“Tomos” felt frustrated by the situation. So frustrated, in fact, were he not bound by Oath against harming humans under nearly all circumstances, he would have considered smacking the boy who was the cause of it.

He paced around the empty room of the boy named Ayumu, taking in its neat interior. The boy had left to take a bath after having invited his friend over. The loudmouthed one, who babbled something about a movie over the phone.

He looked around idly. The walls were a soothing shade of baby blue, and the two windows were flanked by navy blue curtains. A bookshelf containing what seemed to be old textbooks, notebooks and some novels stood opposite to the bed. On closer inspection, Tomos saw that there were a few books about constellations and astronomy as well, but they were not very advanced. A passing fascination, perhaps? One of those desktop computers sat on a desk beside the shelf, and the desk had some books and notebooks propped up on it, indicating that it was also a study space.

Bored, Tomos stretched luxuriously, his black fur standing on end momentarily. If he were honest to himself, Tomos was unimpressed by the boy. Granted, he seemingly had a good heart, and perhaps he was the diligent type, but…

He wasn’t quite sure why he was chosen when he associates the Other Side with hardship, and considers the Senses a curse bad enough to make death seem preferable. To become the successor to the Liber Nominum was to embrace the Other Side, perhaps more than the human world, even. To become worthy to be the Successor, one must hone their Senses until they become beyond that of normal humans, one must value those on the Other Side as worthy of memory, and they must grow to be a Spiritualist of the highest order…

But that boy, Ayumu, might not have the capability to fulfill even a single one of those criteria. The fact that he awakened to his Senses as a very small child seemed to indicate that he is somewhat special- but there’s no telling how much harm he has done to his capabilities with the self-imposed seal and reinforcement curses. There was another nearby- their burgeoning power nearly spilling forth- who might be another viable candidate once they fully awaken. However, he must not approach without the Liber explicitly choosing that person.

Maybe Ayumu could recover what he lost- all of it, even, assuming he has any semblance of luck... But Tomos was beginning to doubt the capability of the Liber Nominum Universalia to identify the ideal successor.

No, he should not be as audacious as to insinuate such a huge flaw in the Liber’s capabilities. He must be patient… and perhaps try to be a good mentor and guardian for the boy. Even if he rejects the Liber, or the Liber rejects him, Ayumu will still need to learn to live with the Senses. Tomos’ pride as a Spirit would never allow him to overlook the suffering of one who offered him their hospitality, so he will not abandon the boy until he is sufficiently equipped to live his life in a fulfilling manner with the Senses.

Tomos idly paced out of the room through the door Ayumu had left open. Not that he needed it, he thought, mundane things like doors were not enough to impede him, after all. He would need to cleanse this household, just to be safe. He was able to sense something akin to an amalgamation of curses, grudges and negative emotions hidden somewhere within the house- perhaps the accumulated negativity of the people who have been inhabiting this place was attempting to form a Phantom.

...Perhaps he should absorb the curse-residue expelled by the boy, just to be safe.

With that thought in mind, he quickly made his way to the kitchen sink downstairs. Tomos was relieved to find the “clots” still sitting inside the trash bin Ayumu had discarded them in after cleaning up.

He approached the bin, willing the fragment of his power he was allowed to access to awaken, and a claw-like hand emerged again from his shadow, its wispy appearance not betraying its corporeality. He extended the newly-summoned limb to the basket, shushing the part of his mind which was puffing up with indignation at having to sift through trash like some common scavenger.

With all of the curse-residue collected in the hand, he then brought them in front of him. His eyes were radiant with power, and so was the mark on his chest, and the clots slowly began to evaporate into miasmatic black wisps.

Summoning his authority over purification, he expelled the malignant energies which stained the wisps black, and the Aether returned to its original form- smoky, almost viscous strands of gray which hung in the air, looking like the aftermath of ink droplets released in a clear and calm body of water.

Tomos enjoyed seeing Aether slowly dissolve back into the world, it was one of the natural phenomena which he found most aesthetically appealing… Which is why he felt particularly livid when he was interrupted by the feeling of an uninvited being attempting to enter into the house.

With a stoic expression, Tomos’ called his power once more, and his body heeded his decree- it dissolved into his shadow which pooled beneath him, and soon he was no more than a mass of darkness traveling in breakneck speed, gliding, snakeline, on any surface to reach his destination.

