Chapter 522

Earlier that day, as the sun set.

During a banquet held at the Akasaka Rikyū, in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, a top-tier office building on par with the observation deck of Tokyo Skytree.

The lingering glow of the sunset, like melted gold, splashed across the office's huge floor-to-ceiling windows, gilding the expensive walnut furniture and paper screens within with a warm edge.

The Kantō Shinai Alliance meeting had just concluded, and two rows of alliance representatives and directors wore polite yet slightly distant smiles as they bowed in farewell to Chief Priestess Shirakawa Mai.

"Chief Priestess Shirakawa, we will rely heavily on you for the alliance's external image," said the leading elder respectfully, though a trace of imperceptible fear lurked in the depths of his eyes.

A few years ago, when Shirakawa Mai announced that her master had stepped down as chief priestess for personal reasons and that she would succeed him, there were still dissenters.

Now there are none; everyone even fears her a little.

"Thank you for your hard work." Shirakawa Mai inclined her head slightly, returning a flawless smile befitting a "national actress": "You flatter me; this is simply my duty."

Today she wore a superbly tailored light gray suit dress, fitting for business occasions with its sharpness, yet her own cool demeanor lent it an air of inviolable elegance; her silky black hair was bound behind her head, revealing a smooth forehead and slender neck like a swan, the suit dress cut to utmost elegance, perfectly complementing her professionalism and intellect, with ultra-thin Wolford matte gray 20d silk stockings wrapping her legs, which were pressed together beneath the table, and a pair of gray-silk feet clad in matching deep red velvet pointed-toe high heels, understated luxury.

The numerous shrine representatives and directors vanished into the elevator entrance, the assistant also went to arrange vehicles, and in the vast space, only she remained in an instant.

The formalized smile receded like a tide, her face restored to a tranquil calm; those eyes, no longer sparkling with starlight before the camera as an idol's, had reverted to the deep pool of a shrine maiden, perceiving the mysterious and profound.

She walked slowly to the window, overlooking the densely packed, lantern-lit metropolis of Tokyo beneath her feet, her expression grim.

Today was clearly the day Junior Student was supposed to come see me, yet the Metropolitan Police Department had to stir up some trouble again? They temporarily sent Junior Student into the Imperial Palace, under strict secrecy, and thus my beautiful day was ruined once more!

How annoying!

Mai Xuejie let out a soft sigh; having finished a pile of tasks, she naturally wanted to arrange a lavish dinner tonight, then "exercise" with Uesugi Muneyuki, then use training as an excuse to "thrash" him a few rounds, then "exercise" again, then the two of them take a mandarin duck bath together, then "exercise" once more.

Now it's all ruined!

The sunset's light burned in her eyes, yet brought no warmth at all—a most minute, non-physical sense of dissonance, like dark grass at the bottom of water, lightly entwining her spiritual perception.

Not killing intent, but something more gloomy—one by one: "the aura of the Inner World!"

With no warning, a "hum!"

A bullet entwined with ominous black runes did not come from a conventional angle, but from the shadowed area of the opposite building's rooftop, tracing a strange arc and precisely striking the bulletproof glass before her!

"Bang—click!"

The tremendous roar shook the space, but the glass did not shatter and scatter; instead, the point of impact became the center of a spiderweb-like crack spreading outward, the cracks flashing with purple-black evil-energy arcs, clearly not an ordinary weapon, but a "demon-breaking bullet" specially designed to destroy defensive barriers!

Almost the instant before the bullet's sonic boom reached her, Shirakawa Mai's body had already reacted—not based on hearing, but stemming from a hundred-forged spiritual perception that anticipates danger. Her gray-silk toes lightly touched the carpet, her form like a willow leaf blown by the wind, elegant and swift as she drifted backward.

The hem of her suit jacket was torn open by the fierce arrow-wind, revealing a flash of vivid red auspicious silk within; that red, against the gray suit, appeared especially striking, like molten magma surging beneath a calm sea surface.

Mai Xuejie steadied her stance, leaning against a solid load-bearing column, her eyes like lightning scanning the attack's source, sharp as blades, no longer the radiant, incomparable national actress, but reverted to the Chief Priestess of the Kantō Shinai Alliance!

"One, on the opposite building's rooftop scaffolding in shadow, spiritual power fluctuations murky, carrying a hint of heaviness."

"Two, at the left-side safety passage entrance, a faint wind sound, Inner World aura swift and sharp."

"Three, from the right-rear air-conditioning vent, seeping Inner World power carries damp water vapor."

"Three—no, four." She instantly understood in her heart: "The Inner World energies are of differing natures, a carefully configured strike team—this is probing, or is it assassination?"

The enemy's attacks grew denser, bullets infused with Inner World power continuously fired, the black smoke from explosions began to spread, the pungent smell of sulfur mingling with the cursed stench, Shirakawa Mai's figure moving through the gaps in smoke and dust and explosions, appearing perilous, yet each step precisely treading the line between life and death.

She placed her right hand behind her back, fingertips swiftly and covertly tracing in midair, a thread of nearly invisible pure spiritual power like silk, silently seeping into the building's structure beneath her feet.

She was sensing, and also laying plans.

The alarm sounded, but rescue would not come that quickly; even if it did, facing enemies armed with firearms opposite, what could security with only electric batons do?

"About done."

She murmured softly, her voice cool and clear, without a trace of panic; it was time to let these ants who peep at divine power see what a true Chief Priestess of the shrine maiden is!

She abruptly ceased dodging, planted herself at the corridor's end, before the huge floor-to-ceiling window already covered in cracks, the sunset's afterglow filtering through the spiderweb-like fissures, casting fantastical patterns upon her; she slowly turned her body, facing squarely toward the attackers' hidden direction, her hands forming an ancient, profound seal before her chest.

