It was a sunny day in Jin. A man rose from his bed, slipping into a white kimono painted with a splash of black ink. Across the back, the symbol 忠 (loyalty) was boldly rendered. He pulled on dark trousers, stepped into his white socks and sandals, and placed a straw hat firmly on his head. Rolling his shoulders back, Yoshio stepped out of his dojo.
As he walked, he was met by the sight of his warriors sparring with wooden blades, others letting loose arrows, and one of his generals pacing the grounds.
"Yoshio!" the general grinned.
Yoshio tipped the brim of his hat. "Tengen."
As they walked, Yoshio noticed one of his men holding a flawed stance. Moving without hesitation, he swept his leg and kicked the man down to the ground. "Hey! This is a fight, not yoga. Fix your stance." He shook his head. The surrounding ronin erupted into laughter at the comment as Yoshio continued his stride.
"Yoshio!" a man called out, dashing frantically over to him. "Sugi has not returned. And we just found out Ryu deserted."
"The day before the ride?" Yoshio crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "Bastard." He closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Men!" he shouted. His warriors immediately turned to face him. "Ryu has left us. He was too soft to swing a sword." He bit down hard on the toothpick in his mouth as his men groaned and booed at the news.
"Does anyone else want to leave?" he challenged, his voice ringing across the courtyard. Everyone stood in absolute silence; for a moment, it felt as though the wind itself was a sharp blade. "Good. Sugi will have to catch up. We ride for Gakido within the hour."
He turned back to Tengen as the men resumed their training. Yoshio sighed. "Incredible. A single woman has more balls than an entire army of men," he muttered.
Meanwhile, Yumi galloped forward on her horse. Nothing but men with innate energy imbued weapons… She looked up at the sky. I wonder what Sugi went through to become a ronin. And a blind one at that.
"Hey!" a soldier shouted from a distance. He was part of a mounted patrol, riding a horse of his own. Seeing her, he drew his weapon. "Stop right there!"
Yumi slowed her mount to a halt, her hand immediately resting on the hilt of her katana. She glared silently under her hood. The patrol took her stillness as compliance and hopped off their horses.
"This does not have to be bloody, samurai," the leader said.
Yumi dismounted smoothly. "The blood of innocents was on those people too."
She unsheathed her sword, the fabric of her dark hood shifting as she advanced toward them. She blurred into motion, her speed blinding. The first soldier swung upward, but Yumi parried downward with a swift spin. The man lunged again, but this time she caught his arm in a brutal lock, throwing him over her head before slashing open his chest.
Another soldier thrust a spear at her, but she sidestepped the point. Gripping her sword in a reverse grip with both hands, she drove the blade deep into his side.
The journey was proving arduous; it felt as though every mile brought a new challenge. Whether on her horse or on foot, she cut through the queen's army, leaving none alive for mercy's embrace.
Moments later, a soldier wielding a tanto rushed her. Yumi effortlessly slapped his arm down, sliced it off at the elbow, and spun in the opposite direction to parry a second attacker. The force of her deflection launched the enemy's hands back. Dropping low to the ground, she drew her hidden arm-blade and struck with the speed of lightning.
Nearby, a ronin matching the exact description Susanoo had given dropped from above. Sugi flew down from the roofline, driving her katana deep into a soldier's shoulder before instantly decapitating him with a second blade.
She rolled cleanly over the falling corpse and immediately caught the next guard from behind. Her razor-sharp katana sliced deep into his abdomen. Dragging and ripping the blade sideways to force him around, she spun, drove a dagger straight into his throat, and impaled his gut with her reverse-gripped katana. She removed both weapons in a single, fluid motion.
Side-rolling away from a counterattack, Sugi grabbed her tanto and drove it upward through a third guard's jaw, violently twisting the blade to snap his neck.
Rising from the stealth kills, she sliced her dual katanas through the air, sending the excess blood flying from the steel before sheathing them both. This was enemy territory, yet she walked forward casually.
Perched above the tavern roof, Yumi watched the display, her eyes wide with surprise. Who possesses that much skill to kill three men in seconds? And so dishonorably?
