Chihiro Rokuhira vs. Puppet Sorcerer & Trauma Sorcerer is a battle fought by Chihiro Rokuhira against the Puppet Sorcerer and the Trauma Sorcerer.
While they make several food stops, Chihiro and Char are ambushed by an army of clones and a sorcerer with psychic abilities, who seek a lucrative bounty placed on the two's heads. As tensions rise, Chihiro is forced to confront painful memories.
Prologue[]
After traveling to many restaurants and providing Char food, Chihiro and Char decide to head back to Cafe Haru Haru. On the way back, Char talks about how she used to be in a dark place and was fed mushy food and today she was happy. She prepares to tell Chihiro about why she is getting chased, but she is interrupted by a phone call.
Shiba provides Chihiro information about their next target, Genichi Sojo, a weapons dealer who Norisaku Madoka works for, the one who is after Char and he has the Enchanted Blade, Cloud Gouger. At a stoplight which turns green, the other vehicles' drivers appear to be identical clones; none of which are moving their vehicles forward..
The spiral of clones
Shiba then informs Chihiro based on the way Norisaku talks and how Sojo has an Enchanted Blade, he suspects Sojo to be connected with the Hishaku. Chihiro tries to drive forward but his wheels are trapped and begin to submerge into the road.
As the stoplights' color changes to red, the road starts swirling and a hand emerges from it. Shiba tells Chihiro he will contact Hinao and get her on the case, and before he returns to the cafe he will extract more information from Norisaku.
As a swirled, spiralling fusion of multiple clones merged together appears from the road and states they have found Char, Chihiro responds to Shiba he will be there soon before hanging up.
Battle[]
The spiral starts to lower itself, splitting clones. Meanwhile Chihiro grabs his weapons and questions the attackers' confidence in moving publicly, internally wondering how they could have known seen or know where Char is as she hadn't stepped out the vehicle. All the drivers as well as the clones within the spiral disintegrate into waves of mud that rush at Chihiro, breaking through the windows and entirely encasing the car, with Chihiro trying to reach for Char.
With a quick slash that slices through the roof, Chihiro leaps out of the car as he kicks through the roof of the car along with the mud, with Char tucked under his arm. A man in a suit, faces Chihiro, appearing the same as the previous figures, though more cognisant—evidently the one behind the dirt clones.
The clone sorcerer observes Chihiro indeed has an enchanted blade as Chihiro lands on a traffic light. Picking up on his confusion, he states Genichi Sojo has publicly issued a bounty, offering to pay any price for Enten and Char. At the same time, Hinao also discovers the bounty online and curses, as every sorcerer in Tokyo would be after such a reward from one of the underworld’s major players. She attempts to call Chihiro, but he does not respond.
Chihiro tells Char to hang on tight and hops away, with the clone sorcerer noticing and quickly forming the dirt covering the car into clones in order to pursue Chihiro. Chihiro heads into an alleyway, turns and immediately uses Kuro to bisect and behead a line of clones, realising their dirt-like structure. The clone sorcerer leads a second line of clones in from the alley’s other end, saying he had witnessed the enchanted blades’ powers in battle, and that they had the power to end ‘that hell on earth’—being the Seitei War.
The Trauma Sorcerer attacks Chihiro
He expresses relief that not all six blades seem to have such great power (having no idea that Chihiro is using the seventh), but also brings up the possibility that Chihiro was simply inexperienced. The clone sorcerer ultimately discards the thought and sends his clones in to surround Chihiro. Focused on slashing all the clones around him and protecting Char, he notices unless he kills the puppeteer, the dirt clones are endless. Eventually one of the clones are about to grab Char and Chihiro notices. Chihiro does not notice a second sorcerer, who was hinding in one of the clones, emerging out with his palm outstretched who reaches up to Chihiro’s face, as Chihiro turns around to notice him and his eyes turn strange.
Abruptly, Chihiro recalls a memory of he and his father enjoying a meal, which is soon interrupted by the memory of the day his father died. An age of experiencing his trauma seems to have passed when Chihiro snaps back to the present, fatigued, and as he wonders how long it’s been the sorcerer responsible calmly tells him it’s been four seconds, additionally mocking him for trying to hide the girl in the car. Chihiro notices Char has also been affected by the sorcerer.
The trauma-inducing sorcerer boasts his sorcery involves psychological induction, being able to track people by their brain waves (hence how he and the clone sorcerer found Chihiro and Char so quickly) and when he’s close enough to a target he can call up their trauma. He is unsurprised that Chihiro can’t stand up, due to his brain having been manipulated.
The clone sorcerer, holding up Char, notes Char is the last surviving Kyonagi, and wonders if they should eat her. His ally immediately shuts down the notion, saying the money is their priority and that the rumour of becoming immortal upon eating the flesh of the Kyonagi is nonsense.
The clone sorcerer is surprised to hear the rumour is false, and wonders why they were wiped out because of a false rumor, and the trauma-inducing sorcerer states it was founded from the Kyonagi clan’s regenerative capabilities, which he demonstrates by breaking Char’s leg. The leg heals immediately, to the two’s astonishment. The two conclude Sojo likely wishes to make use of this ability, and note Char will not have a peaceful life for a long time.
As the clone sorcerer decides to try breaking some of Char’s limbs himself, the trauma-inducing sorcerer moves to pick up Enten. Chihiro quietly orders the sorcerer to get his filthy hands off his katana, and the sorcerer, though not hearing Chihiro’s statement, turns back, prepared to finish him off. Chihiro draws his wakizashi with his right hand and slices the sorcerer’s sword-carrying arm off.
Chihiro slashes through the clones using Nishiki
The trauma-inducing sorcerer is shocked Chihiro can still move, and Chihiro reveals that traumatic day fuels him—all the sorcerer had done was add fuel to the fire. Chihiro catches Enten in his left hand and calls for Nishiki. The tri-coloured fish immediately appears and fades into streaks of colour that follow Chihiro and Enten. Chihiro immediately decapitates the screaming sorcerer.
The clone sorcerer turns at the noise, and Chihiro immediately dashes through the clones, dispatching each of them with ease due to Nishiki providing a large boost to Chihiro’s strength and speed. The clone sorcerer notices and tells Chihiro to bring it on, but instantly all his clones are cut up. As a last ditch effort,he turns around and tries to threaten Chihiro by using Char.
In an instant he dices his way up to the clone sorcerer and cuts off the arm holding Char before decapitating him and catching Char mid-air.
Aftermath[]
Chihiro asks if there are people after Char due to her abilities, and thus Char had not told Chihiro because she feared he might take advantage of them, which Char confirms. Chihiro realises her ability is what Char wanted to say before they had encountered the dirt clones, because Char trusted him.
As Char slowly reveals she’s still hungry, having thrown up her food upon seeing her trauma, Chihiro pulls out his squashed sandwich from the store, apologising for what she had to go through. Char tells him it’s okay as she accepts the sandwich. The two then begin to head back to Cafe Haru Haru as Chihiro ponders the bounty placed upon them and the ruined state of the car.