Touko shivered in her sleep. She was so cold, and there were so many people around her. They were dying, all dying, and she couldn’t help them at all. The cold was so severe that it burned. She tried to find her body, find the injury, but she didn’t sense herself anywhere.
She was having a dark, cold dream that she couldn’t awaken from. Her gaze fixed on a wall in front of her, roaming the wall’s surface. She was searching for something, anything alive. Anything beautiful in the world.
The wall wasn’t a wall, but a horizon line in the far distance. It looked blue to her. Were those white things clouds? They swirled ferociously, threatening rain. The darker blue mass below her was certainly the sea; she could tell by both its motion and its color. Hakaisana was in the sea, somewhere.
There was something shining in the water: a soundless, momentary flash. A short while later, a pillar of light appeared in another place, then another place. Touko couldn’t track it accurately. It moved too fast.
Touko realized that she could see a lot farther than she usually could. She peered closely at a pillar of light and shook her head. “No, no! That’s fire! You can’t use fire! It’s dangerous! People will burn!”
Burn like her parents had burned.
A shadow moved behind Touko, casting darkness on her blue horizon line. She turned around and saw the moon rising black in the night sky. The moon was close enough for her to touch, hovering just above her. It was watching over the horizon that Touko had been looking at just a moment ago, the ground where people lived. And died.
The moon felt threatening. Touko wanted to run away from it. She shivered again…
…and then her eyes opened.
Touko coughed, then sat up. “Kanata?” Her cheeks felt warm, especially after the chilling cold of her dream. She spent a few moments confused about where she was and whether or not she was truly awake. Kanata was next to her, panting heavily and breathing on her face. That was why it was so warm.
Kanata licked Touko’s cheek and wuffed.
In the dark, Touko’s eyes met the dog’s. Kanata nudged her with his nose. Touko reached out to pet his head and realized she was holding something cold in her hands.
It was Shuyu, the little Tree Person. He was dead. She’d fallen asleep—or passed out—with him in her arms. She wondered if this was a continuation of the dream she’d just had. Touko had been trying to run from the dead there, too, and had found nothing but cold death and killing fire.
Paralyzed and unable to move, Touko’s five numb senses suddenly came back to life. Her ears picked up the sounds of the factory operating. She smelled blood. Akira was propping up Touko, who was holding Shuyu’s corpse.
“Ah, Miss Akira.”
Akira was severely injured and covered in blood, but she was still alive.
Akira shifted so that she was resting her forehead against Touko’s. “Good. You’re awake. You weren’t waking up for awhile. Had me worried.”
Temari jumped into Akira’s lap with a dissatisfied snort.
“What happened?” Touko asked. “Why is…” She looked down at Shuyu.
Akira pulled Touko into a tight hug that made her gasp.
The leaves that fluttered like feathers from Shuyu’s arms and shins had wilted and spilled onto the road. His mouth was slightly open, but no breath was coming out of it. Touko was holding him in an unnatural position, but his body didn’t resist this treatment. Touko thought Kiri would cry. Kiri pretended to be tough, but she’d treated all the Tree People as family.
Making a sound like a cry, Touko buried her face in Shuyu’s messy hair.
Akira patted her on the head.
“Temari noticed the Fire Fiend. The Tree Person got in the way. You fought with your sickle and got it good. That’s good. If you hadn’t managed to kill it, it would have killed a lot more people.” She sounded pained.
A Fire Hunter’s sickle rested between Touko and Kanata. She hadn’t seen it there before, but now that Akira mentioned it, she remembered slitting a black beast’s throat and watching its blood burn out of it. She remembered that, but not how she’d managed to fight it.
Akira smiled. There were tears in the corners of her eyes that didn’t fall. Her arms relaxed around Touko.
Touko set Shuyu gently on the ground, then looked up at Akira. Hinako glanced in her direction and waved. She was sitting against the wall of a building with her hair covering most of her face. Kun was asleep, using Hinako’s knees as a pillow.
“I feel pretty useless,” Akira said, scratching the back of her head. “I barely escaped with my life thanks to you all. But we’re all safe now.” Her words stuck in her throat.
Kun was sleeping. Hinako’s face and clothes were dirty, but she didn’t appear to be injured. Still, how could they possibly be safe? These two, younger than Touko, had fought against the Guardian Gods. Even if Kun, a Spider, naturally possessed supernatural powers, how could Hinako possibly fight, small and sick as she was?
Touko looked back at Kanata and was touched to see the dog staring back at her. She hugged him around the neck and squeezed. He panted in her ear, his fur rough and textured under her fingers.
