Finally I got the final drafts for the last few chapters done! Phew!
Really, there's not much to announce here, apart from the plan going forward: As you can see, this mini-series is all about combat. It's going to be followed up by the Omake's last chapter (apart from the tidbits in the Epilogue later), then to rehash the first part of the story, 4 (yes, FOUR!) lemon chapters, each featuring the main girls. The Epilogue's likely going to be broken down to 2 chapters, because the amount of content I want to put in there just grows and grows each day.
The rewrite for HV-S01: RKR is up next. Look forward to that! And yes, as you may have guessed, the 4th HV story will be about the Heian Period, as a direct prequel to this one.
Cheers!
N.B.: Just realized I forgot to update the Character Sheet for the previous chapter, even though I've already prepared it. So I just post them below, along with this chapter's part. Enjoy!
How long had it been since she last personally fought on the battlefield?
Nobunaga's field of vision included most of her 'old' retainers, those who had been with her through thick and thin in this reality and the previous one, and those she held dearest in her heart right after Muramasa and her lovers. How could she send them on dangerous missions in the past – or her old self, really – knowing there's a great chance they wouldn't return was beyond her. Perhaps it's her current heart which was too soft, or perhaps her mind's eye had been opened by the new flood affection she's receiving from absolutely everyone in this new life of hers.
…except for that traitor Tokichirō. He deserved his monkey's death by her hands many years back for everything he perverted after her death, regardless of how many favours he won from her. To put everything into question again, how could she be so blind back then? Even if Ieyasu wasn't perfect, the raccoon's male counterpart was significantly better than that self-proclaimed 'Child of the Sun'. He dared to call himself that because of the royal family's weak stature; would he do the same if he'd met Himiko even once? Perhaps the Empress would fully realize her Guardian Spirit out of anger and smite all his previous ancestors along with him, such was the level of annoyance his personality usually brought wherever he went.
Were her ears that weak? A few compliments and flowery verses, and her trust was guaranteed? No wonder nobody among her retainers looked upon her selection well; they might be too old-fashioned for her taste, but tradition was there for a reason, however inconvenient.
To be frank, they're still giving Muramasa some stink eyes whenever they sat in meetings, but it's gotten much better lately thanks to her soon-to-be-husband being actually competent, instead of someone 'fighting' primarily with his loose mouth and slick tongue. Tokichirō was supposedly experienced as an ashigaru – and before that, a common brigand – but his skills with any form of traditional weapon were pitiful. Seeing how Muramasa, in comparison, slaughtered enemy troops certainly silenced a lot of his doubters, though Nobunaga was partially surprised when the person who prized martial strength the most, Nagayoshi, still managed to be poisoned by Nagahide's strict behaviour and followed the naginata-wielding Princess General with her antagonism against the redhead.
Still, the two were absolutely professional on the battlefield. Regardless of what enemy shinobis managed to uncover about this internal rivalry, the two were far too experienced to forget the slightest hesitation to accept and give out help on the battlefield were guaranteed to be fatal. However, Nobunaga was perhaps too careful in this regard and rarely made the pair work with Muramasa. Besides, her lover was far more comfortable as a one-man army instead of using his mind to craft complicated strategies. Oh, he could certainly do so, but he viewed those as a last resort and targeted, efficient violence as the first – the reverse of the popular saying. In fact, only Mitsuhide was the purest in this regard, despite being the most battle-hungry among their group of five, as she was the most adept at various complex, chaining stratagems, both offensive and defensive at the same time.
In contrast, Muramasa, Nobunaga, Chiyome, and Danzō had too many [Anti-Army] abilities to use themselves as anything but tactical-class weapons. The redheaded Princess General was happy about this, because it meant she'd grown more complete as a warrior and a person… or so she'd like to think.
…hey, perhaps her ears were really weak, after all. Just because her lovers said it so many times repeatedly when her mind was all muddled from orgasms didn't make it true… but she liked it, so she kept it!
So, like she mulled earlier, the oppressive sensation of an indiscriminate rain of flaming arrows, fired by the desperate Mōri forces under orders from Takakage, was somewhat nostalgic to her. Her mind went to the days when she had little resources, too few men, and too poor a physical condition at the start of her old life's first campaigns. The need to triumph, disregarding whether she should or not, coursing through her body, overwhelming even her natural stubbornness and determination to become desperation.
…indeed, at that time and age, she was truly desperate. For things to change. For her dreams to be fulfilled. For Nihon's unity…
Right now, she's not going to waste her second chance. If she had to win these meaningless victories – all but determined because she cheated – so what? It's the Mōri Clan's fault to hold back on their magical development in the middle of a freakin' civil war, not even bothering to stealthily use yōkai among their forces and bend the human-yōkai pact's words. It's controlled fighting, yes – because in the end they're all just pawns dancing on Himiko's tiny palms – but it's war nonetheless.
Still, it kept things simple. It's far more preferable to pit her life against fellow humans because she knew them. Her knowledge of yōkai was so limited she couldn't get a grip on the common sense of a few species, much less the community as a whole. The pact made the non-humans collectively agree to not meddle in human conflicts, though this was more a gentleyōkai's agreement than a written rule. That's why there's some hidden among her own men – not including Chiyome and other outstanding individuals like her – such as pure yōkai serving as logistic support or shiftlings incorporated into small shock units.
