"Hmm, I'm not too sure. How about Yasha? It can be a reminder to the nature spirits for blessing us with this child. I think it's a strong name for someone deemed the successor."

"How perfect. Let's hope he becomes as strong as his father. Yasha will need to become the protector one day, so grow up nice and strong."

...

As a Hakana, it has finally become my turn to take on the mantle of my father. Ever since I learned that I would become protector, my excitement kept me up every night, waiting for the ceremony. Without practicing my axe swings, I'd have gone crazy from doing nothing!

While our lord Sugawara Kiyotomo does prevent cursed spirits from entering his territory, our Kage Village still continues its tradition of having a designated guardian. After the hundreds of training exercises and classes I've taken, father thinks I'm ready.

Now, with our family's Ten Shadows, it's my turn to lead. I look up and see the small door which will bring me to the ritual room.

Today was the day the ritual of the Kage Village giving me the position of Protector would happen. Even I am starting to feel a bit nervous... But it's okay! As long as Angel and father support me, anything is possible!

...

After a decade of being the Protector of Kage Village, I've grown tired.

Maybe being a guardian of a peaceful village isn't what my purpose in life should have been. In my arms, my wife sleeps with a blissful smile. There truly is nothing more I want than not to need to worry about the sake of the village.

You know what? I have had enough. For decades, not even a single attack has happened on our village. There's no point to all those rituals I did as a kid. No more Ten Shadows. From now on, I'm going to indeed start a family with Angel.

Opening her eyes, I see Angel yawn and ask, "What time is it?"

"Angel. Let's have a child right now."

"What?! Yasha, have you gone crazy? Why so suddenly..." She blushes cutely.

Yes. This is all I want. Nothing can make me happier than starting a family with this woman right here.

I kiss her and explain, "Let's have a child. There's no need to worry about whether he will become a suitable successor. I just want to start a family with you, the love of my life. What do you think?"

Angel turned her head for a moment. Maybe my proposal was too abrupt.

However, just a second later, Angel sticks her tongue deep in my mouth. We kiss for a few minutes.

I couldn't be happier with her answer. I love you, my angel.

...

"Trying to summon that guy? No way would I let that happen, sorry. At least that means you are not a normal Jujutsu Sorcerer at all! How about this... If you serve me, I'll..."

"Urgh. You demon. I don't need to listen to your sweet words of deceit. I'll welcome death anyway to protect the last of our village." With slow breaths, I answered the beast with my blood flowing into the dirt.

As my heavy breathing slowed, I realized that this is where I die.

This fiendish cursed spirit targeted our village after decades of peace. Why did this happen in my generation of all times? No! If only I didn't stop training. I am the reason for this. Now Yoshiro will pay for my mistakes.

I'm sorry Angel. Because of me, our child will suffer the same fate as his foolish father. At least he has a chance to run away with the time I bought with this damned curse.

"But your son is still observing. In fact, he seems quite interested in watching you bleed out." The curse tells me. In horror I turn around.

That's when I see my Yoshiro hasn't moved. His legs were trembling as tears ran down his face. I can't believe I let this happen to us.

My body falls to the ground as I feel the weight of despair crushing me. My breathing was so heavy, I needed to wheeze. The smoke in the air suffocated my lungs. Everything felt weak.

Without any ideas left, I offered, "I will serve you, demon. In exchange, do not harm my Yoshiro."

The demon made of black fabric grinned widely and answered, "Deal. Just sign here."

...

???

What did I just witness. Was that me? Am I Yasha? No, my name is Gabimaru. Or is it Sagiri?

Who knows?

Everything is dark. I feel anger about what I saw in my last moments. More than that, I wish I could have done more. Whether that was me or not, not becoming stronger led to disaster.

Suddenly, the darkness goes away as emerald vapor surrounds my vision.

...

In a blink, I wake up from Livia's room.

+ 323 Faith

I remember now. My name is Gabimaru and Sagiri. A split existence that was reincarnated from another world. One of my favorite novels is Reverend Insanity. My favorite food is human thigh. I've lived in this world for roughly six years.

Slowly, my senses return to me. I start to remember what happened before the bombardment of visions. A small peace of parchment appears in my mind.

Devil Transformation Contract: Yasha will transform into a perfect vessel for Gabimaru, becoming a cursed spirit in perpetuity. Yasha will become a servant and gain certain abilities of cursed spirits. In exchange, Yasha must be loyal to Gabimaru.

Hybrid Transformation Contract: Gabimaru and Yasha will fuse into a hybrid existence. In exchange, Yasha will become the vessel for Gabimaru/Sagiri. As an extra condition, this will lower Yasha's impact on the hybrid body to the lowest degree possible, giving Gabimaru the most control.

...

It seemed that the two Contracts worked well and didn't create problems. Yasha's original Contract did change a bit, in that now his cool shadow body is gone.

Still in Livia's room, I look in the mirror and see my original body. Good ol' Gabimaru. The only difference is that my eyes were pitch black. It's physically impossible for this to happen, but the eyes symbolize the harmony and Contract between Yasha and I.

Unfortunately, his memories and influence still somewhat effected me. I can just hope that over time, that influx of emotion goes away and I return to normal. At least I'm alive, but I shouldn't mess with this type of Contract again. The consequences are too risky.

Quickly, I remember the sun just set recently. It seemed that I lost track of time in Yasha's memories.

There's no one around and clocks don't exist yet. But there is one thing which does exist to keep track of time...

