BOOM!!
A tremendous roar echoed over Nijo Castle.
Hearing this thunderous sound, Yomi Isayama sharply looked up towards the castle and murmured:
"It's begun already?"
She took a deep breath before turning to the Countermeasures Office personnel beside her and shouting:
"Accelerate civilian evacuation! Hypnotise anyone who refuses!"
"Yes!" came multiple replies.
...
Nijo Castle.
After a tremendous roar, a massive breach resembling cracked glass appeared in the grey sky above Nijo Castle.
Following the breach came over a dozen thunderous booms.
Tenkai Gokadoin, wearing an old-fashioned diver's helmet, abruptly looked up at the sky. Sensing the impact on the barrier, he immediately formed hand seals with his right hand:
"To launch a frontal assault from the sky?"
"Which faction is this?"
Before he finished speaking, Tenkai suddenly swayed and teleported five metres to his right.
At that exact moment, a bolt of lightning struck the spot where he'd been standing, creating a one-metre-wide crater with cracks extending to Tenkai's feet.
"Tch, dodged it, did you?"
Shin Natsume pulled his right foot from the crater, then turned to stare at Tenkai with his Dragon Eyes - black sclera and crimson irises:
"I've come to trouble you again, barrier master!"
Hearing this, Tenkai remained silent for a moment before producing a vajra from his black hunting robe:
"What happened to the item I previously gave you?"
"Mailed it to those bald monks at the Tendai Sect's temple. What? Worried I'd take payment without delivering?"
Shin rested his right hand on the hilt of his ritual sword, grinning:
"Relax. Although the Bujin-shū dislikes the Onmyou Agency, we're on good terms with the Buddhists. After all, we can't all go into the cemetery business, can we?"
"Haa~~" Tenkai took a deep breath before replying coldly: "Many thanks, benefactor. This old man shall show appropriate mercy."
"Save that talk for when you survive!"
Before the words faded, a razor-sharp blade light slashed towards Tenkai's neck.
...
BOOOOM!!
Several muffled thunderclaps echoed from Nijo Castle's Ninomaru Garden.
"Oww oww oww!!"
Chisato Nishikigi immediately jumped up after landing painfully on her knees, clutching her leg:
"Gravity malfunctioning at the last moment! Why am I so unlucky?"
Before she finished speaking, a silver blade light sliced through the air beside her. Takina Inoue nimbly leapt out from the severed space:
"Are you alright, Chisato?"
"Do I look alright?" Chisato pouted irritably. "Should've just used Silver's ability to enter with you from the start."
Takina sighed wordlessly. Quickly drawing her sidearm and releasing the safety, she turned to face the armoured warrior standing at the garden's crossroads, arms folded.
Hakuzōzu - a horned, armour-clad figure - studied the two girls and rumbled:
"To think two young lasses would come to this old man's guarded territory?"
"Am I being looked down on?"
At this, Takina merely raised an eyebrow, calmly channelling Rain-attribute Dying Will Flames into her firearm:
"Chisato."
"Here!"
"Make it quick."
"Roger!!"
As they spoke, twin Gundams - one black, one white - materialised from the shadows.
...
East Bridge, Inner Citadel Palace gatehouse.
Suzuka Dairenji waved her hand dismissively, the paper charms in her grasp transforming into clusters of ghostly blue flames that instantly consumed the surrounding Small Yokai guards, reducing them to ashes without even a scream.
Observing the piles of ash, Suzuka strode forward coldly:
"Too many weaklings. I should hurry to the Inner Citadel Palace."
However, the moment she took a step, a silver flash severed her at the waist with lightning speed.
From atop the gate tower, Yuiyui Gokadoin watched as Suzuka Dairenji's golden twin-tailed figure was bisected before her eyes, only to transform into a pale paper doll. She then turned her gaze towards the real Suzuka standing on a nearby bridge, clutching a handful of talismans:
"Quite nimble, Taiyin."
"White Tiger." Suzuka Dairenji glared up at Yuiyui with clear irritation. "Didn't your mother teach you not to ambush people?"
Yuiyui held a parasol in her left hand while her right fingers danced, silver threads flickering between them - evidently the very threads that had nearly cut Suzuka in half moments ago.
"I hardly consider standing openly atop a gate tower to attack as qualifying for 'ambush'."
Peering down at Suzuka, Yuiyui chuckled lightly:
"My, what a commotion you've caused~~"
"Just how many officers have you gathered to invade Nijō Castle?"
"Enough to make your grandparents cry."
Suzuka casually tossed aside her talismans, channelling Spiritual Power as numerous shikigami of various forms materialised around her.
"The Imperial Shikigami Manipulation Art that uses shikigami as feng shui nodes to create battle formations?"
Yuiyui narrowed her eyes at the dozens of shikigami floating near Suzuka before smiling faintly:
"Interesting."
"But to play the numbers game with me?"
With a light tap of her foot, every tile and brick from the gate tower beneath her rose into the air, twisting and transforming into small tan-coloured teddy bears. Soon, the sky was filled with the plush toys, all cackling eerily.
Smiling at Suzuka, Yuiyui gracefully waved her right hand:
"You're three hundred years too early!"
Instantly, the army of teddy bears engulfed Suzuka completely.
...
Inner Citadel Palace, the hall leading to the Chamber of Nue.
Abe no Orochi sat serenely at the centre, an ancient seven-stringed zither resting on her lap. As she played a melody from the Heian period, her closed eyes betrayed faint puzzlement:
"Has someone already breached Tsuchigumo's guarded gate?"
As her words faded, a swirling indigo mist began to appear in the hall.
From within the haze emerged a young man in black robes. His dreamlike smile faltered slightly with surprise as he regarded Abe no Orochi:
"You noticed my mist?"
"Clearly no ordinary opponent."
"My apologies, but I'm looking for Abe no Yoshihira. Would you mind stepping aside?"
Abe no Orochi lifted her head, using her Spiritual Sight to examine this man who resembled Nura Rihan yet was fundamentally different:
"Who are you?"
"Me?"
"I'm Luo Shu!"
Luo Shu's lips curled into a benign smile.