Participation was tightly regulated by the Minamoto Clan, both from human and yōkai perspective. Humanity was forbidden to enslave yōkai in any form, including tricks, baits, official contracts bar summoning rituals, and many other restrictions. In return, yōkai was forbidden to harm humans in any form, regardless of willingness. Despite all these rules, there were still plenty of grey areas immediate successors of those the Minamoto Clan slain to take advantage of, which was why Himiko was constantly flooded by paperwork to decide what to do in these places. Only the Imperial Family had an official yōkai army, the Hyakki Yakō – though calling a 100-individual unit an 'army' was a stretch – and others were to be immediately stamped out, with generous rewards given to the whistleblowers and executioners. Neither party would be let off.
But what made most fall in line were the people not included in Hyakki Yakō, because they were internal members of the Minamoto Clan. These include Shuten-dōji, Tomoe-gozen, and many other 'elders' who chose to come to the Outside World every once in a while. Kīchi was an exception in that her battlelust was so overwhelming she personally chose to serve in the unit, while Muramasa, as always, just couldn't say no when his 'little sister' started getting spoiled. Tatsumi, meanwhile, was simply dragged along by his ear by his Great Ancestor to participate, or else he wouldn't have bothered after his last loss to his cousin.
There were also promising candidates among the shinobi force Nobunaga had recently assembled – or the one the Minamoto Clan allowed her to – but there were schemes which placed them where they were right now, and it'd be inconvenient to formally recall or draft any one of them. That was why Himiko was keen to have Mai, a relatively unknown and inexperienced kunoichi, fill the lower ranks which had spots created by retirement, instead of other, more obvious candidates: the latter was already bestowed plans by the Imperial Family.
Nobunaga would rather steer clear of this topic, mainly because of her distant demeanour to anything mystical – a remnant of her old self travelling alongside this new soul of hers – and delegate that to her retainers. That's what they're there for, weren't they?
All she had to be was a beacon for the new era, and despite her advisors disagreeing, that would entail putting herself as the spearpoint of the change, piercing through the entangling webs of stagnation and moral degeneration which eventually destroyed the Nihon she left behind regretfully in her past life.
She tilted her head so quickly it appeared she'd break her neck, but it was to dodge an incoming bullet which she didn't even allow to pass through her gorgeous vermillion hair. Not that it'd tear this proud body part of hers, but more like the melted casing was a pain to clean once it touched the burning strands. In one smooth motion, she barely let her head return to its original position before her off-hand raised her own rifle and shot without even aiming.
The sniper's head instantly turned to dust, incinerated by the scorching laser beam which just carved a straight line across the battlefield, through various layers of rudimentary defence and also his entire head. His ability was far below Muramasa, both in terms of sniping and hiding, along with the bullet travelling much slower than his own. When he's in bed, he's such a sweet lover, but he turned into an absolute demon on the training ground. Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, his most frequent beatdown 'victims', could attest to that. This was also why the redheaded Princess General bothered to install such an undignified counterattacking manner to her rifle, removing all pretence of honour in properly aiming… and wasting time she should use to kill her opponents. Her forehead had swelled beyond Mitsuhide's that time he taught her that lesson, when he continuously bombarded it with pellets every time she lined up her sight with the rifle's.
The skill to instinctively knew where a sniper was and where they're going to next would build up over time. There's simply not enough training for her to master it to the point Muramasa felt confident releasing his typical overprotective watch on her, so she chose this shortcut.
The annoyance didn't come purely from this, but also the fact Mitsuhide managed it. That genius was certainly frightening… if not for her equally-genius mouth gloating constantly.
The shot terrified the nearby Mōri soldiers. Seeing them instinctively retreat half a step and form an empty path, she didn't waste time in swinging her dominant hand and lop off a couple soldiers' head. Only when the blood splattered across their face did they retain a semblance of bravery and reform their encirclement. Spears immediately lined up, though with several obvious holes since their wielders' corpse was littering the sparse forest floor.
"Oda Nobunaga! Your head's mine!"
It's a shout she'd heard probably thousands of times before, but it's certainly rare a mounted lieutenant chose to jump over the layer of foot soldiers in front of her to directly stomp her with his horse's hooves. Two mighty front legs and an ornate wide spear rushed at her, but she focused solely on the bladed weapon while sliding underneath the horse's stomach… and fired upwards with her rifle set to a wider coverage than before.
- BANG!
The man-and-horse combo erupted in the middle like a gore-and-blood volcano. It's certainly an impressive display, but she wouldn't pause in her movement just to admire her work. The slide took her close to one of the spearmen – not ideal, since it's the middle instead of the one at the end – but she's in too deep to reset her position. She kicked the spear shaft upwards and slashed across the thighs, Maōken easily cutting through femurs despite the suboptimal cutting angle. She slammed the ground with the butt of her rifle to get a vertical momentum, kneeing the unfortunate nameless soldier in the chest and punching another hole in the formation.
It's more for progress than escape, since she summoned several ethereal rifles, aimed behind her, to cut down the unit behind her alongside a lot of vegetations.
- Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The screams of death now were nothing more than a dull background noise to her, who had experienced the hell of battlefields enough for two lifetimes… literally. Instead, she refocused her perception on the generals scattered around her, all of them annoyed she wouldn't just sit pretty atop her horse and wait for results.
