"Underworld Upheaval" Assemble

* TW/JP Servers: July 23 - July 26 2022
* GL Server: July 23 - July 26 2022

This event was the pre-release assembly event for the SP shikigami Daiyamaten Enma. Over the course of three days, players could click on a red daruma in the summon page to receive six mystery amulets, and read a short story where the ramifications of Orochi's attack are being felt - across both the mortal world, and the Underworld.

* Day 1
* Day 2
* Day 3

*A huge crack cleaved open the Underworld ground, splitting the once quiet Sanzu River into countless murky tributaries that flowed unstoppably onward along the still cracking earth.*

*The crumbled remains tumbled and drowned in the dark whirlpool at the end of the Underworld along with the crying dead souls in the tributaries.*

Hangan
The crack seems to be getting wider as more souls are consumed, Lady Enma.
Yamalord Enma
All creations of chaos are like this. Their greed only makes them more powerful. Over the past thousands of years, humans have come to intuitively know the rules of the human world.
Yamalord Enma
Isn’t the human heart as deep as this bottomless whirlpool? This is exactly what that evil god wanted—freedom from the control of strict rules, unbridled indulgence, an unbound human heart.
Hangan
It seems to be a world that everyone shudders to think about.
Yamalord Enma
Hehe… That’s because your heart is still in chains. Take them away, and your soul will grow free.
Hangan
Yes…
Yamalord Enma
My Eyes of Enma bound the human heart, but it doesn’t control how they grow. But when people run up against those limits, they’ll naturally pull back. That is the meaning of the law we’ve made.
Yamalord Enma
The situation now, Hangan, is that our Verdict Power can no longer change.
Hangan
Whatever methods we have to take, I will always follow your command, Lady Enma.
*Enma smiled and raised her right hand. A burning red sigil had already been conjured in her palm. A pair of eyes slowly took form in the sigil.*

*Waves rolled in the eyes’ murky pupils.*

Yamalord Enma
Thousands of years ago, I infused part of the divine power of the Eyes of Enma into the land of the Underworld. I now fully understand how the energy flows in the land and the water.
*Enma closed her palm, crushing the burning sigil before it flowed like the crimson Underworld river to her forehead.*

Yamalord Enma
If the Underworld can no longer protect the dead souls, I shall protect them.
Yamalord Enma
Dead souls, come to me and be protected!
*A giant eye opened up above Enma and Hangan. Purple lights shimmered in its depths. Countless dead souls tangled together and answered Enma’s call, and gushed out from the giant eye.*

*Outside the mortal world, the dead souls from Underworld were still struggling in the torrent, being pulled into the dark oblivion. Enma raised her hand and saw, in the giant eye, waves of dead souls still gushing out, arriving at her feet and passing through her body.*

Yamalord Enma
These dead souls who still yearn for the hope of life, Hangan, look so much like the rain.
*► Battle*

*► Later*

*Outside Heian-Kyo, flames rose up from the distant land and painted the cloudless sky black.*

*Onmyoji and the royal guards of Heian-Kyo were busy cleaning up the battlefield and counting the casualties. The dead bodies of the soldiers and the militia who died in the great battle a few days earlier were brought back into the city before they were sent to their homes or the city morgue.*

*Ceremonial grounds were established to help the dead souls rest in peace, but no one was giving prayers or mourning. There were only onmyoji tending the fields.*

Hiromasa
How disastrous… The Underworld was consumed by the Aether from the Six Realms. Reincarnation has been disrupted. Those people who died in battle now roam on the streets day and night…
Seimei
Some of the relatives of the deceased seemed to be asking around for spells to resurrect the dead.
Susabi
They don’t want to face the sudden deaths of their loved ones, and would defy the natural world order to bring them back, huh…
Hiromasa
This is how we humans are.
Seimei
When the crack spread, the Underworld was the first to be consumed. Come to think of it, when the Six Evil Gods first arrived, the human circle of life was the first to be destroyed.
Susabi
With the circle disrupted, the world would be plunged into chaos before being fully consumed… I’m afraid it’s the last thing the evil god wished to see before the Grand Finale.
Hiromasa
Right, speaking of which, any progress on the field magic you’ve been working on?
Susabi
To activate that field magic, we’d need a lot of power to start. Fortunately, there was an inexhaustible amount of star power in the Aether released by the trial. And that Aether is now in the Underworld.
Hiromasa
In that case, we must pay the Underworld a visit!
Seimei
I need you to stay in the capital this time, Hiromasa.
Hiromasa
You can’t possibly expect me to stay here at a time like this!
Seimei
If the Underworld is compromised, the mortal world will be next. If we need to free the Underworld and the mortal world from the Aether, we must get inside and find out the truth behind the Six Realms.
Hiromasa
You’ll be surrounded by Aether! No way! I thought anything that touches the Aether vanishes.
Seimei
Vanishing doesn’t necessarily mean being reduced to ashes. We can’t know for sure what happens if we haven’t even investigated it.
Hiromasa
But…
*Then suddenly, a solid storm appeared in the cloudless sky. An eerie vortex appeared that stretched into the sky. Dark clouds started to gather.*

