Crossroads

[Boundary between the Hidden Dimension and somewhere in Japan]

Kanghui spotted the three phantom-like figures in the thick, blanket- like fog covering the area, as the scattering wings of the crows beat a hasty retreat. Two pairs of eyes gleamed like rubies towards them, acknowledging their arrival.

Her behemoth snake form rose out of the depths of the fog as Arahabaki's wolf-form burst through the foggy barrier, vaulting into the air and transforming into his human form as he landed gracefully on the feet.

In her blackish large snake form. Kanghui turned her attention to the human woman sitting cross-legged across the veil. Her reptilian eyes studied the woman.

Calm with no fear, but the powerful presence emanated from the human, jogging Kanghui's memory from several hundred millennia ago. A long time has seen passed and a reunion may be a blessing or a curse.

"YATO!" Arahabaki bellowed with a smile curving up on his face as Yato laughed and flung a wooden barrel of sake to his arms while Yasomagatsuhi leaned on the pillar of the Torii gate, watching her as he twirled an orb around his fingers.

The two red headed primeval beings bearing an uncanny resemblance to each other like a mirror's reflection, wrestled with each other playfully, like brothers.

The woman slowly got up from her cross-legged position with her gaze fixed on Kanghui, who stared at her. Both locked their eyes on each other, almost like a Mexican standoff of staring where the first to turn away lost.

Alone in the world of their own, oblivious to the loud banter between Yato and Arahabaki, Kanghui nodded to the presence of the one who broke them out from the infinite chasm of nothingness, the Void.

"You are human now," Kanghui broke the uncomfortable temporary silence.

"Yeah. No biggie," the woman shrugged, showing no fear of her true form.

Same as always. Jinwu was the name she knew of this celestial crow. The meaning of the name, the golden crow, has sunk into human legends, and Jinwu is the same one which Houyi failed to take out.

Still, a celestial crow is a celestial crow despite any illusion of benefits it brought to Kanghui in the long distant past.

No one knew where the celestial crows come from or their purpose. Any appearance by any celestial crow in a world is not good news. Kanghui suspected an upheaval in Earth soon.

Kanghui shrank into her human form and glanced at Alex meditating in the middle of the infamous thirteen guardians with the unusual circling formations of ancient scripts taking their turn radiating light on him.

The technology of the celestial crows is too advanced for primeval beings to understand, but Kanghui knew it could hasten processes to unlock the potential abilities trapped within the strands of the soul's energy core.

"Had he survived the soul shearing process by himself, he won't face difficulties opening his capability," Jinwu said as though reprimanding her.

Irked by her comment, Kanghui kept a straight face while remaining silent. She never trained a complete human soul, which went through the final evolution.

A burst of flames below Alex roared as his face grimaced.

"What are you doing?" Kanghui pointed at Alex, who trembled, gritting his teeth.

"Simulating the shearing process, or else, he will be as helpless as a baby. Fleeing and defensive flames aren't enough to face those who are out to get you. He will be the first target," Jinwu said.

"How do you know?"

"I know, because the hidden world does not differ from the mortal world. Even the parents of this body nearly died prematurely because some tried to get to me." Jinwu flashed her a weak smile.

Kanghui understood what she meant. She is not ignorant of ways taken by more vengeful primeval beings. Jinwu is in human form now, vulnerable to human emotions and physical suffering. As a celestial crow, Jinwu would have many enemies from several factions.

Kanghui easily deduced that the targets would be the parents or any siblings where the thirteen guardians had no obligation to protect.

"Who told you of the situation in Xitian? How did you know we will be in trouble?" Kanghui asked.

Jinwu gestured to Alex and said, "He told me about crashing through the Mirror of Truth."

Kanghui furrowed her forehead and cursed her luck. She should have asked Alex about the details of the malfunction. The Mirror of Truth would have signaled a few of her own enemies to Alex's existence and the make up of his soul core.

Yasomagatsuhi glided over to them while Arahabaki and Yato continued their banter.

Kanghui greeted him with a curt nod.

"I suggest you don't register him in Xitian but Takamagahara, since you have a place with us. Ōmagatsuhi has a way of making them agree since he is awake," Yasomagatsuhi suggested. "He can cross over when he is independent."

"I am not sure if he will be willing."

Yasomagatsuhi tilted his head towards the now serene looking Alex. "He hasn't much experience with his own cultural heritage, but his human studies brought him into contact more with ours."

