Chapter 110: The Wind Rises Again
"Did he... win?"
Shinomiya Kaguya stared at the place where the Slaughter Ghost had vanished.
For a moment, she could not quite believe what she was seeing.
The Great Yokai had been purified.
The blood-red world that had swallowed the manor was gone. The suffocating malice that had pressed against her chest like a blade had faded. Even the hideous demon-head brand on her arm was disappearing little by little, its once-vivid outline dissolving into pale skin.
That mark had been her death sentence.
For days, it had gnawed at her thoughts. It had made every breath feel borrowed, every hour feel like a delay before execution. She had planned, calculated, begged, threatened, bargained, and gambled everything she could afford to gamble.
And now it was gone.
She was free.
The realization struck her harder than fear had.
Kaguya lowered her gaze to her arm. The last trace of the brand faded like ash scattered by wind. A strange emptiness followed, then relief so intense it almost made her knees buckle.
She had not felt this light in a long time.
"Gin Tsumugi..."
She looked up at the figure hovering in the night sky.
Her gratitude was too large to fit into words.
Without him, she would still be trapped in that humiliating despair, forced to wait for the day she was dragged away as a sacrifice. Without him, all her schemes would have ended as nothing more than the last struggle of a doomed heiress.
But as relief settled in her chest, another face surfaced in her mind.
Haruka Shizumiya.
The Imperial Princess trapped beneath Tamamo-no-Mae's shadow.
A girl with a fate disturbingly similar to her own.
If Gin Tsumugi could sever the mark left by Shuten-dōji, then perhaps...
Perhaps he could also help Haruka.
And perhaps this outcome had been within Haruka's expectations from the very beginning.
"This guy... he actually did it."
Isayama Yomi's voice was dry.
She had wanted him to win. Of course she had. No matter how much she complained about him, no matter how many times she wanted to beat that maddening calm off his face, she had never wished for his death.
But wanting him to win and watching him actually purify a Great Yokai were two completely different things.
A Great Yokai.
An existence that countless Onmyoji could only look up to from ancient records and disaster reports. A creature that could turn an entire battlefield into its own law with a single Spirit.
And Gin had killed one.
Single-handedly.
Yomi tightened her fingers around Shishio's hilt.
Without realizing it, the distance between them had grown absurdly wide.
Once, they had been close enough to compete.
Close enough that she could measure herself against him.
Close enough that she could be angry when he left without a word.
Now, he stood at a height where even National Level Onmyoji had to look up.
And she was still struggling within the Professional Level ranks, unable to even see clearly when her next improvement would come.
The gap stung.
It was not jealousy, not exactly.
It was unwillingness.
She did not want to stand still and watch his back vanish into the clouds. She wanted to walk beside him. To argue with him. To fight beside him. To be close enough that when she swung her sword, he would have to take it seriously.
But tonight, the world had shown her a brutal truth.
If she wanted to stand beside Gin Tsumugi, she still had far too far to climb.
Nearby, Furukawa Oishi slowly steadied his breathing.
The Minato Ward official had seen enough.
"With White Fox Gin Tsumugi at its center, the Myriad Law Supernatural Department will not collapse in the coming disaster."
His gaze remained fixed on the young Onmyoji in the sky.
"It may be time to make a decision."
A new order was forming in Onmyōdō.
Anyone with eyes could see it.
The old pillars were damaged. The Onmyo Agency, the Onmyo Alliance, and the Onmyō Academy still retained prestige, but their bodies were covered in cracks. The supernatural recovery was accelerating too quickly, and those ancient institutions could no longer hold Japan together with one hand.
New powers would rise.
New banners would be raised.
And after tonight, there was no doubt that the Myriad Law Supernatural Department was one of those banners.
The High Priestess of Ise Grand Shrine, Ouchiyama Megumi, watched Gin from below with a deepening frown.
She was not focused on his victory alone.
She was focused on him.
His face. His posture. The way his hands moved when forming seals. The rhythm of his spellcasting. The strange sense of familiarity that had brushed against her old memories from the moment she first met him.
Where had she seen it before?
Where?
Her cloudy eyes narrowed.
Her age had taken its toll. Some memories had become like old scrolls sealed in dust, their letters faded by time. But the feeling would not leave her.
She had seen him before.
Or rather, she had seen someone like him.
Someone terribly similar.
At the edge of the plaza, Imai Takumi's expression was difficult to read.
The girls beside him were not nearly so composed.
They stared at Gin with dazed, feverish eyes.
The man in the sky was mysterious, powerful, noble in bearing, and beautiful enough to seem unreal. He had just defeated a Great Yokai before their eyes. To ordinary women already shaken by fear and spectacle, such a figure was close to poison.
Even knowing it was poison, they would have swallowed it gladly.
If they were asked to choose now, many of them would abandon Shinomiya Ōkō without hesitation and chase after that white-clad figure in the sky.
At the same time, across Japan, the Onmyoji observing through secret techniques reached the same conclusion.
From tonight onward, the pinnacle of Onmyōdō had gained a new seat.
White Fox Gin Tsumugi.
Director of the Myriad Law Supernatural Department.
The [White Fox] of the [Twelve Divine Generals].
The authority who now controlled Shibuya Ward's Onmyōdō forces.
His prestige had risen violently in a single night.
Perhaps he was still slightly behind people like Tsuchimikado Arima and Miyaji Hanao, the monsters among National Level Onmyoji who had stood at the summit for years.
But the gap was no longer large.
He had entered their tier.
And he was only twenty.
Inside the Imperial Palace, Tamamo-no-Mae elegantly lifted a cup of green tea.
"A fine performance has ended."
Her voice was soft, almost amused.
"His strength has recovered a little more. Faster than expected. Much faster than in his previous life."
The golden-haired fox's eyes were deep.
