Inside the Onmyo Agency Headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, the atmosphere had turned so tense it felt hard to breathe.
Onmyoji and ordinary staff alike moved with visible caution, each one careful with their words and even more careful with their expressions, as though the slightest mistake might drag them into trouble. Even the receptionists in the front hall, who usually exchanged quiet gossip whenever work slowed down, now kept their heads lowered and their manners impeccably proper.
This oppressive mood had been building for days.
If one had to pinpoint the cause, it began the mont one of the Twelve Divine Generals, the child prodigy Dairenji Suzuka, openly defected from the Onmyo Agency, followed almost imdiately by the suspicion that White Fox Gin Tsumugi had been her accomplice.
Since then, the entire headquarters had felt like a powder keg waiting for a spark.
And today, that spark arrived.
Not long ago, Dairenji Suzuka and Gin Tsumugi had been brought back by the Magix Investigation Departnt.
By now, almost everyone had heard the story.
The two of them had actually attempted to perform the Taizan Fukun Ritual, a forbidden rite expressly banned by the Onmyo Agency. Worse still, they had released Evil Spirits and caused a huge disturbance in Mitsuwa Town, the very territory of the Tsuchimikado Clan.
Their audacity was enough to make even veteran Onmyoji uneasy.
At that mont, inside the office of the Minister of the Magic Investigation Departnt, the storm was already in full swing.
"Gin Tsumugi. Dairenji Suzuka. The two of you really do have guts."
Amami Daizen slamd his palm against the desk with a bang that made the teacup jump.
"Touching the Taizan Fukun Ritual without authorization was already madness. On top of that, you stirred up the people of Mitsuwa Town and threw the whole place into chaos. What is next? Are you planning to set the Onmyo Agency on fire the first ti it annoys you?"
His roar shook the room.
Standing before the desk, Gin and Suzuka wore the sa expression. Both were silent, both obedient, both looking for all the world like schoolchildren caught doing sothing unforgivable and dragged into the staff office to await punishnt.
Besides Amami Daizen, the room also held his capable assistant Hirata Atsune, as well as Miyoshi Jugo, one of the Twelve Divine Generals. An incident of this scale was impossible for him to ignore.
Gin imdiately raised both hands in surrender.
"We would never, old man. Never."
Amami's eyebrows twitched.
"Heh. You would never?" he said with a cold laugh. "Is there anything you would not dare to do, Lord White Fox?"
He leaned back in his chair, though the anger in his eyes only deepened.
"I heard you were quite impressive at the Tsuchimikado estate."
His tone turned even sharper.
"Defeating both Tsuchimikado Hirotaka and Tsuchimikado Chizuru, the two strongest experts left there to guard the place. Very impressive indeed. As expected of the famous White Fox of the Onmyodo world."
That, Gin decided, was not a line worth answering.
Seeing Amami in full rage, he wisely closed his mouth again and adopted the sa expression Suzuka was wearing, the one that clearly said, I know I was wrong, I have reflected deeply, please do not kill .
Amami looked at the two of them and almost laughed from sheer irritation.
Now they knew how to act obedient.
Why had they not rembered that before running off to perform the most notorious forbidden ritual in Onmyodo?
Fortunately, Miyoshi Jugo stepped in at the right mont.
"Minister Amami," he said mildly, "they clearly understand the seriousness of what they've done. You've already scolded them for the better part of the morning. Fortunately, no true catastrophe resulted this ti. I think that is enough."
He paused, then added aningfully, "Besides, the Tsuchimikado Clan themselves are not pursuing the matter."
At the word catastrophe, Suzuka's gaze flicked sideways toward Gin.
Only she knew how close that statent ca to being false.
A catastrophe had nearly happened.
If the existence summoned through the Taizan Fukun Ritual had not been driven back into the Underworld by Gin, the disaster that followed would have rivaled the spiritual calamities caused by Yakou's failed rite. Under current conditions, with the core strength of Onmyodo tied down at Mount Fuji by Yamata no Orochi, the consequences would have been even worse.
Amami snorted.
"If the Tsuchimikado Clan had insisted on pursuing this, do you think the two of you would still be standing here with all your limbs intact?"
There was a subtle silence in the room.
Miyoshi Jugo and Hirata Atsune both knew very well that the Tsuchimikado Clan's attitude had gone far beyond simply choosing not to pursue the matter. They had actively sent people to defend Gin and Suzuka, coordinated with the Onmyo Agency, the Onmyo Alliance, and the Onmyo Academy, and suppressed the impact of the entire affair to the smallest range possible.
That fact alone was bizarre enough to be disturbing.
When Tsuchimikado Chizuru had first arrived at the Bureau, everyone, including Amami, had assud she ca to demand justice. They had already begun preparing to give up certain Agency interests if necessary, all to protect Suzuka and Gin from being handed over.
Instead, the Tsuchimikado Clan had co to shield them.
Even now, Amami still found that hard to believe.
At last, he exhaled through his nose and gave his verdict.
"Dairenji Suzuka. From today onward, all duties and authority tied to your status as one of the Twelve Divine Generals are suspended. You will remain at the Onmyo Agency and may not leave without special cause."
Suzuka accepted it without changing expression.
Then Amami turned to Gin.