Yumi hesitated, looking down at a remaining soldier below who was staring in horror at the fresh corpses. "Someone is here!" the man screamed, reaching for his alarm horn.
Yumi looked at her forearm, unleashing her hidden blade. But before she could move, Sugi caught her presence. Even with her round, black steel hat obscuring her face, the blind ronin tilted her head toward Yumi's position. Sugi said nothing; she simply vanished into the shadows.
Left alone, the words of Yumi's uncle echoed in her mind: *Face your enemy as the sun faces the earth—without a shadow."
Yet, looking down, she knew she couldn't. These men had slaughtered innocents. If she faced them head-on, the whole camp would be alerted. She needed blood without sound.
The man raised the horn to his lips. Yumi leapt.
Her hidden blade drove straight into his skull. Wrapping her arm around his neck, she brought him down, pinning him in a chokehold on her back. A pool of blood spread across the dirt as she stabbed him repeatedly, violently, ensuring his silence.
The man let out a few ragged gurgles, his eyes tearing up before going completely still. Once the struggling stopped, Yumi crawled backward, gasping and panting, her hands drenched in crimson. She stared at the mess, catching her own hollow reflection in the pooling blood.
Panicking slightly, she thrust her hands into the mud to scrub the blood away, wiping her face with her sleeve. Her breathing was ragged.
"Hmph." She gritted her teeth. "Forgive me, Uncle," she whispered, taking a deep, stabilizing breath. "I had to do what was necessary."
Yumi stealthily crept along the outside wall of a nearby tavern, peering through a window. Inside, enemy soldiers were drinking and talking.
Suddenly, with absolute silence, Sugi appeared inside the room. She leaned back, crossing her feet on top of a table, and began casually playing a melody on her flute. Holding the instrument with one hand, she held a bounty poster featuring a man's face in the other.
She paused her song for a brief moment. A worried soldier stepped forward, observing her suspiciously. "Playing a flute for a dead man?" he asked, trying to gauge her identity. "Who's the dead man?"
She didn't respond. The general narrowed his eyes, studying her blindfold and her relaxed posture. "Ma'am. I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he demanded.
Sugi lowered the flute, slowly turning her head toward him. "You'd have to kill me for that." She lifted her chin and resumed playing.
The general paused, looking back at his men, who burst into mocking laughter. "Listen, young lady, I don't think this will be a fair fight—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sugi whipped her arm. The flute flew past his face at an insane speed, slicing through the air and embedding itself deep into the wooden wall behind the men, leaving a massive crack.
The general froze in shock, slowly turning his head to look at the splintered wood.
Sugi was already on her feet, uncoiling her kusarigama. "No," she said, leaning forward to let the light hit her face. "It is not."
The general growled, backing away as his men drew their weapons. "Attack!"
Sugi grinned. She spun the chain, bending her wrist in such a way that the kusarigama seemed to dance around her from all angles. It swung diagonally, vertically, and horizontally, the chain flowing like water while the sickle blade blurred from sheer speed.
A mercenary lunged at her, but she hooked the sickle into his side and yanked him off balance. Drawing her katana in a reverse grip, she spun inside his guard and drove the blade straight through his throat.
The man choked on the steel, desperately grabbing at the blade and reaching out toward the window, causing Yumi to gasp softly from her hiding place. Sugi merely grinned, spinning on her heel to rip the katana free from his neck.
Sugi drew her second katana as two more soldiers closed in. With a fluid cross-slash, she opened the chest of one and slit the throat of the other.
An enemy tried to ambush her with a dagger. Swapping her swords for a tucked polearm, Sugi sidestepped the downward stab and twirled the staff, striking the man hard across the skull to stun him. Before he could recover, she impaled his abdomen, lifting him off his feet and charging him directly into the wall.
Another soldier rushed in, throwing a heavy punch. Sugi simply tilted her head, letting the fist graze the air as she slipped backward. She whipped her kusarigama, embedding the sickle blade into the far wall, then dragged it horizontally across the room, the taut chain cleanly severing the heads of two oncoming enemies.
