【Good Leaf】Eclipse of the Crimson Moon

Chapter 23

【Moon Engraved】

Half of the main hall of Tsukiyomi Shrine was shrouded in dense darkness, while the roof of the other half was bathed in the light of crimson moon.

I don’t know how many years have passed since the tall wooden structure built according to the standard of the local shrine has passed. The outer contour of the eroded shrine has been vicissitudes of life. It has long been difficult to see the color and carving of the original woodwork, but its majesty and majesty However, it has not been damaged in the slightest because of the incomplete part, but it has become more and more intolerant of desecration.

Everything in the mezzanine world is actually an illusion created by the law.Therefore, there is no living thing, no metabolism, no passage of time, except those who are allowed in.But the mountains and forests here are lush and deep, the night cherry blossoms sprinkle colorful flowers from time to time, and the shrine is getting old.

The bloated gray moth flew around the candle flame unsteadily, and the light swayed uncomfortably due to the flow of breath brought by its wings. After about a few minutes, a faint "z" sound was finally heard, followed by " "Click" sound, it should be the wings of the candle.The thin smoke that could hardly be captured cleared away, and the insect that had been flying non-stop and bumped into the wall clumsily from time to time had landed on the ground, twitched a few times and stopped moving.

When I opened my eyes and moved my eyes to where it was, its shape had already faded a lot, and faint scale powder kept separating from its body, flying away with the night wind, and the small body followed. It melted away, became more and more transparent, and finally ceased to exist.

Everything here is false.They were just created by someone for a certain purpose, and then made to appear "alive".The main component of them is spiritual essence, so when the spiritual field changes, the existence of Tsukiyomi Shrine is also affected and eroded, changing its appearance.Although the ancestors kept maintaining the seal and restorating the shrine, this decadent appearance, although it looks passable on the outside, is actually like an old woodwork that has been decayed from the foundation, and it may be overturned at any time.

The outer world and the inner world are complementary to each other, and they are also not optimistic.Last year there were more restricted areas than I have ever seen before, and there are fewer and fewer safe places.

As that day approaches, the sealed world is slowly tilting towards the underworld. Perhaps this time, or the next time, or in the near future, there will be no way to completely seal the door. All secretly felt. The word "end of life" lingered on the lips, ready to come out, but no one dared to say it. "Word Spirit" has been revered by magicians since ancient times, and the priests of the five schools naturally know this simple truth. (Note)

The failure of the last ceremony had left a deep shadow on everyone.Although I tried my best to shake off those ominous thoughts, but when there was a slight gap, the darkness would keep flooding into my mind, making people upset.Coupled with all the ominous signs before, this time the eve of the festival can be regarded as the most difficult time for Yousheng four years ago.

Withdrawing the thoughts that were immersed in the boundless darkness, he immediately noticed the hustle and bustle in "reality".

Candles were lit everywhere around the shrine, which had been immersed in dead darkness for a long time, not only in stone lanterns, but also in the hands of the priests.The flickering halos are arranged in a regular shape, spreading out from the main hall door, and wrapping around the open space around the shrine, adding a little vitality to the bleak red moonlight, but on the contrary, they are wrapped in black The priests in the mysterious clothes all had a ghostly expression that had been sucked out of their anger at the moment, and it was unknown whether it was because of nervousness or excessive fear that they turned bluish white.

The sound of chanting filled the ears, not loud but deep and long, mixed with the sound of percussion instruments, intertwined from far and near.

Noisy.

That's not what the man wants to hear.

However, everything must be completed according to the established procedures. This is a long-term tacit agreement between the five families and him, or in other words, unilateral compliance.

After the meditation and prayer ceremony was completed, I got up and walked towards the gate of the main hall. The priestesses on both sides immediately stepped forward and put on a scarlet kimono for me.The hem of the sleeves, which almost fell to the ground, danced in the night wind, and the dark flowers intertwined in the texture were reflected by the moonlight, giving off a blue and purple floating light.This is the officiant's official attire, which is different from the orthodox men's kimono and the hunting clothes usually worn by the priests. In short, it has some subtle gorgeousness.Ye Yuanyuan also has the same one, the color is blue and black.It was prepared by my mother for us, but it is a pity that he never got a chance to wear it again.

The air was filled with the smell of joss sticks, and the figures standing inside and outside the open space in front of the main hall kept a stiff posture, holding candle lamps and chanting words.The circle formed by the people was broken at the front, forming a small gap, and the light formed two long and narrow curves, from here it continued towards the distant darkness, and was swallowed in the depths of the sea of ​​trees.

At the end of the passage guided by the candlelight is the Dark Abyss, an underground prison for clergymen who have committed serious crimes.Its existence is a witness to the dark history accumulated by Yuejian for nearly a thousand years, and it is also a place to hide those secrets that cannot be pryed by the world.

