In the dead of night, a woman strutted confidently down the center of the road. If she had been wearing wooden clogs, her loud footsteps would have made her seem like a tengu, a mythical creature.
Her beautifully sculpted nose perfectly matched her air of haughtiness.
Kagami Ayaka, a twenty-three-year-old government employee belonging to the Anti-Demon Special Forces, walked the city streets with her black hair tied in a ponytail, reaching down to her shoulder blades. She was a striking beauty, and she took secret pride in her fairly ample bosom. There was no significant other in her life.
Ayaka wore a rather annoyed expression as she strolled through the city. Besides her, there were no other signs of people. It was a strange situation. Although it was nighttime, it was still too early for people to be in bed, and this area was not typically devoid of human activity. Despite this, there was no one around, not even a hint of another person's presence.
However, the anomaly didn't seem to faze Ayaka. It wasn't because she was unusually oblivious to the strange situation. The simple reason was that Ayaka and her colleagues were responsible for creating this situation.
The department she worked for, the Anti-Demon Special Forces, was a specialized division that dealt with tasks that never made it to the public eye. It wasn't due to political or legal reasons; it was because their work was fundamentally unrecognized by the general population.
Throughout history, their duties had remained unchanged: combating otherworldly beings like youkai and apparitions, as well as quelling supernatural disasters. That was the job of the members of the Anti-Demon Special Forces. Ayaka Kagami was no exception.
Upon her high school graduation, she had been assigned to this department. She was anything but an ordinary person. She was a wave magician, capable of using a unique wavelength infused with magical energy to trigger various phenomena. That was what she looked like when she was on duty.
In this area, barriers had been set up by the Anti-Demon Special Forces to keep people away. The complete absence of human presence was due to this.
"But seriously, why of all places..."
Ayaka muttered to herself. Typically, the incidents involving the appearance of "Flame" occurred in the city center. It was strange for an event like this to occur here.
Despite this, Ayaka's murmuring was met with a response.
"I've heard that the places where 'Flame' have appeared before were usually in the city center."
In a voice that seemed to radiate coldness, Ayaka found the speaker.
Standing there was a girl who combined an inorganic kind of beauty with a youthful charm. Well, calling her a girl might be strange. She was shorter than Ayaka, and her figure was modest, but she was unmistakably a woman over twenty years old.
Her wet-feathered hair reached down to her shoulders, seeming like the calm surface of a body of water, and her eyes gleamed like moonlit flowers, giving her an ethereal beauty that was different from fragility.
Her name was Tsukiko Isumi. She was a second-year student in the Literature Department at the private Seijo University and a member of the Literature Club. She was also a magician affiliated with the Anti-Demon Special Forces.
While Tsukiko typically gave off a cold impression to others, today she seemed especially displeased. Ayaka, who had known her since childhood, noticed this right away.
"...What's got you in such a bad mood, Tsukiko?"
"What do you mean? I'm just the same as always."
With that, Tsukiko looked ahead, averting her gaze from Ayaka.
(Yeah, right, not in a bad mood at all...)
Ayaka shrugged her shoulders. She knew the reason.
"If you regret it so much, you should have just never broken up with him."
"Grr..."
Tsukiko turned sharply toward Ayaka. She looked like she wanted to say something, but her expression soon returned to her usual one.
"It's irrelevant. Being with him wouldn't have led to a future. That's why I decided to break up."
"Alright, alright, I get it."
Ayaka replied nonchalantly.
"...Is there something you want to say?"
"Nothing in particular."
Ayaka gave up trying to argue with her stubborn childhood friend. When she made up her mind about something, she could be quite obstinate. While Ayaka hadn't explicitly asked Tsukiko for the reasons behind her breakup with her boyfriend of one year, she had a hunch.
However, this wasn't the kind of place for a girls' chat. Ayaka's face grew more serious as she thought about the anomaly that had appeared in the city streets at night.
"Well, it's about time to wrap up the small talk. That guy doesn't seem to have any intention of hiding."
"Be careful."
"Who are you saying that to?"
Tsukiko's words elicited a sly grin from Ayaka.
