Volume 1
Chapter 6 Part
2
Phoenix Wings Soar in the Night Sky,
A Single Flame Thrust toward the Moon 2
Translator : PolterGlast
―Flap, flap-flap, flap-flap............
Akira's tattered
clothes flutter in the chilly wind.
The light sounds of
the cuffs fluttering in the wind brought Akira back to his senses.
Perhaps he had been in
a state of shock for a while, his memory of what happened was hazy.
"............Ha?"
Finally, his thoughts,
dazzled by the brightness of the vermillion gold, recovered, and the scene that
unfolded before his eyes left him speechless.
―What lay ahead was a star-filled sky.
It is neither the
riverbed nor the city.
The scene was
unrealistic in every sense of the word, and this time, Akira's thoughts came to
a halt.
Swoosh~. A vortex of
wind swept Akira's body from the back.
It is by no means
unbearable.
He stiffened his body
to resist it,
―Without any hint of resistance, Akira's body made a
complete turn.
Whirl. With a strange
sensation as if his internal organs were being stirred up, his vision drifted
from right to left.
The twinkling stars
trailed off, giving the impression of a rotation.
Next, artificial
lights, similar to starlight, flashed across Akira's field of vision, as vivid
as the starry sky.
Artificial light. The
place where human beings were living.
―It was the light of Karen.
Finally, Akira
realized where he was.
"―…………Where is
this? Sky? H-how?? how am I flying in the sky!??
With the inertia given
to him by the wind, he spun two or three times in the air in an unsteady manner.
Each time he did so,
his vision spun around in disarray and returned to its original position.
The abnormality was so
great that Akira involuntarily thrashed his arms and legs, but since he was
high in the sky with nothing to support him, he naturally did not stop moving,
and his body danced further in mid-air.
Akira looked down at
his feet.
The ground, let alone
the nothingness beneath his feet, and the city of Karen came into view
simultaneously in his vision.
His bewildered
thoughts were quickly overtaken by fear of the reality of flying in the sky
above.
"A, a ~aa~a~a~!!
I-I'm, I'm falling~~!!"
A mere human being
flying in the sky with nothing but his own body.
Perhaps finally
noticed this abnormality, it triggered the gravity to suddenly pull down on his
body.
Without slowing down,
the speed of his fall kept increasing, and his body was pulled back to the
surface of the ground at once.
"A. ―A, a
~a~a~aaa~aa~a~a~a!!!"
Fortunately, he did
not fall vertically, but diagonally as if gliding,
―He was so terrified that it made him so disoriented,
but luckily he didn't pee himself.
――――――――
"―..................Kufu~"
A mixture of bitter
and happy coughs escaped from her cherry-red lips.
At the sight of the
sighing of the Divine Pillar in front of her, which she had never seen or heard
before, Tsuguho Kihoin, who was standing beside her, looked at her Master with
concern.
"Aka-sama, is
something wrong?"
Unusually, Shuka, who
stood on the wide-open balcony and rested her arms on the balustrade, looked
out at the night view of Karen that spread out beyond the balcony.
"Hmm. ―Look over
there."
She lifted her slender
hand and pointed it toward the town.
Following Shuka's
fingertip, Tsuguho looked in the same direction, only to see a familiar night
view of the town.
Even if something were
happening, Mt. Ootori and Karen are 10 km apart in a straight line, a distance
that an ordinary person would have difficulty identifying something beyond
their field of vision.
However, both Shuka and
Tsuguho were able to firmly grasp what was beyond that distance.
"......Looks
like, he is flying."
"Umu. He is
flying."
Akira is flying over
the sky above Karen, drawing a rather awkward arc.
The two girls were
naturally accepting the phenomenon, which defies reality in every sense of the
word.
Akira was unaware of
it, but every time he flew in the air, the brilliance of the vermillion gold
drew a circle that resembled a ripple.
"I've never heard
that Jakuen Gayou possesses the power
of flight."
"It's because I
have never told you. I mean, it would be pointless even if I told you."
That is not
necessarily true.
Tsuguho wanted to
complain, but the overwhelming difference in status between her and the girl in
front of her made her barely keep her mouth shut.
"Let me tell you
this, every one of Kanna-no-Mikura's
previous generations that I told about this power. None of them could master
it."
"......That's,"
Why? As Tsuguho was about
to ask that question, she realized the reason.
In order to alter
reality by means of spiritual power, the will of the caster is a fundamental
requirement.
This is something
absolute. Whether it is Onmyoujutsu, spirit techniques, or the divine domain of
divine artifacts.
It is a miracle only
if there is the will to exercise it.
