*Boom!*
Mark jumped back and dodged the fireball that flew towards him.
"W-What just happened...?" Muttered the Daoshou, confused.
"Well, I have some questions I want to ask him. So let's not get too hasty, shall we, Mark?" I said as Ao and I descend to the ground and stand in front of the Daoshou.
"Ray Lance... What's the meaning of this?" (Mark)
"You need to learn to listen, stupid onmyoji. I just said I have some questions for him, it's concerning the serial murder case you mentioned before,"
"This guy is a Daoshou, his strong claws are strong enough to sever the limbs of the victims. The culprit's profile matches him perfectly," (Mark)
This is why I hate onmyojis.
"You don't even ask him whether he killed those victims or not, how can you be so sure, you idiotic onmyoji? Well, I say that I have a question for him, so just wait there, Mark,"
""Lord Mark!"" The three onmyojis that about to lose when they're fighting the Daoshou approached Mark and take their battle stance as if to assist Mark and fight against me.
In response, Ao that had transformed into her yokai form get ready to cast a spell towards the onmyojis.
"Stop it," (Mark)
""Eh?"" The onmyojis exclaimed in surprise.
"Heed my command if you guys cherish your lives. Even if there are 100 of you, you still won't be able to defeat even that yokai girl beside him. So stay back," (Mark)
Of course, Mark didn't know that the one beside me is Ao. When Ao gets into her yokai form, her clothes transformed into her spiritual kimono, her pink hair gets longer, and a mask covered her face. She used to open her mask to boast her beauty back then, but now, she never opened it whenever she used her yokai form to make sure that no one will know her identity.
""Y-Yes, Lord Mark"" Answered the other onmyojis as they bowed towards Mark.
"Lord Mark, huh..."
"What is it, Ray?" Responded Mark with furrowed brows.
"Nothing, I just thought it's funny to hear you called by that name,"
"Mind your own business, you loner demon. Go ask that yokai your questions and leave," (Mark)
Unkind as usual, huh...
"I'm a human, though. But well," I turn my back and face the Daoshou that still got his limbs strangled by Mark's chains.
"Let's remove these chains first, I guess, *Flick*," I flicked my fingers and freeze the chains restricting the Daoshou's limbs.
"Now, try to move,"
Following my words, the Daoshou moved his limbs a little, and the chains got scattered together with the ice.
"T-Thank you," Thanked the Daoshou.
"If you're grateful then answer my questions. Where are you from, Daoshou?"
"Following the orders of my queen, I came here from the Yeshou mountain, the mountain near the great Shenghuo lake, dear good stranger. A-Are you a human?" Asked the Daoshou as his shining blue eyes size me up.
"I am! Just how many times do I need to say that I'm a human... Well, Yeshou mountain, huh... It's on the west, isn't it?"
Shenghuo lake, huh... If I'm not mistaken, It's a lake that has a yokai village near it.
"Yes, you're right," (The Daoshou)
"I see... So why did you come here?"
"I come here by the orders of my queen. One of the Daoshou under her sink into the darkness and transformed into a demon. It disappeared from the mountain after killing some of our people, as one of the strongest Daoshous serving under her, I'm instructed to eliminate the demon before it made trouble in the human realm," (The Daoshou)
"I see... So you're not here to feed on humans, huh... Did you hear that, Mark?"
"There is no proof that he's saying the truth. Even though he's not a demon so he can't kill the victims immediately, he could still make them succumb to despair and kill them when they lost their hope to live. There is no proof that could tell he's not lying," Replied Mark coldly.
"*Sigh!* This is why I hate onmyojis. You guys are only smart in fighting but so idiot when it comes to this,"
"What do you mean?" (Mark)
"You're an onmyoji so you must have known this. A Daoshou fight with his life at stake, they will always kill their opponent immediately if their opponent is weak. But even though your subordinates there are weaklings, he didn't kill them. Why? It's because he serves someone, and he didn't want to make unwanted enemies,"
"That fact proves that he's not lying about him, serving the one he called his queen. And for that cage, unlike other yokai, he didn't capture the humans by tailing them, but it's those kids' faults for entering this old mansion, to begin with. And it doesn't seem that he'll kill them, he's just going to gather their dark emotions and use the dark mana produced to cleanse the demonized Daoshou's soul. Isn't that right, Daoshou?"
