Captain Nippon: The Forsaken Fan/ Misute Rareta Fan
Jul 13, 2022 4:29:00 GMT
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 13, 2022 4:29:00 GMT
From the Files of the US Office of Strategic Security:
Re: Captain Nippon:
If one has read the declassified accounts of Japan's wartime Black Dragon Society, then one will be familiar with the circumstances behind the resurrection and ultimate downfall of a Japanese military officer reanimated by Onmyoji darkmages as the soulless, animated cadaver known as "Captain Nippon." While his futile series of endeavours against Captain Marvel Junior are on the public record, what is not so well known is the series of setbacks that the creature also experienced in the Manchukuo theatre (Japanese-occupied Manchuria).
There is a well-known Japanese medieval legend about the self-discipline and precision of the samurai caste, expressed with the biwa as Ogi No Mato. In it, two Shogun era rival samurai and retainer armies face one another, apparently evenly matched. Then, to test the self-discipline and precision of one of the rival army's premier samurai, a young woman is seen in a boat with a folding fan, steadily flicking back and forward. The samurai must concentrate to insure that he does not inadvertantly kill the young woman and hit the target motif on the fan. However, mercifully in this tale, his aim is true and his throwing knife impales itself on the target of the fan panel in question. His valour and self-discipline found equal to the task, the warrior went on to lead the rout of the opposing army in the subsequent battle.
Perhaps fittingly, given his provenance and the test of virtue and precision that the original Ogi No Mato story illustrates, it is indicative of the debased character and necromancy involved in his reanimation that Captain Nippon never underwent the Ogi No Mato test. Had he done so, he would have been unequal to the task and killed an innocent woman. And given the documented evidence from Chinese Army sources and civilian witnesses, that would have been only his first Japanese fatality. When it came to innocent Chinese elders, children, infants and vulnerable others, his depredations are hideously clear for all to see.
But was there an underlying reason that the Onmyoji Black Dragon Society's 'secret weapon' was so ineffective?
CHONGQUING. FREE CHINA: 1941:
Far to the east, the skies broiled as Japanese Zero bombers discharged their deadly arsenal on frightened villagers, but the line of demarcation had not moved much in two years. In the hills, the monastery known as 慈悲的莲花 (Cibei de Lianhua/ Compassionate Lotus) stood as it had done for almost a thousand years, an oasis of peace and solitude in a wartorn and divided land. Abbot Xinhuang Lee unrolled a scrap of parchment containing a cipher from an old friend in Tokyo's Avenue of the Peony Blossoms and fellow Buddhist, Father Yusai. Yusai was a man of faith and gentleness, and one who was deeply unsettled at what he had witnessed happening in his country since the militarist cabal of Tojo had seized power. At first, he had hoped that the steady and calm hand of Emperor Hirohito could still Tojo's xenophobia and militarism. But as the news about what his country was doing to China reached him despite official censorship, Father Yusai realised with a heavy heart that he had no option but to give succour to those who were victimised and ravaged by the morally calloused souls within Tokyo. But what could he, a prefecture holy man, do against the apparatus of repression and cruelty that Tojo and his cronies had under their control?
And then, one day, darker tidings still reached the good father. Father Yusai heard about the foul 慈悲的莲花 (Si ling shu, necromancy) that the feared Black Dragon Society had embraced to pursue its agenda. It had taken a fallen Japanese military officer, Captain Asahi Sato, and resorted to unholy and accursed rites to transform the man's corpse into a 行走的尸体 (Xingzou de $#!*i, walking cadaver), infusing their "Captain Nippon" with the qualities of 蛮力 (man li, brute power), 恨 (hen, hate), 恐怖 (kongbu, terror), 谋杀 (mousha, murder), 愤怒 (fennu, anger) and 情欲 (qingyu, lust). Abbot Lee was deeply troubled at what his old friend had related in the scrap of parchment, for the juxtapositioning of those Forbidden Impurities had gifted the monster with immense strength, ruthlessness and brutality, with no regard for human life. Given the potency of the spell, it was impossible to directly cancel out, whether in the Middle Kingdom or Home Islands. One sage, however, had told of a blue-clad American youth of great power, 惊奇队长少年 (Jīngqí duìzhǎng shàonián, Captain Marvel Junior), who would be pitted against this abomination in human form as an agent of the sunlight and virtue. The coded letter reminded Abbot Lee of something that the two scholars had conversed about at a meeting of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in Beijing when they were much younger and idealistic, hoping to avert another world war. Their conversation had been about the possibility that a suitably depraved ruler or cabal might resort to forbidden dark thaumaturgy to preserve or expand their own power and spread destruction, death and sadism in their malevolent wake. My dear friend, the letter concluded, it is time that you tried out 绽放的希望之花 (Zhànfàng de xīwàng zhī huā, the Unfolding Blossom of Hope), which we discussed all those long years ago. Somehow, 厌恶 (Yanwu, the Abomination) must be stopped.
