"This castle is very carefree of attack. Unlike Amaterasu's own." Sugi looked forward with goggles. Yoshio crossed his arms. "Good. I've wanted to leave this island in good hands."
Nuraihyon crossed his arms. "Her body will be left for my Yokai, for dinner."
"Kill everyone! And leave the sun goddess for Yumi, she's prey to her."
Yumi had her eyes closed as she was on top of a cliff. Just above Tsukuyomi castle. Her Katana in her hands. She took a deep breathe.
And then she spreads her arms open as she opens her eyes.
She reaches for her back. Grabbing the dragon head. "Let's avenge our people."
She puts her lips the back of the dragon head and whistles loudly.
From the dragon heads open mouth Ryujin comes out with a roar. Spiraling around Yumi. Before Yumi grabs onto the scales. She gets on and stands on top of the giant dragon. And looks at her mask while her cape blows behind her.
"Bring us to her." She puts on her mask as she sits down. Gripping onto his scale with one hand, Her Katana on the other.
Men hear violent footsteps as an unexpected attack come in.
Men and demon alike invade the castle. And the men stand to fight are all pushed back.
Nuraihyon walks in. "You're all beasts. You will meet your true general!" Suddenly. Taka the Tanuki attacks someone. Biting their hand. And everyone laughs. The Jorogumo comes down and pulls out its 8 Katanas. Scaring everyone.
"Holy shit!" A man screams as he gets slaughtered by the spider like demon. Slashing and butchering in every direction.
And at worst. Suddenly. A monster crushes the ground of soldiers. And lands on the floor. And roars violently.
It's an armored Oni. Growling as he blasts everyone with its destructive strength. It's glowing red eyes staring everyone down.
Taka looks in shock. "Well, that's my turn to go." And dashes out. On the other side. Ronin fought soldiers on same ground. Both dying for the war.
Yoshio dashed forward watching his men. Yelling at his men, "Run them down!"
And he slows down as he looks around. And sees a trail of blood coming from one of his men in front of him… and forward.
He looks at the lifeless body of his soldier. And he closes his eyes. "You served me well."
"Another Ronin," A fully armored man, a big beard that you can see even under the helmet. unlike the others. He was armed to the teeth. "You're biggest mistake was crossing me, and my men. I am general Ryuzo. And I am the man that trained these soldiers." He raised his sword and shield.
Yoshio breathed from his mouth. "..Your beard is in your mouth, Ryuzo."
"Excuse me?" Ryuzo narrowed his eyes.
"You see, I have stubble on my face for a reason. I hate hair all over my face, I look like a drunk man."
"I'm a man of respect and loyalty, more importantly." Yoshio's eye peeks from the crack on his straw hat. "I hate bushy beards."
He grinned. "I fought with men who would agree, all handsome too." He grabbed his Katana. And he got up with it by leaning his strength down on it. Picking himself up slowly. "With the likes of Miyamoto Musashi, The greatest swordsmen in history. And Kojiro, The second greatest swordsman in history."
"I was just teasing their level." He got up. "That's more than enough that you can handle."
"Then why am I still standing? And they're in there graves?" Ryuzo pointed his sword.
Yoshio pointed back. "No one wants to get close to you, Ryuzo. It's the lack of hygiene you have. The worst part of it all, is when you drink it gets all over your beard."
"I would not kill you either." He walks forward. "Luckily, You're wearing a helmet today."
"Kill him!" Ryuzo yelled. Men lunging from either sides at the Ronin.
Just before he was pierced, he blinded them with his cape. And spun the opposite way as he slit all of their throats and torso with two spins. Dropping all of them.
"Come on, Ryuzo. I'm no saint or samurai, but to call your men in a duel? Maybe that's why my men are better then yours."
"What?" Ryuzo watched in awe.
"Your men can't keep up." A man comes close to him but he grabs his face and sweeps his legs. "Unlike my men.."
He stabs through the soldiers temple on the ground. "They're always happy!" He grinned.
Another man comes by and Yoshio wraps his cape around the man's body. Turning him around, and grabbing his head and stabbing him in the neck.
He yanked him down. Making him bend his back in his knee as he stabs the soldier in the stomach. That leaves him with a gurgled scream. And yanks him straight as he snaps his neck. With his shoulder to the jaw.