A final soldier lunged from behind. Sugi expertly sheathed her polearm while ducking under his swinging katana. In the same motion, she drew her dual katanas, parrying his follow-up strike with one blade while slashing his torso with the second. Driving both swords into his chest, she kicked him squarely in the ribs, sending him flying across the room.
To finish the butchery, she hurled her polearm across the tavern. The spear flew straight through the surviving commander's jaw, pinning his head to the wall right next to her embedded flute.
Outside, Yumi watched the entire tavern freeze in absolute silence, her jaw dropped. "Incredible," she muttered.
Sugi smirked, pulling her polearm and flute from the wall as if nothing had happened. She looked toward the window. "Did you like the tune?"
A short while later, the two women were riding away on their horses. Sugi cackled with laughter at Yumi's description of Elyngard.
"Elyngard? The Athena Legion? Is it true Dante looks like a grandpa because of his white hair?"
Yumi looked away, feeling a little sheepish. "No… if anything, he's quite handsome."
Sugi chuckled. "I'll bite. Is he strong?"
Yumi nodded, a small smile returning to her face. "Very. A clever man, too."
Sugi turned her head toward Yumi. "And what about you? What are your powers?"
Yumi sighed softly. "I am a ghost. Like the air itself, I can phase through both offense and defense."
Sugi's smile widened. "Ah, so the rumors are true."
Yumi raised an eyebrow. "What rumors?"
"Innate powers are born from your identity and reputation," Sugi explained. "You are a ghost to our people. Something unbelievable that requires faith. You are here, but you hide in the fabrics of this world, striking from the shadows. It's only natural your power reflects that."
Yumi looked surprised, turning her gaze back to the path ahead. "Hm. I did not know that."
Sugi grinned. "Good kill back there, by the way. If you hadn't taken that scout out quietly, we would have had to fight our way through the entire perimeter."
Yumi's expression darkened, and she looked away. "I am not proud of that kill. I only did what I must. My legion's only rule was to never take a life. To avoid it at all costs. Now, it's my burden to bear. A burden I want no one else to know."
Sugi nodded respectfully. "The people of this island thought you died alongside your family. It just proves my point—you really are a ghost. So, how did you get your powers anyway? Back when you were a student at the commoner's school, I used to skip lunch just to talk to you."
"I do not possess magical powers," Sugi said, her tone turning serious. "My blindfold allows me to perceive the world through echolocation. I can move at the speed of sound because of how I process vibration. The rest is just my wrath, an innate energy imbued into my steel."
"Wrath for what?" Yumi asked gently.
"I am tired of this island," Sugi spat. "Things have become so corrupted that Tsukinoshima, the Moon Island, has been entirely conquered by a tyrannical sun goddess. I have watched too many people die. The least I can do is slaughter as many of her men as possible, collect the bounties, and buy my way out of here."
"After the war, I can take you with me to Elyngard, if that's what you want," Yumi offered.
"Thanks, but I'm already building my own fortune to sail over there." Yumi smirked. "Just so you know, the Greeks don't play fair."
Sugi grinned fiercely. "Ha. I'll let them pick their deaths."
"Actually, that's why I came to find you," Yumi said, steering the conversation back. "I'm looking to start a rebellion. Lord Takao is being held by Amaterasu under the charge of treason. I intend to overthrow her, but I need help finding allies."
Sugi looked over at her. "Then you found the right person. My leader commands a massive army of his own."
Yumi raised an eyebrow. "Who is your leader?"
Sugi looked ahead. "Yoshio Kuranosuke. Leader of the Ronin. We—"
"Help!!" a frantic voice shattered the air.
Both women snapped their heads toward the sound. A civilian was trapped in a horse-drawn chariot, pursued by a squad of enemy cavalry. Leading the pack was an old man wearing a creepy ritual mask, wielding an exceptionally long sword. Suddenly, the masked man teleported off his mount, sprinting with supernatural speed into a vast field of red spider lilies.
"It's one of Amaterasu's elite!" Sugi yelled, spurring her horse.
