I Was Reincarnated in a Modern Day Onmyoji Family

 Chapter 55 – Oni Extermination 3

Momi-san finished his role as an observer and returned hastily towards me.

Meanwhile, the Coming-of-Age Ceremony continued, and the father, who was facing the Oni, asked.

“Will you obey me as my Shikigami?”

“Gaaaah!”

Negotiations have broken down way too quickly!

I have no idea what the Oni is saying, but I do know what he’s thinking: “Who would obey you?

Of course, there was no way that anyone would obediently follow orders from someone who suddenly summons you and tells you to “become a Shikigami”.

Father is too clumsy which is why the battle is going to happen, but if he negotiated properly, there would be no need to test his strength, wouldn’t there?

The first to make a move was the Oni.

Raising his rocky right fist, he punched into the empty space.

The fist, which seemed to strike aimlessly, struck something at the boundary line of the formation and made a sound as if glass was shattering.
At the same time, the paper on which the summoning formation was drawn was torn wide open.

Having destroyed the obstructing wall, the Oni stepped out of the summoning formation.

Seeing that the cage in the summoning formation had lost its role, my father immediately turned on his heel.
He fled into Ama-no-Iwato as planned.

Naturally, the Oni followed him to Ama-no-Iwato.

However, there was something blocking his way.

“Guwaururu.”

A dog-shaped Shikigami bit the Oni’s leg stopping him in his tracks.

This Shikigami, called Komainu, looks very much like the statues you see in shrines and temples.
However, it is small, about the size of a medium-sized dog, and its fangs are sharp enough to make eating a human’s food almost impossible.

I was told that he is the only battle-oriented Shikigami that my father has a contract with, and this was the first time I saw him in action.

I had never seen him in the flesh before, since I had only been pouring my spiritual power into the formation for compensation purposes.

“Caaaaahhhh!”

The next one to make a move was a white-haired Shikigami resembling a Japanese macaque monkey.

He is desperately trying to draw attention by clinging to the frizzy hair of the Oni.

This Shikigami is called Shirozaru, a white monkey, and is usually summoned as a wise sentry who can understand human commands.

“Kane!”

Then a pheasant attacked the Oni’s head.

This pheasant is called Narume.
I do not know the origin of this name.
It is said that this pheasant is usually in charge of scouting from the sky.

The pheasant was unexpectedly helpful, as the Oni stopped in its tracks to get rid of a troublesome enemy who was aiming at its eyes.

Monkeys and pheasants are not suited for battle.

Even so, they were summoned in the hope that, like Ama-no-Iwato, they would bring good luck and increase the success rate of demon extermination by recreating the tradition.
In Onmyojutsu, “good luck” is quite important.

On the other hand, Hiiragi-iwashi*, which is said to drive away Oni, is apparently ineffective.

To begin with, the Shikigami present here are not real Oni or Komainu*, but merely resemble them.
They are just called that by the people who summoned them for the first time.

There is no meaning to the resemblance when the Hiiragi-iwashi, a holly sprig, which is a bane of evil Oni in folklore, appears on the stage.

“–seal–“

Thanks to the Shikigami stalling for time, Dad made it to Ama-no-Iwato without any problem.

The entrance was immediately sealed by a huge rock, and we who are watching from the side of the battlefield couldn’t see him anymore.

But we knew instantly what he was doing inside the cave.

The talismans lined up outside the cave suddenly began to float.

“Gaaaah!”

Obstructed by the Shikigami, the Oni threw a tantrum and began a rampage.

Shikigami, who had been desperately clinging to the Oni, stepped away from the Oni to avoid being caught in the middle of it.

The impact was transmitted through the ground to those of us who were watching the battle from a distance.
The power of the Oni was as impressive as its appearance.

With the obstacles gone, the Oni started to walk toward Ama-no-Iwato again, when a light emerged from under his feet.

This signified the activation of the “Paper Drooping Chain Formation Bakusajin,” hidden in the ground.

“Guuuaaah.”

Three long sheets of sandpaper leaped out from the outer edge of the formation and bound the Oni’s legs and torso with lightning speed.

Even the Oni could not escape from the bonds and halted its movement.

Then, ten talismans flew toward the Oni’s eyes.

They flew toward the Oni’s eyes and exploded with a thunderous sound before he had time to avoid them.

The “Homura no Fuda,” which simply uses spiritual power as a fuel, erupted with fire.

“That went well.”

“Amazing.
Is that enough to beat the Oni?”

“No, that alone won’t take down an Oni, but if this continues on repeatedly, then it will be a different story.”

From the very beginning, my father backed away from the enemy, but it was not to escape.

It was to ensure that he could attack from a safer position.

In front of Ama-no-Iwato, there were tens to hundreds of talismans, which were already filled with my father’s spiritual power.

The distance that each person can move the talismans differs, but my father can fly them quite far, which means he can attack from a safe place without a hitch.

“What are those rats doing?”

“They’re telling your dad where the Oni is.
It is said that the summoner has some semblance of a sense of the Shikigami, but one isn’t enough to know exactly how far away the enemy are or anything like that.
By surrounding it like that, you’re making sure the talisman will fly in the right direction.”

