Part 2
At the same time, the 'Ogre Eater' Kagami had broken into a cold sweat in an alley not far from the location of the bureau building.
"......It looks like it's already done over there."
He spoke to the one he was confronting.
"Yeah."
The man replied.
"Seems that way."
Then, he revealed an arrogant smile.
Needless to say, Kagami had realized long ago that Shaver had gone out of control. He already had a grasp of the general situation. He hadn't thought that the captain of the thirteenth team had that kind of thing hidden - that magical tool. But Shaver's transgressing actions had also been outside his calculations. But, the point that Kagami was the sorest about was that by the time he realized the situation, Shaver had already started going out of control and the spiritual disaster had already begun. He had been too late for everything. At the time, Kagami had clicked his tongue.
There was an element of force majeure [28] in Shaver's action of destroying the magical tool and becoming the spark that incited the spiritual disaster chain reaction. But it was still an undeniable fact that the shikigami had escaped the master's control and gone out of control. In that moment, it was already decided that Kagami would be punished. Needless to say, considering Shaver's actions afterward - the conspicuous impediment he had brought to the spiritual disaster purification - it would definitely be a serious punishment. Naturally, Shaver would also be taken away from Kagami and sealed again after being designated a forbidden magical tool. How truly regretful, given the present situation.
So, when he learned that he was too late, Kagami decided to just let it go. He decided to simply let Shaver do what he wanted to and make a scene. Anyway, Shaver was going to be taken back and his actions would also be limited. Then might as well use this opportunity to perform a 'test'.
The subject was Tsuchimikado Natsume and people surrounding him.
Like Kagami had predicted, the out-of-control Shaver had searched for them on his own. He had originally wanted to confirm first-hand, but it seemed that this had value, considering Shaver's actions of oppositions. Unfortunately, the incident this time was a 'situation completely outside his predictions'. He couldn't anticipate being able to see how the people who held certain intents regarding them would react to this. Even so, he could still weigh what kind of level of skill they had reached.
So, Kagami escaped the scene, ignoring the occurrence of the spiritual disaster, and cast stealth magic on himself, overseeing the battle of Harutora's group.
In the end, they hadn't surpassed or fallen short of his expectations. The scene of the dragon still resisting after being stabbed by Higekiri made him sigh and appreciate that it really was the Tsuchimikado family guardian beast, but as a result it still ended up dematerializing. As for the rest - forgetting the 'Child Prodigy' for now - they certainly showed a stunning power for students, but that was it. At the most, they could be called 'more competent than he had imagined'.
Anyway, this would be meaningless if it went on.
He needed to make Ato Touji fall and become a spiritual disaster as fast as possible and check exactly what kind of thing the oni inside his body was. Moreover, in order to confirm whether Tsuchimikado Natsume was truly Yakou's reincarnation and whether he would 'awaken' like the Yakou fanatics spoke of, he had to force him into a crisis of life and death. Kagami bided his time in order to let his shikigami 'test' those two points.
However, when the dragon dematerialized, Shaver had gone even more out of control.
It seemed that he had been invaded by the quite thick, peculiar miasma. He had already become delirious. Kagami clicked his tongue again, changing back to his already-once-changed original method of surveillance.
He planned on taking back control of the shikigami from the shadows, letting him continue to look out-of-control on the surface while Kagami was actually controlling him. If Kagami had realized that plan, the battle of Harutora's group just now would have ended up in a completely different outcome.
But, Kagami hadn't been able to realize his plans.
That was because Kagami wasn't the only one watching over Harutora's group's battle from the shadows.
"Hold on a bit. Why don't we both not fight here, okay?"
Starting now, it wasn't a question of whether Kagami acted on Harutora's group or not. Rather, it had become a serious battle of the kind he hadn't had for a long time. However, it wouldn't be a so-called magic battle. No, maybe it would count as a magic battle in some broad sense. It was a kind of strategic negotiation that came before first-class magic clashed directly - a spectacle of a second-class psychological battle.
After all, he couldn't even see the enemy. He had just received a warning of magic. In that moment, Kagami hadn't been able to notice his opponent's existence, and naturally he didn't know his opponent's true identity. Instead, it was the opponent who had a hold of Kagami's location, position, and even plans. To a practitioner, it was practically a situation of having a blade pressed against the throat...... It wouldn't even be too much to call him hanging by a thread.
Moreover, the enemy's warning had even been intertwined with demonic aura. This was a true demonic aura from which he could feel a power that wasn't to be looked down upon.
Kagami thoroughly strengthened his defenses, carrying out inspections with all his power. He broke through countless disguises and stealth magics, following the trail of the one who had warned him.
He finally confronted the other party in this small alley.
Kagami couldn't know exactly how much time had passed. When he confronted the man in front of him, the density of the time was worlds different from usual.
The man was huge.
He was about as tall as Shaver, but his body was as athletic as a warrior, as if he had trained extensively. Short, golden hair. He had a chiseled face and eyes narrowed as thin as slits. Even though he wore a shirt, he wore no tie, and he gave off the impression of a wild beast - or perhaps it was actually the feeling of a true carnivore.
This wasn't a human.
He could already confirm after coming this close. This was a 'Type-Ogre'. No, its spiritual power had already been stable for a long time. A long-lived oni.
Moreover--
In contrast to his right sleeve, which was bulky enough to make one associate it with steely-bulging muscles, his left sleeve swayed gracefully, nothing at all visible inside it.
The oni in front of him had no left arm.
A one-armed and long-lived oni. There was only one oni fitting those conditions.
Excited, insuppressible trembling in anticipation of battle rose all over Kagami.
"......I never expected the reactions of the ones around them...... I didn't think someone big like you would be coming. Really, it's impossible to predict what will happen next......"
The man stretched his neck slightly and replied to Kagami's slightly quivering tone.
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