He's got his guard down now.
Makes you want to jump up from behind to scare him.
I brought you some lunch.
Okay.
Thank you again, Shinsuke.
Zanzou Raidou?!
Could it be he's exchanging food for swordsmanship lessons?
Look.
Your downward strike is good, but sideways is hopeless.
Relax your shoulders and listen to the wind.
Listen...?
That's right.
Good strikes sound different.
Was that it?
What do we do?
That food came from us, you know.
We should surprise... No, warn him a little.
Geez.
We were wondering what you were up to.
J-Jinka?
Wait, you hadn't noticed them?
Huh?
W-Wait!
You've got it all wrong.
He's not really a bad guy.
He's... Umm...
Ah, this is nice.
I'll make the remedies now.
Shinsuke says you were just trying to save your sister.
Is it true?
The Raidou Clan isn't anything special,
but our spiritual power is strong.
Those with spiritual power will always be intertwined with Katawara.
We're fated to stay in the shadows, away from the real world.
In order to survive, I became a devourer of darkness,
and my little sister Hino left home to join the Dangaishuu.
However...
In the Dangaishuu, her spiritual power is nothing special,
and if the higher-ups feel like it, they can easily kill her.
I see. So that's why...
Or so I thought.
Gross!
Are you okay?
My eyes! My eyes!
So the truth is, she wasn't undermined?
Apparently, Hino has been quite successful.
No, her name now is...
The Dangaishuu Beast Leader, Higan.
The next assassin.
Oh?
So this time, it's your sister who will come to kill me.
Probably, yeah.
So be careful.
Just so you know,
you are lucky that I did not kill you after beating you.
There's no guarantee the same will be true for your sister.
I know that.
You might even die this time.
The beast leader Higan, meaning "ice rock."
Her name is similar to Shakugan's.
Well, there's probably no question about it.
She must be an enhanced human.
That was gruesome.
It stinks!
Jin! Tama!
Help!
Huh?
This smell...
This is awful.
What happened?
It's a woman.
A woman suddenly appeared.
She kicked me out of my home!
She told me to tell Jin that she's waiting for him.
A woman...
It must be Hino.
Wait for me.
Zanzou Raidou.
Your sister has hurt my friend, on my mountain.
Unfortunately, I will definitely kill her.
Shaku, take care of the house and of this guy.
- Shinsuke, you carry Zanzou... - Umm.
Please let me go too.
That means I've got to...
Wa... Water...
Wa... Water.
Oh my.
You're here already.
Hi, Hino.
Brother. You are alive I see.
You've become a success.
Yes.
I worked ha...
Are you done? Can we start already?
This isn't good. He's losing his temper...
Jinka. Calm down and fight.
Yes.
Spirit transformation?
Then please allow me to join you.
I am Dangaishuu Beast Leader Higan. Here I come.
Hino.
Brother.
I will fulfill this mission
and bring you and the Raidou Clan out in the light.
Is that why you...
But you will die here.
Jinka the Sendou, here I co...
Shaku?
Long time no see, Sougan! It was your stench after all!
Do you recognize me even though I've been sealed up inside this girl?
It's me, Kagan!
So that's how it is.
What is going on?
Enhanced humans are made by fusing humans and Katawara.
The one talking right now is probably
a Katawara named Kagan, who has been sealed inside Shaku.
A Katawara?
Are you saying that this "Sougan" is inside Hino?
I am Higan.
Not Hino, nor Sougan.
Forget about Sougan.
You're using Katawara as toys.
You enhanced humans...
What irredeemable sacrilege!
You've gone too far in your rotten ways!
Shakugan. Get out of the way!
W-Wait a moment.
It's Kagan's friend.
The Katawara's conscience remains.
You're nothing but a failure.
A failure?
Yes.
Part of my mission involves exterminating you.
Step aside and wait.
Hold on.
This child forgave and welcomed me as my vessel and my owner.
Don't you dare mock her.
Is the same true for you?
Has Sougan accepted you as his vessel?
I devoured that Katawara's conscience long ago.
I don't need it.
What?
Jinka!
Let us switch!
I'll kill her!
Understood.
In return, let us befriend you as Kagan as well.
Talk to us every now and then.
Jinka...
Thanks.
Shakuyaku and I are one and the same.
In other words, you and I are already friends.
I am Shakugan, two souls in one body.
Here I come!
Come on, failure.
Come so that I may build my success on you.
Goushinten!
Not bad.
You can work together well enough to invocate a simple Goushinten.
However...
I can do the same.
Shaku!
What do you think?
Shakugan has the will and the power
of both a human and a Katawara working together in perfect harmony.
However...
Higan's spiritual power is about the same as my own.
The odds are not good.
Hino...
Earthworms...
Earthworms!
You really want worms, not water?
Throw them in my mouth.
With all this dirt?
It scared me at first, but it's not exactly intimidating now.
Actually, it's kind of cute.
