Meido Territory was a type of sub-dimension that appeared when the world of humans touched the world of spirits for a certain amount of time. It was just in-between the two worlds, existing until the territory was closed down or everything in it ceases to exist inside, i.e. get out.
While in Midnight Realm, many ayakashi lived alongside humans, they weren't hostile and had lived alongside humanity for years unlike those from inside the territory who were coming directly from the Netherworld.
Before the Great Renewal 10 years ago, the amount of Meido territories opening around the world had been dismal. They opened rarely and never long enough to cause harm. But after the events of that day, when the human world formed a connection with the worlds beyond the veil once again. The amount of Meido territory shot up considerably from once a year to several times a month in random places.
To counter that, the Violet Moon council of international Midnight realm leaders, created a task force specialized in taking down Meido Gates.
One such team was the team currently working to rescue Harukami Shuuji and Officer Kunichi. They were made of two exorcists and one priest as per normal in a 3 man cell. So when the territory was found, Ritsuka had called up the best team she knew of for Irina.
Hoping that they would clear the A grade domain fast enough to save the people inside.
And now, the rescue team operating under one Irina Rostavich raced through the halls, deeper into the territory. And the further they went, the stronger onryo around them became.
For the moment they were stuck dealing with swarms of C grades that came pouring out relentlessly. Ango, the leader of the rescue team, panted as he got rid of yet another onryo that had snuck past his defenses.
There were too many of them to deal with completely and they were losing time. He looked over to his teammates fighting their way through the swarm before cursing loudly.
He took a deep breath.
"COLONEL!! LEAVE US BEHIND! WE'LL DEAL WITH THEM!!"
Ango didn't wait for a response, instead he ordered his team to form a triangle.
"LICHT! RIGHT, WAKABA LEFT! WE'LL PUSH FORWARD!!!"
"ROGER THAT!"
"YES SIR!!!"
The rescue team moved, doing their best to contain the fight in one place but no matter how long they fought, the number of onryo didn't decrease. They surrounded the team from all sides, leaving them no choice but to continue hunting.
Ango wasn't sure of how long they were there but time blurred when fighting and with the way everything was beginning to ache, numerous wounds covered them all from head to toe. He could tell his team was beginning to strain under the pressure.
Tension skyrocketed between them and the never ending stream of the corrupted spirits that continued to drag them down. The leader of the team coughed as powder of the mushroom onryo was suddenly thrown at his face.
Several onryo tackled the distracted man down . Ango groaned as his back head hit the ground with an impact. He didn't get the chance to recover as he was instantly attacked by the vile spirits. He struggled, wrestling with the onryo, to try and get free.
He punched the mushroom one on top of him with a reiki covered fist before he tried to stand up but was tackled by another one.
Ango growled under his breath, his eyes going blurry, hands shaking as the powder he inhaled started to take effect.
He tried to stave off the effects as much as possible with his reiki while also fighting to get up yet he knew it was an hopeless endeavor. His reiki was wavering by the minute and more onryo continued to pile up on him. The only thing Ango could do in this situation was struggle uselessly.
'I hope Colonel Rostavich got the hostages out safely.' He thought. His struggles waned and he ignored the cries of his teammates
"CAPTAIN!!!"
Ango's eyes fluttered closed just as the ground shook with such force from an explosion.
'Explosion?'
Dark eyes snapped open in time to see the onryo piling on him burn down to crisp. Flames licked away at Ango's skin without burning. The dark haired man hurriedly scrambled up, searching for the source of these flames.
He didn't have to search for long, for the owner of the ever burning crimson flames stood in the middle of the hallway. Her short brown hair burned fierce orange as the lion as black as the night roared beside her.
Irina Rostavich stood there in all her glory, like the Goddess of Battle she was spoken to be. Around her, the onryo circled, too wary to attack the unknown that entered the battle.
His team bounded over to Ango, their eyes never leaving the visage of Irina, awe clear in their expressions.
It reminded him that, though the woman before them was young, she was still one of the strongest champions in the world. One of the seven that were said to be the closest thing to the ancient warriors that walked upon this earth.
He watched the sharp red tinted blue eyes gaze at him, swallowing when blood coated lips stretched into a smirk.
