Yama Rising

"Yes!" All of the underworld emissaries bowed in unison in the face of Izanami's orders.

If they didn't unite as one, then their demise would be sealed. Thus, they had to come together and work as one for a chance at survival.

"Meeting over," Izanami declared before giving Susanoo-no-Mikoto a look, then dissipated into a gust of Yin wind.

By the time she reappeared, she was already in her guest hall, sitting in silence beside a low tea table, upon which were placed two cups of tea.

A burst of Yin energy quickly converged across from her, and Susanoo-no-Mikoto appeared on the other side. Both cups of tea were left untouched as Izanami asked with a grim expression, "How many troops do we have left?"

"We still have 3.25 million Kunitsukami left, and all of the daimyos across the nation can muster up an army of around 500,000 to 600,000 troops," Susanoo-no-Mikoto replied. "What are you planning to do?"

He already had a feeling about what the answer to his question was going to be.

The topography of the Nipponese Underworld was downright terrible. The nation was surrounded by the sea, and there were countless avenues through which enemy troops could advance. If the Cathayan Underworld were to deploy its troops from Hokkaido, they would be able to quickly conquer the Kanto region.

There were a total of six prefectures in Kanto, including Saitama, Yamanashi, and Chiba, and it also had a very special administrative area, which was Tokyo.

Further resistance was clearly no longer an option. During the past few days, the Kunitsukami had been absolutely decimated. Only at the very beginning of the war did the Nipponese Underworld's forces manage to muster up some effective resistance, but after that, their confidence and morale had been razed to the ground by the Cathayan Underworld's army.

There was no way that such a despondent and hapless army could defend anything.

In this situation, Susanoo-no-Mikoto knew that their best bet would be to gather all of their remaining troops in Kansai, forming a triangular stronghold consisting of Hyogo, Osaka, and Kyoto. The more they spread their troops, the quicker the defeats would come, and morale would only plummet even further as a result.

In other words, they had to make preparations to abandon Tokyo at any moment.

However, that was the capital city of Nippon in the mortal realm! Even in the underworld, Tokyo was a city that ranked alongside Kyoto. It was a super city with close to 100 million netherworldly citizens, and if they were to abandon it, that would be akin to an admission that the Nipponese Underworld had given up all hope.

He could raise this idea, but he couldn't make the decision. Even he was afraid of the consequences.

A corner of the table was reduced to dust by Izanami's white-knuckled grip, and she pursed her lips tightly as she said, "Abandon it."

This was the expected answer, but Susanoo-no-Mikoto still shuddered upon hearing this. "Mistress Izanami, this is Tokyo we're talking about..."

"Abandon it!" Izanami cut him off in a frantic voice as her chest heaved violently. "We can give up anything aside from Amano-Iwato and Kyoto!"

Deathly silence.

Another half-minute passed by before Izanami made a grabbing motion, and a stack of documents fell onto the table. She gently pushed the documents toward Susanoo-no-Mikoto, who picked them up before taking a look, and his pupils abruptly contracted drastically.

The entire northern and northeastern regions of the Nipponese Underworld had been conquered!

"When did this happen?!" he exclaimed in an incredulous voice. "We were still putting up resistance before I came back for this meeting!"

His mind had gone completely blank.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Kansai, Chubu, and Kanto were the only regions that remained of the Nipponese Underworld.

It was like a dream.

"That's not all." Izanami closed her eyes with a pained expression. "The Cathayan Underworld's army is rapidly advancing toward Fukushima and Yamagata."

"How are they already there?!" Susanoo-no-Mikoto asked in an astonished voice. "Kanto and Chubu are right next to those two prefectures! What happened to the daimyos and Tamamo-no-Mae? Didn't they try to resist at all?!"

Izanami opened her eyes as she replied in a wooden voice, "Tamamo-no-Mae has most likely already fallen to the Reincarnation King. As for the daimyo..."

Yin energy erupted violently out of her entire body as she said with a furious expression, "My only regret is that I didn't eradicate those traitorous scum when I had the chance! Do you still not understand? Many of the cities invaded by the Cathayan Underworld's forces already had their gates wide open by the time they made it through the inter-realm mirrors! Who opened those gates? Who else could've done this aside from them?"

Izanami's expression had become slightly twisted as she spat through gritted teeth, "This is not just a one-sided invasion, we're being backstabbed from the inside as well! Don't expect the daimyos to help us. Haven't you noticed that all of the daimyos in Kansai and Chubu had already left those regions well in advance? They knew what was going on from the very beginning!"

Their existing woes had been compounded even further.

As the war progressed, they were able to see things with increasing levels of clarity, but that wasn't going to help them turn the tables!

It was already too late.

Even Susanoo-no-Mikoto could feel his own confidence completely shattering in this instant, and after a moment of silence, he finally spoke again. "Your Excellency..."

"Activate Minakanushi," Izanami ordered as she looked up at the ceiling with a blank expression. "I'm going to try and negotiate one final time with the Cathayan Underworld."

Susanoo-no-Mikoto faltered slightly upon hearing this. "But Your Excellency, once we activate Minakanushi, we'll be completely powerless to resist..."

"I know." At this point, Izanami had already completely calmed down, and she said, "At the very least, we'll still have a chance for negotiation this way. Either they destroy my divine nation and get nothing, or they leave Kansai to me!"