Abbot Lee nodded as he dispatched the letter to his hearth fire. Good Father Yusai had risked his life to get this information to him and fortunately, Abbot Lee had the very counterspell that his fellow cleric had counselled.
BARDO THODOL: SOMEWHERE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH:
The soul that had once been that of Captain Asahi Sato was journeying through the afterlife, awaiting rebirth. His had been a mostly virtuous life. Even when it came to his Imperial Japanese Army military service, he did not participate or condone any of the wartime atrocities that zealots within his nation excused, condoned or committed. What was happening in Manchukuo had nauseated him and it was typical of his lifetime valour that when he did die, it was when he intercepted a bullet meant for other officer, and did so deliberately. He was resigned to not achieving nirvana in this turn of the karmic wheel of rebirth and hoped that his virtue had been enough to deter being downgraded to a lower rung on the hierarchy of beings. And then, a light shone within the sepia realm of interstitial preparation and Captain Sato became aware of a presence there:
"Captain Sato. I am afraid that your step toward enlightenment and fulfilment will have to be deferred. I apologise for this intrusion, but you are an enlightened soul."
"Is it Yuriko? Is it the men under my command?"
"As ever, your thoughts are of virtue and selfless responsibility to others. Captain Sato, your body has been reanimated through the dark art of nekuromanshi through the offices of the Black Dragon Society of the Onmyoji of Japan."
"How could this have been allowed to happen? Was not my body prepared by the sacred rites of our religion?"
"No, Captain. It was intercepted beforehand and a demonic entity now occupies it. The Black Dragon Society is using it to drive a U~ōkingukyadabā, a 'walking cadaver' and commit acts of brutality, cruelty and sadism against the inhabitants of China."
"That is... unconscionable. I do not care for my own reputation but I do care for the vulnerable, weak and innocent that this U~ōkingukyadabā abomination will prey upon and destroy. Sage, tell me what I must do to prevent this obscenity."
"I knew that appeals to your innate decency and virtue would not go amiss. It is not possible to evict the intruder from your former body, but given your past ties to it, you can obstruct and interfere with its course of action."
"Anything. It is against the bushido code to do what the Black Dragon Society is enabling this to do. It is my duty to stand in its way and deny it its murderous passions."
"Do you see an orange light ahead? Then head toward it and your intent will be realised. I profoundly apologise for this intrusion into your karma, but Lady Yuriko has spoken to me often of your virtue and decency. I see she was right in her assessment of your noble character."
THE PACIFIC WAR: 1942-1944:
And thus, throughout the intervening period, Captain Nippon's activities and intellectual acuity were subverted by the intrusion of his body's unquiet yet virtuous former occupant, who persistently fought the entity that had usurped it. The entity did not know about the presence of the other and as the demonic entity in question was one of the lower status occupants of the hell-kingdoms, it did not realise that its usurpation was resisted. Captain Sato sought prodigiously to deflect the creature from its respective tasks and assist Captain Marvel Junior in his battles against the necromancers abomination, impairing its ability to operate complicated weaponry such as firearms so that it had to resort to clubs and even, in one case, use of its own teeth, to pursue its vendetta against its caped tormentor and adversary. Its incompetence deterred Captain Nazi from assisting it past its first assignment, which was just as well as Captain Sato was disgusted at the inhumanity and ruthlessness of the Axis ally in question. When he discovered that Captain Nazi had murdered Freddy Freeman's beloved grandfather in conversation with him, he had to muster every vestige of his bushido discipline and self-control to prevent himself from turning on the blond barbarian and beating him to a pulp for his callousness and malignancy. Captain Sato continued to corrode Captain Nippon's martial reputation, causing him to fall from a speedboat when an Axis Pacific Island base was destroyed by Captain Marvel Junior in turn. And finally, when Captain Marvel Junior faced Captains Nazi and Nippon at the Colorado River Dam, which the latter had sought to sabotage, Captain Sato's skilful obstruction meant that there was a final and irrevocable schism between the two Axis agents in its aftermath, which suited Captain Sato well. As the Black Dragon Society perceived that its vaunted necromantic pawn was failing to achieve its results, it diminished its control over it. By 1944, the tide of the Pacific war had turned decisively in favour of the Allies and as a consequence, Captain Nippon was recalled to the Home Islands. Captain Sato was quite aware of its intentions toward his bereaved fiancee, Lady Yuriko Matsesune, and was thankful that Father Yusai had acted to prevent any lustful assault on her purity and virtue through the thaumaturgic restraints and sacred talismans that he had provided her with.
