The Binding Vow of Lazarus

Chapter 91

Their palms touched and in an instant, a brilliant shockwave burst from the contact. A blinding light, an eruption of swirling positive energy braided with cursed energy, spiraling outward in rings of iridescent fire and thunder. The grass beneath their feet flattened in a pulse, then lifted, uprooted by the sheer force. The ritual circle lit up like constellations awakening. Gold lines blazed through the ground, surging with purpose. Symbols spun and rearranged themselves. The air howled.

From a distance, the others could only shield their eyes as the storm built a raw, ancient power swirling like a cyclone around Sarah and Tamamo. Her hair lifted, caught in the spiral, her body glowing with a blinding aura, gold threaded through every breath she took.

The light surged, a torrent of gold and shadowed violet spiraling into the heavens. Sarah stood within the ritual’s heart, her voice rising above the roar of colliding energies, clear and unwavering even as the wind tore through the field like a scream of the past itself.

“By the blood that binds all fates,
By the ashes of what has fallen,
I summon the power to breach the veil,
Where time is twisted, and moments are hollowed.”

Golden fire curled at her feet, the lines of the ritual circle glowing hotter, faster, spinning.

“Divine light, bless my path,
Cursed shadow, carve the way.
Through the threads of past and future,
I walk where mortal eyes may stray.”

Tamamo-no-Mae stood behind her, silent, glowing. Her tails spread in a wide halo, each flickering with energy.

“Eternity’s breath, heed my call,
Bend the tides of time and fall.
Through this offering of flesh and flame,
Let the ages hear my name.”

Sarah’s voice trembled just slightly, her eyes locked forward. Her body shivered as power coiled up her spine.

“In the name of the lost, the found, the eternal,
I step beyond the chains of now.”

Tamamo-no-Mae’s hands rose slowly and gracefully. She placed one hand on Sarah’s shoulder, the other sliding around to the front of her neck, elegant fingers curling just beneath her jaw. Sarah did not resist. She closed her eyes, her lips parting in a breathless prayer.

And then — crack.

The sound was sickening, final. Her body collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been severed but the energy did not fall with her. It erupted.

The fusion of her golden positive energy and Tamamo’s ancient curse flared in a towering column, splitting the sky and shaking the ground beneath the others’ feet. The ritual circle blazed like a miniature sun, searing bright. Everyone shielded their eyes their winter coats whipping in the wind, curses and cries muffled by the deafening hum of ancient power ripping through time.

Yaga braced himself, shouting for them to hold steady. Utahime clung to Boe’s arm as they dug their heels in. Suguru and Nanami instinctively formed a barrier. Shoko cursed under her breath as her cigarette flew off into the blizzard of energy. Satoru threw down his blindfold as he locked his Six Eyes onto the center, refusing to look away.

And there, where Sarah had fallen, the swirling storm of gold and shadow began to collapse inward, spiraling tighter and tighter, folding on itself until it became a perfect glowing ring—a portal, hovering just inches above the ground. The grass beneath it had been scorched into an intricate seal of layered time and sacrifice.

The wind died instantly. Silence returned. The portal pulsed once. Almost inviting in a way.

The silence didn’t last long. The moment the portal stabilized, glowing and pulsing like the heartbeat of time itself, everything snapped into motion.