Inside the dungeon of Fangshan Castle's manor, due to insufficient cells, Nura Rihyon, Tamamura, and Yamausagi were confined in the same cell. They were all bound with shackles that suppressed their demonic power. Tamamura lay on the ground, looking helpless, repeatedly grumbling with vacant eyes.
"I'm going to be made into a shikigami... I'm going to become a slave... I'm going to bring shame upon my family... I'm going to be the laughingstock of my entire clan... I'm going to be made into a shikigami..."
"Bang!"
"Ow, that hurts! Little granny, what are you doing!?" Covering his head, Tamamura loudly yelled at Yamausagi, who had just hit him. She stood before him, holding a large paper fan, her cheeks puffed out.
"Big Tamamura, you're too noisy! Being so gloomy is annoying!" Yamausagi scolded Tamamura loudly.
"Can't I complain a little? My little granny, we're going to be made into shikigami! Do you know how shameful that is!?" Tamamura sat up from the ground, saying indignantly.
"We won't be made into shikigami~ We'll be out soon." Hearing Tamamura, Yamausagi said with an indifferent smile.
"Out? Don't be funny, how can we get out looking like this?" Seeing Yamausagi's optimistic demeanor, Tamamura said confusedly, but Yamausagi's reply was quite confident.
"Of course, someone will come to save us~ Mr. Crane said he would save us!"
"Mr. Crane? Who is Mr. Crane?" Hearing Yamausagi, Tamamura grew more confused. He turned to Nura Rihyon beside him and said.
"Hey, this little granny seems to be hallucinating... Nura Rihyon?" At this moment, Tamamura suddenly noticed Nura Rihyon sitting on the ground, silently staring ahead. Seeing him like this, Tamamura couldn't help but ask again.
"Nura Rihyon?"
Nura Rihyon turned his head, looked at Tamamura and Yamausagi, and slowly said.
"Outside the castle, there's a powerful surge of demonic energy. A battle is happening there, and one side is a very powerful yokai."
"Yokai? Who else would come to this godforsaken place!?"
"Oh~ It's Mr. Crane! It must be Mr. Crane coming to save us~"
Hearing Nura Rihyon's words, Tamamura and Yamausagi reacted completely differently, while Nura Rihyon continued to ponder, feeling that the surging demonic energy had a familiar quality.
Just then, a flurry of footsteps echoed in the dungeon. Gonnosuke, along with several subordinates and Taira samurai, quickly moved through the dungeon. Soon after, they turned into a passage and arrived before a rock wall.
"Please wait a moment, sir." After the samurai captain finished speaking, he fumbled behind a rock for a while, triggering a mechanism. A giant rock slowly moved aside, revealing a passage. A hint of joy appeared in Gonnosuke's eyes.
"This is a secret escape passage. Once inside, there will be multiple diverging paths. Only the second path from right to left is passable; the others are dead ends filled with traps, meant to confuse pursuers.
"Once you enter, pull the rope over there, and this passage entrance will collapse and seal itself. You just need to follow the normal path forward. However, be aware that the collapse might be quite extensive, so make sure everyone has passed through before pulling.
"We are samurai loyal to Lord Kageyori and cannot commit such a disloyal act as abandoning our lord to escape alone. So, we shall part ways here!"
"Oh, oh... Then I have truly troubled you all! I have felt the loyalty and bravery of the Taira clan." Gonnosuke said with a chuckle, bidding farewell to the Taira samurai. He then looked at the passage entrance and walked inside.
Gonnosuke was the first to pass through the passage entrance, followed closely by a servant carrying Itsumaden. Just then, Itsumaden's eyes narrowed. With the last vestiges of her weak strength, she drove her sharp claws fiercely into the servant carrying her. Her nails dug into his flesh. The servant cried out in pain and dropped Itsumaden. Itsumaden fell to the ground, then quickly lunged forward to the cave wall, grabbed the rope the samurai captain had pointed to earlier, and pulled it hard, triggering the internal mechanism.
With a thunderous roar, the massive rocks above the passage entrance plummeted down. Gonnosuke's servants, still in the passage, were struck by the falling boulders before they could react, and were almost completely wiped out amidst their screams.
