Takeda Rika furrowed her brows as she entered the rundown village. Half the dwellings were obviously abandoned, while the rest were populated by only a handful of elderly folk and children. She’d expected security to increase as she approached the capital, but the closer her team got, the fewer soldiers they encountered.

“Ishihara, Harada, what are your thoughts?”

Harada Jun grimaced.

“Fallow fields all around the village, kids being cared for by strangers when they’re cared for at all. This is the fifth place we’ve seen like this. The shogun’s squeezing his people dry.”

Ishihara Nao nodded in agreement, his face expressionless beyond the slightly narrowed eyes.

“The people are scared—paranoid. Their lords have left on campaign, and they’re wary of strangers. I get the feeling they’d be reporting us to the authorities if there were any to report to.”

But there weren’t any. No soldiers, no guards, no garrisons. Rika sighed.

“I don’t get it. Sure, he doesn’t have to worry about attacks from Qin this far south, but to leave the southern prefectures completely empty? It’s like Yoshika’s been saying—something doesn’t add up. Does he even care what happens after the war?”

Ishihara shrugged.

“Who knows? Does it matter?”

“It might. It’s our job to find out. We need to know what he’s thinking so that Kaede can plan against it.”

Jun snorted.

“With the shogun’s forces committed to the front line, all she has to do is break through and she’ll have a straight shot at the capital.”

“It’s probably not that simple. Leave the strategizing to Kaede—we’re just here for the facts.”

Nao stroked his chin thoughtfully, eyeing up an abandoned shack.

“Maybe we should hunker down for a while and wait for the next update. We’re getting close to the capital, and that’s definitely going to be heavily defended.”

Rika chewed on her lip, considering it, then shook her head.

“No. We don’t have anything to report that’s urgent enough to warrant stalling, and we just had a briefing not too long ago. I say we make a bee line for Hayakawa so that we can report the situation there in time for the next check in.”

Ishihara grimaced.

“Ugh, I hate long-distance running. Half the reason I took to spiritual arts in the first place was because I don’t have the constitution for body cultivation.”

“Tsk, are you a man of Yamato or not?”

“Sometimes I wonder...”

Rika rolled her eyes.

“Either way, we’re running. Have Jun carry you if it gets too hard.”

Harada gave her an aggrieved look.

“What? Why do I have to do it?”

“Because I’m the boss, and I said so. Are you a man of Yamato or not?!”

He pursed his lips, casting a sidelong glance at Ishihara.

“Do I still have to carry them if I say no?”

“Yes.”

“Damn it.”

 

---

 

Contrary to their expectations, the capital was not heavily defended at all. In fact, it was even more empty than the surrounding towns and villages. Rika felt a chill down her spine as she stepped silently through the empty streets.

“What the hell is going on?”

Ishihara held their arms and shuddered.

“Whatever it is, I don’t like it. This feels a lot bigger than us.”

Harada smiled nervously.

“Maybe the shogun is out on campaign too? Leading from the front to catch us off guard.”

“That doesn’t explain all this!”

Rika had to agree with Nao. Something was very very wrong, and it clearly went much deeper than war or politics.

“Let’s check out the castle. If there’s anyone left here, that’s where we’ll find them.”

Harada’s eyes practically bulged out of his head.

“Are you insane?! Whatever happened here, I don’t want it to happen to us.”

Ishihara nodded.

“At the risk of insubordination, I have to agree with Jun—this place feels wrong in a way that defies words.”

Rika crossed her arms and frowned. Normally she’d be pretty upset about being countermanded like that, but they were right. There was a pervasive, cloying energy hanging over the city that made her feel sick. While they hadn’t seen anybody, every fiber of her being was telling her that she was in danger.

But there was more to it than just duty or obligation. No matter how far she roamed, Yamato was still her home, and whatever had befallen the capital city couldn’t be allowed to happen elsewhere. She needed to know what was happening—not just for Jiaguo and Yoshika, but for herself.

“You don’t have to come with me. Leaving is probably the right call. In fact, that’s an order—you two head back right away, as fast as you can. If anything happens to me, it’s up to you to report what we saw here.”

