Stuff ups

[1 hour later in the Boundary]

"No hope," the serpents spoke up with their eyes peering at a hopeless Alex who was trying to squeeze out the tiny flame out of his palm.

"Why are they still here?" He pointed to them in ire for their unsolicited explanation of his repeated failure to create an orb.

They had been so silent for a while that he had forgotten about them.

"Waiting for our sssake."

She smacked her head and turned to Yasomagatsuhi. Without a word, Yasomagatsuhi snapped his fingers and three wooden barrels of sake traditionally tied with rope, like the ones in shrines, appeared in front of the three serpent beings.

"Sssssake," they hissed, pleased by the offering as they fussed over the barrels, slithering all over the three barrels repeatedly. "Niigata!"

"Nothing but the best for the lord of the valley." She winked at them.

Lord? Why did she address them in singular tense as a lord?

A thick white fog started rolling in from the forest surrounding the shrines, rapidly blanketing the serpents and the area around from Alex's sight as his mouth gaped at the sudden change.

A figure of a man emerged from where the serpents were. He resembled Arahabaki with the reddish hair, except for the reptilian-like with slits for pupil and length of his hair.

Dressed in a strange shimmering black haori coat, t-shirt and a belted leather pants, Alex noticed two swords tucked in the belt holder at his side.

Alex imagined if he put those two together side by side and they would look like brothers.

"Yato was the Lord of Hitachi before he got into trouble, but Arahabaki is the Lord of Tohoku. Yes, both are brother Jomon gods."

"This little twerp was hanging with Arahabaki?" Yato pointed at Alex.

"Yes," Yasomagatsuhi replied.

"No shit, I thought the fumes from the sake made me hear something wrong," the newcomer said and bowed to the woman. "Thanks for the sake, by the way."

Alex tilted his head in confusion. Didn't the sake belong to the three serpents? Wait, he didn't even ask for her name.

"The three serpents are him," she had read Alex's mind. "Yato-no-Kami, lord of Namegata, former lord of old Hitachi province. As for my name, don't ask. Just address me by Crow."

"Old crow," Yato laughed as she waved him aside.

For a Celestial Crow like her to be laughed at by a primeval being, their relationship seemed long enough to assume such familiarity.

"Then why do they need a shrine to stop him from leaving?"

Yato chuckled. "Because humans are stupid. I cull them when necessary. So they think I am malevolent…"

Alex crunched his face up. Yato did not know the human understanding of malevolence. Killing people is a malevolent action.

"… The old shrine can't keep me in but there's a weapon within, left lying around by Takamagahara, which keeps our kind from bothering me," Yato added.

"You need to update it. It doesn't fire at Yaso," she replied.

"Yaso's aura stuffs up everything from the inanimate to the human if he doesn't restrain it," Yato snickered while Yasomagatsuhi showed a stoic blank expression.

Alex glanced at the sign on the Torii gate. Two scripts stood out - one meant night and the other meant sword.

"Night sword? That's the meaning of your name?"

"Funny you should notice. Humans don't. The last time my shrine was busy with humans was because they mistook me for the inspiration for some anime character named Yato. Hey, at least, they brought sake," Yato shrugged.

"You are quite an alcoholic," she replied.

"Not human. No liver to affect. But I best be going," Yato turned around.

Just before he entered the swaddling white fog, she said, "Don't go yet."

"Oh?" Yato raised his eyebrow at her.

"I need you to help me with this one here," she pointed at Alex.

Yato frowned. "If you are asking for a fight session, Yaso will be the one."

"Yaso, lightly punch Yato," she said.

"W-wai—-AHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh,"

Something tossed Yato up in the air like a flipping pancake, and he fell, crashing down to the ground into three very dazed looking serpent beings swirling around. Alex grimaced at the result as he recalled Jiuwei's injuries.

"That's the reason I can't use him. Bad luck aura combined with his power, he makes the perfect soul shearer."

"I only used the aura to punch him."

"Ok, you scare even me sometimes," she muttered as she watched the fog carefully. "Yato has also grown stronger. He still can maintain cover."

The serpents disappeared into the fog and Yato re-appeared again, crawling out, clutching his chest, groaning. Alex could spot the tiny greenish wisps leaking out of Yato's slowly deflating body.

A snap of her fingers and the thirteen stone guardians appeared around him, emitting a soft yellowish glow which soon swathed Yato with a radiant light, sealing the leaks.

