Public Notice: The poll on my Bio was finally changed! Woohoo!
What came before: The counterattack had begun. While Ritsura is facing against the assassin from the Hashima Kyushu Clan, Kubinashi is racing against time to save Kejorou. In meantime, Keikain Ryuzan is dealing with one of the traitors of the Gyuki Group…
Chapter 53 – Cleansing the Wicked
"Ugh…" Kejorou woke up, feeling pain along every part of her body, "What happened?"
When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a cave, with several youkai sitting around and looking anxious.
Kyushu youkai! Kejorou soon realized who they must have been and tried to raise herself up. However, her arms and legs were bound and it felt like something was sapping her Fear, making it hard to move her hair. She looked down and saw that she was inside something that looked like a magic circle.
"Ugh…" She let her chin fall on the ground. "This is terribly humiliating." She was not even worried, just annoyed.
~)(~
Ryuzan did not feel nervous at having to face Kurenai. Although she was one of the elite in the Gyuki Group, he already faced her once.
Granted, that did not mean that she showed him all she was capable of. As a matter of fact, since she knew that she would be fighting against Gyuki and his allies, it was unlikely that she fought without holding back. Still, just knowing what kind of techniques she uses makes it easier to guess what is coming,
Kurenai started the technique with more flair than the last time: she held the staff with one hand and turned it around while her other hand's palm faced the staff. The crimson eyes on her blindfold shone, while the Fear around became more malicious.
When the world around him changed, Ryuzan put his hands together, with the index fingers lying on one another and facing forward. He tried dispelling the Fear around him and while there was a small reaction, it was still not enough. Of course it wouldn't be anything simple. He could only watch as the forest around him turned into a deadly swamp with deadly quagmires.
Normally, Ryuzan would play around, if only to practice his skills, but time was of essence and he still did not restore all of the spirit energy he lost in the earlier fights. So he raised one of his gloves and intended to summon a Shikigami when he felt another youkai get close.
Ryuzan immediately turned in the direction where the youkai was, but he saw nothing due to thick mist around the swamp. Shit, Kurenai is probably masking his presence. As if being invisible inside this fog was not enough for the newcomer, this youkai now masked his Fear so it also became harder to pinpoint the youkai's position. Ryuzan now only knew that he was somewhere around him. It is a mixed blessing: on one hand I am now aware that I have more than one enemy to deal with, but on the other hand my worry fuels the youkai's Fear.
Ryuzan took a deep breath and concentrated, trying to discard as much of his worry and fear as he could. Even though he was not that good at it, it was something.
In any case, I better summon a Shikigami. Ryuzan raised his hand, and the kanji on his glove started shining.
"Thy honor, my enemy." A voice of a young boy echoed around Ryuzan. "Stars shall not stand with you tonight." And just like that, the glove became useless.
"What the…" Ryuzan could only look in shock as he realized that he could not summon his Shikigami.
"It pains me to slay a fellow Onmyouji, it really does," The voice of a boy spoke. "But you are aiding the wretched Gyuki whose sword took many lives. I don't know for your reasons, but they do not matter. Anyone cooperating with such wretchedness deserves no mercy."
Ryuzan tried to protect his body with a barrier rejecting the cold, and he felt his body get warmer. Good, only the techniques related to the constellations have become useless. Having confirmed that he was not powerless, Ryuzan turned his attention to that boy.An Onmyouji, huh? We should have expected something like that seeing as countless Onmyouji lost their lives on this mountain.
It was a bittersweet feeling for Ryuzan. On one hand, he too did not like the idea of fighting a fellow Onmyouji, especially if there was a chance that his enemy was once a proud soul. But it was an Onmyouji's duty to send all wretched and fallen spirits to the Underworld so he would not hesitate to slay him.
On other hand, he also felt such satisfaction that his mouth widened into a tiny smile. I wonder how old he is, and what techniques he is using. Watching an old master at work might come in handy.
And with that resolve, Ryuzan prepared for a fight.
~)(~
"Why are you here?" Kurenai asked while walking backwards, trying to put as much distance between herself and Ryuzan as she could.
"Are you sure about it?" The one she talked with was a boy, twelve years of age, who sat on a large paper crane that floated in the air. He was albino with no pigments in his skin and with pure, white hair. Even his eyes were unnaturally white. "Would it not be better to just walk up to him and stab him?" His clothes were those of an Onmyouji: white with a long, black hat.
