Chapter 78: Chapter 78

Jin’s POV
   Jin puts up a Barrier around him just in case this miasma is dangerous. He did the same to Shuten Douji and Yamauchi.

   “I don’t need to be protected from these dark water vapour, boy!” he protests.

   “You’ll never know what they can do.”

   “Still-”

   “Look, I don’t care about your well-being either.” Jin tells him bluntly. “But I do care about Meiko. And I definitely don’t want her to be sad when she finds out that her father has kicked the bucket.”

   That shut the oni up immediately.

   “...Fine. Keep it.” he tells Jin grudgingly.

   “I’m glad that you understand.”

   And the effect of the miasma has become apparent soon enough. Black, shadowy figures start appearing out of nowhere. All of them are wearing ancient armors and carries weapons like katanas, spears and the likes. And they’re attacking everyone and everything they see indiscriminately, even evil Fox Lady’s minions.

   “Stop your shadow soldiers at once!” Yamauchi cries. “Can’t you see that your followers are getting attacked as well?”

   “What of it?”

   “I beg your pardon?”

   “The only thing that truly matters is my revenge. Nothing else matters, not even my own life.”

   Her eyes are dead, just like those that belong to a dead fish. In addition, her tone has become hollow. It’s like she has become a robot.

   “It’s no use. No words will get through her. Let’s just stop her by defeating her.” Jin says to Yamauchi.

   She nods in agreement.

   “That’s definitely the one and only way of solving problems.” Shuten Douji agrees.

   The shadow soldiers waste no time in surrounding the trio and attack them. Jin swings Felfarthen in a wide arch. Hundreds of them got blown away, with a vast majority of them disintegrating as they do.

   “Small fries…” he mumbles.

   Shuten Douji cackles maniacally as he hits soldier after soldier from the top of their head with his club like he’s playing a game of Whack-a-mole. Needless to say, the soldiers vanished without a sound after being pounded.

   “What’s with all these flimsy soldiers? I can thrash them all with one hand tied to my back!” he laughs.

   “Something is not right, Minase-dono. There is no way my other half will summon these kind of weak soldiers.” Yamauchi says to Jin as she’s bombarding some soldiers with her fireballs.

   “True. I have a bad feeling about this.” he agrees.

   The mystery is solved almost immediately. Those disintegrated soldiers returned to life a split second after they were blown to bits. To be more exact, they have regenerated.

   “You can never get rid of darkness.” evil Fox Lady whispers. “Feel my wrath in its purest form…”

   Ah, drat. All of Jin’s attempt so far to prevent her from having a monologue has become completely pointless.

   “Bah, these numbers still mean nothing if they’re weak and fragile!” Shuten Douji roars.

   It was then when Jin hears a cry of pain coming from somewhere behind him. He turns around to look for the source of commotion, only to see some kind of hairy youkai clutching its right arm with its left one. Right in front of it is one of the shadow soldiers. This particular one is holding a katana. Even from this distance, Jin can still see blood dripping from the blade, which makes it evident that it was that sword which wounded the youkai.

   All of a sudden, both of the youkai’s eyes roll skywards, and it falls to the ground with a loud thud. Right before it falls, Jin saw it frothing at the mouth.

   “Great, their weapons are coated with poison or something just as bad.” he mutters.

   Who knows how potent those poison are. Best to be careful.

   “Big deal! It’s not like they can even touch us with those flimsy movements of theirs!” Shuten Douji says.

   Indeed. Their dangerous weapons aside, the soldiers’ movements are the same as a regular humans. For those who’re way used to combat like Jin and Shuten Douji, they might as well switched with infants-

   Without a single warning, huge gusts of winds start blowing. They’re so strong the shadow soldiers are disintegrated, only to reappear at a random location. Three appears right behind Shuten Douji, only to have the oni makes them disintegrates again with his club.

   Jin rolls his eyes.

   “You just had to open your big mouth, huh?”

