Chapter 368: Silver Hair, Pink Hair, Orange Hair
The crimson full moon looked down upon the red wilderness. The earth was burning; huts crackled and popped under the blaze, and another village of dozens of households lay fallen in pools of blood.
A female ninja with black hair tied in a high ponytail placed her index and middle fingers in front of her chest, forming a ninja seal, and appeared behind Tomoe Gozen in an instant. Her expression was wooden, her eyes indifferent. More peculiar were her arms, engraved with black circular patterns; her slender fingers, which appeared to be covered in long black gloves, actually possessed strange, protruding blocky shapes.
Upon closer inspection, her limbs were unnatural as well. Indeed, she was not human, but a specialized mechanical doll (karakuri). Following the orders of the master who had reactivated her, she acted as a ninja, assisting the Heroic Spirit Swordmasters in completing their assigned tasks.
At this moment, her gaze was fixed on the silver-haired woman in front of her, who held a longbow burning with scorching magical flames.
Earlier, this same girl had greeted Shirou with a smile, as natural as an encounter between acquaintances during a stroll. But in the next instant, the silver-haired woman's eyes had turned crimson, weeping tears of blood. A pair of sharp black horns sprouted from her head, transforming her into a hideous demon from Hell.
"Let's go, Danzo. To the next village. We must kill more... much more..." the fallen demon Tomoe Gozen said with a crazed, gruesome expression, gripping her weapon as she walked down the village path toward the other side.
"Yes, Lady."
The situation was the same for the female general who had slaughtered the army on the other side. Behind her was a scantily clad girl with two long horns on her forehead, carrying a large azure gourd, absorbing something from the corpses sprawled in the rivers of blood.
The female general and the girl were originally irreconcilable enemies; if they had met under normal circumstances, they would have done everything possible to kill each other. Yet here they were.
All of this was highly abnormal. In truth, it was because the one who summoned them had placed a forced curse upon them: the Saint Graph transformation known as "Heroic Spirit Swordmaster."
Among the seven Heroic Spirit Swordmasters, the Caster-class was a mysterious and powerful Onmyouji, while the one who summoned them from behind the scenes was a mysterious Sorcerer.
They were all shrouded in black shadows. However, if Shirou were to use his Mystic Eyes, he would be absolutely shocked—because this mastermind was someone who, by all accounts, should not be appearing here.
He was the supreme leader of the peasant rebel army that the Tokugawa forces had suppressed during the Shimabara Rebellion: Amakusa Shiro Tokisada.
Amakusa Shiro Tokisada was historically a morally ambiguous figure. He cultivated a personality cult and preached from altars, following a path very similar to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. To the ruling authorities, he was undoubtedly an evil villain—refusing to be managed, instigating riots, and operating under the banner of religion. He was practically a cultist split off from a distorted branch of Christianity.
Take Jim Jones in the United States, for example. Born in the 1930s, he was the leader of a religion called The People's Temple. He claimed that thousands of years ago, he established Buddhism as Shakyamuni; then he was reincarnated as Christ; then as Lenin, preaching the greatness of socialism; and in this life, he would lead his followers into the true kingdom of heaven. At the time, the news, newspapers, and magazines were all aligned in attacking this cult. Yet, in the end, he still had the power to lead over 900 followers to commit suicide and martyrdom with him.
Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, meanwhile, led 30,000 people to revolt against the feudal Shogunate of the time. His army was actually a collection of rebels from various villages, including Catholics, Buddhists, and peasants who rose up simply because they had nothing to eat.
However, the era Amakusa lived in was far from civilized. The Tokugawa Shogunate, which had just unified the country, and the various daimyo were oppressive and brutal. Relatively speaking, the teachings of the Amakusa Cross (Catholicism) from the West appeared more pro-people and civilized. Rumor had it that he had followed Portuguese missionaries since childhood, learning medicine and mastering miraculous powers to save the dying and care for the people. Others said he was actually the great-grandson of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, persecuted by the Tokugawa family and left adrift, now returning to lead the people in revenge. There were also claims that he was a reincarnated yokai, possessing sinister sorcery and using believers to bring calamity to the world before being suppressed by the "righteous" Tokugawa Shogunate.
