The Red Hand

Chapter 116 -The Cat and the Snake.

Miyabi tapped her staff against the ground, causing spiritual blades to form around and begin circling her her. With a wave of her hand, she sent one of them forward, piercing into the car's engine, and immobilizing it.

"You have no hope of escape, Naomi Tokugawa! Your sacred duty as the last member of the Tokugawa clan is to enable the destruction of the darkness that has arrived in this world!" Miyabi spoke again. “Now be a good girl and come with me.”

{By darkness, I hope she doesn't mean Akagi...} Naomi groaned internally. {She 100% does...}

"Please stay in the car, I don't want you to get hurt. Hopefully this can be resolved peacefully." She said to her driver as she got out.

"Here I am. I'll come with you as you've asked. Just please don't hurt him." Naomi figured she had no other choice. Her AR device still required a gesture to activate and there was no telling what Miyabi would do if she noticed her movements or took too long to get out of the car.

"A wise decision." Miyabi walked over to her. "This will all be over soon, once you break the seal, we shall use the implements passed down to us from our ancestors to eliminate the darkness that threatens this world. As is our sacred duty."

"You're a fool if you think you can defeat Akagi." Naomi said. "She's far beyond whatever you can hope to do."

{Not to mention she's not exactly out to harm anyone. Well, not many people anyway...} (Naomi)

"That Demon is little more than an annoyance to my clan." Miyabi laughed. "We have ways of dealing with her, so do not worry. She will not be a problem for this world much longer." She was confident her family's anti-demon measures would easily handle Akagi.

"I hope you understand what it means to cross her." Naomi glared at her, causing Miyabi to stop in her tracks. "She has no mercy for those who raise their hand against her, and she won't stop until you're all dead." She knew all too well how Akagi would react to the discovery that Naomi was kidnapped by this woman.

"Ha! I would like to see that fool try and stop us. We exist to protect this world from her kind. She's the one who aught be afraid, we've dealt with creatures like her in the past, and we always came out victorious." Miyabi reached her hand out towards Naomi to grab her, when suddenly.

*WIZZ* *SWISH* WRAP*

A set of thin wires wrapped around Miyabi, holding her in place.

{What?!?} Naomi.

"That's far enough!" Chloe appeared on top of a nearby roof. "My myaster has ordered me to protect Naomi! You will not lay one hand on her!" She hopped down and placed herself between Naomi and Miyabi.

{A cat? Ahh. I see.} (Miyabi)

"You're one of the Demon's pets." Miyabi sighed. "Annoying, but not a problem." She moved one of the spiritual blades to cut Chloe's wires, but found them too tough.

"Unexpected, but not an issue." Miyabi thought for a moment. "How about this?" Her body glowed bright, and she teleported a small distance, escaping the wires. "They're unable to prevent such a basic form of movement. How pitiful." She dusted her self off.

"Chloe! What are you doing here?!?" Naomi was surprised to see her.

"Myaster had me tail you these past few days. She knew these people would be coming for you soon and wanted to make sure they didn't hurt you." Chloe responded, not taking her eyes off Miyabi. "It's a good thing I'm here, otherwise things might have gotten out of hand."

{Akagi protected me again...} (Naomi)

"The Demon may have sent you, but it's all for naught. I will simply defeat you and take the girl." Miyabi laughed.

{I can't contact Myaster while fighting her...} Chloe would have to do this alone.

Seeing that Miyabi was focused on Chloe, Naomi stealthfully activated her messenger function on her AR device, and sent a frantic message to Akagi and Kana, telling them her location and what was happening. Being able to use thought rather than gestures to do so made it easy to hid what she was doing.

"Come, little kitten." Miyabi beckoned to her. "I'd rather not waste my time with weaklings like you. I've got much better things to do."

{WEAK!} (Chloe)

Calling Chloe weak was a good way to piss her off, and she growled in anger.

{This woman is trouble. We don't know these priests' capabilities, but I'm not taking any chances.} Chloe figured playing defensively against an unknown opponent would be best for now.

"Not coming?" Miyabi sighed. "Then I suppose I'll come to you!" She moved forward at rapid speed clashing her staff with Chloe's kunai. "Feeling confident still?" The two engaged in a duel exchanging blow for blow. Chloe was a master at defensive fighting and was easily able to block and parry each swing of her staff. After a bit, the two back away to reposition.