He takes their weapon and flips over the next. Slashing from both directions to his enemy. Cut brutally into pieces. And then stabs him in the back when he lands. and kicks him With enough strength that actually reaches another soldier that get hits with the blade.
Countless men come attack Yoshio. But Yoshio smirked. He blitz through all of them with an overdose of slashes, finishers. Swift and swaggered, one way or another, in one dose of men, he spins left or right in unexpected rotation, cutting them brutally with back handed spins, an enemy stupidly catches the Katana with both hands thinking that's it, but Yoshio pulls out a dagger and stabs him in the throat. Ryuzo was terrified by the level of spectacle and speed the leader of the Ronin had.
He blurs in speed soon after. Two men seize to attack him as he ducks and stabs him in the back. The other looks shocked and goes for a stab himself. He parried the attack and he flicks his sword back to slit his throat. Blinding his enemy with their own blood. He uses his straw hat and blinds him. And grabs his head and pushes him down as he knees him in the face, putting him in the floor. as he snaps his neck with his bare hands. And walks up to Ryuzo, grinning.
"When you see talent, you think that's it, all you need. I don't. Even the smallest diamonds are in a crowd of rubies." He faked a slash that leaves an enemy on open guard and slashes his collarbone with a cartwheel down swing.
"What you consider trash, I see something that with hard work, I bring the man in them!" He stabs one through the throat with the Katana. And with a quick swipe at the wind the blood falls off of his katana.
"This is for them!" He lunges at Ryuzo, the only man standing.
He bombards Ryuzo with a barrage of slashes that are parried and blocked with desperate measure.
Yoshio tries to out trick him, but fails as he's parried so heavily that he's pushed back, but he spins around and punches him across the face. And uppercuts him with the katana's tip in the throat. Appearing from the other side. Choking the man with his blood. Before it is ripped out.
He drops dead, Yoshio glaring. He spits to the side. "Yumi better do her thing.."
Meanwhile, Amaterasu was taking lives. Using her scythe to hook someone's head onto her scythe like a decoration.
She grins, but her amusement is soon gone as Yumi and Ryujin are above her, she points at her with her Katana.
"The disgraces of creature and humanity…" she jumps into the sky. "Have another one," she launches another solar flare.
Yumi death glared at her, getting on her feet and a hand on top of Ryujin. Her cape flying. Before she ultimately dives off.
Sugi and Yoshio look in terror. And some of the Yokai start running away. Yoshio yells. "She's gonna kill us all!" But Ryujin suddenly starts spinning around the arena, turning it into a water tornado. The impact of the solar flare doesn't go any further.
Boom!! A monstrous solar flare comes down on Yumi. Destroying everything around her. Amaterasu stares at the huge crater of a battlefield she made. And glares at it. "You give me pity, I give you a quick death." She turns her back.
Suddenly, the wind violently takes off the mess of snow dust. Yumi's as if nothing happened to her, she just glares back at her. "You're not going anywhere."
Amaterasu was shocked. "How!? impossible!"
She climbed out of the crater. "I thought of burning you, like your soldiers did to my people, or tying you to a pole, and let your corpse rot."
Yumi popped the Katana out of the sheathe. slowly unleashing the steel out. Before throwing away the sheathe.
"I should've done the same I did to your uncle's head, rip it off your body with my bare hands," Amaterasu snarled.
"Then come and get it." Yumi stuck her Katana out on the side. "My last piece of honor will be burying you."
Amaterasu lunged with all her speed. Yumi phased through her again. She just turned around and stared her back. Yumi lunged herself. She went for a barrage of lethal strikes. Using her momentum to spin and maneuver to land her attacks. While all of Amaterasu kept phasing through her. "You're not here, are you? You're a ghost."
"No, I'm here to haunt you, to consequent you for your actions." She went to stab her in the gut. But it's parried by Amaterasu's scythe. Yumi spun low behind her as she parried her attack too. Going for a slash to the legs. The sun goddess spins her Scythe down and destroys her momentum. Knocking the Katana out of her hand.
Yumi quickly rushes and rolls to get her Katana. But as soon as she gets it. Amaterasu destroys the blade, leaving a piece of it and its hilt left over. And with nothing else to use. Yumi's forced to get out of her phase ability. And suddenly she's pinned into the floor. A scythe to her jaw.
