Horizon:Volume 7C Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Revolver at the Clash

Say “let’s go” and I will accompany you

Say “go” and you will push me onward

Say “here I go” and I will give my approval

Point Allocation (It’s Time to Go?)

Mitotsudaira learned of the enemy’s appearance from the sound.

She heard footsteps on the grass.

It happened just as she was trying to decide whether or not to pursue the enemy mobile shell unit.

That black mobile shell was almost four meters tall.

The wearer’s inner suit was torn in several places, but there was not a drop of blood on it.

…That is the same regeneration divine protection that Rudolf II had.

That freak’s injuries had instantly turned into a bloody mist and recovered. If this was the same, then one problem presented itself here.

How was she to defeat this opponent? She had to do whatever it took.

The two of them faced each other on the grassy plain.

At a distance of 20m, the enemy held two of the vermilion swords that had pierced her body.

“Name yourself.”

The mobile shell spoke with a male voice, but then…

“W-wait. Stop acting like you’re in charge, Onitakemaru-san!”

“I am in charge! I’m the Shogun!”

“Th-that’s called former glory. This is going to a rude awakening, you know?”

“Damn you!”

Mitotsudaira raised her right hand and spoke once her opponent faced her in confusion.

“I am a knight of Musashi. I am the First Knight of our Chancellor who is my king. My name is Mitotsudaira ‘Silver Wolf’ Nate, to use the Far Eastern name order.” Then she asked a question. “But who might you be?”

“Oh, right, testament. I am Shima Sakon!”

“And I am Onitakemaru.”

She was not sure how to take that when it was just one person standing in front of her, but she could guess the mobile shell was Onitakemaru since the wearer appeared to be a woman.

…But Rudolf II could transform into a woman.

She decided to ask.

“Um, can I ask one thing?”

Her opponent again faced her in confusion, so she asked her question.

“Are you a freak?”

After a pause, the mobile shell held both palms out toward her to say “wait a second”.

“Onitakemaru-san, I have a feeling we are going to know each other for a while, so it would be easier on me if you would tell me now what she is talking about. Maybe I can’t accept it, but I would rather resign myself to my fate sooner rather than later. So what is this about?”

“Damn you!! She is clearly talking about you!”

“Sh-she is not! How dare you call a girl a freak. I can see why people wanted to assassinate you.”

They started arguing with each other.

…Well, this kind of cannibalism is perfectly normal.

Seeing it was kind of relaxing for Mitotsudaira. But they had named themselves, she was worried about her king and the others, and the battle was still underway, so she took a breath, and…

“Um, are you quite ready?”

“Eh?” Her opponent looked her way and quickly nodded. “Oh, yes, what is it? I am ready.”

Since she was ready, Mitotsudaira made her attack.

Mitotsudaira saw the attack she had made.

Instead of slashing at her opponent, she had cautiously sent a burst of acceleration through her wrist and finger joints to launch her sword like an artillery shell.

A vermilion line shot out, but…

…What is this?

With a dull clang, the vermilion blade was deflected up into the air.

She could see Shima Sakon had thrust out her right hand for a counterattack, but that hand had not touched the blade. She had simply pushed it out in front of her in a hurry.

Yet it had deflected the mandible sword in midair.

Mitotsudaira thought it must have to be a type of defense barrier, but no Catholic or Shinto sign frame had appeared.

In that case, she thought. That was not a defense spell.

“That was quite the sound there. You didn’t swing a sword of your own, but I heard a metallic clang. And a low one, like it had hit a large surface.” She nodded in understanding. “Judge. You can convert your attack power into a surface, can’t you?”

…That was way too close!

Sakon was relieved because that had honestly terrified her.

All she had done was hold her right hand out front like Onitakemaru told her.

The sword remained at her side, so she was not even holding that. The hand was empty. However…

Kohime: “I-I did what you told me and I missed, but she didn’t hit us!?”

Onitakemaru: “Watch your phrasing! I had you miss on purpose! Got that?”

