112 Four fiends, Fourth Beast (3)

Satanael. Originally from the Cadres of the Grigori, he was the fallen angel who had concocted the current incident. The Cadre who had cut ties with the Grigori.

Barakiel spoke.

"I'm going over there. Nanadaru Shigune."

Suddenly being called out by name, Shigune let out a sound of, "Y-Yessir!"

"You can bring them along to where Koga Hyousuke is, right? If it's them, they're bound to be helpful."

It was a request from the unusually hard-faced man, but Shigune, while tightly embracing her Sacred Gear, nodded.

Barakiel then spoke to Tobio and the others who were his students.

"I will speak with Satanael. You guys rescue your classmate. If Vali and Lavinia are with you, it's by no means impossible."

Barakiel didn't say anything about Jason. He didn't know if he was going to act or not. As it was, it seemed he wasn't going to interfere unless the kids faced mortal danger.

Barakiel turned his gaze upon the masked beast Shigune was carrying.

"However, at the very least, don't make a mistake when using that Sacred Gear. What you Nanadaru Shigune are holding is the strongest of the Four Fiends, Tāotiè. It seems like it damages this whole area the moment it's used."

Shigune nodded. The others showed no signs of surprise either as they knew of the power of Shigune's Sacred Gear. The only curious one was Jason as he had not yet seen the power of Shigune.

Perfect Shield... Jason remembered Shigune's nickname. Azazel had told him that her shield was so powerful that even for him, it would be difficult to break.

Shigune, however, was merely finding those words to be strange.

"I don't think Poh-kun is such a despicable child as that though…"

Jason then asked in response.

"Poh-kun? That's this child's name?"

Even as Shigune nodded, the demon opened its large mouth that was hidden under the mask. From the sharp fangs lined up inside its mouth, it let out a completely unique sounding cry of "Poh".

"From the cry of 'Poh', it became Poh-kun."

Jason's eyebrows twitched when he heard the reason for the beast's name.

Even though he had just revealed various things, Barakiel immediately moved away.

Vali spoke.

"I really should go that way as well. There may be a battle with Satanael."

Barakiel replied without even turning his head.

"For that, you should first gain use over the armor."

Hearing this statement, Vali's fearless smile vanished, and his expression became that of an atypical pout.

"I'll gain use of it immediately. Kuh, I understand. Today I'm their babysitter."

Hearing Vali's response, Barakiel showed a brief smile and then left them behind.

Tobio inquired of Shigune.

"Well then, do you know Koga's whereabouts?"

Shigune pointed towards the interior of the village.

"I came from that mountain over there. On the way, Koga-kun stayed behind on the mountain to oppose some scary people…"

All who were present turned towards where Shigune was pointing.

Everyone nodded, and while remaining vigilant, they began walking.

Looking at the direction in which Barakiel was marching, Jason seemed to doubt his next action.

"Aniki, you can follow him. Lavinia and I will take care of the rest."

Jason gave it some serious thought for a moment but finally decided to go with them.

"I've promised Azazel to keep you alive, how can I do it if I'm not by your side?"

With that, Jason accompanied the group in the direction of the last Four Fiend.

…

When they had been walking for a while, Jason asked Shigune a question that had been on his mind for some time.

"Shigune, you were temporarily captured by the 'Utsusemi Agency', right?"

Shigune shook her head.

"Uh-uh. Not the 'Utsusemi Agency'. The ones who captured us were Chaos… they call themselves 'Those Who if Forced to Choose Would Bring About Chaos'."

Jason's gaze became sharp when he heard that name.

Shigune continued.

"Shutting themselves is a place that's something like a research institution somewhere, they desired a means to extract a Sacred Gear, to extract Poh-kun. They subjected Koga-kun and me to something, some kind of experiment it seemed, several times. Eventually, I think he was a big-whig over there or something. He was a good-looking man, that person reached an 'agreement' with Koga-kun."

"Can you repeat the name of the organization?"

