Episode 10

**The Goddess's Power** (女 (め) 神 (がみ) の力 (ちから) , *Megami no Chikara*) is the tenth episode of the *Orient* anime series.

## Synopsis

Musashi, Kojiro, and Tsugumi face off against Nanao and Shiro, and their only hope for victory might be the mysterious entity inside of Musashi.

## Summary

Kojiro forms a plan to fight Nanao, who thinks that they will come at her at all directions, but since she has seven blades its essentially seven vs three and she will still have the advantage. However, Nanao is surprised when Musashi and Tsugumi run backwards. She wonders if that means Kojiro will fight her alone and if he is sacrificing himself for Musashi to escape. As she can't allow Musashi escape, she attacks him with one of her blades, but Tsugumi then captures it using her Kitetsu Blade whip. The group had figured that Nanao will either attack Musashi or Kojiro, so it was easy for Tsugumi to capture a blade knowing where its going. Musashi then cuts a part of the Nanao's staff that forms that blade, leaving her with only six more.

Shiro and heads towards Musashi. Nanao tries to tell him that she can still fight and there is yet no need for them to fight together. Shiro then stops and turns, asking Nanao why would he fight alongside her and states they never had fought together before as there is no need and he prefers fighting alone. Shiro tells her to step aside as weak allies are just a hindrance. As the Goddess isn't doing anything, Shiro is getting bored. He activates his blade ring. Tsugumi explains the blade ring is halos of light that appear when you channel power into a Kitetsu Blade, and as Shiro haven't used that yet, it means he will be showing his true power now. Shiro swings his blade, but apparently nothing happens. Moments later a large light cube surrounds the entire area. Shiro then flips the cube, causing large amount of Bushi to start falling towards the sky, while Musashi and the rest manage to hold themselves using their swords. Standing above the cube, Shiro sees most of the weak Bushi had fallen, but some still remain. He starts cutting smaller cubes into the ground, separating the weak Bushi and making them fall. Shiro then states he doesn't understand why they band together and if they want to defeat oni, they should just become stronger. For him the weak Bushi feel like insects, making him realize that's why they stick together as otherwise they are weak. Musashi and Kojiro disagree, but as Shiro can't understand why, he slams the ground, causing everyone to start falling.

As Musashi falls, the time stops and the Obsidian Goddess appears, stating she finally understood what kind of person Musashi is. She explains that Shiro and Nanao are her enemies, trying to kill Musashi and get her to obtain her power. As Musashi's death would be a problem for the Goddess, she decides to use her remaining power to at least save him. Realizing only he will be surviving, Musashi declines, stating he is weakling who can't survive alone. If he is alone, he lose sight of what matters and can't even dream on his own. When he is with others, he feels power inside of him and wishes to see how far they can go. The Goddess thought that his selfishness made him unfit to be her vessel, but now he has allies and seems to have the power to draw others to his struggle. That's a valuable temperament, because pooling strength with comrades in order to fight is the only way the fragile humans can fight the Kishin. The Goddess decides to give him his power and will demonstrate how she fights using his body.

As the time resumes, large black stones appear and the energy from the blades starts being draw in. A black stone exist that can call upon the power of all Kitetsu Blades. The Goddess in Musashi's body, then pulls and takes Shiro's blade. The Goddess comments Shiro has a nice blade and dispels his cube, returning the mountain to its place and saving those that were falling down. Shiro gets excited to see her. Tsugumi is surprised to see a black blade ring, while Kojiro feels that Musashi is someone else. The Goddess tells Kojiro to look at how her power works. Nanao starts attacking her, but all her attacks are being warped and repelled. The Goddess explains that those with black stones have the control over blade energy, and can draw it towards them or even repel it. But because of the unique nature of the power, the vortex of magnetism can leave people confused and unable to use Kitetsu Blade, which is the truth behind the legend they know. Shiro retakes his blade. Kojiro feels that if Musashi can repel any attack, he would be invincible. The Goddess states it won't be for long as her existence is fragile and she was resting inside of Musashi. Taking actions in the material world fades her power quickly and she need to return to sleep soon, and when she do, Musashi will loose the obsidian power. As they will still want to kill him, she wonders if his friends will still want to fight alongside him. Kojiro confirms and the Goddess thanks him.

Shiro states he wanted to meet the Goddess for so long and asks him to join him, however the Goddess refuses. The Goddess decides to chase Shiro and Nanao away, before she goes to sleep and will be borrowing the power of the Bushi. The Goddess then starts drawing the Kitetsu Blades energy from the Bushi. She states that Bushi may indeed be insects that need to band together to survive, however, the brilliance of a single blade, when joined by others, can shine like a constellation. As she draws the energy and prepares the attack, Shiro is surprised of the upcoming power.

## Characters In Order of Appearance

* Kojiro Kanemaki
* Tsugumi Hattori
* Musashi
* Nanao Inusaka
* Shiro Inukai
* Obsidian Goddess
* Mitsuru Osafune