There was no doubt. It was Mikuriya Juri.
Julia, assumed to have been swallowed by Kihachi at Old Castle High School
, was now possessing Ryouko...!
“How? How are you here?”
“Don’t underestimate me. I, Julia, will not perish until I have created our Christian kingdom!”
What incredible tenacity. Indeed, she had survived the overwhelming suction due to tenacity alone. Had she just taken possession of Ryouko? Or had she been in possession all along?
How could he not have noticed that penetrating presence? Ryouko’s hand grasped Kihachi’s head tightly, as if she never intended to let go of it again.
“Stop! How can you not have learned your lesson after what you’ve been through?!”
“This head was given me by God. It will be the cornerstone of the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’—the cornerstone of our Christian kingdom. I promised my lord that I would bring it to Aso without fail...!”
(Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel? Cornerstone?)
He had heard of it. Takaya’s brain raced through his memories at breakneck speed, and he remembered what kind of magic it was: a major ritual to generate immense spiritual power—so-called sun power.
“You can’t actually be planning to perform the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ here in Aso?”
“You must be planning to build a sun power dam in Hakone, but that’s not going to happen. Hakone’s caldera is too small—there’s no comparison. Ootomo will do so in the Aso caldera, the largest in the world. The «Golden Snake Head» is best suited to Aso. An enormous amount of sun power will be generated. The preparations are ready. My lord is here. All that remains is to bring the cornerstone to the platform!”
“Stop this foolishness! ...!”
An intense pain struck Takaya as he was about to use his will to break the head. The luminous flame stone in his chest suddenly roared into flame. Takaya collapsed. The pain seared through his nerves, so intense that he couldn’t scream, only writhe in pain as he clawed at his chest.
“A...aah...”
“Does it hurt? It doesn’t compare to the pain of the Christians. The flames of the stake were much hotter!”
“Aaah... haa!”
Writhing violently, Takaya let out a silent scream. Ryouko had been completely taken over by Julia. His internal organs burned. He felt as if he would faint from the heat. Takaya’s voice cracked.
“Don’t...! It can’t be used as a cornerstone...! It’s not a cornerstone!”
“Shut up, heathen! You can’t deceived me! Suffer the wrath of God!”
“Mn aaah—! AAAAH!”
He lurched violently, hair wild, and heaved for oxygen—but he couldn’t breathe. This time he really was going to die, he thought.
His agony peaked. His consciousness was on the verge of blacking out...!
“What?!”
A black shadow leapt between the two of them as if cutting through the wind. Julia screamed. The moment sharp claws swiped across Ryouko’s cheek, the luminous flame stone lost its power. Takaya was surprised. He fell prostrate on the grass and raised his eyes to peer at the shadow.
Through hazy eyes he saw something black— A jet-black, four-legged beast was standing in front of Takaya, its fur on end. Takaya’s eyes widened. Another animal, but not a spirit-beast this time. A living beast had come to Takaya’s rescue.
“Aah!”
Julia touched her cheek, and her palm came away sticky with blood. She screamed. The beast bared its white fangs and roared ferociously, then shot its will at Julia. Julia put up a barrier and returned fire. Takaya stared in amazement.
(This panther...)
“Kagetoraaa—!”
He heard a familiar deep voice in the distance. Two students in school uniforms came charging up from the road: Kiyomasa and Tetsuya. At the same time, the panther tumbled to the ground from a hit by Ryouko’s luminous flame stone. Ryouko was about to take off.
“You think I’ll let you get away again?!”
Kiyomasa gathered all his power to create his single-sided sickle spear. Takaya, too, filled himself with power. They attacked Ryouko at the same time. Kihachi’s head blocked them.
!
There was a blast like the sun exploding, and both their psychic attacks were forced back, creating a tremendous shock wave. Holding Kihachi’s head, Ryouko quickly rose into the sky above the caldera. It was being carried away!
“Ougi, Nezu! Die!”
Plasma scattered from Kihachi’s head. Julia was about to generate that ‘thunderbolt of god’ again.
“Stop, Mikuriya!”
Julia fired without hesitation.
Takaya, Kiyomasa, and the black panther created a «goshinha» with all their might. The terrible thunder gouged the grasslands and blew away part of the outer rim with a thunderous roar. The three of them managed to hold their own against the ferocious power being fired straight at them, but their strength failed at the last second, and they were blown away by the accompanying wind. Ryouko was flying away...!
“Don’t let her...!”
Takaya shot out his will. But in that instant his psychic power overflowed. His control had slipped again...!
