Mutagen

Kinjiro stabbed one of the human-shaped papers on the ground and picked it up. It was a palm-sized paper doll perfectly cut in proper proportions. The paper might look blank, but if one\'s eyes were strained enough or felt the paper\'s surface, they could make up the unusual patterns written on it using some sort of invisible ink.

As the Clan Head investigated the familiar strange papers, the guards of the clan frowned in suspicion while the allied traitors gawked at the magical scene.

The warriors of the clan had some understanding of what these papers were. However, the traitors not directly affiliated with the Mitsui Clan were not too familiar with such things. They had already known that magical things actually existed due to Earth\'s changes in the recent catastrophe. However, it was the first time for them to see people turn into pieces of paper for some reason.

"Kinjiro!"

A hurried shout from an old-sounding voice entered Kinjiro\'s ears.

Knowing that voice, Kinjiro did not bother turning around.

"I heard from our guards. You started killing the hostages!" The voice shouted. "Have you gone crazy?"

Finally, Kinjiro turned to the owner of the voice, who was one of the most prominent elders of the clan and was also his uncle, Mitsui Kanji.

"Do these look like hostages, uncle?"

Kinjiro asked, showing the pieces of paper on the ground. And after finally seeing the aftermath, the elder became speechless.

"[Shikigami]?"

The elder voiced out.

A [Shikigami] are conjured beings through a magical medium or a ritual. It was a practice learned and trained by Onmyojis. [Shikigamis] had various uses depending on the will of the conjurer. And it looked like this time around, the [Shikigamis] were used as staff members for the Alliance Meeting.

However...

Elder Kanji was quite sure that these [Shikigamis] behaved exactly human. Or else, they would have noticed the strangeness because [Shikigamis] could only be either of the two. A non-human creature, like a Yokai or Demon, or a puppet that needed to be controlled manually by the conjurer.

These were clearly puppets [Shikigamis], but how were these puppets behaving exactly like humans?

"Uncle, gather everyone. We\'ll head to the conference room." Kinjiro told the elder. "I have a bad feeling about this."

As the Clan Head ordered, every single traitor within the building, except those maintaining the artifact for the isolated space, gathered at his behest.

A large group of around two hundred people. They could barely walk in the building\'s hallway together. However, it was a necessary move knowing that something was wrong in this building that everyone but the Clan Head failed to notice.

In the worst case, all the preparations and things they had done to ensure they could trap the Empress and the Priestess were all for naught.

Kinjiro did not want such an ending. They had sacrificed too much for their ambitions.

The plan should not just end like this.

BAM!

Kinjiro loudly opened the door, causing the representatives inside to flinch in fear.

Those reactions made Kinjiro and the elders extremely confused. It was not a reaction a puppet would make in response to this situation.

But Kinjiro did not hesitate. With a signal of his hand to a nearby warrior, he ordered one of the representatives to be killed.

"Wha-What are you doing?! Let go of me!"

A female representative from another business family was dragged in front of everyone. And with the little resistance she could muster, she was unable to avoid being beheaded.

"KYAA!!!"

The female representatives within the conference room screamed in terror due to the baseless execution.

However, just as everyone was panicking, the beheaded representative\'s body disintegrated and turned into a cut piece of human-shaped paper.

And with such confirmation, Kinjiro and the elders turned to the few unpanicked individuals in the room.

Sitting at the furthest side of the room, the Priestess and the Empress, with their own entourages, seemed to be having fun watching the commotion.

But there was someone unexpectedly sitting among the two powerful beings.

It was the current Prime Minister, Hirokawa Isamu.

Kinjiro gripped his sword tighter at that scene.

"It looked like you figured something out."

A playful voice was heard by everyone. Unexpectedly, it was the Priestess who spoke.

It was quite a surprise for everyone who did not know the Priestess\' true temperament. In public, she only showed a silent, cold, and graceful demeanor, yet, also kind and nice to people.

But, aside from a few people, no one knew how playful and lively the Priestess actually was.

This fact was not a concern for the Mitsui Clan. They knew her true colors, and the fact that the previous Clan Head and the Priestess were friends was not a secret. However, Kinjiro and the elders were surprised by the fact that the representatives present were all shocked to see the Priestess\' true colors. Were they not [Shikigamis] conjured by her?

Kinjiro immediately moved and beheaded another unexpecting representative who showed such a reaction. And just like the others before, that representative turned into paper.

"Are you surprised?" The Priestess spoke again. "It\'s amazing, I should say. I did not expect it to be possible, either. Who would have thought combining Tamamo\'s expertise with illusions and disguises with my [Shikigami] could produce such results."

"We already knew the Mitsui Clan was planning some idiotic things," The Priestess continued. "So we also had to prepare. You know..."

"Aren\'t you talking too much?"

The Empress interjected before the Priestess continued blabbering.

"It\'s fine, it\'s fine," The Priestess showed a smile through her eyes. "It\'s pretty cruel not to explain how they failed."

The Priestess turned back to the members of the Mitsui Clan, who were still appalled by the situation.

