Sousei no Onmyouji: Reborn.

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Sousei no Onmyōuji (Twin Star Exorcist), all rights belong to the goat Sukeno, not every I write is cannon and true to the original.

"Misfortune."

Ayato muttered as his feet pounded against Magano's warped terrain, the air thick with the stench of decay.

Luckily, he had equipped himself with his talismans before he sent his belongings packing.

As for his belongings, he had arranged for the agencies to send them over to Narukami Dormitory.

He had gone over to the Branch Association and finished filling the official transfer forms that would be relayed back to the HQ when they had received a distress message.

There, he'd selected himself to go help while Kanzaki assembles a punitive force in case the Kegare was above him in strength.

His job would be to delay it till they arrived.

From the Branch Association, he opened a gate to the otherworld, he dashed toward the map given to him. And with his speed, he soon reached there in no time.

"Muscle-retard! Front, front!"

He heard voices coming from above a pile of rubble that had formed a small hill in front of him.

It was the remnants of collapsed buildings, creating footholds he could step on—so he did, without any enchantments.

Landing on a stable surface, he squinted his eyes, staring ahead.

A squad of about six exorcists was battling a huge Kegare in front of them.

It had a spider like form with a large head, humanoid human arms, grotesque spider-like legs, with a huge hunch behind it.

"Tsk."

As expected, they were disgusting—no matter how much he looked at them.

The Kegare, that is. The exorcists, on the other hand—two of them were injured.

And looking back at the Kegare, he could understand why they were struggling.

"That's a Ja-ranked (lit. Snake) … what's a Kegare of that level doing in this area?"

While they varied greatly in overall appearance and size, Impurities all had dark skin and a Kuji-kiri on their torsos.

Most of them had monstrous, bestial, and unnatural appearances. 

Like that, with varying strength comes varying ranks to classify them.

From Deigan to Hannya, then to Ja, and finally, Shinja.

In normal ranking terms, Deigan are classified from D to D+.

Subsequently, Hannya are ranked from low to high according to their risk levels. In other words: C, C+, and CC.

Ja (lit. "Snake")—stronger and larger than Hannya—normally takes about ten average exorcists to bring down.

However, on Tsuchimikado Island, they are considered low-level.

Their risk levels, from low to high, are classified as B, +B, and BB. This particular monster was at B-rank.

The highest he could confidently deal with were CC-rank impurities, which were closer to B-rank. Hannya.

But then, the strength difference varied. Especially if they were a newborn of that rank. 

At the very least, that's if the Kegare in question hadn't reached the Shinja-rank.

However, this one… from its negative spell power, it was just a newborn—

An unstable newborn.

This area was one of the zones patrolled daily by the Branch Association of the Kanto Region.

Hence, if a Ja-ranked Kegare had been born here, its existence wouldn't be as grounded as one of that level—

And it would likely be classified as a High-Ranked Hannya instead.

But even so, that wouldn't change the fact that they would still need at least five or more exorcists, even for an unstable factor like this.

"Defend! Defend!"

"Gah!!!!"

The screams.

The scream sent a chill down his spine. His grip tightened on his weapon-case. 

He wasn't supposed to fight today—was supposed to be on his way to Narukami. 

But as the Kegare's claws descended, there was no time for hesitation. He moved.

"You there! Move!"

Ayato shouted as he activated [Hiten Shuyaku—Skanda Charm: Fast Leg Talisman], allocating about 50% of his enchanted power for speed.

The impurity's hand was about to reach one of their vanguard, but just before it could—

SHICK!

Ayato landed on its arm, impaling its massive hand with his odachi.

"GHIII!"

Its other arm attempted to swipe at him, but Ayato quickly jumped away, landing near the others.

By drawing its aggro onto himself, he gave them time to escape—even without saying a word.

'I'll probably need something on the likes of Ashen Immolation at full allocation to defeat that thing.'

He subtly reached for a talisman in his pouch, squaring up against the towering-building tall impurity.

"Ghihihihihi!"

For some reason, the Kegare started laughing, which made Ayato scowl.

Originally, he had planned to buy time for the others to escape.

Obviously, he was sure they'd report to the association, so, he had thought to leave and just wait for reinforcements.

However, seeing this made him think otherwise.

Additionally, there was no telling what else could happen.

If a Kegare of this rank could appear just like that, then it could likely cause a few headaches, like breaching the border between Magano and the real world.

There had been cases of that before, after all.

"Haah."

