Older Hyobanshi was sitting on the ground, with Arata, Yasuke, and Itachi sitting around him.
“You killed people protecting their families, left the village to suffer, and now you feel remorse?” Kiki asked.
“That was the first village. There were many…many more.” Hyobanshi replied.
“We had our orders to follow and we never disobey them.” Arata replied.
“You blindly following orders lead to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of your own people.” Hyobanshi replied with venom in his tongue.
“If they do not worship the Emperor then they are not my people.” Arata replied dryly.
Hyobanshi and Arata both shot to their feet quickly, turning to face each other. Yasuke quickly jumped up and tried to get between them while Itachi was sitting with his eyes still covered by bandages.
“I will let you join your Emperor in Hell if you so…” Hyobanshi started before suddenly stopping, looking around very slowly.
“Why don’t we…” Arata started as he began to pull his sword out of the sheath, but stopped as Hyobanshi lifted his hand to eye level.
“Shush.” Hyobanshi replied quickly.
Everyone stood around in silence, doing their best to focus on whatever Hyobanshi seemed to be noticing.
Itachi very slowly got to his feet, his arms outstretched as he reached for somebody.
The wind was very quiet, the grass barely tilting to the side as all of the people continued to stand in silence.
“Hyobanshi…” Kiki started, but as she said the last syllable, Hyobanshi’s sword was quickly pulled out and slashed behind him.
Yasuke turned to see an exact clone of himself, which fell backwards to the ground and suddenly morphed into a large badger. Yasuke jumped back in fear as Hyobanshi began to sheath his sword. The badger let out a hellish scream when Hyobanshi quickly spun his blade and sliced the creature’s head off, black blood pouring out onto the green grass.
“What the hell is that thing?” Arata asked with a horrified look.
Hyobanshi fully sheathed his sword before crouching down near it, reaching out and touching the fur, which was sharp when he moved his hand one way then soft on the other.
“Mujina.” Hyobanshi said.
“What’s a Mujina?” Arata asked.
“They can change their appearance.” Hyobanshi replied as he stood up.
“How did nobody else notice that there were two of me?” Yasuke shouted loudly.
Hyobanshi was still staring down at the dead creature.
“Whatever is the cause of these demons running wild…they’re becoming more and more frequent. If we wait too long, there will be more demons in this world than people.” Hyobanshi looked over at Kiki, who had crossed arms covering her chest as her masked face stared back at him.
“And how do you know this?” Kiki asked.
“It’s just an educated guess. Now we need to prepare for a war, because that’s the only way we can imagine winning.” Hyobanshi said as he looked over his shoulder.
Arata was still tensely staring at him. Yasuke stood on the other side of Hyobanshi, the weight of the situation clearly weighing him down. Itachi continued to stumble around with his eyes wrapped up.
Kiki continued to stand firm as the other Kotodama practitioners formed a V shape behind her. Kiki was the only person on the other side of the red gate, standing between the barrier.
“We are a peaceful people.” Kiki said.
“And you’re fighting against creatures that will kill every living thing with smiles on their faces. I am only asking that you fight with me to stop that from happening.” Hyobanshi replied.
Kiki and Hyobanshi stared at each other in silence as the wind blew softly.
“We will help you…but you must tell us who you really are. No more lies, no more secrets, understood?” Kiki asked.
Hyobanshi stared forward, unresponsive for a full minute.
He looked over his shoulder at the other samurai before turning back.
“Alright…the truth.” Hyobanshi said as he stared back at Kiki.
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A young Hyobanshi was sitting alone, his sword stabbed into the ground behind him as he sat cross legged, meditating next to a small lake. The water was clean and still, his reflection perfectly mirrored with the sun setting behind him, turning the sky and lake a beautiful mix of purple and orange.
As Hyobanshi was meditating, he felt a strange presence.
His eyes slowly opened as he looked around, but he was alone.
He looked over his shoulder to see his military camp a good distance away. Far enough that the massive tents appeared as big as bushes.
Hyobanshi turned back around to stare into his reflection of the lake.
His eyes were locked with his own, staring as he was thinking about what he had done.
Today the army had just burned down their twentieth village, all because they weren’t celebrating The Emperor. All of the samurai seemed to be fine with it, not questioning the orders or their loyalties whatsoever.
Hyobanshi continued to stare, unsure of where his own loyalties were.
He was preparing to get to his feet, but something in the water made him stop.
Around his face in the reflection, the water began to ripple.
Nothing was in the water and nothing had been through in, but the water was moving out in large circles until they hit the edge.
Hyobanshi reached behind him and grabbed the hilt of his sword, slowly and silently pulling it out of the Earth.
He continued to stare at his reflection, which stared back with a different look in the eyes.
Hyobanshi slowly pulled his sword around his side, gripping the hilt as tightly as he could.
“Don’t you want to save people?”
A voice came out from nowhere, but Hyobanshi’s eyes were locked on his reflection, which was no longer mirroring his movements.
The reflection stared intensely while standing still and straight.
Hyobanshi was doing his best to stay completely calm, but it was difficult.
The reflection suddenly began to move their arms, the hand reaching out as the water suddenly rippled with rings shooting out in every direction.
Hyobanshi continued to stare and draw his sword out of the sheath by a few inches.
Hyobanshi watched as the hand from his reflection suddenly began to emerge from the water.
Fingers that were the exact same as his.
Hyobanshi’s eyes went wide as the fingers slowly moved out, water running down them back into the lake.
Hyobanshi took a single step closer, looking back down at his reflection.
“I can help you stop the suffering…” The reflection said, despite the mouth not moving, in a siren like tone.
Hyobanshi kept staring as he pulled his blade out a little bit more.
“Who are you?” Hyobanshi asked in his best serious and authoritative tone.
The reflection didn’t respond.
“I am someone who can help you.” The reflection replied.
Hyobanshi’s head tilted to the side as he watched the hand slowly move back into the water.
As Hyobanshi watched the hand disappear, he felt himself being drawn to it. He felt a force pulling him closer.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxLIOLNNS1
Hyobanshi let go of his sword, which slid back into the sheath as he stepped closer to the edge of the land, looking straight down into the lake.
“Help me with what? What could you possibly offer me?” Hyobanshi asked.
The reflection moved closer to the water, becoming larger as it appeared they were about to burst through to this world.
“Take my hand…and I can show you…” The reflection said as their hand once again emerged, but this time it extended further and further until the entire arm was sticking out of the lake, pointing up towards Hyobanshi.
Hyobanshi stared at the arm, then looked down at his own hand.
Hyobanshi’s hand slowly went out towards the other hand, the same hand as his own sticking out of the lake with water running down rapidly.
Hyobanshi could feel his mind slipping more and more when his hand suddenly took the other hand.
As Hyobanshi squeezed the hand, he felt his eyes roll back into his head.
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