"What's going on?! The Snake Gu inside the city... their life signs all vanished in an instant?!"
Beneath her hood, the snake-faced woman Keiko's voice shot up, disbelief and alarm piercing its icy tone.
Just moments ago, she had lost her connection to the Snake Gu scattered throughout Jiang City.
There could only be one explanation...
Some irresistible force had extinguished their life flames all at once, erasing them as cleanly as stains wiped away by an eraser.
To her left, the Onmyoji Fujiwara held a complex hand seal. The talismans circling him turned slowly, like a flock of living crows.
The three Shikigami under his command were locked in a fierce battle with two of the four people led by Chen Kefa who had broken into the area.
"All wiped out in an instant..."
Fujiwara's brows furrowed. In the brief lull between directing his Shikigami, his voice sank. "The four Martial Arts Grandmasters couldn't have done this. Could they be nothing but bait, with the real reinforcements... still farther away?"
"If they're merely ordinary reinforcements, they're no cause for concern." Keiko's snake-like pupils narrowed, and she gave a slight wave of her arm. The black robe she wore stirred despite the lack of wind.
An even colder, more viscous aura spread from her, as if the air itself had grown heavy and sluggish.
"Don't forget, the real trouble is that Cyborg... He still hasn't shown up."
Fujiwara didn't look back. His full attention remained on his Shikigami's attacks, but his voice carried restrained frustration and... a hint of unease he tried to hide.
The words "Cyborg" made Fujiwara's back stiffen.
His expression darkened. That man had single-handedly killed three of their Seat Officers, smashing their chests open with brute force.
If Keiko hadn't acted decisively and forcibly begun the