Because of her… well, 'cheating', while she had to redirect resources to maintain Oda control elsewhere, it's nowhere as crippling as it should be. Katsuie and Ranmaru would've been a great boon if they were available here, but even the reduced number she brought against the Mōri felt like overkill, primarily because there was no individual which could serve as a singular threat to her. For example, if Magoichi was here instead of that run-of-the-mill sniper, that buxom, excitable one-woman shooting gallery would've been able to considerably slow Nobunaga down, leaving her somewhat vulnerable to continuous small cut, aiming to bleed her out instead of one-shotting her. In a dramatic irony, Nihon's best markswoman worked best during a chaotic free-for-all instead of the zen calmness the first Nanban instructors emphasized to his first local students.
Nagayoshi was rampaging quite some way away, the farthest from her among his fellow retainers. His large body was eye-catching anyway, but the tell-tale signs of wherever he went was the flood of potential victims running the other way. In this case, it was Nobunaga, so she merely shook her head in resignation and dashed forth, specifically aiming for those whose hearts were still shaken and eyes unfocused on their path.
Maōken easily stabbed through one body armour, flicking to one side to cut cleanly along the ribs and through the lungs after the heart was crushed. As her first victim of this new round crumpled, she flipped Maōken to a backhand grip in order to use its kashira to momentarily prop the still-warm corpse by the shoulder joint, then used the other side as support to spray her [Hellfire] bullets wantonly to the ranks behind. By compressing then shattering the condensed energy, much like Muramasa's fondness for Broken Phantasms, it enabled her to add various attributes to make up for the lack of singular killing power, since there was a wide gap she could exploit without the need to make the entire structure somewhat stable and controlled.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
For example, inserting Chiyome's [Poison] Element into her [Hellfire] meant upon contact, while each individual flame was weak, it'd rapidly spread and consume the victim whole… as attested by the screams shrill enough to halt everyone in their tracks. The image of dozens of soldiers wriggling and yelling and twisting and panicking while bright embers consumed their bodies from the skin to the organs was sufficient to freeze – ironically enough – the Mōri footsoldiers, leaving them open to several more rounds of these fire spray.
Nobunaga was working on how to inflict an inside-out effect, since someone with great innate [Fire] resistance would be able to shrug off the worst and still function, since the all-consuming embers would simply stop when only skin-deep. For example, what if each fragment was light enough to be inhaled? Would the lungs be burnt first? Or would the conflagration instantly start from the nostrils and mouth?
"Hmph!"
She grunted, slamming Maōken to the ground to summon several flaming geysers aligning in front of her, pushing a chest-tall burning wall towards the approaching-slash-fleeing enemies. There's nothing but her own people behind her after this small skirmish, since she'd long cleared out this section all by herself, letting the artillery unit to focus on mowing down the cavalry and spear walls.
Nagahide was being her usual traditional, elegant self, relying on Reinforcing her voice to gently command her personal army on horseback, fending off any stragglers with masterful twirls of her naginata. However, because she was doing too good a job, there's nothing to take advantage of if Nobunaga headed there, unlike these willing victims Nagayoshi had inadvertently chased towards her.
Toshīe was harder to spot because of her small stature, despite her flashy outfit with the tiger pelt she always wore to most battlefield these days. However, there's no mistaking the frightening shrill her spear always made when it cut through the air, made both from her prodigious skill and the tassel decorating the socket. She was paired with Hanzō, under loan from the idle Motoyasu, forming a pair of spear whirlpools which sucked in bodies and churned out mutilated gore. In this free-for-all, it's difficult for Iga-ryū ninjutsu to make its mark without burning through his Od, unlike Chiyome or Danzō who had a lot of options in one-against-many battle royal.
One of her newest retainers, Ujisato, was aiding Goemon with communications. The kunoichi was relatively weak in open combat, because… well, she's normal, for once. Her small stature meant she couldn't deliver much power despite Reinforcement, and her shinobi talent was nowhere exceptional to the point she could overturn an entire war by herself, unlike the shinobis Nobunaga were closest to. She was a decent administrator and leader, but her men were also run-of-the-mill ninjas and ex-mercenaries, and couldn't be counted on to loyally lay down their lives for a Princess General they're somewhat distant to. Besides, the newly-christened Gamō 'Leon' Ujisato was also… a touch more fanatical than Nobunaga would've liked, since she was converted by a random priest instead of directly under Louíse, so perhaps the redheaded Princess General should arrange some 'classes' to take off some of the young girl's edges.
"Don't let your mind wander, Kippōshi, even though it's easy," a thick, cloying, seductive voice warned from behind her. The speaker didn't intend for all those adjectives to influence her words, but it was a remnant of the process the woman undertook to assume her current form. "I promise I'll protect you in Shirō's absence, but running off on your own makes that difficult."
"…yes, Mom…" Nobunaga drawled, annoyed, emphasizing that sarcastic last word. "Despite your body getting younger, why does your mouth sound a lot older instead?"
"Maybe it's because we're two people's worth of lifetimes combined? Have you ever stopped to think about these simple things, instead of constantly gazing towards the faraway grandeur of 'Tenka Fubu'?" Hisahide, inside the body of a young girl, sighed at her daughter figure. "Let us old folks plan out a nice path for you to follow, instead of forcing yourself to open a new one blindly."
Nobunaga had nothing to reply with other than an understanding smile, before she threw herself into another unit of enemy to avoid answering further.