Kohime: “That makes no sense! Can’t you explain yourself properly!?”

When he promptly began to explain, she realized just how nice a person he was.

Onitakemaru: “One of the divine protections given to me alters how your power manifests. You have a large body, right? That is why Ishida provided a point-to-surface conversion ability that lets you use your attacks for defense.”

Simply put…

Onitakemaru: “I can make your attacks cover the entire surface in front of you when need be.”

Kohime: “You mean…?”

Onitakemaru: “When you strike something or send an impact into the air, I can create an ether wall out of that striking force. You could have fought back against those cannon blasts instead of letting them hit you.”

Kohime: “O-Onitakemaru-san, you need to explain these things sooner!”

Onitakemaru: “Which is why I am apologizing.”

Kohime: “Y-you are not! You never said anything of the sort!”

Onitakemaru: “It was implied! And one other thing.”

Kohime: “Yes, I can move!”

He laughed.

Onitakemaru: “So you can pick up on implications! Let’s go, Kohime!”

“Testament,” she agreed while moving forward.

Mitotsudaira experienced an intense optical illusion.

…U-um?

The enemy was nearly four meters tall. Hearing the number was not enough to appreciate the sheer size. Because…

…Sh-she is really big!

She had not had to look up at an opponent since the battle against Celestial Dragon Saizou.

But this was a humanoid enemy instead of a dragon.

She had trouble judging the distance between them.

Her gaze was directed higher than normal, so she could not see the ground and had no reference point to go off of.

It felt like she was facing something terribly large, but…

“Kh!”

The blades stabbed at her with an extremely long reach.

Everything about this opponent was long.

Her mother was very tall, especially when wearing her heels, but she was only about half the height of this opponent. This opponent was more than twice Mitotsudaira’s own height.

Sakon attacked with the swords in her hands as she approached.

“…!”

The enemy was using the very same mandible swords that had pierced her body. Those long swords were meant for use by Narumi’s Untuning Centipede, but they looked like short swords when Sakon wielded them.

Her reach and stride were more than twice Mitotsudaira’s.

Mitotsudaira thought her size would make her slow, but no.

She had the same quick but heavy movements that Rudolf II had demonstrated.

Mitotsudaira wrapped chains around her hands and then grabbed her swords.

She wielded four swords in all. Two could be used at multiple ranges thanks to the Silver Chains and she lightly opened her mouth.

“Hah.”

Breathing was crucial for these repeated bursts of speed, so she made sure to regulate that.

“Here I go!”

The mobile shell reacted to the wolf’s short-range charge.

The black shell thrust her blade back toward the silver wolf’s blade.

But not to cross swords. The barrier emitted by the shell’s blade would deflect the wolf’s sword strike.

That area covered by that surface was greater the faster the shell moved.

Meanwhile, the more strength the silver wolf threw into her attack…

“Go!”

The greater the speed of the counterattack and thus the greater the striking surface.

“Now this is a pain!”

A wall began to form in front of the wolf.

It was initially only meant to stop the first attack, but the expanded area let it also prevent a second attack. If she attacked with her other sword soon thereafter, she could create a barrier capable of blocking all of the silver wolf’s attacks.

A solid sound of impact screamed up into the air.

“––––––”

They both inhaled and immediately threw themselves forward.

They began an extreme close-range battle reliant on footwork.

Mitotsudaira changed herself.

She usually fought with human tactics. Her power came from pouring bestial strength into those tactics.

She had figured out that method of fighting when she defeated her mother and she had focused on using it ever since.

But now was different. Her opponent was a human. She was big, had long limbs, could regenerate, and had an abnormal level of strength, but she was still human.

…Yes, I can at least count on her not turning into a spirit and spreading a forest around her if she takes an anti-ship shell to the face!

And based on what she saw while looking up, Shima Sakon’s chest was a standard size. They are certainly large, but when you take into account her 4m height – no, I suppose she would only be about 3m inside there – but when you take that into account, they only count as big or maybe the next class above-…wait, that still makes them huge! And I don’t even want to think about the absolute size instead of relative size!