{They were so fast!} (Naomi)

"If you run now kitty, I'll let you live. At least until your master is dealt with." Miyabi was confident after that exchange that she was much stronger than Chloe.

{The Demon's minions are quite a bit weaker than expected. But that just goes to show how seriously I've taken my training.} (Miyabi)

{Are- is this lady serious?} Chloe was completely confused. {This lady is weak! Like seriously weak!} She was actually stunned by how easy to read she was. {Is she just testing me? Is she hiding her real power?}

Miyabi was, in fact, not hiding her power. Chloe and the other members of Akagi's clan had gotten so powerful from her awakening as the Demon Lord that they now eclipsed a significant chunk of players in combat power. Miyabi was little more than an Earth-born and trained Onmyoji. Expecting her to defeat Chloe was ridiculous.

"Nyahahahahahha." Chloe laughed and laughed and laughed. "We were seriously worried about you guys, nya! But it seems there was never any danger, nya!" She'd stopped being so tense the moment she realized this woman couldn't harm her.

"That's some big talk! Let me show you just how wrong you are!" Miyabi flicked her staff and shot spiritual bolts at Chloe which simply bounced off the cat. "What?!?"

{Those were some of my most powerful energy blasts?!?} Miyabi was confused. {How could she just take them like that?!? She's much weaker than me! I'm sure of it!}

"In that case!" Miyabi twirled her staff and channeled some power, grabbing a few talismans from her pocket and chanting a sutra. "Divine power of the tsuchinoko destroy this cat and purge her evil taint from this land!" She threw the talismans to the ground, forming them into a circle as spiritual lines connected them. A few moments later a light shone from the center and a large tsuchinoko appeared inside of the circle. "This is my shikigami! One of the most powerful in the clan! Go tsuchinoko! Defeat this monster cat and show her just how powerful we of the Tomogawa clan are!" Seconds went by as Miyabi stood and watched the shikigami do nothing. "What are you doing? Kill the cat!" She screamed.

{Why isn't he listening?!? Move you stupid snake!} (Miyabi)

"Sorry nya!" Chloe laughed. "I think your snake is a bit, tied up at the moment, nya" From her gloved hands, Miyabi saw countless threads extend outwards around the tsuchinoko, tying it in place and leaving it unable to move.

{What a corny joke Chloe...} Naomi sighed. {I see Akagi taught you her sense of humor too...}

"That's impossible! Tsuchinoko is one of the most powerful shikigami in the clan! It's able to defeat several Yokai on its own and even fight against Demons. How can mere threads contain it?!?" Miyabi channeled further power into her summon, but it couldn't break free.

{What's going on?!?} (Miyabi)

"Bye-bye, snakey!" Chloe grinned as she pulled on the threads, slicing the tsuchinoko into pieces and causing it to dissipate into a mist.

{Too bad I couldn't capture it, that snakey was kinda cute.} (Chloe)

"What..." Miyabi was completely stunned. "There's no way... Tsuchinoko... couldn't be defeated so easily..."

{That's not possible! A shikigami of that power was used in the great Yokai war to defeat some of the most powerful Yokai warlords! How could a mere cat defeat it?!?} (Miyabi)

"Well, it was." Akagi sat atop a brick wall overlooking the fight. She was in casual wear, but her aura was unmistakably that of the Demon Lord, and she was visibly upset. "Great job Chloe. As a reward, you shall receive extra ear scratches!" Akagi laughed as she hopped down and walked over to the Miyabi. "But damn, you guys are a real fucking joke, aren't you? I mean, I wasn't exactly scared of you, but I did have my guard up. Now I feel like an idiot." She put her hand on her forehead.

{All that planning, and these stooges can't even fight one of my people.... even a little bit... I really overestimated them.} (Akagi)

Panicked, Miyabi shot several energy blasts at Akagi which did nothing. "Man, that really is weak." Akagi sighed. "Chloe could have easily handled you, even before her power-ups. But now, I'm certain she could defeat the entire clan if you are anything to go off of." She walked closer.

"This isn't possible!" Miyabi fired more blasts. "Our clan is the defender of this world! The champions of justice and defenders of the light! How can a simple Demon survive our holy smites?!?"

"Holy smites? Those pathetic fireworks?" Akagi laughed as she got right in Miyabi's face. "Herlex transformed into a literal angel, and his attacks couldn't do anything. And you have the gall to think a mere mortals pathetic attack powered by such weak energy could harm me?" Akagi slammed her in the stomach, causing Miyabi to fall over and gasp for air.

