Strange Oni Island, Ibaraki Douji Appears

T/N: Ah Actually there's a mistake I realised now I made a mistake actually Utsu-gozen should be Ushi-Gozen.

Sorry 😋 tehe.

....

"..."

Ian naturally knew who "Ibaraki" in Shuten Douji's words was referring to.

That was the other oni who seriously injured Watanabe no Tsuna in the Mount Oe subjugation battle.

In this regard, Ibaraki Douji's strength would certainly not be too bad.

However—

Why did she appear on this mysterious Oni Island?

While Ian was still thinking about this question, Shuten Douji on the side was a little embarrassed to speak first.

"That, can I make a small request?"

When Shuten Douji said this, she didn't dare to look Ian in the eye, looking like she had a guilty conscience.

This abnormal state made the great onmyoji feel more and more wrong.

He asked;

"What do you want to ask for?"

"I just want to say—"

Shuten Douji looked at Ian beside her with a flushed face.

"If I really see Ibaraki later, can you..."

"Can you?"

"Can you give me some face?"

"I don't want to lose face in front of Ibaraki for being an oni king caught by an onmyoji..."

"Uh..."

Ian didn't expect Shuten Douji to say such a thing.

"Let's go ashore first, and then talk about other things."

Ian replied and continued with a tone of not wanting refusal.

"It's not certain whether you can see Ibaraki Douji."

"...That's true." She agreed reluctantly.

[The ship where you and Shuten Douji are located gradually approached Oni Island.]

[You parked the ship on the shore.]

[You boarded Oni Island.]

Boom boom.

Thunder rumbled in the sky, and pale lightning echoed in the dark clouds.

The tide surged and hit the reefs on the shore.

This is an island shrouded in shadows.

Even if Ian didn't examine this island as a great onmyoji, he could feel that this was by no means a place where ordinary people could go deep.

Utsu-Gozen.

The unknown person who sent the letter was on this island.

What kind of existence would that be?

Ian was both nervous and curious about this.

After all, the other party was no ordinary person.

However—

Looking at Shuten Douji beside him, he had another question to confirm.

"Ibaraki Douji, is she an important existence to you?"

"It's not about being important or not!"

Shuten Douji blushed anxiously.

"She's my subordinate. If she sees that all my strength has been taken away, she will definitely think I'm useless!"

"How can this be!"

Whether she was dead or not.

For Shuten Douji, the name "Oni King of Mount Oe" seemed to be very important.

Ian felt that this was somewhat similar to humans.

In addition.

He also found that he seemed to have used that magical ability again—to be able to depict the appearance of oni.

"Shuten."

"Is the 'Ibaraki' you're talking about a oni who is shorter than you, with yellow hair and yellow eyes, and a pair of red angry horns on her head?"

"..."

Shuten Douji blinked, looking a little confused.

"Eh?"

"How do you know? I remember you haven't met, right?"

Shuten Douji was right.

When the oni extermination army first stepped into Mount Oe, she used her control over the entire mountain to separate Ian and Minamoto no Yorimitsu from the others.

While she was dealing with them, Ibaraki Douji on the other side was facing the four heavenly kings of Yorimitsu.

The situation of the others is unknown.

But Ian certainly hadn't seen her.

"..."

Shuten Douji's reaction proved that Ian's statement was correct.

He hesitated for a while and said:

"Shuten, actually..."

[You told Shuten Douji that you can draw the appearance of oni out of thin air.]

[She looked very surprised.]

[Because this is definitely not something ordinary people can do.]

Although she had long known that Ian in front of her was not a normal person, Shuten Douji was still very surprised at this moment.

"What are you kidding?"

"You can know the appearance of oni out of thin air?"

Hearing her exclaim Ian felt a bit annoyed.

"But I have already proved this point just now, haven't I?" Ian looked at Shuten Douji in front of him and said.

"..."

Shuten Douji knew that the man in front of her didn't need to deceive her.

After all, they had come to Oni Island together.

She couldn't think of any reason why Ian needed to create panic.

"What the hell are you..."

