When Shihai regained consciousness, he was sitting on Kiara's back with his body, severely weakened from the ritual incident, being supported by Byaku riding behind him. He noticed that the cave was collapsing, and large rocks were falling dangerously. Byaku had many scratches and bruises, and he knew they were the result of her protecting him.
"Why did you save me?" he asked weakly. "I am powerless. I am useless. You put yourself in danger for me."
"I am a taijiya," she said with a combination of good will and callousness. "My mother trained me to be strong, to protect those in need. You let Tsubasa manipulate you. You put this village in danger every time you summon a youkai. I saved you, because I believe in you. From now on, be strong."
"You expect too much from others."
"You expect too little from yourself."
After they narrowly escaped from the cave's collapse, over half of the village had already been destroyed. The daiyoukai was progressing toward the location the no longer standing elder's hut, demolishing everything in its path along the way.
"A daiyoukai? I summoned that? It's impossible! There's no way you could even hope of fighting something like that! You have to run."
"There is no reason for me to run." She was actually smiling. "Being a daiyoukai means nothing to me. No matter who my enemy is, I will defeat him."
"I'm amazed you can act like this, in this kind of situation. I admire someone like you."
"There are things I admire about you too. Your beautiful face for one. Oh! Don't worry, I didn't mean anything by it."
Byaku led him to the exit (and entrance) of the village, and let him land gently on the ground. They parted with good terms, both with smiling faces: her confident smile, determined to win, his sad smile, as he watched another meet with danger while he was powerless to protect - both were beautiful smiles.
Shihai slowly neared the exit. He almost fell, but was caught by familiar hands.
"Father!" he exclaimed.
"I am so glad that you're safe," were the words overflowing from an overjoyed parent. "I've been searching for you for some time. We're finally together. We have to run."
"No! I mean, no, we can't. Byaku is still in there. She's fighting. She says she'll win... but it's a daiyoukai!"
"Byaku? The taijiya?"
"We have to save her!"
"You must trust her. There is nothing any of us can do now. We'll just get in her way. You are this village's prodigy! Your life is too important!"
"What good is it... what good is it if I am a prodigy that can't protect anyone? What is my life if I am not willing to risk it protecting others? Today, is the day I will prove what I really am. Father, I beg of you, please teach me the forbidden arts!"
The elder could see that his son was determined, and willing to take any risk. He hugged him tightly, with tears in his eyes. "I will teach you, but please be careful, my son."
Byaku sent hiraikotsu exploding from her hands, but still it was unable to pierce through the daiyoukai's hard flesh. Instead, it rebounded slightly off course but it was narrowly caught by the flying Kiara, whose movements were becoming slower.
"Kiara, what's wrong," asked Byaku, worried. "Your body hasn't healed from the explosion at the cave, has it? Don't worry. You can rest, I will fight on my own."
Kiara complained, and attempted to disobey, but her body was in extreme pain, having fought the daiyoukai up to this point.
Byaku threw hiraikotsu with even more effort. This time it planted firmly in the daiyoukai's chest, but was unable to make a deep wound. She jumped from a rooftop and landed on the imbedded hiraikotsu, then jumped again to match the daiyoukai's head. She threw a pocket of poison into its mouth, then landed safely on its back. She then attacked with her katana, which had poison painted on its point. She drove it into the daiyoukai's back. The poison seemed to be completely ineffective.
Lumps of the daiyoukai's flesh began to bubble and form disgusting creatures. Using her katana, she moved swiftly to cut through the new threat. As soon as she had defeated one, another formed from directly behind her, but she was able to spin and slice through it with her hidden sword. The creatures were relatively weak, but the continuous assault was slowly tiring her body.
Shihai was beginning to lose hope as he walked with one arm using the side of a building for support. With every step his fatigue seemed to worsen with double effect, and the battle scene seemed to become farther and farther away. He stopped to rest, but collapsed instead. The shadow of a fierce, growling creature approached his unmoving body.
The daiyoukai unleashed its massive wings, and took flight, moving incredibly fast. Byaku lost her balance and began to plummet toward the ground. She quickly released the seal on her kazanna, and aimed her hand at the daiyoukai's chest. The massive body wasn't affected at all by the vacuum, but hiraikotsu escaped and drove into the side of a building. Byaku almost slipped as she grabbed onto hiraikotsu to break her fall.
She climbed to the rooftop of the building and rose to fight again, but by now, she was sweating and breathing stressfully. Instead of attacking, she was forced to desperately dodge as the daiyoukai's fist destroyed the building. The force of the blow itself caused her to fall heavily on the ground. The pain only made her more determined than before, and she continued fighting, barely dodging the attacks.
Unnoticed, Shihai arrived riding on Kiara's back. With a wakizashi, he slit his wrist, then immediately fell into a trance. Ritual markings surrounded him, but this time the markings were formed by his blood. The markings rose into the air and formed a helix. From within, a black angel with one wing missing appeared.
"So it was a failure, huh?" he coughed painfully. "In the end, I am still powerless." The angel gazed at him, and he noticed that it had a look in its eye that he recognized. "You still want to fight, even though you're incomplete? Thank you."
Byaku evaded another attack, but as she landed, her legs went limb and she nearly fell. She didn't think she would be able to avoid the next attack. Her eyes were beginning to hurt, and her vision became blurry. She might even have been hallucinating. She saw a black angel, with only one wing, divert the attack. It was bleeding from its left leg, then it disappeared.
She wasn't sure if what happened was real or not, but she was able to dodge the next attack. She crawled and hid behind piles of rocks, continuing to dodge the attacks even though there didn't appear to any hope. Finally, she couldn't move, and the final blow was prepared, but the daiyoukai suddenly squirmed, wreathing in pain. It gasped, as if short for air, and descended slowly. Finally, with one last cry, all of its life force left it.
"I thought that if I got you to move around, eventually the poison would spread through your big ugly body," she laughed faintly.
Kiara and Shihai arrived. "I don't believe it," he cried happily. "You really beat a daiyoukai. You really did it. You really are amazing."
The next day, the villagers were busy rebuilding their homes. Shihai and his father were no exception, as they worked diligently to replace the broken hut.
"I am going to resume my role as elder," said Shihai's father, "so you really are free to do whatever you wish. I'm sorry. I forced you to train everyday, even though you didn't want to. You should be free."
"There is actually something I want to do," Shihai happily told his father, "though I probably won't find freedom if I'm with her. She's quite overpowering."
When Shihai finally reached the outskirts of the village, Byaku was already waiting. "You're slow," she said both humourously and mockingly.
"I'm sorry," he apologized obediently, "but I was stocking up on rations as promised. There's enough for both of us."
"Do you really want to come? You're probably too weak. I heard that this Kagura lady is really dangerous."
He thought jokingly to himself: "I knew traveling with her would be a bad idea."
While they mounting Kiara, Shihai asked, "I was wondering... why didn't you leave after you got the shards?"
"Well... that's... I forgot where the next village was."
"It's directly south of here."
"Wasn't it north?"
"Yes, it was." For that, he received a face sinister enough to turn a Medusa to stone.
With a bright smile, he said, "If you like, I can show you the way. I'm on my way there right now as it is."
"Then, if that is the case, I will gladly accept your company."
"When I am with her," he thought to himself, "I feel as though I no longer have to fear the wind. Even though everyone said I was a prodigy, I was always afraid whenever I performed a ritual. But now, what is this feeling? When I am with her, I don't fear the wind. I am not powerless."