give it all to miss machima

Compared to Machima's beaming smile, her younger sister Mio simply took it as her older sister's playful teasing and naturally patted Cocoon's head, comforting her:

"Yes, didn't we agree? We'll definitely get out of here."

"Alright, now that we've found everyone, let's go!"

Machima immediately picked up the two sisters, one on each side—the weight of the two girls was a piece of cake for her.

"Using the ordinary method, simply returning the way we came is probably not enough to leave the village no matter how long it takes. We'll have to find a real way to escape!"

The mansion was ridiculously large. Machima led the two of them through various rooms, corridors, and courtyards. Along the way, Machima used her "Wood Whirlwind" to solve any obstacles in their path.

But it was precisely because of this commotion that the elite BOSS from before also heard the noise and came over.

Holding the two sisters on either side, Machima couldn't easily make a move and could only try to circle around the guy.

But perhaps her behavior angered that guy too much. This time, the evil spirit was not like a fool in a mental hospital who would give up as soon as it encountered an obstacle. Instead, it kept penetrating the wall and relentlessly pursued Machima, as if it would not give up until it caught her.

Machima, who only wanted to stop there, was now annoyed.

"You son of a bitch, you think you're so great?!"

She chose a spacious room, placed the Tiancang sisters down, and then, adhering to the principle of going all the way, rapidly formed a series of chaotic hand seals before taking a deep breath:

Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!

Well, the reason for not shouting "Fireball!" is that we're worried it might not kill the enemy.

The demonic fire appeared out of nowhere, instantly engulfing the evil spirit that followed. The spirit only let out a mournful wail before being annihilated like frost under the blazing sun.

The two Tiancang sisters stared wide-eyed at Machima in disbelief, clearly not expecting her to possess "ninjutsu".

Machima wanted to explain further, but her attention was drawn to a faintly glowing residue that resembled both smoke and water where the evil spirit had left.

"This is……?"

Machima sat down, reached out and touched it, and then a jumble of fragmented memories flooded her mind.

A few seconds later, Machima nodded in sudden realization: "I see..."

The evil spirit that was chasing them was none other than the folklorist who had left his notes earlier—Seijiro Makabe.

Judging from the remaining memories, the scholar who attempted to explore the mysterious rituals of Minakami Village was imprisoned shortly after being invited there, then subjected to various forms of torture, and finally thrown into a bottomless pit.

Clearly, in his quest to uncover the truth behind the sacrificial ritual, he himself ultimately became a sacrifice in the underworld ritual—the so-called "living offering."

This is truly a leisurely lifestyle; they're playing some pretty outrageous games...

And... what about the two of them?

Machima turned to look at the two sisters, Amagura and Akima—one of them was to undergo such torture to atone for the failure of the main ritual…

What will those two, along with Yae and Sae who failed the last ritual, have to go through? What exactly is the Crimson Ritual, and... that deep pit seems to be the so-called Gate to the Underworld?

What's down there? It can't be oil, can it?

To call that the underworld would be far too frivolous...

The two Tiancang sisters were a little scared by Machima's gaze. The older sister, Jian, couldn't help but hug her younger sister, who looked at Machima with concern.

"Um... Sister Machima, are you... alright?"

"Ah, it's nothing, I just saw a bit of a memory..."

Machima waved her hand.

“Compared to this, I roughly know a path from the other person’s memories. There should be more detailed clues there. Let’s go.”

Following the route in that lingering memory, Makima quickly found the cell where Seijiro Makabe was imprisoned. Next to it was a study containing a large number of books—Seijiro Makabe had been searching for records about rituals here before he was imprisoned.

Thanks to him, Machima quickly found several letters that had not been packed away.

After reviewing everything, the truth finally came to light.

This mansion belongs to the Kurosawa Yu family. Their family has been the village chiefs of Minakami Village for generations, and both Sae and Yae share the surname Kurosawa.

In order to maintain the seal on the Gate of the Underworld and prevent the dark power emanating from the void beneath it, the village must offer a pair of twins for the Crimson Ritual every so often.