Jun swallowed nervously.

“Should we take the speaking stone with us?”

Rika rolled the enchanted jadestone between her fingers for a moment, considering, then shook her head.

“No, this is my last resort, in case things go really bad. We got in easily enough, I trust you two to find your way out.”

The two hesitated. Of course, now that she was telling them to leave they wanted to stay.

“Are you trying to be contrary? You’ve got your orders, go!”

They exchanged glances, then bowed respectfully. As they rose, Harada Jun saluted her.

“Commander Takeda, it’s been an honor serving with you. I hope that after this war is over, I’m assigned to your unit once more.”

Ishihara Nao followed suit, flashing her a rare smile.

“Likewise. It’s been a pleasure.”

Rika had to fight back tears as she returned the salute.

“Alright, you sappy jerks, don’t jinx it! I’ll see you both back home.”

She waited until they were out of sight before finally dropping her facade. Rika had to grip her hands together to stop them from trembling. Whatever had done all this was still here, and she could sense the remnants of its aura like a creeping shadow over the entire city. Without domains, the other two hadn’t been able to notice it.

Rika gripped the speaking stone tightly in her fist as she moved forward. She would find her answers in Castle Hayakawa, then she’d get out as fast as her feet could carry her.

 

---

 

The castle wasn’t empty, but the residents were far from what Rika expected. A pair of demons stood guard at the front gate, bickering violently with each other.

She frowned in consternation, whispering quietly to herself as she slipped back around a corner.

“What the hell?”

Leaving the pair to their brawl, Rika crept her way around to scale an unguarded portion of the wall. Normally, such an opening would never exist, but the empty place where a sentry should have been posted instead served as Rika’s way in. Whoever was in charge either couldn’t get the demons to follow protocol, or didn’t care to.

That only got her inside the walls, though, and once inside it quickly became apparent what had become of the city’s population.

It was a grisly scene. Demons didn’t actually eat people, so to speak, but they weren’t all that cautious about the remains of their victims either. The outer courtyard was littered with discarded corpses and shallow graves. There were demons posted around most of the entrances, but the labyrinthine nature of Yamato palaces was working against them.

Many of the demonic sentries just wandered aimlessly, occasionally getting into fights with each other and largely ignoring the points of actual strategic interest.

After a year of living in Jiaguo, speaking with Yang Qiu and Beishang, and occasionally even visiting the demonic prisoners herself, Rika had grown to understand their natures to a certain degree. They were people, of that she had no doubt. They could learn and grow, and despite what Yang Qiu liked to preach, they were not slaves to their impulses.

But these demons acted every bit like the monsters she’d grown up hearing horror stories about. They constantly fought each other, ignored the tasks they were supposed to be doing, and killed without hesitation.

In other words, they were young demons. Not in terms of age, necessarily, but they hadn’t been demons long enough to learn any control. It was like the demonic enclave that had taken over the academy before, but back then most of the demons had been summoned by Yu Meiren’s power.

There was no way that so many had been lurking so close to the heart of Yamato, so where had they all come from? According to Yang Qiu, the success rate of forced conversion was vanishingly low, with tens or even hundreds dying for every one that turned.

Rika saw dozens of freshly turned demons in the castle courtyard alone. How many more were inside? How many died to create them? Recalling how sparsely populated the surrounding villages were, Rika felt sick to her stomach.

Shaking it off, she kept her head down and made her way around the wall. Yamato castles were designed to confound invaders at every turn, but the haphazard patrols of the demonic army completely failed to take advantage of it. Rika should have been peppered by arrows from every direction as she descended the narrow staircase leading down from the wall, but instead she passed unopposed.

In fact, the narrow slits where archers should have been posted created an opportunity. Normally, they were far too thin for a person to pass through, but Rika specialized in Mist element techniques, which were good for more than just illusions.

Circulating the essence from her dantian up through her body, Rika transformed briefly into a cloud of mist and slipped into the castle unseen.

She shuddered at the thought of the person whom the technique had been inspired by. Yu Meiren, the demonic second in command to Sovereign Longyan, was terrifyingly strong and had a hideous personality to match her uncanny looks. Rika prayed that she wouldn’t run into her.

