Still trapped in a traumatic daze, Orihime weakly stretched her hand outward. Her trembling fingers brushed against Tsushimamaru's soaking, weeping face.
"Tsushima…" she whispered, her voice barely a thread. As her consciousness returned, the iron chains that had been stitching her wounds together finally lost their grip, clattering lifelessly to the dirt. "Is that really you? Ah... I must have finally died. Is this heaven?"
Her palm pressed flat against his cheek, her fingers tracing every sharp indent and line of Tsushimamaru's face.
"No... No, my love, I am really here. I am right here," he choked out, his voice shaking violently as he looked down at her. He caught sight of the kimono fluttering slightly in the cold breeze. 'It must have been that young warrior... I owe that boy a debt I can never repay,' Tsushimamaru thought, pulling the frail girl into a tight, protective embrace before gently pulling back to look at her.
"We have to get away from here right now." His mind began to race in a frantic panic. Looking at the pregnant woman, the young boy, and the grandmother still balancing precariously on his massive frame, the overwhelming weight of survival hit him. "I... I don't know what to do."
"I can help you get out of here," a sharp, calm voice rang out.
Tsushimamaru's eyes snapped wildly around the dim courtyard. "Ahhh?! Where did that voice come from?"
From the edge of the dry mat, Inoue rose to his paws, casually stretching his catlike spine before walking directly toward the towering man.
"Haaaaaaa?! A Neko... it can talk?" Tsushimamaru's voice rose in absolute, staggered disbelief. He blinked down at the cat. "Now I truly have seen everything."
"There is no need for panic," Inoue replied smoothly, his two-toned eyes locking onto the bewildered giant. "I am a type of household spirit, the companion of the young man who just saved her." He then glanced at the sky.
"The Reiryoku I am sensing radiating from the inner pavilions, the fights from now on are going to completely tear this place apart. I should lead you all back to the riverbank so you can escape before the storm hits."
Gggrrrrrrrr...
A dense, brilliant blue spiritual light suddenly erupted from Inoue's small frame. His two tails aggressively grew longer, splitting and lengthening in perfect tandem with his expanding torso. Within the span of a few heartbeats, Inoue, the cute spirit, had vanished, replaced by a massive, predatory beast the size of a great tiger, his fur now completely white except for a few patches of black.
"Place that woman upon my back. Let us move," Inoue commanded, his voice deep and resonant.
Tsushimamaru hesitated for only a fraction of a second, his mind completely numb to the surreal wonders of the island. Within that very same breath, he carefully hoisted Orihime onto the great beast's back, gathered the remaining villagers, and began their rapid descent toward the safety of the riverbank.
…
At the eastern perimeter of the Sanctuary.
…
Watanabe and Ayumi were locked in a fierce duel.
"Tch... I managed to throw Shion clear from the heat, bu—" Watanabe hissed under his breath, his eyes darting frantically across the courtyard. "—t I don't know how much longer I can hold this line. I don't even have my sword, tch, I regret giving it to Taisho now."
Across the shattered stones, a massive, jagged dome of solid ice stood frozen in the centre of the courtyard, acting as a makeshift cocoon where Shion lay sheltered. The ambient temperature had plummeted so fiercely that every ragged breath Watanabe took caused a thick cloud of white steam to billow into the air.
Tinnngggggg!
A blinding, high-pitched flare of light abruptly detonated in the centre of the space, temporarily searing Watanabe's vision. He threw his bare forearms up in a desperate cross, shielding his eyes from the glare while trying to peer through the narrow gaps of his fingers.
Bang!
Ayumi materialised instantly inside his blind spot. Her strike connected to Watanabe's, the sheer momentum sending him flying backwards across the gravel.
"Huuuu—!"
Watanabe exhaled sharply, flash-freezing the soles of his feet to the stone floor, violently braking his momentum before he could smash into the surrounding pagoda walls.
His hand instinctively drifted down to his ribs, where the blow had landed. There, scorched into the fabric, was the precise imprint of a small, delicate palm. The strike had burned clean through his armour and his outer layers of heavy linen, leaving a smouldering, blackened brand on his skin.
'Damn it... damn it! I have to change my strategy, or I am going to die right here,' Watanabe thought, his pupils dilating as he scanned the shifting mountain fog for the next incoming assault.
But it was entirely hopeless.
Out of the swirling white mist, Ayumi had seemingly multiplied. Dozens of identical, orange-haired maidens emerged from the vapour, their faces twisted into identical, unbothered expressions as they seamlessly encircled the weaponless warrior in a shifting labyrinth of illusions.
The jagged dome of defensive ice Watanabe had conjured was already beginning to sweat and liquefy under the intense heat of Ayumi.
But just as the defensive barrier threatened to collapse entirely, the single, glowing petal branded into his forearm violently flared with a brilliant crimson light. Hundreds of ethereal petals erupted from his flesh, dancing around his bare arm in a swirling, frantic vortex.
A vibrant, blinding pink light shone through the thick courtyard mist and then vanished instantly, leaving a heavy, pristine Katana resting perfectly within his grip.
"What is this…" Watanabe whispered, his eyes widening in awe.
The blade was breathtakingly beautiful. Its steel possessed a clear, mirror-like silver gleam, and the hilt was tightly wrapped in immaculate white cord. From the pommel, a single, unwithering sakura blossom dangled elegantly from a thin silk thread, swaying gently in the freezing air.
"Is this... what they call a spirit's blessing?"
The moment his fingers fully wrapped around the hilt, he felt his Reiryoku begin to rise steadily, stabilising his trembling legs and filling his collapsed spiritual pathways with a warm, refreshing surge of energy.
Up along the sloping tile roofs of the surrounding estate, Yorimitsu finally bounded into the sector. He paused for a fraction of a second on the ridgepole, his sharp gaze cutting down through the fog to survey the battlefield.
"Ha! It is Watanabe," Yorimitsu murmured, his eyes instantly tracking the brilliant, blossom-shaped spiritual pressure radiating from the new weapon. "That blade... it carries hopes of the Ubume from earlier."
Yorimitsu's eyes flicked over to the circling mirages of Ayumi. He let out a low, confident hum. "Mmmm. She doesn't look too strong. I am sure he can manage her."
Without intervening, he lunged off the roof, his silhouette soaring clean over the courtyard as he pressed onward toward the inner sanctum.
"That sickening aura I felt from the central palace... it only continues to grow stronger," Yorimitsu gritted his teeth mid-air, his hand tightening around his own hilt. "I must reach the centre before it's too late. I have a bad feeling about all of this."