   The gusts of wind are definitely the handiwork of the evil Fox Lady. Jin looks at her. Her eyes and expression is impassive as usual, but Jin noticed a second of condescending twinkle coming from her eyes when their eyes met. Well, let’s just ignore her for now. Jin turns around so that he could address the youkais.

   “Hey, youkais! Let’s have a temporary truce!” he suggests loudly. “The three of us will try to stop your crazy boss! In the meantime, work together with the onmyojis and the onis and fight those soldiers!”

   They hesitated for a single second before fighting back against the soldiers. Wise choice on their part.

   “This is it, onis! The final battle! Once we’re done, we get to go home and drink booze until we drop, so do your best and then some more!” Shuten Douji roars.

   “Please do your best, onmyojis! The fate of the people depends on it!” Yamauchi rallies her subordinates.

   “Everything you do is pointless. You might as well surrender and save yourselves the futile effort.” evil Fox Lady taunts without a single hint of emotion.

   Well, time for some drastic measures.

   “Are you still alive, Audrey?” he shouts loudly.

   A reply came almost immediately.

   “Yes, I am!”

   “Good! I need you to cast Barrier over here! If it’s possible, make it huge and double-layered!”

   “It shall be done! Al, I need you to watch over me as I concentrate!”

   “Got it, nee-san!”

   “You are a much bigger fool than I thought if you think that a mere wall or two can keep me inside.” evil Fox Lady mocks.

   “Oh, don’t you worry.” Jin assures her. “Those walls aren’t to keep you in. It’s to prevent collateral damage when I go all out.”

   “Is that really wise, Minase-dono?” Yamauchi asks Jin a bit nervously.

   “It can’t be helped, can it? We can’t afford to waste any more time than we have to. There’s this wind and the soldiers, after all. Who knows how much are they affecting the human world.”

   “Still, your rampage might end up causing more damage than those things combined.”

   “You’ll have to trust Audrey on making a really sturdy Barrier. And trust me on not wrecking this place. Too much, anyway.”

   Yamauchi nods firmly.

   “I believe in the both of you.”

   “Thanks. And I think Audrey would be happy to hear that, too.”

   While waiting for Audrey to be done, the two of them, along with Shuten Douji, try their best from keeping the shadow soldiers away from them. They were at it for two minutes before Shuten Douji starts losing it.

   “How much longer do we have to wait?” he complains as he has to swat away yet another group of soldiers.

   “This can’t be rushed, you know.” Jin tells him. “We need both quality and quantity, or the whole place is going to blow up once I’m done.”

   “Why aren’t you making a barrier of your own, then?”

   Jin shrugs.

   “I need to save up my mana when I fight her.” he says in a matter-of-fact way while pointing at evil Fox Lady with his sword. “Besides, her Barrier is probably better than mine.”

   “Are you sure that you aren’t just looking for excuses?”

   “Hey, you can be my guest and contribute as well. If you can, that is.”

   That shut the oni up immediately.

   “It’s done, Minase-san.” Jin hears Audrey’s voice saying after another minute.

   Jin activates the Eye of Truth to inspect her handiwork. As per requested, she made sure to cast two layers of Barriers and have them surround Jin and co.. As for the size, they’re roughly the same size as half of Yokosuka.

   “This is just what I wanted! Thanks!” he says to her.

   “You’re very much welcome! Good luck on your fight!”

   “Yeah, you too!”

   “Before I begin, the two of you should stay away. Like, really far away. It might get really ugly.” he warns Yamauchi and Shuten Douji before he gets started.

   “No need to worry about me, Minase-dono. I am not so careless as to caught up in the crossfire, and not so weak as to being helpless in front of your spells.” Yamauchi assures him.

   “Don’t think of me as some weaklings you find at the side of the road or something, boy! I’m much tougher than you think!” Shuten Douji guffaws.