You're a good human.
Are you a friend of Jin's?
You mean Jinka?
Well, I don't know if that's what he'd call it.
Be his friend, will you?
He can come off as misanthropic and stubborn,
but he's kind to those close to him.
He's not a bad guy.
Yeah. I know.
Hold on for a second, I'll get you more worms.
I just got a chill... What was that?
W-Who are they?
Not here... We're leaving, Senya.
Yes, Master Jinun.
Senya.
Yes, Master Jinun.
I saw a river of blood.
Hey.
I caught the scent of a dragon.
A dragon?
Hurry up and run.
I'll tell you a shortcut, so find Jin, and tell them all to flee immediately!
Hey!
Shinsuke?
You.
Did you abandon my friend?
That friend told me to go himself.
To tell you all to run.
- To run? - Yes.
He said something about the smell of a dragon.
A dragon?
It can't be... Master Jinun?
Jinun? Right, actually...
Dragons are bad news.
Run away!
Higan.
Master Jinun...
You committed the crime of assassinating a Shogunate official.
You will be annihilated.
Assassinated a Shogunate official?
What evidence do you have of that?
I am on a mission right now.
I need no evidence.
This is simply justice.
So you are Jinka. The one who attacked the head temple.
Everyone, scatter! We'll meet in the runaway cave.
A smokescreen...
Senya. You're too inexperienced.
I apologize, Master Jinun.
It is fine. You learned from it.
It appears Higan got away too.
That is fine.
This won't last long.
"The runaway cave"... I knew this was where he'd be.
Jinka, you got here fast.
Are you afraid, Jinka?
I am afraid.
Hino.
Brother...
She's still alive...
Enhanced humans have quite the life force...
Though she doesn't have long.
Hino... What did you do?
You assassinated a Shogunate official?
I killed... him.
Master Matsunaga ordered me to...
The Shogun's Deputy... Master Miyoshi Nagayoshi...
Why?
Even the Dangaishuu forbids bringing spiritual power out into the world.
So those of us who were born with spiritual power
can never strive for more?
Must we always live in darkness?
Can we never achieve happiness?
Hino...
The Raidou Clan has lived in the world of darkness for far too long.
With your talent for the sword, brother, the Raidou Clan's wish could be...
brought out into the world.
Hino.
The Raidou Clan has no such wish. This is just your desire.
Do you not want to step out into the world?
Do you not want to be happy?
Must you achieve that ambition in order to be happy?
That's not how it works.
Brother...
I pity you.
The darkness has engulfed even your heart.
Hino!
Do not worry, elder brother.
I shall save you from the darkness.
I will bring you out into the sun!
Hino! That's enough! Stop it!
No! Even if I cannot return to the Dangaishuu,
Master Matsunaga will help me somehow.
But first, I must...
First I must eat a Katawara to preserve my life...
Katawara...
- Hino! Stop it! - Master Tama!
Hino...
Misfortune is not decided by fate, but by your heart.
I don't... want to... die...
Farewell.
And be careful on your journey to the afterlife.
Be hu...
I wanted...
to be huma...
What did she say?
That she wanted to be human.
Then why?!
Why did you eat my friend?!
Why did you become one if you did not wish to be together?
What are we?
If we are not people, what are we?
If we are not Katawara, what are we?!
Shakugan...
Jinka.
I won't do it. I cannot fight him!
His strength is too great.
Then what will you do? Will you run for all eternity?
Even if you manage to escape the assassins,
sooner or later, that man will come.
But...
We have no choice but to defeat him!
Defeat him? A dragon?
Is that possible?
If we go to him right now, we'd just be courting disaster.
We need to prepare.
Prepare what?
First!
We go to the Dangaishuu laboratories, to put a final stop to those experiments
toying with the lives of Katawara!
Second!
We take their research documents,
and gather the information we need to fight them.
And third!
We buy time by running, and use that information to find a way to win.
Then we will face that man in a final battle.
That is how we fuse what I want and what we need to do.
Raise your hand if you object!
One moment please.
Before we do any of that,
Kagan wishes to bring Sougan's remains to his home.
His home? Where is that?
I'm not sure, but Kagan says he can tell the direction by smell.
Okay.
Then that's where we start.
I will leave that to you.
I will settle things for Hino.
I see. Take care.
Jinka.
Don't be afraid.
Elder sister...
That dragon guy might be strong, but he's just a brat not even half my age.
I'll outsmart him any day.
Just follow me. I'll bring victory to you every time.
Prepare yourself, little brother.
Even if you didn't tell me, I'd still be right behind you.
Then let's go.
He speaks of justice, but refuses to talk and abuses his power.
We'll teach that selfish brat a lesson!
It ended up becoming a much,
much...
much longer journey than we expected.
We initially set out to fight for our survival,
but...
in the end it became a journey to find out
what makes a Katawara, and what makes a human.
And while on this journey
we learned the true forms of both humans and Katawara.