Overall, Kaede even liked staying with the dragons. Since they could transform into humans, they owned not only a complex network of caves but also richly furnished rooms and lavishly decorated halls cut into the cliffs.
After their arrival, they were simply told to wait, which is what they did. The young copper dragon Hirui said he would visit them soon, but that had yet to happen. Thankfully, a pair of silent dragonesses brought them food daily, so one could say they hadn't been forgotten.
However, the disdainful expression on their young faces was quite irritating.
During the wait, the young yokai couldn't help but wonder whether the dragons had built all this splendor themselves or had kidnapped craftsmen from around the world.
In the latter case, there was a strange point to consider.
Kaede had never heard of such extensive stone construction anywhere, so finding craftsmen of such caliber would have been problematic.
Katsuya, unlike her friend, was quite troubled by their "imprisonment" and was worn out with worry for her beloved. The presence of a chaos cult near his trade routes did nothing to ease her mind.
"Kaede, dragons live very, very long. Of course, they are not immortal like us, but their longevity far surpasses that of other species. Everything you see here could very well have been built thousands of years ago when humans' ways were entirely different," Katsuya responded to her question.
"In what way, different?" the girl eagerly clarified.
"I have no idea," Katsuya shrugged indifferently. "For such questions, you should seek the Great Spirits. But I think it's best we don't show up there for the next couple of hundred years."
"Tell me, why did they do this?" Kaede frowned, her gaze shifting away in resentment as she remembered their escape from the Secret City. "You yourself talked about their wisdom. And they just brushed us off!"
"I don't know," the Kumo sighed sadly, stirring the contents of her cup. They were drinking tea at the moment. The dragons had an impressive collection of this noble beverage. "Perhaps the disappearance of Lord Great Serpent has hit them harder than I could imagine. Or maybe they've always been like this, and I just didn't notice."
The Kuchisake-onna abruptly drank her tea, earning a disapproving look from her companion, but she didn't care.
"And what's wrong with the dragons, then?" Kaede asked with irritation, causing the older yokai to roll her eyes tiredly. "We've been sitting here for over a month! How much longer do we have to wait?! What are they waiting for?!"
"I don't know, Kaede!" Katsuya exploded, glaring at the young yokai. "You keep asking me questions I don't have answers to. If you haven't noticed, I'm stuck in the same place as you!"
Surprisingly, no one even restricted the two yokai's movements, though it could be considered the usual dragons' mockery.
Simply put, if one of the yokai had decided to venture beyond the palace complex where they were housed, she would have had to either learn to fly or navigate a sheer mountain slope at an altitude of several kilometers, buffeted by the most brutal winds imaginable.
Moreover, none of them knew how the dragons would react to their acting on their own accord, so they had no choice but to fume in ignorance and endure.
Could the dragons be discussing returning the fugitives to the yokai rulers? Such unresolved questions were maddening.
"Ladies, ladies, no need to fight!" an overly cheerful voice broke into their argument, causing both yokai to freeze in shock and then quickly turn towards the door.
"Hirui!" With a blur of motion, Kaede disappeared from her place to throw herself around the neck of the bewildered copper dragon. "I was worried that we had caused you trouble."
"Nah, don't worry about me!" Hirui responded bravely, trying to avoid Katsuya's ironic gaze and not knowing where to put his hands. "Grandfather was, of course, upset, heh-heh, but luckily, I managed to convince him that all was not so bad. He almost didn't threaten to tear off my wings and chain me to some lonely rock..."
"But why was there neither you nor someone else around?" To his great relief, Kaede finally released the lad, and they all took seats around the tea table.
"I'm not supposed to be here even now. Fortunately, illusions have always come easy to me, and I managed to slip past the guards," the young dragon laughed nervously under Katsuya's widening eyes. "But I decided I had to tell you something before it all begins," he became more serious, dropping the playful tone. "Kaede, listen to me carefully, this concerns you too."
