343 Rescue Operation-Final
Genzai's heart hammered against his ribs as he whirled around, his eyes meeting Momotaro's in the blood-soaked hallway. The youthful warrior's gaze, once calm, now held a chilling menace, his eyes narrowed like a predator sizing up its prey.
Fear, cold and clammy, snaked down Genzai's spine despite the illusory warmth of the cursed blade in his hand.
He backed away step by step, the hall stretching into a macabre tableau of fallen soldiers. Each corpse seemed to accuse him with their wide, sightless eyes. His broken arm throbbed, a constant reminder of his own inadequacy.
A misplaced step sent him sprawling onto the cold stone, landing beside another soldier, his lifeless eyes staring accusingly. Genzai kicked out, a primal scream tearing from his throat, "Fuck! Don't you dare look at me!"
Momotaro's voice, cold and measured, echoed through the hall. "As expected, you are just a bully, a cowardly bully with a facade of a warrior... a filth amongst filth." Each word was a shard of ice, piercing Genzai's already shattered spirit.
Paralyzed fear clenched Genzai's heart as Momotaro's gaze drifted from him to the fallen soldiers. The samurai's voice, laced with a chilling, grudging respect, cut through the silence. "Even facing me," he said, "they believed in you until their very last breath. Believed you'd avenge them, honor them in their final moments."
Momotaro's eyes flickered down to the carnage he himself had wrought, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his features. But it was quickly replaced by a hardening resolve as he turned back to Genzai.
"They were brave men," he conceded, his voice cold and detached. "The least I could offer was a swift end. But to desecrate their corpses… to kick at their faces as they lay defenseless… you are not just a gutter rat, Mercenary. You are a maggot festering on the fallen."
With those words, Momotaro's blade blurred into motion, a whirlwind of steel dancing in the crimson-washed hall. Genzai's scream was swallowed by the clang of metal, then replaced by a sickening wetness as limbs separated from his body.
Blood, the color of sin, sprayed the wooden floor, painting a grotesque masterpiece alongside the tears, snot, and urine Genzai couldn't control in his agony.
Momotaro, his expression an emotionless mask, used the hilt of his katana to shove Genzai onto his stomach. With practiced efficiency, he produced tools from his belt, their metallic glint contrasting sharply with the gore around them. Their purpose wasn't to heal, but to cauterize, to stem the tide of life blood spilling from Genzai's mutilated body.
"Disgusting," Momotaro spat, his voice devoid of even the pretense of anger. It was a verdict, a cold pronouncement etched onto Genzai's soul as surely as the burns searing his flesh.
"Rejoice, maggot," Momotaro rasped, a cruel amusement twisting his lips. "My lord has decreed you shall live... for now." He deactivated the cauterizing tool, the nano swarms within withdrawing, leaving Genzai's mangled limbs cauterized. Despite the reprieve, the mercenary remained unconscious, oblivious to his twisted fate.
Momotaro's gaze shifted to the cursed sword, its dark energy pulsing faintly where it lay abandoned on the blood-slick floor. It writhed like a wounded beast, searching for a new vessel to fuel its malevolent power. With a flick of his wrist, Momotaro activated a comm nestled in his ear.
"Momotaro here," he said, his voice curt and professional. "Urgent retrieval, high-danger artifact. Initial assessment confirms the cursed katana. Powered by the agonized souls of warriors it claimed, capable of severing life force. Single-handedly nullified Maria-san's vampiric regeneration. Requesting a specialized recovery team ASAP."
A pause crackled over the line, then a terse reply. "Understood. Dispatching retrieval unit. Secure and maintain distance from the artifact until their arrival." The connection clicked shut, leaving Momotaro alone with the echoes of the fallen and the hungry silence of the cursed blade.
— Within the cavernous basement, flickering torchlight danced across charms, talismans, and sacred shimenawa ropes that adorned the stone walls. In the center of this vast space, a magical barrier pulsed with power, its unseen walls imprisoning Koyuki. Exhausted, she lay sprawled on the cold floor, her vibrant energy sapped by the siphoning magic.
Beyond the barrier, a circle of onmyoji chanted, their hands outstretched towards Koyuki. Their focused energies formed a conduit, channeling her fading power towards the Shogun, like water dammed and diverted. It wasn't just sustenance they sought; the Shogun's ambition craved more.
