Full Metal Daemon Muramasa – Tyrant

Part 7

Note: This project is a fairly old work of mine, written and translated back in 2012, when I was still just starting out as a fan translator — as such, it’s not exactly the highest quality work I’ve ever put out, to say the least. I would’ve deleted it long ago, but since people still seem to be interested in it, I decided to keep it, but felt the need to give this quick warning beforehand.

Back to Muramasa’s route, Part 6

I looked around to get my bearings on the current situation. I was inside Fudaraku Castle, surrounded by the utter chaos unleashed by the Ginseigou.

I have to stop Hikaru.

Muramasa: Midou! I have a message for you from Ootori Kanae.

So she tells him that the GHQ is ready to use the bomb and that Kuniuji is the key, etc. Kageaki speculates that in order to prevent the GHQ from dropping the bomb, he’ll have to arrange  a meeting with Kuniuji and convince him to restore imperial rule to the land of Yamato. The Rokuhara Shogunate in its current state would cease to exist and the GHQ would not have to resort to using the bomb.

Mur: D-do you think you can convince him?

Kag: I’ll have to try. This is probably the most viable option we have right now.

Mur: Although I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, I will support you as much as I can.

….

Cha: There won’t be a need for that. You honestly think scrap metal like her could really be of any use to you?

Mur: Chachamaru…!

Cha: So… you actually swooped in and saved him. Muramasa…!

(There’s an unprecedented amount of hatred in her tone during this scene.)

Cha: I should’ve finished you back at Horigoe… no, even before that, at Hachimangu…! Look at all the trouble you’ve caused due to my one oversight!

Mur: ……..

Cha: It makes me want to laugh. You really are something else, you bitch!

Mur: It was you who started all this.

Cha: Tch. It’s no use crying over spilled milk. I’ll just have to kill you right here.

Chachamaru stepped forward, overcome by a murderous intent that would scare even a hungry crow away in a heartbeat. I instinctively pushed my way into the space between the two women. As I did this and Chachamaru looked upon me, she staggered for a second and fell to her knees.

Cha: *coughing, in pain*

Kageaki: ……?

Cha: Fuck…! Even though these headaches… were starting to go away lately… these voices… are unbearable…!

Kag: Chachamaru…?

Cha: *suddenly looks up, blushing*

Cha: Kageaki…! Y-you’re… still calling me by my name…! Thank goodness. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you went back to “Your Excellency” all over again.

Kag: Chachamaru… Please, stop this madness. I do not know what it is you’re planning – what I do know is that it will endanger the lives of countless innocents.

Cha: I just can’t be mad at you when you’re like that. However… I cannot stop now. Even if it’s you who’s asking. I can’t allow you to meet Kuniuji. You see, your idea is a pretty sound one. Using Kuniuji will indeed help you prevent the bomb from being used.

Cha: Convincing Kuniuji won’t be especially difficult, either. Let’s just say that he’s been… a bit unstable emotionally these days. Should you ask him to destroy the Shogunate, he’ll probably agree to it in a heartbeat. Tch. To think Doushin’s questionable pastimes would come back to bite me in the ass like this…

(Because if you remember, Doushin’s rape of Sakurako still happened in the timeline, regardless of whether or not we witnessed it. Hence Kuniuji’s current emotional state.)

Kag: Why did you go out of your way to tell me all this…?

Cha: Because I’ll stop you, anyway. And also because… you’re my only weakness. I’m head over heels for you, it seems…

Cha: …you lady killer, you.

Kag: Chachamaru! Please, think this over one more time…!

Cha:  Enough talk. You’re only making this harder for me as well, you know. After all, you have the luxury of choice. I don’t.

Mur: Midou. Let us go.

Kag: Muramasa?

Mur: There’s no reason to engage in needless combat. We can just fly out of here, no problem. I know the air is especially dangerous now, but if it’s only a small distance, we’ll manage.

