Chapter 107: The Golden Dragon’s Roar

In the courtyard, flowers were in full bloom, their fragrance overflowing, and butterflies fluttered about.

Daffodils in January, wintersweet in February, forsythia in March, Chinese flowering crabapple in April, peony in May, hydrangea in June, lily in July, sunflower in August, hibiscus in September…

The flowers that had bloomed in the past months had not withered, but remained at the moment of their full bloom.

On the central island of a circular fountain, the osmanthus of October was already preparing to bud.

This was the magical garden belonging to Princess Noi, the golden-haired girl.

Even when the gardener was pruning the flower branches, it was as quiet as a virgin’s place. But today, it was full of noise. The flowers were trampled on the ground, and the neatly trimmed branches were randomly cut.

“I’ll build one just like it when I get back,” Himemiya Izayoi drew her bow and shot to the right front.

The arrow pierced the air with a sharp sound, and with a “swoosh,” it pierced the throats of three soldiers in a row!

Kamibayashi Miko hid her body behind the window, breathing heavily.

“Where’s Kiyomoto?” she asked.

“You’re asking me?” Himemiya Izayoi retorted. “I’m following you, not you following me!”

Suddenly, she smiled, revealing the grinning expression she had when she was teasing Minamoto Kiyomoto, and said:
“Actually… I’m not here to save him, I’m here to save you.”

Kamibayashi Miko looked down at the garden, searching for Minamoto Kiyomoto, while breathing heavily, trying to recover her strength.

Hearing Himemiya Izayoi’s words, even in such a critical moment, she couldn’t help but glance at her.

Himemiya Izayoi no longer drew her bow and shot arrows. She had run all the way, snatched some archers’ quivers, and now there was nothing left.

“Surround them!” In the garden, soldiers stood guard under the window.

And outside the door, it was already impenetrable.

Fortunately, the room was narrow, and the two of them had pushed over some furniture. At the same time, only a small number of soldiers could advance, and the arrows couldn’t aim.

After a large number of people died and they couldn’t walk at all, the soldiers outside the door stopped their attack.

“Get oil!” Outside the house, a knight ordered loudly.

“Approaching Minamoto Kiyomoto is to prevent him from getting close to you,” Himemiya Izayoi continued. “I came to Tokyo, actually for you.”

“Are you crazy?” Kamibayashi Miko’s tone was still calm, her gaze still searching the garden.

“Ever since I first saw you, I knew that in this world, only you are worthy of me, it’s your…”

“If you have time to joke around here, you might as well tell me what other way there is.”

“There’s no other way,” Himemiya Izayoi said concisely, then continued, “It’s your heavenly beauty that made my heart flutter, give up everything, and come to…”

“Kiyomoto said he saw you move in that mysterious space.”

“That heartless bastard, he told you everything! I risked my life to save him, I should have let him die!”

“What do we do now?” Kamibayashi Miko ignored her anger.

“There’s no way, we can only wait,” Himemiya Izayoi also put away her smile, her face calm, her eyes cold. “Wait for Kiyomoto to succeed, wait for Rokka to bring reinforcements.”

The two of them fell into silence, listening to each other’s breathing, and the increasing number of footsteps outside.

There was no need to say what they were not waiting for.

◇

Lake Shikotsu has a transparency of twenty-seven degrees. The clear lake water can be drunk directly.

The weather was clear and sunny, like a huge mirror. The snow-capped mountains were reflected, and the scenery of the lake and mountains was beautiful, making people stop and stay.

At this time, thousands of people were lingering on the shore of the lake, but no one would take a second look at the scenery.

Looking at the thin film that occupied the entire sky above the lake, everyone’s face was very ugly.

In the “Morappu Tarumae-so,” where Minamoto Kiyomoto and the others had lived, on the small slope where the bush clover and the large-flowered six-path were growing, Ayako’s complexion was pale, and she stared at the lake in a daze.

Itomi Yuki, who had not listened to her sister and had chosen to enter the world of cultivation, did not listen to Minamoto Kiyomoto this time either—she had given the letter to Ayako in advance.

