Chapter 75: Before the clash

Part 1

3rd Person POV

"Sorry, could you please say that again?" Nora lowered his head and used one hand to cover it while he trembled.

After Azuma proclaimed being the user of the Boosted Gear, Nora took that pose and neither the moonlight nor the lightning prepared for the performance of the shrine maiden was enough to illuminate his face.

Watching from the distance, Aika and the two ladies accompanying her had worried expressions after seeing Nora who looked nonchalant acting differently, and could not guess what was going on through his mind.

"Heh, so you finally recognize the predicament you are in." Azuma smirked. "Not so composed anymore huh? I guess not only that girl, but you have some knowledge regarding the supernatural."

Smiling complaisantly, Azuma looked down on Nora and decided to torment him more.

"I am none other than the current user of the Boosted Gear! I will show you what true power-" "Pfffft, no, sorry, I can't! Hahahaha!"

As Azuma tried to confidently show off, Nora interrupted him. His 'shaking in fear' figure was actually his figure of trying to hold his laughter. No longer covering his face, Nora expressed his amusement by pointing at Azuma and laughing without care.

"Oh, boy. Seriously!? I mean... from all the crap you could've had said, you went and said that you owe the Boosted, Pfffft, Gear, no, sorry, I just can't." Nora was unable to stop laughing.

Everyone looking ended up with a blank look, but Azuma reacted instantly by angrily attacking Nora who was too busy laughing. His speed left after images and it caused Aika and the two ladies to skip a beat fearfully. They tried to warn Nora but they did not react fast enough. Nonetheless, the worries were unnecessary. As the fist loomed near, just inches from his cheek, Nora continued to laugh so hard that he had to bend forward, making the attack miss. Despite the speed and the obvious crash that would occur between Nora and Azuma since the latter was unable to stop his charge, the green-eyed youth remained in place and they both made contact, but like he was rooted in place, Nora did not move, however, Azuma felt like his lower body slammed into a wall that caused him to be unable break his fall so he crashed on the ground.

"That gotta hurt." Nora said.

Walking towards the called Azuma, Nora leisurely made his way toward him. Azuma noticed this and unsteadily tried to attack Nora as he managed to kneel to stand up by swinging his arm, but the attack missed since Nora easily backstepped to dodge before walking again and begin shaking his head with a disappointed look.

"Now now, that is not nice, I was just trying to help you." Nora swung his finger in a manner like he was trying to chastise an unruly child. "Bad kids like you are not liked, you know?"

Placing a hand on top of Azuma's head, Nora squeezed slightly until Azuma groaned in pain.

"Well, no matter how you tried to act before, you were rotten on the inside." Nora muttered. "That is why even if you tried to play the good guy card, Lavinia would avoid you like you were a plague."

Gritting his teeth, Azuma tried to attack Nora, but the pain in his head increased and that stopped him in place.

"You lot were quite gutsy while trying to make a move on them when I left several hints that they were my women." Nora muttered expressionlessly. "We are not in a relationship, but they are very important to me so there is no way I can accept that the likes of you can get close to them, can't I?"

A chill when down his spine so Azuma ignored the pain coming from his head.

"Boost!" Azuma screamed.

His arm glowed for a moment and he punched Nora in the chest causing some rather strange sounds, like the ones you heard when a bone breaks, to be heard fairly loud. For a moment, he thought he caught the sight of something appearing on the place he hit, but Azuma ignored it.

The force behind the attack made Nora 'fly' backward with 'no other choice'. The distance was rather long and he landed on the foliage of a tree before breaking several branches as he fell.

"Nora!!!" Aika yelled in panic.

Not only her but the two ladies standing close to her covered their mouths and swallowed their screams.

"I am not sure where you got that surge of strength, but you are bound to be dead meat when I hit you with that much strength." Azuma stood up holding his head with his right hand. "The weak body of a human is no match for a youkai's body, even more, one known to be the most powerful Youkais in existence, the Oni."

Unable to rush towards Nora since the ladies accompanying her stopped her Aika glared hatefully at Azuma.

"Heh, glare at me all you want. It is meaningless, you cannot change anything. The blow just now shattered the bones of his chest, and that is usually enough to kill a human." Azuma smirked. "He could not resist the power of the Boosted Fear that doubles the strength of the user."

Proudly raising his left hand, Azuma wanted to display his prided sacred gear and plant fear in the minds of the three watching him, but they only stared wide-eyed at him, no, their lines of sight were directed at his arm. Just as he followed their examples, his body immediately recognized that something was wrong. A pain like never before assaulted him and the only reason why he did not scream in pain was that disbelief prevented him from doing it.

"Aren't you kind of weak?" Nora said.

Standing up as if nothing happened, Nora undusted his clothes slowly before staring at Azuma's broken hand.

"I happen to have a number of Oni acquaintances and they would never suffer that amount of damage for something so simple as hitting one of the barriers I used to create a small shield." Nora mumbled. "They blow me away when they break for some reason though, I guess this is what I get for trying to make them blow on touch. The technique is lacking so perhaps I should visit the Amazon after all? The cat lady told me about some long-lost relatives of my kin living there and having some interesting techniques..."

"H-How? No, why!?" Azuma pointed at Nora with his other hand. "You are just a human, humans cannot-"

"Cannot beat a youkai with their bare bodies?" Nora interrupted. "First of all, I said I used a barrier. I did not physically try to take your blow. Clean your ears because judging by the fact that you could not hear me well, I assume that you do not clean them as much as you should. If you do want to clean them yourself, get yourself either a sexy and motherly maid or a busty and klutzy maid. They will help you with that."

Looked slightly distracted, Nora rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"That said, ear cleaning made by Raikou-san in a maid outfit versus Sirius' is a difficult choice." Nora sighed.

"Who cares about that shit!? No one cares about maids- Eeek!" Azuma trembled fearfully.

Sending a killing glare in Azuma's direction, Nora exhibited a murderous aura for a moment before it vanished like it never existed.

"What did you say, you punk?" Nora spoke harshly.

Clicking his tongue, Nora relaxed again after noticing that he was scaring those on his side.

"Thighs Onee-san, Oppai Onee-san, could you please take her away? Follow that road to the end. After you get there, you will be safe." Nora said.

"Isn't that a little rude? To call us like that..."

One of the ladies complained as she pulled the unwilling Aika.

"You never told me your names though..." Nora mumbled.

Swallowing the complaint she had, the lady tilted her head in confusion as she tried to recall whether or not she had stated her name and after sharing a look with her friend, they both shook their heads.

Awkwardly looking at Nora, they did not try to say anything else after seeing that Azuma had recovered. They obediently left as they dragged Aika.

Smiling at that, Nora pulled a stack of ofudas and took exactly four before channeling some ki into them and watching as they flew away.

Nodding to himself, Nora kept glancing around him, like his attention was elsewhere.

Feeling underestimated made Azuma forget his fears once again and dashed towards Nora intending to tackle him but Nora sidestepped and lifted his foot slightly, making Azuma trip.

"Looking at you rolling on the cold ground, I can't help but feel like it fits you." Nora chuckled.

"BASTARD!" Azuma yelled and tried to hit Nora with his right hand.

Standing up without a care for his injured hand, Azuma feels anger dominate his mind. The pain became the last thing bothering him.

The fist never hit Nora as he simply waved his hand and a green-colored shield about the size of a head appeared between Nora and the fist.

There was a dull impact this time and Azuma did not get as hurt as before. Nora glanced at Azuma's skin and noticed it changing slightly and turning rougher, while also noticing the pair of bumps on top of his head.

"Is it because his gear made him use strength beyond his limits before or now his skin is more durable? The gauntlet is intact but the insides look messy." Nora spoke out loud.

Backstepping, Nora took one ofuda and infused it with ki before letting it fly forward.

"Let me test you for a bit." Nora said and saved the rest of the ofudas.

As soon as the ofuda was exactly in the middle of Nora and Azuma, it transformed into Nora, although the details were a bit lacking since his expression looked spaced out.

"Go, Nora Mk. 9." Nora commanded.

