Dark tree trunks, shadows, overhanging limbs across the path seen at the last second, clumps of bushes, barely visible black trails snaking through the undergrowth, the moon shining through a lattice of leaves, patchy sky & stars seen in glimpses through tree breaks, while tall shadowed pines stretching up like arrows into the sky.

Wind slipping through the leaves, cracking undergrowth with each step, creaking tree trunks, the flutter of wings unseen, snapping twigs, grass and weed sliding against pant legs, coyote calls, fox yipping and wolves howling.

Even the natural fragrance emitted by the trees and the other plants smell so real.

"Eh? This is... A forest? Teleportation?" Ao muttered in surprise because of the unexpected sight.

"No. The surroundings are completely covered with demonic mana, if it's warp magic, the door will be the only one covered by vast demonic mana, and I will definitely sense it,"

A territory made by a yokai couldn't be so vast, the skies must be just a ceiling set as a sky. Like a living background used for a phone. The yokai must be a strong one.

"Just how could we nor the onmyoji didn't sense the presence of such a powerful yokai...?"

*Clank!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

The sound of metal colliding appeared together with several explosions.

"Ray," (Ao)

"The onmyoji had entered before us, huh? Let's proceed in stealth, Ao,"

"Roger," (Ao)

Since the both of us are high-ranked yokai- Well Ao is a yokai since I just coincidentally still have my power as a yokai but still a human, we have the ability to fly by releasing and controlling our vast dark mana and demonic mana and have it bring us to whenever we want to go. It could be said that we used the mana as our wings.

The both of us fly to the highest tree to watch what's happening.

"Ray, that's Arazuka-Kun and the others," Ao pointed at a huge cage with several lying bodies inside it.

Of course, the one lying inside the cage is the princess and her friends.

Seriously, what trouble they had brought upon us...

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

The sound of explosions continued.

There are three onmyojis and one yokai clad in a black robe with only his mouth and shining blue eyes visible.

The yokai is obviously holding the upper hand since the onmyojis facing him had started to run out of their breath and already had their clothes battered.

"Humans, you've taken our land. We lost hundreds of our kind because of you, so why can't we take some lives from you?" The yokai's voice is deep and sounds like a beast's roar. I could feel a hint of anger and hatred inside his voice, and a hint of blazing vengeance inside his shining blue eyes.

The yokai's body is big, about two meters in height with a robust body. He stands in feet like a human, and his mouth looked like a human as well.

"S-Shut up, you demon! We will never let you harm anyone here!" Shouted one of the onmyoji.

Ao's expression gave a hint of disgust when she heard the onmyoji's words.

"Which one do you think will lose?" I asked Ao.

"Those onmyojis, of course," Ao answered without hiding her feeling of disdain.

Her hostility towards the onmyojis is not surprising. We have a long history with humans and the holy church that are more like a demon than we demons ourselves, after all.

Onmyojis works in a similar system with the ancient holy church. They slay beasts and spirits in the name of justice and hold human supremacy in great esteem.

The only difference is that onmyoji exorcise demons and don't get too involved in politics such as the holy empire.

Just like the others, Ao also had a bad past with humans and the holy empire.

Humans... Will always be humans... Hated by other races because of their greed... And distrusted even by each other because of their betrayals...

"Well, If the onmyojis fighting is only those three, yes,"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked Ao.

"Just watch and see," I replied to her as I crossed my arms.

Yes, the one who will lose is that yokai.

No matter how strong he is, the one he will be fighting after this will definitely make him lose.

"If you won't let me take them, then there is no other choice. They're too necessary for 'our' plans, so I'll be taking them by force," The yokai take off its robe as if declaring he will be going and start fighting them seriously.

It has a human face and a body of a tiger.

"A Daoshou, huh..."

A Daoshou. A ferocious beast yokai of the west, a mythological creature of China that excels in strength and speed. It's known by history that a Daoshou tends to fight with its opponent until death.

"Hmph! You mere demon, Don't get too arrogant because you managed to land several hits! Don't forget that we still outnumber-"

*Whoosh!*

"H-He disappeared!" Exclaimed one of the onmyoji in surprise.

Onmyojis fight by using the power of talismans, the talismans are empowered by the contracts they made by the spirits of nature. When they achieved a contract with a spirit, the spirits grant them their strength and mana and give them the ability to muster mana.

The ability of an onmyoji is determined according to the onmyoji's talent in manipulating mana. Those who adept more in using mana and has more mana capacity could use several talismans simultaneously to empower themselves.

But the onmyojis fighting against the Daoshou is not really talented. They only used 3 talismans at most, and most of them are just regular ones. While in the other hand, a Daoshou's speed is very fast that an onmyoji could only match its speed if it uses a high-leveled talisman that could improve its speed.

In a panic, the two close combatant onmyojis that wields swords covered the both sides of the range combatant onmyoji that uses a bow. Trying to defend the ranged combatant that has the weakest close-quarter prowess is a good call, but there is no use of it in front of the quick Daishou.

!!??

"ARGH!?"

One of the close combatants onmyojis got smashed to a far tree by the Daoshou. The Daoshou's speed is too fast for them to follow, and since he is inside his own territory, his power got strengthened for another fold.

The Daoshou once again dashed and went straight towards the bow-wielder onmyoji, in a high speed, he about to give a blow towards the bow-wielder onmyoji, but-

!!!??

"E-Eh? What happened?" The bow-wielder onmyoji asked in surprise.

Well, it's normal for her to be surprised since the Daoshou's fist suddenly stopped right in front of her face.

"W-What is this...?" Muttered the Daoshou in question as he musters all of his strength and attempts to move.

But it's all futile.

He just got entrapped in a very strong barrier.

"So he really comes, huh..."

He's the one I just met at the academy.

The prodigy, one of the people that could use the seal of Abe no Seimei, Mark Jiejing.

"You guys take a look at Tei Lou, I'll fight against this guy," Mark slowly appeared from the shadows.

"You are..." (The Daoshou)

"My name is Mark Jiejing. I'm sorry, demon. But what you've just done is considered as one of the worst spiritual crimes. By the laws of the great pillars, I'm going to need to purge you," said Mark as he takes out several talismans from his pocket.

As a high-ranked onmyoji, Mark used the official uniform used by high-ranked onmyojis. The red onmyoji robe that different from the other low-ranked onmyojis that use white onmyoji robes.

"Hmph! I won't die in this place! *ROAR!!!!*" Roared the Daoshou as he musters even greater power than before.

*Crack!*

The invisible barrier that restricting him from moving start to become visible as a crack appeared on it.

"Hoho~ To be able to break the spirit barrier built with two of my talismans, not bad, yokai," Mark throws three talismans and makes a triangle with the Daoshou at the center.

"Release," (Mark)

Following his words, three chains appeared from the ground in front of the talismans.

One chain strangles the Daoshou's feet while the other chains restrict both of his hands.

"D-Damn it..." Swore the Daoshou as he groaned in pain. He closes his eyes as he continues to try to break himself free.

"You're strong. It's such a shame that you need to be purged by me. Farewell, yokai," Mark unsheathe his purification blade that is imbued with purge spell.

Not a bad show, it will be more fun if the Daoshou realized Mark's presence from the beginning. But well, he's using a high-level stealth spell just like us, so it's given for the Daoshou to not realize him since he's in the middle of a battle as well.

Mark take his stance and about to give a killing-blow towards the Daoshou but-

!?

*Boom!*

Mark jumped back and dodged the fireball that flew towards him.

"Well, I have some questions I want to ask him. So let's not get too hasty, shall we, Mark?"