Abandon All Illusions

Sweet moments were always fleeting. Just as Tōga tried to push his luck, the girl's two pale, slender fingers suddenly pinched the soft flesh at his waist with unerring precision.

Ringetsu's teasing reproach sounded beside his ear, her voice trailing off softly. "You naughty dog, always finding new ways to bully me~"

Before her shy murmur had faded, a reproachful look followed.

While Tōga was still stunned, before he could react, Ringetsu slipped out of his embrace and covered her glossy cherry lips, a little swollen and red from his kisses, with the back of her hand.

"You pest! You were so rough. How am I supposed to face anyone tomorrow~"

Her shimmering golden eyes seemed both pleased and annoyed. Tōga could not tell which; he only knew that his first wife was breathtakingly beautiful.

Ringetsu returned to the campfire and closed her eyes to rest. The orange flames danced gently, lighting her crimson ears.

Beneath the silvery moonlight, the scene became a picture etched into Tōga's heart.

He reluctantly tore his gaze away from her.

He turned toward Sangou, whose successful breakthrough to a mid-level yokai had stirred the surrounding spiritual energy and ruined his romantic moment, and gave him a "kind" smile.

Someone was destined to spend this night sleepless.

Deep inside Thunderclap Hall in Wind-Thunder Gorge.

Anhamaru struggled to rise, his movements slow and labored. Gazing at Nuregarasu, who had already grown into a graceful young woman, he felt a hollow ache in his heart-

How long had it been since I truly looked at my daughter?

Had it started when she became a mid-level yokai and earned the right to compete for the Azure Wings of Wind?

Or when she offered her blood to the Thunder Spear, and I began treating her as a tool?

The sweet, obedient daughter in his memories, who had called him Daddy in her childish voice, gradually overlapped with the Nuregarasu before him.

Silvery, glasslike markings covered her bloodless face, and her entire aura was linked and melded with the Thunder Spear.

Anhamaru knew full well that his last remaining daughter was just like him.

Without the Thunder Spear in her hands, Nuregarasu, who should have had endless happiness and boundless possibilities ahead of her, would become like firewood in a campfire.

With a single crack, she would turn into a fleeting spray of sparks and vanish from this world.

A trail of cloudy tears slipped silently from the corner of Anhamaru's eye.

Nuregarasu watched her father cry. Recalling everything Anhamaru had done in the past, the corners of her eyes trembled slightly before she lowered her dull, lightless gaze.

She lifted the Thunder Spear in her slender hands. Her cool voice seemed stripped of emotion, yet also held the calm of someone finally relieved of a burden.

"Father, please don't cry for me," she said. "The Thunder Spear belongs to the chieftain. Nuregarasu overstepped her place."

"Please unite wind and thunder, Father, and become a great yokai known to everyone in the Western Country, and even throughout the world."

Hearing Nuregarasu's congratulations, which sounded like her last words, Anhamaru shuddered and instinctively looked at the hand he was reaching toward the Thunder Spear.

That hand was thin as a stick, its knuckles jutting like jagged rocks, every joint stiff and protruding.

The skin stretched tightly over the bones without a trace of elasticity, its nearly bloodless, grayish-blue hue resembling a sheet of thin paper.

It was as fragile as his life, as though the slightest touch would shatter it.

Anhamaru opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his throat seemed blocked. Not a single word came out.

His one remaining eye reflected Nuregarasu's lowered, ink-black hair.

What a fool I am!

After a long silence, Anhamaru reached past the Thunder Spear and gently rested his hand on the girl's hair. His voice was hoarse but tender.

"You foolish daughter."

Clang!

The Thunder Spear, which others regarded as a priceless treasure, fell heavily to the floor.

Nuregarasu looked up in disbelief at Anhamaru, whose relieved smile now held a father's affection.

She clasped her hands tightly on her knees and leaned forward a little, enjoying her father's warm touch just as she had as a child.

Anhamaru spoke softly.

"On the path to becoming a great yokai, I gave up so much without even realizing it. I even forgot the vow I made at the beginning."

The old crow's trembling voice held endless reminiscence and regret.

"I only wanted to become a great yokai so my children could have a broader future, so our people could hold their heads high when they went out into the world, and so the Leopard Cat could no longer oppress our Karasu Tengu Tribe at will."

Anhamaru seemed to become the spirited young man who had inherited the Azure Wings of Wind once more. His eyes shone brightly, but it was only a final flicker before death.

He withdrew his hand, his entire body steeped in the weariness of old age. "Sadly, I made a foul mess of the tribe and left everyone playing both sides!"

"Father, that isn't your fault."

Nuregarasu raised her head and argued, "No one can control people's hearts, not even the gods who stopped appearing in the mortal world long ago."

"Yes. People can lose even their own hearts. How could they control anyone else's?"

Anhamaru gave a rueful smile.

Then his expression hardened.

"Nuregarasu, we and the Leopard Cat have become mortal enemies. In the days ahead, you must abandon all illusions and prepare to fight!"

"Father..." As though she had understood something, Nuregarasu's eyes instantly filled with tears. She reached out and clutched the hem of Anhamaru's robe, her tearful gaze pleading.

"I'll take you away. We'll go to the Dog Tribe. We still have hope."

"My daughter, I am rotten wood beyond saving. Let me walk into the Netherworld with a little of a father's pride and dignity intact."

His face filled with sorrow, Anhamaru reached out and gently stroked Nuregarasu's cheeks, where two clear streams of tears ran. "But the days ahead will be hard on you, Nuregarasu."

That night, amid the girl's quiet sobs, Anhamaru spoke at great length.

He spoke of their tribe, of the Leopard Cat, and of the Dog Tribe. Over his long life of more than a hundred years, he had accumulated far too much to say, and now he wanted to pass it all on to Nuregarasu at once.

Unfortunately, the Panther Cat Third Elder would not give him that time. The Panther Cat Companies advanced on them without the slightest attempt at concealment.

The roiling clouds of yokai energy pressed heavily on every Karasu Tengu's heart like an invisible mountain.

The two Karasu Tengu commanders who had planned to strike ruthlessly that very night now fled like homeless dogs, taking their trusted followers and families with them, terrified at the first word of danger.

Several Leopard Cat squads that had circled around behind Wind-Thunder Gorge routed them, sending them scattering in panic, abandoning their helmets and armor.

The old, weak, and wounded soldiers loyal to the chieftain's line stood before Thunderclap Hall. Lightning streaking across the sky illuminated their eyes, filled with the resolve to die.

A vast, stirring cry swept out from within Thunderclap Hall.

"From this day forth, the chieftain of our Karasu Tengu Tribe, the one destined to wield the Wind-Thunder Divine Weapon, shall be my daughter, the daughter of Anhamaru-Nuregarasu!"

One aura began to weaken, while another began to surge. Winds rose and clouds churned across the sky as lightning flashed!