Seeing this and fully knowing the younger woman's intentions, Hisahide could only shake her head and sigh once more. It's quite odd doing it in this younger, shorter, slimmer body when she's used to striking a pose with her much more mature and lascivious one, but the boons awaiting her once she switched forms were too great to ignore. This was the reason why she's been keeping a low profile, in contrast to her old reputation of constantly showing up whenever opportunity presented itself as Nihon's premier 'fisherwoman among troubled waters', continuously switching allegiances to reap the most personal benefits using everything she had – political prowess, wealth, or even her own body. Nobunaga only had eyes on the first, so Hisahide was quick to attach herself to this up-and-coming Princess General after her first few victories, but she stayed simply because she didn't see both opportunity and incentive to exit her current group.
…and, no matter how her cold heart tried to deny it, this redheaded young woman was equal to family to her, when she had used her own children as pawns in the past because of their general incompetence if left alone. With this one… she could be the follower, instead of constantly having to bend herself backwards – at times literally – just to make her children's lives bearable.
With the lack of real partner to accompany her into retirement, since her best choice, Dōsan, was still mourning the loss of his wife and heir to sickness and insanity respectively, she chose the next best thing: grab a new body who suddenly became available and entirely compatible with her.
She twirled her smoking pipe out of boredom, since they're winning in such a landslide without any real threat to their firepower. Hisahide eyed the Mōri force's centre, then the ongoing naval battle, and could instantly feel Takakage's increasing mania at the loss of her older twin sister. Perhaps, despite their lack of magical talent, they could still feel each other's general safety? Usually, when this happened, the entirely normal family of the victim would succumb to the seduction of the dark arts.
Hisahide had a feeling Nobunaga wanted that outcome, since she continually pressed towards Takakage's general last known position. Reckless, perhaps, but it's also the most effective. Cut off the leader's head and the rest would follow – this was an age-old adage, true now and would be so far into the future.
Shaking her head once again, Hisahide begun to focus on consolidating the defences behind Nobunaga's solo forward pressure, regulating the runners, gunners, cavalry, and footsoldiers with great precision.
"Hmph!"
A bass-filled grunt accompanied a downwards cut, though judging from the size of the weapon used, it was more of a smash than a precision cut. Regardless, the wielder's skill with this gigantic katana – if one could call it that – was exceptional nonetheless, cleaving the rudder clean in half and severing any form of steering for this nth ship he'd visited.
Fukurō let go of his sword to unleash a barrage of shurikens at the avalanche of pirates pouring down the sole open door to the rudder maintenance room below the stern. While they all found its mark, the narrowness of the room meant it's only possible to take out the first few rows, with a lot more suicidal morons still madly stepping over their deceased comrades up front. He narrowed his eyes and readied several ninjutsu, but several ethereal butterflies rushed past the men from behind and exploded among them, showering the entire room in blood and gore.
He shut his eyes and looked away just in time, but there was still an incessant ringing in his ears from the remaining magical pressure released from that part-Yōkai Skill and part-Sage Art, before grumbling, "I got it covered, Chō."
A comely adult woman, her usually-properly tied bun slightly in disarray and damp with sweat and seawater, kicked away a particularly sturdy corpse who's half-blocking the entryway. "Really? Your big frame can fight in this room without sinking the lot of us? You can show off in front of Danzō-sama, but not me, little man."
The two of them tensely stared each other down. Chō was still on the last steps of the stairs into the room, so she was eye-level with the much taller Fukurō. The tension built in the room, and the burly man re-gripped his katana, freeing it from the grip of the wooden splinters around it. The Od emanating from the smaller Chō skyrocketed in response…
…before the two of them broke into a faint smile simultaneously, then flickered away to their respective tasks. These childhood friends knew there's still much to do, even as the Murakami Navy's command centre bombed to smithereens by the Oda battleship prototype.
Fukurō dashed to the ship's side, jumping effortlessly to another one where several black-clad Lone Shadows were already wreaking havoc. A shade of green mist was quickly dissipating from the deck, but its poisonous effects remained, so he didn't bother adding to the chaotic potency with several more bombs and landed quietly. His larger-than-life body blurred much faster than it should be, easily cleaving through several riflemen who had their backs turned towards him. This vessel's most senior commanding officer was clearly already dead, his head nailed to the main mast for all to see, and he had to commend the still-resisting puny force for maintaining their morale.
Chō went the other way. While they're individually supreme, there's simply too much ground to cover if the Named Ones all banded together, so they'd long split up after sprinting across the water separating Oda and Mōri navies previously. With the shock of Takeyoshi's death and the thunderous roar from the cannons still lingering in the air, they easily traversed half the distance without even being aimed at, and only sparse well-positioned shots were of any worry when the Murakami officers snapped out of their stunned silence finally barked out well-rehearsed orders. She was the fastest among them, and was the first to reach the remnants of the main ship and choose her own path.
Unlike Fukurō, she sprinted up mast of the empty ship they massacred on earlier and jumped off sideways, before unfurling a thin fabric conjoining her sleeves and pants, easily riding the air currents shaken by Muramasa's nearby battle and spreading her butterflies over several more ships. She didn't plan on landing on them – the Lone Shadows would take care of it – but it's always good to thin out the herd for her comrades, however distant they were, before choosing a particularly unmolested vessel.
She was first welcomed by a hail of arrows and bullets, but because the archers and marksmen were shooting upwards, a casual kick of both legs easily gained her enough levitation for them to entirely miss. As her sharp eyes spotted the preliminary motions of reloading, she instantly snapped her arms and legs close to her body, divebombing towards the ship's deck, landing safely among the bewildered artillery crew.