The past Kanna-no-Mikura were probably aware of
the possibility of flight, but they probably did not have the conviction that
they could fly, or the will to do so.
Mere human beings
without wings, soaring through the skies.
It must have been difficult
for them to accept this reality and manifest it as a technique.
In a sense, Akira is
an anomaly.
I want to survive, I
want to escape.
Perhaps, it was thanks
to those kinds of negative emotions and the desire to overcome them.
As it was, he wielded Jakuen Gayou to break through his dire
situation, and the spirits exercised their authority on his behalf.
Tsuguho imagined that
this might be what led Akira to be able to fly.
―And it was proven by Shuka's current behavior that this
was correct.
"―Kufufu."
Again, Shuka coughed.
It was clear to
Tsuguho's eyes that the girl had lost her vigor.
She seemed to be
forcing herself.
A technique that could
hardly be called a jutsu and should impossible to be performed.
The girl in front of
her was shouldering all the repercussions and the price.
"Aka-sama, your
divinity is-,"
"......It was
also the same with Koyata."
Tsuguho's concern was
interrupted and she tilted her head at the name Shuka told her.
Then she remembered.
It was the name of the first confirmed Kanna-no-Mikura
in the history of Shumon Province.
"He was not good
at handling divine power. No matter how long years passed, he would always
devour me from the inside out without restraint."
"......"
Looking at Tsuguho,
who could not finish her sentence, Shuka smiled with a wistful glance.
"When you
acquaint yourself with a man, you too will understand.
The pain and
satisfaction. ―The happiness of being a woman."
"Ha,
ha~a......"
While Tsuguho wondered
how to reply, the girl who ruled over Shumon Province turned her gaze toward
Karen again.
Beyond her gaze,
Akira, having understood the situation, had just begun gliding toward the
ground.
"―Don't ever
forget, Akira."
Shuka muttered.
"The one who
satisfies you is the incarnation of the Phoenix who rules the sky."
With endless pleasure
and endless love.
"―Don't ever
forget, Akira."
She just kept staring
at Akira and muttered.
"It is the
divinity that governs the fire that presides over the land on which you
stand."
――――――――
"―..................Haa~,
a, haa~, ha, ha."
Eventually, by
maintaining the momentum of the glide, Akira succeeded in returning to the
ground surface.
He was so nervous and
so confused that he could not quite understand how he had made it back that he
repeatedly took shallow, heavy breathes.
Not understanding
whether he was happy because he was safe, or because he was still alive, he
burst into tears without realizing it.
However, this only
lasted for a few moments, and Akira quickly recovered, remembering that he was
in still the middle of Hyakki Yagyo.
He surely felt that he
had flown quite high in the sky, but he seemed to be back on the ground faster
than he had imagined.
He glided and landed
about 1.1 km upstream from where he had previously been.
Akira looked back to
where he used to be.
There should be no
lights at all, but for some reason, the faraway place appeared vividly in his
vision.
One Giant Ogre and one
Orochi.
Where did the other
Ogre go?
Perished. He should
not have known, but somehow he was sure of it.
And for some reason,
the remaining Ogre and Orochi showed no sign of moving.
With such thoughts in
his mind, he looked at his surroundings.
The world was shining
with vermillion gold.
An enormous amount of
vermillion gold particles were pouring out from everywhere, filling all of
Akira's field of vision with its color.
It was a majestic and
fantastic sight.
The soundless, yet
immensely glorious radiance held the defiled beasts that were previously
running all around in place, as if to suppress their movement.
Deer and boars were
trembling and barely able to stand, and small creatures such as dogs were lying
on the ground, barely able to breathe.
Since the effect was
so great on the defiled beasts, even large creatures like Ogre and Orochi would
not be able to move easily.
Having come to that
conclusion, Akira finally had the time to be aware of his own state of being.
There are a lot of
incomprehensible things happening, but the greatest of them all is probably
Akira himself.
His uniform was in
tatters and was, at best, snagged.
Especially around the
belly, it is ripped wide open, leaving a hole.
―Yet, the flesh beneath the hole did not have a single
scratch on it.
Although he had
suffered many minor injuries before, he had no experience with serious
injuries, such as broken bones.
Akira was secretly
proud of his physical sturdiness.
But this was
different.
The meanings of
"strong body" and "lucky to be completely unscathed" are
fundamentally different.
Akira should have died
when he was kicked by the Giant Ogre.
"Ah."
He remembered.
―I promise you.
In his memory, Shuka
smiled.
―As long as you keep your toes in Shumon Province,
everything on this land will join forces to help you.
She kept her
promise, huh?
