A long night, adorned with bright stars in a remote place far from the land of the "Oni." There, an old friend stood looking at the sky... a man who watches everything from everywhere with eyes that do not sleep. Some call him the "Rogue Prince," and some whisper his name in fear as "Master of the Gu." But his most famous title is... "Ascender to the Heavens."
He was contemplating the stars with boredom, when suddenly... his hand holding the teacup stopped in mid-air. He closed his eyes, sensing a faint vibration in the fabric of the universe. A thin, invisible thread, an ancient thread of "ownership" that bound a distant slave... snapped suddenly. It vanished as if it never was. It wasn’t pain, but a feeling of sudden emptiness in a specific point of his spiderweb. A wide smile appeared, revealing white teeth in the darkness of the night, and he said in a calm voice dripping with amusement: "It seems the birds have learned how to break the cages... The time has come." Then he took a sip of tea, enjoying the taste of the freedom that would soon be crushed.
Perspective: Kage
I screamed, my voice lost in the void: "What is happening, Maru?!" Maru was looking at the horizon, his eyes wide with a terror I had never seen in him: "I don't know! The barrier... it has fallen! I don't feel Kina!"
I looked behind me. And I saw the nightmare manifesting. I saw some Foxes running... then that violet aura touched them. They didn't burn and turn to charcoal. No... that would have been a mercy. They vanished. Their bodies crumbled into luminous dust, and they disappeared from existence. They didn't even scream... just total silence.
Matriarch Kinami shouted in a booming voice, trying to plant courage in our trembling hearts: "Do not fear! Kina is with us! The forest will protect us!" But she looked toward the "Holy Tree" whose peak emerged from the center of the village. Her face went pale, and her staff fell from her hand. "No... don't tell me... that is impossible."
I looked at the tree under which I was crowned hours ago. The Mother Tree. It was burning. The violet flame was crawling up its silver trunk like a malignant disease, devouring the leaves, sucking out the life, turning holiness into nothingness. The flame was killing Kina herself.
I hugged Yuta tightly, and Maru grabbed me by my shoulder and shook me violently until it hurt: "Get Yuta out of here fast, Kage! Run!" I froze. Tears burned my eyes: "It's my fault! I brought him here! I brought the curse! If I hadn't left..." Maru hugged me hard, and screamed in a voice mixed with despair and resolve: "Kage! Listen to me! You didn't bring them with you! This would have happened eventually! Ieyasu wouldn't stop!" "So don't talk like that! Don't forget you are a Fox now! And a Fox among Foxes protects her pack! Be strong for him!"
I looked at Yuta, awake and terrified in my arms, trembling like a leaf in a storm. I looked at the other children crying in terrifying silence. I wiped my tears with my sleeve. "Okay." I started running, carrying Yuta. Matriarch Kinami saw me as she tried to organize the collapsing ranks. She said quickly, her voice panting: "Kage! East of the forest! Kina protects a secret path there... the flame hasn't reached it yet. Take the other Foxes and the children quickly! Run to the river!" I said: "What about you, Mother?" She smiled a sad smile, the smile of a mother bidding her children farewell forever: "I must settle old scores. Go, my daughter. And live."
I looked around. Only the mothers and children were following me. As for the rest... the warriors and men decided to stay with Kinami and Maru to die. I bit my lip until it bled, and the taste of iron filled my mouth: "I will come back. I promise." And I started running. The green light (Kina's blessing) surrounded us, trying to protect us from the flying violet sparks. We were running fast over burning trees. Why did this happen, I wonder? Is it because I wanted happiness? Is happiness forbidden to me? I looked at the children running while crying, their faces smeared with ash and tears. Even if my life is the price... I will protect them.
Perspective: XXXX (Dio)
The sound of war drums "Doom... Doom... Doom" echoed in my ribcage, a symphony of vengeance I had been waiting to play for a long time. The forest I wished every day would burn, here it is now turning into an open graveyard before me. 404 spoke in my mind with his cold robotic voice:
I didn't care. I don't need numbers and analysis; I am here to watch the show. The smell of wood "bleeding" boiling sap, and the metallic smell of death wafted from the forest. The screams of beasts, and the chaos of destruction... the scent was magnificent, filling my lungs with a strange euphoria. I looked at the Samurai around me; they were looking at the ground, averting their eyes from the massacre. They shouted "Yorishiro" with their mouths, but their eyes screamed "Enough." Fools. They lack the artistic taste to appreciate the beauty of this annihilation.
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I looked at the Shogun. I thought he would be grim. But I saw his face under the light of the violet flame... he was smiling. Ah... I found my lookalike at last. He was exactly like me. Happy, and enjoying tearing the world apart.
