*Fiu~* *Fiu~"
The wind this particular night was stronger and wetter than the past few days. If we add the dark clouds, it was a clear announcement of the impending rain that looms over the whole place.
The city resting at the base of the mountain is still as silent and dark as the previous days, while the castle rises imposingly on the mountainous peak, making whoever sees it feel a minimum of security, however false it may be.
*Groaning* *Groaning* *Groaning*
Emerging from the shadows manufactured by the buildings of the city, a multitude of yokais appear with different aspects from each other, dark bodies and red eyes.
...Christopher pov…
"This is extremely strange."
Hearing Kikyo who speaks from my right side and watching as she observes the city below in extreme detail, I pick up my fan before blowing some air in her direction, thus signaling that I am listening.
That action causes her black hair to gently move and her face to become fully visible, drawing my attention slightly, though I snap out of that state in a second.
"The dragon wasn't the only extension, they all are, though I couldn't feel it due to the weak connection between them and the main body."
Holding a lock of black hair slowly swaying in the wind and tucking it behind her ear, Kikyo speaks in an unperturbed manner, before pointing towards the yokais standing a safe distance away from the castle.
*Boom* *Boom*.
Taking my eyes off of Kikyo, who seems to have discovered something important, she looked down towards the city below where the explosions are coming from.
"That was unexpected... Now it looks like we'll have to head towards them."
Ignoring the breeze of air rushing past me and the erratic shouts of the soldiers nearby, I watch as the hand of what appears to be an ogre dissolves before the entire body collapses.
The remains that were not completely dissolved, gather with speed nearby, then attempt to take another form.
"They are all one, just separate and that's why they are so weak, why would it do that? If he wants to kill humans it's not the most optimal way."
"Maybe he doesn't want to kill them, look closely. Despite the destruction they are causing, they haven't killed anyone... Like they are putting on a show."
Now I had also fallen into doubt about their actions, obviously they are not good yokais or something, but seem to be following other plans.
"Fear, weakness, uncertainty. They are doing all this to generate negative emotions, to then transform it into negative energy."
"Well, now we know the reason. By the way, are you going to eliminate it?"
Watching as from that cluster of shadows a new creature tries to emerge, he hears the distinctive sound of the bowstring belonging to Kikyo and in the blink of an eye that thing is completely eradicated.
"Yes, I'm going to do it. You must completely erase the energy that makes up their body, only then can you be considered to have finished them."
"Better talk and then act."
With a slight tremor in my voice, I pointed out to him that it would be better to talk first and then act, though he doesn't seem to mind.
"Mr. Asahiko, Mr. Asahiko!"
Running towards me in direction, with a face of pure terror, a slightly equipped and stuttering soldier tries to grab my shoulders.
He tries obviously, as in a show of speed I take a step backwards dodging his hands and then charm him into speaking properly.
"The master requests your presence, Mr. Asahiko. If you could follow me there."
"Sure, lead the way."
Walking around the outer grounds of the castle that are in extreme disarray, either because of the unexpectedness of the situation or the lack of an orderly response, I begin to put my thoughts in order.
Now if the conclusion we came to with Kikyo is correct, there is only one enemy on the grounds. The good thing is that I will be able to use Clouded Fang without any kind of problem, the bad thing is that he seems to be a highly elusive enemy and seems to rely on crowds, making the sword not very useful.
"We should stay inside the castle walls - the city is lost!"
"You're crazy! That will tarnish the master's honor!"
Stopping my train of thought, it finally arrived where the soldiers were arguing with the feudal lord. Some are in favor of closing their eyes to what's going on down there, others want to fight the yokais to protect their honor and the more moderate ones want to fix the situation in the surrounding area.
"We must first control the situation here."
"Yet another scaredy-cat!
Getting tired of their idiocies and the waste of time they are putting me through, I close my fan tightly drawing all the attention to myself.
"Mr. Asahiko, we accept your offered help in these dark moments, but you can't intervene in the conversations..."
Not wanting to waste time with this stupidity and taking advantage of having their full attention, I quickly charm them all together, before snapping my fingers to activate the charm I have on the feudal lord.
Finished with that waste of time and giving them an order or two so they don't stand around like statues, I turn around to get the hell out of here.
"I've already taken care of the possible... Trouble in the rear. Now I can use all my power if something unforeseen happens. How's the situation down there?"
"Bad, they've been making me expand arrows one by one. They also avoid gathering in large groups and attack houses to force me to act."
Describing exactly the movements made by the yokai, Kikyo quickly reloads her bow before launching another arrow, which completely eradicates a new yokai.
Taking my eyes off of her and looking down for a favorable descent route, I take a leap over the wall before beginning my descent to the base of the castle.
*Roar*
As I jumped from roof to roof, with the wet wind caressing my hair and feeling the occasional drop hit my face, I noticed something.
It was a worm-like yokai with a human face, rough black skin and red eyes, which appeared from the shadows between the buildings in an attempt to bite me.
"Amaterasu-Sama, oh, right, no need to do this anymore."
Stopping my half-hearted strange chanting, I simply wave my hand to the side and the yokai burns to ashes quickly. After that and without slowing down my running speed, I slam my feet on the next roof and shoot off towards a building that is right in the middle of the city easily.
"One at a time. Maybe not?"
Posing on the roof of a house, while enjoying the gentle rain now settling on the ground, I again pulled my fan from my wet clothes and spoke to the surroundings.
Igniting my fan in flames as I open it fully, I let its colorful feathers glow in the darkness of the night, before turning 360° in my place, creating a circle of fire that advances devouring all the yokais in the surroundings.
All of those at the same height level as me were eliminated in that single attack, though I didn't have to worry about the remaining ones, as when they gathered together they were an easy target for Kikyo who eliminated them with a single arrow.
"Fu~. I'm still horrible at whistling. Now I guess the second wave is coming."
Speaking loudly into nothingness and combing my wet hair back to leave my field of vision open, I observed the surroundings from which more black colored yokai started to emerge like the night before.