TOKYO: 1944:
However, sadly, Lady Yuriko's father, Lord Hinata Matsesune had finally returned home from overseeing Imperial combat and covert operations on the Chinese mainland, and with horror, witnessed what his daughter had undertaken to keep herself and her retainer safe from the U~ōkingukyadabā. Angrily, he tore down the protective o-fuda scriptural barriers to the abomination's entry to his property while his daughter and her retainer O-Yone, bathed. However, he did not find the other talismans that Father Yusai had provided to protect her from its depredations- the holy Kai-On Nyorai, or Sea-Sounding Tathagata Buddha, or the accompanying image of the Blessed Kwanyin, a holy shiryo-yoke, which protected her from the malice and wiles of the malignant dead. And as the Black Dragon Society became preoccupied with direct defence of the Home Islands from Allied air bombardment and encroachment on island stepping stones to Japan itself, so too did they overlook the earnest and heartfelt sagaki prayers and entreaties that Father Yusai made to enable Captain Sato's increasing control over the U~ōkingukyadabā.
And then came the dark night when Lord Hinata Matsesune decided that to save face with his increasingly sceptical Black Dragon Society colleagues and prevail over hostile factions within the Omyoji as well, he would have to sacrifice his daughter's virtue to Captain Nippon's lusts to re-empower it. He did not suspect that down the Avenue of Peony Blossoms, in the adjacent Buddhist shrine, Father Yusai was continuing to strengthen the control of his ally behind the corrupted and possessed bodily edifice of "Captain Nippon." And thus, the trap was sprung. Eagerly, the demon recognised that the o-fudo barriers of the Udo-Da-Rani-Kyo Buddhist scripture were not present within the boundary walled precincts and, grinning in brutal anticipation of the fulfilment of his stygian desires, he ambled toward the Lady Yuriko's room. However, both O-Yone and Lady Yuriko awaited him. The demon's preternatural senses were dulled and so he could not perceive the fatal preparations that had been made to entrap it. As he stepped across the frame of its doorway, O-Yone slammed the door behind it and as it turned to angrily respond, it saw the Udo-Da-Rani-Kyo scriptures once more, isolating it within the room. He bellowed his defiance, but then howled with unaccustomed pain as O-Yone thrust the Sea-Sounding Tathagata Buddha at him repeatedly. The nimble retainer evaded his clumsy blows but finally, one connected and snarling in saturnine glee, he turned toward the erect and motionless figure of Lady Yuriko, reaching for her. However, as his hands fastened around her neck, Lady Yuriko thrust the shiro-kyoke of Blessed Kwanyin at the monster. He gritted his teeth and increased the pressure as his savagery and desire for bloodshed overrode his lust and gradually strangled her, despite the increasing agonising pain the demon felt as it achieved its task. But then, it could withstand no more. Tragically, though, Lady Yuriko perished at that same moment as Captain Nippon's usurped corporeal frame disintegrated into embers and dust and the demon passed into oblivion. Its shrieks pulverised neighbouring windows.
In the morning, Lord Hinata witnessed the fate of his daughter. His sentiments at this time are not recorded. It is known that he was not in attendance at his daughter's cremation and burial at the Avenue of the Peony Blossoms Buddhist shrine, although whether it was the case that his Shinto beliefs precluded it, whether in his grief he could not face the consequences of his cruelty and brutality which had precipitated his daughter's self-sacrifice, or whether he was angry that her act had robbed the Black Dragon Society and its Onmyoji faction of a valuable strategic asset is unclear from surviving documentation.
O-Yone had fled to the sanctuary of the Buddhist temple down the road, where, sobbing, she told Father Yusai of her lady's fate. As he held and comforted the good and loyal retainer, though, Father Yusai salved her grief with words of solace. The curse had been broken and now Lady Yuriko and the brave and good Captain Sato's karmic bond would be forevermore entwined throughout eternity, in return for their virtuous conduct against the ravages of the U~ōkingukyadabā "Captain Nippon."
