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Tokyo Ravens - Volume 7 - Chapter 5.1




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Chapter 5 - Darkness Emerge 
Part 1 
The world he could see was filled with aura. 
Harutora's stunned self was left where it was, while his soul flew to a distant place and slowly spread out. The feeling of gazing down upon his ant-like self was extremely inexplicable. 
He could see many things. Tsuchimikado Harutora's aura, the aura of Tsuchimikado Natsume who leaned against him, and the aura of Kon, who was connected to Harutora. Ato Touji's demonic aura, not too far away. The various kinds of aura that his classmates carried. And the aura and miasma revolving through the room, the flow of magical energy that magic had left behind. 
The savage shikigami in front of him, Shaver. 
Shaver's aura was frighteningly strong. He gave off an overwhelming sense of presence compared to the surrounding aura. Harutora finally understood exactly what kind of enemy he had been fighting against. 
Harutora's vision became even wider. 
It even encompassed Suzuka who had come from the corridor to assist, along with Tenma and Kyouko next to her. The exorcists of the thirteenth team were hastily approaching from the courtyard and there were also other teams across from them. In addition, several mobile spiritual disasters surrounded the exorcists. At some point, Harutora was overlooking the entirety of the branch. Everyone's auras drew out an image like a mandala [25] with Shaver and the spiritual disasters as the center. Harutora was fascinated. 
Then, he suddenly noticed a certain 'movement'. 
It was above. Harutora's attention moved to the sky far above his head. The boundless, vast space, the origin of the vast world that he was aware of. 
Harutora saw them. Several huge 'existences' that were hidden in this vast world. No, they couldn't be expressed with the concepts 'huge'. Because they reached him from distant places, from everywhere, they were 'existences' that transcended 'space'. Even a single one was endless. Harutora knowledge and the knowledge of humankind couldn't understand such means of existence. 
But, he understood that it was an 'existence' and he could feel that it 'moved'. 
Harutora felt that this kind of feeling that he couldn't understand had nothing to do with him. It might be a pure mistake, or a feeling that could be called a near-death experience. Of course, it was also possible that the circumstances were different...... Anyway, Harutora couldn't understand it. 
But-- 
Even if it was only for a moment, Harutora's wings indeed touched the sky...... 


 

Harutora came back to his senses when his face felt a blazing offensive aura. 
...Just now. 
What had happened? 
He didn't understand. But there was a more urgent crisis before him before he started thinking back to it. 
Shaver's face showed a mocking smile as if he were playing with his prey. 
He stopped his body and lifted his blade, about to leap over. 
The current Harutora couldn't block his overwhelming aura no matter how he struggles. At least, that was true if he fought him head-to-head, but...... 
...Now. 
Harutora confirmed the magic of the charms clutched in his hands. He didn't need to check with his eyes, as his spirit-seeing ability didn't rely on his sight to begin with. He felt it using his own aura, choosing the necessary magics and flowing his magical energy into those magics. This time wasn't an ordinary flow like the past. His flowing aura was instantly refined into a 'suitable form', instantly compressing and filling the charm. 
"...Order!" 
The water-element charm in his hand flew out like a beam of light. Rather than a torrential flood, it was more like a water cannon shot at an extraordinarily high pressure. His target was Shaver's left eye. The concentrated attack made Shaver unconsciously show a surprised expression, and he twisted his body to avoid it. 
"Order!" 
But, Harutora threw out a wood-charm again, which slid under the legs of Shaver as he twisted his body. Thin vines, yet tough as metal cord, constricted around Shaver's ankle that supported him as he landed on the ground. Shaver lost his balance, and: 
"Order!" 
A third charm flew out, a fire-element charm, but the charm magic had already been overwritten. The fireball that swelled in front of him compressed, becoming a shining arrow of pale blue light. This was the original fire charm magic that he had learned from Suzuka. 
Moreover, just then, the water bullet produced by the first charm altered its trajectory after it was dodged, hitting Shaver's leg. 
The entwined vines absorbed the water aura of the water bullet, leaving his ankle and extending branches into the air. 
The arrow of light pierced those branches. 