Cha: You idiot.

Mur: What’s your problem?

Cha: The moment you lift up from the ground, I’ll use the opportunity and mow you down. Therefore, you’re an idiot. What kind of Tsurugi would willingly lead her master into certain death?

Mur: …hmpf. I’ve calculated with the possibility of you being able to fly. There is a need for concern, but in the end, you wouldn’t really pose a threat to us.

Cha: Hm. Not too bad. You get 10 points. Out of a billion.

Mur: Why you little…!

Kag: Calm yourself, Muramasa. I personally see no major flaws with your plan.

Cha: It’s only natural Kageaki wouldn’t be able to tell. But you, a Tsurugi… I’m surprised you haven’t noticed yet.

Mur: Noticed what?

Cha: What I truly am.

Mur: Oh, I do know that.

Cha: Really now? Out with it, then.

Mur: You’re a Tsurugi, aren’t you?

Kag: What…?

Cha: …….

Mur: I knew something was odd the moment you took Kageaki from me. Your flesh is unlike that of humans, resembling my own. You’re a Tsurugi taking human form, just like myself.

Cha: Ahahaha! Such a bold, confident statement! You really are sure of yourself, aren’t you?

Cha: You’re wrong, though. I am no Tsurugi.

Mur: That can’t be true…

Cha: Unfortunately, it is.

Mur: But there’s no way you’re a regular person! Don’t think you can fool me!

Cha: I’m not fooling you. You’re merely jumping to conclusions. In your mind, only two categories exist – people and Tsurugi. You can’t think outside the box.

Kag: Is that… armor?!

(Actually, I’ve only noticed it now, but Chachamaru has long elf-like ears as well. It was just really hard to spot due to her hair.)

Her transformation is different from Muramasa’s steel into Emishi transformation. She’s in tremendous pain, and blood is gushing out from several wounds on her body as her skin slowly morphs into  steel. Kageaki is at a loss, and so is Muramasa.

Mur: Chachamaru… what in the world are you?

Cha: I’m a Tsurugi who was born human. A human who was made to be a Tsurugi. I am both, and yet, I am neither. An incomplete halfbreed.

Kag: Chachamaru… ….

Cha: Rotten meat for the maggots of the earth. Feces for the flies. Toads for the shrike. Crimson blood to quench the nocturnal thirst of the tiger.

Kag: ….?!

Cha: As you can see… I’m a “living armor”.

A living armor… neither human, nor Tsurugi. How can such a creature come to be…?

Cha: My father was Ashikaga Morimasa. And my mother was an Emishi blacksmith, Okinaga. I was supposed to be born either a regular human or an Emishi, or possibly a half-Emishi.

Kag: But… that’s not what happened…?

Cha: Unfortunately, no.

Kag: But… why?

Cha: Are you going to sit here and listen to my life story? Shouldn’t you be on your way to somewhere else right about now?

Mur: Midou…

Kag: I know.

Kag: Chachamaru. You’re not going to just let us go, are you?

Kag: I see. Muramasa.

Mur: Got it.

Kag: *thinking* I haven’t done this since the incident at Hachimangu… it almost feels nostalgic. Even though the act itself had never been accompanied by joyful memories. Only battles, suffering, murder – those three were all I could connect it to. Despite that…

Kag: …I’m starting to like it.

Mur: I feel the same.

I stretch out my limbs and loosen my muscles. I let the whirlpool of crimson armor approach me and accept it as my own flesh. It signifies the union of two incomplete beings melting into one. I part my lips and utter the sacred vow burned into my mind.

Meet a demon – slay the demon.

Meet a saint – slay the saint.

Therein lies… the way of the sword!

So they fight. After a while, Chachamaru managed to get the upper hand and ends up holding Kageaki by the throat, barely allowing him to move or breathe. Kageaki, after struggling for a while, orders Muramasa to shed her armor from his right hand. Due to the extreme force Chachamaru was applying to his armored body, the moment the armor is shed, his shoulder is immediately disconnected.