The shikigami dashed towards Azuma to meet the other's party dash. Azuma had tried to attack Nora but soon his eyes widened when a new version of the youth suddenly attacked him.

Fist met fist and the shikigami lost in a contest of strength and durability as its whole arm burst into pieces, leaving small strips of paper dispersed.

Grinning madly, Azuma tried to finish the job but the shikigami twisted its body and managed to avoid the knee that was aiming at its stomach. After doing so, the shikigami waved its healthy hand and the strips of paper suddenly stopped in the middle of the air. Another wave of its hand and the strips of paper all gathered and flew toward Azuma's face, covering it.

Azuma tried to use his right hand to stop the paper but it only avoided him and got stuck on his face. Azuma began trashing around, swinging his left hand around while trying to hit the shikigami while his right hand tried to get rid of the paper. The shikigami took advantage of the situation to tackle him and make him fall, but that made Azuma able to catch it soon a hole was made in the stomach of the shikigami. This action caused the paper on his face to fall off and Azuma was now able to see again.

"AHHHH!" Azuma angrily shouted.

Trying to attack the shikigami again, his fist hit air when the shikigami turned into an ofuda that now looked rather damaged.

"It worked well with the hoodlums from last time, but I guess that dealing with the supernatural is a bit too difficult huh." Nora sighed. "Even if I use my spell and create a link, it will only increase the prowess but the movements will still be limited."

Changing targets from the shikigami to Nora, Azuma growled at the youth who was leisurely commenting on the side. He leaped in his direction and just created a shield the size of a person just as he took off so Azuma crashed immediately after taking off.

"Well, its movements were mostly left to itself so I guess I can make it learn, no, instead of just using one shikigami at a time and making them individually learn, I should just create a network where all the information they perceive and learn gets stored..." Nora mumbled. "Alright, time to rip off another novel, was it Mikasa Network? Some details are lacking, but the science fiction part can be covered with magic. I got a large number of talented magicians willing to advise me so I should be able to make it work. Not to mention, I have tamed- I mean, befriended several goddesses of magic so I have just what I need."

Laughing rather evilly, Nora created another shield of the size of a person and used it to stop the fists aimed at his face.

"You are getting annoying, why don't you start getting stronger? Have I not pissed you off enough?" Nora said.

Narrowing his eyes, Nora noticed minute cracks on the shield he leisurely made so he nodded and created another on top of Azuma's head, and swinging his left hand downward, the shield followed the trajectory and crashed into Azuma's head.

This caused Azuma to get angrier and growl even more, his right fist continuously banged the shield that Nora kept using to defend himself, and the smug look that Nora had made Azuma even angrier.

"Is that all? Come on, I know you can do better." Nora taunted. "Were you a paper tiger? All size no substance, no wonders you could never get yourself a girl, you surely acted all mighty showing your strength and the like but when things got serious, you must've been unable to go all the way!"

"NORAAAAAA!!!" Azuma's shout was loud enough to make Nora cover his ears.

"It works every time..." Nora chuckled.

The anger became a catalyst and reddish horns sprang from Azuma's head. Bloodlust naturally was released from his body and Azuma ignored the damage in his left hand as he used both hands to bang the shield, breaking it.

Whistling at that, Nora created another one and Azuma broke it.

"That's more like it." Nora said.

Taking a stance, Nora met Azuma's attack, a right-handed punch, by using his left palm to push it aside and using his right fist to hit Azuma's solar plexus.

Spits flew from Azuma's mouth and the air left his body as he bent forward.

"The skin is tougher, but not that much." Nora commented. "You gotta do a better job."

Pushing Azuma away, Nora saw his face twisted in rage. Nonetheless, soon that face received a palm strike that made Azuma take a few steps back. Nora followed by swinging his right hand horizontally and hitting his chin, causing Azuma's head to twist. Next was using his left hand to punch Azuma's thigh. Each action Nora took was done at a speed that Azuma failed to react and the pain of each blow made him to wake up from his anger.

After kneeling from Nora's attack, Azuma felt a hand holding his head and soon his mind blanked when he saw a knee approach his face. Nora had pulled Azuma's head towards his knee.

Blood spilled from Azuma's nose but Nora did not stop, keeping a neutral expression, he planted his feet on the ground and delivered a new palm strike in Azuma's chest. This caused Azuma to be sent flying and rolling on the ground.

"...this is a bit disappointing." Nora sighed. "I wonder if my expectations were a bit too high? Akiko-san might not reach the same level of strength as the boosted strike, but she would not be defeated as easily as him. Tomoe-san hardly fights with her fists if she has other weapons so it is hard to judge, but the few times I managed to disarm her made me realize that she packs quite the punch... and Kasen-san could honestly mop the floor with this guy using just one finger."

Watching as the blood-eyed Azuma stood up and glared at him, Nora began losing his motivation. Walking towards, Azuma, Nora's steps caused the roots of nearby trees to grow longer and try to entangle Azuma. The resistance was not small, and Azuma shattered many roots with the strength of his punches, however, the roots never diminished in quantity but rather increased even more and soon Azuma was hanging in the air without being able to escape.

"Stop it, you might be capable of destroying them, but I made sure to keep you in a position where you cannot use your physical might to destroy them." Nora explained. "It is true that your skin is indeed tough and I was unable to skew you with just the roots, but I would not be happy thinking that it was good news. Your overall strength is pretty high, but you know nothing about how to use it. You just wildly swing your fists. Rather than stopping your hands, I just had to put you into a lock making the roots limitate your movements so you could not use any of the might you had exhibited."

Grabbing one of the horns on top of Azuma's head, Nora tugged it roughly.

"They are similar to other Oni's horns, although these have a strange aura." Nora strengthened the roots even more and he continued to tug even harder. Azuma's angry screams or growling would be heard if Nora had not used a root to entangle the mouth.

Gradually increasing their strength, Nora furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed that Azuma's struggle was causing the roots to have trouble keeping him in check. The bloodshot eyes were full of something different than simply anger or killing intent, pure malice began to emanate from Azuma. The ki inside the roots began to be dyed by the crimson-red aura emanating from Azuma and they began to go out of control. Bidding his time, Azuma seemed to be waiting for the roots to be unable to restrain him anymore so he could attack Nora but-

"Don't get cocky." Nora plainly said.

Using both hands now, he began to finally use senjutsu to strengthen his arms and hands instead of simply using his ki rawly to control the roots. Once the enhancement began, Nora easily broke the horns. To avoid the scream of pain that would follow, Nora struck Azuma unconscious.

"Malice huh." Nora sighed. "I guess they are putting something else on that sake."

Letting the roots go back underground, Nora picked took a closer look at the broken horn. Strands of crimson ki tried to leave the horn and join the remnants of ki that the roots left as well as trying to get stuck to Nora.

"<Drain>" Nora mumbled.

Holding the horn with his left hand, Nora used his ability and the crimson ki was absorbed and he repeated the process with the other horn.

"The Oni transformation is not undone even after this huh." Nora observed where the horns were broken. "O wonder if..."

Watching his left hand, he extended it toward-

...

...

...

Opening his eyes abruptly, Azuma felt fear when he found himself tied by strips of paper, but above all, the fact that he was hanging upside down was the bigger shock.

Closing a vial with a strange aroma, Nora made it vanish and stared at Azuma before speaking.

"Hey, when is your birthday?" Nora asked.

"What? What is going on!? How are-Urgh!" Azuma groaned from the pain.

As soon as he began complaining, Nora hit him in the stomach and he felt like throwing up, but he was unable to do so for some reason and only the gag reflex bothered him.

"When is your birthday?" Nora asked again.

"Who gives a fu-Ack!" Azuma was hit once again.

The pain was difficult to bear and he felt unable to withstand the fist on the stomach without mustering any resistance.

"When is your birthday?" Nora asked.

Gritting his teeth, Azuma chose to stay silent to avoid receiving a punishment, but Nora struck him not once but twice. Azuma struggled but every time he did, he saw the strings of paper shine and the grip around him would tighten.

"When is your-" Nora was about to repeat the question but he was interrupted.

