Times have changed

"Roar!"

An enormous Wood Dragon, its vast body exuding the aura of ages long past,

descended upon the great hall of the Heavenly Sage Dynasty.

At that moment, alarm bells rang throughout the Heavenly Sage Dynasty.

Everyone stared in shock at the scene before them, as though a myth had come to life... bracing themselves for a formidable enemy.

Inside the great hall, a figure sat in the seat of honor.

She carried herself with an ethereal grace.

A veil covered her face, obscuring her features.

Yet her exposed brows and eyes alone possessed peerless beauty.

She watched the commotion outside the hall,

then let out a soft sigh, disappointment crossing her face.

"Why all this panic?"

Only after a long while did she ask.

"Your Highness, Saintess, outside... there's an enormous dragon outside."

A guard entered and spoke in a trembling voice.

"A dragon?"

The veiled woman's expression turned a little strange.

There were still dragons in this world?

They should have vanished a thousand years ago.

She was just about to take out an object to perform a divination,

when, in the next instant,

a fierce wind swept in

and carried her straight outside.

In an instant, her veil was lifted,

revealing a face of breathtaking beauty.

But now, startled by what had happened, she had gone pale.

"Oh no! The Saintess... has Her Highness been kidnapped?"

"Her Highness has been kidnapped by a dragon?"

"Is this the legendary tale of the princess and the evil dragon?"

Everyone blanched in horror.

The Wood Dragon descended upon the Heavenly Sage Dynasty's great hall.

Everyone stared at the enormous Wood Dragon,

at a loss for what to do.

Countless guards rushed forward.

They had seen their Saintess abducted with their own eyes.

How could they stand by and do nothing?

But now, faced with this enormous monster,

they could not help panicking.

Even the weapons in their hands trembled.

"Th-that... what is that? Why is there someone up there?"

Someone looked in the direction the Saintess had flown and cried out in shock.

Besides the Saintess,

another figure stood atop the Wood Dragon.

Dressed entirely in white, he looked impassive, like a deity.

Just one glance at him sent their hearts pounding.

They even felt an urge to prostrate themselves in worship.

In a panic, they lowered their heads,

not daring to look again.

"Huh? Why did you bring me here?"

Seeing that they had stopped at a palace,

Ambe Kiyuki asked in puzzlement.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Yuya spoke calmly, offering no explanation.

"What a strange succubus."

Ambe Kiyuki could not help muttering under her breath.

In the next instant, the wind carried the Saintess up to them.

"I'm sorry for inviting you here this way. This woman wanted to see you."

For some reason, Yuya suddenly offered an explanation.

The moment he saw the Saintess, his usually unruffled eyes

showed a faint ripple of emotion.

It was as though... he held... respect for the woman before him.

He pointed at Abe Kiyuki, calmly shifting the blame.

"I..."

Seeing a woman float up and look at her with a complicated expression,

Ambe Kiyuki began to stammer, unable to find her words as her face flushed bright red.

"Y-you... I told you to take me to find the people from the branch lineage! Who told you to abduct someone outright?"

Only after a long while did she burst out indignantly.

Yuya, too, felt rather helpless about it.

It was not what he wanted. It was what the system wanted.

The Flying Thunder God Technique was simply too tempting...

And this woman before me actually...

At that thought, Yuya gave the Saintess another complicated look.

It took the Saintess a long time to regain her footing.

Even now, she stared at the scene before her in disbelief.

She looked at the Wood Dragon beneath her feet, then at Yuya in his white robes,

and at Ambe Kiyuki, dressed as an Onmyōji.

A flicker of shock passed through her beautiful eyes.

"Are you... an Onmyōji?"

Only after a long while did she speak.

Her voice was soft and pleasing, carrying an indescribable tenderness.

Her eyes, bright as snow, turned toward Abe Kiyuki with mixed emotions.

That attire was etched indelibly into her inherited memories.

"Y-yes... I'm like you. I'm an Onmyōji from the lineage that lived in the Wind-Snow Realm... a thousand years ago..."

Abe Kiyuki felt a little embarrassed under her gaze.

She could indeed sense a familiar aura from the Saintess before her.

Those elemental fluctuations resembled both Granny's and her own.

Suddenly finding someone else from the Onmyōji lineage filled her eyes with unconcealable joy.

She was finally no longer an Onmyōji all alone...

"I'm afraid you've found the wrong person... I'm not an Onmyōji."

But to her surprise, the woman denied it.

"There are... no Onmyōji left in this world..."

The woman sighed softly, a trace of sorrow and conflicted emotion appearing on her exquisite face.

"You're lying! You clearly have the power of yin-yang and five elements, and elemental fluctuations!"

Ambe Kiyuki cried out, the joy in her eyes at finding one of her own

beginning to fade at the woman's words, giving way to panic.

"I'm not an Onmyōji."

The woman shook her head and simply said,

"My power was merely inherited from my mother. She once dreamed of visiting the Wind-Snow Realm,

and said it was a paradise for Onmyōji... their last sanctuary...

But even at the end of her life, when she was sacrificed to the God Tree, her wish remained unfulfilled..."

Her beauty was peerless, and her voice remained calm throughout,

as though she were stating the simplest of facts.

There was not the slightest reproach toward the main lineage in her words,

just as her eyes remained gentle when she looked at Abe Kiyuki, even holding a trace of pity.

"We, too, once wondered whether the main lineage had long since forgotten us."

"But... we could not forget... our duty because of that."

"Our lineage here in the outside world has paid with our own blood, generation after generation."

"We sacrificed ourselves to the God Tree to suppress its growth..."

"It has always been this way..."

Those few simple words, spoken in her calm voice,

told of a lifetime both tragic and heroic.

The atmosphere suddenly grew oppressive. Even Yuya was faintly moved.

Abe Kiyuki trembled.

She wanted to speak, but no words came.

How was she supposed to begin?

Should she apologize to the branch lineage,

or tell her that the Wind-Snow Realm, which they regarded as a sanctuary and which their ancestors had fought so hard to establish...

had, in her generation... been seized by Shikigami too...?

She could not say it... she truly could not...

She only felt as though something had lodged in her chest,

weighing on her until she could barely breathe.

"Then you..."

A long while passed.

Only then did Abe Kiyuki speak, her voice hoarse.

She wanted to say... But aren't you still here...?

"I'm not an Onmyōji... I'm merely a wisp of a lingering soul..."

As though she had sensed what Abe Kiyuki wanted to say,

the woman gave a quiet, rueful laugh.

Her features were exquisitely delicate, her face breathtakingly beautiful.

Her skin was fair and smooth, and her beauty was unmatched.

Her long hair danced in the wind, a faint smile always resting on her lips.

There was a tenderness woven into her very bones.

Merely standing there, she possessed a peerless grace.

It was hard to imagine that such a gentle woman could exist in this world.

"My fate was the same. Three years ago, I was sacrificed to the God Tree."

"I left behind a wisp of my soul to protect my nation..."

"With me... the Onmyōji came to an end..."

She was dead...

She had died three years ago...

Finally, the woman gave Abe Kiyuki a long, meaningful look.

"Clan head... times have changed..."