In an instant, only Gonnosuke and Itsumaden successfully passed through the passage; the rest were either dead or severely injured, and even those who miraculously survived were unconscious.
"You, you little brat!" Seeing this, Gonnosuke's face turned crimson, blood rushing to his head. He charged forward and kicked Itsumaden, who was weakly dragging herself towards the exit, knocking her to the ground.
Seeing Itsumaden on the ground, Gonnosuke wanted to kick her a few more times, but after looking around, he realized it wasn't the time to waste on venting anger. So, he rushed forward, personally picked up Itsumaden, and ran towards the correct escape passage.
On the original ground, a small feather fan lay there.
...
As Miketsu entered the manor, she was met by the samurai captain, who drew his katana and charged directly at her, followed by a group of samurai. Miketsu wielded her ice crystal blade, conjuring a chilling wind that froze the attacking samurai in place. She then continued past the various ice sculptures without pause, not even glancing at them.
Entering the dungeon, Miketsu once again saw the cells holding numerous yokai. The moment she stepped into the dungeon, radiating immense demonic energy, all the yokai stood up from their respective cells, looking at the black-robed yokai wielding the great blade.
"It's him..." Nura Rihyon muttered, eyes wide, looking at Miketsu. He was not unfamiliar with the yokai before him.
Coming to the center of the dungeon, Miketsu glanced at the row of cells closest to her, then said indifferently.
"Everyone, step back."
Including Nura Rihyon, all the yokai in the row Miketsu scanned took a few steps back. Miketsu then positioned herself and unleashed a controlled Wind Scar, vertically destroying all the cell doors, instantly freeing the yokai inside.
"Oh~ Mr. Crane, Mr. Crane is here~ Didn't I tell you, Big Tamamura~" Seeing the cell doors destroyed, Yamausagi leaped up joyfully.
"This... this... this isn't Mr. Crane at all, isn't this... Owl...?" Tamamura was stunned in place, looking at the black-robed yokai before him.
Miketsu turned her gaze to Nura Rihyon, looking at his astonished eyes as she spoke.
"I'll deal with your shackles later. For now, tell me, have you seen a bird yokai with bright yellow feathers?"
Nura Rihyon, under Miketsu's gaze, paused, then immediately pointed in the direction Gonnosuke and his group had just gone through the dungeon.
"She was taken by a group of people, in that direction."
Miketsu nodded, then ignored the trio and walked directly in the direction Nura Rihyon had indicated.
Watching the receding dark figure, Nura Rihyon stood rooted, his mind lost in thought. After a long while, he murmured to himself.
"Is this... Yokai Ninkyo?"
...
Miketsu quickly arrived at the sealed passage entrance. Ignoring the buried corpses, she wielded her great blade and blasted open the sealed entrance with a Wind Scar. However, once inside the passage, she was stopped by a maze of diverging paths.
Silently walking forward, Miketsu picked up a small fan with bright yellow feathers from the ground. Looking at the numerous cave openings before her, her eyes began to fill with confusion.
Which way should I go? Which direction did they take? Where did they take Itsumaden?
All sorts of doubts surged into Miketsu's mind, making her anxious. She hadn't anticipated this situation.
The miniature paper crane she had initially left on Itsumaden had already self-destructed to attack Morimura Saemon. The other miniature paper cranes she had previously scattered throughout the city hadn't been retrieved in time. This meant Miketsu had no extra paper cranes to use for Itsumaden's location, leading to her current predicament of being unable to find Itsumaden.
Facing this situation, Miketsu was burning with anxiety, but there was nothing she could do. Time certainly wouldn't allow her to try each path one by one.
Taking a deep breath, Miketsu murmured to herself.
"Itsumaden... right now, the one who can save you, is yourself..."
With that, Miketsu raised the great blade in her hand, and furious demonic energy continuously gathered upon it.
...
In the correct secret passage leading out of Fangshan Castle, Gonnosuke ran quickly, carrying Itsumaden. Due to his long-standing life of luxury, he quickly became breathless and drenched in sweat.
On his shoulder, Itsumaden slowly opened her eyes. Seizing the opportunity, she once again extended her sharp claws and fiercely raked Gonnosuke's neck.
