111 Four fiends, Fourth beast (2)

Indeed, the Abyss Team's members' abilities, they were Sacred Gears that dealt damage their opponents could not recover from.

If they'd been hit by the attack like the one just now, they would have had their eyesight stolen, or possibly lost their hearing. Characteristics that impose severe mental pollution with serious side effect, or others that utilized insects that would parasitically feed on the opponent's body gradually from the inside,

assassination, torture, the Abyss Team was formed of a collection of possessors who were entirely inhumane.

Of course, these were skills that wouldn't cause Jason any trouble. Like right now, Jason hadn't closed his eyes as he was looking for the wearer of Sacred Gear.

The Abyss Team member should be close by as his Sacred Gear could not go very far from him. He was not an independent Avatar Sacred Gear like Tobio and the others.

"I found you," Jason muttered.

The statue just now was a Sacred gear that, when it opened its eyes, would release a light would rob a person of their eyesight.

"A team that kills at first sight, if that's the truth I rather not have them as opponents though…"

While paying attention to her surroundings, Natsume muttered as much.

Then Barakiel, Vali, and Lavinia directed their gazes towards a single point, the point where Jason was looking for some time now. Everyone else matched their gazes.

From the soundless darkness of the road, laughter could be heard.

"Pupupu, upupupu."

As for that which appeared while letting out such an unpleasant laugh, it was a slender man. He was dressed in something similar to the 'Nephilim' uniform worn by Tobio and the others.

The man wore sunglasses, had a crooked mouth and wore an ugly smile on his face. At his feet was the aforementioned uncanny stone statue. Its eyes were closed once again.

"I wish to render your eyes sightless quickly. I wish to make you understand the sensation of having sightless eyes."

As the man spoke, he had the eyes of the stone statue at his feet open.

Tobio and the others did not permit the silent attack, and Tobio, Natsume, and Samejima all moved swiftly.

"Slash!"

"Do it!"

"Extend!"

Jin charged at high speeds with a sword held in his mouth, Griffon took to the air, and the point of Byakusa's long tail shot towards the opponent.

It was a threefold simultaneous attack, but even in the midst of this, the man's disgusting smile did not cease.

Shigune shouted.

"That statue! There are two of them!"

Hearing that cry, Vali immediately took a quick look behind them and was about to fire a silver aura from his hand when he saw Jason sitting on top of the statue.

"Were you going to attack me? Do you want another lesson from your older brother?"

Vali's body shook and laughed nervously.

"Don't say that Aniki, I was trying to help, but you're faster."

"Lavinia!"

As Barakiel called out Lavinia's name, she expanded a magic circle and fired at the male opponent. The man was enveloped directly by the blue colored aura released from the magic circle… but there was no damage.

The simultaneous hits taken from Jin's sword and Byakusa's tail were insufficient to break the stone statue in front of them, but the stone statue behind them was instantly destroyed by Jason.

Griffon's high-speed diving attack was closely avoided by the man.

Towards that man, Barakiel spoke while generating a small scale electrical phenomenon.

"To go so far as to take even me on, are you all such fools?"

The man, who seemed to be aware that Barakiel was a Cadre of the Grigori while squinting and showing a smile, calmly vanished into the darkness.

Riririririri.

The sound of insects resumed. There was no longer any murderous intent being released.

With the battle having ended, all members took a deep breath. Shigune then spoke to everyone as though having just recalled.

"Koga-kun! Everybody, Koga-kun is…!! He's fighting in the village that's over there!"

Shigune's expression was urgent as she pointed towards the village.

As they were returning to the car, Jason stopped Barakiel.

"Why did you let him go?"

Barakiel seemed ready for the question.

"He already had an escape prepared. I couldn't do anything."

Jason laughed slightly at Barakiel's response.

"If you had acted from the first moment, I doubt he would have come out alive."

"The same goes for you. Why didn't you kill him?"

Jason laughed again, Barakiel frowned. Jason's response came quickly.

"Why should I bother with a disposable pawn? Azazel just told me to keep them alive. I'm not going to do anything others can do."