"That would not work." She decided to first answer his question before repeating her own. "My body needs to be relaxed for the technique to work. And even if I could do this, I would not: this boy is sharp and might cut or crush my throat if I get too close." She threw her eyes at the albino Onmyouji once again. "I repeat: why are you here, Asahi?"
This Onmyouji, now a youkai like her, used to be a genius young Onmyouji whose House fell in disfavor with the Imperial Court. In order to clear his honor, he and the rest of his house came to Nejireme, trying to clear it of youkai. Although he and his clan lost, many strong members of the Gyuki Group lost their lives.
"That large, masked youkai asked me to come and aid a youkai lady with a blindfold." The boy did not hide the hatred in his eyes as he gazed upon her. "As much as I hate to answer a request of a youkai who once served Gyuki and as much as I hate to aid a youkai who served Gyuki, I will put that aside until Gyuki and the ones loyal to him are dealt with."
"Well your help is not needed." Kurenai returned her eyes to Ryuzan who moved slowly around, not letting his guard down for even a moment. Kurenai too had to keep her guard up: her technique only masked the landscape and while she could create an illusion of a thick fog, it was no perfect cover. "I have my ways of slaying a target without getting close to them." But to do that, I need to terrify him enough to make him lose consciousness.
"Yet your face tells a different story." Asahi stretched his arms. "If a child like me can let go of my pride, so can you." From inside the large sleeves of his robe, many crane-like origamis started flying out. "It is even more so when your eyes fear him more than they feared me when you and I fought centuries ago."
~)(~
Kino… Kubinashi rushed through the forest, running after that youkai in the white yukata. Kino… He was a youkai of the Nura Clan and a member of Nura Rikuo's Hyaki Yakou. It was his duty to protect Ritsura, he knew that. Kino… But he still felt like he would have done the same thing over and over again: for some reason he just could not let anything happen to Kejorou.KINO!
The youkai in the white yukata was now only around ten meters away from him. Immediately, Kubinashi put some of his strings between his teeth and had his head fly forward. Just like all others who fell victims to Kubinashi's Fear, this youkai also failed to get caught between the strings that Kubinashi set up in little time.
No matter how much Kubinashi wanted to ensure Kejorou's safety, he knew that he should not waste an opportunity to slay one of the clan's enemies. And due to both experience and the fact that this person wanted to murder Kejorou, Kubinashi felt nothing as he watched the enemy get strangled to death.
Then wings, whose feathers seemed to have been made of steam, popped out from his back. The wings started sounding as if they were boiling water. The wings touched one another and an orb of boiling water started forming from them. Realizing what the enemy had planned, Kubinashi let go of his strings and jumped away, barely avoiding the orb of boiling water that flew at him.
So he is Crocer. Kubinashi thought as he gazed upon the enemy who rubbed his neck and coughed. Kubinashi remembered the Keikain Onmyouji describe him as an ancient, foreign and powerful demon.
"So you the infamous Kubinashi about whom Yashagoro talked…" Crocer got to his feet and smirked. "You almost defeated me there so I will commend your strength."
"Should someone who almost died smile like that?" Kubinashi asked while putting another string between his teeth. "Next time I will crush your throat."
"Do as you please," Crocer shrugged, "You will just send me back to Hell after which my summoner will just conjure me again… I take it that the Exorcist told you that you need to slay a certain Sorcerer to get rid of me, right?"
"He did mention something like that, yes." Still, Kubinashi did not pay much attention to the Onmyouji's warnings as his mind was elsewhere at the time. So basically he has no reason to fear death. Such enemies are a bother.
"In that case, is it really worth wasting your time with me?" Crocer stretched, "Shouldn't you be hurrying to that woman while I try to hunt you down?"
"You are the one who was supposed to kill her."
"Of course I am, Yashagoro definitely did not order others to kill her just in case. He is too honorable for that," Crocer spoke words that may have confirmed some of Kubinashi's suspicions, "Or maybe he is not. Maybe she is already rotting somewhere in the mud… or maybe she is drowning in the mud, who knows."
"Where is she…" Kubinashi considered torture, but also understood that time might be of essence. However, he was not sure if turning his back on this demon would be a good idea.
Crocer did not reply in any way other than giving him a mysterious smile.
I should kill him first. But just when Kubinashi's head prepared to fly at him, Crocer's wings spread behind him, steam coming out of them.
