Tachibana Masamune's words fell like heavy lead into the stagnant air of the hall. Fuma Kotaro, the head of the ninja clan renowned for its resolve, was the first to break the silence.
His voice was not loud, but it carried the directness of a blade. "You mean that we should endure for now, cooperate with the headquarters' agents, and first eliminate the Dragon Kind Embryo beneath the deep sea?"
Everyone's gaze focused once more on the Patriarch. Tachibana Masamune neither confirmed nor denied it at once. His aged face appeared even more unfathomable beneath the flickering candlelight as he slowly shook his head. "This is far more complicated than simply working together to eliminate a dragon. According to our investigation, that Embryo was transported to the Japan Trench in 1991 aboard a vessel called the Lenin. The ship ultimately sank there, and the Embryo fell into the sea with it.
But the key issue is—
"That trench that swallowed the Lenin had another name in the distant past—"
He drew a deep breath and spoke the taboo name. "Takamagahara."
"Could it be... the Takamagahara of myth, submerged beneath the deep sea?" someone cried out in shock.
"Precisely." Tachibana Masamune's voice was as cold as ice. "It is also... the burial ground and sealing site of a 'god.'"
The temperature in the hall seemed to plummet. The ghostly eyes glimmering on the ukiyo-e murals now appeared all the more sinister, as though an ancient seal were loosening.
"Impossible!" Fuma Kotaro abruptly raised his head, disbelief written across his eyes. "That is a forbidden place personally sealed by Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi! How could those demons and monsters of Nippon Stronghold possibly reach it?"
The Head of the Miyamoto Clan, Miyamoto Shio, who had remained silent until now, pushed up his glasses