Three Hundred And Twenty-Seven / Side One Hundred And Twenty-Two – Suzuki Haru

Three Hundred And Twenty-Seven / Side One Hundred And Twenty-Two – Suzuki Haru

“Akio-san, several of the Buildings in the Territory have just been... destroyed, I think?” Saionji-san looked a little puzzled.

“You think?” I asked, and he nodded.

“It doesn’t feel like they were destroyed, really, but they’ve definitely vanished. Fortunately they weren’t too important.”

“Vanished, huh? Well, what matters is that we can narrow down where that woman has run to. Lead the way.” I said, and Saionji-san took off at superhuman pace, though it still felt rather slow to me. For the first time I had the opportunity to really observe Kinkaku-ji, and it was quite the impressive sight. For a Rank 2 Territory it had a lot of Buildings constructed, and quite decently upgraded ones at that, with some Rank 3 Ether Spires pulling in energy, golden and ornate, ringed with diamond-like crystals that resembled staring eyes.

“Quite gaudy for such a compassionate deity.” I grinned.

“Well, perhaps it is because the shrine here is Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Besides, gold is a symbol of purity. Here it isn’t used for wealth, but as a display of piety.”

“I see. You’re good.” I laughed, extending out my senses as far as my brain would allow, feeling the stirrings of a migraine from the stress of processing a massive amount of information. “If I’m going to be dealing with important people all the time, I’ll need to learn your way with words.”

Saionji-san shook his head, a wry chuckle escaping him. “I’ve been head of Amaterasu for many years. Of course I speak like a politician. I’ve had to contend with that old fox Kudou, as well as the fierce Uchida... well...” he trailed off, remembering that one of his rivals was now a broken man, even in Kyoto’s time of great need, unable to respond, merely shutting himself away with his comatose son.

“I’ll appreciate your help with the Ministry.” I said, changing the subject a little. It was then that I ordered him to stop, and as he ground to a halt, breathing heavily, he looked at me quizzically.

“There.” I pointed, my expanded senses picking up the near-invisible tripwires that were even harder to see under the strangely-hued silver light of the Boundary, than they would have been under the sun in the Material world. “Tripwires. Linked to... yeah, mines. Nasty”

“I didn’t see them.” Saionji-san admitted. “It really is strange, having to worry about such contrivances here in the spiritual realm.”

I nodded. With a slash of air, I cut the threads, and the mines detonated, but they too were wrapped in air, muffling the blast and preventing damage, leaving them whisper-quiet. “Hopefully this won’t alert our running prey that we’ve been this way.”

“I have to say, your versatility never fails to impress.” Saionji-san laughed. “Though I contend my Eye of Avalokiteshvara doesn’t lose in terms of power.”

“Well, sooner or later the Boundary won’t be an issue and you can use it as much as you please then.” I promised, as we picked up the chase again, passing through a glade of trees with golden-yellow blossoms, falling around us in a gilded blizzard. The golden horns of the main temple loomed overhead, soaring into the sky, casting great shadows, but there were many smaller golden pavilions dotted around the grounds, each with their own golden edifices. Really, it’s all a bit too much for me. I like tastefully understated, not this... tacky display of wealth. Not that I’d tell Saionji-san that. It’s probably sacrilegious thinking that way too...

“I still can’t see her.” I muttered, despite having extended my senses. “Wait, something’s different.” I noticed that one of the gaudy decorations had vanished at a nearby shrine. As I watched closely, a large golden bell vanished as well, a flare of aether all that remained.

Moments later, Saionji-san spotted it as well, as more and more precious metal and gemstone-encrusted items disappeared. “You think it’s her?” he asked quietly, and I nodded, pouring power into my Eye, as it glowed a vivid amber, searching for her.

“It has to be. Is she sending chunks of your Territory back to the Material? I don’t get why these hunks of gold though. If she destroyed your constructed Buildings that way it makes sense, but these are just, well... ornamental, right?”