"Of course, Hirui. I'm listening attentively," Kaede readily nodded, folding her hands on her knees like an obedient girl. This caused Katsuya's eye to twitch noticeably - she had never behaved like this with her!
"I heard you asked why the dragons haven't summoned you yet? This stems from the unhurried nature of our lives. Since we can live very, very long, at some point, adult dragons start to lose, let's call it, 'sense of time.' We might start pondering what we ate yesterday, and while we think, weeks could pass by."
Kaede's eyes widened in alarm as she looked at Hirui.
"Has this curse affected you too?"
"No, no, don't worry," the copper dragon smiled. "It only affects the old and experienced dragons. But although they are old, it only speaks of their great power. And here we touch on a subject that is a bit sensitive for any dragon."
Hirui sighed heavily, as if bracing for something insurmountable.
"We dragons, let's say, consider ourselves just a tiny bit better than the rest," he received two starkly blank and unexpressive stares in response.
Dragons' arrogance was legendary, but less was said about their inability to recognize their flaws, although they were no better in this aspect.
"We understand what you want to say, Hirui-san," Katsuya came to the aid of the flustered reptile. She already realized that they wouldn't get anything better than this.
"Oh, wonderful," the dragon finally relaxed. "So I beg you to be extremely careful at the upcoming gathering. It should happen in a few days. The elders arrived just the other day, which, I must say, is very fast for our kind. No jokes or thoughtless words, show as much respect as possible. If you want, treat it as a pretense. Otherwise, the consequences could be dire."
"I'll be quiet," Kaede solemnly promised.
"I'm glad I wasn't wrong about you." The dragon and the yokai froze, staring at each other, making Katsuya feel superfluous.
"Hirui-san, you said you sneaked in here without permission," she finally wormed her way into their idyll, causing the lad to look away reluctantly. Perhaps you shouldn't stay here too long."
"You're right, yokai," he stood up and cast one last glance at Kaede. "I hope we'll have many more opportunities to talk in the future. By the way," he gave the girl a sly look. "I've always been curious about how good you yokai are at illusion magic. Maybe we can compete in that sometime."
With that, he quickly left, leaving Kaede and Katsuya to ponder the information provided.
*****
Goby, a desert yokai who looked like an unimaginably dry old man, was displeased. He had just been having such a nice chat with a pair of comely kitsune when a new order arrived from the Great Ones.
'Go and deal with the suddenly exposed chaotic cult that has become so brazen that it has started recruiting cultists openly,' the same order echoed in Goby's head again.
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The yokai grimaced and turned his head, surveying the warriors sneaking among the stones, and he didn't like what he saw.
Since the last significant chaos cult was vanquished, too much time had elapsed, causing the majority of his warriors to grow complacent and fall out of shape.
He did attempt to drill them occasionally, but truth be told, it wasn't nearly frequent enough.
Fortunately, the information about the cult's location was sufficiently detailed for him to plan their attack, avoiding unnecessary risks.
That's what he thought, at least, as he approached the descent from the mountain ridge and looked down at the endless sea of trees below.
But fate had other plans.
As it turned out, the path they took to descend was quite noticeable, so the ambush prepared there worked out perfectly.
The magic of chaos is disgusting in itself, but it acquires its shades of repulsiveness depending on which plane the followers of change serve.
Needless to say, the supporters of the plane of rot rightfully deserve one of the top spots in this "division."
The cloud of mutated insects that fell upon Goby's warriors was so dense, and the smell of decay so strong, that many of them nearly lost consciousness and blindly tried to leave the dangerous area.
The tiny creatures bit, tried to burrow under the skin, and buzzed incredibly loudly, drowning out all surrounding sounds.
Only, while the yokai saw and heard nothing, the chaos servants themselves weren't bothered by the magic at all. And, as it turned out, their ranks already included not only other yokai and peasants.
Dozens of offensive elemental techniques tore apart stone and snow, staining them with blood and filth from the exploding insects.
