Chapter 50: Bridal Style
Sunlight scattered over the Grave of the Unrelated, established at the foot of Starvation Cry Mountain.
This was a clearing at the mountain’s base, covered with withered yellow grass. Here lay tombs dedicated mostly to the victims of famine, travelers who perished from plagues, and passersby attacked by demons.
Additionally, there were the bodies of clan members, retainers, and servants who, several years ago, had fled after their territory was assaulted but succumbed to their injuries.
After arriving, everyone offered a simple tribute at the Grave of the Unrelated. When the rites concluded, Kukutsu Ikki, clad in black ceremonial robes, stepped onto the clearing, carrying a sheathed sword.
“Yoake, you really intend to challenge me.”
Ikki fastened the sword, named Masayo, at his waist. This treasured blade resembled a long wakizashi. Then, gripping the scabbard with his left hand, he drew his customary cursed blade.
“You should know well that you have never bested me in swordsmanship; such a futile challenge is meaningless...”
“Not necessarily.”
The girl placed her right hand on the Mizutsuki Wakahime Sword and drew her blade. Its tip pointed steadily at her sworn brother.
“Big Brother Ikki... I will not keep losing.”
Their blades met in the next instant, clashing with a metallic ring.
Clang!
At the moment their swords crossed, a cold sneer appeared on Ikki’s face, for as the girl uttered her defiant words, his strike unsettled her, forcing her to retreat.
“I have always held the advantage in strength.”
With agile movements, he swung his blade horizontally, spinning and advancing to deliver a second strike. Yoake hurriedly blocked, metal ringing against metal once more. Their blades whirled and collided, sparks scattering like stardust beneath the sunlight.
Strike after strike, the blades repeatedly separated, flipped, and targeted each other’s vital points, but all attacks were parried.
The two figures began to move, the constant flashing of steel a testament to their fierce duel. Ikki sensed something amiss—Yoake’s arm strength grew increasingly formidable.
A dense barrage of slashes filled the space between them, both swords gleaming brightly. The fierce impacts turned into a cascade of shooting stars before they locked again in a tenacious embrace.
Whoosh!
Ikki stepped back, breaking from the fray, his brow furrowed as he looked at Yoake.
“What have you been doing?”
His eyes blazed with anger.
The girl’s body bore multiple fresh wounds, blood flowing freely.
In contrast, Ikki remained unscathed. Yet he could feel a slight tear at the webbing of his right hand, the one blocking the blows—this was no ordinary strength but the result of spiritual energy reinforcing her body and wrist.
“Big Brother Ikki, do you think I will remain weak forever?”
At that moment, their gazes clashed fiercely, igniting invisible sparks.
“You?”
Ikki’s mouth opened in surprise. He sensed the fighting spirit radiating from Yoake—the familiar Yoake of the Tsukigaro clan, now exuding a fierce determination.
“Brother.”
The girl gripped the Mizutsuki Wakahime Sword tightly and leapt into the air, swinging her over three-foot blade from left to right, the tip seeming to cut through even the air itself.
“I will catch up soon!”
Feeling the terrifying force behind the strike, Ikki raised his blade to block. A sharp clang resounded, fireworks of metal and sound bursting forth. He bent low to evade the blow and rolled aside from below.
Yet, as he leapt backward, a cut tore across his cheek, blood splattering.
“B-Brother.”
Watching the battle, Ayaka’s eyes welled with tears. Seeing the fight between her two most important relatives stirred a mixture of painful emotions within her.
Hyakusuke silently observed, knowing that among them, Ayaka—the one reunited with her biological brother—was the most heartbroken.
The storyline in the game was no different. Even upon reuniting with his sister, Ikki never spoke to her, completely ignoring her presence.
This left Ayaka feeling utterly abandoned by her only kin.
“Brother must have despised me long ago.”
“...Is it because I lack the clan’s power? Unlike him, I’m just an ordinary person.”
“I have no exorcist blood, so no matter where I am, I’m always on the outskirts. That’s why he’s always ignored me.”
Their encounter at Genkōji Temple was the same. Ikki relentlessly targeted Yoake but completely disregarded his sister, treating her as if she were invisible.
Yet the truth was different. Ikki simply did not know how to face his sister. At heart, he was an awkward man who wanted to play the villain—but even he knew how poor his acting was.
He could maintain a cold facade and utter harsh words toward Yoake, but when it came to his own sister, he could not bring himself to say anything so cruel.
Aware of his weakness, he chose to ignore her completely, pretending not to care at all.
“This emotional knot between the siblings will not bode well for the story’s progression,” Hyakusuke thought. This misunderstanding would lead to a series of complications later on.
“It seems intervention is necessary. If their relationship can be mended, might Ikki’s fate change? If he does not die and joins the final battle, will our side gain the upper hand?”
