Tsukiyomi couldn't help but shiver as he stepped into the frozen wastes of Kamui. Despite the extreme cold, the dark-furred wolf felt slightly reassured at the sight of the northern region of Nippon, most of it already buried under a thick layer of snow and ice all while a snow shower dumped even more of the stuff across the land.
Everything in the mortal world had changed immensely over the centuries as civilizations grew and uprooted nature as they expanded and fought amongst themselves. But yet, as metal cities rose and began to dominate the modern world, the northernmost island of Nippon had remained relatively unchanged compared to the main island of the nation. A number of human settlements had grown on the island over the years, but most were fairly small in size, certainly nowhere near the scale of cities like Sei'an, and most remained fairly spread out, the majority of the land between them left the same way it had been the last time his sister had adventured there.
Even with all the events the past week had brought, it was comforting to the deity to be able to travel through untouched lands. Although Amaterasu loved the exuberance and liveliness of the populated regions to the south, Tsukiyomi had always preferred solitude. Yumigami and his sister had been the only exceptions to that rule, and besides, travelling through the more densely populated areas with his divine equipment always had the tendency to draw unneeded attention.
Unfortunately, the less populated areas of Nippon also tended to be heavily populated by Yami's demons, a fact that was quickly highlighted as a group of four Namahages and a Dogu jumped out at the deity, the four lesser demons each wielding a perverted version of a naginata that appeared to more closely resemble a massive cleaver than the elegant polearm it was based on. The nearest of the demons let out a loud screech at the moon god, drawing its weapon as it prepared to attack, the rest of its fellow creatures following suit.
Tsukiyomi was already in motion, charging towards the first Namahage as he summoned his divine energy to shift into his human form, exiting into a roll as he drew his katana in a single fluid motion. Planting his left foot, the deity threw his weight backwards, spinning around in a clockwise motion as he aimed a slash of his blade across the dark creature's chest. As he did so, the demon swung as well, the two blades meeting with a loud clash. Rather than attempting to force his way through the creature's guard, the moon god let the momentum from the clash carry him in the opposite direction, twirling his blade as he spun in the other direction, striking at the creature several times in succession as he twisted repeatedly, each letting out a clang as the Namahage blocked the attacks.
Hearing another one of the beasts screech somewhere behind him, he grabbed one of the knives from his belt, bringing it up just in time to deflect a strike from the second demon. Continuing the motion of the knife, he brought it forwards towards the first creature, throwing it towards the ground at its feet. The dagger released a pulse of lunar energy as it hit the ground, the resulting shockwave sending the Namahage flying backwards and knocking the beast out of the fight, at least for the time being.
Turning his attention towards the demon that had tried to hit him from behind, Tsukiyomi brought his blade around in an overhead swing as it tried to recover after its deflected strike left it off balance, slicing the creature in half diagonally before it could bring its blade up to block. Wheeling around to face the other two Namahages, the lunar deity quickly found himself on the defensive as the two attacked in unison, backing up to keep them at a manageable distance as he waited for an opening.
Seeing one of his opponents begin to attack out of turn with its companion, he stepped forward as he slashed at his assailant, the demon getting caught off guard as their blades clashed, staggering it momentarily. Taking advantage of its disorientation, Tsukiyomi turned towards the other, knocking it aside with a powerful kick before turning his blade to block another strike from the original demon, the latter having regained its footing.
Launching himself backwards into another clockwise spin, the moon god flipped the switch on his blade's hilt as he spun, the mechanism within the katana engaging as the blade increased to a size and a half of its original length. Caught by surprise by its opponent's increased reach, the demon didn't have enough time to block the resulting shockwave that extended from the weapon, the blade of lunar energy easily dispatching the creature.
The Dogu charged at him now, the statue-like creature wielding twin swords that appeared to be completely separate from the rest of its body. Knowing his sword was too long and cumbersome to adequately block his opponent's quicker attacks, Tsukiyomi flipped the switch again, reverting his blade back to its original length as he dropped back into a defensive stance, backing away as he blocked a flurry of rapid strikes from the clay golem. After another series of attacks had similar ineffectiveness, the creature teleported backwards, shaking as it summoned five floating blades, each beginning to spin around the battlefield. Instinctively, the deity dropped into a roll, narrowly dodging the projectiles as all five blades launched themselves towards where he had just been.
Seeing an opening, he charged at the demon, unleashing his own flurry of lightning-fast attacks, each chipping away a small segment of the clay that made up the creature's body. Hearing a shriek behind him, he whirled around, bringing up his katana to block a strike from the first Namahage that had engaged him, throwing a knife behind him at the Dogu to knock it away from the fight as he did so. Noticing the demon he had kicked away earlier also recovering, the moon god turned another strike from the creature aside with his blade, using the momentum of his counter to spin around and slice the demon in two.