Yumi's face contorted in anger, the bridge of her nose curling. "I've got the commander! Secure the villager!"
She unsheathed her katana, riding one-handed as she steered her horse to cut off the enemy mounts. She slashed the lead horse's reins, forcing the chariot to crash and leaving Sugi to handle the surrounding soldiers.
Sugi shouted anxiously behind her, "Yumi! Damn it, wait!"
Deep in the field of spider lilies, the masked commander slowed his pace, hearing the thunderous approach of a galloping horse. He turned around slowly.
Yumi leaped from her saddle, rolling gracefully to her feet as her horse ran clear. She held her blood-stained katana ready, a fierce, unyielding look in her eyes.
"Are you a coward?!" Yumi demanded, advancing on him. She drew the flat of her blade through the crook of her arm, wiping the excess blood away.
The man let out a dark chuckle. "Do you recognize me by my voice alone...?" He reached up and removed his mask, revealing his weathered face.
Yumi gasped in shock. "Lord Kinich? You belonged to Tsukuyomi's shadow legion. And now you serve the enemy?"
"I wasn't about to lose my head like the others," Kinich said coldly, looking down as he unsheathed a massive, heavy *odachi*.
Yumi took a deep breath, swallowing her hesitation as she dropped into her combat stance. "You will still lose it. You are a traitor, and you will die a traitor's death."
"I am no longer Lord Kinich," he growled, squaring his shoulders. "I am Kinich the Hungry."
The two lunged simultaneously, their weapons colliding with a deafening metallic screech.
"I will butcher you, take your powers, and present your head to the Tachibana clan!" he grinned wildly.
Yumi broke the clash first, thrusting her blade straight for his chest. Kinich sidestepped the point and swung his heavy odachi downward. Yumi rolled beneath the arc, slashing horizontally at his flank. The old man recovered instantly, twisting into a powerful upward swing.
Yumi parried the blow, spinning on her heel to dig her katana into the dirt, launching a spray of mud directly into his eyes. Following through with the spin, she delivered a deep, tearing slash across his stomach.
Kinich roared in pain, counter-thrusting blindly and catching her in the leg. It was a shallow wound, but Yumi barely flinched. She began phasing rapidly in and out of reality, using her ghost-like abilities to unleash a flurry of lightning-fast slashes.
To her surprise, Kinich braced his heavy odachi, tanking the shockwaves directly into the steel. He spun with tremendous force, absorbing her electrical energy and unleashing it right back at her. The concussive blast sent the surrounding spider lilies flying wildly through the air.
Yumi grunted as she was blasted backward, crashing into the dirt. "What the hell was that?!"
Kinich grinned, blood dripping from his stomach. "I devoured a warrior who used that very technique. His strength is mine now."
Nearby, Sugi finished off the last of the escort, parrying a soldier's blade before climbing up his back, spinning behind his shoulders, and driving her tanto straight through the nape of his neck. The man coughed up a spray of blood and collapsed.
Happing off the body, Sugi glanced over at the duel. "He's too strong, Yumi! Fall back!" she warned, rushing toward the field.
But Yumi wasn't listening. Driven by adrenaline, she unleashed a relentless barrage of lightning slashes, moving so fast that Kinich was completely overwhelmed, unable to block or parry the supernatural speed. The electrical discharges battered him from all sides. Once he was thoroughly stunned, Yumi dashed forward and drove her katana deep into his gut, forcing him to his knees.
She ripped the steel out of his torso, instantly bringing the bloodied edge up to rest beneath his chin. Kinich whimpered, staring up at her. Yumi stood perfectly still, her expression unreadable and cold.
"Where is Lord Takao?" she demanded.
Sugi finally reached her side, looking down at the defenseless, bleeding traitor. "Did he say anything?"
"I'm extracting that right now," Yumi said flatly, wrapping her second hand around the hilt for leverage.
Kinich chuckled weakly, reaching up a trembling hand to touch the flat of her blade. "He is in Ten… the realm of the gods. Captured by the queen herself. She is waiting for you to come to her."
