His height was about 175cm and had handsome facial features. His sword let out a sharp glint and cold air as it pointed to the ground.
Anomaly's hand turned to ashes as it scattered and the bodily fluid on the ground rippled before 'poof' and exploded to little pieces.
There were no remains, no bones, no blood, no scent of a corpse, none! This suggested that the Anomaly was only a normal type.
Phew… Narukami was somewhat relieved that someone saved her instead of him.
"Why are you here? Go home, Higuchi. Live a normal life, find yourself a man, have little kids that accompany you in your home, watch them grow, and die in bed peacefully with them on your side. You only waste your breath becoming a sorcerer," he advised. His tone was a bit heavy and emotionless.
"Nii-san…"
[Note: Nii-san means brother (in a more polite way) in Japan.)
Her mouth trembled, she wanted to say something in return yet words won't come out of her throat as though blocked by something.
She cast her gaze to the ground, "I'm sorry." Her voice was quite low but due to the quiet night and lack of vehicles on the road, her words were enhanced and could be heard by Narukami.
He wanted to walk away as the Anomaly had died, he had no reason to stay yet for some reason, he didn't want to go just yet and wanted to see where this was going.
"Sorry won't fix anything. You heard from grandpa, Higuchi.
The only one who could control that thing is me, you simply had to have a normal life. Is that hard to ask? Are you against his decision?"
"No, nii-san. I want to help, that's the only reason."
"You risk your life in this line of work to help me? Then having a normal life is my request. If you can't do that, then don't you dare call me brother again." He turned his body and with his sharp, piercing gaze, he looked at Higuchi. Hatred and anger filled those eyes.
He soon raised his sword, "Perhaps a little pain does the work," he said with an indifferent tone. Her brother swung his sword and Higuchi closed her eyes as she prepared herself for the pain.
She waited for the sharp pain yet nothing happened.
Curious, she opened her eyes and saw someone behind his brother, grabbing his elbow, preventing his brother from injuring her.
The sword was about an inch away from her body!
Her eyes slowly depict the figure who saved her. Slightly dead eyes, emotionless face, black hair, eyes that could cast others away upon eye contact, and slightly better facial features.
"You're really going to swing that thing to her, huh?" Seemingly flat, there was a faint hint of displeasure.
"Narukami-kun… please let him go." She requested and Narukami averted his gaze to her and observed her.
As the figure behind him, Egasaki's brother, Hirohito, could only faintly see who it was.
Knowing she was serious despite her eyes doing their best to look at Narukami but end up averting it.
Narukami opened his palm as he let her brother's elbow go.
Without warning, Hirohito turned his body as he slashed at Narukami! There was a vague killing intention from his eyes. This guy wouldn't mind if he got killed.
"That's close."
The sword cut the empty air as Narukami bent his torso to the back. Should he be a few seconds late, his body would be slashed.
He hurriedly took a few steps back as he retreated. Hirohito narrowed his eyes after knowing his attack just missed.
He stopped as he used a different approach to attack Narukami and then rushed in his way, the following attack was a slash towards Narukami's neck but this time, he attacked him with the dull part of the blade.
Narukami lowered his height as he bent his knees.
Swoosh!
Hirohito showed an opening on his stomach albeit the opening was small
His hair fluttered and took advantage of the opening, Narukami aimed a punch on his liver. It pierced the air and hit him or at least that's what he wanted to happen.
His enemy was a grandmaster of this branch, he made a record of killing over a million Anomalies after five years joining All Beyond!
Henceforth, Narukami's attack hit an empty air as Hirohito, seemingly teleported, showed up a distance away, near Higuchi.
"You move well, did you join any special training program?"
"Piano and calligraphy." Narukami hurriedly answered with no hesitation. Knowing that Narukami didn't have the intention to answer, Hirohito changed the topic.
"Do you remember the Mabashi Shrine accident?"
This made Narukami suspicious. The person in front of him should know very well that he participated in it and the event happened a few months ago. Should Narukami forgot it, either the accident itself wasn't interesting or he had a bad memory.
Either way, why did Hirohito ask? Regardless of the reason, Narukami replied with a simple nod.
"After thorough investigation. We figured out that most of the important clues came from an unknown source. We are doing our best looking for it and all we found is a golden brooch."
A direct approach… Narukami grasped his intention silently.
It seems they found it although a bit faster and right now, perhaps that thing is sealed deep underground, as expected of All Beyond. Even a small branch works efficiently, but no matter. I have no use of it anymore.
That thing is more complicated and dangerous than it seemed. It appeared to be attracted towards this city…
Still, I mustn't underestimate Hirohito. He already put his nose onto me, tracing me like a dog.
All of the above was referring to the accident which led Ryu to gain his power. It was a global scale threat. It involved many powerhouses and to keep the peace of the city from them.
Narukami had to use a supernatural item that was heaven-defying with a big consequence when using it.
"Why are you telling me this? I'm only a rank two sorcerer." He acted like he didn't know.
"You contributed a lot to this accident, for that reason. You rose in ranks and became a captain, in such a young age at that. You're more talented than your biography suggested." Amidst the showering praise, Hirohito's eyes were prying into Narukami, searching for a slight change of his expression but didn't discover anything.
You're a million years behind me, don't think you could get something from me.
I could tell that by bringing that brooch as a topic, you're hoping to get a clue from me, hoping that I know who the unknown source is and tell you my speculation.
Should that be the case, the higher ranks would notice it earlier. Oh well, you're lucky today as you are currently looking at the person, Narukami was able to grasp the meaning of Hirohito's words.
He was a bit proud of himself, for the fact he could trick those who seemingly call themselves powerhouses but in truth old fools sitting behind a desk, away from the battlefield, who strictly abiding traditions and don't want to change.
Scared of the changes and stagnating growth, why don't they let the young generation take over? Narukami sighed silently as he lampooned.
Well anyway, on the surface, he provided clues in words as though a smart detective and on the other hand, using that golden brooch, acting as the unknown source, deliberately left clues in different items, people, places, and time.
Narukami complimented them for the fact they have people with good brains in them, him acting as if a detective was to make sure they didn't misinterpret his clues. Only involve himself when truly had to.
"I'm only doing what I'm supposed to do."
On a serious note, that accident left me with many questions. That shrine, the hidden dangers of this city, the true reason Anomalies existed and that brooch somewhat connected with my past life which was before my first reincarnation, as well as the reason why I kept reincarnated.
Before his first reincarnation, Narukami lost his memories but the only thing left in his mind was his name and his 'role'.
One could guess what it was should one know his story in his five lives. Not a single time Narukami could let humans in those worlds go extinct!