"Ack!" Miyabi collapsed onto the road in pain.

{This doesn't make sense! How can a creature of this power exist! It's not possible!} (Miyabi)

"Whatever, the family has finally decided to make its move. Weak or not, I don't tolerate attempts on my life or those who I care about." Akagi was about to consume her before she got a nasty idea. She picked Miyabi up and stared into her eyes, causing the woman to squirm. "Two days." Akagi said. "Run back to your little compound and tell them. In two days I will be coming to kill all of you." She threw her backward, causing Miyabi to stumble onto the ground. "So I'd advise getting your affairs in order and enjoying what little bit of time left you have." Since they couldn't threaten her, Akagi decided to have fun with them. "Tell the old man I can't wait to see whatever tricks he's got. Muhahahhah." Akagi let out a demonic laugh as Miyabi stood up and ran screaming. "Such a satisfying sight that." Akagi seemed happy with herself and turned back to Chloe and Naomi.

"Myaster was so cool!" Chloe ran up to her, and Akagi rewarded the cat with some ear scratches.

"He-he." Chloe enjoyed the petting.

"Thanks for saving me, Chloe." Naomi said.

“No problem, nya!” Chloe purred while being pet.

"But just who was that woman?" Naomi asked

"My 'Aunt'." Akagi sighed.

"What?" Naomi was shocked. "Since when was your family Onmyoji?!?" She was never told about that.

"Apparently for about three hundred years. There's a lot to discuss, but first, let's get you back to my place. It's safer to stay there till I wipe them out. Is your driver ok?" Akagi looked over, and the man nodded.

Akagi then proceeded to contact Yumi and had her transport the three of them back to the estate where Kana was waiting. After making sure her friend was ok, Kana asked for an explanation. The four of them sat in the living room as Akagi told Naomi everything about their family's shared history. The fact that they were once one family, that the Tomogawa were Yokai hunters, and how they needed Naomi to unlock whatever they were going to use against Akagi.

"That's a lot to take in." Naomi sighed. "So I guess that makes us distant relatives?"

"Kinda, I guess, but we're about as related as the average person at this point." Akagi shrugged. The split was so many generations back that calling them related would be quite the stretch. “Also, this body has no DNA so I'm not exactly related to anyone.”

{If you wanna be technical, Kana isn't actually my sister because of that little factoid. But we choose to ignore that.} (Akagi)

"What on earth could they hope to gain by taking me?" Naomi didn't have any idea about what lay in the compound. “She said something about sacred implements, but what are those? I've never heard anything about things like that, nothing about that was mentioned to me by my father.”

"I'm pretty sure I know what she's talking about." Akagi laughed. "But let's wait and see if I'm right."

"So what happens now?" Kana asked. "You told aunt Miyabi that you would kill them all in two days..."

{Does this mean that...} (Kana)

"And that I will." Akagi didn't even flinch. "I hope you understand that they must die for what they've done. Even if they are of no threat now, letting a hostile force live could come back to bite me in the future."

{Last thing I need is to give them a pass then they pull something out of their ass later which screws me. Too many people have made the mistake of letting an enemy live only to have them resurface later and cause problems.} (Akagi)

"I understand that, and it's not like I have much love for the family, but still I don't exactly like the idea of a good chunk of them dying." Kana sighed. She'd never really gotten along with her aunts and uncles, though some of her cousins were nice. "Just please only kill those who were involved with the Onmyoji business. The rest aren't involved."

"That's the plan, Kana. The rest of the family is in the dark, and killing them serves no purpose." Akagi nodded.

"Isn't it dangerous to let them have two whole days to prepare?" Naomi asked. "Why not just defeat them now?"

"Because I want them to dread my arrival." Akagi started ranting. "I want them to feel fear each morning when they wake up, knowing that they have less and less time on this earth. They are no threat to me, and I want to show them that. My nature as a Demon Lord wants me to show weaker opponents just how weak and helpless they are before finally crushing them." Akagi then started cackling like a madwoman. “They will know the meaning of fear!”

"And this is the girl who was so meek talking to Mika's parents." Naomi sighed. "I swear..."

"At this point, I would be more concerned if she didn't do something like this." Kana sighed as well. She'd been doing that much more since Akagi came back from FWO and that wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.