PREFACE:
Just like the usual, here's a content warning and a reminder that the story's contents may not be suitable to younger audiences. This chapter includes scenes of written violence, blood, and minor/light gore. If you're easily disturbed by depictions of violence in literature form, then it's best to click off the chapter and the story.
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He knew that they were not going to sleep even a single wink throughout the night, not because of the new invasive thoughts that surely must've had flooded their minds after the rather their recent, and more... direct and adventurous discussions regarding their feelings just now - but instead because of the elephant in the room, being the freezing temperature of the ship's empty deck.
Even with her back and his torso essentially sticking together to share some of their body heat, the young man couldn't help but to steal a few moments to slip his hand down into the small gap between their bodies, situated near her lower spine and his front waist to rub his own hands together in order to produce some internal heat of his own. It really didn't help that the two Narukami outbounds were being so conservative with their actions, but at the same time, all too acutely aware of every single small movement each other made.
Throughout his life, Hinode Nobutada has always been reserved with his emotions and inner thoughts, his mind was always focused into thinking something practical to avoid drifting off and becoming easy pickings for the curse to consume. And for the record, it wasn't exactly a challenging thing either when everyday was basically a struggle for survival. His brain would always conceptualize and planning his next move, his next thievery, his worries and concerns whether the children under him would even live to see the next day.
Obviously, the situation has changed greatly since the job he took from the strange outlanders who very easily said that they wanted to destroy the nation without so much as an ounce of doubt within them. He thought that it would be a simple job, it was supposed a simple job. It turned into a game of smoke and mirrors, involving both internal and international politics and controversies that he couldn't even begin to describe.
Just what was going on with Inazuma?
And more importantly, what was going on with... well, himself?
Kamisato Ayaka was an oddity - an exact opposite on what he was, on what Hinode Nobutada was. Where she never struggled with the hardships of life as a commoner, he was practically the lowest denominator - the bottom of the barrel and the food chain. Where she was so full of life and ambitions, that either the Yasogami, the Narukami Ogosho, or other omnipotent being out there saw her worthy of carrying a Vision - he was left ignored and unwanted by the Gods. She was someone with noble dreams, while he's there for his own selfish reasons.
She was a woman who has everything, while he was a man of nothing. She was supposed to be his anti-thesis, and Nobutada was sure she thought of the same to him. They were polar contradictions of one another, destined to never understand each other. Yet time and time again, the opposites attract.
Although to be fair, he's still yet to understand this lady known as Kamisato Ayaka. The one who somehow managed to chip his perfectly-practiced countenance, his formerly unbreakable mask of stoicism that made him resemble something more of a living, breathing, thinking, but ultimately unfeeling husk than a normal human being.
Uneasiness, distress, awkwardness. Nobutada would never, in his life, expected to feel emotions so complex and so raw, not to mention, it was extremely dangerous for him to be so emotionally vulnerable, especially considering the fact that the fallen Serpent God's influence continued to stalk his mind. He felt as though most of his actions recently were motivated by something else other than objective reason.
There was no need for him to be act so friendly with the lady of the clan, there was no incentive for him to humor her questions or sate her curiosity regarding his life, he would gain nothing from trading jokes and polite insults with her. Zero practical reasons for them to interact at all, she would receive nothing in interacting with a commoner of the unsavory kind like him, likewise he too achieved nothing of note by tolerating her presence.
And yet he didn't shoo her away either. That was the thing, he seemed to have unconsciously welcomed the modest conversations about random topics with her, he seemed to be interested in gaining some additional insights from her as she did from him. The silence that used to be the main companion for the better part of his life as a thief was instead replaced with the dry-humored, witty, and snarky exchanges they did from time to time.
Even more amazing was the fact that all these changes basically happened within the span of one week. It didn't feel exactly subtle, but it wasn't so obvious that he just flipped a switch and turned into a different individual entirely at a drop of a hand, either. Still, for them to take place within a few days was nothing short of astonishing, and perhaps even a little bit frightening.
There was a reason why he went from being quiet most of the time to feeling unnerved whenever the silence between the two lasted for a few seconds too long. There was a reason why he felt... nervous - that's another new thing - as they sat in silence, awaiting the sunrise and with their eyes staring at the now extinguished lantern on the deck floor, the object in question basically ran out of its fuel not long after it turned itself on.
There was a reason why he felt a multitude of things he couldn't quite understand, and technically most of those could be attributed because of one thing, his own budding tolerance towards sentimentality. However, if there any objective truth he could take from her words - was when she said something about needing to figure out their thoughts first before moving on with whatever complicated dynamics they got now.
Alas, he stored the thoughts and questions for later - as the pair seemed to notice some shift on the abandoned ship's ambient temperature. While the air was still cool, the morning light started to pierce through the many holes and cracks of the wrecked vessel. The pair was slow to react, their bodies almost quite literally frozen in place, rigid and stiff from the cold winds that peppered their limbs.
Ayaka was the first one to break free from her icy cage, the lady blew out the air she'd inhaled into one large sigh through her mouth. Cracks were present on her lips and some rough thin ice particles seemed to fall from her cheeks as her muscles started to regain motor functions. Her body soon followed, as she quietly separated her back from the young man, before shooting him a look from her steel eyes, now adorning black circles around them.
She gave him a quiet bow. "...Good morning, Nobutada-san," The lady of the clan greeted, her voice polite and even - just as usual - but it also had great amounts of uncertainty and an almost withdrawn intonation to it.
He gave her a nod back, neck stiff from the cold while his lips parted, or at least they tried to part to let him speak, but the frost had sealed them tight. Instead he pursed his lips and produced some saliva in an attempt to thaw them out quicker, all the while the lady in white just patiently sat there, now back to facing the male.
His efforts were finally rewarded with his mouth moving, the action proved to be rather painful. "Right- good morning, Ayaka-san," His throat rumbled and his voice sore.
