52

Chapter 52: Conquest I

Summary:

I just want to state outright that this story isn't going on hiatus and I haven't lost interest in it. I've simply been working a lot since classes ended and have been exhausted when I haven't been working. Honestly, outside the outline of the chapter and planning it out in my head over the past month, all of it was written in the last two days. I'm not making any promises on update schedules for a while since we all know how my last tentative suggestion went. Quicker updates my ass. With that said, I hope you all enjoy and feel free to let me know what you liked or didn't :D.

Chapter Text

I stare out the window, watching the people of Kyoto as we weave through the streets towards our destination. It has been a week since my spar with Zen Master Jun and today is the annual shareholders' meeting at the Sentry technologies office in Kyoto.

Sentry is an international business that serves to 'empower and enliven all of humanity through knowledge and bring the technologies of the future into the world of today.' A pithy statement that tugs at the heartstrings and sets the ambitions of job applicants alight, or something.

Basically, the company is a front for the Grigori which rakes in money worldwide and furthers their goals.

They didn't even try to hide the true ownership, as both the name and their mission statement line up with the modus operandi of the Fallen. Sentry is a close synonym for Watcher, the English translation of the Aramaic ' עִיר' or 'iyr'. Also, other than lusting after humans, the Grigori originally shared knowledge that the humans were set to learn over time.

The Kyoto branch of this organization is also where the Black Feather Brigade operates out of.

There is another car following the one I'm sitting in full of more Golden Dragons members but in this vehicle, there is only me, Kintoki, and our driver.

I turn from looking out the window of the car as Kintoki huffs angrily in his seat beside me.

"Did we really have to get all dressed up for this, Boss?" Kintoki adjusts his collar and gestures to the suit he's wearing in distaste.

He's wearing a classic black suit, with a black dress shirt and a yellow tie. The rest of our guys are wearing the same outfit, giving the group a nice cohesive appearance.

I roll my eyes at the complaint, "We can't just roll up to a shareholder meeting in normal clothes. I'm not enjoying this either."

We could rock up in casual wear but that wouldn't give the impression of an organized force that I want to show off.

"Are you going to pretend you weren't checking your reflection out in the car window earlier?" Kintoki says with a raised brow.

"I might be enjoying it a little." I shamelessly say.

If he looked this good he would have checked himself out as well. I'm dressed in crisp black slacks, a black vest, and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to my elbows.

I passed on the idea of wearing high heels though, the warrior in me sneering at the cumbersome shoes. Instead, I went with leather loafers because I could still move well in them.

It might be my vanity speaking but I think I look amazing.

"If you suffer through wearing that now, you can show it off to Yaeko later." Kintoki pauses as he contemplates that before he grins, surely imagining her reaction.

I could have gone with a more traditional Japanese aesthetic but it's nice to switch things up. Besides, Kintoki and the minions that are here as our 'entourage' are all in suits and it looks better if I match them as well.

"Why is it necessary that I'm here for this? Or the others that are with us for that matter? None of us knows what this company does, let alone have the expertise to understand what the meeting is about." He pinches the bridge of his nose as he thinks about the muscleheads I selected for this trip. "You could have brought an accountant that we employ at least."

My amusement at his gripes shows as an easygoing grin graces my features. This poor, naive man thinks we're going to discuss business, rather than business.

"I specifically chose the most aggressive looking members we have, you included. We aren't going to go sit in on a boring meeting, we're there to intimidate them."

Actually, we're going to intimidate the shareholders, not the members of the Black Feather Brigade. I'm taking a page out of the traditional Yakuza playbook and causing a disturbance at a shareholders' meeting in order to get paid off. They can't legally kick us out if we aren't overtly being disruptive but intimidating the investors is enough for me.

In all honesty, I don't expect an appearance at the meeting itself to be necessary. After arriving at the building, once security gets an eyeful of us, we will probably get paid off to not cause a disturbance.

There is the added threat that if I'm allowed into the meeting, I might break whatever hypnotic suggestions are embedded into their investors. That's an assumption, I don't know if they hypnotise their investors, but if I ran a company in this universe that would be what I would do.

Kintoki grumbles, "Couldn't you have threatened them normally? You know, with actual threats of violence?"

"I'm doing it this way for a reason, Kintoki." I shake my head and sigh, "I'm going after their public assets because it's a provocation they can't ignore. Their criminal interests are far less important than their official presence."

