SCIAW: Chapter 442/443

Chapter 442: Natural Spirit Contract

Akemi acted quickly. After a short walk outside, she returned with a large amount of materials.

With the vast stream of information now imprinted into her mind, all that remained was to use ritual magic to pinpoint the exact location of the two targets, as well as the one billion yen they had stolen.

The materials needed for the ritual were simple: fresh animal organs, sulfur powder, and parchment.

The chosen time was midnight.

At home, she set up a pentagram magic circle, placing the animal organs in the center, sprinkling the sulfur powder on top, and igniting them at the right moment.

Boom!

Blue flames flared up. Kneeling respectfully to the side, Akemi saw images appear within the flames.

The first scene was of a 24-hour hotel named Anywhere Hotel. A map-like image marked a specific location and the number 606.

The next was a remote, quiet apartment, along with the number 202.

That was the revelation she needed.

When the flame shifted from blue to ordinary orange-yellow, Akemi quickly wrote the details onto the parchment.

"The specific location has been obtained."

The revelation had given her the exact whereabouts of both targets.

The next step was finding the right time to eliminate them.

Before taking action, however, she needed to prepare.

If she relied solely on her own skills, she would need firearms to kill them, but that would bring unnecessary trouble and increase the risk of exposure.

Instead, she would temporarily contract natural spirits to serve as her weapons. The right spirit could save her a great deal of effort.

After dismantling the pentagram from the first ritual, she drew another identical one.

This time, she placed a wind chime to represent wind, a shell for water, charcoal for fire, and rocks for earth within the circle.

Once the preparations were complete, she took out lavender essential oil she had prepared earlier to soothe the natural spirits.

After calming herself, she began to chant:

"A spirit that wanders between illusion and reality.

Your name is engraved in the wind, hidden in the fire, sunk in the water, and rests in the earth."

As she prayed, faint blue text began to appear on each of the four objects in the magic circle. The air in the room grew heavier.

Sensing the change, Akemi slowly opened the bottle of lavender oil and poured it along the edge of the circle, calming the four great spirits.

"By the shackles of the four elements, by the gaze of my Lord—

Come as called upon, reveal your true form!"

An invisible gaze seemed to enter the room. The restless spirits were instantly calmed.

The blue text on the four objects deepened, becoming fixed like brands on metal.

Akemi let out a breath of relief and continued:

"You must respond to my prayers, either by taking my spirit as payment, or by binding me according to the ancient blood pact!"

The ritual drained her spiritual energy, but she could clearly feel the contract with the four great spirits taking hold.

"Thank God!"

She knelt, bowing deeply in gratitude for her deity's aid.

She then collected the four objects from the magic circle. Each now carried the power of its corresponding spirit.

They were not high-ranking spirits, but their assistance would still be significant.

Changing into athletic wear, she prepared to leave. In spring, even after midnight, there were still people out jogging, so her movements would not seem suspicious.

With the two locations confirmed, all she had to do was run there as if it were part of her nightly routine.

The distance between the two was considerable, so she would need to approach them separately.

The first destination was the Hotel, where the stronger target was located. She needed to go there first.

After all, the billion yen was not in the hands of the hired thugs.

With her plan set, Akemi went directly to the hotel.

It was during the shift change, so the night staff had it relatively easy.

Although the sign read "24-hour Hotel," the employees inside were not exactly alert.

When she arrived, it was already 1:12 a.m., a time when most people were struggling to stay awake.

Standing outside on the street, she scanned the surroundings, stretched, and paused as if to rest.

Then she took the wind chime from her pocket, shook it lightly, and whispered:

"Wind Spirit, please help me disable the entrance surveillance."

Huu—

An invisible breeze carried the sound of the chime into the hotel.

Like an unseen blade, it sliced through the surveillance wires, plunging the entrance into darkness.

Once she confirmed this, Akemi entered.

The front desk clerk was slouched in a daze, half-asleep. As long as she moved quietly, no one would notice.

But she had to be quick. Once the monitoring room realized the surveillance was down, they would respond.

The hotel had few cameras—at the entrance, the emergency exit, the elevator, and a handful in the corridors.

The elevator cameras would be harder to bypass, so she took the emergency stairs instead.

The wind spirit had already disabled the entrance surveillance, and she quickly climbed to the sixth floor.

As it turned out, she had overestimated the hotel's security. Not only was the front desk clerk dozing off, but the monitoring staff were as well, so no one noticed the outage.

She disabled the corridor surveillance and stopped at the door to room 606.

