Night Parade of a Hundred Demons

The next day, before my training schedule began, I mastered Deletion and Removal and erased two words from my list.

The words I deleted were the ones I'd settled on before bed last night: Typhoon and Hail.

Then, staring at the empty slots left behind, I began attempting a new combination.

"Natural Cataclysm."

Along with those warnings, an entry labeled Natural Cataclysm unfolded before me.

It seemed to work much like Heaven's Gate of Ten Thousand Peaks. It was a shame I had to spend consonants and vowels all over again just to reacquire Typhoon after deleting it — but being able to invoke every single one of these calamities under a single word put it in a class of its own.

Of course, today's experiment was strictly limited to Blizzard, so I went ahead and activated only that entry. But then a question occurred to me — no matter how freely I could interfere with nature, what would happen in a region where a tsunami or an eruption simply couldn't occur?

So that was how it worked, I thought. Well, it made sense — if an eruption could happen where no volcano existed, that would be absurd.

"Natural Cataclysm."

I nodded at the question. At once, the Natural Cataclysm went into effect — though the snow didn't begin falling immediately. There was presumably a sort of warm-up phase required, so I figured the change would show itself before long.

With that, I set off to begin my training schedule. And surely I wasn't imagining it — the wind blowing in felt remarkably cool for spring, didn't it?

Whew...

History lessons over, I was waiting for the next session when I noticed a commotion outside and poked my head out the window. The moment I saw the snow beginning to drift down, a strange gasp of admiration escaped me. It was still too faint to truly call a blizzard — for now I simply feasted my eyes on a beautiful scene.

But lesson after lesson, each time I glanced outside, the beauty grew harsher and more relentless, until it had transformed into a full-blown blizzard. It laid bare, in the most vivid way possible, what it truly means for the world to be painted pure white. The scale of it was anything but ordinary, and I found myself worrying whether I'd have to master Nullification on the spot to stop it — but fortunately, before long the effect of the Natural Cataclysm wore off, and the blizzard died down of its own accord.

In just four or five hours — short, if you wanted to call it that — the snow had piled up in deep drifts. From where I stood as a young boy, it buried me to about halfway up my legs. Watching the knights and mages heading toward the Capital to clear the roads, unable even to sleep, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt a considerable pang of guilt... but I had now truly grasped, in my own body, just how potent Natural Cataclysm really was.

Still, thanks to the continuous snow-clearing work and the fact that it was a warm spring day, by the time I woke up the next morning a great deal of the snow had already melted, leaving no trace of yesterday behind.

Six twenty in the evening. Having finished my training schedule and my physical conditioning, I returned to Aria's chamber and ate dinner.

Two empty slots remained on my word list. As I pondered which words to fill them with, I scribbled on a sheet of paper while eating — and then a thought flashed through my mind, and my fist clenched of its own accord.

I could now take decisive superiority in a one-on-one fight, and if I could control the climate, then all that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠remained was to get my hands on an army — one that would move for my own private reasons, wouldn't it?

The knight orders belonged, formally, to the imperial family, and mobilizing them required a legitimate justification. Father himself had said it, hadn't he — an emperor without justification is a far weaker creature than one might think. So an army that would march freely, without any pretense of justification, moved by my private purposes alone, would be beyond perfect.

The problem was, a good idea had occurred to me, but which words was I supposed to combine for it?

I'll think it over after dinner, once Aria falls asleep...

Dinner finished, and when Aria returned from her bath, I lay down on the bed beside her. Moonlight streamed in past the window, so even with the artifact that lit the room switched off, writing on paper posed no great inconvenience.

"Put that down already."

「 Why? 」

"Do you really want to stress me out until I fall asleep?"

Apparently Aria was under the impression I was studying.

「 It's not that. 」

"Then show me what it is."

She reached out and snatched the paper from my hand.

"What is this?"

Well, of course. Hangul from my past life wouldn't be legible to Aria. Even if the pronunciation was identical, the writing system was different — it was only natural.

「 I told you, it's nothing. 」

Taking the paper back, I stroked Aria's hair.

「 You don't need to burn with competitiveness over me, you know. 」

"What? Don't flatter yourself — I don't feel anything like that for you."

Aria scrunched her brow — don't get the wrong idea — and turned her back to me. Now that I thought about it, I could count on one hand the times we'd actually fallen asleep facing each other.

With Aria wearing that don't misread this expression as she turned away, the memories of sleeping face-to-face were, indeed, few enough to count on one hand. Not that I minded much — I had things to think about tonight anyway, so her quieting down worked in my favor.

Isn't there some word related to armies somewhere?

Closing my eyes, I began digging through my past-life memories. But nowhere in them could I find the word I was searching for. The System had already advised me that creating a person as a concept through a word was impossible in the first place. I was just resigning myself to it being a lost cause when I shot upright, staring at the moonlit night.

There it is!