[Cult: Yama's Court, Level: 2, Marks: 23, Followers: 323, Faith: 7800]

Damn, my Faith rose a lot. It must have been quite some time. If I do some math, I can probably calculate it.

I had roughly 4500 before. I get 323 a day, so... After today's sunset, it's been... Ten days!

Shit! So much time passed.

I don't think my Follower count changed, so Livia is alive. But why didn't she summon me. Also, I can't feel a connection through our Contracts or the Yama's Court. If I had to guess, they sealed her body and consciousness.

Truthfully, I hope Livia dies. If she does not, my secrets might get exposed from extracting it from her. But that's just hope, I don't know what happened in this timeframe of me being unconscious.

And I have also noticed an uncomfortable feeling in my body for a while. It's like when you feel the need to vomit, but it's not there yet. It's like something wants to come out of my body, but I don't know what it is.

"Oh shit! I almost forgot." I go into Livia's closet and find an old white robe which I wore before. Checking the pockets, I find the nostalgic black fabric. This thing... It's like a rollercoaster of emotions to look at. I'm just glad I still have it. But where should I put it now that this house is compromised?

If I carry it too long, my cursed energy has trouble working. That's why I kept it hidden in those old clothes inside Livia's closet.

Wait, what's that weird feeling again?

While I hold the Void Fabric, something strange happens. My entire arm holding it goes numb until I drop it. This is strange, it never felt like that when I held it before.

I grab it again and feel that throwing-up sensation again. Then my arm goes numb until the Void Fabric falls to the floor once more. That's strange.

As I go to pick it up again, I see the shadow of my hand was distorting. I go and touch my arm's shadow, but my real arm passes through it like a lake. It felt like my arm was submerged in something. I pull it out and see my arm's shadow is less distortive.

To test something, I pick up the Void Fabric with my left arm this time. It falls from my weakening hand, but this time I stare at the shadow of my left hand. It also starts distorting.

"Hahahahaha! No way!" I laugh in joy.

However, there's only one way to be sure... I put my right hand perpendicularly over my left hand. Then, I create a gap halfway between my four left fingers. I close my eyes to focus on that strange feeling. In my mind, something was starting to stand out.

Ten Shadows Technique...

"Divine Dogs!"

I open my eyes and see two large wolf-like creatures. One is black and the other is white.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! I actually did it. Is this a so called blessing in disguise?" I almost start crying from happiness.

Finally, someone threw a me a bone. That was a pun, considering the dogs... Not funny?

Anyway! I guess possessing and taking over Yasha with the Contract made it so I can use the Ten Shadows. Although it comes with the weakness of having a technique nullified by Void Fabric, the gains are hundreds of times better. Who cares if someone can nullify my technique if I don't have one!

I was worried on how to get stronger, but the opportunity presented itself. Although I am not confident enough to believe I can switch bodies and always bring the technique, I can still stay with Yasha using Ten Shadows.

Unlike Kenjaku, this seems to be more of a situation of me only being allowed a single technique. I doubt switching to another technique user will let me keep Ten Shadows, since it belongs to Yasha. But that's fine. This is actually great!

I pet the pair twin hounds while smirking to myself. Still, the reality is that I basically would have died. I shouldn't get ahead of myself and become arrogant after getting stronger like before.

I cancel the Divine Dogs and reflect on everything carefully. What mattered was the Fujiwara, Ten Shadows, and Yama's Court.

Considering Fujiwara are currently acting out to end the Sugawara, I can only run away. Assuming Kaneyori is still in control of his body, he will definitely come back to rescue his sister. This meant I definitely needed to abandon my village takeover plan. Although it's heartbreaking, I needed to consolidate my cult in another region.

Ten Shadows is another thing altogether. Each shikigami takes cursed energy over time depending on their strength. Yasha wasn't the best practitioner and only has two dogs, the owl, and seven toads under his control. I'll need to enter an exorcism ritual for better shikigami later.

However, the most concerning thing is where to spread my cult and Followers. Some regions under control of the clans are too dangerous for a curse like myself to grow. Plus the Fujiwara are after me and my people. If planes or cars existed, I would have probably left Japan, but life isn't always easy.

I need to think of a region of a clan which would allow me to grow stronger and not be hunted down. The Tachibana are very strong, but aligned with the Fujiwara's interests. The Minamoto have too many sorcerers inside their territory. Maybe the Nakatomi Clan... They are well known rivals of the Fujiwara.

The only reason I wouldn't go there is because of the weirdos. They are super religious and perform strange ceremonies... Oh shit. Maybe I can make that work for my benefit.

It's in the Yamato region, so it will be south. Not too far, about 40 kilometers. I'll just have one of my Followers travel there and then sacrifice their body to teleport me to their location. Sorry random person, I won't forget your sacrifice.

- 5 Faith

I gave an order in my head to one of my many Followers, "Run to the Yamato region until you are inside the Nakatomi's territory. You will reach that location in exactly one day from now."

Now that problem will solve itself. I lay down on Livia's bed and think to myself.

One day is plenty of time for the Follower to reach the destination.

I don't know where all my Followers are, especially since the Fujiwara know about me. I hope they are still in their villages. Well, it won't be my immediate concern while I leave the region. Ah, it's nice to relax sometimes.

However, during my moments of peace, I smell something familiar outside the doorway. It felt like someone strong was about to open the door.

"Master, it's me." Jumping up from the bed, I couldn't believe who I saw.

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