Cold Steel - Inazuma Gaiden

XXV: Mortals Like Us

"Are you... sure that you're feeling alright now, Nobutada-san?"

"...Mm-hmm."

His mind was fragmented, his memories scattered, and his own consciousness felt like it's constantly slipping between the world of the living and the cold yet inviting embrace of the void. He found it incredibly hard to concentrate on everything and anything, while the sickening sensation continued to plague both of his stomach and his brain still. Whatever the whiplash that suddenly overwhelmed his senses just now, it was not merciful in letting the young man go from their hold without much unwanted problems that now ailed him.

"I'd like you to tell me if you feel the need to suspend our travels for the day."

"...Mm-hmm."

He was slow to process and gather his shattered thoughts and even more so to control his bubbling and especially raw emotions residing within, let alone focusing on their apparent objective - to observe the relatively inconspicuous entrance that would lead them to the Delusion-manufacturing facility. Coupled with the accumulated fallen snow, the uneven formation of rocks that led deeper into the earth of the accursed island provided much natural camouflage from prying eyes.

"Or maybe we should just wait for Kujou-san's and General Gorou's forces instead?"

"...Mm-hmm."

The straw hat knew of his identity and his intentions, at least. He is a lowly commoner carrying the name of Hinode Nobutada, the very definition of an unimportant human being - currently occupied with the task of accompanying the lady of Clan Kamisato in her own personal mission throughout the fractured land. Conversely, he also had his own objective, to seek and retrieve - or at least, find some closure in regards to a particular group of younglings - all left without a home and guarantee for long and fulfilled lives.

"...You're not listening to me at all, are you?"

"...Mm-hmm."

Or at least he thought himself to be just a normal human being. In truth, after experiencing... whatever it was - a lucid dream, a vision - he knew not what to make of himself anymore. The sights of floating islands; surrounded by the endless sea of thick clouds leading into bottomless depths, man-made structures of gray stones and reflective gold towering over flat blades of pale green grass, meeting face-to-face with what could very well be the living source of the cursed energy that plagued the lands.

Of course, he also had the privilege - if he could even call it that - in witnessing the tanned skin and short brown hair belonging to a face with two orbs of brilliantly-colored amber eyes. If it wasn't for the difference in their respective genders, the young man would've had thought that he was staring into an exceptionally chilling reflection of his somewhat younger self.

And even that was still far from being the most shocking thing for him the brunet to witness, or rather - hear.

"It all ends with you. Isn't that right, Nobutada-kiddo?"

Despite his still broken thoughts and unfocused mind, the thief-turned-ronin knew of the land he was born and raised on. It was the same land that he desperately tried to get off of, after all. Inazuma, the land of thunder and lightning, the nation of the unchanging, eternity - ruled under the iron fist of the almighty Narukami Ogosho, the Raiden Shogun. It is a nation that is wrought by war and conflict, a nation with a terribly imbalanced social stratum, where the disparity between lords and vassals, nobles and commoners were unambiguous.

it is also a land of countless tales and legends, myths and fables. A land of innumerable deities, demons, spirits, demi-humans, and everything else in-between, where both mystery and magic are extremely commonplace. His unfamiliar faith to the Yasogami was the proof of that. Even the name of the faith itself, the Thousand Gods of Yore was proof enough. While only being a fraction of the size when compared to massive nations like Liyue and Snezhnaya, the spirits and other mighty or lesser mortal beings that immensely populated Inazuma's waking and metaphysical realms could probably make even the Lord of Geo and his legion of Adepti as well as the countless followers to his ideals seethe with envy.