Chapter Text
Kiyoharu began walking in that empty world and noticed that he was constantly being followed by the large moon shining in the sky.
The moon had a faint blue light that was following him everywhere.
"What does this mean?" Kiyoharu asked as he looked around and felt Rekka's time inside him screaming at him and he felt his chest burning.
"You knew very well that this moment would come." Kiyoharu thought as he patted his chest. "I must do my part to save my grandfather."
Kiyoharu advanced towards what appeared to be a pool of water in which the moon seemed to be reflected.
The half-demon realized that that must be where Mangetsu was and sprinted to reach the pool and begin his trail.
Just then, a voice began to speak in his mind.
"A half-demon has already appeared here in the past, carrying a weapon and a ring around his neck." The voice echoed, making waves in the water. "He wanted to protect someone he loved, but he couldn't free her, only help her on that occasion. He stared happily with his love, before the curse took him away from the person he loved."
"I know the rest." Kiyoharu whispered softly.
"And now you're here because you want to try to save that same person." The voice concluded.
"So you were waiting for me, Mangetsu?" Kiyoharu asked the moon seriously, knowing it was Mangetsu.
"Perhaps..." Yoroi answered vaguely, with Kiyoharu letting out a long snort.
A silence fell, with Kiyoharu unsure whether to interpret it as positive or negative, and he began shifting nervously on one leg.
"Tell me, do you know who I am or what I represent?" Mangetsu asked Kiyoharu seriously, who stopped moving on one foot.
"The Yoroi who is found neither in the human nor the supernatural world, the one who represents nothingness with her gray color." Kiyoharu repeated what Jun and the others had always told him.
Despite how distant she was, we knew so much about Mangetsu, while relatively little about Kikotei.
"And those who belong to neither world, like me, can wear me." Mangetsu added seriously as she appeared before Kiyoharu.
Kiyoharu was surprised by the appearance of the Yoroi before his eyes. She was a gray Yoroi wrapped in a veil that made her seem half transparent, as if she were half unreal and half real.
To Kiyoharu, she reminded him of a moth longing to emerge from its cocoon and fly away.
A lunar cocoon.
Kiyoharu took the first step toward Yoroi, who remained strangely silent as the moon became completely full in that unreal world.
Yoroi began to vibrate as if breathing or trying to escape the cocoon that had kept it trapped in the slightly moving water.
Kiyoharu continued to move, holding his grandfather's tachi in his right hand and ready to offer it to her. With the tip of his eye, he noticed something was wrong.
There was a black shadow in the reflection of the water that shouldn't have been there.
Kiyoharu looked down and noticed that half of his reflection was missing, replaced by a black shadow. He immediately jumped back in fear and touched his face.
"Is it possible that I died and didn't notice anything?" Kiyoharu thought as he slapped his face to reassure himself that he was fine and had no problems.
"So your grandfather Louis died." Mangetsu continued speaking. "And so you risk suffering the same fate as him, if you continue on the path you've chosen."
"What are you trying to scare me into going against Kikotei?" Kiyoharu asked angrily. "I've already accepted the fact that I risk Rekka consuming my yokai half."
"It's not Rekka who will burn you to death, but Kikotei." Mangetsu replied seriously. "And he will do it while controlling Ryo Sanada's soul."
"I have already accepted this risk." Kiyoharu replied seriously and took a step forward, stepping on his shadowed half. "I want to destroy Kikotei once I free my grandfather's soul."
"And tell me, are you willing to pay only a part of yourself?" Mangetsu asked Kiyoharu.
"What does your question mean?" Kiyoharu asked seriously as he approached again.
He couldn't understand if that was part of the test or just a deception on Mangetsu's part. He was terribly confused by the whole situation.
"And tell me, would you accept losing your human side?" Mangetsu asked.
"I only know that Rekka rejects the yokai part of me. Can you tell me what that means? Do I need to know anything else about Kikotei?" Kiyoharu asked, remembering how Kikotei had literally thrown his grandfather's body into the yoroi world to keep only his soul.
"Kikotei could destroy you precisely to make your grandfather's soul lock itself even more in despair and distance him from the possibility of severing his connection with the yoroi. Are you aware of this?"
"I am aware of this... after all, Kikotei knows who I am." Kiyoharu explained, "I had the stupid idea of yelling at my grandfather because I foolishly hoped to stop him..."
"And tell me, do you still hate yourself for who you are?" Mangetsu asked as she saw Kiyoharu approaching at a rapid pace.
"Yes!" Kiyoharu confirmed in a tired voice as he continued to approach the yoroi. “I still hate myself because of those who mocked me and never accepted me, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m half-demon.”
Mangetsu vibrated the water with Kiyoharu’s serious comment. “You already tried this with Grandpa Louis, and it won’t work with me.”
Kiyoharu paused as he unsheathed his Tachi to point it at Mangetsu, who remained motionless, wrapped in her towel as if it were a cocoon.
“Do you know what I hate most about this whole thing?” Kiyoharu exclaimed, taking a defensive stance.
“What do you hate most about this whole thing?” Mangetsu asked, still remaining impassive in front of Kiyoharu.
“The yoroi!” Kiyoharu exclaimed aloud, “As much as you helped my grandfather Ryo meet the rest of my family, you only brought pain to my daughter, and Kikotei treated my grandfather's body like a garbage bag.”
Kiyoharu shouted those words with the vague hope that Kikotei could hear him.
“And I want to give my grandfather the chance to live a life without your burden or be burned by Kikotei. I want him to be just Ryo Sanada and nothing else! I want my grandfather to be completely happy with his life, and not just for himself, but also for my uncles Touma, Seiji, Shin, and Shu. I only want this for them.”
“And to do that, I need your power, whether you want it or not!” Kiyoharu pointed his Tachi at Mangetsu, “Because I want to finish this story now and not wait any longer!”
Kiyoharu lunged at the yoroi, holding the Tachi in his left hand, and prepared to strike Mangetsu with his own slash.
Before he could strike, he was stopped by a blast of energy from Mangetsu, as the cocoon covering the yoroi slowly began to open.
“Enough! I’m satisfied with your words, and even though you’re not exactly the person I expected to be my bearer, I still want to help you see the conclusion of this story.”
“What?!” Kiyoharu thought, surprised, not thinking this would actually work, and was enveloped in the light emanating from the cocoon, with Mangetsu disappearing.
When Kiyoharu opened his eyes, he realized he was once again near the place where he had left the other samurai troopers, and immediately placed his hand on his heart, feeling a clear presence within him, calmer than Rekka’s.
The four samurai troopers and Oya saw Kiyoharu return without Louis's tachi and noticed a satisfied expression on his face.
Oya saw Kiyoharu return and commented in a low voice, "Looks like he made it, we can proceed to find the mirror."
Kiyoharu merely nodded before going to rest for a few hours. Afterward, they would immediately set off again to find the mirror and save Ryo's soul.