The front gate of the Nura estate creaked open, revealing worried faces inside. The Nura clan members who were waiting anxiously, rushed to their aid as Kurotabo and Aotabo carefully brought Rikuo inside. The living room had been hastily transformed into a makeshift treatment area, with blankets and pillows laid out on the floor.

"Rikuo-sama!"

"How could this happen?!"

Gently, they laid Rikuo down, ensuring his comfort and safety. The others gathered around, offering support and doing their best to remain calm despite the tension in the room.

Someone handed Tsurara a first-aid kit, and she began assessing her husband's injuries when she realized the familiar demonic residue that was left behind in the wound. The frost surrounding her husband's festering wound caused her eyes to grow larger.

"This is... Riei's ice...?" Tsurara muttered.

"What?! Riei-sama's?!"

Just then, the shoji door was forces opened as Kubinashi arrived with gasping breath and anxious eyes.

"Everyone! Hurry! There's an army of demons at the front gate!"

The smaller demons were the first to react, and they immediately started rushing around in a panic. The Nura estate was in a state of chaos. At first, their young master was the prime suspect in the Frost killings, and to make things worst, they found a wounded Kappa next to Riei with a bloodied sword. At that time, his face was void of any emotion.

Now that their Third Commander was in no shape to lead them, the Nura clan was rendered helpless against the rebellion. Kejoro's heart sank as she looked at the frozen yuki-onna.

"Tsurara..."

✲'*。.❄¨¯'*✲。❄。*。¨¯'*✲

On the school rooftop, a solitary figure stood against the backdrop of an impending storm. Towa, with her short, silver hair gently swaying in the wind, looked at a certain spot. She remembered there was someone she always met at this exact spot. The familiar scent had proved it. But no matter how hard she tried to identify who that scent belonged to, her mind was blurred.

The icy grey sky restlessly grumbled. The rain poured down over the city with a roar. The sound of emptiness was disrupted by the loud gregarious boom of thunder.

The cold icy rain pierced her pale and wet skin. The cold never bothered her as her attention was fixated on the disappearing scent. Just then, a flicker of an image of a boy with azure blue eyes flashed in her mind and her eyes slowly widened.

The quality of darkness shifted in the sky and Towa felt as if the darkness in her mind shifted along with it. Just like those clouds, her insides were in chaos. A mess. Something was bothering her. Something ached inside her. Something felt so wrong but so right at the same time.

Towa tried to pinpoint the cause of this unexplained pain but failed. She tried to reason this unbearable burning but didn't find any. Everything felt so confusing, just like a jumbled set of a puzzle.

"R-Riei...?" Her eyes widened in realization.

That's when she ran.

Towa's heart pounded in her chest like a drumbeat, its rhythm matching the frantic pace of her footsteps. The sound of raindrops pounding on rooftops and pavement was now drowned out by the adrenaline rushing in her ears. Each breath she took felt sharp and labored, her lungs straining to keep up with the rapid demands of her body.

'I remember now! His scent! The scent can never lie!' The sound of her footsteps seemed to echo like thunder in the empty streets.

'I don't know what he did to me to make me forget, but somehow I have a bad feeling about this.'

Finally, as Towa rounded a corner, she spotted a familiar building in the distance. Her breath caught in her throat as hope surged within her. She recognized the familiar shape of the old traditional building.

Just as she was about to take another step, a figure clad in black emerge holding a blade that glistened even in the rain.

Noticing that, Towa took a defensive stand as her eyebrows knitted together.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The figure only stood in silence but the next thing she knew, that person was already dashing towards her with the sword high in the sky.

✲'*。.❄¨¯'*✲。❄。*。¨¯'*✲

At the entrance of the Nura estate, Riei, in his night form, stood tall and imposing. Dressed in his usual navy blue kimono with his black Haori that billowed with an otherworldly aura. He exuded an air of malevolence that sent shivers down the spines of those who dared to gaze upon him. His face was concealed by shadows, leaving only a pair of piercing, glowing blue eyes that seemed to hold the essence of darkness itself.

Before him was an army of yokai loomed, their forms twisted and grotesque, each reflecting a different facet of horror and nightmares. From hulking brutes with gnarled horns to shadowy apparitions that seemed to flicker in and out of existence, the demon horde was a terrifying spectacle that filled the bleak landscape with ominous energy.

A deep, guttural voice that belonged to a one-eyed demon echoed in the rain. "Look, Riei-sama, these are all the demons that are willing to be under your direct command. With this, you will have your own Hyakki Yakou!"

The yokais in the Nura estate fumed in anger.

"Hitotsume Nyudo! So this is what you've been planning!?" Aotabo exclaimed, clenching his fist tight.

"Riei-sama! How could you do that to your father?!" Kubinashi shouted.

"Tell me you didn't start a rebellion, Riei-sama!" Kurotabo added.

Even with the shouting from his father's subordinates, Riei only stood in silence with his back to them. Hitotsume only chuckled at their pitiful attempt as he walked around the young master.

"With these hundred demons at your command, a new era for yokai will emerge. The yokai will once again reign as the embodiment of fear itself. We shall unleash these demons upon the world, and they shall spread like a plague of terror like we're supposed to!" Hitotsume said.

With each word, the demons behind him growled and snarled, their anticipation palpable.

"Your father's reign of a peaceful and pathetic life of a demon will be over! With Riei as our commander, the era of darkness, and the age of the yokai's dominion will begin!" Hitotsume bellowed, his voice carrying a blend of madness.

Hitotsume then began to look at the young boy with a grin as he presented a hundred demons before him. "Now then, Riei-sama. Command this demon and let us show the world what yokai are made of!"

"Who said I want to be your leader?"

In a cruel twist of fate, a glistening blade slashed Hitotsume in the abdomen, dangerously close to his vitals.

"...?!"

Hitotsume's eye trembled as the warm liquid flowed down his legs. His eye began to trail towards the young master in disbelieve. "R-Ri...ei...sama...?"

"Hitotsume-sama!" The demon behind them screamed while the yokai in the Nura estate was left speechless.

"Riei-sama... What is the meaning of this?" Hitotsume spurted blood from his mouth as Riei pulled back his sword, slashing it to the side to cleanse the blood.

"I never said I want to be your leader. Besides, you did all of this behind my back." His glare was an expansion of cold emptiness, a complete disregard for his foe's wellbeing.

"I did what I had to do for the sake of the Nura clan," Hitotsume said as he clenched his bloodied stomach and dropped down to his knees.

"So much so, you're willing to betray your Commander and tricked his children into being sold as an experiment subject?" Hitotsume's eyes widened at his statement.

"Yeah, I know what you did. You refused to be blamed for what you did, so you planted a scapegoat and erase your trail. But I have my ways of finding the truth." As Riei said that, his hand was slowly lifting his katana.

Hitotsume could only chuckle at his impending fate. "If my action had given birth to the rightful leader of the Nura clan, then, I have no regrets. My loyalty has always been with the Nura clan--"

SLASH!

In one seamless movement, Riei swung his blade, and the world seemed to blur. The traitor's head was split apart. His head falling gracefully to the ground, while the rest remained standing for a brief moment before succumbing to its own weight.

Riei's eyes, like ice in a frozen lake, seemed devoid of any emotion, leaving those who gazed into them with a chilling sense of detachment.

"There is no loyalty in the heart of a traitor, only the false act of appearing trustworthy." 

✲'*。.❄¨¯'*✲。❄。*。¨¯'*✲