As he agreed I continued to scan the area. I couldn’t see her, whatever she was doing was blocking even my Eye, which was impressive, but then I noticed a faint haze of what looked like Qi, rather than unrefined aether. It was tiny, nearly entirely obscured by the force of whatever ability was snatching pieces of the Territory, but my Eye was perceptive enough to pick it out. Got you.

“I think I have her. She must be using some sort of art that obscures vision. It’s good, whatever it is. If it wasn’t for a faint leakage through the cracks in it, I’d not have noticed.”

“Right, well, how do we proceed? I can use my abilities to destroy the area...”

“No, I want to take her alive if I can help it.” I said, and Saionji-san shrugged.

“That seems risky. It isn’t because she’s a woman, is it, Akio-san?” he smirked, and I fought down the urge to snap back.

“Of course not. I’m not that much of a lecher. No, I have my reasons.” The only issue is, if she tries to flee back to the Material. That could be a problem, although I did watch what Daiyu did before...

“Well, considering the number of innocent dead, I hope you’re not planning to be lenient.” Saionji-san warned.

“No, don’t worry. That ship has long sailed.” I’ve killed plenty this day. I... I don’t regret it exactly, but it still stings. Saionji-san is right. Too much innocent blood has been shed, and for what? Petty revenge... Ignoring the treacherous thought that I had made it clear I would seek revenge on anyone if those I cared about were hurt, I at least consoled myself by knowing I wouldn’t target innocents. “Right, here we go. I’ll rush in, as I’m faster.” Without waiting for his agreement, I pushed my Body Enhancement to the maximum and dashed forwards. Several more traps were strung up, but I powered through, too fast for the explosions to be effective.

The faint traces of Qi began to move away from me, almost imperceptible, but as they moved I saw faint shimmering in the air, little distortions that were there for a moment, and then everything was normal again. So that’s how she’s doing it... my Intellect allowed me to make the calculations, so it seemed like the strange ripples were the effect of bending light into a spherical shape, and the Qi leakage must have been coming from the axis where the two halves were joined. Now that I knew what to look for, I channelled earth, forming a series of rocky barriers, and wind, trying to snare her.

“How dare you, insolent wretch!” a booming voice called out in Mandarin, as the illusion protecting her shattered, a talisman in her hands burning away to ashes, the Qi dispersing. She was quite impressive, in one sense, being greatly overweight, her body wrapped in a straining yellow ballgown, which made me giggle, as it reminded me of the dress Takagi-san was wearing. Damn, I’ll have to apologise to her for even comparing them. The woman was covered in jewellery, her hands packed with tasteless yet likely expensive rings, sometimes three to a finger, and her neck was hung with a vast number of golden chains.

“Stop now and surrender!” I declared, closing the distance. I had Cutting Twilight sheathed, as I believed I could handle her without too much trouble, and wanted to appear less threatening.

“Surrender? Me? Your barbarism is simply so trying. Not that I should expect much from foreigners. No class at all!” she declared, pulling out what looked like an assault rifle from her back. “To think...” she sighed, forcing a sausage-like finger in to pull the trigger, seesawing the gun wildly, bullets arcing in all directions. “... that I would have to dirty my own delicate, elegant hands with bloodshed. This whole mess has been most disconcerting.”

I snorted, amused. Delicate? I’ve seen more delicate bears at the zoo. Most of the bullets missed me, and those few that struck home did little more than sting. On seeing that the woman panicked, dropping the gun and producing a rocket-propelled grenade. That can definitely hurt me...

“Such disrespect!” she cried as the projectile discharged, a tail of flame pushing it towards me in less than a second. I twisted my body in the air, and it sailed past, detonating as it struck a golden wall, and she clicked her tongue, rubbing at her bruised shoulder where the counterweight had flung off and struck her.

“My dress, it is ruined.” She muttered, seeing the dirt mark and torn cloth. She then remembered I was mere moments away and her eyes went wide in panic, and my Eye could see she was purging aether, trying to return to the Material. I won’t allow that. Nie Ling will be there too, and I can’t afford to lose both abilities...