The more unified view is that Amakusa Shiro Tokisada was a dashing, beautiful youth who possessed miraculous powers beyond ordinary humans. He was the last figure to resist the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Because of his rebellion, Catholicism lost its soil for development in the island nation, and the Sengoku period officially drew to a close. To solidify control, the third Tokugawa Shogun entered the Sakoku period—a closed era where no external communication was allowed except for maritime trade with China and the Netherlands in restricted port areas.
The "Sorcerer" of this world is a drifter of parallel worlds. He has visited many worlds searching for a way, but in the end, he could not change the fate of his followers' destruction. Thus, at the very end, he gave up and chose to walk a path diametrically opposite to his beginning, performing a final "salvation" for this world.
Like those Heroic Spirit Swordmasters who lost themselves in slaughter and had their humanity twisted, everything he did was intended to bring about the destruction of the human world and the descent of darkness. This was because this event was a "Pruned Phenomenon" already cut from human history. No matter how one tried to change it or what world it was in, Amakusa and his followers were destined to be suppressed and slaughtered by the Tokugawa army during the Shimabara Rebellion; there was no possibility of salvation.
Yes, there was no more hope in this world. Amakusa Shiro fell into madness, and in that madness, he heard a call from Hell. Since he could not save it, he could only seek liberation. A world so filthy and so beyond saving was actually the true Hell; for humans to live here was nothing but pain. Therefore, the only way to save the world was to kill all humans and let them return to the Pure Land.
He would use this world as a sacrifice, then reach Chaldea to crush everything, causing the human history restored by Chaldea to fall apart once more. All worlds and all humans would cease to exist, returning to the Pure Land to achieve true liberation.
Hidden behind the dark curtain, Amakusa Shiro let out a terrible, sinister laugh. He had already become a demon; he was no longer the saintly youth who could have been a Ruler, but a vengeful ghost full of resentment and regret, poised to destroy everything.
In the near future, the people of this world will witness the moment of destruction. But for now, most people are entirely unaware, each nursing their own little schemes and living their lives.
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As Shirou passed an abandoned temple by the roadside, a girl's shout came from behind the structure.
"Shirou! Go! Freeze this serpent monster!"
Hearing the cry, Shirou whipped his head around—that voice was incredibly familiar! He ran over quickly and found a giant serpent monster emitting black demonic energy, identical to the one he had encountered in the village the night before.
Fighting the great snake was a little girl with silver hair wearing a pink kimono with ethnic styling. She was riding a stout polar bear that opened its mouth to breathe an ice-blue mist, freezing more than half of the snake's upper body and rendering it unable to move.
A large sword with a rounded tip appeared in the girl's hand out of thin air. She struck the snake with force while the polar bear beneath her swiped its massive paw, shattering the snake's frozen body into several fragments. The snake's head was frozen solid, unable to let out even a cry of pain, leaving it a torso without an upper half.
"What? Serpent monsters are only at this level?" The girl put away her sword and kicked the lower half of the snake on the ground, pouting with boredom.
When the girl turned around and revealed her face, Shirou cried out in shock.
"Il... Illya!!!"
The girl on the other side looked at Shirou, observing him for a good while. Finally, a name escaped her lips: "Hmm? A passing human? Eh? Such a familiar feeling... Are you... Shirou?"
"Yes, it's me! So you really are Illya?" Shirou asked, looking at the girl in confusion.
"Illya? That's the name of the owner of this body! So you really are the Shirou who knows me!" The little girl jumped up in surprise!
"Awoo?" A massive creature standing beside the girl answered when it heard her call. It was a snow-white polar bear that shouldn't have been there, followed by a wolf, a rabbit, and an eagle on its back. However, upon noticing Shirou's gaze, they turned and ran, eventually turning into sparks of light and vanishing.
These did not seem to be ordinary beasts, but animal spirits with properties similar to Heroic Spirits. At this moment, besides the girl, only the white bear remained standing dazed in place, looking at Shirou with surprise.
