Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

The Shogunate Heroic Spirits present all wore expressions of disbelief.

Minamoto no Yorimitsu? Didn't she lose herself and become a demon? Why is Shuten-dōji still calling her by her real name?

As their gaze fell upon the calm yet weary and bitter expression on that face, the Shogunate Heroic Spirits couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity.

Could it be that she was always lucid?

The ancient serpent's gaze swept across the faces of the King of the Bell Forest Demon Kingdom and the Oni King of Mount Oe, and it murmured to itself as if it had gained some insight.

"You are the guardian spirits?"

"So what if it is? So what if it's not?"

Shuten-dōji shook his sake gourd, then, somewhat annoyed, threw down the empty vessel and snorted coldly.

"Anyway, we've already lost. The victor is king, the loser is villain. There's nothing more to say. Do whatever you want."

As the ceremony began, the somewhat self-destructive Oni King of Mount Oe glanced at the assembled Shogunate Heroic Spirits, his eyes filled with schadenfreude.

"However, don't worry, given the speed at which this world is changing, you will soon be coming down to keep me company."

"What did you say!"

Even on the verge of death, he's still thinking about threats!

"It's just stubborn!"

The heroic spirits were indignant upon hearing the sarcastic words.

"Don't you understand yet?"

Seeing the air thick with tension once more, Hestia looked up at the agitated heroic spirits and spoke softly.

"In truth, you are the poison that has caused this world to become cancerous, while the Hundred Demons are responsible for purifying the filth..."

The heroic spirits who have dedicated themselves to protecting Tokyo and its people find it hard to believe, and could never accept, such absurd statements.

"You evil spirits who should have died long ago are purifying us? What a joke!"

"Indeed, we are the dead who should sleep in darkness."

Faced with doubts and angry rebukes, Ushi-Gozen, or Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the purple-haired female warrior, nodded, her deep gaze sweeping over the crowd, and slowly spoke.

"But what about you? Are heroic spirits considered living beings...?"

As soon as the words came out, everyone was shocked.

Yes, are Heroic Spirits considered living beings?

The shogunate's followers couldn't help but fall into self-doubt.

Generally speaking, most of the heroes engraved on the Throne of Heroes have already died once.

They seem to be no different in essence from these ghosts who also represent death.

"Life and death in this world are rapidly spiraling out of control. As guardian spirits, it is our mission and our duty to prevent the dead from excessively encroaching on the living space of the living."

Minamoto no Yorimitsu spoke softly, his purple eyes showing even more weariness.

Shuten-dōji, standing to the side, was clearly filled with resentment after a series of defeats, and he looked at the heroic spirits of the shogunate with a cold smile.

"Hmph, if it weren't for us guiding the evil spirits from the wilderness and constantly depleting the number of the dead in the city, this world would have long since spiraled out of control. How could you possibly be living so comfortably!"

"You launched the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons just to deplete the number of Servants in the castle?"

Samael was taken aback upon hearing this.

At the same time, recalling the previous rampage of the demons, he suddenly remembered that those monsters seemed to prioritize hunting heroes, and cases of human casualties were extremely rare.

"if not?"

Shuten-dōji showed due respect to this powerful figure who had defeated the Father God Orochi, toned down the sharpness in his words, and coldly snorted.

"Haven't you noticed that there are fewer and fewer humans in the city, but more and more followers? This means that the concept of the living is being replaced by the dead!"

In a daze, Samael suddenly realized that nowadays, on the streets of Tokyo, whether in Tama, Akihabara, or Shinjuku, there were hardly any living people to be seen.

On the contrary, the number of Heroic Spirits has far exceeded that of humans.

Perhaps it is because the balance of opposition between the living and the dead has been broken.

From that moment on, everything began to go wrong.

The nights are getting longer and the days are getting shorter.

"If this mutation is allowed to continue, there will be no truly living people in this world, and it will become a world of the dead. The sun will never rise again, so we have no choice."

Hestia looked up at the sky, which had already darkened considerably in just four hours, and pursed her lips, lowering her voice.

"And the only way is to—return the dead to the dead..."

