The night was deep. Shinji moved through the mountains.
[Phantom Step] used repeatedly, his form like a ghost or rather, he was a ghost. A demon warrior born from death.
His pale hair flew in the wind. His grey clothes flapped.
The red comb in his robe was vibrating.
"Hey." Yura's voice came, muffled. "You're really going alone?"
"Not alone." Shinji didn't look back, repeating himself. "With you."
Yura fell silent. Shinji ignored her and suddenly asked:
"What exactly are those four vanguards?"
This was information he needed to know beforehand.
Silence.
The little skull on the comb turned, as if thinking.
She didn't hide it.
"The one to the west is a thunder beast."
"Thunder beast?"
"Yes." Yura explained. "A very old demon. Said to be a descendant of a thunder god's beast servant. Can control lightning. Extremely fast."
Shinji's steps faltered.
This thunder beast reminded him of the thunder beast brothers from the original story… was there a connection?
And, to the west
That was Imagawa territory. The daimyō ruling Suruga Province, currently at war with the Hōjō.
"Continue."
"To the north is a venomous dragon." Yura's voice carried disgust. "An old serpent who became a demon. Covered in deadly poison, even the air around it corrodes."
"It's hiding in Hōjō territory. It's already poisoned several villages."
Shinji nodded.
Two vanguards positioned on opposite sides of the battlefield.
"To the south?"
"One called Gaikimaru." Yura's voice grew softer. "A giant moth demon. Can release scales that confuse the mind."
"Anyone caught in those scales falls into eternal nightmares."
"The last one? To the east?"
"A cat demon." Yura spoke the words.
Cat demon.
Shinji recognized this.
A demon from Japanese legend. An old cat that became a demon.
Its tail would split into two, hence the name.
Said to be able to control corpses, making them move like puppets.
"Which is strongest?"
"None is strongest, but for me, the most troublesome is the thunder beast." Yura didn't hesitate. "The others even if I'm not their match, I can run. But the thunder beast? Too fast. Even my hair can't escape."
Shinji's eyes narrowed.
A speed-type demon.
Troublesome.
"We'll start with that one." He changed direction, heading west.
He would go there find it and eliminate it.
Overcoming a stronger opponent with the weaker, with careful planning, with his current means exceeding a little of Sixth Transformation, it wasn't impossible.
....
At the same time.
Suruga Province, Imagawa main castle.
Tenshu, main hall.
Imagawa Yoshimoto knelt in the main seat. Before her were over a dozen monks and onmyōji.
They wore various robes. Some like onmyōji, some like monks, some like shrine maidens.
All were experts the Imagawa had paid handsomely to employ.
"So." Imagawa Yoshimoto's voice was calm, but carried suppressed anger. "You've investigated for three days, and your conclusion is simply_'I don't know'?"
The monks exchanged glances.
The leader was an old man with white hair and beard, wearing onmyōji robes. He was said to have come from the Kyoto Onmyōryō, exiled and now serving as a retainer to a provincial lord.
"To answer your lordship…" The old man wiped sweat from his forehead. "That lightning is indeed not ordinary weather. It contains dense demonic aura."
"But what specific demon it is, we…"
"Can't determine, is that it?" Imagawa Yoshimoto cut him off.
"Yes." The old man lowered his head. "That thing comes and goes without a trace. Never appears."
"We set up barriers, but it seems to move underground. Completely unaffected."
Imagawa Yoshimoto tapped her fingers on the armrest.
Moving underground. Coming and going without a trace. Appearing each time with lightning.
"You have no other methods?"
"Well…" The old man hesitated, then had to speak. "If you could summon stronger monks, perhaps the great onmyōji of the Kyoto Onmyōryō…"
Imagawa Yoshimoto laughed coldly.
"Kyoto?"
"I'm fighting a war with the Hōjō. When do I have time to fetch someone from Kyoto?"
"By the time they got here, the castle would be burned down, if not for the fact that Taira no Sessai is away, I wouldn't need you useless people!"
The old man's head lowered further. The other monks were silent, not daring to contradict her words.
Taira no Sessai's name alone was enough to make them hold their tongues.
Silence filled the hall.
Imagawa Yoshimoto closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
She hadn't slept well for days.
Every night, she had the same dream.
In the dream, lightning raged. The castle burned.
But there was another figure.
A figure standing within the lightning.
Pale hair. Crimson eyes.
Holding a long blade, cutting through the lightning.
If she could find that figure… but with so little information, how?
Imagawa Yoshimoto had no idea. She knew this couldn't continue.
"You are dismissed." Imagawa Yoshimoto waved her long sleeve. Her delicate face beneath her black hair was cold. "Continue monitoring the lightning's movements."
"Report any abnormality immediately."
"Yes, my lord."
The monks were granted reprieve and quickly withdrew.
Silence returned to the hall.
Imagawa Yoshimoto stood and walked to the inner room.
That was her private space.
Also where
She kept her treasured blade.
Sōza Samonji.
A famous blade passed down through the Imagawa for generations. It was once the personal blade of the previous Ashikaga shōgun, then fell into the hands of the Imagawa ancestors, who were related to the Ashikaga.
It had been in the Imagawa family for generations. Her most prized possession.
Imagawa Yoshimoto pushed open the inner room door.
Then—
She stopped.
Someone was in the inner room.
A figure stood before the sword stand, its back to her.
Grey robes. White hair.
His hair glinted coldly in the candlelight.
The figure was facing the sword on the stand, Sōza Samonji, muttering to it.
"How long have you been here?"
"Bored?"
"Does your owner talk to you?"
"Probably not. Most people don't understand this."
Imagawa Yoshimoto was stunned.
This person... was talking to a sword?
And in that… conversational tone?
She opened her mouth to call for help.
But the figure turned first. Crimson eyes met hers.
A pale face. Regular features.
Young. Handsome. And with a very cold, hard quality.
"Oh." He spoke, his tone casual. "You're the owner here?"
Imagawa Yoshimoto's hand was already on the short blade at her waist.
Though she knew it was useless. An existence that could infiltrate the tenshu silently was beyond her ability to handle.
"Who are you?" Yoshimoto asked.
Her voice was calmer than she expected.
"Not human." The demon shook his head.
"I'm a demon."
He turned from the sword stand to face Imagawa Yoshimoto, gazing at her with those inhuman eyes.
The demon smiled.
That smile in the candlelight was somewhat eerie.
But Imagawa Yoshimoto wasn't afraid.
She was instead stunned.
Because this figure, this form
It reminded her of her dream.
Pale hair. Crimson eyes. And the long blade dancing in the lightning—
"You are…"
"Nakai Shinji." The demon gave his name. "That 'thunder' in your city, I'll help you deal with it."
"But...." His gaze fell on Sōza Samonji on the stand.
"Your city. And this blade. I need to borrow them."