Chapter 817: The Kijin Beneath the Sky

The hills around the ruined shrine had become silent.

Not peaceful.

Silent in the way a forest became silent before a predator moved through it.

Broken trees lay across the slopes. Stones rolled slowly down the cracked earth. Crimson light still bled from the massive wound where the underground shrine had burst open, illuminating the dust that hung in the air.

At the center of it all stood the Kijin.

Its body towered above the trees.

Four arms hung at its sides, its claws long enough to tear through stone. Red ritual chains coiled around its chest, throat, and limbs, glowing with the power of Norihiro’s blood and the shrine’s ancient symbols. The chains held it in place.

For now.

But the creature’s presence did not feel restrained at all.

It felt like standing before a mountain that had been tied down with thread.

One of the shinobi behind Genzo stared at the Kijin with a pale face.

His lips trembled in fear.

"A monster," he muttered.

The Kijin’s empty black eyes moved slowly across the hillside.

The shinobi’s breath caught.

"A Kijin."

Another shinobi nodded weakly beside him.

"I thought they were only stories," he whispered. "Old tales meant to frighten children."

Genzo did not answer.

His face had become strained.

The old shinobi leader had faced soldiers, Daimyos, assassins, traitors, and men who used fear as a weapon. He had lived long enough to see powerful people fall, to watch villages burn, and to survive years of being hunted through the forests of the South.

But this was different.

The Kijin did not feel like an enemy.

It felt like a disaster.

A force of nature that had taken the shape of something alive.

Nathan stood ahead of them, Kyomei resting at his side.

His body still ached from the Kijin’s first attack. His shoulder burned beneath the torn fabric of his clothes. The cuts Shiina had given him had reopened, and the blood he had coughed up after being thrown through the shrine still stained the corner of his lips.

Yet he stood upright.

His eyes never left the creature.

The Kijin watched him too.

Its monstrous face remained unreadable, but something had changed in the empty darkness of its eyes. It had seen Nathan survive a blow that should have crushed an ordinary person into the stone floor beneath the shrine.

Now it was curious.

Nathan spoke without looking back.

"Genzo."

The shinobi leader stepped forward slightly.

"Ryo."

"Leave."

Genzo’s expression hardened.

"Ryo—"

"Take the others and go to Minami Kyoto."

The words came calmly.

But there was no room for argument in them.

Nathan continued.

"Hanzo needs you. Urakami’s two armies will join inside the city soon, if they have not already. The shinobi need someone to lead them."

Genzo looked toward the distant smoke rising beyond the hills.

Minami Kyoto was still burning.

They could not see the city from here, but the sky above it had darkened with ash. Somewhere far away, Urakami’s soldiers were still pushing through the broken gate. Hanzo was trying to organize scattered shinobi, defenders, and frightened civilians against thousands of invading samurai.

The city needed help.

But Genzo looked back toward Nathan.

Then toward the Kijin.

His jaw tightened.

"How can we leave you here alone?"

Nathan finally turned slightly.

Genzo saw the blood on Nathan’s clothes.

The strain in his posture.

The faint darkness gathering around Kyomei.

And still, Nathan’s gaze remained steady.

"You cannot help me against that thing," Nathan said.

The words were not cruel.

They were simply true.

Genzo looked at the six shinobi around him.

Daichi stood pale and trembling, though he still held his weapon. The others had not run, but fear had settled deeply into their faces. They were trained fighters. They were brave.

But the Kijin’s presence alone was already breaking their ability to think clearly.

If they stayed, they would die.

And their deaths would accomplish nothing.

Nathan looked at Genzo again.

"Dying here would be useless. Go help Hanzo protect Minami Kyoto."

Genzo’s eyes lowered.

For a moment, he looked like a man carrying more weight than any person should be asked to bear.

He wanted to remain.

Nathan knew that.

Genzo had spent years fighting Norihiro in the shadows. He deserved to be there when the Daimyo’s plans were destroyed. He deserved to see the end of the man who had turned the South into a place where shinobi had to hide just to survive.

But Minami Kyoto was more important now.

The people inside it needed him.

At last, Genzo nodded.

"You are right."

Nathan’s expression softened slightly.

Genzo looked at the other shinobi.

"We leave. Now."

The young shinobi hesitated.

"Genzo sama, what about Ryo sama?"

Genzo’s eyes stayed on Nathan.

"He has given us an order."

The words were difficult for him to say.

But he said them.

"We honor it."

The shinobi bowed their heads.

One by one, they began moving down the slope.

Genzo remained for a final moment.

He stepped close enough that Nathan could hear him over the low, unnatural hum coming from the Kijin.

"Be careful," Genzo said.

Nathan gave a faint nod.

"Come back alive."

