If Jun/ko reappear again ,maybe they will be last boss in next book 
Doesn’t fit the profile for the remaining demons, though
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Funny that there’s a character named Jun. “Junko” was one of the names I considered for my MC.
Other names I considered were Minori, Hinata, and Akemi.
Not related, but I had this thought back then that Satsuma would be the “final boss”, book 1 did foreshadow his death in the temple scene.
I still think he will die, and he knows it, that’s why he’s so insistent in having the Ronin in his wedding, to fulfill his prophecy.
I don’t think we have seen the last of Jun/ko yet. I’m eager to see what the author is planning for them.
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We are the sword who cuts the haven after all, yeah, i expect that too.
Poor Tosh, they hope that Satsuma will help their people, while Satsuma makes them participate in his extended suicide.
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I mean Jun/ko was devoured by Ichiro in Jigoku form. I think that Maybe They will turn out to Unexpect Demon,If they reappear.Plus If we not romance Jun/ko ,Ronin cut their arm to escape from hell.I think Jun/ko is very want to drag Ronin back to The Hell .
I don’t think Satsuma will became Demon. I understand he only trap in his dream (Trap in the spirit World same as Masashi in Book 5 ) and wait Ronin find way to wake him . but It’s vague And Ronin is unpredictable future for Satsuma. It’s make him fear .because he think he know what will happen in Future.but Future changes (such as he know Ronin have to participate his marriage ceremony,they don’t )
Devoured is a strong word. They were dragged back to Hell, with one less arm, but I don’t think they are dead yet. We see J’s influence in Book 5, they literally guided the Ronin to Gensai’s hidden treasure.
Also, although Satsuma calls his enemies “demons”, I’m not sure that’s what they are. They are spirits, and they were essential to keep balance in the realm. A lot of bad things started to happen after the Ronin started to slay them (floods, earthquakes, etc).
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The whole point of the Ronin arguing with Tosh was that Ichiro’s son (can’t write the name on the go, sorry) only fault was his heritage and he didn’t do anything wrong, and that Ronin doesn’t want to do anything with Satsuma’s hit list anymore.
Pretty sure that the mountain demon will end up in the way of getting the Ronin and Masa back in their bodies, but the last will have to be either Jun/ko or Satsuma, because the Ronin is done with whole hero crap.
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There’s only two demons left in Satsuma’s hit list. Sakiko, a.k.a. the Silent Lady, and the Mountain Demon, a.k.a, the necromancer shugenja.
I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the next book, but this demon is in for a surprise when he tries to take Masa’s body and find the Ronin’s soul instead 
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I think Sakiko might go for posessing Satsuma or controlling him. She likes to play with her pray.
But yeah, mountain demon is in for a surprise)
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I think we still have some unfinished business with Ichiro. When Ronin killed Shiroyama, Roderico and Shatao, Ronin absorbed black smoke (the same black smoke that Sakiko uses when she tries to brainwash us) from their bodies. This smoke is probably the reason why Sakiko failed to subdue us (Sakiko even recognize Roderico inside us), perhaps smoke is reason why we were able to march for a month without stopping. I suspect that our true mission is not to kill the six spirits, but to collect them all in our body. If Ichiro ever returns (and he most likely will), it most likely will be done by hands of Mountain Demon.
However, all this is hust my hypotheses, and most likely I missed something, but sometimes it’s feels nice to just throw some text into discussion.
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Well, Ichiro wasn’t the demon we were suposed to kill, so it makes sense there was no smoke to absorb. The demon was Kiyoshi, the kirin, “a spirit yet pure”.
You gave me something to think about, when Kiyoshi died, was there any description of the black smoke? I’ll have to reread Book 4 it seems.
ETA: Sakiko recognized Roderico’s remnants in the Ronin, but couldn’t recognize Shatao’s for some reason. 
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Going by memory here, but yeah I think there is a description of that black smoke when Kiyoshi dies.
I feel very strong Shadow of the Colossus parallels in that cycle (track-kill-absorb black smoke). The Ronin might become an actual demon by the end of the series.
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I agree .Maybe It’s possible . 
author like plot twist
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Ah, so the theory is that The Ronin is Satsuma’s personal Infinity Gauntlet- Just with spirits instead of stones. Neat, does that mean to finish the quest and truly vanquish these spirits The Ronin would have to do the thing they’ve been trying to do all series and just off themselves?
Ah how fitting. The Ronin’s spent all this time calling themselves a demon (A Demon with Golden Eyes specifically) and being taught that they aren’t a demon, just horribly traumatized and that even they can be a hero. Only to be proven right and become a demon.
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I understand that mostly Demon that Satsuma mention is his political Rival ,Who is threat for his throne.
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Satsuma doesn’t strike me as someone that cares about politics enough to kill his political adversaries, so there must be another reason for giving this quest to the Ronin. He has been the Emperor for only two years. The Keepers (Shatao, Roderico and Sakiko) only made a move for the throne after the old Emperor died, textbook succession war.
Satsuma does care a lot for the spiritual balance of the realm, it seems, but his little quest is disrupting said balance. He might be the seventh spirit we need to slay and absorb.
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He is Emperor.you have to admit he isn’t naive.and not entire good man. He always have to play political game to save his throne. He sent Ronin to kill threat of Hyuka ( ruled by absolute monarchy) and his.(You can see that Ronin in book 5 start to question about Emperor’s quest after they kill Kiyoshi )And you have to admit some part of Hyuga dislike and not want to ruled by Emperor (Such Takeda and Uesugi dislike Emperor or Jijinto ) So, In Kiyoshi’s case (Who (have good intention) want to unite two clan that dislike and not loyal to Emperor ) is his political rival and considered as Emperor’s Threat
But I think He will not become Demon. On The Contrary,I think that Jun/ko or Ronin maybe will become Demon 
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Satsuma does care a lot for the spiritual balance of the realm, it seems, but his little quest is disrupting said balance. He might be the seventh spirit we need to slay and absorb.
To be honest, I don’t know how much I’m sold on disrupting the balance. The greed spirit was a relatively new arrival to the scene, we see Sakiko appearing and possesing Momo, Roderico was plotting the revolution for some time as Shatao was planning treason. No, I don’t think that Satsuma is at fault, he just reacts to the treats to Hyuga’s stability, be they really mean guys or an innocent pure boy who wants to make his father proud.
Also Satsuma definitely doesn’t care about politics for the sake of said politics, but he wants to preserve Hyuga and its ways. Even if the ways aren’t the best thing to go around.
The Ronin’s resistance to demons is an interesting thing. Like in book 1 it depends on the attunement. In book 2 and 3 we see that the Ronin can be influenced by the kitsune. And only after absorbing 3 demons we can tell Sakiko to go screw herself. Maybe these demonic remnants help us to be more resistant and that’s about it. Maybe the Ronin will end up having to choose to off themselves or not. But then there is this whole pregnancy business. If the Ronin can have the kid in the timeskip, then all bets are off, but I don’t think so, timeskip will probably affect only Masa or maybe won’t affect only the Ronin. Damn, so many possabilities.
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I was disturbed at the revelation that the Ronin had gone insane and killed everyone at the baron’s mansion: even their charge, their ninja and their streetfighter companion.
It’s almost a mercy not knowing how exactly it all played out.
Not that it lessens the horror of their actions, but do we know if this happened in an actual timeline or an illusion?
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