Seimei

Gozu Tenno: Lord Seimei, I think we have arrived in the area where the disappearances are said to be taking place.
Kuzunoha: Do ya reckon all them disappearances are a Mukuroshu plot, Lord Seimei?
Seimei: That would be my guess. They were kidnapping people for their experiments with Yomi chi back in Hinomoto, after all.
Gozu Tenno: And now you think they're doing the same here in Alberia. So what is our next move?
Seimei: We're going to use a transformation technique to conceal ourselves as travelers and lure them out in a quiet and clever fashion.
Seimei: Ruler of shadow and light! Bring power to bear and veil our visages! Onmyo!
Kuzunoha: Yee-haw! Yer an amazin' onmyoji, Lord Seimei! Ain't nobody gonna look at me and think a thing but "Sweet dang, that there's a cute little gal from the village!"
Kuzunoha: They're gonna be trippin' over 'emselves what to snatch us up, and that's when we trap 'em like hogs in a shack!
Seimei: Yes yes, I'm glad you're pleased. Now, let us put the plan into motion. We'll pretend to get kidnapped and have them take us to their hideout.

Gozu Tenno: Someone is near, Lord Seimei.
Seimei: Yes, I sensed eyes on us. Three at least, though perhaps more.
Seimei: Gozu Tenno, take out your map and keep looking at it as though you're confused about the surroundings. That show should be enough to draw them out.
Gozu Tenno: As you wish, my lord.
Mukuroshu: Oy there, you lot! Unless you wish to experience the pain of an early demise, keep quiet and come along with us.
Everyone: ......
Mukuroshu: That's weird. You're all so...cooperative. Most folks usually start in with the screaming and pleading and whatnot right about now.
Kuzunoha: (Oh, heck! That's right! A normal traveler would be hollerin' to beat the band right about now!)
Kuzunoha: HAAAAALP! IT'S THE MUKUROSHU! OH, WON'T SOMEBODY SAVE CUTE LITTLE OL' ME?!
Mukuroshu: Hey, how do you know who we are?!
Kuzunoha: Huh? Er, I mean, uhhh... We're smart?
Seimei: Stupid fox!
Mukuroshu: Seimei! I'd heard you went missing, but never thought to find you here!
Seimei: And now you idiots have left yourselves wide open. Onmyo!
Mukuroshu: Urgh!
Seimei: So much for luring them out in a quiet and clever fashion.
Kuzunoha: Aw, butterbeans. I'm real sorry 'bout that.
Seimei: It's fine. We'll just get one of these degenerates to cough up the location of their hideout and find it that way.
Mukuroshu: Nnngh...
Seimei: Hey. You there. Listen up. Where's your hideout?
Mukuroshu: Ha! I'll never talk!
Seimei: Not the chatty type, eh? Fair enough. I'll just bypass the tongue and pull what I need straight out of your tiny mind.
Mukuroshu: Hey, hold on now! Whatcha mean?!
Seimei: What, you don't know about the secret onmyodo technique that allows a person to read thoughts straight out of the brain? It's really quite impressive.
Seimei: Also messy, since it involves cracking open your skull, but most of the time I'm able to patch it back together with only mid-to-severe brain damage.
Seimei: So, you can either cooperate and talk, or we go with Option B. You have until the count of ten. One...two...nine...
Mukuroshu: Hrk...
Kuzunoha: Hoo-eee! That skull-crackin' deal sounds like a real barn-burner of a technique!
Gozu Tenno: There actually is no such technique. He's just doing a little manipulation.
Gozu Tenno: If it actually WERE possible to crack information out of a mind like that, we wouldn't need to be standing around here in a sad attempt to be kidnapped.
Kuzunoha: Yeah, I reckon that's one way what to be thinkin' about it.
Kuzunoha: Still, it's impressive how Lord Seimei was able to think that up so quick—even if it IS a right nasty thing what to threaten a feller with.
Seimei: Okay, time's up. Get over here and make with the cracking, Gozu Tenno.
Gozu Tenno: As you wish.
Mukuroshu: No, not my brain! I need that for...stuff! I'll tell you whatever you waaaant!
Mukuroshu: Our hideout is just beyond wh... *cough*
Everyone: ?!
Gozu Tenno: Lord Seimei, what is...?
Gozu Tenno: He's... He's dead!
Seimei: Bah. What about the other two?
Gozu Tenno: I thought they were still knocked out on the ground, but...
Gozu Tenno: No good. They have also passed.
Seimei: So if one of them lets a secret slip, it's a death sentence for every ally in the nearby area.
Seimei: A merciless technique like this screams "deadly Doman curse."
Kuzunoha: Hey, yeah! I remember runnin' across this kinda thing back when we was checkin' out the Mukuroshu in Hinomoto!
Gozu Tenno: Then these three were indeed Doman's subordinates.
Seimei: Which means we finally have proof that they've crossed into South Grastaea. Not much of a lead, but I'll take it.
Seimei: (I swear to you, Doman, my connection with you will end in this land!)