This in itself surprises Chachamaru and she loosens her grip, allowing Kageaki to escape and Muramasa to re-armor his hand and begin healing.

Chachamaru is outraged by the fact that Muramasa would endanger her master’s life like this.

Mur: I’m not his guardian. I’m only her to lead him to victory. And I’ll do anything for that goal.

So anyway, Chachamaru eventually pulls out her apparent trump card.

Cha: This technique is nothing special, really. I’m merely forcing my own world upon you. You’ve already seen it a couple of times before, Kageaki. However, this this… there won’t be any holding back. I’ll show you my world the way it truly is… So basically she forces her own sensations – the constant screams and the intolerable, incessant noises – on Kageaki.

Cha: Here we go… “Castle of Howling”!

(She says it in Engrish, but I’d personally translate the kanji as Fortress of Incessant Screams. Whatever, you get the idea.)

Kageaki experiences the simultaneous screams of countless of people. He can also more or less make out their myriad shapes. The yelling grows ever stronger, and Kageaki is assaulted by an unbearable amount of different voices, all telling him things. He actually describes it as an endless flow of information assaulting his brain.

(Zeroes and 1s? What, we’re entering Matrix territory here all of a sudden?)

Mur: The sensations of humans and Tsurugi are crossing over into each other…!

Cha: Indeed. Based on human senses, the receptive functions of the Tsurugi gather information and forward it endlessly to the body and the brain… and the result is this torrent of information.

Cha: Are you ready to drown in it, Kageaki…?

Cha: This is not all. A blend of Tsurugi and human such as I is able to grasp something unique that neither of those two alone are capable of… in other words, this. The purple whirlpool shatters, and we are greeted by this sight: (the sound effects are pretty amazing here. Amazing in a way that it manages to seriously unsettle and disturb me. It really portrays Chachamaru’s agony quite well.)

This is… without a doubt… The very same thing they talked about at the Green Dragon Society… No, that’s not right. No. No. No. No. No. No. That was merely a gentle breeze… No, this is…

This is the real the actual … God.

…and then blackness. Eventually he comes to his senses, and back to the real world.

Cha: Oh, you’re surprisingly tough, Kageaki. I really thought your mind would shatter to pieces.

Kag: Chachamaru… were you planning to drag… *that thing*… up from below the ground…?! That… “thing”!

Was it…God? The Devil? That lump of metal? That… force of nature? I don’t even know how to express it in words. However, I do know that is was …colossal. Immensely powerful. Far reaching and without boundaries. Raw power. Sheer might. Pure strength. Violence itself. The crystallization of mayhem and havoc. Pure, genuine power, unimaginable might.

Cha: Yes. Otherwise it won’t ever shut up.

I cannot allow such a thing. It would destroy this entire world. If such a thing is let free to roam the earth… the end will come. I’m certain of it.

Mur: Midou…

Kag: Have you finished healing my arm?

Mur: Yes. But that thing we’ve just seen…

Kag: God…?

Mur: Seems like it wasn’t merely a fairy tale.

Kag: Yeah. I truly wish it was, though.

Mur: We can’t allow that thing to be set free.

Cha: What nonsense are you spouting? That “thing” is your God, you know.

Mur: You mean… Konjin?

Cha: If Wolf’s theory is correct, then yeah. It’s the source of all Tsurugi. Prometheus who stole fire from the heavens. Vishvakarman, who sharpens the very rays of the sun. A visitor from outer space, now buried deep beneath the earth. Konjin Maouson. A being who fell from the heavens many eons ago – the patron deity of blacksmiths.

Muramasa sticks to her previous opinion.

Cha: Hmpf. Even if God himself wants to come to this world?

Mur: A god like that will bring happiness to no one! It should just accept our offerings and quell its anger!