"If you prioritize your woman's safety over my death, I suggest you to run." Crocer made a dignified, yet wicked, smile. "Fighting an Angel takes a large toll you know." And then the water douched from his wings, but not before Kubinashi used his strings to move himself away and hide behind a large stone. He could hear the ground boil where the water hit. "And let me tell you, if my water burns your feet and arms, you will have trouble moving around. Will you make it, I wonder?"
He is trying to bait me. If I do start running, you will just attack me!
"By the way, she sure was gorgeous, and had nice ass and breasts," Crocer spoke again, "Are you sure the ones Yashagoro left behind could resist her feminity? It helps that Yashagoro used his sorcery to seal most of her Fear so she is powerless," Crocer continued speaking while Kubinashi's eyes widened and his fingers stabbed into his palms, "Just imagine her… tears flowing out of her eyes while her throat no longer holds the strength to scream, all while she begs for you to come and save her."
There was no doubt anymore: he had to kill him now and then go and kill everyone else near Kejorou. "YOU BASTARD-" But when he jumped onto the rock, he stared right into Crocer's grinning face.
Crocer immediately grabbed Kubinashi's chin with his left hand and both of Kubinashi's arms with his right. "I lied, the Kyushu are too honorable to even consider doing something like that." Crocer's boiling wings spread in such a manner that they made a dome around them, blocking any hope of escape. "But I am Duke Crocell of the Ars Goetia, not some lowly follower of a Japanese demon. And I do enjoy boiling people alive and throwing their dying bodies in front of their loved ones." Steam started coming out from Crocell's hands, burning Kubinashi with every passing moment while drops of boiling water started falling onto Kubinashi's body from Crocell's wings. "It is a sick hobby of mine, but what else can a demon do than accept his own wicked nature." And during all that time, Crocell kept up his kind smile.
"Princeps gloriosissime exercituum, Sancte Michael Archangele." A girl's voice echoed around them, speaking words which Kubinashi could not understand. "Defende nos in proelio adversus principes et potestates." Crocell's expression turned from a smile to horror. "Adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum." Crocell let go of Kubinashi and flew into the air, turning his attention onto an iron cross, which looked like it was made by an amateur, hurled at him. "Contra spiritualia nequitiae, in caelestibus!"
"Damn ExorciIIIAAAAHHHH!" Crocell burst into flames and started hitting himself with his aquatic wings.
"It worked?!" Whoever the female exorcist was, she was surprised. "Run and save her, leave him to me!"
Who is that, the Keikain Onmyouji? Kubinashi considered staying and helping, but the graphical words that Crocell gave him made him hesitant of that idea. "Thank you!" Kubinashi said and started running again, leaving another enemy to someone else.
~)(~
"Come on now, you two!" Ryuzan shouted into the air while he walked through the illusion of a swamp. "We don't have the whole night, you know!" The fog was no longer thick, suggesting that Kurenai had hidden somewhere and no longer had to rally on it.
Of course, it is possible that they are stalling for time… but if I accept that as a fact and try to focus on dispelling the illusion, they would attack when my guard is down. But if I let myself get stalled, it might threaten me or Ritsura…
However, Ryuzan did not need to make a decision, which he realized when he heard the sounds of wings being flapped. He immediately looked around himself and upwards, after which he saw crows flying around, with their entrails and skeleton bones sticking out of them. Now we have Zombie Birds as well, huh?
The birds then flew down at him. Somehow I don't think I should let them touch me. Ryuzan tried to run, but the deadly quagmires, which probably would not result in anything good happening to him even if they were just illusions, made it hard to outrun the birds… not that he would have had much more hope in a normal forest either.
Ryuzan had no choice but to depend on physical barriers, which were more exhausting to make than the other kinds of barriers as the Onmyouji were experts in spiritual barriers, not the ones that protected from physical attacks.
Fortunately, the gloves he used were made so that they could create a barrier around them, so he could use them to hit a bird even if it tried stabbing its beak or claws into him as the physical barrier rejected their attacks.
The problem, however, was that there were too many of them and there was a limit to how much a mere human could do. So eventually, one the birds managed to grab onto his left leg. Ryuzan immediately punched her from himself, but before the bird even fell to the ground, she exploded.
It was far enough that Ryuzan was left unscratched, but he nevertheless understood the true danger around him. He let go of the physical barrier and then put his hands together, as if in prayer. Hurry… HURRY!
Soon, the birds which flew around him exploded, but he managed to create a fire barrier in time, so the spiritual fire did not let much harm come to him. However, the fire was strong and the stronger an attack was, the more spiritual energy was wasted by his barrier.
