“I didn’t know what to do,” Hana muttered.

“That’s because you’ve allowed this Curse to corrupt your mind. Do you understand the risk of inviting it to your Mindspace? If it desired, it could destroy you from the inside! And you just let it into your most vulnerable space!”

I stood from my spot on the tatami floor. “I didn’t ‘corrupt’ anybody. All I did was tell her to free herself from you! Who do you think you are to control her like your property?”

Futakuchi-Onna raised her head to look straight at me. “I am the woman who founded this Prefecture from a patch of farmland by herself because her two sisters didn’t have any interest in growing their home. She turned away from me, instead looking down at Hana. “Yuki never cared for rule, and Honne always felt like she was too big for Minashire. It was on me and me alone to give my family name some weight. I surpassed Level 800 on my own. I was rivaled by no one. And when I felt I’d done all I could for my home, I sealed myself inside the blade by Okukinushi: Tochi no Seifuku-sha.” She shut her eyes, keeping them closed as she spoke again. “My expectation was that my power would be called upon to defend my descendants against enemies of the Shogunate. Imagine my surprise when my power was first called upon to settle a mere bar brawl! Hundreds of years of my power being misused, only to see my grandsons reduced to beggars and my granddaughters reduced to commoners!” She stood now, staring daggers at Hana, whose eyes were glued to the floor. “My family is above that kind of living! You think me unfair for forcing you to do things don’t like?! I force your hand because no one else will force it for you! You need me! If you had the strength of will to make voluntary decisions, I would have no need to act with such a heavy hand!”

I considered Zelos, not for the first time. He’d said similar things to me when I’d asked why he’d force me to commit heinous crimes against humanity. It was all to make me the “God of Destruction” I was meant to be. So that I, as Fallen Star, would become the version of the Curse that he and the Horsemen dreamt of me being. To me, Futakuchi-Onna was no different.

“And who gives you the right to make that decision?! Hana is allowed to live however she pleases!”

“It becomes my right when my descendants live in squalor!” Futakuchi-Onna raged.

As Futakuchi-Onna and I continued to exchange words, I noticed Hana fidgeting and squirming in my peripheral view as though she were preparing to do something. Futakuchi-Onna noticed it as well, if her occasional eye twitches were anything to go off of. Neither of us relented in our war of words, though, that was, until Hana stood between her Grandmother and me. Hana gave me a wary nod and held me back with a hand before turning to face her grandmother.

“I…” She took a deep breath. “I know you were listening to my conversation with Rui earlier. The power I felt when I first used your sword. The strength you led me to. The wealth my… our family gained under your leadership. It was all euphoric.”

“As it should have been. I simply returned you all to your proper stations.”

“And I’m grateful to you for that, Grandmother.”

Futakuchi-Onna nodded.

“But, I think I got used to you making all the decisions for me… because they always led to good things for for me and my family.” Hana shook her head. “But I don’t want my satisfaction to come at the cost of other peoples’ happiness. You’ve done a lot of good for Saikou, but you’ve encouraged a lot of bad as well.”

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“How so?”

“There are reports of Honor Guards completely abusing the new liberties you’ve given them.”

“Then kill them. Do it publicly so your people understand the lengths you would go to protect them.”

“The people are afraid that your constant expansion will lead to the Oni going to war with us, and we aren’t prepared for that at all. I don’t wanna have to kill innocents from Oni Prefecture.”

“Shogun isn’t a title held by pacifism, girl. You must be prepared to–”

“I never asked to be Shogun!” Hana finally snapped. She stiffened. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to raise my–”

Futakuchi-Onna said nothing, instead choosing to sit back down on her inclined stage and beckon Hana to continue with a hand. She did, lowering her voice to a slightly more respectful tone.

“I never wanted to be a Shogun. All I wanted was to protect my family from a group of Curses. I never… this is all just so much. I never wanted this. Sure, my family is safe now. Saikou is safe now. But what happens when the Oni launch an attack against us? You may not know this, but a majority of the Galerose Family is Contracted to Oni. If they start a war with us, they’ll have our Prefecture turned to brimstone in an hour! What if, by some miracle, we defeat the Oni? What happens when the Mamoru Clan comes by to take care of us after we’ve done that? There’s just so much that you haven’t considered, and I’m the one who has to watch you slowly destroy the home I love and jeopardize the safety of my family in order to obtain some outdated version of what Saikou should be like!”

When she finally finished, Hana motioned to kneel but stopped herself. She stood firm, keeping her eyes pinned on Futakuchi-Onna. The ancient Myth across from us stared up at Hana, her expression unusually calm despite all that’d been said. When she spoke, her voice was eerily quiet.

“What are you trying to say, Hana?”

“I… I don’t…”

“You’ve already told me how you feel. It’s too late to go back. Say it.”

Hana took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be controlled by you anymore, Grandmother.”

“Is that an order, Shogun Hana?”

She turned to me with a wary expression. I nodded, though I didn’t say anything. This was the beginning of a Contract Termination Ritual, and we all knew it. Everything changed once she responded. I gathered aura, silently urging Hana to do the same. She did, using it to add more authority to her voice.

“Yes, Shogun Onna. It is. You are no longer welcome in my Mindspace. Consider this the end of our Contract.”

I wasn’t sure how I was expecting Futakuchi-Onna to react. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d have attacked the two of us before Hana got a chance to finish speaking. The last thing I was expecting was for her to look at Hana with a soft expression I’d only ever seen on Averyl and my mother. It was quick. Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it quick. Still, it was there. Once it’d passed, though her face was as dark as I would’ve thought it’d be after Hana severed their Contract. She finally spoke, her voice full of unmitigated vitreal.

”How unfortunate,” Futakuchi-Onna spat.

The legendary Shogun summoned her Mythical Weapon, the steel blade rippling with purple aura. Hana conjured another version of it out of nothing, gathering aura in her sword to match her Grandmother’s.

“I’ll fight her in here,” She said to me, eyes trained on her opponent. “I won’t be able to control my body outside of my Mindspace. That’s gonna be controlled by her as well.”

“So she’s fighting in two places at once?”

Hana nodded. “She’s been fighting your friends as we speak. Tell them that she has cycling elemental weaknesses if they have any abilities or weapons that can exploit that. If I’m able to take control of my body, I’ll try to call them out.”

“My secrets aren’t yours to divulge!” Futakuchi-Onna shouted, lunging at Hana. They clashed swords, the power of the collision creating an aura pulse that sent everyone in the room flying backwards.

“Get out there and help! I’ll be fine here. I promise!”

“Tell me how to leave!” I shouted.

“Sorry! I’ll take care of that!”

A black cloud formed around me, darkening by the second until my vision was swallowed by complete darkness.