Tokyo.
Nura Clan Main House.
During the urgently convened executive meeting.
Rihan Nura rubbed his chin, examining the invitation placed before him.
On either side of Rihan Nura sat the Nura Clan's main house executives: Gyūki, Yukari Oikawa, Mokugyo Daruma, Kubinashi, and others, all awaiting the Supreme Commander's instructions.
After observing for a long while, Rihan Nura laughed heartily and said:
"I can't detect anything unusual at all!"
Hearing this, Kejōrō below couldn't help but comment:
"So even Lord Rihan can't detect anything abnormal about this invitation?"
Upon hearing this, Kubinashi quickly looked at Kejōrō and reminded her:
"Kejōrō! Mind your words."
Saying something that undermines the Supreme Commander's authority during an executive meeting – have you lost your mind?
Kejōrō opened her mouth, then glared irritably at Kubinashi before lowering her head and falling silent.
"It's fine, it's fine, what Kejōrō said isn't wrong."
Rihan Nura waved his hand dismissively. To him, not seeing a problem meant just that – he wouldn't get angry about being called out on it.
Rihan Nura casually picked up the invitation and flicked it. Demon-blue flames spread, quickly burning the blue invitation in mid-air to ashes.
After doing this, Rihan Nura lowered his head, looking down at the table, watching as the falling ashes gradually restored themselves before him, turning back into the invitation.
This transformation made the executives present widen their eyes in astonishment.
"As expected! Even if the invitation is destroyed, it still restores itself. And judging by this, it seems to have a locking function too?"
Having said this, Rihan Nura turned to look at Kejōrō:
"This invitation was originally supposed to be with one of the courtesans under your command, wasn't it, Kejōrō?"
"Yes, Supreme Commander." Kejōrō nodded and quickly replied, "Three days ago, someone left this invitation letter in the Kabukichō district under our group's control. The person who received it at the time was Jorōgumo from my team."
"After that, this invitation letter kept haunting Jorōgumo, returning to her no matter where it was placed, until I took charge of it."
Hearing this, Nura Rihan nodded, then said with a chuckle:
"Is that so? Then now, it should be haunting me!"
"What?" Mokugyo Daruma was startled upon hearing this, and immediately apologised to Nura Rihan, "My apologies."
After speaking, he transformed his Fear into an arm, picked up the invitation letter, pulled it back to his side, and ignited it with yokai fire. Instantly, the entire invitation letter turned to ashes.
Then, Mokugyo Daruma quickly stared at the table in front of Nura Rihan but found nothing unusual.
Just then, the Great Yokai Gyūki, sitting nearby, pointed out:
"Mokugyo, in front of you."
Hearing this, Mokugyo Daruma lowered his head, watched the invitation letter gradually restoring itself before him, and sighed in relief while also expressing wariness:
"It seems the target locked by this invitation letter can be transferred. Does it lock onto whoever touches it?"
"Oh? I thought it would keep targeting me, but now you've taken it away, Mokugyo?"
Nura Rihan stroked his chin and said with some surprise:
"From the looks of it, the person who made this invitation letter isn't targeting me specifically, but rather a broad category with common characteristics, right?"
After speaking, Nura Rihan turned his head and glanced at the crow-headed yokai sitting nearby:
"Karasu Tengu, have the crows under your command picked up any rumours?"
"In reply, Supreme Commander, the intelligence crows under my command have indeed received some unconfirmed information."
As he spoke, Karasu Tengu took out another invitation letter from his chest.
"Karasu Tengu, you have one too?" Kubinashi, who was nearby, exclaimed in surprise upon seeing this.
"This was obtained by our intelligence personnel in Akihabara Town one day ago. It's currently an invitation pass being frantically sought after on Akihabara's dark web."
Karasu Tengu paused here, then continued in a somewhat uncertain tone:
"If the current rumours are not mistaken, this invitation letter should be the entry pass for the competition for the True Dragon Legacy!!"
"True Dragon Legacy? What is that?" Mokugyo Daruma couldn't help but ask.
"It's said to be a power inheritance left behind by a powerful True Dragon. Legend has it that whoever obtains the inheritance can gain power equivalent to that of Luo Shu, Director of the Hidden Management Department, and the Great Onmyoji Hao Asakura!"