Thankfully, his ever neutral composure and speech seemed to have returned to him overnight, replacing the bumbling, awkward demeanor he had just a few hours ago - though the lack of confidence in his voice was also clear as day to her as her eyebrows rose as a reflexively response.
Those eyebrows eventually lowered themselves after she gathered her own countenance. "Did you manage to get some rest?"
It was his turn to raise his eyebrows at her question. "Seems as though I should be the one asking you. You look like you're about to drop dead right there and then."
And he wouldn't even blame the lady if she did pass out, the past twenty-four hours and maybe even more than that had been filled with nothing but strenuous activities that were probably unsuited to a lady of her stature. From repelling a siege, walking an entire island's worth of distance, braving the snowstorm - all while fighting back the influence of the Tatarigami that nearly took hold of her twice.
The signs of physical exhaustion were there, from the way her shoulders were slouched forward and sagged, the occasional rapid blinking of her eyes indicating the challenge for the noble to merely keep those steel orbs of hers open, and of course - there were the obvious dark bags underneath said orbs that became increasingly apparent.
Though, it's not like he was faring much better than the noble away from home. Despite being conditioned to demanding work with little to no rest, his own vision seemed to mix and blur together, unable to focus for a long while even when most of his senses have already returned to him. He could also feel the light migraine forming inside his head due to the lack of rest, and wouldn't be surprised if he too, had dark circles from his own poor sleeping habits.
Ayaka allowed herself a smile. "It might sound incredibly snobbish, coming from me. But let's just say that the freezing cold temperatures of a ship's deck and the hard wooden floors here aren't exactly the best substitute for the warm comforts of a futon."
He would hum at her response, giving her a knowing nod at that. For a noble that's always experienced the luxuries of Narukami Island, taking refuge in the cold and unfriendly regions would certainly take her out of her usual pleasantries - especially one that's as harsh as Yashiori Island.
"No surprises there..." The thief muttered. "How are you feeling otherwise?"
She seemed to pause a bit, hand going up to her head and shaking her head a few times to gauge her immediate physical awareness. "...Perhaps a bit lightheaded," The lady admitted. "But nothing to be concerned about."
After giving an acknowledging noise as his response, Nobutada's body shifted, slowly standing back up to his feet, his knees and toes felt heavy and unresponsive - to the point he had to support himself by leaning against the side walls of the ship. It took him a couple of seconds to regain his balance, much to the mild but silent amusement of his fellow Narukami outbound. She wasn't exactly smiling, but the glint of her steel eyes would suggest that she was absorbed by the thief's attempt to gain his equilibrium.
Without much pause, the ronin extended his open palm to the lady, feeling that she too probably would need a bit of a scaffolding to stabilize. In turn, she would stare at the calloused hand of his for a few seconds, before she ultimately shrugged and decided that she too would return the favor by picking up her father's odachi up from the ground, and accepting the offered hand.
With a grunt, he pulled her up to her feet. Ayaka certainly tried her best not to look weak for once, and to her credit and true to the blood of a warrior coursing within her veins, she did succeed in finding her own balance without any further assistance from her supposed confidant. She then simply handed the large blade of Lord Kamisato back to its current master with an appreciative nod.
One that he quietly returned.
"...I was expecting you to make another jab at my weight, Nobutada-san," Ayaka pointed out wryly. "Suddenly it feels strange to see you so subdued."
Nobutada's deadpanned look was more than a common sight, but from the looks of it, it seemed that she enjoyed humoring herself out of his expense. "What, you really like getting slander that much, Ayaka-san?" He shot back with mock exasperation. "Kind of a weird hobby to pick up, don't you think?"
"I may not be the most sociable person out there, but I know a weak comeback when I see one," She rolled her eyes somewhat playfully. "You're starting to sound like Thoma."
There was a somewhat delighted noise that came out of the young woman when she witnessed the rare twitch of annoyance on his eyebrows. "Amaterasu-kami, am I really that much of a clown in your eyes that you think that my thoughts are filled with nothing but petty jokes?"
A light giggle sounded off from the lady in white. "My apologies, Nobutada-san," She bowed her head to prove her words. "But considering you've managed to take care of quite a few children, I'd expected you to be quite the jester to entertain them."
Nobutada snorted without much humor. "Unfortunately for the kids, I'm probably 'one of the most boring dude in Teyvat', as quoted by Thoma-san."
Ayaka made a light, questioning noise. "Really? If this is your boring side, then I can't imagine what your humorous side will be."
"Not sure how I should break it to you Ayaka-san, But there's no two sides of a mora with me. I'm just... boring," He shrugged easily. "Can't imagine someone unemotional being the mood maker of anything."
The lady huffed something, before she poked the side of his torso with her elbow. "Inexpressive, maybe, but not unemotional," Her face deflated, looking particularly serious as she echoed her sentiment from the previous night.
Nobutada tossed his gaze aside, avoiding her narrowing steel eyes. "...What's next on our agenda, Ayaka-san? We're basically close to that... facility, yeah?"
"Don't think I didn't notice you trying to change the topic of our discussions, Nobutada-san," Ayaka noted with a hint of mischief, however that too would evaporate rather quickly. "I was thinking that we should drop by Fort Fujitou - the main frontline base of the Sangonomiya Resistance."
The young male's eyebrows suggested a forming question. "Thinking about making more friends?"
To which she nodded at that. "Correct. After seeing what those outlanders- we call them the Fatui, by the way- did to the Kujou... I feel like they're to planning on something truly terrible."
"Yes well... their ringleader did mention something about 'burning Inazuma to the ground', back then..." Even though he had no love for the nation, the way that mysterious man said it with such a dispassionate tone still made for quite a disturbing memory.
