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Chapter 3 - Time to Hunt 3 page

Kogure didn't respond immediately. He remained motionless, still with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

After a pause of three entire seconds, he said:

"Who knows."

Who would have thought he would say 'who knows'. Yamashiro's face became displeased. Kogure clearly ought to be unable to see his expression, but an ephemeral smile flitted across his mouth.

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure about what kind of a person Priest Kengyou is. I can't assert that he won't change his mind at the last moment. ......But in that case, he won't be able to rely on Gathering again. As long as the rumors spread, other organizations will probably drop their plans to bring him in. Of course, he should probably understand this point too."

"......Even so, will he bite? Will he bite this 'bait'?"

Yamashiro asked again.

Though Kengyou was a target that the Mystical Investigators pursued, he wasn't the hunting target of Yamashiro's group. Their target was someone bigger. Kengyou was just bait that they were using to fish for their true target.

But Kogure indifferently replied with a "Not sure."

"If you're just going to talk about trivial things, you might as well take the opportunity to get some sleep."

"It's not trivial......"

Yamashiro responded in a tone that couldn't be called anything but trivial.

It could be said that 'standby' was an important job to a Mystical Investigator. It was just that even though he understood that inside, he still couldn't help that it didn't suit his personality.

Also, the other thing that brought his spirits down was the silence dominating the van.

To be honest, he personally didn't care about Miyoshi anymore. It actually simplified matters if he closed his mouth and read his bock.

But he wanted to talk more with Kogure.

It had already been more than a year since Kogure came to the Mystical Investigators, but for the first one or two months, he had worked with veteran Mystical Investigators who were familiar with Mystical Investigator work, and afterwards he had moved almost solely alone. He had basically never come in contact with Yamashiro.

Yamashiro didn't believe that he was inferior to Kogure as a Mystical Investigator.

But he couldn't match Kogure as an Onmyouji.

It was like how among practitioners, most exorcists and Mystical Investigators were more outstanding than other Onmyouji. Even among the National First-Class Onmyouji, the strength of Kogure who had been an Independent Exorcist also made one feel like he was on a higher level than other National First-Class Onmyouji. Most importantly, Yamashiro, whose experience as a Divine General was still shallow, was interested about exactly what kind of level the other Divine Generals' abilities were and how well he held up in that regard. That wasn't to say he wanted to become close to them, but he did wish to understand them.

But in contrast to how he had been evaluated when he had been in the Exorcist Bureau, Kogure was taciturn and didn't let people approach him after transferring to the Mystical Investigators. He would communicate sufficiently when the job required it, but otherwise he was silent. Actually, some Mystical Investigators who had known Kogure before talked about him as if he had become a different person. Even Yamashiro himself, who was in his team, hadn't had any real conversations with him outside of duty.



He definitely wasn't hard to get along with on the job.

But there were certainly some unpredictable areas about him.

"............"

Tap. Yamashiro stared into the mirror while tapping the steering wheel with his fingertip again.

Just then.

"......Ah, there's movement."

Suddenly - although he still looked at his book - Miyoshi spoke. Yamashiro couldn't help but twist his body and look back into the backseat, and Kogure also opened his closed eyes.

A sparkling, keen gaze stared at Miyoshi in the row in front of him.

"Kengyou?"

"Yes. He entered that building. Just like the information."

"And Gathering?"

"They haven't come."

"......Others?"

"That side hasn't come either. But if practitioners of their level used stealth magic, it might be difficult to notice them."

Miyoshi flatly stated the truth.

Miyoshi was a former Special Senser. He was the Onmyouji with the most prominent spirit sight in the Onmyou Agency. He currently wasn't just purely reading to kill idle time, he was actively using his spirit-seeing ability to 'watch' the surrounding area.

A stealth that he, who saw through stealth as naturally as breathing, would be unable to see through. The ones Yamashiro and the rest were pursuing were practitioners with that much skill.

"Should we go?" Yamashiro questioned Kogure again. Kogure was the one in charge of the team. Kogure replied with "It's not time yet".