Three kunais flew out before anyone could make an astonished sound, embedding themselves in various soft, lethal exposed parts of the pirates' makeshift armour. Even with the Mōri Clan's backing, it simply didn't have enough funding to properly arm every aspect of its military. Besides, with Murakami's continuous pirating success, they were essentially self-sufficient when it came to small-scale skirmishes, permitted to act independent of Takakage's command when it only involved lesser matters and if it brought profit to the overall family. However, this became a weakness when a person like Chō, who was able to take advantage of it, appeared.
As her footblades slid out and began slicing throats, she saw a large explosion engulfing several ships nearby. A flaming figure gave an illusion of a giant demonic ape, though what actually caused the destruction was a fireball the size of the sun slamming into the ocean water, instantly turning a massive amount into steam and redirecting all that potential energy into an omnidirectional kinetic one. Hence, it was much louder than usual, causing even Chō to wince. Thankfully, the rest of the pirates surrounding her all reeled with bleeding ears, so she was actually much safer than she was before.
Still, it's better to be safe than sorry. Several senbons slid into her fingers and just as quickly flew to various commanders' eyes and mouths… or the remaining senior pirates, with evidence apparent she wasn't the first one who had attacked this ship.
Exhaling a long, steamy breath, Jō gently descended onto a curiously large and stable plank among showers of shrapnel and body parts, his monstrous form disappearing as quickly as it appeared. With his lover's and superiors' help and advices, he'd managed to partially master this Asura transformation… at the very least, to retain some semblance of sanity and control, by way of very, very short transformation duration. His mechanical left arm whirred, attracting his own attention among the sudden empty bubble of silence, as it reloaded to its pre-set grappling hook selection.
Moments later, as he was still absent-mindedly gazing upon the rain of various objects falling around him, it automatically spread open to a metal umbrella flaming with purple energy, moving on its own to cover its owner's head against several pelting arrows and gunfire.
This was the problem with semi-intelligent defensive systems: They tended to consume more energy than necessary once something set them off. If Jō had been fully focused, he'd choose to flicker away and grapple immediately into several counterattacks, but the transformation was also mentally taxing, not just physically and magically, so he was a touch late with his reactions.
Something Hisui would undoubtedly chew his ears out for, but fortunately, his team leader was some way off this location, being tasked by coordinating their movements with Kazumasu's central command. Himiko's twin sister was, just like Nobunaga, nearly bored to death with how easy the victory's coming, and was merely amusing herself with 'what if' scenarios which caused the bob-haired kunoichi to question whether this temporary commanding officer of hers had gone insane. Last time Jō checked, it's gotten to the point Kazumasu was lining up soldiers on the prototype battleship's deck under pretence of traitor-checking.
Made for a good exercise, that.
Shrugging off the annoying projectiles, he stomped on the plank he's standing on to quickly destroy and dive underwater, as current Mōri gun technology made the ocean surface practically bulletproof, shattering the balls upon contact. If it was Nobunaga who's aiming at him, he'd definitely made a different choice, because no amount of earth, water, or sky would protect him from that focused [Hellfire] beam. Absorbing it might work, but that'd mean sacrificing his intricate mechanical arm. It's very expensive to make in the past, and undoubtedly would cost more if he was to make another because there's an additional list of improvements he'd like to install. Currently, the latter option was not possible because it'd require a complete breakdown of the entire piece, so he'd persevere until a good chance to replace everything in one go presented itself.
It's all-too-easy to manoeuvre underneath a ship and appear on the other side in several seconds… just in time for the well-trained but poorly-equipped pirates to load their guns with no target in sight to fire. The sound of his breaking of the ocean surface reached their ears after a thick one-handed axe cleaved one of their heads in two. A katana had slashed the throat of a person nearby before panicked shouts and orders began to confuse everyone.
Two well-placed smokebombs took care of that, as only the flash of steel and screams of death peeked out of the dark grey cloud curtain.
Nobunaga laughed heartily when the earth in front of him suddenly rose into a wall. Its similar brethren surrounded her quickly afterwards – some shorter, some taller, some thicker, some thinner – before settling into a confusing and sturdy maze, completely blocking her from any army, either Oda or Mōri. "Finally! Have you decided to avenge your sister, Takakage?!"
Taunting so arrogantly wasn't her usual style. She was preferential to coldly executing enemies while they yapped uselessly at her from a defeated position, but this time, without the ability to chat with her lovers or her own self, it was plain boring. Those alongside her like Hisahide and Nagahide would more likely just nag, so that's no fun. The Mōri soldiers weren't bad, but after spending her entire new life getting beat up by Muramasa under pretence of 'military training', along with getting thrown alongside her own troops to 'teach her camaraderie', these opponents suddenly felt lacking.
The Oda wasn't even using pure-blooded yōkai in this fight… but no one's saying anything about yōkai abilities and esoteric bloodlines. Takakage could curse her own family for not nurturing the skill and talent to access Mystery, thinking professionalism, intense training, and discipline were enough to elevate her mundane men.
Perhaps against singular threats, that'd work. After all, heroes who could individually take on great dangers were rare, and it's much safer to invest in the power of numbers. Slightly compromising on quality, but quantity was greatly boosted. Not a bad balance.
