Half-Self

Heian-kyo. The once clear sky was now completely shrouded by dark clouds. Beneath the gloomy heavens, the entirety of Heian-kyo was enveloped in an illusory glow, and in its four cardinal directions, four different battles were simultaneously unfolding.

In the eastern sky above Heian-kyo, the Great Onmyoji Abe no Seimei floated, supported by jutsu-shiki. His expression was grave as he gazed at the familiar yet strange figure before him, his emotions incredibly complex.

That was his half-self, the other half of his soul, another being in this world who could be called “Abe no Seimei.”

“Heh heh… who do we have here? Oh, it’s just the incorrigible other ‘me’… I never thought you’d be the one standing in my way in the end…” Floating opposite Seimei, Dark Seimei spoke with a cold sneer. Compared to Seimei’s complicated expression, his gaze towards Seimei was filled with disdain… even revulsion.

“Our meeting was inevitable…” Facing Dark Seimei, Seimei replied calmly.

“Indeed, an inevitable meeting. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time. I’ve imagined for ages… what would the other ‘me’ be like?” Dark Seimei continued, the coldness in his eyes deepening.

“Now it seems, you’re even more disgusting than I ever imagined…”

Seimei remained unmoved by Dark Seimei’s harsh words, instead speaking plainly.

“You’ve been corrupted by the Evil God. Your current will is not what ‘Seimei’ originally desired. Stop this, you are merely a puppet of the Great Snake…”

Listening to Seimei’s words, Dark Seimei’s brows twitched. He snapped his fan shut and retorted with merciless mockery.

“Puppet? I wonder who the real puppet is! Since childhood, I’ve been ostracized and humiliated by humans because of this hanyo body! Rejected and hunted by yokai! I wanted to retaliate in kind, but that incorrigible mother forced me to learn tolerance and acceptance! I entered the Onmyoryo and surpassed everyone with my talent, yet I was constantly publicly excluded and secretly framed by those incompetent fools because of my bloodline! I wanted to make them pay, but Kamo no Tadayuki forced me to learn about the greater good and self-discipline… They… and this world were the ones pulling my strings! Lord Deity liberated me!”

Dark Seimei’s voice was loud, his emotions agitated. He clenched his folding fan, crushing it to pieces. Facing such a Dark Seimei, Seimei responded calmly.

“I think they were helping me…”

“Nonsense!” Dark Seimei spat coldly. Immediately, a flash of lightning split the sky, a thunderbolt striking directly down from the clouds. Seimei, having sensed the anomaly in spiritual power, had already begun his defense.

“Kotodama: Shield!”

A translucent spherical barrier enveloped Seimei. The lightning bolt from the sky struck the barrier, shattering Seimei’s barrier instantly. However, at the same time, a second bolt of lightning followed.

After the barrier disappeared, Seimei quickly formed hand seals and activated the Lightning-Repelling Incantation. The second lightning bolt grazed past Seimei, missing him. Dark Seimei then sent down a third and fourth bolt. Although Seimei managed to evade them using jutsu-shiki, he felt his spiritual power rapidly depleting from the Lightning-Repelling Incantation. Just evading three bolts had already consumed most of his spiritual power.

After striking four consecutive bolts, a slight pause appeared in Dark Seimei’s barrage. Seimei seized this opportunity to throw several talismans in retaliation, but they were instantly incinerated by the electric arcs around Dark Seimei.

With his counter-attack ineffective, Dark Seimei immediately unleashed three more lightning bolts. After evading the first two with his Lightning-Repelling Incantation, Seimei’s spiritual power was at its limit. The third bolt then struck him mercilessly.

Instantly, all the pre-set protective talismans and defensive jutsu-shiki on Seimei were destroyed. Seimei himself was sent plummeting downwards by the powerful impact, leaving a trail of black smoke in his wake.

Just as Seimei was about to hit the ground, he tremblingly threw out a paper figure. The paper figure burned with ethereal blue flames in the air, and from these flames, a massive white fox with red markings, Hakuzosu, leapt out. Hakuzosu precisely caught Seimei mid-air, then slowly descended, paws treading on fire, finally landing on the ground.

“Lord Seimei… are you alright?!”

“Hmph… thank you… Little White…” The weak Seimei tumbled off Hakuzosu’s back, smelling of scorch. If not for the numerous protective jutsu-shiki and talismans he had prepared beforehand, that direct lightning strike would have killed him. Now, however, those last-resort life-saving measures were utterly gone under the lightning’s assault.

The human Great Onmyoji, even against a great yokai or a Yokai Lord, would find it extremely difficult to cope, let alone a Divine General. Their energy scales were not on the same level. A Divine General’s strength could rival that of a modern god without the divine authority of a war god.

“Hmph, is this all you can manage? How utterly fragile. As my half-self, to possess only this much ability truly disgusts me even more…” In the sky, Dark Seimei scoffed as he looked at Seimei on the ground. Those few lightning strikes were merely basic attacks for the power of an Azure Dragon Divine General.

“Die…”

Hakuzosu glared furiously at the sky, shooting several fireballs at Dark Seimei. But Dark Seimei casually unleashed several more lightning bolts. The fireballs were pierced and destroyed by the lightning, which then mercilessly struck Hakuzosu. Hakuzosu howled as he was hit by three consecutive lightning bolts, instantly becoming charred black, his massive body swaying precariously, as if he could collapse at any moment.

Even Hakuzosu, renowned for his defense, could not withstand the power of a Divine General… At this moment, Hakuzosu was teetering, desperately holding on to shield Seimei.

“Pointless loyalty…” Dark Seimei murmured, then prepared to unleash another lightning bolt, intending to strike Hakuzosu dead. In that critical moment, Seimei immediately dispelled the summoning. Hakuzosu vanished in a flash of ethereal blue light, and the descending lightning struck before Seimei, the exploding earth and stone sending Seimei flying, to land on his back.

Looking at the scene below, Dark Seimei smiled faintly, then slowly descended from the sky, landing before Seimei. Looking at the disheveled Seimei lying on the ground, he spoke softly.

“It’s time to end this. I don’t think this world needs two Abe no Seimei.”

Seimei struggled to his feet, weakly looking at his other self, and spoke with concentration.

“Kill me then…”

“Kill? No, if I kill you, I acknowledge you, I acknowledge that another form of Abe no Seimei once existed in this world. But the soul of Abe no Seimei can only exist in one form…”

Dark Seimei whispered, simultaneously chanting an incantation. Accompanied by fluctuations of spiritual power, Dark Seimei extended his right hand, upon which various spell inscriptions now writhed.

“Soul Binding…”

Suddenly, Dark Seimei’s right hand became translucent. He then plunged this translucent hand into Seimei’s chest without hesitation, and with a grasp, a faint soul fire was pulled out by Dark Seimei. Seimei, eyes vacant, collapsed.

Looking at the ball of soul fire, Dark Seimei smiled slightly, then absorbed it into his mouth.