The girls arrived in Edo, even though at first they weren't well received due to everything Louis Blackwell had caused, they still managed to escape the worst of it with Akko being exonerated and with that they went from water to wine, especially since they even managed to stay in the castle of the Empress of Edo, who is a very nice person and a personal friend, When they managed to settle in, the girls enjoyed all the luxury of the castle, all that hospitality, but they were soon to leave the next day, in this case just Akko and Diana, to go to the place Marianne pointed out as sacred in the message Akko's parents left for her.
The carriage and some supplies were being brought in, the horses were already eating to pull the carriage, while the couple of queens were getting their things ready before leaving the capital for the nearby city of Chiba, which is located in the mountains and is a little higher than the capital of Edo, which is in the valley between the mountains.
With everything almost ready, it was time to say goodbye. Even though it was only a few hours away, they made a point of chatting and saying goodbye to each other
"Goodbye girls, come back soon, take care, I hope your mission is a success" said Marianne.
"I've barely met you and I already know you're going to make it, I'm going to make sure you're safe the whole way, this is seriousness on a royal level, after all, you're the queens of Hyrule, you deserve that seriousness" said the empress.
"Oh thank you all, we'll be back soon, you can be sure that when we come back from the mountains we'll have this thing that will make us even stronger, then we'll plan to leave for the dungeon" said Diana.
The wives got into the carriage and waved to their friends, setting off on a very short journey to Chiba, which is in the mountains, very close to the city of Fuji where the highest mountain in Edo is located, giving a beautiful landscape in the background that can be seen from the capital.
The two of them chatted on the way, while passing the hours, thinking about everything that had happened so far, this time in more depth.
"This empress is very different from what I imagined, I even thought it would be a more serious and authoritarian emperor, but I can also see the girl's intimidation from afar, she exudes authority just by looking serious" Cavendish said.
"I wasn't the only one to realise this, but in any case she's treating us well, that's very good, apart from the fact that I'm happy to be called queen, even if at first I'm a bit reluctant about it, it's not so bad, now I'm looking forward to taking up the sword and becoming a great warrior" said Atsuko.
"I'll keep my eyes open anyway, I still have a feeling that someone is following us, love, I have a feeling that someone wants to do something to you, it's something that's more of an intuition of mine, I think it's just real paranoia, as a queen I'm more aware of things" said the platinum blonde haired woman.
"That must be it Diana, ahhhhhhh, just imagine what the place must be like, the place where I was born love, I'm going to see everything, after 20 years" said the delighted and amazed Kagari and her wife even cracked a big smile seeing the girl's excitement.
(It's nice to see that she's happy like this, but I wonder if after all this she'll end up wanting to live here...) I'd support her in any way I could, but I'm still worried that she'll have to leave Wedinburgh and Hyrule, although there's my sister to reign, but I don't want her to be forced into such a responsibility in order to be queen).
They travelled for a considerable time up the mountain road, which was full of winding bends, and the landscape became whiter and whiter with thicker snow than in the capital. As they climbed the mountains, even the fog thickened, making it necessary to switch on the carriage's headlights.
In a few hours they passed the top of the mountain and could see the city of Chiba from afar - it was actually in the valley between the mountains, which gave the girl a familiar feeling that she had been there before.
"It's strange, it's as if I'm reliving old memories, this path... I think I passed through here when I left with my parents still alive" said the surprised crimson-eyed girl.
"That must have been it Akko, our memory is very complex, well anyway we're getting there, look at that beautiful city in the background" said the blue-eyed one.
They travelled along the road, but they didn't end up in the city. On a journey through the city, they ended up where the Kagari's home was, so much so that the carriage stopped and the carriage drivers told the girls that it was in that particular place that everything was.
"This is it, the old Kagari residence, welcome, we'll be waiting for you before we set off back to the capital" said the driver.
"Oh thank you so much, let's get going then love" said the Queen of Wedinburgh.
The two get out of the vehicle and look around at the vast white expanse. What they end up seeing is an entrance to what looks like a structure of pillars marking the entrance to the Kagari's old estate.
"This is where the eternal cherry tree is, even in winter it never lets its leaves fall, it has pink leaves all the time, it's where Mako Kagari performed the Seppuku, from here you'll go alone" said another driver who even helped the girls through the thick layer of snow.