To be fair, it's only because of the latest incidents with Nanban did yōkai nature be brought to the front. The human-yōkai pact naturally birthed out general apathy between the two camps regarding conflict. All these centuries after the Minamoto Clan took control greatly regulated everything related to Nihon's Mystery, many daimyōs abandoned their mystical training for fear of being targeted by the bloodthirsty Yoshitsune, even though there were clear examples of capable magi entering the shogun's family simply by showing their undying loyalty. Mōri was one of the former, which worked out for them in the ensuing peace period.
"You are shaming your sister's corpse by hiding behind all these tricks!" Nobunaga even went to the trouble of using Reinforcement so everyone across the battlefield could hear her. Not that it meant much, with how many people were doing the same, making her threat sound rather muffled. "Come, I've reserved a spot for you beside her!"
The earthen walls instantly erupted with spikes, though they were clearly very rudimentary and somewhat fragile-looking. After all, not everyone's like Mitsuhide, who could master her powers the instant she made a breakthrough in one particular element. Normal people would struggle with the details and tend to be led around by their emotions, like the still-unseen Takakage here, making the resulting skills dangerously potent but also both predictable and flawed.
It's a shame Nobunaga wasn't particularly skilled with pinpoint enemy detection. If she had Muramasa's eyes or Danzō's senses or Chiyome's familiars – or even Mitsuhide's crazy, calculating brain – she'd snipe right to Takakage and blow her head off. Her short exchange with Motoharu was nowhere near satisfactory, when she thought of the hassle she'd been through in preparing for this war.
She lazily swung Maōken across, diffusing its usually-concentrated heat into an all-encompassing wall. It's more to disturb Takakage's likely perception method than any real defensive effort, because [Fire] wasn't an ideal counter for [Earth]. She was hoping Takakage would use the [Forest] Element – a compound derivative from the latter, though traditional Ming wǔxíng named it as one of the basic attributes – which Nobunaga would certainly be effective against. Against pure [Earth], all she could do was melt them into lava and take control over a small section, while the white-haired Princess General would certainly drown her in several avalanches and sinkholes.
Despite the heat being spread across a wider area, it was still enough to instantly turn the offending spikes into ones made of poor-quality ceramic, their water content evaporating before the actual flames reached them. The impromptu encirclement Takakage designed inadvertently caused the remaining fire to burst towards the heavens, brightly visible even under direct sunlight.
…or, rather, Nobunaga purposely made it look all the flashier. The person Takakage was targeting was already rushing towards where the Mōri leader was.
Nobunaga internally proclaimed earlier she wasn't the best at long-range detection, but high-altitude reconnaissance certainly was her forte. It didn't matter how well-obstructed the enemy was obstructing their location if she could simply fly so high she could pinpoint the target from several kilometres up in the sky. Riding the upwell of flaming funnel, she stood atop two summoned rifles with her arms crossed.
"What a sad sight."
A mortal's life is but 50 years… 'Tis nothing but a dream!
In fact, she wasn't that far from Takakage in the first place. Perhaps she could make do with unleashing her Noble Phantasm right then and there before she escaped to the air, but aim was a problem.
The white-haired Princess General was understandably upset, but keeping herself quiet didn't do her any good in terms of pent-up anger and vengeful desires. Hence, she eerily mimicked her twin's behaviour to march all by herself to the front line, though she encountered Nobunaga before she managed to do so… perhaps, her deranged ironically led her to the culprit for her family's destruction.
The confident and calculating young woman Muramasa described to her was nowhere to be seen, with eyes so red they contrasted heavily with her pure-white skin and hair. This mindset enabled her to forcibly enact Mystery, perhaps by instinctively transforming her nervous system into faux Magic Circuits, granting her a sudden burst in strength.
Unfortunately, facing another who was honed and tempered not only through hellish training, but also death and suffering, it was nowhere near enough. Muramasa often warned her about these desperate existences, because for one moment, [Hope] would arrive and strengthen them beyond imagination, as was Pandora's missive and purpose of existence. It was as objective as it was heartless, giving assistance blindly to both protagonists and antagonists from every different point of view.
Honestly, she thought he was being overprotective, but her respect for him made her body went through the motions of utter annihilation. At this point, only guilt and pity dominated her mind, instead of the stubborn fighting spirit and ambition of her previous life and youth, because she just realized she had risen to a position where she could look down calmly upon others, instead of constantly being the besieged underdog, growling and biting at every direction with equal amount of anger and fear at its imminent death.
Revert into triloka's ashes, with one's corpse across the Three Thousand Worlds
Return the gods and Buddha… Six Heavens, assemble! Cover the Four Seas!
To her, at this point, Takakage was no more than a rabid dog – however beautiful and still pristine – who had lost everything: her sister and naval advisor just now, her beloved older brother a few years back, and her respected father some time further in the past. She had forgotten she was fighting to not just maintain the Mōri territory, but also to ensure her little brother's future livelihood post-Sengoku Period. If she, Mōri's last bedrock, was to fall, not even Nobunaga could ascertain her troops' hands wouldn't land on cute little Terumoto in the ensuing chaos.
The Oda forces were well-trained, but not that much. Such control over an army of hundreds of thousands was impossible – Muramasa might be able to, but only over his personal unit. Besides, all of them understood the need for worldly releases after a life-and-death battle, and all they could provide was an orderly structure to prevent everything from descending into anarchy. Red-light districts were originally created for this purpose: to satiate hardworking people and avoid wanton rape, but over time, this noble profession's reputation got dragged through the mud by the advent of various religions and evolution of morality.