"We can\'t have innocent lives dragged along with your shenanigans. So, we replaced everyone with [Shikigamis] after secretly getting them to safety. But these [Shikigamis] are not being controlled by me. I gave control of these puppets to the individuals they copied their current forms from. Of course, the original ones had no idea. Using Tamamo\'s illusions fed through a dream, they thought they were really participating in everything that was happening right now since the illusions and the [Shikigami\'s] senses were all shared."

"In a sense, you really killed them. Not their real bodies, though."

The Priestess giggled.

That giggle made the members of the Mitsui Clan and the traitors with them feel stifled.

And it was when the Priestess said...

"So, we are not trapped here with you. Well, you\'re not trapped here with us, either. All of you, traitors, are trapped in this building on your own."

Then, the representatives and hostages, shocked by the revelation, suddenly began disintegrating one after another.

"I already told you that the illusion would be dispelled if they recognized it was an illusion."

The Empress nagged the Priestess.

"Well, that doesn\'t matter anymore," The Priestess shrugged. "It\'s already found out, so there\'s no point keeping the facade."

"Some leaked our plans, is it?"

Kinjiro asked the Priestess and the Empress. Then, to the Prime Minister sitting beside the two.

"Are you thinking he leaked it?" The Priestess asked, pointing at the Prime Minister. "Definitely not. Even if he did tell us that you have plans to betray the city and alliance, he had no idea you sided with the Demons. Am I right?"

That was true. The most that the Mitsui Clan did was to contact and threaten possible allies they could get. They never revealed any of their plans on unsure connections.

"It\'s just your plans are... Should I say, predictable?"  The Empress spoke this time. "With me and Hikari present here, there is no way Mortals will be able to do much. Without the help of high-ranking Demons, there are limited ways someone like you people could do in front of us. We only needed to act based on that limitations."

The representatives had already turned to pieces of paper... Well, not all of them.

Unexpectedly, the representatives that had already expressed their cooperation to the Mitsui Clan, albeit hiding the fact, were all left inside the conference room. They were not [Shikigamis] but real people.

The innocents were saved, and the traitors were all weeded out. Who would have expected such an outcome? How were Priestess and Empress able to do such?

It was true that there were a lot of flaws in the Mitsui Clan\'s plans. However, it would have succeeded if the secrecy was kept. But how? How did the plans leak out?

"If you\'re thinking of who to blame in your failure, then look at your heir, I guess?" The Priestess explained in ridicule. "You know, he, fortunately, failed in his task. He\'s probably fighting a losing fight at this moment... Against his genius of a sister."

That statement widened the eyes of Kinjiro and the elders.

"You are saying... Did Ren live? And... Did she relay the information? Everything she knew?"

"Part of it?" The Priestess tilted her head. "I mean, she was stabbed through her heart. She practically knew nothing aside from the fact that Shin was present during that time."

That fact revealed that the Mitsui Clan was cooperating with the Demons. This thought entered the minds of Kinjiro and the elders.

Then, that was not enough. How? Just how did it end up like this?

Kinjiro turned to his men.

"Contact our people maintaining the artifact! Deactivate it!"

Kinjiro\'s subordinates did as they told. However...

"Clan Head! No one is responding!"

One of the subordinates yelled in dismay.

"Don\'t bother." The Priestess spoke. "You probably didn\'t expect, but your people maintaining the artifact are all [Shikigamis]. They were replaced while the meeting was still ongoing."

Kinjiro\'s eyes widened while his pupils shook in anger and fear.

No one expected such. Given that everyone in this building was [Shikigamis] controlled by humans, it was not impossible that their people were replaced too. It was all while thinking they were still there doing their job.

"We already tampered with the artifact," The Empress added. "It will deactivate on its own after it depleted its power source. However, it can\'t be deactivated manually. You can destroy it if you want, but I will tell you that it is not a good idea. Destroying it will cause this space to collapse and destroy everything inside it. So, you can only wait it out if you all didn\'t want to die. Though, after you all get out in a few months, I doubt the rest of Mitsui Clan will still be around."

And leaving that warning, the Priestess, the Empress, and the Prime Minister disintegrated and turned to pieces of paper in front of all the traitors.

Devastation. That was what all of the traitors present felt at this moment.

They were drowned in a facade of success when they never had it in the first place.

Now, they were rats trapped inside the cage they made themselves.

"What are we going to do? This is the end!"

One of the traitors began to panic, and his reaction spread through the unstable hearts of the people around him.

"Kinjiro..."

Elder Kanji spoke beside the Clan Head, who stood there silently while staring at the empty chairs of the Priestess and the Empress.

"Hahh.." Kinjiro sighed as he began taking off the trapped vest he was wearing. "I guess it all ends up to this."

The elders and the members of the Mitsui Clan lowered their heads to their Clan Head, Kinjiro. The plans were all for naught, and failure was imminent. It was unknown whether the Demons would succeed, given that they failed to trap the Priestess and the Empress here.

There was no point in pursuing ambition. All that was left was for the clan to survive.

There, Mitsui Kinjiro held his katana to his neck. Samurais in the past commit Seppuku. However, he was no Samurai nor an honorable person. And this was a faster and less painful way to go.

With one last skillful pull of his arm, Mitsui Kinjiro beheaded himself. It was the only way he could send a message to the clan in the most desperate time. And, also this way, there was no need for the other clan members to cut his head off to easily bring it home for burial.