Grabbing another knife, he turned to face the remaining Namahage, throwing the projectile at the charging beast and hitting it squarely in the chest. The creature let out a painful cry as it staggered backwards, a noise that was quickly cut off as the deity rushed forward and cut it in half with a quick horizontal strike. The moon god caught his breath for a moment before remembering the Dogu was still in the picture, raising his blade in a defensive stance as he scanned the battlefield for the clay demon. As if on cue, he heard the sound of the beast's teleport behind him, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see the remaining creature charging at him at lightning speed.
Summoning his lunar energies, Tsukiyomi rolled aside as he cloaked himself, leaving behind an image of himself where he had just been, planning to finish off the beast as it finished off the illusion. Before he had the chance to land the finishing blow, however, he was distracted by a loud yell as a dark-cloaked woman with fiery red hair leapt in the way between the Dogu and the moon god's illusion, blocking both the creature's swords with a short, curved blade in an attempt to save what she thought was a traveler under attack.
Catching it off guard, she kicked it square in the chest, staggering it back a couple steps as she launched into a flurry of attacks with the curved sword. Despite her ferocity, however, the short range of her weapon was at a disadvantage against the two blades of her opponent, who blocked each strike easily before landing a solid hit to the face with the hilt of one of its weapons, knocking her aside and forcing her to lose grip of her weapon.
As she hit the ground, she carried her momentum into a roll, quickly getting to her feet as she grabbed two tantōs from her cloak, holding each dagger with the blade facing backwards. She launched herself back at the golem, the quick nature of her weapons allowing her to chain together attacks faster than during her previous assault. This time, she managed to land a couple strikes, damaging the demon further, though it still managed to block the majority of her attacks.
Bringing herself into a flip that landed her behind her opponent, she swung both blades at its back in an attempt to finish it off, only to be shocked as it vanished into thin air, the creature teleporting behind her. Quickly realizing what it had done, she turned around to see it charging straight towards her, too quick and too close to bring her weapons into position to block the incoming onslaught.
Luckily for the girl, however, Tsukiyomi had been prepared for the move, the still-invisible god moving between the two, dropping the illusion keeping him cloaked as he blocked the creature's strike, much to the surprise of the other two combatants. Whirling around, he threw another one of his lunar daggers, the shockwave knocking the creature off balance long enough for the moon god to slice it in half with one final strike.
The deity watched for a moment as the creature disintegrated into thin air before turning to the cloaked girl. "You're welcome," he said, sheathing his katana as he moved to pick up the daggers he had thrown during the fight.
She glared at him as she put away her twin daggers. "Well, I'm sorry for trying to save your life. It was about to do the same thing to you before I stepped in."
Tsukiyomi gave a quick smirk. "I had it covered," he said, his tone growing more serious. "But if you're going to risk your life to save random strangers, you should at least try not to get yourself killed in the process."
She scoffed at him as she stepped towards her fallen sword. "You're just a bundle of fun, aren't you? It's no wonder you travel alone with that sort of attitude."
It was his turn to give her a glare this time. "I prefer it that way." He glanced at the curved sword as she picked it up. The length and size of the blade resembled that of a tachi, but it looked to be far too new to have been such a blade, considering that those weapons hadn't been forged by humans for well over a thousand years. Though he was a bit curious about the origins of such a weapon, his curiosity was far outweighed by the desire to end the conversation and continue on his journey.
The girl started to follow him as he turned to walk away. "So you mean to tell me that you've never traveled with anybody else? And it doesn't get boring?"
His thoughts involuntarily turned back to the battle with the demons up on the Celestial Plain, to the moment Yumigami faded as his sister lost her connection to her divine power. "I made an exception once. She and I, we... got… separated."
"Oh." There was a brief, awkward moment of silence before she continued her attempts at conversation. "Is that why you're out here wandering this frozen paradise? Searching for her?"
Tsukiyomi sighed with irritation as his attempts to walk away were halted as she stepped in front of him, the girl clearly not looking like she was going to stop anytime soon. "Not really," he replied, trying to find a way to answer her question that wouldn't reveal his true nature. "I'm looking for my sister, actually." Part of the truth would suffice, he supposed.
Unfortunately for the lunar deity, his response was not sufficient for his unwanted companion, who turned to follow him again as he again tried to walk past her. "And what makes you so sure she's out here? You may not have noticed, but there's nothing out here anymore besides snow, ice, and demons. Not exactly a huge tourist destination nowadays."
He stopped, turning to face her, his annoyance continuing to grow from her persistent attempts to get him to be social. Again he searched for the right response, not wanting to have to get into the Spirit Gate and all the time travel details that went along with it. "There's a legend telling of a village with people the size of ants hidden inside a mystic forest somewhere up here. She went to search for it." To his surprise, he saw a glint of recognition in her eyes as he spoke, as if she was intimately familiar with the story he was referring to. He had thought that the tales of the Poncles had been lost to the mortal realm centuries ago.
