The war room was a far cry from the grand halls of the castle. Unlike the ceremonial throne chamber, this pce was built for function over appearance—a long wooden table, a map of the nd stretched across it, and candles flickering in the dimly lit space. The scent of burning wax and aged parchment filled the air.

  Shogun Hoshikawa sat at the head of the table, his worn but authoritative presence filling the room.

  I sat across from him, still processing everything that had happened. Reika’s departure. My return. The shock on Masanori’s face when he saw me alive.

  And now, I was here.

  The shogun studied me carefully, his fingers steepled as if weighing a thousand thoughts.

  "Jin," he said at st, his tone even. "I did not expect you to return from the Demon Queen’s grasp. And yet, here you are, unharmed. That makes you important."

  I stiffened slightly. "Important?"

  "She let you go," Hoshikawa continued, his sharp eyes unblinking. "That means you are valuable to her in some way. And anything valuable to her… is valuable to us."

  I swallowed hard. There was no malice in his words, but they still felt like chains closing around me.

  "I don’t belong to anyone," I said firmly.

  The shogun smirked faintly. "No, but you are now a piece in this game, whether you wish to be or not."

  He leaned forward slightly, his fingers tapping the edge of the map before him.

  "You came from another world, so I will not assume you understand the bance of power in this one. Listen well, Jin, because if you are to survive, you must know what we face."

  Hoshikawa reached forward, pointing to a section of the map that was completely bckened, its borders drawn with ominous, jagged strokes.

  "The Demon Realm is vast, far rger than the human nds. It is ruled by three great Demon Lords—each powerful enough to annihite entire cities."

  He met my gaze.

  "You have already met Tachibana Reika, the strongest of them all."

  I clenched my fists. Strongest. That word felt inadequate after what I had seen.

  "She does not rule through alliances or manipution. She simply is. Her strength is unmatched, her presence alone enough to make the other factions bow. None dare challenge her directly."

  His finger moved slightly on the map.

  "But there are two others."

  He tapped another area, colored in deep crimson, with markings resembling swords and battle insignias.

  "Akagawa Kaida. The War Demon Queen."

  "War Demon?" I repeated.

  "Her cn thrives on brutality and conquest," Hoshikawa expined. "They do not seek alliances, nor do they concern themselves with the affairs of humans. They exist to fight. Their stronghold is built from the bones of their enemies, and their warriors train from the moment they can stand. Their size, their raw strength, their bloodlust—it rivals even the greatest samurai of history."

  He exhaled sharply.

  "They challenged Reika once. She humiliated them effortlessly. Since then, they have remained in a state of bitter neutrality, knowing full well that she could erase them if she wished."

  His hand shifted again, this time pointing toward an area marked in violet, its borders drawn with almost fluid, shifting lines, as if the very nd itself refused to be contained.

  "Asakura Mayume. The Queen of Enchantment."

  Unlike the war faction, Hoshikawa’s tone here was more measured, more cautious.

  "Mayume is not a warrior like the others. She is a master of illusion, deception, and mind control. Her domain is a city of ever-shifting architecture, a pce where even the strongest warriors can become lost in their own minds."

  He grimaced slightly.

  "There are whispers that some who enter her nds never return. Not because they are killed—but because they simply forget who they are."

  I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.

  "Then why hasn’t she taken over?" I asked.

  Hoshikawa shook his head. "Because she is cunning. She knows that Reika would crush her in an instant if she became too ambitious. She pys a different game—one of manipution rather than war. She controls lesser factions through persuasion and charm rather than brute strength."

  His fingers finally withdrew from the map.

  "These three factions are what keep the Demon Realm in bance. But now, that bance is shifting. Because Reika has chosen to step into the human world."

  Hoshikawa tapped the human territories, divided into separate markings.

  "We humans are not united. We are divided into separate cns, each with their own armies and strategies. Some are prepared for war against demons. Others… are not."

  His eyes darkened.

  "We are among the weakest."

  I felt my stomach tighten. "Why?"

  "Because our nds have been retively untouched by high-ranking demons. We have fought lesser Oni, but never Majos. Never true Demon Lords."

  He leaned back.

  "We have only a handful of Onmyoji —demon-sying sorcerers. And while our samurai are skilled, they are only effective against lesser demons. If we had faced Reika’s forces alone, we would have been completely annihited."

  I nodded slowly. That much was obvious after what I had seen.

  "But not all human factions are as weak as us," Hoshikawa continued. "The Tenshu Cn, for example, is far stronger. They have many Onmyoji, capable of banishing Majo-css demons. Their samurai have experience fighting higher-tier Oni."

  His finger then moved to another section of the map.

  "And then, there is the Kosei Shogunate. The most powerful human faction. They have the rgest army, the best Onmyoji, and the strongest samurai. They even specialize in sealing techniques, allowing them to temporarily restrain demons that would otherwise be impossible to kill."

  He exhaled.

  "They are the only human faction that knows of Reika’s existence."

  That caught my attention.

  "They know about her?"

  "They have never fought her," Hoshikawa crified. "But they have long suspected a being of her magnitude exists. They have been preparing for war against demons for generations."

  He sat back, folding his arms.

  "If Reika stays in the human world for too long, they will notice. And when they do…"

  His words trailed off.

  I didn’t need him to finish the sentence.

  The bance was breaking.

  And I was standing right in the center of it.

  For a long time, I sat there, staring at the map, my mind struggling to grasp the scale of everything.

  Demon Lords powerful enough to destroy cities. Human factions preparing for war. The gods themselves seemingly absent, leaving mortals to fend for themselves against creatures beyond comprehension.

  And at the heart of it all—Reika.

  "So tell me, Jin," Hoshikawa said at st, his voice steady.

  "Now that you understand the world you’ve stepped into—what will you do?"