Momi-san, who has known my father for a long time, had knowledge of summoning techniques that I didn’t even know existed.

I will provide the live commentary and Momi-san will provide the analysis.

“Sure, you’ve nailed it all.
But it’s not working very well.”

“It’s natural that it doesn’t work as well, since the other party isn’t a Yōkai.
Still, it is much more effective than usual.
It seems that the budget was very well spent this time.”

The Oni’s arms blocked quite a few of them, but around 100 of them exploded, I started to get faint burns on my face.

I wonder if this is more effective than usual, or if it did no damage in past battles.

To begin with, the skin of the Oni, which is almost unscathed by the explosions, is abnormal.

I see, it will be reliable if it becomes our ally as a Shikigami.

Rather than building Ama-no-Iwato, which takes time and effort, it would be more cost-effective to have this guy as the vanguard and have his back protecting us.

However, seeing that he has been neutralized so much by restraint-type Onmyojutsu, it seems that he is not all-powerful.
No, is it the other way around?

“Paper Drooping Chain Formation Bakusajin, is very powerful.”

I had heard that it was useful for stopping people in their tracks, but I had no idea it was this useful.

As the name implies, the paper ropes attached to sacred staffs are made of paper.

Even though they are tools from a specialty store, they are far more restrictive than I had expected, as I thought the paper might be torn to shreds.

“Well, that’s because any Onmyojutsu would be more powerful if you used the highest quality blessed products.”

Hmm?

Top-of-the-line “blessed products”?

You mean that blessed ritual objects that arent sold in stores?

I saw it on the Onmyouji channel!

They say that some Gods who are on the side of mankind bestow their blessings through rituals.

The talisman on our family altar is one of them.

The tools that have received the blessing generally have tremendous power and are of very high value.

Naturally, God would not bestow his blessing so readily, and the rarity of the articles makes them extremely expensive.

If you look closely, you can see that those drooping papers seem to radiate a sacred light. 

“Momi-san, Momi-san, how much do you think our estimated budget was?”

“Oh, I wonder how much.
It’s not something for a child to worry about.
You should properly look at your father’s heroic figure.”

No, I’m more concerned about the amount of money.

I can’t even imagine how much a man who paid 50 million for a spirit animal egg would spend if he got carried away.

Besides, for the past few minutes, the battle scene has not changed, just endless bombardment on Oni whose movements are halted by drooping paper.
The damage was small, and for the money spent, it was a very bland scene.

I’m not looking for anything flashy, but I wonder if we can really win with the way things are going.

It’s not as conclusive as I’d like it to be…

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The one-sided attack continued for another 10 minutes, but finally the resistance of the Oni overpowered the restraints.

The spiritual power put into it was almost completely consumed and could no longer be maintained even with God’s blessing.

The Oni finally broke free after violently tearing the paper.

The Oni, who had suffered a lot as soon as he was summoned, seemed to be in a state of rage.

Despite the attempts of the Shikigami to interfere, the Oni approached Ama-no-Iwato without a second thought.

In previous battles, my father has continuously been beaten by Oni.

In past battles, of course, my father must have also used Ama-no-Iwato, which is a powerful class of warding.

How did the Oni pull my father out of Ama-no-Iwato, which can only be described as a lump of rocks? 

BANG!

Oni struck the large rock blocking the entrance, destroying it instantly.

It was a brawnier move than I had expected.

Hey, hey, destroying Ama-no-Iwato by force is against the rules, isn’t it?

Even Amaterasu would be amazed by such a feat of brute force.

“Amaizing, it survived three hits!”

“How is that thing still holding up? It looks it about to crumble.
……”

The fifth punch shattered the large rock.

At the same time, the cave collapsed as if it were self-destructing.

My father, who must have destroyed his own formation, jumped out through the exit that had been created.

“Gah!”

“Ha, ha, damn, ha.”

My father, who has lost his safety area, keeps on throwing talismans while being chased by the Oni.

The Oni, relying on his toughness, continues to move forward without stopping, even though the many different talismans father had in his pocket keep hitting him in the face.

The difference in the length of their legs made it so that the distance between them was quickly closed, and I was getting nervous as I continued to watch the battle.

Just as my arm was about to touch him, my father unexpectedly crouched down.

It was the exact spot where I had started my exploration of the site.

He put his hand on the ground where the reverse Moki-jin had been carved and he chanted a short chant.

“O Earth, halt the advance of my enemy! Immediate!”

The sharp-edged wooden logs were generated one after another from under the Oni’s feet, forcing the Oni’s huge body to fall backward.

Although they could not skewer the demon, they were able to create a distance beetwen them that was equivalent to life for the Onmyoji, and therefore, it was worth the price.

In the meantime, the Shikigami gathered by my father’s side.

The second round was about to begin, sandwiched between the inverted brambles protruding from the earth.

From what I observed of his preparations, it seemed difficult to create a situation where he could attack one-sidedly using the rest of his equipment.

Dad, are you okay?