Admonishing ghosts, interrogating ghosts, and killing ghosts—maintaining the boundary between the mortal world and the underworld—this is the duty of the guardian ghosts.

Similarly, this is also the duty that the goddess of the hearth, who protects the family and represents light and hope, must bear.

For all these reasons, Hestia, a highly regarded deity, became the leader of the demons, leading them to fulfill their respective missions and slow down the world's anomalies.

Upon hearing this, Suzuka Gozen, being straightforward, instinctively asked a question in return.

"If that's the case, why don't you say so?"

"If we tell you, will you believe us?"

Shuten-dōji raised an eyebrow and sneered, his gaze mocking.

"Furthermore, even if we knew, would you Servants, these Heroic Spirits who have been given a second life, truly be willing to die, instead of slaughtering us all?"

Ashiya Dōman's narrow eyes held a half-smile, and with a slight upturn of his thin lips, he uttered a chilling tale of the evil in people's hearts.

"After all, it's just about maintaining a balance between life and death; there's no rule that says one side has to be sacrificed..."

The heroic spirits opened their mouths to refute, but ultimately fell silent.

Death is the only way through the ages.

Even heroes celebrated by history might not choose to sacrifice themselves in the face of a hundred ghosts for a possibility that is difficult to discern as true or false.

Samael looked at the anti-heroes who commanded a hundred demons, his brow furrowed, his eyes filled with suspicion.

"Haven't you ever considered cooperation? For example, how about we first eliminate those dangerous individuals who can't control themselves?"

"it's useless……"

Ugly Gozen shook his head, his voice low and dejected.

"The heroic spirits born in Tokyo seem to possess an uncontrollable demonic nature within them. If exposed to darkness for too long, they will transform on their own and become completely unable to regain their sanity."

"And what about you, Lord Minamoto no Yorimitsu?" Samael countered.

“I abandoned one aspect of myself and actively underwent the transformation.”

As if recalling some unpleasant memories, Ushi-Gozen's expression turned somewhat gloomy.

Indeed, among those summoned Heroic Spirits of the Shogunate, I am quite special, possessing both divine and demonic aspects.

Ironically, the human side, possessing divinity, ended up being more ferocious and bloodthirsty than the demonic side, tainted with demonic energy.

This is why the previous campaigns launched by the heroic spirits of the shogunate all ended in defeat and destruction.

At the end, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, having realized something was wrong, chose to awaken the side of the Ushioni within him before completely falling into corruption, becoming Ushi-Gozen.

But in order to allow more people to survive, and to prolong the slim possibility of this world, he had no choice but to turn his sword against his former comrades and attack the city he once protected.

"Still trying to argue? When you summoned the calamity god Orochi, did you ever think about maintaining the balance between life and death? It was clearly a plan to annihilate everyone, whether human or heroic spirit, and then drag the entire world into darkness!"

As a staunch supporter of the shogunate, Okita Souji naturally disdained the nonsense spouted by the "demon" and immediately retorted coldly.

"not necessarily……"

Before the demons could retort, Samael, who had been deep in thought, raised his head, his gaze unfathomable, and slowly spoke.

"Human evil is human love..."

Upon hearing this unconventional answer, the heroic spirits were filled with astonishment and confusion.

On the contrary, Ashiya Dōman, Shuten-dōji, and other anti-heroes seemed to understand something. The confusion that had accumulated in their minds for a long time was dispelled, and some truth hidden behind the light surfaced.

Human evil refers to various disasters that threaten human history and destroy humanity. They are born from human civilization, become stronger and stronger with the development of mankind, but destroy civilization from the inside of society, and are like cancer cells.

In other words, the destruction of humanity is not out of malice towards humanity. Malice is merely something that gradually fades over time. What truly threatens humanity is the very desire to protect humanity—human love itself. This is because the spirit of "yearning for a better future" can disrupt the current peace and tranquility.

Human evil, though evil, can never be eradicated; it will arise as long as humanity exists, but humanity must overcome it. The term "human evil" refers to "evil that humanity seeks to eliminate," not "evil that destroys humanity."

They are both obstacles and helpers for humanity.

