— — — — — —
"Kaguya Houraisan!"
More than a hundred miles out from the grand barrier that protected the Lunar Capital, a unit of fully armed moon rabbit soldiers stood at attention, ready for battle.
Among them stood Yorihime Watatsuki, eyes sharp as she scanned the figures slowly approaching from the distance. Her heart eased ever so slightly when she didn't spot a certain silver-haired someone among them. Then, her gaze hardened again as she raised her voice, shouting sharply at the woman perched atop a giant demon dog.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
Kaguya stood up with calm elegance, a serene smile on her face.
"Why yes. The rightful ruler of the moon is returning to her loyal Lunar Capital."
"…What?"
Yorihime couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "I thought you went down to Earth for self-reflection."
"Isn't that exactly what I'm doing?" Kaguya tilted her head slightly, still smiling. "Back then, I was banished because the Lunar Capital belonged to my father, not to me."
"If it had been mine… then it wouldn't have been me—the one who took the Hourai Elixir—that got exiled. It would've been all of you, the ones who didn't take it."
"Don't you think that's a fair point?"
She pointed her fan toward Yorihime. "Now, while you're still upright and able to speak to me on equal footing, why not show a little sincerity?"
"If you surrender right now, for Eirin's sake, I'll let you and your sister keep your titles as princesses when I take the throne."
"But if you wait and end up as prisoners of war… well, I can't promise you any special treatment."
"I've learned a few things from the surface world. A princess, especially one with a pretty face like yours, doesn't tend to have a great time once she becomes a captive…"
"...Tch."
With a long, slow exhale, Yorihime drew her blade, the steel gleaming as she pointed it straight at Kaguya.
"Looks like you've let your delusions of majesty get to your head."
"In that case, I'll just knock all of you down right here—and give you a dose of reality."
"O Thunder God—heed my call!"
"Let the Seven Pillars answer my command, and help me make them regret ever stepping onto this land!"
With a rhythmic chant, the sky—clear moments ago—suddenly darkened as heavy rain poured down from nowhere. Thunder cracked violently. From the heavens, eight lightning bolts struck the earth, transforming into eight-headed dragons, roaring as they charged toward Kaguya's group.
"…Oho, divine power, huh?"
The divine energy radiating from the dragons snapped Suika Ibuki out of her drunken haze. Her eyes cleared as she muttered, "No wonder... This is a city founded by one of the Three Noble Children. Even their random warriors are this powerful... sheesh…"
"I'll take this one!"
Yuugi Hoshiguma cut her off, downing the rest of her sake in one gulp and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"It's been a while since I've faced a god worth fighting."
"She's not a god," Kaguya corrected, waving her five-colored Hourai Branch. A radiant beam of light shot out, instantly dispelling the eight-headed dragons rushing at them.
"She's a vessel."
"Her ability allows her to summon gods and borrow their power."
"The stronger the god she summons, the stronger she becomes."
"And because of my dear father's influence, the Eight Million Gods of Japan will all respond to her call…"
After giving a quick explanation of Yorihime's ability, Kaguya continued with ease.
"I'll handle her. If the two of you are looking for real opponents, head straight toward the city a hundred miles out. Once the defense corps start struggling, the Lunarians and the Lunar Sages will show up to stop you."
"Works for us." ×2
Suika Ibuki and Yuugi Hoshiguma exchanged a look—then without another word, split left and right like twin arrows loosed from a bow, blasting past Yorihime and crashing straight into the ranks of the moon rabbit soldiers behind her.
Yorihime instinctively turned to stop them, but before she could move, Kaguya was already summoning her next attack. Riding the wind and clouds, she raised the Hourai Branch high again, sweeping it forward in a shimmering arc of five-colored divine light.
"Ishikori-dome no Mikoto! Recreate the divine radiance of the Yata Mirror, one of the Three Sacred Treasures!"
As Yorihime chanted, a goddess holding an ancient mirror appeared in the air behind her. The mirror turned to face the incoming beam of prismatic light.
Ishikori-dome no Mikoto—the goddess of metalworking.
Long ago, when Susanoo's reckless actions drove Amaterasu into hiding inside the Amano-Iwato, plunging both the Celestial and Earthly realms into darkness, it was Ishikori-dome who, under the command of Yahata-no-Kami, the Hachiman, forged the Yata Mirror.
Using the unbreakable ore from the Heavenly River and iron from the Heavenly Gold Mountain, she crafted a mirror so brilliant it could lure Amaterasu out. The gods then hung the mirror alongside sacred magatama beads on the branches of the sacred tree outside the cave, and began singing and dancing to attract her attention.
Hearing the commotion, Amaterasu peeked out—curious to see who could be more revered than her. And the moment she looked into the mirror, she saw her own reflection staring back.
That's how the Yata Mirror came to possess the divine power to reflect light and truth.
Yet to Yorihime's shock, the five-colored divine light Kaguya had just unleashed wasn't reflected. Not only that—it swallowed the entire Yata Mirror and the goddess holding it.
Stunned, Yorihime barely managed to dodge to the side, avoiding the divine beam that almost struck her directly.
"Is that just the Five Pure Lights of the Hourai Branch? The Five-Colored Divine Radiance?"
"No, it can't be."
— — —
—Outside the battlefield.
Eirin Yagokoro hadn't appeared alongside Yukari Yakumo, Suika Ibuki, or the others when Kaguya made her grand entrance. Instead, she'd chosen to stay hidden, quietly observing from afar, like Veyron, who was also watching silently from the distance.
Now, watching her princess unleash devastating power with the Hourai Branch, Eirin found herself struck with a strange sense of déjà vu.
"That's her soul light…" Still petting the fox in his arms, Veyron chimed in lazily.
"I thought her Soul Light would've been tied to 'Eternity and the Instant'…" There was a trace of surprise in Eirin's voice.
"It's not set yet. Maybe she's trying to fuse it with Eternity and the Instant."
A faint golden glint passed through Veyron's eyes.
Once someone reaches mid-Stage Four of the Gene Lock system and achieves clarity of heart, the form of their Soul Light becomes permanently fixed.
But as anyone in the know would tell you, truly gifted individuals can start using their Soul Light before that point.
And during this pre-awakened phase, the shape of the Soul Light can still shift and change depending on the user's state of mind.
"Maybe," Eirin murmured, giving a slight nod.
A few seconds passed.
Then she turned her gaze away from the distant battlefield, fixing her eyes on a nearby boulder just a few meters away.
"Toyohime. Come out already," she said calmly. "Even if you somehow fooled me, then there's no way you'll get past his perception."
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