Chapter 16

The name of the maid that went missing was Mamoru. A pretty memorable name for Hiroyuki since, since he was a baby, until Senjumaru's arrival, she was one of the three maids who cared for him every day.

Also, given that she was the youngest of those three maids, she was naturally tasked to work around Hiroyuki much more... in the process, she spent more time with him and became much closer to him than the others. 

In any case, given that it's been a couple of days now since Mamoru went missing, it's only fair for Hiroyuki and Senjumaru to assume that she was already dead.

That the moment they get to the end of the trail they are currently following, what they'll probably find is either her mangled corpse or basically whatever is left of her disposed body.

Both of them aren't holding much hope anymore.

Now given such a thought process, it's pretty understandable how both of them became so confused when they saw Mamoru, whom they already accepted as 'dead' in their mind, is still alive and kicking. 

Cause upon their arrival at the 'end' of the tracks, whether it was from the Residuals or not, there they were surprisingly greeted by Mamoru herself.

Suspiciously enough.

This very scene made Hiroyuki immediately think something along the lines of... What if they are completely wrong about their assumptions? What if she was a traitor all along? That she's one of the people who organized this entire situation.

So many 'what ifs' had gone through his mind at that one moment.

However, given the suspicious atmosphere of the scene, Hiroyuki still gave the benefit of the doubt and initially interacted with Mamoru like how he would normally with her.

He still asked about her overall situation, condition, and how she got to where she is right now. Looking very worried about her, genuinely so.

The maid in question on the other hand, also gave a pretty 'Mamoru' response... to say the least.

She answered all of Hiroyuki's questions and gave some pretty reasonable reasons for everything that just happened. 

After their initial exchange, Hiroyuki finally 'understood' the situation.

He sighed in relief and told her not to worry anymore, all while saying how worried the other maids and her family were for her.

Hearing all that, Mamoru made a sad expression and said that she was greatly sorry for all the trouble she caused. She even almost tripped to the ground while doing so.

A pretty Mamoru way of apologizing. Given her clumsy nature.

Saying that it doesn't matter anymore and what's important is that she is safe and fine, Hiroyuki then gestured for her to come with them and that they would escort her back to the Clan. 

Agreeing, Mamoru then 'cheerfully' started walking towards them. Saying how 'glad' she is that they will do that for her.

!!!

But, as Mamoru got closer to the two, her expression quickly darkened because Hiroyuki suddenly disappeared from his spot.

He reappeared behind her and was about to deliver a chop at the back of her head.

Apart from this, Mamoru also saw Senjumaru, conjuring something that could only be described as threads made out of Curse Energy. 

The intention for this is pretty obvious.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that these two intend to knock her out and capture her. 

woosh~

Surprisingly, even though the position was pretty disadvantageous for her, she easily dodged Hiroyuki's attack and using a pretty peculiar maneuver, escaped the encirclement of Senjumaru's threads and successfully put some distance between the two.

A series of actions that supposedly, an ordinary Maid like Mamoru has no capability of performing.

"How did you know?" 

At this point, 'Mamoru' is gone. Her expression, body language, the tone in her voice, all of it is not of hers anymore. 

"You may have acted perfectly like her, but your eyes don't," Hiroyuki said with an annoyed expression, finally revealing how he truly felt all this time while watching the impostor disgustingly mimic his Maid's behavior.

"You possessed her body and took over her mind, no wonder you managed to know so much."

"Wow, as I've seen, you really are an impressive kid. Truly making me wonder if you are even an actual kid, or just someone pretending to be." Mamoru said as a creepy smile appeared on her face.

"Don't lump me with your kind."

"Why do you sound so guilty then?"

"Let's not waste our time talking shall we? I already wasted so much just by trying to find you." Hiroyuki said as his CE started surging out of his body.

However, despite showing such a level of threat and confidence, Hiroyuki is actually being as careful as he possibly can right now.

Especially since his information about the situation is still lacking.

He knows that the person in front of him is not Mamoru. But it also is, weirdly enough.