"But move the car out. We'll cruise around the area and head out once there's activity."

Yamashiro nodded, starting up the van. Then, he started cruising around the surrounding roads in order to keep from getting far from the building that Kengyou had entered.


Twenty more minutes had already passed since then. Just as Yamashiro was about to start getting impatient:

"...Someone's here."

Miyoshi opened his mouth.

"A practitioner bringing two defensive shikigami. These are Yaksha."

Kogure nodded at Miyoshi's report:

"Someone from Gathering?"

"Probably. He just entered the building."

"Any notable changes in the environment?"

"There's no obvious movement--"

Miyoshi looked up from his book. His eyes were focused on empty air. Kogure's and Yamashiro's expressions rapidly tightened.

"......There's one suspicious presence...... No, there's another one entering the building from the back door. At the least, they aren't humans."

"Yamashiro."

Kogure issued an order and Yamashiro immediately drove the van to the building Kengyou was at. Miyoshi inserted a bookmark and closed the book. On the other hand, Kogure opened the window of the van. He endured the frigid night air that rapidly gusted by, narrowing his eyes and 'watching' the surrounding aura himself.

"...Kokuryuu. Dasai. Reisen. Hou'oubiden. Go to the positions I mentioned before. Don't forget your stealth until I give the signal.

In a brief moment, four auras wavered next to Kogure, flew out the window, and suddenly disappeared into stealth. The crow tengu that Kogure used.

Then.

"......Ah, I just confirmed it. The first presence is a 'Type-Ogre'. The one that entered the building first from the front is giving off demonic aura."

"Which one?"

"A different demonic aura from the one I saw last year in Seishuku Temple. In other words, it's not Kakugyouki."

Yamashiro's hand that gripped the steering wheel became stiff when he heard that.

It wasn't Kakugyouki. Then, the one who had taken the bait was--

"......'Shadow'......!"

Yamashiro muttered sharply.

'Shadow', or Ohtomo Jin. Though they hadn't met directly, he had heard rumors. He had been the trusted confidant of the 'Divine Fan' Amami Daizen, who had been the Chief of the Mystical Investigators until the year before Yamashiro entered the Agency, a Mystical Investigator who had subdued the darkness of the Onmyou Agency. A person equivalent to a 'senpai' to Yamashiro's position.

He was currently moving around in the darkness of society under the name 'Three-leg'. He was one of the names listed on the Mystical Investigators' blacklist as a dangerous person along with Tsuchimikado Harutora who was viewed as the reincarnation of Tsuchimikado Yakou.

Kogure took out his phone and dialed it.

"...Chief. It's Kogure. The probability that 'Shadow' appears has gone up. Requesting immediate assistance."

It seemed that the one he was talking to was the current Chief of the Mystical Investigators, or Chief Kurahashi. Kogure hung up the phone after two or three more sentences of dialogue.

Reaching his hand to the trusted blade leaning next to him, he said:

"Yamashiro, we're still not there?"

"We're arriving right--"

Yamashiro's sentence cut off.

Yamashiro - and Kogure - both 'saw' it at the destination the van headed to. The presence of an oni that Miyoshi had sensed. Just like Miyoshi had reported, there were two.

The two oni had both stopped concealing the demonic aura they released. Why? The most conceivable was that a battle had broken out. But never mind Kengyou, even supposing that the practitioners of Gathering were quite powerful, it didn't feel that they could be the opponents of these two oni. Though it was a battle, the victor had already been decided from the start.

Kogure's voice exuded urgency.

"Miyoshi-san! What about 'Shadow's presence?"

"Still none. Either he dispatched shikigami, or he's using stealth."

"Then 'D'?"

"That's also unclear."

Miyoshi's words were calm from start to finish. With perfect timing, the building Kengyou and the others were in showed up through the van's windshield.

An old shared building that contained multiple shops. But several customers were sprinting in a panic out of the first-floor entrance. As expected, a battle had broken out inside. Yamashiro stopped the van near the sidewalk in front of the building.

