A few minutes earlier…
"Bink-San. Are you sure that whatever is up ahead is really causing the interference?"
"Yea. No doubt about it."
"I thought I knew these woods better than anyone but I never been this deep…"
Crow speaks out as he glances around at all the several kinds of colorful and lush vegetation. Right after having crossed the intersection in the hills between the woods and Merry High. The trio made their way into the most secluded part of the forest closer to the feet of Mt Jolly.
"That's because the area closer to the mountain's entrance is off-limits. I heard from a former senior that there are apparently rumors of many endangered animals and predators making it their lair. Including the risk of bumping over a very dangerous mythical creature lurking around usually accompanied by a grizzly bear the deeper you get. They called him the natural enemy of all women or something like that…"
"Then why does the area look so deserted?"
"I dunno about you two but something about this place feels oddly soothing for a demon like me…"
"Caw! Caw!"
A familiar raven is seen circling around the sky over a few meters away.
"Oh! Looks like Karasu found something!"
Once the Sacred Beast noticed them waving back at him. Karasu flies towards the trio.
"By the way Crow-San. Why do you know so about this place if the area here is so closed off?"
Crow scratches the back of his head in embarrassment as he answered:
"…I sometimes come here to hunt or forage for sustenance when I'm short on money. Don't tell my little sister I've fed her rabbit stew or else she'll cry and never forgive me. Now that I think about it. Usami-San might even punish me severely if he finds out about that too."
"I see…Wait. I don't remember ever seeing arrows nor a bow user back in the headquarters. What did you hunt them with?"
"How come do you know about that? You been spying on us?"
Agnicia raises an eyebrow in suspicion.
"N-No no no! Don't get me wrong! I just spend a lot of time in the armory and fantasize about what your rookies could beat me up with for their training when I'm bored..."
"I honestly wouldn't believe it…if it didn't came from anyone other than you."
"Thanks for the compliment Agi-Chan."
"That wasn't a compliment and pretty sure I ordered you and Sensei to stop calling me...haah. never mind."
Karasu swoops in after hearing their conversation and butts in as he lands on Bink's shoulder.
"Couldn't help but overhear the conversation! Check this out Speedo! The situation once got so desperate that brat decided to make a bow out of driftwood and took off with a box of nails, some duct tape and a bunch of brooms from Arcadia's closet!"
"Please don't tell him the story on how I ended up getting the-"
"That's not even the best part! He even had the ingenious idea of using the frame and strap of a bra to reinforce and make the string! So he went to one of the 'gifted' girls in HQ and actually requested her underwear with the straightest of faces! Right in front of everyone too!"
"No way! You kidding right?!"
"I'm not creative enough like Sensei to make shit up like this! Despite having absolutely no context nor even asking him why. Fidgeting with a flushed face. That chick actually went ahead and gave it to him! Panties included! No questions asked!"
"Amazing! Lucky SOB! Who was the lady?"
As if waiting for that question. The bird smugly smirked, puffed out his chest and flares his nostrils pridefully.
"Heh. Why don't you ask the armored tomboy right behind-MHPH!"
"…Why don't we shut up and focus on the task at hand for now? Who knows? There might something even more dangerous than the rumored creature hiding in plain sight."
Despite the vein on her forehead looking as if it was about to jump out at any moment. Agnicia asked with a serene look on her face and smile while forcefully closing Karasu's beak.
"…Yes Ma'am."
"KAW!KAW!"
Annoyed and struggling for air. The raven cawed while beating his wings incessantly.
"Quiet or else I'm plucking all of your feathers away one by one!"
"Sh‼! You three. I think I found our target!"
Crow suddenly shoves his arms in front of them. They then prepared themselves for a battle or trap awaiting them. But the only thing awaiting them was nothing but a strange golden and black ornate twin bladed spear stabbing through the ground with its onyx blades. A black gooey mass and liquid could be seen dripping and being expelled from the blade while being directly injected into the soil underneath.
"That's an Animus Stake! What is this thing doing here?!"
Bink tilts his in confusion at Agnicia statement.
"Anime…Steak? What you talking about Agi-Chan? You hungry or something? I have some beef jerky inside my suit if you want-"
"No thanks. I would rather starve to death."
