Horizon:Volume 9B Chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Four in Pursuit

Can we reach them

Or not?

We try to reach them

Because we do not know

Point Allocation (Full Strength)

●

That’s a nice sound, thought Yoshiaki.

She was looking down from Weiss Fürstin while it hovered in the sky at a position providing her a view of the Shibata camp.

Kitanosho Castle was directly below. Four name inheritors were currently battling there.

However, this was an unusual type of battle.

The four combatants formed two teams of two, but the concept of “teams” was especially strong here.

Both sides would battle their opponent’s partner, dodge an attack, move away, and then switch to the other opponent.

It was a lot like a rapid hand-in-hand dance.

But the sound of the swordplay was pleasant. This was a deadly battle, but there was no tension in the sound.

…Because it’s a long-awaited reunion and a rare battle with some major upperclassmen.

Takenaka had instructed Yoshiaki to dive in and cover those two’s withdrawal if necessary. Takenaka said she wanted to avoid losing any of their fighters for the coming battle against Musashi.

If it came to that, Takenaka would negotiate with Fuwa to determine when the Battle of Shizugatake had officially ended, but…

“I doubt we need to worry about it. Not when their battle sounds this nice.”

Below, several colors of sparks scattered while Fukushima and Kiyomasa moved in concert.

They swapped places and opponents before instantly resuming the fight.

“Keep it up. And come on back, you two.”

●

While so much was being exchanged and swapping places, Shibata noted how much Fukushima had changed. And…

…This Kiyomasa girl is well-trained too.

I’d heard she cornered Niwa earlier, but is that true? She’s sure got a lot of life left in her.

But the same was true of Fukushima.

Who the hell said she wouldn’t be able to perform so well anymore? Oh, right! It was me!

That said, her movements had deteriorated. Her top speed was clearly lower than before.

But something other than speed was far greater than before.

Her precision.

The precision of her movements, her positioning on the battlefield, and the link between her offense and defense had all risen.

These were her ideal movements.

She had shown a hint of this before. Like when she attacked Oichi at the end. She had clearly predicted Oichi’s attack and rushed in to both attack and defend.

But that had changed. Her movements were still rough and she spent almost no time right up next to her opponent, but…

“Animus Caritas – Novum isn’t working!”

That had started just after Kiyomasa arrived.

It had felt like another sudden change.

…This is what makes small fries so much fun!

Musashi Vice Chancellor Honda Futayo had been the same.

At Magdeburg that girl had been forced to limit the battlefield to the rooftops and focus on defense, but at Novgorod she had enough of a grasp of the ideal movements to deal with Shibata’s attack and defense.

There was no point in asking when she learned to do that. Her dad could do it too.

Based on the records of the Battle of Mikawa received from their allies in Tres España, Honda Tadakatsu had dealt with Tachibana Muneshige with such a mastery of ideal movements that he had just about left Tachibana completely helpless.

If those records were accurate, Shibata wished he could have fought Tadakatsu at least once.

Humans aged and deteriorated so fast. So since Tadakatsu hadn’t been an active student at the time, Shibata had written him off as someone who was “strong but past his prime”.

He had been wrong.

…Damn.

But the man’s daughter Honda Futayo had shown him the same thing.

And now their own next generation was showing that to him as well.

“Kiyo-dono!”

“Testament!”

Wait, Fukushima. You can talk? So…what, did you just not feel like talking with me?

“Don’t screw with me, newbie!”

He slammed his blade in. But Fukushima fearlessly leaped in. She had already inputted a series of acceleration spells as if this had all been calculated. His Testamenta Arma did not react. But he did change his blade’s course in response.

Hit her, he thought just before Fukushima twisted her body to shift her center of gravity in midair. No, she had adjusted for the skid that started as her acceleration spells failed to link in midair.

She had predicted the timing of his attack and intentionally included an error in her pre-inputted acceleration spells.

That was so she could measure what kind of attack he would make, but…

“Not bad!”

His blade sliced into her shoulder and her flat blade tore into his upper arm.

They moved apart. But by that time…

“Don’t forget me!”

Kiyomasa leaped in.

She was fast. Those two couldn’t switch back and forth as quick as him and Oichi, but they always seemed so close together.

They were used to this.

Fine with me. No matter how used to your own movements you are…

…You aren’t used to ours!