…or should that be 'devolution' instead? 'Hm…'
Below Nobunaga, only chaos reigned. One side trampling over the other, small bursts of Mystery distorting the world as they began and ended, blood and flesh and bones undoubtedly enriching the soil they were fighting on with various attributes. "Mortals and unenlightened ones," Ming's zhenren would describe in their flowery poems Nobunaga always disliked, because Nagahide was forcing her to memorize those. She hated them because they considered themselves so beyond the world they'd forgotten their origins, assuming what they went through was reason enough to do so, instead of correctly theorizing they were who they were because they weren't the perfect and godly existences they'd become.
But, at this moment, she understood their arrogance. Just a bit.
Even the sudden activation of Unlimited Blade Works, transforming their surroundings into a scene she knew all too well, barely broke her out of her sudden shift in personality. Muramasa's flames were so different than hers – his was of warmth, birth, creation; hers was of judgement, annihilation, and apocalypse – but its sight empowered her, at least mentally if not directly. She couldn't wait for her soul to be engraved here, in this graveyard of lovers and important figures and heroes, but her time would come much, much later if he got his way with it. Unfortunate, but that's his personality.
Behind her, six vermillion magic circles formed, their gentle, harrowing light finally catching Takakage's clouded visage over the conflict between her earthen maze and Nobunaga's flaming pillar after several seconds.
The past, present, and future... Behold, Three Line Formation, Demon Descent!
Darkness Flame of the Sixth Heaven!
That was already too late the moment she let Nobunaga escape her newly-gained magical perception.
From those circles, several… palms came out – one from each – though their skeletal nature made it difficult to discern what they were at a glance. Instantly, they reconfigured themselves into menacing cannon-like structures, still made of bones. Upon closer inspection, the cortex was marred with several smouldering veins, appearing to be cracks, but which were actually power-channelling veins enveloping the whole design.
The whole event – the summoning, transformation, energy condensation, and firing – happened in less than a second, but to the bloodthirsty Takakage, her distorted perception was able to 'enjoy' the show very much clearly.
The grass beneath the white-haired Princess General's feet was far lusher than her home province or the battlefield she was in, but the change was eclipsed by the imminent sense of [Death] approaching not just her, but the memories of her beloved younger brother whom her previous self was adamant to protect, no matter what happened. Even if she had to prostrate, humiliate herself, or become Nobunaga's slave, she promised Terumoto she'd come home…
Papiyas Metamorphosis
~ Demon King of a Thousand Heavens ~
Still, her body couldn't keep up, and when her eyes were nearly blinded by the muzzles' emitted light, she and the Mōri soldiers around her had perished.
Above, Nobunaga grumbled, "That felt like a waste… Is it overkill?"
Chuckling emptily, she abandoned her post, leaving her confused troops, floating towards where she felt the thick of action remained. From a distance, Yamata-no-Orochi's gigantic figure was rapidly dissipating – Nobunaga thought she could still hear his parting bass chuckling – so that wasn't a priority for her yet.
"Tenka Fubu is here."
Character Sheet Update!
K
Katō Danzō
Title: Blood Kite
Predicted Class: Assassin
Gender: Female
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Strength: B
Endurance: A
Agility: A+
Mana: B
Luck: B
Noble Phantasm: B
Class/Personal Skills:
Presence Concealment: A+
Hides one's presence as a Servant. Suitable for spying. It is possible to disappear completely and become almost impossible to be detected, even against a Servant's perception. However, efficiency will decrease once preparations to attack are taken. This skill stems from her weak presence as a living individual, having spent the majority of her life as an inorganic being.
Synthetic Existence: EX
Danzō's entire body is made of magical nanoparticles, extracted from Nihon's abundant magic stone mines into near-invisible powder. She can thus reform and disassemble her entire body depending on the situation, and so long as her soul isn't damaged, infinite regeneration is possible, though at time necessitating new materials to be added. Equivalent to A-Ranked [Shapeshift] skill.
Ninjutsu: EX
The general term of the techniques taught to and mastered by Nihon intelligence operatives. Danzō is a master of the Fūma-ryū, and her level of skill is enough to match her first co-creator, the Fūma-shodaime… if not slightly above his. Uniquely, she spent very little time serving under that school – or that's the sole extent she remembered. This rank is higher than it should've been due to her improved body.
Doll's Illusionary Arts: A
Other than physical fighting, she specialized in genjutsu – the so-called 'illusionary arts' of the shinobi. It's different from purely conjuring a vision through Thaumaturgy – this skill is all about overlaying both reality and fantasy together to create an unbreakable and flawless lie. Thus, the cost to achieve 'alteration of reality' was less, but necessitating more actual preparation beforehand.
Noble Phantasms:
Mechanical Illusionary Art – Prismatic Prison
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Demon, Anti-Beast
Range: 1~20
Max. Targets: 50
A Mystic Code utilizing her entire body as its frame. Originally, she was only equipped with offensive Mystic Codes in her limbs, but with the acquirement of her new body, all related parties agreed it's a chance too good to pass by. In effect, Danzō was a living, breathing Magic Crest, installed with every single Thaumaturgical technique Chiyome and Shirō could source and decode.
An [Average One] Mystic Code, enabling her to utilize all Classical five elements. This was Danzō's favoured Noble Phantasm due to its extreme cost efficiency after receiving her new body. Through the magic nanoparticles, she could store the necessary Magic Crest for instant activation and generate the magic energy required near-instantaneously.
