Chapter 4 - Onmyouji at the Mountain
Part 1
It was the worst occasion to slip up. Natsume gritted her teeth, glaring at the suit-wearing young man - Yamashiro.
She had gone to such lengths to slip into the monastery concealing her identity, but her true self had been noticed by a National First-Class Onmyouji Mystical Investigator. That kind of thing was stupid as well as having the worst possible timing.
Yamashiro had surreptitiously drawn closer to Natsume. In other words, she was being watched to some degree. Natsume had avoided contact with the Divine Generals, and she originally thought she had concealed her aura quite well, but that had been too naive.
Though Natsume was angered at her inability, she immediately composed her feelings and focused on the situation before her. Fortunately, Harutora would appear at the dark temple today. She just needed to buy time until he appeared, and she had the magical tools that she needed for that.
......Right. Even if the opponent was a Divine General. She could only take a shot. Natsume instantly adjusted her mind to an alert state, letting magical energy swell up from her entire body.
"......Hmph." Yamashiro snorted upon 'seeing' Natsume's state.
But on the other hand, Natsume couldn't ignore Akino whom she was sheltering behind her. Akino was tense, her body stiff. There was no helping that.
Though the 'disciples' of Seishuku Temple constantly underwent magical training, Natsume knew after being with Akino the whole day yesterday that she hadn't received training as a practitioner.
She couldn't involve her in this, and she had to consider the possibility that she would be captured to be used as a hostage. If possible, she wanted to change the location of the battle, but it was unknown whether she would have such an opportunity.
Then, there was one more thing to remember--
"......That Tengu probably isn't your shikigami."
Yamashiro slowly turned his gaze towards the tengu shikigami. Of course, Yamashiro had recognized the existence of this Tengu beforehand, and he had been able to conclude that the shikigami probably wasn't Natsume's.
"Could it be that brat's shikigami? She's quite a 'strange' kid, that's for sure."
Now that he mentioned it, Akino's rabbit ears were out. Akino went stiff, frightened by Yamashiro's tone.
Natsume immediately said, "...Tengu? Can I entrust Akino's safety to you?"
"H-Hokuto?"
Akino had said that the tengu shikigami obeyed the orders of people in the temple. Natsume had just entered them monastery, but this shikigami seemed quite familiar to Akino who had grown up in the monastery.
As expected, Tengu slowly nodded to express acquiescence. She was extremely grateful. But she couldn't just drop her guard like this. Tengu's strength was still unknown, and she wasn't sure how much she could entrust it with. Moreover,
"You're also quite strange, Tsuchimikado Natsume." Yamashiro said this to the intently-staring Natsume. Moreover, he used a leisurely, chatting tone. Natsume's expression became sharpened at Yamashiro's words.
"You stayed at the Onmyou Academy until last year, and you were together with Tsuchimikado Harutora in the forty-seventh class of students if I remember correctly. In other words, you guys are my kouhai. Actually, I was also a student of the Onmyou Academy, of the forty-fifth class."
Natsume fought back from letting her eyes twitch. A difference of two years, or in other words, this man had already been a third-year when Natsume had entered the academy. Though there was very little contact between first-years and upperclassmen, she ought to have heard something like rumors about someone with the level of ability to gain 'First-Class Onmyou' qualifications.
Probably anticipating Natsume's suspicions, Yamashiro spoke.
"Originally, I no longer had anything to learn after my second year at the Onmyou Academy, but if I knew that someone from the Tsuchimikado family - or that Tsuchimikado Yakou's reincarnation was entering the academy - it wouldn't have been bad to stay for another year. How regrettable."
"............"
That meant that he had left by the time Natsume and the others entered.
The Onmyou Academy graduates mostly entered the Onmyou Agency for work, and it wasn't strange for the Mystical Investigators to have academy graduates.
"How unexpected for fellow academy members to meet in this kind of 'filthy' monastery. How ironic."
A look of 'irony' also appeared on Yamashiro's face as he said this. It was indeed 'ironic', but Natsume didn't have the leisure for jokes like that. The opponent was a professional at human-targeted magic along with a Divine General. Natsume knew quite well exactly how strong their powers were.
"But why are you here? I was guessing that you were definitely acting together with Tsuchimikado Harutora. Did you come beforehand to do scouting work?"
"............"
"Well, whatever. We don't have that kind of time either."
Yamashiro said this to the completely-silent Natsume, also losing his interest in further pursuing the subject. Yamashiro had a clear confidence on his face since he started thinking, and Natsume judged that this wasn't 'faked'. It was a good sign that the enemy was careless.