"I've looked into this, Ibaraki. This isn't a small-time corporation, it's a massive international conglomerate. Are you sure the Golden Dragons can afford to get into this?" Kintoki pins me with a stare and I can tell he has put a lot of effort into researching our enemy.

It's good that he is intelligent enough to realize this is beyond our little gang and diligent enough to try to discourage me from this course of action. The only issue with his thought process is that he misread what my intentions were.

"You should know me well enough by now to realize I have no interest in a massive company. This is simply the shot across the bow." His nose crinkles at the gratuitous English idiom.

"I still don't understand what you're aiming for here. You already have our guys snooping around in the Devil's territory and now you're taking shots at the Crows. Are you trying to fight a war on two fronts?" I send him a warning look when he calls the Fallen crows.

"It's naive of you to assume that if we attack one side, the other will sit and wait silently. I'm provoking both sides so I can at least guess when they'll make their moves." Kintoki frowns and slowly nods, not quite convinced by my plan.

I'd rather know that my enemy is making moves in the shadows than simply assume they are. Planning around enemy action is better than paranoia over potential enemy action.

Far less stressful as well.

I shrug and let him turn that over in his mind. It doesn't matter if he's convinced since this is the course of action I've decided but hopefully he comes around.

If I'm wrong and this ends up provoking the two gangs into forming an alliance to combat us…

Well, the thought of the ensuing battle does bring a smile to my face.

Kintoki is silent for the rest of the ride and I spend my time idly manipulating an aura of Touki around my hand.

The white aura pulses softly as I change the density of the life energy coating my hand or shift it to the tips of my fingers.

As I change the base of the technique the aura shifts to an angry red, and the soft glow turns harsh. Rather than pulsing, the aura flickers like tongues of flame.

Changing the base again, the aura's colour and pattern become uncertain before the technique fizzles out. I sigh as it fades, knowing that this new version isn't stable yet.

Over the past week, I had experimented with the technique constantly to try and reach an understanding of the essence behind Touki.

I started from the ground up and tried to 'build' an aura of Touki by simply emitting Ki from my body and having wrap around me.

When that failed, I tried different flow rates and densities, concentrating my Ki on different areas, changing the range of emission, and more.

In this fashion, I continued to come no closer to understanding what Touki was and how it worked until yesterday when I decided to switch up my approach.

For six days, I had focused on Touki from the point of view of someone who could control their life force and had an intimate connection with it.

On the seventh, I decided to focus on the outliers. People like Sairaorg Bael and Byakko Shinra could simply use Touki due to the incredible amount of training they went through honing their physicality to the absolute limit.

Embarrassingly, this allowed me to understand Touki almost instantly.

Touki works through Ki or in more general terms, 'life force'. By training your body to the limit you raise the amount of life force your body produces; a more healthy body is a body with more vigorous vitality.

When you have this overflowing vitality and face a life or death scenario, your body quite literally squeezes out every drop of that life force pushing you past your limits. This is what causes Touki to manifest.

Once I figured that out, the question was, why doesn't every Olympic athlete, martial artist or bodybuilder develop Touki?

That too was a frighteningly simple conclusion once I was looking at outliers. The answer is in the name, Touki. The technique is by definition 'fighting spirit' - the determination to survive, conquer your opponent, push past your limits, and grasp victory.

The athletes in the mundane world, despite any impressive drive and determination they might have, don't have that same life or death edge to their lifestyle that Touki manifestation necessitates.

In summary, Touki is an aura of Ki that is suffused with that primal emotion defined as fighting spirit. The stronger that emotion becomes, the more powerful your Touki is.

Hindsight is a bitch because I already knew that Ki was an emotionally reactive substance.

The very basics of Senjutsu are that entry-level practitioners can be swallowed up by madness when they interact with the malice infused natural Ki.

Hell, during my fight with the ancestral spirit Ibaraki-Douji, I had created a Killing Intent infused Ki aura of my own.

It's actually embarrassing that it took me this long to figure Touki out but it is what it is.

Now I can focus on using this to my advantage when further developing my martial arts. By infusing emotion and symbolism into my Ki, I should be able to create techniques with vastly different effects than simply strengthening a punch.

My hope is that altered states of Ki will be the key to higher tier martial arts like the secret techniques Haneul hinted at.

Already Byakko and I have been discussing how to improve my Tiger Style, the basis of which is the altered Touki that failed to manifest earlier.

My only real hints in the development of this altered Touki are the red Touki I created and the purple and gold Touki Sairaorg was said to manifest when he used his Breakdown the Beast transformation.

