Shiki unhappily gulped down the water. Kids are one thing, she doesn't mind, but why would a girl act this way?
"I'm going out for some fresh air." Shiki said, then left the side hall, leaving only Kazuha in the large room.
Facing the empty side hall, Kazuha took out his sword and placed it in front of him, then entered a state of meditation. He didn't know what he should do now, so meditating quietly while waiting for them to finish was the best option.
On the other side, Shiki walked through the long corridor and arrived at the deepest part of Grand Narukami Shrine, the location of the Divine Sakura.
Unlike in the game, the Divine Sakura she saw now could almost be described as overshadowing the sky.
Its branches were covered in cherry blossoms. The Divine Sakura blossoms year-round and never fade, its petals drifting with the breeze to every corner of Narukami Island, all four seasons of the year.
Of course, the most peculiar thing was its trunk, which was a fox standing proudly with its head held high.
That's right, it was a fox, and the patterns meticulously depicted the fox's facial features. The two blue spots looked just like real eyes.
On the ground of Grand Narukami Shrine, pink petals like mist could be seen everywhere. It wasn't that Shiki hadn't tried sakura bloom, but she didn't have Lightning element, and these cherry blossoms would scatter when she approached them.
"Sigh…"
Under the Divine Sakura, Shiki stood in front of the thick trunk, carefully observing the blue patterns on it.
How to describe it? It was very peculiar. Although it was a solid, it flowed on the trunk like a liquid.
Shiki instinctively placed her hand on it, and then an electric shock-like sensation came from her fingertips, finally surging through her entire body.
Her Vision rapidly moved backward, and soon Grand Narukami Shrine disappeared from sight, replaced by an unfamiliar space.
Large areas of cherry blossom trees grew here, and the cherry blossom petals formed a pink sea of flowers. Standing in this sea of flowers was a woman identical to Raiden Ei.
"Raiden Ei!? No, that's not right!"
Although the woman in front of her looked exactly like Raiden Ei, she was wearing a white furisode, and her legs were covered in white stockings.
She wasn't Raiden Ei, but...
"Raiden Makoto…"
"I didn't expect you to know my name, little one." Raiden Makoto said.
"!"
Shiki was startled by the sudden words, and most importantly, why could the other party speak?
"This is the world within the Divine Sakura, of course I can speak." Raiden Makoto seemed to have the ability to read minds; even though Shiki hadn't spoken, she knew what she was going to say.
"Aren't you already dead? What is this now…"
"I am just a wisp of a remnant soul. In five hundred years, you are the first to set foot in this space, so there are some things I need to ask of you."
"My sister, she has embarked on a path of no return. She will eventually meet a tragic end. I want to ask you to pull her back."
"I don't have much time left. Please, just help a deceased person fulfill her last wish, can you?"
Raiden Makoto slowly walked in front of the girl, but before the latter could give an answer, her entire being transformed into golden light particles and merged into the girl's body.
Only an increasingly faint voice echoed in this space:
"I can see that you are a good child, so I entrust this remaining power to you. Finally, my sister, please…"
"Hey, wait!"
Shiki reached out to grab something, but in the next moment, countless flying cherry blossom petals enveloped her. When her Vision returned to normal, she was already back in Grand Narukami Shrine.
Her hand remained in its original position, touching the trunk of the Divine Sakura, as if everything just now was merely a dream.
However, the golden lightning surging around her told her that it was all real.
Shiki extended both hands, and golden lightning, like a docile little snake, coiled back and forth between her fingers. This was the clearance from Raiden Makoto.
It was just that the power was too weak. Shiki estimated it was only about the same as a Vision.
Rather than power, it was more like Raiden Makoto had given her a seed, and she needed to take good care of this seed to make it take root and sprout, until it grew into a towering tree.
'Do I also have elemental power now?'
Shiki felt that all of this was somewhat dreamlike. She just touched the Divine Sakura, yet she gained the clearance from a God.
"Sure enough, Ioroi was able to break the seal because of you, right?"
Yae Miko's alluring voice startled Shiki, who quickly put away the electric arc and turned to look at the pink-haired Fox.
"You don't need to hide, I saw everything just now~"
"To be able to control elemental power without a Vision, if Ei saw you, she would probably just arrest you!"
Yae Miko lightly stroked her chin, her Fox eyes full of cunning, not knowing if she had come up with another mischievous idea.
Seeing that the other party was alone, Shiki asked, "Where's Ioroi?"
"I didn't expect you to care so much about that simpleton Tanuki. As for him, he's still chatting with me~" Yae Miko said with a smile, her Fox eyes narrowing even further.
Shiki frowned slightly. This feeling was truly unbearable; if she wasn't careful, her secrets would be guessed by the other party.
"Since that's the case, I'll get straight to the point. Ioroi and I came for the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual, to fulfill his wish."
"The Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual doesn't matter. As long as there's a ward, it's the same whether you do it or I do it. I'm more interested in how you broke the seal." Yae Miko waved her hand and said.
"No Vision, no Onmyōdō, and you only just gained the means to control electro element. How did you, a mortal, break the seal set by Guuji Guuji, Mr.?"
Yae Miko paced back and forth around the girl. She circled once but found nothing special, except for a bit of Aether.
"Could it be with a broken blade that doesn't even have crystallized marrow?"
"Stop probing. Don't you just want to know how I broke the seal? I'll tell you!"
Shiki finished speaking and abruptly drew Kujikanesada, her eyes turning into red and blue intertwined Mystic Eyes, then she swung Kujikanesada and cut off the spell that was gradually approaching her.
And Yae Miko, upon seeing the girl's eyes, felt all the hairs on her body stand on end, as if she had seen something incredibly terrifying, and she retreated several steps.
Moreover, the manipulative spell she had just used to test the other party directly collapsed, with no possibility of recovery, so she could only reconstruct a new one.
"What is that, that, that eye of yours!?"
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