Eyes Of Broken Lilies

"Why hasn't anyone closed the main hall balcony doors?! Now he's going to escape through there!!"

"Someone! Close it before he escapes!"

One of the other Lan disciples shouted, urgency cracking in his voice. Lan Suji and Kansai exchanged a quick nod of understanding... they'd already planned for this.

They split apart in opposite directions, circling around the fleeing black figure to cut off his path.

Suji veered left; Kansai, right. Meanwhile, guards and three more Lans surged straight down the middle, directly behind the intruder.

"W…what's happening with our Crown Ribbon Kuradome? He… doesn't look… right…"

A guard whispered to his companion, voice tight with unease. But the other guard could only swallow hard, black eyes narrowing.

"I don't know… just don't let that bastard get away."

With a loud thud, Lan Suji and Kansai slammed the towering balcony doors shut, panting but still steady. The black figure skidded to a halt, then flickered, summoning ten shifting shadow clones with Kagetsu Jutsu.

Swords clashed again; ringing steel filled the hall like a rising storm.

Kuradome, standing apart, suddenly raised his right hand, moving it in a sharp arc to the left. His long white sleeve fluttered like a falling petal, and from the gesture, red flames laced with golden mist spiraled into being... shaping into something solid.

"You'll die sooner or later… owl mask," Kuradome breathed under his breath.

The swirling mist settled into the form of a guqin....deep wine-red wood etched with golden sigils, its strings glowing faintly like sunset threads.

The Lans froze for a heartbeat.

They had never seen a yokai do this.

Only Lans had the ability to channel spiritual energy into a weapon like that... and even then, the instruments stayed hidden within the yin lan emblem on their sashes, small as a gem, ready to be summoned in a flash. Some disciples carried them differently.... in embroidered pouches, or slung in a long bag behind their backs... but never conjured straight from raw energy.

"Strange… yet impressive," Kansai murmured, wonder flickering across his features as he ducked beneath a shadow blade.

Kuradome's fingers skimmed the guqin strings, plucking quick, sharp notes that tumbled into heavier, slower chords,

He turned the spiritual guqin at an angle,

fingers pulling the strings sharply , as I'd drawing a repeating crossbow, releasing bursts of sounds sharpped like arrows in gold and wine red

The melody went:

ton-ton-ton-ton-ton-ton ~ ton ~ ton-ton-ton-ton ~ ton-ton-ton-ton-ton-ton ~~~ tooooon~ toooooon tooooon toooooon ~ toooooon toooooon tooooooon toooooon ~

The sound lashed out... precise, fast, and crushing... aimed only at the true black figure as the clones scattered like smoke.

The others stepped back, avoiding the lethal arc of the melody.

"Isn't… that note called Mukuro?"

One of the Lans whispered, breath caught in awe and dread.

"It means 'corpse'… one of the sharpest killing notes to use…"

" that guy... surely going to die if one attack hits perfectly " other Lan whispered with wide eyes .

[ End of Chapter 22 ]