The progress on that has been slow, however, and I haven't made a proper aura manifest for the technique yet.

We don't talk about my attempt at a White Tiger Ki 'Touki' from my childhood…

I'm broken out of my train of thought as we arrive at Kyoto's Sentry office.

One of the gang members I brought along opens the car door for me and I step out in front of the building.

The building is a relatively regular office building, if clean and a touch modern compared to the surrounding buildings. This is a result of Kyoto's smaller business centre when compared to a city like Tokyo. Kyoto does have more of a focus on the traditions of Japan rather than the modernity of Tokyo.

Overall, Sentry stands out in Kyoto's business sector without being out of place among the older buildings.

Straightening my posture, I strut towards the entrance with my entourage following.

I have to suppress a grin as I catch some pedestrians giving us a wide berth and talking in hushed tones, my sensitive hearing picking up whispered speculations on why Yakuza would be here. If nothing else, some rumours of Sentry being involved with criminal elements will pop up after this.

Predictably, as we step inside the office building's lobby security is waiting for us.

I ignore the three security guards and proceed to the reception desk.

The receptionist looks at me and my entourage before taking a nervous glance towards security. I clear my throat and he turns back to me, slipping on a businessman's smile.

"Good morning, Miss, how can I help you today?" I place my elbows on his desk and lean forward with my arms crossed.

"We're here for the shareholders' meeting." I glance lazily at the clock behind him, "We might be a little early but we can wait here, right?"

"The shareholders' meeting?" He says, glancing between me and my entourage. "Are you sure you have the right building?"

I raise a brow and frown to make my displeasure clear, "Nah, this is definitely the right place. Unless you're implying I couldn't afford to buy into the company. Or worse that people like me and my boys aren't allowed here."

I hear Kintoki crack his knuckles behind me and it takes a lot of effort to not laugh when the receptionist pales and visibly begins to sweat, "Ah, of course not, Miss! I wouldn't dare."

His eyes flicker to the security guards and I hear them start to head over here. "That's good because otherwise, I might get upset."

The receptionist gulps and I'm about to continue pressuring him when a security guard moves to put a hand on my shoulder. There is a grunt of pain as Kintoki grabs the man's hand before it makes contact, squeezing down on his wrist.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Kintoki warns and I can feel the rest of my men tense, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

As I turn to the security guards Kintoki releases the man's wrist and the security guard shakes his arm with a grimace. Another in the group of three steps up and from what I can sense he seems to be near Kintoki's strength.

"What seems to be the problem here?" The Head of Security, Ethan Holt as his badge reads, interjects.

He places himself in front of his injured subordinate which already tells me a bit about his character. I'll mentally jot that down as an exploitable weakness.

"We're here for the shareholders' meeting, as I explained to your receptionist." I drawl, getting the attention of the Head of Security, "He was in the middle of explaining how we weren't welcome."

The receptionist in question sputters behind me but he's ignored as the Head of Security and I size each other up.

He's a tall Caucasian male at around six and a half feet with black hair and green eyes set on a stern face.

While he is clearly muscular, he isn't built like a powerlifter or anything. I would have guessed he was a physical combatant but the sheer depth of his mana reserves leave me unsure of his speciality.

He could be a physical combatant that also casts spells, a magician who also fights up close, or have a more balanced set of abilities like a magic swordsman or something similar.

The fact that he isn't Japanese or of mixed descent isn't that surprising since this is an international company. I can only assume he was chosen for his position because he was the best fit for the job.

"I'm sorry if he made you all feel unwelcome, he was simply confused because you arrived so early." As he apologizes for the receptionist his hand twirls at his side, a small magic circle spinning under his palm. "If you could all leave and return later, we can accommodate your group then."

Hmm, at least some skill with magic then. If he turns out to be more heavily invested in magic casting then Kintoki will be able to handle him easily.

The hypnotic suggestion implanted into his words is unable to affect me but as I glance around all my subordinates, barring Kintoki, have fallen completely under his sway. It is a little disappointing they were incapacitated so easily but it isn't like I'm shocked by that.

The rank and file of the Golden Dragons may be physically impressive compared to baseline humans but mentally they're pretty average.

He finishes his statement with a thin smile as everyone in my entourage but Kintoki and I turn around and start to leave. I chuckle and extend my Ki out to my subordinates and jolt their minds, pulling them out of the hypnotic suggestion.

"I think we should just wait here though. Is that a problem?" I tilt my head in question and grin mockingly as I step inside his personal space.

His mana starts to flow faster and I can see his muscles twitch as he readies himself for a fight.