“Miss Akira, where are we? Where did the Guardian God go? Are you hurt badly? We need to treat your injuries…”
Akira patted Touko’s head again as she spoke. “Hibari is gone. Kun and Hinako made a mess of things. I was looking for you and Temari, who had fallen into one of the ditches. I ended up on the opposite side of the old road. This is the southern end of the industrial area. Over there is the tunnel that leads to the forest. I didn’t want to be seen by anyone, so I hid here until you woke up.”
Akira pointed to something off in the distance. In the dim light provided by the factories in operation, a white-painted gate loomed, tracing a square tunnel carved into the cliff. Beyond that was a village clinging to the cliff built of sticks and cloth patched together. The village, much shabbier than the homes in her own village, was pitch black. It appeared to be inhabited, but no lights were on.
“That’s a slum. Kun and I went there a lot to get food.”
Akira was wearing a cloak over her Fire Hunter uniform. The cloak covered her arms. She sighed heavily. Touko could barely hear it over the ambient hum of factory machinery. A chill ran down her spine.
“Miss Akira, we need to treat your injuries. Right now.”
Touko stood up. Her whole body was stiff from holding Shuyu in her arms and staying in the same position for so long. Shuyu, lying at her feet, looked even smaller than he had before.
“It’s just a scratch,” Akira said. “I need to get closer to the shrine while I can still move.” She looked up at the shrine nestled deep in the mountainside, beyond the factories.
Shuyu didn’t move at all. Of course not: a Fire Fiend had killed him. The Fire Fiend was large for a wild cat, but smaller than Kanata. How had Shuyu come to be in its path? Why hadn’t he escaped?
“We can’t leave him behind…”
This is the capital city. It’s a big, grand place, bigger than any other village. People here mourn their children, don’t they? Touko thought.
There were so many people to mourn. Benio, crushed by the dragon’s front legs. The crew members of the wrecked black carts, their bodies mangled by machinery. The Fire Hunters and their hunting dogs, lying dead on the rocks and floating in the waves of the bay. So many bodies left behind without even a simple burial.
Akira and Touko had lost hours to unconsciousness and injury. If things continued like this, Akira would never reach the shrine with her petition.
“Miss Akira, please return to Shouzou’s house. Take Kun and Hinako with you. I will take your letter with me and give it to the Guardian Gods. When your injuries heal, you will become the King of the Fire Hunters.” She spoke quietly and timidly like always, but she was determined. The cold air around her made her feel faint. She sat down facing Hinako and stroked Shuyu’s hair. Kanata gently touched Touko’s shoulder with his nose.
Akira had intended to reach the shrine come hell or high water, but she gave Touko’s proposal some serious thought. Then she said, “Touko. I thought I told you that I don’t want to be the King of the Fire Hunters. I just don’t want this world to die yet. It’s you who needs to go back. You can’t become a wandering Fire Hunter yet, so you need to go to Shouzou’s house and protect Kaho and the others.”
Akira stood up, hands on her knees. She looked down at Touko, her gaze heavy with all her remembered battles.
Touko sat there, frozen.
“You all still have so much to do. You, Kun, Kaho, Hinako… even the Tree People, come to think of it.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but her voice trailed away. She turned to Hinako. “You… you’re Hinako, right? You were quite impressive. Where did you learn to fight?”
Hinako tilted her head. She didn’t look very much like Koushi. She was thin and petite and appeared to be about the same age as Kun. Short hair covered one side of her face. “I did bad things without telling my brother. That’s why I needed to be punished. Kanata came back to me. I wanted to keep it a secret, but when Hibana did something so terrible to Kira, I couldn’t just let it be. I acted.”
She was crying. A tear fell down her cheek and landed in Kun’s hair. She wiped her face quickly.
“My brother told me. He said I was sick. That there was no way I’d be punished. My brother told me he cared about me. I hoped I might meet you again soon,” she said to Touko. “He didn’t tell me about how you and Kanata came to the capital.”
Akira placed her palm on Hinako’s back. She was so pitifully thin that her bones showed even through her clothes. “I also think you should go back to that mansion where your brother is,” she said. “Thank you for coming. You really saved me. Without you, both Kun and I would have died. But from here on out… well, it’s safer for you if you go home.”
Touko looked down at Shuyu’s corpse and tried to remember that it was indeed her who had wielded the sickle that had killed the Fire Fiend. How had she managed to kill it? The sickle was a moon-shaped claw. She remembered her dream of the shadowed moon and shuddered. What kind of dream had that been—that bleak, freezing scene?