Shibata launched an attack. He made a zigzagging series of jabs coming in from several directions.

And Kiyomasa responded.

She followed his actions with surprising calm.

“–––––”

Her autonomous armor was a nuisance. Its functions were affected by his Testament Arma, but Kiyomasa only had the autonomous portions maintain their standard positions and keep her balance as he moved. The actual defense itself she controlled manually with the movement of her body and arms.

And Kiyomasa also demonstrated ideal movements.

She was on the same level as Fukushima there. In fact, she was better than Fukushima when it came to ideal movements in defense. No matter how much Shibata attacked, the only result was the metallic clanging of her armor and weapons and her blonde hair swaying beyond the sparks.

…Oh, am I turning into a poet!? Then I’d better start reading love poetry to Oichi-sama!

But he had arrived at a general understanding about one thing. Really, even an idiot could figure this out after battling these two.

“The two of you are a team, aren’t you!? Guess that explains the earlier kiss!”

●

The two girls blushed.

●

Dammit, and now they’re embarrassed about it! You kids don’t know how good you have it being young! I wish some of my underclassmen could’ve been as pure as you two! Not that that was ever happening with any of them! Besides, Naru Naru-kun or Toshiie blushing would be sooooooooooo creepy I’d have to beat them up for it. Who wants to see that?

But that was it. It couldn’t be more obvious.

Fukushima was the attacker and Kiyomasa the defender.

They both took positions to support the other and completed each other’s offense and timing.

…Huh? Then was I wasting my time helping Fukushima get back on her feet?

No, some flirting isn’t going to boost her skill, Shibata immediately realized.

Yeah, if all you do is flirt, you lose any sense of urgency and lose your skill fast. Hey, Oichi-sama, this pisses me off, so how about we do some flirting later on!?

But this is fun.

“Hell yeah!”

Because they needed ideal movements, they combined their attacks and defenses with their movements and tended to choose movements that circled around each other. The way they would move away before closing back in was a lot like an astronomical orbit. But…

“––––”

Just as he noticed Kiyomasa moving away, Fukushima launched an attack from his blind spot.

Kiyomasa had guided his focus for Fukushima.

Kiyomasa was a pain to fight because the way she made sure to strike back after blocking his attacks made it hard to launch immediate counterattacks.

Fukushima was a pain to fight because the way her counterattacks worked to throw off his movements also made it hard to launch immediate counterattacks.

Was this what happened when their joint ideal actions allowed them to fight as one?

Oichi could manage ideal movements to a fairly high level, but those two were better at working together. After all, Shibata and Oichi were both attackers. They both tended to just charge in, which left a larger opening than those two who had both attack and defense.

“Ah, hah, hee!”

Each of Oichi’s rapid sword strikes flowed into the next, so stopping her meant outdoing her speed or intervening in her attacks using ideal movements.

As far as Shibata knew, the only ones to manage that were the Tachibana Couple at Novgorod.

Tachibana Muneshige had accomplished it using the acceleration assistance of his pseudo-divine weapon, but…

…I bet he used the lessons he learned battling Honda Tadakatsu at Mikawa.

The problem with small fries was how quickly they learned their lessons and improved themselves.

But he did think Tachibana Muneshige had done well. After all, he had chosen a continuous short-range acceleration spell just like when he was Catholic.

That spell made it hard to smoothly guide one action into another. But he had stuck to what he knew and pushed himself until he managed to corner Oichi-sama. Wait, hold on. I’ll kill you for that, Tachibana Muneshige!

●

“What is wrong, Master Muneshige? You just shuddered. Is the chilly night wind getting to you?”

“No, this is something else. I felt an odd killer intent.”

“The Date Vice Chancellor and the 2nd Special Duty Officer are mopping up this area, but there could still be some enemies left in hiding. We have confirmed the transport ship is on its way, so let’s stay focused just a bit longer.”

●

Shibata could tell just how deep his love was.

…That’s right!

This is so much fun. I didn’t expect to have a pair of opponents on this level or to get to party with Oichi-sama at full strength.

And then…you know. Those girls’ combination. As much as I hate to admit it…

…They really do work together better than us!

Their attack and defense kept swapping out between high-speed movement and support.

That mutual necessity and inevitable understanding were only possible for the weak.

It was something someone as strong as Shibata couldn’t have.

