The night was dark and quiet. There was no moon and stars in the sky as dark clouds reigned.
It was already past midnight. Some part of the city hasn't sleep and some night workers were just getting ready to work the graveyard shift.
Kaboom!
A sudden explosion went off in Aoyama Cemetery a few blocks away from Nogizaka Station.
Two giant foxes in the size of a horse dashed out the gate, leaving behind clouds of smoke in the cemetery.
One was greenish with sparks yellow electric around it, the other was bluish and had waving fur as if the wind was blowing along its body. At the tip of their tails was a ball of fire burning in a shallow green and blue color respectively.
Both foxes paused for a while when they got out of the cemetery, they sniffed around and exchanged gaze before running towards a single direction.
Each step the foxes took, a trail of lightning and little cyclone would be left behind.
After the two foxes jumped across the rail to the next street, Akira and Mako came out from the exit with clouds of dust behind them.
"Cough, damn it. Those sneaky vixens! Who would've thought a pair of spirit foxes are hiding in the graves." Akira tapped the dust away from his shoulder and looked towards the direction where the foxes ran off.
"Cough, I told you not to catch them with your hands and you had to act like you are some expert. Look what you did now, you startled them!" Mako too tapped off the dust from her head and glared at Akira.
"Now, now, I do pet cats very well. Come on, stop complaining, we got ourselves a pair of vixen to catch." Akira smiled.
"Tsk, it's a different type of animal you moron and you owe me lunch!"
Mako gave Akira the side-eye and Akira replied by a shrug.
Jokes aside, both of them understood what trouble would the pair of spirit foxes cause if they were left unchecked.
Both of them tapped their feet. White spiritual energy flowed down Akira's leg and enveloped his feet, orange spiritual energy did the same for Mako.
The spiritual energy strengthened their feet and granted them enhanced movement speed, superior jumping and landing abilities plus lightened weight. It was the reason why an exorcist could easily jump on roofs and shuttle across streets with superhuman speed.
Akira and Mako put up a running stance and sprinted away at the direction the spirit foxes ran off. The cloud of dust behind them was dispersed by the sudden gale when they dashed.
Akira and Mako sprinted swiftly, their movements were light as a feather and fast as bird.
The two giant foxes galloped across the streets like an animal being returned to the wild.
Despite the two giant foxes ran like horses, Akira and Mako gradually caught up with them.
"Akira, we can't catch them in their current state, defeated them first before you try anything stupid again." Mako reminded Akira again when they got the two foxes in sight.
"Aye, aye, madam." Akira answered.
It was Akira's second official assignment from the society. One of the regular shrine worshippers told Mako's grandfather, Samuro, about the unusual wind and electric sparks in the cemetery during her visit. Shinzo then assigned Akira as the leader of the assignment and investigate the unusual sightings, Mako was support this round.
Then, during their investigation at the cemetery, Akira accidentally tripped over and disturbed one of the offerings for the gravestone.
Sparks of electricity started to flash over the cemetery and a cold wind blew.
The two of them were cautious for a moment before they saw two spirit foxes.
It was not uncommon for animals to appear in spirit form, but for them to possess element, it was quite rare as it will boost their power quite a bit.
Akira thought he got the situation under control as he tried to pet the foxes, but it ended not too well, hence the explosion of wind and electric earlier.
The electric and wind spirit foxes saw Akira and Mako were chasing after them.
They exchanged a tacit glance and accelerated. The wind and electric sparks in the foxes trail got stronger—the trees would wave violently and street lamps would burst.
"Seems like they are aware. Better deal with them quickly before they cause anymore trouble."
"Already on it, madam!"
Mako was afraid the rampant foxes would cause further trouble, to the point that both of them couldn't control.
Akira assured her, he further channeled his spiritual energy to his feet and boosted his speed.
He was rapidly gaining on the two foxes and when he was at an optimal distance to grab them, Akira jumped up high.
"Gotcha!"
Akira was aiming to land on one of the foxes' back but before he could, the foxes wisely took a hard brake and stopped at a crossroad—gust of wind and sparks of electric flew out in all directions when they stopped.
"Eh!? What in the…"
Akira missed both the foxes and landed on the ground but he didn't quite stick his landing properly so he tumbled further away like a human bowling ball.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! That hurts!"