The branches instantly ignited as they were simultaneously absorbed by the arrow of light. The wood-aura that had been strengthened after absorbing the water-aura was reabsorbed by the fire-aura, and the arrow of light gave off a blinding radiance. All of this happened in instants. 
"...Tch!" 
Shaver's blade hacked back and forth, blocking the arrow of light that was stabbing at him. But in that moment, the arrow of light split into countless beams of light, hitting Shaver like lasers. 
"H-Harutora-kun!" 
Natsume raised her head to look at Harutora in surprise from his arms. But Harutora didn't respond, continuing to watch Shaver as he suffered from lag. At the same time, he rapidly rose while carrying Natsume. 
He put his remaining five charms back into his charm box and took off the jacket of his uniform to drape it over Natsume's shoulders. Natsume tightly held onto Harutora's hand. 
This little trick couldn't defeat him, and Shaver's aura actually hadn't weakened at all. 
But, 
...It could work. 
Harutora could currently 'see' everything clearly. 
As if his anxiety before had been an illusion, as if the details of aura and magical energy were in front of him, he seemed to be able to freely manipulate the strength inside his body. He was probably broken for good. The nerves underneath his skin seemed as sensitive as if they were outside his body, and his strength seemed to overflow like blood after his artery had been cut. 
Harutora didn't know what this feeling was. 
But at least he could fight like this. 
He could ferociously beat down that bastard. 
"This is finally worth it!" 
Shaver shouted out and slashed at him. Harutora threw out protective charms. 
Harutora's magical walls were as weak as paper in front of the blade Shaver swung. So, he narrowed and compressed his strength, to become a shield rather than a wall. He continued to shrink it down to about the size of a fist, and then overlapped several along the path of 'Higekiri's blade. Shaver cut apart all of these defenses, but his momentum was greatly reduced. Harutora avoided the enemy's attack while carrying Natsume. 
Shaver, whose slash had been avoided, swung his sword a second time as his face distorted. Harutora avoided it again. He dodged back and forth while carrying Natsume while keeping a close eye on Shaver's movements. 
...Right. 
Shaver and Hokuto were both shikigami. Their movements would become very simple without their master's instructions. 
...I need more detailed 'observation'. 
Harutora searched for Shaver's movements, Shaver's breathing, and Shaver's true nature. He couldn't be confused by his outer appearance. This thing wasn't a human, but rather a shikigami, a spiritual existence that could penetrate and cut apart everything. Its true nature was-- 
...A blade! 
Harutora's eyes widened. The katana in Shaver's hands, 'Higekiri'. Come to think of it, although lag had appeared on his body several times, only Higekiri hadn't suffered from lag. It seemed like Shaver was a spiritual entity, but Higekiri was a physical entity. 
That meant, 
...That's his vessel! 
Shaver was a spiritual entity that materialized using Higekiri as its core. 
Then, what tactics should he use with this katana shikigami as his enemy? 
"Kon!" 
Harutora issued an order to his defensive shikigami. 
Now, he could feel that his connection to Kon was closer than ever before. Harutora infused a large amount of magical energy into his defensive shikigami. The magical energy flooding from her master made Kon's blue eyes widen. Harutora's loyal shikigami perked up her ears and tail, her whole body shaking as she absorbed as much of the magical energy that came as she could. 
"Go!" 
"Yes!" 
Kon released foxfire. 
A heat wave swept through the room. 
The spectacular, raging blue flame assaulted Shaver like a stampede. The shikigami's body was instantly scorched and it wailed loudly. 
Shaver was a blade, and his aura was metal aura. Five Element Mutual Conquering, fire conquers metal. But Shaver swung Higekiri, scattering the foxfire on his body. 
Though fire could beat him, their overall strengths were different. He needed a stronger power to conquer Shaver's aura. 
...Fire aura...... fire aura! I could use my five charms to mutually generate five auras...... No, that wouldn't work. With my charm magic, it won't be powerful enough no matter what. Even with mutual generation, I need a stronger...... stronger...... stronger aura......! 
"That's enough, I'm gonna kill you two!" 
Shaver took the initiative to attack. Harutora had already used up his protective charms and he couldn't dodge. But Harutora noticed a reliable demonic aura rushing towards them. 
