Tokyo Ravens - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.6

Part 6 
Harutora sprinted quickly through the nighttime Shibuya street. Then, he inadvertently stopped his feet, raising his head to look up. A red flame suddenly burned in the night sky. 
"Has it started......?" Harutora muttered breathlessly. 
He was currently entering Shibuya's Aoyama street, heading north on the road. He had thought of getting a taxi, but unfortunately there weren't any around currently. There weren't any pedestrians either, so it seemed that traffic control might have been implemented on this road. 
Aoyama street belonged to the nearby main streets, and tall buildings towered along the road. Because of this, even if he could see the tint of red in the night, he couldn't see what exactly was happening underneath because the buildings blocked it. He was anxious, but he could do nothing other than desperately rush forward without stopping. But his physical strength had long since approached its limits since he had sprinted continuously. 
"H-H-Harutora-sama! I fear to transgress, but perhaps I should carry Harutora-sama--!" 
"N, No......! I'll need your help in a while, since the enemy can fly after all...... Conserve your strength for now!" Harutora panted, ripping the healing charm stuck to his chest off after refusing his shikigami's proposal and switching it for a new charm. 
Thinking carefully, he noticed that after that summer day last year, he hadn't run a great distance with all of his strength since he had sprinted through the typhoon towards Natsume - towards the main family residence when the Armored Juggernaut had killed Hokuto. Compared to that time, it shouldn't be a problem to continue running. 
No, he had to run. The Harutora from back then had charged forward without thinking to escape Hokuto's death, but the him right now was sprinting to help Natsume - to guard her from her side. 
Right now was more of a time when he had to run with all his strength. 
"......Hah......Alright, I'm fine! Let's go!" 
Harutora shouted out, gritting his teeth and beginning to dash forward with all his might again. Because she couldn't overcome her stubborn master, Kon hmphed and floated in midair, following right behind the sprinting Harutora. 
Not long after...... "...! Kon! Can you hear that sound?" 
"Y, Yes, it is the cry of a Nue, and...... I can feel a slight miasma!" 
Just as they shouted at each other to confirm, a crossroad showed up in front of them. It was the Aoyama marked crossroad, with the billboard proclaiming the 'Meiji Shrine Outer Garden' visible on the side. Harutora called out excitedly, and then charged ahead at full speed. 
Once he ran to the crossroad, the tall buildings momentarily blocked his vision, and he suddenly lost his line of sight. Stands of trees grew on either side of the road, and red flame was in the distant night sky. He could even 'see' a giant magical wall about as large as the Tokyo Dome. 
A barrier. Magical energy with the feeling of fire was raging inside the barrier, and also inside it was-- 
"......Wh, What the hell is that?" 
That thing momentarily flashed before his eyes and then was immediately concealed behind the trees, no longer visible. 
But, in just that moment, he was able to see the behemoth that destroyed the sense of distance. Harutora couldn't help but stop, bending his body and putting his hands on his knees. 
"I, I didn't see wrong, right? That's a monster......" 
He spoke breathlessly. It was simply a bad joke or even a nightmare. They had to mobilize tanks or fighters to be able to deal with it. Was Natsume truly battling with that kind of monster? 
Just then, Kon who was hovering over Harutora's head checking the battlefield situation reported: "H, H-H-Harutora-sama! There's another Nue - I, It has escaped outside the barrier!" 
Upon hearing the shikigami's report, Harutora quickly stood up. 
He straightened his body, trying to see the situation, but unfortunately the trees blocked his vision. Since the barrier and the Nue were so gigantic, he couldn't even get a sense of the distance, and he couldn't distinguish how far the distance actually was to the spiritual disaster area. 
In any case, he could only take a closer look. "Damn it!" Harutora ran again. 
He ran to the crossroad and took the left road. It was a straight road through the center of the shrine's outer garden. 
Over there was the famous Ginkgo Tunnel, a road with rows of ginkgo trees trimmed into conical shapes planted on either side and neatly arranged along the road. Though their leaves had just fallen in this period of time, the artistic scene still moved one's heart. 
Originally, the unique outer facade of the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery could be seen at the other end of the straight Ginkgo tunnel, but right now he could only see a crimson flame burning on an altar on the other end of the orderly rows of ginkgo trees. The giant Nue was thrashing madly in the flame, a really unrealistic scene. 