It's her body, just the consciousness that wasn't. That's why Hiroyuki thought that he could probably still bring the original Mamoru back if that was truly the case.

Hence he cannot simply kill her. 

The same reason why he initially tried to knock her unconscious cause that is usually the solution for these kinds of situations.

In any case, Hiroyuki's plan right now remains the same.

Knock Mamoru out all while keeping her body as... less 'hurt' as possible.

Simple. At the same time, not so much.

Whoever is controlling Mamoru right now seems to possess great skill in combat. No way she would simply let Hiroyuki do whatever he was planning to do without fighting back. 

So basically, this is a fight that involves more defense than offense. Hiroyuki couldn't help but chuckle as a certain person came into his mind as he entertained such a thought.

'It's been a while since I used this...'

After that, the overall air around Hiroyuki changed. As he gets into a position, his hand flows with undulating force. His Curse Energy started circulating as well, greatly matching his movements as it left a trail of pale streaks on each move he made.

Heavily resembling a certain technique he knows well from his past life.

Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.

'I'll borrow your technique for the meantime, Bang san.'

As much as he likes to reminisce about the good old days, he still has an urgent matter at hand.

That's why, after quickly gesturing to Senjumaru to watch the area out for him, using an Instant Movement from the same technique, Hiroyuki immediately launches himself toward Mamoru. 

whip~!

Mamoru, who seems adept when it comes to fighting, obviously managed to give a response as she empowered herself with CE and then tried to intercept Hiroyuki's incoming attacks. 

"Huh?" But to her surprise, as she made contact with Hiroyuki, her hands suddenly flung away. It's as if she just touched an extremely smooth wall that made her limbs slide off. 

"I see..."

But, given how surprised she was, she still quickly recovered and then gradually adapted to Hiroyuki's foreign fighting style. Making the fight pretty even as seconds passed by. 

Truly a level of skill worth marveling at. 

Unfortunately, such a state didn't last that long. Because, as their bouts go on, Mamoru gradually realizes that... she seems to be doing nothing but defend and dodge.

Hiroyuki's CE, thanks to his Cursed Heart constantly refining it, became so pure that it's almost incomparable to anything at this point.

Even Special Grade Curse Spirits don't have such a level of purity.

It's actually the first thing that Mamoru noticed about Hiroyuki. However, she didn't think much of it, saying that such a thing was no big deal at all... a mistake that she quickly realized upon their first exchange.

Curse Energies are naturally harmful. And the purer such energy is, obviously, the more destructive it becomes. So that means, each attack that Hiroyuki makes, packs more force than normal.

Making Mamoru exert double and sometimes even triple the amount of effort just to block it.

So much so that mid-way through their exchange, she didn't even have time to do anything but defend.

Not to mention that Hiroyuki is even holding back a lot since he is trying to avoid giving Mamoru's body unnecessary damage as much as possible.

That's why, as embarrassing as it was for her, later on, she was left with no choice and was forced to admit that when it comes to hand-to-hand combat... She has no chance of winning. 

Not with her body right now that is. 

So, that's why, after some time during their exchanges, Mamoru decided to jump into the air all of a sudden. 

???

Confused as to why she did such a stupid thing, Hiroyuki immediately followed her up and took advantage of the fact that she'd have a hard time avoiding him now.

But as he took off for the air too...

swiiift~!

A smile suddenly appeared on Mamoru's face as drops of blood started condensing greatly in between her hands.

 !!!

When Hiroyuki saw this, he was very surprised... and got a little bit distracted.

Well, apart from his enemy using it out of nowhere, it was also his first time seeing the Kamo Clan's technique, so he can't help but have such a reaction.

But as much as he wanted to analyze it more, he could not because he quickly realized his situation, and that he probably needed to quickly get out of the way.

Unfortunately, he was not in a position where he could do that as quickly as he normally could. 

That's why before he could even do what he was trying to do. 

fwiiip~!!

A streak of blood was suddenly painted through the air.

___ To be continued... ___