Banquet (
Summary
Chihiro and Hiruhiko leap apart after their clash. Hiruhiko sees the trails of Nishiki around Chihiro's ears and realises Chihiro is strengthening his inner ears to protect himself from Banquet's effects. Viewing that Chihiro saw Samura as a more threatening opponent, Hiruhiko voices that Chihiro is holding back. Chihiro does not respond, and stands with Enten at the ready. Hiruhiko then tells a standing Toto that he will kill Samura to get Chihiro to fight him properly, asking her what Yura says. Toto relays Yura's message that he says it's fine so long as he retrieves Tobimune, and Hiruhiko tells Toto to hide before activating Play.
It is revealed that apart from Shinuchi, the Enchanted Blades each have three primary abilities. While Kumeyuri's Banquet governed hallucinations, Play allows the user to control objects around them, the geisha figures summoned by Kumeyuri playing instruments and reaching out to the corpses on the ground. Using Play, Hiruhiko not only makes the corpses of the yakuza in the hallway stand but also those on the roof. Seeing the moving corpses, Chihiro briefly ponders Hiruhiko's decision to use corpses, and thinks them not a major problem, but is cut off as Hiruhiko strengthens Banquet's effect, making the hallway Chihiro and Hiruhiko stand in seem far longer than it truly is.
Internally, Hiruhiko thinks that Chihiro underestimating him would be fair, given he had lost twice now. As Chihiro is slightly disoriented by the sudden move, he realises even though Nishiki is helping him keep his balance, Banquet was still affecting him noitceably. Knowing Hiruhiko's mastery of Kumeyuri was rapidly advancing and knowing he was still attacking on the roof, Chihiro comes to the conclusion that Hiruhiko is going all out to finish the fight. Hiruhiko momentarily huffs on his feet as he grabs his wound, and consolidates that in order to make Chihiro go all out against him, he needs to show Chihiro his sheer determination by killing Samura. He grits his teeth and stands, focusing on maintaining Banquet and Play. It is noted defending oneself becomes an insurmountable challenge were someone to be greatly affected by Banquet.
On the roof, Moku asks Ro where his opponent is, and Ro notes he had left the area when Samura showed up; though their more pressing priority was fighting their way off the premises. The elevators on the roof suddenly open, revealing a jammed mass of corpses puppeteered by Kumeyuri. Samura notices and readies himself to defend Iori from the mass. Samura had purged Iori from his mind and left everything behind for his immovable goal of killing the Master Swordsman, and now a second motive had joined the first; protecting his daughter.
In the hallway, Hiruhiko smirks as he says while Samura is unbeatable in direct combat, he is weak on the inside, being twice as sensitive to emotions than normal according to Yura. He increases Banquet's strength in regards to Samura specifically, who begins 'visualising' memories of his daughter's suffering that begin to completely obscure his vision. Hiruhiko tells Chihiro as they lock blades he is using a large amount of his energy to weaken Samura's psyche, driving him where Hiruhiko wants him.
Banquet's strength increases to the point where Samura's entire sensory vision is replaced with the door to his daughter's bedroom. His attire flickers between his present-day clothes and the clothes he had worn years ago when deciding to open Iori's door or not upon learning of her suffering. Samura tells himself that it is a hallucination, but as he hears unintelligible noises and worries for Iori his hand shakes as he moves to open the door. Abruptly, corpses rear through the door, surprising Samura and managing to stab him twice, causing him agony. Sensing his imminent victory, Hiruhiko grins in triumph and Chihiro's eyes widen in shock.
More corpses rush towards the now-undefended Iori, but as Samura senses the threat to his daughter, Samura pushes past the 'door' and uses Crow's movement to place himself in the way of over a dozen blades aimed towards Iori, stabbed in far too many places to remain alive but ensuring Iori is unharmed. Iori is horrified as she takes in the sight while a nearby Ro yells out in concern. What broke Samura's hallucination was the pain of a fatal wound.
Laughing in triumph, Hiruhiko condemns Chihiro's action of stalling and not giving it his all against him, shouting that he is the only one who is free. The two clash again and Hiruhiko tells Chihiro to come at him for real, but Chihiro instead asks why, trailing off. Three corpses advance down the corridor but a sea of black emerges from the doors on the sides of the hallways, quickly engulfing the light on that side of the hallway, the corpses consumed and disappearing. As the storm of black feathers roils closer, Chihiro wonders how Hiruhiko could have underestimated a master like Samura so greatly. Hiruhiko goes quiet, eyes widening.
On the roof, Iori stands within a field of inert bodies, an expression of muted relief on her face. The Masumi and Ikura pick themselves up, returning to Iori's position. Behind a nearby piece of scaffolding, a nervous Kuguri sits and watches. He internally recaps the insane series of events he had witnessed; first thinking Hiruhiko was dead, but actually he had picked up Kumeyuri, followed by Samura showing up and decapitating Hiruhiko and Toto, but they had actually disappeared. Kuguri balks as he thinks of what had happened just moments prior.
As Samura was stabbed, the corpses roiled back, leaving Samura standing with a litany of fatal cuts on his person. Samura's sunglasses fall off his face as he comments he is the only one who should get hurt. A pained expression enters Iori's gaze shortly before Samura activates Suzaku. To Kuguri and Iori's shock, fire begins burning at Samura's wounds as well as at the edges of Tobimune's feathers, and Iori realises the wounds are healing; for Suzaku's flames burn on wounds and heal them.
Back in the hallway, Hiruhiko's eyes are wide open as he takes in the approaching murder of feathers, the figure within drawling Hiruhiko had quite the energy for a little shit. With flames burning over his eye scars, Samura hisses that Hiruhiko has said and done enough.
Quick References
Chapter Notes
- Hiruhiko sees Chihiro is not going all-out due to viewing Samura as a more prominent threat and vows to kill Samura first to make Chihiro focus on him.
- Toto hides.
- Hiruhiko uses Play to manipulate the corpses in the hallways of the hotel and on the roof, sending them all to the roof. He then amplifies the strength of Banquet within his and Chihiro's hallway, making it appear longer than it actually is.
- It is revealed Kuguri hid behind scaffolding when Samura initially showed up at the hotel.
- Hiruhiko increases Banquet's strength in regards to Samura specifically, creating an illusion of a scene from his past which freezes him long enough for the corpses to stab him multiple times. As the corpses approach Iori, Samura forces himself in front of the attacks, taking over a dozen fatal wounds.
- Samura's Banquet-induced hallucination breaks.
- Samura uses Suzaku to heal his wounds, eliminates the corpses on the roof, descends into Chihiro and Hiruhiko's hallway and floods part of the hallway in a storm of dark feathers, flames over his eye scars.
Characters in Order of Appearance
Author's Comment
| Author Comment | |
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Takeru Hokazono |
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