Young? Beautiful? Someone thinks highly of themselves, don’t they? Though if I was being fair, if she lost some... well, a lot of weight... then she might look all right.

“Is she for real?” Saionji-san muttered, amazed, and the woman shot him an angry glare.

“I would not expect foreigners to understand, least of all you barbaric Japanese. My great-aunt was abused by you foreign brutes. She was so mortified, she felt the need to take her own life, to expunge the disgrace.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I bowed, apologising, which surprised her, but moments later her haughty nature reasserted itself.

“Well I should think so. and look, you are treating a fine lady so roughly! My poor hand! How will you compensate me, I would like to know!”

“Compensation?” I said, annoyed. I was prepared to listen to her babble, as it was keeping her busy while I cleaned out the corruption, preparing to retrieve the Divine Favour, but this was a step too far to take. “You invade out country, kill our citizens? And you wish compensation?”

“Your citizens? Oh yes, well, that was that peasant girl. Nie Ling. No breeding, the daughter of a shoemaker, I hear. She was the one responsible, do not blame me for a peasant’s wrongdoings!”

“I don’t think that’s all there is to it.” Saionji-san said, looking down at her. “After all, why are you in my Territory then?”

She glanced to the side, where the building of gold had massive chunks missing from it. “Well, I can not go back to China. Ugh, exile in a barbaric foreign land. The fools from the Party, they hate us old families, and the Department... just because I was blessed by a Goddess from a foreign land, I was looked down on, even though it is clearly because the Goddess recognised my extraordinary value. Why, I do believe that with my fine taste in art and antiquities, there is none more suited...”

As she rattled on, I finished clearing out the remaining slime, growing faster with each time I tried. Yeah, I’m getting better at using adherence along with my Chirurgery, although what with the Divine Favour I’m holding draining it little by little, I can’t afford to waste much...

“... so yes.” She finished at last. “...I was barely able to flee with the rings on my fingers and the necklaces around my throat. Shameful. So I need to accumulate more wealth. This gold... it will enable me to claim asylum, and re-establish my family!” she said proudly.

“You think that’ll work?” I asked. “Surely when the gold runs out of aether it’ll return to the Boundary?”

She started to sweat, her eyes swimming, and I realised that of course she knew that. “So, you’re planning to use it like fool’s gold, are you? Here today, gone tomorrow.” I asked.

“Well... sacrifices are inevitable. But enough of that, unhand me, brute!”

“So, how were you going to escape being eaten?” I asked. “And where did you get that talisman that hid you from sight?”

“That paper? I do not quite know how it works, but those foolish idiots who called themselves sects...” she snorted. “... needed me to bring some of their equipment through. It was a simple matter to keep some for myself.” Her smile turned colder. “As for being devoured, that happens to others, to lesser people. Not to Yao Chun, no, not to me! The others will be enough of a feast, but the beast, he surely knows my value! I did my part!”

Yeah, I think she doesn’t understand how the world works. I doubt very much a creature as monstrous as this golden-eyed devourer cares about her family lineage. “I see. Well, I appreciate your optimism, but now...” I paused as her smile changed.

“It was not just that one piece of paper I pocketed from those old fools.” She grinned, and out fluttered another paper talisman, with ancient Chinese written on it. “I think they called it a Spatial Storage Tag?” she grinned, as the talisman flared to ash, releasing the contents, a number of hand grenades, the pins already pulled, right in my face. She rolled away, fighting my air bonds, as the grenades detonated.

Fuck, that hurts. I had shut my eyes and turned away my head, hands covering my ears, just before the explosion. Saionji-san had jumped backwards, but even so, he was cut and bruised, shrapnel piercing his body. As for me, my skin was scored and nicked, thin trickles of silver and red dribbling down, but other than that I was unharmed, having protected my vulnerable points.

“Are you okay?” I managed, and Saionji-san nodded.

“I think so. Well, I hurt all over, but I don’t think I’ve taken any fatal damage. Fat old witch!” he cursed her, looking at the woman who was still trying to squirm away, stunned that a face full of explosives hadn’t finished me. Her legs were shredded, and her body was pockmarked with small daggers of twisted metal, but her bulk had prevented major damage.