Amaterasu smirks. "Where's your blade now?"
Yumi holds her own. And suddenly. She unleashes the hidden blade on Amaterasu's throat. "Always with me."
She pushes her back. Grabbing her wrist. The sun goddess chokes on her own blood as she's put onto her own knees. Yumi grits her teeth. "Go and rot in hell, that's where you'll pick someone your own size."
Amaterasu coughs, letting out a bloody smile. "Heh… No…." She grabs her scythe. Piercing Yumi's liver. Making her groan in pain. Breathing heavily. She grabs Amaterasu's arm with her other hand. And the sun goddess lets out her final breath, "You're coming with me."
Yumi groans. But she doesn't stop there, she lets go of that hand. And kicks her in the face. And reaches for her uncles Katana on her back. She stabs her in the heart with the Katana riping it off as she swipes through her. And the sun goddess falls silently. And Yumi takes quick breathes between pants.
She drops to one knee. Using her Katana for support. Taking a deep breathe to realize victory. Before She reaches to remove the scythe from her side. Letting out a slight yell. Relieving her self. "Agh…"
She hears a faint sound getting louder and louder, Yumi looks back. Amaterasu's eyes glow golden like the sun. "Damn…" She realizes what's about to come. She sticks her hand out to crawl, but luckily Ryujin comes to save her before she could fall. He creates another water tornado. This time around the sun goddesses dead body, throwing her far away. And everyone else has almost slaughtered every man. They look in awe again. Sugi looks up and sees Ryujin flying away with half conscious Yumi. "Run!! We're done here!!" Sugi and Yoshio run for it. While Nuraihyon and his Yokai are out too.
And in the span of seconds. The ocean blows up where Amaterasu body is. A nuclear explosion happens. And all of the left over soldiers stuck in the battle are drowned by a Tsunami that takes over the realm of the Japanese gods. Leaving nothing else in its wake…
Until it slowly but surely, the snow faded away as the sun was back up.
Here's a short, quiet epilogue—meant to breathe after all that violence:
Yumi woke to the sound of wind.
Not screams.
Not steel.
Just the soft pull of air through paper walls.
Her body felt heavy, stitched together by warmth rather than pain. Bandages wrapped her side, her ribs, her shoulder—but she was alive. She sat up slowly, and the door slid open before she could stand.
Sugi was there.
"Hey, you don't get to die," she said simply. "Not after all that."
Yumi scoffed weakly. "You sound disappointed. Perhaps you wanted to take my role."
Sugi smirked, then offered his hand. "Come. Someone's been waiting."
Outside, the world looked… wrong.
Too intact.
The sky was clear. The land no longer burned. What remained of the battlefield had been swallowed by water and ash, reshaped into silence.
Yoshio stood first, leaning on his katana, straw hat tilted low. He looked at her once, nodded, and said, "Took you long enough."
Nearby, Nuraihyon rested against a broken pillar, arms crossed, a little smirk on his face for the first time. "Ah, the storm refused to stay dead." Yumi exhaled. For the first time since the war began, her shoulders loosened.
Then she saw the blacksmith.
An old figure, cloaked in soot and salt, standing before a cloth-draped stand. He pulled it away carefully. "Lady Tachibana, it is honor to meet you."
Yumi bowed. "No need, I don't think I have anything else to show that I am of royalty."
"Well, my lady. I think otherwise," he chuckled. Reaching under the counter. And Yumi looked confused. But once he brought his head up. She saw the one thing he was talking about.
Her sword.
Reforged.
The blade bore faint scars—ripples in the steel, like waves frozen in time. Metal recovered from the remains of the tsunami, from the place where Amaterasu fell in fire and light. It was not pristine.
It was honest.
"Your gift as one of your people," said the black smith. Beside it. lay the sheath—cracked, half-split down its length, bindings repaired by hand.
"I couldn't save it fully," the blacksmith said quietly. "But your sacrifice is what was needed to save us."
Yumi stepped forward. Took the sword.
It felt… right.
She slid it into the sheath. It held.
Good enough.
She looked up at her allies, then at the horizon beyond them.
"For now," she said, voice steady, "This is enough."
And for the first time since the gods fell silent,
no one argued. She looked at everyone else. And Yoshio put a arm on Sugi's shoulder. Yoshio nodding. And Sugi thumping a thumb up.