   “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

   All this while, evil Fox Lady was waiting patiently for them to be done. Or she’s just letting her soldiers do all the work. It must be nice to be so composed.

   Jin takes a deep breath. It’s been a while since he went all out. When was the last time again? Oh, right. When he was fighting Volrik. There was also that time when he fought Nyri. Both times, his all out was really all out. In fact, his enormous mana pool was nearly drained dry. He needs to be real careful this time.

   Another deep breath to shut out all the voices he hears from behind him. Can’t let them distract him. He just hopes that he won’t hear the cry of pain from Estyshana and/or Meiko. Those would definitely let his guard down. As much as he would love to rush there if necessary, he has to remain focused.

   A third deep breath. Right, it’s go time.

   Jin points his sword at evil Fox Lady while muttering some quick incantations under his breath. A few seconds later, the area around her exploded spectacularly. The explosion was so huge dust clouds were formed. Lots of shadow soldiers were blown away too.

   “Is it over?” Shuten Douji asks as he squints his eyes to get a better view.

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   “As if. she is not this fragile.” Yamauchi says.

   And she was right. Once the dust clouds have settled down, they find evil Fox Lady completely unharmed. Speaking of unharmed, the soldiers are still around. Of course they are.

   “Is this the best you can do?” she taunts.

   “I guess a Level 7 Spell is way too mild for her.” Jin mutters. “Guess a Level 8 is up next.”

   “Do you think me of a fool? I won’t just stand here and let you do as you please!” evil Fox Lady screeches.

   Right after she said that, lots of clouds appear out of nowhere right above them. Upon closer look, Jin sees lots of black lightning cackling inside each of those clouds.

   “Do you want us to buy you some time?” Shuten Douji asks.

   “Not really. I can get the Spells done with or without her interruptions-” Jin says.

   Jin pauses what he was about to say as some lightning bolts fall on him. He slice them all in half with quick successions without even looking. One almost hit Shuten Douji, but the oni managed to bat away the said bolt without any issue.

   “But I suppose it would be boring for you if you don’t get some action.” he ends like he was never interrupted.

   The huge oni lets out a huge laugh.

   “You know me so well! Let’s charge straight in, Tamamo no Mae-”

   He pauses and looks at Yamauchi.

   “I’m talking to you, by the way.” he clarifies.

   Yamauchi gives him a look.

   “Yes, I know that. And I will not be “charging straight in”. My role is one of support, remember? My position is at the back.”

   “Bah, you’re no fun. Fine, more fun for me.”

   Her starts charging forward while bashing shadow soldiers left and right.

   “Will it be fine? Will not your spells end up hitting that blockhead too?” Yamauchi asks Jin.

   “Don’t you worry. Not all my strong Spells affect a large area.” he assures. “Watch.”

   To prove his point, Jin casts Frost Sarcophagus, a Level 8 Spell at evil Fox Lady. She was encased in a rectangular block of ice with lots of chains surrounding it. A few seconds later, though, the ice coffin exploded.

   “I guess a Level 8 is no good too.” Jin mumbles. “By the way, are you as strong as she is?”

   “I am afraid not. Her powers come from her hatred towards humans. I, on the other hand, have no such motivation.” Yamauchi replies dejectedly.

   “Hmm…”

   Ideally, the fight can be ended if evil Fox Lady can be cleansed of said hatred. Unfortunately, that would require some counselling. Jin has no experience in doing so. In addition, they would need her to cooperate. Worst of all, they’re running out of time. Looks like brute force is the only way to go.

   As Jin is deep in thought (and swatting away shadow soldiers with his sword), Shuten Douji has already reached evil Fox Lady.

   “YOUR HEAD IS MINE!” he roars as he brings his club up high.

   And he got repelled by her force field.

   “You’re simply pathetic!” evil Fox Lady laughs.

   “...You know, I think it was a bad idea to bring him along.” Jin whispers to Yamauchi.