…And wh-what is wrong with me? Why am I turning into a boobs sommelier who assesses a woman’s chest the instant I meet her?

Were her king’s tastes contagious? She also felt like this sommelier tendency had kicked in with Kasuya Takenori a few hours earlier, but that did not count since she was a fellow werewolf.

Maybe I need to get all of Musashi’s female enemies to line up in front of me so I can measure them.

Anyway, there were some irritating parts about this enemy, but she was human.

So Mitotsudaira changed herself.

She began using her bursts of speed to swing her arms. As for the footwork behind her movement…

“I really hate doing this.” Her eyebrows rose in a smile. “I never imagined I would be borrowing my mother’s movements.”

The way her feet moved grew much more unpredictable, but she was not trying to move straight toward the enemy or to an advantageous position.

If there was an opening, she would move in for a bite. If there was not, she would forcibly leap away.

But that movement was quick and never-ceasing. She had incorporated a certain type of movement into this.

“This is a wolf dance. I hope you’re ready!”

Sakon felt intense pain in her left calf.

…Eh?

The silver wolf was in front of her. She had defended against her blade. But…

“Ow!”

Next, it was the right side of her hip.

What was happening? Was she being harmed by the two swords hopping around with those weird chains?

Kohime: “Onitakemaru-san! This hurts!”

Onitakemaru: “Can you see the enemy!?”

Kohime: “I-I can?”

However, the enemy was not stationary enough for it to be that simple. Just as she seemed to be coming in from the right, left, or center, she would twirl around, move right up to Sakon, and swing her blade.

Onitakemaru’s responses were accurate. He saw each of the wolf’s strikes and approaches coming and he would give her a point to send her sword toward. However…

Kohime: “Eek!”

She received a fairly deep gash to the back of her right knee. And…

Onitakemaru: “Kohime! …Sorry, are you not seeing this the same as me!?”

With that, a change came over her vision.

Everything was compressed in from the sides to gather in toward the center.

From the edges of her vision, everything was squished in to half its size. And…

…The sides are connected?

This was the 360-degree vision provided by Onitakemaru’s sight devices.

She could see in front of and behind herself simultaneously and she could see something there: a pack of wolves.

There were always at least three. The wolves were in front of her, behind her, and to her side and they would leap in to bite at her whenever they saw an opening. And their weapons were two chains and two swords.

Kohime: “Yikes!”

Noticing this scared her and she quickly shifted her position, but…

Onitakemaru: “Kohime! No careless movements!”

She was torn into at several points at once. Trying to move would only leave her wide open to attack.

It hurt a lot. Her right thigh in particular made her want to cry where a blade had cut deep within a gap in her armor. But…

Kohime: “Um, wait, Onitakemaru-san. I’m sorry, but this vision…”

This 360-degree vision was perfect for tracking the wolf’s movements, but there was no way she could move around like this. She would need some special training for that.

But she did see the silver wolf was constantly being targeted within the 360-degree vision.

Onitakemaru returned the mobile shell’s vision to normal and thought.

…So she can’t adapt that fast!

He was aware he was about evenly matched with this opponent when it came to skill. He could respond to and endure her attacks.

But Kohime would need to adapt to his vision to follow his instructions.

It was a classic case of poor teamwork and insufficient training.

That left only one method.

Onitakemaru: “Kohime, I will add an arrow into your vision indicating the closet enemy location. Start by turning in that direction whenever possible.”

She would have to use precise movements to turn in that direction and then deal with the enemy.

…But will that be fast enough?

The enemy was currently moving almost twice their speed.

She was a beast.

Someone with an innate ability had cast aside the logical movements of a human and started moving with strength-fueled speed.

A mistake in her control could easily make her trip and fly off in the wrong direction.

But she was pulling it off and coming in for the kill. Meanwhile, he and Kohime were having teamwork difficulties.