Shuka's words made his
heart warm.
"I see. ―If so,
it's my turn to repay her."
And then he noticed.
He felt a firm grip on
his right hand.
He lifted it up and
looked at it.
What his palm was
grasping was the hilt of a sword.
The smooth leather
with black threads sewn into the handle was designed for practical use. The
wide, continental-style guard, rarely used with a single-edged blade.
Beyond that, the most
important thing, the blade of the sword, did not exist.
―No, it does exist.
A double-edged blade
that is terrifyingly transparent, hardly reflecting any light.
It can hardly be seen
at all, but its length is probably around 1.1 meters.
What is this? Akira
knew the name of this sword, though he had no memory of it.
It was engraved in his
soul.
A single
flame, lonesome yet glorious.
"Jakuen Gayou―?"
Fearfully, he threw
such a question toward the sword.
The sword ― Jakuen Gayou pulsates once in response
to the question as if it has a will, and then it unsheathes its sword blade.
A blue flame rose up
from the core of the transparent sword blade, and silver particles coated the
blue flame in a tangled manner.
It was a double-edged
sword that was covered with azure-silver and shone with gorgeous vermilion-gold
color.
The brilliance of the
vermilion-gold shone in a wide range of areas, suppressing all impurities.
A sword forged from
its essence.
An enormous amount of
spiritual power filled Akira's body as well.
Akira was intoxicated
with the sensation as if fresh water was filling a dried-up lake.
I can do
anything. Such a feeling of omnipotence brought such absurd thoughts to mind.
The enormous amount of
heat filling the sword encouraged him to swing it two or three times.
Each time he did so,
the shining particles swirled around him and carved a trail in the void at his
will.
Conquer.
The supposedly
powerful defiled beasts have become miserable targets.
There was not a single
obstacle that stood in the way of Akira and Jakuen Gayou.
Akira lowered his
waist slightly and kicked the ground at once from the modified form of the Hira
Seigan Stance.
His body is light. It
is as if he is flying.
Such an absurd thought
flashed through his mind as he sprinted toward the Giant Ogre.
―As a matter of fact, Akira's speed is not that of an
ordinary person, although he was not aware of it.
He crossed the
distance in one single step.
His legs kicked the
ground powerfully, yet the time it took him to step on the ground was only a
moment.
Akira's body was
almost gliding through the air as he ran across the ground.
The momentum generated
by this action was tremendous, and the distance between him and the Giant Ogre,
which was 1.1 km away, was shortening in the blink of an eye.
While sprinting, he
swung the Jakuen Gayou toward the defiled beast that came into his vision.
As expected, there is
no time to make a detour just because a defiled boar blocked his path.
He just swung his
blade in its direction.
―And that was enough.
Following the
trajectory of the swinging blade, the vermillion gold particles swirling around
it caused a wave of purifying fire.
The particles of
purification that could stop even an apparition in its tracks.
The moment it became a
wave with distinct fangs and swallowed the defiled beast, the defiled beast
transformed into an ember.
"Ha, haha~"
Along the path of
Akira's sprint, countless embers rose up.
It was irresistibly
satisfying, and a hearty laugh naturally escaped from Akira's mouth.
His body is hot in
such a pleasant sensation.
Akira, who had been an
overwhelmingly weak person, was intoxicated by the overwhelming power that he
wielded for the first time in his life.
Akira's current figure
had no stance or form. He just resembled a wolf running in the field or a
swallow soaring over the ground.
―Calm down and keep some distance.
While laying waste to
the defiled beasts with waves of purifying fire, the figure of the Giant Ogre
looming before his eyes made his fighting spirit even fiercer, but even though
he was drunk with power, somewhere in the back of his mind, his calm self
shouted out a warning.
It was only natural.
Just a few moments ago, the Giant Ogre was a violent monster who was torturing
Akira as it pleased.
It was strange to
think at this moment that it would let itself be defeated so easily.
But,
―Attack. Let him taste a little bit of violence!
The arrogant thought
that was born kicked out Akira's reason, and with the momentum of that thought,
the Jakuen Gayou raged with even more heat.
Finally, Akira leaped
up to a position where he could look down on the Giant Ogre's head with all his
passion.
As expected of a
powerful Youma. In response to Akira's obvious attack, the Ogre, who should
have been unable to move at all, raised the utility pole in his hand in a
defensive stance.
The pole, made of hard
cedar logs, was not something that could be easily cut in two.
It probably planned to
stop Akira's attack momentum by letting the blade sink into the log, and then
launch a counterattack on Akira.