"October 27th! Happy!? I said it, what is wrong with you!? Why do you care about it!? How can you even prove when I was born!?" Azuma spoke in an agitated tone.

Without noticing it, he was no longer speaking with animosity in his voice but rather with a tinge of fear.

"I stole- I found your wallet the other day and I checked everything inside." Nora shrugged his shoulders.

"Wha-" Azuma was baffled. "Why did you even ask me if you already knew!?"

"That is the thing, you know? If you can't even answer a simple question truthfully, how can I trust the answers I will get when I ask about more delicate topics?" Nora said. "Don't worry about it, I have quite a bit of experience with this so I know a number of techniques. I will make sure you don't get bored."

Contrary to the warm smile on Nora's face, Azuma felt a chill like never before and he began to unconsciously shake.

"You can rest assured, my medical skills are top notch so you won't be dying on my watch... not until I get the information I want." Nora chuckled. "Every time you answer incorrectly, you will receive a worse punishment, and every time you answer honestly, I will be lenient."

With a wide smile, Nora pointed at Azuma.

"What is your name...?" Nora asked.

"AZUMA! MY NAME IS AZUM-ACK! WHY!?" Azuma groaned in pain.

Having just hit Azuma, Nora tilted his head curiously like he did not understand the question but soon he nodded in realization.

"I said I will be lenient, not that I will not punish you, did I not?" Nora mumbled. "Don't get the wrong idea, this is not a story where you will get redemption or forgiveness from me. Lavinia... you bothered her greatly so it is about time I teach you a lesson for pestering my people."

Infusing senjutsu into his punches, Nora erased the damage but let the pain remain as he continued his acts.

Breaking in a cold sweat, Azuma's image of Nora from before was completely shattered. Rather than an annoyance or a guy who he wants to kill, Nora became a nightmare.

...

...

...

Blood covered the ground below Azuma but he was devoid of injuries, nonetheless, his eyes looked dead and he would suddenly spam and tremble.

Suddenly, the bindings came undone and he fell. Reacting to the fall, Azuma immediately crawled away from Nora, and with his back to a tree, he curled up in a ball, and during that process, he got smeared with the bloodied mud lying below him that formed after he got questioned, nonetheless, he ignored his state. He felt a large amount of discomfort after being finally released but he judged the cause to be the 'methods' Nora used on him.

"M-monster..." Azuma shook fearfully.

It was when he was hugging his own body that he noticed something strange on his body. His arms looked disproportionate, both looked slightly famished like he had starved for weeks, and not only that, but they looked to be differently affected. His prided muscles could hardly be seen and it was then that hunger hit him. An incredible sense of weakness was felt all over his body.

"W-What did y-you do to me?" Azuma did not dare to look in Nora's direction. "My strength... I was supposed to be.. the red dragon emperor... I was destined to something greater..."

Not caring about the amount of fear that getting closer caused Azuma, Nora strode forward until he was standing in front of Azuma.

"My bad, I messed up in my experiment." Nora nonchalantly said. "And I think it is about time you realize that you are not it. That guy is a merciless bastard and by no means weak."

"I am not a toy." Azuma mustered his courage and raised his head. "I am a human! Not some experimental subject. I had a bright future, one where I would enjoy everything that this world has to offer, it is what he promised me!"

His eyes met a pair of disinterested green eyes and Azuma soon found himself gripped on the neck by Nora. No matter how much force he used to struggle, his efforts end up being in vain.

"Unfortunately, my experiment failed so you are not a human. Even before I began experimenting, you had ceased to be one so you have no right to use that phrase." Nora said. "Besides, you think I care about all your whining? Well, I don't so shut your mouth you piece of shit, you are lucky that you disgust me enough to make it so I don't want to waste another second with you."

Dropping Azuma, Nora watched him crawl away.

"Who said I will let you escape? You moron..." Nora mumbled.

Picking a pebble from the ground, Nora infused it enough before flicking it toward Azuma's head. The unsightly result dyed the ground red and the lifeless body dropped powerlessly.

Sighing, Nora was about to burn the body but his hand did not even summon the smallest fire before he saw something come out of Azuma's body. The pale blue light floated for one until it seemed to notice Nora and it began to fly toward him.

"Can't you at least wait until your master's body gets cold?" Nora reprimanded. "It happens every time... I get that one can be popular with ladies, but who the heck is popular with sacred gears!?"

Ignoring Nora's monologue, the pale blue light floated around Nora but did not dare to make any other movement, like it was waiting for Nora's permission to get closer but being unable to ask despite being enthusiastic about it.

Sighing heavily, Nora just ignored it and went towards the temple where the priestess was asleep, she seemed to be locked there every time a 'festival' occurred, or so Azuma had 'kindly' shared with him. Nonetheless, the pale blue light followed him like a chick following its mother to Nora's annoyance.

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3rd Person POV

Cutting down the foe in front of her, Musashi had to step back to avoid the attack from two other enemies. The large golem's arms struck the ground and pieces of concrete flew off everywhere so Musashi had to ward them off to avoid any damage to her eye since the eye patch covered the other one.

The building had to be a sturdy one since the rampaging golems had not been able to make it collapse yet. Nonetheless, Musashi did not want to test how much the building could last.

Made of debris, the golems were formed by using objects lying around such as construction materials or tools. However, the tricky part was that the closer she got to the lower underground floors, the tougher the golems became.

"That is not going to stop me though...!" Musashi parried a strike using her katana.

Using only one sword, Musashi nimbly closed on the golem to her left. The golem that had his attack parried before was not in balance so Musashi used the chance to slice one of its legs off in a single motion. The clean cut never found resistance due to Musashi's skill with the sword and thanks to the quality of the blade she was using.

The golem immediately lost its balance but it did not stop him from trying to attack Musashi so she could not deliver the finishing blow. It kept swinging one arm towards her while it used the other to drag its body forward.

Clicking her tongue, Musashi sheathed her katana and took a low stance, both hands were on two of her sheathed katanas and her focus multiplied several times. With one foot forward, Musashi waited until the golem's swinging arm was at a close to a paper-thin distance before launching herself forward and unsheathing her swords instantly. Two flashes were seen and the remaining arm of the golem, along with an unusual stone embedded into its chest was cut apart. Nonetheless, Musashi's steps did not stop to admire her work, she followed with light steps that added momentum to her movements and while using one of the remaining walls as her support, she jumped towards the remaining golem. Her new height surpassed the golem, barely hitting the ceiling, but Musashi's mind had no doubts or fear about hitting anything, her sharp gaze did not waver or hesitate as used the ceiling close to her target to not lose her speed. The golem threw a punch at Musashi to stop her, but by the time its fist had reached the spot it saw Musashi, she had already banished and left her afterimage. If it had been capable of it, the golem would've expressed its confusion, but it was unable to do so and its programmed commands were not complex enough to deal with a situation as it found itself in so its fate was sealed.

Taking a deep breath, Musashi came to stop and the golem fell apart after the stone embedded in its chest was cut. Musashi looked at the pieces of the golem briefly but did not stay there any longer.

Continuing her walk, she went down the stairs closer to her. Her senses were ready to find anything unusual but contrary to her expectations, the next floor was empty. It was not until the next one that she felt a terrible smell assault her nose.

Tempted to go back, Musashi still went to explore the floor. It was a pretty large place by the standard for buildings made so far from the big cities, but there were several empty rooms, thus Musashi did not take long to check several rooms. However, a few minutes after she began her advance, the smell got worse. It became heavier and the stench of blood and decomposed flesh was becoming hard to bear. Her senses warned her to leave, but she still chose to continue. Part of her was thankful that she hand-sent the ninja girl to assist Kouki, because after opening a door with a bloodied doorknock-

"...I will kill the bastard who did this." Musashi spoke in an angry tone.

The lighting in the building was poor and it was honestly surprising that it was still working, but there was no way to tell if the fact that the room was better illuminated was a blessing or not after seeing inside the particular room that Musashi was standing in front of.