Hearing this, the members of the Nura Clan present fell into silence.
The members of the Nura Clan had interacted with the Hidden Management Department before, even joining forces to deal with Kyoto's Hagoromo Group and disrupting Abe no Seimei's rebirth.
Thus, they had some understanding of Luo Shu's power.
It was a power that could instantly kill even the resurrected Abe no Seimei.
"...A Demigod?"
Nura Rihan narrowed his eyes, thinking of the intelligence he had learned:
"In other words, the so-called True Dragon Legacy is actually the power of the legendary Class?"
"I'm afraid so."
Karasu Tengu sighed, then said helplessly:
"Right now, every organisation with personnel stationed in Akihabara is desperately trying to purchase these invitations, and this one in my possession was unexpectedly picked up by one of our intelligence crows during a scuffle."
After speaking, Karasu Tengu glanced at Kejōrō, furrowing his brow as he said:
"I just never expected that Kejōrō, who's responsible for Shinjuku, would also manage to obtain one."
"These things should only be circulating within the Akihabara district."
Hearing this, Gyūki nearby spoke up:
"It appears someone wants to drag us into this mess!"
To this, Rihan Nura also expressed agreement:
"Since they were all delivered to Kejōrō's establishment, the mastermind definitely knows it's our Nura Clan's territory. Their intention to drag us into this is certain - we just don't know how many others they've pulled into the water with us."
After speaking, Rihan Nura turned his gaze toward Karasu Tengu, the crow responsible for intelligence.
At this moment, Karasu Tengu lived up to expectations and explained:
"Based on the intelligence I've exchanged with crow communities across Japan..."
"Currently, Kyoto's Onmyou Agency and the Metropolitan Police Department's Bujin-shū have indeed received invitations."
"Besides them, the Seto Group from Seto Inland Sea, neutral Great Yokai, even vampires, Shikoku's Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, yokai from Tōno, and recently emerged spirits calling themselves Hell Girl have also received invitations."
Hearing this, Kejōrō was stunned:
"Doesn't this mean every notable organisation in Japan has been invited?"
Kejōrō had thought she was the only victim and had been worried about the golden geese that earned money for the organisation, suffering losses. Turns out their target was actually all major organisations across Japan!
"With so many organisations participating in this True Dragon Legacy competition..."
Mokugyo Daruma stroked his beard, his expression somewhat gloomy as he said:
"I don't believe those human superpowers remain unaware of what's happening here."
Hearing this, the yokai of the Nura Clan immediately fell silent.
Indeed, with such a big commotion, not to mention the Five Great Powers, even Japan must have caught wind of it.
Under these circumstances, who would believe the Five Great Powers haven't taken any action behind the scenes!
At this point, Karasu Tengu nodded in agreement:
"There have indeed been rumours from Akihabara saying the True Dragon Legacy competition is being hosted by one of the Unions."
"The American Union, I suppose?" Gyūki said without hesitation.
"Most likely them."
Setsura sneered coldly, exhaling wisps of icy breath:
"Only they would orchestrate something on this scale, and only they would act so recklessly."
After saying this, Setsura turned to glance at Rihan Nura, her gaze calm as she asked:
"Supreme Commander, should we participate in this matter?"
Hearing this, Rihan Nura fell silent.
Logically speaking, not participating would be the correct choice. Although he wanted the Class himself, with so many competitors, Rihan Nura couldn't guarantee a safe escape.
To avoid participation, they could just find two weak yokai, see if they could transfer the two invitations to them, then monitor the situation - that would likely solve the problem.
But sacrificing two small yokai to keep the Nura Clan out of trouble - this was something Rihan Nura simply couldn't do.
The Nura Clan was established as an organisation to protect weak yokai. If they sacrificed small yokai whenever trouble arose, it would mean betraying their founding principle - an absolute taboo for any organisation.
Whether using yokai from within or outside the organisation, it would shatter the Nura Clan's banner of protecting the weak.
Faced with this situation, Rihan Nura sighed:
"Gyūki, Setsura, come with me."
Gyūki remained silent, immediately standing up to follow Rihan Nura.
Setsura raised an eyebrow and asked directly:
"Where to?"
Rihan Nura lifted his head, calmly stating:
"To pay a visit to the Hidden Management Department!"