“Wait, how... that should... no, this is not fair!” she cried. “Wait, that... that was unintentional. I just wished to show you what else I had taken. No, let me go!” She must have seen the expression on my face, as she went white, her jowls quivering in fear.

“Of course it was.” I agreed. “Unfortunately, you aren’t the only thief here...” She’s a snake, she can’t be trusted. Hell, calling her a snake is an insult to Shirohebi and his kin. Besides, she had brought many weapons to the Boundary, and they were being used to assail our Territories. As Yao Chun struggled, I tightened the bonds, heedless of the way the streams of wind cut into her corpulent flesh.

“What are you doing?” Saionji-san asked, curious, and I shrugged.

“Rendering her harmless.” I advised, working swiftly, cutting away the Divine Favour.

Your skill, Adherence Manipulation has increased from Rank 2 to Rank 3. Your ability to control and utilise adherence has further strengthened. You can more precisely affect the adherence of others, and are slightly more able to perceive and affect ??????????.

Question marks again. But I think I know what they hide this time... all my efforts recently had borne fruit, and as I worked I noticed I was using less adherence to perform the removal, and that while I still couldn’t identify the third, mysterious component of the Divine Favour, I was finding it noticeably simpler to cut the ties. Moments later, I had succeeded, and the woman fainted, her body spasming, her chakra network starting to collapse.

Laverna’s Grasping Hand of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld: Class: [Legendary] Type: [Law]. This divine favour is made of concentrated adherence, refined ether and ??????????. The wielder gains the ability transfer an item between the Material and Astral realms, and it will endure so long as aether remains, working as it would in the realm it came from. More complicated and larger items require more aether to make functional, so they will endure for noticeably less time. Laverna takes as she pleases, and what is stolen from Earth shall be treasured in Heaven, and what is taken from Heaven shall be lauded in the Underworld. What is pilfered from the Underworld shall surely find value in Earth.

As I admired the stolen Favour, I rejoiced. Yeah, this is the one I wanted. Now that I was holding two Favours, the drain on my adherence was brutal, and even with the noticeable amount I had gained by destroying the damaged favours, I would run dry in mere days. Worst case, I’ll break the Chimeric Winds, this one is far more useful. Remembering the helicopters that had been present here in the Boundary, I wondered just how much aether the woman had been provided by the golden-eyed devourer. Totalling up how much had been shared across all of the Chinese candidates, the amount was frightening. Orders of magnitude more than I have, that’s for certain. But then, as we’ve seen a lot today, it isn’t the raw power, it’s how you use it...

“So, what do we do with her?” Saionji-san asked, furious. “We could take her and make her face justice, but...”

“I know.” I said, preparing myself. It was then that the distant skies were dyed red, a massive surge of firework-style light rippling across the heavens. “Damn, that’s coming from the south. It must be Haru-san. Something bad must be going down... Saionji-san, I’ll leave you here, you look a bit worse for wear.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I can still fight if needed...”

“No.” I shook my head, as behind me a sharp blade of wind decapitated the unconscious woman. There was no level-up notification, perhaps because she had lost her Favour, and no longer had the stores of aether provided by the creature that had enslaved her. It was unlikely she would survive anyway, just like Yamato-san. It was a mercy, she won’t be devoured at least... telling myself that to soften the blow of something that felt very much like murder, no matter how deserved it was, I gave my orders. “We can’t afford to be careless. Go back to Yasaka-san and get what information you can out of him. If there’s anything I need to know, then you can come support us.” With that I was dashing back towards Haru-san’s Territory, my Foresight blaring warnings. And beyond there... Tsukuyomi-jinja... Tsukiko-san. I guess the reckoning you’ve dreamed of is here. But... I clenched my fist, ready for battle, against the surviving Chinese forces who invaded so callously, killing so many innocents, and threatening those I had sworn to protect. And against fate too. Definite ... there’s no such thing. No, that’s not true. The only definite thing here is I’ll fight until the end...