It is now April 2rd of Heisei 4 (Note), and there are still seven days before the day when the moon's yin force is the strongest in the cycle.And the ceremony that Wujia is holding at the Tsukiyomi Shrine at this moment is not the main ceremony, but a dark ceremony as a supplement to the main ceremony.

The situation in the gate of the underworld is very unstable, and it started a few years ago.It is very dangerous to welcome the opening of the door in this situation, and what will happen is unpredictable, so as a rule, the door's ringing will be appeased before the main ceremony.Usually the living sacrifices used in the dark sacrifice are outsiders (note) who have no relationship with the five families, and if they are offered to the door, the restless Lingbo will be suppressed.But this time is slightly different. The sacrificer is my younger brother Asakura Ye who was imprisoned in the Abyss of Darkness as a sinful person.

The elders of the four families agreed that the failure of the last ceremony was caused by his escape, so to make the angry gods forgive Yue Jian, he must be sacrificed to pay for his sins.Because it is a ceremony to punish sinners, the process will be different from ordinary dark offerings. The main difference lies in the method of killing the sacrificed people.

In this short period of four years, the number of people sacrificed by the scythe in my hands was 12.The ability to think is blocked by spells, and the head is cut off without any fear and ignorance, and the life will be ended as soon as possible. The sacrificer does not even feel the pain, but the punishment method is different .

Rituals used against felons last for a full day or longer. It is a ritual that extends pain to the limit to achieve the purpose of punishment. The most commonly used punishment is "body cutting" (Note).But for Ye, who had accepted Chuyi to enter the Tsukiyomi Shrine as the chief priest, he had a special status, so he would use the method exclusively for sinners among the family dignitaries.

The ceremony is called "Moon Engraving", and it can be said that it is specially set up for the dereliction of duty priests.

The first ceremony of the main sacrifice is held one year before the ceremony, mainly for enthronement and purification.At that time, the priest who was chosen as the priest was thrown out of time, and the changes in the body would become extremely slow.Because the ceremony will be held a year later, and the officiant is usually an adult, the impression of this stagnation is not very clear, but to me and Ye, who are in the puberty period, it seems Very abrupt.Not only is the growth of the body almost stagnant, the reaction and healing speed of the body is also very slow when injured, and even fatal wounds will not die instantly.It is said that consciousness can be retained for several hours after the separation of the body and head. Of course, it is a painful process like hell.The pain beyond the limit of tolerance that ordinary people only need to end in a few seconds is magnified to almost infinite length, and the spirit will collapse before the life is gone. Naturally, it is the best way to punish.

Moon carving is a ritual created based on this principle.

The body of the sacrificial priest is painted with complex spell patterns. Once the spell power is activated, it will slowly erode the body from the surface of the skin inwards along the pattern. The power needed for the spell to continue is provided by the light of the crimson moon.After being irradiated by the moonlight for seven days like this, the curse patterns on both sides will meet, and the body of the sacrificial person will be completely divided into countless fragments of different shapes in the end, as if etched by the moonlight.

When the human-shaped falcon was thrown in front of Ye who had just woken up from nearly four years of lethargy, he was destined to be sentenced to death, because he caused the tragedy four years ago, and the shadow that followed was still there. It keeps expanding, and may even annihilate the entire moon.

The journey of counting 10 minutes seems very short today, and at this moment the gate of the dark abyss has appeared in front of me.

The miko and priests following behind stopped and retreated respectfully to both sides of the venue.Although there are many priests stationed and participating in the ceremony, I am the only one who will enter the Abyss of Darkness next.

Before the ceremony, the sinner is asked to make a confession and draw a mantra, which is a step that no one else can watch.So at this moment, there is no one in sight when going down the steps until the end of the narrow corridor.

★★★

Ye was waiting for me there, no, it should be said that he was waiting for the fate he was about to meet.

I still didn't react when I saw that I walked into the stone room through the iron railing, I just maintained the sitting posture like a puppet and leaned against the stone wall behind me.It's not that he didn't notice me coming, but he really fell into a state of nothingness.I can feel that his heart is like a stagnant swamp at this moment, even if he steps into it and stirs it deliberately, it is difficult to cause ripples.

The young man was wrapped in a plain white robe, his waist-length hair was hanging down in layers, his hands and feet were lying helplessly, he was not wearing shackles, and his bare pale wrists and ankles were wrapped with fresh bandages.

He has already performed the cleansing pose, and all the constraints imposed on his body before have been removed, including the "ghost bondage" that passed through the back bone.Now, all the barriers in the stone chamber have been removed, including the spying technique secretly imposed by someone before, leaving only the curse that imprisoned the sacrificial person's actions.During the period when I cast the curse pattern, everyone will retreat out of the dark abyss, and it is absolutely forbidden to interfere with the ceremony.