…But that is fine!

He suppressed the complaints that were beginning to appear within him.

On the battlefield, you had to fight with whatever you had available to you.

He could only accurately convey his information to Kohime and tell her the shortest distance she could take. Once they managed that, he could start thinking about the next step.

If he only thought about how impossible all this was, they would never accomplish anything. So…

Onitakemaru: “Kohime! Let’s go!”

But she responded to his call while moving.

Kohime: “U-um, Onitakemaru-san? Can I ask something?”

Onitakemaru: “What is it!? Keep it short!”

She answered his shouted demand.

Kohime: “H-how much can I move?”

At first, Onitakemaru did not know what she meant. Because…

Onitakemaru: “What are you talking about!? I am providing power assistance for your movements!”

That power assistance increased the wearer’s speed and strength.

But the assistance had a few restrictions.

First and foremost, you must not apply excess pressure to the power system by surpassing its movable range. Do that and the power system’s parts could collide and damage each other.

The physical limitations of the wearer’s body were another restriction.

If the assistance was too powerful, it would push at the wearer’s body instead of guiding them. That could damage their joints or tear their muscles.

Thus, the power assistance’s limits were defined based on the wearer’s base movement ability.

Kohime: “But, um, a-about that. Uh…”

Kohime tried to clarify.

Kohime: “Onitakemaru-san. …H-how much should I move?”

Onitakemaru: “Wait!”

He realized what she was trying to say, so he rephrased it for her.

Onitakemaru: “Are you asking how much you are allowed to move!?”

He got it now.

Onitakemaru: “Are you still not using your full strength!?”

Kohime: “Wow, y-you figured it out!? That’s incredible!”

Onitakemaru: “Did you ever doubt I was!? I am the great Shogun!”

He had set an upper limit to his power assistance. If a normal human were wearing him, the pushing of his movements could easily crush them to death.

He had naturally chosen to place a heavy burden on his own power system to provide that. But…

Onitakemaru: “Do not worry about me! A Shogun can take care of himself without your worries!”

Kohime: “Testament! In that case.”

As soon as she said that, it felt to him like everything had exploded.

Mitotsudaira sensed danger.

She instinctually sensed a change come over the enemy in an instant.

…She is accelerating.

She had seen a slight pause in Sakon’s movements. It was the same as when Mitotsudaira built up her strength for a burst of speed.

The enemy was about to make her move.

She was going to use her true speed. Yes, this was bound to happen eventually. Because…

…When I first learned to use these bursts of speed, Rudolf II was capable of keeping up with me.

If this opponent had the same physical strength as that freak, then how much would her greater reach and the mobile shell increase her speed?

Mitotsudaira had trained further since then. She had taught herself several other techniques beyond the bursts of speed.

And she knew this fight was truly beginning here. So…

“Here I go.”

She poured on more acceleration.

Asama used a telescope spell sign frame to view the scene to the west.

A wolf and a black mobile shell were locked in combat.

With their afterimages, neither of them looked like a single person anymore. She could see several figures and intersecting weapons while the two opponents moved around to try to strike each other.

The paths of the Silver Chains looked like dozens of silver glints and the blades appeared just as numerous.

The black mobile shell was tall and thin, but…

…What is going on?

Her movements took only an instant.

Mitotsudaira was so much smaller, so the shell had a much greater reach thanks to the distance covered by each step and outstretched arm. But the wolf used quick bursts of acceleration to dance around the black mobile shell. That may have been why the shell chose to circle around while falling back just enough to leave some space between them.

“Ah.”

The shell came in with even more frequent attacks.

She swung and jabbed with her swords, but when she could not pull one back in time….

…She let go!?

She would leave the blade there in the air and launch a karate chop toward the wolf.

The quick strike would form a surface of impact that would repel Mitotsudaira’s blade. And when she pulled her hand back, she would grab the sword once more.

