Inside the White Pavilion, the air was thick with the scent of expensive incense and the lingering tension of the courtyard battle.
Merun sat cross-legged on a raised dais, his weighted white cape pooling around him like a heap of snow. He remained silent, the demonic mask staring blankly into the room. Opposite him, Mangūsu was practically vibrating with a restless, jubilant energy. He had dismissed the guards, wanting this moment of "fraternity" for himself.
Merun had actually asked him if he could fight Martial Seniors, which truly thrilled Mangūsu. But unfortunately, all of their Martial Seniors are either out patrolling the territory, doing missions, or injured from a recent event. And so they both ended up on Mangūsu's floor in the White Pavillion.
"It has been a long time since I felt such... clarity," Mangūsu said, his eyes scanning Merun's masked face as if searching for secrets written in the wood. "The way you condensed the Shadow Dragon Energy into that final strike... it was such a beautiful technique matched with destructive output."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Tell me, did the Patriarch show you the secret of the Internal Flow? I've struggled with the third compression for years. The manuals say—"
"The Sage won't permit," Merun interrupted, his voice sounding hollow and metallic behind the mask. "For now."
Mangūsu blinked, then let out a sharp, bark-like laugh. "Of course! Ha! He always was a miser with his secrets. 'For now.' I can live with that. It means he intends for us to work together."
The Master of Ise leaned back, looking out the window toward where the Heretical Prince had been carried away. "I must thank you for the display with Yujin. The boy is talented, but his 'Unbroken Form' is a disease of the mind. He thinks he can reach the peak without getting his hands dirty. Seeing you—the Patriarch's own masterpiece—dismantle his 'pure' style with a superior version of our own energy? That will do more to break his stubbornness than a thousand lectures."
Merun remained a statue. Internally, his mind was racing, cataloging every bit of information Mangūsu let slip.
"The Sage only told me to test the one with red eyes," Merun said, keeping his tone clipped. "He provided little else."
"Classic Patriarch Kai," Mangūsu chuckled, shaking his head. "Enshrouded in secrets. The boy is his only son, Yujin. He's the strongest squire we have, but his heart isn't in the Clan's true work. He wants to abolish the forbidden arts. He wants a 'clean' sect. Ridiculous, isn't it? As if you can have the Shadow Dragon's power without its teeth."
Mangūsu continued to talk, trying to bridge the gap between them, seeking approval and closeness just as he had with Bankei. He saw Merun as his ticket back into the Patriarch's inner circle—a peer who had finally bridged the gap between raw power and the Shadow Dragon's legacy. Merun answered with the bare minimum, citing the Sage's "strict protocols" every time the conversation veered too close to technical secrets.
The sliding doors hissed open. Master Hiraku entered and bowed deeply.
"Master Mangūsu. The Demon. The carriage is prepared at the gates. Five remains, identified and secured by the corpse specialist."
Merun stood up instantly. The heavy weights in his cape clinked softly, a sound that now commanded absolute silence in the room. He didn't offer a bow; he simply turned toward the exit.
"Wait!" Mangūsu called out.
Merun stopped, his hand on the doorframe.
"I must know," Mangūsu said, his expression one of genuine curiosity. "In the arena... why did you refer to the Patriarch as 'Master Roshi'?"
Merun didn't turn around. The silence stretched until it became uncomfortable. Finally, Merun spoke, his voice low and cryptic.
"Call him that the next time you meet him. You'll see."
Mangūsu stood frozen as Merun walked out. The Master of Ise felt a jolt of epiphany. A secret name. A title of the inner sanctum. He felt a surge of pride so intense it made his skin crawl.
He was truly in the Sage's graces now.
"I will not forget this!" Mangūsu shouted after him, bowing his head to an empty doorway.
Merun reached the gates, took the reins of the carriage, and began to pull it slowly out of the city. He didn't look back. He made sure to maintain the "Demon's" steady, unstoppable gait until the fortress walls of Ise were nothing but a silhouette against the setting sun.
Once he was deep into the treeline, safely out of sight of any scouts, Merun dropped the reins. He slumped against a tree, his chest heaving as he ripped the demonic mask off his face.
"What the fuck just happened?" he gasped, his forehead drenched in sweat.
His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. The "Demon" was gone, replaced by an isekai'd dude who had just pulled off the greatest bluff in the history of Sekigahara.
He looked back at the carriage, the smell of formaldehyde and old death wafting from the back. It had actually worked.
