I loaded the geek game

This world.

Yokohama, Sakae Ward, Nambu.

Asahina Coast.

This coastline, backed by the densely forested Kamakura Mountains and facing Sagami Bay, presents a magnificent view where mountains and sea meet.

"The weather is so nice today."

Yoji Shimokawa, a manga artist signed with the well-known magazine "Hyakki Yagyō" (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), strolled along the coast and sighed with heartfelt emotion.

Accompanying Shimokawa were his friends Fumiya Takahashi, Tsunayoshi Hidaka, and Tsunayoshi's younger sister Mirai Hidaka, who was still in middle school.

“I heard this is a paradise for sea fishing.” Takahashi Fumiya pointed further out onto the beach, “especially the rocky coast in front, in the fall… there used to be a lot of people coming here to fish.”

The Asahina coastline is primarily composed of rocky shores made up of rugged black reefs, with very few soft, golden sand beaches like the one where the four are currently located. The rocky coastline that Fumiya Takahashi mentioned has clearer waters, deeper and faster currents, making it an important passageway for migratory fish and home to an extremely rich variety of species.

Therefore, before that "catastrophe" occurred, this place was indeed a favorite spot for anglers, especially rock fishing enthusiasts.

As they spoke, the four young people continued their journey along the coast.

At the end of the beach ahead, there was a small concrete pier. At the edge of the pier, gently lapped by the waves, a small boat was moored forlornly.

The small boat had a scratch on its starboard side and looked rather old, but overall it was in fairly good condition. It was bobbing gently with the waves, and the mooring rope made a slight rubbing sound against the wooden stake.

"This boat belongs to my family."

Hidaka Tsunayoshi pointed to the small boat.

Although he had spent a long time in Tokyo, his hometown is Yokohama, which is not far from here.

The Hidaka family owns a seaside shop in the middle of the beach, right where everyone can see it, so they are very familiar with this area of ​​the sea.

"Hey, the weather's so nice right now, and the sea's calm. Shall we go out to sea?"

Looking at the shimmering sea, Gangliang suddenly became excited and made a suggestion.

Upon hearing this, Yoji Shimokawa and Fumiya Takahashi exchanged a glance, both seeing a similar hesitation in each other's eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, Takahashi, who was more cautious, cleared his throat and reminded them, "I just heard your parents say that there are a lot of 'rabid waves' in the Asahina coast area..."

"Mad Dog Wave" is how the locals describe it.

This refers to a sudden, unpredictable surge of waves that overturns a breakwater or dock, sweeping people into the sea.

"There won't be any rabid waves around here. And with the weather like today, and the sea looking so calm, there's even less chance!" As a local, Gangliang confidently waved his hand, trying to dispel his friend's concerns based on his intuitive judgment of the weather in his hometown's waters.

But as soon as he finished speaking, his gaze swept over the not-quite-relaxed expressions on Shimokawa and Takahashi's faces, and he belatedly realized something.

Gangliang paused, then quickly corrected himself, his tone light as he tried to salvage the situation: "But... I was just saying it casually. It's fine if we don't go out to sea! We can just walk around like this, enjoy the sea breeze, and get some fresh air. Safety first!"

He can understand.

It has only been almost two months since the end of the horrific event that swept across Japan, known as the "Great Cataclysm".

But the extraordinary phenomena that occurred during the cataclysm remain vividly etched in everyone's memory: the months-long, utterly dark "eternal night" that descended; the chilling, inhuman screams and eerie sounds that echoed throughout the cities; the vague, panic-inducing messages that came through when communications were cut off...

According to rumors—

Tokyo, the city most severely affected and crucial to the eventual resolution of the crisis, witnessed an unimaginable battle between demons and spirits in the final stages of the "disaster." Many witnesses claimed to have seen a "divine light" cleaving through the darkness and heard the deafening roar of a hundred demons echoing through the heavens…

After that "battle between demons and gods," Tokyo was almost completely destroyed, but the despairing "Great Cataclysm" also came to an end.