Seimei: O creature small of stature, become my limbs and move with my will! Onmyo!
Seimei: Their hideout is probably located here in the deep woods, so go look around and see if there are any caves or structures.
Kuzunoha: Ya never cease to amaze, Lord Seimei! Makin' ten critters into shikigami at the same time is right impressive!
Seimei: Hmph. This was nothing.
Gozu Tenno: Look here. It seems one of the birds has already returned.
Seimei: ...Ah, I see. It found a cabin that looks like it would make a perfect hiding place for people. Please, lead the way.

Kuzunoha: Hoo-eee! That's more suspicious than a pile'a corn by the side'a the road! It's gotta be the hideout!
Seimei: Hide, you stupid fox! There are people coming out of the cabin!
 ???: ...Onmyo.
Gozu Tenno: Lord Seimei, that's—
Seimei: Doman.
Kuzunoha: *gulp* He's the one what killed yer grandpappy with a curse, ain't he? The one who practices fell onmyodo!
Kuzunoha: I dunno what kinda technique he was just usin', but I reckon it was real nasty.
Seimei: No, it's just a barrier—though likely an irritatingly powerful one.
Seimei: Tch. This isn't going to be easy, but we have no choice but to break through it.
Seimei: ...Hm? Wait...
Seimei: ...Onmyo! Haah!
Gozu Tenno: Astounding, Lord Seimei! You brought Doman's barrier down in an instant!
Kuzunoha: Ya went and played us for a couple'a right fools, master! We were thinkin' it'd take all day and a night what to bring that down!
Seimei: Tch.
Kuzunoha: C'mon, Lord Seimei! Don't just ignore us like that! It ain't right!
Kuzunoha: Well, heck. He's even poutier than usual. A chicken's gonna walk all over that lip if he ain't careful.
Kuzunoha: Mayhap bein' this close to his revenge is makin' his mind go all screwy.
Gozu Tenno: Doubtful. Lord Seimei is nothing if not cool and collected in a crisis.
Gozu Tenno: Let's just get after him for now. It's far too dangerous for him to be storming Doman's hideout all by himself.
Kuzunoha: Right ya are. Lord Seimei! Wait uuup!

Seimei: ...ONMYO!
Mukuroshu: Aaargh!
Gozu Tenno: Lord Seimei, are you all right?!
Seimei: Of course I am. Look around you— this base is filled with pathetic nobodies.
Kuzunoha: And you made a right mess of 'em!
Doman: What's all this racket?! ...Hmm?
Doman: Why, if it isn't my old friend Seimei! Welcome! I'll have to prepare a suitable reception for you post-haste.
Doman: Escort him to the next life, my shikigami!
Kuzunoha: Look out! Scaries approachin'!
Seimei: Save the nonsense for your sleep-talk, stupid fox; the real terrors here are not his shikigami...
Seimei: ...But MINE! Onmyo!
Doman: Madness! Impossible!
Seimei: Now...kill.
Doman: Graaaagh!
Kuzunoha: Well, heck! That was a whole lotta buildup for a whole lotta bull plop.
Seimei: Think about it, you stupid fox—the reason our foe seemed pathetic and weak was because he WAS pathetic and weak.
Seimei: It's just some chump. It's laughable that he thought he could play the role of Doman with a display like that.
Doman?: Urgh...
Kuzunoha: Cow cuds! This Doman here was just a Mukuroshu in disguise?!
Gozu Tenno: A body double, hm. Did you know right away, Lord Seimei?
Seimei: I knew the moment I examined the barrier around the cabin.
Seimei: It was sloppy work, far beneath Doman.
Kuzunoha: Where ya headin' now, Lord Seimei?
Seimei: Do you have to ask? I'm going to help the villagers the Mukuroshu abducted. They must be holding them somewhere inside this structure.
Kuzunoha: Hot dang! I'm gonna help, too!

