Chapter 69

"Alright, let's move out. There is no room for mistake. May Lady Amaterasu guide us."

"""May Lady Amaterasu guide us!"""

Turning around to face the house, a cold killing intent emanated from Kazuhiko.

"So shall it be. Let's move out."

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! x4

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|DxD|

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Shuri had just woken up when she suddenly saw the barrier surrounding the house destabilise for the briefest of moments, resulting in a visible sheen in the air that lasted for less than a second. It was something most would've missed, but as a mother living alone with her child, her paranoia was particularly high. 

Suddenly seeing the only thing currently protecting them fluctuate like that did not do wonders for her existing paranoia. It was a complete coincidence that the moment the barrier fluctuated was precisely the moment she would need to wake up Akeno to urinate. Her little girl had a particular issue of wetting the bed and so to remedy that, Shuri would always wake her up between the early hours of morning.

But after seeing the slight disruption of the barrier surrounding the house, she decided to first check what was going on. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she couldn't bring herself to. It was almost as if some external force was urging, almost begging her to investigate. When she had thoughts of investigating after sending Akeno to the bathroom, an uncontrollable urge suddenly caused her to put investigating as her priority. So she chose to listen to her gut feeling or whatever it was that influenced her.

Descending down the stairs, she was quick and silent as usual. Although she was a housewife, she was considered an elite operative of the Himejima clan once upon a time. Her prowess as a field operative was what led to her being sent to Kuoh with the intent of monitoring Cleria. As a complete human, there was less chance of her being detected as a spy than if a yokai were to do it. And with her being the best of the best, she was chosen after having received the most nominations.

Although relations between the yokai and humans used to be strained, the wars of the 20th century worked to bring them together and forget past transgressions against each other in order to defend their shared homeland. Shuri was also very active in the late '70s and early '80s. With the consequences losing many people to the Aryans, nuclear bombs, and other enemies seeking to take advantage of a weakened Japan, yokai and humans had united to fight against all of their foes both overtly and undercover, especially in the supernatural world.

Shuri was especially skilled and her abilities earned her major renown amongst both yokai and other humans. So even though almost a decade had passed without her taking on a mission, her senses hadn't dulled in the slightest. And the last thing Shuri would mistake, was the sound of someone picking the lock on her door.

She immediately went on high alert.

[Who?!]

Common thieves would never be able to make it here due to there being wards specifically made to deter normal people from coming. Stray devils, if they somehow managed to reach here, didn't pick locks. Very few people knew of her relationship with Baraquiel and those that did were generally friendly.

So that only left the option of an enemy who specifically came here for her…or her child.

[Hunters!]

Hunters- an elite squad in the Himejima clan dedicated to hunting down anyone who had betrayed the clan or its rules. That was the only assumption Shuri could come to given how there is nothing of value in her house that would attract another specialised team that could bypass high-level wards. As much as fear clouded her heart, she had no time to waste.

So acting quickly, Shuri silently retreated up the stairs, her face serious yet laden with sweat. The clock was ticking and she guessed she only had 10 -20 seconds to escape. The door itself was high level and the locks were personally fitted in by her when she first moved in, way before Baraquiel ever set foot in this house.

She quietly made her way through the hall, careful not to make any overt sounds. As humans, they had many ways of using their mana to amplify specific body parts. She did not want to take the chance and alert anyone who was listening that she was awake and most of all, aware of their presence. She may take slightly longer to reach Akeno's room, but it was better than the hunters smashing her door down.

Opening the door to Akeno's room, she opened a window to the outside. The cold breeze instantly entered along with the vague mutterings of a man.

She stood silently, her ears straining to hear their every whisper.

"Are you truly unable to break such a simple lock?" 

"I am sorry, Kazuhiko-sama. This lock is extremely complicated but I am getting close." 

"Hmph. You better hurry." 

"Yes, Kazuhiko-sama." 

Shuri's eyes widened in fright.

[K-Kazuhiko? Why him!]

Her fear skyrocketed after hearing the name. If she was the most talented woman in the clan, Kazuhiko was the most talented male. She had amicable, but friendly feelings for him while he showed clear and decisive interest in her. Being the son of the patriarch, they were both set to marry ten years ago until she cut off contact with the clan.

Any lingering feelings she may have had were dulled out when she met Baraquiel. She loved the fallen and she had a beautiful daughter with him. She did expect that the clan would come hunting for her at one point, but she thought it would be when she or Akeno were outside of Kuoh. It was why she stayed in Kuoh and never tried to leave the town. With the protection provided by Cleria, the feeling of safety she had from the Himejima continued to grow over the years.