Cha: How very convenient that would be. Then again, religion itself was invented by man, so no wonder it was designed to serve his interests.

Cha: This god has no ears that would listen to your prayers, no mouth that would accept your precious offerings. There is only way to appease it: to let it do as it pleases.

Kageaki unleashes his final, decisive attack. Chachamaru does the same. The two clash… and Chachamaru evades it. This baffles Kageaki, knowing that Chachamru already spent a considerable amount of energy to prepare the previous attack, so backing out at the last moment is supposed to be disadvantageous for her.

Then it hits him. Chachamaru’s only intention was to buy time until the bomb is dropped. She evades Kageaki and flies off – which is when Kageaki and Muramasa realize that’s she has one other reason for doing so. She’s going to kill Kuniuji. The reasons for that should be obvious. If he dies, there’s no one left to convince, and Kageaki’s plan falls apart. Kuniuji’s death alone wouldn’t result in the Shogunate’s downfall, and the GHQ would use the bomb. Kageaki, despite being exhausted, is determined to chase after her.

We then cut to Hikaru, who’s surrounded by eight silver Tsurugi, all of them referring to her as “mother”. Hikaru, along with her “children” then proceeds to destroy the Rokhuara’s airship, thus crushing their final hopes for victory. She is then approached by Doushin in his Tsurugi, who charges at her and the scene ends before the result of their battle could be known. (although it’s probably fairly obvious by now)

We cut to the GHQ airship with Clive, Wolf, and George Gargett’s younger brother, the dude with the light-green hair on a nearby screenshot. Wolf is eager to drop the bomb, but Clive hesitates. He finally asks Wolf what he’s really planning – he points it out that he’s overly suspicious, and doesn’t seem especially interested in the war itself, or the liberation of Yamato, or politics. He seems to have his own agenda, he declares. He points a gun at Wolf and demands to know the truth.

However, he is then surprised by Young Gargett, holding his own gun to Clive’s back.

Clive: So… you were a comrade of Wolf all along?

Gargett: Yes.

Wolf: He is a brother desiring the same goal as I.

Gargett: No. That part is not true. I’m merely… worn-out. I’m tired of the pointless battles, the neverending war. I simply want this to end.

Clive: I see… I thought you were a stronger man, being the younger brother of George. I did not think you would bend the knee to the Queen so easily.

Gargett: You would do well not to belittle me. I have no intention of submitting myself to the Queen.

Clive: But you do plan on fleeing to some island to the south and spending the rest of your days there in peace, no…?

Gargett: No. I will continue to fight. To carry out a fitting judgement for the Commonwealth of Nations.

Wolf: Our goal is to summon God.

Clive: What did you just say, Professor?

Wolf: We wish to summon God himself to our world. Before His might, all falsehood shall melt away. The truth of all things shall be exposed, both good and evil. And mankind shall be judged. He then reveals that Gargett isn’t the only one that joined him – there are many of his followers inside the GHQ, even people on the ship right now. Wolf: Answer me the following with a simple yes or no, if you would be so kind.

Clive: …….

Wolf: Do you admit that you overlooked certain things?

Clive: Yes.

Wolf: …that you were not perfect?

Clive: Yes.

Wolf: …that you have been defeated?

Clive: Yes.

Wolf: So… will you now cooperate with us?

Clive: No.

A gunshot is heard, and we -rather suddenly- cut to a completely different screen with some narration. So I guess that’s it for Clive.

So basically, there was a young, nameless child who was abandoned by her parents and spent three peaceful years living in a quiet mountain village in the care of a kind, elderly couple. However, after three years, their household was attacked by a bandit, who killed the elderly couple and was about to murder the child as well. Before he could do that, something strange happened (the screenshot below flashes at the screen), and the child ended up killing the intruder, shredding his arms to pieces, breaking his spine and tearing his head off.