Villager: Thank you for saving us!
Village Girl: Urgh... My legs...
Gozu Tenno: Are you all right, little one? ...Ah! Lord Seimei? What's going on?
Seimei: Her mana is weak. Doman must have leeched it out with his fell onmyodo.
Seimei: Had she been his victim much longer, her life would likely have been forfeit. However, she should recover now.
Gozu Tenno: What fortune! In that case, have this candy. There's nothing better for getting your strength back than some sweets!
Kuzunoha: Suckin' out somebody's mana? That Doman is a right nasty piece'a work, I tell ya what!
Gozu Tenno: I have to wonder why he came all the way to this new land just to perform such a vile and heinous act.
Seimei: His reason for coming here lies elsewhere. If all he wanted was to suck the mana out of people, he could've done it in Hinomoto.
Seimei: This was likely just a way to sate his own morbid curiosity, or perhaps a method of developing his fell onmyodo further.
Seimei: His ultimate goal is to revitalize the mana from a dragon-vein spring, open a door to the other world—the Realm of the Dead— and acquire the Yomi chi held within.
Seimei: And there might just be such a spring conveniently located in Alberia...
Villager: Um, excuse me?
Seimei: Yes? What is it?
Villager: I overhead the man you called Doman earlier. He said something about heading west toward the dragon-vein spring.
Everyone: !
Villager: And when he left, he took our mayor with him to act as a guide!
Villager: Please, you have to rescue him!
Seimei: We'll handle it.
Kuzunoha: We gots to hurry, Lord Seimei!
Seimei: You don't need to tell me that. Come on.
Kuzunoha & Gozu Tenno: Right!

Seimei: ...No Mukuroshu in the area, and no traps from Doman.
Kuzunoha: Well, ain't that swell! Let's keep 'er movin' in that case!
Seimei: ......
Gozu Tenno: You don't look happy, Lord Seimei.
Seimei: No traps? No enemies? NONE? This is going far too easily.
Kuzunoha: But don't that mean Doman just didn't expect us to track down his hideout and come a'runnin' after him?
Seimei: (Could that be possible? Could he truly not have predicted this?)
Seimei: (This is DOMAN we're talking about, after all—and the Doman I know is cunning and sly beyond measure.)
Seimei: (There was no better ally... but also no greater enemy.)
Seimei: ...ONMYO!
Doman: Ah, Seimei. You do indeed hold promise. Just look how easily you wiped out all of the enemy shikigami!
Doman: It is an utter delight that a practitioner as skilled as you should look to join the Bureau of Onmyodo!
Seimei: Hmph. You'll forgive me if I don't puff my chest in pride at slaying a few pathetic shikigami brought into creation by unsanctioned onmyoji.
Seimei: This fight only confirms the skill of our enemy—and it seems they are nothing special at the end of the day. If we mount a quick frontal assault, they are done for.
Doman: Hmm. Perhaps. But just to be safe, let us proceed with caution.
Seimei: Hmm? Why are you picking up talismans from the shikigami we defeated?
Doman: Just watch. Onmyo.
Doman: Now just stand there, as you were.
Seimei: You revived the enemy shikigami and made them obey you? Why?
Doman: If the enemy realizes their shikigami have been slain, it will raise the alarm.
Doman: On the other hand, if we feed them false information suggesting that naught is amiss, we invite their negligence.
Seimei: That seems like a lot of trouble to go to for such a weak pack of foes.
Doman: As I said, we're simply being cautious.
Doman: When onmyoji clash, the battle begins long before they meet face-to-face.
Doman: Think, for example, of the destruction of evidence and creation of false stand-ins. Yes, the battle is begun long before the parties come before one another.
Seimei: (False evidence... Inviting negligence...)
Seimei: Unbelievable! What those villagers said to us...
Kuzunoha: Huh? What about it?
Seimei: Onmyo! Go, full speed!
Gozu Tenno: You sent that shikigami off at great speed, yet I understood the area to be free of traps or enemies.
Seimei: I sent it to do recon on the dragon-vein spring Doman was headed for.
Seimei: I can't believe that I, of all people, was so careless as to leap on the first little scrap of information dangled in front of me!
Seimei: What the villager told us was actually rather strange when you think about it.
Seimei: A man as distinctly sharp as Doman would never just casually drop his destination in front of others.
Gozu Tenno: Goodness! You're right!
Seimei: ...I knew it. The dragon-vein spring is completely abandoned.
Kuzunoha: Boy, this is all over my poor little head, I tell ya what. I'm more confused than a cow caught in a twister!
Kuzunoha: Are ya sayin' the villagers told us fibs?
Seimei: No, you stupid fox—DOMAN told "fibs." The villagers deceived us unwittingly.
Seimei: He intentionally said something false once he knew they would overhear.
Seimei: In so doing, he could throw off the intruders who had infiltrated that hideout.
Gozu Tenno: Then he already knew we were after him?
Kuzunoha: But how?! We was super careful!
Seimei: It was likely when we defeated those Mukuroshu grunts in the forest.
Seimei: Fell onmyodo knows no ethical bounds. He could've embedded talismans within their bodies, or other such methods, to inform him of their deaths.
Gozu Tenno: Such a heinous, inhumane art...
Seimei: Disgust won't solve anything, though. We need an actual plan.
Seimei: Which means we're back at square one. Tch.
Kuzunoha & Gozu Tenno: ......
 ???: Why, whatever is amiss, my children? I see three long faces that look to quiver beneath the clouded skies above.
Seimei: You!
Marvelous Naoto: It is indeed I, Marvelous Naoto—and my heart leaps with abject delight that we might meet again after so long a spell!
Rikugo: ...Or perhaps it is better to say that I am Rikugo, high-level shikigami of the Bureau of Onmyodo, and I have hastened to your side that I might deliver my report.

