"Ripped  Encoded by LadyN" "Sitting at the door of darkness talking to myself, this love will never die." "Searching for a trace in silence..." "Hunting out the time to let my soul to fly to break the chain of love and hate to set us free again." "Ride the wind to get to the land of joy." "When there's no fear, no pain, you can fly like a bird." "Seize the day and get to the land of joy." "Take me there, brand new dawn into the mirage of blaze." "...into the mirage of blaze." "Take me there... I want him to... I want him to be released from inside this mirror." "Are you sure that is what you want?" "I want him to live." "I don't want him to die." "I love him." "Choices of Conflict" "We have finished lending you the mirror." "Thanks." "Lord Kagetora." "Aren't you glad you were able to save Kagetora?" "I thought you wanted to be at ease?" "The time to ask for mercy has ended... I have succumbed to my very self." "They bound human souls to the trees." "The warlords of the Hojo clan were trying to perform the fire fusion ritual of three forms." "The Yatate Cedar is fit to be the heart of it, but... I can't allow the Hojo to meddle with the spiritual sites any longer!" "Kagetora!" "Naoe!" "Thank goodness!" "You're both all right!" "I thought you were finished this time." "Toyama was killed, and look at what happened to Hakone Shrine..." "Toyama?" "What are you talking about?" "I called him." "I made Yasuhide Toyama switch sides." "He told me everything he knew about the Hojo clan and their plan." "I can't get in contact with Nagahide in Nikko." "Knowing him, I'm sure he's fine, but..." "Let's head to Nikko immediately." "But before we leave, we'll perform the ritual of divine guardianship so the Hojo clan can't meddle with the Hakone Shrine anymore." "We'll seal the fire and put the guardianship directly under the Four Heavenly Kings." "Great idea." "If we seal the fire they won't be able to perform the fire fusion ritual." "Let's go!" "This place should be fine." "Shroud thy protection!" "With the power of Shoma, shroud thy protection over him!" "To the great Four Heavenly Kings, I bid the termination of those who bring ill fire and misfortune to this spiritual site the Hakone Sansho Gongen and the preservation of the guardianship." "I leave the power of the divine guardianship in your hands." "Binding of four directions!" "The fires on the land shall be sealed in jewels of the four directions!" "A protection to the east!" "A protection to the south!" "A protection to the west!" "A protection to the north!" "Heavenly Kings of the guardianship, reveal thyself!" "Aegis!" "Lord Kagetora!" "There's no need to worry." "I used too much of my power but we can't relax until we're out of the Hakone mountain range." "Are we going to Nikko?" "But the Hojo clan still has the Tsutsuga Mirror." "That's not a problem." "It's as though the Tsutsuga Mirror is in our hands." "I was in the mirror for a while." "It's easy for me to synchronize with the Tsutsuga Mirror." "I can control the Tsutsuga beasts if I wish." "The Hojo's mistake was to trap me inside the mirror." "They'll be paying dearly for their mistake." "The Hojo are trying to place the core of the Nikko energy in the three cedars of the Futarasan Shrine." "There should already be two human souls with enormous spiritual powers bound to the two lesser trees." "Who will they use for the main tree?" "They're going to use Yuzuru." "They don't understand how dangerous it is to use him." "If they screw up, it'll be enough to blow up a country or two easily." "We must rescue Yuzuru." "This is an order from my father, Kenshin." "Lord Kenshin?" "Then does that mean Yuzuru is..." "This is strange." "What is this fog?" "Be careful." "This is no ordinary fog, it's Fuma's spell." "Don't slow down." "The longer we stay, the longer we'll be trapped in their spell." "I'll be your eyes, turn the wheel as I say." "Right!" "Left!" "Left, U-turn!" "Where's Haruie?" "Don't worry, he's behind us!" "Ahead of you!" "Don't relax yet, there's more to come." "Right!" "But..." "Trust me, turn right!" "It's Fuma's spell." "Maintain this speed!" "You're awake." "Where are we?" "We're probably in the basement dungeon of the mansion." "I should have been more careful." "I hadn't heard anything about the Hojo clan having someone with that much power." "He's not from the Hojo clan." "Was it Narita?" "Most likely." "Forgive me." "There's no need for you to apologize." "I must, Lord Kojiro has taken part in Yuzuru's abduction." "This battle isn't going to be as easy as it seemed." "By the way, what is that thing?" "Oh, you've noticed it." "It