Instead of taking pity on the child, the villagers were planning to drive her out. Before it could come to that, the child sensed their intention and left the village on her own. She strayed far from human civilization and human voices, preferring to be alone in silence. However, no matter how far she went into remote areas, one voice in her head would never stop, to the point that she was unable to fall asleep.

*sound effect of the voice of God* So all in all, despite not being near humans, she could enver be truly happy. One day, she was found by a man who was her real father. He insisted that he left her in the care of the elderly couple for various reasons and that after a few years he would have come back for her. However, when he did, he found out that the couple was murdered and that she disappeared. In any case, he gave her food, clothes and a new home in his mansion. Finally, he gave her a new name: Chacha.

It later turns out that her father wasn’t as benevolent as he seemed. He viewed Chacha as a monster, and the only reason he took her in was beacuse his bloodline was dying and he needed a successor (his son, the previous successor, died early due to illness). It is also revealed that Chacha’s mother was an Emishi woman that he merely had an affair with on a whim. However, she got pregnant, and before the child could become a problem, he ordered her to turn herself into a Tsurugi. Chacha was born the way she was because her mother basically turned herself into a Tsurugi while she was pregnant with her. The father then left her in the wilderness to die, and that’s how she came to be in the care of the elderly couple.

He states that once his new son is born, he will have no more use for Chacha. Oh, and the robber who killed the couple wasn’t a robber, but an assassin sent by her father. Chacha, due to her special abilities, overhears all of this. Eventually her father’s son is born, and another assassin is sent after her in the middle of the wilderness – however, she resigns to her fate and does not resist. And that’s when the assassin and the girl were, by chance, discovered by a certain someone. Hikaru: You there! How about you stop pointing your blade at an unarmed woman and join me for a dance instead? Like a fragment of the moon that fell from the heavens and gained a life of its own, she stood above them in her silvery radiance. Hikaru: You poor little thing. You gaze up at me with eyes that long for death. But know this – death is no relief. Those who die in the midst of despair will continue to drown in their agony in the afterlife. It would be my pleasure to teach your mind the true way of war… but, for some reason, you remain unaffected by my influence. Killing you would be a disgrace to me. But leaving you here would not be befitting of one who aims to conquer the heavens, either…

So she asks Chacha what troubles her.

The… the voices…

Hikaru: Huh?

They won’t ever cease…no matter where I go, I hear them still, incessantly…

Hikaru: So, um, how about earplugs?

No use…

Hikaru: Hmm~ I see, I see. Well then, you’ll just have to get rid of the source. Right?

The… source?

Hikaru: Well, I don’t fully understand what’s wrong with you, but from what I can tell you’re hearing the voices of a bunch of people who can’t seem to quiet down. So… what if we killed them all?

It wouldn’t work…

Hik: Why’s that?

This isn’t something that can be solved by killing people… even if everyone in Yamato would die, even if everyone in this world would die… this voice would still not cease…

Hikaru: I see. So let’s just kill them all.

What…?

Hikaru: Huh, did I say something odd?

Yes…

Hikaru: But… if we kill everyone in this world, wouldn’t that ease your pain? If that’s the case, we’ll kill them. Each and every one of them. It’s that simple. Which brings us to an interesting situation. For I am the same as you – I’ve made the entire world my foe.

Why…?

Hikaru: For love. For the sake of love, I wish to ascend to godhood. And the path that leads to my divine throne is one littered with the corpses of this entire world.

We cut back to the present, with Chachamaru hurrying towards the chambers of Kuniuji. On the way, she runs into Raichou, who looks at her Tsurugi and has a sudden realization.

He says that his and Moriuji’s Tsurugi were connected – when one receives a wound, the scars will appear on the other one. On the day Moriuji died, he goes on, a peculiar scar, resembling three claw marks appeared on his own Tsurugi. The exact same claws that adorn Chachamaru’s Tsurugi. He puts two and two together and realizes it was Chachamaru who killed Moriuji. The two start to fight, and then we cut to a Kuniuji’s chambers.

