The Shogunate’s troops mobilized at once.
Patrols in Inazuma City doubled in intensity.
Even the Three Commissions, usually at odds with one another, put aside their disputes to calm the populace.
Everything they were, everything they had, ca from the Raiden Shogun.
And now that the Shogun had fallen...
they were more terrified than anyone.
On the avenue leading up to Tenshukaku, the Tenryou Commission’s soldiers locked the streets down tight.
But Tenshukaku itself... stood silent, abandoned.
Yae Miko, the Yae Miko with pink fox ears and hair to match, stared up at the towering fortress.
Her heart weighed heavy.
She intended to go inside— to confront the uninvited guest who had struck down her god.
"Yae Miko-mam!"
Soone called to her.
She turned, her smile absent.
"Oh? The little Ayaka from the Kamisato clan."
It was Kamisato Ayaka herself, the dutiful sister of the clan head and voice of resistance against the Vision Hunt Decree.
She too had co to Inazuma City, drawn by the upheaval.
"Yae Miko-mam, are you... going to Tenshukaku?"
Ayaka’s voice trembled.
She hadn’t seen the battle with her own eyes.
But with the city in lockdown and panic everywhere, she had no choice but to believe the rumors: the Shogun had been defeated.
"Yes. The one who struck down our god is waiting inside."
The constant storms that had surrounded Inazuma were gone.
By rights, that should have been good news.
But Yae Miko only felt her fear deepen.
Because those storms had been nothing more than the Shogun’s will.
The faintest spark of her power, the slightest breath of intent, had been enough to sustain them.
And now?
Vanished, as if they had never been.
Yae Miko was afraid.
Afraid that her god might truly have fallen.
And being capable of such a thing...
was now sitting in Tenshukaku.
Why now?
Why, in this age long after the Archon War had ended,
Would such a being appear?
"Yae Miko-mam... is the situation truly that dire?"
Ayaka had never seen Yae Miko like this.
That mischievous fox who so loved to toy with hearts and words— gone.
What she saw in the Yae Miko’s eyes now was unmistakable:
fear, and uncertainty.
"Dire? Ayaka, tell —what do you think of the Shogun’s power?"
Yae Miko’s bitter smile only tightened the knot in Ayaka’s chest.
"The Shogun’s power is..."
The greatest in the world?
She couldn’t say it.
Not when, before all Inazuma’s eyes, the unbeatable god had been struck down.
No one had seen clearly what had happened.
But all had seen the result:
a flash of violet lightning,
falling helplessly into the sea.
"Enough. Co with . Let’s see this stranger for ourselves."
To defeat a god... such a being could not be human.
No—this had to be another god.
Perhaps even one sent from Celestia.
Yae Miko’s steps were heavy as she advanced toward Tenshukaku.
"I understand."
Ayaka followed without hesitation.
For Inazuma, for its people, for the Shogun herself— she had to go.
Outside Tenshukaku, the Tenryou Commission’s soldiers surrounded the gates, none daring to enter.
Kujou Sara stood at the front, her heart wracked with knives.
If she went inside, she might confront the one who had defeated the Shogun.
But if she never returned...
What of the Tenryou Commission?
What of the people of Inazuma?
Sara feared no death.
But this... this was worse than death.
Her invincible Shogun—fallen.
Perhaps slain.
"It’s the Yae Miko!"
A soldier’s cry snapped the others to attention.
Even Sara felt a fragile thread of hope return.
"You will all remain here. Ayaka and I will go in."
Yae Miko’s tone brooked no argunt.
These soldiers were broken reeds now, clinging to their last scraps of faith.
And was she herself any different?
"But..." Sara’s eyes flicked to Ayaka, puzzled.
Why bring her?
"I understand."
Though she didn’t know Yae Miko’s reasoning, Sara still obeyed.
The Kamisato estate sat at the foot of Mt. Yougou.
The yae Miko’s ties with the clan were strong enough.
It made sense.
Together, flanked by nervous soldiers, the two won pushed open the heavy gates of Tenshukaku.
And once inside— Yae Miko finally let out a long breath.
Her expression shifted, her fox-like playfulness returning.
"Do you know why I brought you along?"
She smiled at Ayaka.
The girl shook her head.
"Because if I don’t co back out... At least I won’t be alone. Ayaka, this ti... we may die."
"Death does not frighten . If I can walk beside you, Yae Miko-mam, then I am ready."
Her calm answer drew a faint laugh from Yae Miko.
"You’re braver than , it seems. I’ve lived five hundred years... and I’m still afraid of dying."
She shook her head, bitterly amused.
How had it co to this?
That she, the ancient kitsune, should be outdone by a human girl half her age?
"Let’s just hope," she added wryly, "that this god doesn’t look too terrifying.
Otherwise, I might just die of fright on the spot."
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