Victor Matsuri

Victor Matsuri — An examiner at the festival

The quiet approach to the Eclipse sanctuaries has become a festival. The Hero hears music, smells barbecue and notices candy-apple stands and games. Yue has opened a fabric stall, while the locals celebrate both challengers and victors. Miko could not keep the place secret and worries that the unprepared will die in the trials—or that successful visitors will put Himiko and Arche’s blessings to dangerous use. Her concern competes with a celebration that even Baoyu admits is tempting.

Baoyu reveals that he, Yue and Haruki became victors together, though they have not attempted the final Eclipse Ascent. Haruki persuaded them to join what he called a pleasant walk and led them into the trials. Baoyu’s and Yue’s later accounts make clear how unwelcome the surprise was. Their royal connections also earned them unusually harsh treatment from the two deities, according to Baoyu.

The opening allows the Hero to answer that they have not yet prepared for the challenges or that they are already a victor and want the complimentary chicken skewer. Miko praises either caution or achievement, and both responses lead to the same request. Since secrecy has failed, she will test challengers before allowing them through the torii gate. She asks the Hero to be the examiner, trusting their judgment to keep unsuitable recipients away from the gods’ rewards.

The Hero accepts the chance to become the festival’s star and filter out irresponsible challengers. Baoyu supports the compromise, and Miko prepares to gather the entrants. Her NPC explanation adds a second reason for the exhibition: fighting the Hero gives visitors a test of readiness and makes the festival livelier. The invitation remains open to a Hero with or without earlier Eclipse victories; several NPC greetings also change when the Hero carries specified Eclipse reward items.

Victor Matsuri — Gifts among the stalls

Baoyu identifies the trap in the apparent invincibility. Himiko’s blessing matters when the sun shines at midnight, and Arche’s when the moon is out at noon. Forcing eternal day or night could make the gifts useful while extending the deities’ influence. Yet the village is genuinely flourishing: humans, Yokai, Vampires and travelers from overseas are getting along. Miko is delighted by that coexistence and plans to send more warriors to keep it safe.

Yue treats the gathering as an opportunity to design for Vampires, Elves, Dwarves and other new customers. Her parasols delight the Vampires, though she says some first tried to bite her. They stopped after discovering that her blood—and that of Miko, Baoyu and Haruki—could kill them. Narcis separately says drinking Yue’s or Haruki’s blood would make him wither. Their statements connect the cousins’ altered lives to the visitors’ precautions without establishing a combat rule for every Vampire.

Haruki enjoys the food and excitement while warning that the Yokai’s good behavior may last only as long as the entertainment. His mother has come to celebrate his success and wandered after lights and sweets. His father stayed in the mountains because she defeated him in a duel; Haruki fears that he and the unruly clans would otherwise turn people into festival food. Haruki prefers his cousins’ company, despite the danger he recognizes in his own family.

The new friendships also raise questions. Yue worries that the prominent victors all appear connected to noble blood: Laidronette is a Greenguard lady, Haruki a royal relative, and Masakado wears armor resembling the set in Haku Shrine. She fears the impression this creates, rather than proving every victor’s ancestry. In her reward-sensitive greeting, she also notices that victors become familiar with one another unusually quickly. She associates the oddness with the blessings, but supplies no mechanism or proof of a compulsion.

Victor Matsuri — Three challengers

Himawari wants Himiko’s blessing to accelerate a Kitsune’s growth. Another tail ordinarily takes her at least a century, but she expects victory to gain her at least five and a place in Miko’s court. She insists that the original Yokai Spirit was a Kitsune like herself and compares Miko’s radiance and the Sun’s rays to a fox’s tails. These are Himawari’s assertions of kinship and suitability, not confirmation that the Spirit belongs to her species. She believes Yokai methods can arrange the midnight Sun her blessing would need.

Her rivalry exposes less generous motives. Himawari resents both the human dressed as an Oni and Haruki’s success, identifying him as Shuten-Douji’s son and imagining a bloodbath at his celebration. Narcis’s descriptions of Darkovia’s eternal night interest her. When the Hero is recognized as a victor, she becomes eager to befriend them and learn how they succeeded. In Kuzunoha’s Image ends less triumphantly for her: Miko says the defeat was so decisive that one tail fell off, supplying the quest’s Sunny Fox Tail.

