Visible amongst the artificial coils was a much thicker bulge of stone, several rooms each big enough to hold a normal house with space to spare left inside. Tenjo's eyes focused on them, noting where they were and which hallways seemed to lead to them.

That was most likely the place where they would be keeping prisoners, and her best bet for finding Daichi. Destination now fixed in her mind, she turned around, only to pitch over, having put her weight on the same leg that the arrow had pierced.

She fell into waiting arms, a pair of strong hands catching her as a dropped sword clattered to the ground.

Tenjo steadied herself with help, and straightened up to see Kyu-Son's red eyes narrowed as she looked down at her, arms still fixed in place supporting her.

"You're really not in any condition to be running around," she said. "I suppose I still owe you a favor, so I'll give you a hand here, considering you clearly need my help."

Tenjo started to reply only to hiss in pain as she stood on her own again. The cuts from before had been reopened and strained in her one-sided conflict, blood flowing more freely and staining her robe even more of a dark red, it's original color now almost entirely hidden.

"You don't have any obligation to do that," she said. "Besides, if you're looking for vengeance there's probably a lot better odds of finding out what you want to by fighting in the main battle rather than following me."

"I must have made even a worse impression than I thought," Kyu-Son answered, letting out a sigh and shaking her head back and forth in an exaggerated fashion. "I'm not going to go seeking out vengeance on a bunch of scrubs if that means letting someone else end up dead in the same way."

"Sorry-," She begin.

"Also, wouldn't it make sense for the strongest one, their boss, to not come running out alongside all of his underlings?" She continued, a smile breaking out on her face as she bent down to retrieve her dropped saber. "If anything, this gives me the best chance both for vengeance and to prove just how strong I really am."

Tenjo returned the smile. "In that case, I suppose it would be rude of me to try and refuse your help."

She looked at her sword, still in her hand. It had picked up a bend when she stuck it into the wall before, and it was deformed enough that it wouldn't fit in her sheath. She knelt down, and then pressed it against the stone until it became straight again, only a slight deviation remaining.

She placed it in the sheath, and then nodded to Kyu-Son. “Alright, I’m ready.

As they continued, the roof grew higher and the walls further apart, confirming the direction was likely leading them towards the larger area that Tenjo had spotted. Then it suddenly opened up entirely, spilling out into a massive room that was almost entirely empty.

A raised platform took up the majority of the wall across from the entrance, several steps along the whole length gradually raising up to the open expanse of stone, where a massive statue that mirrored the one on the outer gate covered the wall above it, reaching from the ceiling to just above head height.

It was massive, and even though it had fallen into disarray, it was clear that no expense had been spared in construction. each individual piece was crafted with a masterful touch, every metal from cold and silver to copper and bronze used in the shining coat of scales, gradually rippling one layer at a time in a way that made the coils almost seem to slither across the wall as her gaze followed them from the finely tipped tail at the roof down to the center.

Under the snarling head stood a man, who faced them and spread his arms wide in greeting as they entered.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He asked.

For a second neither one of them spoke, and then he continued without waiting for a response.

"Once it was considered one of the great treasures of the empire, back when Oukon was still a center of trade. It had hundreds of visitors, thousands, every day to come worship."

He turned to look at it.

"Now it's in this state, the temple empty and the god abandoned even before I lead this group here. This country has abandoned the gods, instead worshiping money and their own power. One of the grandest temples in the land left to wither, while the false emperor who has the audacity to wear the one from who he took his title builds his own power, his own perverse cult around himself, trying the replace the same heavens that he claims to have been chosen by."

The man stepped off the platform, walking towards them and drawing his slender, straight sword from his belt as his unnaturally white robes billowed out around him, the flowing sleeves revealing the black and red wrappings beneath.

"That's why I've done this. I'm going to crush Oukon with my own power, and the help from my sponsor, and from there my rebellion will expand,” He continued. “I'm going to show the world who is truly the Son of Heaven, and rebuild this land into a temple of faith, one free from the false emperor's corruption."

"That's a load of bullshit," Kyu-Son spat. "You can talk about the evil of the empire all you want, but in the end, it doesn't change the fact that you're going around killing innocent people for the sake of your own goal."

“Some sacrifices are required to change the world for the better,” He replied. “In the end, it will all by worth it to reach my goal.”

“Your sponsor is the Rising Blades, isn’t it?” She asked, her voice filled with a barely controlled anger. “Those bandages are their handiwork. After all, you’re both a just a crazy group of killers who need to be put down.”