Once inside, it was easier to move around. She wasn’t familiar with the layout of the castle, but knew enough to find her way around, and if the demons outside had been careless, then those within were downright complacent. What few patrols she encountered did little more than lazily wander through the halls, making no effort to actually sense intruders.

Rika wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for, but when she found a door being guarded by the only demon she’d seen that was actually paying attention, she knew it had to be in there.

Approaching silently from one side, Rika summoned one of her simulacra on the other. As she got closer, her simulacrum ran forward, and the demonic guard swung around in surprise to brandish his weapon at her. The duplicate lunged forward, then vanished harmlessly as Rika thrust a sharp lance of Force essence straight through the demon’s core, shattering it instantly.

The demon flopped lifelessly to the floor, and Rika dragged it inside the room, holding the wound closed to prevent any traces from being left behind.

The door led to a staircase down, and Rika didn’t sense anyone close by, so she closed the door behind her and slumped the corpse against it as a makeshift blockade. If anyone tried to come through, she’d have ample time to prepare for it and make her escape.

As she made her way down into the depths of the castle, it soon became clear that she’d found the dungeon. The dank stone basement was lined with rows of cells, each one holding multiple prisoners.

The dungeon was packed. Survivors from the city—living men, women, and children being held like livestock. Definitely not the work of the demons Rika had seen outside—those wouldn’t have the foresight to keep living prisoners for later.

A few of the prisoners noticed her, but none dared shout for help. They just stared, their looks ranging from fear, to pleading, to hopeless pity. There was nothing Rika could do from them now—if she released them, they’d just be torn apart by the demons outside.

But there was hope. If this was where they were keeping their prisoners, then maybe she could find the most important one of all.

Rika moved quickly through the dungeon, scouring cell after cell to find the one she was looking for. She had to be there somewhere!

Finally, she found a cell at the end of a long hallway filled with heavily reinforced stone and lined with powerful enchantments. That had to be the one.

The wards didn’t bar her entry, designed to keep things in rather than keep them out, and when Rika reached the bars, she almost wept at what she saw—or rather, who.

Master Ienaga Yumi, stripped down to her underclothes and bound by a truly excessive number of magical restraints. Rika wasn’t the best at magic, but she recognized formations designed to sap qi, to reinforce the metal, and to tighten the bonds if Ienaga tried to struggle.

With her legs bound together and her arms strapped to her sides, all Ienaga could do was kneel on the ground, sitting on her feet with her head bowed in meditation. As Rika approached, she looked up and her eyes widened in shock. Her mouth wasn’t bound, but her voice was rough and gravelly from disuse.

“R-Rika? No. You shouldn’t be here—you have to leave!”

Rika shook her head.

“Not without you! I know you’re weakened, but if Yoshika found out I left you down here to rot, she’d—”

“No, you don’t understand! They’ve kept me alive as bait, Rika—this is a—”

A dark, oppressive aura descended on them, overwhelming Rika’s senses like a toxic, cloying perfume. From behind her, she heard the loud clacking of heels against the stone as the source of the aura approached, her voice a lilting sing-song.

“It’s a tra~ap!”

Yu Meiren brushed her jade-green hair aside and giggled. She was like a poorly rendered caricature of common beauty standards, her features exaggerated to the point of being grotesque. Skin as pale as a corpse, and cheekbones so high and prominent that it made her look ghoulishly gaunt.

She sneered at the sight of Rika, clicking her tongue in irritation.

“Tsk, I had hoped for a bigger catch than this, but I suppose you’ll do. I’m sure that wretched bitch will enjoy watching me peel the skin from your bones while you scream in agony. Oh! Maybe if you beg her enough, she’ll kill you herself to stop the agony. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

It was over. Rika knew that she couldn’t hope to fight against Yu Meiren on her own, and she didn’t have time to release Ienaga from her restraints. Trap or no trap, Rika had made a promise.

She squinted her eyes shut, crushed the speaking stone in her palm, and prayed that she wasn’t leading her best friends into certain doom.