The group of Ksitigarbha statues began to move darkly, and then began to move slowly. Their movements were stiff and strange, and they were approaching the Divine Valley.
Perhaps due to their age, many of the stone carvings were covered with thick moss and vines. Jizo's originally gentle face looked ferocious and terrifying at this moment, and those empty and lifeless eyes stared directly at him. The stone carvings' gaze fell on him with a trace of emotion.
The substantial weight was like a gravel thrown at me, hitting me with a thud.
"Hahahaha."
The heavy footsteps of the stone sculptures were mixed with the laughter of children.
From the Kamiya River, you can see a large number of ghost babies, laughing strangely and coming together with the Ksitigarbha statues.
The heads of those ghost babies were abnormally large and hung heavily on their necks. The sinuous and sinister purple blood vessels spread from their foreheads to their cheeks and even their entire body.
They are completely different from the ones we met on the mountain trail just now.
Those in the mountain path are just wandering spirits, and they are not aggressive at all.
Most of them were just curious about Kamiya, the visitor, and wanted to drive him away.
Considering the unusual nature of the cemetery, the behavior of driving away the ghosts of the babies can be understood as good intentions.
Moreover, there are not just one or two ghost children raised in Kamiya's family. If he thinks about it from the perspective of "young people are as young as human beings", he even thinks these wandering spirits are quite cute.
But these things in the cemetery are different. They are very resentful and full of malice. To say that they are malicious is not comprehensive enough. They should be understood as chaotic thoughts, which are the kind of children who have not been taught and are not bound by social rules.
The purest nature has nothing to do with right and wrong, and has no concept of good or evil.
Like a roll of pure white paper, or a bottle of pure black ink.
"Hahahaha."
The ghost baby squirmed along with the Ksitigarbha statue and pressed towards the sacred valley.
Many of them showed aggression, maybe they wanted to tear the visitor who broke into the cemetery into pieces today. It was not for anything else, they just wanted to tear him into pieces.
These big-headed babies can no longer be regarded as simple wandering spirits, they should be "water children".
In Japanese folk, evil spirits that turn into resentments of children who died young are called "water children".
Accompanied by the sound of the Ksitigarbha statue sliding on the ground, the water surrounded the Kamiya River. The ghostly aura in the cemetery was so strong that it was visible to the naked eye, gathering into black clouds, blocking the sunlight at high places, and shrouding the entire area.
In the thick darkness.
Kamiya unsheathed Ichimonji and touched the blade with his left hand——
Stab!
Several thunders roared and exploded.
It's like the breathing of a giant beast, low and long, like the sound of a heavenly drum, making people's hearts palpitate.
In the dark cemetery, a dazzling light flashed out from the circle formed by the statues of Mizuko and Jizo. Thunder and lightning danced in the darkness, shooting to high places. Each flash was like the eyes of the sky opening in an instant.
Open, then close instantly.
The dazzling flash was like a swimming dragon writhing in the air, instantly tearing through the darkness.
Kamiyagawa's black hair was fluttering, and the outline of his tall figure standing among the Mizukos was particularly dazzling when illuminated by the clear lightning.
"woo woo woo woo!"
The water boys who were originally pressing towards him started to move out of the way, crying.
The dark Ksitigarbha statues also stopped motionless again. Each statue kept facing the Divine Valley from all directions, and its originally empty eyes seemed to have become a little clearer.
"Mommy mommy!"
The water children started to cry and howl, their screams were harsh and disturbing.
Kamiyagawa simply drew out the [Banshee] and pointed the gun directly at the sky.
boom!
Purple lightning and white light rolled out from the muzzle of the musket, followed by a sharp sound that broke through the air like a banshee crying, and the thunder swept across wantonly.
Such a horrifying scene, with the heaven and earth moving, actually made the water children stop crying instantly, crowded together, and retreated far away like a tide.
No one dared to get close to Kamiya River anymore.
"Show up!"
The Ichimonji blade trembled and buzzed, drawing a light arc of indigo in the air, pointing towards the dilapidated Kishimo Shrine not far away.
The water children who were frightened by Kamiya's thunder method were all running in that direction.
Crunch - crunch -
The abandoned shrine, which was already dilapidated, was shaking more violently.
Inside the half-collapsed hall, the statue of the Devil's Mother shone palely.
Then, an extremely huge black shadow rose into the sky from the ruins.
The black figure looked like a woman, but her face and figure were wrapped in black energy and blurred, and the ghostly ghost energy burned on her body like fireworks. Only her illusory long hair could be seen messy and fluttering.
And her abdomen is highly bulging.
Because the figure is illusory, you can see the internal situation. In the black shadow's belly, there is a huge placenta and a semi-formed fetus.
"Mommy mommy!"
The water children crawled happily toward the dark shadow that emerged from the shrine.
Many climbed onto her body, but a few were pushed away by their companions and fell to the ground, crying.
The water on the black shadow's body was crowded and squirming, densely packed together, and clumped together on the black shadow's body, condensing into a swaying black dress of flesh and blood.
"child……"
The black shadow leaned down and picked up a few Shuizi who had fallen to the ground. He curled his arms into crooks and shook them gently.
"About Aragami level, is this thing a ghost mother?"
Kamiyakawa raised his head slightly and looked at the thing entrenched in the deserted shrine.
This thing is more like a monster than a god, and it actually has the same resentment as Mizuko. The resentment is as thick as all the Mizuko in the entire cemetery combined.
The ghost mother found in this world is definitely not the true form of a god.
It is estimated that when this dilapidated shrine was still intact, it was protected by the power of the Japanese Mother Goddess.
Based on what a local elder in Kitamurayama County said, this shrine should have really relied on this divine power to save the souls of children who died young a long time ago. It seems that children who died young in many surrounding areas were sent here by their parents for burial.
The "guizi mother" we see now is probably the embodiment of the power of the gods in the past.
As for why she looks more like a monster now.
It should be because of the water and resentment in the cemetery that she was affected by these things.
Zizzi——!
The Yang Lei written on the letter coiled around the clear blade like a dragon, causing the air to roar.
Kamiyakawa stared at the strange-looking devil mother for a while and frowned.
"Child..." The ghost mother also lowered her head, and the pair of gloomy and loving ghost pupils on her face flickered, "Don't hurt me, kid."
"This water is dangerous."
"The child is innocent."
The devil mother gathered the water children who were crawling and hanging on her body behind her.
Kamiyakawa finally understood why the devil mother, who was transformed from the residual divine power, was affected by the water children and became what she is now.
She probably didn't take the initiative or use forceful means to "transcend" the Shuizi.
She regards these children who are the result of resentment as her own.
At first, it may be that one or two children who were difficult to control with soft methods were allowed to stay in the cemetery. Then, over the years, more and more such children gathered here. The resentment of the children who died young and condensed here finally exceeded the power of the gods.
The threshold that can be suppressed, so in turn, it has backfired on the current devil mother.
Is that why you turned that divine power into what it is now?
This is a deformed love.
"Divinity, coupled with the erosion of resentment for a long time, the current Devil's Mother... Let's call her Devil's Mother for now. She is almost as powerful as the Aragami. Although this is an inaccessible mountain, there are ghost stories about the Aragami and there is a cemetery.
To be continued...