially, it could be understood as a reward for meritorious service after the founding of the nation, a way to honor the court officials—

"Draft Proposal for the Joint Deliberation Meeting of the Lord of Demons and Gods and the Takamagahara Consultative Institute"

Kamiya took the draft appointment document and calmly and attentively reviewed it.

In that instant, beside him, Isohime finally stopped hiding her gaze. She tilted her head slightly, staring intently at her master's profile.

Ancient and indifferent starlight slanted down from the cracks in the broken temple, outlining the clear and serene contours of the Kamiya River.

A trace of sadness, hard to conceal, flashed across the mermaid princess's beautiful golden eyes.

She knew that for a long time to come, her master would never again stand so vividly within her reach, never again give her any words or glances.

Soon, Kamiya River will ascend to the top of the Heavenly Staircase and sit on the throne that symbolizes supreme power but also absolute solitude.

He will use himself as a foundation to alter the fundamental laws of Izumo, burning his own divinity and power to reinforce the seals of the two "ruins" that are crucial to the survival of Izumo.

While not sacrificing himself like Abe no Seimei, Kamiya's new rules will maintain the seal through a different means: continuous existence and power output. However, the time for the seal to solidify will be greatly shortened, making it impossible to sustain it for a thousand years like Seimei's.

At that time, Kamiyagawa and his shaman Onizuka Kiri Hotaru will sleep together in Takamagahara.

Until the next successors he recognized and nurtured—Tsurumi Aoi and Kanoya Yukino—grew up to the point of being "qualified" to ascend the steps to godhood and sit on the equally heavy and glorious divine throne, replacing him and Onizuka.

Isohime understood the mission she was to shoulder, just as she understood why her master had chosen this moment to decisively implement that new appointment plan.

Today, Takamagahara is thriving and full of vitality.

However, the ability to bring together ghost stories and even gods from different regions and ethnic groups in a short period of time was initially largely due to Kamiyagawa's unquestionable absolute authority and his irreplaceable, almost miraculous, leadership charisma.

Of course, afterwards, the entire bureaucratic system, with Kamiya himself at its core and Isohime at its head, made tireless efforts to achieve this.

It promises to build an equal and safe living environment for all under its rule; it draws on the governance experience of modern humans to create clear and smooth career advancement paths for the supernatural beings in various fields; it establishes a healthy and cyclical economic and market system so that the fruits of their labor can be transformed into tangible material enjoyment and a higher quality of life; and through a series of "soft" means such as spreading faith, holding celebrations, using entertainment media like movies, and setting examples, it continuously shapes a shared collective memory and constantly strengthens the grand identity of "a member of Takamagahara" that transcends birth and ethnicity...

These interconnected measures have yielded remarkable results, enabling Takamagahara, a new civilization that is still rapidly expanding and constantly absorbing new blood, to maintain an astonishing stability and centripetal force in a dynamic process.

But with Kamiyagawa falling into a deep sleep, he will be unable to appear in public for a long time.

In Isohime's view, no god in Takamagahara today, not even the deer and Himawari, can replace Kamiya's leadership position, nor should they.

This is an undeniable fact and a consensus currently held throughout Takamagahara.

This principle is as simple as the saying, "There can only be one sun in the sky!"
The "power vacuum" that inevitably arises from the temporary retreat of the "sun" necessitates a reshaping of Takamagahara's political structure. A new, more detailed, and systematic framework must be established to ensure the continued, stable, and healthy operation of this ever-growing civilization, fundamentally and perpetually upholding Kamiya River's unshakeable absolute sovereignty and preventing any chaos or usurpation that might arise from the absence of a core figure.

This is the significance of the "Proposal for the Joint Council of the Ruler of Demons and Gods and the Takamagahara Consultative Institute".

Princess Iso herself was already aware of this.

She will obey her master's will, becoming the most precise, core, and efficient cog in this new political machine. She will spare no effort to ensure that, in the long, dark night when the sun sleeps, the stars of Takamagahara continue to operate in an orderly fashion, that all things continue to follow their predetermined paths, and that every expectation and loyalty is safely preserved, until—

The day dawn breaks again. (End of Chapter)