(Shit!)
“Kagetora?!”
Clods of dirt floated up around Takaya. He gasped. He held the will about to run wild inside him, trying not to let it shoot out in all directions. He felt a crushing pain in his heart and sank down to a crouch.
“Ougi!”
In no time at all Ryouko had flown out of reach. Their attacks could no longer reach her. Kiyomasa stamped his foot in frustration at being given the slip again.
“Shit! Is that woman another one of the Himuka cultists?”
“That was... Ootomo.”
“What?!” Kiyomasa turned to him. Takaya painfully stood.
“It’s Mikuriya Juri.”
“Mikuriya Juri?! She wasn’t swallowed by the head...?!”
“She survived. She came for Kihachi’s head...”
“What the hell were you doing?! Why didn’t you just destroy it?!”
Kiyomasa grabbed Takaya’s collar and shook him violently. Tetsuya hurriedly pulled him off from behind.
“Stop, Nezu! Ougi, what in the world is Mikuriya going to do with the head?”
“She plans to use it...as the cornerstone of a spell. Ootomo intends to perform the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ here in Aso.”
“Great Fire Wheel...! Ah!” Kiyomasa let out a gasp. He recalled Ranmaru’s report.
“Kiyomasa? You knew about Ootomo’s objective?”
He hadn’t been paying attention at the time. This was precisely Mikuriya’s true purpose for seizing the «Golden Serpent Head». Takaya gritted his teeth painfully, intensely regretting not having destroyed the head. He should have, no matter the sacrifice.
“They plan to use the «Golden Serpent Head» as their cornerstone for the generation of sun power...but it’s unsuitable. It’s far from optimal; to the contrary, the sun power will overreact... Underground... It’s possible it’ll go out of control. If that happens, even if Kihachi is not freed, the sun power will destroy Aso!”
“No way!”
“Way. It’s a fact. Mikuriya’s seen the power of the head. And now that it’s swallowed those other spirits, its power’s increased by several orders of magnitude. She should know that using it as her cornerstone is dangerous.”
Her obsession was such that she saw nothing but the «Golden Serpent Head». The screws of reason had been blown off by shock. Her only thought was to become a martyr for her Christian kingdom.
“We’ll be lucky if it’s contained to Aso. If it affects other areas...”
Kyuushuu had many volcanoes: Kujuu, Unzen, Tsurumi, and Kirishima just in Aso’s vicinity. Out-of-control sun power could set off a chain of explosions at other volcanoes. Worst of all, it could cause a major collapse of Kyuushuu itself...!
“Don’t tell me this is what my uncle was talking about when he said Kyuushuu will sink...!”
Tetsuya’s words made Takaya pale. —They couldn’t allow it to become Himuka’s prophecy!
“We must get the head back. Before it’s used as the cornerstone.”
“Do you know that woman’s destination, Kagetora?”
The ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ was performed on the crater wall of an active volcano because the spell cornerstone had to be dropped directly into contact with magma for the fusion of sun power. Naturally, since there was a danger of being caught in an eruption, the risk to life and limb had made the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ a ‘phantom spell’ that no one had practiced for a long time. In the Edo period it had been revived by a Mt. Haku mountain ascetic named Eikai and his sect. They had attempted to use the eruption of Mt. Asama to perform the ritual, but it had quickly been detected and interrupted. Kagetora and the Uesugi Yasha-shuu had been the ones to put a stop to it.
The spell was treated as a secret formula, and few people even knew how to perform it. In Bungo was a sacred mountain called Mt. Rokugouman on the Kunisaki Peninsula, one of the most famous places for mountain ascetic training, but he found it difficult to imagine the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ had been reconstructed there. The ritual had originally been Mt. Haku-derived magic, and Mt. Rokugouman had for a time been on the verge of collapse due to Sourin’s Christian policy. They would not be on his side.
(But those who were involved in that incident know all the particulars.)
Now I see, he thought. It was the Yasha-shuu. If one assumed that Uesugi had devised this scheme, everything fell into place.
(I can’t believe what happened back then would be used in such a way.)
“What do we do, Kagetora? We have to switch out the head.”
“I know.”
Takaya gazed at the five peaks called the ‘Sleeping Kannon’. In his mind, he traced the steps for the execution of the spell. If the ritual platform had to be installed on the crater wall of an active volcano, then—
(It has to be on the Middle Peak.)
Takaya looked up at the sky. The sun was setting. The ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’, which required the spiritual power of the sun, was best performed at dawn to make use of the power of the sun as it was born anew.
