Kashima City, Central Honshu Island, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

It is located at the southeastern tip of Ibaraki Prefecture, about 80 kilometers east of Tokyo.

The Kashima family's main residence is located on the outskirts of Kashima City.

It was nearly noon.

Fourteen-year-old Sachiko Kashima began to prepare for the daily ritual of Kagura Dance.

Standing in the shrine of the Kashima family, Sachiko Kashima, dressed in white and scarlet pants, carefully tidied up her appearance.

"Whew...... There shouldn't be any more problems. ”

With that, Sachiko Kashima gently stroked her right hand to her chest.

There's a pendant there.

"Sister......

This pendant was given to her by Saeko Kashima before she left Japan, and since she put on the pendant, Sachiko Kashima has never taken it off.

Even when it was time to perform a ritual of cleansing that was sacred to shrine maidens, Sachiko Kashima refused to remove the pendant.

She knew that if she didn't have herself, even if her sister's spiritual ability was insufficient, she would still take over the position of her grandmother's spirit witch.

And becoming a spirit witch is almost Saeko Kashima's dream.

For the fact that she robbed her sister of her dream, Sachiko Kashima has always held a deep guilt in her heart.

“…… I don't know if my sister is doing well in China. ”

Muttering to herself, Sachiko Kashima took a deep breath.

"Forget it, let's do the Kagura ritual first."

I checked it again, and it was fine, there was nothing wrong with the clothes, and the Kagura Bell, Kagura Flute, Wataiko Drum and Imperial Coin were all fine.

Although it has been performed countless times, every time the Kagura ceremony is performed, Sachiko Kashima meticulously does all kinds of work.

Because, the shrine of the Kashima family is not actually dedicated to any god.

It is the legendary sword of killing the god - the soul of Budu.

Legend has it that on the occasion of the arrival of the Celestial Sun, a strange bear blocked the path of Emperor Jimmu's expedition to the east with his demonic powers, which was the incarnation of Kumano no Kami, a rebel force that was supposed to be pacified by the god of thunder.

In order to save the life of Qiongqiong Pestle, who was in a desperate situation, Jianyu Thunder God used the Budu Imperial Soul Sword, one of the three spirit swords.

The Fudu Imperial Soul helped Emperor Jimmu pacify the Aragami of Kumano, and when it came time to Emperor Chongjin, it was enshrined as a main offering at Ishigami Shrine.

For a long time, Ishigami Jingu Shrine had a forbidden place that ordinary people were not allowed to enter.

However, to the incomprehension of outsiders, Kashima Jingu, one of Japan's most famous shrines, is also enshrined in a cloth shrine.

Few people know that the two cloths in the Ishigami Shrine and the Kashima Shrine are actually the same sword.

At the beginning, when the Thunder God used the Budu Imperial Soul to kill Kumano Aragami, although he successfully eliminated the Aragami, it also broke the Budu Imperial Soul into two parts, and became the current two-handled Budu Imperial Soul.

And this cloth royal soul that the Kashima family has worshiped for generations, in addition to having the attribute of building the imperial sword of the thunder god, there is another place that makes the entire Kashima family have to be cautious.

That's why the Kashima family has been selecting excellent spirit witches for generations to perform kagura rituals on the Fudu Imperial Soul to seal this divine sword.

The Budu Imperial Soul of the Kashima family,There was once a human in front of him.,After death, the demon king's cunzài as the sword master.。

That is Oda Nobunaga, who has the title of the Sixth Heavenly Demon King.

The Kashima family has been passed down from generation to generation, and there is a wisp of Oda Nobunaga's heroic spirit in the soul of Budu.

If you are willing to pay a sufficient price, you can summon the Daimyo of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, one of the three great masters of the Warring States period, through the Oda Nobunaga Heroic Spirit in the Guò Imperial Soul of the Budu.

But no one wants to do that.

Oda Nobunaga may be a heroic figure in the minds of ordinary Japanese, but the spirit witches of the Kashima family are well aware that this daimyo is a real, out-and-out demon king.

Somewhat ironically, Oda Nobunaga himself believed in the Lotus sect of Japanese Buddhism during his lifetime, but his title of the Sixth Heavenly Demon King was also placed on his head by the Buddhists at that time.

In the final analysis, it was because Oda Nobunaga was the ambitious leader of Bubu in the world, and he was hostile to countless Buddhist forces at that time.

In order to achieve his own goals, Oda Nobunaga set fire to countless Buddhist temples.

As a result, even the Hokke sect could not agree with what Oda Nobunaga had done, and the title of the Sixth Heavenly Demon King came into being.

After Oda Nobunaga's death, the reputation of the Sixth Day Demon King did not disappear, but was more and more scrambled to transmit, and as a result, Oda Nobunaga, who was obviously a human being, really became an out-and-out demon king as the people in Buddhism said.

Thousands of years later, the wisp of Oda Nobunaga's heroic spirit in the Fudu Imperial Soul at this time can no longer even be called a heroic spirit.

It is a true demon soul that, once unleashed, will bring untold calamity to the world.

◇

With a kagura bell in her hand, Sachiko Kashima danced kagura as much as she could.

The expression is focused and serious, and every movement is tried to be perfect.

Sachiko Kashima, who is wearing a shrine maiden costume, has a holiness that cannot be ignored on her slightly immature face at the moment.

Jingle bells, jingle bells......

The ringing of the Kagura bell echoes through the shrine.

When the dust settled, Sachiko Kashima couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Hoo ......"

Then, wiping the sweat from her forehead, she walked to the altar and began the routine cleansing work after the Kagura dance.

Whoosh!!

The sound of breaking the air suddenly sounded.

Sachiko Kashima snapped back to her senses.

A dark shadow had already struck her.

In a hurry, Sachiko Kashima agitated the spiritual power in her body to form a shield in front of her.

Ding-!!

The black shadow slammed into the shield, and Sachiko Kashima's face instantly turned extremely pale.

Struggling to support her crumbling body, she looked down at the attacking object that had fallen to the ground.

It was a Hidden Arrow.

"What man!?"

Holding up the imperial coin she said, Sachiko Kashima looked warily at the empty shrine gate.

A gust of wind blew, and no one appeared.

But the hidden arrow that fell on the ground reminded her all the time that the qiē just now was not an illusion.

Suddenly-

There was a tremendous force from the aftermath.

Sachiko Kashima's eyes widened, and her body slowly descended.

At the last moment, she tried to turn around, only to see a tall man wearing a fox mask.

……

By the time Sachiko Kashima woke up, the shrine was once again peaceful.

"Yikes!!"

Subconsciously, she jumped up from the ground, grabbed the imperial coin and looked around.

There were no enemies, and the man with the fox mask had already left.

Inadvertently glanced at the altar, and Sachiko Kashima's face instantly turned pale.

"Budu Imperial Soul...... It's gone......!!!! ”

With a pop, Sachiko Kashima fell to her knees.

She couldn't imagine what that man would do if he had taken the Budhu Imperial Soul away.

"No, grandma must be informed...... And the priests, they...... Gotta be quick! ”

Staggering, Sachiko Kashima ran out of the shrine.