The roar of the battlefield grows ever louder… is this the end for the Rokuhara? If so, that is fine. For the Shogunate is evil. And I, too, should disappear along with it…

Suddenly, Sakurako enters the room and glares at him. Kunijui’s bodyguard interrupts, but he sends him away.

Kuniuji: Sa… Sakurako…

What can I say to her…? After all, that night, I stood before her paralyzed, unable to help… What can I possibly say to her now? How can I look her in the eye?

Sakurako: ……

She glares at him for a few seconds, then takes out a blade and stabs him.

Sakurako: Ashikaga Kuniuji…!!

Kuniuji: Ah-arrhh…!!

In her heart, I am nothing more than a monster… a ruthless tyrant standing atop the hated Rokuhara Shogunate. In that case… I’ll have to… embrace that… and become the tyrant she sees in her mind…

With those thoughts in his mind, he takes out his own blade and stabs Sakurako.

Sakurako: You’re… pretty good with a blade…

Kuniuji: Sa-saku… rako…

The two start crying, and soon fall to the ground, lifeless. Raichou rushes into the room to discover it covered in blood.

Raichou: Shirou…

A soldier then informs him that the warship of the GHQ has reappeared in the skies.

We cut back to Kageaki, who discovers Chachamaru, bleeding from what is obviously a fatal wound.

Kageaki: Chachamaru…! What happened here?! So she tells him what we already know, that Raichou found out about her plot and such.

Cha: I guess… I wasn’t much of a conspirator, after all…

Kageaki: There must’ve been another way… it didn’t need to end like this…

Cha: Maybe… if you had accepted me. If I could’ve been with you. Maybe then. Even if I had to brainwash you for it…

Kag: Chachamaru…

Cha: It’s coming. Soon…

She points towards the window, up at the sky.

We cut to Hikaru.

Mur2: Midou! Something tremendously powerful is coming this way!

So she flies off and meets up with the “bomb”, aka robot elf girl… thing.

She uses her black hole ability from before, but it’s not enough. She and Muramasa 2 are visibly in pain, which is probably a first in this entire game.

I’lL kILL yoU DiE DIE I haTe yOU diE diE DIe

What can stand in the way of such darkness?

Love? The bonds that connect people?

Love is indeed powerful. Tremendously so. However… it is nothing compared to the immense might of this void, this boundless darkness that envelops all.* *reads as “slash dark” Love shall wither away. Bonds are twisted by lies. Such concepts will always be defeated and swept away.

In the end… evil always triumphs over good. The wicked shall conquer the just.

Hikaru: Hmpf. Don’t you underestimate me…!

Hikaru: Love may be a fleeting passion, frail as the heart itself… a fickle beast; a fading dream. However… such things matter not to me! For what I desire is not eternal love. A moment… is enough. If I can gain that, that single moment… I shall proudly say that my life held meaning!

Hikaru: So hear me, O darkness. You will no doubt emerge as the victor in the end. However! Your very existence will signify that I, Minato Hikaru, lived!

Hikaru: So away with you! Begone to the ends of this earth and wait your turn! A huge, white explosion envelops the sky, and both Hikaru and that *thing* disappear along with it.

We cut to Wolf, who says they have succeeded. And then this happens:

Gargett: Professor! Beams of light are emerging from under the surface of the earth…! Is this… water?

GHQ soldier: Pr-professor! My arm! Something’s wrong with my arm! My arm! MY ARM…!! It’s… it’s turning into glass… my feet, too!

Wolf: Wonderful…! This is the very water that contains the life essence of God! It is the source of all Tsurugi! It’s like a crystal made of steel! With it, we can become one with God through divine love that connects all living beings!

Wolf: Ah, wise and great Adolf…! You were correct in viewing it as a divine revelation…! I was right to believe in you! My theory of God was correct! And thus, I can finally meet God! He, the steel who descended from outer space!

