Chapter 108: Burning

Rokka and Himemiya Izayoi went out together, and in a blink of an eye, she was left behind.

Stunned and helpless, she could only go to the prison alone.

She planned to rescue the Kosen first. Following the map given by Minamoto Kiyomoto, she quickly found Yuzo and Uno Kaoru.

“Lord Senmo, hurry up and go!” The moment Uno Kaoru spoke, Rokka turned around, her white hair flying, and prepared to escape.

Before she could take two steps, her accelerating legs were forced to stop.

The long and narrow corridor of the prison was filled with bows and arrows in front and behind.

A few seconds later, she became Uno Kaoru’s cellmate—a non-violent, bloodless prison break.

If Himemiya Izayoi hadn’t acted separately from Kamibayashi Miko and arrived a little late, even with two people, the outcome would probably have been the same.

“…Lord Senmo, did you come alone?” Uno Kaoru asked with some hesitation.

“Yes,” Rokka sized up the bracelet on her snow-white wrist.

“Lord Divine Miko, Lord Ise, and Lord King of Tsukushi, they?”

“It’s over.”

“It’s over?”

“It’s all over,” Rokka had failed herself, and she didn’t believe that the two of them could successfully rescue Minamoto Kiyomoto.

The prison cell was as silent as the bottom of the water, and the air was cold.

It was unknown how long had passed. Besides the sound of the waves, a strange sound could be faintly heard.

“What’s this?!” Uno Kaoru stood up abruptly, and the shackles on her feet hit the ground, making a crisp sound.

“Shh,” Rokka gestured for her to be quiet.

The two of them stood motionless, wishing they could even stop their heartbeats. Then, the strange roar disappeared.

“Did I hear wrong?” After waiting for a while, Uno Kaoru couldn’t help but speak.

“I heard it too,” Rokka denied the possibility of hearing wrong. As soon as her voice fell, the roar came again.

It was very far away, so far that the sound was even smaller than the sound of the waves.

A look of ecstasy appeared on Uno Kaoru’s face. After the second roar, the roar did not stop at all, one after another, and it was getting closer and closer!

“Is it Lord King of Tsukushi?!” Uno Kaoru confirmed with Rokka. “Has he turned into a yokai?!”

“No,” Rokka listened to the roar. “It’s not his roar.”

Uno Kaoru’s surprised expression froze, “Then?”

“He has turned into a yokai,” Rokka smiled faintly, her expression relaxed.

“Turned… turned into…” Uno Kaoru was confused. “Is there a difference between a yokai and a yokai body?”

Rokka’s thin lips had just parted, and before she could speak, “Roar—”, under the dragon’s roar, the entire prison shook.

The sturdy walls melted before everyone’s eyes.

The soldiers in armor, with a crazed look, turned into dust.

“Ah!”

“Great! Great!”

“Long live the King of Tsukushi!”

Facing the hellish scene, in the scorching heat, the prisoners in the prison were cheering.

“Hahaha, everyone, stand aside!” In the midst of the loud laughter, Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice, as loud as thunder, entered everyone’s ears.

The cultivators all hid against the south wall, leaving the north of the prison empty.

“Roar—”, with another roar, the prison was split in two by the fierce flames.

Ignoring the high temperature, everyone eagerly looked up at the sky.

It was not the huge body of the Hakone fire dragon.

A golden-red evil dragon, slowly flapping its huge wings, hovered in the air.

Its majestic mouth spewed flames that could instantly boil stones;
Its ruby-like eyes were calm and tyrannical, a burning coldness, and at this time, it was looking down from above;

It was simply a fusion of beauty, violence, and royal power.

The golden-red evil dragon slowly descended and was on the same level as the Hokkaido miko.

“Rokka, find a way to connect everyone,” the evil dragon said, its voice clear and pleasant.

“Connect?” Rokka raised her hands, and Kamibayashi Miko’s dragon spear lightly picked, melting the bracelet.

“The exit is above. When I destroy this world, I will take you out,” Minamoto Kiyomoto explained.

While he was speaking, Kamibayashi Miko melted the shackles on the Hokkaido miko’s feet.

“How do we connect?” Rokka moved her wrists.

“There are plenty of bracelets and shackles in the prison. Just buckle the bracelets to the shackles and connect the people like a ring needle,” Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t even have to think about this kind of thing.

“Do you understand?” Rokka asked Uno Kaoru.

Uno Kaoru nodded. She understood, but she didn’t understand why she asked this.