Silence.

"I understand." Susanoo-no-Mikoto rose to his feet as he said, "I'll issue an order for all troops to gather in Kansai while we wait for Minakanushi to awaken."

………………………………………………..

In the darkness of the night, Erinys abruptly opened her eyes.

She was silent for a moment before putting on her commander's uniform and her tricorne, then quickly made her way toward the deck.

There were already many Yin spirits gathered on the deck, and they quickly parted to grant her passage. Erinys quickly strode over to the bow of the ship, and the fierce wind out at sea caused her clothes and hair to flap incessantly like a pair of bright red wings.

"When did this happen?" she asked in a grim voice as she cast her gaze toward the surface of the sea.

There, the seawater seemed to have sprung to life, flowing in an irregular fashion. The flow of seawater was irregular in that the front section was flowing toward the north, while the rear section was flowing toward the south, and the two parts were crashing together to form tall and violent waves.

It was as if there were something that was slowly awakening beneath on the seabed.

"It began half an hour ago," an underworld emissary immediately replied.

Everyone remained silent as they awaited further instructions from Erinys, and right at this moment, what sounded like the chime of a giant bell suddenly rang out on the surface of the sea.

No, that's not the sound of a bell... It's a windchime!

The sound of the windchime was extremely pleasant, but Erinys was in no mood to appreciate it as she immediately swung around before asking, "What are the readings on the Yin energy detection devices?"

An underworld emissary immediately pulled out a detection device, and after just a single glance, a stunned look immediately appeared on his face. "It's 500 million and it's still going up rapidly! How could this be? Wait... It's 600 million now! Now 680 million! What on earth is happening?!"

Erinys offered no explanation. Instead, she turned and yelled, "Activate the Coffin of Hades! No one is to move any of the ships in the fleet without my permission!"

A circle of inky-black light quickly appeared around the entire fleet, and the Naga Fleet of the Hindustani Underworld did the exact same thing.

The Coffin of Hades was the most advanced protective array available to the Argosian Underworld's navy, and it had been activated with full force. Erinys's brows were tightly furrowed as she cursed in a low voice.

Is the situation already so terrible that they've already activated Minakanushi?

Meanwhile, all of the death gods were gathered in a conference hall in the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds, watching the unfolding scene on the Nippon Sea.

Whoosh! A burst of pure white light erupted into the heavens, and within the light, an antiquated longsword was revolving while slowly ascending. Countless specks of light were raining down from it, giving it a holy and ethereal appearance.

This was one of the Nipponese Underworld's three divine artifacts, Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

The sword rose up to the highest point in the sky, sending its radiance spilling down all over the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld. Thin veils of white light descended from above like rays of the sun, and Anko closed her eyes as she heaved a wistful sigh. "So it was activated after all... I'm sorry, but your demise was sealed from the very beginning."

Everyone looked on in silence at the prelude before the demise of a civilization. Right as Kusanagi no Tsurugi rose up into the sky, a pillar of silver light suddenly erupted from each of the Nipponese Underworld's eight regions. It was as if they were resonating with Kusanagi no Tsurugi, and that entire area of the sea began to sway violently.

Turbulent waves rose up one after another, forming powerful shockwaves that swept up tsunamis rising up to several dozen meters in height.

Thanatos, Anubis, and Yamaraja turned toward Qin Ye in unison.

Half an hour ago, all of the ruler death gods had received notification from the Cathayan Underworld to gather in this conference hall.

Is this what he wanted to show us?

The activation of the creation-grade divine artifact was a clear sign that the Nipponese Underworld had already backed into a corner, and the invasion had only commenced several days ago. Was the Cathayan Underworld trying to show off its power through this?

Of course, in order to completely conquer the Nipponese Underworld, the Cathayan Underworld would still have to deal with many other powers. Defeating Izanami alone didn't mean that they had defeated the current governing party. Without at least several months, it would be impossible to truly take down the Nipponese Underworld.

With that in mind, how was this worthy of showing off at all?

Qin Ye seemed to have gleaned their thoughts, and he said, "Patience, my friends. Just keep watching, I guarantee you won't regret it."

As the pillars of light rose up from the eight regions of the Nipponese Underworld, eight pieces of crimson magatama began to rise up, and they ascended higher and higher. As they did so, they became brighter and brighter, forming a crimson necklace around Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

This was Yasakani no Magatama!

After Yasakani no Magatama rose up into the sky, slight tremors ran through the entire Nippon Sea, following which countless bursts of light rose up into the heavens from beneath the surface like reverse waterfalls of light. Directly above the sword and the magatama, a mirror that was several thousand square kilometers in area began to take shape.

It was Yata no Kagami!

The mirror was surrounded by an enormous vortex of clouds with arcs of azure lightning flashing through it, forming a spectacular sight of indescribable majesty to behold. All of the underworld emissaries who witnessed the spectacle could only marvel at what they were seeing.

In the instant that the three divine artifacts completely emerged, a vast expanse of white light swept over the entire Nippon Sea, following which a katana appeared in mid-air. The katana was tens of thousands of meters in size, and it was completely formed by scintillating radiance!

Minakanushi, the creation-grade divine artifact of the Nipponese Underworld had been completely activated!