Shuten Douji looked up and down at the great onmyoji in front of her.

"Like a painter painting a book."

He replied with a shrug

To which Shuten douji gave a exasperated look.

He ignored her look and continued.

"I also want to know what I am"

Ian's eyes swept over the scenery on Oni Island.

"After all, if I can figure out what I am, I can help Yorimitsu better."

"..."

Shuten Douji curled her lips.

"You really miss her."

Hearing her words he gave a melancholic look and replied.

"Isn't that a matter of course?"

"We are husband and wife, right."

Shuten Douji reached out to stop Ian.

"I've heard enough of this."

"Let's take a look at this island."

[You and Shuten Douji conducted a survey of the nearby area.]

[You got a lot of information.]

[You started to analyze.]

"I feel the atmosphere here is very wrong!"

Shuten Douji said while looking at the road beside her.

"There is an inexplicable sense of familiarity!"

"Familiarity..."

Ian muttered the word Shuten Douji said.

After thinking for a moment, he asked:

"Do you feel like a certain place?"

"Yes!" Shuten Douji nodded. "It does look like a certain place!"

"..."

"Is it Heian-kyo?"

"Yes, yes, yes! It's Heian-kyo!"

"Eh?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Shuten Douji suddenly realized that this seemed to be a very serious problem.

Although there are no buildings like Heian-kyo here, nor roads like Heian-kyo.

But as far as the area the two of them are involved in, the distribution of mountains and rivers alone is very similar to the pattern of Kyoto.

Then—

The question arises.

Why does an island hundreds of thousands of miles away from Heian-kyo have such a layout?

Shuten Douji couldn't understand such a thing.

It's just that her instinct tells her—this is definitely not something to be thankful for.

"Why is this happening?"

Shuten Douji looked at Ian beside her and asked.

"What's going on here?"

"I don't know." The great onmyoji shook his head.

"But Shuten, in this way, the existence called 'Utsu-Gozen' may know more than a little about Yorimitsu."

Ian was not guessing randomly.

Whether it was using oni to harass Heian-kyo, or the layout of Oni Island.

He could feel a strong sense of familiarity.

It was as if he was really facing Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

Is this imitation?

Or something else?

Ian couldn't make a judgment.

Just as Shuten Douji wanted to say something more, the horns on her head lit up at this moment.

The petite oni girl subconsciously looked to one side of the island.

The next moment.

A huge red oni broke through the jungle, let out a terrifying cry, and then chased after it frantically.

And the target it was chasing was something in front of it.

Yellow hair and yellow eyes, petite figure, and a pair of red angry horns on her head.

That's right, that's—

"Ibaraki!"

Shuten Douji shouted.

From her anxious look, you could tell that this was Ibaraki Douji.

The situation was urgent.

After thinking for a moment, Ian reached out to Shuten Douji's head.

[Shuten Douji's blessing has been activated: You have temporarily returned the power to Shuten Douji.]

[She felt this.]

"You?"

Shuten Douji looked at the man beside her, her mouth slightly open, looking very surprised.

"Why would you..."

"Don't you want face?" Ian asked back, "In this situation, don't you want to show yourself?"

"..."

Shuten Douji didn't expect Ian to really take her words seriously.

But she wouldn't miss this kindness.

Red glow began to appear in Shuten Douji's purple eyes, and her body emitted bursts of heat.

"Okay, I'll be back later!"

After saying this, Shuten Douji, whose oni nature was completely activated, stepped on the ground of Oni Island and rushed towards the huge red oni.

Looking at her like this, a word popped into Ian's mind for no reason.

"Mana burst."

Shuten Douji, who was activated, was continuously emitting "mana".

And this mana was specifically manifested in the form of "fire" and "heat".

This was the truth that Shuten Douji could burn.

However—

What exactly did I use to block the "mana"?

Ian increasingly felt that his "problem" was very big.

On the other side.

The burning Shuten Douji rushed to Ibaraki Douji's front at an unimaginable speed.

In terms of size, she would probably need a hundred of her to barely equal the size of the red oni in front of her.