"…Okay."
She de facto answers it outright as Bink holds back a single tear as he was about to reach to underneath the single piece clothing that still constitutes as part of his body. Crow explains it in her stead:
"That's an ancient artifact meant to amplify one sensibility and attunement towards Mana. To the point even the regular person would be able to reach enlightenment, grasp the concept of magic and cast spells without any problem. There's supposedly only three of them in the whole world. I read that one was broken during the Blackheart Calamity and the other is safely stashed somewhere in our arsenal."
Hearing their explanation caused the confused look on Bink expression turn sour for some reason.
"Something feels off about it though-Hey!"
"…They can also be used to suppress such things to certain extent. Even tamper with one's soul."
Despite their warning. Bink added as he casually reaches towards the spear once he recognized the object in front of him. A grave dour look upon his face. He tried to tug on the stuck blade but it didn't even budge from its place.
(…I see. So that's they were called. No wonder I didn't recognized it. It looks completely different from when I used it on myself. How did this thing ended up here in the first place? I thought it was under 'his' possession after allowing me to escape Hell…)
"…It's corrupted and warped beyond repair. Neither of you or even Lena-San would be able to purify something of this magnitude. It would be better if we disposed of it before it fell into the wrong hands."
"Corrupted…Wait! Could it be being used to pollute all of the Ley Lines in town?"
"It would certainly explain why the Mind Mail system isn't working properly."
"What do you mean?"
Out of the loop. Bink asked them. Still not prying his eyes away from the Bident.
"The Mind Mail sender uses said lines to fast travel around the world until they locate the closest point to the receiver. Next, once it finds that out. They track the receiver's mana in order for the message then reach their conscience."
"…Nozomi-San…The former Valkyrie surely knew what she was doing when she came up with this. One mistake and you could end up altering entire landscapes or frying someone brain by accident…"
While Bink was distracted mulling and still holding the ornamented shaft in his hands. The blade suddenly began to crackle with red lighting.
"We should be careful. We still have no idea why this was left here in the first place. For all we know this still could be a trap-"
*BZZZTTT!‼*
"Bink-San stand ba-"
"HYAHH‼!"
Faster than they could react. Large amounts of electricity poured out of the stake and blew everyone away. Bink collided against Karasu and they crashed against a tree while Crow and Agnicia barely able to steady their footing so the same didn't happen to them.
"Is everyone okay?"
"That was close…"
"You tell me. If I was single second later you would've been a goner Agi-Chan."
"…My apologies. It seems that we let our guard down a bit."
Once it calmed. The lance had split into three parts.
Agnicia ended kneeling down due to the aftershock. One of the torn blades were a few inches away from her helmet slit and merely being held back with Bink's elongated tongue while he was still hanging onto a tree branch. The other was lodged against his skull but showed no signs of piercing nothing deeper than his scalp. The lance's shaft rolled next to Crow's feet while he helped the Valkyrie stand up straight.
"To be suddenly struck by lightning out of nowhere. Was this really an enemy trap after all?"
"…Nope. That wasn't it."
Karasu answers as he landed on his partner's head before continuing.
"Rather than being struck from the skies. It's more like lighting surged off the ground instead."
"That doesn't make any sense though! For something like that to invade a Ley Line and be forcibly overload like that would require incredibly absurd amounts of Mana to-"
It was then that the four of them had immediately noticed something happening far behind them and they turned their simultaneously.
An immense amount of ominous Mana and the darkened skies congregated around a certain school a few miles away from their location as if something had awakened there. Just sensing it sent a tingle down their spines.
"…Its very faint due to being drowned by that dark aura but I can sense Ai and Setsuna's mana mixed in there too."
"Forget the artifact for now. We have to hurry!"
While the pair runs towards that direction. Bink then retracts the blade stuck on his head as he stares absents mindedly into the red lighting and the black-clad skies above.
(This intense presence and stark aura…! It can't possibly be-This means the Tsunaboshi really are-)
"Oi! Earth to Speedo! We gotta get going! Save thinking for later! That ain't your forte!"
