Chapter 76: Chapter 76

Jin’s POV
   It actually took them almost twenty minutes to arrive. Ayumi is wearing her formal shrine maiden uniform, and Meiko is wearing her white kimono. The former is holding her katana in her left hand, while the latter is carrying her club. As for Esty, Aldenia and Audrey, they’re all wearing casual clothes.

   “What took you girls so long?” Jin asks the girls.

   “We girls need some time to get prepared, you know.” Aldenia tells him.

   “Prepare for what?”

   Aldenia gestures towards Estyshana. Part of the demon’s crimson hair has been twisted into a braid, while most of them have been tied up to a ponytail. If she was the cutest thing on the planet before, now she’s the cutest thing on the galaxy. Right now, she’s looking away and busy twirling her hair with her fingers while looking embarrassed.

   “I thank you sincerely for the view.” Jin says to Aldenia while being very close on thanking her with a bow.

   Aldenia nods with a satisfied look.

   “I always love an honest person. Not romantically, of course.”

   Jin proceeds to take out his phone. Naturally, his plan is to take some pictures.

   “What are you doing with that?” Estyshana demands immediately.

   “I want to take pictures of you.” Jin tells her in a matter-of-fact manner.

   “Denied! Put that away before I smash it into a million pieces!”

   “Aww…”

   He puts away his phone obediently.

   “I’m hungry! Someone bring me something to eat!” the demon continues to demand.

   “Let’s sit down first.” Ayumi tells her.

   Once they’ve settled down, they’re served breakfast by the servants who work inside the shrine. As Jin has expected, the meal is extremely simple and plain: a bowl of white rice, a bowl of miso soup, three different types of vegetables, and a small piece of grilled fish. Estyshana looks at the sad-looking meal in front of her, and then at Jin.

   “Hand them over.” she demands.

   Wordlessly, Jin brings out the takeout box he stored back in his apartment from the Vault and hands it over to her. She snatches it and opens the box. Inside are an assortment of chicken, beef and some seafood that Jin cooked along with his and Nyri’s breakfast. Once she sees the content, she immediately breaks into a smile.

   “Anyone else wants some of these?” she offers.

   “No thanks. The food I got are good enough for me.” Aldenia declines.

   “I prefer to eat light meals throughout the day.” Audrey states.

   “I have to go by the rule of not eating these food that are considered, well, overly luxurious among onmyojis.” Ayumi explains.

   “My stomach has limited space, so this portion of food is just right for me.” Meiko refuses. “Even so, thank you for your offer.”

   Estyshana shrugs.

   “More for me, then.”

   Just by looking at their expressions, Jin could tell that they’re making up random excuses so that Estyshana could eat all the food that Jin cooked.

   While the girls are enjoying their breakfast, Jin addresses Shuten Douji once more.

   “We’re about to fight the evil half of Yamauchi. Assuming that we win, what’s your plan on the alliance?” he asks.

   The atmosphere of the entire dining hall became suffocating in a single second.

   Shuten Douji cups his chin with his thumb and index finger.

   “What say you? What should I do about it?” he asks back.

   “Don’t drag this on. Answer me right this instant, or we’ll talk with our weapons.” Jin tells him impatiently.

   The huge oni lets out a loud laugh.

   “The youngster these days are so hot-headed! Can’t you play along for a bit?”

   “I am playing along. I don’t think I have to tell you the reason your head is still attached to your neck is because I allowed it to.”

   “Wahahaha, I guess you’re right at that!”

   Shuten Douji’s expression became serious.

   “My hatred over the humans will never diminish. That I can guarantee.”

   He pauses dramatically and pulls out a bottle of sake from the inside of the robe he’s wearing. He pulls out the stopper before gulping down the entire content while making really loud gulping sound. With that done, he wipes his mouth free of any remaining alcohol with the back of his hand.

   “The only reason I’m holding back the said hatred is, as you know, I lost to you in a fight. Otherwise, I would have taken down as many humans as possible before I got stopped by you.” he continues.

   Jin gestures at Meiko.

   “Meiko wants you to stop harming humans. Do you want to ignore her wish?”

   To be completely honest, Jin has no qualms about killing Shuten Douji if he poses a threat to humanity. However, the oni actually became a father. That made Jin hesitate just a tiny bit. He has already killed Volrik, Estyshana’s father. He doesn’t want to rob another young demon of her father unless it’s absolutely necessary. Hence, he’s trying to resolve this peacefully for once.

   Shuten Douji sighs.

   “That’s the thing that’s making me torn in between.” he confesses. “My beloved daughter has constantly convince me to stop the invasion to kill all humans. Now that she has spent some time with humans other than her mother, she has done so even more frequently. It’s starting to take effect too.”

   Jin raises his eyebrow in slight surprise.

   “You’re not going to call her a traitor for trying to go against you?”

   “Why would I? I could tell that she’s just trying to mitigate the loss on both our sides. Besides, I myself have faltered when I fell in love with her mother.”