Yumi narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
Kinich smiled through the blood on his teeth. "You'd have to ask her yourself—"
Before he could utter another word, Yumi grabbed his hand on the steel, brutally dragging the sharp edge across his fingers. He screamed in agony, "You bitch!"
"Why does she want me there?!" Yumi yelled.
Sensing his end, the dying man gripped his odachi with his remaining strength, attempting a desperate, dying swing. But Yumi was faster. She drove her katana directly through his chest, ripping the blade upward through his shoulder with a sickening tear.
She snapped the blood off her steel. "Farewell, traitor."
As she sheathed her sword, Yumi squeezed her eyes shut, her shoulders trembling. It was clear she was not accustomed to such merciless slaughter.
Sugi looked at her, genuinely surprised by the savagery of the execution. "Are we really going to bring this war directly to her gates?"
Yumi glared down at the corpse. "We will not leave a traitor with his secrets." She turned her back on the body, her expression hardening into something primal, almost beast-like. "Horse!" she called out.
Her mount trotted over with an obedient neigh. Sugi watched her closely, an undertone of concern in her voice as she climbed onto her own saddle. "Hey… are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Yumi replied coldly, grabbing the reins. "It's just clear that honor has no place in this war."
With that, she spurred her horse into a gallop, Sugi riding fast to keep up.
Meanwhile, at Amaterasu's fortress…
Lord Takao was on his knees, heavily bound in chains. He glared defiantly up at the sun goddess. "You are a disgrace to the heavens."
Amaterasu opened her eyes slowly—they glowed like dying embers beneath water. A faint, ethereal smile touched her lips, completely devoid of any human warmth.
"You know, my mother-in-law told me the exact same thing once… Izanami," she murmured, stepping down from her dais to approach him. "It was days after I told Tsukuyomi that we should simply find a way to survive together. I suggested we stop bragging about our respective legions and live without a rigid hierarchy. But he disagreed. He clung to his precious honor. He didn't want to sacrifice a single drop of his divine authority for the sake of peace."
She reached up, touching the golden necklace resting against her collarbone, her reflection gleaming in the polished metal. "So, I swallowed my words. I wanted him to take me back. But he never gave me a second chance. I have never felt so thoroughly disrespected… so insecure about who I was. I just wanted his attention. And so, the goddess of death was consumed by her own duties."
She looked down at Takao, letting out a soft, mocking chuckle. "I killed her. And that absolutely infuriated Tsukuyomi. So, we had our war."
"But I chose to fight him not with honor, but with a calculated necessity for absolute power. I wanted him to feel exactly how I felt: powerless. I sent every single man I commanded to his mortal captain's village, and I slaughtered everyone."
She leaned in closer, a sly, predatory smirk playing on her face. "Well… almost everyone. And that failure was because of you." She slammed her hands violently against the iron bars of his cell, attempting to make the old samurai flinch.
Takao didn't even blink.
"I committed those atrocities just to force him to appear… and yet, he still hasn't shown his face." She cupped her own cheek thoughtfully.
Takao furrowed his eyebrows in disgust. "You are completely insane."
"I mean, I gave his little princess a chance," Amaterasu continued, turning on her heel and walking gracefully back to her throne. "But she refused to take it."
She sat down, elegantly crossing her legs. "Now, she is enemy number… two."
"Lady Tachibana will save this island from your terror!" Takao cried out.
Amaterasu burst into delighted laughter, placing a delicate hand over her mouth. "You men are so incredibly foolish. She is a samurai. She is bound by honor. She will not sacrifice anything—not for a single soul."
She leaned back comfortably against the cushions of her throne. "I don't even have to lift a finger to destroy her. I just want to break her spirit. No sacrifices required on my part. I've actually found quite a bit of joy in this… I finally understand why Tsukuyomi never shared what was his." She slowly traced a circle on her thigh.
"Oh well," she said, rising smoothly to her feet. "It's either going to be her or Tsukuyomi who breaks first." She smiled cutely, her eyes flashing with malice. "It's entirely up to them." She turns away deadpan.