мѕ.gяα¢є αη∂ мя.муѕтєяу •𝔐𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔨𝔢•

𝓝𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾 𝓕𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓱 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻

●╭╮╭╮╭╮╭╮╭╮╭╮╭╮●

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The two weapons clashed against each other—one arm movement, the rotation of the wrist, and then, another collision. The encounter was fuelled by rage, guaranteeing the advantage of the Mononoke.  Spinning as if were a dance and not a combat, aiming for the head, the heart, or the legs. Their weapons weren't pointy, so they couldn't kill each other. It wasn't a physical fight, it was a battle for dominance. Although the two men were relentlessly fighting, there wasn't a trace of fatigue. They both had their reasons to brawl, so none of them was going to give up. The mysterious man wanted the demon dead, just so he could finish his mission, his reason to live. The silver-haired man fought for love, as twisted as it could be, he wanted to protect his reason for living. Just, which of the two was more human than the other?

With one final jump, the two enemies ended up on opposite sides of the room. The entity still had an incredible amount of energy left even though he was also fueling the domain. He moved his smoking pipe toward the mouth of the mask, preparing a magical attack.

Kusuriuri wasn't stupid. He knew his plans. He was able to detect what kind of smoke his next blow would make. But he wasn't quick enough, he needed some sort of distraction. It was the time where he hoped that Shinju would beat up someone, just so he could gain more time, as stupid as her choices seemed to him. He glared at his student with his blue eyes, hoping she could understand the message.

Her eyes lit up after seeing that she was needed. She was about to roll up her kimono sleeves when she noticed a piece of paper. Shinju looked at it with confusion, how did it end up there? It didn't matter. She had to buy time and use whatever she had.

With one quick movement, she fixed the charm, making it flat. Her memories flashed, she wanted to know how Kusuriuri handled the ofudas. When she hit the jackpot, the placed the talisman between her fingers and aimed it at the Mononoke. Her body flowed graciously albeit her intentions were violent.

"Where did that come from?!" Ochou asked, but couldn't talk more after seeing that the charm went straight into her husband.

Kusuriuri was also speechless, as he didn't see her attack coming. He would have imagined Shinju screaming at the Mononoke as the alternative option or doing something dumb, not using one of his ofuda. Surprise didn't last on his body, so he was able to clear his mind and also prepare his counter-attack. The exorcist reached for the circular gold piece that lay on his chest. It looked like a sun, with a circle in the center and triangles outside of it. The symbol fitted its purpose, as it was a mirror and one of the common first thoughts with mirrors is using its reflection of the sun as a weapon, mostly against insects. And that was exactly what Kusuriuri thought about the demon: he was an insect that had to be exterminated.

The mirror left his hand but never touched the enemy. Instead, it stopped midway and augmented in size, showing the reflective side of the Mononoke. Unfortunately for him, he let out all the fumes before the mirror acted as a shield, so the gas went back toward him. The venom and Ochou's memories haunted him. He couldn't bear it. He had to scream. He needed to scream.

His masks began to change, and once they all cracked, he felt the pain. His torso faced the ceiling while his shrieks filled the room, forcing Shinju to cover her ears, not only due to the volume but also because screams could haunt anybody's mind. Since the Mononoke couldn't handle the physical and mental damage simultaneously, the walls of the room lowered.

"It's collapsing. " Ochou whispered, firmly looking at the disappearing decorations. "This new life I finally gained... It's collapsing."

The woman fell to her knees. The despair was enough to make her legs shake and make them unusable.