As for Shimokawa, Takahashi, and even Tsunayoshi, whether it was due to some kind of "good fortune" or simply a coincidence in their respective life trajectories, they all left the center of the vortex of Tokyo before and after the Great Cataclysm, thus avoiding being directly affected by the core terror of that storm.

Otherwise, they probably wouldn't be able to stand here so leisurely today, having a long-awaited reunion with old friends.

Therefore, Gangliang's situation is understandable.

Rather than being afraid of the "Mad Dog Wave," a dangerous force that still falls within the realm of "nature," Shimokawa and Takahashi were more wary of the "supernatural" forces that are now confirmed to exist but cannot be fully understood, predicted, or resisted.

After all, the idea that "there are supernatural forces and strange phenomena in this world that defy common sense and science" has become an unspoken, or even forced, consensus among the vast majority of people in society.

The deep, unfathomable, and boundless ocean has always been synonymous with mystery, the unknown, and danger in human understanding.

In today's era of constantly evolving common sense, the uncertainties and potential threats from "outsiders" inherent in it are naturally far more unpredictable and instinctively unsettling than the relatively familiar land.

However, compared to his two thoughtful and cautious friends, Hidaka Tsunayoshi was much more open-minded by nature, or rather, a little too open-minded.

He is almost a representative of the group that is most accepting and adaptable to the dramatic changes in the "common sense" of society at present.

In his view, no matter what earth-shattering changes have occurred in the underlying rules of the world, no matter whether those "things" actually exist or have other explanations, the lives of ordinary people must still continue day by day.

Eat when you should eat, work when you should work, and socialize when you should socialize.

Just because the sky above us was once torn apart doesn't mean we should hide forever in a concrete box and tremble with fear.

As for ghost stories and supernatural tales... well, according to the new "common sense," ordinary people are most likely no match for them. In Tsuna's rather "pragmatic" logic:
Whether in the seemingly dangerous ocean or on relatively familiar land; whether in the seemingly safe home or in the open outdoors... the "probability" of ordinary people encountering them may not be much different in essence.

What's meant to come will come; there's no escaping it. What's not meant to come, you won't encounter even if you search the ends of the earth.

……

Throughout the conversation between her brother and his two friends, Hidaka Mirai remained standing at the front of the pier.

She held onto the rough, cold concrete railing with both hands, tilted her face slightly upward, and let the salty sea breeze brush against her cheeks and ruffle the stray hairs on her forehead.

She has stayed at home since the “catastrophe” occurred. Even in the nearly two months since the official announcement of the end of the catastrophe, she has remained indoors due to her parents’ reasonable concerns and the lingering panic.

Today is the first time in a long time that she has actually stepped out of her house.

Although this pier is only a few hundred meters from my home, it's really great to be able to come out and get some fresh air.

The air along the coast was filled with the salty sea breeze and the unique scent of sand dried by the sun.

For a girl still in her adolescence, this was a long-awaited feeling of comfort.

"Mmmm."

Under the autumn sun, Hidaka Mirai stretched lazily, her mood lightening with joy. She gazed once more towards the shimmering blue sea, her eyes passing over her small boat and landing on the hazy line where the water met the sky.

But at this moment——

A strange feeling seized her without warning.

The humidity in the surrounding air seemed to suddenly increase a few degrees at some point.

The sea breeze, which had been slightly salty and damp, suddenly became thick and cold. Accompanying this was a sharp drop in the surrounding temperature, and a chill quickly crept up her ankles and calves, raising goosebumps on her skin.

She instinctively hugged her arms tighter, but her gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, was fixed on the distant horizon—

There, without warning or reason, a blinding, pale white line appeared out of thin air!
As soon as the white line appeared, it began to churn, expand, and extend at an incredible speed!
Almost instantly, it had swirled into a terrifying, towering wave that stretched from the sky to the ground, blotting out the sun as it surged toward the coast!

