15 Feathers and Swords

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 3]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider, Retribution]

  [Kegare: 32%]

  [Objective: Ascend to the Grand Shrine]

  ---

  Rainwater cascaded down the ancient stone steps, transforming the stairway into a treacherous stream. Thunder rumbled overhead, punctuating the tense silence as Kazuki stood with a blade at his throat, facing the tengu warrior who blocked their path.

  The karasu tengu's black wings flexed slightly, shedding raindrops. The tip of his long, strange katana was drawing a thin line of Kazuki's blood that mingled with the rain.

  "I've given you fair warning, Fujōo," the tengu said, his voice stern beneath his crow-beaked mask. "The Grand Shrine rejects you."

  Suzume stepped forward, her Water Lily Cloak rippling as it absorbed the downpour. "This is ridiculous. He's with me—a shrine maiden of Kagura."

  The tengu tilted his head, studying her with sudden intensity. When he spoke again, there was something different in his voice, almost nostalgic. "A Kagura maiden? Here?"

  Suzume tensed at his tone, her eyes narrowing as she looked more closely at the tengu's posture.

  The tengu hesitated, then with his free hand, reached up and removed his mask.

  The face beneath was unexpectedly human; sharp-featured and handsome, with eyes as black as his feathers. A single scar cut across his left brow.

  "Suzu-chan," he said, his formal tone dissolving into something warmer, almost teasing. "Is that really you?"

  Suzume went rigid. "Karaba?"

  Fleet's ears perked up, his tail swishing anxiously. "Karaba? Who's Karaba?"

  The tengu lowered his sword slightly, though he kept it unsheathed. "I was wondering when you'd finally make the pilgrimage," he said to Suzume, ignoring Fleet entirely. His gaze flicked to Kazuki, hardening instantly. "But not with... this."

  Suzume stepped between them. "Karaba, this is Kazuki. He's—"

  "I know what he is," Karaba interrupted. "The corruption is visible. It pulses beneath his skin like a parasite." He shook his head. "What were you thinking, bringing such danger to the Grand Shrine? You of all people should know better."

  Kazuki felt the kegare writhing beneath his skin, responding to the accusation. "I need to reach the shrine," he said firmly. "Whether you approve or not."

  Karaba's eyes narrowed. With a movement too fast for the eye to track, he whipped his sword back into position, the tip hovering a hair's breadth from Kazuki's eye.

  "Karaba, stop!" Suzume grabbed his arm. "You don't understand. He needs—"

  "No, you don't understand," Karaba said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "The Shrine has been weakened. The barrier is falling. And you bring this—" he gestured at Kazuki with disgust, "—to our doorstep?"

  Fleet growled, fully transforming into his fox form as he positioned himself at Kazuki's side.

  "Calm down, Fleet, We don't want to fight." Kazuki murmured, never breaking eye contact with Karaba. To the tengu, he asked, "How do you know Suzume?"

  A bitter smile curved Karaba's lips. "Ah, she didn't mention me? I'm wounded, Suzu-chan."

  Fleet looked between them, his fox-eyes narrowing. "Suzu-chan? Seriously, what am I missing here?"

  Suzume sighed. "Karaba and I were raised together at the Kagura Shrine. We... we were foster siblings."

  "Until I was sent here, to Karasu Peak, at age ten," Karaba finished.

  Despite the mockery in his tone, Kazuki caught the flicker of old pain in his eyes.

  "But that changes nothing. I'm not letting you pass," Karaba said, returning his attention to Kazuki.

  Kazuki's patience snapped. "We don't have time for this."He lunged forward, aiming to slip past Karaba's guard. It was a mistake.

  The tengu moved with inhuman speed - a blur. Kazuki felt a searing pain across his cheek as the blade cut clean through skin to bone. He stumbled backward, touching the wound in shock.

  "Kazuki!" Suzume shouted. "Karaba, stop this!"

  But both men were beyond listening now.

  Karaba fought like no one Kazuki had ever faced. Where the Kappa King had been theatrical and the Inugami brutal, Karaba was precise. His weapona looked like a hybrid of a traditional katana and a European épée and it flashed like a ray of light in his hands.

  Fleet circled the combatants, searching for an opening. He found one as Karaba lunged for Kazuki, and the fox nipped at the tengu's wing, drawing a hiss of pain.

  Karaba spun with impossible speed, his wing catching Fleet mid-leap and sending him crashing against the stone balustrade.

  "Fleet!" Kazuki shouted.

  "I'm okay!" The fox scrambled back to his feet, shaking rainwater from his fur like a dog.

  Karaba's attention returned to Kazuki. "You think yourself worthy?" Each word punctuated by a strike that Kazuki barely parried, leaving cuts on his forearms.

