Water...
It really is you, Mao.
Shiranui...
SHIRANUI
Looking back on it now,
it must have been a selection ritual.
All the apprentices who trained together from a young age were gathered...
White Bone Cave is a natural maze
MASTER OF THE GOKO CLAN of countless branching tunnels.
All you have to do is make it out alive.
That is all.
Yes, Master.
That is what the Master said.
However...
What he was truly observing was
how we made our way out of that natural maze.
I don't know how many days I wandered in the darkness.
I stepped on the remains of countless people who never made it out alive.
Was my life going to end here?
Just as I was beginning to lose hope...
I saw someone who wasn't a fellow trainee.
I had never seen him before.
Every so often, he would stop and listen carefully,
yet he continued onward without ever losing his way.
I desperately followed him.
And then...
Ah, it's you...
You entered the cave three days after everyone else, didn't you?
I was taught how to read the flow of Water energy and trace the dragon veins.
As I suspected, he was not one of the children from the compound.
After a while, he walked away.
Shiranui.
You followed that child, didn't you?
Be thankful that you at least got out alive.
He looked at me like I was vermin.
From that day on, Master lost all interest in me.
And it got worse...
You have no talent!
Just quit!
Forgive me, Master!
I'd heard rumors that Master had taken in an attendant
from outside the compound.
That was Mao.
The moment I saw him, I knew that he was the child from the cave.
Shiranui... Did you...
MAO ...want to become the successor
to the Goko Clan so badly...
...that you came to despise me?
I was beaten and berated by Master.
Then an outsider like you shows up and gets chosen as the successor.
Master!
Don't tell me...
The person who killed Master...
...was you, Shiranui?!
You killed him, didn't you?!
That's why...
That's why...?!
Mao!
You bastard!
That day...
The person who gave me this scar was you, Shiranui?!
You never figured it out?
You've got to be kidding me!
NANOKA KIBA
Mao, we'll be there soon!
OTOYA Hey, Miss Nanoka.
The Metal aura is leading to those doors.
HYAKKA - KAMON An underground bunker?
The trail of Metal aura leads this way.
Let's go in.
We're going inside?!
Mao's Sword of Hagunsei is quite handy, isn't it?
That sword is bad news.
Once, when I held it, I vomited blood and nearly died.
No, you actually did die.
If I had the chance,
I wanted to kill the Master with my own hands
rather than let him be killed by an outsider like you.
You would have killed him to become the successor of the Goko Clan?
But then, the secret spell of Taizanfukun was snatched away
by you and Byouki, and the two of you fled.
Now then, Mao, you're going to teach me the Taizanfukun spell.
Byouki's head escaped with the Taizanfukun spell.
Shiranui doesn't know that.
I'll teach it to you.
Oh?
But first, there's something I need to ask you.
What did you do to Lady Sana?
That day...
They said Lady Sana died.
Some even claimed that I killed her.
But she's alive and working for you.
Why?!
So he's met Yurako, huh.
What's the matter, Mao?
You're still hung up on Sana?
Mao!
Nanoka!
What is this...?
Is this Mao's blood?!
Nanoka...
My sword!
O-Okay.
That is the power of Byouki's blood flowing through me.
Shiranui...
Tell me what you did to Lady Sana!
What? That's Shiranui?
Shiranui?!
Why are there so many of you?
Are you all in this together?
Please answer me, Shiranui.
Why is Lady Sana alive and with you?
How is she alive?!
Who knows?
She's staying with me by her own choice.
Liar!
Oh? Was that energy from the Sword of Hagunsei?
He didn't even swing it.
I'm surprised you can raise your voice like that.
Is it because of Lady Sana?
Her wish was the same as mine.
We prolong the lives of the powerful who govern the nation
and, when asked, curse their political rivals.
That is how we keep the Goko Clan's legacy alive.
I will obey my father's wishes.
Lady Sana was prepared to carry on the legacy of the Goko Clan!
But...!
To deceive everyone by making her corpse seem alive...
She would never have wanted such a twisted existence!
Twisted, you say?
This would all be over if you just handed over the secret spell of Taizanfukun!
I would never hand over the spell to someone like you!
Your legs...
What? You really don't remember?
Mao betrayed us!
He's controlling Byouki to destroy the compound!
Don't falter!
Mao killed our Master! He's our sworn enemy now!
Finish him off!
I did that?
I borrowed these legs from the shikigami Kairyu.
Thanks to them, I can never leave the water.
So, is that why you never left Kyoto and kept sending assassins?
That's right. I'll send as many as it takes.
Stop!
Why are you stopping me?!
Are you a fool?
The moment you go into the water,
you're playing right into Shiranui's hands.
YURAKO
So you ended up meeting Mao?
I wonder what Mao thought when he saw me?
HAKUBI Poor Lady Yurako.
You monster.
Dammit.
We followed the Metal shikigami here...
Which means Shiranui is working with a Metal sorcerer.
I was so close... I almost had him.
He'll be back sooner or later.
Seems like he's got a serious grudge against you.
Well, I'd hold a grudge too.
You cut off his legs and left him like that.
Mao, you really don't remember what happened back then?
No, I don't remember.
To be honest, I never paid much attention to Shiranui.
Man, that's cold.
Anyway, let's go home.
It's cold here.
