Inside a police box office.
Luo Shu and Mika arrived together, joined by a Special Operations Team officer.That was a man dressed in a crisp black suit, with wavy black hair and an extremely stern expression. Upon meeting, he was the first to greet Mika.
"Mr Mika, we meet again."
"It has been a while, Shirō."
Mika nodded in response before turning to Luo Shu and saying:
"This is Shirō Magi, a fire element sorcerer, captain of the special operations team, with the rank of major."
After the introduction, Mika patted Luo Shu on the shoulder and said to Shirō Magi:
"Our new SDS member, Luo Shu. He was the one who discovered and repelled Sharon Holygrail this time."
"Oh? Is that so?" Hearing this, Shirō Magi gave Luo Shu a surprised glance before remarking, "It seems Chief Tachibana has recruited yet another genius!"
Luo Shu watched the exchange between the two, his lips twitching slightly, but he chose not to interject.
After all, he was just a newcomer accompanying Mika to observe, here to familiarise himself with the team. There was no need to do anything unnecessary.
After a brief introduction, the three of them put on shared communication earpieces and connected with Kurumi, who was in charge of monitoring coordination.
Once that was done, Shirō Magi also took out a laptop, displaying six surveillance feeds on the screen, seemingly ready to receive signals at any moment.
At the same time, Kirika Tachibana's remote order came through the earpiece:
"Kurumi, pull up all surveillance in Miyashita Town. Once the target's location is confirmed, be ready to adjust the monitoring accordingly."
"Understood." Kurumi's lazy voice followed.
While Kurumi was adjusting the surveillance, inside a small van, Kirika Tachibana—who was standing beside a freezer with Takina Inoue and Chisato Nishikigi—spoke in a grave tone:
"Mizuki, remember to adjust the temperature every three minutes while driving."
"Got it."
"Mika, did you bring it?"
"I did." Inside the police box office, Mika replied as he retrieved an aged, yellowish-brown map from the inner lining of his kimono.
He spread the map flat on the table and took out a glass tube filled with deep red blood.
Luo Shu recognised it as the blood sample Kirika had extracted from the scene of Sharon's attack earlier.
'Could it be...' Luo Shu's eyes flickered.
At that moment, Mika dripped the blood onto the worn-out map. Soon after, the droplet seeped into the parchment, and the old map displayed the topography of Miyashita Town.
Noticing Luo Shu's curious gaze, Mika smiled and explained:
"Surprised?"
"A little." Though Luo Shu was taken aback, he could more or less guess that this was an Abyss Artefact used to track Sharon.
"This is a Grade 1 Abyss Artefact—the Blood Map. It's one of the rare tracking tools in SDS and also the safest one we have on hand."
"Its cost is simply providing a detailed map of the current city every week, and tracking an enemy requires their blood from within the last half hour. It's a very convenient tool."
Beside them, Shirō Magi, though already aware of the map's existence, couldn't help but say enviously:
"Mr Mika, sometimes I really do envy you SDS folks. You always have all sorts of handy tools for every situation."
"Give me a break. Controlling these artefacts costs a fortune. Over sixty per cent of SDS's budget goes into monitoring them, yet Chief Tachibana keeps wanting to acquire new ones. Honestly, she could at least show some consideration for the logistics department."
Mika muttered under his breath before pressing his earpiece and glancing at the map, reporting to Kirika Tachibana:
"The target is currently in an unfinished apartment building in Mihana-cho's third district. It's likely one of her hideouts and may contain a large stockpile of lethal weapons."
"Understood." Kirika Tachibana acknowledged and immediately ordered, "Shirō, you're with Mika, right?"
"Notify the Special Operations Team immediately to surround the target's location. If necessary, mortars may be used within the city limits."
"Yes, ma'am!" Shirō Magi snapped to attention, responding promptly before relaying the orders to the Special Operations Team right in front of Luo Shu.
"Uh, this..."
Hearing that mortars were even on the table, Luo Shu couldn't help but feel his teeth ache on Sharon's behalf.
Especially when Shirō Magi started instructing the Special Operations Team to check their Type 01 anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers, M24 bolt-action sniper rifles, and other weapons.
Luo Shu's scalp tingled with dread.
Under that kind of firepower, forget the innocent Sharon—even a tank would be obliterated.
Besides, Sharon, whose headscarf had been taken by Luo Shu, had already lost her strongest means of defence.
Realising this was just the resources Kirika Tachibana alone could mobilise, Luo Shu fell silent.
"It's fine, Luo Shu. Don't worry."
Noticing Luo Shu's tension, Mika patted his shoulder reassuringly:
"It'll be over soon."
With a sigh, Mika added:
"For covert organisations like these, their greatest advantage is secrecy and anonymity. Catching them during covert operations is extremely difficult—it takes an expert to deal with an expert..."
"But! Once they emerge from the shadows, we have plenty of ways to handle them."
"So don't worry about Chief Tachibana and the others. Even without the Special Operations Team's firepower, just the thing Chief Tachibana is carrying is enough to ensure the mission's success."
Though Mika didn't specify what "the thing" was in Shirō Magi's presence, Luo Shu understood.
It referred to the Kusanagi Sword.
At that moment, Luo Shu recalled deliberately touching the Kusanagi Sword earlier and the information his system had identified:
[Artefact: Temporary Name: Kusanagi Sword (Demi-God Rank).]
[A Demi-God Rank artefact imbued with vast Demon-Sealing Power, capable of briefly sealing a Demi-God's divinity.]
[Primary Function: Activates the sword's Demon-Sealing Power, forcibly nullifying the abilities of Abyss Artefacts and even sorcerers within a specific range.]
[Primary Function 2: ????? (Requires unlocking ???)]
[Side Effects: 1. The wielder must be female and maintain physical and spiritual purity. 2. Provided the wielder remains pure, they may only wield the Demon-Sealing Power for 15 minutes. Exceeding this duration will result in the wielder being sealed into the Kusanagi Sword, becoming a Soul Servant within it. 3. The divine sword will remain dormant at sub-zero temperatures, but after 30 minutes of acclimatisation, it will reawaken and form a demon-sealing field within a 30-metre radius, indiscriminately sealing everything except ice below 4.4 degrees Celsius.]
Recalling the Kusanagi Sword's information, Luo Shu immediately scoffed at Kirika Tachibana's so-called "provisional Level 3" classification.
'This woman deliberately underreported a Level 4 Abyss Artefact as Level 3 to make it usable. She's definitely doing this on purpose!'
At this point, having learned that Kirika had deployed such a devastating weapon, Luo Shu had already abandoned hope of Sharon escaping.
Sealed by an Abyss Artefact, abilities sealed – relying solely on physical prowess against modern weaponry was practically a guaranteed death sentence.
'Even random potshots would probably take her down, since Sharon's body hasn't reached that inhuman level where she could ignore bullets, let alone mortar fire.'
Yet the peculiar thing was that Sharon still had a Demon Contract with Luo Shu, and she also knew his little secret.
'Silence her permanently? Or perhaps... take her in as a dog?'
Luo Shu's eyes flickered with calculation.