“Now that they’ve obtained the cornerstone, they’ll set the wheels in motion shortly. They’ll perform the ritual in darkness and time it so the finish—throwing in the cornerstone—will take place at sunrise tomorrow.”
“So that’s how long we have to get it back?”
They would not be undefended. Takaya looked at his allies each in turn. Kiyomasa and Tetsuya, and—the black panther whose true identity he didn’t know. It stayed close by his side and seemed content to remain there.
“Kiyomasa, how many of your soldiers can you move?”
“That I don’t know. I’m pretty sure the city has been wiped clean. The rest are with Lord Nobunaga. My immediate vassals...”
Most had attained Nirvana and would not be resurrected. The majority of the spirits of the soldiers who died in the Korean Campaign were earth-bound and had not returned to Japan.
“But if I send out the call, I should still be able to assemble a company from the surrounding areas. It may have been the end of the Sengoku, but Higo was still my province.”
(And then there’s Akechi?)
Shimazu’s main army had been annihilated. What remained of Akechi’s forces was not promising. Which meant that guerrilla warfare was their only option, then?
“Kiyomasa, gather as many men as you can move in Aso. Except the caldera will soon be sealed off. Once that happens, there will be no way in or out.”
“Are you planning to start a war?”
“We’ll split up. You’re the diversion. Kiyomasa, I’m relying on your strength.”
Kiyomasa’s eyes flashed sharply with urgency. “You want me to spearhead an attack.”
Takaya nodded. —Kihachi wasn’t the only problem. Success of the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ would give them control of the Japanese islands’ underground—a way to threaten the enemy from below their feet. Ootomo and Uesugi would hold the trump card for conquest of the «Yami-Sengoku». Kiyomasa, an onshou, would not allow this to happen.
“Fine. If it’s to be war, leave it to me. I don’t know what kind of lineup Ootomo can muster, but if we take advantage of the terrain, we can crush them even if we are few.”
“Ougi! What about Hokage?—what will happen to Hokage?!”
Takaya’s brows furrowed. Complications remained, and that was probably the biggest.
“We still don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”
“Dead...?! She can’t be dead! We have to go help her now!”
He couldn’t let Asara move. He felt sorry for Tetsuya, but saw no possibility of returning Hokage back to normal.
(Asara must die.)
And as soon as possible. And then—
There was Nobunaga. He found it impossible to believe Nobunaga would have died from something so trivial (and of course even if he had, he would immediately perform kanshou). Ootomo, Kihachi, and Asara were all dangerous, but he was the most dangerous. He was after Kihachi’s head—the head which had been powered up by swallowing the city’s onryou. They could not let him to have it. If they didn’t stop Nobunaga in his tracks, they wouldn’t be able to stop the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’.
Takaya chewed on his lower lip as he recalled that he was in Aso—for him, a place of fate. It was time to make a decision.
(I’ll kill Nobunaga.)
“Damn it! If I could at least fly like Hokage...! Then I’d be able to go after her!”
Tetsuya bitterly resented his own helplessness. Tetsuya, who reminded Takaya of his old self—
(Even if I die.)
“Ougi?”
When their eyes met, Tetsuya felt an unreasoning anxiety.
“Ougi! You can’t. Whether or not you go, you can’t! You have to watch over us until the end! All right? Until it’s all over! Until you’ve saved everyone!”
Takaya’s eyes were downcast, but Tetsuya saw a faint smile on his lips. It was the first time Tetsuya had seen him smile.
(Ougi—...?)
“I’d like some information about their numbers, among other things. I can’t carelessly dispatch troops if I don’t know anything about the true state of affairs, Kagetora.”
“I’ll try a flyover with the Gohou Douji. But...”
But if they were inside a barrier, the Gohou Douji wouldn’t be able to see them. If only he could call on a few more allies...
“Saburou-sama!”
Takaya turned in surprise when he suddenly heard a voice calling out to him from a long way off. An off-road motorcycle carrying a young man in a flashy rider’s suit was coming toward their grassland spot from the road. Takaya didn’t recognize his dark face. The man’s muscular build indicated that he might be a martial artist—and he was possessed. A wary Kiyomasa shifted defensively, but the young man abandoned his bike and heedlessly rushed over to Takaya. He got down on one knee.
“Saburou-sama!” the young man said very clearly.
“You’re...”
“We have never met before. I am Shichirou, a member of the Fuuma Ninja Army.”