In an instant he was circling around the location he sensed the presence, and his body emerged from his shadow smoothly, simultaneously releasing three wispy hands which grabbed at the offender. He looked around; it seemed he was just outside the protections erected over Ayumu’s house.

Tomos narrowed his eyes at the paper mannequin, which swiftly attempted to evade his hands which made grabs at it in the air. Swiftly and gracefully swerving, bending and twirling in the air, as though it was a leaf carried by a wayward gale, the paper mannequin avoided his attempts to grab it with ease, worsening the mood of the prideful cat.

Rather than summon more hands, however, Tomos simply combined the three hands into a single, huge hand, and it was successful in barely swatting the paper mannequin with the tips of its fingers towards Tomos. He lazily summoned another hand to catch the paper construct hurtling towards him, making sure he had some more hands at the ready to foil any attempts at escape.

He smirked when the paper mannequin attempted to swerve to a different direction away from him- he already had his shadow extending in that direction; he had intentionally made the defense there seem comparatively lax. A final hand shot up into the air from the pooling blackness and grabbed the thing in a vice grip.

He inspected the struggling paper doll, his expression not betraying any emotion. A shikigami inhabiting a paper doll, he thought. The paper mannequin was intricately made, not one fold out of place, and the shikigami which was controlling it was undoubtedly powerful.

Tomos noted that the shikigami had not attempted to attack him, despite having the means to do so. Which could only mean that the thing was a scout- and he had a vague idea who the master could be.

He allowed the mannequin to break free, only leaving a tiny speck of shadow on its back. It seemed to hesitate for a moment, but it fled when Tomos unveiled his power, making his eyes and chest-spot glow with ethereal light.

As soon as the shikigami was out of sight, he again jumped into his shadow, which dissipated into another shadow. The speck left on the shikigami tethered his body still, and Tomos was able to make out the direction the paper mannequin was zooming towards.

He swore to himself discreetly when he figured out why the locations seemed familiar- it seemed that he had been too sloppy and uncautious…

The shikigami entered into a small, deserted alleyway in the middle of two large buildings, away from even the weak glow of the streetlamps and in relative darkness.

Tomos had only an instant to react as the paper mannequin spontaneously burst into blue flames. He expelled himself from the speck of shadows before the whole paper construct could be devoured, and he gracefully turned in the air to land softly on his feet, like any cat is wont to do.

Without missing a beat, he swatted away the blue globes of what he recognized as foxflames with his caliginous hands. More and more of the blue wisps materialized and hurled themselves towards him in short order, all of them he blocked with seeming ease.

Well… he was embarrassed to admit that it was not as easy as he would have liked. As he was, he could not access all of his powers, which frustrated him, but he would need to make do. And more importantly, he could not betray his exertion to his unseen assailant. He extended his perception around him, attempting to find the source of the assault. With the white patch of fur on its chest as the center, his sphere of perception emanated like an expanding bubble until it covered the whole alleyway.

Tomos resisted the urge to let out a frustrated growl; a ball of flame zipped past his ear and three more came from the back, which were promptly blocked by a new, larger hand erupting from his expanding shadow. His sphere of perception could not find the one responsible, his assailant was almost certainly using some form of illusion to avoid his detection.

...Or rather, they were attempting to draw his mind and senses into an illusory world. Were he a common Spirit or human, he would have undoubtedly been ensnared in the vision. He would not be enchanted, but his assailant had been successful in hiding themself from detection nonetheless.

Regardless, the situation was in control, he thought, as his hands began to retaliate by sending waves of tenebrous energy with each swipe to intercept the flames. Despite not being able to release his full power, Tomos still had access to his rather large reserves of spiritual energy, and he could keep his defense going for a long, long time still without tiring, something which his unknown foe could scarcely afford to do, if the slowing of the assault was anything to go by.

He considered his options as his flying limbs took the form of black longswords and twirled around him, eliminating the fires while simultaneously swiping at the areas where his assailants might possibly be observing him from. He thought to send one of his hands to travel through the shadows of the area- the assault had slowed down enough that he could spare the concentration necessary to scout out his enemy in this method, but before he could commence with his plan an echoey voice emanated from around him, its source impossible to discern, and said aloud-

“The deity called Iburi-do-nushi,

Who dwells in the Ibuki-do

Will blow them away with his breath into the land of Yomi,

The underworld.

