The entire temple abruptly fell silent. Even Ichikishimahime, who was always laughing and joking, had the sense to shut her mouth.
To be honest, even she didn't want to get on Tagorihime's bad side right now.
She liked watching a spectacle, but she wasn't stupid.
Seated on the stone platform, the White Snake Sage shifted her body, looking ready to enjoy the show.
Clearly, she couldn't be bothered to interfere in the affairs of her two trusted aides.
"I..."
Tagitsuhime kept her head lowered, managing only a choked "I."
"I'm sorry. I was simply... dazzled by the Sage's magnificent bearing."
"I apologize for losing my composure, however slightly."
With that, the most dignified snake princess in Ryūchi Cave said nothing more. She merely waited for Tagorihime's judgment.
"You... what kind of answer is that!"
"Are you looking down on me!"
Tagorihime erupted in fury. Azure gales surged through the temple, gathering into swirling storms.
The wind whipped her robes into a frenzy.
"Back in the canyon, I convinced myself to stand beside Lord Hayashi by holding on to my resolve to kill him."
"Don't trivialize my resolve with some vague excuse about losing your composure!"
As she finished speaking, the azure gales throughout the open space gradually gathered into masses of wind and hurtled toward Tagitsuhime.
They moved so fast that even Hayashi's Mind's Eye of the Kagura could barely detect them. Before he could react at all, he saw the azure wind slam violently into Tagitsuhime.
The cuffs of Tagitsuhime's white court robes quickly began to tear, then were shredded completely by the wind blades until not a scrap of fabric remained.
Yet she did nothing.
She neither activated her senjutsu chakra nor unleashed her crimson energy. She simply endured Tagorihime's gales with her body.
Wind blade after wind