NeOni presents himself as an Oni and Timelord from a dystopian future of feuding clans and neon streets. His story repeatedly slips. He admits assembling the costume from premade warehouse sets, has not thought through the future’s cause, and does not know what a Chronomancer is. The native title and Miko’s quest identify a costumed enthusiast rather than establish his time-travel claims. He fears the genuine Oni under Haruki’s hood and, when addressing a victor, tries to trade supposed future knowledge or kimono-rental coupons for help. NeOni Blue requires one prop horn after his defeat. Miko remarks that the Oni clans became less wild because humankind grew strong enough to match them.

Narcis Arrhythmia is more deliberate. The Vampire welcomes the Isles’ hospitality and acknowledges why Miko should be wary. He says he knew Arche as a mortal Cavendish and had crossed fangs with the future god’s blade, admiring his bloodlust. He wants the Solstice Moon’s blessing for Darkovia and imagines all Vampires sharing its noon-time invincibility. He respects Laidronette’s victories and House Cavendish’s long endurance, but his courteous manner does not settle what he would do with the reward.

Embodiment of Scarlet has the Hero prevent the Vampire challenger’s ascent and turn in a Bloodsoaked Omamori. Miko’s completion text says he accepted defeat gracefully; the following film complicates that account. The Hero reports that the Vampire took a parting shot and would have bitten them if Miko had not broken a torch over his head. She condemns the sportsmanship and is glad he was stopped. The accounts are retained together without inventing a reason for the discrepancy. Miko also describes Vampires as Yokai from abroad and expects the Isles to learn how to handle them.

Victor Matsuri — Haruki gets a real fight

The Hero finds the challengers too easy, so Haruki proposes dueling the victors and offers himself as the genuine half-Oni counterpart to the cosplayer. He invites Baoyu and Yue to team up again. Yue refuses, still furious about being tricked and busy serving customers; Baoyu will watch from the audience because his family would disapprove. Miko notes two other victors, one of whom completed the final Ascent, and starts to spread the word.

A flash envelops Haruki and a visible effect passes across the group. He is startled, then says he feels strong enough to lift ten cows. The Hero suspects Himiko and Arche overheard the earlier discussion, accepts the consequences of asking for a better fight, and tells him to fetch his spear and stop holding back. The cause remains the Hero’s inference; the scene gives Haruki’s excited description of his new strength.

Onihitokuchi records the duel through a Broken Oni Horn. Miko calls Haruki sturdy but sometimes careless about others’ durability; she hopes fighting a Dragon lets him feel free enough that he may someday stop cutting away his horns. His reward-sensitive greeting gives the earlier adventure a more anxious purpose: he believes the cousins must prepare for Wuji, which may come for Miko or track down Chen. That is his fear about the future, not evidence that such an expedition has begun.

Victor Matsuri — A Cavendish seeks her ancestor

Lady Laidronette cleared the Temple and Shrine with Marigold Reignolds and Song Rivale. Song came chiefly because she worried about Marigold, while both companions left on personal business before the party could attempt the final Ascent. Laidronette is responsible for people living on both sides of Darkovia’s eternal night and worries what others will do with the blessings. She sees the Hero’s exhibition as Miko’s tactful way to exclude ill-intentioned entrants without directly insulting them.

Her strongest reason for coming is personal. Arche is one of her ancestors, whom the family believed died defending King Dudley Drakath. She now knows he eloped with a woman from the Isles. Arche resented seeing her, made the trial harder and granted his blessing bitterly after she and her friends won. In the reward-sensitive account, Laidronette says Victoria encouraged the visit after hearing from Miko about the sanctuaries. Reconciliation with a supposedly lost ancestor matters more to her than the blessing itself.

Tsukihime asks the Hero to duel this descendant of the Solstice Moon and return a Sunrise Amulet. Miko says Arche was harsh because of their blood connection, while Himiko was softer toward Laidronette. She remarks on the strong pull blood has on Sun and Moon. The family’s historical belief gives Dudley’s bottled account a present-day consequence: the ancestor who escaped his relatives now has a descendant asking for a real conversation.

Victor Matsuri — The wandering Ayakashi Slayer

Masakado is the only victor Miko knows to have conquered all three trials alone. His armor resembles that of the first Ayakashi Slayer, and Yue recognizes its likeness to the set at Haku Shrine. He calls himself a warrior without a lord but seeks knowledge rather than service or bloodshed for sport. In his homeland, he says, ordinary people meet Yokai chiefly through the remains of their victims, while bored ronin may kill on a whim. The festival’s easy mingling makes him question both peoples’ assumptions.