"Then it's precisely the reason why we need to gather as much allies as possible - get as many clans and able-bodied fighters on the same page and warn them of this looming threat," Ayaka continued. "If they're willing to go as far as to destroy the entire nation, then we need to bring the entire nation together to destroy them."
Nobutada witnessed the dark and almost hostile tone she suddenly took. "...Careful Ayaka-san," He said genuinely, pointing out to her uncharacteristically aggressive stance. "We're entering the resting place of the Serpent God."
The lady's face went neutral as she blinked twice. "I know..." She sighed, finally waiting for a few seconds before her steel eyes landed on his amber ones. "That's why I got you to keep me sane, Nobutada-san."
"You sure you're getting the order right? Seems like you're the one keeping me sane so far," One of his eyebrows lifted to question her statement.
"Then that just means we can act as pretty good anchors for each other," She waved him off rather easily, brushing past the ronin with a ghost of a smile. "...We should move, the sooner we get to the fort, the better."
While her expression suggested that she seemed to be taking everything in just fine, the way her body rigidly made its way towards the door and the brisk pace she moved suggested that she wasn't ready to talk about their words last night, and to be frank, neither was the young man - not when he they could quite literally see the resting place of the Watatsumi Omikami. Now more than ever, he needed to keep himself in check.
"...Alright."
After tying the sling of Lord Kamisato's blade to his back, he rejoined the lady who was already in the process of exiting the ship. The current lady of the clan took the initiative by pulling the door open to the inside, letting a rush of cold air to invade the cool but stabilized temperature of the room.
Both Narukami outbounds shivered at the sudden influx of morning wind, but both ultimately said nothing as they escaped through the ruined interior of the crashed vessel. Ayaka was quick to offer a silent, solemn prayer - clapping her hands together before making a small bow to the abandoned ship. Likely as a form of both sending her quiet prayers and thanks for essentially intruding upon what could be the final resting place of many.
The thief slid his roningasa back to his cover his head while his neck craned left and right, scanning their immediate surroundings. Only the gray seas and gray morning skies greeted his view. Thankfully, the cloud cover was quite minimal - a byproduct of the skies already expending most of its products during the snowstorm last night. The pale orange light of the sun peeked through the clear spots of the eastern horizon, doing its own minimal part to warm up the environment.
But it did nothing to soothe or reduce the haunting atmosphere of what was essentially a massive graveyard. And to think that the name Nazuchi meant something between the lines of being gently guided by the hands of the gods - but instead, the region in question became the bloodiest place in Inazuma with their long and bloody history of constant fighting.
The wrecked ships, the fallen and rusted blades on the sand, and the perfectly clear view of the split landmass of Yashiori thanks to the Shogun's mighty slash - they painted a very vivid picture on what Nazuchi really was: a no man's land. Coupled with the pale winter sunlight and the snow that covered the already barren patches of greenery that used to at least dot some of the beaches with natural plantations just made the scene all the more disturbing.
And of course, there was also the centerpiece of the picture, being Yashiori Island itself. The island that was once home to many, and the source of Inazuma's highly sought-after crystal marrows - was now completely abandoned. Thanks to the broken seals that once contained the corrupting powers of the Tatarigami and the subsequent Civil War that followed, no one dared to return to the island - even after the situation was contained.
Even from the distance, the effects of prolonged exposure to the corrupting powers of the plague were already clear. The geometry of the land looked... broken - just like Kannazuka, but to an even more extreme extend. High cliffs with pieces of landmass sometimes jotting out from the cliff faces with long drops to sea level, exposed caverns with raw pieces of the earth raised from the ground and the occasional rumble of Balethunder, mixing in with the cursed land throughout the Musojin Gorge made the island equally scenic as it is dangerous.
It was only after the straw hat turned his keen amber eyes back to their surroundings that he noticed some movement - movement on the far, left-hand side of the island approaching the abandoned beaches of Nazuchi. Thanks to flat terrain, he could easily spot a group of individuals on a very deliberate march towards the ship graveyard.
He took this as a cue to alert the praying noblewoman just to his rear. "Ayaka-san, heads up."
The lady made a lightly surprised and questioning noise to his sudden words, it was only after she followed his now-covered head towards the general direction of these new approaching unknowns did she realize the same thing, and her face contorted into a rather cautious frown as she squinted her steel eyes to focus upon them.
Due to the flat terrain of the beach, the pair could easily pick up these individuals as being Inazumans just like them. Their dress code, however - quickly became a cause of concern. It was a group about eight native Inazumans, with two assumedly lead members taking charge of the entire group. Their followers had relatively light and simple clothing - with thin shitagi that lacked any other outerwear, exposing much of their bodies to the cold, while most of them had their own distinctive, crudely-made straw hats to help mask their identities.
Their leaders, however - clothed themselves in a much more elaborate and well-protected clothing - similar to the Samurai employed by the Shogunate. In fact, the worn armor pieces still strapped onto their bodies still carried the symbol of Electro - the nation's proud sigil - meaning that were a part of the Shogun's army - or at least they used to be a part of it during the height of the Civil War. In place of the straw hats, these men wore their own kabuto, both with visible signs of damage as well with the broken horns and chipped mengu.
"...Vagrants," The thief noted.
Ayaka nodded, her face scrunching to several emotions within the span of a few seconds, mostly settling on looking rather conflicted.
"Nobushi, Kairagi..." Spoke the young woman, identifying the men nearing their proximity. "Nobutada-san, these men are likely former Samurai."
Considering the pair's positions, they were still smack-dab in the middle of flat terrain on their own, there was no way that the ronins coming from the opposing didn't see them coming their way. The situation was made all the more dangerous, considering the lady's stature and ornate appearance that really made her stick out like a sore thumb. However, the group didn't look like they were in a hurry either.
"You have any bright ideas, Ayaka-san?" Nobutada slid his face closer to her ear, whispering to the noble woman as his fingers hesitantly slid downwards to his obi. "...Judging from their movements, they don't seem to be looking for a fight, but..."