Together, the two queens were able to walk on a less thick layer of snow, and as they climbed the small hill they were heading for, they saw the cherry tree that had been mentioned and it was not only alive all the time, but it was huge, even providing a bit of shade, being the only place there where the snow didn't reach, even part of the ground had dirt and a few appearances of half-dried and dead grass, on it there was only a large stone that was even written in the same archaic writing as Hyrule.
"That's strange, things here are always written in Edo script and this is written in Hyrule's archaic script" said Diana.
"Do you understand anything?" asks the confused Akko.
"It's probably before the change to the current writing, but I do understand it, I've learnt a lot about it and from what it says here..." Cavendish has already started reading.
"The heroine chosen by the master sword will reach a new level, she will be blessed by Mako Kagari, the great Samurai of Edo, place the master sword in the hole of this sword and the power of a great samurai will be granted to you, without first the chosen one demonstrating that she is capable of having something like this given to her"
"Well I think that's it love, just put on the master sword, you'll become more powerful as a warrior" said the platinum blonde haired girl.
"Well, I'm confident I can do it, so let's go" said Atsuko.
The girl soon put her master sword into the hole, which was shaped like a blade, and she felt something envelop her, like a reddish-coloured magic, then it disappeared as if it were a series of reddish-coloured powders. Her wife already knew that it was all just an ordeal, and with that she became more unconcerned. The master sword also simply rose from there, then Akko reappeared with it in her hands on another plane of existence, just like Diana when she entered the ice skiff, she appeared in the middle of a field full of cherry trees where Mako was sitting on a rock, who soon opened her eyes and faced the girl.
"Oh, so you're one of mine? I thought you were a Hyllian from the mainland, I'm a bit relieved, you must be Atsuko Kagari, my descendant, I'm honoured that you ended up being chosen" Said the woman wearing a white kimono with an expression that looked a bit intimidating due to her long brown hair.
"Look, I never thought my ancestor would be so..." Kagari said in surprise.
"So different? So frightening? I imagine that's what's going through your head, but here we are, I didn't want to give you the Katana straight away without you going through an ordeal first, by beating me in combat, you'll have immense power in your hands that surpasses the master sword" said the older woman with a smile on her face.
"Then I'll have to kill you here..." Said the one with the crimson eyes, looking at the other with eyes of the same colour.
"If you manage to kill me the katana is yours, if not and I defeat you, you'll only leave here empty-handed, so show me what you can do" said the samurai with her hands on the katana and holding it in its sheath.
"I assure you that I'm no small feat, my ancestor, I've spent years training and I've beaten many dungeons and monsters as dangerous as you holding a sword, Ansolew Airo and Vajarois already tell a lot about my experience" said the confident warrior from Luna Nova.
The ancestor provokes and then the descendant comes charging at her at full speed. What she didn't realise was that as soon as she got close, the older woman would simply rip the katana out of its sheath at full speed, almost hitting the younger woman herself, who defends herself with the master sword and this sends a spark through everything around her.
"Not bad girl, you're more agile than I thought you'd be, I should have ripped your arm off just for that, I always used this attack for that, now let's see if you can secure yourself with other blows" said Mako.
Mako and Akko began to attack each other with their blades and this led to many sparks appearing. It was clear that the older woman simply had all the techniques, but even so, the younger woman had the agility and strength to keep up with everything and learn from the many attacks she had learnt from the queens and from Chariot's training.
"You're not that weak, you're even stronger than me physically, for a skinny girl like you that surprises me, but let's see if you're really all that" said the samurai.
The long, light brown-haired Atsuko is mercilessly going at her with more technical and faster cuts, some of which even graze her, but they are only enough to cause very superficial cuts, which the girl from Luna Nova is holding on to with some pain, but she doesn't stop defending herself, walking backwards, realising that she could lose, she starts to use one hand and with the other she spins her fingers and with that she creates a small current of wind in the older woman's heel that causes her to fall to the ground.
But just as she's about to deliver a final blow, the ancestor calmly dodges and, what's more, the katana grazes the master sword, causing both to spark and the cut to only graze Mako.
"Woah, looks like we've got a samurai witch girl here, not bad, not only has she learnt to be a warrior, but also in magic techniques, but I have to tell you something, that cut tore the top of my kimono, I don't think I'll be needing it any more" said the ancestral warrior who threw the top of her kimono on the floor, leaving only a sash over her chest, which ended up revealing her huge, muscular arms, which even amazed Kagari.
