Chapter 478: Life After Death
All of Yuna’s siblings died.
All of them were taken by Izanami.
Everybody knew. Everybody was told.
When the souls returned and Matsue was populated once more, Izanami ripped up the sky again. A voice echoed like the chill of death. She did not appear in the form of death. She was beautiful with infinitely long silky hair and a red kimono that brightened with the advent of the white space behind her.
"ThE morTaL As KAZI HOSSAIN deFeAted Me and My SoN. But I ProMisEd. One ThousAnd SoulS. One ThouSanD I wiLl taKe for DaRinG tO Go AgaInSt ME."
Awe and fear turned to shrieks and screams. The selected one thousand turned to black smoke that flew into the palm of her hand. Izanami smiled and the Heavenly Tower closed the barrier between them one last time.
Kazi stood in the doorway of the poor servant woman’s home, silent to the scent of blood, incense, and tears. The wooden home was dim, a single candle flickering on a low table, casting long shadows over the room’s occupants—Yuna, kneeling in the center, and the clothes of her siblings, lying beside her. Their souls were gone. Only the material fabric of their existence remained.
Yuna didn’t sob. She had already cried herself into exhaustion. Her small hands, shaking, clutched a string of prayer beads so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. When she noticed him, she forced herself to bow her head.
"...Lord Kazi."
He hated that title. He hated hearing his name from her lips when he knew the truth. He should have never come.
"There will be an event soon," Kazi said quietly, keeping his tone steady, "to help purify the souls who have passed. You don’t have to do this alone."