The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Judging by the meaning the phrase carried, its duration would likely be limited to nights when the moon was up. But the night was longer than one might think. The time restriction was a generous one, and having an army entirely of my own to command was an enormous advantage.

Glancing carefully at the sleeping Aria, I opened the window — then, using Vajra Invulnerability, the word I'd one day have to initialize anyway, I leapt straight down. Even from the third floor, I felt not a trace of pain. After all, when I used Vajra Invulnerability alongside Equivalence, the effect applied to my opponent as well. The annoying part was simply that it was a word I couldn't escape initializing — until then, I'd just make the most of it.

Can Night Parade of a Hundred Demons be combined?

I asked, heart pounding. The phrase meant a host of every kind of demon. Because it pointed at nothing specific, there was a chance it simply couldn't be combined.

That's it, right?

Hearing that, I began the combination at once.

"Night Parade of a Hundred Demons."

I read through the cascade of notifications carefully and nodded.

Could I ask for a little more guidance?

I nodded, feeling I fully understood now. This wasn't bad. No — it was actually excellent. Word acquisition was capped at thirty, which meant Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was effectively the same as gaining private soldiers who grew more powerful the more consonants and vowels I invested in them.

But if their superiority was decided by the weight of their legends, what should I register?

It doesn't matter whether they're Eastern or Western?

Nodding at that, I began registering names. To be honest, when Easterners thought of yokai, the very first name that came to mind had already been decided.

A shame, but a predictable balance patch. For now, alongside the Nine-Tailed Fox, I entered one more of the West's monsters as well.

So it had carried a legend of instant death in its records. Being a Western legend, I had no real knowledge of it — so I couldn't say I felt much of a loss.

But it's technically a foreign loanword. That's really fine?

That's what the System said — what could I do about it?

Anyway, registration complete, I cast Night Parade of a Hundred Demons once more.

The garden, sunk in moonlight. A white mist began swirling around me, and out of it emerged a fox with nine tails and a single knight in jet-black armor, mounted atop a steed with its own severed head carried at its side. The two of them approached me naturally and knelt. This, I supposed, was what gaining dominion over them meant.

「 The Nine-Tailed Fox can transform into a human, can't she? 」

It was one of the most widely known abilities of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and I was certain she'd have it.

Whether she had read and understood my words or not, the fox curled her body in an instant and transformed into a voluptuous, beautiful woman with raven-black hair. Wearing not a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠single stitch of clothing — nothing but her nine tails wrapped around her bare form to cover herself — she made me feel the heat flood into my face.

"Does this maiden's form please you, my lord?"

Kneeling quietly, the fox looked up at me. Whenever those golden eyes met mine, I found myself turning my head away despite myself.

"This maiden has yet to properly adapt, and remains clumsy in the handling of her powers, gracious as ever you are."

「 Then why did you transform stark naked? 」

"Because this maiden holds no power to create material things, that is why."

I couldn't find anywhere to look.

"Should you wish to take this maiden, I would gladly receive you."

「 I've no intention of that. Besides, if we're going by the legends, isn't it spiritual energy you'd be absorbing? 」

"If you do not wish it, then it need not be done — so please, worry yourself not, my lord."

I scratched my head at her words. That particular matter could surely be put off until later. Once my body had fully matured, indulging in a small transgression wouldn't be so bad. I was hardly a sex-crazed simpleton, but neither was I painfully ascetic.

「 I want to know exactly what abilities you have. 」

"This maiden commands the Five Elements and the dual principles of Yin and Yang as freely as she breathes, I do declare."

「 The Five Elements and Yin-Yang? 」

Nodding at the System's guidance, I turned my gaze to the Dullahan beside her. To be honest, there was one thing about the Dullahan that had most intrigued me from the start — the face on the head it carried. Hidden beneath its helm, radiating a red glare, it regarded me silently; when I asked for the head, it handed it over without a word. I lifted the helm away, and — remarkably — the face of a young woman looked back at me.

Was the Dullahan a woman, according to the legends?

At that, I lifted the Dullahan's head and met its gaze. An impassive face, framed by violet hair, stared quietly back at me.

What are the Dullahan's abilities?

Quite a nifty ability, I thought, as I handed the head back to the Dullahan. Today's purpose had simply been to test the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, so I'd accomplished my goal. When I dismissed the Parade, the beings vanished just as they had appeared, swallowed by white mist without a trace.

Each possessed remarkable abilities according to their legends, but they were far from invincible. Worse, if one died, its name was erased forever — so if I could master some wide-area buff-type word to strengthen my Hundred Demons, that would be ideal. For now, the goal was simply to fill every name into the Hundred Demons registry.

Finish the training schedule, do my physical conditioning, and before bed, research names for the Hundred Demons. I decided the plan was perfect, returned to my chamber, and lay down.

Which yokai have the richest legends attached to them, I wonder?

It seemed I'd have to dig a good deal deeper into my past-life memories.