Kujou Sara

The blood of the tengu runs through Kujou Sara's veins, but she does not dwell in the forests and mountains as they do. She was fostered from a young age by the Kujou Clan and has served since then as part of the Tenryou Commission.

The Tenryou Commission is one arm of the Tri-Commission, and is in charge of the security of Inazuma. Today, Sara is a general of the Tenryou Commission, and hers is the vital task of maintaining order within Inazuma City itself.

She governs well and is ever determined to set a good example for her subordinates. No matter how tough the issue, if it falls under the Tenryou Commission's jurisdiction, Sara can solve it in good time.

Sara smiles little and is swift and resolute in the pursuit of her missions, and so many Inazumans consider her an inaccessible, stone-cold military person.

However, such an assessment might be too surface-level for someone like Sara, who seems cool on the outside but burns within.

In Inazuma, the Vision Hunt Decree is the manifestation of the Raiden Shogun's will to pursue Eternity, and Sara is the main enforcer of that decree.

Sara believes that Visions, in the hands of those with incorrectly-aligned minds, will destabilize the foundations of Inazuma, thus necessitating the Vision Hunt Decree.

However, this does not mean that Sara will stoop to any means necessary to enforce it.

When citizens are inevitably affected as the decree is carried out, she will expend the utmost patience and sincerity to attempt to explain the Almighty Shogun's long-term goals.

She has also given clear orders forbidding the harming or exploiting of civilians during the pursuit of the decree, as such evil deeds will only drag the great name of the Archon through the mud.

Unfortunately, the vast ideals of the Archon are too great for mortals to perceive, and resentment arises nonetheless, with some even uniting to resist those who enforce the decree.

In such circumstances, where she has no choice but to take action, Sara often sighs helplessly before facing the enemy.

The Shogun's Army has Kujou Sara's leadership to thank in large part for the fearlessness and unity of its soldiery.

Surveying battle lines, setting up training plans, selecting weapons and armor... Unlike many generals who prefer to strategize and plan from the rear, Sara prefers to do such things herself.

Sara is very harsh on herself during training, with her personal regimen being over ten times tougher than that which the ordinary troops go through. Even when night has fallen and the world has gone to sleep, one can still hear the sounds of her bow being drawn echoing through the dojo.

On the battlefield, she has always been at the tip of the spear, leading the troops with absolute heroism and awe-inspiring fighting spirit.

When the dust has settled, she will also personally see to the wounded, and give reward and mete out punishment based on merit. Every step of the battle that passes through her hands is managed well, with missteps being very few and far between.

Sara's troops are all witnesses to her words and deeds. No one who has fought alongside her does not hold her in the highest regard.

The general is the soul of the army, and fine generals are hard to find. Small wonder, then, that Sara has always been the pride of the Shogun's Army.

Even when she is not training, Sara brings her austere, strict nature into her daily life.

Her life seems to follow some sort of eternal, unchanging rule. She wakes up on the dot, trains on the dot, eats a fixed amount...

From things as large as training regimens to things as small as food consumption, Sara has her own perspective and pursues her self-created standards to the last letter.

"Miscellaneous objects are to be sorted by category, and furnishings are to be arrayed in straight lines. There is to neither be dirt in any corner, nor on the ground."

These are the standards Sara holds her dwelling up to.

She views excellence in such matters to also be a part of her training, and handles them herself, not requiring the aid of any servants.

That said, how could her servants ever just stand idly by? Every time they meet Sara, they will implore her to put the cleaning cloth down and leave the matter to them.

Having repeatedly declined their offers to no avail, Sara eventually took to cleaning up behind closed doors, posting up this sign outside her room—

"Training in Progress, Do Not Disturb."

Although she has grown up amongst humans, Sara still maintains the various habits of the tengu. When she leaves the Tenryou Commission Headquarters on occasion, it is mostly to go to the mountains.

She knows them like the back of her hand, and has witnessed many strange creatures not often told of in human tales.

Among them are many fierce and evil things, but there are also little creatures that mean no harm. To Sara, however, these are just differences in form.

There was a time when a sizable spate of thefts was reported to the police station in quick succession, and they could not find the culprit. Walking through the woods on higher alert than usual, Sara quickly espied the bake-danuki running along hurriedly while carrying their plunder.

Of course, bake-danuki are not evil by nature, but only steal food out of gluttony.

Capturing the creatures, Sara had only this to say as she reclaimed their ill-gotten gains:

"Hiding in the mountains will not let you escape judgment. Listen closely, for this is your final warning. Do not make yourself a nuisance to civilians again, or else..."

The bake-danuki were chilled to the bone, nodding as they balled up in a corner. After this, they would keep to that agreement and did not again do such ill.