"...You're completely open." 
The living spirit put his whole body's strength behind a fist to knock Shaver flying, and Suzuka's charm magic continued pursuing him, hitting the shikigami. Right as his attention moved, Touji struck again. 
Shaver had originally been a tough opponent to face. But since his attention was completely focused towards Harutora and Natsume, he couldn't block Touji and Suzuka's combined attacks. 
Then, 
"Students, evacuate immediately!" 
The exorcists rushed in from the collapsed outer wall. The personnel of the thirteenth team. 
"Use your shikigami to surround the target, and begin purification after the students evacuate!" 
The exorcists' shikigami appeared one after another around Shaver. Most were 'Emperors', but there were several 'Yaksha'. They used their numerical superiority to suppress Shaver's frenzy. 
But Shaver didn't give up at this. His violent slashes cut the exorcists' defensive shikigami to death. As expected, although they had greatly weakened his strength, the exorcists still couldn't control Shaver. 
Harutora gripped Natsume's hand, moving away from Shaver while thinking. 
...Strong fire aura. Strong enough to be on even terms with Shaver...... 
Harutora suddenly stopped moving. 
His eyes widened and sweat dropped from his temple. 
Could he do that kind of thing? It wasn't impossible. The conditions were met and his necessary cards were all here. All that was left was for Harutora to build it up and control it...... 
"...Natsume." 
Harutora grabbed Natsume's shoulders, looking straight at her. Natsume bit her lip hard upon seeing the determination that had emerged on Harutora's face. 
"Lure that guy into the courtyard. I'm going to break that dull blade." 
Shaver's target was Natsume, and he now held animosity towards Harutora - no, it was killing intent. The strategy where the two of them acted as bait should still be effective. When Shaver was lured to the courtyard, then...... he could only leave it up to fate. 

Natsume looked back at Harutora's unmoving eyes. 
Then, 
"Okay." 
She nodded her head. 
Right afterwards, 
"Ah! These guys are all coming to bother me!" 
As Shaver exclaimed, the final 'Emperor' was cut down to the ground. "Let's go." Harutora gripped Natsume's hand, starting to run. 
"Suzuka, move aside for me! Touji, throw me the shakujou!" 
Touji, who had been surrounding Shaver along with the defensive shikigami, turned back to look with a "What?". On the other hand, Suzuka, who was in the corridor, also showed an expression of incomprehension, but still followed Harutora's instructions. She retreated back into the depths of the corridor along with Kyouko and Tenma next to her. Harutora and Natsume rushed out of the practice room, passing through the crumbled outer wall and arriving in the corridor. Kon followed right after the two of them. 
The sun dyed the courtyard in golden colors. 
The spiritual disaster purification teams were still purifying the spiritual disasters. The one-eyed mass of earth, the 'Type-Cyclops', had already been purified, and the ushi-oni that Shaver had crushed had also vanished. The 'Type-Tornado' that had appeared on the roof had almost been purified completely, but the surrounding miasma showed no signs of weakening, and there were still spiritual battles against spiritual disasters that were still in Phase Two, though they hadn't evolved to Phase Three. 
Just then, 
"Trying to run?" 
Shaver charged out of the bureau building, chasing after Harutora and Natsume. 
"Kon!" 
"Yes!" 
He poured magical energy into Kon again and she used foxfire to stop Shaver's pursuit, but the second time was unsuccessful. Shaver slashed horizontally, cutting apart the flame with a fearsome sword pressure. Damn! Just as Harutora clicked his tongue, 
"Onbishibishi karakara shibari sowaka!" 
Natsume unleashed the Unmoving Golden Chains magic the moment Shaver passed through the cut-apart flame. Though her hand seal was a quick product that hadn't been fully completed, Shaver's momentum - even though it was only for a moment - was weakened and he slowed down. 
Behind him, Suzuka and the exorcists hurried over to assist. After Shaver went outside, the exorcists could use magic without fear. Several charms turned into a rain of arrows and attacked Shaver. Shaver swung Higekiri above his head, trying to cut them down, but more than half of the attack still passed through Shaver's defenses and hit the shikigami. 
"Harutora!" 