looks like a young Tsutsuga." "They were probably planning to let it eat our souls after we've woken up." "What a spoiled pet." "With these shackles on, we're unable to use our powers." "I guess I have no choice but to try this." "I'm going to subdue the Tsutsuga with a hypnotic trance." "That's too risky!" "The Tsutsuga will eat your soul when you look into its eyes!" "Don't worry about it." "I'm used to training tigers and beasts." "I hear you're using Saburo as a sacrifice." "Ujimasa, at times your way of thinking sends chills down my spine." "I am amazed how you're able to come up with such horrible ideas." "Great Uncle, everything is going as planned." "Please do not concern yourself." "But..." "Do you think I do not feel any pain?" "Do you think this does not trouble me at all?" "Saburo is my brother." "But before I am a brother, I am the head of the Hojo clan." "There was no other way..." "This was the only way..." "The fire fusion ritual at Nikko will take place tonight." "When that time comes I would like you, Great Uncle, to take part in it." "If there is a role I must play, I will do so." "I am relieved to hear that." "Kotaro Fuma has just returned." "Seems like the ritual at Hakone has finished." "What did you just say?" "Lord Ujiteru has failed to tree-bind Lord Saburo's soul and his spiritual vessel has ceased during the battle against the Uesugi Yasha Warriors." "That can't be!" "Lord Saburo has been released from the mirror and his soul has returned to his spiritual vessel." "Here is the female Tsutsuga Mirror." "The male Tsutsuga Mirror is in my care." "Are you saying we can't use Hakone as a receiving site?" "Not with the Four Heavenly Kings as guardians." "Fine." "I swear we will take back Hakone at some point." "For now we must complete the incantation of the Kanto region great triangle." "As long as we complete the assimilation of Nikko, Uesugi will be no threat." "I agree." "Damn you, Saburo!" "This is unforgivable!" "Lord Kojiro, there is no escaping." "The Seed of Evil Kings that is planted in Yuzuru Narita's forehead is also planted in yours." "It doesn't matter if you change your spiritual vessel as it is planted in your soul." "You have no choice but to obey us." "My brother will not submit to you just because you have taken me hostage!" "Don't underestimate the One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu!" "Now we pretty much have Yuzuru Narita under our control." "I guess we'll sit back and watch the outcome of Ujimasa's dreams of conquering the Kanto region." "You're all here." "I'm so glad you're all okay." "Let's start, there's no time to lose." "I understand." "Currently all of Nikko is under the Hojo clan's rule." "So is the Chugushi of the Chuzenji Lake shore area." "Chugushi is?" "When the assimilation of Nikko Mountain is completed they're probably planning to make that into their governing stronghold." "Because if everything goes as the Hojo clan planned the Futarasan Shrine and the entire mountain should be in ashes by then." "Go on." "Hojo's plan is obvious." "The Futarasan Shrine at Nikko, the Sunosaki Shrine at Tateyama and the Toshogu Shrine at Kuno Mountain in Shizuoka..." "When these three places are connected, it creates a giant right-triangle." "If I draw a perpendicular line from Tateyama toward the side that ties Kuno Mountain and Nikko it will pass Hakone, and at the vertex is Mount Fuji." "The sacred Mount Fuji holds the meaning of immortality." "The line from Tateyama and Shizuoka is symbolic of the path of the sun." "The sun rises in the east and sets in the west." "By starting at the point of death and then following the path of immortality you reach Nikko, where Ieyasu rests." "That is where the essence of Ieyasu's immortality lies." "And the line which starts at Tateyama, which passes through Edo and ends at Nikko, also means the path of the North Star." "The immovable Polaris is the center of the cosmos." "The Toshogu Shrine is built facing south and is in the northeast direction of Edo." "The Hojo clan is planning to concentrate this enormous amount of energy from this formation in Hakone." "But now they're unable to use Hakone as a receiving site." "As long as we foil their fire fusion ritual at Nikko they won't be able to do anything else." "But the spiritual energy at Nikko Mountain is at its peak with the energy collected from the tree bound souls." "I doubt the same fire-sealing spell we used at Hakone will work." "If we went ahead now, it probably won't work." "It might be possible if we can somehow disseminate the power that's been collected at Nikko Mountain." "We have to