The Winds of Fate

Teo managed to pull himself out of the lake on his own accord, but it took the combined strength of Val and Cora to lift Raijah from the serene waters.

Raijah groaned as he was freed from the rippling water. He took one deep, ragged breath and dropped to the ground, utterly exhausted.

He rested on the cold stones, staring at the ceiling, and waited for that relieving sensation of his body mending its wounds. But instead of that, wave after wave of pain began to abuse his body.

The most painful areas were the skin on his shoulder that Teo slashed in their brief clash and his shattered ribs, which had put him through pure agony since being damaged.

His thoughts were slow and muddy.

A dark figure appeared above him. It was Teo, looking calm as ever, with his blade floating by his side. He didn't show it, but Teo was just as exhausted as Raijah, although far less wounded. He extended one arm to Raijah.

"Come on. Let's get moving."

Raijah sighed, accepting that his wounds were not healing. Then he clenched his teeth and slowly rose to his feet, thanks to Teo's helping hand.

Upon rising, Raijah got a proper look at Cora and Val. Cora was suffering from her fair share of wounds and exhaustion, but otherwise, the young woman appeared fine.

Val, on the other hand, seemed mostly healed thanks to her Elite Prana, but her expression was grim. She kept a tight grip on Nezumi's green cloak, and although she didn't say anything, her demeanor told Raijah all he needed to know.

"He fought well, Val. In the end, he was the only reason we made it out."

Val opened her mouth, planning to say something, but then thought better of it and nodded, seemingly grateful for Raijah's reassuring words.

Val rested Nezumi's cloak on her shoulder, and Teo extended her sheathed blade and Tensai's pair of earrings.

She accepted the artifacts, carefully attaching the earrings to her belt. With a metallic screech, Val removed Ame-no-Ohabari's sheathe. Her dark eyes flashed with determination as she peered at her reflection through the silver blade of the katana. She stood quietly by herself, lost in thoughts.

After a few minutes, Val's voice finally broke the silence:

"Let's head back to the village."

***

The group was shocked to see the state of the Shi and Kamakura villages. Around them, and on both sides of the Takoizu River, was a scene of utter carnage. Other than a few lucky buildings on the outskirts of the plateau, all constructs had been decimated by the clash between the Shi and Korosu.

Korosu and Shi bodies were littering the ground, horribly maimed and damaged. Here and there, a surviving Shi could be seen tending to the injured.

Upon noticing Val, their anguished expression seemed to ease a bit. They circled around her, patiently awaiting her orders. Examining the condition of her people, Val concluded that they had suffered a considerable amount of casualties. The remaining Shi totaled only a few hundred.

"Women, continue to care for the wounded!" Val announced in an assertive tone. "As for the men, round up all corpses. We will begin burial preparations shortly."

Eager to help, Cora stepped forward. "I'll do what I can to help the wounded."

Channeling the bit of Prana she had regained, she lifted her leg and violently planted her heel into the ground. The entire plateau shuddered as several cone-like structures protruded from the ground, acting as tents to house the injured.

Cora, along with the other women, began locating those damaged in battle, and transporting them to their respective tents, based on the severity of their wounds. Similarly, the men began their assigned task of gathering the dead, leaving just Val, Raijah, and Teo.

Raijah caught Val eyeing his wounds. He knew she'd stress him to get treated, and although he was in immense pain, he concluded that it'd be better to wait on Aziel, who he could sense approaching.

Raijah changed the subject before Val could nag him.

"What happened to the river?" Raijah asked promptly.

Teo and Val joined him at the river shore, where they noticed blood in the water. Making things worse, the source of the dark maroon liquid appeared to be deep within the river.

Raijah gave Val a questioning glance. "There's a body down there. Any chance we could retrieve it?"

After giving it some thought, Val replied, "It's unlikely. The body's probably reached the riverbed by now. If that's the case, it's probably already been crushed by the river flow and is not worth saving. The most we can do is get Cora to filter out all the blood."

Teo looked to the side. Along the windings of the river, he saw Ujinari approaching with Aziel slouched across his back. Both men were gravely wounded, and neither seemed fit for battle.

Along with Cora, the functional Shi family members began exiting the earth tents to greet them. Ujinari helped Aziel down and rested his back against a tent.

Raijah, Teo, and Cora came to Aziel's aid while Val and Ujinari worked on crowd control.

Before they could ask about his arms, Aziel leaned his head back and spoke:

"I'll be fine. I overexerted myself is all. I didn't expect to have to activate Ririsu."

Bewildered, Raijah, Teo, and Cora glanced at one another, wondering who could have been powerful enough to force Aziel into using Ririsu.

Aziel let out a pained laugh. "He was a quite the Saint. His Signature Prana alone made him a challenging opponent, but his complementary-type Ririsu made him even more formidable."

Abruptly, Teo muttered, "He was the Saint that killed Hashira, right?"

Aziel slowly nodded, but the pain of Hashira's death ended the conversation.

A few minutes later, Val and Ujinari finally managed to get the crowd under control. Just as a sense of control washed over, it all went to hell as an unidentified aura emerged.

Without warning, a hellish rumble announced the appearance of cracks in the ground, opening several yawning chasms across the Shi Mountains. Simultaneously, most people on the plateau became rooted to the ground as if crushed by an unliftable weight.

The cause of this destruction came in the form of a broad-shouldered man. Standing at the base of a nearby mountain, he had a full view of the plateau and its occupants. Like all Doragonken practitioners, he was lean with terrifyingly conditioned muscles. He was dressed in loose-fitting, casual martial arts clothes, revealing his countless scars.

The man didn't bother with introductions. He was well aware that they all knew he was Warui.

He simply made his way onto the plateau, where most of the Shi family were pinned to the ground by his mysterious power.

Warui looked down at his skilled; yet battered and brutish hands. The sensation felt almost imaginary. Never in his life had he felt such sheer power surging through him.

"So, this is Prana."

Returning his glimpse to the Shi, he noticed a few left standing, but one, in particular, caught his eye. Straight ahead, glaring at him with pure, unfiltered hostility, was a strikingly familiar woman.

With just a glance, Warui concluded that her features were far too similar to Saku's to be accidental. Furthermore, she was in possession of the holy blade, Ame-no-Ohabari, and a pair of Yōkai earrings was attached to her belt. It was clear as day—she was the reincarnation the prophet spoke of.

He didn't know the woman's name, nor did he care to ask. He simply referred to her by the name of her past life. He was oddly calm, yet his voice was sharp and absolute.

"Saku, we cross paths once again. There are no coincidences in this world. . .The winds of fate must be blowing in my favor. This battle will surely be our last. . .be sure to make it worthwhile."

Val tightened her grip on her blade while Raijah and the others posted themselves behind her, prepared to strike at any given moment.

Warui settled into a perfect dragon stance—one that left no openings. Unbothered by the uneven odds, he spoke once more:

"Grab your blade or your loved ones. You will fall all the same."