The specific ritual involved the older twin brother or sister strangling the younger twin brother or sister with their own hands, and then throwing the body into the void—that is, the deep pit.

Machima flipped through the pages again and found that there was no record of how the earliest ritual came about, but in any case, this ritual in the village of Minakami had continued for countless generations, and it might have existed even before the village was established.

As for Makabe Seijiro's "Shadow Festival," it was similar to what Machima guessed—this ritual was merely a temporary suppression of the Hollow in order to buy time for the next Red Riding Hood Festival.

The reason for subjecting the unfortunate folklorist to such torture was that the greater the suffering the victim endured in life during the ritual of the dead, the more it could appease the anxieties of the spirits.

That's pretty twisted, typical of a simple life.

While Machima was pondering, the two Amakura sisters were also looking at these books. The younger sister, Mio, was immediately filled with fear:

"So...we...we were mistaken by those evil spirits for...Yae and Sae from back then? Those evil spirits...they wanted to capture us for a ritual, and they even wanted me to kill us..."

Machima hugged the other person tightly and comforted her, "Don't worry, as long as I'm alive, this will never happen!"

As she said this, her younger sister, Mayu, who was holding Mio's hand, looked at her with inexplicable coldness and disgust.

Chapter 158 The Past of Minakami Village

Now that everyone has been found and the truth about the Red Riding Hood Festival has been revealed, Machima is ready to leave with the two of them.

Considering the typical tropes of horror games, it would be difficult to leave this place using normal methods, so she decided to ask the boy she had met earlier to see if she could trigger any subsequent plot developments.

According to the records in the study, that boy was the sacrifice from the time before last—one of the Tachibana twins, Tachibana Jugetsu.

Because of his deep affection for his brother, he was unable to bring himself to kill him, so in the end, it was the priest—the head of the Kurosawa family—who took the initiative.

However, it was precisely for this reason that the Red Praise Festival was not performed perfectly. As a result, Minakami Village had to use the unfortunate folklorist to perform the subsequent "Shadow Festival," and even the head of the Kurosawa family had to offer up his twin daughters to perform the Red Dowry Festival once again.

It's really strange, but in this not-so-big village, the probability of twins being born is unusually high.

On their way back, the three of them soon arrived at the back of the room where the boy had been imprisoned.

Strangely, the windows that were previously open are now completely boarded up.

"Moshi Moshi? Boy, are you still there?"

Machima called out, but there was no response. She had no choice but to use Wood Cyclone again to smash the entire window.

The three climbed into the dark room, only to find it covered in dust. The boy from before was nowhere to be seen. At the far end of the room, in what looked like a prison cell, a body hung from the rafters…

"...!"

Mio stared at the corpse hanging in mid-air in the darkness and covered her mouth in fright.

Machima, meanwhile, seemed to be deep in thought—no wonder he was the only ghost in the entire village who didn't attack them; he must have hanged himself before the ceremony began, thus retaining his kind nature.

Meanwhile, her older sister, Jian, suddenly stepped forward, tears welling up in her eyes, and couldn't help but sob.

"Shuyue...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry!"

Machima frowned slightly—combining the cocoon's words with her gaze, which seemed lost in a memory, and more importantly…

Her cries always seemed to carry a faint resonance, as if...

Is there something else inside her, crying along with her?

Holy crap!?

Could this child have been possessed?!

Machima took her younger sister Mio's projector from the side and looked at the cocoon, but there was no reaction.

Not receiving any feedback, Machima felt somewhat embarrassed by Mio's puzzled look and could only step forward to see if there were any clues in the cell.

Then, she actually found a notebook with only a few pages and a red string attached to it.

Will my brother forgive me?

I didn't turn him into a red butterfly, I didn't become one with him...

I can't do it... Will he forgive me?

Holy crap!? They've merged into one!?

The two will become one during the ceremony!?

In this eerie village, this merged place... it shouldn't be the one she's thinking of, right?