"I've spent enough time talking," He stopped, just a few steps away from them and out of reach. "Words are useless now."

His sword raised to point at them, and his aura burst out, easily outclassing Tenjo. He was close to the level of a master, the pulsing invisible energy around him throbbing with bloodlust contained in tight, controlled waves. "I'm in a bit of a rush, so I’ll take you two weaklings both on at once. At least try to put up a fight before you die."

“This is a duel,” Tenjo replied. “We’re not going to do anything like that. I’ll take you on, fairly, no matter how big the gap in power might be.”

Kyu-Son silently moved off the to side, giving her plenty of room to freely move her sword.

He smiled, a look that was impossibly pleasant and normal, yet that left his eyes burning with a deep anger. “You will come to regret your pride, soon enough.”

Her injuries prevented her from moving normally, making charging in and taking the initiative almost impossible. But a second option came to her mind, one that would be far more suited for dealing with her handicap.

Tenjo stepped forward, placing her weight her front leg and bending over halfway. Her low stance brought the newly sheathed katana on her opposite hip back around to behind her, both concealing it and maximizing the distance the blade would cover in one strike.

This stance was deeply impractical under normal circumstances. Not only would the one-handed draw cut be slower than a normal swing with both hands, but the weapon would start behind her, but it was twice as far away, meaning any strike that came from the front would hit first by a considerable margin, even if the attacks were at the same speed.

That was under normal circumstances though. The Silver Crescent Moon was the exception, being a draw cut much faster than a standard blow, at the cost of having an easily predictable trajectory.

With the blade behind her, that same flaw was cut in half, the angle of the sheath and from with the attack would come being much harder to keep track of. In this way, the stance and technique both compensated for the others weakness, turning two impractical parts into a single worthy whole.

It was a counterattack that was well suited to the Silver Crescent Moon style, one that Tenjo would have normally never thought of, if not forced to abandon her standard way of attacking.

The white robed man made his own movement, stepping forward into what should have been one step still out of her range. In that moment, Tenjo gripped the hilt of her sword as high as she could, and then stepped forward and activated her technique at the same time she pushed off with her front leg, extending her reach and speed both, and sending at him an attack that amplified both of those attributes to abnormal levels.

A hidden blow that had the boosted speed, thrown from what should have been two steps back out of range. It was the perfect attack, one that was able to even threaten someone this much farther along the path than her.

Or at least, it should have been. For whatever reason, her injuries, her mental state, her fatigue, or any combination thereof, she failed to use Silver Crescent Moon, and that perfect combination fell apart, the now overly slow and weak blow being easily deflected by her opponent.

She retracted her front leg, stepping back as quickly as she could, and placed her weight on her left leg instead, causing her knee to give out as the torn muscle in her thigh failed to hold her up, leaving her stranded with no way to defend against his counter that sliced towards her throat.

Only for it to never hit, as man broke it off to instead parry the heavy downwards blow that Kyu-Son had sent at him from the side.

But even in the same motion that he used to turn, he swung his leg into a low kick that landed perfectly on the side of Tenjo's knee, making the leg fully give out and sending her tumbling to the ground.

He followed up against his still-standing opponent in that chance, overwhelming her in speed and using his one-handed sword’s longer range and lighter blade to force her to constantly give ground, never coming close enough to swing at him in earnest.

She tried to break out of it with an overhead strike, prepared to take an injury in order to land it, only for him to step in at the same time she did, locking swords and directing her blade off to the side while grabbing her robe in the front, and then with a burst of strength throwing Kyu-Son over him and back towards where Tenjo was climbing back to her feet.

As they both faced him again, something was changing.

His aura had increased in power, becoming denser around him and causing the dust to puff out around his feet in a circle, and the fragments of stone float just above the ground, even as small cracks formed in the stone under his magnified weight.

Now the sheer level of force he was putting off was greater than anything Tenjo had seen before, even from a master in earnest. The aura felt almost as though it belonged to an entirely different person, and the man himself was different as well, his muscles become slightly larger, his skin taking on a faint reddish tint as though his whole body was flushed with blood.

His presence had a new quality, still just as smooth and fluid, still just as sharp and fearsome, but now more, like a larger-than-life version of the same man compressed into the same space, radiating his killing intent.

Rather than being a phantom sword, it was more like a wall of thorns, the sensation coming off him ripping at her skin and making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, a feeling of impending danger pressing down on her from every angle, forcing her back and down.