Warmasters of various arts, obeying the will of chaos, joyously hurled one technique after another at the yokai. Considering that among them were quite a few advanced warmasters, it's not hard to imagine the devastation they wrought.
Goby himself, wrapped in the sand he created from the mountain stone, dashed aside, calling on his fighters to do the same.
But the chaos servants were too well prepared.
All the surrounding area was a giant seal, where all sounds and other forms of communication were muffled.
The rotten ones clearly didn't want information about their attack to spread further.
And the bombardment of the surrounded and stunned yokai continued. Following the elemental techniques came the truly demonic magic, illuminating the surroundings with a putrid green glow.
Wherever it touched the bodies of the yokai, their flesh instantly slid off the bones, turning into something that then attacked its former comrades, and sometimes even its former owners - if they were still alive by some oversight of the gods.
All present were embodied, which meant that the death of the physical body was fatal for them.
The realization of such a cruel fact forced Goby to rethink his priorities.
It pained him to abandon his subordinates, but he had to warn the Secret City. The forces of chaos were getting too close. Moreover, they already had many warmasters at their service, which was almost equivalent to a disaster.
A simultaneous hit by several chaos spells nipped that hope in the bud.
The sand that rose against the malevolent magic helplessly scattered under such daunting force.
Then came a monstrous pain in his legs, which instantly flowed into his arms.
Overcoming agony, Goby managed to look at himself, then groaned through clenched teeth.
Now, he had no legs, actually, as well as arms. In their place were bloodied stumps, in which something was already beginning to wriggle. However, this "something" stopped the blood, not allowing him to die.
His vision swam, and the greenish fog swirling around confused his thoughts.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" a cloyingly sweet voice behind the yokai was almost immediately followed by excruciating pain in the shoulder blade and chest.
As it turned out, he had just been hung, like a piece of meat, on a huge hook. And the handle of that hook was held by a gigantic, no less than three meters, swollen fat man.
His entire body was entwined with numerous knotty ropes and even chains, but even so, the swollen flesh squeezed through the numerous gaps.
A samurai shoulder guard rested mockingly on his shoulder, along with a pair of skulls too small for adults.
A torn robe almost didn't hide the disgusting sores on his body. The only thing that was hidden was the face. On the head of the distinguished cultist was a thick metal "bucket" with many tiny holes for sight.
Why did Goby consider the cultist "distinguished"?
Simply put, an ordinary chaos servant clearly would not have earned such a number of gifts from his nightmarish masters. This spoke of years of loyal and steadfast service to the forces of decay.
"How stupid you are!" the walking mountain of fat and filth chortled. "You kept walking the same path, no scouts or patrols. If I had served my daimyo like that, I would have been beaten to death with sticks as punishment. But no matter, soon we will show you the depth of your ignorance. In the service of the true masters, you'll get a chance to correct your mistakes, ho-ho. And don't worry about your limbs; the masters will give you new arms and legs! They'll be better than the old ones, ho-ho!"
The champion of chaos continued to amuse himself by twirling the mutilated yokai, and Gobi's gaze, filled with pain and chaos poison, couldn't tear itself away from the ceaselessly emerging new and new detachments of chaos servants.
The most appalling thing was that they all moved towards the mountains, praising chaos or breaking into prolonged fits of laughter and coughing.
One of the defeated commander's subordinates tried to get up, but they mockingly pinned him to the ground, then sadistically slowly pierced him with blades and collectively doused him with bodily fluids. The last thing the sand master saw was a plea for help, frozen in the eyes of the fighter.
A single tear rolled down the cheek of Goby, the sand yokai.
'Great Spirits, please, may you find yourselves ready for what's coming, for I have failed you.'
*****
Unlike other Great Clans, the Hizoru clan did not have just a single headquarters.
Since ancient times, the fire-wielders had three ruling families that had once united into one clan.
After that, they signed an unbreakable pact stating that power would belong to a representative of each family in turn.
The other, less influential families were distributed among these three centers. However, each family had its own branches and even districts in each such settlement.