The sound of dripping liquid was the only thing you could hear and several bloodied sacks were hanging from ropes tied to hooks. There were even more sacks hanging from those sacks and they covered the left side of the room. The other side contained plastic bags that gave you a view of what the contents of those bloodied sacks were full of.

The dead bodies of cats were openly displayed or perhaps were out that way so you could see them more easily, however, the expressions they all had were full of pain and terror. They had been abused beyond normal means and the bodies were modified for reasons that Musashi could not comprehend. One was missing an extreme while the other would miss two or three. There were some without eyes, however, most of them had two tails, but they looked unnatural since the tails were from different breeds and they were sewn.

At the far end of the room, almost dividing the sacks and plastic bags, there was a large operation table with a body on it. Surgical tools were messily lying on the operation table.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Musashi went towards the table after confirming that there was no one in the room. Her steps were heavy because she noticed a detail and could not simply turn away from it.

Close to the operation table, the labored breathing of the cat could be heard and the rising of its chest was proof that it was alive. However, that was not necessarily a good sign. Another head was attached to it and three tails were added to it. The pain it was feeling had to be almost unbearable, but it was so weak that it was unable to express it.

"Artificially making Youkais..." Musashi grimly said.

It was not exactly a pleasant topic, but there had been numerous incidents similar to this one, enough for Musashi to connect the dots easily. A detail brought her attention and that was the shredded papers on top of a paper bin filled with animal organs. Picking one of the biggest pieces, Musashi groaned. It was a familiar spell written on part of the paper and she knew the person who personally wrote it, the number one person she did not want to find out about this.

"I think it is about time I rendezvous with the others, although you are blocking the door." Musashi mumbled.

Looking behind her, Musashi found a figure standing in front of the door.

Dressed in a black hakama and haori, a tall and taciturn-looking face with black hair and red eyes that stood out, however, his most outstanding feature was the pair of fox ears on top of his head and the fox tail behind him.

Musashi's eye widened and she turned around immediately and glared at that figure with a scrutinizing look.

"A little rat getting into my lab, I guess that keeping the cats caged was not a good idea."

The figure muttered some nonsense and took a step inside the room.

"Who are you?" Musashi asked.

In her mind, a name keep appearing, but she wanted to deny it.

"Name...? How odd to ask for my name when you look at me like you already know me. No, I guess you know the owner of this body?"

Scratching his head, the figure made an observation.

"...it is because I have a hard time believing that the person I have in mind is standing in front of me." Musashi kept her sharp glare on the guy as her hands were kept on her katanas.

Her covered eye began itching, but she completely ignored it.

"Fair enough."

The polite speech made Musashi nervous since it fitted more with the person in her mind.

"I had been called many names in the past. Too many to write in one book, however, my allies called me, N'gha." N'gha muttered.

"...that language, are you with them?" Musashi grimly asked.

One of the requirements in the group she belonged was to understand at least bits of the language of their enemies, and while they did not simply use it given that most members had humans origins, the cult still slipped some codes using that language so the organization made sure that every member could detect it by learning code words that could spell disaster.

"Oh? You know what that means?" N'gha asked with some interest hidden in his eyes.

"N'gha is the R'lyehian equal of death." Musashi said.

"I didn't expect that such a young child would know something like that. Not to mention regular humans, even some mythologies have forgotten about such an old tongue." N'gha mumbled. "No, should I say that they purposely erased all information about it to avoid their people accidentally having something to do with the Ancient Ones?"

Each word only caused Musashi to sweat more. To get a member of the cult to speak was a task that even after gruesome torture was impossible to accomplish most of the time, but the light tone this person was using to speak about information regarding the cult only filled Musashi with anxiety.

"Alas, it is not my place to question them." N'gha smiled. "If the damned angels get too close to the ancient ones, they will be corrupted even if they just happen to be in their presence after all."

"I will ask this once. You are the owner of this place? What do you plan to do here?" Musashi asked.

Steeling her nerves, she was prepared to escape by any means necessary. He had prepared many gadgets for her in case she needed tricks to protect herself or distract the enemies.

"Nora-kun, I wanted to save these because they were a gift from you but..." Musashi pulled a red ofuda and threw it at the other party.

Watching with interest what Musashi planned to do N'gha was hit with ofuda and as soon as that happened, it began shining and exploded.

Musashi immediately pulled another ofuda but this one just floated in front of her after throwing it and formed a square-shaped shield that appeared just in time to stop the explosion's damage. The heat of the explosion was incredibly high and Musashi had to use another of his gadgets at once to create oxygen to breathe after the explosion burned it all.

"...I think I need to ask Nora-kun about this new 'acquaintance' that taught him how to add a 'bit' of firepower to the ofudas." Musashi's left eyebrow twitched.

Like an illusion or hallucination that had repeated before and she could not control, her covered eye granted her a superior vision and even allowed her to see through the smoke and the striding figure coming in her direction.

"...it is quite interesting how even though he is dead, just by hearing that name, you managed to awaken his instincts when I thought I had buried them deep enough." N'gha spoke in a nonchalant tone, but the aura covering his body was growing each second. "If I am not wrong, Nora was the name of that child. Yes, the oddball who survived after using one of the best products the cult had to kill. Every fiber in this body demands to get rid of him, but I believe that a few of the Bishops were thinking of 'inviting' him at some point."

Walking out unscathed for the most part except for part of his clothing, N'gha kept his eyes on Musashi.

"It is just a matter of time for him to come to us, we do have someone dear to him after all." N'gha laughed.

His laugh was cut short when Musashi lunged at him in an instant. Her speed surpassed the movements she used against the golem but her blades passed through N'gha and his smoke-like body that materialized again after her attack ended. Fearing retaliation, she immediately took some distance, however, N'gha just frowned and stayed in place.

"Could please not retort to such methods? Unlike you, muscle brains, I don't have the reflexes or training to react to close combat." N'gha said. "However, thanks to this body, I can do wonders. Youkais have wondrous abilities and their bodies are quite resilient so they'd withstand many of my experiments. Unfortunately, they cannot be mass-produced like with my soldiers, or I could have an unlimited number of test subjects and superior subordinates."

"Is that why you have been doing this?" Musashi asked.

Having a clue about Nora's mother was vexing since she could not force the opponent in front of her to tell her the location.

"That woman... she was quite terrifying for someone who was only at Ultimate-class level in strength. After almost killing this guy, she managed to wound mortally one of the cult's bishops and ultimately kill him as well as repealing the assault of some of the toughest cultists." N'gha explained. "Her arrows were extremely dangerous and she decimated low-ranking members. It was then that I learned how powerful nekoshou can be. Since then, I have been researching the topic, but it was not until recently that I found some clues."

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, N'gha seemed to be thinking about his research.

"That said, I am not making any progress. I can't even use the dead cats as undead since they are weak." N'gha mumbled. "My authorities are all sealed as well as most of my memories..."

Making sure to not miss any of the words he was saying, Musashi tried to look for an opening, but she could only see endings where he would turn into black smoke to avoid her attacks.

"If only War could leave the seal as well... I could regain my powers quickly, but now I am the weakest of the four." N'gha complained.

"Are you not going to attack me?" Musashi inquired.

"Do you want me to attack you? I am afraid that you cannot defeat me, no matter how weak I have become. You saw for yourself how your attacks missed, and I prefer to have others do my work. Unfortunately, my golems, the precious golems that the crazy golem creator made for me have all been destroyed by your friends." N'gha muttered.

"You knew and still did nothing about it?" Musashi said. "What is your deal? If that body belongs to that man as you said, even without proper training, you can still make things difficult for me."

Smiling at that, N'gha just looked at Musashi in amusement.

"That is because I am waiting." N'gha spoke.

Lunging at N'gha again, Musashi slashed continuously for a minute, but N'gha remained unharmed as he turned into smoke. Yet, Musashi studied his every action and noticed how he stopped paying attention to her, thus she summoned an object from her storage space, a unique bead, and crushed it. The powder formed automatically coated her katanas and it was then that N'gha reacted.

For Musashi, his delay was enough for her to wound him critically or so she thought. Her katanas had barely pierced his skin when a pair of hands stopped her from continuing.

