On the other side, after Koen left, Cyr and Sora also returned to the shrine.
Sora thought long and hard, his head practically hurting from it, but he still couldn't figure out why his keeper wanted that guy's tooth.
"What's so great about a big oaf's tooth anyway?" he grumbled sourly.
"Weapons made from dog demon fangs are pretty effective…" Cyr glanced at the sulky white tiger.
Fangs from magical beasts should be pretty useful too, but Sora hadn't shed his baby teeth yet…
Besides, Sora's fangs weren't nearly as big as a dog demon's.
If the fang of a Great Dog General could be forged into a sword, its size must be considerable.
"..." Sora, now being stared at by his keeper, silently lowered his head.
Shouldn't have asked.
Was he planning to pull his tooth out and make it into a weapon?
He'd rather they pull out that other dog's.
"Teeth under three years old are useless anyway. Come talk to me when you're a few hundred years old," Cyr quipped.
Only then did Sora feel reassured.
As long as it wasn't his tooth.
"What kind of weapon should it be…"
"I'll need to find a proper blacksmith too…"
"There's probably no Tōtōsai in this world…"
Cyr fell deep into thought.
The Great Dog General had three weapons: Tenseiga, Tessaiga, and Sōunga.
Each had different powers, but all were incredibly strong.
Aside from the fact that the dog general's fangs were excellent weapon material, much of the credit naturally belonged to the person who forged them.
Tessaiga and Tenseiga were both forged by Tōtōsai.
As for the last one—Sōunga… Cyr couldn't remember where that one came from.
After all, childhood memories were just that—memories. He'd watched it when he was very young, tagging along with an older cousin.
That cousin of his had been a total anime nerd in his youth, even an artist who liked to draw fanart.
Cyr's later obsession with anime owed a lot to that cousin's influence.
"Sōunga… and Ame-no-Murakumo… are they really unrelated?" Cyr murmured thoughtfully.
The names were pretty similar.
He couldn't get his hands on Sōunga, but maybe he could get the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi instead!
That thing was supposed to be a legit legendary artifact from Japan.
He might be able to find it in Heian-kyo, right?
Meanwhile, at the shrine, Gojo Haru was sitting idly, watching two little girls and two dogs fighting.
With his eyes covered by a silk blindfold, everyone assumed he couldn't see. So as he sat there, they all just thought he was sunbathing.
Many people even ignored his presence entirely.
It was as if, without the Six Eyes, Gojo Haru no longer deserved to be acknowledged.
But Haru wasn't angry at all—he just thought these people were laughable.
He watched them as though enjoying a comedy show.
After all… these people only had a partial understanding of what the Six Eyes were capable of.
While he couldn't see anyone's faces, he could distinguish them through other means.
Such as the flow of cursed or spiritual energy—everyone's was unique.
So when a certain figure descended from the sky, he already knew who it was.
The master of this shrine.
"Do you know where the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword is?" the person asked excitedly the moment they landed.
Gojo Haru instantly understood his intention.
Knowing his personality, he wouldn't randomly ask a meaningless question.
If he asked…
It meant he was planning to do something.
The moment the other party mentioned the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword, the intention was obvious—he wanted to obtain it.
A divine artifact that had existed since the age of the gods.
"You mean the Ame-no-Murakumo that's connected to the Yamata no Orochi?" Gojo Haru asked again to confirm.
"Mhm." Cyr nodded confidently.
"If it's that one… it's enshrined at the Atsuta Shrine," Gojo Haru said as he fanned himself.
Once used by Susanoo, one of the Three Noble Children, the sword was kept at Atsuta Shrine as a divine relic and token of the gods.
"I want it," Cyr said bluntly.
Gojo Haru froze for a second.
Although… he had half expected this, it was still a little shocking to hear it said so directly.
"If you want it… it's not impossible."
"If it were an ordinary person, they'd definitely have to fight their way through the priests and shrine maidens of Atsuta Shrine. But in your case…"
Since those people had already acknowledged his divine status, then—what right did mortals have to stop a god from retrieving his own weapon?
Though he wasn't that god, the divine name the boy bore was Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto.
Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo—the Three Noble Children—were known as such because they were family.
Tsukuyomi was Susanoo's older brother.
So what's wrong with a big brother using his little brother's sword?
"Honestly, if you just barged into Atsuta Shrine and demanded the Ame-no-Murakumo, I doubt anyone would dare refuse you," Gojo Haru said with a grin.
"That's… easier than I thought." Cyr didn't sound pleased—he actually seemed a little disappointed.
If it were that easy to obtain, then it made the sword seem less impressive.
"Well, for you, anyway…" Gojo Haru sighed lightly.
After all, you are the strongest in the world right now.
And in the eyes of others, you're the strongest with no humanity left.
No one feared Gojo Haru, because he was still human—head of the Gojo clan, bound to the emperor's commands.
So even if he was the strongest, the so-called noble humans still dared to challenge him.
But not with Cyr.
In their eyes, he was practically a monster—a demonic being. They had only acknowledged his divinity because they were left with no choice.
But ultimately, he wasn't human.
And things that weren't human couldn't be dealt with using human means.
Yokai and gods only respected power.
Talking about status or political power didn't work on them—they'd kill you on a whim.
"…Looks like I'll have to make a trip," Cyr sighed.
Atsuta Shrine was nearly 200 kilometers away, and in Heian-kyo where there were no high-speed forms of transportation, that was a considerable distance.
Luckily, he could use teleportation.
Once again, he had to admit—Gojo Satoru's technique really was convenient and practical.
Gojo Haru's smile turned slightly wry.
The folks at the shrine might freeze in terror the moment they saw him.
After all, during the previous siege against Cyr, members from Atsuta Shrine had participated too.
"That dog demon's back again," Gojo Haru said, looking up at the sky.
°°°
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