HIROSHIMA: AUGUST 1945:
But as for Lord Hinata Matsesune and his Black Dragon Society, the negative karmic momentum that would yield retribution for their malignant and evil acts now proved impossible to halt. Lord Hinata did not bother to continue hunting for the elusive O-Yone, but that act of uncharacteristic mercy would not save him and his companions when they met in Hiroshima on the fateful day of August 6, 1945. Thus, when the sixteen kiloton inaugural US nuclear weapon, "Little Boy" detonated directly over the city's Shima Surgical Centre, it not only annihilated that hospital. Amongst the other historic Hiroshima landmarks obliterated was the erstwhile Second Imperial Army and Fifth Division headquarters at Hiroshima Castle, where the Black Dragon Society was meeting on that day to discuss what it could do to safeguard the Empire. However, it was only a few hundred yards from the bomb's epicentre and Lord Hinata and his comrades were incinerated in less than a second. Their afterlives would be characterised by similar torment, but it would continue for a far greater, almost interminable duration.
EPILOGUE:
Many years later, Freddy Freeman visited the Avenue of the Peony Blossoms and witnessed the beauty of Lady Yuriko's cemetery plot, flowering in response to the maiden's virtue in life. He stood back and let his tears flow for the lady whose body was buried here, but whose spirit soared where none could harm her, alongside the soul of the man she had loved and who embraced her as she crossed the threshold into the bardo. Together, they had prevailed and together, the two had been his unseen but still decisive allies against the wartime threat of Captain Nippon.
In the distance, O-Yone, who had survived the bombing of Tokyo at the end of the Second World War and now served as the housekeeper for the shrine, gently plucked the strings of a biwa, intoning the medieval Japanese song Ogi No Mato, which Freddy had been told was akin to William Tell's Swiss test of precision in European folklore. In her cabin, O-Yone had a keepsake of her slain mistress. It was a beautiful but broken fan, with a chipped panel, where it had deflected the assault of Captain Nippon initially. In the hands of the valiant and brave retainer, it was not a forsaken fan and never would be, for as long as she lived.
THE END [1.30 PM, 21 July 2022]
Re: Captain Nippon:
If one has read the declassified accounts of Japan's wartime Black Dragon Society, then one will be familiar with the circumstances behind the resurrection and ultimate downfall of a Japanese military officer reanimated by Onmyoji darkmages as the soulless, animated cadaver known as "Captain Nippon." While his futile series of endeavours against Captain Marvel Junior are on the public record, what is not so well known is the series of setbacks that the creature also experienced in the Manchukuo theatre (Japanese-occupied Manchuria).
There is a well-known Japanese medieval legend about the self-discipline and precision of the samurai caste, expressed with the biwa as Ogi No Mato. In it, two Shogun era rival samurai and retainer armies face one another, apparently evenly matched. Then, to test the self-discipline and precision of one of the rival army's premier samurai, a young woman is seen in a boat with a folding fan, steadily flicking back and forward. The samurai must concentrate to insure that he does not inadvertantly kill the young woman and hit the target motif on the fan. However, mercifully in this tale, his aim is true and his throwing knife impales itself on the target of the fan panel in question. His valour and self-discipline found equal to the task, the warrior went on to lead the rout of the opposing army in the subsequent battle.
Perhaps fittingly, given his provenance and the test of virtue and precision that the original Ogi No Mato story illustrates, it is indicative of the debased character and necromancy involved in his reanimation that Captain Nippon never underwent the Ogi No Mato test. Had he done so, he would have been unequal to the task and killed an innocent woman. And given the documented evidence from Chinese Army sources and civilian witnesses, that would have been only his first Japanese fatality. When it came to innocent Chinese elders, children, infants and vulnerable others, his depredations are hideously clear for all to see.
But was there an underlying reason that the Onmyoji Black Dragon Society's 'secret weapon' was so ineffective?
