"Long before you were here..."
A voice spoke from somewhere between reality and illusion. It was a male voice, low and calm, almost soothing.
Then, the surface below where Ren stood fractured, breaking apart into fragments that dissolved into thick black smoke. It pulled him through in disorienting whirlwinds until finally the mist cleared. Through it, he could faintly distinguish a city under heavy rain. Neon placards depicting mystic symbols on the walls kept the street lit, while electric wires hung from place to place in a disordered way.
In the underworld, but in the city as well, mystic symbols were used to guard against infiltration, to seal away danger, or to mark Clan territory. Ren had seen them before, scattered across streets and alleys, even in the neighborhood where he once lived with Haruki. Back then, though, he could only notice those that had been set up manually. But since meeting Kagami, all of that changed. Now he could see beyond that. He now had the sight required to see the symbols embedded into the walls by actual witchcraft.
It was all playing in Ren's mind, but with a breathtaking realism.
A line of black cars came into formation. Each one bore the crest of the Tsukigata Clan, placed in such a way that it could be easily recognized on the doors of the vehicles by those who mattered.
Men stepped out as the cars stopped. They were dressed in black suits that seemed efficiently designed for movement and harsh environments, yet also managed to live up to the grandeur of the Tsukigata name. Strapped to their sides and backs, they had rifles tightly placed within their harnesses. A few of them were holding umbrellas to cover the area from the heavy rain.
Two figures came out of the lead car. One of them was tall and kept his face partially hidden beneath the collar of his coat. He also had his hair pulled back into a knot so as not to bother him as he moved. The other figure walked close and seemed to be prepared for something important.
Ren was looking at all this from the outside. He could not intervene in any way, or even speak, for that matter, yet there was no way he would not recognize those golden eyes. It was Shiori.
This had all happened in the past...
As for the man walking next to her, he didn't recognize him right away. But through the haze of the vision, he somehow knew him as Takuma. He adjusted his gloves on his hands, then scanned the street in front of him. He then gave the orders.
"We're not to make too much noise tonight. We target the Sanctum and identify the threats there. If we find nothing... well, we'll take it from there when the time comes."
Nobody questioned him. They simply moved to their positions as the entire convoy advanced. Through the rain, Ren immediately recognized the place. It was the entrance to Naraku through the familiar torii gate he had seen before. It was pulsing in the same corrupted way as he had seen when he himself had entered it.
Shiori waited until Takuma caught up with her, and they were once again walking side by side.
"You think it's just another breach of the seals?"
"If it was, the Clan wouldn't have sent both of us," Takuma replied without looking at her. "Whatever is down there, it's clearly bothering them."
Ren felt as though he was seeing it all through Takuma's eyes. But there was also something more to it. Even though this series of events was unfolding linearly, in his mind, he already knew them. Each event was familiar to him, even though he had never been part of any of it before. Yet, he knew all of this was just the calm before the storm.
By the time they reached a designated area, only two vehicles and a smaller group of men remained. The rest stayed behind, blocking paths and establishing a command center.
The heart of Naraku, the Sanctum, stood just in front. It was the pagoda Ren knew all too well. The same structure that combined mystical traditional styles with dark wired systems, which had all darkened in time. It looked just that, corrupted yet still powerful in a way. Its gates had been marked with talismans which now stood visibly broken.
Takuma signaled everybody to stop. The engines stopped roaring, leaving only the sound of rain to fill the environment.
"This is it," he said, looking at the broken talismans. "Once we go in, we move under the Sanctum's law."
Shiori looked at the talismans as well, but said nothing to reinforce or correct what Takuma had said.
Ren felt his pulse rise, as if he were part of that scene himself rather than witnessing a vision of something that had happened long ago.
Takuma then took Shiori's hand and wrapped something around it that he had previously taken out of his pocket. It was an elegant silver bracelet with thin strands of chains woven into it.
"It holds mother's protection glyph. Keep it close," he said.
Shiori smiled at him, and for the first time, Ren was surprised to see a candid display of affection coming from someone like her. Or what he previously thought someone like her was.
Then, they slowly entered the building.
The team moved carefully throughout the main hall, each of its members having a very precise role to play. A few of them were holding rifles ready to attack at any moment, while others were tasked with carrying ammunition and other gadgets they might need while in there.
Takuma scanned the hall entrance until his eyes reached the Izanami statue posing in an elegant reverence at the end of it.
Shiori seemed unimpressed by it and inspected instead the sigils hovering around the entire room in scattered patterns.
"These aren't ours," she murmured. "They don't look like anything the Clans would do."
Ren barely had time to consider that exchange between the two of them and compare it against what his own experience had been, before a subtle vibration reached them through the floor. The men stopped where they stood, aiming down the hall.
"There's movement," one of them whispered over comms.
The vibration became stronger the second time it arrived, shaking through pylons and the structure of the ceiling.
Then, all of a sudden, figures emerged from the dark. They were human shapes, cloaked and wearing armored-like vests. They were likely garments designed to protect against spells and mystical attacks. They made no sound on the ground at all, yet moved through the space with the precision of trained ninjas.
"Here we go," Takuma said, focusing on their new threat.
He moved his hands to shape a sphere between them. Light gathered in its center, and from within that glow, a weapon emerged. As the metal cooled, symbols wrote themselves along its surface, each one locking into place a new seal and binding the newly formed weapon with power. It was a Pact Blade.
Ren felt it as if he had forged it with his own hands. It was a different yet such a familiar sensation.
Shots rained in soon afterwards. The bullets hit the attackers full force, and those who got hit staggered for a few moments as if absorbing the hits, yet never once falling. At this point, it was clear they were not human at all.
Takuma cut through shadows as if they were butter. The damage from the Pact Blade seemed to be more effective, turning the figures into dust or disabling them for a long while.
The battle dragged on, wearing them down.
One of the cloaked figures slid in and dropped a metal sphere that soon burst open, releasing black smoke that quickly filled the space around them.
"Fall back! Back to the gate...!" Takuma shouted.
But there was no time. More cloaked figures closed in from behind, cutting off any retreat. The fight split into separate areas of combat as each man was forced into his own struggle. All the while, the attackers moved with perfect coordination, making the fight basically one-sided.