Because, on that letter, it was written:
“If anything happens in the future, you can go to Izayoi, if she is still alive.”

Itomi Yuki didn’t understand what this sentence meant, but as long as there was a glimmer of hope to help Minamoto Kiyomoto, she would not give up.

Ayako, who had received the letter, left the Seto Inland Sea and came to Hokkaido, joining the October subjugation team.

“Auntie Ayako, don’t worry, it will be fine. Everyone has already asked the Divine Miko’s shikigami,” the Suitengu Miko of Suitengu Shrine comforted her gently.

“Yes,” Ayako forced a smile.

“But… even the Divine Miko, the Ise Miko, the Senmo Miko, and Minamoto-kun, who can turn into a yokai, they can’t come out. If we go in, can we really come back?” the Suitengu Miko’s voice was soft and sad.

“Are you scared?” Ayako looked at her gently.

“Yes,” Mizuha nodded lightly. “But I can’t be scared. The cultivators below are more scared than me.”

After saying this, she asked Ayako again, “You took the initiative to participate in this subjugation. Aren’t you scared?”

“Whether I’m scared or not is no longer important,” Ayako said.

She no longer thought about whether she could save her son. Either she would save him, or she would stay in that space with her son. There was no other choice.

The two of them stood side by side, looking at the vast lake. The bright sun, the early autumn wind, such a good weather, yet it made people sad.

Mizuha raised her sleeve and wiped the corner of her eye.

“What’s wrong?” Ayako asked softly.

“I’m sorry,” Mizuha was a little embarrassed and showed a somewhat desolate smile. “I suddenly thought of my mother just now.”

Ayako looked at her with pity.

The two of them looked like sisters, but in Ayako’s eyes, Mizuha was just a child the same age as her son.

She gently hugged Mizuha and patted her back comfortingly.

“Auntie Ayako, can I call you mother?” Mizuha asked.

“Of course you can,” Ayako replied softly.

“Mother.”

“Yes.”

Ayako thought of Kiyomoto. She hadn’t hugged him since he started elementary school.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t control the sourness in her heart, and tears flowed from her eyes.

◇

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the golden-red giant dragon in front of him.

Its breathtakingly beautiful posture, its graceful and powerful body that contained immense power, all declared how noble and unattainable the dragon was as a fearsome form.

This was a Western dragon with wings, a Dragon.

Compared to the Hakone fire dragon, its body was much smaller, only about ten meters.

It was also different from the Hakone fire dragon’s wild and domineering nature, which wanted to tear the sky and split the earth. The eyes of this Western dragon were calm and cruel, wanting to put shackles on the heaven and earth.

It had an aura of eternity and eternal existence.

Desolate, ancient, powerful, and empty. It was more like a statue of a god than a living creature.

It could see through the day and the night;
It could see through life and death.

The so-called nothingness was just an obstacle set for lower creatures like humans. It posed no threat to the sacred existence in front of it. It moved freely without any obstacles.

This was the favor of the gods, or perhaps, this was its divinity as a god.

“Roar—”, accompanied by a clear dragon’s roar, an invisible shackle fell on Minamoto Kiyomoto.

This was not reality, but a sea of capacity.

“Shut up, beast,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s figure flashed, and he stepped on the Dragon’s head.

His eyes were full of madness, “I’m in a hurry.”

“Roar!”

◇

“Quick, quick, quick!”

Hearing the dense footsteps, Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi looked at each other, knowing that they could not wait any longer.

“Clang!”

“Fire!”

In the courtyard garden, countless arrows rained down on the object that had broken the window.

“Bang, bang, bang!”, the corpse in armor was suspended in the air for a long time in the rain of arrows.

“It’s a corpse! Stop!”

As soon as the knight’s voice fell, there was another “clang.”

The knight didn’t have time to think and ordered, “Fire!”

“Bang, bang, bang!”, it was still a corpse.

“Stop!”

“Clang!”

This time, the knight’s eyes widened. However, an arrow as fast as a meteor directly took his life.