"What do we do?"

He checked with Kogure.

Kogure replied immediately.

"Attack."

"We're not waiting for support?"

Kogure had already taken his trusted blade and risen from the seat in the time that Yamashiro turned around in surprise. After opening the sliding car door, he jumped down to the sidewalk without looking back into the car. "...Shit." Yamashiro couldn't help but curse as he stopped the engine.

It was a publicly-known matter among the Mystical Investigators that Kogure and Ohtomo had been colleagues. Allegedly, they had been extremely close in private as well. That was why he seemed to hold complex emotions about Ohtomo who had become wanted by the Onmyou Agency. He didn't exactly feel that Ohtomo would accommodate the enemy, but he had to stay on his guard.

He opened the car door and chased after Kogure, leaping to the road from the driver's seat. As he closed the door behind him with a slam, a panicked Miyoshi rolled down the van window and stuck his head out.

"Wait, Yamashiro-shi! If you go too, who's going to protect me?"

"Even the 'Heavenly Sword' will be at a disadvantage against two oni. Leaving him alone is dangerous."

"If leaving someone alone is dangerous, that's the same for me. Or rather, I'm in far more danger."

"Then please wait in the van."

"I can't relax if I'm this close."

"Then come with us."

"Don't be ridiculous."

Miyoshi spoke seriously from start to finish. Though it wasn't the first time being in the same group as him - come to think of it, Miyoshi had been like this from the very start of their trip to Seishuku Temple - but it sapped his motivation. He was already 'on the scene', so he really wished things didn't have to be like this.

But just like Miyoshi worried about, the former Special Senser with his extraordinary spirit-seeing ability was completely useless in a battle. More importantly, it was a battle against true oni, so it was very possible that he would be dragged in and lose his life if he was nearby.

"Then go take shelter in a place that looks safe. If support arrives, please contact them!"

Yamashiro announced this and then circled around the van to run on the sidewalk. Though Miyoshi's whining complaints still came from behind him, he decided not to pay attention.

But immediately after he circled around to the other side of the van, he noticed that Kogure still hadn't entered the building. He stood on the sidewalk in front of the building, looking up at the tall building with a keen expression.

Yamashiro ran up to Kogure's side and said:

"Are we waiting for support as expected?"

"The opponents will retreat immediately once they catch Kengyou. We have to hold them here until support arrives."

"But there's a big gap in fighting power. Other than the two oni, there might be a former Divine General - also, it's quite possible that even an ara-mitama will come out. When a National First-Class Onmyouji is complemented by three other high-level Phase Three, there's a limit to how long we can hold them here.

After he said those words again, he felt how reckless the contents were. After all, even in the 'Hinamatsuri Repurification' that had been a step away from developing into a state of emergency declaration, there had been spiritual disaster purification teams deployed outside the Meiji Outer Garden and they had only been targeting two Phase Three 'Type-Chimera' for purification. Even so, the Exorcist Bureau at the time had faced the situation with full power. Of course, the danger of ancient oni that were already spiritually stable had to be considered differently from Nue who expended not long after they were formed, but they were no less of a threat as 'battle opponents'. No, rather, they were far more dangerous.

Moreover, the Phase Threes that they were going to fight were 'Shadow's shikigami. The difficulty of dealing with spiritual entities being used by an excellent practitioner couldn't be compared to that of simple spiritual disasters.

But.

"I understand. First, I'll get rid of one."

Kogure looked up at the building, readying his blade with an unchanging gaze.

He put his left hand on the still-sheathed sword hung at his waist and leaned forward slightly, reaching his right hand to the hilt. "Hah?" The moment Yamashiro let out a slightly silly sound--

Kogure's aura vanished. No, he had suppressed his aura to keep from being spotted beforehand, condensing it even more tightly.

Then it exploded.

At the same time as the blade was drawn, Kogure's right hand rapidly slashed out, and the blade - the divine blade 'Second Norimune' - flashed.

In an instant, the huge refined magical energy rose into the horizon along with a silver light. The blade depicted a beautiful arc and the magical energy unleashed along the trail burst out with an appalling might.

