It took a moment before Miyako could comprehend what had just happened. Yuki groaned in pain as he looked down at the blade that pierced his heart, and then, his gaze shifted towards Miyako. However, it didn’t end with that, for flames suddenly lit up the blade, searing Yuki’s flesh within. The smell of burnt flesh spread through the air.

  Miyako shifted her gaze back to see a familiar man holding the sword and had his finger on the free hand right next to the entrance wound. His finger was blazing fire, which to Miyako almost seemed familiar. She had seen that type of flame before.

  “Quite a noble goal you made for yourselves.”

  It was a man who was among Takehiro’s entourage. Miyako couldn’t understand. How did he get so close without them noticing?

  “Unity, unity, not a possibility. You were never the first. Countless futile attempts, and yet they never succeeded. For hundreds upon hundreds of years, many were ambitious, yet all of them perished in their failures.”

  The man let go of the sword, and Yuki started falling.

  “Yuki!”

  Miyako quickly stepped in and caught him before he hit the floor. Panting in anxiety and fear, she looked up at the one who struck Yuki. He was grinning.

  “W-What have you done?”

  “Chaos.”

  While trembling, Miyako slowly looked down at Yuki, his eyes fading with life.

  “I’ll heal you!” Miyako tried casting healing magic.

  “It’s pointless, I burned his heart. Nothing can heal that. No… it was not me.”

  Miyako slowly looked back up as tears started coming out of her eyes.

  The man grinned. “You struck him and burned his heart.”

  “W-What?”

  The man chuckled.

  “M-Miya…”

  Miyako shifted her gaze back down to the dying Yuki. “H-Hold on, Yuki. You’re going to be alright.” She held him tighter.

  However, the damage was fatal. And he looked up at Miyako, his eyes slowly coming to a close.

  His body became limp, no sign of strength left.

  “Y-Yuki…?” She touched his face, but there was no response. She stared at her trembling hands, stained with his blood. Then to the sword, her sword, that struck him.

  Why?

  She looked up, and the man was gone. Who was he? What kind of person could just slip away completely unnoticed?

  It was then that there was a shout. “The representative of Nishinoa killed Lord Yuki!”

  Huh?

  It was then that the ninjas quickly came rushing in. They paused in place as they saw the bloodied Yuki in Miyako’s arms.

  “Lord Yuki’s dead…?” They were in disbelief.

  “Who called it? Who saw it? Did you?”

  “No, it wasn’t me.”

  “Lord Yuki ordered us away from this area.”

  “Hey, that sword, isn’t that hers? I saw her having that.”

  “T-Tell the lord, now! And apprehend that woman! She killed Lord Yuki!”

  W-What?

  Miyako carefully put down Yuki’s body. “N-No! You've got it all wrong! I didn’t do it!” She shouted, her voice strained in her desperation to speak the truth.

  “Liar! I knew it was dangerous leaving him alone with you!”

  “This must have been her plot all along. Seduce the young lord and kill him!”

  Miyako quickly stood up, holding out her blood-coated hands. “No! That was never my intention!”

  It was never my intention — never, never, never.

  She felt overwhelmed by what was happening. Yuki was suddenly killed right before her eyes, and now she was being accused of killing him. It was too much. Everything was so confusing.

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  “Apprehend her. Kill her if she resists!”

  A couple more ninjas arrived after hearing the commotion. Miyako didn’t know what to do. It was then that several slashes of light erupted on all the ninjas from behind them, blowing and slashing them away. The attacks were meant to be fatal.

  “Agh!”

  “My arm…”

  Satomi rushed to Miyako’s side and saw what had become of Yuki.

  “What the…?” She noticed the sword. “Oh…” She stared at the shaken Miyako and quickly grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “Milady! We need to get out of here!”

  “W-What? But what about Yuki…?”

  “He’s dead! We need to go! They’re coming after us!”

  Dead…

  Miyako felt like everything was floating, she could barely hear what was happening around her. Like she was submerged in water. The wounded ninjas slowly stood up.

  Satomi gritted her teeth, holding her swords towards the enemies. “We need to escape.” But they were in the middle of the enemy castle.

  E-Escape…

  “I-In the greenhouse, the underground passage.” Miyako remembered it was what Yuki used to slip out into the city.

  “Let’s go!” Satomi unleashed several wide slashes towards the enemies before they could get up and pulled Miyako by the hand.

  As they ran to the greenhouse, Miyako looked back, staring at Yuki’s corpse. Her sword was left behind.

  “My sword, Satomi.”

  “No time!” Satomi handed one of her swords. “Use this!”

  Miyako received Satomi’s katana as they rushed inside the greenhouse. Gathering her composure, she quickly pointed to where the entrance was. “It’s there.”

  Satomi swung her blade, sending small slashes that wrecked everything in its path, including the potted plants. Miyako gasped in horror, seeing all those plants being torn to pieces. But there was no time to worry about them.