"As for you, brat, you are not technically under Agency command. So strictly speaking, I have no right to punish you." He clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied by that fact. "However, the White Fox Office is registered under the Agency authority. From today onward, all prior credit and official recognition accumulated by the White Fox Office are nullified. And as its director, you are forbidden from leaving Tokyo until you've fully outlined your own Onmyodo frawork."
The mont the punishnt was announced, neither Gin nor Suzuka reacted much.
Miyoshi Jugo and Hirata Atsune, however, both fell into brief silence.
The old man's favoritism was shaless.
Suzuka's punishnt at least looked severe on paper. Suspending a Twelve Divine General's authority and confining her to the Agency had substance.
Gin's punishnt, anwhile, was almost theatrical.
Nullifying the White Fox Office's accumulated credit and official evaluation sounded serious, but for an office already famous across Tokyo, those numbers barely mattered anymore. And forbidding Gin from leaving Tokyo was hardly comparable to real confinent.
The difference was blatant.
Fortunately, the Onmyo Agency was currently under temporary control by Amami Daizen and Miyoshi Jugo. Under different leadership, this sort of partiality would have invited a storm of objections. At the very least, a narrow minded figure like Yamashiro Hayato would have been screaming already.
Gin raised a hand.
"Um."
Amami's glare imdiately sharpened.
"What? You have objections?"
He clearly assud Gin ant to argue.
Instead, Gin smiled.
"No, actually, I'm very satisfied with your punishnt, old man. I just wanted to ntion one thing. About the Onmyodo frawork you brought up."
He paused, then said calmly, "I already have one."
For a brief instant, nobody understood what he ant.
Then Gin raised a finger.
A profound mystery of Onmyodo, vast and all encompassing, condensed at his fingertip like a miniature law of the universe. It was quiet, but the pressure it carried was real. The room itself seed to grow heavier around it.
Amami froze.
Miyoshi Jugo's eyes widened.
Hirata Atsune's expression changed at once.
Even the silence in the room took on weight.
He had already outlined his Onmyodo frawork?
That was the threshold between a Professional Onmyoji and a National level one.
Miyoshi Jugo himself had once estimated that Gin would enter the ranks of National level Onmyoji within three years. That estimate had already been astonishingly optimistic.
And now the boy stood before them, not even a full month later, telling them he had already crossed the hardest barrier.
Miyoshi Jugo stared at him, almost unable to process it.
Hirata Atsune, anwhile, looked at Gin with a gaze that concealed thoughts no one else could read.
Amami was the first to recover.
His voice lowered.
"You didn't graft it, did you?"
The question landed heavily.
At once, the others understood his concern.
If Gin had obtained his frawork by grafting one from a compatible predecessor rather than constructing it himself, then while the result would still be impressive, it would also an planting a flaw into his future.
Given the Tsuchimikado Clan's current attitude toward him, if Gin had asked, they likely would have given him access to one.
The thought alone made Amami uneasy.
Gin shook his head.
"Of course not."
Then he explained, "I borrowed the Tsuchimikado Clan's Senji Ryakketsu and used it to outline my frawork ahead of schedule."
There was so concealnt in those words, but not enough to make them false.
Miyoshi Jugo slowly nodded.
"That does happen, occasionally. Using the Senji Ryakketsu as the catalyst for a breakthrough isn't unheard of."
Once there was precedent, it beca much easier to accept.
Amami clicked his tongue again, though so of the fury in his face had faded. The ntion of the Senji Ryakketsu reminded him rather painfully that Gin had indeed used that excuse before leaving for Mitsuwa Town, even if at the ti Amami had assud it was rely an excuse for other intentions.
"Then tell ," Miyoshi Jugo said, now genuinely curious. "What is the na of your frawork?"
Every Onmyodo frawork had a na.
His own was Heavenly Eye, in line with both his title and the nature of his abilities. Amami's frawork was known as Shingen. A frawork's na was more than ornant. It reflected the path the Onmyoji had taken and hinted at the nature of its power.
After all, an Onmyodo frawork was not simply philosophical.
It granted real abilities.
Miyoshi Jugo's Heavenly Eye could divide and amplify Spirit Insight, both his own and that of others. Amami's Shingen turned spoken words themselves into shackles, making his Spirit Speech far deadlier than ordinary applications.
That was the true difference between a Professional Onmyoji and a National level one.
Gin answered without hesitation.
"Myriad Laws."
The room fell silent again.
Even Suzuka, hearing the na for the first ti, stared at him.
It was too arrogant.
Too broad.
Too absolute.
Myriad Laws ant all paths, all principles, all phenona.
Even many of the greatest Onmyoji in history would have hesitated before daring to call their frawork sothing so vast.
But when they rembered the all encompassing profundity at Gin's fingertip, none of them could dismiss it outright.
At last, Amami stood.
"Co," he said. "We're going to the Evaluation Hall."
His eyes fixed on Gin.
"I want to see whether you actually have the qualifications to call your frawork Myriad Laws."
This suggestion imdiately won everyone's approval.
They wanted to know the answer too.
Gin, for his part, had no objection at all.
He had already intended to find soone suitable to test Myriad Laws against.
Since the old man himself had handed him the chance, there was no reason to refuse.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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