He and Oichi had accepted each other as partners, but they didn’t complement each other’s weaknesses. Maybe they could only draw on their max strength when they brought their strengths together, but they had to be mindful when supporting each other.

That was why he had covered for Oichi in the previous battle.

Those girls didn’t have that.

“Oh, damn!”

I can’t get a good hit in. But neither can they.

They just kept fighting back to back, using footwork and sliding to the side while sparks blossomed in a thrilling situation where even a momentary error could end it all.

…It’s so damn fun!

It was unusual for him to have to push himself for so long. And right now, he was drawing on his greatest strength.

But he did understand one thing. Or maybe it was more of a hunch.

…I wonder.

What would it have been like if Oichi and I were like these two?

“––––”

That could never happen.

He was too strong and so was Oichi. But sometimes that wasn’t the best case on the battlefield.

Like now. Those two small fries didn’t have the skill level of either him or Oichi, but they must have discovered and fostered something between them that approached their level.

What would it have been like if he and Oichi could do that? Didn’t I ask that already? Whatever.

At any rate, if he and Oichi could complement each other and work in perfect unison…

…We’d be untouchable, wouldn’t we?

But they couldn’t do that now. Well, maybe we could, but we’d have to retrain ourselves and rethink how we approach fighting. And there’s really no way of changing Oichi-sama’s mood-based way of fighting.

It wasn’t possible.

So he understood the strongest on this path – the strongest that he kind of wished they could be – was not them. But then who was it?

“Yeah, I get it now.”

Maybe this is what it means to entrust things with the next generation, he thought.

●

Shibata smiled.

The corners of his mouth curled upwards without any laughter.

And he simply spoke.

“Okay then.”

He was still in charge of this battlefield. Or that was how he saw it.

“I’ll play along a little longer.”

●

Yoshiaki saw flowers blossoming below.

Flowers made of sparks.

…Is that…?

The four sword fighters and defenders were probably swapping places and moving around with the linkage of attack and defense known as ideal movements.

So many high-pitched noises leaped up into the sky before fading into the night air.

And more flowers blossomed below.

Was that Shibata or Oichi? Or was it Fukushima or Kiyomasa? They looked white in the shadows, red in the light, and blue in the moonlight and they endlessly scattered sparks while…

“Oh…”

A demonic roar and a human cry joined together.

That joined with the waves of sword noises before spreading out across the area.

…Ah.

Voices arrived from below. They came from around Kitanosho Castle, but soon they came from other places as well.

“Ohhhh!”

Everyone was raising their voices at the sounds they heard and sparks they saw.

They must not have known what to do before, but now they all raised their arms, called the names of the fighters, and stomped the ground as one.

“Ohhh!”

The tremor shaking the entire Shibata camp was noticeable even in the air. And on the battlefield…

…Yes.

Yoshiaki more or less understood.

The flowers blossoming now were the release of power as the end approached. In other words…

“This will be over soon.”

●

Oichi was in a great mood.

…How wonderful!

Flowers blossomed all around her and fireworks rocketed into the sky. Her beloved was here and she was dancing with people who could keep up with her.

Let’s bon dance. She had a feeling her expectations were only putting off the inevitable, but it was the mood that mattered.

Still, it had been so long since everything had been so beautiful.

She could breathe.

She could listen to the sounds.

She could accept everything that came into view.

She could trust the intentions of everyone here and not just her beloved.

She heard the voices. Their stomping of support reached her. So…

“Ah hah!”

I can go all out here.

I was stopped at Novgorod. Back then, I learned who it was I really cared about.

That was a very important lesson.

And the people dancing with us now aren’t as harsh as then. But I can tell that these two are gradually catching up.

They are underclassmen. Whose? Mine.

These are not enemies. They are working to catch up to and surpass us.

And as she fought those people, she realized something.

…They will catch up, won’t they?

She and her beloved would be surpassed at this festival. What did that mean?

“Ah hah hah hah!”

She understood.

I finally understand.

She had lost her future, killed so many people, and shut herself down, but now the people trusted her and supported her and she had people she could entrust with the future.

…I understand.

There is nothing special about me. I am a normal person.

●

Unlike in the Testament, I never had any children, thought Oichi.

So she had planned to remain alone and ultimately have Katsuie kill her so she would not be released into the world. That was still her plan, but there was one thing she could trust in now.

She was not alone. And not just because of Katsuie.