"I see, so you are a barrier expert, huh?" A voice came from somewhere above Ryuzan. He turned towards the source and saw a boy, dressed in Onmyouji attire, sitting atop a large origami crane which floated in the sky. "That woman said that your Shikigami are dangerous, but I am starting to wonder…"
"And you sure have some ugly Shikigami, kid." Ryuzan wondered what kind of Shikigami they even were. Most summoned Shikigami were based on constellations, a guardian deity or some other celestial spirit, but these crows did not remind him of anything. It is possible to turn youkai into Shikigami as well, but these crows lack the darkness that is present in every youkai. "But they are quite unique." He hoped that showing interest would awaken the enemy's snobbish side.
However, the boy did not fall for his trick. "Yes, they are." He pointed his hand at Ryuzan and then more zombie crows start coming out of it. But they did not do anything else but fly around the boy.
Shit, just what am I supposed to do here? Defending won't keep me alive forever! Ryuzan took a step backwards, not noticing that one of the vines from a nearby tree moved towards him and grabbed his throat while he was not looking. Kurenai! I completely forgot about her!
He was not sure how far her illusions went, but he intuitively knew that letting the vine, be it real or not, strangle him would not end well for him. If nothing else, he was unable to concentrate and keep his barrier up while his body was trying to reflexively save itself. And once it became clear that Ryuzan was defenseless, the crows started flying towards him.
This is just an illusion! Ryuzan closed his eyes and concentrated. He was unable to expel the whole area, but dispelling this small part of the illusion might be doable.Remember body, you are not really being strangled!
As hard as it was to concentrate in a situation like this, he somehow managed to put in enough effort to make the vine disappear. Without even looking at them, Ryuzan jumped away and evaded another explosion.
But Kurenai was not about to let him take a break: a quagmire appeared in his path and by the time he had stopped, his right leg had stepped into it. This is cheating! Ah, calm down… I can do this, just pull the leg out and- But just when his leg moved back a few centimeters, hands rose from the quagmire and grabbed it. Are you shitting me? Furthermore, he could hear birds flapping their wings from afar. ARE YOU SHITTING ME!?
Although the thought crossed his mind, he did not try to dispel this part of the illusion, but just put more force into pulling and saved himself. Once again, he ran to avoid the birds, but this time the boy sent one at his escape route.
Oh no, you won't! Ryuzan created both a physical and fire barrier in his right hand and just grabbed the bird. He did not know why, but he also concentrated on dispelling any potential illusions in front of him.
The bird exploded, but not before its head turned into paper.
I see, so that's how it is! Ryuzan threw the burnt paper onto the ground. He makes Origami cranes from his paper talismans and then Kurenai masks them with her illusions, making them look like something else. What's more, I recognize this technique.
~)(~
"Kashaimaru, practice with me!" Ryuzan, several years ago, challenged his friend and mentor while he was enjoying some morning coffee in a bar in Kyoto.
"No." Kashaimaru gave a swift answer.
"I ask again, why not?"
"Because I don't like practicing unless I can fight with all I got." Kashaimaru put some more milk into his coffee. "And if I do that to you, you would die from one strike."
"But that's exactly what I need: a proper fight." Ryuzan sat in front of him. "I want to have a serious fight with an Onmyouji."
"Why would you want to fight an Onmyouji for heaven's sake?" Kashaimaru looked at him as if he were insane. "You are an Onmyouji, you fight youkai! That's what Onmyoudo exists for!"
"Yet my father found himself in a situation where he fought against-" Ryuzan then remembered that Gokadoin Tenkai whom his father fought was from Kashaimaru's family. "-a powerful Onmyouji." Ryuzan said and averted his eyes.
If Kashaimaru was bothered by this, he did not show it. "Yeah, I guess that's true…" Kashaimaru leaned against his seat and looked into the sky. "But still, I don't feel like doing it."
"But-"
"Oh, then you don't mind me doing it, right?" A female voice came from behind Ryuzan. When he turned around, he saw a pretty, black-haired girl, nineteen years of age, in a black yukata. She had some light make-up on her face, her hair was tied into a pony-tail and she had a white flower attacked to her hair.
"Well if it isn't Ayame-nee-san." Kashaimaru seemed to know her. When he saw a confused look on Ryuzan's face, he said, "This is Gokadoin Ayame, my dear cousin." He then turned his eyes at Ayame. "This is Keikain Ryuzan, a man who loves women."
"Tz." Ayame, who Ryuzan soon realized was a Fujoshi, clicked her tongue but her expression quickly fixed itself. "I overheard that you want to train. Want to give it a try?"