“Fuuma? Did you say Fuuma?”
“I am here at our boss Kotarou’s command. We are to serve as Saburou-dono hands and feet; I’ve come for your orders!”
Takaya’s eyes only widened slightly at the mention of Kotarou’s name. The man who called himself Shichirou had served Kagetora under Kotarou all this time, but he had never shown himself before Takaya directly. So of course he was a stranger to Takaya. Shichirou had been working hard as the acting head since Kotarou had been shot to death the night before last.
“I received an order from him a short while ago. The mission given us by Lord Ujiyasu is to devote our lives to the service of Saburou-dono. From now on, please use us as you see fit.”
From now on—meaning, among other things, now that he was no longer Uesugi. Takaya’s mouth tightened.
Where is Kotarou?
Takaya didn’t ask. Nor did Shichirou know. Kotarou had only lost his physical body—he had not been purified. This was proven by the fact that the spirit-beasts he used were still alive and well, but the fact that he had not returned agitated Shichirou. A message Kotarou had entrusted to one spirit-beast had given Shichirou Takaya’s whereabouts and Kotarou’s orders.
The Fuuma Ninja Army will now serve Saburou-dono.
Shichirou wondered if perhaps Takaya knew Kotarou’s whereabouts.
“Saburou...sama.”
Why did Takaya not ask about Kotarou at all?
Shichirou noticed the black beast at Takaya’s feet. How odd that it was not a spirit-beast. Suddenly Shichirou’s eyes grew very round. He started to say something, looking at Takaya in confusion. Takaya examined Shichirou quietly.
“So in the end I have to resort to the power of my blood...”
“Saburou-sama.”
“This is no time to fuss over pretexts. I will use the power of the Fuuma fully. But I forbid you to compare badly with the «Nokizaru». Work as if the Houjou reputation were at stake.”
Takaya’s resolute order made Shichirou gulp. Then he replied with a forceful, “Aye!”
Tetsuya felt overwhelmed by Takaya. Though he wore the same uniform, Tetsuya realized that Takaya lived a life in a world both very far removed from his; his inadvertent sigh, which held something like both respect and longing, was neither.
What some had called Takaya’s ferocious tiger’s eyes no longer bared his fighting spirit as it had before.
Takaya just stared quietly at the white plume of the Middle Peak.
Mitsuhide was stunned.
Kokuzou Shrine, which he and the Ikkou Sect had used as their Aso base, had sustain an assault from the enemy. Before Mitsuhide’s departure for Kumamoto, he’d had close to a hundred allies here; now not a single one remained. The main shrine had collapsed as if it had been bombed.
Patrol cars and ambulances were rushing to the scene, and police and paramedics were hurrying back and forth. Vessels had been abandoned by the spirits of his allies, who all seemed to have been killed.
(Who in the world could have...!)
As Mitsuhide stood frozen, he heard a feeble voice from behind him, calling him. Was it a survivor? He rushed over to the owner of the voice: a man named Tayasu, one of Mitsuhide’s inner circle.
“Tayasu! What happened here? Who did this?!”
“I-it was...the Ootomo. The Ootomo attacked us...!”
As I thought, Mitsuhide tched.
“Ootomo troops from Bungo...attacked...us. Baba Hachiman Shrine and the fortress at Takamori... too... Ootomo wants to...wipe out all our forces...here in Aso...”
“What?”
There were two routes into Aso from the Ooita-Usuki area: National Highway 57, entrance to Takimuro Hill, and Yamanami Highway, entrance to Old Castle Nose [Furushiro-ga-bana]. Baba Hachiman Shrine and Kokuzou Shrine were located near each of these respectively, and Mitsuhide and company had set up camp here in preparation for the Ootomo invasion. However.
(We were defeated in a spectacular fashion, huh?)
Had they been caught with their guard down after the Ikkou Sect and Mouri’s retreat? Strange. Once Bungo’s soldiers entered Aso, they could easily have sent reinforcements to the old castle first and foremost; why had they not done so and blockaded Tateno instead?
(Cursed Ootomo, what are you planning to start in Aso?)
“Do you know where the army that entered Aso went, Tayasu?”
“Towards the mountain...towards Mt. Aso... I believe...”
“Mountain?” Mitsuhide asked. Mt. Aso was where the central crater group, including the Middle Peak, was located. Tayasu’s throat convulsed, and he wheezed painfully as he added, “I am sure...some of our allies...still remain at the fortress in Kugino... Hurry...go...”