It was as if he had one foot on the road to the underworld and got a glimpse of the burning hell. Harutora couldn't help but gasp, and Kon also cried out, her body shaking, eyes wide, and mouth agape. 
He actually really wanted to ignore this, turn straight to the right and go back the way he came, but he couldn't do that. There was hardship waiting for him in that hell. 
"......I'm going now." Harutora made his decision, murmuring several words and dashing with all his strength in the dead center of the Ginkgo Tunnel's road. Kon flew behind him with a similarly tense expression. He had decided to think later about how exactly he could help, as in any case, right now he had to get to Natsume's side. He didn't want to repeat the mistake from last year of letting Natsume and the Yakou fanatics cross paths. 
However, Harutora's master didn't wait for her shikigami. 
A Nue's cry suddenly sounded in the night sky above him, and immediately after came a roar. 
It was a dragon's roar. 
"Hokuto?" 
Harutora looked up at the night sky, noticing that behind the ginkgo trees to his left was a giant Nue floating in midair along with a dragon battling with it. 
The sound of an oncoming motorcycle's exhaust came between the roars of the spiritual disaster and the shikigami. 
He hastily turned around to look forward, noticing that a motorcycle was rushing straight at him through the Ginkgo Tunnel. The exorcist who had hurriedly rushed off after the Nue from the evening escaped, the Divine General Kogure Zenjirou, was riding it. But, he wasn't the only one on the motorcycle, behind him was also a person with flowing black hair-- 
"Natsume?" 
His doubt was immediately answered. 
"Harutora!" 

After Kogure and Natsume got on the motorcycle, they circled around the round fountain, leaving the field and speeding onto the road. They turned right, going along the outer edge of the ball field, with the Ginkgo Tunnel on their left. 

Kogure looked up at '02' which was trying to fly away from the field. 
"It's better to block it rather than wait for us to catch up. Dasai! Kokuryuu! Reisen! Hou'oubiden!" 
He summoned his shikigami in a strong voice. No, actually they had long since been summoned. The motorcycle engine suddenly rumbled, and four clumps of aura spilled forth from the motorcycle Natsume and Kogure were riding, materializing. Four figures that she had seen that evening emerged - four crow tengu. 
Natsume couldn't help but exclaim: "A mechanical-type? No, but, just now, that......?" 
A mechanical-type referred to a shikigami whose vessel was directly a physical body. For example, Alpha and Omega of the Onmyou Academy that used two Komainu as vessels, and the Armored Juggernaut that Suzuka manipulated all belonged to this type. Kogure's motorcycle could act on its own as if it had a life, perhaps because this motorcycle itself was a shikigami. After the crow tengu left one by one, the motorcycle seemed to become heavier than before. 
Normally, a mechanical-type shikigami was one with its vessel, but Kogure's crow tengu could stay in their vessel and could also materialize separately, which were unprecedented specimens. 
After the shikigami left, Kogure rode the motorcycle, hastily explaining to the dumbstruck Natsume: "They aren't quite the same as ordinary shikigami." Then, he looked up at the crow tengu flying above his head. "Stop the Nue's movement! Don't let it escape outside the outer garden, quickly!" 
After receiving Kogure's orders, the four crow tengu cawed loudly, flying towards the Nue. 
Compared with the Nue's gigantic body, the crow tengus' small bodies were like peas. However, they carried a strong aura in their body that couldn't be judged from their external appearance. After all, they were the shikigami of an Independent Exorcist, and a normal shikigami couldn't be compared with them. 
Natsume stared at the four crow tengu flying at '02'. The shikigami’s flying speed seemed far superior to the Nue's, and they caught up to it in a flash, surrounding it on four sides. 
'02' roared threateningly, lashing out its long tail. The tengu keenly avoided the attack and wheeled around the Nue from four sides. They didn't attack recklessly, but strictly followed their master's instructions, stopping the Nue's continued escape. 
Not long after, the Nue began descending towards the ground. It seemed to be different from '01' which had two wings, and wasn't very good at staying in the sky. Its body was frighteningly agile, able to move while ignoring weight. Though it wasn't 'flight', and could only be called 'jumping', the Nue still leaped through the air. 
'02' descended to the place where it had just been - the Jingu Stadium. "Alright." Kogure spoke, seeming like he had everything under control. The motorcycle had already been driving towards the stadium, and the back entrance drew up ahead of them. 
