Mob Sorcery 4 - Ch7

“How did you know we were here?” Pola hissed, her tail standing on end.

She stood, and her bodyguards followed suit.

Kiyoko tilted her head at an almost ninety degree angle, but showed no other reaction. Her vivid blue eyes locked onto Vince, as if expecting him to clear up the confusion.

For his part, he didn’t have a good answer. This wasn’t the first time she’d shown up to see him at an odd time, even if the last time had been at a more normal location.

“I, uh, don’t actually know how you can track me,” he said, scratching his cheek. “You’ve done it before. After the public assassination attempt by those foxes, you showed up outside my apartment before Fia tried to pick me up. I shrugged it off, but this is harder.”

Kiyoko straightened her head. The edges of her lips tilted downward ever so slightly. The movement was slight enough that he wondered if the others would even notice. Catching her subtle tells proved difficult, particularly as this was only the second or third time he’d met her with her mask off, but Kiyoko showed more emotion than he suspected she thought she did.

“I see,” she said after some deliberation.

The office workers from earlier watched the confrontation with wide eyes, and one had his hand on his phone. Kiyoko frowned at them. The worker’s hand moved away from his phone.

“Maybe we can discuss this outside,” Vince suggested. “Easier to establish some wards.”

Nothing stopped them from casting wards here, especially with Kiyoko’s magical prowess, but the constant flow of Wings fliers would be trouble. Especially as the flow of customers would only increase. If any of them stepped inside the wards, they would overhear them.

Kiyoko merely nodded. After a few glances, the bodyguards gathered up everyone’s trash, while Pola, Vince, and the tengu left. The group returned to the waterfront.

Unlike the casual wards Vince usually saw cast, Kiyoko took her time. Shimmering green light glittered along her fingers as she drew runes in the air, which vanished as the wards snapped into place around them. He felt the raw power and ability contained within them.

“You’ve never been this careful before. At most, you’ve cast an aural ward to stop nearby eavesdroppers,” he said.

Kiyoko didn’t respond for several seconds as she cast what he guessed to be the fourth ward. Once finished, her black wings fluttered behind her, before returning to their utterly straight posture like normal.

“The situation has complicated,” she said. “As a tengu, I am innately difficult to scry or detect. However, Houou has increased their suspicions of the Yakuza, especially after the death of Sorashi Inaba.”

Pola looked at Vince and Kiyoko in confusion. The name didn’t ring a bell to her.

It did rustle up a memory for Vince.

“That’s the name of the fox who supposedly tried to abduct Arnulfo Siragusa a few nights ago,” Vince said. “He’s dead.”

Pola’s sharp intake of breath left him uncertain whether this was news or she’d simply forgotten after being told by Alessia.

Kiyoko’s eyes narrowed. “You sound skeptical of his identity.”

“The fox that I fought used powerful magic of Korean origin and talked of divine power. Not to mention his skill was far beyond what I’d expect of a spy. I don’t know what to make of it, but I’ve heard that Houou might not be lying when they say they weren’t behind it.”

A bold claim to make in front of a Yakuza officer. If this were anyone but Kiyoko, he’d hold his tongue. Especially after the attempt to nab him and Nina yesterday.

Yet the tengu merely nodded. “I am glad you remain observant. Houou suspects the Yakuza or Knightsgate attempted to frame them, and have been actively spying on all Yakuza officers. The kumicho is beyond their capabilities, but I need to use active wards to stop them.”

“Is that enough?” Pola asked.

Kiyoko looked at Pola without saying a word. She didn’t even raise an eyebrow.

The sottocapo bared her teeth, but Vince placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Something happened,” Kiyoko said. Her gaze pierced Vince.

“There was a clumsy attempt to… Kidnap sounds ambitious, but at least trick Nina and me to get in the wrong vehicle yesterday,” he said. “It happened so quickly the only people who should have known were you and the others in the room when I contacted Fia.”

A long silence resulted. Kiyoko’s blue eyes locked onto Vince. He wasn’t sure if she was searching his eyes, or merely thinking.

“I have been organizing the heist with little communication with the wakagashira and the kumicho, and didn’t pass on your location,” she eventually said. “I am also doubtful that the Lionetti Tower wards were penetrated without being detected, nor that one of Houou’s agents physically were nearby. You were likely being scryed on. You should take countermeasures and assume you are in danger at all times.”

