"Is it over?"
On the other side of the mountain road.
Noriyuki Iizuna, a young man with short, tousled hair, and Yomi Isayama, who held a treasured sword and wore an icy expression, stared gravely at a laptop sitting on a rock.
On the laptop, footage of Luo Shu fighting Yoshimura played over and over.
"Chirp, chirp!!"
Spirit beasts called Kudagitsune, with dusky blue fur, foxlike bodies, and only the size of a fist, darted out of the forest and climbed onto Noriyuki Iizuna.
A few of the Kudagitsune had miniature cameras strapped to them and climbed from Noriyuki Iizuna's feet up to his hands.
"Thanks for the hard work."
Noriyuki Iizuna removed the cameras from the Kudagitsune and fed them a few ball-shaped treats, then turned to Yomi Isayama, who was staring fixedly at the video and even playing it in slow motion.
"Yomi, did you notice anything?"
Yomi Isayama said nothing. Instead, she reached toward the laptop and paused the footage, then looked at the "fake Luo Shu" killed by Yoshimura's surprise attack and said gravely:
"Very sophisticated illusions."
"Ordinary illusionists manipulate their targets' minds, influencing the blue flame above their heads that represents the 'spirit,' but that man is different."
"The illusions he creates have physical substance. That's why surveillance equipment can capture them."
"After all, ordinary illusions that act on the mind can't be captured by surveillance equipment."
"Materialized Illusion..." The corners of Noriyuki Iizuna's mouth twitched several times, and his voice was somewhat dry as he said:
"There definitely aren't any illusionists at that level among the Countermeasure Office or the Onmyoryo's Divine Generals. If there were, there's no way we wouldn't know."
"And if we broaden our scope, looking just within the country, probably only 'Mirror Flower Moon,' the technique of the Nura Clan's