Meanwhile, from the other side of the horizon, dark clouds spread and piled up wildly, pressing down and instantly swallowing the sunlight, turning the sky into an apocalyptic darkness!
"Is the mad dog wave coming?"

Hidaka Mirai thought to herself as if by conditioned reflex.

However, as a long-time resident of this beach, she shared the same judgment as her brother.

Given the beach near my home and the original weather conditions, there should absolutely not have been any rabid waves.

Before Hidaka Mirai could think it through or react—

From the depths of that dark, surging, terrifying wave, a few eerie, bluish-white ghost flames suddenly floated out silently.

No, it's not floating.

There were several dilapidated wooden boats, as if they had been soaked in seawater for hundreds of years, with will-o'-the-wisps flickering, tossed and turned by the destructive waves!

"what--!"

A short, sharp scream finally burst from Hidaka Mirai's throat.

Her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the ground of the pier.

"What's wrong, Mirai?!" "Mirai?!" "Are you alright?!"

Upon hearing his sister's screams, Gangliang and his two friends rushed over and surrounded her.

"Over there...over there—"

In the future, he raised a trembling finger and pointed to the sea where the terrifying scene had just appeared. His voice was broken and almost incoherent.

But when Tsunayoshi, Shimokawa, and Takahashi looked in the direction she pointed—

But all I saw was a clear blue sky, with sunlight streaming down without obstruction, making the sea surface shimmer and sparkle, and a few wisps of white clouds lazily floating near the horizon in the distance.

The sea breeze is gentle, and everything is as usual.

"What are you talking about regarding the future? There's nothing at sea."

Gangliang frowned, looking at the sea with a puzzled expression, then at his pale-faced sister.

"But... just now it was clearly..."

Hidaka Mirai herself was stunned, staring blankly at the sea surface that was now calm to the point of being peaceful.

Everything I just saw seemed like an illusion.

"Anyway, Mirai doesn't seem to be in good shape." After a brief silence, Takahashi Fumiya spoke first, "Let's go back first and let Mirai rest."

“Yes, let’s go home first.” Yoji Shimokawa nodded in agreement.

Although Hidaka Tsunayoshi didn't understand, he agreed to go home and rest first.

He reached out and helped his sister, who was still sitting on the ground and looked somewhat lost, to her feet.

Just as everyone was preparing to leave the pier and return to the Hidaka family home, Hidaka Tsunayoshi, supporting his younger sister, subconsciously looked back one last time—

"Wait! Where...where did my family's boat go!?"

……

On the sea.

The small white boat with an old scratch on its starboard side was now floating gently on the waves.

Kamiya sat calmly in the cabin, the gray-white soul crystals in his right hand reflecting the sunlight, casting a dim yet pure halo.

This is what he just casually defeated after defeating a few maritime ghost stories—

[Sending off the Calamity Boat]
On the beach at night, one can sometimes see small, driverless boats with bluish-white will-o'-the-wisps sailing out to sea. Legend has it that this is a "divine act" to send away calamities or plagues, and that if the living see it or interfere, misfortune will befall them.

Generally speaking, sending a cursed boat is not a supernatural tale that actively harms people.

However, as the decaying aura of the Underworld swept across various regions, those strange tales that were originally unrelated to the Underworld and simply came from the mortal world were also affected to some extent.

Although most of these kinds of ghost stories were later drawn to Tokyo, a few still remain hidden in various places.

These boats that carried people to safety in the Sakae Ward area of ​​Yokohama are likely one of them.

“It’s those people.” Kamiya’s gaze drifted to the distant Asahina coast, his vision easily transcending the limits of human sight. “The illustrator of ‘Satoru-chan’s Decay,’ looks to be in good spirits. That girl I haven’t seen before, she has a bit of inspiration, but… not much.”

Of the four young figures moving along the shore, he vaguely recognized three of them. One of them, in a sense, was even an "employee" working within his vast cultural industry system.

