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"What?! You freed us from the curse?!"
"Eh? It can’t be..."
"But nobody can destroy the curse. That’s why it’s so strong...!"
"Wait! Just who... who are you?!"
"Hmm? That Aura... Don’t you think it’s from sowhere? Or from soone...?"
Amidst the healed soldiers, one noticed Yuki’s Aura during her Divine Spell. It resembled a big red sun with red sunrays erging from a blazing yellow and orange aura around her and her daughter.
"I have only seen that on statues of Amaterasu-sama..."
"But she’s long gone, isn’t she?"
"I wasn’t even born when she was alive..."
"T-This can’t be... it must be a coincidence?"
"..."
Yuki considered telling them the truth about her identity but decided against it. It would only confuse them, requiring too many explanations. Still, she had to ask.
"Wait a second! That powerful Curse wasn’t inside your bodies because you wanted more power or sothing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Can you tell what the hell is going on over Zipangu?"
"You don’t understand. It’s not like we wanted it, but it was our only option to gain power..."
"Nobunaga-sama and his generals offered the curse as our only salvation from our weak mortal bodies..."
"We accepted it but... since then, we always suffered nightmares and pain in our chests..."
"Eventually, we turned into Yokai without being able to go back! My family couldn’t recognize . My village called a monster..."
"You healed us from the curse but now we’re even weaker..."
"Are you?" Yuki smiled. "I granted you a divine blessing. The more I give, the stronger I beco anyway... I am a Goddess after all, a Goddess from Yggdrasil."
"You are?!"
"And your daughter too?"
"Oh wow..."
"Sugoi!"
"W-What is your na, great goddess and wife of the dragon king?!"
"Heh! You may call Yuki! I am the Goddess of... uh, the Azure Star! Yeah," Yuki nodded.
She was lying, of course. She had just made up that title, but she couldn’t disappoint these people she had given a new chance at life.
"Kami of the Azure Star...!"
"Will you really help us?"
"We are desperate here..."
"We’ll kill him, yeah, but I have to first find my husband!" Yuki said. "Do you know anything about how this castle works or operates, its inner workings or anything of the sort? All of it would be useful information."
"How it operates?"
"Well..."
"We’ve heard that aside from Nobunaga-sama controlling it, another Kami keeps it all together and maintains the castle’s form!"
"What?! Who?" Yuki asked, confused.
"That would be Sarutahiko-sama...!"
"He is the Kami of Roads, Space, and Doors."
"He can manipulate and shift space and even create illusions."
"Sarutahiko?! Now that na’s familiar... damn it, even that guy ended up turning against ..." Yuki sighed, rubbing her chin as she rembered her past life.
She recalled Sarutahiko as a kindhearted old man, a Kami born to create a road between the Heavenly Realm, the Mortal Plane, and Hell.
He was most likely the one who helped Hajun co from the depths of Hell to the Heavenly Realm to slay Amaterasu.
He was also capable of holding this together and creating separate "looping" spaces where people couldn’t reach each other.
"If it’s him, this really complicates things..." Yuki sighed. "But it shouldn’t be impossible. We have to find him and stop him, possibly slay him. I think I may be able to stop him, but not defeat him completely as I am currently..."
Yuki was still weakened by the Cursed Miasma. Despite feeling like it "belonged" to her, this poisonous power actively tried to destroy her living body.
Unlike "Abyssal Beings" such as Miranda, her son Drakda, or the Vampires, Yuki had a living body without their abilities.
However, she could feel the three tears she absorbed reacting to this dinsion. Now fused with her...
They seed to be trying to communicate sothing, though she couldn’t figure it out.
"Awawah!"
Yudra suddenly spoke, drawing everyone’s attention.
The little girl climbed onto her mother’s head, bit her horns, sniffed her hair, then licked it.
"She’s grooming my hair. Don’t... don’t mind her," Yuki sighed. "Anyway, can you tell more? Anything you know, please."
"Ooh, I see..."
"W-Well..."
"We could tell you, yes..."
The soldiers showed no loyalty to Nobunaga. They despised him and jumped at the chance to betray him when offered another way out.
Especially after Yuki healed their curse and made them feel stronger with her divine blessing, without screwing them over.
"I see..."
They continued telling her about the Kami here, about Susanoo and how he ford a group of Kami who had betrayed her. Their original powers had grown stronger, corrupted by Hajun’s demonic stigma and the cursed miasma.
"To think even the Kami would resort to this damned curse to grow stronger, that’s really just pathetic," Yuki sighed, crossing her arms. "How did you guys get here?"
"We were brought here by Nobunaga-sama and-"
SLASH!
"Huh?"
Yuki’s eyes widened. For a mont, the people before her fell silent. She swore she saw a bright slash of silver light piercing through them.
But it was so fast, she couldn’t understand what happened.
"G-Guugh?!"
"Y-Yuki-sama...!"
"Agh...!"
Three suddenly vomited blood. Their upper torsos fell to the ground. The rest of the soldiers panicked, screaming in horror as they looked behind them.
The paper door was sliced apart, breaking into pieces as a large, muscular yet slender figure stepped forward.
With long white hair tied into a ponytail, sharp golden eyes, white skin, and an expression of utter contempt on his near-flawless face.
Most of his upper body was nude, showing muscles and scars. His lower half wore baggy, long pants caught on the ankles, white and silver in color.
He looked wild, walking barefoot.
"H-He’s here?!"
"No, it can’t be!"
"W-Why?!"
"Him of all people?!"
"N-no...! No!"
The soldiers scread in horror, lowering their heads and kneeling before him. His Aura surged, resembling thousands of katanas lined around him.
Yuki knew who he was.
"Susanoo?!"
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