When she finally loses them-” A gale picked up from nowhere, and despite the concern Tomos felt on the inside, he neither flinched nor moved, allowing the exorcising winds to sweep away his umbral weapons and the remnants of the will-o-wisps.

The winds also wiped away the glamour which had hid the source of the chant- a handsome man in a neat hakama-haori, prominently displaying five mon featuring a five-pointed star on each. His scarlet eyes were slowly turning back to brown.

“Kyuukyuunyoritsuryou…” He breathed, and a sudden stillness came over the alleyway, as though the air itself had frozen in place at his behest.

“I am rather surprised,” Tomos said haughtily before the man could open his mouth, “that you did not perform the whole chant for the Great Exorcism. Are you that confident of your capabilities?”

“With all due respect, Great Spirit,” The man replied in an overly formal manner, his tone cold and calculating rather than polite and meek in contrast to his words, “You did not deem it necessary to utilize more than a mere fraction of your power- so why would I be so wasteful as to perform the most powerful Rite of Exorcism in full as a response?”

Tomos scowled at him, unimpressed, “Tsuchimikado, I presume?” Tomos said lightly. Of course, he was sure that the man was of the illustrious family whose lineage comes from the great Onmyoji Abe-no-Seimei- the foxfire and ability to weave powerful illusions were an obvious tell, and without the man interfering with his perception, he could now detect the scent of a Kitsune from him. It seemed that the man was born with a rather large portion of the Kitsune blood in his lineage.

“My esteemed lineage,” The man looked as though he would much prefer chewing on a mouthful of needles than say those words, “now goes by a different name since we were… discarded, unfortunately.” The man’s expression snapped back to an impassive one as he continued, “On behalf of the exalted Amatsu-shishigami, I offer you salutations, Great Spirit- I am one of the humble residents of this city which she offers protection to, Hoshimura Shigure.” He gave a bow- not as deep as he would give to Amatsu-shishigami, perhaps, but respectful nonetheless. “Forgive me for my aggression; as an Onmyoji who owes a debt to this city, I was duty-bound to retaliate against any violence towards the Other and humans of this place from alien spirits.”

Tomos was rather impressed at how the man had circumvented the pitfalls of introductions while also giving an excuse for his hostility that most Spirits would readily accept on principle, but he was, after all, from a long line of Spiritualists. Though a number of their practices were for bleeding Nobles and Royals of some of their wealth for their own benefit, frauds they were certainly not.

However… it seemed that the city still had a patron Kami protecting it. The name did not ring any bells, so perhaps the deity was very local, perhaps considered a facet of some greater Kami or Bodhisattva. Regardless, their presence complicated matters for him...

“And you seem to know my identity,” Tomos said dismissively, deciding that he could look into this Amatsu-Shishigami some other time, “So I will not waste your time with introductions.”

“Ah... “ The man’s face looked like he had been forced to bite into a lemon, “I am thankful for your consideration for my time, Great Spirit…” Hmph, the man was underestimating Tomos. A Great Spirit he may be, but he would not rigidly follow niceties to his own detriment.

“If you must call me anything, I have deemed ‘Tomos’ as sufficient for now.” He said to the man smoothly, “Now- for what reason did you wish to spy on the home of that boy? I do hope your intentions are not as impure as they could be construed as.” He said the last part without any hint that he was being sarcastic.

“My deepest apologies.” The man said, his face distorting at the accusation, “I simply wished to see whether the Aoao no Ashimoto, or rather, the Liber Nominum Universalia was in good hands…” Shigure looked as though he wanted to add to the explanation, but desisted, which made Tomos suspect that he was planning on making up some other excuse to make his story seem more acceptable.

“I can assure you, it is in good hands. In fact, it is where it is meant to be, so please curb any misgivings you may be harboring.” Tomos told him, his tone dripping condescension.

“...I see. My apologies, then. I shall be conscious of not overstepping my bounds.” Shigure said, his face expressionless and his voice waspish.

“I will hold you to it, then.” Tomos turned to leave, but he paused and looked behind at the man bowing to him in farewell, “I assure you, I am very much not inclined towards mercy when it comes to oathbreaking.”

“...I will keep that in mind.” Shigure said, and Tomos could tell intuitively that this was not the last he would see of the man.