Apart from her holy knights, Fiona had another group for intelligence gathering. From the reports brought by her swift horses, we were able to get a rough idea of the rebel army’s positions and where they were marching.
“We didn’t make it in time, huh?” I muttered, looking out at the city before us.
The city that we had been told one of the rebel armies was heading toward had already fallen. Part of the city’s walls had completely collapsed. Buildings were destroyed all over, and black smoke rose in the distance.
“What the heck... It’s already...” Amyu sounded despondent, and Yifa and Mabel seemed to be at a loss for words as well.
“Ah, found one,” Ren called out cheerfully. Without missing a beat, he swung his shortsword. A blade of wind and pebbles shot forth, slicing an undead that had emerged from cover cleanly in two. “The main force seems to have left, but there are still some undead remaining,” he said, shouldering the magic stone sword. “We should take care of them first. I’m going to check this direction, so you all can handle things elsewhere.” Leaving us with that, Ren briskly walked off.
Though we were shocked by his selfish behavior for a moment, Amyu quickly recovered and spoke up with determination.
“We should go too! Split up and look around! There might be survivors!”
“Y-Yeah!” Yifa agreed.
“All right,” said Mabel.
“Yifa, you stick with Mabel,” I said as the three were about to run off. “It’s dangerous for someone on the back line to be by themselves.” Yifa stopped for a moment, then nodded and followed after Mabel. Frankly, I didn’t really want Amyu to be on her own either, but she’d probably be fine.
“Now then...” Opening up a gateway, I pulled out a large number of hitogata from the other plane. I turned about ten of them into crows, then changed the remainder into rats and dispersed them through the city. That would allow me to search a decently wide area. “Guess I’ll go deal with the most troublesome-looking one.”
As I walked toward the center of the city, I focused on what my shikigami could see. It was no ordinary undead that had caused the city to fall. The corpses of slaves and religious zealots alone couldn’t topple walls or buildings, though it was possible that whatever had done it had already departed alongside the main force.
“Hmm?” A figure entered my vision. It wore dirty clothes, had vacant eyes, drooled, and carried an axe.
“Oooh!” The undead abruptly turned to me and began running. Letting out a small sigh and turning away from it, I made a hand sign. “You’re not the one I have business with.”
Summoning: Hihirukiri. A bronze-colored sword emerged from the spatial distortion. It spun through the air, promptly decapitating the undead. As the corpse collapsed, the sword lodged itself into a chunk of rubble. However, a moment later, it began to shake and sprang free. It bounced after me, soon catching up and drifting lazily at my side. I glanced over at it out of the corner of my eye. It was almost like an eager dog. Were it not for the eye squirming in its hilt, I might have found it cute.
Hihirukiri was a tsukumogami, an inanimate object turned into an ayakashi after absorbing strong human emotions—in this case, a bronze sword. Hihirukiri had been forged eight centuries ago, and perhaps because it had absorbed emotions for such a long period, it possessed an abnormal amount of power for a tsukumogami. Despite being made of simple bronze, its sharpness surpassed any renowned blade. That said, tsukumogami were mostly docile by nature, and Hihirukiri was no exception. It wasn’t willing to cut down living humans, so now was the perfect time to use it.
I walked through the destroyed city, focusing on the vision of my shikigami. Hihirukiri would deal with the undead that occasionally appeared on its own, so my search wouldn’t be interrupted. When I looked up, I saw a pillar of fire shooting diagonally into the sky. It was probably Ren’s magic. Maybe he had run into something dangerous up ahead.
“Oh.” I paused, picking up something through the vision of a rat. “That must be it,” I muttered, swapping places with the shikigami.
The scene before my eyes shifted dramatically. Though the cityscape itself was similar, the details were completely different. Directly ahead of me stood a tall, five-story building. Its top floor was partially destroyed, with a large boulder lodged in it. On the lower floors, I could see the figures of people screaming in terror.
