Driving along the Yamate Highway, the pair had already been en route for about an hour, leaving behind the bustling outskirts of the capital.
They were now in the countryside—or whatever remained of it… In recent years, the climate had been brutal for farming and livestock.
Hunger was knocking on the door…
Meanwhile, the car glided smoothly over the road, as the horizon stretched before them in bluish tones of a clear dawn, evoking the serenity of crystalline waters.
Birds flew in the distance, while the sound of the car's wheels echoed in their ears.
The girl, leaning back in the passenger seat, watched him calmly as she opened a bottle of water from her bag. She took a refreshing sip before breaking the silence with a soft, insightful voice:
"The pleasure of cooling off…"
She paused, giving him a sideways smile before continuing:
"Don't you want to know more about the mission? You seem a bit distant, Yamasaki Yami!" She shook her head, allowing her red hair to dance in the wind. Then she blew a rebellious strand out of her eyes. "Hey!? Grumpy-pants!?"
He, still focused on the road, let out a deep sigh before glancing at her with a raised eyebrow at the tease.
"You can talk…" he murmured, giving her the lead.
His silence served as green light.
Her eyes lit up instantly.
"Well… Why would an entity stay in one place for so long? Nothing's changed since its first sighting, and the 'pending' status hasn't shifted… Hmmm… Weird, right?" she commented quickly, as if words were about to overflow. Her mouth was a cascade, her words constant.
"Could be neglect or a lack of updates… Maybe it's gone already," she pondered. Then, arching an eyebrow, she glanced at him. "Amai, are you always this meticulous? I mean, this detailed?"
"I like to be the best at everything I do. And you, Yamasaki?"
"Me? Well… If it were up to me, I wouldn't be here." He sighed and returned his focus to the road.
"Wow… Then why did you become an exorcist? If you don't like it, why do you do it?" she pressed, curious.
He hesitated a moment, weighing whether to answer.
"Oh, come on. Tell me! If we're going to do missions together, we should know each other, right?"
"It's not interesting..." he tried to shut it down.
"Oh, come on, I think it is!"
"You're not going to convince me..."
He was self-delusional, no doubt. Sooner or later, she'd get him. Women were like that—able to pry diamonds from men's mouths.
"Wow, you're tough…" she sighed in front of his resistance, realizing the exorcist wasn't easy to open up to.
At least, he was stubborn.
As they continued down the road, the calm route shifted into a heavier, darker atmosphere as they approached the sinister Forest of the Dead, minutes later.
Shadows hung between the tall pines, casting near-total darkness over the road. The earlier warmth had dissipated; here, cold prevailed softly, howling darkness in dissonance.
When they shut off the engine, silence took over. Both stepped out of the car, absorbing the mysterious environment around them.
"Forest of the Dead… They say over a hundred thousand people were executed here—political enemies of the emperor. Did you know that, Yamasaki?" the girl said, trying to spark conversation.
His voice would be hoarse by day's end…
"No… I never liked history much!"
"Oh, then what do you like?" she teased, eyeing the forest with some anxiety.
"What are you waiting for?" he interrupted, stepping ahead of Amai and staring at the woods too, though his gaze carried more annoyance than curiosity. "Afraid?"
"Afraid?"
He took a step forward…
"What… Me? Afraid? No way! I'm strong!"
She fell silent, focusing inwardly. A faint reddish aura glowed around her body, translucent. Colors, sensations… Her aura spoke more about her than words ever could.
"Hm…"
"I expand potentiam: facit ut gladium gerere possim, qui uno ictu exorcizare valeat!" she murmured, pulling a katana from the palm of her hand as if drawing it from flesh.
The firm grip on the handle revealed unwavering confidence.
It was a vivid display of her innate technique, the ability to shape reality through her fertile and powerful imagination.
Called Mind Omnipotent.
An innate Shirasaki technique… Interesting… he watched, unwilling to admit it, with a certain glint in his eye. Though not an enthusiast, he recognized the grandeur of the feat. He knew enough to understand that manipulating the technique like that was reserved for the most skilled exorcists.
"Meet my faithful companion, the Gladium!" she declared, holding the blade like a swordswoman, her expression overflowing with excitement.
"You sealed a pact with your innate ability?"
"Ah, so observant! You noticed that, didn't you?" she replied with a confident grin.
"I'm not stupid… It's very specific to name your blade inside the spell."
"Yeah… But it's not easy to do! Hehe, shall we continue?" she said, looking away, a little embarrassed.
