Tales of the Eight Thunder Gods: Shikoku's Stratagem Ch.2: Abyss of Thunder Punishment — The Taikyoku Scales and the False Gospel

The deepest chamber of the Eight Thunder Gods was a place where light itself warped. Shikoku stood at the entrance to the great hall where Taikyoku's throne sat, slowly raising her dark violet eyes. There was no ceiling—instead, something like clouds blended from purple and black swirled in a slow vortex overhead. The walls, the pillars, the very space itself seemed to pulse faintly, as if breathing. The floor resembled polished obsidian, and with each barefoot step she took, faint bolts of lightning crackled from beneath her feet. Her long, purple-tinged black hair was loosely tied up, a few strands hanging beside her pale cheeks. The amethyst earring on her left ear caught the light seeping through the clouds, scattering purple sparks. She had come to this hall through the corridor that connected to Taikyoku's private chambers. It had been roughly half a day since she'd withdrawn from the Seventh Unit's dormitory when she received Taikyoku's summons. She couldn't measure the exact time—clocks meant nothing in this domain. But by Shikoku's internal sense, about that much time had passed. In the center of the hall stood Taikyoku. His long, jet-black waves of hair flowed to his waist, threaded here and there with white strands. He wore black robes and held a golden cup in his right hand. The liquid within shimmered amber, occasionally crackling with tiny sparks of lightning. His copper-red eyes were lowered, and the air around him alone seemed to sink with weight. There was no throne. In this hall, chairs themselves did not exist. Taikyoku always stood, or sat upon the earth, communing with this space. A thin film of water spread beneath his feet, and each time its surface rippled, waves spread through the entire room. Shikoku stopped at the edge of the hall and bowed deeply. "I have come in answer to your summons, Lord Taikyoku." Taikyoku did not answer. His fingertip traced the rim of the golden cup slowly. With each movement of his finger, faint lightning ran across the cup's surface, illuminating the sharp outline of his jaw. Silence drifted over the water. Shikoku kept her head lowered, reading Taikyoku's presence. Anger. A deep but quiet anger rose from his entire body. It made the air tremble, and seemed to scorch Shikoku's skin with a prickling heat. After a while, Taikyoku raised his face. His copper-red eyes pierced Shikoku straight on. "Shikoku. You infiltrated the Seventh Unit's dormitory without my permission." His voice was low and heavy, like thunder rumbling from the depths of the earth. Shikoku answered quietly, head still lowered. "Yes. All of it was to collect human emotional data. I acted on my own judgment before troubling you, Lord Taikyoku." The next moment— Taikyoku's fingertip moved, just slightly. With that alone, shackles of lightning coiled around Shikoku's limbs. Chains of violet electricity bound her wrists and ankles, searing as they tightened. The sound of her skin burning rang sharply through the hall's stillness. Shikoku pressed her lips together. There was pain. A fierce, scorching heat that reached to the marrow of her bones. But her expression did not change. She raised her face and looked straight at Taikyoku. Her dark violet eyes flashed white in the lightning's glow. Taikyoku approached slowly. With each step, the water splashed and lightning ran across the floor. "You trampled my grief for Soraori's death as just another piece of data." Taikyoku's voice shook the entire hall. "That day, Soraori died smiling before me. I still cannot understand what that smile meant. And yet you touched those remnants and carried out your investigation on your own." A shackle of lightning coiled around Shikoku's throat. Her windpipe tightened, and her breathing grew shallow. Even so, she did not look away. "...Forgive me. But all of my actions are for the future of the Eight Thunder Gods." Taikyoku stood before Shikoku and peered down at her with his copper-red eyes. "How many times have you said those words?" The lightning shackles tightened further. At the edge of Shikoku's vision, white light flickered. She felt her consciousness beginning to fade, and yet a thin smile rose to her lips. "...As many times as it takes. All of my actions are for the future of the Eight Thunder Gods." A long silence flowed over the water. Taikyoku stared through Shikoku for a while, but at last he let out a soft breath. The lightning shackles vanished without a sound. Shikoku dropped to one knee where she stood, and without coughing, quietly steadied her breathing. Red burn marks from the shackles were seared into both her wrists and ankles. The same marks remained on her throat. She recorded the pain as data. "...Stand." Shikoku rose. Taikyoku turned his back and returned to the center of the hall. "Submit your report. What did you see in the Seventh Unit's dormitory?" Shikoku drew a thin black tablet from her robes. It was a recording medium of emotional data, compressed by her space-manipulation ability. She held it out toward Taikyoku's back. "The Seventh Unit's cohesion, their master-servant relationships, the flow of individual emotions. All of it is recorded." Taikyoku turned and took the black tablet. The instant his fingers touched it, the tablet emitted light, and countless images unfolded in the space around them. The scene in the dining hall. The moment Kyouka gave orders to Yuuki. The voice of Shushu calling out "Yuuki." The look of adoration in Himari's eyes as she gazed at Kyouka. Taikyoku observed them all carefully with his copper-red eyes. "...I see. The Seventh Unit's coordination is impressive. Especially Izumo Tenka's space manipulation paired with Suruga Shushu's body expansion for a two-stage attack. Your retreat was hardly unreasonable." Shikoku tilted her head slightly. "I am honored by your evaluation. But my retreat was part of the calculation. I gathered sufficient data." Taikyoku closed the