Tales of ghosts and spirits from feudal times: whenever disaster struck, ignorant people blamed ghosts and monsters. They held feasts and built altars to appease the ghostly flames, and so the Kin Gods came into being. As technology advanced and minds opened, their followers dwindled and their shrines fell into ruin. To survive, these faith-starved Kin Gods began causing disasters and then saving people from them to win followers, earning the world's scorn as strange ghosts.
People who had lost their families and homes gathered together and formed contracts with the fallen Kin Gods. In exchange for an entire clan's devotion, they gained the power to eradicate strange ghosts. They were known, in more elegant terms, as Purity Exorcists.
Over time, the strange ghosts were gradually wiped out, but the cost remained. Some clans dwindled until only a few members were left, and their contracts were scattered far and wide. Then a new force emerged, whom the world fearfully called the Tainted.
To curb this rising force, the clans joined together, sharing their secret histories, techniques, and resources. Only then did the struggle between the two sides reach a balance.
This carefully maintained peace was shattered when a forbidden divine contract appeared. Its new master, bound to the forbidden contract, set out to find the lost divine contracts and shattered the peace that had been perched atop a powder keg.
"There are fifty-eight divine contracts in all. The Purity Exorcists have fifteen. We don't know how many the Tainted have, but a careful investigation suggests they should have ten. Do you understand what I mean?"
The master bound to the forbidden contract seemed to belong to neither side.
"Did you choose me because I'm also a member of one of the lost clans?"
The young man, nervous inside, looked hopefully at the director of the Strange Powers Psychology Institute.
But the director's gaze turned to the person dozing on the sofa in the distance.
"Yes."
Could the young man, trapped in a Rashomon-like maze, find his way through the deranged inner world?
The Strange Powers Psychology Institute was where it all began.
Theme: Opposing feudal superstition