“I’ve been assuming that for a while,” he said drily. But he had a follow-up question. “If the Inaba clan guardians take an interest—”

 “Their specialization is infiltration, not scrying,” Kiyoko interrupted. Her wings flared outward, before holding dead still again. “The Inaba clan possesses other specialists we need to be wary of. Casual wards won’t be effective against them.”

“Any advice on where to get wards that are?”

“Learn.”

An unusually gruff response for the tengu. She was tense. Kiyoko strode past him and Pola, who continued to stare daggers at the Yakuza officer.

After placing her hands against the railing overlooking the harbor, Kiyoko stared into the distance. Ships puttered across the bay, while the few passersby in the plaza steered clear. A man walking his Shiba Inu got a bit close, and the bodyguards shooed him away.

Vince wondered if Kiyoko had been this tense when she first arrived, or if something he’d said caused her to flare up. If so, what?

“Do you need anything else from Vince?” Pola bared her teeth. “You haven’t told us how you found him.”

Kiyoko remained facing away from them. “Fia told me you wished to see Houou’s facility for yourself. Now would be suitable to visit it, as the likelihood they would track and detect us in the area is lowest.”

“But not nothing,” he said. “If I’m getting close to a huge installation full of fox enforcers, I’d like to be equipped for it. I’m guessing we can’t let any of them survive if they spot us.”

She nodded.

Pola bit her lip and looked away.

“I’ll head back with Pola and get ready.” Vince hesitated. “Also, I think it’s best if we bring Fia and Nina. The more of us that see the building, the better. I’m guessing everyone in the Yakuza already knows the place.”

“Those that need to, yes. But I am undertaking the planning,” Kiyoko said.

He raised an eyebrow at her insistence that she was the one responsible for everything on the Yakuza’s side. Shouldn’t Kigenai be doing a lot of this, given she was in charge of the enforcers for the Yakuza?

“I shall meet you in the lobby once you are ready,” the tengu said. She turned her head at an almost 180 degree angle to meet Vince’s eyes, and nodded, as if dismissing him.

Pola scowled, grabbed his arm, and dragged him away. Kiyoko watched them stalk off.

A few hundred yards away, they slowed down. Pola separated from him and stopped. She rubbed her arms.

“How do you deal with her?” she mumbled.

One bodyguard checked their surroundings while another tapped their phone. They looked spooked. Tails bolt upright, ears pricked, and movements rapid.

“She’s more bird-like than the actual birdfolk, but you get used to it,” Vince said. “I’ve gotten a ‘no bullshit’ feel from her since the start.”

“No bullshit is a good way to put it,” a bodyguard muttered. “She felt old.”

“Ancient,” the other agreed. She shot Pola a look, then Vince.

Pola caught the unasked question and frowned. “Do you know how old she is? Sis mentioned Mei might be nearly a thousand years old, but most of the clan guardians are only a few centuries old at best. It’d be weird if the Yakuza are sending over such ancient beings.”

He shook his head. “She’s never hinted. The closest…” He recalled a conversation with Kiyoko. “Tengu possess humans, right? Well, I don’t think she’s been in that body for all that long. Kiyoko feels both young and old to me. Ancient in power, young at heart.”

His girlfriend tilted her head in confusion.

“You’d get it if you saw her messages,” he said. “She communicates purely in emoji, even though she has translations now.”

Not to mention that the tengu gave off vibes of “first trip overseas” and “first big job” with the way she acted. She took things very seriously in a way that a more cynical and worldly person wouldn’t. Perhaps that was merely her personality, but she approached the world in an oddly earnest way.

Or maybe he was just telling himself that. Kiyoko felt genuine and he didn’t think she’d lied to him so far. If he’d misread her, that likely meant she was lying to him.

“Let’s head back,” he said.

Pola explained to Alessia what had happened with Kiyoko while he changed into his enforcer outfit. Nina needed a heads-up, so he called his lioness girlfriend while shrugging on his jacket.

His phone rang for far too long. He suspected she was fumbling out of bed, and imagined her cursing. A few seconds later, he didn’t need to imagine.

“Fuck’s sake, Vince. It’s not even eight. Why the fuck are you calling me?” Nina bitched at him, her voice groggy despite her anger.

