The Jangseung stood stiffly at the village entrance, its painted features frozen in an eternal scowl. It was a guardian totem carved from a sacred tree trunk, with bulging eyes and fangs meant to terrify. Scolding Proclamation. It was designed to scare away small pox and evil spirits.
"HALT!" the totem shouted psychically, vibrating with protective magic. "Only peaceful travelers may pass this boundary."
Kali, the Dark Mother, danced down the dust road. She wore a garland of fresh skulls and a skirt of severed arms. She was not peaceful. She was the end of the age.
"I am the destination of all things," she laughed, her tongue lolling red.
The Jangseung tried to invoke a barrier. Boundary Oathbind. The air hardened into a spiritual wall.
Kali didn't even slow down. She stomped her foot in the rhythm of the Ravaging Tandava. The earth shook violently. The vibration traveled up the wooden totem pole, shattering the oath-magic like cheap glass.
CRACK.
The Jangseung splintered down the middle. Its angry face fell off into the dirt. Kali caught the wooden head, strung it onto her necklace alongside the demons, and danced through the ruins of the barrier. It wasn't a battle; it was aggressive landscaping.