The girl looked at the white bear and said, "Shirou?" Then she looked at the man who gave her a feeling of familiarity and warmth and said again, "Shirou?"
And so, Shirou and Shirou stared at each other. Or rather, Shirou and the big white bear stared at each other, unable to figure out what they had in common.
"Shirou" was the most important name to this girl. Although most of her memories had been lost when the Divine Spirit borrowed her body, this name in particular frequently appeared in her mind. Thus, when the white bear became her most important partner, she named it after that name.
"Umm... excuse me, who exactly are you?"
The girl who looked exactly like Illya introduced herself: "This big sister's name right now is Sitonai, I say~!"
"Sitonai? The goddess of the Ainu people in Hokkaido?" Shirou asked Illya in surprise.
In the Ainu mythology, all things in nature are regarded as gods—the sun, moon, wind, fire, water, thunder, and so on. These gods have human-like forms in the heavenly realm but cannot descend to the human world in their true forms. Thus, they possess animals such as
bears, eagles, whales, and wolves to interact with humans, sometimes giving gifts to help them out of danger, and sometimes committing evil.
Perhaps the most famous deity from this pantheon currently is the God of Thunder and Creation, Kanna Kamui—yes, the adorable elementary-school dragon dwelling in a programmer's home. Sitonai, however, is the representative girl hero of dragon (serpent) slaying in their myths.
"Mm-hmm, this big sister is currently in a state where three deities have descended and possessed me! It's quite impressive~!" the little girl said proudly, hands on her hips.
"So, the current you is actually a collective of three goddesses possessing Illya's body?" Shirou asked.
"Yes, that's how it is," Illya replied with a smile.
The girl's current self was dominated by Sitonai, the Ainu deity closest to her, but she also possessed the traits of two other goddesses: one was Louhi from Finnish mythology, the Queen of Pohjola, a villainous figure who brought frost and disease. The other was the more famous Freya from Norse mythology, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.
"So you don't have many of Illya's memories?" Shirou asked further.
"Well, the feeling in this body that makes me want to jump up and cheer—the excitement and joy—is telling me that seeing you here makes me really happy!" the little girl said, raising her hands and laughing.
Shirou thought for a moment; perhaps not having those memories was actually happier for her. So, he didn't bring them up again.
Shirou spoke: "Well, what will be, will be. Why don't you stay with me for now?"
"Eh? Is that okay?"
"Of course. Since you are Illya, you are like family to me."
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When Shirou returned to the village, he found the surrounding villagers looking at him with very strange expressions. The women were pointing at him and whispering.
"I really didn't expect it. When the young lady went back to the city, I thought he was quite pitiful and wanted to find him a good girl from a decent family. Now..."
"To think he went out once and brought back an even younger one! Ptui! Men... hmph."
"Two just left, and now three have come... I suppose samurai are just different from us farmers."
Such words were heard by Shirou, whose ears were several times more sensitive than an ordinary person's, but they only left him more confused. "Just what is going on?"
Shirou looked at the surrounding men, only to find them winking and smirking at him as well.
"Not bad! As expected of a samurai from the city, Brother Shirou really has some luck with women!"
At that moment, the kind cattle-herder brother walked over, grabbed Shirou's arm, and said, "Don't say anything. Brother, you should go home and see for yourself."
"Shirou? What's wrong?" Illya asked.
"No, let's just get to my house first," Shirou said.
When Shirou led Illya back to his small cottage and stepped through the door, he found two guests already inside. There was a samurai girl with cherry-blossom pink hair and ornate purple clothing, and a girl with a side-ponytail whose hair color was very similar to his own.
"Brother Shirou!" Musashi cried out in surprise.
"Senpai? Is it Shirou-senpai?" Gudako asked, tilting her head.
"Musashi? Gudako!" Shirou looked at the two familiar girls. Now he finally understood why the villagers were looking at him strangely.
At first, he brought Kiyohime, and they were mistaken for a runaway couple. Then Tamamo-no-Mae, the dancer, came to his door. Today, he brought Illya home. And now Musashi and Gudako had entered the house.
How was he supposed to explain? How could he explain? And even if he did, who would believe him?
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