Rikugo: In the course of touring Alberia as an enka singer, I have experienced a great many people and things.
Rikugo: And one such event involving the boys and girls of Quinbell had a brightness not unlike sunny skies after a lengthy rain...
Rikugo: Ah, but forgive my getting lost in recollection in a place like this. You all appear to be in a most critical moment, so I will make haste with my report.
Rikugo: I have conducted the secret field survey of Alberia you asked of me, Lord Seimei.
Rikugo: From large to small, I have recorded the location and condition of each and every dragon-vein spring in the area. Behold!
Seimei: You've done well, Rikugo. This should get us somewhere.
Seimei: The Mukuroshu's goal has always been to use mana from dragon-vein springs to open a gate to the Realm of the Dead.
Seimei: Doman clearly led us on a merry chase and took advantage of the opening it gave him to head for such a spring.
Kuzunoha: Now hang on just a dad-gummed minute! There's THIS many springs?!
Kuzunoha: We'd have a better chance to step clean through a pigsty than we would findin' the exact one where he's at!
Seimei: Hmph. Use your head, you stupid fox. We're talking about a spring Doman would WANT, which means it's both large and of very high quality.
Seimei: If we exclude all the smaller dragon-vein springs from our list of potentials, the number is more manageable.
Kuzunoha: Hoo-eee, but yer noggin is the biggest noggin around, Lord Seimei! Lemme take a look at that there map... Hrm...
Kuzunoha: Well, heck. There's still over a hundred of the gall-danged things!
Gozu Tenno: She's right. Even with the numbers culled, carefully searching this many springs is going to be most difficult.
Seimei: We'll lose the trail if we take much longer.
Seimei: He's been hiding in the darkness for so long...and we are now SO close.
Seimei: We are going to nail him this time— by ANY means necessary!
Rikugo: I understand your feelings, my lord, and offer up a suggestion...
Rikugo: Absorb me, and use the power as you will.
Everyone: What?!
Rikugo: I am a high-level shikigami, created by the efforts of the onmyoji at the Bureau.
Rikugo: In essence, I am a being of pure mana. If you absorb me and use it, you could easily send forth shikigami to a hundred dragon-vein springs—or even more!
Seimei: That's true, and yet...
Rikugo: You said by any means necessary. Why do you hesitate?
Seimei: ......
Seimei: (Because you're not just any shikigami to me, Rikugo...)
Seimei: (My departed grandfather's mana is also a part of you.)
Seimei: (And that makes you a memento of him.)
Rikugo: This simply isn't like you, Lord Seimei.
Rikugo: Now, I know it is not my place to insist you divulge the things that torment you or those better left unsaid...
Rikugo: But you must hold to your resolve. The Seimei I know would always do thus.
Seimei: !
Seimei: Grandfather?! What's wrong?! What in the world happened?!
Seimei's Grandfather: Seimei... Be wary... He betrayed us... for the Mukuroshu...
