The road descended from the mountains like a scar carved into the land.
Stone gave way to packed earth, pine trees thinning as the air warmed. The wind no longer screamed between cliffs—it flowed, carrying the distant sounds of bells, carts, and human life. Raizen felt it immediately.
The world was wider here.
But the poison inside him had not loosened its grip.
Though bound, it stirred restlessly, like something aware that its cage was weakening.
Haruka slowed her steps, eyes fixed on the road ahead. "We're close."
"To what?" Kaito asked, adjusting the straps of his pack. "Because if it's another half-buried shrine that tries to kill us, I'd like a warning."
"It will try," Haruka said calmly. "That's how we'll know it works."
Aoi cracked a grin. "I like her confidence."
Raizen exhaled slowly, keeping his breathing steady. His body felt stronger than before, but something inside him resisted rest—an unnatural tension, as though his blood refused to settle.
Mika noticed. "The poison is preparing."
Haruka nodded. "Yes. It knows this place."
⸻
The Buried Shrine
They found it where the road split—one path leading toward distant walls, the other disappearing into a low ravine choked with weeds.
Stone steps descended into the earth.
The shrine was not elevated like the others.
It was sunken.
Pillars jutted from the ground at odd angles, cracked but intact. Sacred markings had been carved directly into the bedrock, worn smooth by centuries of pressure. No ropes. No charms.
"This shrine wasn't built to invite spirits," Senji said quietly. "It was built to restrain them."
Haruka placed her palm against the central stone. "The Earth Shrine of Setsu. Used during the Tsuchigumo subjugation wars."
Kaito swallowed. "That… doesn't sound peaceful."
"It isn't," Haruka replied. "It purifies by rejection."
Raizen stepped forward. The ground beneath his feet felt dense—unnaturally heavy.
"This will finish it," Haruka said, turning to him. "Or kill you."
Raizen nodded once. "Understood."
Aoi's jaw tightened. "You're not allowed to die."
"That's reassuring."
"That wasn't a suggestion."
⸻
Rules of the Trial
Haruka drew a single circle in ash around the shrine's center.
"You go alone," she said. "No weapons. No interference."
"What about us?" Kaito asked.
"You keep the perimeter secure," Mika answered. "If something responds to the ritual, it won't be human."
Senji studied Raizen carefully. "This shrine forces the body to confront corruption directly. Whatever poisoned you will manifest."
Raizen closed his eyes briefly. "Then I'll deal with it."
Haruka hesitated—just a fraction—then pressed a small wooden charm into his palm.
"This won't protect you," she said. "It will only remind the shrine you are human."
Raizen stepped into the circle.
The earth sealed behind him.
⸻
Descent
The shrine swallowed sound.
Raizen felt himself sinking—not physically, but internally—as though gravity had turned inward. His senses dulled, then sharpened painfully.
And then—
He stood in darkness.
The ground beneath him was webbed with veins of black silk, pulsing faintly. Each step stuck, resisted, clung.
From the shadows, something moved.
It had his shape.
His height.
His breathing.
But its skin was split with black lines, eyes gleaming with unnatural hunger. Spider legs unfolded from its back, tearing through flesh that mirrored his own.
"You endured," it said, voice layered and wrong.
"You accepted us."
Raizen's stance lowered instinctively. No sword. No spear. Just balance.
"I survived," he replied calmly. "You were never welcome."
The creature lunged.
⸻
The Inner Battle
Raizen moved—not with speed, but with precision.
He avoided the first strike by inches, feeling silk slice the air where his throat had been. The creature fought viciously, without form—claws, legs, venomous strikes meant to overwhelm.
Raizen adapted.
He redirected force, used the creature's weight against it, drove his elbow into its center mass. Pain exploded through his arm—but it was his pain, real and grounding.
The creature screeched.
"You need me," it hissed. "I made you stronger."
Raizen countered with a low sweep, toppling it.
"You weakened me," he said. "You tried to claim me."
The creature reformed, silk knitting flesh unnaturally fast.
Raizen inhaled.
He remembered the Yamato clan teachings—not of killing, but of endurance.
He stopped attacking.
Instead, he advanced.
The creature struck again and again, venom burning through Raizen's body as he endured each blow, refusing to retreat.
"Enough," he said quietly.
He seized the creature by the throat.
The earth responded.
Stone erupted upward, binding the spider-form, crushing silk, rejecting it violently. The shrine roared—not with sound, but pressure.
Raizen drove his fist forward.
The creature shattered.
⸻
Purification
Black venom burst from Raizen's body in violent streams, spilling onto the shrine floor where it hissed, writhed, and burned away into ash.
Raizen screamed—not in pain, but release.
The earth cracked.
The shrine shook.
Outside, Haruka staggered as the ground surged beneath her feet.
"He's doing it," she whispered.
Aoi braced herself. "Or it's killing him."
Then—silence.
⸻
After
Raizen collapsed onto cool stone.
His breathing was steady.
The black veins were gone.
When he stepped out of the shrine moments later, the air felt lighter.
Cleaner.
Aoi was the first to reach him, grabbing his collar. "You alive?"
"Yes."
She released him immediately. "Good."
Kaito stared. "You look… normal."
Haruka examined him carefully, then nodded. "The venom is gone."
Senji exhaled slowly. "Fully."
Mika frowned. "Something else has changed."
Raizen felt it too.
Not power.
Clarity.
But far away—something had noticed.
Haruka's expression darkened. "The Tsuchigumo felt that."
Raizen looked toward the distant city walls.
"Then we shouldn't linger."
Aoi smiled sharply. "Good. Let's take this fight somewhere crowded."
The road stretched forward.
Toward cities.
Toward kingdoms.
Toward enemies who no longer hid in the dark.