"Ask him later and lay out what lies ahead of him if he chooses either way," Jinwu said and then narrowed her eyes at Alex. "If I were him, I wouldn't choose Xitian. Any other faction would be better. Even Morningstar's."

With a wave of Yasomagatsuhi's hand, a holographic screen appeared floating in front of them, displaying the schematics of Alex's make up with the glowing soul core. The tagged seventh wave showed rapid chaotic flow through Alex's core quicker than the rest.

"He is extremely imbalanced," Yasomagatsuhi said. "One wave is greater than the other six. That impairment can only stabilize after a few centuries."

"Yeah, having Houdini-level escape artist ability is useless," Arahabaki's gruff voice said. "He won't even survive the blast formation they placed over our heads in Huangquan. We can escape being singed. He will blow up and join the queue to the Pavilion of whatever you call it."

"Forgetfulness."

"Whatever. Your faction is worse than Takamagahara. At least, ours don't have that kind of hierarchy to boss all of us around."

Kanghui contemplated what they have said.

"How much of your physical body's lifespan have you lost because of Chongli?" Kanghui asked Jinwu.

"Before, 40 years left on it, but now it is 30. So 10 years off. Still a lot of time to find a replacement," Jinwu shrugged.

A decade loss. That was what Jinwu sacrificed to keep the agreement with Chongli, but why? The sole obstacle is the rarity of this specific physical body to fit a celestial crow.

The original owners of this body peculiar physique would mostly die in their early childhood or sometimes as babies - too young to make a deal. Too fragile and too delicate for the world. That much Kanghui knew.

"I sold him the concept of being worst of the worst," Yato pipped in. "Besides, Takamagahara doesn't want us around —"

"Until they need us," Arahabaki finished his sentence.

"Yeah, like protecting Suwa shrine in Japan from the atomic blast on August 9, 1945 while letting Urakami shrine—" Yato continued.

*SMACK*

"Urakami Cathedral, you idiot, they are not shrines if they believe in the other not of our origin and it was the Mishakuji protecting Suwa, not you," Arahabaki corrected him after delivering the smack on his head.

"Church, shrines - what's the diff? Not like I follow human business," Yato said. "Besides, I protected Sanno there as a favor to old Okuninushi."

"Sanno shrine evaporated from the intensity of the heat," Jinwu stated.

Yato scowled and protested, "hey come on, at least, two Torii gates and the two old ass camphor trees withstood the blast. Do you know how many primeval beings are in the Mishakuji? It's just me 800 meters from the epicenter of the blast wave."

Kanghui quietly observed their banter about the Second World War.

She already knew how Takamagahara would go to lengths to protect what was theirs and to hint of their powers to the human believers. Their human believers called them the Kami and the Kami will protect what belonged to the Kami.

The Suwa Shrine of Nagasaki was no different. She recalled the mass human defection from the new religion back into Takamagahara's dominant belief system once the local humans noted how the atomic bomb blast flattened the cathedral and the neighbouring Catholic neighbourhood.

Takamagahara, as an option, was not unfavorable. Even Kanghui herself, Jiuwei and the others had sheltered under their faction during the tumultuous anarchy created by the power struggles of the primeval beings in Xitian.

"Consider Takamagahara," Yasomagatsuhi spoke up again and gestured to Alex, "Your dual elemental powers are antagonistic to the key elemental power in him. Kagutsuchi can teach him more on the control of fire if he belongs to our faction."

Kagutsuchi is one of the known Zhurong which absorbed Chongli's waves. Unlike Xitian, no competition against him stood. Kagutsuchi is also a prominent member of Takamagahara without a need to claw up the ranks.

However, his temper reflected the attributes of his powers - erratic and explosive.

"When Kagutsuchi has nearly burnt down old Edo a few times over and then let's not even think of the good old days of Hei-an," Kanghui raised her eyebrow.

"Shows you how much firepower he has. Even without me."

Kanghui slapped her forehead. Arguing is pointless with that skewed logic presented by a naturally destructive primeval being like Yasomagatsuhi.

"Oh, occasionally when he's bored, he burns his own shrines." Yato rubbed his chin.

"I'm not sure that this is something to be proud of," Kanghui said.

"Whatever it is, you are at the crossroads, but one thing you can be sure of, returning to Xitian looks less likely," Arahabaki pointed out.