A spectacular strike as if to rend the world itself. He even had the illusion that the building in front of him was split in two. Yamashiro staggered back a step behind him because of the shockwave and the push of the spiritual pressure. Boom. The building let off a giant crunching sound and a straight crack appeared on the outer wall.

Yamashiro was speechless from shock.

In contrast, Kogure clicked his tongue quietly.

"No way."

Yamashiro came to his senses when he heard this. An attack from such a distant position without warning. Kogure had carried out a surprise attack before even coming in contact with the enemy.

"Let's go."

After Kogure briefly announced this, carrying his scabbard and rushing into the interior of the building. Yamashiro hastily chased after him.

Then, he inadvertently barked at Kogure's back. "How can you do that!?"

"There are ordinary people inside!"

"Don't worry. I only cut the floor the oni were on."

Kogure said indifferently.

The two of them used the stairs instead of the escalator to enter their target floor. Kogure took the lead, with Yamashiro right behind him. The first floor was in a commotion inside the building. Kogure's slash had followed right after the oni had gone rampant. They might believe it was an earthquake or something else. But there was no extra time to lead them to safety. Yamashiro and Kogure dashed up the stairs, their feet making noise.

Just then.

"You did that just now!?"

On the stairs - he immediately doubted his ears - sounded a voice that could only be described as a 'seductive roar'. Then, a tremendous sound of destruction roared above his head, and from the top of the stairs - he couldn't help but doubt his eyes - descended a 'half-clothed tall woman'.

"I almost got cut! Take this, bastard! I won't forgive you!"

Smash. The woman forcefully stomped on the stairs, blocking Kogure's path. She was a ponytailed girl - no, an 'oni'. An astonishing demonic aura was erupting from her entire body.

The oni angrily pounced at Kogure. But Kogure calmly drew his trusted blade, parrying aside the leaping oni with the magical energy on the blade rather than the blade itself.

The oni, whose momentum was parried, collided hard with the wall, crashing right through. The stairs shook because of the impact and Yamashiro instantly grabbed the handrail.

"Kogure-san!?"

"Let's go. Our target is 'Shadow'."

Kogure rushed up the stairs after parrying aside the oni. Yamashiro also tried to follow, but--

"...Don't look down on me!"

The oni who had crashed through the wall returned to the stairs, breaking in between Kogure and Yamashiro and attacking Kogure from behind.

"Tch! Order!"

Yamashiro immediately released a charm. The fire-element charm ignited, scorching the oni. But the oni was unconcerned. Maybe her blood was boiling too much, as she didn't even look at the attacking Yamashiro.

Kogure twisted his body, turning his head and striking with his blade. But this time, the oni avoided the slash. She turned her body to dodge the slash while reaching out a long leg, kicking the stairs under Kogure's feet with a crash.

A large hole was broken open in the stairs because of that blow. But Kogure had already jumped to the step above a moment before.

"曩莫 萨缚 怛他孽帝毗药 萨缚..."

Kogure chanted an incantation, maintaining his sword-holding posture. Fire Realm magic. The flame of magical energy descended towards the oni, who defended herself with her arms. "Hotttt!?" The yelling oni's body flashed with lag. Yamashiro also rapidly switched his charm magic to a wood-element charm. Wood generates fire. The wood aura generated fire aura and aided Kogure's Fire Realm magic.

However.

"Daaah!? Die!"[18]

The oni's body swelled. After she spread her defending arms wide, more demonic aura burst from her body. Kogure's Fire Realm magic was blown away because of that force. Yamashiro in the back immediately put up a barrier to guard against the scattered Fire Realm and demonic aura. But at the same time he guarded against it, he was buffeted by the powerful spiritual pressure.

"Graah!"

The oni bared her teeth and bellowed after throwing off the Fire Realm magic. The air vibrated as if it had been torn open and the stairs seemed about to collapse. Yamashiro couldn't help but tremble as he cursed to himself[19].

