Another melee from the garden decides the victor.
Kei: Sakuya-san!?
Unto Sakuya-san's body, Kei-kun - no, now he's completely taken over by Nushi - delivers a mowing strike, sending her flying.
Though her body is not light by any means, Sakuya-san flies a distance of several meters, scraping past to my side...
...and collides with a pillar, shaking the whole room.
A delayed rain of blood.
A red thread connects origin and terminus, over the garden, over the veranda, over the floor, loosing a wet sound.
In the rusted iron wind, her blowing hair, further delayed, drops down.
The pulling sensation at my scalp throws the switch to jolt me out of my reverie.
Kei: Sakuya-san!!
Rushing forward to check, I see her bearing wounds that I can do little to ease.
A hot red splashes over me.
The floor is dyed as I watch.
What should I do...?
Uzuki: Tch!
Perhaps using another technique of the oni slayers, with the start of a few steps, Uzuki-san accelerates to top speed, kicking the veranda in a jump.
Her path draws no arc, only leaps in a straight line.
Yet it is so fast, and far...
Her black hair flowing behind like the tail of a comet, Uzuki-san soars under the moon, Ito at ready.
At the end of her path, Nushi, who sent Sakuya-san flying...
is not there.
Mikage: ...!?
It is Mikage-chan, in mid melee with Yumei-san.
Ahh, that's right.
With the power she holds as the Ohashirasama, she can close this wound and save Sakuya-san's life.
If Uzuki-san banishes Mikage-chan, then Yumei-san can make her way here.
Even in this crisis, or because it is a time of crisis, Uzuki-san is...
Like a sailor in a sea, swallowed by a storm, unfurling her sails and placing her trust in the North Star...
Like a hunter deep in the mountains, setting out in search of Polaris amidst a snowstorm...
She's a person who can find the unmoving star under any pitch dark sky, and continue forward without pause.
With an unwavering heart, she's a person who can think of the very best possibility and actualize it immediately.
If not, she probably couldn't compete against oni with a human body and remain the victor, but...
That's the person with whom I fell in love.
At the realization, Mikage-chan attempts to evade, but...
Yumei: I won't allow that.
Acting to seal her path of escape, Yumei-san moves her butterflies into formation, forming a cage of power.
Seeing as Yumei-san had the advantage from the start, it might not be fatal, but it has more than enough power to seal her movement.
Mikage: ...
Trapped in a valley assault, it would only be natural for Mikage-chan to cast an inquiring glance at her master.
After their glances mix, Mikage-chan...
... by her own hands, severs her white throat.
A shining red eats away at the dark of night.
Like Nozomi-chan's eight serpents, it is the same manifestation of power, as such...
Casting off her skin to spill out all the power she holds, her pretty human form collapses and is engulfed in red light.
Mikage-chan is extinguished.
All that remains is the mass of power from whence she came.
Its mere touch brings disaster. A deadly lava-like poison, the red power is all that remains.
As the light expands and contracts like a beating heart, all butterflies that touch it are annihilated.
Yumei: ...!
Yumei-san spreads her enclosure, avoiding direct contact.
However...
Uzuki-san doesn't stop.
Probing its true form, she shines her right eye clearly, and with the strength of all her body contained in one swing, her katana streaks through like a falling star.
And then...
Uzuki-san bursts through the other side of what used to be Mikage-chan.
Kei: Uzuki-san!
An exploding flash burns into my eyes...
Then, a tremor on the ground. A dense cloud of dirt rises.
As the cloud settles, I can see Uzuki-san's shape rising to her full height.
Her entire body dyed a bloody crimson, a poison cloud rises from her tattered, coiled kariginu. Judging by sight, she would be standing, covered in wounds.
Kei: Uzuki-san......
But the strength of her eyes as she nods to my whisper and her impeccable posture remain unchanged...
That's right. Having vanquished the older sister into a cloud of nothingness, there's no way she could lose to Mikage-chan.
What's dying her body is merely the blood of the vanquished spirit.
With a swipe of Ito, she flings off the red vestiges of blood, and points the blade at Nushi as if to say, "you're next."
Uzuki: Onikiri-Yaku of the Senba Clan Onikiribe, I, Senba Uzuki, challenge you with Senba Myouken-Ryuu.
Nushi: Oh?
Uzuki-san continues incessantly to do what must be done, without fear or pause.
So I, too, had better do my part.
Kei: Yumei-san!!
I call out to Yumei-san, her concentration lost on Nushi's actions, just like me a moment ago.
Taking care not to provoke the other two, Yumei-san heads in this direction.
Yumei: ......
A look of severity crosses her face when she sees Sakuya-san's wounds, and she puts both hands to the task.