“Work,” he said, and he heard the harsh intake of breath on the other side. “Kiyoko wants to show me Houou’s facility, and I think you and Fia should come with. I can leave you behind, but—"

“Yeah, yeah,” Nina muttered. “I’ll get ready and be waiting outside. Tell that tengu that mortals sleep, y’know?”

She hung up without even a goodbye kiss. Rude. He texted a kiss emoji to her, and she replied back with one.

In the main room of the penthouse, he found Pola and Alessia leaning against the breakfast bar. Both nursed coffees, if different ones. Alessia stuck to her double espresso, while Pola had an americano. Another double espresso sat in a double-walled coffee cup next to them, presumably for him.

To settle matters for him, Alessia picked it up and held it out for him. She remained in her nightie. Vince tried not to stare at her luscious pale thighs or the abundant cleavage peeking out.

“I spoke with Fia,” the don said, after he thanked her for the coffee. “I think it’s best if she remains behind.”

His mind processed her words for a few moments, and he bought time by sipping the espresso. Ironically, now that he had his own moka pot and fancy grinder and beans, it didn’t taste as magical as it once did. He wouldn’t call his own coffee better, but the gap had narrowed significantly.

No wonder Fia gave the sorcerers who invented this overpriced machine so much shit.

“You’re worried about a trap,” he said.

Alessia nodded. “That, and if Houou spots us, there’s plausible deniability if it’s just you and Nina. Both of you are independent enforcers and can take other clients. It would be bad, but it’s a big difference.”

“Fewer hit squads,” Pola said darkly.

Both wolfgirls nodded. Curious to see them on the same page over this.

“I’ll see if I can take some photos,” Vince said. “Assuming there aren’t wards that stop me.”

“There probably are,” Alessia said. “I imagine the Yakuza would have supplied photos if there weren’t. The lack of satellite imagery means the facility is protected by obscuring wards, but if Kiyoko has seen it before, it means the Yakuza can penetrate those.”

Made sense. He wondered if that had anything to do with the lack of any photos of certain soul eggs, like the one in his possession.

Speaking of which, Daji had been far too silent of late. While Pola and Alessia chattered, he stepped over to the window under the guise of thoughtfully drinking his coffee. One hand slipped into his pocket with the soul egg.

The instant he touched it, an annoyed but familiar voice entered his mind. Slender arms wrapped around his neck and Daji’s head poked over his shoulder. Her tails danced in the air beside him.

“Would it kill you to touch me from time to time?” she asked. “And don’t answer aloud. They’ll get curious. And curiosity is bad.”

A strange sensation ran through his mind, like somebody rifling through the pages of a book. He grimaced.

What are you doing? he thought, trying not to look at the ancient fox trying to get his attention.

“Making it clear that if you ignore me for ages, it takes time for me to get up to speed.” She blew on his ear, and he nearly flinched. Pola looked over in curiosity. “I can maintain the link without physical contact briefly, but the protections of the soul egg are powerful. I’d be free already if they weren’t. I’d prefer if you don’t only come to me when you need help.”

A roundabout way to ask him to be more reliant on her.

“I promised you the world. You don’t need to be so cagey.” Daji danced around to stand in front of him. “Anyway, worry less about the tengu is my advice. You should know what set her off. She’s in a very difficult position, and is trying to please two masters.”

“You…” he stopped himself. You know more than you’re telling me.

“I told you. You’ll never learn if I solve everything for you. The machinations at play here are child’s play compared to those of the courts of old, but an excellent learning opportunity.” Her red eyes pierced his and glowed fiercely. “Just don’t forget about me when things appear beyond hope.”

How ominous.

Daji abruptly vanished. He let go of her egg afterward, assuming she’d lost interest in flirting with him.

Only for Pola to appear behind him. Her hand closed on his shoulder with a squeeze. “Do you want me to come with you?” Her green eyes met his, worry shimmering in them.

He sighed and took her hand into his. “It’s fine. I’m just struggling to make sense of all the webs being weaved through all of this. I feel I’m caught in the webs of several spiders who are battling with each other over who gets to eat me, and I need to work out how to burn the web.”

An apt summary, Daji’s voice purred in his mind.