Using the tips of his hands, N'gha stopped the attack by grabbing the blade of the katanas with his finger touching the body instead of the edge. The attack barely sank into his skin.

It was not a contest of strength given that none of the two were using that much power, but Musashi could easily tell from their exchange how much difference in their status was there.

Blood leaked in small amounts, just a few drops, but that was easily sealed with the skin turning black, one of their hardening abilities that some users like she had just seen, but Musashi was not paying attention to that. She considered dropping her weapon to escape any counterattack, but N'gha just released her and she stepped back until she felt that she was out of his immediate reach.

"Having flesh is quite inconvenient, it gets damaged easily, although muscles are great, you don't need to use magic to archive strength." N'gha marveled. "Now then, you have two choices. I knock you out cold, which I would rather not do. You seem like you won't go easily and I feel like your ace in the sleeves will damage this body beyond repair. I have taken a liking to it so I would rather that you selected option two."

"...what do you want?" Musashi asked.

"It is not what I want. Since the opportunity to find bait to attract him to me other than using the mother came up, I am certain that anyone in the cult would take the same course of action." N'gha said. "His mother is not available at the moment so I can't just bring her out to lure him..."

Resisting the urge to attack the man, Musashi sighed and relaxed her stance somewhat. Inwardly, she tried to chant a spell to communicate with her allies, but she saw N'gha smiling and shaking his head. Like he had expected her actions, there was interference and she could not make the spell work.

"Lead the way." Musashi said.

"Good, I think that child knows we are coming already so I would've been put in a tight spot if I hurt and make him even angrier with my presence." N'gha spoke. "That said, what are those paper things? The co-worker I had been working with picked up a strange cat, but when I tried cutting it, it resisted fiercely, I ended up killing it or so I thought but it ended up turning into paper... I also thought it was the end of it but..."

Pointing in a particular direction, N'gha showed Musashi the remains of the shikigami. The paper that did not show signs of activity until now was trembling and piecing back together.

-------------------------------------------------

3rd Person POV

"I know I should've squashed you when I had the chance!" Shurone grumbled and swung down her weapon.

The familiar-looking broadsword that was way bigger than her once belonged to Kasen and then to Nora, but she had been using it since some time ago.

The strength behind her swing was tremendous and the young boy in front of her stood no chance before he was turned into a messy glob.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Shirone looked behind her and saw Charlotte shaking her head.

"This is a copy as well." Charlotte muttered.

Standing on the side, Ayanami put her weapon away as well.

"The more we deal with, the more they multiply, yes." Ayanami commented.

"Shouldn't we contact the tengus?" Yume asked.

Despite looking worried, she had the nonsensical appearance of half-carrying Kanna who was asleep.

"For some reason, the tengus have not made a move." Charlotte said. "I can't contact Nora-san and Yasaka-sama is not acting despite the protest we sent earlier. Right now, we are the only ones acting on this."

"It feels kind of bad to do this without Yasaka-sama's permission after she told us to not do a thing." Yume said.

"Hmph, we are going to show them that Shirone Gang is the true protector of Urakyoto." Shirone declared.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Charlotte showed a different reaction than the rest who simply nodded excitedly. Inwardly, many questions were asked regarding the current situation. It was already night and the tengus were even more vigilant during this time, but the number of them had been reduced considerably since dusk. The people roaming outside looked strange too, but since they had been keeping their eyes on finding the location of the boy. Above all, Charlotte kept thinking back on the strange reaction that Shirone and Kanna had just as dusk settled. The two were tilting their heads curiously and looking around but soon gave up.

"Could it be...? No, but..." Charlotte grumbled.

Looking thoughtfully as Shirone began using her sword to touch the glob, Charlotte wondered if there was a reason for all this.

The boy who began appearing several times in different places was apparently harmless, but since the tengus had an eye on him...

"Urgh, what is going on?" Charlotte complained.

"Is there something wrong? Vice Leader of the Shirone Gang." Shirone called out.

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"Huh? No, nothing... Wait, what do you mean by Vice Leader...? I thought that you were the only one in power." Charlotte asked.

"Nora told me that I should not be like that." Shirone sulkily said. "He told me to give everyone an appropriate role to assume and if I was serious about having a group that would have possibilities to grow, I should start getting used to putting the right people in the right position, and to top it all, I had to make everyone aware of what their duties entitled."

Coldly sweating, Charlotte could only feel like Shirone will cause more trouble if her gang grew bigger and she kept doing as she pleased.

"I-Is that so?" Charlotte smiled wryly.

"That is why the second in command has to be you, Charl." Shirone said. "Nora has been teaching you secretly about various things and you are the most familiar with things other than combat."

Even though she was giving her a good position, Charlotte felt like Shirone was looking at her rather angrily.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Charlotte asked.

"I have been wondering what the two of you do that you have to do it in secret and you come all sweaty..." Shirone pointed out.

"Ah! I want to know too!" Yume chimed in.

"I am curious too, yes." Ayanami joined.

"N-Nothing?" Charlotte looked away.

Inwardly, she blamed herself for stuttering and feeling the heat on her cheeks made her realize what the others saw.

Staring at her intensely, the group were silently surrounding their friend.

"...he always recovers her stamina since she still comes walking by herself most of the time, yes." Ayanami pointed out.

"But I have seen her being carried over to her room at late hours of the night..." Yume mumbled.

"Indeed, Onee-sama has complained that during the few occasions that Raikou is not guarding his room, she had tried to slip in and she found the room empty." Shirone muttered.

"...I once noticed something." Kanna woke up in time to say. "She kept pestering Nora for a rougher treatment..."

Gasping in surprise, the girls turned to Charlotte who was covering her face at this point.

"Are you secretly....?" Shirone asked.

"Argh! Alright, I will tell you." Charlotte gave up. "It is training! I am making him personally help me train. It is nothing like you imagined..."

"Huh? If that is all it is, why are you being secretive about it?" Shirone asked.

"That is... because I am much weaker than all of you. I don't have the right to fight by your side." Charlotte mumbled depressedly. "My power of destruction, no, all the magic spells I cast do not work after a certain distance. My body is stronger than most humans our age, but it cannot compare to any of you... feeling and utilizing ki is not easy for me either..."

The mood turned somber all of a sudden and the group awkwardly stared at each other.

"Is that why he was massaging you in secret too?" Kanna sharply said before falling asleep again.

"WAIT! IT WAS NOT LIKE THAT!!!" Charlotte immediately denied it. "It is all a special kind of experiment where he tries to help me guide ki around every part of my body and I copy him!"

"...to think my biggest enemy was under my nose all the time." Shirone kneeled in defeat. "I treated you like a sister..."

"Oh, cut it out!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Ayanami-chan, let's go and cry in that corner..." Yume mumbled.

"Yes, we are just going to get in the way now, yes." Ayanami agreed.

Walking away, the two looked for one corner to sit while dragging Kanna.

"Ah! You are enjoying yourselves with this right? I told you it is nothing like that! It is all so we can help people who are unable to use magic or ki effectively. I am not the only patient, Sairog-nii-sama is also in this." Charlotte declared.

"Heh, and he gets the same type of massages?" Shirone asked.

"...no." Charlotte looked away. "We all go through different methods since that is the idea of the experiment."

"Ho? Then did Nora choose who would get to use each method?" Shirone had a sharp glint in her eyes when she asked this, but her head was lowered as she hid this from her friend.

"...ahem." Charlotte coughed. "I think we should look for the next guy."

Not only Shirone stood up with a sharp look on her face, Ayanami and Yume both surrounded Charlotte without her noticing. Kanna had been left half leaning on the wall of a nearby building so Yume had both hands free. Hands she used to restrain Charlotte.

"W-What are you doing?" Charlotte had a bad feeling.

"It pains me to do this more than you will be suffering." Shirone regretfully shook her head and pulled out a feather. "Ayanami, you know what to do." 

Taking the feather and trying to hide her smug look, Ayanami asked the first question.

"Did you specifically ask for the massage...?" Ayanami waved the feather in front of Charlotte's face.