"We'll charge in and purify it inside the field!" As he said this, Kogure's motorcycle rushed into the field from the road. 
But-- "Ah, those idiots!" Kogure slanted the motorcycle, hastily stopping it. He had seen the Nue break through the crow tengus' surround, leaping up again. 
"What the hell are you all doing?" 
"Ga! It tricked us!" 
"Zenjirou! It's very smart, it saw through your plan!" 
It seemed to have faked escaping into Jingu Stadium, then immediately leaped up. Getting the Nue into the field could minimize the damage, and the Nue had long since expected that move. 
"Less chatter, hurry up and chase it! Next is - the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium [60] , and after that is Aoyama, we definitely have to deal with it there!" Kogure roared angrily, his face flushed from anger. 
The crow tengu chased the Nue again and Kogure adjusted the motorcycle, turning a big curve and returning to the road they had come from. 
Natsume chewed her lower lip. Then-- "Hokuto, don't let the Nue escape!" She summoned Hokuto who she had dematerialized earlier. 
Kogure was taken aback, unable to help but turn around. 
"I'll help too!" 
"......Alright, we'll keep up." 
The motorcycle sped over the asphalt road. Above her head could be seen the materialized Hokuto grudgingly accepting Natsume's order, flying through the night sky towards the Nue. With the dragon come to assist, the crow tengu happily went at full speed. 

After '02' noticed the dragon, it immediately turned around and roared. Hokuto roared back when it noticed, crushing the Nue's roar head-on. Hokuto and the Nue fought in midair, descending towards the rugby stadium. 
"......Alright." 
Kogure stared intently at the midair battle, his motorcycle speeding towards the fountain again. This time it turned right, entering the Ginkgo Tunnel. 
They advanced straight ahead. Kogure pressed on the gas, accelerating the speed in a flash. 
Just then-- 
"Natsume?" 
She even thought she had misheard. Natsume suddenly raised her head from behind Kogure, leaning her body forward slightly. 
The wind beat her face and her black hair danced messily behind her, the wind pressure forcing her to narrow her eyes as she did her best to see ahead clearly. She doubted her own eyes, but a smile inadvertently emerged on her lips. 
Kogure seemed to notice the figure ahead - Harutora. He murmured "Harutora?", and just as he planned on questioning Natsume, "...!" he suddenly braked. The motorcycle made a piercing sound of friction, leaving tracks on the surface of the asphalt road. Natsume who had leaned forward almost tumbled onto the ground, and hastily grabbed tightly onto Kogure's shoulders. 
Kogure held tightly onto the motorcycle's handlebars with both hands - "Order!" The charm that had long since been enchanted with magic flew by itself out from the charm box on his waist beneath his jacket. It was a protective charm. The protective charm released light as it flew out, erecting a wall using magical energy - a charm flew over, hitting the defensive wall. 
The charm that flew over had itself been enchanted with stealth magic, and after the first charm that flew by was blocked, a succession of charms continuously attacked. 
The charms hit the protective charm's defensive wall one by one, attacking Kogure with abnormal precision. The defensive wall formed by the protective charm soon showed signs of faltering, but just before a charm managed to break through the defensive wall, Kogure released his hands from the stopped motorcycle. 
He drew out the katana on from his waist with the speed of lightning. "Scatter!" With the flash of a sword, he cut down all of the charms together with his own defensive wall. The aura his slash gave off and the violent magical energy released from the blade even frightened Natsume who was behind Kogure's back so much that she trembled. 
Kogure cast out a sharp gaze with the katana drawn, staring at the place the charms had flown from. There was a man standing there, on the pedestrian road of the Ginkgo Tunnel. 
The man had his long hair tied behind his head, his chin covered by a beard. He wore a military coat, jeans, and boots, and seemed a bit slovenly, but his features looked stern and dignified, and the expression he looked at Kogure with even held a kind of scholarly, intellectual temperament. 
"......Mutobe?" Kogure checked. 
The man didn't say a word. Behind him - from the direction of the rugby stadium - came the Nue's roar in place of a reply. 
The giant Nue leaped into the night sky from the spectator seats above the rugby stadium, seeming like it only wanted to escape with no intention of fighting. Hokuto and the crow tengu chased after it, so the Nue used its own giant body as a weapon, forcing back the pursuing shikigami, and escaping the shrine outer garden. 
All Natsume could do was breathlessly watch the Nue escape the hunting ground.