  The tengu's wings gave him an advantage on the narrow staircase. He would leap into the air, momentarily beyond reach, then launch forward with blinding speed. Kazuki was using Black Hand to parry but Karaba was just too fast to counter-attack. He couldn't keep up.

  "Stay back!" Kazuki shouted to Fleet as he narrowly ducked another blade strike.

  Suzume stood at the edge of the steps, her expression torn between anger and fear. "Both of you, stop this! Just talk to each other!"

  Karaba's blade sliced through the air where Kazuki's throat had been a heartbeat earlier. "He brings doom to the mountain, Suzu-chan. Can't you see it?"

  Kazuki seized the moment of distraction, his fist connecting with Karaba's wing joint. The tengu hissed in pain but recovered immediately, spinning with terrifying grace to deliver a kick that sent Kazuki sprawling backward down several steps.

  The Crimson Scale pulsed against Kazuki's skin. He felt the kegare responding, darkening the veins in his arms to near-black. Power. He needed more power.

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  He stopped fighting it and let the corruption flow through him. His vision sharpened, the world slowing around him as the kegare enhanced his senses.

  The next time Karaba struck, Kazuki was ready. He caught the tengu's wrist mid-strike, the darkness visibly pulsing beneath his skin. With strength that surprised even him, he twisted, sending Karaba flying into the stone railing.

  Karaba recovered in midair, wings spreading to catch himself. His eyes widened at the visible change in Kazuki - the darkened veins and his midnight eyes.

  "See? See?" he called to Suzume. "The corruption."

  The words struck deeper than Kazuki expected. Was Karaba right? Was he becoming a monster? The momentary doubt cost him as the tengu struck again mercilessly.

  A slash across his chest. A stab through his forearm. Kazuki stumbled back, blood mixing with rain.

  "I didn't ask for this," he said through gritted teeth.

  "Few do," Karaba replied, his voice suddenly softer, almost sympathetic.

  Karaba moved like a ghost—there, then not there. The rain itself seemed to part for his blade.

  Fleet darted in, snapping at Karaba's ankles, creating just enough distraction for Kazuki to catch his breath.

  "Your pet can't save you from me." Karaba said, kicking Fleet aside. "Nothing can."

  His blade pierced Kazuki's defenses, scoring a deep cut along his ribs. Kazuki stumbled, clutching the wound. The kegare churned beneath his fingers, attempting to seal the injury. The sensation was strange; like an otherworldly needle was knitting him together not quite as fast as he was being undone.

  "Your healing is unnatural," Karaba observed. "A mockery."

  Kazuki felt anger rise within him; not the Kegare, but something raw and human. "You know nothing about me."

  He charged forward, abandoning caution. For a moment, he thought he'd caught Karaba by surprise but then the tengu smiled and sidestepped and swung behind Kazuki with supernatural grace, his blade tracing an arc toward his exposed back.

  "Kazu, watch out!" The fox managed to snag Karaba's wing with his teeth, pulling him off-balance.

  The warning came just in time. Kazuki dropped and rolled, feeling the sword pass through the space where his spine had been. Instead he felt the stone steps, rain-slick and cold against his back.

  Karaba shook Fleet off violently, sending the fox tumbling down the steps. "Stay out of this!"

  "Fleet!" Kazuki called.

  Karaba advanced on Kazuki, the playfulness gone from his expression. "You're strong. I'll give you that. But you lack discipline. Training." His eyes narrowed. "Experience."

  "I have enough experience with monsters," Kazuki spat.

  Something dangerous flickered in Karaba's eyes. "Do you include yourself in that, Fujō?"

  For an instant, the world around Kazuki seemed to waver. The kegare surged within him, and he saw himself reflected in Karaba's obsidian eyes—his own face, but with veins of darkness spreading across it like cracks in porcelain.

  Monster.

  The vision shook him to his core. Was that what he was becoming? What he already was?

  Karaba didn't miss the moment of weakness. His attack redoubled, each strike a blur of motion. Kazuki found himself driven back, step by step, the tengu's blade opening fresh wounds with every exchange.

  "I am not what you think I am," Kazuki said, forcing himself to his feet once more.

  "No?" Karaba's wings flared, catching the wind. "Then show me what you truly are."

  Lightning split the sky, illuminating the battleground in stark white. In that frozen moment, Kazuki saw Suzume's face—not afraid, but resolute. Determined. She was reaching for something within her robes.

  The Shirayuki Knife.

  "No!" Kazuki shouted. "Stay back!"

  The distraction cost him. Expecting a blade Kazuki was unprepared when Karaba's fist connected with his jaw, sending him reeling. The tengu followed through with a series of lightning-fast strikes, his blade carving ribbons of pain across Kazuki's forearms as he desperately defended himself.

  "You care for her," Karaba observed, his tone accusing as he attacked. "You've poisoned her mind."

