Atop a Tree That Reaches the Clouds (12)

At that time, Fusang was fragmented, and even humans were divided into small countries that fought among themselves.

In one such small country, the Land of Twilight, Yuzuriha Yosogi was born and raised.

Though she was a woman, she devoted herself to the path of the sword.

She inherited the leadership of the school from its head, who had already passed his prime and fallen ill with age, intending to protect the school until the day she could pass it on to her still-young younger brother.

To someone like me, who knows the Yosogi Style of today, that was an old-fashioned value system that felt strangely out of place.

But I have no right to say that.

To protect and pass on the things they cherished, perhaps that was what they needed at the time.

But one day, the country neighboring the Land of Twilight was destroyed by the oni.

The Land of Twilight learned of it only because some refugees who had escaped the oni reached it.

And so the Land of Twilight learned of the oni and understood that the monsters might invade at any moment.

Sadly—or perhaps fortunately—the Land of Twilight was considerably smaller than its neighbor.

It had barely maintained its independence because it possessed the school Yuzuriha Yosogi had inherited, along with several highly skilled swordsmen.

Naturally, it was obvious that the Land of Twilight had no chance of winning if it fought the oni who had destroyed the neighboring country.

Thus the king of the Land of Twilight—or, as he was called in this land, the country's ruler—made his decision.

Rather than involve his people in a battle they could not win and have them throw their lives away for nothing, he would abandon the country and send its people fleeing to a safe land.

It must have been a bitter decision.

For the ruler, abandoning the country passed down through generations should have been more painful than having his own body carved apart.

For the people, abandoning the fields they had cultivated was no different from giving up their means of survival.

Yet they made that choice.

Rather than end up in the oni's bellies, they would endure whatever suffering awaited them in the lives ahead.

But no matter how desperately they fled, the oni pursuing them were far faster than humans.

So the ruler ordered the swordsmen to remain behind with him and fight the oni, buying time for the people to escape.

Yuzuriha Yosogi, who had already inherited the position of head, was among those swordsmen.

Her father, weakened by illness, said to her,

'I will become head once more. Take your brother and flee south.'

Or so he said.

But Yuzuriha Yosogi shook her head.

'No matter what form it took, if I fled, the school would be branded cowardly. I cannot have that boy inherit such a thing. Besides, my father, now old and weakened in spirit, can no longer serve as head.'

That was likely both pride and love for her family.

In truth, Yuzuriha Yosogi was not the strongest swordsman in the school.

Her technique was exceptionally sharp, but she was inferior to the others in build and strength, and there were times when other swordsmen managed to catch her off guard.

Even so, Yuzuriha Yosogi was the head of the school.

She scolded and embraced her younger brother, who wept that he could not flee while leaving his sister behind, and then reasoned with him.

'If you care about me, then survive and protect the school. Live, grow, and pass it on to the next generation. That is my wish. You must not cry anymore. From the moment I die, you will be the head of the school.'

Those words showed that she had already accepted her death, and her will was so firm and unshakable that her brother had no choice but to yield.

Several days later, the oni attacked as expected, and the Land of Twilight became a battlefield.

Pride and love all mingled together into resolve, and Yuzuriha Yosogi stood tall.

To buy time for the people of the Land of Twilight to escape, of course, but also for her younger brother and for the school.

Having accepted her own death, Yuzuriha Yosogi's spirit was resolute and her sword keen; no one could stop her.

Even so, the oni were formidable foes.

Yuzuriha Yosogi cut down countless oni, but the other swordsmen fell one after another.

At this rate, before long every swordsman would be ground to pieces.

That was when the fear of that happening became reality.

At the forefront, Yuzuriha Yosogi cut through the oni and literally carved a path forward when the enemy's leader, a great oni, appeared before her.

The battle should have been a one-sided massacre, but the great oni had grown irritated that it was taking far longer than expected and had come to crush the cause of the delay itself.

It was an overwhelming predicament, but at the same time, it was a chance.

They had been in a situation where they could only be ground down little by little, yet now they had an opportunity to kill the enemy's leader.

The great oni was vastly larger in build than the other oni, with the strength to match.

It was likely a throwback, an oni born with traits closer to its demonic ancestors.

Only Yuzuriha Yosogi could stand against that overwhelming power.

She had spent years honing her methods for fighting opponents stronger than herself.

If she faced it head-on, she would be smashed to pieces without a chance.

So she never clashed with it directly.

Nor did she make any careless feints.

She knew that even a light blow from it would send her flying.

To make an attack penetrate such a tough body, she had no choice but to use the opponent's own strength.

If she flinched even slightly, it would have killed her in that opening.

If she gave in to the urge to attack, it would likewise have killed her with ease.

But she continued fighting the great oni calmly, without fear or panic.

Until she had completely exhausted every last bit of stamina in her body.

The great oni's fist crushed Yuzuriha Yosogi.

But at the very end, her sword pierced the great oni's chest.

Even so, she could not finish off the formidable great oni. Perhaps that was precisely why.

The great oni decided to withdraw its army of oni.

What emotion did the great oni feel when its chest was pierced—fear, or respect?

I do not know, but the oni army withdrew, leaving only a few surviving swordsmen behind.

Because of this, detailed knowledge of the oni's powers could be passed on to others.

Red-skinned oni were renowned for their strength.

Blue-skinned oni were swift.

Green-skinned oni were sly.

Black-skinned oni had tough skin.

White-skinned oni possessed the traits of the red, blue, and green oni combined.

Tattooed oni could use sorcery regardless of their skin color.

A great oni was an army's leader and possessed immense power.

The surviving swordsmen said as much.

They said that the oni had retreated because Yuzuriha Yosogi had been there, and that she had enabled them to learn about their enemy.

Yet at that time, Fusang was still an age in which humans fought among themselves.

The people of the Land of Twilight moved south in search of safety, but they were not accepted there. They scattered and wandered throughout Fusang.

Some of them apparently boarded ships and crossed over to the continent.

It was only a little while later that Fusang recognized and honored Yuzuriha Yosogi's accomplishments.

That was after the threat of the oni had become more widely known throughout Fusang.

Now, the name of the school Yuzuriha Yosogi protected has been lost.

But I know it.

It may not be the same as the name it bore in the past.

Perhaps, before the country fell, it bore the country's name.

But now it bears their family name: the Yosogi Style.

It took root and flourished in the distant western land of the Kingdom of Ludria and is now counted among the four great schools of that land.

I am writing this down because I do not want to forget even a fragment of this story.

And I will make certain it reaches them.

The descendants of the younger brother whom Yuzuriha Yosogi protected—the ones who still carry on the school she defended.

The story of one swordswoman.