"Lord Danzō, did you find anything?"
Sakumura's hand still rested on Crane Feather's hilt.
One thing after another kept happening. They had thought they could at least catch their breath, but things had immediately turned out like this.
"Toke Castle seems to have changed."
Observing the surroundings through a ninja tool sent into the air, Danzō hesitated before saying this.
"Confirmation complete. Toke Castle has taken on a form completely different from its usual appearance."
There was gravity and solemnity in her voice.
"The castle's appearance has changed? What does that mean?"
Miyamoto Musashi looked somewhat puzzled.
If some scenery had changed, that would be normal enough, but for the castle itself to change—did that mean Toke Castle had been destroyed?!
"This is somewhat difficult to put into words. If I had to describe it, it has become... [evil]."
After organizing her thoughts, Katō Danzō said this.
"Evil...?"
"I don't know exactly what that means, but if even the sky has become like this, then the remaining two Heroic Spirit Swordmasters and that sorcerer must be behind the current situation, right?"
Kotarou said with certainty as he looked at the blood moon in the sky.
"There is no demonic energy to be sensed nearby. In other words—did they accomplish something by attacking Toke Castle?"
That was his deduction.
After all, the essence of the current situation was already obvious—Toke Castle had become [evil]. Even Danzō could state something so apparent, and there truly were no Heroic Spirit Swordmasters in sight. That meant—
The enemy had accomplished something and created a large-scale magecraft.
"I remember hearing something like this when we defeated Tomoe Gozen? It seemed their target was Toke Castle. Could they be trying to establish some kind of demon kingdom through Toke Castle?"
Musashi did not quite understand, but—for