The Hanowaru family ruled the Hizoru clan in the previous generation, so their turn would not soon come again.
Nevertheless, Ikiru Hizoru had to make a choice that would decide the fate of his own clan.
Right now, he was waiting at the edge of a forest. Waiting for those upon whom the future of all who were dear to him would depend.
The trusted warriors of his family around him were nervous. Ikiru had briefed them on the plan roughly, emphasizing the danger of their future allies.
Yet he didn't reveal everything he knew. Why? Because he was afraid.
And it took a lot to scare someone like him.
To reach the rank of supreme, Ikiru had to see a lot of dirt and horrors that filled this world.
But when chaos stares you in the face, you have to think very fast.
The war with Avasaki forced Hizoru to give it their all. The countries they served also exhausted each other to the limit, sparing no one.
But even in this war, Ikiru repeatedly observed signs that were ominous, even by the standards of a World War.
What could one make of the warmasters going mad, completely losing their fear of death and sense of pain? Something like that was reminiscent of the legendary vampires, but the Deathbringers had hidden well in recent years.
Naturally, the family head began to dig deeper, and the more he learned, the worse he felt.
The situation looked as if they were all just actors in one huge play, the end of which was already predetermined and known.
He wanted to find out this very end, for which he delved into the most ancient and secret archives of his clan. And he discovered the answer to his question.
That day, he realized that fighting against something so grandiose was simply pointless.
Can an ant hope to kill a human?
He only wished his clan well. And if he wanted his kin to continue living, he had to, in essence, commit betrayal.
"I see, Lord Ikiru, you have made the right choice," the sudden words agitated the entire guard. It wasn't often that someone managed to pass by them completely unnoticed.
"Yes... Master," the family head uttered with difficulty, turning to the figure in a hood standing in the shadow of a tree. "My family is ready to join... Your cause. We choose life."
"Oh, believe me." Hearing this, Ikiru noticed that inhumanly massive figures flickered beyond the trees. Something spoiled wafted through the air. The envoy began approaching slowly, revealing a broad smile on his deathly pale lips. The upper part of his face remained hidden in shadow. "We, more than anyone else, are interested in giving you and your clan a long, I would even say, eternal life."
The clan head nodded jerkily.
"Nevertheless, my masters want to make sure that you fully share our values. Do you mind being tested for your thoughts? This also applies to your people."
"I and my people are ready."
"Excellent," the chaos envoy stretched out his hands, allowing a glimpse of how the veins on his pale wrists came alive, then, like worms, broke through the skin and, swelling up, made their way into his palms.
A minute later, before the frightened Ikiru were folded palms wriggling with pale pink vein-worms.
"Eat," now, the envoy's voice held not a shred of softness. There was only steel. "Accept the gift of our masters and rise above the ignorance of the others."
Without saying a word, the head of the family desperately grabbed a worm and swallowed it without chewing. His throat spasmed, but he managed to keep his stomach under control.
For a dozen seconds, nothing happened, and then Ikiru was surprised to find that the headache and general weakness that had plagued him in recent days began to subside.
"Now, your people."
"No-no-no," someone's frightened voice made the clan head quickly dart his eyes around, searching for the source. It turned out to be one of his warriors.
"Oki, snap out of it!" Ikiru commanded sternly, but the fighter was beyond calming down.
"Master, have you lost your mind? I won't..." A two-handed axe, flying out of the forest with the speed of lightning, nailed the now-dead body to a thick tree trunk, causing it to shake to its core and crack at the point of impact.
"Let's return to the ritual," the envoy said with a gentle smile to the other warriors, offering them writhing worms. "Let's not keep our masters waiting."
Ikiru himself was surprised to find that his body inexplicably began to feel increasingly better.
The anxieties that had driven him mad before now receded, and his mind finally cleared.
No more fog of uncertainty; from this moment on, he saw the world with crystal clarity.
After all, he now had those who would take the best care of him and his clan.
For the glory of chaos. For the glory of decay and rot.