CHONGQUING. FREE CHINA: 1941:
Far to the east, the skies broiled as Japanese Zero bombers discharged their deadly arsenal on frightened villagers, but the line of demarcation had not moved much in two years. In the hills, the monastery known as 慈悲的莲花 (Cibei de Lianhua/ Compassionate Lotus) stood as it had done for almost a thousand years, an oasis of peace and solitude in a wartorn and divided land. Abbot Xinhuang Lee unrolled a scrap of parchment containing a cipher from an old friend in Tokyo's Avenue of the Peony Blossoms and fellow Buddhist, Father Yusai. Yusai was a man of faith and gentleness, and one who was deeply unsettled at what he had witnessed happening in his country since the militarist cabal of Tojo had seized power. At first, he had hoped that the steady and calm hand of Emperor Hirohito could still Tojo's xenophobia and militarism. But as the news about what his country was doing to China reached him despite official censorship, Father Yusai realised with a heavy heart that he had no option but to give succour to those who were victimised and ravaged by the morally calloused souls within Tokyo. But what could he, a prefecture holy man, do against the apparatus of repression and cruelty that Tojo and his cronies had under their control?
And then, one day, darker tidings still reached the good father. Father Yusai heard about the foul 慈悲的莲花 (Si ling shu, necromancy) that the feared Black Dragon Society had embraced to pursue its agenda. It had taken a fallen Japanese military officer, Captain Asahi Sato, and resorted to unholy and accursed rites to transform the man's corpse into a 行走的尸体 (Xingzou de $#!*i, walking cadaver), infusing their "Captain Nippon" with the qualities of 蛮力 (man li, brute power), 恨 (hen, hate), 恐怖 (kongbu, terror), 谋杀 (mousha, murder), 愤怒 (fennu, anger) and 情欲 (qingyu, lust). Abbot Lee was deeply troubled at what his old friend had related in the scrap of parchment, for the juxtapositioning of those Forbidden Impurities had gifted the monster with immense strength, ruthlessness and brutality, with no regard for human life. Given the potency of the spell, it was impossible to directly cancel out, whether in the Middle Kingdom or Home Islands. One sage, however, had told of a blue-clad American youth of great power, 惊奇队长少年 (Jīngqí duìzhǎng shàonián, Captain Marvel Junior), who would be pitted against this abomination in human form as an agent of the sunlight and virtue. The coded letter reminded Abbot Lee of something that the two scholars had conversed about at a meeting of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in Beijing when they were much younger and idealistic, hoping to avert another world war. Their conversation had been about the possibility that a suitably depraved ruler or cabal might resort to forbidden dark thaumaturgy to preserve or expand their own power and spread destruction, death and sadism in their malevolent wake. My dear friend, the letter concluded, it is time that you tried out 绽放的希望之花 (Zhànfàng de xīwàng zhī huā, the Unfolding Blossom of Hope), which we discussed all those long years ago. Somehow, 厌恶 (Yanwu, the Abomination) must be stopped.
Abbot Lee nodded as he dispatched the letter to his hearth fire. Good Father Yusai had risked his life to get this information to him and fortunately, Abbot Lee had the very counterspell that his fellow cleric had counselled.
BARDO THODOL: SOMEWHERE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH:
The soul that had once been that of Captain Asahi Sato was journeying through the afterlife, awaiting rebirth. His had been a mostly virtuous life. Even when it came to his Imperial Japanese Army military service, he did not participate or condone any of the wartime atrocities that zealots within his nation excused, condoned or committed. What was happening in Manchukuo had nauseated him and it was typical of his lifetime valour that when he did die, it was when he intercepted a bullet meant for other officer, and did so deliberately. He was resigned to not achieving nirvana in this turn of the karmic wheel of rebirth and hoped that his virtue had been enough to deter being downgraded to a lower rung on the hierarchy of beings. And then, a light shone within the sepia realm of interstitial preparation and Captain Sato became aware of a presence there:
"Captain Sato. I am afraid that your step toward enlightenment and fulfilment will have to be deferred. I apologise for this intrusion, but you are an enlightened soul."
"Is it Yuriko? Is it the men under my command?"
"As ever, your thoughts are of virtue and selfless responsibility to others. Captain Sato, your body has been reanimated through the dark art of nekuromanshi through the offices of the Black Dragon Society of the Onmyoji of Japan."
"How could this have been allowed to happen? Was not my body prepared by the sacred rites of our religion?"
"No, Captain. It was intercepted beforehand and a demonic entity now occupies it. The Black Dragon Society is using it to drive a U~ōkingukyadabā, a 'walking cadaver' and commit acts of brutality, cruelty and sadism against the inhabitants of China."