There was a mobile spiritual disaster extremely close by in this narrow space. What an overwhelming presence.

"This is... an oni......!?"

Yamashiro was a Mystical Investigator. His experience fighting spiritual disasters was almost zero. The oni named Kakugyouki had also exerted his strength when Seishuku Temple had been destroyed, but Yamashiro had been locked in a magic battle with Tsuchimikado Natsume in a far-off location. This was his first time facing the might of a 'true oni'.

Also, he feared that she was still restraining herself. Maybe she had been restricted by her master's orders, but even though she had become emotional, she still hadn't used her full power. He could understand this just by 'seeing'.

Kogure rapidly ascended the stairs to pull away from the oni. The oni pursued behind Kogure. Yamashiro hastily prepared to follow, but every step of the oni's had enough force to destroy the stair step. Cracks appeared on the stairs in droves, and it had already turned into something that might collapse at any time.

"Yamashiro, circle around to the shortcut!"

Kogure headed up the stairs while issuing an instruction from above. Yamashiro immediately complied, splitting up with Kogure and arriving in a hallway. It was on the fourth floor.

He had memorized the building's structure beforehand. There was a group mahjong parlor on the fourth floor. It was in a commotion when he entered the parlor, and the people near the entrance shrieked and looked at Yamashiro.

"Onmyou Agency! A spiritual disaster's happened. Evacuate immediately!"

He shouted loudly while rushing to the shortcut within the shop.

But.

"It would be better to back off if you're going to be this noisy."

A man appeared from the opened shortcut door - a red-haired man whose body was abnormally stocky. Yamashiro clicked his tongue and stopped. Demonic aura also showed from the man's body. He was another oni.

"Well, that wild girl is making a riot. Did she get angry because you were taking liberties? We lived in the darkness for a hundred years to keep from trouble others. Don't go asking for it, boy."

The oni wore sunglasses on his face and smiled savagely. He showed his fangs, dripping with dense demonic aura that evoked an instinctive terror.

But he couldn't call himself a Divine General if he faltered here.

"Order!"

A wood-element charm and a fire-element charm. But they didn't generate off each other. The wind whipped up by the wood-element charm blew the flame produced by the fire-element charm, swirling it in front of the oni. A smokescreen. He made a substitute with a shikigami charm as the scattering flame obscured the vision while stealthing himself.

The customers screamed and left their tables to flee outside the shop. He moved, mixing into that commotion. Facing a spiritual disaster head-on wasn't the work of a Mystical Investigator. Moreover, the mission that had been requested of Yamashiro and the others was to hold 'Shadow' back until support arrived. Winning against this oni would be meaningless if 'Shadow' fled.

The substitute simple shikigami constantly used charm magic. It would carry out feint attacks until the magical energy he had given to it beforehand was depleted. Yamashiro planned on taking advantage of that opening and circling around behind the oni's back.

But his attempt was easily seen through.

"Hey, boy, you'd better back off if you're not going to attack."

The oni warned him in a low voice. At the same time, his read hair fluttered and became messy as his demonic aura swelled in a flash. The oni let his demonic aura erupt everywhere in front of Yamashiro, who had reflexively taken a stance.

"Ugh!?"

An unexpected attack. Yamashiro groaned and staggered as he endured the whipping demonic aura, and the stealth magic he was using was released. But he didn't have the time to mind that.

"O-Order!"

Even if he had lost his balance and was about to collapse, Yamashiro desperately threw a charm behind him. A protective charm. He put up a magical barrier at the last moment in front of the customers flowing out the shop entrance, managing to block the pouring demonic aura. The oni whistled.

"You immediately 'protect' the people even at this kind of time. Though it's admirable how seriously you fulfill your responsibility as a public servant, I don't think you have enough power to worry about others."

The oni grinned at the unstealthed Yamashiro and spoke. Yamashiro immediately righted his stance, but the simple shikigami that he had created as his substitute had already vanished from the demonic aura.

He was completely familiar with battles against practitioners, but in contrast, his intuition was off when his opponent was a spiritual disaster. Never even mind one who had adopted a human form.

