Chapter 11 — The Sorcerer And The Shrine Custodian (4)

Steady. The possibility that the enemy was ready for pursuit was already factored in. Even if every last one of them surfaces at once, with Leon and Flame-tail here we won’t be brought down on the spot.

By whatever method, the yokai of the entire vicinity were converging into one great press.
The sorcerer who had cast the working lay buried somewhere in that mass, impossible to pick out, but that posed no immediate threat.
Each time Leon spun his body as though dancing, both hands transformed into blades, the yokai sprayed fountains of blood as they were sliced away.

And from the blood the things shed, fresh blades took shape and scattered outward to draw still more enemy blood, and from that, more blades again, on and on.
Few could match Leon for sheer mass slaughter, and that was no exaggeration.

The low spirits won’t pose any difficulty. So the thing I must do now is… rejoin the rest, of course.

Above all, being cut off from Geum Moa, who had been shadowing the party at the rear, was a fatal concern.
Separated from Shin Hweein, she suffered severe separation anxiety, apt to mistake a trifling situation for a crisis and unleash her power.

If only to preserve the Three-Year Pact, he had to open the gate at once and warn her. The situation is not so grave. Do not even think of using your strength.

I’ll have to use the Gatekeeper’s Brand. Mercifully Shin Myeongin is unconscious, and from outside no one can know what method I employed. …Even if I am suspected, right now I must use the power.

After confirming that Shin Myeongin, cradled against his chest, was properly out cold, he let his staff fall, drew the Pagoda-Tree God’s talisman from his robes, pressed it to the staff, and whispered.

“Pagoda-Tree God, keep watch over me a little while.”

— I’m right here, aren’t I! You don’t have to ask some staff for help!

“Yes, of course I trust in you as well.”

While burning away the yokai who had slipped past the rampaging Leon to close on him, he soothed the bristling Flame-tail with a few measured words.
It was not yokai that Shin Hweein feared closing in, but humans, though he did not bother to say so aloud.

“All who are impure, all who lack the authority, release your hands from the gate’s handle. By the rightful master’s command, open again.”

One hand outstretched toward the discharging gate, Shin Hweein intoned the words.
For an ordinary Specter Realm gate that alone should have set it right, yet astonishingly the resistance only grew fiercer. The gate’s state did not change.
A sorcerer stronger than Shin Hweein might have ripped through it and forced the gate back to normal.

Even the Gatekeeper’s Brand it refuses? So it seems Hwa’s research into the Specter Realm has borne fruit after all. But this foul stench so near, this unclean energy… there is something wrong with the working itself. A technique that ought to have been buried — have the radicals dug it back up? If not that, then—

But there was no time to pursue the thought further.
His misgivings proved well-founded just then: something was hurtling down from the sky toward them.
Innumerable wooden branches sprang from the staff to form a wall and tried to shield him, yet to his surprise the thing shattered even that and crashed to the ground.

“What a fine haul. To think a direct-line scion of the Eight Pure-Blood Houses would be in our snare!”

The man’s eyes glittered at the sight of Shin Myeongin in Shin Hweein’s arms.
His most striking feature was the silver-grey of metal that tinted his whole body.
Shin Hweein glanced up at the wall the man had shattered, saw that the branches around the impact point had turned ashen grey, and grasped his ability at once.

“Total bodily metallization — and it works on inanimate matter as well.”
“You think living things are any exception? If you don’t want to die a fine bronze statue, hand the woman over quietly.”
“That is beyond a Rank Three’s reach.”
“Ngh…!”

Having coolly pointed out the man’s limits, Shin Hweein sensed yet another presence further off and knit his brow.
That would be the second of the two Rank-Three ability-users, no doubt.

The Rank-Two onmyoji had not yet shown himself, but he too would presumably converge here before long.
The reason was simple: a direct-line scion of the Shin House, Shin Myeongin, was present.

“Little sister, you really are a useless creature.”

Even as he muttered his complaint to his hapless half-sister, he summoned a Fire-blood barrier around her for protection.
He had no confidence he could shield her intact against multiple strong opponents, and so it had come to forcing the matter.

“Leon, leave the low spirits to Flame-tail and deal with this one first!”
“Hm?”

Leon, who had been rampaging gleefully in the press of yokai, looked up at Shin Hweein’s call.
Poking his head out of his master’s shadow, he caught sight of the Rank-Three metal-ability-user closing on them, and his eyes brightened.

“Why, my lord! How did you know my thralls were running thin, to bestow on me so splendid a gift?”
“You’ll have to hand the head over, so give up that part.”
“All you need is the head? Understood, my lord!”

…Could a man be made into a thrall even after his head was struck off?
For an instant Shin Hweein turned toward him with the feeling of having learned something a human ought not to know, but Leon had already launched himself at the metal ability-user.

“A mere shikigami, daring to—!”

Having heard the talk about losing his head right under his nose, the metal man worked himself up properly and met Leon head-on.
A fight with so obvious an outcome did not need watching for long.
Having layered yet another barrier over Shin Myeongin, Shin Hweein leaned her body against the staff.