That let her increase her attack frequency by around 50%, so she would send in her swords from the sides, overhead, and behind while also mixing in some karate chops to pursue the silver wolf and she would also spin back on her heel to avoid the counterattacks.

Meanwhile, Mitotsudaira gave herself an additional battlefield. When her sword was repelled, she let it fly up into the air, and…

“…!!”

She used the airborne sword as footing to attack from multiple levels.

She would use the Silver Chains as a foothold too, but only for an instant. A moment later, that footing would shoot past her to create a step higher or lower or around behind the enemy.

Her afterimages were no longer just at the black mobile shell’s feet. They were in the air, launching attacks at the shell’s sides or head.

…Incredible.

Mitotsudaira was incredible, but so was her opponent.

Asama had honestly thought only Futayo and Muneshige could keep up with Mitotsudaira’s speed. Oh and Mito’s mom is on another level altogether.

But today they had run across Kasuya Takenori in Kantou and Shima Sakon in M.H.R.R.

“I can’t believe it,” she said.

Asama: “Does this put a noncombatant like me at a really low rank?”

Smoking Girl: “Mind if I take issue with that description all the way from Kantou?”

Gold Mar: “Wouldn’t that logic put Masa at a low rank too?”

Flat Vassal: “What kind of rank are we talking about here!? A reverse boobs caste!?”

But she heard something unexpected. Something tore powerfully through the air on the western field.

It was the Silver Chains.

Mitotsudaira had used them to leap through the air toward the enemy.

Onitakemaru sensed the gap in his knowledge of history.

That covered 500 years.

So many different weapons, tactics, and countermeasures had been developed and subsequently surpassed in that time. In fact, combat methods had been repeatedly improved and surpassed ever since the Age of the Gods.

That continual development had created something.

…The ability to come up with new methods!

That could be simply called adlibbing, but some foundational experience was necessary to pull it off. Just as tactics could not be created without the weapons to enact them, thinking up new combat methods required a battlefield to use them on and older tactics to base them on.

The true experts who had mastered enough tactics could even come up with new tactics and countermeasures mid-battle.

That was happening here. The wolf was jumping repeatedly through the air and throwing her chain swords toward their neck.

They were intercepting those attacks, of course.

Just now, they used their right sword. By jabbing the tip into the air, they created a barrier.

That struck and deflected the chain sword and then they raised their left sword with their elbow.

The silver wolf immediately took a certain action.

Previously, she had responded to their attacks by kicking off of her chain sword footing and dodging it, but this time…

…This is different!

She chose to attack rather than dodge.

She kicked off the sword she had left down toward their feet and launched herself toward them.

However, the barrier still existed between them. The one created by their previous jab.

This had to be the wolf’s first time seeing this kind of technique, but…

Onitakemaru: “Is she going to grab onto the edge of the barrier with her chain!?”

She used a burst of acceleration to leap towards them as if to jump over the wall.

She held the sword that had been deflected earlier. Meanwhile, they had their left sword raised and could not move.

She placed her other hand on the sword.

But instead of gathering strength for striking at them with it…

…Is she throwing it!?

She was making this attack because she had concluded their slight time lag qualified as an opening. She had chosen not to hold back or allow any playfulness in her pursuit of victory.

And just as he thought they could not do anything in time…

Kohime: “Onitakemaru-san!”

Her voice brought him back to his senses.

In that instant, he thought back to his history and his title as Shogun.

The Shogun was the leader of the samurai, so he was of course an expert in combat. So…

…Of course I can handle this!

He shouted a command in Kohime’s ear.

Onitakemaru: “Leave it to me!!”

Sakon saw Onitakemaru’s response.

He chose defense.

He moved to catch the silver wolf’s thrown sword on his chest armor.

Of course, the wolf’s attack had plenty of force behind it. It was bound to destroy the armor and harm him.

He would be injured.

She did not want that.

This was her fault. She was not strong enough and that had dragged him down. So…

…I can’t let this happen.

This was just like before.

