A Snake's Head

Botan stepped over Yuri's lifeless body on the floor and while his foot crossed it, he gave it a little kick as if to taunt it even in the grave.

He went towards Shigeo, Yakushimaru, and Takishima. And bowed before them. Botan spoke, "Father, as a reward for my achievements, I wish to request that we spare the lives of our men who plan to take their lives in the bombings and give them a chance to escape. As a future leader, I hope to be a good example to them, and plan to rescue them as soon as possible."

"Good work, young man!" Shigeo said.

Shigeo pointed at one of his underlings, "Call them and tell them to escape. We will meet them soon." The underlings went ahead and followed his Master's command obediently.

Shigeo pats Botan on the back and said, "Surely I say unto you, I will never doubt your competence as a leader once you take your father's place as head of the Yamaguchi-Gumi."

"Precisely," Yakushimaru said as he put his hand over the bowing giant's shoulder whose bowed head was at his shoulder level. "You will lead the Yakuza to greater heights, now that a new era of warfare has begun."

"New era?" Botan asked in confusion.

"Yes, my son," Takishima said. "You see, we the Yakuza, have been spitted and trampled on by those with power at the top while we were struggling to keep ourselves together and remain strong while we were underground."

"Tell me more, Father."

"At the start of the 20th century, Yakuza had thrived at both legal and illegal businesses. Having sustainable income granted us the power to be the strongest in Japan. But as soon as the capitalists were educated from America, and granted huge loans and investments that we could never equal, the fuckers who only had legal business grew richer and richer."

Shigeo inserted, "They exported automobiles, electrical appliances, video games, and all other kinds of electronics that we the Yakuza could never have thrived in because no investor would ever trust us."

Botan then replied, "So that is why as inflation grew, the Yakuza who did not have enough invested assets had grown even smaller and smaller."

"Yes, my son," Takishima said. "They formed closed-knit ties with each other while excluding us and influencing the government to hold tighter and tighter measures against us."

Yakushimaru gripped his fist and said, "Organized crime had always been a necessary evil, my boy. If the crime was left to those who had no limits, it would snowball into chaos, and empower those with purely evil intentions to destroy Japan from the ground up."

"But what is this new era of warfare that you speak of?" Botan asked his father.

"Look at your friend, son. Do you think he is special? No, he is just a mere boy that got lucky. Look at his magic armor and look at the magic swords and equipment our men are holding. He is nothing special."

Takishima handed Botan a vial with blue contents and a label saying, "Magic Faster Potion."

Takishima continued, "Do you think these things only appeared in Japan? The world is changing. We bought these potions from an Alchemist Cartel in South America."

"Alchemist?" Botan asked.

"Yes, a magician that produced these drugs that not even in a hundred years could we modern humans could ever produce."

Shigeo stepped in, "Our men from Europe and North America have been in contact with Mercenary Doppelgangers. At first, we thought they were one of us, then they changed their appearance in a second, and negotiated with us. They even sold us those invisibility devices that we used to ambush you and your friend."

"And what is that large coin that you are holding? Father?"

"Ah! This large coin? You will never believe this, son. But we bought this coin on the dark web."

"What?" Botan listened intently. "And what does it do?"

We have received confirmed reports that it summons Umibozu.

"Umi- what??? You mean those giant sea ghosts that the headmaster had always told us about?"

"Yes, son. But, if you pay this large coin, it will grant you its services. It will deliver anything or anyone to a certain destination at a speed, unprecedented in our era of technology. The monster will appear when the sun is fully set."

"Do you three believe all this magical stuff that is going on?"

"For us Japanese, Kami will always be everywhere. There are things in this world, we will never understand and the ignorant are only left to have faith in them."

Takishima punched the sky and pulled it down as if grabbing something. "That is why the wheels of power in the world are changing. The walls that the righteous have set in place will crumble with the power that this magic will grant us."

Takishima turned around. He looked toward the sea's horizon.

A giant black tentacled creature appeared from the depths of the ocean, bigger than any whale or submarine.

He pointed towards it and said, "That! That! My son is the end of the light and arrival of the night! And we will trample on our enemies as we rise to the starry sky."

The dark shadow of the creature went closer toward them.

Then Botan said, "Father?" He laughed. "I have one last question, if you could humor me?"

"What is it, my son?"

Botan bent his knees and rested his hands on them while looking down. "How do you kill a snake?"

They all replied at the same time, "Kill it by the head, of course."

Botan looked up at them with the largest smile in his life and replied, "Precisely."

Botan with his huge arms grabbed the three of them together to the ground and put them on top of him as if serving as a human shield. Then he shouted, "YURI NOW!!!"