   Shuten Douji shows an expression of someone who’s reminiscing about one of his best memories.

   “She was a real fine woman-”

   “Hold it. We don’t have the time to listen to your love story.” Fox Lady interrupts.

   “And it’s probably so yucky it’s enough to make me puke out the breakfast that I ate.” Jin adds.

   “You two have zero appreciation for a good tale.” Shuten Douji grumbles.

   “Can we get back to the topic that actually matters?” Jin asks.

   Shuten Douji raises up both his hands.

   “Fine, fine. I swear on my very life that I won’t invade the human worlds ever again.”

   Jin hears Meiko lets out a sigh of relief.

   Well, that’s one crisis averted. For Shuten Douji, that is. Jin tries his best not to look at Estyshana. If he tried to convince Volrik to stop invading the human world, the Demon Lord may have been alive. It’s a very small possibility as Volrik was known to be a very bloodthirsty demon. Still, Jin could have tried.

   Jin looks at the girls. They’re about to be done with their meal. In fact, Estyshana was already done with hers. She looks sleepy after getting her stomach filled.

   “Are you sure you’ll be all right at the fight later?” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

   “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Estyshana assures.

   He was convinced before she lets out a huge yawn.

   “At least go wash your face.”

   “Hmm, I guess I will…”

   She slowly gets up from where she was sitting. She looks like someone who’s about to fall over any second.

   “Do you want me to go with you?” Ayumi asks her.

   Estyshana slowly shakes her head.

   “It’s fine. I can do this much by myself.” she mumbles.

   Aldenia looks at Jin, then nods towards Estyshana. Jin sighs and gets up as well.

   “You know what, I’ll go with you.” he offers.

   Estyshana rolls her eyes.

   “Seriously, do I look that untrustworthy?” she grumbles as she drags her feet towards the washroom.

   “Please head to the room where the portal is once you’re done with your business.” Iemitsu-san tells them.

   Estyshana gives him a blank look.

   “...Where?” she asks after a short pause.

   “Just head to the toilet for now. I know where it is, so we’ll just go there once you’re done.” Jin says to her.

   “Fine, fine…”

   As the two of them are heading outside the dining hall, the others are also getting up and getting prepared as well.

   Estyshana walks with the pace of a snail, and she’s being really wobbly. Jin follows her from behind and made mental preparation to catch her just in case she lost her balance.

   The demon stops right in front of the entrance to the washroom so that she could turn around and look at Jin.

   “You better not follow me inside.” she warns.

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   “What does it matter? It’s not like you’re going to take a leak.”

   She glares at him.

   “Can you not say something so disgusting? And it does matter. You’re not coming in. End of discussion.”

   “Of course not. I never had the intention to.”

   After she went in, Jin takes out a can of coffee from the Vault. He hands it to her once she’s done with washing her face. She takes it without a word and pops it open before downing the entire content with a single gulp. Once she’s done, she looks wide awake.

   “Ah, that hits the spot!” she says with a happy look on her face.

   “You sound like a middle-aged man who drank beer after a hard day’s work.” Jin points out.

   He pauses.

   “Oh wait, you are old.”

   He tilts his head to the left as the can she was holding came flying straight to his face. As it goes past his face harmlessly with a speed that could create a crater in a concrete wall, he catches it with his right thumb and little finger without looking.

   “Don’t you know it’s bad to litter?” he chides.

   “Shut it! Why do you have to bring up my age at every chance that you get?”

   “Cause it’s fun to make fun of you.”

   She growls loudly.

   “If only I’m strong enough to beat you to a pulp…”

   “Can we go back now? We still have an evil fox demon to purge, remember?” Jin reminds her.

   “Of course I remember. Now where this room where the portal is that Ichihara’s grandfather spoke of?”

   “It’s just nearby. I’ll lead the way.”

   “Hold it.”

   Jin turns around to look at her. She’s twirling her hair again, and she’s fidgeting.

   “Yeah?”

   “Don’t get yourself killed, got it?” she mumbles.

   “Yes, yes. I won’t die until you get revenge on me.”

   Jin knows she’s worried about him for real this time, but he acted dumb since she’ll become defensive again if he pointed it out.

   As Iemitsu-san has said, the others are waiting for them inside the room. Minus Mayuri-san and Marika, pretty much everyone else is standing near the pillar which is the medium used to create the portal.

   Estyshana looks around.

   “...Is this all who’re going to stall for time?” she asks no one in particular.

   “The rest of the onmyojis and onis are already on the other side of the portal.” Fox Lady informs.

   “Ah. That makes sense.”

   The head of the onmyoji looks around.

   “If there is anyone who would like to back down, now is a good chance.” she tells them all.

   No one does.

   “Very well. Let us go.”

   The world where youkai resides still looks the same when Jin came here the last time, when he forcefully made Shuten Douji to form an alliance with the onmyojis. Even though it’s still morning in the human world, it’s nighttime here. The moon, which is hanging tall up on the sky, is blood red. Other than its faint, sinister light, there are no other light source. Finally, there are ruins everywhere, which symbolizes the actual building over at the human world.