Wolf: This… this is the beginning of a new world! A new age! A brilliant, golden dawn!

Wolf: SIEG HEIL! SIEEEEEEEEEG HEEEEEEEEIL…!!!

Muramasa: What’s… going on…?

Cha: Ah…! Hikaru will soon become God… Kag: There’s another sun..?! Cha: It’s… the golden dawn…

We cut to Kageaki, looking up at the new “sun”.The dying Chachamaru and Muramasa are also with him, the latter standing a few feet away from them, the former sitting under a tree, awaiting death.

Kag: Is that thing really Hikaru…?

Cha: Yes… It’s the god brought up from below the earth… as well as Hikaru. It is uncertain which one was devoured and which one remained…

Kag: …..

Cha: But… the voice has finally calmed down…

Kag: Voice?

Cha: Yes, the one I made you listen to earlier. That son of a bitch god that was screaming into my ears all day and night. Now… that voice sounds somewhat gentler… I’m sure it’s because of Hikaru. This is her lullaby, enveloping the entire world…

The narration then tells us that the entire world is being consumed by the flames of conflict. After only a few days, there are revolts all over the world – oppressed Muslims are rising in the Middle East, Mussolini (who was thought to have died during the Great War) returned and gathered a number of followers under his banner to reclaim Italy, in England the working class is massacring the wealthy and are steadily advancing towards the royal palace, there’s war in Africa, Australia, and Indonesia, its group of allied islands all separated and fighting each other. And so on. You get the picture.

Kag: The corruption of the Ginseigou has spread all over the world…

Cha: In another week, the entire human race will degenerate into a pack of mindless beasts living only to fight each other…

Kag: Is this the end of humanity as we know it?

Cha: Those protected by armor… in other words, every Musha, will remain.

Kag: However, you can hardly maintain humanity with only them…

They also establish that the bright yellow “water” that rained down upon the earth is turning people into yellow “steel crystals”. No investigation was started due to fears of turning into a crystal upon touching them, so at the moment nothing is known about these “human sculptures”. They can’t even confirm whether they’re alive or dead.

Cha: They could be those who accepted and became one with God… or merely those who rejected him… I’m not sure.

Kag: And that rain will soon affect the entire world, too…?

Cha: Yes…

Kag: So, what are you planning to do now? The Green Dragon Society, I mean. You’ve accomplished your goal and summoned God. What now?

Cha: Haha…. I doubt any of us thought about it this far… some will probably commit suicide, others will regret their actions and succumb to sheer panic…

Kag: So… how do I stop this?

Cha: The destruction of the world?

Kag: Yes.

Cha: You’ll have to destroy… that.

She points up at the “sun”.

Cha: But it’s out there in space. It’s not a distance a Musha could travel. You should just… wait.

Kag: Wait? Cha: Yeah. After all, that thing *is* Hikaru. She will come back to Earth eventually to claim what she longs for. So you should just wait… and prepare yourself.

Cha: I have one final piece of advice for you. As long as you exist as Minato Kageaki, you cannot defeat her. She’s your sister, after all.

Kag: ……..

Cha: You’ll have to become a true hero and submit yourself to the world – the higher cause. There is no other way to defeat her. Do not be mistaken, though… what I’ve just told you is hardly a gift. It’s a curse. The final spell I’ll cast on you.

Cha: *sigh*

Kag: Chachamaru…?

Cha: I’ve grown… a bit tired. I wanted to see the final moments of this world. A world of no voices… of complete silence. A world where I could rest in peace. Well, whatever… after all, God’s voice transformed into Hikaru’s lullaby. And hearing your voice now makes me happy. All other sounds are slowly drifting away… Yeah, I think I’m… actually fine with this… I can finally rest, at long last…

Kag: Chachamaru…

Cha: Goodbye, Kageaki… …

Kag: ……Farewell.

Continue to Muramasa’s route, Part 8