Vol 1 Chapter 9 (1/2)
Chapter 9: Awakening
A tepid wind blen froh the space between the two
The cold light of the full ravel path of the inner palace
Right hand holding the steel pipe against his shoulder and left stuck into his pocket, Takaya smiled sardonically
“Well I’m honored that the Princess herself came out to welcome us in person”
His tone practically oozed confidence
“And where is your lord? I know he’s here Give Yuzuru back!”
“My Lord is not here” Yuiko replied coone forth to battle I have awaited thee here in his stead”
“Battle? The fuck? Stop lying out of your ass!”
“And even were he here, he would not have troubled himself with such a lowly peasant as thee”
“Well, excusea peasant!”
“The lass there” Yuiko’s glance moved towards Saori
“Huh? ‘Lass’you mean m-me?”
“I thank thee Thou hast done well For this I shall appoint thee my handmaiden”
“Handmaiden, huh? You wanna do it?”
“Wh-hat are you talking about? Yuiko-chan, stop joking around—”
“Hey, I’d give it a go if the pay’s good, but I don’t think you’re gonna need any”
“What!”
Striking the steel pipe lightly against his shoulder, Takaya said, “’Cause you won’t have those bodies for er I’m not in the mood to let you skeletons do whatever you like forever”
“What didst thou say?” Yuiko laughed ly “And dost thou think thou hast the ability to drive us out?”
“Won’t know ’til I try, will I?”
The skeleton warriors behind hian to move
“There’s no greater cri the school s, y’know!”
Crack!
Takaya spun to face an attacking warrior and smashed him to pieces with an overhead strike
The skeleton broke apart with a dry rattling sound and clattered into a heap on the ground like an unraveled science class skeletal frame
Takaya snorted a laugh “Or is that supposed to be live teaching material?”
Boom!
“Woah!” Suddenly the ground beneath his feet burst apart, and Takaya tu?”
“Thou darest treat one of the Takeda so?!” Yuiko’s face was stiff and pale “Thou art a monster—a demon! Show me thy true form—reveal thy true nature to me!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Thou art no human! What art thou?”
“Yeah, and I’host?”
Boom boom!
The ground exploded once more, and Takaya leapt back
“Hey! I told you to stop that!”
“Thou wilt bring disaster upon us” Yuiko stretched out her hand and pointed at Takaya “Ougi Takaya, show me thy true form!”
“!”
In the next instant, purple fire enveloped Takaya’s body with a woosh
“Ougi-kun!”
Takaya had become a fireball
“Ugh!”
“These are the flames of purification,” Yuiko said loudly “They shall re thee to thy first form, thy true form Reveal thy true form before me!”
“What are you blathering on about”
Enduring the heat of the flalare
Yuiko’s eyes reflected the flames
“Show it to me now!”
The ferocity of the flames increased
The heat brought Takaya to his knees
“you bitch”
“O-Ougi-kun!” Unable to bear the sight, Saori yelled, “Stop it, Yuiko-chan! Stop!”
“—”
Yuiko returned her gaze with cold eyes Saori clung to Yuiko desperately
“Oh please, stop! Stop it!”
“!”
A sharp light glinted in Yuiko’s eyes
“Kyaah!”
There was a bright flash before her eyes, and Saori flew backwards
“Morino!” Takaya yelled, and glared at Yuiko h replied
“bitch”
He seethed with hatred Trapped within the flames, Takaya’s furrowed brows trembled minutely, and the blood vessels near his temples pulsed faintly
“that’s enough!”
“Heh Cease thy whining, thou impudent boor”
So welled from Takaya’s body
“You are pissing me off”
Yuiko’s expression suddenly changed
“Thou!”
“Here’s—!” Takaya snapped his arms wide—“your fire back—!”
Woosh!+
“Gyaaaah!” Yuiko’s awful screaulfed her body
Takaya stood up unsteadily, taking deep breaths, and looked at Yuiko writhing within the flames
“Aaahaaaaaaaahaaaah—-!”
“That body doesn’t belong to you!” Takaya said hoarsely
“That’s Yuiko-san’s body, not yours Your own body cruo! You’re already dead!”
“How dare thee Thou churl!”
“And what are you? Asound came from Takaya’s body “Leave that body—!”
“!”
Yuiko’s i sound into two
The i the separation from Yuiko’s body
“Leave NOW!” Takaya shouted, and with a rush of wind a black-haired woman flew out of Yuiko’s body Yuiko collapsed in place
Far behind her, the uchikake-clad skeleton of a woround
«How dare Thou!» The skeletonvoice «MyLord MyLord»
“!”
Sanjou’s spirit soared into the sky like a dragon returning to heaven
“Wh!”
A ht streaked a path across the sky as it fleards the south
“Hey! damn you, wait!” Takaya yelled, and then started
(—Naoe!)
Saori rushed over “Ougi-kun!”
“Morino! Look after Yuiko-san!”
“Ah, ait! Ougi-kun!”
In a flash Takaya was sprinting after the light The brilliant littered on the moat’s water surface, where the castle tower stood reflected
The difference in their poas painfully obvious
Naoe, pushed back against a building’s ruined wall, struggled to hold his own against Yuzuru in the one-sided battle shi+ngen’s spiritual power intruded into Naoe’s encircling «goshi+nha» little by little as Naoe’s poeakened
“Ugh!”
Naoe had thrown every single bit of his power into preserving the «goshi+nha», but it was fading all too quickly
“Wilt thou oppose me still?”
A malevolent soshi+nha» with annoyance
“Why not resign thyself to thy fate and allow thyself to be extinguished?!”
“Whatare you”
“Is it not better to end thy pain now?”
At that moment!
A ht landed with a flash at their feet in a burst of wind
“!”