There were people who knew her and would inherit what she left for them. And since her words would reach them, those words would remain in the records too.

That meant she and Katsuie had not been rejected by the world and they could remain in it.

“Ahh…”

Tears spilled from her eyes. But these were not the usual concentration of resentment and envy.

These were tears of appreciation.

For everything that had accepted her, for the people who had trusted her, for the important people who had stayed by her side the entire time, and…

…For you two.

She bowed to the people she could entrust the future to and used that same action to charge at them.

She did not want her underclassmen to see her crying.

●

Kiyomasa took a back step leading into a side slide to stop Oichi’s charge.

Oichi attacked with a pair of blades, but…

…She’s swapping them out so fast!

She was using two swords, but she wasn’t holding onto them like she had before. She would attack Kiyomasa, immediately let go of the blade, and eject the next one from the space behind her.

The lack of rotation kept her from linking one attack into the next quite so well, but she pushed in all the stronger for it.

Kiyomasa was forced to focus on defense. And…

“I understand!”

It all came down to this. So…

…I accept your challenge!

Kiyomasa would stop this onslaught. And just as she decided that, she heard another loud sound from behind her.

That came from Fukushima.

Past Fukushima, Shibata was unleashing a dense attack upon the girl, much like Oichi upon Kiyomasa.

…Fukushima-sama!

When Kiyomasa glanced in that direction, Oichi ejected new blades from behind her.

But not just two. Six at once. She slammed three in on either side more like a blunt weapon than anything, so Kiyomasa activated her autonomous armor.

“…!”

The blow crashed into her defenses with a sextet of metallic clangs.

●

Shibata knew all about this multi-slash attack Oichi was making.

He had been on the receiving end of it himself long ago. He had received all of her attacks when trying to restrain her in the Azai castle. He recalled this attack coming close to the end.

…Getting her to use that is no small feat.

But this acted as two messages from Oichi.

First, that they needed to sever the link of cooperation between their opponents.

The enemy’s previous defenses couldn’t defend against such a great clash of power. Kiyomasa must have been torn away form her ideal movements.

Of course, they knew this kind of major attack only worked once. That was why Oichi had used it in the middle of a series of attacks to break the enemy’s flow.

And second…

…Yeah.

Oichi sensed the end approaching too. She sensed that they had met people they could entrust with the future.

So Shibata also took action. He didn’t hesitate to bring this all toward a denouement.

●

Shibata saw Fukushima’s charge arrive from his left.

…Here she comes.

He was right handed, so it was best to attack him from the left. It was so by the book he wanted to cry.

But the enemy’s action was primarily an attack carried by the medium of movement.

Shibata saw Fukushima take a step.

It was a light movement, but it was immediately launched forward by an acceleration spell, sending her right up to him.

So he responded.

He took a half-step to the left and prepared to block her attack while sending his right blade out.

Fukushima reacted with a twirl.

Instead of trying to move past the blade swinging down toward her…

“…Oh.”

She followed the movement of his right wrist to duck below the blade.

…This girl…

Swords were not simply slammed into the enemy. That would only allow let the wielder use the weight of the hilt end, so while it could be used to push back an enemy, it wasn’t great for cutting.

When making a slash, it was standard practice to pull back with the wrist. And to send the wrist back the other way at the moment of impact. That increased the speed at the tip, applied the weight of the entire blade to the point of impact, and allowed the blade to cut deep from the tip.

Fukushima had predicted that snap of the wrist.

She had ducked below the raised blade before he could send his wrist back the other way.

She must have learned his timing during the rest of the battle.

…And she does this now!?

He quickly reversed the blade to pursue Fukushima. The strike flew in to behead her from behind. And as slicing power flew in rapidly, loudly roaring through the air…

“––––––”

Fukushima spun around without even looking his way.

Her body seemed to snap into an outwards spin that sent her just outside the path of his blade. Which left him wide open afterwards.

That was fine with him. The injury he took here could be his gift to her given what was about to happen.

So he gathered strength in his right arm after swinging the blade.

His muscles tensed and his tough skin took the form of perfect armor. And his other arm could act as decent enough armor by holding his side with it. He could still end this after taking an attack.

But Fukushima did not stop moving.

She spun outside of his blade’s reach and swung her flat-tipped spear.

But not at him. Her spear was directed toward…

…Oichi-sama!?

