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~The Confinement Chamber and Yatagarasu Training Facility~

Located in a secret underground tower that descends for nearly one-thousand levels beneath the center of the nation's capital, the Confinement Chamber is the most important location for the secretive Yatagarasu Organization in the entire country. Here is where the greatest of their foes are sealed within a facility only accessible through a long, difficult, and secretive ritual that only the strongest of their servants, the Kuzunoha, can properly perform. Within are sealed many immensely powerful demons against which the summoners of the Crows can train or with whom they can barter (and if they are lucky, perhaps winning their loyalty in battle); amongst those sealed are the Star of Death Mikaboshi on the 666th Floor, the Vault of Asgard on the 777th Floor, and the Guardian of the Capital himself, the Great Lord Masakado, on the 999th Floor. Tapping into the great vein of power beneath the capital, it draws from an impossibly large well of supernatural strength to seal in these devils.

Nearby, not far from the Tower, is a small shrine with no real distinguishing features that is rarely visited and poorly tended from the outside, but within lay a secret...the main training grounds for the best of the best amongst the Yatagarasu, a place where those who will bear the name of Kuzunoha train and test themselves one last time in order to claim the title that shall be rightfully theirs. Here is the only location where one of the summoners can go to deliver any sort of message to the very highest of the high amongst their shadowed brotherhood...but even so, they must go through the hands of the mysterious herald.

[Note: This location cannot be visited by any others save the Yatagarasu Members outside of a storyline!]

Mir

Mir quietly looked down at her arm, carefully examining the familiar shape of the claws that had formed over her skin. It was odd, in many ways... at heart, she was a summoner, calling up the powers of spirits in order to have an effect on the world, yet here she was, once more taking an entity within her body and summoning its power in a completely separate way from how Summoners normally were. Still, did the form really matter that much? Achieving the goals was a bit more important than the exact methods used, and it wasn't as if she'd ever stopped Summoning normally. That was still the bulk of what she did, and she calmly touched one finger to the mark on her (rather exposed) chest, pulling a very special Tube out of it. With the added knowledge of the fourth line of the Kuzunoha, she now possessed two invaluable techniques - and it would be a much better world if none of them were needed, but at the rate things were going, there might not have been much of a choice. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, then allowed the intoxicating power to vanish, as her clothes reformed once more. This was one of the tasks done, and it was time to see about the next. That little boy of Kyouji's had talent, but already seemed to be called for, so he was out of the question. Asuka might do well someday, but she needed a much greater degree of experience before she could be considered qualified... and Eoria would have been fantastic if she'd just been able to concentrate... hmm.

Quite calmly, Mir stepped onto a lift, leaving the desolate and empty chamber behind her. The lights began to flash by as she went upwards, each one indicating a floor sealing items and entities of almost incalculable power. On and on they went, never seeming to change - there were just about a thousand floors, after all, and it could take awhile to move past them all even when going at high speeds. Her thoughts turned inward once again, thoughts focused on the future. They were calling up the clans, and many warriors from everywhere they could reach. It had been effectively open-season on many targets, and now this establishment of an entirely new line... yeah, they were pretty worried about the future, weren't they? Still, the Yatagarasu existed to protect the people of the land, and they would use whichever means they decided were necessary in pursuit of that. It wasn't always an easy choice, and they always mourned any sacrifices that had to be made, but... There is far too much at stake for losing to be an option. Maybe it's time I returned to the village... Something had to be done, anyway. She didn't want to have to use some of the final options that the Yatagarasu possessed. Past a certain point, there was simply no turning back... it was better to solve problems before such drastic measures became necessary.

Ever so slowly, the lift she was riding on slowed, until she finally reached the very top of the Confinement Chambers. Mir calmly strode out, heading on towards the next task that had been placed on her shoulders.