She just never expected that over ten years later, the clan would manage to sneak into Kuoh. It also ached her heart a bit to see Kazuhiko would be one of the people hunting her down. She shared lots of good memories with him, so it did hurt to hear the man she once considered a friend whisper-shout orders to open the only thing between them and her daughter's death.

Unknowingly, a single tear flowed down her eye.

[I underestimated how far my clan would go to kill my child.]

Her assumption that they would leave her as long as she remained anonymous was naive and this was a painful way to find out. What her clan was doing was risking not only making themselves enemies of fallen angels and being placed under scrutiny by the devils, but they would also risk alienation from the Shinto Pantheon and they would undoubtedly sour relations between them and the Yokai Faction should word of their actions come to light.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to stand and reminisce. She had long since viewed herself as someone not part of the clan, even when she was still in it. So she never truly grasped how far the clan would be willing to go just to follow the rules and kill her 'abomination' of a child.

Wiping away the tear, she resolved her heart.

[I won't let them touch my daughter.]

Moving over to Akeno, she gently grabbed her sleeping little girl and moved over to the edge of the window.

She craned her neck outside to search for anyone who might be loitering this side. Upon seeing no one, she put her foot on the windowsill and jumped from the second floor.

*Puff*

Her landing was silent even with the additional weight of Akeno. She scoured her surroundings again before running. She vaulted over the wall in a single bound and once she made it past, she sprinted into the woods. 

While there was a shortcut to town, it wasn't under the cover of the forest and with the low visibility of the moon, it was just bright enough for their figures to be seen should they take the path.

Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa

She ran with all her might towards town while taking a slightly longer route. Her speed was fast, almost three times as fast as an ordinary human's. While she could go significantly faster, the energy she would emit then would be detected by the hunters. 

She had no clue how many they were and their power-levels. She had no information on their tools or capabilities. Shuri was quite confident of her strength. Although she had rusted a bit, she had the capability of bringing down a high class entity. So it was only right to assume that the clan would've sent quite the number of high class entities to combat her. Yet Shuri had no intentions of fighting, especially with her daughter on the line.

But unfortunately…

[My senses have dulled.]

…she felt the presence of someone following her. And knowing that a confrontation was unavoidable, she continued running.

Under normal circumstances, she would've stopped to confront them. But with her clan members being roughly only a kilometre away, she wanted to place as much distance between her and them before inevitably having to confont whoever was following her.

So she continued running, not caring that she was barefoot or in her pink nightdress. Shuri continued to keep her senses on the person following her, slightly thankful that whoever they were was content in simply tailing her.

There were only two more kilometres until she could reach town and just a kilometre left before she would finally reach the edge of the barrier surrounding the forest.

This time, she had no goals of reaching town. Her intuition told her that whoever was following her wouldn't allow that to happen.

But…

[As long as I can pass through the barrier, I can immediately alert Lady Cleria by releasing all my energy.]

She had no idea how the hunters made it past both Cleria's and Baraquiel's barrier. Just passing through them without being detected would take immense expertise in wards or a powerful enough distraction. 

She had no idea which method they used nor the time to figure it out. All she had on her mind was one goal, but it seemed her pursuer wouldn't let her reach it.

"?!" 

Feeling something rapidly come towards her back, she darted to the side.

Swoosh!

She had just enough time to spot a figure rush past her former position before skidding across the ground.

Krrrrrrrr

Silence…

Shuri stood in silence, her arms cradling the still sleeping Akeno. Her heart was beating quickly, her nerves threatening to freeze. Her legs were numb, her knees trembling in fear. That was because Shuri could feel how strong the man in front of her was. Although the man was facing away from her, Shuri could sense just how outclassed she was based on the aura he exuded.

She was brought to near absolute despair by the hulking mass of muscle currently facing away from her.

[Why now? Why now???? I WAS CLOSE!!!]

It nearly brought her to tears how she was barely a hundred metres from the edge of the barrier. She was not worried for herself, but for the safety of Akeno who was in her arms. She could not let her precious daughter die no matter what.

Her only singular hope was that the man in front of her was a friendly. But judging by how he suddenly stopped her, those thoughts hopeful were fleeting. So she stood quietly and waited until the man attested his intentions.

And the man did not let her wait any longer. Turning around with heavy breaths, the man looked at Shuri with eyes as dark as a blackhole.

His eyes were glazed with drool escaping his lips.

"I finally found you…Shuri-neeeeee!" 

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AN

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