The horn resonated throughout the mountain, captivating the attention of both samurai and yokai alike.

One of Sora's arrows flew through the air and pierced the gruff samurai's neck, silencing him immediately. The samurai fell to the ground dead, but it was far too late to reconcile our dilemma so simply.

The fat one stumbled back slowly, his eyes widened as his mind raced to figure out his next move. If he were to turn and run, he would be left open for Sora to fire at him. Although he was able to use his weight and get himself out of Anzen's grasp, there was no way he could outpower our group of five.

The fat samurai was left slowly backing up while still facing us, but yet again this wasn't a foolproof plan.

As Sora pulled back his bowstring, readying his shot, the fat samurai knew that he wouldn't escape.

Before Sora let loose, I put a hand on his shoulder. I knew that the more samurai we let go, the more we would have to face later on in our journey. But I did not plan on letting this samurai go free. No, I had plans.

I waved for him to move closer to us. Without any other option, he did just that. The fat samurai shuffled slowly over, knowing that the longer he took the more a chance of his companions coming and saving him was. So, I prompted him by waving faster and by letting Sora pull his bowstring ever more taut.

Voices called and shouted from the large group of samurai coming to investigate the noise, which meant that we had to be quick.

As he got close, he spoke in a fearful voice, it's deep tone on the very edge of breaking and turning to cracked. "I won't say anything! Y-You can blame it all on me! They'll never know!"

We all knew these were blatant lies. If the fat one did indeed lie on our behalf, he'd die by the hand of the shogun for sounding the horn and presumably killing his friend. Instead, he would act as if that was what he was going to do until he was in safety, using his fellow samurai as body shields like his friend tried to do with him.

The torchlights grew closer. Knowing that we didn't have much time until we would be found out, I reached forward and grabbed the samurai by his breastplate. Anzen quickly followed and easily allowed us to throw him into the brush concealed mountainside.

Without much time for thought, I jumped out of the forest and took the corpse of the gruff samurai by the arms and dragged him halfway into the shrubberies.

Our only hope was to make it seem as though a yokai had attacked. I knew that the horn had to be meant for us. There was no way they'd risk calling more yokai if it wasn't for something more important, but this was as good a plan as I could conceive on such short notice. Once I let the body down, I spoke to the others. "We have to make it seem like a yokai grabbed him. Swiftly." Anzen readied his dagger as he grew closer to the fat samurai, causing me to bark at him louder than I most likely should have. "Don't kill him! Make it seem like a yokai but keep him alive, it will delay the shogun longer if we do. Just... Pacify him."

Anzen nodded, understanding exactly what I meant. By all means, I would kill when the time came. But Anzen killed quickly and quietly, we needed more of a show to keep them staggered.

The fat samurai reluctantly tried to crawl backward as Anzen took hold of his leg and positioned himself. He stomped down on the samurai's knee with as much force as he could muster, causing the bones to audibly snap. An injury that not even the deranged old Doctor could salvage, but entirely non-fatal. I had no sympathy for the shogun's dog. All of them were faithless liars and full of greed. I knew the shogun had no sympathy for the dead and wouldn't even bother to bury his men, but an injured man was a delay not even the shogun could leave for the yokai. The only thing keeping his samurai working for him was their own gluttony and lust for power, which meant that the shogun and Doctor would be forced to waste their time taking care of the soldier before following us.

As the fat man's voice finally cracked as he shrieked through the mountainside forest, I leaned forward and spoke. "It was a yokai. If it wasn't, we will find you and you will have wished it were otherwise."

After I gave us the final piece of insurance we could get, I urged for my acquaintances to join me in frantically sprinting up the steep pathways to Amaterasu's palace.

Shouting and movement came from behind us. As I had suspected we had been found out near immediately. It was still enough to give us a headstart, but I doubted we would find any sleep that night.

A night of running for our lives and racing our enemies to the palace of the sun goddess herself.

As we thumped loudly upward, I looked around. Ahead of me, Anzen frowned deeply and huffed steadily. Sora's blank face was now somewhat twisted due to his struggle to keep up with the rest of us in the back, but I knew we wouldn't outpace him. Lee looked as though he had been lit on fire and he had decided to run faster than it could chase him. His sprint was spectacular, but he struggled infinitely without breaks. And I was sure that his expression was more than just exhaustion. I knew that he must have been stunned at Anzen's unexpected brutality, but this wasn't a game of slights like before, we had to take action or we would surely fail.

As Lee easily gained the lead in front of us due to his youthful speed, I finally looked over to Hayato. He was only slightly behind me, and he seemed completely unfazed. His face showed mixed emotions from our previous decisions, but he was completely undaunted by the run. His stamina continued to surprise me.

But all that stamina and speed would be put to the test, especially when paired with the conventional tiredness.

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Insomnia ruled over me when I worked in Kohei's unit with the Doctor on top of being pinned under the shogun's filthy thumb, so I was used to the lack of sleep. But the likes of Hayato never had to stay awake for longer than he wanted to. He struggled to keep watch when it was his turn during our travels, and when he did fall asleep he almost seemed like he was made of stone, so I would just have to hope his willpower superseded his need for sleep.

Whenever my insomnia would make another visit during our journey, I would see Anzen sharpening something or simply gazing into the dying fire, so I had no doubt he could keep up. Sora also stayed up spectacularly late reading his books. Lee, however, also seemed like he might be a problem. But young people have the ability to survive off of almost no sleep, so I had faith he wouldn't collapse on us.

We ran for what seemed forever. Every so often a yokai would hear us and charge in pursuit. Luckily Hayato and Anzen's training paid off. Every yokai that didn't give up after a bit of chasing for the more appetizing and slower group behind us was quickly sent rolling down the steeper parts of the mountain with the twins' ember.