  They opened the door on the floor and quickly ran down the stairs. At the end of the stairs, they ended up on a tight pathway going straight ahead. Miyako used her flames to light the way, and they ran through the tight space.

  “Where should we go?” Miyako asked.

  “I-I don’t know… Let’s get to safety first.”

  Miyako lowered her head. “We could have just explained things to them. I didn’t kill him…”

  Satomi glanced back at her lady. “I know. But without solid proof, it will be hard to prove.”

  “But it wasn’t truly me! It was Takehiro’s man. This must have been his plan all along.”

  “It seems you have forgotten, milady! This island has always been our enemy. They won’t take kindly to what happened. All they will see first of all is your sword that struck their young lord! We don’t know what they’ll do to us.”

  Torture would be an option for them if they chose to keep them as prisoners, whether for interrogation or pleasure. Still, in the end, enemies could not be trusted, there was no telling what they’d do.

  “B-But…”

  “Explaining will be a waste of breath. Without proof, pointing at Takehiro will only make you look like a fool! Chances are they’ll execute both of you! And Hokunoa already has enough excuses to declare war on us.”

  “Declare war…”

  She was right. Even if Miyako explained, they wouldn’t let her go that easily. No, they might keep her in chains. Or In Yoshio’s fury, he would just execute Miyako on the spot and start the war he might have been wanting for.

  “At any rate, after what happened, they’ll send everything they have to hunt us down.”

  ***

  Yoshio ran towards where his son had been killed. He absolutely couldn’t believe that it was true. It had to be a lie. He had to see it for himself. It didn’t make sense, it was all so sudden.

  But then he arrived.

  He looked around to see multiple dead ninjas sprawled on the floor, while the others were either unconscious due to their wounds, or trying to keep themselves conscious as they severely bled. However, there were already men coming to treat them.

  But there was one they couldn’t treat.

  “Yuki…”

  The moment he saw him on the floor, he felt that his world had crumbled apart. He slowly walked towards him with heavy steps. He slowly knelt down right beside his son’s dead body. With a shaky breath, he rested his hand on his son’s arm and lowered his head.

  “No… No, no. My son…” He leaned his head on his son. As he couldn’t bear it anymore, tears started flowing down his cheeks. “My dear little boy…” He was all that was left in his life, his only family left. “I promised…” He promised ?his wife that he’d take care of their son.

  And yet, his son now lay dead.

  He clenched his fist tight. “No… NO!” Amidst his grief, he was furious. “Why, why?”

  There were footsteps coming from next to him. “Oh, no… He’s truly dead. I’m so sorry, my friend.”

  Yoshio kept his head lowered, but he still recognized the voice all too well. “Seiji…”

  Seiji Enomoto, the head of the nightshades. The master of the ninjas.

  Seiji walked behind the corpse and pulled out the blade from Yuki’s body. Yoshio lifted ?his gaze to see the old man pick up a scabbard on the floor and sheath the katana within.

  “What a sudden, undeserving death. Who did it? Whose blade is this?”

  “... The representative of Nishinoa, the girl named Miyako Taira.”

  “A fancy blade, and Yuki’s flesh is burned. Doesn’t she primarily use fire? Why would she kill Yuki?”

  “I do not know… But, she has been making strange proposals… Displeasure, anger, whatever her reason may be, it doesn’t change what she has done.”

  It was then that Katsuo arrived, running. He gasped upon seeing Yuki dead, completely speechless.

  “What do you want to do?” Seiji asked.

  “I want her head.”

  Seiji nodded. “Alright, I’ll send my ninjas to search and execute her.” He faced one of the ninjas. “Where did they escape through?”

  “One of the injured mentioned they went through the greenhouse.”

  Yoshio raised his head. “The greenhouse? The tunnel… I see… So Yuki brought her there…”

  ***

  Bakin cackled as everything went according to his plans. While he was making his way back to his ‘lord’, a man came up to him from behind. He frowned and turned around.

  “What do you want?” Bakin asked.

  The man was among Lady Oboro’s servants — no, perhaps that word would not quite fit. In truth, Oboro was the pawn.

  “You’re scaling things up so suddenly.”

  “Hey now, are you sure we can talk about that here?”

  “I’ve checked, there’s no one around. Too distracted by the situation you caused.”

  “Huh.” Bakin shrugged. “Well, the humans were getting too comfortable. And my timing is impeccable, by the way. They were attempting to unite the islands.”

  “Your actions may cause an all-out war.”

  “Why the fuck would you care, anyway? We’re free to do whatever we want here.”

  “Yes, but you’ll ruin the fun for others.”

  “Eh, I’m sure things will return to normal in a couple of decades.”

  “Hm. Whatever… Anyway, is there any news about Rytus and his crew?”

  “They have yet to pass by Tobunoa.”

  “I see. They sure are taking their time.”

  “Or maybe something happened?”

  “Hm… if there is still no news in a few months, maybe we’ll send some men to check up on them on the continent.”

  “I’ll leave that matter to you guys. Now then, I have to go.”