Karasu waves his wings in front of his face and pulling the demon away from his thoughts.
"Ri-Right!"
The two then proceed to catch up…
*****
An hour later. At the Blushing Maiden board room…
"…These are the overall profits margin we have consistently made monthly in the last three years and those are without including the extra revenue made from the prize money Master earned from contests over her entire career. Which I must remind that she made sure to fully invest back into the company. In front of each of you is the complete financial report and our future projections. As you all can see from that. We are more than well equipped to finally expand our horizons onto other countries…with the help of all of you in the room of course."
Usami explains while conducting a slide presentation flawlessly in front of a room full of people seated in front of him. They were all shareholders, distributors, bureaucrats and even some famous politicians from overseas found amongst then.
One of those men grew dubious while reading the report and beckoned for the neatly dressed man standing behind him. Pointing at a specific section on the report and whispers into his ear asking something in his mother language.
Usami himself interrupts his speech to cut the interlocutor off before he was able to answer and retorted the man's question in his stead using the same foreign language while also reassuring his concerns at the same time.
The man eyes widened with surprise but before he was able to say anything else. The lady seated on the opposite raises her hand and asks Usami a question in yet another language in a heavy dialect of which he again had no problem responding using the same tongue.
Bombarded with one question after another. Usami pressed on while on the other end of the room. His Master silently remained observant while taking some notes and sometimes glancing at her phone next to her every once in a while.
(I hope Sensei and the girls are doing okay…)
(I'm sure those three are more than capable to handles themselves. You should be more worried on what you are gonna say after I'm done Master. I'm merely doing a sales pitch. You're the one who gonna have to do all the convincing and seal the deal…)
(…I thought it was your idea that we all agreed not peeking into each other's minds anymore unless we were merged or in a fight.)
Lena diverts her attention back to her butler who's haven't stopped talking with others despite still communicating from inside her head.
(My apologies Master. But after hearing about Maroon Dust and Sensei's reaction. I had to make sure you were still focused on the conference. Botching this meeting could potentially set back our goals for at least a couple of years…Scheduling the time between all these influential figures here was almost as hard as forcing that Moronic Bear to wear a suit.)
(You don't have to worry about me Usami-Kun! Guaranteed! I already have it all prepared on this note right here-Oh? I just received a Mind Mail from...Setsuna-San?)
Lena then stares at her butler face who subtly nods at her before turning his head back at his conversation and as the message unfolds inside her mind.
(It's just her sobbing and desperately begging for help so I can't make out what she's saying…did something happen-Another one from Hide! There's nothing written but there's an image attached to-‼!)
*SLAM!!!*
Lena suddenly stood up and slammed her hands hard against the desk with her head downcast, hiding her facial expressions. Her chair practically flung away. Causing all the eyes in the room to divert their focus back at her in both confusion and astonishment. Usami then also widened his eyes in shock and gasped once he saw the message sent to his master.
Her skin was pale and the color in her teary eyes was drained in an instant.
"…This meeting is over."
Saying nothing more than that and looking as if she had saw a ghost. Lena bursts out of the room like a bullet.
"I'm very sorry. Please excuse us..."
Having somewhat lost his usual calm composure. Usami apologetically bows before leaving everyone in the room behind and hurriedly chases after his runaway boss.
By the time he had caught up to her. Lena was already standing outside in the middle the parking lot despite the heavy downpour drenching her from top to bottom looking for her ride that was nowhere to be found. Then there was a light quickly approaching from the street ahead.
A familiar white limo came at full throttle towards them and suddenly turned while still in high speed. The gained momentum caused it to flip midair, leap over the large rows of cars and perfectly land in front of them without a single scratch.
*THUNK!*
"GET IN‼"
Belgrim shouted as the passenger door opened and they entered the vehicle without a moment of hesitation. Soon as the passenger seats were occupied and they closed the door beside them.
"Belgrim!"
"I know! Leave it to me!"
Understanding what his master was about to order without needing any further instructions. The panda stepped onto the accelerator with all his might and sped throughout the streets. Repeatedly cutting through corners, traffic lights and the other cars. Not allowing the continuous stream of rain, honks, insults or police sirens to stop them for anything in the world…