"Reject it, Ryu," Kashaimaru warned him, "Seriously, she is crazier than me."
Of course, Ryuzan would never reject a training practice with such a cute girl… no matter what her actual age might be.
~)(~
"Ah, it is such nice air in here…" Gokadoin Ayame enjoyed the breeze in the mountains of Kansai where she forced Ryuzan to take her. It was forced because he had to pay all the travelling fees, making him wonder if tourism was the reason she wanted to train with him.
Ryuzan sat beside her, wondering when they would start their fight.
"Kashaimaru told me that you are an expert in barriers and Zodiac Summoning." As if she could read his mind, she went to the topic that interested him. "Which reminds me… you are the nephew of the Keikain boss who could summon multiple Shikigami and son of the one who defeated and killed Tenkai, aren't you?"
"Yes." Ryuzan nodded and went to ask a question himself. "Since you know what my Onmyoudo is about, may I ask what you are specializing in?"
"Elegance!" She answered with one word.
"…huh?"
"I like elegance and techniques that are elegant," she said, fittingly, with an aura of elegance around her. "I especially love flowers, so herbalism is my primary specialty."
"Herbalism? Is that really an efficient means of fighting youkai?"
"Hmhm." Ayame just winked at him and then took out a deck of paper from her pocket, with some symbols written on them. "But I will use another elegant technique against you." When a strong wind blew and scattered dozens of leaves from a tree, she threw some of the papers into the air. "Watch closely, this is what you will be fighting again!"
The pieces of papers started folding themselves, until they turned into Crane-shaped Origami. And then, with speed of a train, they flew at the leaves, each origami ripping apart one of the leaves, until they turned into green dust.
"Well then…" Ayame raised herself up while Ryuzan wondered if he had any hope. "…let's start!"
As he expected, she beat him up on their first fight. Twice a week, they would go to a different mountain in Japan (at his expense of course) and fight one another, with him being defeated every time in the first three weeks.
After a lot of studying on how her techniques worked, he managed to find a flaw in them and use it against her in the fourth week… a flaw she quickly fixed and defeated him again, although she proclaimed him the victor.
To this day, he had never defeated her.
~)(~
Ryuzan continued his hopeless fight against the Origami. Now that I think about it, she did say that it was a technique invented by some genius kid many centuries again. Who would have thought that I would stumble upon him. Ryuzan avoided a crow which almost grabbed his head, and then used a barrier to deflect the spiritual explosion that came from it. They are slower and explode on contact, but otherwise it looked the same. Ayame probably just altered the technique to make it more elegant, as she would call it. Ryuzan jumped over a quagmire that appeared under his feet before those arms could grab him again. I wonder how she would feel about me killing one of her idols.
Having already concluded that Kurenai could not create deadly traps at short intervals, he now had a chance to focus solely on the crows and check if they really were the same. Although this approach did not work on Ayame, it might work on him as long as I am careful to not make him realize where the flaw in the technique was.
Two crows were now flying at him, but he did not move or prepare to avoid them. Instead, he prepared his hands for an attack. Concentrate and stay focused! When the crows were close enough, he grabbed them both and forced his spiritual energy onto them, after which he threw them onto the ground.
They did not explode, which greatly surprised the flying brat. "What the… What did you do?"
Of course, Ryuzan would not make the same mistake and explain the details to his opponent like he did to Ayame. "Nothing, I just killed your little crows." So it works… that's a relief.
Ryuzan then ducked to avoid another vine and started running. "I am not falling for the same trick twice, Kurenai!"
"Stop!" The boy, whose pride Ryuzan seemingly hurt, sent more of his origami masked as crows at him.
Bring it on! Ryuzan did not even grab the other origami, he just hit them with his hands and the crows fell lifeless onto the ground. As expected, the undead Onmyouji kid tried to make some of them explode before his hands touched them, but as long as they were close enough to harm Ryuzan, they were close enough for him to affect them without physical contact, although it required annoyingly more focus.
"Why you…" The child that he was, the undead boy did not take well to humiliation that Ryuzan was bringing to his beloved origami. "Just die already!" The boy threw pieces of paper into the air, which then turned into spikes and descended on Ryuzan.
Uh… how am I supposed to defend against this? They stabbed into Ryuzan, and even the physical barriers could not do anything more than just slow them down and make them stab less deep than they otherwise would. Well, it did save my life.