"I don't remember very well. They were called Chaos something."

"Khaos Brigade?"

"Yes, that's right! How did you know that?"

"Oh, I think I've heard it somewhere before."

Before the rest of us could suspect anything of Jason, he changed the subject.

"What pact did Koga make with that organization?"

"As for what Koga-kun did for that big wig, it was becoming something scary."

Shigune was hesitant to speak. Her expression had been so lifelike.

Samejima inquired.

"What, so Koga-kun became something scary then."

It happened just as Shigune seemed about to reply to Samejima's query.

A thunderous roar of 'Goooon!!' resounded from the direction of the mountain!

Everyone simultaneously turned to look in that direction. It had come from the precise path they'd been heading, but the sound just now was not at all usual.

Shigune squeezed out a voice as she embraced "Poh-kun".

"Koga-kun, so you became that again!"

Shigune shuddered.

The party nodded to one another and started running towards the place where the aura had manifested.

As they were heading towards the place where Koga seemed to be, from out of the shadows of the countryside that had been silent, they could hear the sounds of unimaginably massive explosions and impacts.

It was evident that Koga has gotten dragged into a fight.

From the country road the party advance into a forest and Vali who was in the lead muttered a soliloquy.

"What, why? What the hell? Is that really true?"

It seemed he was conversing with Albion.

"Vali, did you learn something?"

"It would seem that I should perhaps speak so that everyone present can hear."

An unfamiliar voice was heard from the direction of Vali.

"This is the first time I've spoken with everyone, huh."

Looking at him, the mouth of the dragon plush toy placed on his shoulder was moving, and a voice was being emitted.

At this Tobio and the others stopped walking, having been struck dumb.

Natsume and Samejima both raised their voices as they pointed to the plush toy on Vali's shoulder.

" W-Who's that!?"

Jason and Lavinia, on the other hand, were calm.

"He is the Albion, the spirit of the dragon that resides inside Vali," Jason explained.

While resuming her walking, Natsume inquired of the plush toy.

"W-Well then, you are the dragon that dwells within Vali then."

"Uhuh. I am one of the Two Heavenly Dragons, Vanishing Dragon known as the White Dragon Emperor Albion. Allow me to express my apologies for my late introduction."

While narrowing his eyes, Samejima muttered under his breath.

"So it isn't just an ordinary plush toy?"

To this, Lavinia responded, speaking with a smiling face.

"Governor-General Azazel and I have occasionally been conversing with Al-kun."

"It's because Miss Lavinia and Governor-General Azazel have had various things to discuss when it comes to Vali."

"Since there are numerous things in which Vali is still inexperienced, I make use of this device for my voice to be audibly heard by those outsides."

Vali spoke while displaying a displeased expression in response to this.

"Albion, I'd prefer if you didn't say so much."

"Hmph, is that so. My apologies."

"Jason's different, though. Due to certain reasons, I can communicate with him without this device. His soul is strong enough to establish direct communication with me without dying in the process. I would normally only be able to communicate with someone other than my carrier when the person he communicated with has a strong relationship with him."

Jason didn't care about his explanation and got to the point.

"What have you discovered, Albion?"

Tobio and the rest looked at Jason in astonishment. How dare he speak to him in such an informal tone?

"The Forbidden Technique, Balance Breaker"

Jason agreed with Albion.

"That´s what I thought. But doesn't it seem a little different?"

Shigune spoke up cautiously.

"Koga-kun said that that pretty man also called it that. In that case, it might just explain that power."

Shigune, who apparently had already seen Koga's power, was able to agree with Jason and Albion describing it as a Balance Breaker.

Natsume inquired of Albion.

"So Koga-kun, by cooperating with Those Who if Forced to Choose Would Bring About Chaos, was able to evolve his Sacred Gear to the point that it transcends our own?"

"No, as Jason says, it merely resembled it. I have a good understanding of Balance Breakers. Consequently, I find that aura incomprehensible."

They finally arrived where the aura had originated from.