Outside of its relation to Harutora, the fact that he mentioned the Onmyou Academy topic was probably because he was a bit interested in Natsume as an Onmyou Academy kouhai. She was truly grateful that she was being looked down on at this time.
"......H-Hokuto."
Akino called out quietly from behind her back.
Her body was shaking. Natsume's heart was filled with apology towards Akino. She had just been granted the goodwill of her naive, brilliant personality, and in the end she had pulled her into a troublesome situation. But those thoughts also stopped there. She had a duty to send her back safe and sound.
"Akino, leave me and run back to the monastery with the tengu shikigami. It's alright, you should be able to get there in a flash with your speed from before."
"How can I! I-I can't leave Hokuto here alone!"
Just as Akino tried to speak frantically.
"...!? Order!"
At the same time as Natsume instantly put up a defensive wall by throwing out a protective charm, the Unmoving Golden Chains that Yamashiro released hurtled towards her. The magical wall shook intensely because of the magic collision.
...So fast!?
He hadn't needed to speak an incantation, he hadn't formed a hand seal, and he hadn't refined any magical energy. Though the magic was relatively incomplete, the victor would probably be decided if she took one of those to the face.
"Hey, don't make me waste time for no reason."
As Yamashiro spoke with a calm tone, he casually shortened the distance between the two.
Akino's wails sounded from behind her. Natsume changed the position of her arm that maintained the magical wall while refining magical energy. Then, she threw out a second protective charm, but this time she interfered with and rewrote the magic. She connected the magic to the magical wall she had put up before. She purposefully 'disrupted' the magic.
"Deflect! Order!"
The magical wall from before instantly swelled up after absorbing the second protective charm. A projectile magic that attacked with a magical wall. She forced the magical wall to go out of control, and it defended against the Unmoving Golden Chains that constantly shot out while moving in the direction of the attacks.
"......Tch."
Yamashiro clicked his tongue while turning to avoid the magical wall. She let the out-of-control magical wall fly at him directly as a means of attack. It seemed that there wouldn't be enough time to deal with each and every magic she used. Yamashiro 'watched' Natsume with a cold gaze.
Natsume ran to the right in a flash in order to put some distance from Akino, taking advantage of the opening from interrupting the Unmoving Golden Chains. It was because Yamashiro wasn't the kind of opponent that Natsume could deal with while protecting Akino at the same time. The tengu shikigami started approaching Akino as it had promised, as if taking Natsume's place. Akino was currently unable to move because of fear and nervousness, so it was better to have the shikigami move her to a safe place.
Yamashiro called out irritatedly:
"I said, don't make your senpai waste time for no reason, kouhai."
Yamashiro maintained his slightly forward-leaning posture as he said that, pursuing Natsume with agile steps.
He took out two charms from the front pocket of his suit and tossed them out. They were shikigami. Two completely blue catlike shikigami appeared. 'WA2 Cat Bandage', a Witchcraft Corporation binding shikigami that the Mystical Investigators commonly used. The two Cat Bandages leaped from the ground into a dash right after forming. Though they were just ordinary, commercial manmade shikigami, their aura and mobility were definitely on a different level under the control of a Divine General. The two split up to attack Natsume, like hunting lions.
Natsume ran while forming a seal. "Suzaku! Genbu! Byako! Koujin! Nanto! Hokuto! Sandai! Gyokujo! Seiryuu!"
Natsume suddenly stopped and turned her body, forming hand seals at the two shikigami. At the same time, a grid pattern filled with magical energy flashed with white light in front of Natsume. Kuji-kiri. Her black hair floated behind her as if blown by a strong wing. The two pouncing shikigami stopped because they collided with the kuji-kiri. But,
"Flow and bind. Order."
Yamashiro's attack came a split-second after the two shikigami were stopped. He held up a charm with two fingers, hurling the charm while chanting an incantation. It was a water-element charm. The magic became a torrent that rushed along the ground, approaching Natsume.
Though she reflexively wanted to take out a wood-element charm, Natsume immediately anticipated the entirety of the opponent's magic from the enemy's goals and magic. She pulled out a metal-element charm, throwing it as if to scatter the approaching charm magic.
"Metal conquers wood! Order!"
The magical torrent Yamashiro had unleashed was about to crash down on top of Natsume. The instant she thought that, the torrent instantly became a net of vines. The net of vines carrying water-aura was a magic formed on the basis of the Five Elements Mutual Generation concept of 'water generates wood'.
But everything was broken off by the sharp shard of metal that the metal-element charm Natsume threw out turned into. Five Elements Conquering - metal conquers wood. However, the wood aura's might had been empowered because of its generation from the water aura, and Natsume's metal aura couldn't completely neutralize it. The cut vines started growing from their severed ends. The movement of the growing vines rushed towards Natsume as if flying through the air.