My body thrums with energy as my Ki accelerates through my internal pathways, my Touki barely being held back from manifesting. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as my senses sharpen, the clock ticking on the wall being the only sound other than our breathing.

Then the tension is broken as he places his hand to his ear, a call coming in on his earpiece.

"Yes, sir…" I can't make out what the other person is saying on the other end even with my sharp hearing, "Sir? Are you sure about that?"

He glances back at me and then at the other people inside the lobby. "Of course sir, my apologies, I will relay your invitation… Thank you."

The call ends and the Head of Security's shoulders relax, "My boss would like to extend an invitation for a private meeting to you, Miss Ibaraki."

My eyebrows climb up a notch at the use of my name, "Alright, sounds like fun. Come on, guys."

I start to walk towards the elevator only for Ethan to clear his throat, "My boss specifically instructed me to only extend the invitation to you. Your entourage is to remain here in the lobby for the time being."

I frown and toss that around for a moment before shrugging, "You all hang out here then."

My guys aren't here for my security anyways and if this turns into an actual fight then everyone except Kintoki would be a hindrance.

I snap my fingers as an idea comes to me, "See if you can hustle some snacks and drinks from the reception if you get bored. I'm sure they'll be happy to accommodate your requests."

The elevator opens and as I step inside I shoot Kintoki a grin, "If anyone tries to kick you all out, by force or magic, feel free to start ripping heads off."

I jerk my head meaningfully towards the receptionist who pales dramatically.

As the door to the elevator closes the receptionist sways bonelessly and I hear a soft thud.

"Was that really necessary?" The Head of Security asks with a frown.

I laugh at his question, "Necessary? Probably not. Entertaining? Extremely so."

He sighs in response and stoically stares forward, waiting for our elevator ride to end.

The display on the elevator says we're going up toward the top of the building and it even feels like we're travelling in that direction but my Ki sense tells me we're travelling downward.

I furrow my brow and extend my Ki sense downward, trying to map out where we are travelling but come back with nothing.

We are still travelling deeper underground nearly a minute later when we pass a threshold and sprawling facility blooms into my awareness, even as my awareness of the world above gets blocked off. The footprint of the facility is many times larger than the building above, both vertically and especially horizontally.

Some sort of cloaking to hide the underground facility from detection perhaps? I can't even tell whether it's a magical ward, the material that composes the facility, some form of technology, or a combination of all three that creates the effect.

The elevator door opens with a ding and the lobby it opens up to is more lavish than the entry of the main building. I'm no expert in interior design but the interior reeks of opulence in the way executive office spaces do.

Marble, expensive wooden furniture, glass sculptures, the works.

"This way please," Ethan says as he walks towards the corner office.

I glance out the 'windows' and see a view overlooking Kyoto, mimicking the surroundings of the office building. If I couldn't sense that we were travelling downward or hadn't paid attention earlier I would never have guessed we were below the building rather than at the top.

The Head of Security knocks on the corner office and from inside there is a muffled response, "Come in."

The door swings open and reveals a… fairly simple office?

The space is meticulously organized and clean but there are minimal decorations. The colours throughout the room are greys, whites, and browns, almost sterile but containing enough warmth for a workspace to not feel like a prison cell or operation theatre. The furniture is also well made but it isn't visibly opulent to the point of self-indulgence.

Overall, I'd describe the space as efficient.

The man sitting behind the desk at the other end of the room could also be described as such.

Average height, average build, sharp features, neatly combed black hair, and dark brown eyes hidden behind thin rectangular glasses. The type of appearance that would cause an onlooker to imagine their glasses flashing as they push them up on their nose.

The only departure from that image is the four sets of black wings billowing out behind him.

I tilt my head and squint. On second thought, maybe the wings just reinforce that image.

"Thank you, Mr Holt, you may leave us for now." The boss says without looking away from his computer.

"Of course, sir." The aforementioned Head of Security gives a quick bow before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

The boss continues typing away without a glance at me and I take a look at the nameplate on the end of his desk. It reads David Watanabe, Regional Manager, which causes me to purse my lips in annoyance at the obvious pseudonym.

Clicking my tongue I take a seat on the other side of his desk. He continues to ignore me, clacking away at his keyboard as my annoyance builds.

"I would have said no to coming here if I knew I'd be sitting watching you type the whole time," I say which causes him to pause.

"Hm, impatient." He remarks taking a quick glance at me and then continuing to type.