Suddenly, a sad singing voice cut through the dust of battle, singing like the wailing of the wind. "I am Kina... Mother of all light and shadow... With a thousand kisses I embrace your hearts... my children..." The singing was melting, voice after voice disappearing as death approached. Finally, the smoke parted and they emerged. A green aura surrounding them, injured Foxes, covered in blood, but standing with dignity. There were no more than two hundred Foxes. And in the center, stood that old woman, and beside her that Fox, "Maru."
I looked at them closely... I didn't find Clara. Did she die? ... I wanted to see the terror in her eyes before I killed her. The Foxes were not afraid. Their eyes were fixed on the Shogun alone. The Shogun said, taking a step forward, his sword dripping darkness: "Kinami... the time has come to pay debts." Kinami screamed in his face, her voice carrying a reproach that squeezed the heart: "Ieyasu!! How does your heart allow you?! Do you not possess a speck of mercy? To kill Kina herself and burn the cradle of our memories? What you have done will not be forgiven in any world!"
The Shogun smiled coldly, but it was a coldness that hid a volcano beneath: "Are you angry?" Then he screamed a resounding, hysterical scream that shook the sky and frightened his own soldiers: "This is what I have felt all my life! And I still feel it! I swear to you, Kinami, you traitor, and every single one of your filthy race... that I will exterminate you! I will not let a drop of your blood defile this world!"
Then he attacked her with lightning speed. The sword clashed with the magic staff, and the battle began. Simultaneously, thirty thousand Samurai pounced on the two hundred Foxes.
I looked at Maru. He didn't seem to recognize me because of my disguise. I smiled, then my fake features faded and I returned to my true form. I launched toward him like an arrow, aiming a blow that would have split him in two. He blocked the blow with extreme difficulty, and looked at me with bulging eyes: "You... are still alive? How?" I smiled, and leaned close to his face: "This time, the story is different."
We clashed, and I discovered something funny... this bastard is weak. Last time, he seemed to me like a fast monster, but now... he is slow. Too slow. His sword has no aura, and his movements are desperate. This isn't a battle, this is "playing with food." I started mocking him: "You weakling... Faster! Hey hey! Is this all you have?" I was talking to him while scratching his skin with deliberate superficial strikes. He was fighting like a staggering clown, trying to defend and dodge in vain. After a bit of sadistic fun, I said with boredom: "This is boring. I'll just kill him. His weakness insulted my sword." I raised my sword to cut off his head, and suddenly... the ground split beneath me! A thick tree branch, bleeding sap that looked like blood, attacked me like a snake and pushed me back, inflicting a superficial wound.
I looked around in astonishment; the Foxes are holding their ground! The earth itself is fighting with them. Roots emerging to trip the Samurai, and branches coming down on them like whips. This damn forest... is still annoying even as it breathes its last breaths.
I turned my gaze to the Shogun and Kinami. It was a fight combining dance and massacre. I felt a vague sadness watching them... and crushing anger. The Shogun was pressuring Kinami without mercy, cornering her. Then finally... with a flashing violet glint, his blade pierced her chest. She fell to the ground, as if a mountain had collapsed.
In that moment, the forest screamed a silent scream we heard with our hearts. The Foxes' energy exploded, they fought with the ferocity of the desperate, but the end was written. The Samurai began harvesting heads, and the forest began to wither... leaves falling as ash, and branches stiffening.
I looked at Kinami. She was trying to stand, crimson blood dyeing her green robe. She looked at the Shogun with eyes overflowing with tears. She said in a hoarse voice: "Ieyasu-kun..." She fell again. She tried to stand stubbornly, and said pleadingly: "Ieyasu-kun..." She stood finally, staggering, and looked directly into his cold eyes, and smiled with a broken heart: "You still have beautiful eyes..."
Then with a final look, she bid farewell to all the dying Foxes, and looked at Maru lying on the ground. She whispered words that sounded like a funeral hymn: "Molten gold, in the soul of the blade slumbered... death and beauty."
Suddenly... the world exploded in green. A bright, pure light turned the sky green with its intensity, erasing the blackness of the night and the ugliness of the violet aura. Behind that light appeared the specter of a giant woman made of light, radiating indescribable maternal love. Then with a final movement, the green light descended toward every Fox whose heart still beat, wrapping them like a temporal cocoon.
I saw Maru begin to fade. I screamed in rage and sent my sword flying to kill him. Maru was looking at Kinami and screaming in pain, indifferent to the coming death. Kinami looked at him one last time, and said: "I am sorry... for being a useless mother." Then... Maru disappeared. My sword sliced the empty air where he stood a fraction of a second ago. He escaped!
The arena calmed suddenly. The green light disappeared, and the living Foxes disappeared. Nothing remained on the battlefield but corpses... and Kinami. She was standing, alone, the sword still in her chest. All the Samurai looked at her in holy silence, and Ieyasu stood before her in silence and coldness. In that moment... Kinami, the Mother, died. She died standing... alone... and smiling... and the tears had dried forever on her cheeks.