Numbers Three, Four and Five were examining the coffins. "Light up this room a bit more," said Number Four while running his hand over the coffins. "It's quite an interesting technique, I've never seen similar sealing before. It's very different from my sealing technique."
Number Five brought more torches and fully illuminated the room. "What do these symbols on the wood mean?" asked Number Three.
Number Four scratched his head as he replied, "I believe these are runes. But I had heard that such power or technology - whatever you want to call it - didn't exist here. Most likely this ability came from across the ocean."
"So you're saying Sato learned this technique from someone?" asked Number Three while touching the runes.
"He might have developed it himself, perhaps it's completely coincidental. I'm not sure, but your eyes can break this seal. However, we need to find out who's inside them first, or we might cause trouble for ourselves. If they were sealed, there must be a reason." Four was walking around the coffins examining them. "Your Shisen eyes are more powerful than you think. If you gave me one of them, I could work wonders." He was rubbing his hands while looking at Three's eyes.
"Touch me and you'll die, Four." Three was angry. The idea of anyone outside of himself and his clan using these eyes was infuriating. After all, this was their genetic power passed down through generations.
"How did your Seimei-sen eyes get like this?" asked Five.
"Great power comes with great sacrifices," said Three.
"Come on, there must be more to it than that," said Five mockingly.
As Three angrily approached him, Four stepped between them. "We're not enemies anymore, stop fighting," he said.
"We're not friends either," said Three.
"You're so cold, I was just curious." Five was annoyed and left the room, slamming the door.
"I was curious too," said Four.
"The greater the trauma, the greater the power becomes. Very few people in our lineage possess this eye, and most of them have lost their lives. If you ask how I obtained it, I killed my beloved father and witnessed the death of the woman I loved." Three's heart ached as he remembered these things, but if he hadn't killed his father, he couldn't have prevented the catastrophe that would have come. He couldn't let someone live who was going to move against his own clan.
"If you die one day, I'm going to examine you, so don't die before me, Three," said Number Four, trying to act a bit like a big brother. But Three paid no attention to this and continued examining the coffins silently.
Tailo had returned to this city that he hated but could never escape from because he had no choice. The magnificent city of Iori was a city-state built on the ocean's shore. It was a hub for greedy merchants.
When he arrived at the gates of the massive castle at the farthest point from the ocean in the city, he understood once again why this city was so powerful. Even if the city fell, no one could break through these walls, which was why seeking freedom through escape would be utter foolishness.
As he entered, the guards allowed him to pass after recognizing him by the patterns of his broken tiger mask. Hama had chosen that mask for Tailo - because Hama could transform into a tiger. Tailo had chosen the cat mask for Hama. He sighed remembering the old memories and stepped through the castle's massive gates.
At the entrance, several ranked warriors were giving orders to a division of the army. "Are we going to war again?" Tailo thought. He hadn't been here for several weeks; the last time he left, Fox and Hama were with him.
He descended down a turning with large stairs. The castle's secret operations were usually conducted on the lower level; the upper level was purely for show and where the council made their decisions.
When he went down, he saw several masked figures waiting in the corridor. "Rat and Bird, how are you?" he said. Behind his broken mask, Tailo's eyes stared emptily.
"We're fine, but you don't seem to be. What happened?" asked Rat. He had a notably slim and agile build, with strikingly dark messy hair.
"Cat was killed," he said in a completely lifeless voice.
"Ah... sorry friend," said Rat. Meanwhile, both of them had started heading towards the stairs. As they went up, Bird touched Tailo's shoulder. "If you need anything, just say the word. Now we'll leave you alone to give your report," he said.
Tailo maintained his silence and knocked on the door. A woman from inside said "Come in." When he entered, Fox was there too. "My friend, I thought you were dead. Cat didn't come back to report after leaving me here. Thank you for saving my life."
"Don't mention it, how are your wounds?" said Tailo. "My hand is almost back to normal, but I can't say the same for my stomach. Now I have a huge dent mark," Fox said with a smile.
"Where is Cat?" Fox asked.
A woman in her thirties with thick, short red hair was sitting at the desk. This person commanded both the masked ones and controlled part of the army, and also held a seat on the council; she was from a highly influential and powerful family. Misaki Pinguo said, "I'm wondering what happened to her too. Why isn't she with you?"
"Do you really care that much about the girl you enslaved and forcefully trained as a warrior?" he screamed into himself. "She was killed by Kamiya Naizen," he said in a lifeless voice.
"WHAT?" Misaki shouted, jumping to her feet. She walked up to him and yelled in his face, "What do you mean you couldn't protect my daughter? Didn't I tell you not to send her on risky missions alone?"
"If you really cared about her that much, you wouldn't have involved her in this work in the first place. Everyone knows you kidnapped her and brought her here. You disgust me, you deserve to die more than Kamiya does." Though he thought these things, he couldn't say them out loud, because he still had things he needed to do.
Misaki clenched her fist and delivered a solid punch to Tailo's stomach. "As her senior, you will take responsibility for this," she said.