“I’ll do that. Hold on, Tayasu! We still need your strength; hold...!”
Tayasu’s spirit disappeared as if it had exhausted its strength. Mitsuhide stared aghast for a moment. He laid down the vessel’s body and stood, staring at the shattered Kokuzou Shrine.
(Cursed Ootomo, what further mess do you plan to perpetrate?!)
Asara had stolen away Kihachi. Mitsuhide whirled abruptly, ran down the stone steps, and remounted his motorcycle.
Low clouds in the west blotted out the tips of the mountains with shrouds of scarlet. When people said that sunsets turned redder in years of heavy volcanic ash, this was surely what they meant. It looked as if the sky were bleeding.
Naoe arrived at the Middle Peak’s crater along with Ootomo Sourin, Aso Koremitsu, and company. It was reachable by both car and ropeway, but only the former was usable at the moment. When the crater was closed to visitors, operation of the ropeway also stopped.
No vegetation grew around the crater, and a desert-like landscape of bleakness spread out before them. This area, which usually bustled with tourists, was now devoid of any signs of life. Eerie rumbles from the crater make the wasteland look even more terrifying. The Middle Peak’s crater was formed from seven craters, often described as being in the shape of a human ear. Currently, only the northernmost crater, Crater 1, was active, but the others had been active until the early Shouwa period, and it was not impossible that one or more may erupt in the future.
Concrete shelters were visible around Crater 1, built to allow tourists to take refuge in the event of a sudden explosion; but given that ejecta of the eruption in the 36th year of Shouwa (1961) created spectacular holes in their ceilings, they were considered temporary relief at best. Aso had been developing its tourism industry for a long time, and the problem of accidents both fatal and otherwise due to sudden explosive eruption had risen along with the number of tourists. Therefore, whenever there was an increase in volcanic activity, the crater and its vicinity in a one-kilometer were made off-limits.
“But predicting eruptions appears to be a difficult problem,” Naoe said, looking down from the crater rim. “Eruptions caused by magma movement can be detected by seismometers and predicted, but sudden explosions are difficult to anticipate. Seismographs cannot detect when a closed crater might suddenly erupt due to a build-up of gas pressure. Eruptions of steam due to groundwater coming into contact with magma are also unpredictable. Yet these explosions are the most dangerous and cause the most damage.”
“Even modern people cannot read the humor of fire mountains, then?”
Sourin peered with great interest into the gurgling crater from the edge of the crater wall.
The Middle Peak’s crater had been called ‘Divine Spirit Lake’ since ancient times. During inactive periods, rainwater and groundwater accumulated in the crater and formed a lake-like ‘hot water pool’, which was regarded as a ‘pond’. When the mountain spouted fire, ancient peoples must have interpreted it as divine wrath.
“Mt. Aso is mentioned by name in an ancient Chinese record, the Book of Sui: Biography of the East [Volume 81]. It described an eruption as ‘Sourceless fire touches the sky,’” Koremitsu related knowledgeably. “The Middle Peak has been an object of worship since ancient times. The fire from the eruption is called sacred fire, and we of Aso Shrine worship the crater as Takeiwatatsu-no-mikoto.”
Aso Mountaintop Shrine was next to the ropeway’s Mt. Aso West Station. In the past, eruptions had been seen as Takeiwatatsu-no-mikoto’s wrath, and the Aso Clan of chief priests had prayed to appease him.
Aso’s volcanic activity had a regular cycle: during quiet periods, water collected in the crater to form a pond, but as magma activity increased, the water temperature rose until it evaporated, and the crater dried up. Apparently ancient peoples knew from experience that the ‘Divine Spirit Pond’ drying up was a portent of a pending eruption. During eruptions, large amounts of volcanic ash fell to the foot of the mountain, ruining crops, leading to famine. Therefore, whenever the ‘Divine Spirit Pond’ ran dry, a report was made to the Imperial Court and a fervent prayer held.
“I see. The crater running dry.”
The setting of the sun turned the area quite dark. Braziers were lit on Crater 1’s crater wall where the ritual platform had been installed. A piercingly cold wind howled, and the flames wavered wildly as if they might go out at any moment.
“Just as it has now.”
The pitch-black bottom of the crater was cracked and completely dry. He could see what looked like scattered red flames in several places.
“It’s called a red-hot phenomenon. High-temperature gases cause the fumaroles to burn and turn red.”
There was the incessant sound of combustion. Blue-white flames spouted from the fumaroles. Nearby sulfur appeared to be burning.