"Woah, look at that, you're so strong, look at the size of that" said the shocked girl with the dark brown hair.
"Now the fun begins" said the samurai, smiling.
With all speed, the older woman launched an attack with the katana on the girl, and the clothes she was wearing were simply too heavy, which released an enormous weight on the ancestor, but left her vulnerable, which in any case she attacked with tremendous agility, with the blades meeting, grazing cuts hit the younger girl who was using her strength and reflexes to keep up somehow.
(This woman is a monster, she just took off the top of her kimono and out of nowhere she unleashed a tremendous force, now I'm really going to die, I'm going to have to go in heavier or else I'm going to die here, well come on Akko, show that you can also do damage, I'm not going to back down, I have to pretend that she's Andrew that).
"Come on girl, you thought I was going to take it easy, this is a serious game, I'm not going to give my Katana to just anyone" said the one with the long light brown hair.
This was the moment when the younger girl's little knowledge of magic was put into practice, she realised that the woman was Andrew and it was with this that she ended up calmly going over the top to try to follow up the blows, since she was full of grazing cuts, so she used a little bit of magic to create some fireballs to distract the samurai, which partially worked.
"That won't work on me Atsuko Kagari, you'll need more than silly spells, I've faced stronger witches than you" said Mako herself, who leapt up almost throwing a punch from above with a strong impulse, and it barely caught a few strands of hair from the younger woman's fringe.
Then the attack continues with the Katana rising to catch another cut that passes very close to the nose of the warrior from Luna Nova who is already thinking of a way to attack and then looks down at the ground where kicking up a bit of earth just as Mako was about to go up raised dust.
The dust stunned the older woman, but she still held off a possible cut from Akko, who elbowed the ancestor in the head with her other hand, but the blades met.
The encounter became a game of strength, with veins coming out of the samurai's muscular arms as the girl from Luna Nova used her power gloves to force some of it, but in the end both swords were thrown, both striking the trunk of the cherry tree.
"Not bad, you're really strong with some help from those things in your hand, I could see the magic flowing through your gloves, but let's see if you're really strong when it comes to grappling" Mako said, getting into a fighting pose.
(From the triforce, this woman is a monster, her arms were able to match my strength, now a physical fight, I've learnt a bit, I can see that she's not someone who's joking, worse than gloves can save me).
Akko takes a deep breath, clenches her fists and is soon surprised by a punch to the stomach from her ancestor that is so strong that the girl moves backwards a little with the impact of the blow. She is then kicked by the samurai and a combination of blows that stuns her, but when she is about to be punched in the face, the ninth-ranked Kagari holds her back.
She starts to try to hit back, but the older woman simply dodges with ease - those blows were very powerful and ended up in her defence, leaving the offspring more immobilised and stunned.
"You're weak at fighting, what a shame, but a few years of training and you have the potential" said the older woman.
(She's really very strong, she hits and it hurts, not only that but I'm getting all bruised up because of all this, what the hell, I just wanted to be nice and calm, well then it's time to be a bit clever before a sword runs through me and not even the fairies can help me and I know what to do).
Using her strategy, Akko ended up throwing herself to the ground and in doing so created a whole curtain of smoke with the earth raised, which Mako could still feel where to hit, but that wasn't for her to fight, she took a pot with fairies and healed herself, then took the master sword and hid in one of the trees.
"You really think that hiding is going to be a smart thing to do" said the samurai, who threw a stone that was lying on the ground in the direction where the younger Kagari was hiding.
As a result, the girl has to throw herself out of the tree and reveal herself, so the older girl takes her sword from the trunk of the cherry tree and goes for a cut, but she didn't expect it to be a fall where the dark brown haired girl would simply make a current of air to throw herself up a little, which she was preparing to defend against a blow to the face, but in fact she had the path of the katana blocked byAkko who kicked the ancestor in the face.
The younger woman then uses this kick to get behind Mako, who is surprised by a thrust that she narrowly misses as it was defended. With all the impact, the katana sparks and the cut hits the ancestor right in the shoulder, and she tries to use it to thrust Akko in the face.
"You put up a good fight, girl, but I'm sorry you had to lose like that" said the samurai.