When the artillery shell had flown in, he had tried to block it as a mobile shell.

But she had not wanted anyone to get hurt for her sake, so she had shifted her position to take the hit herself.

It had hurt really bad, but she could deal with pain. It had blown her away, but she could regenerate almost instantly. So…

…I-

Her thoughts were cut off by Onitakemaru’s voice.

Onitakemaru: “If this goes well, reward me with your praise, Kohime!”

Those words sent a tremor through her body.

…Ah.

He was the same.

He wanted the same thing she did. This was something he wanted to do. So…

Kohime: “I…”

She responded because she could not take this away from him. It was her turn to praise him. Which meant…

Kohime: “I’m counting on you!”

Onitakemaru sensed the wolf’s blade destroying his chest armor.

But he instantly analyzed the impact. He thought of the 3D shape of Sakon’s chest as a slope, and…

Onitakemaru: “Take this!”

He used the fragments.

He lifted up the movable portion of the armor to sweep the blade aside.

He also pushed the secondary armor against her chest as much as possible to tilt it. The artificial muscles of the shell’s shoulders pulled in toward the shoulder blades and the top of the chest gained a large slant.

The tip of the blade dug into the secondary armor, but…

Onitakemaru: “The sky!”

Kohime: “Eh? Um, uh?”

The mandible sword was so close to Kohime’s neck she could not see its movements. So…

Onitakemaru: “I said look to the sky!”

Kohime: “N-no you didn’t!”

But she bent backwards all the same.

He used the power assistance in her back to powerfully arch that back and the blade slipped backwards using the point where it was stabbed into the armor.

Seeing the sword fly into the air as if thrown, he gave a shout.

Onitakemaru: “We made it!”

Mitotsudaira saw her attack forcibly neutralized.

The enemy mobile shell and wearer had coordinated their actions to deflect the mandible sword.

…Not good!

This was worse than just losing a weapon and a chance to attack.

The enemy was now bent backwards with their stomach out front.

When using bursts of speed, they could produce any attack they wanted now.

“Good job, Onitakemaru-san!”

Sensing danger in that announcement of success, Mitotsudaira jumped into the air.

She kicked off a foothold made from a Silver Chain and mandible sword to move herself backwards.

She leaped.

At the very least, she had to move outside this opponent’s long reach, and thus beyond their attack.

She held her two blades in close to guard herself and she viewed the enemy.

She was in the air beyond the reach of the enemy’s arms.

So even if the enemy swung that left sword now…

…It shouldn’t reach me! And…

She saw a chance at victory in the enemy’s current movement.

Deciding to shift into an attack as soon as she landed, she prepared herself to land.

Then Sakon swung herself forward.

Mitotsudaira knew this was the start of some kind of attack, but Sakon had not swung either of her arms. The arms holding her swords were held down toward her hips and she swung her head downwards to unleash…

“It can’t be!”

Mitotsudaira realized what Sakon’s attack was. She knew what was being unleashed here.

…Sound!?

Sakon had studied her role in the Testament.

Shima Sakon had been a skilled warrior, but there was a certain story about him at Sekigahara.

…His voice.

His commands during battle had been so incredibly loud that it was said the enemy commanders and soldiers would wake up in a cold sweat or hear a ringing in their ears upon remembering it.

And she understood something else as well.

Onitakemaru had the ability to convert her attacks into a surface-wide impact.

Onitakemaru: “Roar, Kohime!”

She heard him.

Onitakemaru: “This system was built for you!”

She inhaled in response.

She had a large body. She was skinny for how tall she was, but the length of her body gave her plentiful lung capacity.

And she could produce any kind of voice without worrying about destroying her vocal cords.

The instantaneous volume of her voice was three times greater than average. She always made sure to speak so quietly because of how loud her natural voice was.

But there was no need to worry about that right now. Because she had Onitakemaru to rely on.

So she roared. To copy the roars her name was said to have made at Sekigahara, she used a simple command.

“Attack!”