"T-thanks."

"With such serious injury, you should have stayed in the serpent form."

"If I did that, the fog cover won't hold for long," Yato laid on the ground facing the sky.

"Fine, I have two more barrels of sake in the car."

Yato immediately jumped up to his feet. "Really?"

Two more barrels appeared in front of him, making him squeal like a child.

"Jomon gods like the taste of fermented rice," she said. "Give them the best and you can deal."

Yato gave a thumbs up in agreement as he hugged the wooden barrels.

"Mishakuji seems to like KFC more," Alex pondered.

"You need at least 30 KFC buckets for the Mishakuji to keep them barely satisfied versus 6 barrels of sake," she replied. "That's how big that peculiar family of serpents are. Even Takamagahara stays shy of them. Strength in numbers and Arahabaki's lieutenants."

"How much do you know about Arahabaki?" Alex asked.

"He doesn't care for anything. Just does what he likes until he needs to fight and he picks his fights carefully," she replied.

"Mind if I ask more questions?"

"Sure. If it helps your concentration. And Yato there needs to rest for a while to recover his strength."

"Why does Kanghui hate Nüwa so much?" Alex asked.

The Crow frowned as though hesitant to say more. "Want an advice to increase your survival rate to make it to primeval status?"

"What advice?"

"If you know a primeval being hates another, don't ask for a reason. Just avoid the two when they meet. Their entire politics is even beyond my tolerance," she explained.

"And Chongli said that a Zhurong may look for me to be one. What politics is that about?"

An innocent question from a human soul, so inexperienced with the traps of the hidden dimension. In her eyes, Alex didn't live to see the reality of the human world or undergone the fierce competition for the top, which exacerbated his naivety. Ignorance would be bliss, but not in his case if he wanted to avoid soul shearing.

She contemplated her answer with great care. Chongli thrusted a position of power upon him without a care for the consequences. The seventh wave of his soul, in its regal purplish blackish aura, was a curse, not a blessing. Kanghui suffered for it and chose an existence of avoidance.

"Do you want power?" she asked him.

"Well, it would be nice. No one will pick on me."

Yasomagatsuhi coughed politely at his answer as Alex faced him. Perhaps Yasomagatsuhi was the better one to do the explanation. She looked at Yasomagatsuhi and gave him a slight gesture.

"I wouldn't choose to be a Zhurong even if it makes me powerful," Yasomagatsuhi said. "From what I hear about Xitian, the higher you go, the lonelier you are, the harder you fall, the nearer you are to the void."

Alex wore a downcast look on his face. "But everyone will just pick on me."

"You are easy to pick on because you don't fight back," Yato called out with his arms behind his head, relaxing on the ground.

"I can! I just need to figure out how to bring up this tiny flame and make it an orb."

Yato turned to his side and propped his head up with his arm. With a mischievous grin, he asked, "How about becoming the worst of the worst?"

"Rock bottom for everyone to step on?"

Yato shook his head. "No. Like us. Yasomagatsuhi and his twin are both banned from entering Takamagahara's territory in the hidden dimension. The Amatsu don't allow Arahabaki, the Mishakuji and I on the grandiose floater of Takamagahara, unless invited."

"Are you telling me to be as notorious as Arahabaki?" Alex blinked his eyes.

"No, silly. The more obnoxious you are, the more others don't care to mingle with you. Just be a pariah. More freedom, fewer orders, less interference," Yato said. "I don't want permission to be naughty."

"In the Mirror of Truth, what appeared in front of you?" She changed the topic quickly before it went further.

"What is the Mirror of Truth?" Yato asked, only to get a stone thrown at him by Yasomagatsuhi.

"Their kagami, like the one Takamagahara holds," Yasomagatsuhi replied.

"Oh that one. Old ass tech."

"An image of me, but it said it's my energy wave." Alex replied.

"Did it cross the threshold from beyond the Mirror?" She asked as Yasomagatsuhi leaned in to listen.

"It was trying to. But I tried to crash through the Mirror."

"OooooooooOOOHHH…" everyone gasped. Then all shook their heads, much to Alex's dismay.

"Did I do something wrong?" Alex cried out.

Yasomagatsuhi and Yato both nodded their heads.

"You fucked up," they both answered in unison as she lifted her hand to stop them from mentioning more.

"Tell me why?" Alex begged.

"Does Kanghui know about this?" They all asked.