The embers of battle had yet to cool completely, but the atmosphere at the Land of Demons shrine had grown even more tense. Moryo's brief stirring had sounded like an alarm in everyone's hearts.
Priestess Miroku hesitated no longer. She swiftly handed Ling a map of the secret route to the temple in the Land of Swamps, along with a small, tomoe-shaped charm that radiated a gentle purifying power.
"This is the Purification Charm, blessed by generations of priestesses. It may offer some help during the sealing ritual. The journey is dangerous. Shion... I entrust her to you all." Miroku's eyes held both a mother's worry and a priestess's resolve.
"We won't fail you." Ling accepted the charm and map, making his solemn promise.
Without a moment to rest, the squad set out with a somewhat reluctant Shion. To avoid any main force the Yomi Cult might deploy, they took the secret trail Miroku had provided, winding through rugged mountains and ancient forests.
At first, Shion remained silent and distant along the way, but she could not entirely suppress her childish nature. From time to time, she secretly studied each member of the group with those eyes that could foresee death.
Yet the scenes she saw left her confused and a little... uneasy.
She saw Shikamaru impaled by a stone spear that suddenly thrust out of the ground, but in the next instant, the Shikamaru standing there dissolved into a puddle of clear water. Ling had already shifted his real body half a step aside with a subtle push of water vapor.
She saw Choji struck by a massive falling boulder, but the moment it touched his body, a rapidly spinning film of water deflected its force and bounced it away.
She saw Ino knocked unconscious by an invisible mental