"GROOOWL!" Something roared behind Ryuzan and when he turned around, he saw an ox-headed spider run at him. The idea that he would die shocked him for long enough to not realize that this was actually Kurenai and that he could have avoided the attack.
The illusion disappeared and Kurenai appeared in front of him, stabbing him into his shoulder and pushing onto a tree. "Asahi, the spikes!"
"H… hai!" The boy, who seemed to have been called Asahi, threw more spikes down, until they floated just under Ryuzan's chin.
"You have lost, Onmyouji." Kurenai said, her mouth showing neither pleasure nor sadness. Asahi, who was now floating behind her, had a smirk on his face however. "Any final words?"
"I don't need them," Ryuzan said with a smile, "Why don't you tell them?"
Both looked confused. "What are you-"
Too late did the two of them notice that the origami, which Ryuzan had supposedly dispelled, silently flew up to them and positioned around all of the fatal points on their bodies: their chest, their back, behind their necks and, the last ones, in front of their very eyes.
Checkmate. And they then exploded, sealing both of their fates.
~)(~
"Come on Exorcist, show yourself." She could hear Crocell call to her. Although the tone of his voice was composed, Sakura could feel the malice in his tone. No doubt, he did not take well to her accidentally setting him afire.
This was not a good idea…. This was not a good idea at all! Sakura thought as she sat on the ground behind a large tree, dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt and black sweatpants, which she acquired by compromising the Seventh Commandment on Shima Ryu, although she had a full intention of giving the clothes back. For sneaking around in a dark forest, she needed something dark and she did not bring such clothes with her.
Seriously, what was I even thinking? Sakura hugged her own knees. Even if he possesses the aura of an Akuma, I never dealt with living, breathing Akuma. She could not imagine herself doing better than the youkai with the floating head, who himself got cornered by this demon. Sakura, who had no combat experience against breathing demons, had no hopes. Just what will he do if he finds me? I am a fool, I should have stayed at the resort.
"I am Crocell, a Duke of Hell, the 49th demon of Ars Goetia."Crocell re-introduced himself. "Come on girl, introduce yourself as well."
The fact that this demon was probably Yashagoro's acquaintance worried her as well. Yasagoro-san, just what are you? Why are doing this?
"Alright, maybe I should let your screams introduce you as boiling water burns your skin," Crocell said and started to shower boiling water around the area, hoping to hit the girl who was hiding somewhere nearby.
On the plus side, the exorcism she had used on non-material demons proved to be effective against him. She was more surprised than anyone else by Crocell bursting into flames. I can do this… I am not sure how, but I can do this. A few drops of boiling water fell on her hand, but she bit her lip in order to not scream. Her choice of clothing protected the rest of her body from other small drops. I have to banish him back to Hell and find Yashagoro-san. She stood up to her feet and slapped herself on her cheeks.Calm down, the Lord shall protect me. If she was able to make him burst into flames once, then she could do it again.
She had to hold on to that belief.
Sakura took in a deep breath before going into action. If I can get close enough to him, I should be able to vanquish him. She put her hand into the pocket on her sweatshirt and took out her wooden cross. Unlike the makeshift metal one she used earlier, which she built from parts of iron she found at the resort, this one should have a stronger effect on the demon.
Once she put her hands under her sleeves, which she did in order to reduce the chance of boiling water falling directly onto her skin, she started to quietly move around.
Although she was no skilled combatant and the only experience she had was against the youkai that possessed Adashibara, Sakura was good at sneaking around. She did not know how good this demon was at hearing or seeing, but the fact that he did not find her yet made her hopeful.
She stopped moving and hid behind a thick bush, as she noticed that the fallen angel was about to look in her direction. Unlike the tree cover, it was possible to look at him through a bush without putting her face in the open.
"I swear you are the most cowardly exorcist I have met!" Crocell's tone lost all of its delicacy. "I know you are there, I can feel that part of you is terrified of me." The closer he was to her, the thicker was the boiling rain. "Let us make a deal!" Just when Sakura thought of running at him while his back was turned to her, he suddenly turned around. However, it did not look like he noticed her. "For each minute you hide, I will prolong your life for five minutes. Or more exactly, the agony of being cooked alive will last longer the more you hide."
What a wicked monster. The more he talked, the less afraid she felt. She heard many possessed people talk in this manner before she exorcised demons from them and him talking like this made it certain: he was one of those demons who possessed human lives only to ruin them, no doubt about it. She would give him the same treatment she gave to other demons: no mercy.