However, the outcome of the battle between oni was never determined by size.

"Shuten?!"

In Ibaraki Douji's surprise, Shuten Douji jumped into the air.

Her body exuded a clear aroma of wine, followed by the gathered heat and flames.

"How dare you attack Ibaraki!"

"You can just sleep here!"

The petite oni girl hit the huge red oni's head with her fist.

This scene, which should have looked like an ant shaking a tree, was actually not the case.

The red flame bloomed on the red oni's head, followed by a devastating blow.

This was a flaming punch.

When it dissipated, the huge monster was already disfigured, then swayed for a while, and finally fell to the ground, making a dull sound.

[Shuten Douji saved Ibaraki Douji.]

[You gathered together again.]

"This person is..."

Ibaraki Douji's tone was not very friendly.

It could be seen that she had some resentment against humans in her heart from the battle of Mount Oe.

However, because of Shuten Douji's initial strategy, Ibaraki Douji did not see Ian himself.

Just—

For Shuten Douji at this moment, she didn't know how to answer this question.

Logically speaking.

Now that Ian had returned the power to Shuten Douji, she was right no matter what she said.

But when she thought of his trust in her just now, she felt that she couldn't lie.

What should she do?

While Shuten Douji was still struggling, Ian spoke first:

"I am Abe, the servant of the oni king of Mount Oe."

"Eh—?!"

Shuten Douji and Ibaraki Douji exclaimed at the same time.

Then they looked at each other.

"Shuten, why are you so surprised?"

Ibaraki Douji blinked her golden eyes, looking a little puzzled.

"Isn't he your servant?"

"This... that..."

Shuten Douji turned into bean eyes.

She had no choice.

She could only bite the bullet and continue his words.

"Yes, yes!" Shuten Douji puffed out her chest. "This is my servant!"

"Wow—~"

Ibaraki Douji showed a look of admiration.

"As expected of Shuten!"

"You have followers wherever you go!"

Hearing this, Shuten Douji became more and more embarrassed.

She turned to look at Ian beside her and found that the great onmyoji was trying to suppress his laughter.

The petite oni girl was even more embarrassed.

She stammered and changed the subject:

"Let's not talk about this!"

"Ibaraki, why are you here?"

"This... it's like this..."

[Ibaraki Douji told you two how she got here.]

[After fighting Watanabe no Tsuna, she fainted by the river in Mount Oe after losing an arm.]

[When she woke up, she found that her arm had been restored and she had come to this strange place.]

"Eh?"

Shuten Douji looked at Ibaraki Douji in front of her and patted her arm.

"How did you do it?"

"Shuten, I don't know." Ibaraki Douji's expression was very confused. "I thought I would have to live with one arm for a while."

"But I didn't."

"Arm restoration, is there some strange power on this island?"

Shuten Douji muttered this sentence, and then suddenly realized something.

"Could it be done by 'Ushi-Gozen'..."

The moment she realized this, she looked at Ian beside her.

The latter nodded slightly, indicating that this was indeed possible.

After all, everything about Utsu-Gozen was unknown.

"Ushi-Gozen?"

Ibaraki Douji looked at Shuten Douji in confusion.

"Who are you talking about? Why haven't I heard of this name?"

"That's—"

Shuten Douji looked at the land behind Ibaraki Douji.

"You, didn't you drift here?"

"We came here because of a letter sent by the name 'Ushi-Gozen'."

"But I really haven't heard of it on this island."

Ibaraki Douji answered Shuten Douji's words very honestly.

"On the contrary, there is a very powerful person on this island. I have to hide from her."

"Very powerful person?"

Hearing this description, Ian immediately realized the problem.

"What is that person like?"

Although she was a little dissatisfied with the fact that Ian was Shuten Douji's "servant", Ibaraki Douji still described her experiences very carefully.

"She is a tall woman. She has long purple hair and is dressed like a warrior."

"By the way, her chest is very big! Just like a cow!"

"..."

Ian and Shuten Douji looked at each other, with a few points of surprise in their expressions.

Because—

This clearly described Minamoto no Yorimitsu!