In the instant that the soldiers did not wait for the order, a white shadow leaped into the courtyard, as light as a swallow skimming the water.

Every movement of Kamibayashi Miko was as beautiful as a movie.

Behind her beautiful movements were the soldiers who had died with their eyes wide open before they could react.

“Fire—ugh!”

“Swoosh!”

Himemiya Izayoi withdrew her body from the window, took out another arrow, and drew her bow like a full moon, ready to cover Kamibayashi Miko at any time.

She glanced at the quiver. There were five arrows left, and including the one in her hand, there were six in total.

“One person jumped down, rush in!” Outside the door, the soldiers attacked again.

“It’s annoying to be pursued relentlessly. Why don’t you understand—except for Minamoto Kiyomoto and me,” Himemiya Izayoi jumped out of the window.

The two of them met and covered each other.

Every movement was agile and accurate, and their coordination was just right.

But no matter how perfect, it only delayed the time of being surrounded. The ending was already determined.

“Ha, ha,” Kamibayashi Miko gasped heavily. Her lungs were like a desert, desperately sucking every drop of water from her body.

“There are no more arrows,” Himemiya Izayoi gasped.

Kamibayashi Miko barely controlled her breathing and replied, “I… I’m out of strength too.”

“I regret it,” Himemiya Izayoi looked at the sky, which was not cloudy at all. “I shouldn’t have left that thing to that guy. If only he survives, he will definitely marry the Itomi sisters and live a happy life.”

Kamibayashi Miko closed her eyes powerlessly. On her pale face, she couldn’t help but smile.

The soldiers who surrounded them approached step by step, no longer giving them any chance.

“Let go!” At this moment, the soldier wall, which had been formed, split a gap.

The two of them looked at the same time. It was not Rokka who came.

A golden armor, a red cloak, and golden hair flying. It was Princess Noi.

The golden-haired girl’s fair face looked at the two who were covered in blood.

Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi looked at each other quickly and moved at the same time.

“Fire!” the knight ordered.

Just as the arrows were about to fly like rain and kill the two of them, Princess Noi ordered again, “Let them come over!”

In that blink of an eye, Kamibayashi Miko had already rushed in front of the golden-haired princess.

Kamibayashi Miko’s eyes, which were as clear as the melting snow in early spring, flashed with a sharp light, and she stabbed with her sword.

Princess Noi drew her golden one-handed sword and, with a precise angle, blocked the sword.

The next moment, the sword and the sword struck, and the sound of the impact made the surrounding air tremble.

“Clang!”

“Clang, clang!”

In a blink of an eye, the two of them had exchanged more than a dozen moves.

“Hah!” Noi took a step forward, her sword held high above her head.

A blow without any skill, it came down heavily.

“Clang—”, the sword in Kamibayashi Miko’s hand broke into two pieces.

If she hadn’t reacted quickly enough, her body would have been split in half.

Kamibayashi Miko retreated to Himemiya Izayoi’s side. Every time she breathed, her lungs let out a mournful cry and a sharp pain. Sweat soaked her sideburns.

“Why didn’t you go up?” she asked Himemiya Izayoi.

“Those people took all the arrows,” Himemiya Izayoi pointed at the soldiers who were cleaning up the battlefield.

Kamibayashi Miko no longer had the energy to observe these things. Her eyes were fixed on the majestic girl in golden armor.

Even if Himemiya Izayoi had arrows, she probably couldn’t hit Princess Noi, who reacted faster than a human—in the duel just now, the golden-haired girl didn’t use any skills, only strength and reaction.

Princess Noi’s golden sword pointed diagonally.

“It’s over,” she said majestically.

“Where’s Minamoto Kiyomoto?” Himemiya Izayoi asked.

“He won’t be in trouble, but he won’t be able to come. If you want to delay time and wait for the people in the prison, give up.”

“It seems there’s an ambush there too,” Himemiya Izayoi said to Kamibayashi Miko. “I hope Rokka dies before us.”