*The cold sandstorm felt like razors cutting into the skin. People looked up at the eerie clouds in the sky.*

*The vortex suddenly expanded and a blinding purple light pierced through the eye of the storm and cleaved open a huge crack in the sky.*

*The afterglow of the purple light lit up the sky as it continued to expand into a giant eye. Threatening mist was tumbling in the depths of the eye.*

*Seimei looked up at the giant eye and felt the countless dead souls that had been wandering the streets just moments ago floating up into the sky, gathering at the giant eye.*

Seimei
As long as she’s still there, we’ll always have a way to enter the Aether space.
Hiromasa
But I’m afraid you’d be in her debt if you wanted to enter the Underworld now.
Seimei
And there are still many dead souls who became monsters and refused to answer her call.
*► Battle*

*► Later*

*Outside the capital, by the roads in the fields away from the crack, there was a place infected with some thick nefarious force. Dead souls would haunt whoever tried to pass the area.*

Vengeful Soul
I can’t find my way home. Can anyone help me find my hairpin…
Vengeful Soul
Where is the enemy? We’re waiting for your order, General!
Ittan-momen
But… I can’t help you.
*Ittan-momen looked at the haunted souls and sighed as she bound them with her cotton straps.*

Ittan-momen
Poor souls. The world and its sun are ending, and yet, you wanderers are still clinging on…
*Ittan-momen put her hand on her chest as if she had felt something. She looked on tenderly as she tried to calm someone down.*

Ittan-momen
You don’t have to be afraid. The world is simply going to end. But I will stay with you till the very end.
Ittan-momen
You dead souls who tried to get in my way will become monsters and become a threat to us sooner or later. I will have to clean you…
*Before Ittan-momen tried to bind and consume the dead souls, they suddenly looked up at the sky as if someone was calling to them. Ittan-momen immediately stepped back as if in pain.*

*She felt a sharp pain, almost as if her soul was being separated from her body. A tiny, semi-transparent soul was then pulled out from her body as she fell into a trance.*

*The watery soul, freshly detached from her body, slowly opened its eyes and looked into the distance with sadness.*

*Then she turned around and looked at Ittan-momen. The nefarious force that had accumulated on her snow white face had begun to turn her into a monster. Ittan-momen noticed that there were a pair of black shackles on her hands.*

Ittan-momen
Are you too affected by the crack? Are you too…
Ittan-momen
I promised that I would protect you. I won’t allow you to become a monster like that.
*Ittan-momen reached her hands out to stroke Oriyuki’s face. Oriyuki looked distraught, and her eyes welled with demon force. She returned Ittan-momen’s embrace as Ittan-momen released her bindings.*

*Immediately, the force that had been pulling at Oriyuki attached to Ittan-momen. Like chains, it locked the soul entities of the two together and forced Ittan-momen to float onward with the other countless dead souls boiling with demon force.*

*The near-monstrous dead souls surrounded Ittan-momen one by one, driven mad by their taste of power. Startled, Ittan-momen soon realized what the power was that had been pulling at her and Oriyuki. She wasn’t angry. Instead, she smiled.*

Ittan-momen
Damn it… Damn it! I tried so many ways to keep you away from the Underworld. And now they’re calling you! Why do they have to call you over?!
*Ittan-momen smashed the body of the dead souls before her as she yelled in furious anger before she smiled again.*

Ittan-momen
Okay… So this is the way to the Underworld, huh? I happened to be looking for it. I have business there… As for you, would you like to be my practice dummies on my journey?
*► Battle*

*► Later*