Rokka walked out of the prison, leaped, and grabbed the claws of the red-gold evil dragon, climbing onto the dragon’s back in a few moves.

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her. If he remembered correctly, this was the second time Rokka had ‘uninvitedly come up’.

“I’m cute,” Rokka said. “Being connected with those people and hung in the air is too ugly.”

“…”

“Armor,” Rokka clamped her legs and urged.

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto flapped his wings and rushed towards the sky—Uno Kaoru, a female cultivator and a Kosen, was already sizing up where to sit.

The evil dragon flew over the town, causing a wave of screams and cries among the crowd.

A rain of arrows soared into the sky, making “pa pa” and “swoosh swoosh” sounds.

Most of the arrows melted in the dragon’s breath along with the town;
A few that hit the dragon’s scales and the three miko in golden armor only had the fate of breaking.

Kamibayashi Miko held the dragon spear. Whenever the evil dragon flew close to the ground, the dragon spear would cut through the city walls and houses—with the blessing of the dragon armor, her strength had increased a lot;

Himemiya Izayoi held a bow and arrow in her hand, but did not shoot.

“Let’s go! Forward! Target the farm!” It was unknown if she really treated Minamoto Kiyomoto as a mount.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, while spewing fierce flames, thought that if there was a next time, he must change to a yokai that could not be ‘ridden’.

Damn it.

The temperature of the fierce flames instantly soared.

The dragon’s roar was high and loud, echoing between the sky and the sea.

It circled high in the air for a while. The flames illuminated the entire sea, and the trees on the shore turned into pillars of fire.

In his line of sight, the town turned into ruins, the forest turned into a sea of fire, and all the fields and pastures turned into scorched earth—including the cornfield where the four of them had first met.

The only thing that was still intact in the whole world was the Rose Palace on the mountain.

The evil dragon roared and once again swept over the town, crashing into the garden.

A tornado of dust and dirt spun in the center of the garden.

The colorful flags flew like crazy butterflies.

Princess Noi, in her golden armor, stood under the orange tree with white flowers.

“In the garden,” she caressed the trunk, “my favorite is this orange tree. It was a gift from a little girl when I was inspecting the farm.”

The trees blocked the sun, and only a few sparse beams of light passed through the gaps in the leaves, casting light and shadow on her fair face.

“I planted it here myself. The flowers are beautiful, but it has never borne fruit.”

The golden-haired princess’s hand left the orange tree, and she did not turn back.

“Do it,” she said.

The red-gold evil dragon’s eyes stared at her back.

“Noi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto called softly.

Noi’s whole body trembled at the call of the soft, steady voice, which still had a hint of a young man’s voice.

She slowly turned around.

“A knight protects the princess, but unfortunately, you are an evil dragon,” Noi smiled, with a hint of sadness.

She faced the evil dragon, opened her arms, and closed her eyes.

The flames enveloped the princess’s slender body, licking the orange tree beside her.

Her golden hair, which one would mistake for a waterfall cut from sunlight if one was not careful, was now really glowing.

Minamoto Kiyomoto remembered the scene when he first saw her. The clothes she had taken off without warning, his palm on her chest, her pounding heart.

The trouble of wearing a dress, the cheek sniffing a rose, the light song…
Standing on the balcony overlooking the bay, letting the wind blow her long golden hair, at that time, the潇洒floating golden hair, reflected by the light, sparkled.

Was she looking at the sea, or the blue sky, or the freely soaring seagulls?
The golden-haired girl, along with the white flowers on the orange tree, turned into ashes—the scene in front of him was reflected in Minamoto Kiyomoto’s ruby-like eyes.

The garden was burning. The osmanthus, which was about to bloom in October, fell into the pond with flames, making a “hissing” sound.

“Roar!” The evil dragon soared into the sky.

The thick white walls of the Rose Palace, the blue roof, and the black iron-railed balcony were getting farther and farther away from him.

◇

On Lake Shikotsu, the originally quiet thin film suddenly began to frantically suck in the divine breath.

The lake water was turbulent, and the waves slapped the shore restlessly.

The grass and trees on the shore rustled and all fell towards the center of the lake.

“What’s going on!” In a blink of an eye, the lake, the shore, and the sky were already filled with cultivators.

The matter of the thin film, besides preventing anxiety, was not told to the students of the cultivator academy. The news had already spread everywhere else.

The Divine Miko, the Ise Miko, Minamoto Kiyomoto who could turn into a yokai, and three Kosen, such a force, had gone and never returned.