There was a period of confession for the sinner before he started, but he didn't look like he was going to say anything more.The dark hair made the face beneath it look even paler, and the youthful vigor that should belong to him had faded for a long time, and the deep-set eye sockets and the shadows on his cheeks made him look a little scary.

I have come very close, and he still hangs his head halfway, his eyes stop on the ground not far behind me, without moving at all.

I bent down, stood on one knee in front of him, and raised my arms very slowly.When the fingertips landed on his face, he felt that the other party flinched as if being pricked by a needle.

At that moment, Ye's heart was indeed in a mess.

Even though he had already made preparations for atonement, even though his spirit had been eaten away, leaving only the paleness called "despair", his body had an indelible memory of this touch and responded reflexively.

The ripples that rippled in the darkness at that moment were guilt and fear, and then returned to the silence of death in an instant.

His blank face seemed to be avoiding me, and his gaze was always downward.He and I should have nothing to say, and his state should not be able to say anything, because I did the most cruel thing to him, and his heart has already been trampled to pieces, and probably never recovered hope.

Ye has a tenacious mental strength that is different from ordinary people, but this does not mean that he has no weaknesses in his heart, after all, he is only a human being.

Sliding your fingers along the slightly cool skin to the neck, you can feel the faint ups and downs of life pulse.Other than that, there was no other reaction, and the initial discomfort really only lasted for a very short time. Now he not only has no words, no tears, even the trembling has stopped.

The fingertips touched the slightly open neckline, and the bandage wrapped around the chest was clearly visible, which was mainly used to fix the bandage on the back.After that kind of torture, even young people are left with wounds that can never heal.Although I can still move my hands, I am afraid that I will no longer be able to swing a Japanese sword.

However, all of this is meaningless to him, there is only boundless darkness in his heart, and all consciousness is occupied by death and sin.All he waited for was the end and death, and he believed I was here to bring it to him.

The belt was simply put on, and it fell apart with a light pull, and the single clothes draped over the young man's shoulders slipped off silently, revealing a slender body, and the parts not covered by the bandages were also covered with various large and small wounds , forming a strange and cruel picture.

As if finally coming to the end, Ye closed his eyes, silence replaced a silent sigh, waiting for me to cast the spell.

The raised arm did not draw the trace of the spell, but stretched out towards the young man in front of him, and he was hugged tightly by me before he even had time to be surprised.Just for a moment, the world collapsed.

How long have you been suppressed?Once the emotions in my heart suddenly gushed out, I couldn't restrain them anymore.

The frenzied heartbeat and burning temperature made my mind go blank for a while, and the salty and bitter things rolled out of the hot and humid eye sockets, and slid into the corner of my mouth along the gap between the mask and the skin.

I couldn't see Ye's expression, because his face was buried in my chest, but at this moment, his heart was just like mine, full of violent and turbulent emotions, and his body gradually began to tremble.

"……Why?"

The voice that was squeezed to the point that it was almost impossible to make a sentence came to my ears, and it also woke me up from my daze.Slowly let go of the boy in my arms, so that he can look me in the eyes, and amazement is replacing the despair and bewilderment on his face.

He took off the mask on his face, and met Ye Si's eyes.

"Leave, Ye." I held his shoulder tightly, not allowing him to interrupt and say:

"Remember, that was our agreement."

Note: Speech spirit, a spell formed by language.In Japan, the ancients believed that power resides in words.Correct use can become a powerful technique, but improper use can cause serious consequences.Especially about one's own "real name" cannot be revealed to the residents of another world at will, otherwise they will lose their freedom and be trapped by the curse of language, and the recovery of some monsters also requires the use of "speaking spirits" to speak its real name.

Note: Heisei 2, Japanese era name, 1990 AD.

Note: It is mentioned in some Japanese myths that the closed mountain villages kill the occasional outsiders as sacrifices and sacrifice to the gods. It is impossible to verify whether it is out of xenophobia or fear.But later this practice was handed down and became a kind of dark sacrificial ceremony.

Note: Body cutting, the punishment of cutting multiple wounds on the sacrificial body but not letting him die, is more similar to "Ling Chi".It is said that the greater the pain caused, the better it will appease the wrath of the god.This part is from Zero-Red Butterfly.

Postscript: Lay down, the computer is still not good for TVT, so let's write some first, and correct it later.After hesitating for a long time, I decided to bring this to the front to write, otherwise it would be too pitiful to delay writing Memories first~w.So, I will explain it slowly later... All kinds of opinions are welcome~

Note: Several setting details have been corrected, such as: the Siyue Festival is held once a year.