However, their luck seems to be running out today.

Kamiya stopped paying attention to that side and, like all anglers who go out to sea, picked up the old fishing rod on the boat.

Baiting, casting the rod—the movements were fluid and graceful.

The silver fishing line drew a near-perfect arc in the air before silently disappearing into the azure sky.

The familiar vibration soon came from the fishing rod.

With a gentle lift of the wrist, the force used to reel in the thread is just right.

The sea broke open, and sunlight shattered into countless points of light on the silvery fish scales—

It's a fairly large mackerel.

When the hook was removed, the fish's tail was still thrashing powerfully.

Kamiya put it into a bucket in the corner of the cabin. As soon as the mackerel entered the water, it thrashed violently, splashing water onto a small patch of the hull.

He didn't stop and continued swinging the club.

Soon after, another blue creature took the bait.

Kamiya River focused intently on casting and reeling in his line, and after about an hour, there were already four large fish in the bucket.

Mackerel, bluefish, black bream, and sea bass.

Only then did Kamiya seem to have finally had his fill, and he put down his fishing rod with satisfaction.

He stared at the calm sea for a long time, lost in thought, then pulled a crumpled cigarette case from his pocket.

Open the box and take out the last cigarette inside.

He gently placed the cigarette on the deck beside him and glanced at the fish churning in the bucket.

“You’re right.” Kamiya looked up, his gaze sweeping over the ship’s railing and onto the empty sea. “Yokohama in autumn is indeed a great place for fishing.”

With a gentle flick of the fingers, the cigarette butt lit up with a small, steady, dark red flame.

The bluish-white smoke rose in wisps, carrying the slightly bitter and dry aroma of tobacco, before being quickly dispersed by the salty sea breeze.

“Speaking of which, your Hehuan Spirit Control Technique…” Kamiya suddenly smiled, unconsciously straightening his back a bit more, “is quite impressive.”

The dark red sparks moved slowly and steadily toward the smoke, leaving behind a trail of increasingly long, grayish-white ash.

The ash had accumulated to a considerable size, hanging precariously, before being dispersed by a gust of sea breeze.

“I’m thinking of staying in the real world a little longer,” Kamiya continued, his tone light. “Maybe… I’ll go to the convenience store and buy a sausage that’s gone up in price.”

The dark red embers finally burned to the end of the cigarette.

"Then--"

"I intend to become the ruler of all gods and spirits."

The sea breeze carried a salty, fishy smell.

The tall figure on the boat, along with the burnt-out cigarette butt, vanished in that instant.

Wow!
The four sea fish, including the sea bass and the mackerel, which were thrashing about in the bucket, all fell into the vast sea, splashing up only a few fine and brief white waves.

……

Hidaka Mirai sat behind the counter of her own shop, which was filled with the smell of the sea, her fingertips unconsciously gripping the hem of her skirt, her knuckles turning slightly white.

Everything I witnessed on the beach—

The terrifying tidal wave, far exceeding the "mad dog wave," and the rotten wooden boats churning with bluish-white ghostly flames emerging from the black tide...

She didn't think it was an illusion.

In our world, anything can happen, can't it?
So, home is no longer safe?

In the future, I'm thinking about how to explain this to my parents and get the whole family to move away from here.

If you explain it properly, everyone will definitely believe you.

only……

Even if you convince your family to escape, where can you escape to?

Where is safe?

As she pondered, the girl's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

Just then, she suddenly heard her brother Gangliang's altered voice shouting from outside the door: "The boat! Look—our family's boat is back!"

Hidaka Mirai followed the sound and walked out of her house, puzzled.

Outside, the setting sun was sinking below the horizon, painting the sky and sea a warm, burning gold. In this magnificent glow, a small white boat was being gently pushed ashore by the waves.

The scratches on the starboard side were clearly visible in the sunset.

It was our own boat, the one that went missing from the pier this afternoon.