It was too personal for him to fully grasp…
"Let's go…" he advanced into the woods, keeping his aura discreet while focusing on the looming threat ahead.
They watched the surrounding demon shadows, silently stalking them.
Amai walked right behind, alert for any attack. Her eyes, focused like a hunting feline's, scanned the darkness, her steps soft and precise. With each movement, the forest seemed to close around them, growing denser and colder. The constant buzz of insects intensified, a suffocating hum vibrating in the air, almost unbearable.
"Death… death… death…" it echoed in his mind.
Soon, he noticed the trees around started to sway, their leaves falling in a supernatural rhythm. Suddenly, he heard rapid footsteps behind him. Turning around, all he saw was a cloud of dust rising to his waist.
Where was she?
He stayed on guard, scanning the surroundings carefully, his eyes darting back and forth. Then, with a sharp cut, he raised his gaze and saw the girl mid-air, decapitating an entity like slicing bread. Slicing it without resistance…
"Ah!"
Purple blood sprayed as she spun in mid-air and landed gracefully ahead of him, legs steady and the blade poised behind her, ready for the next strike.
Though immune to damage, the scalding blood made him step back instinctively.
He watched intently as the body fell to one side and the head to the other. The creature's white hair fluttered in the air, and its fixed eyes reflected its final shock. Half its advanced, rotting face looked frozen in a mix of disbelief and horror.
It couldn't react… it was faster than lightning!
While he absorbed the moment, the rest of the entity dissolved into smoke, issuing a final groan before vanishing into the air.
"A single strike!?" he gasped in disbelief. Even he—used to dispatching enemies in under a second—was surprised.
"Yep! This blade can exorcise with a single blow, as long as I invoke it!" she explained, pride glowing in her eyes and letting out a grand sigh. "It's not just a pact—it's a conditioned oath. Call me a genius!" she declared, flaunting a confident smile.
"Incredible!"
But the girl had vanished from his sight. As if… she'd teleported.
In that instant, he felt the blade almost touch his back; the energy she wielded was unmistakable, a giant alarm that made him freeze. In the blink of an eye, she'd eliminated another demonic entity—slashing it before its claws could reach her partner.
"Two to zero!"
Darkness danced around them, creating chaos that made it impossible to locate a focal point or predict from where entities would emerge. The lack of visibility thwarted any anticipation—but their reaction speed was their greatest weapon. They stayed one step ahead of adversity.
"Damn it!" growled the demon, purple blood trickling from his lips, mixed with a heavy sigh that resembled dragon breath.
The next entity bore the same hair and white eyes, but this time wore a tight rope around its neck, rising up beneath its nose and distorting its macabre face.
What was it saying? Its mouth was slightly open, allowing speech.
The girl continued, piercing the entity's back and remaining crouched to avoid possible counterattacks.
"From the little dark energy they bear, they seem to be obsessing demons…" she concluded, swiftly pulling the blade back and watching as the entity dissolved into dust before her.
"Obsessing demons?" he questioned, doubting her words. "Aren't they parasitic? Where are their hosts? And why are they here?" He wanted to understand more about the situation.
"Yes, they're parasites, but they only attack when without a host or if threatened. Forgot?" she placed a hand on her head. "But you're right to doubt… it's weird they're here… Almost no one comes here! Could be a minefield! An innate technique! Calamity entities are akin to the original entities, with practically unlimited abilities…" she affirmed, brandishing the blade just before a black orb struck both of them.
He saw her smirk…
In seconds, she caught the projectile with her bare hands and shattered it, dispersing it into rainbow lightning that exploded behind them, kicking up a dust curtain. He converted dark energy like a maestro…
"No time to think… Let's exorcise these creatures! Clean this area as fast as possible!" he declared with determination, trying to locate the beast.
"You undone that cursed technique… damn!" she sighed, admiringly, gripping her blade. "Let's go, Yamasaki!"
Ahead of them, as the dust cleared, the entity that had attacked watched them between the trees, gathering dark energy in its hands. The creature, dressed in a tattered suit, bore massive buffalo horns and a third eye. As it focused its dark energy into a single dense sphere, it joined its hands and felt both their auras boil, as if challenged on its own turf.
"How did he do that?" Yami thought, as a vein throbbed with anger on his forehead. Judging by its appearance, the creature was level-four dangerous. The more human it looked, the more power it took to sustain it.
"Damn exorcists! How many more will I have to kill for a sliver of peace?"
Was he the calamity they spoke of? Or just another entity bound to be expelled by darkness?