She nodded carefully at his observations. "Right... call it paranoia- but I feel as though something's off," The lady in white's contemplative but focused gaze gave him the idea that she was searching for some kind of a solution. "For now let's stay our blade, see if we can avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. These people used to be men of honor, after all."
The straw hat hummed in agreement. "That would be... ideal."
Truth be told, he wasn't holding onto her words and neither was the noblewoman herself, from the looks of it. The bandits and vagrants of Inazuma are usually of the extremely unsavory kind - if the lady of the Kamisato Clan was seriously fighting to kill even against a thief like him, he shuddered to think what kind of behavior was common amongst the Inazuman Treasure Hoarders.
It was also all the same with the lady of the clan. At the risk of sounding rude, even for just vocalizing her thoughts internally, these were also the same kind of people who would take hostages, particularly even that of tender age - just to issue an assassination order upon the Traveler back when they were still actively involved in the Civil War, through their own commission, no less. To think that these former Samurai, warriors - fighters - perhaps even lords - would fall so low.
Both parties continued with their silent march forward - eventually meeting on the wet, snowy grounds of the eastern shores of Yashiori Island, and they would stop a few safe distances away from each other - neither making an indication that they were hostile.
"...Good morning, milords," Ayaka was the one to break the silence, her sharp and almost commanding - but still polite voice echoed on the empty beaches while her steel eyes panned horizontally - taking in the hidden faces of each and every one of the supposed bandits that now stood in their way.
"...'Milords'?" Nobutada breathed out both carefully and quietly, puzzled by her choice of words.
Of course, the lady in white ignored his question, not even sparing the thief by her side a glance and opting instead to see and wait for any reaction from any of the eight men, she received none - much to her light surprise. In all her days walking along the safe borders of Narukami Island, even the bandits there would already be provoked by the simple sight of seeing someone on their way.
Yet these ones remained silent, unflinching and unmoving.
She cleared her throat. "We seek entrance into Yashiori," Spoke the woman. "If you'd kindly let us pass, we shall not interfere in your business."
Again, she received no response. At least not the verbal kind, as they noticed some of them began to move out from their marching formation. The nobushis in particular fanned out to stand at the sides of the former Shogunate Samurai, they then stood in place neatly, like a well-trained and well-choreographed unit.
"...Ayaka-san, something's not right here..." Nobutada half-whispered, half-warned. His head now swiveling left and right to watch their movements. To his credit though, the young man himself made no move for his own blades, whilst also standing his ground despite the building tension.
She too would silently agree, the quietness of the vagrants just unnerved her to no end. "Milords, if it's tribute you seek, then we have mora to spare," In cue, she manifested a small pouch to her own hands out of thin air, the bag itself made the tempting noises of coin hitting and grinding against one another as she jiggled the object a few times.
The thief looked at her with slight surprise. "You brought that bag of mora with you all this time?" He continued to whisper, tone stupefied at the sudden appearance of the bag, filled with Teyvat's universal currency.
"I carry some amounts of mora on my person all the time, Nobutada-san," Ayaka shook her head, finally snapping her attention to her companion, her steel eyes burning with exasperated impatience, though not completely hostile. "Now shush, this really isn't the time."
Again the former Samurai made no attempt to communicate with apart from taking a single step forward, all at once and in uniform. Once again, this action surprised the pair from Narukami, who were now in full alert. Ayaka's own heightened reflexes against danger made her reflexively manifest her usually-hidden katana - the blade now brandished on her back, but not drawn against these strange people.
She looked to her side, to see the ronin again - still standing his ground and his hands away from his blades, despite his own now alarmed state. He really didn't want this to turn into a bloodbath, which in turn pained the lady who just witnessed their slow but very deliberate advance upon them.
"Please milords," The lady of the clan tried one more time. "We do not seek your ire, we only want to enter the island. It's incredibly urgent."
No response. Instead, she saw their hands moving down to touch the grips of their respective katanas, now making their intentions clear as day. The anxiety and panic slowly settled upon her and the quiet thief at her flank, particularly the latter - whose hands now visibly trembled and his posture wavering as they got closer. His breathing got somewhat faster, true to the rapid pace of air exiting through the slits of his roningasa.
Nobutada could slowly feel the familiar sensation, unintelligible words slowly poking inside his mind, requesting entry to speak within him, to which he vehemently denied. Despite that, the formless noises continued to draw him into something. These Samurai, these vagrants, their presence had the same revolting energy as the one radiated by the fallen Serpent God of the Watatsumi, and they resonated with his own infected blood.
"This isn't right, milords. Us Inazumans should not fight against one another. I beg of you. We have no intention, no intention- to fight you," Ayaka pleaded, now even going as far as to slightly bending her head down in a show of self-humility. "Just let us pass, and we can avoid any conflicts."
"...Ayaka-san," Nobutada alerted her, his fingers twitching as he fought back for self-control. "These people... they have it. They're infected with the Tatarigami."
Just as the lady turned her face towards him in shock, several things seemed to happen all at once. The moment her head rose while her neck rotated, one of the Nobushi entered into an iai-stance, his knees and shoulders bent downwards, focusing all his upper body strength to a single point that was his dominant arm.
As her lips opened to respond to her companion, that same disillusioned Samurai charged upon the two, his feet kicking up snow in the process - zeroing in upon his target and building up his momentum all the while. His target now chosen - his sword arm rotated the tsuka of his weapon, before he pulled it out from the damaged sheath, the built-up momentum coupled with his speed and strength meant that his blade exited the scabbard at frightening speed.
Now suddenly noticing the imminent danger, Kamisato Ayaka's attention turned back to her front, while her right arm tried to manifest her katana right into her waiting hand. Her steel eyes caught her adversary too late, as his blade was quite literally already drawn and mid-way swinging at her.