Close enough! Sakura ran out of the bushes and towards the fallen angel.
"So you actually attacked me, child," he said and pointed his hand at her, firing streams of water at her from his aquatic wings.
She put her hands in front of her face, leaving only enough opening for her eyes to see in front of her, although she had to keep moving her hands to protect her eyes from the boiling water. Naturally, her clothes could not protect her too much.
But what matters is that he is not flying away from me. Seeing that he really was as arrogant as she expected, she started the prayer. "We drive you from us, whoever you may be…" She spoke in Latin, but she understood what the words meant.
"Oh no you won't!" Once again, rather than do the smart thing and move away, Crocell let his arrogance get the better of him so he flew at her.
"…Unclean spirits, all satanic powers…" She spoke when his hand went for her throat.
She immediately moved one of her arms down so he ended up grabbing it instead, but the look on his face showed that he was satisfied with this conclusion. "Now, let the boiling begin." Once he said that, steam started coming out of his wings and enveloped her.
Sakura wanted to scream, but she forced herself to endure. "…All infernal invaders…" She continued while her body burnt. This is my cross, endure it.
"Why you…" Realizing that she was too close and would soon finish her prayer, Crocell let go of her hand, probably with intention to flee. But she grabbed his hand, intending to keep him as close as possible. "Let go you-"
"…All wicked legions, assemblies and sects!" With her other hand, she took out her cross and pushed it onto Crocell's chest. "Behold the cross of the Lord, flee bands of enemies!"
"NOOOOO!" Crocell shouted, but it was to no avail as white flames enveloped his entire body. "How dare you, you third class exo…"
"The Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath conquered." Sakura pulled the cross away and moved away from the burning angel, even though the fires did not harm her. This looks painful…
"You… I am not done yet!" Crocell shouted, left half of his body having turned into a skull. "The sorcerer who summoned me still lives, and he will summon me again!" Most of his body was now gone. "Next time I see you, my summoner will be with me, and not half of this accursed island away! Then you will see what it means to fight Duke Crocell when he is not at only a fifth of his power!" Now only his hand and voice remained. "Consider it my curse!"
And then the flames were gone.
"Finally…" Sakura sighed and let herself fall onto her knees, after which she allowed herself to screech in pain for having her skin burned. "Hyaaaah-" She bit her lip to keep her voice down, least she attracts another enemy.
Sorry Yashagoro-san, I fear I will not be able to meet you today… She forced herself onto her feet and started walking back to the resort. But in this state, I won't survive if I meet another malicious youkai.
She was weak, this fight confirmed it… but it also confirmed that she was not powerless, which made her feel like she could do more than just stare at others. However, she would still need to get stronger.
~)(~
"KINO!" Kubinashi stormed into the cave where the Kyushu youkai were supposed to be hiding, with all the strings in his possession ready for use.
"Oh, Kubinashi." Kejorou greeted him when he entered the cave.
"…huh?" Kubinashi expected many things, but Kejorou standing in middle of the cave with half a dozen youkai on the floor tied with her hair was not one of them.
"You know, I'd be happy if you were not as late in rescuing me as you are late for our dates."
Kubinashi starred at her for a few moments and then started laughing. "I guess I was worrying for nothing."
"Not true, I can't deal with these guys alone." Kejorou pointed her finger at something behind Kubinashi.
"I know." Kubinashi said and continued walking without turning back. Only once he reached her, did he turn around and look at the zombies and Kyushu youkai, led by some fat baby with an old geezer's face, enter the cave. "Up for some action?" Kubinashi asked and prepared his strings.
"Always, comrade." Kejorou smiled and looked at the enemies with him, prepared to fight back to back like they so often did.
~)(~
"How…" Asahi spoke as his body lay on the floor, with both of is his arms, a leg and some parts of his flesh strewed around due to multiple close-proximity explosions. "What did you do?"
"I know someone who used a variant of your technique," Ryuzan explained while putting some first aid ribbon around his wounded shoulder, "I found out that it had a flow you see: it was controlled with spiritual energy and if I forced my own spiritual energy into it, I could take control over it from the original owner."
"So what you did was not…" Asahi started and coughed some blood.
"No, I did not dispel them. I merely had them pretend that they were dead." Ryuzan was done with treating his wound and turned his full attention back to Asahi. "And once your back was turned to them… voila! Seriously, using Onmyoudo against an Onmyouji is a horrible idea." He did not mention that it was easy to fix the flaw, which was what Ayame did when he stole her Origami.
