33

Onari and Yu Wu spent the rest of the afternoon in vigorous closed-door cultivation. Or in other words, they spent the afternoon on copious amounts of kinky and sweet, sweet vanilla sex. They forced themselves to wrap things up after Kuoh Academy had let out, and went to spend some more time with Koneko.

They were welcomed back warmly by the Occult Research Club. Koneko once again attached herself to Onari. He fed her sweets as they shot the shit with the rest of the peerage.

Eventually though, their time together came to an end. Koneko was called away on a contract, and Yu Wu and Onari excused themselves to take care of their search. They left the ORC and walked a little ways into the woods surrounding the old club building.

"Ready?" Onari asked.

"Un," Yu Wu nodded.

Simultaneously, they both took out a matching set of card-shaped talismans. They flicked the talismans out in front of them. In mid air, the talismans morphed and warped into a new shape. The gun-metal gray cards transformed into a matching pair of intricately crafted swords that hovered at waist level before Onari and Yu Wu.

Other than the etched symbols on each blade, the swords looked relatively simple. They were both huge, easily longer than Onari was tall. The blades were straight, flat, and wide enough for a person to walk comfortably across.

With a small hop, Onari and Yu Wu both mounted their respective swords. The metal beneath their feet seemed to thrum as they filled the blades with Inborn True Essence. With a single thought from Onari, his sword started to glide forward. Yu Wu quickly followed after him.

The pair gradually began to pick up speed, weaving through the small forest with a cultivator's grace. Yu Wu couldn't keep a gleeful grin from spreading on her face. Onari turned around to enjoy the happiness his Dao Companion was openly radiating.

This method of travel was still new to them, but Yu Wu found the activity immensely freeing. When they had broken through into the Fourth Stage a week ago, the Controlling Sword Flight technique had become available for them. The next day, Onari had set about crafting and inscribing these swords for the two of them to use as transportation.

The final products ended up taking more inspiration from surf/skateboards than functional swords. Despite that inspiration, Onari had designed the swords so they could still be used in combat. The blades and tips of the swords had been sharpened to a razor's edge, and they were also big enough to be used as shields should the need arise.

With the help of their new form of Qi, Onari and Yu Wu could use the swords to fly at truly mind-boggling speeds. In the Fourth Stage, a cultivator's Battle King Body was always activated, ensuring that they wouldn't be torn apart from the wind and G-forces that came with riding a flying sword.

As they started to really pick up speed, Onari and Yu Wu both tilted their blades back slightly. They shot up above the treetops just as the small forest was coming to an end. They were basically nothing more than blurs of light to the people on the ground.

They quickly reached the outskirts of Kuoh Town, and abruptly slowed to a stop. They hovered there in mid air, high above the countryside surrounding Kuoh. Onari pushed aside a strand of hair that the wind had blown into his face.

"Do you sense anything?" Onari asked Yu Wu as he spread out his own senses.

Yu Wu pursed her lips and hummed, "Mmm, nothing yet. Maybe we should check the alcohol warehouse and go from there?"

"Good idea."

The pair flew more slowly this time, making sure to scan the land below them for traces of anything out of place. Onari made sure to coat the bottom of their flying swords in an illusion so they didn't attract any unwanted attention.

There was a stray devil that was making its nest in a spooky grove of trees near the edge of town, but they left it for the heiresses to deal with. Dealing with strays in their territory was literally their job after all. Nothing else stood out until they got to the warehouse.

The warehouse hadn't been repaired after the alcohol heist the previous week. When Onari and Yu Wu flew closer, they could see a hole in one of the walls.

The hole was larger than a person, about eight feet tall and five feet wide. At the edge of the opening, planks of wood were half shattered and pushed out slightly. A quick peek inside showed that a crate had been cracked open and now sat empty. Nothing else was damaged other than the empty crate and the hole in the wall.

"It looks like it was made from the inside…" Yu Wu commented.

"This must have been a remarkably polite Oni," Onari said. "Do you smell that?"

Yu Wu rolled her eyes, "The scent of premeditated malice? No, I must have missed it."

Her sarcasm got a snort of laughter from Onari, "C'mon, smartass. It leads this way."

"Keep your guard up. I don't think an Oni is responsible for this…"

"Neither do I. But now I'm curious why someone would go through all this trouble to make this look like it was done by an Oni."

The pair flew away from the warehouse, following the trail of Qi that led out of town. On the ground, a sliver of darkness separated itself from a shadow and darted after the flying cultivators…