Should he try to break through head-on again, or think about other methods?

The oni didn't plan on acting first himself. The two sides began unconsciously glaring at each other.

The thing that broke this stalemate was a huge sound of destruction that echoed above his head along with a tremor that shook the building.

An impact that made one wonder whether the building was about to collapse. As if a bomb had exploded upstairs. But of course, it wasn't a bomb. It was a magical energy shockwave that had descended through the ceiling. It was Kogure.

"Shit! Again!"

The oni clicked his tongue, raising his chin and staring at the ceiling.

But Yamashiro didn't divert his attention from the oni in that moment.

"Bind him! Order!"

With his hands, he rapidly crumpled the shikigami charms that he pulled out from his clothing. Then, black fog spurted out from the gaps in his clenched fist, writhing and rushing towards the inattentive oni as if they were alive. The black fog possessed a feeling of weight like liquefied metal. The oni yelled out, taken by surprise and encircled by the fog.

"Kodoku!?"

That was right. Forbidden magic that had been called a type of curse. The Mystical Investigator Yamashiro who held 'First-Class Onmyou' qualifications had used a piece of forbidden magic according to his own judgment. He admitted that.

Yamashiro entered stealth again. The oni cursed and tried to throw off the kodoku, but the black fog changed form, dissipating and reforming to impede the movements of his body.

"Shit! To think you'd use something so annoying!"

He raged - the moment he saw that, the oni suddenly opened his mouth wide, revealing his fangs, and bit down on the kodoku with a crunch. Crunch, crunch. He bit apart the black fog, puckering his mouth when its movement became slow and sucking it up with a hiss. Hey hey, don't be ridiculous, Yamashiro cursed inside. He hadn't thought it was possible to 'devour forbidden magic'. That was unexpected.

The oni completely ate the kodoku in several brief seconds. But he made it in time. During the period of time when the oni was eating the kodoku, Yamashiro maintained his stealth and ran past the oni, reaching the door connected to the shortcut. "Order!" He released another kodoku for insurance, leaving it as an obstruction and going outside through the shortcut. The place he came out in was an emergency staircase set along the outer wall.

The wind was strong since it faced the back alley. His sweat rapidly chilled upon exposure to the outside air. Yamashiro cast stealth magic again. He rushed up the stairs with the top floor as his target. Judging from what he had seen before, the second kodoku wouldn't buy him much time. He had to take the opportunity to pull away - right as he thought that.

Thunk. A melodious sound rang out--

A man appeared, descending the stairs in front of him.

White hair and glasses. He wore a coat and held a cane, and one of his legs was a wooden fake leg.

"Oh my."

'Shadow' spoke in an incongruously leisurely voice.

"So you got past Gozu. The newcomer's quite excellent this time."


"In other words, Priest. You left a few days before Tsuchimikado Harutora attacked, and hence you weren't at the monastery the day of the attack?"

"......Right. In the first place, I was usually outside more than I was in...... the monastery......"

The emptied bar.

Kengyou, who sat right on the ground with his back against the bar, replied to Ohtomo's question with an unfocused, empty look. Ohtomo crouched on the floor next to Kengyou, continuing the mutter into his ear with a voice containing magical energy.

"There wasn't any unusual situation the days before you left either?"

"......I'm not sure...... At the time, there was just a newcomer to a mountain...... Afterwards, I immediately returned to town......"

"That's the girl called 'Hokuto' that you mentioned before?"

"......Right......"

After Ohtomo sighed, he stood up with an effort, supported by his cane.

He scratched his head with a displeased face, saying:

"I guess it ended up in failure, though I didn't expect much. No wonder the Mystical Investigators left him along without caring."

Even as Ohtomo spoke to himself, Kengyou who sat on the ground still didn't move, looking absentminded. He had repeatedly used Unmoving Golden Chains, first-class spirit language, and illusion magic, making every effort to extract information. He had originally planned on using gentler means, but unfortunately he didn't have that kind of time.


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 541


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