The katana looked as if it had hit her full on, but in fact in a matter of moments Akko had activated the intangibility of her staff and was faking it all to the point where she would fall to the ground and deactivate it when she was already on the other side of the blade, which the younger woman would then lie on, just pretending and waiting for the right moment.
"I'm sorryAtsuko Kagari, but you didn't make it, you tried and you got away with it, but I hope you manage to do what you want to do..." Without realising it, Mako feels something poking her right in the chest.
"The thing is, I'm not one of the most honourable and clean warriors here, I'm here on a mission and that mission is to save Hyrule, it doesn't matter if I have to fight in a low and dirty way, I have to fight for the good of the people of the whole of Hyrule, I'm not going to give in to all of this" said the motivated Akko, very much alive after using her staff with an arrow shot at the ancestor.
"Ahhhh, that was quite a hit, it took me by surprise, but that still won't be enough to kill me, girl, an arrow caused a lot of damage, but I'm still here alive, you really don't give up, I like you, you know how to be clever, let's settle it once and for all" said the samurai who was already spitting blood.
She rushes at her, but Akko simply smiles, the older woman goes up and passes through the younger one, who uses her staff of intangibility and it ends up making her pass straight through and she even tries several thrusts, getting a bit confused by what happened, none of the ancestor's attacks worked.
"Look girl, I don't think you know what you're doing, waiting for me to die from bleeding is a waste of time, I'm regenerating, you can only kill me with the master sword, this game of yours pretending not to be hit is going to cost you a lot of magic" said Mako.
(Damn... So that's it, I can't attack like that, well I'll just have to take a surprise cut, I hope I can do what the Banshee did at least, it's all or nothing, if my magic runs out I'll die, but I can't risk it).
Akko tries to partially remove her intangibility, which feels like the magic is wasting away, and there's also a Katana stuck right in her chest, and then she decides to go all out with the master sword and sticks it in Mako's chest, who is surprised that it didn't pass through the samurai's intangibility, but even went through to the other side.
"What, you... You still had one more trick in your hand, well I guess there's no way I... I... Goodbye... You beat that girl" said the older woman as she fell and pulled out the blade.
However, the intangibility spell came to an end and even so, part of the Katana at the tip grazed the younger girl's chest. She felt the pain of the cut, but was soon healed by the fairies and was able to breathe peacefully.
The next thing she saw was Mako simply turning into a reddish powder and walking over to the cherry tree, just like her Katana, which shattered into dust and joined the cherry tree, and then the younger girl disappeared from that plane too.
When she reappeared, cherry blossom leaves appeared all around her, and as Diana waited for her with her sword held high, the leaves fell in droves, something that had never happened in centuries.
"Woah, you're back, love, I was worried" said the wife of the warrior from Luna Nova.
The master sword was beginning to change, a red light was enveloping the sword, the crimson-eyed girl had an aura of cherry leaves enveloping her body and also with reddish lights, a vapour was circulating around her, the stone she had put the sword in cracked and a fountain of blood began to gush out of it into the centre of just a few channels on the floor of that circle that were enveloping Kagari.
To the point of making the warrior float upwards and once again everything flows and swirls around the girl's body, this time faster as the master sword glows brightly, which after all is a strong white light coming from everything.
"I can feel the magic of it, it's very powerful, she's really going to have immense power capable of defeating anyone, Andrew, get ready" said Cavendish.
The warrior from Luna Nova is feeling her body changing, like an increase in muscle mass, which she already had a little, but this time it's a little more, especially in her abdomen, which used to be empty and is now showing more.
The master sword began to metamorphose, it lost what it was holding on the sides for something rounder and smaller, its length increased a little, but its width decreased, becoming more pointed, with one side especially having a lot of wire, its appearance, which previously had a blue handle, changed to a more black and grey handle with some red ornaments.
When the light faded Akko could look around and was shocked, she was much stronger, she was also holding a katana, the master sword had given way to a katana that was also much lighter.
"Woah, love, you did it, look at that sword, look at that, love, you're alive" said the platinum blonde-haired woman who went to hug her wife.
"Love, I'm so much stronger, I feel it all over my body, I feel like I can do things I couldn't do before, look at that, I did it, I had to trick Mako a bit and take a risk to beat her, but I did it in the end" said Atsuko.
