Campione! - Volume 21 - Chapter 7.7

Part 7
The night came.

It was a time period when the things of the ominous realm becomes active.

「There is no one in honored uncle’s house tonight right?」

「Yes. I had Shizuka-senpai call so that the mother of Kusanagi family will spend the night somewhere else.」

「Yosh. So I can do this without reserve then.」

Lu Yinghua nodded hearing the reassurance from Mariya Hikari.

The third person was standing by right at their side.

「Hahahaha. It’s the first time for me to go wild with this lineup so──it feels really fresh.」

「Kaoru-san doesn’t really go out to the “actual scene” after all.」

「That’s how people in responsibility are. Just, seeing how the opponent this time is something like evil spirits, ghost, or a wrathful god, there is no one else more suitable than us.」

Sayanomiya Kaoru winked in respond to Hikari’s saying.

Third block of Nedzu district at night past 10 o’clock──. The location was at the back alley there.

There was possibility of attracting public attention, so the three were wearing their casual clothes. However, it was only Hikari who was wearing uniform of Jounan academy. And then as a 『beauty in male clothing』, Kaoru was wearing a male jacket and also a male black coat on top of it.

Tonight, Kaoru came as a hime-miko. She grinned cheerfully.

「This too is some kind of fate. I’ve got to intrude, risking my life for a bit.」

「Amakasu-san, he looked really happy didn’t he.」

「That Nii-san, it’s because he was always worked hard by Sayanomiya-niisan after all.」

「By the way Lu-san, you are interacting normally with Kaoru-san aren’t you? Even though Kaoru-san is also a woman.」

「Because, this guy is already like a man right?」

「As more or less an unworthy maiden who can make even flowers blush before my beauty, I’m lost whether to be angry or sad toward that statement. Even I happen to possess one or two earnest woman’s hearts that are really──」

「Annoying-. Don’t say something that you don’t even mean!」

Yinghua sharply retorted at the jesting Kaoru. Hikari was laughing seeing that.

They weren’t really nervous──was only on the outside. The three were immature/childish, but all of them possess of experience that far surpasses the standard.

If they were tense all the time while lying in ambush, they would only get tired first.

In order to wield their strength when the time came, they should relax instead for now.

Besides, above all else the three weren’t letting their guard down. Their talking voices too were small in the end, the two hime-miko were sharpening their spiritual sense, searching for the presence of evil.

Lu Yinghua possessed a hearing that was sharper than anyone due to his deep knowledge in Nei Gong.

If there was even the slightest suspicious sound, he would immediately sense it. And then tonight, the prodigal child of martial world was taking out his family’s treasured weapon after so long.

「Lu-kun. You’ve prepared that thing right?」

「Yeah. Look at this.」

*Chara-*. He took out a folded weapon from his pocket, held it with both hands from end to end, and quickly unfolded it. It was a 『metal whip』 so to speak.

Its length was around 110 centimeter. Thin metal sticks were connected to each other with ring.

At the end, there was a 『blade』 that was like a spear tip mounted on it.

It would move flexibly like whip if it was swung and struck the enemy, cutting them apart. On top of that, if it was folded the weapon would fit snugly inside the hand.

It was a weapon of Chinese martial art called nine-section whips.

Kaoru was impressed.

「So it’s this. The weapon you used against Erica-san at the devil king civil war in the past.」

「The Raihouben has the miracle of driving evil away inserted into it. It will cleave demon, beat down evil, and negate any curse or magic neatly.」

The metal sticks that configured the nine-joint whip were all jet black like obsidian.

Right under the sharp tip, the eight characters of 『百邪斬断・万精駆逐Hundred Evils Bisecting – All Spirit Extermination』 were engraved finely and precisely as though they were written with a writing brush.

This was Raihouben, the treasured article of the Hong Kong’s Lu family.

Previously it was used to erase Erica Blandelli’s magic, but its use originally was for exterminating apparitions instead.

「Now that you mentioned that it reminded me, did you manage to contact Erica-neesan?」

「No, unfortunately. We are also unable to contact Yuri and Ena in Kyoto. Perhaps something happened on their side?」

「But, in any case this is a matter that ought to be dealt by us who are staying in Tokyo. Even without asking confirmation to all the Onee-chan for every single thing──」

Hikari was about to say something cheerfully before her face turned serious.

「Kaoru-san.」

「Yeah. It’s coming it seems.」

「I’m also sensing it. It feels like something chilly is running through my spine……it reminded me of the past when I was tossed by master into a cave that was choke full with ghosts, god damnit.」

It felt like there was a really ominous presence mixing into the air of the night.

Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to see it or even sense it, a monster was creeping soundlessly toward the home of Kusanagi family.

However──the three people assembled here weren’t anxious.

Mariya Hikari who excelled in spiritual power and purifying calamity, Kaoru who mastered the highest level of spiritual power and magic as one of the top hime-miko, Lu Yinghua who had even learned the ritual implements of attacking apparitions.

The aforementioned resentful spirit possessed no might in the level that could defeat this lineup.

The three had already sensed it from the extent of the approaching ominous aura.

And then thirty minutes later, it was proven as fact, but──

–