"Y-Yes. You're right. I've been chasing him for months, and when I arrived here, I heard some spirits talking about a demon slaughtering some humans here so I come here and turn out it's indeed him. I use this mansion as a hideout since it's dark, abandoned, and comfortable. But how did you know...?" (The Daoshou)
"How did you know that he's going to use them only to cleanse the demonized Daoshou's soul?" (Mark)
"It's because he can't count on idiotic onmyojis like you, idiot onmyoji. Setting aside requesting, he even almost got killed by you despite just trying to help the humans from getting attacked by the demonized Daoshou," I replied harshly.
"..." Mark got dumbfounded because of my accurate deductions.
"Hand me the bottle," I said towards the Daoshou as I stretch out my right hand towards him.
"W-What?" (The Daoshou)
"The bottle that you used to store the demonized Daoshou's soul. I know you're hiding it, it's fine, just give me that bottle already," I said towards the hesitating Daoshou.
Quick Daoshou, I want to finish this quickly, buy the monthly necessities at the supermarket, and go home!
"F-Fine," The Daoshou take a small bottle from wherever he hid it on his body and give it to my hand.
"Good. There, onmyojis," I threw the small bottle to Mark.
"W-Wha-What are you doing!?" (The Daoshou)
"This is...? This demonic mana..." Mark mutters as he observes the small bottle.
"That should be enough to keep those old bastards shut up, right?"
"Why did you give it to him!?" (The Daoshou)
"If I don't, I can give him your soul. Do you want that?"
"W-Well..." (The Daoshou)
"It's fine. You're ordered to make sure that demonized Daoshou eliminated and won't make trouble to whenever he goes, right? The onmyoji will cleanse it for you. The cleansing done by an onmyoji won't leave even a trace of the demonic mana, after all. You can count on my words, Daoshou,"
"I-I see..." Muttered the Daoshou.
"Anyway, here," I hand out a small business card towards the man-headed tiger.
Well, of course. It's the business card of my Chuzu Akuma agency. Since it runs for the requests from both yokai and humans, it won't be bad to give this card to someone who seems to have a high position in his place.
"This is...?" Asked the Daoshou as he stared at the business card.
"I am Ray Lance from the Chuzu Akuma detective- Spiritual detective agency. We serve all kinds of requests as long as it's not evil. We serve both humans and spirits, so you can contact us if you need something,"
Well, if you have a phone, of course. But there is the agency's address written on the business card, though.
"Advertising your business in this kind of timing, huh? have some shame, salaryman!" (Mark)
"I'm a high school student, though! And what kind of salaryman advertises business!? Shouldn't I be called a businessman instead!?"
Well, it's not like a salaryman couldn't have a business, but why the hell are we talking about salaryman right now!?
"Well anyway, he might be my customer in the future, so tell your subordinates to not touch him. You've got yourself a demon that already sealed, and got the serial murder case solved with the full story. it's more than enough, don't you think?"
"Fine. I'll tell the others," (Mark)
What with that tone?
"Now for this trespassing idiots..." I approached the huge cage that is filled with the fainted princess and her friends.
"Seriously, princess... Why did you even come here...?" I muttered to myself weakly as I stare at the fainted princess.
"Princess?" (Mark)
"Nothing. I'm going to destroy this 'territory', just leave these kids here and let them felt like they experienced a scary experience so they won't enter these kinds of old mansions anymore,"
"Destroy?" (The Daoshou)
Just like how I destroy Mark's chains that restrained the Daoshou before, I freeze the cage and destroy it.
And then I grab the thin air in front of me and pull it with my full force.
Whoosh!!!
The scenery of the forest disappeared, and we're now inside the old mansion with the fainted princess and her friends lying in front of the mansion's door.
"H-He destroyed the space with his bare hands...?" Exclaimed one of the onmyojis in surprise.
"Y-You... Who are you..." Asked the Daoshou as he stared at me with wide eyes.
"Hm? I've told you before, haven't I? I'm Ray Lance, the Chuzu Akuma spiritual detective agency's owner,"