After Touko and Alice examined them, they found that both Hisui and Kohaku had quite remarkable aptitude for magecraft.
The older sister, Kohaku, possessed sixteen Magic Circuits, while Hisui had fifteen. Both sisters had exceptionally high-quality Magic Circuits, though not quite on Touko's level, and decent operating efficiency as well. Any magecraft family would have regarded them as valuable talents worthy of cultivation.
By a curious coincidence, both sisters had the wind element, the same magecraft attribute inherited by the Aozaki family.
As twins, beyond the usual talents of magi, the sisters actually possessed a special trait: their Magic Circuits were complementary.
This meant that with rigorous training, Kohaku and Hisui could use this special gift to perform certain combined magical rituals together.
Their efficiency would far surpass that of ordinary magi performing the same task, and the results would be far better as well. They were a textbook case of one plus one being greater than two.
Perhaps this was a byproduct of the Saiki family's innate talent for sympathetic connection. These families, who possessed little magecraft knowledge and could only explore their gifts through intuition, seemed to have wasted their natural abilities.
"How exactly did you find these two little ones?" Touko asked Aoko in a surprised tone as she examined the sisters. "Their talents are extremely rare. Even at the Clock Tower, the major families would probably fight over them."
"Don't underestimate a Magician's intelligence network, all right?" Aoko said, one hand on her hip while she wagged her raised index finger. "Are they qualified to be your apprentices?"
"They're qualified, they're qualified~" Touko replied with a grin. The hunger for research in her eyes made both sisters feel a chill run down their spines.
"Could you stop scaring the children?" Aoko looked at Touko with a headache brewing. Her sister had always been fanatical when it came to magical research. Naturally, she had no reason to let talents like Hisui and Kohaku slip away.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" Touko seemed to have started adapting to her current identity and simply given up. "Aren't you our 'older sister'? Open your eyes and look—we're practically 'the same age'!"
That self-destructive remark was nearly too much for not only Aoko, but even Alice standing nearby.
Touko, you fell far too quickly!
Just as Aoko and the others were discussing a training plan for Kohaku and Hisui, the telephone at the Kuonji residence rang.
"Hello? This is Aoko Aozaki. Who is this?" Aoko picked up the phone in the Kuonji residence's sitting room and asked who was calling.
But as the caller continued speaking, both Alice Kuonji and Touko Aozaki, standing nearby, noticed that Aoko's expression was changing.
"Are you sure?" Aoko asked with a frown. "All right, I understand. I'll come over tonight."
After saying that, Aoko hung up and sat back down on the sofa, deep in thought.
"What happened?" Alice Kuonji asked without changing her expression.
"It's the Saiki family," Aoko said. "They said the family that originally wanted to buy Kohaku and Hisui seems to be planning to attack them tonight and seize the girls by force."
"Hmph, it's that Tohno family, isn't it?" Touko snorted disdainfully. "Half-breeds mixed with inhuman blood who can't even control their impulses. They're in such a hurry because they want to use those two girls' mother as a replacement, I suppose. Someone in the Tohno family must already be unable to hold on much longer, right?"
"Are you planning to go over there yourself?" Alice asked. "Do you need my help?"
"Alice, you and Touko can just stay home," Aoko replied casually. "It's not a major problem. I can probably settle it quickly."
The November wind and snow had temporarily stopped, leaving the air unusually fresh. Tonight was perfect for clear moonlight and gentle winds.
Tohno Shiki sat inside his luxurious sedan, gazing from afar at the lonely lights shining from the Saiki family's old residence amid the mountains.
Beside him sat a tall, one-eyed man with knotted muscles and slightly curled hair. The man had his arms folded across his chest and remained silent, as though waiting for Tohno Shiki's order.
"The remnants of the Saiki family definitely won't just sit and wait for death," Tohno Shiki said. "As one of the former demon-hunting families, they may have used the money they got from the Aozakis to hire demon hunters from elsewhere."
"The worst-case scenario is that they hired those assassins." Tohno Shiki paused before continuing. "Be extra careful, Kouma. Aside from the woman I need, kill everyone else. Men, women, old, young—leave no one alive!"
The man called Kouma was the head of the Nanaya branch family under the Tohno family, Nanaya Kouma.
Like the Tohno family, he was a mixed-blood human with so-called demon blood. He possessed physical abilities far beyond ordinary humans and defenses as tough as reinforced steel.
As a child, unable to understand human language, he had been confined to a cabin deep in the mountains. But due to an accident, he encountered a passing killer and lost one of his eyes.
Nanaya Kouma's ability was pure monstrous strength. He could crush hard rock as easily as tofu with his bare hands. That alone allowed him, despite being ostracized for having blood that was too concentrated, to later become the head of the Nanaya family.
After receiving his orders, Nanaya Kouma said nothing. He opened the car door and headed toward the Saiki family's old residence up the mountain, followed by a large group of private soldiers raised by the Tohno family.
These private soldiers were members of Tohno branch families with small amounts of demon blood. The amount in their bodies was insufficient to grant them unusual abilities, but it allowed their physical capabilities to surpass those of ordinary humans. Combined with modern weaponry, they could fight with strength comparable to well-trained special forces.
Led by Nanaya Kouma, the Tohno extermination force immediately spread out after entering the forest, surrounding the Saiki residence from every direction. Their goal was to ensure that no one besides the target escaped alive.
Originally, these formidable Tohno private soldiers believed that the Saiki family, whose bloodline abilities had long declined, had no ability to resist them. To them, this operation would be as easy as taking candy from a child.
Even though Tohno Shiki had repeatedly warned them that they might encounter other demon hunters coming to assist, they had not taken it seriously at all.
After all, in the eyes of the wealthy Tohno family members, how could the impoverished Saiki family, reduced to selling their children to survive, afford to hire other demon hunters?
Yet the reason an accident was called an accident was because it happened when people least expected it.
Before you continue