A direct hit struck the wolf in midair.

Sound was not the same as a weapon. Even when converted to cover a surface, it was reflected off of her body and occasionally burst.

Those multiple explosions erupted as ether light across the front of her body.

A series of sounds scattered through the morning air while the silver wolf was hit and blown away.

“…!”

She was slammed into the ground with her summer uniform torn.

“Ah!”

Mitotsudaira rolled across the ground, planted her knees and hands down, and trembled.

She had taken a nearly direct hit from what amounted to an acoustic weapon.

It had not been a simple blow since it was really a voice. And while it had been on a smaller scale…

…That was a lot like Michiyuki Byakko’s Ultra Vibration Destruction Cannon!

It was very bad that she was trembling too much to move. She could not gather her strength, so the Silver Chains reverted to autonomous control and tried to hurry back toward her.

Fortunately, she had been holding the mandible swords. That had prevented the blow from hitting the very center of her body or her face. However…

“Kah…ah!”

The unbalanced hit to her limbs, hips, and shoulders had caused her body to spin.

The impact propagated through her like a sense of disgust, and…

“–––––”

She sensed a shadow.

It moved by directly above her while swinging down a large sword.

That was Shima Sakon.

She ran by and swung her sword while planting her foot on the ground.

The slash came from more than just a simple swing of her arm. She used her entire body like she was throwing a spear.

The attack was coming, but the Silver Chains were also fearlessly approaching. And…

Me: “Hey, Nate.”

Her king’s words reached her.

Me: “I’ll cook something for you when we get back, so do you want some of my pie? How about my tart? Or do you want my wiener?”

Silver Wolf: “Yakiniku will suffice!”

Just as she imagined something based on that last suggestion, the black mobile shell’s attack hit.

Onitakemaru assisted Kohime as quickly as possible.

He could see the enemy. She was down on all fours trying to catch her breath.

Those silver chains were truly courageous. One of the two wrapped around two mandible swords and held them up in the air to guard against their attack.

That was fine because their attack would cover a full surface. This ultra-speedy attack would crush the enemy along with the chain’s attempted protection.

Kohime: “Onitakemaru-san!”

That girl was soft. She could not rid herself of that hesitation to strike down the enemy. But that was why he was here with her.

Telling her not to question it would be meaningless.

Onitakemaru: “Kohime! Do what good you can in the situation presented to you!!”

And…

Onitakemaru: “If that turns out to be a mistake, then just continue doing what good you can!!”

He had failed to do that in the past.

He had chosen to harm someone as their best possible option, but he had failed to stick to that path.

…Ohime.

He had felt some relief when she rejected him, but he should have continued onwards even if it meant taking that girl’s resentment head on.

How could he call himself a leader if he could not accept the resentment of those he had made suffer?

In his experience, people tended to discuss things like humane treatment, dignity, and the value of life only after the fact when they had been faced with a changing world and threats to the survival of one’s compatriots. What meaning did any of those things have when up against an opponent so large a single individual was powerless against them?

Attempting those things during such trying times would only mean forcing yourself to do the impossible. Simply surviving was hard enough, so if you also had to do the impossible and question yourself every step of the way…

…Life becomes nothing but a nuisance.

Ohime had dealt with that nuisance in her own way.

And he had dealt with it on that day of thawing snow. Yoshitsune had truly saved him when she stood before him on those shrine stairs.

So.

Onitakemaru: “Leave it to me!”

I will listen to 500 years’ worth of resentment and complaints if need be.

Onitakemaru: “Leave it to me and attack, Kohime!”

The high-speed attack struck Mitotsudaira from above.

The attack surface had a diameter of 7m.

The grassy field was crushed down and the surrounding air was dyed green for just a moment.

The sound was much like a hand slapping something solid.

And a sword was rapidly swung back from the center of the impact.

It had been pulled back to instantaneously increase its striking power and the color silver was crushed below it.

On the exposed dirt of that crushed ground, silver hair had been squashed flat.

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