"Go ahead huh captain? As if I would abandon a comrade."
"Colonel-" Ango started but Irina dismissed him by turning away to face the crowd of onryo in front of them.
"No need to say anything. Instead, watch and learn."
The black lion swirls into a ribbon of black metal before weaving itself into something new in the hands of her partner. Irina now held a razor sharp bladed sai(*1).
She gave the weapon a few experimental waves before leaping forward with incredible speed.
"LASH OUT DARWISHI!!"
Ango could only describe what happened next as a one sided massacre. The holy weapon Darwishi wreaked absolute havoc with its unsealed form. Metal ribbons tore apart everything that stood in its way. The owner didn't stay idle either as the woman burnt down the swarms on onryo without a problem.
That day, Ango and his team witnessed something incredible, yet horrifying. However, that was a tale for another day. For today, they still had a mission to get behind and that took priority.
The dark haired main cleared his throat and commanded his men. They jumped into action.
"Assist Colonel Rostavich! We must complete our mission! Go!!"
"YES SIR!!"
….
While the rescue team and Irina battled on one side, individuals known as Tsujimura Rikuo and Asahi Miwatoshi traveled through strangely empty halls on the other side.
"Are you sure this was a good idea?" The elder of the two asked, making sure to keep as quiet as possible.
"No, not really."
Miwatoshi stared at the blond boy, exasperated. He then glanced around the darkened halls of ancient looking ruins suspiciously. It was good there hadn't been any monsters so far as the only one who could fight them was Rikuo and he'd rather not hide behind a child, but still.
"What are we even gonna do if one of those monsters appeared? As the only one who can fight them is you."
"Umm we run? Sorry, I didn't really think this through." Rikuo admitted, rubbing the back of his head ashamed.
Miwatoshi sighed.
"It's fine, hopefully we won't encounter anything until we find that boy and Kunichi."
The brunette man mumbled the last part to himself as they continued down the hall, then the stairs, going deeper with each passing second. The blonde boy shrugged. He opened his mouth to answer-
Dust blew up into the air from the sudden attack. Miwatoshi wasn't sure when the blond had moved but Rikuo had pulled him away from what he believed was a certain death.
They coughed, waving their hands to clear away the dust.
In the place Miwatoshi had previously been standing, was a giant ax lodged into the ground. They followed the handle up to the furry arms of a monster that held the deadly weapon.
Miwatoshi's brain fluttered with sudden realization, accompanied by a great sense of dread. In front of the two, stood a giant minotaur. He threw a side glance at Rikuo, who looked pale in the face of the mythical beast.
'A-are we supposed to fight it?'
His heart trembled at the thought, yet the same didn't seem to be shared by Rikuo who got back up to his feet. The blond teen pulled out his trusted dagger from the holster tied around his thigh.
"Officer Asahi, please stay back."
"MOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
The minotaur roared loudly, already swinging the massive ax at them. Rikuo pushed the frozen police officer out of the way. He nodded towards the man then coated his blade in reiki.
He was sure he wouldn't be able to defeat the thing alone but he also didn't want to just give up and die. Rikuo had read a book about minotaur while he studied with Shuuji, though recalling them was an impossible task in their situation.
The blond lunged towards the massive beast, dodging its attacks through his newly gained reflexes, even then he only managed to get out of the way by hair's breadth.
Rikuo jumped into the ax, then climbed up the beast's arm. Raising his coated blade, the boy went for the minotaur's eyes, only to be swatted away.
"RIKUO!"
His back hit the wall, leaving a huge dent from the force of the swat. The blond boy coughed, sliding down into the ground.
His entire body burned with pain and he was pretty sure he heard something snap. Rikuo coughed, spitting out the bile that rose from the hit.
'I taste blood…' he vaguely thought, his eyes blurring on the monster slowly approaching him.
The blond cried out when the minotaur grabbed his head roughly, raising his pain filled body up in the air. He panted, struggling in vain to get the monster let go.
By the edge of his eyes, he could see the overgrown bull raise their ax in the air. He hoped that he had gotten the detective enough time to run away-
Rikuo's eyes widened as blood splashed across his face, accompanying the loud sound of gun shot.
"HEY!! LEAVE THE KID ALONE!!!"
'That moron!-'