Sweating coldly, Charlotte tried to escape, but Time's grip was as strong as it could get and she was unable to escape.

...

...

...

Glaring at her friends, Charlotte decided to get back at them at another time.

"Yume, Shirone, are you picking something?" Charlotte asked.

"There are three signals, should we split?" Yume mumbled.

"He is weak but..." Shirone considered her options. "It feels like there is more to it."

"Enemies in games usually put up more of a fight, but this one just let himself get squashed, yes." Ayanami commented. "If this is a boss battle, he should be entering the second phase any second."

Using her hand to simulate like she was playing with a controller, Ayanami commented.

Her words made Charlotte pull out a map with several 'x' marks.

"Let's go to the first place we faced him." Charlotte said.

"You marked each place we squashed him?" Shirone asked.

"You have been doing all the work so I thought I can take care of things like this." Charlotte nodded. "Before dividing our forces, let's check something."

Waiting for Shirone's consent, everyone looked at her.

"What are you guys doing? She is the second in command and the brain behind us." Shirone said. "She says the sky is green, then it is, she asks you to jump, you say how high."

Smiling wryly at her words, the group followed Charlotte after Shirone's words.

Unbeknown to them, two figures watched them walk away. Hidden using several methods to avoid detection, the tallest figure, having purple hair and dressed in a purple short kimono with black thigh-highs, the young woman limited herself to watch from the roof of a building.

"Look at you, obediently doing as he told you, Ei."

Another voice, a female one coming from the other figure, a small pink fox, seemed to be trying to start a conversation.

"I was promised the ultimate feast so I will do everything I was asked for." Ei commented.

"Is that so? That was a milder reaction than I expected. I can see that you have been half-tamed by him already."

Slightly disappointed in getting a mild reaction, the fox sighed.

"Miko, putting aside how you are doing what he asked of you as well. What do you think about it?" Ei asked. "

"Oh, me? I am but a humble editor-in-chief helping her cute star author, I don't have much to say about it."

The fox mumbled.

"Miko..." Ei grumbled.

"Alright, I will say." The fox sighed. "From the point of view of someone who has lived centuries, I can feel numerous changes occurring all at once. I am not saying that he is doing something bad, but taking on all that burden by himself because no one has been doing it is a little dishearting."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Ei thought back at the numerous task that a certain cat has been doing all by himself.

"Even though many people are willing to bear the responsibility of those actions with him, he refuses to allow anyone to stain their hands. Really, what a troublesome child. You two are just like two peas in a pond." The fox commented. "The worse is that none of you listen to my advises and do as you please."

Rolling her eyes, Ei felt like the fox was exaggerating since she began crying, pulled a handkerchief from who knows where and began wiping the tears.

"Anyways..." The fox nonchalantly stood up on her lower legs and crossed the upper ones just like a person would. "Raikou and you decided to stay here not only because our acting leader commanded you, but because you desire, isn't that right?"

"I... am not sure. I am just following my older sister's whims." Ei shook her head. "Right now, I am following what he told me to, but I am not sure if in the future will be the same. We..."

"Oh, please. If he does not make sweets for you, there is a 100% chance you will sulk for days." The fox muttered.

"*Cough* Miko... That is... not... true?" Ei spoke.

"Why is that a question? *Sigh* It is a cute trait, but your love for sweets makes you an easy target for bad men... no, I guess you are no longer going to fall for other men's tricks now that you have eaten his sweets." The fox commented.

Groaning at her arguments, Ei decided to ignore the fox or she will just lose.

"We should continue watching over them from a closer distance." Ei said before jumping to the next roof.

Part 2

MC's POV

Closing my hands caused the roots of the tree to twist the person inside until their bones broke and blood leaked from everywhere. Nonetheless, I simply walked away.

My business with them had been finished so they no longer had any use.

I will not try to justify myself by using the excuse that they were just a bunch of man-eating monsters because that is no excuse to kill them if we go with human morals. However, I see no reason to leave them alive. Even if I could get along with them when they disguised themselves as humans, I could not believe in rehabilitating them. It would take quite some time to do so and I had no guarantees it would work.

Regardless of gender or age, I killed any enemy I found my way. Controlling the shikigamis I spread everywhere to help the people who got caught on this was a little hard given the large number of them and even more if a fight was involved, but handling dozens of shikigamis daily to help me with work for a few years ago had helped me to be able to handle even more now. Not to mention that leaving them with pre-set actions helped a ton.

Sighing, I tried to get out of my head the image that the shikigami I used to find Aika-tan's parents, but I was unable to do so. Part of me wanted to deny it since I wanted to believe he was dead, but now that I saw him, I need to meet him. He will know, I have to find out by any means necessary. However, he has Musashi with him and holding her as a hostage only makes it hard for the hatred I feel for him to grow out of control.

There was the issue with my 'brother' to take care of and I did not want to allow the two situations to present themselves at once. Particularly, my problem lies with the thing hidden in the real shrine they have deep in the mountains. Ikuse-kun was originally heading there so I was half-reassured. The book of rituals had to be recovered as well so I made everyone ignore everything else and join in.

That said, I am afraid that even if we have everyone, we won't be able to capture him. Ikuse-san and Lavinia are Longinus holders but they are still young, triggering their Balance Breaker could do the trick but that is they can land a hit before he takes them down. Kaa-san was strong and her attacks were deadly dangerous, yet he is still here. He was either holding back his strength which I doubt since he went MIA as well, or he made a pact with the cultist and has made a full recovery. If the last one is true, he will have their abilities granted to him and that will make him even trickier.

--------------------------------------

3rd Person POV

"You are so predictable that it is boring." Natsume muttered with arms crossed.

"Ha, I supposed that you would say that. Making you end up here was your guys' goal all along so I thought I would be kind enough to grant you that wish." Kamiya commented light-heartedly.

"Yet I was the only one who appeared here." Natsume snorted.

Out in the mountains, close to a decrepit shrine small enough to barely fit a fist-sized statue. Natsume stood with her arms crossed and gave her back to the figure of Kamiya. A nauseous smell filled the surroundings and it drifted from a large stone formation that had a long crack with enough for a person to pass through it.

"I have no interest in the others so I only called you." Kamiya smiled.

Turning around, Natsume noticed the differences between Kamiya right away. No longer his appearance had gentle traits, but instead, his kind smile had turned into something akin to a smirk. His eyes turned red and the bumps on top of his head that threatened to grow larger were some of his most showy new traits.

"And? Don't tell me you are expecting me to kneel and beg for my life or something now that you have changed your look?" Natsume scowled. "I have no interest in you, not before and certainly not now."

Narrowing his eyes at her, Kamiya barely kept his killing intent in check.

"That is what all of them said before begging for me to go easy on them." Kamiya stepped forward but a gust of wind made him rethink his actions.

Passing through the place he was about to step on, a hawk dived before rising again and flying towards Natsume, perching on her shoulder.

"So you are one of the users of the sacred regalias." Kamiya snorted. "So what? I don't know what that thing is supposed to do, but it will be unable to harm me, that much I can tell."

Taking a step forward again, Kamiya tried to get closer to Natsume. The hawk, Griffon, flapped its wing and took off, in the air, it launched several wind blades toward Kamiya, but he just smirked and took the hit. Like they had hit a wall, the wind blades did not manage to harm Kamiya, but instead only destroyed part of his clothes.

"Enough." Natsume irritatedly said. "I told you to not rip people's clothes, particularly guys, unless it is Nora-kun."

The hawk cried in understanding a stopped its attack before perching on Natsume's shoulder.

"You can't go forgetting about it, not only it is awkward, it makes me look like a pervert who only knows how to destroy people's clothing." Natsume lectured the hawk.

Lowering its head guiltily, the hawk accepted the lecture.

"That said, never hold back against Nora-kun, he owes me some eye candy for all the times he has seen me in underwear..." Natsume mumbled.

Blushing slightly, Natsume recalled certain moments.

Crying in indignation, Griffon wanted to rebuke some of those times it was Natsume's fault instead of the youth and above all, he would rather not cross the guy who made the food it ate, nonetheless, Natsume ignore it.