The dogs’ ears pricked up. Akira unsheathed her sickle. Touko picked up the sickle next to her. She stepped forward as if she wanted to shield Shuyu’s body.
The tunnel in the cliff stood out in the darkness, the white gate before it shining like bleached bones. A rumbling moan echoed from deep within. It sounded like the dragon god that the Spiders had driven mad. The Fire Hunters and their dogs killed in the bay were restless angry ghosts now; Touko thought she could see them peering out of the tunnel. She glanced over at Kun, remembering that they’d abandoned him. Abandoned a child, and killed who knew how many people with their venomous insects.
“You should go home,” Akira said to Hinako. “Are you going to go?”
Hinako nodded.
Akira held out her weapon. Blood dripped along its edge. She huddled in her cloak, which concealed most of her wounds. Her legs appeared hale and well; she didn’t limp as she walked. She could stand and hold her weapon, but Touko wasn’t sure she could fight Fire Fiends in this state.
It was no use trying to dissuade her. Akira would keep going no matter what Touko said.
Touko bit her lip in despair and frustration.
Temari frowned and paced around her master.
The fur on Kanata’s back stood on end.
A Fire Fiend was coming.
Touko gripped the hilt of the sickle with both hands and stepped back.
Muttering dissatisfaction to herself, Touko walked behind Akira. Kanata glanced back at her once, then turned back towards the tunnel, tensing his whole body. Hinako looked up curiously, and for just a moment their eyes met. She looked up. There was a building not too far away that she could hide behind.
Akira gestured to Hinako, and she nodded.
As Akira faced forward, Touko spun on her heel and ran toward the tunnel.
Miss Akira, I’m sorry! Touko thought as she ran.
The faint sweet scent of rot and decay wafted from deep within the tunnel’s darkness. The smell made Touko remember her journey here with Kanata. There were wild animals in the forest, twisted into Fire Fiends and poisoned by Spiders. They were making their way through the tunnel past the barrier. Old safeguards for the capital weren’t sufficient to keep the monsters away anymore.
The Fire Fiends roared and writhed in the tunnel, overlapping one another like tree roots. Kanata howled behind her. She felt as if she were no longer in control of her own body. The spirit of Kanata’s master moved her. He felt so present that she could almost see him next to her, semitransparent, as she ran.
The wind picked up, carrying the sounds of factories in operation to Touko’s ears. Clouds gathered low along the horizon.
It didn’t take long for Touko to leave Akira and the others behind. She slowed down, walking around a building in her straw sandals and catching her breath. The building was a factory of some sort, but she didn’t know what kind. It was short and squat and looked out of place among the newer, larger buildings all around her. Her feet whispered over the ground, making no sound.
Kanata barked, alerting his fellow hunting dogs in the capital that there was danger.
Akira had remained where she was, sickle in hand, waiting to confront the Fire Fiends pressing together in the tunnel when they finally broke through.
As Kanata kept barking, Touko darted out of the shadow of the squat short building and hastened toward the cliff. Countless Fire Fiends surged out of the tunnel: Fire Fiends with horns and hooves and claws in sizes both large and small. Some of the Fire Fiends lumbered slowly in a daze, but just as many were running faster than Touko could. All of them were wild: savage and mindless. They’d been packed into the tunnel like sardines. Freedom was dizzying and disorienting. Some Fire Fiends harmed each other in their struggle to understand their new environment.
Akira’s sickle flashed as she advanced on the encroaching horde of Fire Fiends. Her movements were stiff and slower than usual. "This will be a hard fight,” she said.
Touko swung her sickle into a Fire Fiend and looked at the sky. There was no moon here, not like in her dream.
There were so many Fire Fiends: bears, monkeys, goats, foxes, deer, boars, rabbits. A large hare trampled on several other Fire Fiends as it jumped forward on powerful legs, dragging along pieces of larger creatures that it had already crushed to death.
A fox Fire Fiend attacked Akira from behind. There was no time to hesitate. Akira aimed her sickle at the Fire Fiend’s neck, decapitating it, then arced the weapon toward an enormous buck Fire Fiend. Golden liquid spewed from the Fire Fiends’ fatal injuries. Akira vaulted over her newest kill and ran at an ape Fire Fiend, slashing its guts open before it could attack her. Blood splashed everywhere as the Fire Fiend’s organs spilled out. It was dying, but not fast or quiet.
Another Fire Fiend, a bear-shaped one, put the ape Fire Fiend out of its misery by crushing its skull under a heavy paw.
