Halloween Jiangshi Night Episode 3 Part 4

Things tune back in to the jiangshi attacking randos. One tribal gets tickled. A tenjin gets forcefed fried pumpkin manju. Some yaksha gets her clothes stolen and says she was planning on using a swimsuit for a costume but hid it when she went to the wrong place. Narration says that the jiangshi are getting more intense with their attacks, and as time goes on the chaos grows thicker.

Suddenly two voices start laughing as Harlot and Tetsugyuu take their positions. Everyone stops moving in response as they look around trying to locate them, so Benten and Gouryou slip into the crowds to direct their attention. Benten makes the comparison to an evil organization villain and Gouryou points out that they’re standing in front of a fried manju stand. Then they slip away.

Everyone turns to look, and Harlot and Tetsugyuu are posing in front of said manju stall. Harlot then starts fiddling with a mic that’s been attached to her dress, asking for everyone that can hear her to raise their hands. The jiangshi all raise their hands obediently, so Harlot nods in response. She praises them for being such good children and refers to them as her subordinates. When she reveals herself she calls all the visitors swine and asks if they all fear the jiangshi.

Tetsugyuu reveals himself next and says he can’t get enough of all the terror stricken faces everyone has. He says that his vengeful spirit friends have taken control of the mobs and make them attack the randos. One girl has to ask if they mean the jiangshi when they said minions, and a guy asks why they’re doing this.

Krampus is watching, saying it’s going well and that people are getting into it quicker than he expected. Harlot starts talking about Halloween as a festival for dressing up and having fun and getting candy. She brings up that the costumes and jack o’lanterns were originally meant to scare off evil spirits according to legend. She says that refers to themselves, the ones the world deemed evil and driven out.

Tetsugyuu can’t think of much else to add to that, so he tells people to be afraid. Harlot decides it’s time to introduce herself as she calls herself the mother of all rejected grieving and moaning children, Mother Halloween. Tetsugyuu introduces himself the lonely child that shines in the dark sky like an unlucky star, Killing Star Killer Star.

You either say Harlot is doing great, say Tetsugyuu will be doxxed going with that as his name, or say it’s scary how much they’re getting into this. In any case Mother Harlot tells her children it’s time to possess the mobs to take revenge upon the blessed ones. Killer Star tells them to go crazy. Both then yell out Trick or Trick.

The mobs attack again on Harlot Mother Halloween’s command. Rando Girl yells about being pranked again, and Benten is next to her and more directly compares this to a toku monster attack. Rando Tribal tries looking for a camera and flashing peace signs thinking this is being filmed, but Rando Alchemist thinks this is more a live performance and begs for someone to do something. Shirou tries to direct people away and says they’re strong.

Thanks to Benten and Shirou, space starts opening up as onlookers take shelter. Kengo takes on the part of guy trying to attack the villains, and Touji acts as the part that stops him from getting into a fight they can’t win. This has the effect of making some of the more hot blooded audience members step back too.

Ziz comes by since she was told to come back but notes that things are still going on. Ryouta starts directing them to the special seats for the little kids and tells them they need to climb up onto the big guy over there. Ziz doesn’t get what’s going on but complies, only to be shocked by Behemoth being there when she does so.

Behemoth tells her to save her surprise for later and to hurry up. He says that Krampus told him that children would be important for the show. Ziz rolls with it and tells the kids to be careful as they climb up. Li Chou then runs over to ask Ziz where Motosumi is. She explains that he said he had something to do and split off. Li inwardly wonders if this means Motosumi lost all patience with him.

Time skips a moment and narration says that most people have evacuated the area, leaving only the mobs and the villains. You’re keeping watch and then tell Li Chou and Krampus that things look ready to go on. Krampus is having cold feet about being in the show and in being the hero. Li tells him he doesn’t have time to be doubting himself and essentially suggests self-hypnotism to deal with it before telling you guys to go. He does a bit of it himself too.

At Li Chou’s signal Tetsugyuu starts moving into a stall you guys had all picked out beforehand. Yule is in that stall, and Tetsugyuu tells Harlot it looks like Yule has a bunch of Halloween candy on him. Yule starts acting as the brave but outclassed civilian saying he won’t hand them over.

Harlot says Yule has nice prongs and seems like a good screamer. Yule seems legit scared by that, and Tetsugyuu orders the jiangshi to destroy the Christmas Halloween presents. The mobs start crowding him, and Harlot and Tetsugyuu start laughing.

Guy A is aghast and calls the two super evil, and Girl B says it’s like it’s almost not acting. She’s super tense about what will happen next. Gouryou tells you it’s your turn and says you need to get everyone’s attention onto you. You jump out yelling at the mobs to get away from Yule and declare Halloween belongs to everyone.

Tetsugyuu immediately grabs you and says he caught a nice lively boss dude. Harlot prompts him to show your face to everyone. You yell and can possibly think that being so close to Tetsugyuu is exciting or think the same of the way Harlot is looking at you. If you pick either of those two options they’ll remind you to not look so happy about all this because it’ll distract from the show.

Anyways Yule yells at them to let go and calls out for help. Tetsugyuu and Harlot laugh, and the audience focuses their attention onto you. Li Chou is happy at the development and says it’s time for the hero to show up.

Flashback kicks in to show what Li Chou has come up with to tie Krampus’s King Yama costume to the idea of a hero. He explains that in Hourai there’s the idea of a manager in hell known as the Earthly Official. (Yes it’s a Taoist deity, one of the Three Great Emperor-Officials) This deity is in command of hell’s judgments, but Li Chou says there are also legends about him granting amnesty on the birthday for the dead to release them from Hell.

