Ah Ibaragi…they seem to have finally figured out they are players in our little game. Make sure they play by the rules now…Ibaragi laughed as the slyly mocking voice reached her mind. The encounter with her vines had gone quite well-she had actually expected more of a fight. The exorcist was more of a threat than the tengu in this particular game, and he didn't look like much of one right now as he was carried cuddled in the other's arms. She wondered what the tengu would think about his master after finding out about his past. It only seemed fair that she let Ichinomiya relive his own past, since his precious Haruka had already remembered his own past. Relationships were best kept on an equal footing after all. Ah, so much fun. She smiled, revealing the tips of her fangs, and stroked the stone pillar affectionately. It was time to invite her guests inside properly. A guttural series of syllables began a chant that resonated in the sealed chamber. A spinning pool of dark energies formed against one wall, then coalesced and formed an opening that revealed the curving walls of the passageway her visitors were on. The opening wasn't completely stable, sending tendrils of black energy out into the passageway. They twined around hungrily, sensing an approaching source of spiritual power.
Ibaragi smiled again and settled herself to wait. The room would pull the exorcist and tengu in on its own, courtesy of her own dark energy. The exorcist Ichinimiya's spiritual power would be like a rare treat for her own energy to taste. Only her master would have thought of making use of the man in this way-tormenting him would release his own memories and release the rest of his latent spiritual power, which would be used to break the seal on the demon within the rock. It would be a pleasant side effect if losing his master or knowing the truth about him caused the ogre-eating goblin to revert back to his proper instincts. She smirked and watched in her mirror as the pair came closer to the main event.
"Aah.." Kantarou cried out suddenly as the surge of dark energy pulsed nearby. His scar had responded strongly, and felt like a burning second heartbeat in his chest. He took a shaky breath and released his fingers where they had tightened into Haruka's shirt. The other man looked down at him, concerned again.
"H..Haruka. The presence I felt earlier…when we first entered this hallway…it's the same one that I felt just now. " He looked up into his tengu's face. "….It looks like we will get a showdown at least…but sorry, I don't think we will be leaving anytime soon." He was silently cursing yet again falling into what should have been an obvious trap. With his powers and his body like this, he was seriously worried about how he could get them out of this. It might be better to send Haruka away-the tengu couldn't refuse a direct order from his master. Kantarou's heart pounded painfully at the thought, but he decided it would keep at least one of them safe. Better Haruka's life than his own, anyway, he thought.
"Haruka…." He tried to keep his voice from trembling.
"What is wrong now? Is the presence closer?" Haruka demanded. He nearly tripped and fell when Kantarou suddenly tried to push away and stand. He released the exorcist, catching one arm when the silver-haired man would have fallen on his face. Kantarou's body shivered again, but he forced himself to his knees so he could at least look up at the tengu.
"Haruka…I'm going to slow you down trying to get out of here. I want…" Haruka's eyes widened in shock. He suddenly knew what his idiot master was trying to do. With fluid speed, he backed the exorcist against the passageway wall and clamped one hand over his mouth, preventing him from finishing the sentence.
"What, exactly, do you think sending me away will accomplish?" he hissed furiously. "I am already fighting to control my emotions around you. If you are not around, what do you think will happen to me? Whether you like it or not, we are bound to each other. I can hate or love you, but I need you either way. So don't even think about ordering me away." He glared, and then slowly removed his hand. Kantarou just stared up at him, eyes very wide in his pale face.
"You…need me?" he whispered. The tengu just glared at him with his bottomless black eyes. His master couldn't expect him to repeat embarrassing things like that unless he was ordered to. It was enough that the man seemed to take his words seriously enough that he made no move to force Haruka to leave. Kantarou put one hand over his eyes and laughed once, before wiping it across his face and looking back at Haruka.