The Yakuza and Houou were battling each other, but he wasn’t sure who exactly was behind everything or what they wanted. Each used various agents and schemes, and both Vince and the Lionettis appeared to be caught in the midst of it.

Was this entire heist just another scheme, or something more?

He shook his head. “I should go. Nina should be ready by now, and Kiyoko will be waiting.”

As he guessed, Kiyoko stood in the lobby by the time he arrived. A few Lionetti enforcers sat in the sofas opposite the reception desk, pretending not to watch the tengu’s every move.

Vince never paid much attention to the lobby when he came here. His first visit had involved being pawed up by Pola, and while the furnishings were opulent, he wouldn’t say they stood out compared to any other expensive high-rise. The building was a residential skyscraper with a small lobby for guests and security, not a hotel or commercial office.

But for whatever reason, Kiyoko hovered in a corner and admired a painting he didn’t even realize existed. It was an elaborate canvas that stretched a good dozen feet or more, although it wasn’t tall.

He stood next to her and stared at the painting.

“It is called ‘Resilience,’” Kiyoko said after several seconds of silence. She pointed at the small plaque beneath it. “Do the blocky brush strokes and long, unbroken lines stretching across such a delicate canvas convey that to you?”

“Not really,” he said.

She nodded. “Art is not an endeavor I associate with. I find it curious how people try to distill the complexities of reality into the simplicity of brushstrokes, then attempt to return the complexity through perception.”

If Vince said he didn’t get it, would he sound stupid?

Yes, Daji said.

Kiyoko looked at him sidelong. “I assume your compatriot is ready?”

“She should be. Can’t you scry her?” he asked.

“I can.” She inclined her head. “One of her tools possesses a minor anti-scrying ward, and it felt unnecessary to penetrate it without reason.”

The more he knew. Although if Kiyoko could penetrate Nina’s defenses so easily, they wouldn’t help against Houou.

“I imagine she’s waiting where we met outside my apartment after the foxes tried to kill me,” he said.

A nod from Kiyoko. She turned and walked outside, and he followed. The Lionettis didn’t follow, save with their gazes.

She stopped outside the tower, close to the street. By now, people bustled about on their way to work or simply to go about their morning routine. Vince had never worked an office job, so wasn’t sure how many people returned to work in the first week of the year. A lot, he guessed.

The world didn’t stop simply because the calendar changed. Bars, restaurants, and stores all kept operating. Banks still exchanged money. Not to mention all the tourists remained in the city, and anyone who wanted their money needed to keep grinding away.

“It is simplest to fly to your apartment,” Kiyoko said. “Once there, I can use magic to carry Nina—”

He raised a hand. “I have a flier who can take us further.”

“The harpy?” She pursed her lips. “She may not slow us down… too much.”

Had Vince heard a competitive note in Kiyoko’s tone?

Then he blinked when Kiyoko held out her arms. He stared at her. She stared back.

“I do not have talons,” she said. “I cannot carry you with my legs.”

If Nina saw him being carried in Kiyoko’s arms, he would never hear the end of it.

Despite his misgivings, he let the tengu pick him up. The last thing he saw before she shot upward into the air were the grins of the Lionetti enforcers watching them through the glass. Then he had other things to worry about.

Vince had flown at dangerous speeds before, although only really once or twice. When Nicki had taken him to Lionetti Tower during some of the more dangerous parts of his job against Kaziern, including a police getaway, she’d done her best to break the sound barrier.

Her efforts paled against Kiyoko’s speed. The tengu shot directly upward like an arrow shot from a bow, yet her wings didn’t beat a single time. Magic rippled around them as she controlled the air currents with wind magic. A crack of air displacing met Vince’s ears when she stopped a hundred feet above the penthouse.

He didn’t get the time to find his bearings. A boom sounded in his ears as Kiyoko made a mockery of the sound barrier. The world transformed into a blur. He instinctively gripped onto Kiyoko, worried that if he fell he’d be very dead.

She slowed almost immediately. He felt her gaze for a second, and tried to look down at the blurring cityscape beneath them. Even her “slow” pace was like flying along on Gabriela’s motorcycle, but without the comforting seat and huge unicorn to hold onto.