Oichi was 12m away. Fukushima threw Ichinotani with all her might, sending it over Kiyomasa’s shoulder.

●

Shibata’s first thought was, I knew it.

Fukushima had made her choice.

Rather than attack him while he was prepared to defend…

“You chose to eliminate Oichi-sama so the two of you could team up against me!”

That’s the spirit.

If you can surpass us, you’ll have my approval, he thought just as Ichinotani’s tip struck Oichi.

It made a nice noise.

But Oichi had already readied new blades and crossed them to block the flat-tipped spear.

And Fukushima moved forward.

“…”

She went for it.

Charging in with her speed intact sent sparks flying and produced recoil.

With a solid impact, Fukushima flipped backwards in the air. She landed in front of Kiyomasa. Shibata thought she had jumped a little too far, but Oichi had been knocked back a good ways too.

Oichi had been pushed away and Fukushima and Kiyomasa were side by side. The both nodded straight toward Shibata.

“Here we go!” announced Fukushima.

That’s right, thought Shibata. They have to go for me. Because with Oichi pushed away, they can focus on me. But…

“Ah hah!”

Oichi laughed out loud. And she called his name from her distant position.

“Katsuie-san.”

Yeah, I know. It’s finally time. It’s finally time for us.

They were finally separated with those two trapped between them. So…

“You might be the perfect pair when you’re close together, but we’re the perfect pair even when we’re apart!!”

He knew exactly what to do. He readied his right blade horizontally.

“Get them, Kamewari.”

●

At first, Kiyomasa didn’t understand what Shibata was doing.

…Is he launching his smashing power!?

Oichi was behind them.

…He’ll hit her too! But what if this was part of the enemy’s plan?

She realized Oichi wasn’t moving.

Before, Oichi had pursued them with a focus on attack, but now she was keeping her distance.

It was true Oichi had demonstrated a self-destructive fighting style in the past.

But Kiyomasa had assumed Shibata wouldn’t harm her.

She was wrong.

She looked back to see Oichi on the move.

She was smiling.

Smiling naturally without her bangs hiding her face.

“I am ready, Katsuie-san.”

With that, Oichi fell back while taking action. She grabbed her own hair in her left hand and lifted it while swinging a sword with her right hand.

That blade was not used to attack.

She sliced through her torso just below the chest.

Even putting distance between them had been a feint and Oichi’s presence had been a diversion to distract Kiyomasa and Fukushima long enough that they couldn’t avoid the coming attack.

But there was only one thought in Kiyomasa’s head: No.

…You mustn’t win by hurting the one you love!

So she raised her voice.

“Fukushima-sama!!”

Immediately afterward, the smashing power passed by.

It was at the exact height that Oichi had sliced through herself.

●

The smashing power raced toward the Kitanosho Castle’s bow.

The stage and decorative roofs that had survived this far were all smashed and sliced to pieces and surged up into the air as the cacophony of destruction became a great gale shaking the air.

After the battlefield was swept clean, the only people remaining standing were Shibata and…

“Katsuie-san.”

Because she had sliced through herself and briefly lifted herself up, the smashing power had little effect on her. Everything below her chest was stained with blood, but the ether light coming from Testamenta Arma: Caput Fides – Vetus was working to restore her body.

Still, she was unsteady on her feet and Shibata took long strides to approach her.

They were surrounded on all sides by broken lumber and trashed decorative flowers.

Even Kiyomasa’s shoulder armor lay broken on the deck.

When Shibata saw that wreckage, his shoulders slumped in a sigh.

“So that was their limit.”

After a pause, Oichi nodded. And she looked across the now unlit deck.

“–––––”

All of a sudden, she shoved Shibata away.

She was still weak, but his large demonic form still tottered.

“Katsuie-san!” she shouted. “Get away!”

●

Oichi had spotted it.

A figure was seated below the starboard deck railing.

It was Kiyomasa.

Her helmet and right shoulder armor were missing and her right hip armor was broken.

It looked like she had just barely managed to avoid Shibata’s smashing.

But how had she escaped to that position? There were more than 20m between her and the center area where Oichi and Shibata were.

But it wasn’t that girl’s survival that concerned Oichi. She was holding a weapon in her arms.

The divine weapon called Caledfwlch. The two halves had been combined into a single sword.

“Finish this, Caledfwlch!”