He desired the deeper connection forged in the sacred bond of marriage. With Koyuki as his bride, the rituals and onmyoji holding this power hostage would be rendered obsolete. He would possess her magic, the essence of the eight-headed Orochi itself, granting him mastery over the very elements, just as Koyuki once had.
Alas, Koyuki remained defiant, refusing to surrender the key to her power through the sacred vow of marriage. Thus, the Shogun, his hunger for control unyielding, was forced to this brutal extraction.
At that moment, a dark silhouette infiltrated the chamber. With a swift dash, all the torches within the cavernous basement extinguished, and darkness enveloped the space. One of the Onmyoji halted their ritual and used his talisman to illuminate the area.
The lone talisman flickered to life, followed by others mimicking its example. However, in an instant, a silhouette passed by, swiftly striking down an Onmyoji in the darkness and snuffing out the fire talisman that had lit the area.
The Onmyoji turned towards the disturbance and beheld the severed heads of their comrades lying in pools of blood.
Another Onmyoji rushed towards the nearest torch, attempting to reignite it, but fell victim to the dark silhouette.
"Hahahaha, so easy..." echoed an amused female voice in the dark cavernous basement. "Is this the extent of the Onmyoji's abilities? Or are you merely skilled prey?" taunted the mysterious voice.
The Onmyoji exchanged uneasy glances, refraining from speaking, knowing the enemy was methodically picking them off one by one while they were preoccupied with maintaining the connection.
However, the situation took a dire turn as the intruder breached the supposedly safest part of the Shogun's castle.
Though unaware of events outside, the Onmyoji still trusted in their lord's judgment, anticipating reinforcements.
The Onmyoji quickly huddled together, backs against each other, drawing their swords, yet they refused to relinquish their power, still focused on maintaining the boundary and the ritual.
Suddenly, the dark silhouette struck again. The Onmyoji attempted to retaliate, but their strikes met only empty air.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Three heads were severed, three more Onmyoji fell, leaving only two standing. The situation grew dire; the remaining Onmyoji no longer cared about the Shogun; they needed to withdraw their power and confront the intruder.
The boundary's power dimmed, the connection severed, rendering the Shogun unable to tap into Koyuki's power.
As the Onmyoji attempted to locate the dark silhouette, another fell victim, prompting the last one to unleash his fire talisman at the assailant.
Booooom!
The explosion engulfed the corpses of his comrades, but the last Onmyoji suddenly felt a sharp object pierce his neck, draining his blood, accompanied by an eerie euphoria.
"Are you looking for me?" Maria whispered into Onmyoji's ear, blood dripping from her mouth, having just consumed his blood.
As his vision blurred and extreme fatigue overtook him, a sharp pain coursed through his throat.
Splashhhh!
The Onmyoji's head rolled to the ground, along with the magic that sustained the ritual, revealing Koyuki lying exhausted in the center of the boundary.
Maria rushed to Koyuki, checking her pulse and sighing in relief at finding her still alive. She swiftly retrieved an injector from her utility belt and administered it to Koyuki's neck. The injector released nanobots into Koyuki's system to detect any foreign magic and sever the connection, preventing the Shogun from employing any deceitful tactics.
After ensuring that Koyuki was safe and measures were in place to prevent the Shogun from using her soul as a hostage, Maria swiftly contacted the Oceanos, activating the communication device nestled within her right ear.
"Baby bat to Oceanos, the package is safe and secured; you can commence the assault," she reported.
"Has the package exited the bombardment zone?" came the inquiry from the other end.
"Not yet. Give me 5 minutes to bring the package out of the bombardment zone, and then you can commence the orbital bombardment," Maria replied before lifting Koyuki onto her shoulder and rushing out of the basement.
Maria's vampiric abilities allowed her to transform herself and anything she touched into mist. With this power, she could easily slip out of the basement using its ventilation system. She had no fear of the onmyoji's boundary magic guarding against immaterial entities, as she had already dispatched all the onmyoji present.
The mist swiftly swept through the alleyway, reaching a location several kilometers outside the bombardment area. Upon arriving at the second floor of an inconspicuous building, Maria reverted to her human form and gently placed Koyuki on the bed. Several field medics and artificers who had been waiting in the room immediately rushed to Koyuki's side. They checked her vital signs and swiftly began their work to create a shielding mechanism to protect Koyuki from any magical influence.
Maria knew that the nanobots she had injected into Koyuki's body provided only a temporary solution, so the shielding was crucial for her continued safety.
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