With even more time, I noticed the scenery begin to change.

Even though we had only just begun to reach our goal, the forest altered. Large fields of dying sun lilies started appearing over trees and bushes. Stone covered walkways instead of matted dirt paths.

The generations of sun worshipers from hundred of years ago built the palace. Seeing even the furthest of its estate dying and reduced to near rubble brought me much dismay.

My desire to reach the palace grew ever stronger as I noticed the yokai walking in the dead valleys on sun lilies. Their ashen black feet trampled over the flowers Amaterasu would take so much care of. They didn't walk as intently towards the center anymore. The yokai seemingly just wandered the grounds, still moving upwards but with far less urgency.

As Lee finally started to drop from his place in front of us, he raised his hand. We all stopped as Lee rested with his hands on his knees. "I need to take a break..."

I took a look around. There was a yokai in the moonlit distance, but it didn't seem intent on following us. There was a large stone just off the rocky path that we could all sit on with a view over the trees at the majestic landscape of Nihon. With my need for rest compared with the perfect place to rest, I obliged. Walking over to the stone I sat, waving for the rest to join. "We have to make it quick."

The party gladly sat and caught their breath.

Gazing at the horizon, I saw the endless ocean reflect the bright blue moonlight. The scattered orange lights of bustling cities pierced through the darkness of the forests and rice paddies. The brightest light was Kamakura, a shining and bustling city. Taken by the shogun and turned into another slum. At the beach was Hayato's quaint village. The only time I would leave my shack in the woods would either be indiscriminate work in the rice fields to survive, or to go through the portal to the beachside village.

For so many years I would see Anzen and Hayato sitting atop their pedestals and thought of them with only hate and remembrance of the samurai that I once was under the shogun. If you had told me, back when I bound my arms in linen to hide the scars of my past, that all of this would happen, I would've scoffed.

But here we were, so close to our goal. The shogun and old Doctor may be breathing down our necks, but I still felt my blood boil with determination.

I continued to look out at the horizon as we tried our hardest to catch our breath in the thin air.

Yet another aspect I didn't realize was that I had grown used to the lack of oxygen during my years living on Mt.Fuji, but the rest seemed to struggle for breath. Luckily, the same also applied to the shogun's men and horses. Either they would insist on bringing all of their supplies and put a strain on the horses, causing them to be short for breath and take longer. Or perhaps the Doctor decided to rid himself of the horses and put all the strain of bringing his supplies on the backs of his men, which would only lead to the same outcome.

Sora caught my attention. He drew back his bow and shot an arrow down the steep hills full of withered sun lilies and hit the yokai I had noticed earlier. The yokai fell to the ground and quickly turned to ash.

Turning, I questioned Sora. "Why? It wasn't going after us."

Sora stared blankly in the empty spot the yokai once was. "It... Did not belong in this place."

Hayato nodded. "It makes my stomach churn seeing yokai in this place. I hope lady Amaterasu was able to block herself in the inner palace..."

Anzen snapped his head over to Hayato, berating him in the way he usually would with me, except this time he spoke for my sake. "Don't say such things! Of course she did. Lady Amaterasu is a goddess, I'm sure she can defend herself from whatever demon that shows its face."

I sighed. "It's fine, Anzen. Hayato is right. Her best chance would be to barricade herself. She doesn't need food, water, or sleep. On top of that, she doesn't have the power to kill or destroy, not even yokai. She isn't all-powerful like the elder dragon once was. She is the sun. She gives life, warmth, and light. Destruction and death aren't capable of her." I looked at my hands. The skin warped and discolored from my ember being stripped from me. Burning patterns creeping up my forearms and stopping at the elbow. "That's why she gave me an ember. She couldn't kill, but she could give her own raw power to a human. We're like blank slates, so we gain whatever power our mind allows us, which is why we train our minds to improve and expand our embers. It was all so this wouldn't happen, but I ruined it. The sun setting is my fault, I know this. But I can make it right, we all can."

Lee put a hand on my shoulder. I flinched from the unexpected hand. Talking about my past. Remember that I'm still who I was. The man who fell in love with the goddess, and the man who shamed himself. It brought upon some of my old habits from living alone for so long. One of the most prominent being the unfamiliarity with human contact. Lee quickly took his hand off of my shoulder seeing my reaction. I wanted to tell him that I didn't mean to act like I did, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. Hopefully he realized it was just nerves and not a disdain towards him.

Instead, Lee smiled with an air of anxiousness that he kept with him since we started climbing the mountain. "I know we can do it, Kenshi. We're so close now, I can imagine seeing the goddess' smile already!"

I smirked. Lee reminded me somewhat of myself at his age. His urge to prove himself and gain an ember made me think of why I climbed Mt. Fuji the first time, and now seeing his bright faith shine in the darkness made me smile. To pay for my sour reaction earlier, I put my hand on Lee's shoulder. "Thank you."

After a moment of all of us catching our breath and looking at the sights, the voices of the shogun's men started resonating from downhill. Anzen was the first to stand as the lights of lanterns started showing at the largest pathway upward.

The Doctor and shogun had to be sitting in a silky palanquin carried by samurai, which moved slowly from cobblestone walkway to cobblestone walkway. The rest of the samurai moved on foot with packs of supplies. There was a bull-pulled cart full of wooden supplies that they most likely wanted to use to fortify the palace for themselves.

I didn't have much time to inspect them all as the samurai started shouting and pointing towards us. We burnt almost all of our lead, but now we actually had the strength to go on. I knew we could reach the palace without another break and without losing our lead.

We've walked all the way to Mt.Fuji, my legs felt more eager than ever to run.

It was time to end it as swift as the wind.