Ryuzan took out a paper talisman with very complex markings on it. "But, let's get back to business. I heard you zombies are practically immortal, so…"
"You… no, wait!" Asahi seemed to recognize the talisman. "Look, I don't care about Gyuki or Sanmoto or whatever! I just came here to-"
"You wanted to get your life back, didn't you?" Ryuzan said and the way Asahi looked at him suggested that he was right. "I thought so… you were too rational and looking at how young you are, you probably just wanted to return the life you lost." Ryuzan guessed and then gave Asahi a stern look. "But that is out of question. Those who choose to lay with the devil must be cleansed."
"No, don't-" Asahi could not finish his plea before Ryuzan used the talisman on him, which resulted in the boy turning into raw Fear and enter the talisman. "Well, now to you dear Kurenai-san…"
Ryuzan threw the talisman into his pocket and turned towards the half-dead woman lying on the ground. Her guts have been torn open, her left arm was missing and the blindfold had burnt away, revealing empty eye sockets there.
"No need to seal me, boy." Kurenai forced a smile onto her lips. "I will not be returning to life once I die."
"Why did you guys do this?" Ryuzan did not feel much regret for killing a traitor who consciously poisoned them under their roof, but he still disliked the idea that Tesshin, whom he came to like, betrayed them. "What is the point?"
"…tell me boy, have you ever hated someone?"
"No, I did not." He shook his head.
"Then you don't know what hate means." Her smile disappeared. "And then you can't know what it feels like to have hate dwell in your heart for centuries and centuries, always waiting for an opportunity that never showed itself…"
"I find that hard to believe."
Kurenai smiled again. "Ha, you are right… there were opportunities… but we wisely let them pass." She coughed some blood. "Our decisions to let each one of them go… they were wise, rational, correct… yet, we felt empty whenever we did it."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean to say is… that no matter how much we tried… no matter how much we wanted…" Her voice shivered as she spoke. "Some of us just could not let it go… it was like a plague, rotting your heart little by little and you could do nothing about it."
"So, how do you feel now that you finally used an opportunity?"
"I feel…" Kurenai smiled. "…free." And with those words, she died.
"What a weak reason to get yourself killed." Ryuzan whispered and turned his back on her body. "But still… Rest in peace."
~)(~
He opened his eyes.
"Gyuki-dono, you have recovered sooner than I expected." The Koshin, who sat right beside, greeted him. "And you are calmer than I thought you would be."
"Koshin-san?" Gyuki looked at his guest. "I did not expect you here."
"You did not expect many things I wager."
"That's true." Gyuki raised himself into a sitting position. "What is the situation?"
"Right to the point, huh? Well, it makes sense." The Koshin shrugged with his shoulders. "Your subordinates are attacking the traitors and your mother while the zombies are assaulting this… house or whatever it is."
"I see…" Gyuki raised himself up and took the sword that was leaning against the wall. "Where are they?"
"As I expected, you won't even take a rest." Koshin's eyes narrowed. "From what I hear, the main fight is taking place near the head traitor's mansion. That's also where your mother is."
"Good," Gyuki said and started walking out, paying no heed to his physical pain. "What will you do, Koshin-san?"
"Now that you have recovered, I will rest a little and then destroy the source of this problem, the Golden Shrine of Sanmoto Gorozaemon. Bounnoma is protecting it so I will need to be at my full strength in order to defeat him." Koshin gave him the answer he needed. "So, have you decided what you will do about your own problem?"
"There are no decisions to be made." Gyuki opened the door and walked out of the room. "There is just resolve to do it." And then he closed the door.
"I am sorry to hear that…" Koshin said in a melanchoholic tone. He thought that the lack of hesitation or emotion in Gyuki was worrisome.
I-I-I-I-I
Author Notes:
- Kubinashi… his techniques look badass in Manga and Anime format, but in novel format… he is probably the hardest one to write
- The prayers that Sakura used are actual Exorcism Prayers (or parts of one)
- I like Ayame… can't believe that I created her because of that omake reply to Dorothea's review XD
- I know many hoped for something more with Kejorou, but for some reason I found the idea of showing a small Kejorou scene and then, next time we see her, she had somehow gotten herself out of her predicaments and turned five of her captors into hostages. It is like saying that she was never in danger :P
- I thought this chapter would also be over 10k words long, but it isn't. I am really bad at guessing how long my chapters will end up being…
- And just as a reminder, there is a new poll up! At the moment, Ao-Ju is the most popular character :P