Nathan looked at him.

Then he nodded again.

"I will."

Genzo held his gaze for another second.

Then he turned and disappeared into the trees after the others, heading toward Minami Kyoto and the battle that would decide the fate of the South.

Nathan was alone.

Only Norihiro remained behind the Kijin, standing on a broken section of shrine stone with the crimson scepter in his hand.

And between them stood the ancient demon.

The Kijin watched Genzo and the shinobi flee.

Then its empty eyes settled back on Nathan.

"You send away your pack," it said.

Its distorted voice came from its mouth, the earth, and the air all at once.

"Do you believe it will make you brave?"

Nathan raised Kyomei.

"I sent them away because they have something worth protecting."

The Kijin tilted its head.

"Humans always say such things before they die."

Norihiro smiled faintly from behind it.

"It is useless, Ryo."

Nathan did not look toward him.

Norihiro’s voice became colder.

"You saw what it did to you with one strike. You are wounded already. You are exhausted, and you wasted power fighting Shiina it seems.

His fingers tightened around the red scepter.

"This is a Kijin. A creature born before humans walked this world. Before kings, kingdoms, and your precious promises of unity."

The crimson chains glowed brighter.

"You have no chance against it."

Nathan finally glanced at Norihiro.

"We will see."

Norihiro’s eyes narrowed.

Nathan looked back toward the Kijin.

Dark magic began rising around him.

It moved over the broken earth in thin streams of shadow, gathering near his feet before winding around his legs and arms. The air grew colder. Black smoke curled from Kyomei’s blade, swallowing the fading sunlight around it.

The Kijin watched with renewed interest.

"That darkness," it said.

Its wide mouth pulled into a cruel smile.

"It does not belong to this shrine."

"No," Nathan said.

The Kijin leaned forward slightly.

"Then where did you steal it from?"

Nathan did not answer.

The darkness around him deepened.

Then the Curse of Pandora awakened.

Black faces emerged from the shadows.

One rose beside Nathan’s shoulder.

Then another near the ground.

Then dozens.

Their forms stretched and twisted as they appeared, their eyes empty black sockets, their mouths opened in silent agony. More faces crawled from the darkness beneath Nathan’s feet, circling him in a wide spiral.

Their screaming began.

The sound tore through the hills.

The trees around the ruined shrine shook. Birds fled from branches far away. The earth vibrated as the black faces rose higher, filling the space around Nathan with a storm of darkness and endless cries.

The Kijin did not flinch.

Instead, it looked fascinated.

Its four arms flexed slowly.

"Cursed souls," it murmured.

The empty eyes focused on the faces surrounding Nathan.

"Not Kijin. Not human. Not spirit."

Its smile widened.

"What strange power do you carry, little warrior?"

Nathan tightened his grip on Kyomei.

"I carry enough."

The Kijin’s eyes darkened.

Then its power erupted.

A black-red aura burst from its body.

The ground beneath its feet shattered. Trees bent away from the force. The ruined shrine stones behind Norihiro cracked and split apart as a wave of monstrous pressure moved through the hills.

Nathan felt it strike him.

His body tensed.

The force was not only physical.

It pressed against his mind, trying to force fear into every part of him. The Kijin’s power carried hunger, rage, and something ancient enough to make the world feel small.

The black faces of Pandora screamed louder.

They moved closer around Nathan.

Not in fear.

In warning.

The Kijin took one step forward.

The ground broke under its foot.

Then it vanished.

Nathan’s eyes widened.

The creature appeared in front of him.

One massive clawed hand came down.

Nathan lifted Kyomei.

The Curse of Pandora surged upward.

Dozens of black faces threw themselves between Nathan and the Kijin’s strike.

BAAAAAAAAAADOOM!

The impact tore through the hillside.

The cursed faces screamed as the Kijin’s claws crashed through them. Darkness exploded outward, shredding trees and throwing shattered stone across the slope. Nathan was pushed backward several meters, his feet carving deep marks through the dirt.

But he remained standing.

Barely.

Without the curse, the strike would have crushed him.

Nathan knew it immediately.

The black faces had taken the worst of the impact. They had broken apart beneath the Kijin’s claws, their shadows dissolving into smoke before reforming around Nathan’s body.

Even then, the force that reached him had made his arms shake.

His shoulder screamed with pain.

The poison inside him burned.

The Kijin looked down at its hand.

Then at Nathan.

Its smile grew wider.

"You survived."

Nathan raised Kyomei again.

The black faces circled him, screaming into the darkening sky.

The Kijin’s four arms spread wide.

And as the cursed darkness gathered around Nathan once more, he understood the brutal truth.

Without Pandora’s curse taking the Kijin’s attacks for him, he would already have been defeated.