“I leave my sister to you a little while. She is of the Shin House — see to her.”

The talisman-bound staff swayed back and forth as if in assent.
Rising to his feet, Shin Hweein limped once more toward the gate.
He drew a deep breath, then raised both hands and extended them to the gate.

There must be a reason the brand appeared on the backs of both my hands. If it was for a moment such as this — if it was to stop ruffians who would tamper with the Specter Realm’s gates for their own gain and stir conflict between nations — then the time is now!

In that instant the Gatekeeper’s Brands carved into the backs of Shin Hweein’s hands flared with dazzling light.
The crackling, ill-omened energy of the discharge surged in answer, redoubling itself in resistance, but Shin Hweein, set in his purpose, drew his spiritual power into the backs of his hands and opened his eyes wide.

“I, Shin Hweein, whom the gods of heaven and earth have granted authority to govern the gates of the Specter Realm, do command — open this gate!”

— Crack!

With a chilling, splintering report, the force gripping the gate broke apart.
The moment after, Yun Juna and Mochizuki came pelting through.
Hastily lowering his hands, Shin Hweein turned to them with the face of a man who knew nothing.

“What kept you so long?”
“My apologies — the gate developed a brief malfunction. In the meantime, on this side… ah.”

Low spirits closing in from every direction, an Hwa-guk ability-user with his whole body metalized fighting Leon, and on top of that a powerful presence drawing near.
Yun Juna took in the whole picture, and as if even the time it would take to speak were wasted, she slung the bundle from her back to the ground.

When the cloth was at last drawn back, the thing revealed was a sword, as one might easily have surmised from her activity-name, Ghost-Sword Maiden.
But what a sword: eight ja in length (242 cm) and over one ja in breadth (30 cm), a colossal greatsword.

“I leave Miss Shin Myeongin to you!”
“Ah.”

Cravenly making the declaration and bolting straight off to the front, Yun Juna left only her back for Shin Hweein to address with a single yelped exclamation.
Still, by Ham Seoyeon’s account Yun Juna was a Rank-Two ability-user, so it was better she fight at the front than he.
Grinding his teeth, he stepped back to Shin Myeongin and slung her over his back.
Just then Mochizuki, who, having not crossed the Specter Realm often, had been shaking off a dizzy spell, finally took in the situation and shouted.

“That bastard, the radicals’ Kanasaki…!”
“My thrall will deal with him. Guji Mochizuki — find the onmyoji instead.”
“Ah, right. Of course. Leave it to me!”

Holding the shaku he always carried in hand, Mochizuki began to recite a prayer in a reverent voice.
The picture made for an extreme mismatch with his street-punk look, exactly as Geum Moa had said, yet the gravity of his bearing did, in fact, make one feel he was after all worthy of being a guji entrusted with a shrine.

— I was very worried, young master.
— As you can see, I am unharmed; do not fret. More to the point — how does it look to you?

To Geum Moa’s whispered voice, slipped through the gate among the rest of the party unseen, Shin Hweein answered calmly.
He could already feel that she was thoroughly worked up, and he wanted, if possible, not to provoke her further.

— Completely out of the question. Unless the Onmyo Bureau is some breed of fool, they would not stoop to using this kind of working. It’s the textbook sort of sorcery that piles up evil karma. Even if it’s used lightly now, as the karma accrues it will harm not just the individual but Hwa-guk itself. Which is to say — it’s not as though the Onmyo Bureau is secretly orchestrating this whole affair from behind the scenes…

For Shin Hweein, who had assumed the worst-case scenario might in fact be exactly that, this came as a great relief.

Even so, Geum Moa went on.

— If any of the culprits make it home safely, there could be trouble. You revealed the power you hold as a Gatekeeper, did you not? And on both backs of your hands, no less.
— Will it be a problem? …No — do you know what it means that the brand is carved into both backs of my hands?
— Only somewhat, I’d say. In any case, that being so, you could find yourself internationally exposed, young master. It may be unavoidable for me to reveal my power as well.

A pretty-mannered warning: if you don’t want the Three-Year Pact to end, don’t let the culprits get away.
Given the formidable anger she had built up by now, the sweet tone was only a veneer. She was plainly watching for any chance to cut loose.
Cold sweat beading on his brow, Shin Hweein was deliberating whether he ought to summon Old Aengseol right then and there, when Mochizuki cried out.

“This guy — after going to all the trouble of attacking us, he’s running away?! What the heck? Why isn’t he pressing the assault… injury? Big bro, you didn’t tangle with the onmyoji and wound him before we got here, did you?”
“—Ah, perhaps so.”

While answering instinctively, Shin Hweein was thinking.

This is bad.

Surely, in breaking the working laid on the Specter Realm gate with the Gatekeeper’s Brand, the backlash had wounded the onmyoji no light degree.
And the onmyoji, realizing his own working had been broken, had registered Shin Hweein’s existence as the single most critical fact bar none, and immediately taken to flight.