At this moment, Hidaka Tsunayoshi had already taken off his shoes and waded into the shallow water, climbing into the cabin on his hands and feet.

Soon, he held up a cluster of small white objects and waved them vigorously at his two friends and sister on the shore: "Look! What's this?"

"Is it an amulet? The kind you get from a shrine?" Yoji Shimokawa adjusted his glasses.

“But we didn’t have these on my ship.” Gangliang counted the white amulets in his hand. “Hiss—exactly four, no more, no less.”

Takahashi Fumiya took the amulet and examined it carefully: "Strange, there's not a single word on this amulet."

The white, plain cloth bag, without any embroidery or printing, is almost unusually simple.

I will receive one in the future.

The fabric was soft and slightly cool to the touch, but the moment her fingertips touched it, her heart skipped a beat.

She raised her head, her gaze passing over her brother's excited figure and landing on the horizon where the sea met the sky.

The sun was making its final, most glorious descent of the day. The afterglow was no longer dazzling, but transformed into a solemn and gentle warm gold, quietly spreading across the entire field of vision. The sea shattered into countless golden scales, and the sky flowed with dark purple and orange-red hues.

At first, Hidaka Mirai just felt that the twilight was a little too magnificent.

But as the setting sun heavily pressed down on the sea, the light did not weaken; instead, it froze the moment it touched the horizon.

Yes, it solidified.

Then, the sky began to layer.

Close to the sea surface, blazing flames flowed like molten gold; above, surging, thick, wet-colored crimson and azure; and in the depths of the higher heavens, beyond the reach of ordinary eyes—

Something purer and more primal than the afterglow of the setting sun spread out with a magnificent and undeniable force, dyeing the clouds high above a solemn and transparent shimmering gold.

The golden sky began to spin.

The clouds were drawn by an invisible force, forming concentric vortices that stretched as far as the eye could see. Deep within the center, the faint shadows of palace eaves and giant pillars flashed by.

Hidaka Mirai faintly heard a kind of "sound" descending.

It does not travel through air vibrations, but strikes directly into the hearts of all inspired beings.

Like a silent bell, like the chorus of all spirits, like the deep echo of rules being rewritten.

The wind on the coast stopped, the waves froze in mid-air, and even the speed at which the setting sun sank seemed to be infinitely stretched.

Time, at this moment, becomes viscous and sacred.

Hidaka Mirai felt a violent dizziness, as if her entire soul was being ripped away and thrown into the spinning, gilded sky...

But in the very next second—

Her consciousness relaxed.

The swirling, gilded vortex high in the sky, the frozen twilight, and the silent, resounding bells all faded away like the receding tide, becoming merely a touch of the eternal background of this world.

"..."

"Hey, listen to me, everyone! I think we should keep this amulet. Although we don't know which god gave it to us, it's sure to bring us good luck! I have a gut feeling about it!"

"You're not usually this enthusiastic about believing in God."

"Of course! I'm Miss Mary, the goddess of fortune, her most devout follower!"

"Um... is Miss Mary a deity?"

I think she is!

"Eh... I've actually heard that quite a few shrines enshrine statues of Miss Mary..."

"Look!"

The sounds of her older brother Tsunayoshi arguing with his two friends reached Hidaka Mirai's ears once again.

The girl vaguely regained consciousness, her heart pounding in her chest.

All she could see was the setting sun sinking into the sea, its last rays swallowed by the night.

The sea breeze began to flow again, carrying a coolness.

Hidaka Mirai stood still, the amulet in her palm still pure white and soft.

"Was that... not an illusion either?"

She lowered her head, and in that moment of hesitation, she saw a blazing, gilded light dancing on the plain amulet in her palm.

Its golden brilliance evokes an indescribable sense of majesty and an unspeakable feeling of peace of mind.

It flashed by in an instant and then disappeared.

It is everywhere, and needs no explanation.

[Lord of all spirits and gods]
(End of main text) (End of this chapter)