Chapter 17 - Conflict.

After her trip to Gion, Miketsu once again walked the streets of Heian-kyo. She was silent the whole way, her mind filled with all sorts of thoughts.

Miketsu had gone to the shrine but found no trace of the god. Although she had avoided the possibility of exposing herself, she had also failed to achieve her goal for coming to Heian-kyo. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed; the path to increasing her power remained uncertain.

What now? Should she continue to try her luck at other shrines in Heian-kyo, or should she just return home? For a moment, Miketsu couldn't make up her mind.

Furthermore, the information revealed by the young man named Abe no Seimei weighed on her mind. According to Seimei, many adepts had gathered in Heian-kyo for a selection trial. As for what this selection trial was, she had no idea.

"Boom!"

Just as Miketsu was walking down the street, her mind in a tangle, a loud crash suddenly reached her ears.

Miketsu immediately turned to look. Not far away, a stone wall by the side of the street had, for some unknown reason, developed a crater out of thin air. The wall was cracked and crumbling, with fissures spreading outwards.

The wall looked as if it had been struck hard by a sledgehammer, but strangely, there was nothing nearby that could have hit it. The mark on the wall seemed to have appeared from nowhere. The only oddity was a strange paper talisman stuck in the center of the crater.

Such a bizarre sight attracted a crowd of onlookers. Miketsu followed their gaze and saw two men facing off in front of that wall.

One was sturdily built and bald. He looked like a monk but was not dressed as one, and his face was contorted with rage. The other wore a strange, gaudily colored outfit, had his hair tied up with a small hairpin, and held a bamboo toothpick in his mouth, his expression utterly contemptuous.

Their gazes clashed, and the tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"What's going on with those two?" Seeing this, Miketsu curiously approached an onlooker to ask. The person was clearly frightened by what had just happened.

"J-Just now... those two started arguing in the street for some reason. As they were arguing, that weirdo in the colorful clothes suddenly took out a talisman and threw it, and... and then that wall..."

A talisman?

Hearing the onlooker's words, Miketsu froze. She suddenly recalled what Seimei had said—that a large number of adepts were gathered in Heian-kyo. Could these two be them?

As Miketsu was pondering this, the two men made their next move.

"You bastard! Were you really trying to kill me just now!?" the bald pseudo-monk spoke first, his voice filled with fury. He was standing with his back to the shattered stone wall, and it was clear that the attack that had struck it was originally aimed at him.

"Heh... Who was it that just said the talismans of Omi were just insignificant little tricks, not even worth mentioning? What? You have to dodge such an insignificant little trick?" Facing the pseudo-monk's angry words, the man in colorful clothes looked extremely scornful. As he spoke, he pulled several talismans from his pocket and held them in his hand.

"Don't push me too far! You think I won't do anything to you?" Seemingly unable to bear the man's provocations, the pseudo-monk took out three paper dolls inscribed with spells from within his robes. He tossed them into the air, and the paper dolls spontaneously burst into flames without any external force, turning to ash in an instant.

"Bite him to death! Kyuso!"

Following the pseudo-monk's words, something unseen happened. The man in colorful clothes's gaze sharpened, and he suddenly lunged to the side as if dodging something. A moment later, several large gashes, resembling claw marks, appeared on the wooden door of the shop behind him.

"It's a shikigami! Lady Uka!"

Tsuruha said from within Miketsu's sleeve. Miketsu had deliberately left her a vantage point to observe the outside world.

Hearing Tsuruha, Miketsu immediately activated her Spiritual Vision. She then saw three enormous black rats standing before the shop, glaring ferociously at the man in colorful clothes.

Yokai being controlled? So this is a so-called shikigami?

These two are fighting right here in the street. Aren't they afraid of hurting someone?

Seeing that their first attack had failed to kill the enemy, the three giant rat shikigami immediately changed direction and lunged at the man in colorful clothes again, but he seemed to be prepared this time.

The man in colorful clothes pulled a bamboo tube with a talisman on it from his robes. He quickly uncorked it and sprinkled its contents—a tube of black blood—onto the giant rats pouncing towards him.

Splashed with the black blood, the giant rats instantly lost their minds and went berserk, frantically gnawing on anything they could sink their teeth into, not even sparing stones and wood. But they wouldn't bite the man in colorful clothes.

"It's the blood of a Sanmi... This is bad, Lady Uka! They'll now indiscriminately bite anything they see! The people around here are in danger!" Seeing this, Tsuruha said urgently. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

What? Is that guy insane?

Heeding Tsuruha's warning, Miketsu turned her gaze to the giant rats. After shattering what they were currently chewing on, they turned their eyes towards the crowd of commoners watching from the sidelines.

Seeing this, Miketsu's heart tightened. Because these giant rats were shikigami, unlike ordinary yokai, they could interfere with the Human Realm without restriction through their onmyoji.

"Tsuruha!"

"I understand, Lady Uka. Please aim your hand at those shikigami."

The ferocious giant rats lunged at the astonished crowd, and at that moment, Miketsu raised her hand.

From within her sleeve, Tsuruha opened her mouth and shot out a long stream of golden flame. The three giant rats were swept by the fire and turned to ash in an instant.

Simultaneously with Miketsu's action, the man in colorful clothes hadn't been idle after splashing the black blood. He threw one of the talismans he was holding at the pseudo-monk.

"Rikishi's hidden talisman, arrive like a gale... Swiftly!"

As if driven by some invisible force, the talisman flew towards the pseudo-monk on its own. Seeing this, the pseudo-monk paid no mind to his shikigami and desperately threw himself to the side. The speeding talisman once again stuck to the wall, and with another loud crash, a new crater appeared.

"H-Help me!" Seeing that his shikigami were useless, the pseudo-monk clearly lost his nerve. He scrambled to his feet and fled into the crowd, his face pale and all his previous anger gone.

"Hmph, quite good at dodging..." Seeing this, the man in colorful clothes continued to chant and threw all the remaining talismans in his hand. This time, there was nowhere for the pseudo-monk to hide.

This guy...

Having just incinerated the giant rat shikigami, Miketsu turned back just in time to see the talismans chasing the pseudo-monk towards the crowd. She quickly redirected her hand, sweeping the lingering flames from Tsuruha's mouth towards the flying talismans and burning them all to cinders.

The man in colorful clothes, who had been waiting to enjoy the show, was stunned that his talismans had suddenly been burned away. He froze for a moment, then his gaze swiftly turned to Miketsu, who was retracting the flames. A hint of venom appeared in his eyes.

"Meddlesome pest..."

Muttering under his breath, the man in colorful clothes silently took out three more talismans. This time, his gaze was locked not on the pseudo-monk, but on Miketsu.

Just as the man was about to throw the talismans, he felt his hand being clamped by something from behind. He quickly turned his head and was shocked to find a massive, powerful stag standing behind him. The characters for 'Rokuzon' were written on the stag's face, and it was this unusually large deer that had bitten his hand.

At the same time, a voice came from behind him.

"To come to blows over a simple squabble and involve the very innocent people you should be protecting... Having scum like you among us brings shame to all who exorcise demons."