...In that case!
"Om bishibishi karakara shibari sowaka!"
Her fingers fluidly jumped from a Dharmacakra seal to a seal of magic binding. Unmoving Golden Chains. This time, the movement of the vines were finally stopped after that magic bound the opponent's magic.
But just then, the two Cat Bandages had already regained their mobility, and Yamashiro's next magic had already been released.
"Solidify and harden, Order!"
Yamashiro crouched down to stick a charm on the ground, an earth-element charm this time. Five Element Mutual Generation, the same as before. In other words, earth generates metal.
After she leaped back, sharp metal shards shot up from the place Natsume's feet had just been, and those earthen teeth constantly reached up as they pursued in the direction Natsume escaped.
The earth aura summoned by the magic became metal aura underground. As expected, it was the same Five Elements Mutual Generation as before. But it was no use even if she saw through the opponent's repeated magic. Right after Natsume avoided the attack from under her feet, the two blue cats immediately closed in on her from the left and right. Even if she could use the same defensive methods to neutralize the magic, she wouldn't be in time to deal with the two shikigami. Moreover, Yamashiro had already casually taken out the next charm.
His continuous, wanton waves of attacks were purely to seal Natsume's actions, and the follow-up attacks were just to back Natsume into a corner, not to deal with her instantly. His tactic was to apply pressure on her bit by bit, in order to keep her alive and not kill her.
...If that's what the opponent intends!
She would win with this. Natsume made her decision and stopped evading. She poured all her focus into her magic, refining magical energy, and forming a basic seal.
"Noumaku saraba tatagyateibyaku saraba bokkeibyaku sarabata tarata senda makarosyada ken gyakigyaki saraba biginnan untarata kanman!"
This was Acala's Fire Realm magic.
The flame that burst from Natsume's body swirled into a vortex centered on the girl. Her black hair lifted above her head, blown against gravity by the heat.
The metal aura's magical energy piercing through the ground dissipated harmlessly after encountering Natsume's flame. Fire conquers metal. The two approaching 'Cat Bandages' were also scorched and forced to retreat from the intense lag. The pillar of fire reaching into the sky began churning up the dim clouds. Yamashiro stopped.
"...Ho." Yamashiro narrowed his eyes and spoke. The cold, mocking smile had finally vanished from his face.
"...Makarosyada ken gyakigyaki saraba biginnan untarata kanman!"
Natsume unleashed her ferocious Fire Realm magic at Yamashiro. At the same time, she cast stealth magic. From the start, she hadn't needed to defeat him. She just needed to escape until Harutora arrived.
Using the Fire Realm magic could also blind the opponent's eyes. As long as she took advantage of this period of time to escape into the mountain forest--
"You already want to escape? You're too naive, thinking you could win with that."
Yamashiro's voice came from the direction of the Fire Realm magic, and Natsume, who was about to run away, turned her head to 'see' Yamashiro without slowing down.
Yamashiro had put up a barrier to defend against the Fire Realm, and destroying it was completely impossible since she had completely released control of the Fire Realm magic. However, the fire realm magic she had poured all her strength into still sustained its power. Yamashiro ought to be unable to release the barrier and attack Natsume from inside the Fire Realm magic. She could escape! Natsume believed this.
Suddenly, something flew like an arrow from overhead. Reflected in Natsume's eyes after she spun towards it was the figure of a blue bird tearing through the clouds.
"A 'Swallow Whip'!?"
She wasn't in time to instantly evade it. When the blue swallow was about to crash into Natsume's chest, its longest feathers became whips that extended out to entangle Natsume's body.
"Ah!?"
Her feet left the ground and immediately afterwards, she felt the impact of falling down throughout her body.
The Swallow Whip was the representative binding shikigami that Mystical Investigators used, on par with the Cat Bandage. Just like its name implied, its feathers became whips that entwined around Natsume's body and bound her. Natsume struggled as if rolling on the ground.
When Natsume managed to struggle to her feet, she felt the Swallow Whip's wings extend and twine around her knees to bind its target. Come to think of it, Swallow Whip wings were set up with a weak Unmoving Golden Chains magic by default, which was low-powered in order to be activated frequently against the target. Once one was bound, it was difficult to escape.
...But, how? When had he used it!?
Natsume ought to have not been careless anywhere. There was no reason she shouldn't have noticed if Yamashiro had summoned a Swallow Whip.
But, "......I had it wait in the air before coming in contact with you. I have the upper hand now, right?"
The power of the Fire Realm magic Natsume had released had started to fade now. Yamashiro deflected it outward with a barrier as if mimicking Natsume's methods, fending off the Fire Realm magic.
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