   “Indeed. Now, he is just an embarrassment.” she agrees with a tone just as low.

   “I heard that, you two!”

   “Well someone has good hearing.”

   Jin starts to concentrate and prepares to chant the incantation of Astral Prison, the same Level 10 Spell Audrey tried to cast on him a few days ago. He figured that sending her to another dimension altogether will definitely work, one of the Three Great Youkai or no.

   “I’m going to cast something huge! It would be really bad if you got caught in it!” he warns Shuten Douji.

   “Don’t mind me, boy! Just fire at will!” says the oni as he’s relentlessly attacking evil Fox Lady and fending off shadow soldiers almost at the same time.

   Jin was about to begin when he saw Yamauchi averting her gaze from evil Fox Lady. She also looks kind of sad. That made Jin stop.

   “...I need to ask you something important, Yamauchi.” he begins instead.

   She looks at him.

   “What is it, Minase-dono?”

   Jin had to pause for a bit as another lightning bolt was about to land on them. After that, a few shadow soldiers tried to stab them with their weapons. Once all those were taken care of, he looks at Yamauchi once more.

   “Like I told Shuten Douji, I’m going to hit your other half with a big one.”

   “Yes, I heard you the first time.”

   “She won’t die if I’m successful. Still, she’s not going to see another living being, or anything at all ever again. That is, until I decide to be generous and let her out. She’s going to be all alone in a tight space, not being able to do a thing.”

   “Please get to the point.” she tells him a bit impatiently.

   “Are you sure that you want me to go ahead?” he asks.

   She averts her eyes. Jin made sure to speak before she did.

   “No lies, got it?” he warns.

   She lets out a sigh and looks him in the eye.

   “No. I do not want you to go ahead.”

   “I see. Do you have a better idea, then?”

   “No. Still, I want to talk to her.”

   Jin shrugs.

   “All right, then. I’ll make sure that you reach her safe and sound.”

   Yamauchi looks at him with a surprised expression.

   “Wait, are you sure?”

   “Hey, it was your idea.” he reminds her.

   “Of course I remember. But, what if it went wrong?”

   Jin shrugs again.

   “Then we’ll try to figure out something again. So that the two of you can talk in peace, that is. For now, let’s take the first step, shall we?”

   She puts up a determined expression.

   “I am ready.”

   Jin nods, satisfied with both her answer and expression.

   “Let’s do this.”

   “Indeed!”

   “So that’s the plan, Shuten Douji! You know what to do!” Jin calls out.

   “What am I, your servant?” the oni asks angrily.

   “You’re already there anyway, might as well make yourself useful!”

   “Fine, fine! I’ll do it! Just get me a good bottle of booze once we’re done here!”

   “I have nothing to say to you, so don’t bother!” evil Fox Lady says to Yamauchi angrily.

   “Well, I do.” Yamauchi tells her calmly.

   “I don’t want to hear it-”

   “Let’s go, Yamauchi.” Jin interrupts.

   Yamauchi nods at that.

   “NO! STAY AWAY!”

   For the next few minutes, evil Fox Lady starts bombarding Yamauchi with all kinds of attacks. The shadow soldiers were especially ferocious with trying to stab her. Unfortunately for all of them, Jin is there to protect her, not to mention Shuten Douji. Slowly but surely, they’re getting closer and closer to evil Fox Lady.

   “Don’t you come near me! Don’t you dare!”

   All of a sudden, evil Fox Lady has regained her emotions. And she’s absolutely terrified. Her ears are down, and her hands are trembling visibly. Jin assumes that she’s thinking that Yamauchi was lying about wanting to talk to her and wants to absorb her instead.

   Right now, they’re merely a few feet away from each other. Evil Fox Lady has her hips on the floor while looking up at Yamauchi with tear-stricken eyes, and the latter is looking at her other half with an impassive expression.

   And then, Yamauchi opens up her arms and hugged evil Fox Lady.

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