In the towering building, the magnificent halls of the establishment were so staggering and beautiful with thick wooden pillars and various decorations coated in gold that shone through the wide open hall with flickering candle lamps.
There were many people in luxurious and high-quality attire, filled with expensive accessories in their dresses. All of them politely bowed to the highest seat, respectful greetings for their beloved and dear man sitting on top of the seat while there were a couple of people in white dresses and military armor on his side like retainers.
"Your Majesty, I would like to inform you that the celebration of our beloved city should be advanced with our grand display of your righteousness! Different kinds of fireworks in the air would fit your majestic authority to the common folk of our city!"
A man in a white dress loudly exclaimed as the Majesty, the emperor, was pleased with his subservient's delightful job in making his city completely brand new and outrageously beautiful.
"HAHAHAHA! Seimei, oh Seimei! You did great! Our city was vigorous and satisfied with your incredible and brilliant mind to be able to have this wonderful celebration as our best occasion for our city!"
The Emperor was in a good mood while Seimei smiled at his majesty's gratitude as his work and labor did not fail to impress his royal highness.
'This feminine bastard! You took away my chance to be honored and held in awe of our liege! Don't think I didn't know your plans, I will be happy to see your head rolling once I find the evidence!'
On the side, the burly guy in the military armor huffed out in frustration and envy when Seimei was appointed and praised by his liege, the Emperor.
"Your Highness, I would like to give you the exclusive pills and various herbs inside of a treasured fire cauldron with my gratitude and loyalty to the nation and our Majesty. Shigenori! Kazumoto!"
After saying it, both Seimei's loyal guards brought a huge fire cauldron with a dragon etched outside, looking grander and unique just for the rightful owner. The high-ranking officials on the side of Seimei were happy while on the flip side, the burly man suddenly felt gloomy along with his guards.
"Your Majesty, look at our gifts from our very hearts with these high-quality herbs from the mountains and premier pills ready for the good health of our Royal Highness!"
The emperor stood up and glanced at the 100-year-old herbs alongside a lot of grape-like pills stored in the cauldron. The Emperor felt another joy and excitement in his mind.
Longevity was always has been the enemy of the esteemed emperor. They wanted to live for far too long without any consequences and authority like no one had ever seen.
Moreover, these emperors could do anything for the sake of the so-called "immortality". Even sacrificing children and innocent people doesn't matter on the grand scale of the Emperor's ruthlessness and cruelty to any human beings.
"Kazumoto, take away all the pills inside and give them to our Emperor with grace and a respectful attitude. Shigenori! Give the remaining pills to our beloved and hardworking people inside the hall! Everyone shall receive the pills in our celebration to be the greatest nation and for our lovely Majesty!"
"Bless our nation! Grace to our Emperor!"
"Grace to our Emperor!"
"Praise our Emperor's mercy!"
After giving the pills, the high-ranking officials roared with excitement and gratitude for the better part of their nation. Thanks to Seimei and his loyal guards around, the atmosphere was jovial and happy with pleased expressions on their faces.
The Emperor inspected the pills, smelling the nice scent, and took a glance at his devoted Onmyouji. Seimei noticed his Emperor's hesitant gaze and nodded with assurance about the pills.
Soon, the Emperor began eating the pill as the nourishing feeling coursed in his veins. A wonderful feeling swarmed inside his body, giving him a newfound vitality and strength. The high-ranking officials saw the satisfied face of Their Highness and ate the pills in delight.
'Hehehe... Now, it is done. The plan commences!'
The shikigami flew out of Seimei's sleeve as the fire inside the cauldron sizzled continuously with searing heat and a mouthful of black smoke rose in the atmosphere, filling the air with dark mist.
"Seimei! What's the meaning—"
Seimei flicked his fingers as the emperor and the others were horrified that their bodies soon became paralyzed and unable to move and speak, leaving muffled sounds in their throat but incapable of pronouncing words.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Who is the filthy vermin who summoned me into this wretched state?!" An angry roar blasted through as the majestic fire grew meters and glared upon the people inside the hall.
"It is I, my lord. These are my sacrifices for your grandiose welcome to this world! It should be sufficient for your boundless appetite." Seimei bowed and greeted the towering fire himself.
"Very well, I applaud your bravery! I will take this delicious feast as a test of your loyalty!"
The blazing fire surrounded the people inside and scorched them as the transparent things like souls gradually sucked out of their bodies including the burly man on the side of the emperor, screaming inside of his mind with a thought: Kill Seimei!