After that, they got back into the car again, progressed with vigilance, until they reached what appeared to be the entrance to the village.

Houses had been built here and there. ...There was no sign of people. Just from looking from the outside, there did not appear to be any lights inside the houses.

The surrounding landscape consisted only of fields and mountains. After that, there was nothing but the darkness of the night.

There was light from the light poles that had been set up at regular intervals, but the light they produced was unreliable. Compared with the darkness covering the village, the light was entirely insufficient.

Once they reached the entrance, they stopped the car, and everyone present got out again.

As he glanced around the area, Barakiel was going to instruct Jason, but he recalled the words the youth has said before. He then looked at Vali and told him.

"Vali, are you okay with investigating the surrounding homes?"

Accepting the instruction despite it being tedious, Vali entered the garden of a nearby home.

For Barakiel, this was the most significant difference between Jason and Vali. Vali accepted the tasks even though he complained about them, but Jason if he didn't want to do something, just declined the order. What irritated Barakiel the most was the look Jason sometimes gave him as if he had stolen his wife and daughter and was mocking him in secret.

If Barakiel knew how much truth there was in that...

Ri-ri-ri-.

In the world of darkest night, only the cries of insects resounded.

"An unpleasant atmosphere…"

While shuddering, Natsume hugged herself as she muttered.

Several minutes passed from when they entered the village. There was no sign they could detect the people who lived there.

They do say that people in the countryside go to bed quickly and early, but it wouldn't be strange for at least one or two houses to have lights on late at night. Instead, this situation was what was weird.

Jin and Byakusa had been clearly vigilant since entering the village. The look in their eyes and their gaits were free of any excess, showing no gaps.

In other words, this village had ended up as just that sort of place. It would not be strange for the Abyss Team or the 'Utsusemi Agency' remnants to appear here at any moment.

There was a swooshing sound.

"Hyah"

Natsume let out a pathetic shriek.

The sound came from a nearby clump of bushes. It was also a sign of life.

Tobio and the others raised their guards, but what emerged was a raccoon. While twitching its nose, it quickly went off and left them behind.

"What the, a raccoon?"

Samejima lowered his raised arms and took a deep breath.

"..."

Tobio had Sae intertwined with his arms, while Natsume did the same with Jason. Jason met gazes with Natsume, at which point Natsume detached herself from his arm while acting flustered.

"I-It's nothing. I just blindly got dragged along with the atmosphere for a bit there! It's not what it seems..."

Natsume spoke confidently, but she was hanging her head, and her face was bright red. She couldn't look Jason in the eyes.

With the mood of the place and the sudden appearance of the raccoon, she had clearly been greatly startled. Unintentionally, she had reflexively jumped at Jason, who was nearby.

It was then that Vali returned from investigating the private homes.

"In every house, the inhabitants are sleeping. However, they aren't sleeping just because it's night time. It would be right to say there's an effect that compelled them to go to sleep."

This was what Vali informed them of.

Shigune spoke as though realizing something.

"So that's why even when we yelled for help, nobody came out…"

It appeared she had asked this village for assistance.

Hearing this information, Barakiel put his hand to his chin and pondered.

"If the people from the 'Utsusemi Agency' or the witches of Oz were to anticipate a battle possibly occurring here, they might have used a technique to put the residents of this village to sleep. It would be so they wouldn't see anything unnecessary."

If there was a chance for it to become troublesome, they'd put everyone in the village to sleep.

He thought it was good that the villagers wouldn't become victims… but Vali then continued speaking.

"However, if the situation becomes complicated, it's possible the entire village might be erased."

At that single statement, Tobio, Sae, and Natsume all shuddered. Indeed, such a thing had been planned for their comrades and themselves as well.

Jason suddenly turned to look in a specific direction. A moment later, Barakiel, Vali, Lavinia, Jin, and the other Independent Avatar Types all looked in the same direction.

Vali spoke.

"It's the aura of Satanael. Heh, so he himself came here directly."