Simply put, human evil originates from the desire to protect humanity itself—human love. If this love is guided in the right direction, it can bring endless benefits. However, if it is not restrained, it will eventually degenerate into human evil and become an obstacle to the development of the world.

For example, the Demon King Goetia was born out of pity and compassion for the suffering of mankind, which he was powerless to help, and thus he wanted to travel back light-years to severely damage the perfect world.

Tiamat, the mother of creation, was born out of her longing for children, her reluctance to leave her family, and her sorrow, thus giving birth to the evil that would re-embrace the world.

The sly fox Koyanskaya is a plaything who loves all animals, and humans, being primates, are also a type of animal, naturally becoming objects of her teasing and amusement.

Similarly, the Yamata no Orochi, the calamity god representing the principle of retribution, is essentially one of the embodiments of the Earth's will, a "cleaner" that purifies nature and removes filth.

Its existence and arrival are not simply for the purpose of destroying life, but for the purpose of devouring the alien matter that has filled this world and destroying the source of natural disasters.

Wait, the source of the catastrophe?

In a daze, Samael paused, his mind racing, as if he had vaguely grasped something. His eyes, gleaming, turned to look at the city that was gradually being swallowed by the night.

"I got it?"

At this moment, Hestia lit the torches around her in the night, illuminating the darkness with the warm light of divine flames. She walked up from behind, following Samael's gaze, and lowered her voice.

"We suspect that this is where everything started, so the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is not only to bring the dead back to their deaths, but also to find out the cause of this catastrophe."

Hestia paused, looked down at the nearby Heroic Spirits, her expression becoming even more bitter and helpless.

"But because of the existence of the shogunate, we were never able to figure out the truth behind all of this."

"And the situation is even worse?"

Hestia nodded, looking embarrassed.

Samael was not surprised by this; in fact, he had anticipated the outcome.

Just as cancer cells in the human body will desperately drain the host's vitality and proliferate wildly in order to survive.

Heroic spirits, considered to possess the same qualities, are constantly being summoned to this land to fight against the invasion of the hundred demons.

Without one side having an absolute advantage, engaging in a war of attrition will only exacerbate the mutations of the singularity, leading to an even more uncontrollable outcome.

Right now, this world, riddled with problems, has clearly entered the late stages of cancer.

"There's no other way, and time is running out. We have no choice but to fight to the death and summon the calamity god Orochi to annihilate that city, along with everything within it..."

Hestia pursed her lips, straightened her thin and immature body, stood before the group of anti-heroes under her command, looked at Samael who commanded the heroic spirits of the shogunate, and spoke solemnly.

"This is my decision, and I will bear all the consequences!"

Goddess!

The anti-heroes, seeing Hestia stepping forward to take all the blame for them, struggled to their feet in agitation.

For a long time, the guardian spirits, who are the last line of defense in this world, have been making various efforts in secret to try to delay the distortion of the singularity, but they have never been truly understood and recognized.

The difference between good and evil is just a thought away, and between life and death is just a thought away.

The distance between light and darkness, divinity and demonicity, is not actually that far.

Moreover, these anti-heroes chose to purify the spirits of the dead not entirely because of those high-sounding reasons.

On the one hand, regardless of whether it's just or not, they themselves need a safe space to live.

On the other hand, they have many grudges with those righteous heroes, and taking the opportunity to settle scores is one of the reasons why these anti-heroes are willing to gather together.

For example, Ashiya Dōman, who even in death wanted to outdo his old rival, Abe Seimei…

If it weren't for this goddess of the hearth, who healed their wounds, soothed their emotions, suppressed the growing evil within them, and brought a little light and warmth in the long darkness, the ghosts who fell into the night might not be much better off than those out-of-control heroic spirits.

During this time, the goddess only provided light and care, but never interfered with their choices.

Even if she had to bear the consequences of defeat, it wouldn't be her place to do so.

The fallen anti-heroes, their eyes gleaming with malice, staggered toward the hearth goddess, trying with their last strength to pry open a crack in the body of this deity who had nearly driven them to despair, and to seek a chance for Hestia to escape.

Often, the more a soul is mired in darkness, the more it cherishes the warmth and light in its life.