●

Shibata saw the great glowing sword stab in from starboard.

…Oichi-sama!

That thought was immediately followed by the glowing blade consuming Oichi’s right shoulder.

Her arm flew through the air. But she would recover, so that attack was meaningless against her. So after Shibata had moved to cover for her…

“Kh!”

He swung himself to the left. He ignored his previous movement to forcibly slide his body aside.

His muscles strained and his bones creaked, but…

…I won’t waste this!

The swinging of his body was effective.

The wall-like attack only grazed his right shoulder.

He had dodged it.

Up ahead, he could see the recoil slamming Kiyomasa back into the railing.

Then the light faded. It vanished behind him and Oichi. But…

“––––––”

He suddenly sensed a presence behind him.

…Could it be!?

He spun around to see the enemy.

He could have sworn there hadn’t been anyone there before. But…

“Did you use Ichinotani’s extension device to launch yourself and Kiyomasa in opposite directions!?”

She had relied on the mechanism for a last-ditch evasion attempt. She must have been launched off of the ship and only now returned.

“Fukushima Masanori!”

●

Fukushima readied Ichinotani in its open state.

The spear had a special trait. It could absorb physical and ether-based attacks and then release them again. It couldn’t handle phenomenon attacks, but…

…It can handle a blast from Caledfwlch!

With that thought, she raised her voice.

“Fall, Ichinotani!!”

She released the attack she had received from Kiyomasa, sending it toward Shibata this time.

●

Shibata understood the enemy’s tactic as soon as he saw the great light released toward him.

He understood why Fukushima would use Ichinotani’s extension device to avoid his smashing attack. It had been too late for anything else and she couldn’t have even ducked down.

The mechanism must have mercilessly launched them both.

That was when he had gotten careless.

He should have questioned Kiyomasa’s attack.

…I should have wondered why she was able to fire that.

Animus Caritas – Novum was still in effect. So even if she did try to fire on them, she should have been briefly stopped.

The only real answer to that question was Oichi.

Kiyomasa would not be stopped if she was attacking Oichi. And if he were merely caught up in the attack along with her, Kiyomasa could attack without being stopped.

Oichi had understood that, which was why she told him to get away from her.

…No.

It still didn’t add up.

When fighting Fukushima, he had made a show of protecting Oichi with his arm when Fukushima targeted her. That had forced Fukushima to focus on him and the Testamenta Arma had intervened.

So the same should have happened here. Kiyomasa should have been stopped for the same reason.

Then why had she managed to fire?

There was a simple answer: Kiyomasa had been firing at Fukushima. Most likely, she had passed Caledfwlch’s power to her partner, even though the other girl had yet to return to the ship and might not even have survived.

The Testamenta Arma wouldn’t stop that. Fukushima had then met Kiyomasa’s expectations, but…

…Oh, damn.

Shibata had previously said they were the perfect pair when they were close together.

But he had been wrong.

“So you’re also a perfect pair even when you’re apart!!”

Fukushima had just targeted him with the power she had received from Kiyomasa.

He simply swung Kamewari in his right hand.

“Get it, Kamewari.”

●

The smashing power collided with and sliced Caledfwlch’s close-range blast.

The white light shattered and a prodigious amount of ether light sprayed out.

Amid it all, Fukushima charged toward Shibata.

She moved in close and viewed her enemy after he had swung Kamewari.

The corners of Shibata’s lips were lifted in a smile.

He had already predicted her attack.

After his defense, he would be slow to react to her. But that momentary delay would be wasted if she hesitated in the slightest. So she kept moving.

“…!”

Ichinotani’s blade split his right arm like it was a chisel.

His arm was severed.

●

Takenaka fell to her knees on the deck of the Azuchi’s 1st port ship.

“I don’t believe it.”

Why did everyone around her have a paper bag at the ready? I already have one, so those won’t be necessary. But anyway…

“So it’s over.”

Her lernen figur displayed a report from Yoshiaki who was hovering above the battlefield.

…They actually fought on Shibata-san and Oichi-sama’s level.

But this had been a tough one. For Takenaka.

“I mean, their Animus Caritas – Novum can negate my Crus Fortitudo – Vetus when I’m this far away. And I was really sweating when those two were caught in that pincer attack.”

She badly hoped nothing like this would happen again. And I really mean that. But…

…Fukushima-san is back with us and I’m willing to call this result a “high return”.