Touji also rushed out from the bureau building right after Harutora. He clutched the shakujou Harutora had requested in his hands - the front end of the parts that Shaver had already cut it into. 
"Catch!" 
He raised it over his head and threw it out. 
This was the second time today. Harutora reached out his arm - and caught it. 
...In this case, just one more thing......! 
Harutora went over the state of the entire courtyard's aura again. It was there, right by him. He could do it. 
But in that moment, Harutora's consciousness moved away from Shaver. 
"Harutora-sama!" 
When Harutora looked in the direction Kon shouted in, he noticed Shaver's aura violently swelling. 
"AHH!" 
Shaver, immersed in the rain of magic, swung Higekiri around chaotically. His slashes carved open the ground, approaching Harutora. Harutora swiftly pushed Natsume away while he dived in the other direction. Right afterwards, the slash cut through the space between the two of them. 
Harutora swiftly tumbled on the ground and jumped up. But Harutora realized his crisis just as Natsume opened her eyes and rose after being pushed away by Harutora. Shaver instantly leaped over. 
His target was - Natsume. 
...I can't let you do that! 
He had no time to think. Harutora reached his hand into his charm box, throwing out his last five charms one after another without leaving a single one. He checked the charms' magic after throwing them. There were two fire-element and one earth, metal, and wood-element charms. He used one fire-element charm to forcibly replace the earth-element charm, barely making up for the lack of a water-element charm using his own magical energy, and instantly chanted an incantation. 
"God of the east sea, Amei! God of the west sea, Shukuryou! God of the south sea! Kyojou! God of the north sea, Gukyou! Gods of the four seas, fend off a hundred demons and drive back the fierce disaster! Order!" 
This was the Imperial-style magic that Harutora had failed at once, one originally used to fend off the Hyakki Yagyou. Though it was a magic that stopped spiritual disasters from drawing near, it constructed a defensive wall aimed at the 'hostility' of spiritual entities, also known as a barrier, so it couldn't possibly have no effect against Shaver who was a spiritual entity. 
The five charms spread into a pentagram in midair. Though the magic had started, the process was basically a rush job. Before the magic was completed, most of the magical energy ran amok and vanished. 
But. Captain Eto had taught Harutora something. Barriers didn't have to be used in a fixed place. Harutora continued infusing all the magical energy in his body into the pentagram, and when the magic was still a repulsive barrier, he gave up his control of the magic and let it naturally run amok with Shaver as its target. 
The light of the pentagram became a spear instead of a shield to attack the airborne Shaver. After it crashed violently into the shikigami, it knocked him outwards. Shaver roared, flying over Natsume's head and falling to the ground. In that period of time, Natsume also rose. 
But Natsume didn't look at Shaver behind her back after rising. Instead, she stared at Harutora. No, it wasn't just her, even Shaver had forgotten his anger and looked over. 
Natsume's face went pale. 
"Harutora-kun! Behind you!" 
A stench instantly rose around Harutora. 
A giant insectile monster covered with rotting moss, vines, and weeds, a 'Type-Worm'. One of the spiritual disasters that had chased Harutora and the others before Shaver appeared, the nozuchi, had escaped the exorcists' purification and still lived. 
The nozuchi approached Harutora from behind, opening its giant mouth to swallow Harutora. Natsume let out a splitting scream, but Shaver relaxed, laughing scornfully instead. 
But Harutora had long since noticed the nozuchi's approach. 
His last card. 
"...Kon, come!" 
Harutora fearlessly raised his head to look at the Phase Three about to completely engulf him and spread his arms. Kon, receiving his summons, rushed into her master's arms like an arrow from a bow. 
In the next moment, the spiritual disaster swallowed Harutora's body. 
Then, the nozuchi who had swallowed Harutora burned in a blue flame all over its body. 
The flame instantly incinerated the spiritual disaster and its intensity grew at an accelerating pace, becoming a giant pillar of flame. The heated air swirled into an eddy, sweeping through the courtyard. The surrounding miasma was blown away, becoming filled with flame instead - with the fire aura released by the pillar of flame. 
Fire aura. 
"Haah--!" 
Harutora's shout resounded through the entire area from the pillar of flame. 