"You're the greatest warrior of all, love, you did it, not only did you beat Mako, but now you're stronger, much stronger, what arms, what shoulders, I can feel them getting harder, they're really bigger, you're really strong, how interesting" said the blue-eyed girl.
"I was, now I want to see if my agility has changed, Mako is simply ridiculous at being fast, she humiliated me, if you think Hellene is exaggerated, you've never seen Mako's muscles, she's a mountain" said Kagari.
The crimson-eyed girl soon went to test her new strength and surprisingly showed that she was at a ridiculously high level, even higher than before. The Katana was agile and fast as well as light, with a cut that was shocking, even stones ended up being cut, something that the master sword had difficulty with, the Katana was able to do with some ease, as well as having a very powerful impact, and could be used with a mixture of magic.
Diana looked on in shock and amazement at the power in that blade, something she had never seen before, and the warrior from Luna Nova herself was also impressed by the level it had reached.
"Look, with this we'll be able to go a long way, we're already close to what their mums were, I have confidence now, I know that if we keep going we'll beat Andrew, this thing is the fastest I've ever seen, that's what surprises me" said the impressedAkko.
"Let's go back, love, soon we'll have a dungeon to go to, we'll get very far on our journey" said Cavendish.
And together they walked back to the carriage with the new power in hand, the eternal cherry tree simply ended as it was all the power that Mako had left sealed up all those years waiting to be given to the warrior and heroine who would save Hyrule.
Not far from there, docking in Edo, Louis arrived posing as an ordinary local citizen, already planning to assassinate the warrior of Luna Nova at any cost, which he soon hears from people and also from the news.
"The heroine is innocent! The great Akko returns to the island of Edo and proves she is innocent of the crimes committed by a random shapeshifter, this time appearing in Edo for good, she has travelled to the capital where she will meet Empress Reiko."
(So she went to the capital...) Good to know, now I have more information, she won't be going any more, she's been running away from us for so long, but she'll pay for all this, I'm sure that after all this I'll be a great hero of Appleton that no one will recognise, bloodyAndrew will still pay, from here I'll start a conspiracy to take his throne, he doesn't deserve to be lord of these lands, what he made my father do won't be forgiven, just like the casualties of our troops, I'll bring greatness back toAppleton).
Louis walked around the harbour town and was already on his way to the capital to get some information. All he could hear from the town was talk about the heroine who had been cleared and how they wanted to somehow find the culprit, the shapeshifter, an investigation was even being carried out and there was a queue close by where, to leave the town, you had to leave your fingerprints on a piece of paper and give your name.
(Damn it, am I really going to have to go through this? I hope I can get out of here soon or else it could go to shit, it seems the guards are only letting you pass if you put your finger in the ink).
"You can put your hand there and tell me your name" said the soldier.
"Kosaku Nakama" Blackwell said, then put his fingerprints on it.
He was released and went through the inspection. After everything had been noted down, the boy took off the effect of the metamorphosis, since it was consuming a lot of magic and it was necessary to recharge, and since no one was going to identify him, he even put a cloth over his face and continued walking as if nothing had happened, not giving a damn.
(What a strange thing to do, asking me to put my finger on it...) I know it's a secret technique of theirs, but little do they know that I'm prepared for anything, when they find out it's me, it'll be too late, I'm sure I'll have already killed the target and got out of here, at least I hope so, well come on, now there's only a few more hours of walking left, on this winding road, good thing I at least have things to camp with in case the weather turns for the worst).
Louis continued to make his way towards the capital, but as time went by the data was being collected and there was no doubt that a search would begin, in less than two hours that paperwork with the fingerprints was taken to the investigators who were checking to see if the fingerprints matched those of the suspect, which could take a considerable amount of time, to the point that Blackwell was already climbing the mountains to get close to the Edo valley.
After about four hours, the search for the mysterious Kosaku Nakama began, with soldiers riding along the road at full speed and soon being able to reach where the blond was going.
Akko managed to improve yet again and come out as a great warrior by defeating Mako Kagari in the trial to be worthy of the Katana, which greatly improved the master sword that was already starting to become too weak for the dangers she has been facing in the dungeons, being an even bigger step towards finally being able to defeat Andrew Hanbridge once and for all, who has no idea what is going on as he is still arriving on the continent of Hyrule to travel back to the capital of Appleton.
See you, samurai witches...