She gave some instructions. She had already decided on this.

“Hashiba Team, withdraw immediately. As soon as you have been collected, the Azuchi will rush to Honnouji. …Hurry! Tell your people they may need to follow after us in a transport ship!”

●

“…Ah.”

Kiyomasa stood up atop the Kitanosho Castle.

She understood that the battle was over, but she mostly felt freed from the tension and had entered a daze.

She had snapped out of it thanks to a lernen figur from Takenaka blasting an alarm at her.

Everything else on the Kitanosho Castle was so quiet the alarm was extremely conspicuous.

She closed the lernen figur and took a breath.

…Oh.

Her gear was half destroyed, she had a number of injuries, and she was so exhausted her body felt heavy even while walking.

But she had to do this.

The only thing left around her was the remains of the festival.

The wind carried away her footsteps and swept the colorful wreckage up into the sky. There were no lights left on the deck, so the only illumination came from the two full moons and brown floodlights from below.

“Fukushima-sama.”

She walked up next to the person she had shared so much time with.

And she looked in the same direction as Fukushima.

Shibata and Oichi were there. The pair stood with their camp and rows of ships behind them.

They had both lost their right arms, so several healing spell insha kotobs had appeared around them to try and stop the bleeding, reduce the pain, and otherwise prevent their condition from worsening.

But Kiyomasa noticed something separate from their injuries.

“Oichi-sama…um, your Testamenta Arma…”

The halo remained at her feet. It was not glowing with ether light. Which meant…

“Yes, I know now that this is the end.”

●

Fukushima spoke while aware she was very close to her limit.

“Will ye give me guidance again some time?”

“I think I’ve taught you enough already. Or did you just want to defeat us again?”

“I would not say I defeated you…”

Only after speaking did she realize she and Kiyomasa were indisputably the winners here. So in any further battles, their goal would be to increase their win rate, which was different from searching for a way to win. They would only need to think up further methods of defeating those two.

If she wanted to grow stronger, she could not be picky about how it happened. And as the winner…

“Did ye see what ye hoped to see in us?”

“Course we did. Your our underclassmen, aren’t you?” Shibata barked with laughter. “And so are Sassa, Toshiie, and Fuwa. You all can do things we can’t, which means you’re worth entrusting the future to whether you’re all that strong or not.”

Fukushima wasn’t sure if she quite understood what he was getting at. But she could tell that this was not the time to say “I understand” or “thou are correct”.

Still, she knew the time would eventually come that she would understand what they were saying here.

But whatever the lesson was, they had taught it to her here, so she bowed her head.

“Thank you.”

“Hey.”

Shibata looked straight at her. And…

“Live life for yourselves, got that? …I know your situation, so let me say it again: live life for yourselves.”

●

“For ourselves?”

Kiyomasa realized Fukushima wasn’t answering – maybe from confusion, maybe from exhaustion – so she questioned it instead.

“What do you mean?”

“Throw out any ideas that you ‘have to’ do this or ‘have to’ do that. That’s probably easier said than done, but make sure you do that with the things that really matter. If you aren’t harming anyone else and you aren’t reducing yourself, then go for whatever it is your heart tells you want to do. Grab a hold of that choice and live it.”

Listen.

“Hashiba’ll have a hard time telling you this, so I’m saying it for her. If you have to make a decision about these things in the future, don’t hesitate. Remember, this is me talking and I’m more important than Hashiba. And if you do hesitate, blame it on me and choose what your heart wants. I’ll gladly take responsibility for that.”

“If you say so,” was the best Kiyomasa could manage.

This upperclassman must have predicted something like that happening in the near future. So…

“Then I thank you in advance,”

“No need to thank us,” said Oichi.

“We’re about to do the same thing ourselves,” said Shibata. “We’ll do what our heart tells us, no matter what anyone else wants.”

She knew what he meant by that. Next to her, Fukushima nodded and fell to her knees.

“Oh,” said Oichi just before a wind blew in from behind.

“Yoshiaki-sama.”

“Load Fukushima on here. The Azuchi is already ready to depart. Also…”

Yoshiaki hopped off of Weiss Fürstin and bowed toward Shibata and Oichi. It was a wordless bow of courtesy and nothing more.

Those two nodded back and Shibata spoke.

“Get going to Honnouji. That’s where you’re really needed.”

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