"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness."
Shadow surged from the abyss, devouring everything.
"Purify that which is impure."
A low chant, accompanied by a roiling tide of Cursed Energy.
Inside the vast, unlit warehouse, the air seemed to sever itself from the world beyond.
"Lower the Curtain, Zenin."
Another Curtain descended over the outside of the door. Combined with the one already in place behind them, Nanami Kira and his companions were sandwiched like filling between two slices of bread, locked tight between barriers on both sides.
None of them are idiots, it seems...
A flicker of something like admiration crossed Nanami Kira's face.
"Wh-what's happening?!"
Sorako's voice rang out beside him. The heiress clenched her jaw, startled as a deer, and whipped around toward the eruption of Cursed Energy behind her.
"Let's go see."
Nanami Kira's voice was low.
"Sure."
Zenin Aka wore that same grinning look he always did. His attendant Kotone Yui trailed behind him, half her face peeking out from behind his shoulder, pink hair hanging softly.
Tsuruda Tasuke's expression had gone taut. Brow furrowed, he reached into his coat and produced an Xbox One Elite Controller.
"Elite": a descriptor, and also a product line. If you compared controllers to luxury handbags, the Elite was the Chanel of gamepads. Crystalline transparent casing, bold accents, every button precision-molded to cradle the fingerpad, buttery smooth to the touch. A full set ran at least a hundred thousand yen.
Though it clashed spectacularly with the grim old fossil holding it.
It was like two generals facing off on the battlefield: Wang Situ astride his warhorse, bellowing insults across the field, only to see that bumpkin Zhuge roll up not in his feathered fan and silk cap, not in his trademark wheelchair, but aboard a BabyBus.
The warehouse really was enormous. Half a football pitch, at least.
Through the thick walls, the rain had become inaudible. Not a sliver of light penetrated inside.
Nanami Kira pushed the warehouse door open. Beyond it stood a wall of impenetrable black: the Curtain. The deepest shade of dark, reflecting nothing.
He touched its surface. Beneath his palm, the Curtain rippled outward like the surface of a lake.
Extremely sophisticated work. Even for him, a brute-force breach would take half a day.
And neither this Curtain nor the one enclosing the whole of Amber Mansion was something Nanami Kira could break.
This Curtain wasn't the mansion's doing. The warehouse wasn't a trap set by Amber Mansion.
Zenin Aka had been right: Amber Mansion wouldn't go out of its way to ambush them. This was a succession game, not a massacre. If it truly wanted them dead, it had far simpler methods.
Nanami Kira himself had said: "Logically speaking, Amber Mansion wouldn't set an ambush."
Logically speaking. The unspoken corollary being: since this Curtain wasn't the mansion's work, it could only be someone's doing.
As if on cue.
Zenin Aka's fingers pressed against the Curtain's surface. He turned his head, met Nanami Kira's eyes, and flashed a bright, open grin.
"Nanamin-chan, I'll be taking my leave now."
Nanamin-chan, huh... that's an interesting one.
"What? Zenin, what are you doing?!"
A woman's shout.
The Curtain shuddered. Thick, viscous liquid crept along Zenin Aka's slender fingers, climbing up his arm. In moments, his entire body was swallowed by the barrier.
A blast of white Cursed Energy erupted beside him, slamming into the spot where Zenin Aka had vanished. The Curtain trembled, small waves rippling outward, then stilled again.
It was Sorako. The energy on her outstretched hands hadn't yet dissipated. Her pupils were pinpricks.
"He's gone, Minamoto-san. And I'd advise you not to use your technique against another person."
The hoarse, aged voice came from beside her. Tsuruda Tasuke.
"What do you mean, Tsuruda Grade 1?"
His weathered face took on a look of deep sorrow. He breathed a heavy sigh.
"There's something you guessed wrong. Last night, we didn't sit idle, and Sayahi-san didn't die because of her own arrogance or because she refused to listen." He paused. "The truth is, Zenin-kun lured her out under the pretense of searching for the barrier node. While the rest of you had returned to your rooms, unsuspecting, he'd already set the Curtain in place beforehand."
And then she died in the night. Dead, with no one to bear witness.
"How do you know this?"
Tsuruda's sigh grew heavier still, and his face sagged with grief. He tucked the controller back into his sleeve and bowed his head apologetically.
"Forgive me. Once this game begins, there can never truly be trust between people."
"Heh."
Nanami Kira let out a cold, quiet laugh. His expression remained placid.
As they spoke, Tsuruda had already walked to the Curtain's edge. His aged hand sank into the barrier and was swallowed in an instant.
Kotone Yui, Zenin Aka's attendant, followed him in.
"This barrier sacrificed its range; it only covers a single doorway, a very short span, but in exchange it gained massively amplified strength. One piece of advice: even though it's only blocking the door, don't try to break through the walls. Nothing in Amber Mansion can be destroyed, or it will trigger a transaction."
"This Curtain allows anyone to pass through. Except the two of you."
Making the Curtain's conditions public. Effect amplified yet again.
"One last word. Don't try to attack me or stop me. The moment I ate the meat, I became part of Amber Mansion. Attacking me triggers the auction."
He's taken servility to its absolute extreme.
Nanami Kira didn't intervene. He watched it all unfold with the same still expression. He made no move.
He couldn't, and the man knew it. They had accounted for even that.
They'd deliberately moved alongside Kira's group, lulling suspicions as thoroughly as possible, then exploited the mansion's mechanics to walk out right in front of them.
But what truly made Nanami Kira reassess them was the Curtain's targeting.
It specifically barred him from passing through.
A targeted Curtain like this, one that designated specific people it would block, required detailed information about those people. But Nanami Kira was operating under the alias Kento Gojo.
By all rights, the Curtain shouldn't have been able to hold him.
There was only one explanation. The enemy knew his real identity.
That was the one thing Nanami Kira hadn't predicted.
The only thing.
Interesting... He ran his fingers along the Curtain, his expression unchanged.
Sorako still wore the same dazed look, pupils flooded with disbelief, her shoulders trembling faintly.
"They just... left? But they're nobles. They're supposed to be nobles..."
She looked at Nanami Kira with something like desperate hope.
"Yes. The Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers you worship ran away like stray dogs. That's what your 'noble' bloodline amounts to."
Her heart shattered in her chest.
"The pride. The honor of the elite."
Not a ripple in Nanami Kira's eyes. He looked at Sorako and spoke softly.
"It is nothing more than the blood of dogs, dear heiress."