Not long ago, Gin's strength had posed no real threat to her. At best, he had been a promising reincarnation with terrifying potential and several inconvenient cards.
But in less than half a month, he had already reached the point where he could single-handedly eliminate a Great Yokai.
A newly advanced Slaughter Ghost did not amount to much in her eyes.
But a Great Yokai was still a Great Yokai.
That fact could not be erased.
"Your Highness," Kiyohime asked softly from a branch nearby, "shall we continue watching? Or should we...?"
"There is no need for us to interfere too much." Tamamo-no-Mae set down her tea. "Kiyohime, make a trip to Saiō-no-Miya for me. Some of our allies should know what happened tonight."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Kiyohime lowered her head obediently.
Tamamo-no-Mae prepared to withdraw her secret technique and return the body to Haruka Shizumiya, but just before doing so, her gaze shifted.
Something else was happening at Shinomiya Manor.
A slow, enchanting smile curved her lips.
"It seems tonight's entertainment is not over yet."
She was not the only one who noticed.
The Onmyoji still watching the aftermath through secret arts also sensed the change.
"What is that man doing?"
"Bastard. Is he planning to betray Onmyōdō? White Fox has just finished a battle against a Great Yokai. His condition can't be good."
"I remember him. He was originally from the Onmyo Alliance."
"Yes. Imai Takumi. Expelled for moral misconduct, if I recall correctly. Later recruited by Shinomiya Ōkō."
"Shinomiya Kaguya, Shinomiya Ōkō... so this is an internal struggle within the Shinomiya Conglomerate?"
"That is irrelevant right now. White Fox Gin Tsumugi is in danger. We cannot sit and watch a top-tier combatant of Onmyōdō fall here."
"All combat forces near Minato Ward, move immediately."
"Understood."
In an instant, the high-level combat power of Tokyo's Onmyōdō began to move.
Before tonight, Gin Tsumugi challenging a Great Yokai alone had been his own gamble. If he had died, many would have called it arrogance, reckless ambition, or youthful overconfidence. A National Level Onmyoji was valuable, but not valuable enough for others to risk throwing themselves in front of a Great Yokai.
But now the situation was different.
Gin had proven he could kill a Great Yokai on his own.
That made him an irreplaceable top-tier force for humanity.
He could not be allowed to die in some filthy backroom scheme.
A few minutes earlier, inside Shinomiya Manor, Gin remained suspended in the sky.
He showed no intention of landing.
At first, Yomi and the others were puzzled. Then his voice dropped from above, cold enough to cut through the lingering tension.
"You and your young master prepared this much. Are you not going to let me see your methods?"
The plaza froze.
Who?
Furukawa Oishi and the other Onmyoji immediately tensed.
From Gin's words, someone in the manor had been plotting something in the dark.
Shinomiya Kaguya reacted first.
Her gaze snapped toward Imai Takumi.
The warning Gin had given her the day before was still clear in her mind.
Her elder brother, Shinomiya Ōkō, had already tried to interfere once. He had sent Imai Takumi to intercept Gin in Minato Ward and persuade him to refuse the commission.
Now, Imai Takumi was here.
And he had brought those women with him.
"Mr. Gin," Imai Takumi said bitterly, stepping forward, "since you have already seen through it, why push this further?"
If Gin had failed to kill the Slaughter Ghost, Imai Takumi would have carried out the plan without hesitation.
But Gin had succeeded.
That changed everything.
A man who could only temporarily hold back a Great Yokai and a man who could purify one alone had completely different weight. Acting against the latter meant risking becoming a traitor to the entire Onmyōdō community.
Imai Takumi had already decided to abandon the plan.
A year of preparation, discarded in a single breath.
But Gin was not giving him the right to retreat.
He had dragged the scheme into the open and placed Imai Takumi directly over the fire. If Imai Takumi stopped now, he would still be exposed. If he continued, he might die.
There was no clean path left.
Imai Takumi did not understand.
If White Fox Gin Tsumugi already knew, why force the matter to continue?
Could he truly handle what came next?
This was not something that could be solved by fighting one more Great Yokai.
But the arrow had already been loosed.
Imai Takumi's face hardened.
He formed a series of seals with both hands.
A heartbeat later, screams broke out.
"It hurts!"
"What is this?"
"Why is there something on my shoulder?"
"It's a curse! It's a curse!"
"No... this is the same mark as Miss Kaguya's!"
The young women beside Imai Takumi collapsed one after another, clutching their shoulders in pain.
On their fair skin, demon-head brands emerged.
They were identical to the mark that had once been carved onto Shinomiya Kaguya's arm.
The brands writhed like living things.
Their mouths opened.
Their fangs stretched.
The marks glowed brighter and brighter, releasing ominous auras that rose into the air like signal fires calling to something far away.
Isayama Yomi's eyes widened.
"These girls... they're all altars marked by Shuten-dōji?"
Tsuchimiya Kagura's face paled.
Ouchiyama Megumi's expression darkened.
Furukawa Oishi and the other Onmyoji felt their hearts sink.
They had not sensed it earlier because Imai Takumi had concealed the marks. But now that the brands had erupted simultaneously, the intention was obvious.
He was using multiple sacrifices to lure more Great Yokai down.
Worse, there was a chance Shuten-dōji himself might be drawn here.
"Shinomiya Ōkō..."
Kaguya's voice trembled with fury.
"How cruel can you be?"
This was no longer a simple attempt to sabotage her.
He was trying to use a supernatural incident to erase her completely.
Did Shinomiya Ōkō truly not fear the consequences? If this spiraled out of control, the Shinomiya family's internal punishment would be the least of his worries. Onmyōdō itself would move.
And when Onmyōdō moved, no conglomerate heir could hide behind money forever.
.....
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