Shaking the wind chime again, she sent its sound drifting into the room with the breeze.

The wind's senses allowed her to see inside. The target was resting.

The breeze coiled around his neck like an invisible chain.

"Kill."

The wind instantly became a blade, sharp enough to sever his head in a single stroke.

The thug never even had the chance to resist.

Satisfied, Akemi pocketed the wind chime and retraced her steps.

Once outside, she exhaled in relief.

The first target was eliminated.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 443: Pursuit and Successful Destruction

Shi'an Apartment was not luxurious, just an ordinary, remote building.

The exterior was plain, as if it had not been renovated in decades.

The soundproofing was terrible. Even the slightest noise could be heard by everyone in the building.

But this was exactly the kind of place that made the middle-aged driver feel at ease.

He slept every day with the money box hidden under the tatami, which gave him a sense of security.

If the landlord knew this man had dug a hole under the tatami, he might have wanted to dig a hole in him too.

Still, this worked to Akemi's advantage.

She placed the rock on the ground.

"Earth Spirit, bring me what is buried below."

The ground began to tremble faintly, though the vibration was so weak that no one would notice.

As the earth shifted, five boxes rose from beneath the floor and settled before her.

Extraordinary abilities truly were useful.

Letting out a breath, Akemi immediately moved into action.

To avoid drawing attention, she had parked only at the mouth of the alley. From there, she would have to carry the boxes.

Each one was heavy, and she could only take them one at a time.

After five trips, she finally loaded the one billion yen into her car.

Returning to the apartment, she stopped before the door of the room and gently shook the wind chime.

A faint breeze slipped through the cracks and into the room.

The wind coiled around the driver's neck like the scythe of the god of death. With a single pull, his head separated from his body without pain.

When it was done, Akemi quietly returned to her car.

Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.

It was over.

The two people who knew her plans were gone, and the stolen one billion yen had been fully recovered.

Yet relief was soon followed by a dull ache in her head.

Had she used too much spiritual energy?

She had only just become a Secrets Suppliant, but she had been using her spirituality heavily, relying on natural spirits to complete multiple tasks. The drain was considerable.

No more action tonight.

Her strength would not last, and there was no way she could rescue Shiho alone.

Today's success had been possible only because both men were unprepared. One was still basking in his success from the day before, the other never imagined his location could be so easily exposed.

The first was careless from overconfidence, the second had lost all vigilance from exhaustion.

That had given her the perfect opening to strike with her abilities.

But the organization never let its guard down.

Which meant she had no chance of saving Shiho without help from God.

After thinking it through, she drove back to her apartment. The money boxes stayed in the car.

Her home was no longer safe, and leaving the cash in the vehicle was better than hiding it inside.

Once home, she prepared a simple ritual circle.

A candle was placed in the pentagram, lit, and sprinkled with a trace of moonstone powder.

"Please, Lord, grant me the Eyes of Insight."

As her spirituality surged, her vision seemed to expand.

She scanned her surroundings. Nothing unusual.

She ended the ritual.

Almost immediately, the backlash struck, waves of pain pounding in her head.

The ritual had consumed far more energy than summoning natural spirits.

Still, it was worth it.

Now she was certain there were no organization members watching her.

It seemed they knew her plan yesterday had succeeded, so they had withdrawn surveillance. But a bank robber like her could hardly leave the city unchallenged.

What awaited her next was surely Gin's bullet.

A bitter smile tugged at her lips.

She had been so foolish to believe Gin would keep his promise.

That man was a cold-blooded killer who never honored agreements. His creed was that whatever he took became his.

Feeling oddly light, she tidied her room, then lay down.

The clock read 2:45. Unable to withstand the backlash any longer, she closed her eyes and drifted off.

The bodies of the driver and the thug remained undiscovered.

There was no breakfast service in a place like this, and the landlord rarely disturbed tenants.

Anywhere Hotel's main selling point was its flexible check-in, not attentive service.

In the cool spring air, the bodies would not emit odor quickly enough to attract notice, and staying inside for a day would not arouse suspicion.

The day passed without discovery.

At 17:32 in the afternoon, Akemi opened her eyes.

She glanced at the clock, then at the setting sun.

"Fifteen hours..."

She patted her cheeks.

"I didn't expect such a strong side effect from consuming so much spiritual energy."

Her spirituality felt restored, as if all that she had spent was replenished, though it had taken a long time.

She sat up quickly.

"The next step is to get Shiho out of that devil's den."

(To be continued.)