"Eh... a god, a divine artifact?"

Ichijima Hiyori's expression turned a bit strained. Although she didn't really want to be a divine artifact, it was merely a stopgap solution to team up with Yato until she could solve her own issues. She was hoping to extricate herself sooner, as it was all too troublesome otherwise.

Like now, she had been about to rest, but then noticed a bad aura in a corner of the city, just like that night before. She couldn't help but come over to ask about the situation... Attending classes by day and working out-of-body at night was really exhausting for her!

But after arriving, she found out that Yato had already found a new divine artifact, seemingly making her obsolete—she thought it was a new artifact—yet she felt complex and subtle, with an indescribable sense of loss... Such is the complexity and intrigue of human nature.

"Umm... umm... I seemed to have sensed the same aura as before, did something happen?" Suppressing the peculiar feeling in her heart, Ichijima Hiyori took a deep breath and asked. "Should we go check it out?"

She glanced at Yato, then at the seemingly quiet girl standing at a distance.

It must be the new contract's divine artifact. Being unfamiliar with each other, it's only natural to appear a bit distant at first, right? Ichijima Hiyori speculated wildly, feeling this was the case.

"Well, I think it's no longer necessary... The situation over there seems to have been resolved." Yato shook his head, looked in a certain direction, and slightly exhaled a breath of relief.

The demons seemed to have dispersed over there, it should be fine now.

Though a certain seed had already been planted in his heart about following his instincts to slay demons and achieve glory, his past habits still made him very wary of times of calamity. When demons appeared in great numbers, he instinctively wanted to avoid them rather than confront them head-on.

"Is that so, then that's good... So everything's fine now?" Ichijima Hiyori patted her chest, relieved.

"Not at all, that person surely won't stop..." Yato sighed, seemingly aware of the opponent's clear target. Although the impact seemed minimal, stacking up success in ancient times was akin to gaining dozens of villages' worth of believers.

Not making a big fuss was likely not to tip their hand prematurely, but going slow like this, they could still devour the city's basic faith base bit by bit, all done in the shadows... If the predetermined future bursts forth, they might cry out and garner a throng of followers.

The more he thought about it, the more he suspected the opponent might have already established a bigger base somewhere else, planting seeds of faith in countless hearts before coming to this city.

......

At the same time.

"Too unstable..."

A fresh-faced high school student sat at a desk, seemingly absorbed in writing. Though the room was unlit, he didn't appear to need light. In the dim setting, he deftly wielded a strange brush painting eye symbols on paper.

He shook his head, released the summoned masked demon, then switched to another sheet and kept painting the eye symbol, preparing to summon more masked demons... Employing demons wasn't easy; if not bestowed a name, they wouldn't strictly follow commands—granted a name meant directly been stabbed by the demon, posing high risk.

But the brush in his hand was Izuna's "Yellow Springs Language," capable of summoning a masked demon simply by drawing the eye symbol, without the peril of naming or additional cost or restriction.

The reason the High Celestial Plain feared mages using masked demons probably lied here—gods growing weaker while demons gained strength; having nearly unrestricted demon-control ability posed a threat to the fixed order and vested interests of the divine society.

However, Father of Yato knew well his own worries, as the Yellow Springs Language he wielded, being the first brush crafted by Izuna, had flaws despite being an original and ancient creation, lacking in strength and perfection.

The masked demons summoned by the first brush varied, each with particular flaws; some feared sunlight, others were single-use only... altogether unstable. He couldn't reliably draw the desired card from the pool each time, relying instead on multiple summons to compensate.

Presently, he was striving to summon as many rare special masked demons as possible.

These were "Hidden Ghosts" capable of directly entering minds and turning people into puppets... Given enough numbers, when the target struck next, he could guide countless to witness it firsthand, creating an unmistakably massive impact.

The gods of the High Celestial Plain would accordingly be shaken.

"Wanting to secretly amass popularity, spread beliefs, seek great endeavors without becoming a target... such wishful thinking!" A cold laugh echoed in the room.

Father of Yato made the same judgment as Yato, for he also doubted a Martial God arduously fighting demons everywhere was purely doing it for slaying, devoid of desires and plans, surely holding schemes. Thus one could logically deduce the same conclusion, as modern gods only faced a few recurring issues.

Thus, be it to eliminate competitors or detesting the notion of these wanting to protect humans, coupled with diverting disaster and selfishly preserving his own interests—

He resolved to thwart this unknown Martial God's efforts, making them the scapegoat... After all, only with them gone could he thrive.

And he knew success awaited because he uncovered their plot while they were unaware of him, enjoying all the advantages—

Since one was overt, the other covert, measuring ill intentions without forewarning how could they escape it? Even the idiots of the High Celestial Plain were merely tools for his manipulations...

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