Harutora's figure emerged from the center of the flame. His right hand grasped the shakujou and his left hand held Kon as she leaned against his body. Kon's eyes were wide as her master carried her and she constantly unleashed foxfire. 
The magic that Ohtomo had placed on the shakujou was still complete after it had been cut in two. Harutora borrowed the shakujou's strength to put up a magical wall, blocking the violent flame. At the same time, he infused magical energy to his shikigami, using the foxfire to roast the nozuchi from within. 
The nozuchi was a spiritual disaster formed of wood aura. 
He let the wood aura generate and become fire aura. He used Five Element Mutual Generation on the phase three, and thus the blue pillar of flame that was born was a strong magical energy that no one could have imagined. 
Harutora's gaze focused on Shaver. Shaver looked back at Harutora within the flames with a dull expression. His expression slowly warped and he slowly revealed joy. 'Strength' that surpassed his expectations clearly fascinated him, and his eyes lit up. 
He could only leave it up to fate now. 
But he hadn't calculated the fire aura to be this strong. He had originally planned on controlling it using the shakujou's strength, but Harutora couldn't do it on his own. Moreover, Harutora didn't know any magic to control fire aura other than by using fire-element charms. If this went on, the giant flame he had created would dissipate. In addition, it might even go out of control. 
...What should I do? 
Harutora continued holding onto his barrier, feeding the force of the flame through Kon, and simultaneously pondering with his heart and soul. 
...Control fire aura...... Fire charms......? 
He dug through his memories, searching for one clue after another. The magic he had seen until now and the incantations he had heard. He desperately recalled with all his power. 
He had it. 
How ironic. No, this was an obvious result. 
Wasn't this what that shikigami's master, that man, was good at? 
"Noumaku saraba tatagyateibyaku saraba bokkeibyaku sarabata tarata senda makarosyada ken gyakigyaki saraba biginnan untarata kanman!" 
Vajrapani's [26] most fundamental dharani [27] . 
Acala's Fire Realm magic. 
Obtaining the magic's strength, Harutora felt himself link with the flame, becoming one with the fire aura as if he had also become a flame. The pillar of flame contracted in the blink of an eye. 
...I've made you wait. 
"Fire conquers metal! Order!" 
Focusing the contracted fire aura, he threw the shakujou out in place of a charm. The Fire Realm magic that had been generated using a Phase Three as food ignited with the shakujou as a core, drawing straight towards Shaver in a raging wave. Shaver smiled, swinging Higekiri and slashing at the shakujou with a loud shout. 
The aura and magical energy exploded. 
The shockwave instantly blew away Natsume, Harutora, and Kon, sweeping the courtyard clear and shaking the bureau building after colliding with the outer wall. 
A few spectacular seconds. 
The air seethed as dust filled it. Harutora rose, enduring his pain. 
He was completely 'empty'. This was the first time he had exhausted his aura to this degree. His body felt like he had to use all his power just to breathe. Harutora surveyed the surroundings. 
Natsume, collapsed prone on the ground, moaned and moved. Kon also tried to turn around to look but only lightly moved her tail. The two of them were safe and sound. 
And, Shaver...... had vanished. 
No. 
There was a katana stuck in the ground, Higekiri. Aura still lingered in the blade. But Shaver himself had vanished. He had probably been unable to maintain his materialization after taking huge damage, just like Hokuto. 
Harutora kneeled on the ground, his energy spent, looked up to the sky and closed his eyes with a long sigh. 
Though the nozuchi just now hadn't been purified yet, it had already been weakened a lot by the spiritual disaster purification teams. Shaver had suffered a serious injury because of Hokuto's fangs, and had been immersed in Suzuka, Touji, and the thirteenth team's focused magic barrage after he lost his awareness, constantly accumulating injury. Natsume and Kon had also helped Harutora with all their strength. This wasn't an outcome that he had brought with his own strength. It had only happened because of the aid of the people around him and because of constantly overlapping lucky breaks. 
Even so-- 
"......We did it......!" 
Harutora, kneeling on the ground and facing the sky with his eyes tightly closed, let out a laugh filled with energy. 
This was Harutora's moment of victory. 
Afterwards-- 



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