As for the sharp-tongued Sara, she would bring various melons and fruits that could keep for a longer period up to the mountains while training there, making sure to deposit them in the bake-danuki's dwelling whenever she passed through.

She did not explain herself, and in any case, did not consider this any sort of gift. If she had to describe it... then perhaps a sort of consolation to those who had turned from an unrighteous path might be the best description for such things.

Sara has been training with the Shogun's Army ever since she was taken in by the Tenryou Commission. The soldiers actually thought that she was a boy at first due to her coming to train at an early age, and they took care of her very well.

Having been a little frightened of crowds at first, Sara became much more outgoing due to this warm reception, and would even play games with the other troops.

However, the soldiers she played alongside were severely punished by the Clan Head, while she was merely given a cold chastening.

"Not following military law and neglecting your training... I did not take you in just to have you do such pointless things."

Since then, Sara would be conscientious in maintaining a certain distance from others. Rather than blending in with the crowd, she sought first to attain surpassing martial prowess, bearing in mind at all times that she would someday take command.

"The Raiden Shogun's helper. An example to the Tenryou Commission. The pride of the Clan Head."

None of these three identities put her first in any way. But to Sara, this was her. She was a warrior whose being was calm and austerity.

No one ever told her that she should give herself more consideration, and Sara did not necessarily lack such concerns either.

Her chains as an adopted child and the solitude of a non-human had always accompanied her mission and status.

But to stop due to such obstacles is the dilemma of the weak, and being Kujou Sara, her path would not end here. She would be the Electro Archon's staunchest adherent and the most clear-headed of her generals.

Out of their worship and love for the Raiden Shogun, many merchants have created and sold artwork related to her.

The most popular product among them is the "Statue of Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho, God of Thunder," a lacquerware doll made using the deity's image as its template.

Sara rose early the day it went on the market, easily becoming first in the queue to purchase the statue. This became something of a hot topic for a while.

Sara would make no retort concerning any such stories. From her perspective, she bought that item with pious respect in her heart.

In all matters related to the Shogun, she had never once committed a perfunctory or negligent act. Indeed, she went forth personally to select and purchase a statue and even personally prepared a shrine within which it might be kept upon her return.

She placed five such statues in specially-placed display cases, and would clean them whenever she returned home. If she could not be there, she would arrange for artisans to perform that maintenance instead...

To someone like Sara who lacks friends and who is too busy to have much of a private life, the Raiden Shogun is not merely a deity, but also a form of repose.

The Shogun is her will, her future, her strength... even the harbinger of her fate — the confluence of all that is noble. Sara's adherence is one born out of recognition and trust.

The intricately-made Archon statue makes Sara feel like the Almighty Shogun is not far off in her Tenshukaku, but is a wisdom, an ideal, a strength of heart that supports her every step of the way.

These moments of tranquility bring her indescribable enjoyment.

When she obtained her Vision, she had not yet been given a name or surname.

She originally lived in a quiet mountain forest that had, from a time unknown, become plagued by great evils that robbed it of its former peace.

Though she had the strength of the tengu, she was still young and could not stand against the monsters alone, and was hurled from a cliff during the battle, her wings having been damaged prior.

Plummeting from the heights, and unable to unfurl her injured wings, she seemed fated to fall to her death.

"No! It can't end like this! I... I always believed that I could protect this place forever with my strength..."

When day dawned the next day, some passers-by discovered an unconscious girl by the roadside. She looked a little worse for the wear but seemed otherwise unharmed, adding to the mystery of how she had ended up here.

Astonished, the people brought her back to the city and reported the matter to the Tenryou Commission immediately.

That was when the Kujou Clan Head, Kujou Takayuki, noticed that the glowing item in her hand was a Vision — a thing that many desired but few ever gained.

Realizing that she this child had gained the attention of an Archon even at her young age, Takayuki believed that she was a destined child, sent to the Tenryou Commission by the heavens.

Taking her in, he named her "Sara," and would train her to become an all-around warrior, asking that she serve the Shogun and fight for Inazuma.

Kujou Takayuki believed that in raising such an excellent general, the status and future of the Kujou Clan would become more secure. And indeed, all that he had hoped would steadily come to pass.

Sara, armed with her Vision, would swiftly distinguish herself, rising through the ranks to become a general of the Tenryou Commission at a young age, just as many had hoped.

Yet it was precisely because she possessed a Vision that Sara knew this better than anyone: her surviving that fall unscathed was due to the Archon looking upon her with favor in that instant.

In but a single glance, she had been given the power that sustained her life. Everything she had, therefore, could be described as existing by the Almighty Shogun's grace.

Fighting for the Shogun...

Sara believed that this was neither her duty nor a result of her foster father's schemes, but was instead her truest calling.