Crushing the monkey, lying on its back and struggling, the bear’s flame demon stood on its hind legs. Without even time to wipe the blood from its face, Touko readied her Fire Hunter sickle. She couldn’t reach the bear’s vital points, as it had risen to its feet. Anywhere would do; she’d have to inflict a wound before its claws came down on her head.
Miss Akira has to reach the shrine! Touko thought.
There was a Fire Fiend right in front of her now, its eyes burning in rage.
“Touko, you moron! Get back here!” Akira cried out.
Kanata changed direction and bit into the face of the bear-shaped Fire Fiend standing in front of Touko. Akira stumbled up and slashed the throat of the Fire Fiend, whose eyes and nose had been crushed. Golden blood trickled out.
Something bit Touko’s shin, but she didn’t process the pain. She was too scared. She had no time to get hurt. She swung the sickle in her hand wildly to kill whatever it was that had attacked her.
Another Fire Fiend lunged at Touko, who had collapsed to the ground after her flailing fit. The Fire Fiends were all around her like unified black and wriggling mass. She couldn’t even tell what kind of animals they were supposed to be.
Miss Akira must become the King of the Fire Hunters!
Touko moved faster than she’d ever thought possible. A fox-shaped Fire Fiend kicked at a deer-shaped one and landed in front of Touko, losing its balance as Akira sliced through its middle.
Looking deeply into the nearest Fire Fiend’s eyes, she wondered briefly what they saw when they looked at her. Why did they have to try to kill each other? She’d stained the Fire Hunter’s weapon with Fire Fiend blood. She had no right to do that. She was about to kill more Fire Fiends and didn’t even really know why. She needed to survive and help Akira. That was all that mattered right now.
Touko cut a flying fox-shaped Fire Fiend out of the air, causing its teeth to shatter and shoot in all directions. Its blood got in Touko’s eyes. The fox-shaped Fire Fiend kicked her in the chest while she was blinded. She fell onto her back, breathing hard.
Touko told herself to get up before Akira got hurt worse. She needed to kill as many Fire Fiends as she possibly could.
But she couldn’t get up. She wiped the blood from her eyes. The ground shook as the Fire Fiend horde continued its grim and pitiless march. Black and gold blood stained the ground underfoot.
Touko gasped as she struggled once again to rise. Her hand slipped in blood; her chin slammed down into the road beneath her. She was still gripping the Fire Hunter’s sickle in her right hand. Dizzy and in pain, Touko tried to force herself to fight. She had to. There were still so many Fire Fiends.
At that moment, Touko looked up and saw a bright light in the night sky: brighter than the moon, almost brighter than the sun. Her heartbeat quickened as she took in the sight.
That was the Millennium Comet! It had to be.
She screamed as if she’d gone insane. This was impossible. She had to get up, right now, or she would die. She’d be crushed or bitten in the throat and it would all be over.
It couldn’t be over. The Millennium Comet had finally come. A star that shone brighter than any she’d ever seen. Akira could hunt it now—they knew where it was. Akira could become the King of the Fire Hunters!
That made her happy and sad at the same time. Akira was hurt. So was she. If she didn’t act now, Akira might lose her chance to succeed, and she might lose her life.
Oh, what should I do? I’m going to die.
“Touko!” Akira shouted. She swung her sickle with ferocious force. Her cloak came loose around her body, revealing her numerous wounds. As Akira slashed, Kanata jumped in to assist her, taking down a Fire Fiend with incredible speed and accuracy.
“I’m an idiot,” Akira gasped out. “Just as big an idiot as my brother. Touko, get out of here! You aren’t a Fire Hunter yet! If you want to be one, you’ll have to live and get some training.” She inhaled shakily. “Don’t die here because of me. Please.”
Akira kept fighting, her sickle tracing a perfect arc through the air that Touko tracked with her partially blood-blinded eyes. She cut down a boar-shaped Fire Fiend that was just about to gore Touko, then slashed the throat of a bear-shaped Fire Fiend behind her with a long knife.
Kanata bit the throat out of a goat-shaped Fire Fiend that leaped at Akira, then charged at the next Fire Fiend in his path.
Touko was overwhelmed with gratitude for Akira and Kanata. They were saving her life—again. She looked up and tried to find the Millennium Comet. She wanted to ask Akira if she’d seen it.
But she couldn’t stay still for long, not when the army of Fire Fiends kept coming and coming in an endless tide from out of the black tunnel. If this kept up for much longer, Akira would fall. Her petition would never reach the Guardian Gods in their shrine.