The ride ended almost as fast as it started. Kiyoko rapidly slowed, then descended toward the side-street behind Vince’s apartment complex. Her descent was as odd as her ascent, but for a different reason. She flew directly toward the ground at a diagonal angle, as if using jet thrusters.

He’d said Kiyoko was more bird-like than the birdfolk, but she flew more like an airplane.

The moment her feet touched the pavement, Vince practically fell out of her arms. He shook feeling back into his limbs.

Nina waved from the distance. She’d been waiting for them from the main courtyard of the complex.

“I assume that was too fast,” Kiyoko said.

“I don’t think I’ve broken the sound barrier before,” he said. “Do you usually fly that fast?”

“Speed is of the essence this morning. It makes it difficult to anticipate my location.”

He’d never forgive Houou for this, or whoever had pretended to be Black.

While taking deep breaths and reminding himself Kiyoko had better ways to kill him, he sent Nicki a message. Then thought better of it and called her.

By the time Nina reached them, he’d finished with the harpy.

“You got here fast,” the lioness said. She gave the tengu an assessing look. “You’re Kiyoko? I’m—”

“Nina Hayes. An independent enforcer with a stellar record, and a history of working with the Golden Path, as well as handling less savory work than most enforcers,” Kiyoko said. “I have been curious to meet you.”

“Really?” Nina raised an eyebrow.

“Given your history, I would have assumed you could have gone corporate at any time. Instead, you are now taking significantly more dangerous work.”

“I did go corporate.” Nina’s tone dropped several octaves, and Vince grimaced.

Undeterred, Kiyoko continued, “Even if Houou would never offer a non-fox a position, others—”

“Not everyone wants to become a corpo wrecking ball, held back until something worth sacrificing them comes up,” Nina said. “Isn’t that what you are? A sacrifice for Knightsgate to see if Aulfair is worth it?”

Kiyoko didn’t react. “All enforcer work involves sacrifice at some cost. You merely choose to stand at the front lines for money, and not even much. You could have assuredly made more if you accepted a position as a corporate enforcer.”

Nina snorted. “Everybody always thinks that. You at least know how little independent enforcer work actually pays. We’re replaceable because even if I can punch you in the face and maybe survive, it’s cheaper to pay ten morons who think they can survive but can’t. Going corpo means less money for more security, right up until you have to sacrifice yourself. How much were the Yakuza goons who got wiped out before you arrived getting paid?”

The two women glared at each other. Or at least, Vince assumed Kiyoko was glaring back. Hard to tell.

Nicki flapped over to interrupt, only to freeze. She gulped.

“Uh, should I come back?” she asked. “I rushed down, but…”

She’d thrown on her skintight lycra and a hoodie over the top. Nicki was still using illusion dyes from Ally to look like a shortstack birdgirl rather than a harpy, and had turned her usually black hair a vivid purple this morning. One of the side effects of making her tits several cup sizes bigger was that her hoodie rode much higher on her body. Vince didn’t need to imagine the way her lycra rode every curve of her hips and thighs.

“No,” Kiyoko said. “The sooner we leave, the better. Vince—”

He winced when she looked at him. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell Nina would fly with the tengu after that argument.

“I will fly slower to allow…” Kiyoko frowned. “I am afraid I do not know your name.” She tilted her head and blinked at Nicki. “I am Kiyoko.”

“Uh, Nicki.”

“Wow. Aren’t you the Yakuza’s intelligence specialist? Can’t even look up Vince’s roommate?” Nina asked, eyes like slits.

“I can learn names if I desire. Among other personal details, like family,” Kiyoko said, her voice like ice as she glared at Nina.

This might be the first time Vince had seen Kiyoko’s feathers ruffled. Nina had a real knack for getting under the skin of people.

The lioness bit her lip and looked away, which caused Vince to raise an eyebrow.

“Let us go,” Kiyoko said.

Without waiting for his approval, Kiyoko swept him into her arms and shot into the air. Nicki squawked and followed. She circled Nina and got a flying start to pick up the lioness at speed before shooting into the air after them.

Green magic glittered around them as they flew close together, and Vince frowned at it.

“You’re warding us as we fly, aren’t you?” he asked.

“I cannot risk our trip being detected,” Kiyoko said.