"Ah!"
Crying out in pain, Gonnosuke threw Itsumaden to the ground, then clutched his neck, screaming in agony, looking as if he were about to die. But then he realized that although his neck had been scratched, Itsumaden's strength was so weak that the scratch had only broken the skin.
Gonnosuke's expression immediately contorted with extreme fury. He turned his gaze to Itsumaden, who was struggling to escape by leaning on the cave wall. His face crimson, he immediately walked over, kicked Itsumaden to the ground, and then quickly rained punches and kicks upon her. Itsumaden could only bite her lip, covering herself with her hands, silently enduring it without a single cry.
"Damn little brat... lowly yokai... bird thing..."
Gonnosuke cursed and hit her, and finally, when he grew tired, he realized something: it was simply unrealistic for him to escape alone with Itsumaden, who constantly tried to resist. Even if her current strength was less than a small girl's, carrying such a weight, he couldn't run far.
Now, he had to make a choice...
"Hoo... hoo... You little wretch, you're forcing my hand... I originally wanted to keep you well so you could grow feathers for me... now I can only take your feathers and go..." Gonnosuke said through gritted teeth, a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes. Hearing his words, fear appeared in Itsumaden's eyes for the first time.
"No... no..."
What to do... what to do now? Although she had been aware of this possibility for a long time, when this moment truly arrived, she still felt a deep-seated fear.
Captured... having her Golden Feathers plucked... just like her mother and her kin... accepting this fated end... an end she couldn't escape despite a century of struggle...
Amidst endless terror, Itsumaden's mind replayed past events like a revolving lantern: her mother, her century of solitary wandering... betrayal... terror... loneliness... resentment... resistance... submission...
Finally, her thoughts settled on the paper crane that had descended from the skylight and flown into her hand. The words conveyed by the crane now echoed in her ears.
Pray... if everything becomes irreversible, if all is futile and hopeless... then pray! Entrust this last hope to the elusive gods!
Gonnosuke frantically fumbled over his body, searching for the feather fan woven from Golden Feathers, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find it. This only intensified his exasperation, and he stamped his feet repeatedly in place.
"It's gone... it's gone... When did I lose it, it's just gone... My treasure! My treasure... Forget it, now's not the time to think about that..." As he spoke, Gonnosuke's twisted face turned towards Itsumaden again.
"Consider yourself unlucky... I originally only wanted to pluck your Golden Feathers... but now without the feather fan, I can't identify which feather is a Golden Feather. Now... I can only pluck all the feathers from your body!
"Hahaha! You're forcing my hand! You're forcing me to make the same mistake again!"
Gonnosuke's roar was like a shriek. He rushed forward, intending to grab Itsumaden's hand and begin plucking her feathers one by one. At this very moment, Itsumaden closed her eyes, and for the first time, she began to pray within her heart.
‘No matter where... no matter what... no matter who... no matter the cost... please hear my voice... please save me... oh, gods!’
The moment Itsumaden's heartfelt prayer was uttered, Miketsu, standing at the crossroads, felt a sudden stir. Having received the Divine Prayer, she immediately swung the great blade in her hand, now brimming with demonic energy.
"Explosive Current Wave!!"
A massive amount of demonic energy formed a raging tornado that violently struck the rock wall, forcefully breaking through the mountain rock and drilling straight forward. Like a small tunnel boring machine, it shredded all obstructing rocks, rapidly carving a tunnel through the mountain, heading directly towards the direction pinpointed by the Divine Prayer. Of course, to avoid harming the one who prayed, Miketsu deliberately offset its position by a tiny margin.
"Boom!"
Just as Gonnosuke was about to pluck Itsumaden's first feather, the cave wall beside them suddenly shattered. A furious demonic energy tornado burst out from the broken opening, sweeping past them, nearly causing Gonnosuke to lose his balance.
"Damn, damn it... What the hell is this? Never mind... First, the Golden Feathers..."
Seeing this, Gonnosuke's reaction was not to flee but to continue plucking Itsumaden's feathers. Just then, from the other end of the hole carved by the demonic energy tornado, a precise demonic energy blade struck at high speed, severing the hand he used to grab Itsumaden.
Rate on N.U.
