It was obvious he was lying.
Clearly, adult teeth were superior.
Since a 200-year-old dog demon was about 8 or 9 in human years—right at the age when baby teeth fall out—and real maturity only came at 400 (around 18 human years), the "molted" teeth would definitely still count as baby teeth.
So the teeth he was offering were clearly inferior to the current ones.
"Two hundred, huh…" Cyr smirked slightly.
Well, it'd do. A yokai's tooth was still a yokai's tooth.
"Then hand over your tooth. The loser must offer everything," Cyr said with an utterly justified tone.
"…Who knows what trick you used to win? I don't accept this!" Koen snapped, his neck stiff with indignation.
What kind of nonsense was this? At the very least, if he had to lose, he should've lost with some clarity! But to be defeated so inexplicably—how was he supposed to explain that to other yokai later?
Other yokai: "Heard you fought some guy and lost? How'd that happen?"
Koen: "I don't know. I blacked out the moment I saw him."
Other yokai: "Oh! The dog demon fainted from fear the second he faced the guy!"
If that got out, how was he ever going to show his face again?
As Koen imagined this tragic scenario, a pained expression slowly crept onto his face.
"You want a clearer defeat, huh…" Cyr tapped his chin thoughtfully, then nodded. "Alright then. Let's step outside."
With that, he turned and walked out—then took off into the sky right in front of the dog demon.
Wait, what? Flying?! Humans could fly now?
No way. In all these years, he'd never seen an onmyōji who could fly.
This guy… was he even human?
He had a shrine too...
Koen's eyes widened with sudden realization.
So that's it—he must be a minor god!
Well, minor gods… Koen had seen his share over the centuries. Plenty had faded into nothingness without faith, or worse, fallen and turned into yokai.
He'd even fought some of them.
So frankly, he didn't have much reverence for gods.
Without hesitation, he chased after him.
A few kilometers away from the shrine, Cyr stopped mid-air.
"How about here?" he asked casually.
Far enough from the shrine that the fight wouldn't damage it.
The rooftop still hadn't been fixed from the last incident. If more damage happened…
The newly built shrine might need a full rebuild.
"Here? Sure," Koen replied, shifting back into his yokai form.
"You ready?" he asked calmly, already prepared to strike.
Though honestly, whether the human was ready or not didn't matter. He was going to attack either way.
Strike first to seize the advantage—that's how you fight.
As that thought crossed his mind, he was already lunging.
But the next second, he was blinded by a dazzling red light that seemed to swallow all nearby illumination, plunging the area into darkness—except for that single streak of crimson.
The red light was held in the hand of the silver-haired boy.
[Technique Reversal – Red]
In the split second after Koen saw the light, he was swallowed by it.
Without even a chance to react, he was blasted backward, slamming into the mountainside and leaving behind a massive crater.
His body embedded deep in the rock, injuries piling up despite his tough hide and thick flesh.
"Understood now?" The white-haired boy suddenly stood before him, unfazed by the blood-spluttering, half-dead dog demon.
His face unchanged, he casually asked, "If you still don't get it, want to go again?"
Koen's expression was blank as he weakly moved his mouth.
"…I get it."
If he'd just admitted defeat earlier, it would've saved him a lot of pain.
Now he was beaten this badly—wasn't it even more humiliating?
He got nearly killed by a single strike? That wasn't something he wanted spread around.
He'd rather say he fainted because the guy was too handsome.
"Go get your tooth and bring it to me."
"Also, since you lost twice, I'm making two requests. Reasonable, right?" Cyr asked, though he didn't wait for any answer before continuing as if it had already been agreed.
Koen didn't even bother arguing, slumped and dejected as he listened to the boy's demands.
Whatever. You're strong, so you make the rules. Everything you say is right.
"As for the second demand… you're going to guard my shrine for five hundred years," the silver-haired boy said casually.
"Five hundred years… fine." Koen blinked, then accepted without protest.
For a yokai like him, five centuries wasn't particularly long. A powerful great yokai's lifespan usually started at a thousand years. Even at a thousand, they were still considered to be in their prime.
"Alright then. You can go home and get your tooth now." Seeing how quickly the yokai agreed, Cyr didn't drag it out.
Koen fell silent for a moment, remaining in his original form as he muttered bitterly, "…I can't move right now."
He was so badly injured he couldn't even transform into his humanoid shape. If he dared to leave in this state and ran into another yokai, he might get killed by the very types he used to look down on.
"…Fine." Cyr stared at him for a long moment, then finally raised a hand and used Reversed Cursed Technique to heal the big mutt.
"You good now?" he asked, his tone flat.
"Yeah. On it." Koen didn't waste time with small talk. He bolted out of the area in his beast form.
As he raced toward the land of the dog clan, he cursed inwardly, grinding his teeth.
Those two dumb mutts! If it weren't for them getting captured, would I have gotten into a fight with that freak and ended up being forced to guard a shrine?
Those useless brats! First thing I'm doing when I get back is beat the hell out of them!
The dog clan lived on a mountain. Due to protective barriers, normal humans couldn't get anywhere near it.
As one of the clan's top lookers, Koen was quite popular. The moment he showed up, a bunch of fellow yokai took notice.
"Koen, why are you back?"
"Where are Maruko and Inusō?"
"You didn't bring them back?"
"Why do you have blood on you? Caught something good?" A crowd of big and small dog yokai bombarded him with questions.
Koen ignored every single one of them, heading straight for his den. There, he dug up one of his own teeth that he had buried underground a century ago.
Tooth in mouth, he turned and started walking off.
"Koen, isn't that one of your old teeth? Why'd you dig it up?"
"Where are you taking it?"
"You look like you got beat up pretty bad."
"You're acting really weird today… you're not even bragging about your heroic feats."
Confused murmurs followed him from his clanmates.
He was their handsome idol, after all.
"…Shut up." Koen snapped. He spun around and, thoroughly fed up, beat down each of the dogs who kept asking questions. Only after that did he pick up his tooth and fly away again.
The yokai he'd just pummeled huddled together, watching him leave in silence.
Once he was completely out of sight, the whole mountaintop exploded in noisy speculation.
"Something's definitely off with Koen!"
"Did he fall in love with someone? Is he giving his tooth to them as a gift?"
"Don't tell me… he fell for a human?"
"Should we secretly follow him?"
"Do you have the guts to?"
"…"
The dogs looked at one another, then flopped back down and resumed grooming themselves.
Forget it. Probably not worth watching.
°°°
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