They flew out far to the north-east of Aulfair, well past suburbia and over the forest. Vince saw the Pacific Ocean glitter to the west, while Mount Olympus and Mount Rainier loomed in the distance. He assumed they wouldn’t get close to either, as Aulfair’s state boundaries ended well before them.

Eventually, Kiyoko began to descend. Nicki followed her closely. They landed on a nondescript hill amid the forest. No buildings were in sight.

Vince scratched the back of his head as he looked around. He couldn’t sense a damn thing.

“Are their wards this good?” he asked.

Nina shot him a “no, duh” look. At least Nicki appeared sympathetic.

Meanwhile, Kiyoko gathered some large branches before stabbing them into the ground on the hill. This was after casting wards once again. The branches formed a sort of goal if Vince looked at them from the right direction.

Minutes passed while Kiyoko worked. She drew a ritual circle between the branches, while inscribing magic into the wood. He noticed her magic took on a white color, much like telekinesis. Whatever school of magic she used, it wasn’t her usual wind magic.

She then formed an eye-shape with her fingers while standing in front of the strange construction she’d created. Pointing her hands at a copse of trees in the distance, she spoke the first word since landing.

“Shikaku,” Kiyoko said, presumably speaking Japanese.

A shimmering white light appeared between her fingers. The branches lit up like holy spears, transforming into solid poles of white. Prismatic light waved through the air between the two poles, almost like water currents.

But while the magic looked impressive, the true effect was what could be seen while looking through it.

Where only forest once stood, Vince now saw an entire fenced facility in the distance.

A single large blocky concrete building dominated the base and appeared to have digital access locks. Although Vince’s vision wasn’t good enough to tell for sure. The facility wasn’t massive, but easily large enough for a small team to get lost in. Especially if they had to deal with internal security.

The fence was a simple chain-link variety. He guessed it contained magic barriers. A large gap stood between the main building and the fence.

As Fia had said, an additional building stood in one corner, jutting up against the fence. They’d stretched the fence out significantly further than the rest of the complex to make room. This building looked new, but also cheap. A commercial building of some sort that had been slapped up on short notice, presumably to contain Houou’s staff.

But while Vince took everything in, he sure as hell didn’t hide his surprise at Kiyoko’s magic.

“You can penetrate anti-scrying wards?” he asked. “This is divination, isn’t it? If you’re this capable…”

“There’s a reason she’s in charge of the Yakuza’s intelligence,” Nina said.

Kiyoko didn’t spare her a glance, and instead looked at Vince. She’d calmed herself over the course of the flight and spellcasting, resuming her characteristically unruffled appearance.

“Uh, divination? Isn’t that seeing the future?” Nicki asked, scratching her head. “We’re looking at Houou’s top secret base where they’re hiding this soul egg, right? Or is she visualizing the future when we break in?”

Nina snorted, garnering her an annoyed look from the harpy, who crossed her arms over her breasts. Vince imagined Nicki practiced that gesture, given her actual breasts were much smaller.

“Divination is the term for all magic that visualizes something that is not physically present or viewable by mortal eyes,” Kiyoko said, drawing their attention.

Nina nodded. “It’s a weird magic. Kind of a cerebral non-school of magic, if that makes any sense.”

“It doesn’t,” Vince and Nicki said together.

“Many schools of magic may perform divination,” Kiyoko explained. “A water spell that creates a vision in a pond. Earth magic that creates crude predictions of the future using the flow of magic currents. Telekinesis that creates a viewing portal between two areas in space.”

Vince pointed at Kiyoko. “That makes sense.” Then he frowned. “What school are you using? Telekinesis?”

She shook her head. “To mortal minds, it is the same. Telekinesis is either the manipulation of force or space, depending on the application. My magic is rooted in the idea of a divine reality. I scry something by viewing what is truly there, regardless of impediments. I can see through illusions and ignore seductive whispers, because they are lies.”

“Divine…” He frowned. “I hate to say this, but what does that even mean? Magic is magic, isn’t it? I thought divinity was just something used to describe the most powerful magical beings.”

Her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “For many magic beings, that is true. A dragon like Wagner, for all his wisdom and power, is simply an agglomeration of magic. Even the demons of Immanuel will perish and become little more than motes of energy that will fuel the spells of their slayers. Divinity is that which stands above even magic, and is unexplainable.”