Drawing a scorching
hot trajectory, Jakuen Gayou was swung down from the top.
The Ogre's plan was
spot on, the blade of the sword collided with the utility pole.
―However, without even allowing a moment's delay, the
blade of the Jakuen Gayou brilliantly sliced both the utility pole and the
Giant Ogre in half.
The only
miscalculation on the part of the Giant Ogre was that the sword in Akira's hand
was something entirely different, having merely taken the form of a sword in
appearance.
The blade of Jakuen
Gayou is entirely made of the very material of fire itself.
It is a sword of fire
that scorches existence itself, and it is not something that can be stopped by
a mere cedar log, no matter how tough it may be.
Akira swung his sword
down to the very ground, and without even looking at the lifeless Ogre as he
fell, he slipped by his side and ran onward.
Ahead of Akira's line
of sight, the leader of the hordes that had caused this whole disaster, the
Orochi of Kutsunagahara, stood tall, as if to intercept him.
Run.
No, he flew so low as
if creeping on the ground.
―The distance to Orochi is about 36 meters.
That distance vanished
within a split second.
By the time Orochi
tried to react, Akira's body was already so close to its belly.
Orochi, bewildered by
the sudden change in the distance between the two, moved the tip of its tail in
a twitching motion.
However, once the
distance was this close, such interception would not be possible.
An attack launched
from an awkward position. Perhaps because of this, the attack turned out to be
a very half-hearted one.
Even so, the speed
generated by its long tail cut through the air and created a blade of
shockwave.
It would be impossible
for a mere human body to withstand the sheer impact of the tail's mass and the
wind blade.
Orochi was sure of
this.
―Therefore,
When Orochi's tail
clashed with the trajectory of vermillion gold as if it had no resistance,
Orochi's thoughts were swallowed up by confusion.
And then,
――Shaa~a~a~a~!?
A~ashaa~! Sha~a~!!???
And then, it wailed
like a child due to the intense pain that came to scorch not only its body but
also its soul.
It was the first time
for it to be tormented by this much pain and suffering, both back when it was
just a human being and even after it fell into the realm of non-humans.
Nevertheless, despite
its wailing and screaming, Orochi immediately took action to heal its body.
As Genji had already
discovered before, Orochis true identity was a cluster of demon fire.
Even if they were to
be dispersed or extinguished, the miasma would help them to multiply and gather
in their original position, and they would immediately return to their original
form of appearance.
However, for some
reason, the tail showed no sign of recovering.
On the contrary, the
demon fire started to scatter from the cross-section of the tail.
Confused by this
reality, Orochi turned its gaze back to Akira, who had done this.
Akira was still in the
stance in which he had drawn his great sword, and his face was downcast, not
showing any expression.
―Are you trying to say that you have no interest in
me!!?
Orochi's eyes were
stained with anger, as if he was humiliated more than he was in pain.
Enraged at having its
tail cut off, the serpent filled its mouth with the highest concentration of
miasma it could muster.
Then, it opened its
mouth wide to spit poisonous flames at Akira,
―That was Orochi's last thought.
Akira moved a step
faster than Orochi.
Jakuen Gayou was
inserted into Orochi's body, and its blade slashed up vertically,
*Flash*
A blazing pillar,
which was coiled in vermillion gold, swallowed the serpent, split the cloudless
night sky, and thrust toward the moon.
――Sha, a, ……………………
In a flash, Orochi
instantly perished in a torrent of mighty power.
All that Orochi could
leave behind was a muffled wail that resembled the last breath of a dying
creature.
In contrast to the
scale of the divine energy that shone brightly, it was a remarkably silent
blow.
The shock and
explosion, which should have been generated with the release of enormous power,
disappeared, engulfed by the divine energy that rose up endlessly.
All that remained was
a slight residual reverberation, akin to the cry of a bird, caused by the
friction between the blazing vermillion-gold pillar and the heat that engulfed
even the rising air currents.
What Akira unleashed
was, oddly enough, very similar to one of the spirit techniques practiced in
the Kihoin style.
Once engulfed by the
blazing pillar, no beings could escape.
The unique cry of the
incarnated bird is the reason why the spirit technique is called this.
Kihoin Style
Spirit Techniques, Secret Transmission―
――Higanue
Akira's heart was
gripped by complex emotions that did not fit into any of the categories of joy,
anger, sorrow, or happiness.
The pure impulse that
stemmed from such emotions tugged at his heart, and an inarticulate voice
leaked from his throat in the form of exhalation.
Blessed by the
brilliance of the vermillion gold and illuminated by the fire he had conjured,
Akira cried a little without a voice in his fading consciousness.
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