My eye twitches and my claws dig into the top of his desk, the wood creaking in my grip.

"Easily angered as well. Potentially exploitable?" He muses before typing again.

Wait for a second… "Are you typing what you said just now?"

He glances at me with a look that you would give to a child that just asked a stupid question, "Of course I am. Updates need to be made when new intelligence is gathered."

He continues explaining despite my bewildered expression, "Your file didn't suggest these traits but that is to be expected since the information on you is so new and most of the data was obtained through rumours."

"Inexperienced and a touch naive as well. No intelligence network to support the Golden Dragons' expansion? Confirmation still needed." He hums to himself in satisfaction before finally turning his attention to me.

"Now, with that out of the way, we can discuss business." I shake my head to try and keep up with these developments.

"I can roughly understand what your goals were for appearing here today. I am wondering, however, why you thought your presence would inconvenience us?" I raise a brow at how forward he's being about this.

"Straight to the point, huh? Aren't we supposed to banter a bit first; maybe throw some threats back and forth, subtle verbal jabs and such?" He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

"Miss Ibaraki, I do not presume to know your schedule but I do not have time to indulge in frivolities like that." I nearly rock back in my chair as my eyebrows shoot up to my hairline.

"I have to ensure this company runs smoothly, properly manage the organization that supports said company from the shadows, as well as operate this region's intelligence branch." The dry tone he's addressing me with is a little much.

"The only reason we are meeting is that I estimated you would become a bigger issue if I did not personally address this." My lips twitch as I hear the magic words that indicate a fight.

My Touki manifests as he reaches into a pocket dimension to pull out… a stack of paper?

"Now, in the interest of saving myself time, I'm prepared to buy back your shares of Sentry for double market value." I gape as he starts filling out legal documents that I can only assume outline the terms of the transfer.

"Our lawyers put this together while you were making that display in the lobby. Due to the rushed nature, it is fairly standardized but feel free to have your legal team look over everything before you sign." I grit my teeth and stand up, infuriated that he isn't taking me seriously.

I slam my palm on the table, embedding it in the wood and sending the papers flying. "Who said I would accept your offer? Maybe I want to remain an investor in this company. I was thinking about sitting in on the meeting later, seeing the direction this company would be taking."

He sighs and cleans up the paperwork with a flick of his wrist. "Is this outburst necessary? Assuming you go to the meeting, then what?"

"Your investors wouldn't like it very much if the company was doing business with Yakuza. Plus, I could break whatever mental conditioning you've cast on them." I point out, pulling my hand back from his desk.

He doesn't even deign to appear concerned, simply repairing his desk. "Hypnotism is easy to reapply and before you go further let me tell you exactly how that would go."

"You break their conditioning, we reapply it, the more you attempt to do so, the more mentally infirm our investors become. They either die from the stress or be institutionalized and their assets then transfer to their heirs who are even easier to manipulate or if they have none to the place listed in their will. If you haven't guessed already, their wills already state that the money goes here." He looks bored as he says all this.

I cross my arms and grimace, "Fine but what is stopping me from just killing you right here?"

"What would you gain if you suceeded?" He rolls his eyes, "You might be satisfied for a brief while but someone stronger will replace me in short order. Kyoto is too important a location with the factions here for our organization to not have agents present."

It surprises me that he makes no mention of whether I have the ability to kill him. That more than anything is what holds me back. There was no bluster of 'you can't defeat me' but instead he outlined what would happen if I won.

I close my eyes and tamp down on my anger. What he has said so far all makes sense even if it annoys me.

"In the interest of speeding this up, I'll add something extra to my offer." He turns to his computer and after around fifteen seconds pulls a USB from the port.

He tosses it to me and I catch it without breaking eye contact with him.

"In that, you will find a dossier on the members of the Hell King Legion as well as their businesses." A grin creeps up on my face before I can stop it and he nods.

"I trust that the intel I've given you and the funds we spoke about will be sufficient." It clearly isn't a question as the door to the office opens behind me and he turns back to his computer.

As much as it grates on my pride to be treated like this, I have to treat this as a win for now. I've accomplished my goals in coming here, earned a sizeable amount of money, and have information to target my other competitor.

Pocketing the USB, I grab the legal documents and head out past the security straight into the elevator.

I understand that he's planning on having his two enemies fight each other and then swoop in to pick off the victor but I'm fine with that. From the start, I had assumed that would happen so I don't lose anything.

I catch a glimpse of the eight-winged Fallen one last time as the elevator doors slide shut.

I'll pay him back for this later.