Kamibayashi Miko’s cold gaze was fixed on Princess Noi.

In her hand was a broken sword, and beside her was Himemiya Izayoi, who had a bow but no arrows.

I heard that before people die, they will recall the happy times in their lives.

She didn’t remember anything before she was twenty.

In her mind, there was the floating light and shadow of the vertebral tree in the Sanshiro Pond;
In the early morning, Minamoto Kiyomoto sat on the wall, holding the meat of a wild boar in his hand. The bright sunlight plated his body with a layer of hazy light;

In the classroom, the notebook that was passed back and forth between the three of them;
After class, in the dark night, on the Western-style corridor of the Faculty of Law and Letters Building 2, they discussed the “anti-aging curse.” The warm breeze, with the smell of summer, blew between the three of them;

Shirako sat on the crossbeam of the torii gate, kicking her feet boredly. When she saw her return, a smile bloomed on her face;

And the fireworks in Uji, was that in the sky, or on the water, was it reality, or a dream?
“Phew—” Kamibayashi Miko, ignoring her wailing lungs, tried to suck in the air again.

This is the end, she told herself.

“It’s over,” Princess Noi inserted the golden sword into the stone slab with a “clang.”

Countless archers, upstairs and downstairs, inside and outside the garden, on the roof and under the roof, drew their bowstrings.

“I don’t expect Minamoto Kiyomoto to save us now. I just want to see his ‘yokai body curse’ fail, turn into a yokai, and die with us,” Himemiya Izayoi said to Kamibayashi Miko.

“I agree,” Kamibayashi Miko replied.

The two of them looked at each other and laughed at the same time. For the first time, they felt the tacit understanding of friends.

“Boom!”

The sky and the earth shook. Countless golden lights shot out from the windows and doors of the Rose Palace, from any place with a gap.

The rosy clouds steamed, and the colors were magnificent.

The blue sky and the sea, everyone, every flower in the garden, were all dyed golden.

“Too slow!” Himemiya Izayoi said, but her face and eyes were full of joy.

“Fire!” Princess Noi’s face changed, and she ordered sternly.

“Roar—”

A majestic voice resounded between heaven and earth.

In this magnificent roar, everything seemed to have lost its color. It was unknown where it came from, or where it was going. It had lost itself.

A flame pierced the air. Wherever it passed, humans, palace walls, and bluestone slabs melted in the flame and all evaporated.

Accompanied by the flame, a golden-red evil dragon landed with a bang, landing beside the miko.

“You’re in a sorry state, both of you!” the evil dragon’s posture was sacred, and its clear voice was full of laughter.

“Trash! So slow!” Himemiya Izayoi kicked the evil dragon’s thick hind leg. “You almost killed this miko!”

“Hahaha!” the evil dragon laughed loudly. “A curse is both a power and a restraint. Death is not necessarily a bad thing.”

“It seems you’re not relaxed either,” Kamibayashi Miko smiled.

“Miss Kamibayashi understands me, unlike Izayoi, who only knows how to complain.”

Noi looked at the dragon, whose scales shone like golden gems. Its posture made people feel fear, but also beautiful.

“Is this a yokai?” she murmured to herself.

“Fire! Fire! Fire!” Unlike her, who was in a daze, all the knights, all the soldiers, and even every flower in the garden were crazy.

“Roar—” a roar that made the whole body tremble sounded again.

In a flash of sky and earth shaking, she threw the two miko onto her back.

“Although I have turned into a yokai, I have no divine breath. I can only fight with my body,” in the chaos, the evil dragon’s laughter was heard.

Golden scales spread from the evil dragon’s body to the two miko.

In a blink of an eye, Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi, integrated with the golden dragon, became female dragon knights in golden armor.

At the same time, a three-meter-long dragon spear and a golden bow and arrow slowly appeared on the evil dragon’s body.

Kamibayashi Miko held the dragon spear, and Himemiya Izayoi held the golden bow. The evil dragon flapped its huge wings, soared into the sky, spewing flames all the way, and rushed towards the prison.

(End of Chapter)