Her instincts told her to kick back and dodge the swinging blade, while her brain prompted her to counter her assailant by manifesting the arctic powers within, releasing her Senho to disperse her profile, before countering with her Kabuki-kata kenjutsu. Alas in that split-second decision, she chose to listen to her mind. With her course of action now chosen, Ayaka was about to fully commit into executing her move.
That was until she heard the sounds of Inazuman jade steel grinding against the lacquered wood of a sword's sheath, directly coming from her side. Her steel eyes would next pick up an eyeful of a familiar, well-used gray haori and the back of her companion - now situated right in front of her. His left arm also in the process of drawing his repaired shinobigatana to meet the Nobushi's own weapon.
Steel met steel, producing a magnificent echo that reverbed all around them. The Kamisato-employed ronin swung his own sword directly from its polished housing from right to left, matching the incoming direction of the Nobushi's cut. Veins were visible on his left wrist and malnourished fingers, indicating that he used all of the force and might stored inside his body to also unleash that horizontal slash.
The impact produced from their slam was enough to throw the Nobushi's katana away from its intended target, instead - it was redirected harmlessly towards the snow below his feet, while the vagrant in question also lost his balance by being essentially getting his own momentum redirected and then brute-forced to one side of his body.
Hinode Nobutada's sword wrist would twist into an upright position, now directing the tip of his shinobigatana directly onto the assailant who'd just lost his footing, and he would ultimately use that small window of opening to place his right hand on the back of his weapon's grip as an additional driving force, before he launched his twisted arms to reach forward - the sharp tip of his blade jammed directly onto the throat of his fellow straw hat.
The terrible sound of Inazuman jade steel poking through someone's skin and cutting through muscles and bones alike resounded as a reward for his actions. Precious crimson liquid would squirt and pour out from the point the blade made contact with their adversary's mortal shell, dirtying the thief's own hat and clothes with their blood, whilst the disillusioned Samurai was just left gasping for air and choking on his own ichor, with their airway and trachea pierced by the young man's blade.
Nobutada's blade arm twisted once more, forcefully turning the steel that already sank into his throat sideways to face horizontally - the process looked horrifyingly painful while his victim just helplessly gurgled and blood streamed and stained both his own skin and the snow below. The Kamisato-employed straw hat then took a step forward, positioning himself to the Nobushi's side while the veins of his hands started to pulse once more, indicating muscle activity.
The ronin was quiet in his execution, he didn't say a single word or utter a war cry as he forcefully swung his blade into an unrelenting kesa giri, completing the diagonal cut from right to left, down to his waist. Their assailant's head flew up into the air, separated from its neck before it landed down on the snow. His body soon followed, twitching a few times as his muscles responded to the last bits of command before they expired entirely.
Kamisato Ayaka watched her companion's blade that was now caked in meat and blood, the shinobigatana's silver luster still managed to shine through and reflect the sun that was on his back. The blood would continue to drip from the tip of his weapon, until the cold air made quick work and slowed down the process by freezing and solidifying the liquid onto the surface of the steel.
"...Nobutada-san?" Was the only thing she managed to say out loud, too shocked to even listen to her own nerves, screaming at the lady to snap out of her disturbed state and back to the situation at hand.
He did not respond, instead entering into another defensive kata when he noticed another one of the consumed ronin making a beeline towards them, followed by another who unsheathed his blade as both charged at him. The thief's first response was to observe, he twisted his shorter blade so the blunt edge would face outwards, ready to receive and trade blows directly with his weapon if need be.
There it was again, the untrained and rough kata that Ayaka witnessed not too long ago, when she too fought the thief when the commoner first raided the clan's estate. It was amateurish, it was flimsy, it was clumsy and looked like it could only be employed by someone incompetent. But the moment the first of the two assailant made a move by drawing his blade to an upwards diagonal slice to cut open his torso.
And his answer was to employ another kesa giri, once again - from left to right, all while his knees bent downwards and his heels stepped forward. This time, his target was not to meet the cut head on, instead he ducked to his right as the blade swung upwards all while pivoting his neck to the side, to compensate for the limited range of his evasion - the arc of the blade narrowly avoided his left bicep - but managed to cut a bit of his gray haori's fabric and tore through some of the straw braids of his roningasa.
His diagonal slash struck true, this time meeting the wrist of the vagrant's and his hand promptly detached itself from the socket along with his own katana. The first reaction of the straw hat was to stagger back in pain, but the thief would soon be upon him as he delivered a follow-up yoko giri, slashing open his torso horizontally and delivering the lethal blow to finish off the wounded man.
Blood immediately flew to the side, following the tip of the blade as it escaped from its brief meaty confinement, while his second victim crumbled to his knees and planted his face to the snow. However, the thief soon entered another sudden martial stance when he directed his blade to catch an overhead cut from the other Nobushi. The time their blades made contact, the thief now staggered back when he received the blow from the longer katana - though astonishingly, he kept his ground and he didn't even once took a step back.
His fingers trembled from the larger man's assault. Even though he didn't lack in strength, he was certainly lacking in terms of size and muscle mass, as well as the weight and bulk of the straw hat's weapons. Even as his muscles pulsed with pain and his fingers stung with pain, the ronin of Narukami Island kept staring down at the glowing crimson and corrupted eye of the Nobushi that now had him pinned, peeking through the slits of their gasa.
Not to mention his mind was rapidly failing him. Hinode Nobutada had tasted blood, his blade coated with fresh kills and his handiwork now bleeding and soaking the ground around them with even more of the corruption that plagued his senses, his brain. The unintelligible whispers continued to draw him into something, or rather somewhere cool and dark. Some place where he couldn't return.
Alas, his ears would soon hear the ear-splitting sound of metal crashing against one another, dispersing the corrupting influence of the Tatarigami that'd dulled him just now. His amber eyes blinked twice and he found the air around him distorting, twisting and bending as multiple currents of wind started to curl inwards at a singular target, like small, invisible razors manifesting into fresh wounds on the Nobushi's exposed skin, particularly aimed towards his limbs.
