Life or death
The answer is obvious—life.
Just as Shiki's switchblade was about to stroke Shiki's throat and Shiki's straight knife was about to cut Shiki's body, two silver bullets whizzed and hit the wrists of both men, and the straight knife and switchblade immediately flew out of their hands.
At the same time, the blades of the two daggers began to twist and turn into a tangled mess.
Immediately afterwards, two black curse bullets hit the two men's knees respectively. Before the magic power contained in them could take effect, an invisible pressure had already pressed the two men to the ground, unable to move.
The silver bullet came from Shinji, the power of distortion came from Fujino, the cursed bullet came from Sakura's hand, and the oppressive magic was released by Orange. Without anyone's reminder, the four of them spontaneously took action to save people.
"Shiki, Shiki, are you okay?" Kan'ya exclaimed and ran towards the two of them. If you weren't particularly familiar with them, it would be difficult to hear whose name he was calling.
He lay on the ground with his legs spread out, rubbing his sore wrists and breathing heavily.
"Ah, I'm fine, just a little tired, go check on that guy."
Shinji was quicker than Kan'ya: "He's fine too, he just overexerted himself and overused his eyes, he'll be fine after a good night's sleep."
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception puts a huge burden on the user's brain. Shiki's body is special, and he fully understood death during his two years in a coma, so he can withstand it. Shiki can't do that. His body and the amount of time he has been in contact with death are not as good as Shiki's, so he can't support the Mystic Eyes for a long time.
"That's good, Matou, help me get his knife."
Shinji picked up the two men's short swords and handed them to Shiki. Shiki glanced at an old mark on the handle of the switchblade and nodded thoughtfully.
"It's Nanaya after all."
"Qiye?" Gan was slightly stunned.
"Well, the Yoji family that I belong to and the Asagami family that Fujino is from are all ancient demon-slaying families. Among the famous demon-slaying families, only the Nanaya family has stronger killing skills than the Yoji family, and only the blood of Nanaya can bring such an improvement. What just happened should be the 'flash away' of Nanaya's assassination technique;."
The instant breakaway and instant return that Shiki used before the final blow was the Nanaya family's signature assassination technique, using walls to move at high speeds, a bit similar to the wall-climbing technique in martial arts novels.
"But, wasn't the Qiye family exterminated eight years ago?" Gan Ye asked doubtfully.
"Yes, maybe he is the last survivor of the Nanaya family and was adopted by the Arima family, so he changed his last name to Arima." Shiki struggled to sit up, staring blankly at the face that looked like the man who was supporting her, "By the way, Kanye, how do you know so much about the Exorcist family?"
"Ah, that... I touched on this a little bit when I was investigating your family."
Gan also scratched his face a little embarrassedly. At present, the dojo opened by the Yomiuri family was used by several people. It was no wonder that he felt embarrassed to use the Yomiuri family's assets to investigate behind the scenes.
Yes, this is the property of the Ryougi family, and the location is Kanfushi City, not Tokyo. Since Touko agreed to help Shiki, Shiki has to come to Kanfushi City every holiday. In order to avoid his family from worrying, Kanaya also went to the Arima family to explain... Well, the explanation is not important at all. Seeing Kanaya's face, the Arima family has nothing to worry about.
By the way, it was Shiki's idea to borrow the dojo, in order to train Shiki. In Shiki's words, since he is my brother, he cannot be weak. I didn't expect that this brother is not weak at all.
"But it's really a coincidence. Your Ryougi, Fujino-san's Asagami, Mujo-san's branch of the Mujo family, and Shiki-san's Nanaya. The four great demon-exorcist families are all here. I wonder if something wonderful will happen."
"Who knows." Shiki casually played with the Qiye switchblade.
Shinji, who was standing by, had an awkward expression on his face.
After changing the fate of Fujino and Kirie one after another, Shinji actually came up with the idea of collecting the blood of the four great demon-killing families to see if he could summon a dragon... Well, I've watched too much Dragon Ball and was unconsciously influenced by it.
In the end, nothing happened. The origins of the four great exorcist families are different, and their bloodline characteristics are even more different. The so-called four great families are just a name given by some people, and in fact, there is not much connection between the families. If Shinji hadn't brought them together, Shiki, Shiki, Fujino, and Kirie would never have been able to get along as well as they do now.
"By the way, Shinji, regarding the house where Shiki is..."
"Stop—" Shinji raised his hand to interrupt Mikiya's words, "Let's go to another place. Sakura, you treat Shiki, and then practice self-defense with Fujino. Since we have borrowed this dojo, we can't waste it."
"Okay, Onii-sama/Shinji."
Shinji nodded to the two of them respectively, winked at Kan'ya and Touko respectively, and walked out of the dojo.
"What did you find out, Mikiya?"
In the corridor outside the dojo, Shiki sat on the railing, looking at the face that remained always quiet.
"Last time, you said that there might be something wrong with Shiki's family, so I did some research. The Arima family, or more precisely, the main branch of the Arima family, does have something wrong."
"Tell me more about it."
"The head of the Arimaka family is the Tono family. This family... may be an enemy of the Exorcist family, a family of demons or something related to 'demons'."
"Tono, I seem to have heard someone in my family mention this surname. Hmm, it should be a clan that has mixed with non-human blood. However, my family did not list this clan as an enemy, so it should not be a big threat, or it should not cause too much harm."
After confirming this, doubts arise.
"But why would such a family want to adopt Shiki? The Nanaya family is a radical faction among the demon-exorcist families. It is said that Nanaya's blood has a special demon-exorcist impulse, and they will instinctively want to eliminate non-humans when they see them. Conversely, Nanaya's blood will also give the family members the physical ability to fight against "demons", which can be said to be the most taboo existence for non-human (including mixed-blood) families. How could they be willing to adopt Nanaya's child? Even if they are willing to adopt, aren't they afraid that Shiki's demon-exorcist impulse will erupt?"
"It could be the personal behavior of Shiki's adoptive parents." Mikiya speculated, "The Arimaka family and the Tohno family no longer have much blood connection. I think the inhuman blood is too diluted to cause Shiki's urge to exorcise the demon."
"That's the only explanation... Orange, Matou, what do you think?"
"I don't know much about demons and exorcism, but you should know, Shinji—" Orange lit a cigarette while looking at Shinji.
Shinji leaned against the pillar without moving, seemingly not hearing Orange's voice.
"Hey, stop standing there in a daze." Orange reached out and tapped Shinji on the forehead.
"Ah." Shinji finally woke up from his dream, "What's wrong?"
"Tell us about the kid's background. Don't say you don't know. The name you told me at the beginning was 'Tono Shiki', not 'Arima Shiki'."
As Touko said this, Shiki and Mikiya's eyes were fixed on Shinji's face.
Shinji scratched his head in annoyance: "I know, but I don't know whether I should say it."
"Is it complicated?" Orange frowned.
"Well, it's very complicated, like a mess."
"That's even better. Maybe we can figure it out."
"Okay." Shinji held his chin and thought for a while, then finally nodded, "Okay, one request, don't tell Shiki about our conversation."
PS: Speaking of my birthday yesterday, the number of new chapters and subscriptions actually fell below 1,000 for the first time, which was a real blow to my heart.