He explains Ayakashi as an older word for Yokai, especially dangerous or mysterious ones. He counts the Shrine and Temple’s gods among them and hunts such beings to protect humankind. Their apparent peace here stays his blade, though he remains wary of changing moods. He also admits that the helmet folds his ears uncomfortably and the armor prevents him sitting. Properly fitted equipment would attract unwanted attention. In another greeting, he says he was tossed out a window at home, resists blaming his family, and explains that he looks more Yokai than human; the account does not identify his exact nature.

Kanmu Heishi makes this solitary victor the final duel and asks for an Agehachou Crest. Miko praises his honorable conduct and doubts any warrior in her court could match his bladework, then wonders why his helmet fits so poorly. The closing scene has the Hero admire his success across all three trials. Masakado enjoyed the festival more than those lonely challenges and stumbles over describing himself as human, then a human person, then a people person. The verbal slip invites curiosity without resolving his identity.

The Hero quietly asks whether he is Yiren. Masakado recognizes the name but denies being that man and gives only his own. Later, the Hero notices the ill-fitting helmet and asks about cat or fox ears. Masakado says no; the Hero jokingly settles on fox ears anyway and recommends asking Yue for a hat for a friend. This remains the Hero’s guess, not a revelation of the face beneath the armor.

Victor Matsuri — Who gets to choose a god?

Masakado says he originally came to behead the two deities. The Hero calls that extreme, and he agrees it is now unnecessary because matters are under control. He nevertheless asks the festival’s true victor whether the sanctuaries should continue to exist and whether people need gods. His concern turns a friendly exhibition toward the authority of the beings whose gifts made its celebration possible.

The Hero immediately gives the question to Miko. She refuses a hurried final answer, but states a principle: people can choose their gods. Some came for these blessings; others turned away. She sees power in that choice and warns that gods would be foolish to ignore it. She has not ordered the sanctuaries destroyed or declared their sponsors harmless. Masakado accepts that a warrior’s mind should remain as sharp as their blade.

The Hero invites him to stay, relax and enjoy the party. The six-duel route ends with the Hero recognized as the festival’s victor, while its cast continues to debate what the blessings mean. All six captured quest definitions have non-once flags, though that alone does not prove unrestricted live repetition. Miko’s completed-route greeting keeps the exhibition open to further challengers and duels; the celebration’s political and divine questions remain unsettled.

Victor Matsuri — Shadowscythe victors

The map’s additional Dusk dialogue extends the festival beyond its guide-listed encounters. He boasts that he, Chen and Sally completed the three dungeons and returned to celebrate beating the Islanders at their own game. He identifies himself as a former Golden Onslaught member, regards Chen’s hatred of the Isles as useful and speculates that Sally no longer gets along with her mother. His suggestion that Noxus wanted to ride his star student’s success is likewise his interpretation.

Dusk says other Shadowscythe members want Chen gone, while he values the boy’s talent and capacity for mayhem. He recounts trashing Chen’s parents’ home with him and recognizing his descent from the Emperor of Steel. From that, he proposes removing Miko and claims two thrones would then belong to Chen by law. These are a political threat and a succession claim voiced by Dusk, not proof of an assassination, an agreed legal settlement or Chen’s actual accession.

He also claims to have overcome Gravelyn’s reluctance to settle Chen permanently in the Shadowscythe. He says he presented the expedition as a way to embarrass the Isles: one of their own, wearing imperial red, would win their gods’ blessings. He reports accusations of cheating but supplies no proof that the party cheated. His account does not establish that Gravelyn approved the more extreme plan he has just described.

Dusk welcomes the possibility of the Hero humbling them, arguing that a loss would motivate warriors for real war horns. Chen is eager for another fight, he says. His greeting offers the fight without supplying its outcome. The invitation keeps Miko’s original concern alive amid the festivities: the same rewards that draw strangers into fellowship can become instruments of imperial rivalry, while ambitious victors seek more than a pleasant celebration.

The optional Umaretate no Shinrei quest supplies that next encounter. Its cached header places it after Embodiment of Scarlet, alongside the continuing festival route, rather than requiring all six main duels. Dusk says Miko wants the Shadowscythe celebration spoiled and asks the Hero to defeat their Doomknight Prince. A Crimson Fortune Slip records the result, and the task lists a Stellar Wish as its reward. It is not marked once-only in the native data. Dusk says he expected Chen to beat someone to death after the loss, but instead describes Chen’s sour mood at being home and eagerness to leave. Dusk intends to report to Gravelyn and, asked what he is thinking, answers only: blood and water. The closing words leave his next plan unstated.