“Guji — where, then, is he headed?”
“He sensed me and bounced my working right off! He’ll be hard to find on the spot, but listen — if he were so much as in front of my eyes I could just squash him flat, you know?”
“Spare me the bluster!”

At this rate the curtain may well be brought down on us by Geum Moa herself, he thought, and was on the point of casting all hesitation aside and summoning Old Aengseol when something rustled at his back.

“Mmh, Dad…? Urk.”

The moment she opened her eyes and realized Shin Hweein had carried her piggyback, Shin Myeongin’s eyes went perfectly round.
A leisurely explanation of the situation would have been nice, but every second of it was a waste right now.

“The onmyoji is in flight. We must pursue!”
“R-right, got it! Old Aengseol!”

Even in her flustered state Shin Myeongin hastily rummaged in her robes, brought out a precious ornament, hurled it into the air, and called Old Aengseol’s name.

“Out of my way—.”
“Hup!”

Just then Yun Juna had moved to bar the way of the second Rank-Three ability-user who had appeared on the field, and a vigorous battle commenced.
Were those ability-users aware, one wondered, that the onmyoji meant to use them as a sacrificial discard, and if so, were they standing in the way for that reason?
No. Even if they knew, the fact that they were willing to throw their lives away gladly was the very reason they followed so reckless an order.

— Well, this time you’ve offered up a passable enough tribute. But have I not said again and again — without the proper incantation, without asking it of me directly, I shall have to take on additional offerings as my fee… ho-ho-hoh.

Old Aengseol’s voice, grown quite familiar by now, rapped at the ears of the party.
While Shin Myeongin gritted her teeth (That ornament was expensive…!) and made to convey her request, it happened all at once.

A ripple stirred in the air, and from within it emerged a delicately-dressed, beautiful girl.

— I, in descent. If the situation was this entertaining, you ought to have said so beforehand!

“Her real body’s come?!”

Confronting Old Aengseol for the first time, Shin Myeongin opened her eyes wide and marveled.

“Mh, hm. Astonishing.”

— Reading from a textbook, are we?

Shin Hweein, for his part, made a passable show of surprise, but inwardly he was cursing Old Aengseol.
Had he not told her again and again not to betray any sign of being connected with him!

— I see well enough what you seek. He who dares overstep a forbidden domain, he who would tread mud into a sacred covenant with his shod feet, he who would put my master in peril… you hunt a Jap!

“…Master?”
“Another Jap!”
“Even Aeshin yokai run deep in their Hwa-guk hatred — understand and bear with it.”

What was more, with an Hwa-guk man now committing crimes on Aeshin soil and fleeing back, there was nothing to say even if he was called a Jap.

“Don’t tell me I’ve finally awakened?! To call out Old Aengseol’s real body, when not even Big Brother can manage it — what do I do, my standing in the House may go up even more…! Could this be the moment they tell me to take the headship?!”

— Don’t talk nonsense. Just this once.

Mercilessly dispensing reality to the daydreaming Shin Myeongin, Old Aengseol gestured to the party.

— All of you, follow along. I’ll lead you right up to him.

“Hm? But a fair gap has already opened up — how can that even…”

To Mochizuki, who voiced his doubt at Old Aengseol’s words, Shin Hweein replied on her behalf.

“Old Aengseol is a capable yokai. Trust her.”

— Of course I am!

“Not so fast—!”

That was the moment.
Sensing the party was about to slip the field, the metal ability-user gathered himself to spring, aiming at Shin Hweein, or more precisely at Shin Myeongin on his back.

— Sherk

Leon, who all this while had been watching only for an opening, let his eyes glint as he swung his arm.
What reached the party’s eyes was only the face of the ability-user, eyes wide in fury.

“As promised, I’ve given over the head, yes? The rest is mine to take.”

The remainder of the ability-user’s body had already turned to a pool of blood, drawn into Leon’s shadow.
Belatedly recognizing that he was no ordinary yokai, the rest of the party flinched, but Shin Hweein, unfazed, picked up the head.

“I’ll deliver all three of these together once they’re gathered.”
“Then this one as well, if you would.”

Yun Juna’s voice came from across the way.
Immediately afterward something whipped through the air. He caught it, and it was another ability-user’s head.
She had cut him down only moments after engaging.
Dragging the headless corpse along, Yun Juna approached, hefted her greatsword onto her back, and said,

“This body — could you keep it in your storehouse a moment?”
“Y-yes.”

Overawed by her bearing, Shin Myeongin quietly opened her subspace storage, stowed the corpse, and while she was at it drew out the shikigami inside.
Shin Hweein too, on the pretext of tucking the two heads into his robes, opened his own storehouse and slipped them inside before remarking,

“In any case, now we can move ‘all together’ at last.”

Hearing those words, Old Aengseol chuckled and put on a face as if her tongue itched, but Shin Hweein only scowled at her to hurry the guiding along.