The attendants screamed out of the palace as the raging fire consumed and destroyed the building with its immense heat and brilliant light like a camp in the winter night.
"Hehehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Seimei wickedly laughed at the total catastrophic event that happened in his treachery and grand scheme as the dog emperor died a tragic death of burning alive and the retainers, sacrificed.
'That bald monk must be nearby, I will escape and let the Fire God withstand his blows...'
Then, he left a shikigami which transformed into Seimei as the real Seimei walked outside along with 20 floating shikigami for his leave on the hall.
->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->
"Whoa... What's that?"
All of the crowd glimpsed at the towering establishment on a flickering light as the fiery flame danced along with the nightly winds, creating a shocking and breathtaking situation.
"All of you, do all of your best to control the crowd and evacuate them immediately! Be careful, especially you three! I will look for this event." Yoichi vanished with his orders to safely influence all of the people.
All of his wives grew tense as the situation became dire and used their unique abilities to forcefully manipulate the crowd as soon as possible.
They've understood the situation with their unique abilities giving off huge signals of danger incoming from the towering flames. The Zenin Clan and Satomi didn't hate or dislike the emperor but the sheer destructive flames surrounding the palace were incredibly dangerous, especially in these crowded places in public which is a huge recipe for a disaster. On the other hand, Nobara was anxious and worried about his father and mother, who were high-ranking officials in the Onmyouji Bureau.
Makima manipulated the people through his psychic powers while Satomi teleported immense amounts of people outskirts of the Capital City. The Zenin Sisters looked out for spreading brilliant fires and extinguished the remains of the destroyed building from further scattering of the flame.
Yuki employed her ice abilities to dissipate the fire while Yoru went to find any other victims and missing people with her ability in the night.
"Emperor has no ability like this which instantly distributes fire this quickly! It's a mystical and wonderful flame that sucks people's souls. It's gonna be the Onmyouji Bureau! SEIMEI!!!"
Maki roared as she evacuated the people with her strength, punching the buildings and instantly demolishing them for a proper route to safety.
All of them did their job as a human being but their job was far from done, countless people were living and celebrating the festival without any clue about the disastrous situation they were in.
->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->
Yoichi arrived at the shocking and nauseous situation as the burnt bodies scattered on the ground while the sucked souls rampantly screamed and swirled in the air with a black hole-like fire giant eating away the souls in relish.
In the distance, he spotted the old monk fighting against the fire giant with intense energy emitted throughout his entire body and protecting him while attacking the fire giant without any concern.
"What a genius monk! He is using natural energy as a catalyst for his physical and mental energy to converge into the overall performance like Chakra!"
The monk seemed to be able to inflict damage but no evident damage occurred through the fire giant while the fire giant was clumsily attacking like a child fight, appearing to be inexperienced in battle but powerful in essence. Example? Kaguya.
"We've finally met after a very long time! Welcome to the grand festival, Yoichi Murakami!" A man in white laughed wickedly, seemingly looking at Yoichi in excitement and amusement.
"Hmmmm... Wait a minute, I have seen you before. Oh yeah! From the Divine Tree! This aura felt like that but it is pretty weak though. Are you a shikigami?" Yoichi rubbed his chin and then he remembered the man in white in a faint memory.
"Wonderful! What an amazing perception! I would like you to use your move, the miraculous thing to save them! Use it, that power of yours. I want it!"
The man in white smiled as his malicious intent emanated from his visage, licking his lips in joy.
'Universal Swap!'
"I don't want any orders, especially from an ant." Yoichi appeared on his side and ruthlessly clutched his neck like a ragdoll.
The man in white struggled to escape his grasp but Yoichi's grip on the man-like shikigami felt like squashing a human with a mountain's hands.
"This is connected through your soul, right?" Yoichi utilized his Spirit Nurturing Stage and sent a powerful shock, enough to destroy a human's soul.
Physical energy couldn't hold any intangible and transparent souls but an individual could infuse his body with spirituality to impose significant damage to the soul due to fragility and lack of proper stability to the soul body.
"Entertain me more, I will wait for you," Yoichi muttered as he looked at the fading silhouette of the man's soul, sending it back to the owner.
"It will be too much for the old monk to defeat this creature... Anyway, the creature was pretty strong, about Kage Level? I mean, he can spawn some fire underlings and eat them through his spawns which was so powerful even at this level... Aha! His body works like an elemental on the western side! This body will be invincible against physical attacks but weak against his elemental nemesis, water."