The aura around her shifted in an instant, gentle spiritual power turning icy as a harsh winter.

"【Butterfly】"

As she chanted low, several sheets of white talisman paper, cut into human shapes and long hidden between her fingers, stirred without wind, glowing with a faint spiritual light.

Counterattack, officially begun!

At the moment the seal was completed, the last trace of "mortal" fluctuation in Shirakawa Mai's eyes vanished completely, replaced by the solemn, compassionate aura of a deity statue in the shrine's main hall—one of lofty, compassionate regard for the end of life.

She took two steps forward, her high heels shattering the floor tiles, her body like a moth flying into flames, or like a spiritual crane breaking free from worldly bonds, she fearlessly lunged toward the huge floor-to-ceiling window riddled with cracks!

"Boom—!"

The tempered glass shattered completely on impact, turning into countless crystal fragments that flew around her, refracting myriad rays in the sunset, as if she were draped in a feathered robe woven from diamonds and dawn light.

She leapt from the building, finding herself two hundred meters above Tokyo, below her the tiny flow of vehicles and buildings, the wind suddenly snatching her hair and hems!

In midair, with nothing to push against, yet this is the stage belonging to Senior Student!

She swept her left hand, the three sheets of white talisman paper held between her fingers shooting out, the papers igniting in midair, becoming three arrows of pure spiritual fire, emitting clear cries, their trajectories tracing beautiful arcs, weaving through the airborne glass shards, precisely piercing three different corners within the building. Following came three short screams, and the sound like cold water dripping into hot oil—"sizzle"—when cursed power was purified, one enemy instantly consumed by spiritual fire, screaming as he turned to ash.

At the same time, she drew from her suit's inner pocket what appeared to be a decorative red cord, but upon a flash of red light, the cord instantly elongated, becoming a cord charged with divinity, like a serpent emerging from its hole, it coiled around the neck of a curse-user attempting to leap from the side balcony, knife in hand for a sneak attack.

Mai flicked her wrist lightly, the runes on the cord blazing, that person could not even utter a cry before being strangled by immense spiritual power, his body flung like a broken puppet to one side, splattering a layer of tomato sauce on the top-floor wall!

Lastly, facing the one who first fired the demon-breaking bullet, hiding deep in the opposite building's scaffolding, the firearms enemy, Shirakawa Mai pulled both hands in midair!

Vast spiritual power instantly condensed into a half-transparent longbow of flowing light, an arrow composed purely of light— a demon-breaking arrow—nocking itself onto the bowstring. Her body rotated slightly in the fall, using waist power, she assumed an ancient-style "draw and release" posture.

At the instant the string released, the light arrow did not fly straight, but traced an outrageously exaggerated spiral that illuminated the twilight sky, like a tracking missile, it circumvented all obstacles, "pop"—it entered the sniper's brow and exited through the back of his head!

As she completed this series of movements, Mai Xuejie's falling form seemed weightless, her deep red velvet high-heeled toe lightly touching the railing of the opposite building's balcony, her gray-silk sole twisting and rotating half a turn, then drifting down like a feather, silently landing on the rooftop above.

Senior Student's posture was graceful and composed, even her breath remained undisturbed.

Afterward, Mai casually fired a spirit sphere toward a certain spot on the rooftop; the exploding spirit sphere turned in midair, precisely bypassing the pillar and smoke vent, piercing through to the last Inner World entity hiding behind the smoke vent.

The spirit sphere blasted him into the wall behind him, this man disguised as a construction worker had his expression frozen in utter terror.

The threat seemed entirely cleared; the last ray of sunset slipped over the balcony, also falling upon not far away, the corpse of the one slain by the spirit bow.

Battle ended, 0 for 4, unharmed.

Mai Xuejie appeared to confirm that no other Inner World presence remained nearby before beginning to check what had actually happened.

Just then, a gust of wind blew, lifting the clothing behind the corpse.

Hmm?

Behind that corpse, there was actually a white talisman paper stuck on it, the characters written in cinnabar, the brushstrokes penetrating through the paper.

"Chief Priestess Hakubi, long time no see, respectfully sending greetings. Kansai's 'Gyou', awaiting your arrival. Ichiran Touitsu Bou."

"Kansai·Hama——." Mai Xuejie's pupils constricted slightly.

The New God of Kansai! He's here? He actually reached into the core of Kantou's territory, and even ambushed her with such precision?

At the very moment her mind rippled imperceptibly from this sudden information— "Bang!!!"

A sound utterly unlike all previous attacks, deeper and more destructive in energy, came from an extremely distant, extremely distant height!

A specially made, large Bakuma Dan, engraved with special seals, at a speed exceeding the speed of sound by multiple times, precisely seized her fleeting "Heki" and struck the back of her head!

The bullet shattered her skull without obstruction.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The bullet entered slightly to the right of her brow, instantly tearing through flesh and bone, then detonated violently inside her skull! The immense kinetic force flung half her face and her skullcap clean off, red and white matter spraying in a radial pattern across the balcony's clean wall and floor, her once-praised "Kokumin Houou" perfect visage instantly reduced to a bloody mess of flesh.

The headless corpse stiffened in place for an instant, then slumped forward, falling precisely onto the note bearing the greeting, blood rapidly spreading and soaking the talisman paper.

Four hundred meters away, a sniper wearing a monocular eyepiece reported calmly over the encrypted frequency: "Target confirmed, elimination complete!"

On the rooftop, utter silence, only the wind whimpering.

"So this is the so-called Chief Priestess of the Kantou Shinai Alliance— nothing more than this!"