Getting angry after listening to Natsume's words, Kamiya did not take any more time and dashed towards her and she responded by pulling out a gun from the gun holder she had attached to her skirt. The outfit provided by the Nephilim institute had many useful parts and the gun holder was one of the many additions you could add to it.

Her shots were precise and they aimed at Kamiya's heart. The other party reacted unconsciously by stopping and covering his chest with both arms crossed. There was a dry sound and the bullets fell to the ground.

Without being surprised, Natsume changed her regular cartridge of ammo for a different one.

"It is useless, you-" Kamiya was about to mock Natsume but he had to cover his eyes next.

Shooting at Kamiya's head, Natsume observed how the light bullets were ineffective as well. She saw him cover his eyes, but she doubted that he would let down his guard and allow her to do the shot again. It would be hard to pull off a stunt like that if the target was wary and in movement, so far, only her instructor and Nora were capable of doing it, although Felis was not usually the type to rely on such a method for some reason.

Without waiting for Kamiya to speak, Natsume took a few steps behind before changing her cartridge again. This one was bigger than the others and she flipped a small lever on one side of her gun. Griffon took off and began to fly in circles above Natsume.

After pulling the trigger, the gun fired a burst of bullets. Turning from a semi-automatic gun to a full-auto one.

"Don't f*ck with me!!!" Kamiya yelled all of sudden.

Ignoring the bullets, he dashed forward and aimed to grab Natsume's throat but a gust of wind hit his face and he involuntarily covered his face for a second. Natsume did not waste it and took her distance. Using senjutsu her body began feeling lighter and her regular steps began covering more distance.

Noticing his blunder made Kamiya angry, but he took a deep breath and calmed down.

Using a greater level of strength, he dashed forward once again, barely missing Natsume by hair length. The bullets and the gust of wind were useless to stop him and Natsume reacted calmly, chanting a short spell, she made the sign of a gun with her free hand.

"Bang." Natsume said.

Kamiya expected some sort of impact to land on him but instead, a binding light burned his eyes. He could not avoid being blinded momentarily, however, that was all the damage he received.

"Nora-kun warned me, but I guess I was just being stubborn." Natsume's bitter voice was loud. "Ah! I wanted to show him my good side now that we finally had a mission together."

"Hmph, you cannot do anything to me so forget about dealing with me." Kamiya said. "I might be a little slow in taking you down, but it is simply because I don't want to kill you. I cannot enjoy your cries in bed if you are dead."

"Wow, first of all, yuck. You are disgusting." Natsume muttered. "Secondly, I would rather be skinned alive than let you lay a hand on me. I find your type pretty annoying to begin with. Acting all gentlemanly but burning with lust inside? I prefer Nora-kun who can openly grope me and act like nothing is wrong... well, that is also a bit strange, hmmm, I might've fallen pretty hard since I am praising a scummy behavior..."

Scratching her head, Natsume seemed focused on pondering her choice of words.

"Whatever, I never liked you since I saw you." Natsume shrugged her shoulders.

"So what? Even if you dislike me, I will have you panting under me soon enough, your attacks cannot hurt me and I am certain I can catch you if I want." Kamiya spoke.

Chuckling, Natsume waved at Griffon who seemed ready to transform. The true form of her sacred gear would certainly be enough to deal with Kamiya, but Natsume would rather do something first.

"That sounds funny." Natsume smirked. "But kind of pathetic, is that the only way you can get a girl? I will have you know, that Nora-kun can make even the most reserved woman moan just with a simple shoulder massage. I will leave to your imagination what he can do to her if he raises the level of skinship."

Mixing lies with truth, Natsume tried to bait Kamiya to attack her. Her choice of word was awfully familiar to a certain someone and her tone was slightly thuggish, but it was certainly a coincidence, not because she tried to imitate someone. Certainly not.

"What is it? Never heard a woman asking you to come at her? It must be a novel experience for a guy like you..." Natsume cockily raised her chin. "Oh yeah, did you know that women always end up craving for Nora-kun's touch after he puts their hands on them? They are some serious weapons, deadly enough to turn you into mush if he wishes to. His whole neighborhood is surrounded by women who are dying to get him to touch them again."

Feeling slightly pissed and jealous at her own words, Natsume could not completely deny it. In Urakyoto, the residence just beside Nora was filled with cat girls seeking his touch and even more. Nonetheless, Natsume's speech was enough to turn off Kamiya's self-control. He ignored the warning signals he began feeling since Natsume began taunting him and attacking.

He first uprooted a tree and threw it at the young woman. This caused her to be slightly at a loss because she expected him to attack her in melee. However, against the tree, Griffon proved to be effective enough. The hawk coated itself with wind and charged toward the tree, shattering it.

Kamiya repeated his actions a couple of times but Griffon took care of it. With no other choice, Kamiya rushed toward Natsume. He was fast and Natsume could not completely avoid him but she had no interest in doing so since the beginning. Her eyes turned cold as he approached and she twisted her body slightly to the left and raised her right hand causing Kamiya to miss his attack, nonetheless, he stopped in place, completely shocked. Natsume's incredibly cold glare was a surprise, but the wound in his chest was the real reason he reacted like that.

Slowly lowering his line of sight, he saw blood dripping from the right side of his chest. A hand was deeply embedded inside and it was none other than the delicate hand of Natsume.

Slowly pulling her hand away, black mist drifted from the blackened skin. It looked rather solid for a hand made of flesh, but above all, the aura covering it was ominous and something he had seen before.

"H-How? You are one of them...? But..." Kamiya mumbled incoherently.

"I am not." Natsume said. "I am, and I will always be Nora-kun's ally. However, I am weak. The weakest cannot hope to protect him, the weakest cannot hope to stand side by side. The weakest cannot confidently say that she loves him."

Closing her eyes, Natsume opened them again and they had turned red.

"I was offered power, so I took it. I am not sure what those women expected from me, but I clearly said that I would not betray Nora-kun." Nastume said. "Nonetheless, they still gave me power."

Like her right hand, the left hand took a black hue. The black mist began drifting from both hands, soon enough from her feet.

The shocked Kamiya had his arm grabbed by Natsume and she sank her finger into it. Blood leaked, but Kamiya only looked at Natsume fearfully, or rather, the black mist leaving her body.

"You thought I was easy prey, didn't you? How wrong you were." Natsume muttered.

Kicking Kamiya, he got thrown away.

Clicking her tongue, Natsume a sharp pain in her head thus her concentration wavered.

Her feet and right hand went back to how they were before, leaving her with only her left hand transformed.

"Urgh." Natsume groaned.

Watching this, Kamiya's shock subsided and a smirk found itself on his face again.

"Hah, I thought you were like those guys that came to the village, but you are nothing like that. You can't even transform." Kamiya composed himself.

Looking at his wounded self, he got angered but decided to not try to fulfill his lust. Clenching his teeth, he groaned before the bumps on his head turned into a pair of horns. His skin grew tougher and he pointed at Natsume.

"You will beg me to stop, but now because I will tear you apart piece by piece after I break every bone in your body." Kamiya declared. "I have no interest in tasting the skin of someone like you. Look at that hand, you think you are different from me? You sold your humanity for power, just like me, you have turned into the very monster you wish to take care of."

Feeling bitter, Natsume could not deny that.

"She is a beautiful lady, not a monster."

A voice was heard and Natsume's expression brightened up.

Before Kamiya could turn fully, he felt a sharp pain coming from his shoulder as he was sent flying. Soon, he hit a tree and got stuck. He tried to move but noticed that the attack had come in form of an arrow and not only that, it had struck the tree and begun growing, pinning him in place.

A few seconds later, a gust of wind reached the zone and Nora landed close to Natsume.

Looking at him made Natsume happy, but she soon hid her left hand and avoided looking him in the eyes.

Getting close to her, Nora observed her closely before pulling her left arm. Natsume did not resist and let Nora look at her hand.

"Hahaha, acting all meek all sudden? Now he will see that you are-" Kamiya shut up once he saw the glare Nora gave him.

"I told you to not use this unless you had no other choice." Nora said.