Kamisato Ayaka pressed forward at blinding speeds, her body blurred into a mixture of mist and snow until she manifested at their adversary's side to deliver a single, shallow horizontal swing that cut open a new gash upon his torso - the wound immediately freezing as it made contact with her Cryo-infused katana. The hostile straw hat in question immediately stumbled back a few steps, releasing himself from the blade lock he imposed upon the young man.
But Nobutada would quickly follow her assault with a straight stab, directed at the center of his face. His shinobigatana pierced through the Nobushi's straw hat, creating a new slit upon the headwear. The blade struck and pierced through the back of the consumed one's head, the sharp tip of his weapon poking through the rear of the gasa after it successfully skewered his brain.
In one motion, the thief pulled back his sword and with it, the Nobushi that was essentially his third victim. Leaving Ayaka both feeling a bit sick and also astonished at the display of kenjutsu of her companion.
While Nobutada's kata and moves looked incredibly basic at best, she finally understood that his ultimate goal during stand-offs like these were not to face the enemy head on. He was being defensive on purpose, deflecting their attacks, preserving his body and weapon's condition as they clashed, minimizing the loss of momentum for when the physical contact actually occurred.
He was searching for an opening, a chance for when he could slip in and finally focus all of his strength into delivering one, or two - at most, lethal strikes to his enemies. His unknown sword fighting style had a completely different philosophy to the graceful and blinding speeds of the Kamisato Clan's kenjutsu.
Where she would overwhelm her opponents with fast strikes with unbridled and unrivaled speeds, his moves were slow and deliberate. Where she would overwhelm her foes through a thousand cuts - he delivered his own subjugation through a well-timed, and well-executed, mighty strike. Whereas her moves relied on her dexterity, his moves were stuck true to the traditional Inazuman martial arts way. Explosive, direct, and accurate.
There was a reason why her strikes were nicknamed the Kabuki-kata by her peers, her slashes resembled more like a flowing, elegant dance, especially when combined with the glacial trails produced by her Senho. His strikes were practical, making the flow and grace unnecessary when combat would only last for a few seconds at most.
As gruesome as his kills were, the way he positioned his blade and his body into a diagonal arc, the simple way he delivered his deliberate lethal stabs, they had this haunting beauty through their apparent simplicity and practicality. Not to mention, the way he danced through incoming strikes, parrying and deflecting them - redirecting their energy elsewhere whilst also throwing his own enemies off balance, it's almost like he could foresee the strikes and transcend his opponents.
"The miki-giri..." Ayaka sounded off reflexively, watching as the ronin wiped his blade with the sleeves of his haori.
Nobutada's neck craned towards her, and through the slits of his hat, she could feel it - the slowly building - and increasingly revolting powers of the curse - now clawing their way from his mind to hers. Strangely enough, through his deliberate moves to repel their enemies and the conscious action to still react to her voice just now would suggest that he was still in control of his actions.
"...Are you still in there, Nobutada-san?" The lady questioned quietly, her steel eyes shifting between watching the new movements of their enemies and the condition of her companion. "Are you still with me?"
Unintelligible words, resonated and echoed sparsely inside her, the effects were significantly muted thanks to the favor granted to her by the Gods in the form of her Vision, but the constant wails and reverberating whispers thundered within. It made her acutely aware of some emotions she felt when she first tasted the corruption of the fallen Omikami. The anger, the despair, the desire to wreak havoc and cast upon vengeance.
"...I feel like I need to use the Kujou's outhouse... again," Was the only response he managed to blurt out, his voice indicated that he was holding back his own nausea.
Ayaka's mouth went slightly ajar, but she sealed them up the moment she realized that the young man's mind was still sound enough to even say something so incredibly absurd and unhelpful as that one.
"Eyes front, Ayaka-san."
Nobutada managed to dispel his own discomfort the moment his trained amber orbs, hidden underneath the shadows of the now-damaged roningasa picked up the movement of the rest of the Nobushi, with their katana drawn in an almost perfect sync, while the Kairagi flicked their own blades out of their saya to join the efforts of their fellow disillusioned Samurai.
She chose to listen to him, and her own senses after she too noticed the same thing. The rest of their adversaries were trying to make a combined assault on the lonely pair. Both combatants from Narukami placed their respective weapons on the opposite sides of their waist, punctuating the difference in their dominant sword arms.
"What happens now? Is this the part where I say 'you go on ahead, I'll stay here and hold them off for as long as possible'?" Nobutada was careful not to let their blades smack against each other, considering the position of their stances.
Ayaka huffed an amused sigh - something that she knew she shouldn't do and wouldn't normally do in any other situation. "Sounds like something a typical hero would say in story books, don't you think?"
She could feel his gaze settling upon her from underneath his headwear. "Wait- do they actually say that in the story books?"
She shook her head, forgetting the fact that he was indeed, illiterate. Her blade arm rotating into to draw her sword. "...We've come a bit too far to suddenly abandon one another, no? Let's just do what we can for each other, Nobutada-san."
"...Yasogami preserve us."
She noticed that her companion was the one to make the first move, releasing the hold he imposed upon his shinobigatana and setting it free from its lacquered housing, the blade launched forward with the flick of his right thumb while the initial momentum was then amplified with the force added from his pull and the swing from the waist-up that followed. His target was the closest vagrant who'd chose to employ his own shomen giri, a vertical slash.
The vagrant's assault turned to be a feint, however - as he immediately kicked both his legs to jump back just as he was about to swing, and his free hand reached onto his back to fish a lit sticks of firecrackers - that he promptly tossed right at the boy's face. Both were too slow to react and several isolated explosions erupted when the sticks in question made contact with his body, engulfing the Kamisato-employed swordsman in several blinding and deafening flashes of light.