"That is... unconscionable. I do not care for my own reputation but I do care for the vulnerable, weak and innocent that this U~ōkingukyadabā abomination will prey upon and destroy. Sage, tell me what I must do to prevent this obscenity."
"I knew that appeals to your innate decency and virtue would not go amiss. It is not possible to evict the intruder from your former body, but given your past ties to it, you can obstruct and interfere with its course of action."
"Anything. It is against the bushido code to do what the Black Dragon Society is enabling this to do. It is my duty to stand in its way and deny it its murderous passions."
"Do you see an orange light ahead? Then head toward it and your intent will be realised. I profoundly apologise for this intrusion into your karma, but Lady Yuriko has spoken to me often of your virtue and decency. I see she was right in her assessment of your noble character."
THE PACIFIC WAR: 1942-1944:
And thus, throughout the intervening period, Captain Nippon's activities and intellectual acuity were subverted by the intrusion of his body's unquiet yet virtuous former occupant, who persistently fought the entity that had usurped it. The entity did not know about the presence of the other and as the demonic entity in question was one of the lower status occupants of the hell-kingdoms, it did not realise that its usurpation was resisted. Captain Sato sought prodigiously to deflect the creature from its respective tasks and assist Captain Marvel Junior in his battles against the necromancers abomination, impairing its ability to operate complicated weaponry such as firearms so that it had to resort to clubs and even, in one case, use of its own teeth, to pursue its vendetta against its caped tormentor and adversary. Its incompetence deterred Captain Nazi from assisting it past its first assignment, which was just as well as Captain Sato was disgusted at the inhumanity and ruthlessness of the Axis ally in question. When he discovered that Captain Nazi had murdered Freddy Freeman's beloved grandfather in conversation with him, he had to muster every vestige of his bushido discipline and self-control to prevent himself from turning on the blond barbarian and beating him to a pulp for his callousness and malignancy. Captain Sato continued to corrode Captain Nippon's martial reputation, causing him to fall from a speedboat when an Axis Pacific Island base was destroyed by Captain Marvel Junior in turn. And finally, when Captain Marvel Junior faced Captains Nazi and Nippon at the Colorado River Dam, which the latter had sought to sabotage, Captain Sato's skilful obstruction meant that there was a final and irrevocable schism between the two Axis agents in its aftermath, which suited Captain Sato well. As the Black Dragon Society perceived that its vaunted necromantic pawn was failing to achieve its results, it diminished its control over it. By 1944, the tide of the Pacific war had turned decisively in favour of the Allies and as a consequence, Captain Nippon was recalled to the Home Islands. Captain Sato was quite aware of its intentions toward his bereaved fiancee, Lady Yuriko Matsesune, and was thankful that Father Yusai had acted to prevent any lustful assault on her purity and virtue through the thaumaturgic restraints and sacred talismans that he had provided her with.
TOKYO: 1944:
However, sadly, Lady Yuriko's father, Lord Hinata Matsesune had finally returned home from overseeing Imperial combat and covert operations on the Chinese mainland, and with horror, witnessed what his daughter had undertaken to keep herself and her retainer safe from the U~ōkingukyadabā. Angrily, he tore down the protective o-fuda scriptural barriers to the abomination's entry to his property while his daughter and her retainer O-Yone, bathed. However, he did not find the other talismans that Father Yusai had provided to protect her from its depredations- the holy Kai-On Nyorai, or Sea-Sounding Tathagata Buddha, or the accompanying image of the Blessed Kwanyin, a holy shiryo-yoke, which protected her from the malice and wiles of the malignant dead. And as the Black Dragon Society became preoccupied with direct defence of the Home Islands from Allied air bombardment and encroachment on island stepping stones to Japan itself, so too did they overlook the earnest and heartfelt sagaki prayers and entreaties that Father Yusai made to enable Captain Sato's increasing control over the U~ōkingukyadabā.