He began to form a vague plan in his mind.
Meanwhile, the fierce duel continued.
Whoosh!
As the blade tore into the ground, Yoake pressed the attack, channeling power into her waist and feet to close the distance.
Ikki raised his sword to meet her, the cold steel clashing as both poured their strength, fighting spirit, and weight into the blades.
In the next instant, their swords pressed together emitted a cry as if about to break. They crossed paths, circling behind one another, blades pointing at each other’s throats from opposite sides.
“To fight... to this extent?”
A high-level exorcist like Ikki saw through Yoake’s trick at once.
‘A remotely activated charm... was it secretly cast by that little Yanagoya girl? Is this cheating?’
Ikki thought, feeling this was a despicable trick.
Yet this was not something the disciplined Yoake would devise, nor the stubborn old Matsudaira, nor the absent-minded Yanagoya Tomo. Sister Ayaka wouldn’t be involved in something like this either.
‘Then it must be that rogue ninja from the Kurohime mountain clan.’
Ikki glanced sideways at the lone ninja outside the clearing, a smile curling on his lips. Interesting—how did you convince Yoake to go this far?
He felt no anger, only amusement.
—Good.
—Truly good.
To push the peace-averse Yoake to use cheating just to win—
How did you manage that?
Ikki’s eyes shifted back to Yoake.
The girl gritted her teeth, enduring the excruciating pain caused by the overloaded charm’s enhancement, staring at him with fierce determination.
‘An expression I’ve never seen before...’
Ikki thought. Yoake had always lacked the desire to compete; she had always avoided conflict.
He had thought her so weak she would even give up her father’s legacy, yet now she looked at him with the ferocity of a wild beast.
Such intense hostility directed at him made even a strong warrior like Ikki break into a cold sweat.
“I’m coming.”
Her face twisted in pain, she took a fierce step forward and charged.
“Big Brother Ikki, take this!!!”
Her gaze was sharp as a blade, aimed directly at him.
Ikki guessed that every muscle in her body must be screaming, entirely enveloped by the charm’s enhancement magic, her stamina, endurance, strength, and reflexes supercharged.
“Very good, very good.”
He kept his cold smile, raising his blade. In the next moment, he slashed down vertically like a bolt of lightning.
Yoake swung her sword horizontally and vertically, two arcs of radiant moonlight forming in midair before colliding. Amid the clang of metal breaking, one sword flew from its wielder's hand.
“I won.”
The girl exhaled, her bangs shaking. She held her sword with both hands, pointing it at the now empty-handed Ikki, blade aimed at his throat.
“Hmph.”
Ikki sneered.
“To win at any cost, even cheating and deceit—such a victory will tarnish the honor of the Tsukigaro clan.”
His voice pierced Yoake’s heart like cold metal, flushing her face red.
“N-No, it’s not like that...”
“But I don’t hate it either.”
Ikki unsheathed Masayo from his waist and casually tossed it to her.
“I’m different from you. If I lose, I lose. The Masayo is yours. From now on, I won’t meddle in the Tsukigaro family’s affairs.”
Without greeting anyone, he turned and strode away with a casual air.
“B-Big Brother Ikki.”
The girl wanted to say more, but her legs weakened, nearly causing her to fall. She steadied herself by planting her sword in the ground.
Brother...
...Why?
Yoake could not understand why Ikki made no attempt to block that final strike, as if in that last moment, he chose to concede.
She looked toward the direction he had gone, but the man’s figure vanished amid the tree-lined path.
‘...Brother.’
Ayaka watched her biological brother’s departing back in silent sorrow.
Her brother still refused any communication with her, treating her as if she did not exist, indifferent and cold.
“Do you really not want me anymore?”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Just then, a hand rested on her shoulder.
“You?”
She wiped her tears and looked at the masked man behind her.
“Miss Ayaka, you probably have something to say to your brother, don’t you?”
Before she could react, Hyakusuke lifted the petite Ayaka into his arms.
“A rare opportunity... Miss Ayaka, I’ll take you to him—”
What?
Held unexpectedly by a stranger, Ayaka’s face froze in bewilderment.
Meanwhile, Yoake, having finally won, smiled and waved toward Hyakusuke.
“Lord Hyakusuke... I think I’ve beaten Big Brother.”
Suddenly, she noticed Ayaka being carried by Hyakusuke, her entire body stiffening, head tilting in confusion.
“W-What... Lord Hyakusuke, what’s going on?”
“Sorry, I have some business with Miss Ayaka. We’ll leave first and explain later.”
He dashed forward swiftly, activating his teleportation charm. In the blink of an eye, he pursued Ikki’s departing figure and vanished from everyone’s sight.