Akira tumbled a few meters away from his landing spot.
The two foxes saw the funny scene and somehow chuckled.
"Don't laugh you vixens!" Akira had dust all over his face and grunted at the foxes.
Mako caught up to them and stood behind the foxes.
"Akira, what are you doing, are you okay?"
"These vixens tricked me!"
Akira stood up and pouted while he tapped the dust away from his body.
The two foxes were surrounded back and forth by Mako and Akira, but since they were at a crossroad, there were ways for them to escape.
Another quick tacit glance later at each other, the two foxes split up—the wind one ran to the right and the electric one ran to the left.
"W-Wait, what? Are they allowed to do that?" Akira was stupefied by the sudden split.
"Damn it, they've split up." Mako said.
"It's obvious isn't it!"
"Akira, you go left, I'll go right. Put on your earpiece, and don't try anything stupid before you defeat them."
Mako then sprinted to the right and went after the wind spirit fox.
"Har? What the... Daaaaaamn it!"
Akira grunted again before he ran after the electric spirit fox.
The two spirit foxes had ran almost 3 km away from the cemetery before they split up.
The direction where the wind spirit fox ran to was the hill and eventually led to the forest.
However, the direction where the electric fox ran to was towards the city, especially towards the district where nightlife was well-known, Roppongi.
The electric spirit fox jumped over rails and slopes and was moving towards the populated area in constant speed.
"Hey Mako, Sparky is running towards the bars and clubs. Maybe it's trying to get something to drink."
Akira spoke to Mako through the earpiece after he realized where the fox was running towards.
"You better stop Sparky there before it reaches the crowd, otherwise you'll have a lot of work to do and a lot of scolding from your grandfather."
Mako's voice came through the earpiece and entered Akira's ear.
"Ehh! Guess I'll have to put on 10% of my seriousness!"
Akira chuckled and jumped off the rail as he shortened the distance with the electric spirit fox.
Aoyama Cemetery was located at the edge of the residential area, there were almost no people on the street when the first explosion went off and it didn't startled the sleeping residents.
However, as the electric spirit fox sprinted towards crowded area, people started to appear in the streets, lights were still on in certain houses.
Should the electric fox went rampant in populated area, the situation would go out of control and it was something Akira didn't wish to see, but regardless of how fast he chased after the electric spirit fox, he was still falling short.
A fox has four legs, Akira has two, so…
Nevertheless, Akira gave his best in catching up and they were sprinting towards a convenience store.
A drunkard walked out of the door after buying a pack of cigarettes. He held it in his mouth as he was trying to find the lighter to light it up, but he seemed to have lost it at the club earlier.
Suddenly, a spark of electricity ran through the street in front of him.
Despite being intoxicated, the drunkard noticed the unusual electric spark that happened before his eyes and before he could react, the electric fox ran past his sight together with Akira behind it.
The drunkard blankly looked at the unusual duo ran past his sight, and because of the sparks of electric, his cigarette was lighted.
He took a puff and said, "I think drank too much…"
The electric trail behind the fox was grew stronger as it ran, it started to affect household electric current.
A gamer was playing with his PS4 in his room. It was late but it was just the beginning for him as he was cleaving through waves of monsters in his game.
Suddenly, the light in his room started to flicker, followed by his TV and console before a blackout.
"W-What? I DIDN'T SAVE YET!" the gamer jumped up frustrated.
He wanted to head to the living room but he suddenly noticed sparks of electric at his window.
He curiously got closer, looked out the window and saw a giant fox in the size of a horse with electric sparks around its paws and trail ran past his house. He also saw another person chasing the giant fox with a stick.
"Uh...What?" the gamer was stunned.
…
"Hey, Sparky slow down will ya, you'll run into the humans if you go any further."
Akira called out loudly while he wielded his Bladestaff like a cat toy at the electric spirit fox.
The electric spirit fox gave him the side-eye, it ran faster, jumped over another rail and was reaching the bridge which connects the residential district and commercial district.
"Sparky doesn't seems to like the 'cat toy'." Akira said.
After another jumping off another slope, the electric spirit fox gilded and landed on the bridge.