Yumi got her clothes all packed up in a backpack. And she was back into her regular outfit. And Sugi was just in the corner. Her legs crossed,
"That fast? No celebration or anything? I think your legion can wait, a war isn't won that fast."
"Don't say that, on top of that, I think I drank enough sake that night the ronin got poisoned… to the point I'm scared of being poisoned myself." Yumi stated,
"Ha, Funny you say that." She tilted her head. "Then maybe in Elyngard. With the same group of Ronin."
Yumi paused. Looking back at her. "So you're not leaving them."
"No, not yet atleast." She put a hand on her cheek. "I don't know what to do with all that Elysium, considering the quality of greek architecture. It's probably nothing, really."
Yumi smirked. "You know exactly what to do with all that money."
She put her bag on her back. And walked out. Leaving Sugi with her words in her mouth. "Yumi, wait!"
Outside… at night.
Everyone who participated in the war. Bowed toward her. A campfire between them.
"I'm glad we're all free now, but who is gonna take over the island?"
Everyone parted out of the way to look at the sleepy old man, Nuraihyon. And he just stared awkwardly. "..What?"
Yumi giggled. "I like to think we can trust him."
"You're welcome to come back island." He nodded. "We can teleport you to the Greek lands, if your reach home is a must."
"Thank you, but I'm afraid I'm going to the Norse lands to go pickup a friend." Her face went serious again. "But there's one last thing I'd like to say."
The wind blew harder. "To you people, I may be the storm. But behind that identity, I'm like all of you." She put her head down. "I fight to see another day, to be like how we are today."
"I heard you all are coming to Elyngard. And I invite all of you to the Greek lands," she put her eyes forward to her audience. "But the storm isn't me outside of this island, This was a one time thing for an extreme occasion. And none of you can speak of what I did. I think everyone that knows me would absolutely despise the idea… I broke another code that wasn't my honor, it was my promise that I wouldn't kill."
"But I'm grateful for all of you. And it's a shame it had to be this way." She has tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyebrows furrowed like she's trying to hold them back. She grabs her outfit she's been using all these weeks. And throws it into the fire.
"I will miss all of you…" she closed her eyes, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve. "You're welcome."
Sugi had a slight tear coming down. But she opened her blindfold. Wiping it away. And Yoshio took off his hat.
"We will miss you too, Yumi Tachibana." Nuraihyon nodded.
Yumi nodded as she put a hood over her head. and she walked away, heading to the boat as she went to the sunset. And Sugi had tears now streaming down her face.
She tells Yoshio. "I can't see with the blindfold, I think im regaining my vision." She lifts her blindfold, her unfocused, blind eyes watering like a river.
Yoshio chuckled. And crossed her arm. "That's because it's wet with your tears, silly."
3 months later…
The same family Yumi saved…
The little kid that was brave enough to stand against one of the soldiers. Was holding the family's new born while camping outside.
"Papa, I've been hearing stories at school, of a lady called the storm. Who can that be?"
The father chuckled. "Oh, you don't know? We loved that tale, my boy."
"But I will tell you it again…" he looked at the full moon.
"Not long ago… a woman started a war on this island, Moon island. Tsukinoshima. Was being invaded and attempting to conquer the land, it was no other then the sun goddess, Amaterasu. Starting an era of scorching brutality and death."
"That was until the consequences of her actions came up on her. A female samurai, who had lost everything to this woman by her path. And when it was turn for what was left of Samurai to fight. They lost… but legend says, the woman that was there was not her… she was a ghost, leashed. Until the storm god Susanoo made her reborn, and encouraged her. She picked up her Katana, and abandoned the samurai ways to save us. She was brutal, almost like she was a demon herself. But with every blood that splurged, and with every strike of thunder, spider lilies would grow. She was a symbol of hope, freedom. And fear to those who threaten to take that away."
"Even now, she's still with us. She serves as a warning to all evil alike, striking down to protect us from being hurt."
"In a way, my child… she's the storm that the sun could never conquer. In a way… she's the fabrics of Tsukinoshima."
Yumi's outside. Looking at the full moon from Elyngard. And then Lili calls her, "Yumi!! Dinners served." And she sighs before she goes in. "Coming." And she goes inside.