Hakuri Sazanami vs. Soya Sazanami is a battle between Hakuri Sazanami and Soya Sazanami taking place during the Raid on the Rakuzaichi.
Hakuri comes face-to-face with his brother, who had abused him ceaselessly when he was younger. Refusing to continue being a burden to his allies, Hakuri prepares to confront the source of his torment head-on, as his latent potential for sorcery begins to awaken. Soya wishes to return Hakuri to the Sazanami; or rather, his idyllic vision of what Hakuri should be like.
Prologue[]
During their planning phase, Chihiro and Shiba had planned that Chihiro would enter the Rakuzaichi through the front entrance, while Shiba would teleport outside the Naginojoen and deal with the Tou, who were likely to be stationed there. Hakuri brought up that Soya had been praised by Kyora for being even smarter than himself, which Shiba doubted based on his experience fighting him. Hakuri agreed, having never seen his calculating side, and reasoned that Soya's weakness was himself.
He offered to lure Soya upstairs, which Shiba was grateful for, as facing four Isou users with one being as smart as Kyora would be difficult. Chihiro noted he would head downstairs as fast as he could, and told Hakuri to find him and leave Soya to him. Shiba brought up that if meeting up with Chihiro didn't look feasible, Hakuri could head back to the Naginojoen and he could deal with it.
Battle[]
Soya chases Hakuri.
On the 8th of November, the four Tou members sit outside the Naginojoen and discuss their non-standard posting. Suddenly, Hakuri peeks out from the stairwell at the end of the corridor, Soya immediately sprinting to chase after him. Soya shouts after him, asking why he is running away and where he is going. Reaching a hallway, Hakuri sees Chihiro descending at the stairs on the other side, with only four suited individuals between them. Chihiro shouts for Hakuri to run in his direction and Hakuri was in awe that Chihiro had already made it through the entrance. Hakuri is confused as he sees Chihiro have no trouble with three of the guards but having difficulty with the fourth, and as he shouts to Chihiro a wall of trees suddenly erupts between the two, blocking the hallway off.
Soya reaches Hakuri and grabs him by the scruff of his neck, yelling that Hakuri must have come to see him. Hakuri shouts back that he has not, to Soya's surprise, while wondering what to do now that Chihiro was caught up in a tough battle and their plan had been derailed. He contemplates turning back but realises doing so would make his contribution pointless, and mulls over simply getting beat up until Chihiro comes but knows Chihiro might take some time. As a manic Soya voices that he would kill anyone who planted those rebellious thoughts in Hakuri's mind, Hakuri anxiously notes that whatever his choice, Chihiro and Shiba wouldn't blame him, as they were nice enough to care about someone as worthless as himself.
Suddenly, a vision of his pet praying mantis Samurai appears to him, chastising him for letting himself believe that and admonishing that he shouldn't take advantage of people's kindness just because they were nice. Determination crystallizing within himself, Hakuri pushes Soya away and states he is there to defeat Soya, black flaring from Hakuri's left eye before Hakuri uses Isou. However, nothing happens and Soya grabs Hakuri by the neck. An anxious and angered expression overtakes Soya as he voices that he couldn't take Hakuri's words any longer, before throwing Hakuri to the ground and questioning what Hakuri thought he could do.
Soya begins kicking Hakuri around, telling him that all he could do was curl up, and that was something Hakuri should know. Lying on the floor, Hakuri internally admits he is weak. He suddenly notices a flash of black lightning over the wall and realises Chihiro must be trying to break through, to continue underground to the Naginojoen. Soya continues shouting and kicking Hakuri, adamant that Chihiro must have been the cause of Hakuri's rebellious words, and urges Hakuri to think of Soya himself. Soya cries that while Chihiro was just using Hakuri for his goals and would abandon Hakuri when the time comes, he loved Hakuri no matter what.
While Soya was shouting, Hakuri had been focusing on the thought that Chihiro would be warming up to blast through the wall any second now. At hearing Soya's insults towards Chihiro, Hakuri yelled at him to shut up, as that was not who Chihiro was. As Soya continues beating at Hakuri, Hakuri is determined that Chihiro will come, before remembering Shiba's lessons on sorcery and Chihiro's words that they would end the Rakuzaichi together. With newfound grit, Hakuri stands, hands raised in preparation for Isou once more, and successfully uses Isou, the shockwave sending Soya back several metres to the wall of trees. Hakuri admits that though he was weak, accomplishing this much was fine.
Chihiro slashes at Soya.
