-500- [ Armored Juggernaut ]

Due to the relatively low elevation of the hill where the shrine was located, the entire process of Dairenji Suzuka's escape and Rozen's pursuit took less than a few seconds.

In these few seconds, Dairenji Suzuka had already ridden her shikigami and reached the base of the mountain.

Naturally, Rozen, riding on Hokuto, was right below the shrine almost in the next moment.

Aware of this, Rozen clearly saw it.

He saw Dairenji Suzuka flying towards the truck parked at the base of the mountain.

"That is..."

Rozen furrowed his brow.

"A truck?"

Tsuchimikado Natsume, also seated on Hokuto, was equally surprised.

Neither of them expected that Dairenji Suzuka's choice for escape wasn't towards some other place but towards the truck parked there, for who knows how long.

However,

"That must be Dairenji Suzuka's last resort, right?"

Rozen very easily arrived at this conclusion.

If not, Dairenji Suzuka wouldn't have desperately fled to that place.

Natsume seemed to have also thought of this possibility and quickly spoke to Rozen.

"Then let's stop her right away!"

This was a very accurate judgment.

Although they didn't know what means Dairenji Suzuka had prepared, it was evident that something considered the last resort by a national-level onmyouji couldn't be too ordinary.

Moreover, Dairenji Suzuka was a researcher attempting to delve into taboos. Just thinking a little about it would make one feel that whatever she had prepared was definitely very dangerous.

So, the decision to stop Dairenji Suzuka was absolutely correct.

However,

"It's too late."

Rozen stated this straightforwardly.

Indeed, it was too late.

During this time, Dairenji Suzuka had already jumped down from her shikigami, landed in front of the truck, and stopped running. She turned around, facing their direction, with an expression that showed a willingness to face death.

Clearly, Dairenji Suzuka was prepared to make a final stand.

"Akikan."

Natsume looked at Rozen, calling his name, a mix of unease and determination in her voice.

"Let's go."

Rozen stared firmly at Dairenji Suzuka standing in front of the truck, calmly making this decision.

"Alright."

Natsume nodded without hesitation.

"Hokuto."

Rozen lightly tapped Hokuto, prompting Hokuto to respond with a dragon's roar. In a swift motion, they arrived at the base of the mountain.

At this moment, Rozen and Natsume both jumped down from Hokuto's head, landing in front of Dairenji Suzuka.

Both sides returned to a confrontational stance once again, but unlike the beginning, Rozen completely had the initiative now, and Dairenji Suzuka's earlier confidence had completely disappeared.

"Tsk"

Dairenji Suzuka expressed her frustration quite explicitly, mocking herself.

"I can't believe it has come to this in the end."

Initially, it was Dairenji Suzuka who confidently attacked Rozen, but she ended up being pushed to this extent. It was indeed quite ironic.

"Dairenji Suzuka." Natsume took a step forward, gazing at Dairenji Suzuka, and said earnestly, "Please surrender, the outcome is clear."

It was a persuasion quite in Natsume's style.

Unfortunately, whether others would listen or not was another matter.

"The outcome is clear?" Dairenji Suzuka's self-mocking turned into mockery, and she said, "Who says that? The real show is just beginning!"

Saying this, Dairenji Suzuka took a step back toward the truck.

"You should know what my expertise is, right?"

Dairenji Suzuka asked this question with a forced smile.

However, Dairenji Suzuka didn't ask for Rozen and Natsume's answer; she provided the answer herself.

"My expertise is the study of Imperial Shikigami," Dairenji Suzuka said, "The Imperial Shikigami compiled by Yakou are a militarized spell system—practical and powerful, originally prepared for use in war."

Since there was a military-use jujutsu, there naturally was military-use combat power.

What kind of combat power?

Dairenji Suzuka's smile returned to its venomous state.

"Besides jujutsu, Yakou also developed many military-grade shikigami,"

Hearing these words, not only Natsume but also Rozen were taken aback.

Because both of them had already guessed what Dairenji Suzuka's final move was.

"Stop!"

Natsume couldn't help but cry out.

"It's too late!"

Dairenji Suzuka yelled back even louder.

"Let the descendants of Tsuchimikado Yakou, as members of the Tsuchimikado family, witness the military shikigami developed by your legendary ancestor!"

Without looking back, Dairenji Suzuka chanted incantations towards the truck behind her.

"Jutsu release! Come forth, Tsuchigumo!"

As this command fell from Dairenji Suzuka's mouth,

"Boom!"

With a loud impact, the container behind Dairenji Suzuka's truck shook violently, bursting open at the top as if it had exploded.

From the top of the ruptured container, a steel spike emerged, exposed to the air.

It was this steel spike that pierced through the interior of the container, tearing it apart.

The container was torn apart like this, with steel spikes protruding from the top, shredding it.

Soon, a monster appeared from inside.

It was a giant steel spider.

The first thing to pierce out of the container was the legs of the steel spider.

It had a body entirely made of steel, with a size about twice as large as the truck. On both sides of its body were equipped with turrets, and the spider's face was a ferocious, ghostly iron visage. On its back, it had an upper body like that of a samurai in armor.

The samurai wore old armor, a conical helmet, and a dark golden pentagram on the forehead of the helmet.

Such a creature, half-human and half-spider, a monster like a demon and a beast, came out of the container of the truck and landed behind Dairenji Suzuka.

"Thud!"

The moment the massive body hit the ground, the ground trembled slightly, raising a thick cloud of dust.

Dairenji Suzuka, who summoned this steel spider, did not look back, just revealing a somewhat twisted smile.

As for Rozen, watching this scene, a glint appeared in his eyes.

As for Natsume, she could only force out a faint voice, revealing the identity of the opponent.

"Armored Juggernaut."

———Armored Juggernaut.

This was a military shikigami that had been used as arms for the army half a century ago. Although it was an Man-made shikigami, it was also a very precious mechanical shikigami.

The type of spells that made up this shikigami were carved on the inside of the armor, and the external body was made of steel. The power that drove it was not jutsuryoku but gasoline.

Rather than calling it a shikigami, it was more like a large armored mechanical spider. If it weren't for the spells carved inside providing it with autonomous movement capabilities, it definitely wouldn't be a shikigami.

Thanks to this, the physical properties of this shikigami were excellent, breaking away from the usual shikigami's propensity to easily shatter.

It had excellent destructive and defensive capabilities, making it a genuine military shikigami. By the present day, it had become an antique-like existence, normally stored in a tightly guarded branch of the Onmyou Agency.

The reason it wasn't stored in the main headquarters was due to its large size. Otherwise, the Onmyou Agency main headquarters would never put it anywhere else.

Not only because the quantity of the Armored Juggernaut was extremely rare in modern times and its power was exceptional, causing even a National Grade Onmyoji to have a headache when facing such a shikigami with immense destructive and defensive power, but also because it was a military shikigami developed by Yakou himself.

Dairenji Suzuka stole it from an Onmyou Agency branch and conducted repairs, ultimately bringing it as her trump card here, preserving it until now.

This was Dairenji Suzuka's prepared final move.