It landed all four of its paws firmly at one end of the bridge with a little electric splashed around during the landing.
However, before it could continue running, its animal instinct picked up a dangerous presence.
It quickly put up a cautious stance and gazed towards the middle of the bridge.
A dark figure was slowly walking out from the shadows and into the light.
The figure, which turned out to resemble a man, was wearing a black long wind coat with high collar. He had a fedora hat and a black scarf over his mouth, which blocked his face except for his eyes.
The man in black stepped into the light and noticed the electric fox further ahead. He didn't seem surprised at the electric spirit fox though, he stood under the streetlamp and gazed at the fox with a blank gaze.
The electric fox on the other hand felt like it met its natural predator, it grew even more cautious and expanded its front legs a little. More sparks of electric emanated from its body, it was growling and bared fangs at the man.
The man in black didn't move, neither was he surprised. He sized up the giant fox carefully.
After the fox's eyes flashed, it jumped up and threw itself at the man.
A trail of electric spark arched over the air as it jumped over, but before it could get near to the man…
BANG!
A kick landed on its head and pushed it down to the ground.
It was Akira with his sudden fly kick! He descended from above and nullified the fox's attack.
A field of electric sparks burst outwards when the fox's head hit the ground.
After the fox was pinned down on the ground, Akira tiptoed, performed a backward flip in mid-air and landed in front of the man in black.
"Now, now, I can't allow you to attack people. I know you don't mean ill but you must control yourself." Akira put one hand around his waist and the other held his Bladestaff up straight. He shook his head at the fox.
"Hey, are you okay, don't be afraid, I'll protect you."
He then turned around to the man in black, trying to make sure he wasn't hurt, but when he saw the man, other than the cold, sharp eyes, Akira couldn't sense anything, as though he was looking at a shadow.
"Um, hello? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Did the fox scare you out of your mind?" Akira waved at the man but the man did not even budge, let alone react.
Akira furrowed his brows, he wanted to talk more to the man but before he could, a faint electric spark ran through his feet.
"Ho ho, still trying to resist are you?"
Akira posted a 'pause' gesture at the man before he turned back to the fox with a grin.
The fox had stood up, the electric sparks grew stronger and brighter, to the point that it killed the lamps on the bridge.
Grrrr!
The fox continued to growl heavily.
"I think you should step back, it's going to get a little bit fierce." Akira said without looking back to the man.
The man took a few steps back as told and continued to watch Akira with his cold eyes.
Akira sensed the gaze but he wasn't too concerned about it because there was a freaking electric fox in the size of a horse before his eyes.
The electric spark around the fox got more violent as the tension grew and then it barked.
Rorf!
A blast of lightning was fired out from its mouth.
"Counter Shield!"
Akira quickly swung his Bladestaff forward, formed a shield of light and absorbed the blast of lightning, then it was reflected back to the fox in the form of light.
Light was faster than electric.
Akira managed to block the lightning attack but the fox was a little too slow, the ball of light exploded right above its head.
Blinding light exploded, it shed light over the rather dark bridge, and the fox's head was covered by a cloud of white smoke.
However, before the cloud of white smoke dispersed, the electric fox jumped up high into the sky.
"So that's how you want to play huh?" Akiran smiled and jumped up to the sky.
The electric fox extended its claw while Akira wielded his Bladestaff into a defense posture.
Upon clashing, a sphere of lightning exploded in all directions and a little contest of strength later, they split up.
Akira landed on the rail of the bridge and jumped back into battle, so did the electric fox.
Both of them exchanged blows in the air for a few times.
The man in black calmly watched Akira fought the fox, his eyes seemed to be in deep thoughts.
After exchanging a fifth blow, Akira landed at the opposite site while the electric fox got closer to the man in black.
The fox immediately turned around to the man in black and performed a lightning paw attack.
Akira was prepared for this before he landed, so while he was still in mid-air, he charged up his spiritual energy into his hand and he tapped his hand on the ground the moment he landed.
"Amaterasu Ascend, Light Chain!"
Multiple white chains formed by Akira's spiritual energy sprung out from the ground and they precisely bound the fox's limbs, preventing it from attacking the man.
"Go! Leave this place!"