Naoe looked up sharply The light thinned radically and beca black hair Yuzuru’s startled eyes opened wide
“! Sanjou?!”
Dragging along her cru uchikake, the skeleton crawled to Yuzuru as if she would cling to his feet
«Mymy Lord»
Yuzuru embraced her and yelled, “What hath happened! How is it that thou art in that form!”
«A demon A demon comes»
“What, a demon?!”
Nearby, Naoe started Yuzuru’s expression darkened
“Who? What demon?”
«The demon comes The demon»
“Sanjou!”
“!”
Flying pieces of concrete thudded down right at their heels Sanjou gave a shuddering scream Yuzuru turned Naoe’s eyes widened
A voice ca smoke
“What the hell are you blathering on about behind people’s back?” said the huh school student with a tea-colored blazer slung over his T-shi+rt, panting as if he’d been running, was leaning with one hand against the collapsed wall and looking over at them
Naoe etora-sama”
Takaya walked over, his eyes narrowed in a piercing glare
“Who the hell are you calling a demon?”
“Thou” Yuzuru snarled at him with hatred Takaya’s lips compressed into a thin line
“Stop looking at me like that out of Yuzuru’s eyes!”
“Was that thy power? And yet thou art not a demon?”
“—”
Takaya glanced at Naoe very slightly Cradling his wounded arm, Naoe looked back at Takaya
“Kagetora-sama, have your «powers»—”
“”
Takaya looked daggers at Yuzuru
“Stop talking like you’re gonna toss me out with the beans!”1
“What!”
Boom!
The concrete burst open right beneath his feet Yuzuru recoiled Takaya glared at him stonily
“What art thou?”
“You saying stuff like that with Yuzuru’s voice pissesYuzuru back, shi+ngen”
Yuzuru’s expression changed as if he had sensed so
“Thou art kanshousha, art thou not?”
Takaya’s eyebroitched “What was that?”
«Demon!» the skeleton that was Sanjou screamed «He is a demon My Lord! We must exterminate him!»
“Bring it on!” Takaya yelled, his eyes deadly serious
Yuzuru replied, “I know thee I met thee in my previous life ThouWho art thou?”
“—!”
“Thou art, etora”
“I a to do with any Kagetora! I’i Takaya! That’s all, that’s it!”
But Yuzuru wasn’t listening He was silent for alike astonishment
“So I see A dehastly chuckle “Since that is so, I must destroy thee”
“Who’s the demon here, you asshole!” Takaya yelled “Give Yuzuru back, shi+ngen! Leave Yuzuru’s body!”
“I, retreat? A proper jest!” Yuzuru responded gravely ”I shall perform kanshou on this body I cannot relinquish it, for I have need of this one’s «power» to gain supreoku»
“shi+ngen, you bastard!”
“! Kagetora-sama!”
The concrete suddenly exploded into fla thelinted with blood-lust The wall next to the stairs where they had landed exploded Separated by cru concrete, the two scattered in opposite directions
“Sonovabitch!”
“Don’t! Kagetora-saently from the shadows behind a car “You er! You will injure Yuzuru-san’s body!”
“Then what the hell should I do?!”
With a loud booround beneath Takaya’s feet He tu spot was immediately nailed by Sanjou’s «nenpa»
“Ugh!”
“Kagetora-sa towards him Yuzuru’s «nenpa» struck continuously at his heels, not allowing hier and bounded to Takaya’s side
“Are you okay? Kagetora-sama!”
“Feelslike I got sockedin the solar plexus”
“!”
Another explosion The two flew to right and left, putting a large distance between them No time to catch their breath
Cri at their backs, Yuzuru and Sanjou attacked theen yelled, “Accept thy defeat, Kagetora!”
Sanjou shrieked with a touch of madness, «You have nowhere to run!»
Froetora-sama! We cannot attack with «nenpa»! We must do it! There is no other choice!”
“Do what?!”
(Does he really expect me to perform «choubuku»?!)
Takaya shouted between clenched teeth “I-I can’t do it! da like that!”
“You can! You must!”
“I said I can’t!”
Whack!
A chunk of concrete from an explosion hit him squarely on the head
“Oooooow!”
Takaya stumbled confusedly to Naoe’s side
“Coonna get killed at this rate!”
“That’s e must perform «choubuku»”
Naoe narrowed unsparing eyes “From the looks of it, the female spirit is fairly weakened She should not be difficult The probleen”
“Augh, fine already, just tell otta do!”
The enraged Yuzuru approached threateningly
“You scheme like the veriest varlets! If you are true warriors, then come and face me in noble combat!”
“What the hell did you say?”
Checking Takaya, Naoe said in a lowered voice, “We will «exorcise» shi+ngen However, I doubt an ordinary method ork Let us use «kekkai-choubuku»—‘barrier exorcism’”
“??? Kekkai-choubuku?”
“We will paralyze shi+ngen, then construct the barrier—please think of it as a do us It will block «poithin a thirty-meter radius”
“You really think I can do so like that?!”
“You can We will then summon Bishamonten within the sealed container It is theour power of «choubuku»”
“You’renot joking, are you”
“However, this method of exorcisth If we fail, it will not be possible for us to try again In the worst case, itthat to be the case?”
Takaya’s expression abruptly froze, but— “ That’s the only way to save Yuzuru, isn’t it?”
“Kagetora-sama”
“If we gotta do it, then let’s do it”
Boom!
The asphalt exploded violently right in front of therazed past their faces, and Takaya quickly pressed a hand against his temple
“Augh”
Naoe yelled, “Kagetora-sama!”
He touched the spot with his right hand, and his fingers caer boiled up as he saw the blood, and sorily: “That’s fucking enough, you assholes!”
“Silence thy profane tongue, Kagetora!” Spiritual energy flared frouished—!”