Seimei: No... This can't be!
Seimei: Answer me, Grandfather! Please! GRANDFATHER!
Doman: Why hello, Seimei! I owe you a good deal of thanks, for without your aiding my research into the fell onmyodo arts, none of this would have been possible.
Seimei: Tell me it's not true, Doman! Tell me you didn't use the Kodoku curse on everyone in the Bureau!
Doman: Ah, but I did EXACTLY that.
Seimei: But why?! How could you so callously steal away this many lives?!
Doman: For power. What possible problem could there be with that?
Doman: To master their arts and acquire power is the deeply held desire of any and all with even a modicum of talent.
Doman: It is because of our shared goal that you chose to wash your hands of the other Bureau onmyoji and aid my research, no?
Seimei: You twist my actions!
Doman: And now the Kodoku curse has finally been invoked, thanks to the lives of the mediocre onmyoji who now serve as its foundation!
Doman: Rejoice, Seimei! This is the spectacle we have strived after for so long!
Seimei: This hellscape is never what I wanted!
Seimei: They're all dead, and the responsibility for those deaths all come back to...
Doman: Alas, I fear the time has come for us to part, my dear Seimei.
Seimei: Doman, wait!
Doman: But I will SO be looking forward to your coming after me!
Doman: For now, each of us must bring out greater mastery of our art in the other so that one day we might settle this for good and all!
Seimei: DAMN YOU, DOMAN!
Seimei: (That day, I swore to pursue him to the ends of the earth to take my revenge for what he did to Grandfather.)
Seimei: (It was my mistake to aid his research— and as an onmyoji, I have to take responsibility for that.)
Seimei: (Which is why this must be done!)
Seimei: Very well, Rikugo. I will use your power.
Rikugo: Excellent.
Seimei: O ruler of peace and harmony! Free thy attendant from his charge and guide his power unto me. ...ONMYO!
Kuzunoha & Gozu Tenno: ......
Rikugo: Do not be sad, friends; mine has always been a transient existence.
Rikugo: As water flows between sky and earth, a thing returns to what it must be and the place it must go. That is all this is.
Rikugo: Now, spare not your smiles as you see your friend off.
Gozu Tenno: Thank you for your hard work, Rikugo.
Kuzunoha: We owe ya heaps'n heaps—but we'll make sure to catch that nasty Doman and make all this here fuss worthwhile!
Rikugo: It is an extremely delightful occasion for one to be hailed by admissions of gratitude like drops in a rainstorm...
Seimei: This... It's all the mana from the Bureau's onmyoji...
Seimei: Thank you, Rikugo. Thank you, Grandfather. I will see this power used for justice!
Seimei: O creature small of stature. Become my limbs and move with my will! ...ONMYO!
Gozu Tenno: Look at them all go!
Kuzunoha: Yee-haw! Don't make no nevermind HOW many springs there is, 'cause we'll have 'em scouted in two shakes'a my fuzzy tail!
Seimei: (Incredible... Everything the birds see is being sent directly to me...)

