For the Seitenshi, who had never witnessed bloodshed, and even for the civilian officials present, this was undoubtedly a hellish tableau.
Even the politicians, accustomed to large-scale scenes, had faces turned ashen, their throats bobbing up and down as they desperately tried to suppress the churning nausea in their stomachs.
The Seitenshi trembled violently in the shoulders, finally managing to turn her head away, daring not to look at the red and white mess on the carpet.
It was too brutal.
This wasn't an execution.
This was sheer massacre.
However.
Tendou Kisara, the perpetrator, showed no expression on her face.
Her eyes were terrifyingly vacant, as if covered with a layer of gray film. She looked straight past the two bleeding corpses, fixing her gaze directly on Tendo Kikunojo, who had remained steadfast at the far end of the conference table.
"Then, Grandfather."
"Or rather, Aide Tendo Kikunojo!"
"Next."
"It's your turn."
With that said.
Tendou Kisara raised her blade and advanced step by step.
The soles of her shoes made a sticky, squelching sound as they trod on the blood-soaked carpet.
The surrounding ministers wanted to scream, wanted to flee, but under the suppression of the Heimer's divine power, they couldn't move a single finger, only able to roll their eyeballs and sweat profusely.
They could only watch helplessly as Tendou Kisara walked step by step toward the highest authority in the nation.
Tendo Kikunojo remained standing there.
Leaning on his cane.
His back was ramrod straight.
Facing the dripping demon blade, facing his own granddaughter radiating murderous intent, the old fox who had held power over the Tokyo Area for decades still managed to show a faint smile on his face.
"Is this over?"
"Kisara."
"This old man had hoped that ten years of tempering would have allowed you to improve a little."
"I didn't expect..."
"You are still this naive."
Tendo Kikunojo looked at Tendou Kisara and shook his head, his tone filled with disappointment.
"If you're trying to provoke me, save your breath."
Tendou Kisara was unmoved, her gaze fixed, her steps relentless.
"No matter what you say, today, the Tendou Family must pay with their lives for my parents."
"Pay with lives?"
"Of course."
"A life for a life, repaying debts—that is only right and proper."
Tendo Kikunojo nodded, seemingly agreeing with the sentiment.
But the next second.
He changed his tone.
"But Kisara."
"Do you really think you know everything?"
"What do you mean?"
Tendou Kisara frowned and stopped her advance.
Her intuition told her that nothing good would come out of this old man's mouth.
But that intense sense of incongruity forced her to halt.
"It seems you still haven't realized."
"That night's plan."
"To ensure absolute success."
"To leave no living witness."
"This old man deliberately sent away all the guards, cut off all communications, and even the drop time of that Gastrea was calculated with precision."
"Logically speaking..."
"It should have been a perfect locked-room murder."
"You, your parents, and even the servants in the house..."
"Should have all died that night."
"But what was the result?"
Tendo Kikunojo's cloudy old eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a cold glint like that of a venomous snake.
"You survived."
"Not only did you survive, but you only lost one kidney."
"In such a confined environment, facing a rampaging Gastrea..."
"With your small six-year-old body back then..."
"How did you survive?"
"..."
Who saved her?
In her memory... it was the only spiritual pillar she had relied upon for the past ten years.
—Satomi Rentaro.
That night, his figure had stood shielding her.
Even after losing his left arm and left leg, even after going blind in one eye, Satomi Rentaro that day had stubbornly protected her until rescue arrived.
But.
Facing the implied meaning within Tendou Kikunojo's words.
Tendou Kisara's face paled.
After all.
She remembered clearly how much her grandfather had valued Rentaro ten years ago.
Even within the family, Rentaro's status was higher than hers, his own biological granddaughter.
But what did that prove?
After that calamity, didn't Rentaro still resolutely choose to leave the Tendou Family with her?
However.
The next second.
"Haven't you ever suspected?"
"That night, for the cleansing operation, I even found excuses to have all Tendou Family members removed from the scene in advance!"
"So then, why did Rentaro just happen to appear there?"
Boom—!
Once these words were spoken.
They were like a bolt of lightning, instantly cleaving through the fog.
Tendou Kisara's pupils contracted sharply.
Her body swayed, nearly losing its balance.
"So... why?"
"Rentaro is a genius."
"His political instincts are a hundred times sharper than your utterly foolish father's."
"As early as three days before your father prepared to act."
"He had already detected unusual movements within the family."
"Including Hyuga's abnormal mobilization of the guards."
"Including Gentsuku's preparations to block information."
"Even including rumors of Kimitoki procuring that thing from the black market."
"With just a little thought, connecting these clues together would give him a fairly accurate guess."
"But."
"Kisara."
Tendou Kikunojo paused, a glint of admiration flashing in his turbid eyes.
"Rentaro was far more intelligent than your father!"
"He didn't choose to inform!"
"Because he understood perfectly well that I was monitoring his every move!"
"Moreover, given his position at the time, he fundamentally couldn't stop the will of the entire Tendou Family!"
"Even if he had spoken."
"Even if your father had believed him, what then?"
"The Tendou Family's blade would forever hang over your father's head!"
"As long as your father lived for one more day! This cleansing would never cease!"
"Even if he dodged this time, there would be a next!"
"If he dared to inform!"
"Then I would have killed him along with them!"
"But."
"What I never anticipated!"
"Was that on that night."
"He actually made a decision that even I found astonishing!"
"Sacrificing the chariot to protect the marshal!"
...
Sacrificing the chariot to protect the marshal?
Were her parents the chariot?
Was she herself the marshal?
Once these four words were uttered.
Tendou Kisara's body jerked violently, nearly losing her grip on the sword in her hand.
"Since he couldn't stop the tide, since he couldn't save a doomed, sinking wreck no matter what!"
"Then he might as well abandon it!"
"Abandon that doomed couple!"
"And instead, stake all his chips on the marshal most likely to survive!"
"Namely, you!"
"Kisara!"
"As long as he could save you on that night."
"As long as he could make you owe him your life."
"Then, whether in terms of debt or morality."
"His position within the Tendou Family would become unshakable."
"One could even say."
"He could completely tread upon your parents' corpses to pave a path to survival for you! Even pave a soaring path to the clouds for himself!"
"But what a pity!"
"This should have been the smartest move!"
"To bind you utterly to his war chariot!"
"Even I, after seeing his resolve, had to look at him with renewed respect!"
"But!"
"Who could have imagined!"
"He calculated everything!"
"Yet he alone failed to calculate that you would turn out to be just as inflexible and foolish as your father!"
"If only you had pretended to know nothing! Even if just to survive! To continue clinging to the Tendou Family like a parasite!"
"With your talent in swordsmanship! Combined with his political genius!"
"Ten years later today!"
"The two of you could have become the Tendou Family's most dazzling twin stars!"
"He would have become a rising star in politics! Even taken the reins of power from my hands!"
"You would have become an unrivaled Sword Saint! The family's sharpest blade!"
"You could have had everything! Fame! Status! Power!"
"Instead of being as you are now!"
"One turned into a crippled madwoman who only knows how to swing a sword!"
"One turned into a stray dog who, for the sake of that laughable kindness, must wallow in the slums!"
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