Soya is surprised that Hakuri had managed to use Isou, but comments that Hakuri's weak shockwave had only moved Soya and not damaged him. A flash of lightning behind him prompts Soya to turn around before Chihiro bursts through the wall of trees, Cloud Gouger and wakizashi tearing through Soya's back. Chihiro yells at Hakuri that they need to hurry to the door and Hakuri acknowledges it. Hakuri asks if Chihiro defeated his opponent and Chihiro admits he has not. A sudden pulse downstairs draws Chihiro and Hakuri's attention (this pulse being Tenri activating Datenseki), but Soya abruptly stands back up, a cold look in his eyes. Black flaring from his left eye, Soya states they are dead.
Hakuri realizes that he has never seen that expression on Soya before, but as Chihiro reaches for Cloud Gouger, Hakuri holds out a hand in front of him. Hakuri states Cloud Gouger only has a few uses left, so they should be saved. Internally, Hakuri notes the reason Chihiro hadn't gone for the neck was because Soya was Hakuri's brother. Hakuri tells Chihiro to move ahead, as he prepares Isou himself and tells Chihiro he will handle Soya. Soya coldly mutters that he will kill Hakuri, as Hakuri had been lost ever since the icy-skinned woman had warped him.
Hakuri shouts at Chihiro to go, but Chihiro hesitates, as even if Soya was badly injured, he doubted Hakuri's chances. Hakuri reiterates his statement, reminding Chihiro that they had to get moving, and that would be for the best; in addition, Hakuri says to Chihiro that this is something he has to do. Chihiro's thoughts notice that Hakuri had changed, and he ponders if Hakuri has had a breakthrough. Hakuri resolutely says that he has to put his life on the line and settle things once and for all. Respecting Hakuri's determination, Chihiro decides to head downstairs. Hakuri and Soya then both launch Isou at each other simultaneously.
Soya's is far more powerful, blasting Hakuri into the far wall and shattering the wall. Soya states that even if Hakuri could use sorcery, he shouldn't get ahead of himself as he was still nothing compared to him. He continues on to say that the Sazanami Clan sorcerers were highly skilled but not viewed with fondness; if Hakuri was to become skilled, Soya believes he should die while he is still loveable. Soya walks over and launches a second shockwave directly over Hakuri, blasting him into the ground. He then turns to walk back to the Naginojoen corridor, only to notice something fall behind him; a pair of pliers. On the ground, a strong black flare emanates from Hakuri's eye.
Hakuri unlocks his Storehouse.
Hakuri focuses on grasping his sorcery, as more items begin appearing on the ground behind Soya, the tools he used to use on Hakuri. Hakuri discovers he not only has Isou, but possesses a second sorcery technique; a Storehouse of his own. Coming to the same realization, Soya is flabbergasted, realizing Hakuri is a genius on par with the first Sazanami Clan head, a genius that hasn't been seen for 200 years. Hakuri steadily gets to his feet, the mask of the Storehouse resplendent over his left eye. Soya grabs Hakuri and slams him against the far wall, screaming in rage and disbelief. He shouts at Hakuri, raging as he lambasts why it had to be Hakuri of all people, shouting that there was no chance and Hakuri couldn't do anything, screaming at him to die.
Blood spurts from Soya's mouth and Hakuri weakly retorts that Soya was also on his limit, causing Soya to slam Hakuri into the wall again, cracking it. Remembering his encounter with the icy-skinned woman and lamenting how he had not shown her hope, he apologises and promises to prove it this time. Soya screams for Hakuri to die and that he will be worthless, letting him go to fall, but Hakuri instead lands on his feet, in a position eerily similar to Chihiro after getting struck by Sojo's Mei. Soya shouts in indignation why Hakuri wouldn't go down, and Hakuri, recalling Shiba's hypothesis that years of abuse from his siblings led Hakuri to unconsciously develop better spirit energy defence, states that it was because of Soya's love.
Rerouting his spirit energy from the Storehouse, Hakuri launches Isou once more, a powerful shockwave blasting out and hitting Soya point-blank, defeating him. With Soya left unconscious on the ground, Hakuri proceeds downstairs to find Chihiro and Shiba.
Aftermath[]
The three proceed into the Naginojoen, where Shiba expresses his surprise at not only the fact that Hakuri has two abilities, but also his rapid growth in the field of sorcery. Hakuri points out that must be why Chihiro chose to leave him, and Chihiro agreed it was that in addition to him respecting his determination and knowing that if he interfered, they couldn't call each other equal allies.