The punch was quite hard, knocking the wind out of Tailo. "Yes, my lady," he said with difficulty.
The one in the fox mask was shocked. He hadn't expected something like this. Their goal was to capture Sato; he had fought with him personally. He was strong but not invincible. But Kamiya Naizen was an even bigger problem. "If only I had fought Kamiya then, perhaps Hama would still be alive..." he thought, filled with regret. "It's my fault, my lord. If I had been there, if I had helped, if I hadn't been so weak..." he said. His voice was trembling but he couldn't show weakness.
"You're useless now, Fox. If you were any good, capturing Sato, your only task, would have been easy for you," Misaki shouted.
"Maybe if we had known the mission details," said Fox, and received a punch from Misaki.
"You think that was the problem? Are you curious? Well then, let me tell you, and we'll see what you figure out," she said, leaning against her desk.
"The egg inside Sato Ryo was brought to us by a wandering warrior. However, Kenji Ryo stole it and placed it inside Hirabayashi's son who was being born at that time. We learned about this later. We struggled with Kenji for a long time - he tried to convince his older brother to attack us but failed. At some point we lost track of him, he suddenly disappeared one day. After that, we started monitoring Sato. We couldn't stand against Hirabayashi when he was powerful, he was impossibly strong. Now that he's weakened, we decided to attack and capture Sato but YOU MESSED IT ALL UP!" Misaki had shouted the last part of her sentence.
She rubbed her forehead. "I don't want to see both of you for a while, we need to restructure the mission. Go and get stronger," said Misaki.
Fox left the room, turning to Tailo as he was leaving. "Aren't you coming, Tiger?" he said.
"You go ahead," said Tailo.
"What is it, why are you staring at me? If you have something to say, say it!" she snapped at Tailo angrily.
"There are developments regarding Sato Ryo that I need to report. Also, this accessory you gave me is about to break," said Tailo, looking somewhat anxious.
"Setting Hama aside, you had been progressing well with the mission overall, Tiger." Misaki let out a deep sigh. "I'll give you both your punishment and your reward. Tell me the details."
After Tailo explained what had happened, Misaki interjected: "So you're saying these numbered mask bearers are a major problem for them."
Tailo nodded. "What would you like as a reward?" Misaki asked.
"I want to avenge the Cat... no, Hama, my lady," said Tailo. His hands were tightly clenched into fists, and he was quite confident.
"So you'll kill Kamiya Naizen... That will be quite a difficult task. You barely managed to handle him even with the necklace I gave you. I don't know if you realize this, but that necklace contained beast energy and allowed you to make clones. Still, I can't say I wasn't disappointed by your failure," said Misaki. After thinking a bit more, she considered that perhaps the necklace wasn't suited to his fighting style. "What do you want?" she asked.
"A Podao would suit my fighting style. If it's imbued with energy, I don't think I'll lose to Kamiya," Tailo said confidently.
The podao had a structure similar to a spear, but its tip resembled a large, curved sword.
"Very well, it will take me a few days to arrange it. Don't sit idle in the meantime, keep getting stronger. I'll send your payment to Bird tomorrow," said Misaki and gestured with her head for him to leave.
After Tailo left the room, he paused and looked back over his shoulder at the door. "When the time comes, I'll kill you too, Misaki Pinguo. If you hadn't raised Hama this way, perhaps Kamiya would never have encountered her. But what's done is done, both of you will meet your end." He clenched his fists and climbed up the stairs. When he got outside, he headed to the walls; he went to the place where he and Hama used to watch the ocean together and stayed there until sunset.
"We've been waiting for three days, and this one won't talk. Let's just kill him and be done with it," said Asahi. They were camping in the ruins of the Jun tribe.
"Besides, if you've heard the news, it's the perfect time to attack," Asahi added.
"I'm not waiting here for fun," said Kenshin irritably. He was looking at Dokuro, who was bound in chains. "I received news that Sato has been sealed. If it's true, delaying the attack to learn the details would work in my favor."
"Come on, little Dokuro, speak up already. You've got quite the tight lips, considering all the torture we've put you through. Do you want me to take your tongue in the end?" He let out a deep sigh, crouched down, and held his chin. "Look, we're going to destroy your village anyway, but I might spare one person of your choosing. Now talk: Was Sato Ryo really sealed? If so, where is he being kept?"
Dokuro maintained his silence. "Why is this Sato Ryo so important?" asked Asahi.
"Simple—he sealed away my father, even though my father had switched to their side." The pained and angry expression on his face suddenly transformed into a huge smile. He pulled out a dagger from his side and stabbed it into Dokuro's ribs. Dokuro screamed in pain.
"That's why I'm going to kill him and save my father. I need to get my father's seal removed first, but that doesn't mean I won't beat him within an inch of his life," Kenshin added.
"Looks like he won't talk. What are you going to do?" asked Asahi.
"Nothing to be done." Kenshin stood up and turned around. "Kill him," he said.