Yomi watched with darkened expression as the clock counted down another minute without any signs of the two returning from the mission. They were late. Probably dead by the hands of unknown enemy. Or worse, captured. Past week felt like a nightmare, with the sudden attacks on his people one after another. The amount of work that had been put into setting everything up for his eventual plan were nothing to scoff at, and most of it had gone into drain. Worst of all, he had no clue who was targeting him.
He knew who wasn’t. It definitely wasn’t the damyo. The man was too greedy to brake off their agreement. Neither did he have enough military might to raid all of his branches in such short time. Not many had power like that, no one else in the Land of Demons at least. That only left an outside interference, and that was a fool’s guess with the lack of intel.
His resources had been cut short, and his manpower had people cut down. He was left him with less than fifty men. Granted, the ones left standing were those with relatively more quality to them than the ones stationed in the branches, but it didn’t make the loses any less severe.
It was the worst possible scenario.
Yomi stood up from his seat, his mind calculating new course of action. There was no point in waiting any longer. Freeing Moryo was all that mattered. The key here was the high priestess Shion. The girl was only one that knew how to release the seal of the prison. That had been the original plan, basically to amass the sufficient strength, take over the temple and hold out until they forced the priestess to open the prison. Now that plan was becoming less ideal. They had to go with second option and kill the priestess. The seal was tied to her, and her death would weaken the prison. It would allow Moryo to affect it from inside and gradually deteriorate the seal’s stability. And when the seal reached the certain point of degradation, they would infiltrate the temple and break it.
It was a shame that he would be losing even more significant part of his manpower. But desperate times called for desperate measures. He had to speed up the plan and pull some strings, had to lure out the priestess from her fortress. He was going to bet everything on the success of this plan until he still had something to bet on.
No matter the cost.
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“So, let’s go back at the cult stuff. How much of what Yomi fed you do you believe, really?”
The girl's already sour expression further darkened. “It’s not a cult, asshole!”
It’s that bad huh.
“Oh,” I pushed down the chuckle threatening to spill. I wasn’t here to mock her, whether she deserved such treatment or not. “Why don’t you enlighten me, then. What is it exactly?”
Instead of answering the question, she glared at me, her eyes trying to dig a drill a hole through my skull. Though she didn’t try to escape, she knew better than that.
The silence descended in room. I tapped my finger on the desk standing between me and the girl, contemplating about what to do. This was the second time I was having a talk with her.
First thing I did was make the two reveal Yomo’s whereabouts. While they seemed to be fanatically devoted to him at first, that didn’t continue for long. They just needed a little push.
Thankfully, it didn’t come to torture. They were still kids. Some exaggerated and articulated threats along with demonstration of special tools made them become far more willing to talk, especially after I described in detail that, if they decided to keep quiet, how I would be forced to physically pry open their skulls and rummage through their brains to get the information I wanted. It didn’t matter that such technique didn’t exist, not the one that literally needed opening up their brains at the least. But they didn’t need to know that. As long as it saved me some trouble. Fortunately, I managed to quickly get the location. Less fortunately, I found the place completely empty. Judging from the recent signs of activity, kids haven’t lied. Yomi was a one careful bastard. And now I had to engage in the wild goose chase to catch him.
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Of the two Yomo’s henchmen that had been turned into my captives, the boy was a lost cause. He wasn’t going to be useful as an active piece.
He was currently lying unconscious in another room. I planned to find out what was special about the four and try to make the parasite compatible with the heart puppets. The two had been exhausted after the boost run out, but showed nowhere enough side effects from its use. The idea had a potential, and my moral compass had been fucked up enough for me to care too much about the ethical complications. How much that had been Kakuzu’s leftover influence or my mind’s attempt to adjust to the new world, I wasn’t certain.
Anyway, back to the matters at hand. Where was I?
The girl flinched when I turned my attention back to her. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to achieve with this. Maybe I should just knock her out and put her next to her friend.
“Not in mood to talk?” I asked as I shifted attention to my arm, admiring the way threads extended and danced in circles around it.
“H-hey, you can keep those things to yourself,“ she finally decided to answer, I raised my eyebrow. “No, I mean, I’ll tell you.”
She shifted in her seat. “I’m a follower of the order.”
Ah, of course. Leave it to a cult leader to be fancy with the words.
“And what does the order do?”
She stared at me in confusion for a second, like I asked something dumb and obvious “The Order’s goal to bring the order in this world.” She continued with a monotone voice. “For that, the world needs a worthy sovereign. Someone competent to that can be trusted with power.”
“Are you talking about the demon that you’re going to unleash into this world?”
She glared at me. “You understand nothing.”
With each question I asked, she was becoming more uneasy. Was I doing this wrong? Past Kakuzu wasn’t necessarily good at this. The memories helped me with combat and violence. When it came to convincing someone without resorting to force? not so much. It didn’t hurt to try, though.
“Explain, then. How the Order, or Moryo, will bring forth the order?”
Her gaze wavered. “Lord Moryo’s plan isn’t something for us to understand. All I have to do is follow the order’s will.”
“So you don’t know.”
There was a pause.
“That’s not-“
“Why is that? Are you not trusted with important information? I thought you were directly under Yomi in hierarchy.”
“That has nothing to do with-”
“Nothing to with it? Do you really believe that?”
She didn’t answer.
Ugh, did she have to be this troublesome?
“You’re not entirely being honest with me, are you? Not even to yourself, I wager.”
Her response was a glare and cold anger. "Just shut up. If you're going to kill me, do it already." she growled, but all I could hear was a pitiful attempt to deny the acquisition and be seen strong. She was too exhausted, both physically and mentally to form a proper retort.
"Yomi's not here. He doesn't have the power to reach you either. And I have no desire to kill or torture you. What are you afraid of?"
Her eyes trembled. Slowly, her anger faded, her face turning more expressionless. "…you don't know what you're talking about."
She insisted that. And I had some vague idea as to why. It wasn't surprising that Yomi's treatment to his subordinates wasn't a shining beacon of morality. She tried to hide it, but every time I mentioned Yomi, I could see fear washing over her. Not that I could criticize him for it, but maybe I could use that as a leverage.
I leaned forward from my seat, leveling my eyes with hers. "I'm going to kill Yomi. And I'm going to burn that cult to the ground." I grinned when I saw her hesitate. "What do you think? Want to have a part in that?"
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After bringing Shizu to her temporary room, I wandered through the building before going back to my office, going over the things to see what needed my attention or if some kind of butterfly effect had risen. Judging from the complicated look from her face, a lot was going through her mind. Still, she would join my side. I was in lack of loyal subordinates. This was a chance to get someone competent on my side. With the troubles that I would be facing in the near future, gathering a group that could take care of more miscellaneous tasks was worth some effort.
Of course, the calm didn’t last for long.
There was a knock on the door and I was awakened from my thoughts. A messenger sent by Ginji hurriedly walked into the room to report Hozuki Castles’s activities concerning the pseudo-jinchuriki. The news was as urgent as the messenger’s attitude. It looked like this was going to be an eventful night.
The boy had been captured.