It was not just pessimism. Some cultivators who had fallen into despair thought it was the end of the world.

Shintoism took the opportunity to absorb many members. The government did not have the energy to deal with them at this time.

“Is the yokai going to materialize?”

“What about the people? What about the people who went in?”

“Could it be… they were eaten?”

“Impossible! It won’t happen!” Ayako retorted without even thinking.

Mizuha glared at the Kosen and said, “If they were really eaten, why is the Divine Miko’s shikigami still awake?”

“Alright,” the Divine Lord of Hokkaido, who was hosting the October subjugation, told everyone to be quiet. “Get ready, it’s coming out.”

The lakeside, which had been noisy just now, was instantly silent.

The storm caused by the rapid decrease of divine breath slowly subsided until everything was calm.

Everyone held their breath and stared at the thin film.

Under everyone’s gaze, a red-gold evil dragon slowly emerged.

“Do it!”

◇

Minamoto Kiyomoto, with the surviving cultivators, flew all the way up, and flew into the azure sky like a lake.

They returned to the mysterious space at the beginning.

“Roar!” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s newly acquired yokai body instantly recovered its talent—”Shackles.”

The shackles that imprisoned this space were broken, and endless divine breath poured in.

“We survived! We survived—!”

“I don’t want to lose my divine power again!”

The people, who were still connected by bracelets and like paper clips, shouted and roared desperately, and even hugged each other in a strange way.

Just as they were cheering up, preparing to absorb the divine breath and restore the cultivators’ high and mighty status, they found that they couldn’t compete at all.

The endless divine breath was divided into six parts.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, Kamibayashi Miko, Himemiya Izayoi, and the Hokkaido miko each took a part.

The two Kosen took a part, and the remaining high-level cultivators took a part.

The remaining cultivators could only watch eagerly, hoping that they would finish quickly.

“Hey, did you see?”

“What?”

“The vortex of divine breath above the King of Tsukushi’s head is bigger than the Divine Miko’s.”

“…Unbelievable. Could it be that?”

“Not necessarily. Maybe it’s because he’s in his yokai body now.”

The four of them recovered their divine power at the first moment.

Minamoto Kiyomoto opened his eyes, and with a sweep of his eyes, he found the remains of the Hakone fire dragon that had been left behind. He took the three miko and was the first to fly out of the thin film.

The long-awaited real world suddenly rushed into his eyes.

The white clouds of autumn were as gentle as catkins, and they drifted away above the distant “Mount Tarumae.”

Before Minamoto Kiyomoto could take a breath of the world’s air, a colorful light of curses, like a meteor dragging its tail, rushed towards him.

“Shackles.”

The sky full of rainbows was fixed in the air.

Taking advantage of this moment, Minamoto Kiyomoto, with a “boom,” rushed into the sky with a deafening sonic boom.

The next second, the “shackles” were broken, and the curses bombarded the thin film.

The thin film, which had lost its “will,” rippled, but still withstood this round of bombardment, unbelievably strong.

Minamoto Kiyomoto hovered above the sea of clouds, looking down at Lake Shikotsu, which was surrounded by mountains.

“They’re so enthusiastic. You don’t have to be polite either!” Himemiya Izayoi’s laughter was very distant in the sky. “Young Master Kiyoshi, let me see the power of this yokai!”

“That’s what I was thinking. Put the shackles of reason on everyone’s necks!” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“What if they don’t accept it?” Himemiya Izayoi asked with a smile.

Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed loudly, “If they don’t accept it, then force them to accept it. This is our responsibility!”

Showing off his strength among the cultivators was not for the sake of face, but for respect and to reduce trouble.

Especially this time, he had only succeeded in escaping by relying on the “yokai body curse.” Afterwards, there would inevitably be a lot of scheming.

Kamibayashi Miko did not speak, but she also guessed the thoughts of the two and tacitly agreed to their nonsense.

What’s more, there were fifteen Kosen, five miko, and one Divine Lord below. Even if Minamoto Kiyomoto wanted to hurt people, he couldn’t.

“Roar!” The evil dragon’s body was only ten meters, but it let out a thunderous roar.

The floating clouds in the sky, the long grass on the ground, and the turbulent lake water all stood still at this moment.

The cultivators below the Kosen level widened their eyes.

“What’s going on!” They couldn’t move.

Even the Kosen-level cultivators were like they had fallen into a mudflat. Every move they made was like carrying a mountain.

The evil dragon opened its lower jaw and spewed out a thin red light.