There, standing in the middle of the street and staring up at the building, was the one responsible. He was a large, somewhat heavyset man. He was clearly a lifeless undead, yet he wore adventurer gear and held a mage’s staff in his hand.
“Shaking, resounding yellow... Spirits of steadfast rock, who have endured endless wind and rain...” A hollow incantation spilled from his lips.
I figured as much. I sent a hitogata flying. “So you can still use magic even after being turned into an undead.” A moment later, the boulder created by the undead mage disappeared, dispelled by the hitogata.
With movements devoid of purpose, the man seemed to notice me and looked my way. Raising his staff, he began another incantation. Feeling a hint of pity, I formed a hand sign. “I shouldn’t have left Hihirukiri behind.”
Phase of earth: Tengu’s Beard. A shrill sound cut through the air, and the undead’s head went flying. The slash continued into surrounding buildings, kicking up a clean line of dust as it cut through walls and fences. A moment later, the headless body toppled over.
“I’ve never been fond of this spell,” I said with a sigh. The thread made of volcanic rock fiber that had sliced through everything disappeared. I wanted to examine the corpse, but that could wait. I had taken care to avoid cutting the building the survivors were inside with Tengu’s Beard, and called out to them from below.
“I’m here to rescue you. The building isn’t stable, so be careful as you leave.” The people inside only looked at me fearfully from the window and didn’t respond. They were probably just afraid. Once they realized it was safe, they would eventually come out.
“All right.” I had dealt with the one I suspected was responsible for destroying the city. There might have been others, so I would need to continue searching, but retrieving Hihirukiri took priority. I didn’t need to worry about it killing anyone, but it was likely lost without me around.
At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Amyu through a rat’s vision and quickly changed plans. Postponing collecting my ayakashi, I decided to head to her.
“Amyu!” I called out to her immediately after teleporting. Amyu was next to a collapsed building, struggling to lift a large piece of rubble.
“Seika! Come over here and help!” Amyu shouted, crouched by the rubble. Once I ran over, I immediately understood why—a small hand was sticking out from beneath the rubble. “Someone’s trapped underneath! Grab that side!” Amyu pointed to one edge of the debris.
“Got it.” It would certainly be easier to lift using a spell, but it was difficult to control the precision. Without knowing what things looked like underneath, it was safer to use my bare hands. Timing it with Amyu, we put our strength into lifting the rubble. Slowly, it began to rise. Between my qigong technique and Amyu’s raw strength, we managed to lift far beyond what an ordinary human was capable of. Unfortunately, the hunk of stone was so large that it was still difficult.
“I’ll hold it up, so pull the kid out!” I said, my voice strained.
“A-All right!” Amyu crawled underneath, then came back carrying a small body that appeared to be a girl. She was covered in dust and wasn’t moving, but I could sense a faint flow of energy, so she must have only been unconscious. Then, for reasons I couldn’t guess, Amyu crawled back under the rubble once more.
“Hey!”
“There’s one more!” she shouted back at me.
Sweating, I struggled to hold up the rubble. Just as I was starting to wonder if I should use a spell, Amyu came out with another person. Much larger than the girl, he appeared to be a middle-aged man. The moment I realized what was happening, my expression hardened. Once Amyu and the man had fully emerged, I let go of the rubble I’d been holding. With a heavy crash, a cloud of dust billowed up.
Amyu was panting heavily. Once I managed to catch my own breath, I quietly spoke up. “Amyu, he’s already...”
“I know.” Amyu bit her lip.
The man was already dead. He had presumably been an inhabitant of the city. He looked like the sort of man you could find anywhere.
“Ah...” A small voice rang out. The girl’s eyes opened slightly.
“Are you awake?” Amyu asked, leaning forward. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“D-Dad...” The girl extended her small hand to the unmoving man, but she was completely exhausted. Her hand fell to the ground, never reaching him. She appeared to have lost consciousness again.
Amyu and I stood there in silence for a while.