"I've heard it," she replied, her face brightening a bit as if holding onto a good memory. "My grandmother used to tell it all the time when I was little. The stories all say the forest was cursed so that any outsiders who entered would find themselves lost forever." Her smile disappeared after a moment, the girl looking away, distant.
Had he been his sister, Tsukiyomi would have continued the conversation, trying to find out the reason behind her sudden change in emotions, but he preferred his solitude, opting instead to again try to end their interaction. "Don't you have a village or something you should be heading back to?"
Her mood seemed to drop even further at that, the girl taking a moment before speaking again. "Not really." She paused briefly before continuing, turning back to look at him. "My people's village was fairly remote, even by the standards of this place." She waved out towards the wide expanse of snow as if to punctuate the point. "When the demons started to come in force, we were one of the first ones they raided. We held them off for a while, but they eventually drove us out and we started roaming from place to place." Her eyes closed momentarily as she involuntarily relieved past memories. "My partner and I got separated from the rest of our people during one of the attacks. I've been trying to find whatever's left of my people since."
He again attempted to try and convince her to go away. "And what about your partner? Shouldn't he be looking for you right about now?"
"No." Her sad demeanor worsened. "He didn't make it. I'm all on my own, just like you."
The moon god immediately regretted his previous question, though he wasn't sure if it was out of compassion or due to the fact that he had unintentionally lengthened their conversation. "I'm sorry," he said, trying to sound sincere. Amaterasu had always been better with this sort of thing than him.
"Wasn't your doing." She sighed, briefly looking away before turning back to him. "Look, I can tell you don't want me here, but I can help you. It's not like I have any leads on where my people are now, so if I'm going to aimlessly wander around the snow in search of them I might as well help another traveller out as I do it." She glanced down at her sheathed sword briefly. "Besides, you've already seen that I'm plenty capable."
Tuskiyomi raised an eyebrow at her. "Capable? Last I remember, I was the one who had to save you from that demon."
She gave him another glare. "Last I remember, that thing was about to stab you in the chest before I showed up." She cut him off as he tried to fire off another retort. "I know, I know, you 'had it covered.' Still, I doubt you'll find many up here who could hold their own as long as I did, and I know this land better than anybody. I guarantee you'll find this mystic forest of yours quicker with a guide that knows the land."
He sighed in annoyance. Truthfully, from what he had seen she did appear to be at least somewhat skilled - at least, by mortal standards - and considering he visited the mortal realm far less than his sister did, it would probably be a faster journey to Yoshpet if he had someone who knew the lay of the land, even if accepting meant he would lose the increased speed travelling in his wolf form provided. "Fine," he said, after several seconds of thought, "As long as you don't slow me down. I don't have time to waste."
"Don't worry about that," she replied with a slight smirk, as if such a thought was even possible. "I'm Sukā, by the way."
The deity froze for a second as she waited for his reply. He still didn't really want to reveal his divine nature if at all possible, which meant he couldn't risk using his real name. Frantically thinking, he simply said the first name that came to his mind. "Ushiwaka. Nice to meet you, I suppose." He mentally cursed himself. His sister would not be pleasant to deal with if she heard about this.
She gave him a quick smile before he turned, following behind him as he continued his journey north. "Pleasure to meet you, Ushiwaka."
Oh, Tsuki. Tsuki. You done goofed. Guess he should probably hope he gets the chance to explain things to Ammy before Sukā gets the chance to talk with her. I doubt those fancy illusions would do much against an angry sun goddess…
As is typical with any character I introduce, let me take a moment to talk about Sukā's weapons. The chapter already briefly touched on the tachi - it's an older style of Japanese sword, used mainly before the katana became commonplace. Historians generally indicate the first use of the tachi around the tenth century, about 500 years or so before the katana as we know it began to see widespread use amongst samurai. The tantō, a type of knife or dagger (the word tantō roughly translates to "short sword"), was made around the same time as the tachi and was commonly wielded alongside the tachi by samurai of the era. Some designs of the dagger have even served as the inspiration for a number of modern tactical knives.
Speaking of Sukā, I would have liked to put a bit more of her backstory in here, but the majority of the chapter had already been dedicated to the fight between her, Tsuki, and the demons, and I didn't want to cram that much more into what was already a decently packed chapter. Plus, withholding information is fun. For me, anyway.
Also, I can't put into words how badly the Doctor Who fan in me wanted to use the phrase "timey-wimey" when referring to the Spirit Gate.
As always, constructive feedback is appreciated, and thank you all for your continued support!