The red light shot towards Lake Shikotsu like a pillar of light. The further down it went, the bigger the red light became, turning into an overwhelming flame.

The flame did not land. The scorching heat had already made the lake water boil, the green grass withered, and the surface of the lake rippled with fiery red ripples.

“Help!”

“What’s going on? Why can’t my body move!”

“Lord Divine Lord, help!”

Under these “shackles,” the cultivators, who were numerous enough to kill ten Kosen, could only watch the flames fall.

The Divine Lord of Hokkaido, Ashiya Doman, Date Masamune, and other Kosen had already recognized that the evil dragon was not a yokai, but Minamoto Kiyomoto.

But it was precisely because of this that they were even more shocked.

Compared to the Hakone fire dragon’s ‘arrogant and domineering, huge body, calling for dark clouds, triggering volcanoes, and dropping meteors,’ the ability of the ten-meter small dragon in front of them was even more strange.

Just as they were about to attack and intercept the flames.

“Kiyomoto!” a call containing surprise, anger, gentleness, regret, and a hint of a crying tone came from the crowd.

The huge flame froze and suddenly rolled back.

The fiery red that had invaded the world disappeared without a trace.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!” An unprecedented cough, as if the heavens were coughing.

The red-gold evil dragon burst out with a dazzling golden light and suddenly collapsed. Four figures slowly fell from the sky.

The smiling Divine Miko;
The Ise Miko, who was laughing so hard that she fell on the Divine Miko’s shoulder;
Minamoto Kiyomoto, who had eaten a big flame, as if he were choking, coughed violently;
The Hokkaido miko, who was looking at Minamoto Kiyomoto with a playful expression.

The four of them had outstanding looks and a transcendent temperament. The way they fell from the sky was like people from heaven.

Minamoto Kiyomoto landed in front of his mother, wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand. Even he, who had eaten the flames he had spat out, could not maintain his image—he had coughed up a little saliva.

“Mother… cough, cough… mother,” his voice was weak.

Ayako stared at her son. When he was in trouble, she regretted not having hugged him properly. Now that she saw him, she just wanted to give him a good beating.

But there were many people here, and in front of the girls, she could only glare at him with sharp eyes.

“Cough, cough,” Minamoto Kiyomoto avoided his mother’s gaze with a cough.

“Brother, are you alright?” the Suitengu Miko immediately held Minamoto Kiyomoto and asked with concern.

“Brother?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her with confusion.

“Auntie Ayako has recognized me as her daughter. From today on, we are brother and sister.”

“Ah?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at his mother. The action was too big, and he coughed again.

“Brother, don’t talk for now. Let me take a look for you,” after saying this, the Suitengu Miko looked at Ayako again. “Mother, I’ll take Kiyomoto to be treated first.”

“I’m troubling you, Mizuha,” Ayako’s face softened slightly.

“Hey, wait, I’m fine, cough, cough!”

“You’re still saying you’re fine, you’re still coughing!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto, who had not turned into a yokai, how could he be a match for the Suitengu Miko?

This guy took full advantage of all her advantages, her abundant divine power, and her full breasts.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was entangled by the miko again, was taken into the “Morappu Tarumae-so.”

The Divine Miko and Himemiya Izayoi, who could help, the former was already preparing to punish him by making him kneel if there weren’t so many people here;
The latter, under Ayako’s gaze, also looked away embarrassedly.

The cultivators flew out of the thin film one after another. Everyone rushed forward and asked what had happened.

Ayako, Kamibayashi Miko, and Himemiya Izayoi returned to the “Morappu Tarumae-so.”

“Mizuha, is Kiyomoto alright?” Ayako asked with concern.

“He’s fine,” the Suitengu Miko took her hand from Minamoto Kiyomoto’s abdomen. Her voice was gentle, like a real white-robed angel. “He’s just a little hot. He should find a girlfriend.”

“I think he should too. If he has a grandson, I won’t have to live and die with my son,” Ayako said, looking at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“I’ll do my best, I’ll do my best,” Minamoto Kiyomoto put down his clothes.

“Still doing your best? You might as well die now,” Ayako scolded.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Minamoto Kiyomoto lowered his head.

“It’s my fault, I’m sorry,” Kamibayashi Miko also lowered her head.

Ayako didn’t look at the two of them, but took Himemiya Izayoi’s hand, “Thank you, Izayoi. If it weren’t for you—”

“It’s alright, Auntie Ayako,” Himemiya Izayoi smiled very cutely.

(End of Chapter)