Slosh... Slosh...
From both sides of the collapsing barrier, heavy straw ropes were suddenly seized and pulled taut with unnatural force.
Yorimitsu and Shion anchored the left side, while Gabimaru and Watanabe hit the mud on the right. A wall of displaced water surged outward from the centre, completely redirecting the roaring current just before it could crush the helpless villagers trapped below.
"Huh?!" The shadowed man spun around on his perch, his eyes widening beneath his dark hood. 'Is that... Watanabe?'
Before the man could process their arrival, Gabimaru leapt directly into the middle of the broken barrier. Channelling his physical might, he planted his legs deep into the churning mud, acting as a human levee to split the surging waters around him.
"Cough... Cough..."
The air filled with the rasping coughs and whimpers of the battered townspeople as they looked up, their dazed eyes meeting the members of Yorimitsu's squad.
"Are... are you warriors from the capital?" an elderly woman gasped, her trembling gaze landing on Gabimaru.
"Can you stand?" Gabimaru asked, his voice deadpan as he braced against the crushing current.
"What...?"
"I said, can you stand?" Gabimaru repeated, his jaw tightening. "I can't hold this water back forever."
"Ah... Yes! Yes, I can... but the children—"
"It's fine. Just get out of the street first," Gabimaru cut her off cleanly. "We can't save anyone's children if you're dead."
"Oho..." The old woman groaned, forcing herself to her feet. Around the flooded road, other villagers began scrambling up out of the mud, helping each other drag themselves toward higher ground.
"Shion, go and assist them," Yorimitsu ordered, wrapping his side of the thick straw rope tightly around his shoulder and leaning back to hold the line.
Without a word, Shion vanished from the rope line, moving with blinding speed to haul out the unconscious villagers who had been swept under by the initial surge.
'Mmm... his natural elemental control is surprisingly refined,' Yorimitsu thought to himself, watching Gabimaru hold back the torrent. 'I assumed he only practised his Onmyōdō, but it seems he is remarkably well-rounded.'
Within moments, the squad managed to clear the helpless villagers from the raging torrent. The chain-link floodgates were secured, and the remaining townspeople scrambled back into position to take over the heavy reins of the wooden barrier.
Those who had been entranced just moments before seemed to regain their senses, though they remained deeply shaken. Saitoshi and Muri were in the worst state; both collapsed against the wall of a nearby storefront, curled into tight fetal positions with their hands clamped over their heads.
Disjointed, erratic mumblings spilt continuously from their lips.
"I'll kill you... Fuck off... Stay away from me... Nanao..."
High above on the rooftops, the shadowed man grinned, his eyes fixed on the scene below. 'It really is Watanabe... My, oh my.'
He moved silently across the wet tiles, crouching low. 'Did she let him go...? No, I doubt it. But to think he's managed to grow to this level even with that curse placed on him... He truly is a prodigy. She ordered me to ensure that creature matures before retrieving it, but with these Capital bastards here, fulfilling that task just became a problem. They promised they wouldn't interfere... yet now they've sent this brat.'
The man reached up and pulled back his dark hood, allowing the cold rain to drench his short, messily ruffled dark hair.
His eyes were completely lifeless, hollow and dead—as if he had never smiled a day in his life. But his most striking feature was a grotesque scar that ripped straight up from his chin, splitting through his lips and running all the way past his ear into his hairline.
Suddenly, his dead gaze snapped downward, locking directly onto Yorimitsu.
"So, that's the boy who helped Bushido slay Orochi, huh?" the scarred man muttered, running his fingers violently through his wet hair. "There's no way in hell I'm winning a fight against someone like that... Unlike Ra, combat isn't my speciality."
He dug his fingernails into his scalp in sheer aggravation, dragging them down to his forehead.
"Man, this sucks... She's definitely going to punish me for this. Failing to retrieve that Shinigami means we can't form an alliance with the Ikozuma... Ahhh! This is so frustrating! There's nothing I can do here!"
The man growled in annoyance, turning away from the edge of the roof.
"I just hope that spirit tears them apart, at least," he muttered, casting one final glance toward Watanabe. Stepping backwards off the roof, his body dissolved seamlessly into the dark torrential rain, his voice fluttering softly in the wind.
"See you soon... Watanabe-kun."
'Huh...? What was that Reiryoku that just vanished...?' Yorimitsu thought, his sharp eyes instantly snapping upward to scan the empty rooftop. 'It carried the same trace of energy I felt lingering in those entranced villagers...'
Before Yorimitsu could investigate further, a weak, trembling hand tugged at his coat.
"Please... save the children..." a desperate villager sobbed, his eyes glossy with tears and his hair plastered to his forehead by the downpour. "You're Hiko sent from the Capital, right? Please... you have sorcery, don't you? Please help us!"
The townspeople turned their hopeful, bloodshot eyes toward Gabimaru as he slowly released his grip on the flood barrier, allowing the current to equalise and flow safely down the drainage path.
The heavy straw ropes groaned as the remaining villagers held the line, but every eye in the street was now fixed entirely on Gabimaru.
"You can save them... right? Please..."
Seeing dozens of desperate, broken eyes locked onto him begging him for salvation made Gabimaru's chest tighten ever so slightly.
'What the hell am I even doing...?' Gabimaru mused bitterly to himself, staring down at his wet, trembling hands.
"If only the secrets of Onmyōdō weren't kept under lock and key by the upper classes..." Yorimitsu said, taking a slow, deep breath. "I'm certain plenty of people here possess enough latent talent to protect themselves, rather than waiting in the mud for us to come save them."
Yorimitsu glanced toward the remaining town warriors. "Can you manage to hold the line by yourselves now?"
Without waiting for an answer, Yorimitsu released his grip on the heavy rope. His commanding voice boomed across the flooded street:
"Shion! Gabimaru! Watanabe! Let's go save the children!"
The squad didn't need to be told twice. Abandoning their positions at the flood barrier, they leapt in unison up to the rain-slicked rooftops, giving chase behind Yorimitsu, who was already bounding across the tiles ahead of them.
"Are... are you alright, Watanabe?" Gabimaru asked as they ran side-by-side, noticing the pale, shaken look on his companion's face.
"I thought... I sensed..." Watanabe began, his breath catching in his throat before he cut himself off. "No... It's nothing."
Watanabe tightened his fists, his jaw locking with determination. "Let's move! Those kids need saving and you're the only one among us who can control water!"
As they bounded through the pouring rain, Watanabe's mind remained haunted by the lingering residual energy in the air.
'It can't be him... Can it...?'