And then came the dark night when Lord Hinata Matsesune decided that to save face with his increasingly sceptical Black Dragon Society colleagues and prevail over hostile factions within the Omyoji as well, he would have to sacrifice his daughter's virtue to Captain Nippon's lusts to re-empower it. He did not suspect that down the Avenue of Peony Blossoms, in the adjacent Buddhist shrine, Father Yusai was continuing to strengthen the control of his ally behind the corrupted and possessed bodily edifice of "Captain Nippon." And thus, the trap was sprung. Eagerly, the demon recognised that the o-fudo barriers of the Udo-Da-Rani-Kyo Buddhist scripture were not present within the boundary walled precincts and, grinning in brutal anticipation of the fulfilment of his stygian desires, he ambled toward the Lady Yuriko's room. However, both O-Yone and Lady Yuriko awaited him. The demon's preternatural senses were dulled and so he could not perceive the fatal preparations that had been made to entrap it. As he stepped across the frame of its doorway, O-Yone slammed the door behind it and as it turned to angrily respond, it saw the Udo-Da-Rani-Kyo scriptures once more, isolating it within the room. He bellowed his defiance, but then howled with unaccustomed pain as O-Yone thrust the Sea-Sounding Tathagata Buddha at him repeatedly. The nimble retainer evaded his clumsy blows but finally, one connected and snarling in saturnine glee, he turned toward the erect and motionless figure of Lady Yuriko, reaching for her. However, as his hands fastened around her neck, Lady Yuriko thrust the shiro-kyoke of Blessed Kwanyin at the monster. He gritted his teeth and increased the pressure as his savagery and desire for bloodshed overrode his lust and gradually strangled her, despite the increasing agonising pain the demon felt as it achieved its task. But then, it could withstand no more. Tragically, though, Lady Yuriko perished at that same moment as Captain Nippon's usurped corporeal frame disintegrated into embers and dust and the demon passed into oblivion. Its shrieks pulverised neighbouring windows.
In the morning, Lord Hinata witnessed the fate of his daughter. His sentiments at this time are not recorded. It is known that he was not in attendance at his daughter's cremation and burial at the Avenue of the Peony Blossoms Buddhist shrine, although whether it was the case that his Shinto beliefs precluded it, whether in his grief he could not face the consequences of his cruelty and brutality which had precipitated his daughter's self-sacrifice, or whether he was angry that her act had robbed the Black Dragon Society and its Onmyoji faction of a valuable strategic asset is unclear from surviving documentation.
O-Yone had fled to the sanctuary of the Buddhist temple down the road, where, sobbing, she told Father Yusai of her lady's fate. As he held and comforted the good and loyal retainer, though, Father Yusai salved her grief with words of solace. The curse had been broken and now Lady Yuriko and the brave and good Captain Sato's karmic bond would be forevermore entwined throughout eternity, in return for their virtuous conduct against the ravages of the U~ōkingukyadabā "Captain Nippon."
HIROSHIMA: AUGUST 1945:
But as for Lord Hinata Matsesune and his Black Dragon Society, the negative karmic momentum that would yield retribution for their malignant and evil acts now proved impossible to halt. Lord Hinata did not bother to continue hunting for the elusive O-Yone, but that act of uncharacteristic mercy would not save him and his companions when they met in Hiroshima on the fateful day of August 6, 1945. Thus, when the sixteen kiloton inaugural US nuclear weapon, "Little Boy" detonated directly over the city's Shima Surgical Centre, it not only annihilated that hospital. Amongst the other historic Hiroshima landmarks obliterated was the erstwhile Second Imperial Army and Fifth Division headquarters at Hiroshima Castle, where the Black Dragon Society was meeting on that day to discuss what it could do to safeguard the Empire. However, it was only a few hundred yards from the bomb's epicentre and Lord Hinata and his comrades were incinerated in less than a second. Their afterlives would be characterised by similar torment, but it would continue for a far greater, almost interminable duration.
EPILOGUE:
Many years later, Freddy Freeman visited the Avenue of the Peony Blossoms and witnessed the beauty of Lady Yuriko's cemetery plot, flowering in response to the maiden's virtue in life. He stood back and let his tears flow for the lady whose body was buried here, but whose spirit soared where none could harm her, alongside the soul of the man she had loved and who embraced her as she crossed the threshold into the bardo. Together, they had prevailed and together, the two had been his unseen but still decisive allies against the wartime threat of Captain Nippon.
In the distance, O-Yone, who had survived the bombing of Tokyo at the end of the Second World War and now served as the housekeeper for the shrine, gently plucked the strings of a biwa, intoning the medieval Japanese song Ogi No Mato, which Freddy had been told was akin to William Tell's Swiss test of precision in European folklore. In her cabin, O-Yone had a keepsake of her slain mistress. It was a beautiful but broken fan, with a chipped panel, where it had deflected the assault of Captain Nippon initially. In the hands of the valiant and brave retainer, it was not a forsaken fan and never would be, for as long as she lived.
THE END [1.30 PM, 21 July 2022]