Go back without me.
I'm going to rest a bit first.
Huh? You can't walk?
What? You seemed fine a moment ago.
No, he was shot several times
by the Metal shikigami.
I see. So what happened earlier
was because talking about Lady Sana made your blood boil?
Nanoka, what are you doing?!
Giving you my blood.
You can't walk, right?
I told you, you can't do that.
It might shorten your life.
I don't care!
Kamon's not going to help, is he?
He'd hate getting his coat dirty.
And Hyakka's too small to carry you.
Well, you're not wrong. I can't stand getting my coat dirty.
Nanoka, did you just make fun of me?!
Ah...
The wounds are healing.
Sheesh.
Now she passes out, and we have to carry her.
Mao, want to switch?
I'd be happy to carry Nanoka.
No, Nanoka is my responsibility.
I made her push herself too hard again.
I can't let this continue.
Miss Nanoka, are you going back already?
Yes. I want to go home and get a good rest.
And Mao, don't push yourself too hard either.
I'm fine now.
My wounds have healed.
Got it.
Well, I'll see you, then.
I've never seen Mao like that before.
Lady Sana is working for Shiranui...
She's staying with me by her own choice.
Liar!
He's totally jealous of Shiranui.
Lady Sana was in love with someone else.
Was that person Shiranui?
I find that hard to believe.
But even though it was one-sided, he clearly still loves her.
Out of the way!
Was that really Lady Sana?
BYOUKI Byouki?!
If you wish to see me, call my name at any time.
W-Why is he here?!
I didn't call him here...
You gave Mao your blood again, didn't you?
What? You know?
Mao and Nanoka...
The blood that flows through both of you is mine.
Of course I can tell.
So he's been watching me this whole time as his new vessel?
But...
You told me before that you had no intention of harming me, right?
Yes. You have nothing to fear from me.
Then tell me about Lady Sana.
Sana?
You were once Lady Sana's pet cat, right?
Haimaru.
Extra! Extra!
Mysterious massacre at Hitokabe Village!
"A postman discovered
the gruesome scene at the village and alerted the authorities."
"The villagers had been killed with what appeared to be
a single thrust from a sharp blade."
I saw things that looked like metal scarecrows leaving the village.
That's what the postman stated.
Metal scarecrows?!
Could they be the same ones from back then?
What was Lady Sana like?
Sana was...
That is a shikigami, Haimaru.
SANA It vanished.
SANA
You know, Haimaru...
HAIMARU This is a house of curses.
Nobles secretly come here
and entrust us with the names, hair, or nails of the people they wish to curse.
Then an onmyoji from this house casts the curse.
But if the target is protected by a more skilled onmyoji,
they might cast a counterspell back at us.
Or onmyoji from the outside who oppose this house may send curses of their own.
And yet, every one of those curses disappears above the compound.
No, that's not quite right.
They simply become invisible.
Are you saying that Lady Sana could see them?
Was she able to cast Onmyo spells?
Sana was not a sorcerer.
But on the nights when someone came to commission a curse...
The master of the compound, Sana's father...
...would gather up the black vapor...
...and hand it to a sorcerer on the compound.
What was that black vapor?
A curse, most likely.
It had the same smell as the shikigami that disappeared above the compound.
A curse came out of Lady Sana's mouth?
Sana was the daughter of the Goko Clan.
That was probably her role.
Wait, did Mao know about any of this?
He couldn't have.
When she was around Mao and the sorcerers of the compound,
Sana was always surrounded by a pure aura.
I don't even know if Sana herself realized her role.
Out of my way!
Tell me...
If I said Lady Sana was alive in the Taisho era, would you believe me?
Sana is dead.
Her heart was torn from her chest.
There's no way she could still be alive.
Then who is that woman?
Isn't this odd, Hyakka?
What do you mean?
The massacre in Hitokabe Village happened less than three days ago, but...
There isn't a single reporter or police officer here.
That just means the newspapers and the police have been told to stay away.
It was the same back then.
Are you talking about when you encountered the metal scarecrows?
Yeah.
It was 20 years ago, when the war with Russia started.
Back then, I was helping out on a farm in a village.
You've sure worked a lot of jobs.
They...
...appeared out of nowhere.
What the...?!
Everyone in the village was slaughtered.
I barely managed to escape, but...
The incident never made the papers or even sparked a rumor.
So it was as if the massacre had never happened?
Yeah.
But this time, the incident made the papers.
Hyakka, I think this is...
I knew it.
They're the same ones as 20 years ago.
It seems the incident in this village was a trap to lure us out.
That's right. But...
I never expected you to show up as well, Hyakka.
You bastard!
Were you the one behind the scarecrows 20 years ago?!
Well, yes.
Back then, neither of us had the chance to get a good look at each other's faces.
Would you like to see mine?
Before I take out your remaining eye?
This is the man who did that to Hyakka's eye?
NEXT TIME Stay out of this, Mao!
He's mine!
Ordinarily, Fire overcomes Metal.
Master Hyakka should have the advantage, but...
For me, the Goko Clan was where I truly felt comfortable.
But Mao, your betrayal brought about the Goko Clan's downfall.
You're siding with the sham that is the Goko Clan?
A sham? Are you so sure about that?
You hideous monster!
Next time: "Hakubi."