Akira shouted at the man to urge him away after he managed to stop the attack, but the man still did not move. He couldn't help but frowned at the man, "Hey, what's your problem, you have something in mind? Mind telling me so I can help you to NOT DIE?"
The electric fox struggled to break free from the chains and with its strength of a horse, the chains were shaking and was on the brink of breaking.
The man still did not respond at all.
"Tsk, weird people nowadays." Akira sprinted towards the electric fox.
He had to take out the furious spirit fox quickly before it could harm the man, so he channeled his spiritual energy into his Bladestaff.
As he sprinted towards the fox, the tip of his Bladestaff shined brighter and when he was at optimal distance, he jumped up, performed a mid-air spin and swung his bright Bladestaff at the fox's head.
The tip of his Bladestaff was as bright as a high-powered flashlight, it precisely landed on the fox's head and a ring of light exploded upon impact.
The heavy impact threw the fox sideways, the chains around its limbs were instantly broken off by the pull and the fox landed on the rail of the bridge. Another large electrical sphere exploded, and it caused the remaining lights on the bridge to flicker.
Bang!
The rail of the bridge sustained a heavy blow, it was heavily bent outwards but it managed to keep the giant fox from falling into the river.
The electric fox was knocked out by the heavy blow, but before it closed its eyes, it spared its last bit of energy for a gaze at the man in black.
Akira, on the other hand, was sweating and breathing heavily, that heavy blow that he performed consumed quite the amount of spiritual energy. He would have prolonged the battle and not exhaust his spiritual energy this quickly if there wasn't a civilian caught in the battle.
Akira mustered enough strength to go over to the unconscious fox, he then pulled out a talisman charm, charged it with his white spiritual energy and drew a hexagon pattern above the fox's head. A faint white hexagon lingered in the space above the fox's head before it lit up with many more runes around it.
"Wild spirit, be at rest, be free and leave this world. May the light guide you through the darkest path."
"Ha!"
White light shone brightly and the unconscious fox started to disintegrate into yellow particles.
Panting, Akira turned to the man in black, "Hey man, I know I am not your friend or someone close, but you could've suffered an injury from the fox, why didn't you go?"
He hoped to get some answers to the questions in his mind, but the man in black did not answer, instead he stared at the spot where the spirit fox disintegrated.
"You… What's there?"
Akira was attracted by the unusual reaction, so he turned back to the spirit fox.
The body of the spirit fox had disintegrated into particles but something was left behind after its body vanished: a yellow fang.
"Huh? That's something new." Akira was surprised about the leftovers.
He then turned back to the man in black but to his surprise, the man in black was nowhere to be found, as if he had vanished into thin air.
"W-What the? How? When? Is he a ghost? But he doesn't feel like one?"
Akira was astonished by the sudden disappearance, but since he knew nothing about the man and he managed to complete his mission, he didn't go search for the man.
Shrugged, Akira went over to the bent rail and picked up the yellow fang.
Akira then clicked on his earpiece to contact Mako.
"Mako, I'm done with Sparky. How are you doing?"
"Akira, I'm almost done here… just a little bit more…. HYAK!"
A sudden explosion of wind came from the forest after Mako replied Akira.
The trees were shaken, the startled birds flew away from their nests.
"Wow is that you? What happened?" Akira was startled by the explosion.
"Phew, finally done with Windy here. I'm done Akira, let's meet up." Mako's voice sounded from the earpiece.
"Roger that, madam."
He pressed the earpiece again, tossed the yellow fang into his pocket and headed back towards the forest but before he does, he turned around and glanced over the bridge again.
The weird man in black bothered him for a bit, but it wasn't his priority now to find the man.
...
Further away in the shadow of a back alley, the man in black stepped out.
The man looked at the direction where Akira ran off in a calm gaze.
Suddenly, another person appeared from the shadow behind him.
With the limited amount of light from the street lamp, the second person turned out to be possessed Ken.
There was an angry mask over his face when he appeared, he then took it off before he spoke.
"Lord Rei, is that the target?"
The man in black, Rei, nodded.
"I understand."
Ken bowed and stepped back into the shadow.
Rei then walked away.
The night was already dark without the moon, and with Rei's dark attire, he easily vanished into the night.