Embers and cinders painted the outerwear of the thief, while smoke and soot entered through the slits of his own hat. The ronin, however adjusted his stance and dashed through the flames, the searing heat and disoriented senses treated like nothing but an insignificant obstacle that kept him from reaching his target. He pulled his sword arm close to his chest and twisted his wrist to aim the blade outwards and towards the retreating figure of the bandit.
Both his body and arms then stretched forward, while his knee bent to the general direction of his stab, reaching out as far as they could - and finding their target as the stab connected to the abdomen of his adversary, his unprepared assailant not expecting him to actually still be on the offensive after being peppered with his explosives. The thief pulled his sword back to his hand, reaffirmed his stance, and stabbed yet again - this time aiming towards the heart of his attacker.
His attack proved to be successful in puncturing both muscles and ribs alike, as he planted the jade steel deeper into the torso of the vagrant, that his blade went through the spine of the Nobushi. What the younger male didn't account for however, was the presence of the other two comrades of the consumed vagrant, setting their own sights upon the boy who had his steel stuck on their fellow bandit's body.
Of course, he was aware of the immediate danger, and Nobutada made the split-second decision to loosen his grip on his current weapon - ready to abandon it to reach for the odachi on his back, but when his head turned around, his hidden amber eyes saw the lady of the Kamisato Clan showcasing her moves to the two other assailants.
Her body shifted from the mist while her blade was covered in frost, she started by doing a low horizontal swipe with her blade, doing a shallow cut on the abdomen of one Nobushi, nowhere deep nor fatal enough to be a killing blow - but enough to make him stagger backwards when his body registered the pain, his own movements now becoming increasingly stiff as the touch of ice took over his senses.
Her steel eyes shifted their focus towards the other assailant targeting her companion, following her yoko giri with a one handed ichimonji, her hands motioned upwards before delivering a vertical swipe down the torso of the accompanying Nobushi. The tip of her katana sliced open a new, long wound on his body - and yet she didn't give them any quarter to recover. Ayaka planted her heels down onto the snow and did a pirouette to build up her momentum in striking the same individual with her diagonal strike.
"Yuki yo, mae."
Her Vision glowed with the powers of Cryo as she summoned her ceremonial fan, coated with the glacial powers as the climate around them seemed to grow colder still. At her chant, a sigil resembling a snowflake painted itself upon the ground. The moment she opened her fan and reached her hand out into the sky, the ground beneath her feet responded by sprouting an explosive burst of ice and mist, sending wind, snow, and sand alike upwards that managed to pick the unlucky duo off from the ground and into the air.
The next second after employing her arctic gifts, her fan was gone and the gleaming, master-crafted katana was back on her hands. The lady drew in one large breath as she retracted the sword onto her left waist and crouched to build her inner focus and momentum. The three-headed sigil of Electro flashed on her wrist - before she unleashed another one of those fascinating iai moves that seemed to deliver a thousand blows all around her.
Wind and snow blurred as the sounds of metal ripping through the soft, frozen flesh resounded and echoed multiple times through the empty beaches, and by the time the launched bodies of her enemies landed back down, they were already disabled - all twitching and bleeding helplessly on the snow.
Ayaka's steel eyes turned to face her next opponents, before some kind of whiplash seemed to take hold of her senses. Her posture wavered somewhat while her knees felt weak - it felt as though her shoulders weight ten times more than before after casting the Hyouka. The lady only managed to keep herself standing when her upper arm was caught by the thin fingers of her companion - who was now at her side after retrieving his own blade from the fallen Nobushi.
"Careful," Warned the ronin, voice sounding a bit harsher than the both of them would've liked. His ragged breathing a result from his own exertion with his body. "If my intuition serves me right, snow doesn't make for a good futon."
She half-snorted lightly, appreciating the gesture nonetheless with a single nod. "Cast your worries elsewhere. It would be embarrassing if I crumble due to the lack of sleep of all things after all we've been through."
Unheard of by her companion, the lady cursed herself internally, was she so exhausted to the point that employing the powers of her Vision demanded so much of her physically?
"There's something strange about these guys, Ayaka-san..." Nobutada started speaking once more after her stance stabilized.
Ayaka hummed, her steel eyes still tracking the circling pair of Kairagis who now had their rusted blades drawn upon them. "You have any insights to share, Nobutada-san?"
"I have a hunch, but only a hunch," He released his grip on her arm, and his hand slid back to the grip of his weapon.
She nodded. "Won't hurt to hear your thoughts."
"You know how the Tatarigami just makes people go bananas, period, full-stop?" The young man asked - to which he received another nod from her. "Now look at these men, you noticed anything different yet?"
Her quiet thoughts lasted for only a couple of seconds before she found her answer. "They... seem to move like an organized unit."
"Right. For a plague that's supposed to make people crazy and start attacking other people indiscriminately, don't you think it's a bit strange that these vagrants are... almost normal in comparison?"
True, even the reports she'd read from a few months into the Civil War indicated that most villages that had their residents infected with the plague just had their own slaughtering each other senselessly, whether they're infected or not - some just turned incredibly violent on anything and anyone they see - some other maintained some basic human functions like speech, but their minds were still clouded by the corruption - which eventually led them becoming violent towards their victims.
From the way they still employed conscious tactics in their attacks, the way they circled the pair when they first encountered them. Speaking from someone who already had the experience in tasting the corrupting powers of the curse, it's not outlandish to think that people would just go insane after their mind was consumed by the Serpent God's influence. Yet these ex-Samurai, they moved and acted together as one.
Before she could even launch her next question, their interactions were cut prematurely by the advance of the two fallen Samurai, charging at them all at once. The combatants of Narukami chose to save their conversations for later as they re-engaged in their light skirmish against their own countrymen.