Her hands, palms open to touch at the wrists, are like a butterfly's open wings. Those hands are surrounded in a light like that of her butterflies, shining faintly.
Kei: Yumei-san...... are you alright?
Answering with a mute nod, she concentrates on treating the wounds.
Above her tightly knit eyebrows, pearls of sweat begin to form.
That's right... having been fighting until only a moment ago, she must be exhausted.
I gather blood in my hands from the leg wound I inflicted upon myself, and offer it to Yumei-san.
Kei: Here, drink my blood.
Yumei: Kei-chan......
My help can go no farther than this.
And so, I...
...turn my eyes to a sound like steel meeting steel, coming from the garden.
Uzuki: Khu!......
Ito no Tachi is whipped back by Nushi's arm, the lowered blade repulsed upward.
Upon Nushi's arm are no wounds. A red power shows in the shape of scales, and slowly melts into the air.
He swipes with his other arm, with an air of ease.
That arm, hard enough to repulse a fully sharpened blade, is thrust out with amazing speed.
Uzuki-san leaps back in an effort to avoid it.
In mid jump, she raises Ito.
A counter-attack as she lands - that's probably her plan, but...
...she accelerates in mid-air.
That is no human technique.
Most likely because Nushi's arm was longer than she estimated...
In other words, because she was caught in his attack.
Coming to a land much farther than expected, Uzuki-san leans her center of gravity forward and braces her legs to avoid tumbling.
From the touchdown, she splits the grass as she slides backward, leaving a half-meter long trail before she stops.
Uzuki: Khaugh!...
She hacks a clod of blood from her mouth.
If she wasn't jumping backward, it probably would've been a repeat of Sakuya-san's battle.
Without wiping the blood from her lips, she raises Ito in a renewed grip.
And Nushi...
...Nushi hasn't even moved a step from his original position.
The distance between the two is open, set for another pass.
The wind blows.
It passes in the space between them.
The lengthy garden grass sways in the breeze.
Nushi: ......Hmph!
Opening and closing the fist of his arm that withstood Ito's strike, twice, three times, he plays a satisfied-looking smile across the edges of his mouth.
Even if his face is that of Kei-kun, looking at the crescent moon-shaped curve of his lips is like watching a snake smile, sending shivers up my spine.
Nushi: Daughter of the oni slayers, for now, I thank you. With your attack as the opportunity, I was able to come to the surface.
Ahh...
That time I was thrown out from inside Kei-kun...
It's true that Uzuki-san's Tama Kezuri is probably what weakened his power to oppose Nushi, but...
Nushi: Call it gratitude or whatever you like, but if you turn your heels as you are and take leave of this place without turning back, I shall vow to spare you any harm.
Uzuki: If I could take Kei-san in doing so, it wouldn't be unthinkable to accept those conditions, but...
Uzuki: A breakdown of negotiations, I take it. To begin with, I have no intention to make a trade with an oni that brings harm to humanity.
Nushi: Hmph...... to fight me with a human body... how absurd. The ones that sealed me were oni. As for any oni slayers you humans sent for me, I crushed them without even using my hands.
Her opponent is no human and no ordinary oni...
The last attack driven in was obstructed by hard scales, with no effect. Even if he showed her his back, it would be of no consequence, but...
Uzuki-san's heart is set and unwavering.
Uzuki: So my revenge... was not for him, but for you.
Facing Nushi straight on, she takes a step forward.
Uzuki: I had already tied a manner of connection with him, and found it difficult to slay him, particularly in front of Kei-san.
Uzuki: But the one who stole his body, devoured humans, and drove me to kill my brother... was you.
Stopping with a distance of several steps between them, she flashes her right iris blue and glares at him...
Uzuki: Nushi, if you're my opponent, I can throw away my final doubts to slay you!
She bears Ito over her shoulder, and drops her waist.
The stance holding the name of the Hagun star, said to promise defeat to those who face it, and victory to those at its back.
Bearing that star, Uzuki-san challenges the oni god.
Uzuki: Kei-san...
Uzuki: One can only carry the weight of their works on their own.
I don't really understand the works of the oni slayers, but...
Uzuki: But, if you're okay with it, even if only for a short moment, I would like you to support me.
If a believing heart can become power, I'll support you with all my might.
Uzuki: When I might crumble under the weight of my works, I would like you to support me with those hands of yours.
If a tiny light can become hope, I'll support you as much as you wish.
I want to become the symbol of daily life that will shine in the darkest of times.
Kei: ......Okay.
So with a slight word and a nod, I watch over Uzuki-san as she stands to fight.
Uzuki: Senba Myouken-Ryuu---
Her powerful step shakes the earth.
The rebounding movements of her knee and heel become a driving force, and with perfectly set timing, the Ito no Tachi borne upon her shoulders falls to strike.
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