“I believe conditions are quite good for performing the ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’,” Naoe said, looking at Sourin. “Though it appears another four or five days are needed for an ideal state. Are you determined to go ahead tonight?”
“We cannot wait,” Sourin answered forcefully. “I must be the one to create this sun power. The ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ is meaningless unless I achieve it with my own hands.”
Naoe looked doubtful. Sourin shook his fists.
“It will be meaningless if it is performed under Dousetsu’s direction. If we are too slow, Dousetsu will come to Aso bearing the completed «Destroyer of Provinces» in fine style. Then it will be too late.”
(What does he mean?)
Wasn’t Dousetsu-dono Sourin’s right hand?
Sourin angrily repeated himself. His face was flushed, and it wasn’t due to the red-hot phenomenon.
“I’m sure he will create a perfect «Destroyer of Provinces» and come in triumph to belittle everything I do—to take command in a most admirable example of the perfect general—and I won’t let that happen. The ‘Ritual of the Great Fire Wheel’ is mine from first to last. Therefore, the ‘Kingdom of the Sun’ that will be built over the sun power dam will also be mine! I will not allow Dousetsu to lay a finger on it, or to interfere!”
All the vassals fell silent for a moment. The antagonism between Dousetsu and Sourin appeared to be a taboo subject within the Ootomo Clan.
“So it must be tonight. The ritual will be performed tonight.”
“...Very well. However...”
They could not start without the vital cornerstone. If they were to throw in the cornerstone at sunrise, they had to start prayers and austerities at the first fortified site at 8:00 p.m. Any delay meant that the ritual could not be performed that night.
They didn’t even have a clear picture of what had happened in Kumamoto yet. Those sent to investigate had reported damage to the city, but since there were no survivors, they didn’t know what had caused it or what had happened. They had still received no word from Irobe or Jouun.
(Something serious must have happened.)
“Tono!”
The vassals suddenly began to shout. Ichimata heard and shouted sharply, “Something...something is flying toward us!”
What? Sourin looked up. Something big was flying through the dark sky toward them.
“It...it’s a person,” someone exclaimed involuntarily. “That’s a person! It is, right?!”
“A person is flying toward us!”
The area around the crater erupted into noise and confusion. Ichimata and others rushed to prepare an attack. They were about to fire a psychic shot, but Sourin stopped them. He knew who was flying toward them.
Slowly crossing over the crater, the woman landed on the western wall. Sourin watched in rapture.
“It’s an angel... An angel has descended.”
When the wingless angel recognized Sourin and the others, she cried loudly, “Tono,” and tried to run toward them, but went to one knee midway and collapsed as if completely drained. It was Julia possessing Saeki Ryouko. Sourin soon rushed to her with his retainers and lifted her in his arms.
“Julia...! Hold on!”
Breathless, Julia opened her eyes weakly and looked at Sourin. She held out Kihachi’s head cradled like a baby in her hands.
“Tono...I did it. Praise be. I used this head to drive...to drive all the heretics out of Kumamoto...”
“This is the legendary «Golden Serpent Head»...”
Sourin took the monstrous skull in his hands, which trembled slightly, as if he were deeply moved. Julia, whose face was as pale as a dying patient’s, nevertheless said, “It...it holds a magnificent power. It is perfect for the Aso cornerstone.”
“Well done, Julia. You were like an angel as you descended from the sky. Rest now and together we will build our Christian kingdom.”
Julia smiled contentedly, and then, perhaps having run out of energy, lost consciousness. Sourin ordered his retainers to carry her away. He held the «Golden Serpent Head» reverently in both hands and turned to Koremitsu beside him.
“Koremitsu-dono, is this it? Can you be certain this is the «Golden Serpent Head»?”
Koremitsu stared dumbfounded at the strange skull, but nodded fearfully. The truth was that he had never actually seen the inside of the sarcophagus. The head was so ghastly, the name of the eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent so fitting, that Koremitsu was convinced it was the real thing.
“Good.” Sourin clenched trembling fists. “Behold, Naoe-dono. Julia has returned with the cornerstone!”
Naoe watched silently. Sourin looked down at the pale flame burning like the tongue of a snake at the bottom of the crater.
“This is the head of a snake—no, the head of the dragon. O dragon of magma dwelling in the deeps, I will give you this head, and you will become the guardian dragon beneath my kingdom!”
The eerie sound of combustion echoed from the crater, shaking the black crater walls as darkness fell. And the flames of the crater began to burn all the more beautifully.