Seimei: (...No. This is not the one.)

Seimei: (...Doman is not here, either.)

Seimei: (Ah! There he is!)

Seimei: Move fast, you two.
Gozu Tenno: Then you have discovered him?
Seimei: Dead to rights—and this time, he's NOT getting away.

Doman: Heh heh... This dragon-vein spring is replete with fine mana.
Doman: It is perfectly suited to opening the Realm of the Dead and allowing me to acquire Yomi chi!
Village Chief: No! The mana fount! The blessing of this land is being polluted!
 ???: Onmyo!
Doman: Oh? What have we here?
Seimei: We meet again, Doman!
Doman: Ah, Seimei! I'd been wondering who the persistent little devil on my heels was, but never imagined it might be you.
Doman: And in this place, so far from Hinomoto, we may finally pit our skills against one another. Ah, but it is the height of rapture for me! Is it not the same for you?
Seimei: Oh, I'm thrilled, all right...
Seimei: Because it means I can finally put an end to the damn connection between us!
Doman: My, how callous. How about we enjoy this thrilling pursuit a little while longer?
Doman: Easy, you two. Stand down. Nothing will do but for Seimei and I to settle this between ourselves alone.
Mukuroshu: ......
Doman: Hmm? Did you not hear my command? I told you to stand down.
Doman: No! It can't be!
Seimei: Now! Scatter the talismans!
Doman: You disguised yourselves as my subordinates? How wonderful!
Seimei: ONMYO!
Doman: Such power!
Mukuroshu: Hold on, Lord Doman!
Gozu Tenno: Leave the Mukuroshu to us!
Kuzunoha: You just work on keepin' that there barrier goin', Lord Seimei!
Doman: I must admit, I did not anticipate this particular play.
Doman: That wyrm is the one with whom you've sworn a pact, and the girl there is clearly a fox you made into a shikigami.
Doman: Good gracious, I almost can't believe it. Lord Seimei—the eternal lone wolf— now lets others do his fighting for him!
Seimei: I'm not the person you once knew.
Doman: Heh... AAAAH HA HA HA HA!
Seimei: What in the...? There's some sort of strange mana pouring out of Doman!
Doman: You do appear to have changed, Seimei. However, I have ALSO changed!
Doman: This is the new power I have acquired! It is Yomi chi, the power that fills a world beyond our own!
Seimei: Damn! The barrier's not holding!
Seimei: Kuzunoha! Gozu Tenno! Get back! The miasma's going to flood out!
Village Chief: Eeeeeek!
Seimei: Protect him! Onmyo!
Doman: Farewell for now, my dear Seimei. Until we meet again!
Gozu Tenno: No! Wait! WAIT!
Kuzunoha: We gotta hurry after 'em!
Seimei: No. Things here are more pressing.
Village Chief: AAAAAAH!
Seimei: I recognize that strange mana. It's just like Doman's deadly curse.
Gozu Tenno: Why would it target the mayor, though? He has nothing to do with the Mukuroshu!
Seimei: Perhaps to keep him quiet about what he knows—or perhaps to slow us down.
Seimei: Whatever the reason, we can't let him die. I'm going to try to break the spell.
Seimei: Tch. Fell onmyodo again. I doubt this can be undone by any normal means.
Kuzunoha: Well ya gotta do SOMETHIN'!
Seimei: There is a way. Just one.
Seimei: If I use up all of Rikugo's power, I should be able to brute-force even a fell onmyodo curse like this.
Kuzunoha: But if ya do that, the power...
Seimei: I know.
Seimei: (Rikugo's power—Grandfather's power— will be gone from me forever.)
Village Chief: AAAAAUGH!
Seimei: (There is no choice. I must!)
Seimei: Answer me, Grandfather! Please!
Seimei: (I'll never again let an innocent life succumb to a curse before my eyes!)
Village Chief: Huh? I feel...better...
Seimei: Relax. You're all right now.
Seimei: And I hope you have many long years ahead of you, Grandfa... Er, Mayor, sir.
Kuzunoha & Gozu Tenno: Heh heh.
Seimei: What're you two smirking for?
Seimei: If you annoy me, I'll leave you here and go after Doman myself.
Kuzunoha: Then ya know where he's headed?!
Seimei: Of course I do. I planted a tracking talisman on one of his Mukuroshu grunts.
Gozu Tenno: You what?! When?!
Seimei: While they were distracted by the protective talisman. Always good to be prepared, don't you think?
Seimei: It looks like they're headed southwest.
Seimei: There's a little place there called the Halidom that's likely caught their eye.
Seimei: Rikugo's report said the seventh scion lives there, and that he's something of a big deal. But what about the castle could possibly interest them so...?