Reinforcement Attack

Using his own scheme against him—this was the method Miketsu had devised. Firstly, while she was almost certain Seimei was problematic, she lacked crucial evidence to prove it. Therefore, Seimei needed to reveal his true nature and expose his intentions himself. Miketsu, meanwhile, could counter Seimei’s actions through pre-arranged plans.

“So you’ve finally arrived, Asakura Hao…”

Inside the Grand Hall of the Onmyoryo, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, seated in the main chair with a pale face, couldn’t help but smile faintly to himself upon seeing Miketsu’s figure, as if he had anticipated it all along.

Indeed, Minamoto no Yorimitsu knew Miketsu would return and was aware of Seimei’s issues. This was because, the night before he received Seimei’s joint letter, he had first received information sent by Miketsu via a Paper Crane Shikigami, which generally described the situation and asked for his cooperation. It was precisely because of Miketsu’s advance warning that the usually cautious Minamoto no Yorimitsu so unusually and readily accepted Seimei’s invitation, bringing the clan’s high-ranking members to the Onmyoryo, and even decisively leaving Onikiri outside.

At this moment, Seimei and Miketsu were in a standoff within the Grand Hall. Although the plan had encountered an extremely significant unexpected turn, and everything could potentially fall apart completely, no panic appeared on Seimei’s face. After an initial flicker of anger, his expression quickly returned to indifference, and a cold sneer even reappeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Heh, it seems I truly underestimated you, Lady Hao. I thought you were my pawn, but who knew I was the one being played. I admit my misjudgment of you, but if you think you’ve already won, then you are gravely mistaken.”

Seimei raised his voice, speaking loudly. Seeing Seimei seemingly about to make a move, Onikiri immediately stepped forward, sword in hand, charging towards Seimei again. Seimei, however, directly threw a paper figure at him.

“Hakuzosu…”

The paper figure rapidly burned, and from within it emerged a yokai boy of about twelve or thirteen, with white hair, fox ears, a mask askew, and dressed in white robes with fur embellishments. His cold eyes held the same purplish-red glow as Seimei’s. The fox yokai boy, the moment he appeared, spread his hands and blocked Seimei.

“Die together… Ghost Shadow Flash!”

Onikiri showed no mercy despite the boy’s youthful appearance. He concentrated demonic power at his sword tip, releasing several consecutive demonic energy slashes. He intended to cut down both the fox yokai boy and Seimei.

“Dream Mountain Fox Shadow… Guard!”

Onikiri’s slashes, amplified by demonic energy, expanded and struck the fox yokai boy. However, a strange force field seemed to surround the fox yokai boy, greatly weakening and absorbing the demonic energy slashes aimed at him, ultimately leaving only faint traces on his body. Some of the slashes that weren’t fully absorbed ravaged the room, cutting pillars and tearing through walls. The entire Grand Hall instantly became a mess, and the Minamoto Clan elders, surprised, dragged their weakened bodies to flee.

“What…” Onikiri clearly hadn’t expected the yokai boy named Hakuzosu before him to completely withstand his slashes. Just as he was slightly astonished, Hakuzosu’s claw ignited with demonic flame, striking back at Onikiri in close combat. Onikiri immediately drew his sword to parry.

While Onikiri and Hakuzosu were locked in battle, Seimei continued his actions. With a wave of his hand, countless paper figures emerged from the corners of the Grand Hall, such as the floor cracks. The paper figures burned and transformed into Seimei’s clones. These clones initially formed a circle, surrounding everyone in the hall—a pre-arranged setup by Seimei.

“Don’t think I haven’t prepared for emergencies… Kotodama—Thousand Binding Lock Array!”

As Seimei formed a hand seal, his many clones around him also performed the same action as the main body. Instantly, a magical array rapidly formed within the circle they created. From the array, countless chains made of spiritual power extended, instantly binding Miketsu and Onikiri tightly.

“This is…” Onikiri, who was entangled with Hakuzosu, was suddenly trapped by the unexpected spiritual power shackles, completely unable to move. Before his eyes, Hakuzosu had gathered an even more ferocious demonic flame in his hand, ready to strike him, while Seimei had already drawn a talisman towards the bound Miketsu.

Facing this situation, Miketsu’s expression remained unchanged. She silently watched Seimei, who was about to attack, and spoke in an inaudible voice.

“Break Array…”

“Boom!”

A loud explosion erupted from the ceiling of the Grand Hall. A blue beam of light pierced through the ceiling and shot down, directly hitting one of Seimei’s clones and exploding. Amidst the spiritual explosion, one array node of Seimei’s magical array was destroyed, and it suffered a powerful spiritual backlash from the blast, instantly shattering. All the clones vanished, and the shackles restraining Miketsu and Onikiri disappeared without a trace. Seimei, suffering from the backlash, directly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Onikiri, now free, parried Hakuzosu’s attack at the last moment. Seimei, with blood still on his lips, looked resentfully towards the hole in the ceiling above, where the sudden spiritual light beam had intruded.

That hole went straight through the roof of the entire Grand Hall, leading outside. Looking out from the hole inside the hall, one could clearly see the tip of the Five-Story Pagoda of the Astronomical Pavilion in the distance.

At this moment, within the Onmyoryo, some six or seven hundred meters away from the Grand Hall, at the top of the Five-Story Pagoda of the Astronomical Pavilion, a girl stood. The high-altitude wind ruffled her dark hair, tied into a single bundle, and the sleeves of her miko attire. In her hand, she held an Azusa bow, its string now slack after firing. Her sharp eyes were fixed intently on the distant Grand Hall.

Kikyo took another arrow from the quiver on her back, nocked it onto the bowstring, and drew it taut again. Blue spiritual power surged into the arrow, causing it to pulsate like an electric arc.

The next arrow was already poised to strike.

…

Inside the dark cavern, a massive magical array covered the entire rugged ground.

The faint glow of the array illuminated the darkness within the cave. Yura and the Onmyoji, whose spiritual power was suppressed, were trapped in the center of the array. In the darkness, countless yokai wildly rushed towards the center of the array, intending to devour the humans there, but they were all cut down by the cold, pink-haired girl wielding a naginata.

Qin Xin swung her long naginata, occasionally switching to different masks to unleash abilities, countering wave after wave of surprise attacks from various angles in the darkness, protecting the weakened Onmyoji.

In the darkness, a hidden Seimei clone watched the fighting girl and murmured.

“Come on… I want to see how long you can last with such a burden, Hao’s little shikigami… My arrangements in this cave are not something a slightly stronger shikigami can easily handle…”