Machima continued reading.

Beneath the Twilight Shrine lies an ancient secret passage, through which twins once attempted to escape, but it was sealed off by the villagers.

However... there is a way out. The four families that govern the village of Minakami possess four windmill keys. Using them, the seal can be broken.

【Yae, if you see this journal entry, please take my blessing with you and Sae to escape.】

Machima searched the room again and found a marked map. She clapped her hands and showed the notebook and map to the two sisters:

"Looks like we've found the main plot!"

Seeing this, Mio couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Then next, all we need to do is find the key, and then..."

"No! Don't forget, I'm a ninja! Let's go!"

Machima picked them up again and, following the map's directions, hurried along until they reached the shrine on a nearby hill.

She had planned to kick open any seals she saw, but the arrival of the three of them was still beyond her expectations.

A large number of evil spirits, as if tipped off, were roaming around the mountain path leading to the shrine. Upon seeing the three, they roared and pounced. Machima had no choice but to stop the two sisters from forming hand seals.

"Insolence! Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

The spiritual fire composed of demonic flames converged into a fire dragon, instantly annihilating all the evil spirits along the way. Many of them left behind a mist of light containing resentment and memories, but Machima had no interest in touching them this time.

"Stay close to me."

Calling for the two sisters to follow, Machima continuously used various "fire techniques" to eliminate the enemies, but as if she knew they were going to escape, as if all the evil spirits of the entire village of Kaijin had come, evil spirits kept attacking. Machima burned one batch to death, and another batch came.

Just as she hesitated whether to continue pretending to "form hand seals," Mio suddenly exclaimed in surprise beside her:

"Cocoon! Cocoon! What's wrong? Come back quickly!!"

"What's going on!?"

Machima turned her head and saw her older sister, Cocoon, walking towards the village like a puppet on strings, her soul lost, no matter how hard her younger sister tried to pull her back.

Without Mio's exclamation, Makima stepped forward and grabbed the other person back as easily as picking up a kitten:

"Are you crazy? Or are you possessed by a ghost? I—"

Before she could finish speaking, two translucent hands suddenly separated from the callus and grabbed Machima by the neck. Instantly, the cold negative energy robbed Machima of her strength.

At the same time, the face and body of the girl who had long since died, the sacrifice of the last Crimson Ritual—Kurosawa Sage—slowly emerged from the cocoon, staring fiercely at Machima.

The latter trembled as he looked at the other person, gritting his teeth:

"Do all evil spirits...like strangling people...?"

At the same time, several evil spirits dressed in priestly uniforms, with their eyes sewn shut, took the opportunity to rush forward and stab Machima's body with various instruments of torture.

The terrifying "thud" sounds continued to ring out. The only one who could still move, Mio, was so frightened by the sudden changes in just a few seconds that she kept backing away and fell down, dropping the projector in her hand to the ground.

Machima's eyes darted around, then she stretched out her hand, trembling, and called out to Mio:

"Mio...run!"

Seeing the evil spirits also walking towards her, and hearing Machima's words, Mio instinctively scrambled and rolled towards the mountain path leading to the shrine.

However, one... no, two chilling voices rang out:

"Are you... going to leave me alone again?"

Machima turned around in surprise and saw that the figures of the evil spirit Sha Chong and the Cocoon of the Sky were once again merged into one. She looked at her sister who was fleeing from here with an indescribable look in her eyes.

Mio's steps faltered slightly at those words, but Machima immediately called out:

"Run! Don't stop!"

In response, the leader of the evil spirits stabbed Machima again. Machima immediately narrowed her eyes—you little brat! I almost cut your stomach open. Remember that, or you won't get any juice later!

Chapter 159, come on!

"The ceremony... is about to begin once again..."

The evil spirit, dressed in a priest's robe, slowly drew his sword and turned to look in the direction where Amagura had left.

"Go and bring Yae back..."

"No, Father, my sister won't abandon me... Besides, there's a new wedge now..."