(Pov Satoshi)
7:30 pm
Each sorcerer available had been mobilized to take on this threat and had been split into four groups. Unfortunately, we had to go ahead without the Kyoto sorcerers, given the distance, but Suguru would be here soon to assist. Satoru was coordinating the groups and looking for a way to break the barrier. So, I had about an hour before he entered the barrier and tried to save people.
I had gone in on my own to begin evacuating civilians. Due to its ability, the Inverted Spear of Heaven could cut through the curtain and allow people to leave freely, though only temporarily. My main plan after this was to make my way to the Fukutoshin line, where many civilians were trapped, but it was also where Kenjaku was waiting for Satoru.
As I looked around, though, I noticed the streets were oddly empty for such a populous district. I could hear something, though a labored breathing that seemed to be coming from every direction at once. I was being watched, though, whether it was by cursed spirits or curse users, I wasn't sure.
Suddenly, a grotesque creature burst out of a nearby building and charged towards me. It was massive with five arms, though one was sticking out of its face and had eyes in the palm. The worst part, though, was that I couldn't feel anything from it.
Usually, when I encounter cursed spirits above Grade 2, I can feel their cursed energy as static, but I couldn't feel that here. This might have been simply a weaker curse, but something felt off about it.
I couldn't think about it, though, and instead prepared Playful Cloud for a counterattack. Once it got closer, the two arms on its right side reared back, but I used the opening to attack its body, slamming the third staff segment into its torso. I heard the familiar sound of bones breaking, and the creature was sent down the road, crumpling into a heap, but it didn't disappear like a curse.
'That settles it, then I screwed up.' I thought. With the lack of disappearance, combined with the other oddities, it was now highly likely this was a transfigured human, which meant Mahito had survived.
I wasn't sure how, but it meant that Kenjaku could complete his plan, so I was on an even tighter schedule. I didn't have much time to alter the plan, though, as even more of the transfigured humans came rushing out of every building around.
That was where they had all gone, then Mahito had gotten to them. But how did he know I would come through this area? There had to be well over a hundred of these things here.
I regripped the staff and charged forward myself, meeting a group of transformed humans head-on, smashing through them. I was using the fluid movement of Playful Cloud to attack multiple enemies in quick succession, beginning to cut their numbers.
Each strike was lethal, and yet there seemed to be an endless stream of them. I wasn't struggling, but this was taking too long, and time was the one thing I lacked. I jumped above the mob and clung to a streetlight. Looking down, I could see just how many transfigured humans were left. At a rough guess, there were at least seventy left, not too bad.
As some of the more dexterous ones began to climb after me, I stored Playful Cloud back into the worm and withdrew Dragon Bone. I had Satoru load it up with cursed energy before we split, so I had plenty of juice to work with. I leapt back to the ground and revved the engine up.
Using the jets on the back, I was gliding across the street, cutting down a dozen of them at once, and with each slice, the amount of stored energy only increased as contact was made. I cut each of the transfigured humans down, and after only two minutes, they had all been killed. The street was covered in blood, but it was clear of enemies at least, though I didn't envy whoever had to clean it later.
I checked the surrounding buildings for any more enemies, but I only saw broken glass and bent doors. It hadn't been an effective ambush, but I doubt it was meant actually to kill me; instead, it was meant to delay me. The attack confirmed two things: one, that Mahito had survived somehow, which meant Kenjaku or one of his allies might have some form of teleportation technique. The second was that the sealing plan was clearly going ahead, and they needed time to complete the closure.
I needed to warn the others, though, that Mahito was around. Thankfully, Mai had been helpful in this endeavor and had used Construction to create walkie-talkies. Since they had been made from cursed energy, they didn't require a signal to communicate, meaning distance wouldn't be an issue.
Just as I removed the device from the worm, though, a strange object flew in and smashed into my hand. I dropped the device, and when I looked up, I saw that a purple fist was the culprit.
The fist fell to the ground and began crawling towards me before launching itself with a spin, revealing the blade on its other end. I knocked it aside with Dragon Bone, but the thing didn't give up, continuing to crawl and slash, ineffective as it was.
I could recognize it now, this was the Hand Sword, a cursed tool made by the same creator of Dragon Bone. In the series, it was used by a curse user named Haruta, who would sneak-attack people with it before getting his ass beat by Nanami.
He was nearby then, I doubt he'd ever show himself, given how cowardly he was, but he didn't need to. This sword somehow gave the user a sense of its surroundings, which is how it kept attacking. Oh, well, I could always use more cursed tools.
I returned Dragon Bone to the worm, and when the sword came at me again, I dodged, letting it fly past me before grabbing its hand. As the name suggested, the Hand Sword had a full hand for a handle, so holding it felt weird. As I held on to the thing, it tried escaping my grasp, wiggling around like a fish.
My strength was too much, though, and soon the sword stopped moving entirely, and suddenly I could feel an odd connection with it. It felt gross and wet for some reason, but I had to deal with it because this was my best chance of finding that little blonde weasel.
I let the thing drop and gave it a mental command to find its previous owner. The hand twitched in place for a bit, facing in each direction for a moment, before locking onto something like a pointer dog. It took off, crawling across the ground like the world's most threatening spider, making its way into a ruined building. A moment later, I heard the sound of someone screaming, and Haruta came running out with cuts across his arms and torso.
I caught him by the arm, startling him, and when I looked, he had already lost one of his miracles. His technique was the Miracle Technique, which would take small miracles throughout the day, remove the memory, and apply them to a mark on his face. Whenever he was near death, his technique would activate using a miracle to save him up to a total of six times.
"Where is Mahito?" I asked bluntly.
"Who?" Haruta asked.
"Cursed spirit, blue hair, stitches all over, super pale," I said, giving a brief description.
"Oh, never seen him." He responded. I didn't believe him.
I lifted him by the arm before slamming him down as hard as I could, hard enough that he bounced up about five feet. Now his miracle count was down to two.
"Try again. Where is Mahito?" I asked again.
"He's with that guy, the one who set this up, he's got white hair, I think they want to ambush someone, that's all I know!" He cried out, realizing the situation.
His words had confused me, though I assumed the guy with white hair was Kenjaku, but who was he inhabiting? If he were in an old body, wouldn't that be the main feature? I had a sudden sinking feeling in my gut, but I had to ignore it for now. I had to stop him. I could worry about the body later.
"Where are they planning the ambush?" I asked
"On the train line, they've got a bunch of people there." He said.
"Thank you for the cooperation. I'll kill you quickly." I said, and before he could react, I brought the hand sword up and cut his head off. There's only so much a miracle can do, I suppose. With him finally dead, I picked up the walkie-talkie. Thankfully, it wasn't too damaged.
I turned the dial to all channels and began to speak.
"All teams, be aware that the cursed spirit Mahito is still alive and is in Shibuya. He can manipulate the soul on contact, and he has a domain. If you see him, do not engage." I said broadcasting the warning. There weren't enough of us who could target the soul, counting myself, there might only be three. So until I could get to Mahito, anyone else would just be putting themselves in danger.
I put away the walkie-talkie and Hand Sword before moving on. I had wasted too much time dealing with this. I was also concerned about what he meant by the white hair. Something about that description made me feel uneasy; I didn't know why.
My gut, though, told me this night was going to be the longest of my life.