"I just want to protect you, Haruka….and I need you too. Please..if anything else does go wrong...take care of yourself first. Remember, we can't fly out of here if anything happens to you-and I weigh a lot less. I need you to carry me later." He smirked, a ghost of his normal expression, but still there. "Let's walk together for a little ways…you can pick me up again later. I need to keep moving or I won't wake up again for a while." Haruka sighed deeply but took Kantarou's arm and tugged him to his feet. The young exorcist staggered but the other man pulled him close to his side so he had a little bit of support. It helped, and Kantarou was motivated by the knowledge that they had to keep going. If he stopped now he wouldn't be able to start moving again, and something big was definitely coming. They moved slowly together down the sloping passage, and Haruka noticed a faint cold breeze as they shifted downwards. The flagstones were growing slick with moisture, and the walls here were speckled with mats of lichen. They must be close to an exit-it seemed likely that this passageway ended in a cave system below the manor house, but at least it could be a way out. He picked up his pace and slung one of Kantarou's arms over his shoulders to move them both along a little faster. A faint hissing and crackling slowly came to his ears as they moved close to a sharp bend and dip in the corridor. Kantarou suddenly came to a stop and tried to warn Haruka as he moved towards the turn, but it was too late. As he tried to shout Haruka's name, a lightning bolt of dark energy snaked around the bend and reached for them. The tengu shoved him out of the way and flung himself against the wall, preparing to attack. Kantarou hit the ground hard and rolled towards the other wall, unable to get to his feet quickly. The tendril of energy flickered and hissed, weaving in different directions, before suddenly striking with inhuman speed at the exorcist. Haruka shouted something unintelligible over the crackle and roar of the bolt. Kantarou didn't have a chance to hear it as he barely managed to defend against the first strike with an ofuda. The paper cast a small barrier that briefly glowed as it surrounded the exorcist, and then it sizzled and caught fire.
"Shit!" cried Kantarou as he shook his singed fingers. The dark energy remained undissipated, flickering and striking out like fingers made of black lightning. They drew upwards for a moment, and then struck again, at Haruka.
"No!" the exorcist shouted this time, and flung an ofuda at Haruka. The small barrier glowed back into life around the tengu, just as several lines of energy snaked around the passageway and made for Kantarou all at once. Ah, so this is the trap. At least it's not after Haruka…he had time to think before they struck his body. He screamed in shock as his own spiritual power suddenly surged up without his willing it to do so, and mingled with the dark energy coiling around him. It felt like he was bleeding from a deep wound, as his own power flowed out of him without any control. The black energy tendrils seemed to eat his own spiritual energy, leaving him feeling cold and drained with every passing second. After working past his body's instinctive defense, the evil energy wound itself around him like a web, and he felt his control slipping away completely as a dark aura surrounded him. His scar seared him as the dark power quickly rendered him helpless, and the last thing he felt was a sudden spike in the dark energy as his scar reacted violently.
"Haruka…" he prayed that his barrier had at least protected Haruka before he slipped over again into unconsciousness. He managed to complete the thought that he was spending more time than he cared to unconscious before he fell again into the dark.
"Kantarou! Goddamit, wake up you idiot master! Kantarou!" Haruka howled as the barrier his master had thrown up around him held, trapping him inside of it while the energy bounced harmlessly off of it. He was helpless when he saw the additional lines of darkness streak towards and strike Kantarou. "Dammit!" he dropped to his knees and pounded one of his fists through a flagstone in fury. He didn't want to watch this. The young exorcist screamed and his power reacted to something in the dark energy, draining him further. Kantarou didn't even notice that when his scar reacted again, the dark glow that had been present a little earlier had strengthened with the contact of the evil force. His spiritual power flickered brightly and then went out, leaving him wrapped in the web of dark energies. Kantarou's body was held upright by it, although Haruka could see that the other man had lost consciousness again. Unfortunately, the idiot's ofuda barrier was more effective at protecting Haruka than it had been at protecting its owner-he was still trapped. He threw himself against it, tearing at it with his claws although he knew it was useless.
"Kantarou! You asshole! At least take off your barrier….damn you! Wake up!" he felt his emotions starting to tangle out of control again. This time he couldn't hold on, and he felt his claws and fangs extend, while his pupils contracted to reveal irises tinted red with his anger. He wanted to rip apart this barrier, these things that were attacking them…he wanted to destroy everything. He saw an image of Kantarou mixed in with his thoughts of destruction, the man covered in red. He wanted…what did he want with Kantarou again? There was blood and hate, but another type of desire rose inside of him that had nothing to do with death. As his feelings boiled within him, his own demonic aura grew and his natural ability to call lightning strengthened (even as his control fled) and a bolt flashed down and destroyed Kantarou's barrier with one strike. He snarled and clutched at the solid stone wall of the passage briefly, scraping his claws into the rock,trying to bring his emotions under control. There was no way to save Kantarou when he was like this-he was as likely to kill or do even worse things to his master than save him right now. He threw back his head and screamed in frustration as his master was held helpless only a few feet away.