   As Fox Lady has promised, there are quite a number of onmyojis and onis who were waiting for them to arrive. Jin made a quick head count. He estimates that the combined forces to number around 10,000. whether this number is enough to stall the full might of the youkais is unknown.

   Estyshana, the Graylock sisters and Ayumi look around curiously. After all, they’ve never been here.

   “So, are we just going to wait here until your evil half shows up?” Jin asks Fox Lady.

   She shakes her head.

   “No. That would take too much time. I shall call upon her so that we would end this as soon as possible.”

   “Call her how?”

   “I shall be heading somewhere tall, let me see, that hill over there will do nicely.” Fox Lady says as she points to a nearby hill. “Once we’re there, I am going to call out to her. That should suffice.”

   Shuten Douji looks at Jin.

   “As her bodyguards, we should go as well.” he tells the boy.

   “Sure.”

   Jin was expecting one or both of the leaders to give some kind of speech to raise the morale, but there was nothing. Without saying a word, Fox Lady heads towards the hill with Shuten Douji close behind. He shrugs and follow the two of them as the others remain and watch them hike the hill.

   Once they’re there, Fox Lady inhales deeply before speaking.

   “HEAR ME, MY OTHR HALF! OUR MIND GAMES HAVE GO ON FOR WAY TOO LONG! THIS CANNOT BE DRAGGED ON! AS SUCH, LET US SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL! ” she calls out in a thunderous voice.

   Nothing happens for a few minutes.

   “You sure she can hear you, wherever she is right now?” Jin asks.

   “Perhaps we should start searching for her.” Shuten Douji suggests.

   Fox Lady shakes her head.

   “That is not necessary. She heard my challenge well enough. Right now, she is on her way.”

   “Is she really?”

   As if on cue, Jin sees lots of silhouettes of all sizes from some distance away. Some are small, some are huge, and they number about at least ten times more than the onmyoji-oni joint army.

   “How did she appear out of nowhere like that?” Jin couldn’t help but ask. “And she even managed to bring out her entire crew too.”

   “She used her youjutsu.” Fox Lady explains.

   “So that’s what it was. Well, I’d say our side has about thirty minutes at the most before they get overrun by the youkais.” Jin predicts.

   “Indeed.” Fox Lady agrees. “We will have to finish this up quickly.”

   Jin looks over at his allies. The onis are cracking their firsts in an anticipation of a great fight. Except Meiko. The female oni is just standing there with her club. She looks kind of nervous. Jin wishes that he could do something to calm her down. Wait, never mind. Ayumi said something to her, and she became much calmer. He starts to think that Ayumi is a serious threat to his position as Meiko’s fake elder sibling.

   The onmyojis, on the other hand, are staring at their enemies with mostly impassive expression even though they’re really outnumbered. It’s either they were trained to face off against near impossible odds like this one with a cool attitude, or they have faith that they’ll emerge victorious in the end. Either way, it’s really reassuring that they’re not panicking.

   A few more minutes later, the silhouettes have become close enough for Jin to see them clearly. He ignores the hundreds of thousands of youkais as the only one that matters is leading the army right at the very front. The evil version of Fox Lady.

   Jin can’t really tell from the distance between them, but he’s pretty sure that they look exactly the same. Of course, there are some distinctive features that set them apart. For one thing, the evil Fox Lady has black hair, ears and tails. Her clothing consists of a long-sleeved black kimono with medium-length skirt. She’s wearing it in such a way that the collars of the kimono are touching the sides of her shoulders, exposing at least half of her breasts.

   Shuten Douji grunts.

   “That outfit sure takes me back. To be honest, that look suits you way better than the onmyoji get-up you’re wearing right now.” he chuckles.

   Fox Lady glares at him.

   “I do not wish to obtain fashion advise from one who thinks that wearing a loincloth made of bearskin.” she says coldly.

   Shuten Douji looks down at his loincloth in puzzlement.

   “What’s wrong with it?”

   “There’s just no talking to you, is there? Am I right, Minase-dono?”

   “No comment.” is all Jin said.

   “Come on, boy. Surely you understand that a man can only be considered a man only when he wears the skin of the prey he defeated.”

   “I prefer clothing that doesn’t stink, thank you.”

   “How dare you! I do wash them, you know? Or to be more precise, Meiko does.”

   “...You’re making your daughter wash your clothes?”

   “She insisted.”

   Fox Lady rolls her eyes.

   “I wonder why…” she mumbles sarcastically.

   As they’re bantering, the evil Fox Lady and her army are getting closer and closer. And then, she stopped walking. So did her minions. She opens her mouth.

   “Hear me, my other-”

   Yeah, no. Jin is not going to just stand there and listen to some pointless monologue. He brings out Felfarthen and flies towards the evil Fox Lady with one of the sword’s tip aimed at her throat.

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