Yoh Asakura's grandfather reveals the secret of their family to Anna, Yoh's fianceê. The family has possession of a book of spells that once belonged to Hao, but it is guarded by two Oni that Hao bound to the book to protect it. None of the Asakura family can defeat them, but when the paper Ofuda, or prayer strip, falls off, it is up to Anna to defeat them, which she does handily. She then calls on Manta Oyamada, Yoh's friend, whose family is very rich, to fly them to the site of the Shaman Fight. Manta is happy to be seeing Yoh again, but Anna has more important things on her mind.
Back in America, the path takes the Shamans to the mountains, where Horohoro takes one last chance to snowboard. A fall off a mountain sees him rescued by a Park Ranger who wants to save him from a bear named Apollo. Apollo had been shot at as a cub by poachers who came into the park, but Bluebell and her father raised him, then let him go as an adult bear. Apollo hates people. but Bluebell wants to protect him.
Horohoro sneaks out at night to go and confront Apollo, and when Bluebell comes rushing out to save him, Horohoro tells her that his people revere bears as Gods. All animals, really, and they intercede between the Gods and men. They are shamans, that is their task. He tells her that Apollo hates humans because he always had the smell of humans on him, and was thus shunned by bears. Bluebell cries when she realizes how her and her father's actions have unthinkingly hurt Apollo. But just as Horohoro gets Apollo to forgive the humans for their actions, another group of poachers shoots him, killing him.
Horohoro is about to let the poachers take the bear's carcass and go when Bluebell tells him they didn't shoot Apollo because they needed his meat for their village, but because they wanted his skin or his head for bragging rights. When he realizes she is telling the truth, he gets angry and punishes them. When they shoot him, his spirit ally, who has been missing since the battle with Lyserg, returns and protects him, allowing him to punish the poachers. Angry about Apollo's death, Bluebell comforts him and he returns to Yonta Fe to rejoin the others.
The Patch village is somewhere in Mesa Verdere park, so they travel to Monument Valley to view the cliff dwellings there. While there is no sign in the park that's open to visitors, they do spot a roped-off section of the park. But that leads to another fight with another set of Shamans, including one who is a vampire. Looks like they'll have to win another battle before they can continue on. And this is Wooden Sword Ryu's fight, as his wooden sword is tailor-made for fighting vampires. But he can he defeat their opponent?
Well, another volume barely saved from endless fighting by the character action. This can't last too much longer. One more volume, and they will be at the Patch village and the Shaman fight will begin. I did like the story of Apollo, but it confused me how a vampire could be a shaman.
The stakes are increasing, but I am becoming less interested the closer they get to the Shaman Fight. Oh well, this will interest some readers, even if I am less than thrilled with the endless fighting stuff.
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