Kanata’s fighting style was even more ferocious than Akira’s as he tore through Fire Fiends at speed, chasing them down as they tried to escape toward the city’s main factory area and biting into the legs and throats of any beast that threatened Akira.
Not a single Fire Fiend approached Touko.
Blood splattered everywhere, making the air thick with the smell of it. Fire Fiends writhed and fought, sending out pulses of heat into the surrounding air. Akira’s sickle left sparks as she continued to fight the monsters off. Fire Fiend after Fire Fiend collapsed from their wounds, motionless like statues made of shadow.
Touko hated it. She wondered if Kanata hated it, too, and realized that he must hate it just like she did. He must have hated to see his master die. Yet he still had to fight, because fighting was his training and all he knew. It must be a terribly lonely existence.
Kanata pushed himself well past his limits as more and more Fire Fiends poured out of the tunnel.
Touko’s hands were sticky with blood as she staggered upright. Hinako and Kun were behind her, and beyond them, the factories of the city were still operating. Kaho and Shouzou and the others were still in the city. She couldn’t let the Fire Fiends reach them.
The sickle felt heavy in her hands and her whole body screamed with pain as she lifted it again. She was scared and moving slowly. Her hands shook. She was going to collapse again; she just knew it. But not yet. She still had to fight the Fire Fiends.
There was a large tear in Akira’s uniform. It revealed a long cut beneath it that was scabbing over. That was just one of her injuries… where did she find her strength? And how long could she hold on to it?
Akira was suddenly illuminated by a bright light that flashed red. Touko covered her eyes instinctively. When she opened them, she felt a raindrop on her nose.
It’s going to rain again…
She had seen a light like that when she was being chased by one of the capital’s spies. Koushi had found her then and saved her.
Kanata let out a loud bark, still fighting. Another dog barked in reply and sprinted into the battle. She looked around, trying to identify the dog that had come to save Kanata and Akira.
“Get out of the way!” someone shouted. Touko thought it was Koushi, but the voice was lower than his. A large hand grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and tossed her into a nearby alley. She landed wrong, hitting her back against the wall. The wind was knocked out of her and she nearly cut herself with the sickle she held.
Then someone called out to her and supported her back. She took deep breaths, right on the verge of choking on air. She tried to find Akira and Kanata to make sure they were safe.
“Are you okay?” Koushi asked. He was rubbing her back.
Oh! So Koushi came. Touko was glad.
“Akira! Akira!” Kun was shouting. He’d finally woken up.
Koushi was here, and Kun was awake. Had Hinako gone home? Was she safe now?
Touko forced her eyes open. She’d fallen, uselessly, again. She had to do better. The drying black blood of Fire Fiends rolled down her face and into her eyes. She tried to rub her eyes clear with limited success.
“Miss Akira is seriously injured. Please help her,” Touko choked out. Her voice sounded small and too quiet in her own ears.
“It’s okay. Roroku’s here, and he’s a strong Fire Hunter. Thanks to Kanata’s warning, the other Fire Hunters from the capital are coming this way.”
Koushi spoke loudly so that Touko could hear each word clearly over the sounds of the battle. Then he turned slightly and saw Hinako standing behind him.
Touko tried to get up while holding Koushi’s arm. The blood was still in her eyes and she ached all over.
“The stars… just now, the Millennium Comet… Miss Akira has to get to the shrine. She needs to give her petition to the Guardian Gods…”
Touko suddenly remembered the vision Hibari had shown them. She had called the Millennium Comet her sister—and she’d been angry at the idea that anyone would hunt it. She tried looking up a the sky to find the Millennium Comet again, but her vision was patchy. Still, she could sense it: somewhere far above the factories of the city, someone was looking down on her.
A thin, shining shaft of light pierced the darkness. The Guardian God she saw in the light was like Warashi, the childlike goddess from her village. But it wasn’t Warashi. She didn’t know if the Millennium Comet had a name. The Millennium Comet just… looked at her. Standing all alone in the sky. Her silver-white hair blew back in the breeze and wreathed her body like white flames.
Touko remembered her dream of the moon with the black face, rising over a dead and dying earth. That cold, empty, fearsome nightmare. All the strength she had left drained out of her.
Is the Millennium Comet a machine or a person? And if she’s a person… will Miss Akira still hunt her?
It started raining.
Where was Shuyu? He’d be soaked!
When Touko turned around to search for Shuyu’s body, her vision dimmed. Her eyes felt heavy. She couldn’t see a thing. She wondered if her grandmother experienced the world like this, because she was blind. Touko’s sudden blindness shocked her.
The world she’d always known was pitch black.
END OF PART 4
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