I am Lonely

General Summary

After leaving Yata no Kagami in Mifune's care, the group made their way back to Tengoku to return to the Crescent Moon Outpost via the Dimension Gate in front of the barracks. However, upon their return they discovered that in their absence, the Outpost had been swallowed by Yomi and that Liu-Xiao  had established some sort of protective barrier around the camp.    They reported their successful recovery of Yata no Kagami to Tao-Ren and also learned that although Ayaka's team had been able to locate the land bridge, they'd found no signs of any shrine at the end of it. They spent some time resting in the Instant Fortress during which Benkei decided to scry on Sora and Kayako once more. This time, the scry was successful and he saw what had become of Laxius' hostages. He saw their corpses adrift in a river of flesh and realized that they had simply been disguised as the enemies Vendetta had summoned against them, now dead at their hands.   Later that night, Tanjiro summoned Benkei to his quarters to speak with him about the proposal he'd made regarding an exchange of technologies. However, he revealed that the real reason he'd summoned him was because Tao-Ren had asked him to find out about Benkei's connections to the constructs that they'd been coming across. Benkei told him the truth about his connection to Kagutsuchi and his involvement in the First Great Yokai War. Tanjiro then retracted his offer to Benkei, telling him that Guild would instead examine the defeated constructs instead of him.   The following morning while making plans to return to the Dangai Coast to search for Ame no Murakumo, the outpost was suddenly and unexpectedly visited by Izanami herself, who sought to parley with Tao-Ren. Accompanying her beyond the barrier, the group finally came face to face with the Mistress of Despair. A tearful Izanami attempted to persuade Tao-Ren to cease fighting and to embrace this new world where death and suffering would no longer exist; a world where no one would ever have to feel the pain of losing their loved ones, a world where no one would ever be abandoned or left behind again. A world where everyone would be able to live together, forever. Though Tao-Ren conceded that Izanami's goal of creating a world where death and loss was indeed desirable, she argued that death and suffering were what made life worth living. Breaking down into tears Izanami departed, leaving the group behind amidst the smoke of Yomi.   With Bitō unable to function due to the lack of sunlight in Yomi, the group enlisted Yuuna's help and returned to the Dangai Coast. Upon arriving, Genji saw a vision where a monk told him to bring balance to the storm. The group was attacked by an Elder Tempest and several humanoid lightning elementals. After figuring out that they needed to balance the number of male and female elementals, the group was able to pacify the storm and finally came face to face with Susanoo himself. The Storm Monarch admitted that he no longer possessed Ame no Murakumo and that after a falling out, his elder sister Amaterasu now held it. However, Genji was unable to convince Susanoo to impart that information and disappointed in their lack of conviction, Susanoo left them alone on the cliff, once again having failed to retrieve Ame no Murakumo.