use an equally powerful incantation to weaken the power of Nikko." "I agree but we don't have the time to prepare for a large-scale incantation." "It's impossible to perform a new incantation but can we activate the power of an incantation used in the past?" "What do you mean?" "Tenkai Soujyou, who designed this formation performed an incantation to protect and calm the country in these parts." "I am suggesting we awaken that power once more." "Can we do something like that, Kagetora?" "It's hypothetically possible, but the problem is Tenkai's incantation." "His original incantation, the Mountain King One-Reality Shinto, was sealed and never passed down." "I hear it was created by incorporating the Daigensui Myoou Method but all of the instruments used in the incantation have been sealed so there's nothing we can do about that." "But there should be something that was used as anchorage for the core of the incantation." "For the secret incantation of the Mountain King One-Reality Shinto apparently, they used the skull of the conqueror." "Kosaka, you..." "Are you referring to Ieyasu as the conqueror?" "Obviously." "Fine." "We'll take Ieyasu's skull from the inner sanctum of Toshogu Shrine." "Lord Kagetora, you mustn't believe what he says!" "But he has a point." "The possibilities are high!" "But..." "Wise decision." "Naoe, Haruie... I order you to take back Chugushi." "I'm going to stay here and work with Nagahide to reactivate the power of Tenkai's secret incantation." "Yes." "I understand, but I haven't been able to sense Nagahide since he vanished." "He's not one to die so easily." "As soon as I get in touch with him I'll send over Gohodoji of the Sword to join him." "I will tell My Lord to send troops." "The Takeda clan will take Kuno Mountain." "Lord Kagetora, I believe your brother Lord Ujinori is there." "We will accept the duty of taking Lord Ujinori's head." "I appreciate your help." "Okay, let's go." "When the ritual is finished all that's left to do is to ignite the sacred flame in the mountain trees." "What about the tree-binding of Yuzuru Narita?" "Yes, according to our plan they should be performing it shortly." "It's time, let's start." "Now we just have to burn this sacred tree with the sacred flames, am I right?" "Yes." "An assimilated entity of God's power and countless human souls will be united." "But all of the structures at Nikko Mountain will be destroyed... I see no need for relics left by conquerors of the past." "We will no longer need the Tsutsuga Mirror once the ritual is completed." "Then we, the Fuma clan will return to Lord Ujiyasu's side." "What?" "Ujiyasu?" "You know where Ujiyasu is?" "I'm going to head to the Toshogu Shrine." "How about you?" "I am going to regroup with Naoe and Kakizaki." "I'll assist taking back Chugushi." "I'm counting on you." "And the Date troops will seize Tateyama, I wish you luck." "You, too." "Listen to me, children of the Tsutsuga." "Show me what you are seeing..." "Tell me what is happening there..." "What are you trying to do?" "Help Lord Kagetora." "Stop mocking me!" "We're both acting in our best interests." "Having the Hojo clan grow stronger is not something the Takeda wants to see either." "Nagahide's arrived in Nikko Mountain!" "He said he's going to enter the barrier." "Kagetora is going to synchronize with the Tsutsuga Mirror and cause a commotion with the Hojo guards." "We're going to strike the Chugushi." "What about the Tsutsuga Mirror?" "I'll destroy the Tsutsuga Mirror with my very own hands." "Katakura!" "I'm sorry to have worried you." "Please let me help." "Naoe, I'll tell you something of interest to you." "The Toshogu Shrine has an underground passageway that leads outside." "It's in the direction of the inner ogre gate." "The exit is located under the Reihikaku area at Ganmangafuchi." "What?" "Kotaro of the Fuma clan would definitely use this path." "Now, you can do whatever you want with this piece of information." "Haruie, I'm going to head to Ganmangafuchi." "I'm leaving you in command here." "W-Wait Naoe!" "Try not to get yourself killed." "Wait Naoe!" "It's useless to stop me!" "I'm going to destroy the Tsutsuga Mirror with my own hands!" "Wait!" "There's something else I want to tell you!" "I'll give you credit for not going into the mirror after Kagetora..." "But I don't want you to get yourself hurt in an act of desperation." "You have to promise me you won't be reckless." "It's over." "Everything is over." "I didn't choose to live for him." "I couldn't choose to die a blissful death." "I... lt was because I didn't want to die." "Naoe!" "Naoe!" "To be continued"