"I think it's about time I put an end to this today."
It was as if those words were the trigger. Beyond the evenly spaced streetlights, a dark figure began to vaguely emerge. With a leisurely stride, it made its way straight towards Ayaka and Tsukiko.
The barrier created by the Anti-Demon Special Forces had been prepared solely for this individual's presence. As soon as his existence was confirmed, it became the battlefield for the Special Forces to take action.
With the sound of footsteps came sporadic voices that Ayaka and Tsukiko could now hear.
"Yeah, I get it... But didn't you also say the 'key' should be around here somewhere, no doubt? —Yeah, it's okay, it's still close." a voice said.
Clearly, it was a conversation, but only one voice could be heard. There was only one set of footsteps, and only one shadow gradually revealed beneath the streetlights.
"…You madman," Ayaka muttered under her breath.
As Ayaka and Tsukiko fixed their gaze on the source of the voice, the man behind it finally revealed himself. Draped in a black coat, he stood at nearly two meters tall. His white hair occasionally peeked out from beneath the hood.
The face beneath the white hair bore the wrinkles of a mature man, but one distinct feature set him apart from ordinary individuals: his left eye was a prosthetic.
However, this was no ordinary prosthetic. It was conspicuously oversized, forcibly pressed into the socket. The prosthetic eye twitched and moved as if searching for something.
Magicians were known for their peculiarities, but even to Ayaka and Tsukiko, who had seen their fair share of such individuals, this man stood out as exceptionally unusual.
Most importantly, the magical power emanating from his body was anything but ordinary.
Humans possessed an innate defense mechanism to avoid fear and evade situations that exceeded their understanding. This natural reaction didn't allow them to perceive the man, but for magicians, it triggered an intense sense of impending danger – a sense that a monster was in their midst.
"Hmm? Ah, weren't you two the magicians from around here?"
The man remarked, finally acknowledging Ayaka and Tsukiko's presence.
Ayaka couldn't help but grind her teeth at his seemingly indifferent tone.
This marked the third encounter between Ayaka and Tsukiko and this man. His recent appearances in the area were characterized by his aimless wandering, exuding vast amounts of magical power without apparent rhyme or reason. To magicians, it appeared as if a heavily armed human were running rampant unchecked.
Their first attempt to capture him had failed due to their lack of understanding of his nature and threat, and he had easily dismissed them. The second encounter, with a well-prepared operation and additional personnel, had ended in a disastrous defeat. The minimal casualties were attributed to the man intentionally holding back against them.
Since then, the Anti-Demon Special Forces had given him the codename "Flame" and intensified their efforts to capture him.
Flame placed his hand on his chin, as if in contemplation.
"As far as I'm concerned, now isn't the right time to kill you. I'm not very good at holding back, so I'd appreciate it if you could step aside."
"...You talk as if you're certain of victory," Ayaka replied.
Flame looked at Ayaka with genuine curiosity.
"Wouldn't that be natural? There's no way we'd lose to inferiors like you. What's wrong, Sissy? Ah, I see. That's the problem with your human race, isn't it? Let me apologize; what I said just now didn't take your ignorance into account."
Flame spoke without a hint of mockery.
From the very beginning, he had been this way.
This man wasn't trying to belittle Ayaka and Tsukiko. He genuinely didn't consider humans as equals.
He probably thought of them as beings capable of little more than conversation.
"Well, it's clear that trying to have a conversation with him is pointless."
"It's his own fault."
Ayaka pursed her lips at Tsukiko's cold words. Making such snide comments unconsciously was a way to alleviate tension.
Flame's presence exuded an immense pressure, enough to make Ayaka aware of it. She took a deep breath. If her heart became unsettled, her breathing would follow, and it would reflect in her performance.
Stepping one foot forward with her left leg and assuming her stance, Ayaka began to shape her magical power.
"Alright, I'm going. Tsukiko, take care."
"Understood. Don't do anything reckless."
"I know."
She really hoped she could get through this without taking unnecessary risks.
With that thought in mind, Ayaka sprinted towards Flame.
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