As they were flying towards the mountain regions, Sakura was thinking about what Wang Chun had said about how their mothers should have killed them.
"Hey nee-san. Do you think our mothers would still love us after what we did?"
Chizuki slowed down her pace and looked deeply at Sakura.
"I don't know. I was once confused like you as well. When I asked master for advice, you know what he said to me?"
Sakura shook her head. However, she really wanted to know. Flying slowly through the skies, Chizuki began to recount what Uehara said to her.
…
Five-years ago, Aokigahara Island
It was 1016 AD and it was just a few months after Chizuki had begun her official training. After she had opened the second path of death, she was scared of how she suddenly cared very little for her fellow humans. She had just destroyed an entire village in anger after the populace shouted at her to leave just because a group of bandits had targeted her.
In her anger, she immediately launched a hail of ice spikes that killed every single villager there, from the youngest to the eldest.
She originally came there because she wanted to get a few ingredients to cook some food for herself and also buy herself and Uehara brand new clothes.
When she came back to Aokigahara, she didn't try hiding her issue and approached Uehara who had just finished feeding on a boar.
"Master. I killed an entire village today."
Throwing the corpse far away, he turned to look at Chizuki with glowing red eyes.
"So? Why does it matter? You killed humans. What's wrong with that?"
Leaning against a tree, he waited for her to speak.
"I don't feel anything master…and that's the problem."
He raised his eyebrow.
"Oh?"
He floated towards her and cupped her face. A look of amusement flashed on his face.
"You really don't feel anything about killing them?"
Chizuki blushed at how he intently looked at her but she managed to nod her head.
"Y-yes."
Letting go of her, he pointed at the ground.
"Here's a few ants."
He released a tiny flame that burned them.
"Now there's no ants. Do you feel anything about me killing them?"
Chizuki was confused.
"No?"
"Why not? Those ants were foraging for food to feed the colony. Since I've killed them, they now can't send food back."
"But there's hundreds of other-"
"Exactly. There's hundreds of thousands of other ants that can fulfil the same function and thousands of more ants currently being born. Killing a few won't affect anything."
He turned his head towards the moon in the sky.
"The reason why you feel confused is because you were also once an ant, a human. But you're not a normal human anymore. You're vastly superior compared to them. Normal humans can barely live past a hundred years. Your lifespan is already nearing half a millennium and will constantly continue to rise. But the real reason you're so indifferent right now is because you've opened the second path. Those hundreds of centuries in a state of death caused you to not care anymore for insignificant things, which include humans. You've experienced so much that human concerns seem so little to you.
Growing silent at the end, he continued to look at the sky. After a period of silence, he released a sigh.
"Humans quarrel for so little things and can barely co-exist without killing each other. They are a conniving race that will stab each other in the back with a smile. They are a race that will sacrifice each other to further their own goals. Although they share the same blood, they will find ways to discriminate against another fellow human. They are a race of sheep that is very easy to fool. They are a race that are complete slaves to the seven sins and that will never change."
Chizuki already knew all these things. She's always heard of how the Minamoto-clan always conspired to get the throne. Originally, the purpose of her arranged marriage to the Fujiwara clan was for her to become a spy for her clan. Regardless, she was thrown out of her clan after she was no longer deemed useful.
In the village she resided in, she often heard insults about the Chinese and how they were inferior and weak. Although she never paid attention, she began to look down on humans the moment she opened the second path due to how petty their conflicts are in the grand scheme of things.
Seeing Chizuki suddenly enter realisation, a slight smile formed on his face before he continued.
"When you opened the second path, your mindset changed. You had broken free from the normal human mentality where you are a slave to the seven sins."
He pointed towards the moon.
"Because of that change in mentality, you now subconsciously see what humans truly are and you now care very little for their lives. Your perspective has changed and you view them from a higher platform. Their status has been relegated to livestock that you have no issue with slaughtering. It's just that you haven't accepted that change yet. Once you accept it and disregard that human mentality that is shackling you, you can truly begin to experience the joy of the world that you had never been able to notice with your narrowed gaze that focused on inconsequential things."
He turned his head to look at her.
"And once you truly experience the wonders and joys of the world untainted by your shackled mentality, will you be truly able to open the third path of joy."
…
After listening to Chizuki, Sakura realised something.
"I understand now. So compared to normal humans we are nobles?"
Chizuki pondered for a while before answering.
"In a way, yes."
The term fit their situation perfectly. The nobles of the caste system looked down on peasants because their worries were only centered around them while nobles had to worry about their territory as a whole, something peasants wouldn't understand.
Sakura smiled.
"So, we're noble humans?"
"Yes."
Sakura cheered.
"Yay! We're officially different from peasant humans!"
Chizuki giggled a bit when she saw how Sakura twisted around and did barrel rolls in celebration. Even though the sky was dark with very little moonlight, her smile was brighter than the sun itself, amplifying her beautiful red hair against the twinkling stars.
"Why are you so excited, Sakura?"
Sakura stopped and looked at Chizuki like she was some sort of weird entity.
"Nee-san. Don't tell me you never felt anything when Aoki-sama always said something about humans? I always wished to hide when master talked about humans because I felt targeted."
Chizuki's mouth twitched.
"I…also felt the same."
She always felt a weird sensation in her heart whenever Uehara said "filthy humans". Although she knew Uehara wasn't referring to them, she always felt bothered and felt embarrassed to be part of the same race as the normal humans.
Sakura grinned when she saw Chizuki frown.
"I knew it! When we get to master, we have to tell him how we know see ourselves as noble humans!"
Not waiting for Chizuki to reply, she bolted forward in a sheer burst of speed. Chizuki giggled as she took off as well. When she reached Sakura, she was surprised to see her gobsmacked expression. Following her gaze, her body froze when she saw how Uehara was being lovingly cradled by Shikibu.
Immediately, she entered her water-sage transformation while massive killing intent soared from her body.
"YOU BITCH!!!"