Judging from the different shades of armor and clothing, these Kairagi were once practitioners on the way of the Onmyo. Gifted and blessed by the powers of the nature, yet not recognized as being a Vision holder, instead - they used the magical charms, the shikifuda - to imbue their steel with the power of the elements. Ayaka found herself facing against one gifted with the powers of Pyro, while her confidant had his sights trained upon the other Samurai - who had an affinity towards the nation's associated element, Electro.
The young lady sensed the danger the moment the Kairagi imbued with Fiery Might raised his crimson blade, that her body reflexively turned into a cloud of ice once more. The swipe missed her easily enough when her profile essentially blended into the ground, and the weapon would harmlessly slam into the ground, the Pyro-imbued sword melting the snow away from the ground and revealing the patches of green grass underneath it.
While her evasion was successful, her opponent was still a former Samurai for a reason. Even if his mind was already consumed by the plague, his instincts still warned him of the lady in white manifesting herself right at his flank to deliver her own counterattack.
He swiped his blade to his side, taking the full brunt of her blow with his own weapon without so much as flinching. What he didn't expect, however - was the built-up Cryo energy that engulfed her blade in a brilliant blue light. While still in their blade lock, Ayaka called upon her ceremonial fan once more - manifesting the powers of her Vision and absorbing the cold energy of her own blade. The steel blended seamlessly into the open fan, while the object in question flashed with glacial powers that commanded the ice and snow around them to condense.
"Sakura Fubuki!"
With that ancient chant, the Cryomancer discharged the quintessential technique of the Kamisato Art, the Soumetsu, directly at point blank range. The swirling snowstorm took form and began advancing rapidly whilst mercilessly cutting down everything in its path. The Kairagi was too slow to react from the sudden elemental arts used upon him, countless cold knives pierced through his clothing and then his bones, dissecting his skin and tearing through his armor with ease.
The explosion of ice and snow that followed the swirling shards of ice seeped into his open veins - freezing the former Samurai alive turning the unfortunate victim as still as a statue - before his body shattered completely - like fragile, broken glass.
Ayaka paused for no one as she turned her body to assist her companion, who surprisingly still held his own against the other swordsman. Her steel orbs landed on the young man employing a rather dramatic side-step to avoid a slice in an angled arc by the Kairagi of the Dancing Thunder. His own shinobigatana catching the blunt edge of the larger man's blade and absorbing some of the electricity that immediately crackled onto his own steel and then into his hands.
The young man slid his own blade forward, reaching outwards and upwards to plant his own sword deep onto the relatively unarmored neck of his enemy. His blade found its target and struck true, drawing some blood from the much bulkier male. But even though his blade was effectively wedged right into the neck of the Samurai, the vagrant in question stood tall - seemingly ignoring the pain.
The surprise on both Narukami outbounds was clear, but it was only amplified when their sole surviving adversary's hand launched forward to pick up the smaller thief by his neck, easily lifting him off the ground. He would promptly smash their heads together - not once, but twice, slamming his own steel-plated kabuto with the thief's roningasa. The ensuing trauma caused several braids of his straw hat to come loose, while inflicting major concussions to the young man.
His head recoiled backwards while his entire body went limp for a couple of seconds, much to the horror of the lady in white. She saw fresh blood now freely dripping down from his unseen face, while his fingers twitched a few times involuntarily, just as she thought the blow knocked him unconscious, however, his left hand regained some of its functions and it reached for the odachi stored on his back and released the large blade from its housing.
The nameless blade of Lord Kamisato swung deep and hard, once again aimed at the neck of the Kairagi. The thick and heavy blade hitting the side of his nape was enough to cause the Electro-aligned Samurai to reflexively release his crushing grip on the thief's throat, causing both males to stumble back and away from each other.
This prompted Ayaka to summon her failing strength and call upon the Hyouka with her ceremonial fan. The familiar image of the lady's snowflake imprinted itself on the ground before an especially intense explosion of arctic powers froze the Dancing Thunder's feet and rooting him in place, just as her companion threw his entire body into a single yoko giri, the heavy field blade punching through armor, fabric, skin, and bones with little resistance, effectively splitting the top and bottom halves of the Kairagi in that one strike.
That haunting image of seeing a fellow Inazuman being essentially mutilated would be the last thing Kamisato Ayaka would ever see as her vision blurred into one single hazy picture, which would immediately lose focus and causing the lady to black out instantly. Before her consciousness truly faded, however - her ears did manage to pick up one last thing.
A male voice, echoing from the distance, along with multitudes of approaching footsteps.
Alas, even Ayaka was too tired to even humor the creeping demands of the Serpent God.
Cold Steel - Inazuma Gaiden
XVI: Broken Dawn
A/N:
This chapter is sponsored by several hours of researching into several kenjutsu schools and competition videos of YouTube, with some other inspirational help from SEKIRO: Shadows Die Twice, and Ghost of Tsushima. Seriously, go give some kenjutsu competitions and showcase videos a watch, they're truly and absolutely fascinating.
Was thinking about splitting this chapter in two, where the fight scene would happen separately, but then I thought we would be spending way too long on the two just being on Nazuchi Beach - which is... you know, a place that quite literally has nothing on it - so I decided to just combine them into one single chapter, that I feel like kind of bloated the overall length of this one chapter in particular.
Writing this section, it also caught my attention that despite being a story solely focused on Inazuma, our leads have never once fought against the overworld mobs of Inazuma (Kairagi, Nobushi, etc) which was ironic, considering many of the fight scenes prior to (and including this one) are actually the result of some research into older, cinematic Samurai movies.
They also have never fought against any of the Hilichurl-beings - but this is more of a deliberate choice from my part. Can't imagine how unnecessarily long the story will be if we spend every chapter clearing Hilichurl camps along the way. That, and I feel like they don't offer much significance to the story in general, so you'd have to forgive me for opting out the Hilichurls in general.