"Be grateful you get to be killed by my full power," he said, his previously refined voice now a snarl that felt like every word was forced from his mouth.

He stepped forward, and struck out with a single hand, using his slender blade almost like a whip. Tenjo met it with her solid grip, putting own power behind the strike in order to knock it back to open a gap.

Instead, it chipped the edge of her sword, sending it back and leaving her as the one exposed. It took her everything she had to catch his next blow, despite the fact he lashed out at Kyu-Son before following up.

On the third attack though, rather that striking normally he unleashed another kick at the same time he swung his blade, this time at Kyu-Son.

As he kicked, a jade-green trace of energy trailed behind his leg, and his foot gave off an identical pulse as the blow struck her chest. The resulting force was enough to send her into the air, and then sliding across the floor on her back until she struck the wall.

Then Tenjo was left to deal with his overwhelming onslaught on her own, each blow ringing in her ears and shaking her whole body, and each strike seemingly coming even faster and hitting even harder as her hands began to grow numb.

She was forced to constantly give ground, but for every step she took back he swung two or three blows, containing enough power to push her back even farther and faster, until her balance was compromised too much, and her stance broke.

As the next attack came his sword seemingly broke as well, only for the piece that flew off to form into a second identical blade, which filled in the gap in his attacks perfectly as it moved by itself into his other hand.

The twin swords blended seamlessly into his rush, one blade always following the other and cutting the gap between strikes in half. It was almost like Tenjo was fighting two warriors at the same time, both who were beyond her in terms of speed and power, both working as a perfect team to cut her down.

Somehow, she weathered it. In spite of how far she had been pushed, how badly she was outclassed and how poor her condition was, or perhaps because of that, she was in a state that went beyond her abilities. Just like when she got trapped by the spearmen, or in the moment when she first fully engaged Dewei, something changed.

The attacks were still just as fast, but somehow, she was able to see and defend against to one after another, her body carrying out each motion perfectly while her mind searched for the perfect move with no distractions.

The strikes were deflected off the edge of her sword, her movements small and precise to an extent she would normally never be able, the katana never leaving its place in front of her. The rest of the world faded away, and she could see nothing more than her opponent and his blade, and hear only her own heartbeat pounding in her ears and the ringing of the swords, every fiber of her focused entirely on the fight.

A faint smile had formed unconsciously on her face, the exhilaration and adrenaline and fear all mixing in her and forming a euphoric high as one time after another she cheated a blow that came within an inch of taking her life, the slightest failure a death sentence.

Then both swords repeated the same technique, two becoming four, and rather than moving into his full hands, the new weapons struck at her in the openings the old ones created, a deadly storm of blades that moved on their own.

A downwards cut from her right, and as she tried to defend against it the next floating blade lanced out at her heart. Instead, she guided it past her and turned in the same movement, letting the point sink deep into her shoulder instead.

In that same moment, the other blade in his hand came up from the same side instead, and Tenjo twisted her one functional wrist to let it slide up to her guard, the leftover force tearing the katana from her hand.

Then the fourth and final strike, all thrown within the span of the normal strike of a sword, moved by itself and cut straight down, slashing open the side of her face before dragging through her chest and torso, deep enough that she felt it cut into her ribs as it passed.

The extra weapons faded away, the technique only allowing a single strike from each, and the strange power than had infused his aura was gone, but it had been more than enough.

Her body had given out, going limp and sending her falling towards the ground. Tenjo didn't have even enough strength to lift an arm to protect her face, much less to strike. In a futile attempt to put a scratch on the man before her, she put the last of the energy she could muster into controlling her falling arm, aiming the sword still held loosely in it so that it would land on his foot.

It was a truly pitiful attack. It was about as dangerous as a dropped knife, the power of the sword’s fall likely not even enough to get through his shoe, even if it landed. The white robed man took a single half step backwards, easily letting it clatter to the stone floor instead.

His white robe instantly turned red, his step having carried him back into Kyu-Son's thrust, leaving the heavy tip of her sword protruding from the center of his ribcage. He tried to say something, and then the blade twisted, and whatever words he had were replaced with a mouthful of blood that spilled out of his mouth as he fell to his knees.

That was the last thing Tenjo saw. As her vision grew dark and lifting her head to look became too monumental an effort, a single thought still echoed in her mind.

"So much for a fair duel..."