Taking her hand, he saw her trying to resist for the first time and hid it. Pulling her towards him, he took her hand again. With his right hand, he kept her close to him while the other one was used to interlock their fingers.

"Do I have to do this to make you lend me your hand?" Nora 

"It is unsightly" Natsume kept her head low.

"It is not." Nora said. "Do not listen to him. His fake mask came off and he is trying to drag you down as well. He wants to put you on the same level."

Still refusing to meet his eyes, Natsume felt bad. She had told him about what those people had offered her, but he had advised her against it, yet, she still accepted the power. Nora instantly found out when he saw her since she could not hide such a thing. Nonetheless, he did not blame her and just helped her to get used to her own power as well as taking on the bits she could not control.

"Hey, look at me." Nora called out.

Ignoring him, she was forced to look at him when he used his right hand to raise her chin slowly.

"There is nothing about you that is unsightly." Nora said. "You might be a pervert, but I like you."

Smiling, Nora muttered some slightly rude comments. His left hand began draining the black mist without Natsume noticing it.

"Shouldn't you fully reassure me here!?" Natsume grumbled.

"Natsume's supposed to be a cheerful, friendly, upbeat, and enthusiastic person with a strong determination." Nora said. "Don't let it get to you."

"Hah! You are just using pretty phrases, but I doubt you hardly believe them yourself. You are just trying to get into her pants there! In the end, you only praise her to get her attention while hiding your desires." Kamiya yelled.

Trying to tear apart the arrow, he had trouble because it kept growing non-stop.

"Dude, it is her who is trying to get into MY pants." "Hey! It is hard to deny after all of the close calls we had, but the phrasing is a bit..." "If you can fully deny ever getting into my bed at night, I will retire what I said." "The moon is beautiful today..." Nora and Natsume had a small banter.

Watching as the plant continued to grow despite Kamiya's desperate resistance, Nora mumbled.

"You know? He got a point in the fact that I should be a bit more often and show off." Nora nodded with an evil smile. "I would normally do this kind of thing in private, but I am an open-minded guy and do not feel ashamed at all."

Having a bad premonition, Natsume wanted to retreat, however, Nora kept their hands interlocked and while she enjoyed the simple skinship, it now looked like a terrible trap he used to snare her.

"May I have the honor of fondling you?" Nora muttered in a straightforward tone.

"Of course you don't!?" Natsume exclaimed loudly.

"Tsk, it will be quick, guehehe." Nora smiled evilly.

"That tone will not make me change my mind though!?" Natsume tried to get away from Nora.

"Eh!? It does not? Come on, just a small grope, I just want to prove how good we get along!" Nora insisted.

"It doesn't have to be out here right!? At least wait until we get home, then I wouldn't mind-" Natsume immediately covered her face in shame.

"Oh? Then it is fine to do it when we are alone...?" Nora tried to peel away her hands from her face but she stubbornly refused to let him do it.

"You piece of shit! What is wrong with this plant!" Kamiya angrily yelled.

Playfully tickling Natsume to make her lower her hands for a bit, Nora gave Kamiya a bored look.

"Oh? Never heard of it? It is quite rare even in the Underworld so I understand your lack of knowledge. It was pretty hard to get a hold of it in the first place, but after getting a sample, I was able to place it among my treasured collection." Nora spoke casually. "It is usually found in desertic areas and it has an absurd vitality. Just a drop of water can make it grow exponentially in size and the roots extend very deep into the ground to seek more water to sustain itself. However, thanks to an acquaintance of mine, I had this particular plant undergo some changes, although I did leave its main features. As an example, its thirst for water is still there... but I did add a few twists to it."

Smiling meaningfully, Nora ignored Kamiya who tried to desperately try to escape even more frantically.

"Where were we~? Oh yeah, Natsume~" Nora smiled.

"Ahhh! Whatever! You want to!? Go ahead! Do it to your heart's content!!!" Natsume reached her embarrassment limit.

The last thing Kamiya saw before the roots began to swallow him and try to pierce his skin from the wound that Natsume gave him was Nora trying to reach for Natsume's breasts.

"And I think he will not hear us anymore." Nora lowered his hands and sighed.

"You are really evil." Natsume mumbled. "Are you trying to kill your enemies out of rage? His eyes were bloody red and I thought they would pop out from the way he was glaring at you."

"I like smacking people, but killing them that way sounds like fun. Make someone so angry that they die from it... I wonder if I can get a job I can legally piss off people for a living..." Nora shurgged his shoulders.

"...you could become a politician?" Natsume jokingly offered.

"...are you a genius?" Nora looked like he had an ephifany.

Paling immediately, Natsume grabbed Nora garbments and began shaking him to snap him back to reality.

"Don't even think about it!" Natsume muttered.

"Ok, ok, I won't." Nora slumped his shoulders.

"So, what did you decide to act like that? You usually began bullying others when you are stressed." Natsume asked in worry.

"What? Can't I try to fondle you because I want to hold those beautifully shaped buns?" Nora mumbled.

"...idiot." Natsume blushed.

"You followed along my play pretty well without previous practice." Nora praised.

"I don't mean to brag, but our affinity is great for a reason." Natsume cheekily bragged.

Smiling at that, Nora looked down.

"I will trust you guys to watch my back, because he is coming." Nora clenched his fist.

"Who is coming?" Natsume asked.

"The bastard who caused my Kaa-san to go MIA." Nora expression distorted.

"I promise you that we will not let you down."

A determinated voice chimed in and Tobio arrived with Sae in toe, although his expression turned awkward when he saw Natsume's frozen expression when she tried to pull Nora towards her bosom in an attempt to console him.

"...I told you to take your time." Sae repriminded.

"If I give my best dogeza, do you think she will forgive me?" Tobio awkwardly asked.

"This was a golden chance for her to confort him, what do you think?" Sae asked.

"So I am dead meat huh." Tobio smiled wryly.

"It is ok." Nora raised his head and gave them a troubled smile.

Looking as Natsume's death glare seemed ready to kill Tobio, he pulled Natsume and hugged her.

"Thanks..." Nora whispered in her ear.

...

...

...

"What is the plan?" Natsume asked.

Her expression looked glossy and she asked in an upbeat tone.

"He is walking in this direction in a leasure pace so he will arrive in thirty minutes min." Nora declared.

"What do you want to do with him?" Tobio pointed at the numerous roots continuously expanding.

"They will die after a five minutes or so, they were modified to do that. He will probably be alive after this but will be pretty desperate, in that state, he will surely use his trump card at once." Nora muttered. "The thing they were trying to create should be what he will use when he gets the chance but I would prefer if we do not take care of it. I think we could use it in a couple of ways."

"The others are not here yet." Sae looked left and right.

"I asked the others to make some preparations before coming here, but only Lavinia will join us." Nora declared.

Pulling a stack of ofudas, he handed it to Sae.

"I want you to stay far from the front lines." Nora said. "These should help."

"Ikuse-kun..." Nora looked down.

"I should use my balance breaker since the begining?" Tobio asked.

"No, he might not show up if you do." Nora said. "He has a hostage on his side so I ask you to focus on taking care of that."

"What about me?" Natsume asked.

"You will be working along with me." Nora said. "Until Ikuse-kun rescues Musashi, I want to cover for any blunder I will most likely commit. I am certain than more than once I will lose control and do something reckless. As a leader, it is an unthinkable behaviour, however, you all said you had my back, right?"

Chuckling at his words, the group nodded.

Sighing, Nora tried to ease his emotions, but found it hard to do.

Author's notes.

The chapter ended earlier than I anticipated and was delivered later than I had planned.

A family member had began feeling ill, or rather, she got worse during the holidays and it was not long ago that she died. I am delivering what I can, but I honestly had no energy to write. I hope the quality is not too bad.

I added a bit of what was happening in Urakyoto and what there is to come on the next chapter. I will make next the epilogue and that will be the end of this volume, I also have planned to deliver some SS as well so you can expect some interesting ideas I had been writing.

Make sure to read the intermission and ask question about it. New characters were added and they will play their role on the next two volumes.

Have a nice day.

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