———
Three hours ago, he had been sitting in the Beggar Sect's hidden camp, listening to Iro. She had sat him down, her eyes sharp and analytical as she mapped out the chaos within the Oni Clan. Her eyes were no longer those of the playful girl who teased him about his age; they were the cold, calculating eyes of a Beggar Sect operative.
"Listen closely," Iro began, her voice a low, steady hum. "We've parsed the data from our informants inside the White Pavilion and Ise. The probability of a frontal assault succeeding is exactly zero. Even with your 'Great Ape' form, you are a candle flickering in a storm compared to three Martial Masters on high alert."
"Based on our latest scans, a Martial Master has, on average, 2.6 million in power levels." She said gravely.
This shook Merun to his core. He even thought he would be close to fighting Mangūsu that day when at great ape he was only at a power level of 70,000. He was literally an ant right now!
She tapped a sketch of the arena where the incident had occurred. "However, the 'Ape incident' created an informational vacuum. The most important variable is Master Mangūsu. Special reports indicate his mental stability has fractured. High probability that this is caused by the loss of Bankei—the man who was his singular Martial Drive. It left him in a state of acute paranoia."
Merun leaned in, his black eyes tracking her finger as it moved toward the dungeon blueprints. "And where do I come in the picture?"
Iro's gaze intensified. "Based on your last encounter, we infer that Mangūsu has arrived at a very specific, very exploitable misunderstanding. Because your ki so closely resembles their Shadow Dragon energy, and because you appeared as a 'civilian' who could suddenly transform, he is 92% certain you are a secret experiment belonging to Sage Kai himself."
She pulled out a small jade slip containing the Patriarch's profile. "Sage Kai has been MIA for years, but the main family is convinced he is working on a 'Great Work' in the shadows. The only thing that could instill that fear into Mangūsu is the patriarch himself, thus we concluded that Mangūsu must be terrified that he hindered that work by trying to break Bankei somehow. He is desperate to be forgiven. He is desperate to believe he is still 'in' on the Sage's plan."
She pointed to the battle-scarred demonic mask that was hanging on Merun's belt.
"We are calling this Plan: New Demon," Iro stated. "You will not sneak in. You will walk through the front gates. You will wear that mask and radiate the fury of a 'successor.' To Mangūsu, you won't be an intruder; you will be the Sage's personal agent that will replace Bankei."
"And if anyone asks questions?" Merun asked, feeling the cold weight of the mask in his hands.
"You don't answer them. You issue commands," Iro coached him. "The name of Sage Kai bears incredible weight within the clan. If you have Mangūsu on your side, you'll be in the clear"
She stood up, looking at Merun with a mix of concern and expectation. "The goal is the five bodies of the Shinken martial artists. Mangūsu will likely offer them to you as a 'gesture of loyalty' to the Sage if you frame it as a cleanup of his previous failure... or just say the patriarch needs it. Your choice."
"You have the highest probability of success if you use the cracks in his psyche rather than your fists."
Merun stood, the weighted white cape settling over his shoulders as he pulled the demonic mask over his face. The transformation was instantaneous—Merun was gone, replaced by a silent, imposing shadow of Ise's past.
The Demon.
"The mask is your shield," Iro had told him while she adjusted his weighted cape. "Let me repeat, Bankei's face is a trigger for Mangūsu. It represents his obsession. If you show up wearing it, looking stronger than Bankei ever was, Mangūsu won't see a stranger. He'll see a 'New Demon.' He'll see the Patriarch's forgiveness. He'll be so busy kissing your boots that he won't even think to check if you're human."
"Thank you, Iro." Merun said solemnly.
"Don't be all mushy. You are a part of the sect. It is our pleasure." She replied.
Merun was about to leave when he remembered something important. "Ah, wait."
"What is it?"
Merun smiled. "Can you tell me more about the agent we have within the Oni Clan? His name? Or even just his appearance?"
She hesitated, not knowing if Merun was permitted to know, but eventually relented, "He... has blood red eyes."
———
He grabbed the reins again, his gaze hardening. He had the bodies. He had the information. He had a "peer" in Mangūsu who would now protect his identity from the rest of the Clan... so long as Sage Kai doesn't come back.
Most importantly, he got to beat up the Heretical Prince, and humiliated him in front of all of his peers. If not for Iro telling him that Yujin had once saved Ichigo and her friend in the past, he would have truly killed him.
"Luck is a skill," Merun muttered, a faint, shaky grin returning to his face.
He began to appreciate the usefulness of the Beggar Sect. At the end of the day, the one who knows more information, has more cards to use.
"Lets get you all a nice place to rest..."
He pulled the carriage toward the rendezvous point deep in sorrow.