Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Chapter 7

matter of saving Risai  to me. You must leave here quickly!"
    "I can't!"
    Before Gyousou could even answer him, Taiki had already shaken off Sanshi's embrace and jumped  toward the cave.
    "Taiki!"
    Taiki tumbled his way toward the cave while throwing off Sanshi's outreaching hands. Not caring  about anything, he jumped into it.
    --No matter what, I can't leave Gyousou to save Risai all by himself!
    - - - - -
    The cave was quite deep. After she looked around, Sanshi hurried to block Taiki's way.
    "...Taiki!"
    "No! I'm not going!"
    Sanshi couldn't help but hold back the hand that she was going to use to grab onto Taiki's arm. For  some reason, she just wasn't able to go against Taiki's wishes.
    --Why is this?
    Suddenly, Sanshi forgot where she was and looked at her own hands, lost in thought.
    Taiki was Sanshi's master, and right now, the most important thing was to make Taiki's safety her  first consideration. She had to take Taiki away from this dangerous place as quickly as possible.
    Unfortunately, she didn't know what kind of dangerous creature this was. Actually, she didn't have to pay  attention to Taiki's refusal. She could be very forceful if it was to keep Taiki safe.
    At this thought, she grabbed Taiki's hand, who unexpectedly shook her off easily. Not to mention,  she could not help but pull her hand back.
    --Why?
    Taiki did not have the time to acknowledge Sanshi's feelings now.
    The end of the tunnel was also a wide area, filled with stalactites. The torch that Gyousou had  brought was the only source of light inside of the cave, a weak fire that made it very hard for them to  estimate the depth of the cavern with any certainty.
    Taiki saw the silhouette of Gyousou in front of him with his sword drawn. Laying not far from his  feet was Risai.
    What frightened him, what had almost swallowed up Risai's body, was a giant dark shadow!
    The shadow appeared to take shape. One end of it changed into the shape of a sickle and swung  stiffly towards Risai!
    "Toutetsu!" Sanshi cried out.
    --How could this be?

    Sanshi looked unwaveringly at the youma. No, perhaps it should not be called a youma. Its power  was far beyond that of any ordinary person, and very few had ever seen it before. It was essentially a  monster of legend.
    Sanshi was no match for it. Is there anything in this world that can face the toutetsu without drawing  themselves back?
    Risai raised her head. "Kou, run away!"
    "I can't!"
    Gyousou pointed at Taiki. "The Kingdom of Tai needs you! You must not die here!"
    "I don't want to be the only one to leave. We should all go together!"
    A scream rang out.
    The toutetsu targeted Risai with a violent force, and then followed it by turning to Gyousou and  attacking him.
    Gyousou flew to the ground, the toutetsu's attack roaring above his head. It then raised its claw even  higher.
    --I have to think of a way to stop that frightening weapon!
    (How can I do it?)
    --The Sword Seal.
    "Rin, Byou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zen, Kyou!"
    (I hope I can stop it.)
    The black shadow suddenly stopped moving.
    (And then...what do I do?)
    Koushi. --Except Taiki was shaking so much that he was not able to perform it.
    One part of the shadow turned toward him. In the light of the torch, Taiki could see a pair of eyes  close to the ground.
    Taiki made eye contact with the toutetsu.
    "Use this opportunity and go quickly..."
    Taiki looked back at the pair of pupils without the least bit of fear, except he didn't know how much  longer he could keep this up.
    "Sanshi, save Madame Risai!"
    "Taiki..."
    "Get Madame Risai out of there quickly!"
    --There it was again! Sanshi ground her teeth.
    There was no way she could disobey Taiki's words. Sanshi hurried to the collapsed Risai. She lifted  the body that was lying in a puddle of blood and returned to Taiki's side. She glanced briefly at Taiki and  sprinted toward the entrance of the cave.

    "Sir Gyousou, you should also take this chance to leave here!"
    The fallen Gyousou was outside of Taiki's scope of vision, and Taiki did not have the time to  consider if he had actually been hurt.
    He could not lose to this pair of blood-like eyes.
    "Please..."
    A reply came back in a deep voice. "That is not possible."
    At this time, Taiki no longer had the extra energy to ask Gyousou to go.
    For the first time, he understood that a person's eyes gave them such great leverage. One was the  pressure he could put on his opponent; another was the force he could send