Iori took in a heavy mouthful of fresh, moist air. Taking in the ambient scent of nature itself, the slight order of small critters living their lives, the clean air coming from the nearby lake and finally the hint of rain on horizon. The day had been perfect so far.
With the kiddos grounded until further notice, he truly had no other obligations to attend to and decided to take yet another vacation.
'Yasaka sure is a slave driver,' He shook his head with a wry grin,' I've taught her well.'
The immortal leaned against the large, heavily gnarled tree that reached out to grab at the sun like the arm of some sort of envious god. It's wide expanse of leaves and branches spread out to blot out the sky in it's entirety, a great form of shade if anyone were to ask him.
Besides him, a small stick stood stuck in the ground, a thin thread connecting to its tip and elongated all the way out to the middle of the clear lake. It occasionally twitched in place, but that didn't seem to be enough to rouse the man.
His long black hair, like an ebony river laid out splayed behind him. It's strands becoming intertwined with the monstrous tree's exposed roots, a steady stream of energy pulsating down the locks and into the ancient resident. After all, it would be bad manners to offer nothing his host.
Honestly, in that moment he was completely content. There were no bills to be paid, obligations owed or even any enemies to kill. And frankly with his long lifespan, he could afford to spend a century or two just doing nothing at all.
'Nah,' Iori shot down that thought with ease,' Been there, done that. Maybe I should look into enchantments? That should keep me occupied for awhile yet.'
It was rather regretful to give up that piece of work known as Boidokī and normally, he wouldn't have even considered giving it up. He could've came up with up any number of excuses, all of which would've been false. While he hadn't spent enough time with the heirloom to replicate it exactly, he had gotten some of its foundational components. The enchantment itself wasn't what he interested in, they seem to use an improved version of those Orthodoxy bastard's 'retreat' techniques.
But back in the day, such methods were usually reserved for either last option methods to get their young masters out of harms way or they were inscribed on pieces of wood that barely lasted long enough to activate the technique. Spacetime was an integral part of reality itself, so it makes sense that it'll put a lot of stress on those that try to manipulate it so casually. Especially when trying to use a life energy like Ki to do so.
But this new metallic wood that had become corner stone of all modern Ki Enchantments, significantly changed the game. And with that in mind, he wanted to get his grubby mitts all over the new material to test all the things that were deemed either too dangerous or impossible.
'Should I get a job?'
It was just too bad that this material was incredibly expensive to get, so much so that even his rich disciple couldn't get her grubby paws on anymore of the stuff. The Faction responsible charged an arm and a leg just so a mere two-by-two square sheet, how the Nekomata could afford to make a whole sword out of the stuff he didn't believe they would tell him. But given the Faction, he had some guests and none of them were too appealing.
'Owing the Fey a favor is never worth it in the end.' He even felt a little bad for the clan of cats, but only shrugged. They would learn one way or another to never trust those tricksters, it'll probably just take a few of their first born. That made him pause in thought. 'Could some of them be changelings? That can't be possible though, there's no way Yasaka would let that slide.'
"See Milli? I told you they were hiding all the good locations!"
"I don't know Onee-sama, she seemed very series about kicking us out…"
"None sense! We're guests! And plus besides, it's not like we're going to destroy or steal anything! She's just trying to scare us, nothing is going to happen!"
A female voice could be heard on the wind, trees and wildlife signaling their clomping footsteps. From what he could tell, there were four different intruders in total. Two of them seem to be a lot heavier than the other two, another seemed skittish and a bit unsure while the last stepped with a sort of inborn alacrity. They were far enough away to keep him out of sight but that still didn't mean he wanted to end his vacation by entertaining some..
'Devils?' The tang of their Ki was like that of sulfur, slightly tangy and possessing a bit of a kick to it. But judging from the other 'flavors' at least half of them were either converted or some sort of hybrid. One of them had this slight oily texture that made his stomach slightly curl, while the other had a similar 'taste' as Riko. As for the two full blooded Devils, their energy had this strangely familiar hint to them. Both spicy and acidic. As though their very auras were built to destroy. That was all he needed to know.
Unless the Devils had gone through a few generations of inter clan breeding, those two Full Devils must be from the Gremory family.
'Sirzechs certainly must've been quite busy.'
While there were a lot of benefits to being a Devil, their reproduction capabilities was not one of them. Before he had gone into seclusion, they were still recovering from their war against both the Church and the Grigori before they lost even more numbers during their civil war. But for that spunky red head to have produced two scions, its something to be admired from a long lived prospective.
Despite his peaked interested, he had no desire to entertain a bunch of children. He had enough of that with his disciples daughter and friends. And so with a force of will, Iori let out a single pulse of Ki that spread out wide across the land. It's formless fog running across the area to hit them full force in the face, nowhere near enough to actually hurt them but to at least alert their sixth sense. Maybe spook them by caused their hair to stand on in.
It certainly wasn't suppose to cause one of them to leap back a few tens of feet away as though he had stepped on their tail.
"Huh? What's wrong Koneko? What do you sense?"
The previous voice asked, coming out both concerned and a bit..excited? Expectant? Whatever it was, she didn't sound like she would be leaving anytime soon.
"…." This 'Koneko' character was a silent for a moment, and he could feel their roiling emotions spill out into their Ki. It was sloppy. He could tell that much even from this far away. Way too much so especially if they were part Yokai. Their next words were spoken quietly, just barely above a whisper that still didn't escape his or the nearby foliage's 'ears'. "There's...something ahead. Powerful. Very much so. We shouldn't approach."
'At least her ability to sense intent isn't completely shot.' He was sure all her ancestors would be rolling in their graves if they were to see how pitiful their descendant was. She hadn't even tried to defend herself from the random Ki wave, nor to hide her fear.
"Powerful?" If he had thought that warning was enough to scare off the brats, then he would be greatly mistaken. Especially if that sudden rise of desperation tinged greed spilling out of the speaker's aura was enough to go by. "Why don't we go over to say hello?"
"I-I don't think that's a good idea…" The youthful male, Milli, voice said, his feet rubbing into the dirt as he tried not to just flee. "Mother wouldn't be pleased with-"
"She'll be fine!" The Gremory girl spoke over the boy's concerns, her voice like to honey to drip down into the child's ears. An edge of temptation evident as she truly showed her devilish side. "Think of how proud she'll be if you find something cool? Or even if you found a potential peerage member? From what I remember, you're about to be at the age to acquire Evil Pieces? I should be the first one to tell you, but building a peerage is super hard! Not only do you need scour the globe to find someone both compatible with you but you'll also need to convince them! It'll be easier if you start looking now, that way they can grow along side you."
Okay...Iori had to admit, the girl certainly knew how to manipulate the poor boy. As any reticent in his aura, faded away under a suit of resolve that donned his entire being. That told his age.
"Excellent!" The girl clapped her hands excitedly, pride practically oozing off her aura like syrup. "Koneko, can you pinpoint where that feeling comes from? And Akeno, can you keep an eye out? You know, just in case?"
"Of course President."
A new voice, this one sounding smooth both respectful and slightly teasing. Honestly her way of speaking reminded him a lot of those clans hidden out in the country side, like she was in on some joke that everyone else wasn't privy too. The type of person he had no problems knocking out into next week.