  Kazuki tasted blood. "She makes her own choices."

  "Does she?" Karaba's attack intensified, moving faster still. "Or has your corruption spread to her as well? The Suzu-chan I knew would never ally with darkness."

  Something in Kazuki snapped.

  [Black Hand - Active]

  The Kegare pulsed through his veins, hot and fierce, demanding release. His counterattack caught the tengu by surprise. Kazuki's fist, trailing tendrils of black energy, smashed into Karaba's chest. The tengu stumbled back, his wings flaring for balance.

  For the first time, uncertainty flickered across Karaba's face. But Kazuki was starting to understand - the karasu tengu was fast because he had a bird's bones. Hollow bones.

  Emboldened, Kazuki pressed forward. The kegare whispered in his mind, guiding his movements. His next strike caught Karaba's shoulder, the darkness around his fist briefly solidifying as he struck.

  The tengu's eyes widened in shock. "What is this power?"

  Kazuki didn't answer, launching a flurry of strikes. For a brief, glorious moment, he had Karaba on the defensive, driving the tengu up the steps with each attack.

  But Karaba was too experienced, too skilled. He adapted quickly, studying Kazuki's movements. When Kazuki overextended, the tengu was ready.

  His blade flashed, cutting deep into Kazuki's thigh. As Kazuki stumbled, Karaba's foot connected with his chest, sending him crashing down the rain-slick steps.

  Kazuki landed hard, the breath knocked from his lungs. Before he could recover, Karaba was on him. The tengu's blade plunged downward, piercing through Kazuki's right shoulder and pinning him to the stone steps.

  Pain exploded through Kazuki's body. He screamed, the sound lost in a crash of thunder.

  "Yes, you're strong," Karaba admitted, his face inches from Kazuki's. "But untamed. Undisciplined." His eyes narrowed. "Dangerous."

  With a cruel twist, he yanked the blade free - only to drive it through Kazuki's left shoulder in the next heartbeat. Two wounds, perfectly symmetrical. Two fountains of pain that threatened to drown Kazuki's consciousness.

  The Kegare churned within him, responding to his agony. Something new stirred in the darkness; not just power, but a specific power. A name formed in Kazuki's mind, terrible and enticing:

  [Level Up: 4]

  [New Waza Unlocked: Eviscerate]

  He could see it in his mind's eye - tendrils of darkness erupting from his hand, tipped with razor-sharp points that could tear through flesh and bone like paper. The devastating potential of it shook him, even as the pain threatened to consume his consciousness.

  The blade descended toward Kazuki's throat.

  "KARABA, NO!"

  A blur of motion intercepted the killing blow. Suzume's hand locked around Karaba's wrist, the edge of his blade stopping mere inches from Kazuki's neck. Her eyes blazed with fury that matched the storm around them.

  "Suzu-chan?" Karaba's voice held disbelief. "Let go! He's dangerous—"

  Her foot connected with his chest with all of her body's power in a kick that sent him flying off the edge of the stairway.

  Karaba's wings spread as he tumbled, like a bird shot from the sky, down the rain drenched grass between the stone stairs and the trees of the mountain. He turned his face up in stunned disbelief. "Suzu-chan! What have you done?"

  "SHUT UP!" Suzume shouted, tears streaming down her face. "I HATE YOU BOTH!"

  She knelt beside Kazuki, her hands trembling as she examined his wounds. Fleet limped to his side, whimpering softly as he nuzzled Kazuki's cheek.

  Karaba started to ascend, but Suzume's glare stopped him cold.

  "Don't you dare," she hissed. "Not one step closer, or I swear, I will end you myself."

  "Suzume, he's dangerous—"

  "You're dangerous!" she shot back, her voice cracking with emotion. "Look what you've done! You're supposed to protect!"

  Kazuki felt consciousness slipping. The Kegare corruption was, ironically, keeping him alive but it was overwhelmed by the severity and number of wounds. The new power - Eviscerate - waited in the back of his mind, a dark present to unwrap someday.

  Through blurring vision, he watched Karaba step onto the stone stairs below them.

  "Suzu-chan, I'm sorry. I will not let him pass," Karaba finally said, his voice tight with emotion.

  Suzume ignored him. She turned to Fleet. "Help me with him. We need to get back to the village."

  As Fleet transformed to help support Kazuki's weight, he heard Suzume mutter, "I swear, if either of you dies on me, I'll kill you myself."

  It hurt but Kazuki quietly laughed. As consciousness faded, he heard the beating of wings retreating up the mountain… and felt the Crimson Scale pulsing against his chest in time with his heartbeat.

  ---

  [New Achievement: Sharper Than it Looks]

  [Next Chapter: A Perfectly Normal Family]

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  How is Kazuki going to get past Karaba?

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