Li Chou says that this falls on the dead center of the Ghost Festival and that said deity is also known as the Emperor of Absolution. Since the Halloween festival has been turned into the Ghost Festival, that would make him a hero to the spirits for absolving sins.

Krampus however thinks the conceptual traits of being a Black Santa for Christmas dressing up as the Buddhist King Yama taking on the name of a Taoist deity is a bit much. Not even original videos from older eras had this much going on. Li Chou tells there’s no time to do anything else and says this is going to be the plan. He also starts saying what Krampus’s hero name will be when the flashback cuts off.

You pick back up with things in the present as you call for Krampus, first by the title Emperor of Absolution, then the actual name of Chris(t) Yama/Enma. Your voice rings out, and Krampus appears. Li Chou slips into the crowd with a mic and starts acting like a wrestling show MC, calling Krampus the savior of Halloween and the new hero of the Ghost Festival before shouting his name again.

The audience is confused by Krampus as they don’t feel he is tied close enough to Halloween. A yaksha asks what Christ Yama has to do with anything, and a pirate says Krampus is scary enough to be a villain so he wonders if it’s a miscast.

Gouryou walks in and starts dropping show exposition about how Christ Yama is the mystery man born from connection between Black Santa and King Yama. He also describes him as an anguished young man with the power to both judge and pardon the dead. The agony of it twists his face, yet he continues to fight on to save the stray dead.

The crowd is convinced by this story and start wanting to cheer for him. With that part handled, Gouryou slips away again as all the attention focuses back onto Krampus. A long silence, which is eventually broken by Krampus yelling out like he did when he was wrestling in his debut. You are shocked that he’s going with this and/or recognize the pose he’s taking.

Krampus points his finger up into the sky and makes a speech about his arrival from the depths of hell, calling himself the moony night punisher and yelling his name in standard dramatic fashion. In the name of hell’s judge, he’ll punish you! The crowd eats it up, and Ryouta says it’s going perfectly even if it is an ad lib. Li Chou says it was crazy, but it looks like it’ll all work out. He tells you guys to go for it.

Harlot scoffs at Krampus’s intro and asks how much judgment does he intend to render on them. Li Chou goes gaga over Harlot ad libbing onto that and swoons over how smart and beautiful she is. Tetsugyuu is up for a challenge and asks Harlot to step back. He then orders the mobs to give Krampus a bloodbath.

Krampus tells all the brave little boys around to get back as he’ll handle things here. Yule is surprised that he’s changing character types again, but you ask Krampus to let you fight with him. He tells you to do whatever you want but warns you to keep away from his judgment. Harlot says she’ll show you guys the futility of your actions and orders Tetsugyuu and the mobs to attack. They all move and the episode battle starts. More story continues afterwards.

The story picks back up in the middle of the fight, and Tetsugyuu laughs at how well Krampus is holding up. He then decides to do something different as he starts swinging his axe back and forth forcefully. Li Chou is alarmed that Tetsugyuu seems to have forgotten that this is a play, and Tetsugyuu charges up and fires his NP.

Gouryou freaks out a little, and Shirou tells all the audience members to to hang on tight so they won’t get pulled in by the tornado. Benten says that her power can’t work on a tornado and yells at you to do something. You say you will, and you cut the tornado in half and cause it to dissipate without damaging the area.

Ziz sighs saying her heart thumped at that. One of Motosumi’s kids is wowed and asks Ziz how the tornado happened. She doesn’t answer as she doesn’t notice at first, then comments on how focused the kids are on the show.

Some rando yaksha is also amazed and says this production is on par with high level app battles, then says Tetsugyuu is pretty strong. An alchemist can’t believe a show like this is happening on the market street and says Krampus is sooo cool. Tribal C is in awe and wonders if the jiangshi jumping around is wire work.

Gouryou notes that the views of the jiangshi are picking up. Harlot says she should show her charm too as she activates her artifact to cover the area in a swamp of impurity. Mobs start sinking into the swamp, only to jump out at Krampus from another angle. They manage to pin his movements this way.

Harlot laughs at the expression in his eyes and asks if he understands the suffering of the exiled ones. He’s surprised by this, so Harlot starts talking about how the light of jack o lanterns also cast shadows. In those shadows are the children who want candy but can’t have it, so they can only play tricks.

Tetsugyuu agrees saying people won’t give them candy/happiness anyways. Because of that they’ll just take it until they have lots of it. Harlot says they’ll get chased out again, disdained as the violent and brushed off. She taunts Krampus about what judgment he’ll make.

Guy A starts crying over this backstory and asks to borrow a handkerchief. Girl B says it’s so sad. More and more of the audience is captivated by the performance, yet Li Chou still hears dissenting opinions while among the crowd.

One stall owner complains about the show taking up space on the day he comes all the way over to set up shop and wonders if this is an Umamichi idea. He complains about his goods being played with and the roadblock keeping most customers inside the school grounds.

Visitor B complains that this is too much for a school festival and that he can’t go sight seeing like this. Shirou notes that with the show going on for so long that there are people around starting to complain. Li Chou starts thinking that this isn’t going to work out since it was too late, even with all the work people put in. He tries to think of a way to make it succeed, and Krampus starts asking out loud what it is he should do.

Krampus reminds himself that the mobs aren’t bad kids, but they have been deemed a representation of bad kids. He wonders what he should do given this idle judgment made of them, and the episode ends.