Once more, he reached into his pouch, when all of a sudden, a shadow loomed over him.

'Shit, I was lost in thought—!'

THUD!

Though he was a split second late, Ayato still managed to dodge the attack of the spider-like impurity.

"Gihihihi!"

It didn't stop, dashing at Ayato, who had now lost his Flame Talisman.

Once again, it appeared in front of him, swinging its massive arm down.

However—CLANG!

This time, he blocked it.

Yet, even after managing to equip [Gaiho Gora] at the last second, he was still being pushed back.

"Gihihihi!"

He could tell—it was still laughing at him. Additionally, he was sure, if the "Kegare" could speak, it would probably be insulting him right now.

"Fuu… Haah."

Getting ticked off wasn't the solution here. He knew that better than anyone.

Additionally, after analyzing it, there was minimum risk of him losing.

Most Ja-ranked Kegare are those that had absorbed spell powers for years, making them more formidable than an unstable one like this.

This one was manageable.

Ayato's face visibly relaxed. Under this situation, he could pull it off.

Slowly, he adjusted himself under the weight of the Kegare's massive hand.

Then, in one swift movement, the sword he had positioned upwards to block the attack was suddenly lowered diagonally.

And just as expected, the monster fell for it—its arm slammed into the ground, sending up a thick cloud of dust.

As it did—"Gihihihi!"—It laughed.

Because of the dust covered area, the Kegare hadn't noticed it yet.

Then, all of a sudden, it felt a sharp increase in enchanted powers behind it.

"Ghi!?"

It turned back—only to see the human it had supposedly crushed now casually standing behind it, his sword engulfed in flames.

Confused, it shifted its gaze back to where its palm had struck—only to realize that Ayato was never there to begin with.

He was clearly behind it.

"Ghiiiii!"

It screamed, but the exceedingly calm Ayato took another measured breath.

This was one of the swordsmanship styles he had learned—

One that allowed him to control his breathing.

With the Flame Talisman combined with Zanjōe-fu, the Purification Blade Talisman, he once again took his stance.

"Zanjōe-fu: Zekka Kaijin. [Purification Blade: Ashen Immolation. Absolute destruction by flames.]"

A double enchantment.

First off, the blade was a purification blade which was a living [Banish All Evil] talisman itself.

Now, the Flame Talisman amplified its power by adding a burst of power to the already deadly blade for impurities.

While being above-average, Ayato had mastered the ability to quickly swap out enchantments—especially when changing tactics mid-battle.

Useful talismans were stored in different places across his clothing, positioned for easy access.

For instance, up until the moment the dust filled the area, Ayato had still been using [Gaiho Gora].

However, the instant he applied the Flame Talisman to his Purification Blade, he had dissipated it—[Gaiho Gora].

The best he could maintain for an extended period was four enchantments. Though maintaining four would drain his spell power too quickly.

But three—three was enough.

By channeling more spell power into his current move while also enhancing his speed.

"Seventy percent."

As he spoke, the flames surged, raging more intensely than before.

"Ghi!"

The impurity, sensing the buildup behind Ayato's move, dashed at him, attempting to stop him.

Ayato dodged the first attack.

However, this time, instead of backing off, he moved in—running up its legs toward its face.

The nimble Kegare reacted quickly, swinging its other hand down in an attempt to squash Ayato once more.

But then—something bizarre happened.

Ayato suddenly came to a stop, tensing his muscles just as the Kegare's hand crashed down.

Then, in an instant, he leaped above its descending other arm, in a stunt-like move—while the Kegare ended up striking itself.

"Ghii!"

"You hurt yourself."

At this point, Ayato was directly in front of the Kegare, which widened its eyes in realization.

"It's good that you're a newborn. If you had accumulated more power than this, I'd be the one in trouble."

Ayato spoke as he swung his odachi sideways, pouring most of his reserve spell power into the attack. Flames was swung in a such motion, expanding as it swallowed the Kegare.

The Purification Spell and Flame Talisman's power were amplified in that single strike.

And then—BOOM!

A deafening explosion echoed as Ayato was sent flying backward, crashing onto the ground, half-exhausted.

His knees buckled as he knelt, catching his breath.

"Ugh. Misfortune. Haah. Haah."

He was supposed to be on his way to Narukami. 

"Haah. Haah."

Instead, he was covered in dirt, out of breath, and kneeling in the ruins of another battlefield in Magano. 

Some things never change. With him, things don't always go as planned.