The data uncovered from ancient Tsurumi texts were treasures of technology, only slightly inferior to Inazuma's finest forging techniques. Two technologies were excavated from the Tsurumi ancient nation: one for hiding objects and another concerning souls, though their exact names couldn't be translated.
The hiding technology, Reisen Riou and others had witnessed—it was Tsurumi's mist. This runaway technique could conceal anything, even fooling Celestia's technology. Hence, Tsurumi left no traces of Visions, as it manipulated space and time. Even with access to this technology, Reisen couldn't fully grasp it due to missing critical components. He suspected Khaenri'ah had less than a quarter of the full tech, and his own share—derived from their flawed translations—was even smaller.
The soul technology, however, was a goldmine for Reisen, a master in soul research. He could comprehend it deeply. The hiding technology? He only understood parts tied to ley lines, making progress slow.
"The final piece of the puzzle was unexpectedly hidden in Tsurumi," Reisen had said. "I thought we'd need to scour Enkanomiya."
Over the past decade, Reisen's technical prowess had grown, but without a qualitative leap. He'd diverted his computational resources to studying Tsurumi's tech. At his level, raising life energy was tough—he'd hit LV75 last year, while Reisen Anko still hovered around LV73. The soul tech let him easily fish souls from ley lines, a taboo field where his talent shone. The hiding tech, despite joint efforts with Final Watch and the Rock-Shadow-Thunderlight Brigade, yielded only a presence-dampening barrier—nothing more.
Reisen and Raiden Ei were stuck in Yae Saiguu's barrier for three days. When Ei ate a tenth of the specially protected tricolor dango and crimson sakura sweets, the barrier collapsed. With no backlash due to the collapse, the sweets remained intact, and Ei stashed the rest.
"Let's find Saiguu and that weird witch," Ei said. "See how they're doing."
"Alright," Reisen replied, hands in his sleeves, unfazed.
Yae Miko scampered onto Ei's shoulder, and the trio—one human, one Shogun, one fox—left Saiguu's fox den.
"Looks like Saiguu and the witch failed," Reisen remarked.
"That outfit? Few would accept it," Ei said fairly.
They ran into a group of miko, armed with bows, fresh from training, heading back to the Grand Narukami Shrine. Several striking miko rushed to Reisen and Ei.
"Lord Reisen, please help us!" they pleaded.
Ei, cloaked by a spell, went unrecognized as they spilled the tale. Saiguu, clever as ever, had recruited attractive, well-built miko for a supposed "hot spring tea party." She lured them to a spring, where they soaked together. Afterward, Saiguu and Alice swapped their miko outfits for notes and the armpit-baring ones. The junior miko, unable to leave naked, grudgingly donned the "shameless" outfits, enduring strange looks back to the shrine.
Senior miko at the Grand Narukami Shrine were fed up with their Palace Overseer's antics and wanted to confront Saiguu, but she'd vanished. They'd contacted the Shogunate via One System, Ten Thousand Minds, learning Saiguu wasn't there. Since the incident wrapped up yesterday afternoon, they were sure she hadn't gone far.
"Please, Lord Reisen, help us find our Palace Overseer!"
Reisen scratched his cheek. Fresh from the fox den, how could he know Saiguu's whereabouts? She was likely in another secret base.
"Does Ei know Saiguu's other hideouts?" Reisen asked via electromagnetic waves.
While Narukami had cracked such communication, junior miko hadn't. "I know two more. Let's check," Ei replied via the same method.
Reisen nodded, addressing the miko. "Ladies, give me some time. I'll contact you once I find Saiguu."
They shook off the miko and began their search.
The miko were right. Saiguu was drowning her sorrows with Alice in her fourth secret base—chosen because Ei knew the first three.
"Wah, Alice, our new miko outfit plan flopped," Saiguu whined.
"Come on, Saiguu, check this magazine," Alice said, flipping through pages. "This battle miko outfit looks great!"
Saiguu grunted suddenly. "Alice, run! Ei's coming!" She turned into a fox shadow and vanished.
Alice started to flee but heard a thud. "No need to try," Reisen's voice rang out. "I've set up a Perfected Thunder Barrier—my personal work. You're not escaping, nor is Lady Alice."
Alice helped a bruised Saiguu up as the air rippled like water.
Reisen, holding Yae Miko, appeared with Ei. Behind them, the Perfected Thunder Barrier shimmered into view. Its stealth drew from Tsurumi's hiding tech, refined with Inazuma's cloaking barriers, integrated to conceal such a massive construct.
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