images and returned the black tablet to Shikoku. "And so—your plan. What will you do next?" Shikoku returned the tablet to her robes and stepped forward. "I will turn the Seventh Unit's bonds against them. Wakura Yuuki has a sister, Wakura Aoba, who became a human-type Shuuki. He is desperately searching for a way to turn a human-type Shuuki back into a human, to save her. I will feed him false information." Taikyoku's copper-red eyes narrowed slightly. "False information, you say. No method to restore a human-type Shuuki exists. Do you think the humans would believe such a thing?" Shikoku smiled faintly. "They will believe it. Humans are creatures who want to cling to hope. Especially those who have lost someone they love—no matter how suspicious the information, even if they know it's false, they cannot help but reach for it. I have observed countless humans until now. Their behavioral principles are astonishingly simple." Taikyoku listened to Shikoku's words in silence. "If Yuuki charges into the Demon City alone, the Seventh Unit's cohesion will fracture. To avoid endangering his comrades, he will act by himself. And that will be the perfect opportunity. I will stimulate the remnants of Soraori within his body and make his power run wild." Shikoku's dark violet eyes shone white like lightning. "The rampaging Yuuki will attack the Seventh Unit—the very allies he should be protecting. Even Kyouka's chains won't reach him. The trust among his comrades will crumble, and Yuuki will stand at the edge of despair. A human whose bonds have been betrayed becomes the most hideous, and the strongest. There is no better experiment to prove my hypothesis." After a long silence, Taikyoku slowly opened his mouth. "...Soraori died smiling that day." Shikoku waited quietly for Taikyoku's words. "I still do not know what that smile was. It was not fear, nor despair, nor resignation. If your research brings me closer to that answer, then I will continue to entrust you with command." Shikoku bowed deeply. "I am grateful for your consideration." Taikyoku tilted the golden cup and took a sip of the liquid within. "But do not forget. Your arbitrary decisions must not create the next Soraori. That independent spirit of yours will, at times, burn everything around you to ash." Shikoku raised her face and looked directly into Taikyoku's copper-red eyes. "...I will engrave it upon my heart." Taikyoku turned his back once more. For a while, only the sound of rippling water echoed through the hall. At last, Taikyoku murmured quietly. "...I cannot leave Izanami's side." Shikoku's eyes narrowed faintly. Taikyoku's voice was different from the commanding tone of moments before. Irritation, frustration, and something resembling resignation sank deep within that low voice. "I am bound to this deepest chamber. If I leave Izanami's side, the equilibrium of this domain collapses. That is why I cannot stand on the battlefield myself. The reason I permit your free observation is precisely because I cannot move." Shikoku gazed at Taikyoku's back and carved the emotional data of this moment deep into her memory. Taikyoku's irritation. The weight of responsibility as leader. His complicated feelings toward the being called Izanami. Never before had there been data of such value. Shikoku stepped forward and spoke quietly. "Whatever you cannot do, Lord Taikyoku, I will do in your stead. That is the role given to me." Taikyoku did not turn around. "...Go. I approve your plan. But you will never again act without my permission." Shikoku bowed deeply. "Understood." She took her leave of the hall and stepped into the corridor. Behind her, Taikyoku's presence receded into the distance. As Shikoku walked the corridor, she touched the shackle marks remaining on her throat with her fingertip. The feel of burned skin. Still hot. She analyzed the pain calmly. "...Lord Taikyoku's sorrow. That, too, is just another piece of data." A thin smile rose to her lips. But that smile seemed, somehow, directed at herself. Shikoku stopped walking and gazed at one of the countless faces floating on the corridor wall. The face of a young man. Distorted with fear, yet his lips alone were shaped into a smile. "...What did you see that day, to make you smile?" There was no answer. Shikoku began walking again. Her destination was the nest of Shuuki in the middle layer of the Demon City. Activating her space-manipulation ability, she dissolved herself into a distortion in the corridor. The next moment, Shikoku stood in the damp darkness of the Demon City's middle layer. This was the domain of the Shuuki, where humans never set foot. The air was heavy and lukewarm. From somewhere came the sound of dripping water. The rock face was black and wet, covered densely with moss-like growth. Shikoku advanced soundlessly into the depths of the nest. The presence of Shuuki filled the surroundings. They were aware of Shikoku's existence, but the intimidating aura she radiated as one of the Eight Thunder Gods kept them from approaching. She peered into the darkness ahead. There, a single figure stood. A human-type Shuuki. Something that had once been human. Shikoku approached slowly. The individual was a woman. Her long hair was dirty and tangled, covering half her face. Her skin was pale, covered here and there with the scale-like growths peculiar to Shuuki. Her eyes were vacant, unfocused. But her features still retained traces of the human she had been. Shikoku stopped before the individual and observed her carefully. "...Wakura Aoba. The woman who went missing in the Demon City disaster six years ago and became a human-type Shuuki." She gently brushed aside Aoba's hair with her fingertip. Aoba's face was revealed. Wakura Yuuki's sister. Her features did indeed resemble Yuuki's. Shikoku reached for Aoba's neck and began to inscribe a spatial mark

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Tales of the Eight Thunder Gods: Shikoku's Stratagem Episode 2: Abyss of Thunder Punishment — The Taikyoku Scales and the False Gospel