Saying something was unexplainable as a way to avoid explaining it felt like cheating.

“Are you divine?” he asked.

Kiyoko shook her head. “No. Even those who claim to be divine are not, in my view. Divine creations we may be, but should humanity turn out to be the creation of a grand creator whose power transcends all others, would that make humans divine? Hardly.”

Her words differed too much from those of Black’s. Vince rolled his shoulders and looked back at the facility shimmering in her scrying spell.

But the similarities were uncanny. Whenever he spoke with demons, or even Wagner, they spoke more of deities than some ineffable concept such as divinity. Even then, they often hedged their bets with the idea that they were battling demigods or deity-like beings, than true gods.

“I told you that you were focusing on her too much,” Daji whispered in his ear. “I can clarify, in any case. Divinity just means a form of magic that imposes its own reality, instead of manipulating it. Sometimes that reality might be the user’s reality. Other times it’s a more objective reality, such as the natural state of the world. Knightsgate uses the tengu as guards against evil spirits for a reason.”

The three of them surveyed the facility for the next few minutes in relative silence. Nina made several remarks, and tried to take a photo. As Alessia had suspected, the ward preventing photography turned her photo into a blurry mess. Kiyoko’s magic remained visible, but the facility transformed into a smudge.

“I’ll have to describe things to Fia as best I can,” Nina said. “Right now, the prefab is such an obvious avenue of entrance I worry it’s a trap, or at least heavily fortified.”

“We can avoid entering it,” Kiyoko said.

Nina nodded. “Good point. I’d still like a way to make an entrance, or at least an exit, through the fence.”

“Would the fence’s barriers stop us from the inside?” he asked. “Seems unwise if people needed to evacuate.”

“Depends whether the Sorcerer’s Guild valued their artifacts or their people more,” Nina drawled. “Not a bet I’d like to make. Plus, we might not have time to set up a big spell on the way out.”

“Given the complexity of the wards, and the size of the place, I think we should consider ourselves lucky we can get in if the barriers are raised at all,” he said. “Maybe we should have a team knock out the internal generators?”

“You are proposing a stealthy entrance, and a violent exit,” Kiyoko said.

“Let’s be real. The moment we get inside the facility, it’s going to be violent. They’ll know we’re there and be hitting us hard. One team takes the vault-cracker and finds the soul egg, the other ensures we can even get out. Unless Mei or Kigenai is confident they can pop the barriers.”

Nina snorted. “If they could, they wouldn’t need us.”

“Sometimes it is not a question of ‘can’ but ‘should,’” Kiyoko chided. “A spell of such magnitude would immediately attract the attention of Houou’s clan guardians, despite our attempts to suppress our presence. I will discuss with Fia the idea. However, you have reminded me of a major stumbling block.”

Vince narrowed his eyes. “I know what you’re about to bring up. The vault-cracker. Fia said you had one in mind.”

For once, Kiyoko shuffled nervously and her wings fluttered.

“I do, but…” The tengu sighed. “The Yakuza branch here possessed a raijin who excelled at infiltration of all security systems, including high-security physical ones. She went missing when my predecessors were suppressed by the local conglomerates. I recently ascertained her status and whereabouts.”

Ordinarily, Vince would assume a Yakuza member that went missing after the conglomerates nearly crushed the Yakuza was dead. Kiyoko seemed convinced otherwise.

“She is currently in the captivity of one of Immanuel’s lower ranking officers—an executive vice president in control of a significant amount of territory bordering Houou’s.” Kiyoko fixed her gaze on Vince. “While a rescue operation would risk too many resources this close to the heist, you have contacts within Immanuel. If you can use those contacts to gain access to her without violence, we’ll have a vault-cracker.”

Getting his hands on a Yakuza member secretly kept hostage by Immanuel without violence? That was a tall order for Vince.

He needed to have a chat with Salome, at any rate. If anybody knew about Immanuel trafficking in pseudo-slaves, it would be her.

- - - - -

Commentary: I'm alive!

It's been a difficult few weeks in the writing trenches, as my usual strategies for breaking writer's block haven't been that successful, but I think I have a way forward.

This chapter has a bit of a mixed cast, with several characters showing up and giving their input. Pola was originally going to force her way along, but that felt at odds with the conversation last chapter, so you got the pitstop for Nina.