Black Arts Decapitation Method – Yin-Yang Manual
Rank: A+ (EX)
Type: Anti-Unit, Anti-Army
Range: 1~50
Max. Targets: 50
A series of assassination techniques Danzō compiled through her life and death. It centred around the most public, gruesome methods of killing to dissuade enemies, born among a culture which rewarded such methods to end bloody wars as soon as possible. Achieved through mastery of human and yōkai anatomy, and only able to be performed with an inhuman body to its fullest. Its original rank increased due to the skill Synthetic Existence.
A list of Fūma Clan's secret and ultimate techniques, made forbidden because how taxing they were to perform with normal human bodies and how much they interfered with the Outside World's natural laws and concepts. Named after floral elements, they each have different focus depending on the situation. Alphabetically, the currently known techniques were named Black Blossom, Blizzard Pitcher, Imperial Honeypot, Melting Amaryllis, Moonflower, Passionate Tulip, and Pure Violet.
Black Blossom reversed the entire [Existence]. Blizzard Pitcher embodied and absorbs [Affection]. Imperial Honeypot represented boundless [Yearning]. Melting Amaryllis was as fleeting as [Pleasure]. Moonflower internalized [Kindness]. Passionate Tulip deliberately clashed opposites of [Love] and [Hate]. Pure Violet restored [Purity]. Each and every one had different effects for the practitioner and their enemy, using vastly different Elements and additional Origins according to skill, talent, and preferences.
Due to Danzō's gentle nature, she had sealed this Noble Phantasm unless absolutely necessary. A Master who forced her to activate this through a Command Seal would find her affinity points dropping to the negative instantly.
Character Description
The other progenitor of Sengo-ryū kunoichi. Initially an artificial lifeform created by the dark sorcerer Kashin Koji and the Fūma-shodaime, her imperfect construction meant her first lifespan was limited. Decommissioned and discarded by the time of the Fūma-godaime, she was found and took in by a wandering couple, who 'fixed' and 'improved' her body – though in reality she was simply put into a new, better frame.
One of the legendary kunoichis, though different from Chiyome's speciality in infiltration or Magecraft. She was built for combat and assassination, often taking on tasks too dangerous or unsuitable for shinobi. Inherently, information operatives weren't trained for duels or direct combat, but Danzō was the exception – in exchange for relatively weaker advanced stealth skills. Of course, compared to ordinary kunoichi, she far outstripped them in all categories.
Her current body was a combination of homunculi's anatomically perfection and automata's inhuman flexibility, using magical nanoparticles bound together by her soul as a vessel. She could shapeshift freely into any form with equivalent density to the nanoparticles she maintained and stored, though she preferred her original form because her lord called her 'beautiful' when she appeared as such. Other than combat, this shapeshifting ability could also be used for entertainment purposes.
A quiet, gentle girl, lacking the ability to change or produce expressions quickly. She preferred to describe everything in as little amount of words as possible, though she's studying hard to break out of this habit. She favoured Masters who could make her 'feel human'.
O
Oda Nobunaga
Title: Yamatai's Demon Queen
Predicted Class: Archer, Berserker, Avenger
Gender: Female
Height: 152~180 cm
Weight: 43~? Kg
Alignment: Lawful (Chaotic) Neutral
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: A-
Noble Phantasm: EX
Class/Personal Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Her understanding of Magecraft was deep, but specialized in 'how to circumvent and defeat them' instead of using it herself. Cancel all spells below three verses, and significantly reduce the effect of High-Thaumaturgy and High Rituals. When she's summoned as [Avenger], this skill extended to the items she 'gifted' to others.
Independent Action: EX
Her military prowess was based on her personal experience as a soldier on the battlefield – a role she liked to disguise herself in – to directly scout and battle the less-trained enemy general. This hands-on approach caused numerous headaches among her retainers, because they couldn't control it. While this might result in her qualifying for the [Assassin] Class, her habit of dropping all matters of stealth in favour of mass recognition of her deeds meant this skill stayed as it was.
Military Tactics: A
Her innovative and revolutionary rendition and correction to the old annals, while still retaining their core values, enabled her to dominate the battlefield still populated by old-fashioned techniques. Combining Nanban and traditional knowledge, she's the type to extract every little thing from what she had to gain the slightest advantage and overturn the situation. Grant a rank-up to [Charisma] when leading soldiers.
Charisma: B+
The proof of her ability to rule over wide expanses of land separated not only by geography, but also culture, from pure manipulative pragmatism to contain any dissent. The Yamatai Empire held the third-greatest influence in the modern world, behind only the British Colonial Empire and American Federation. It should be higher, but the role of her capable retainers in expanding and stabilizing her rule couldn't be overlooked. The fact she was able to earn and maintain their loyalty was already proof she's charismatic, though.
Mana Burst (Hellfire): EX
Drawing strength from her connection to the Sixth Heaven, Naraka, she was able to bathe her existence in the corrosive, damning flames of hell. Grant rank-ups to Strength and Luck, and rank-down to Mana. This skill would be weakened in any other Class other than [Avenger]. Owing to the infinite nature of the Sixth Heaven, this also acted as a pseudo-[Self Replenishment (Mana)], though it needed to be consciously evoked.
Oblivion Correction: E
Unusually weak for the [Avenger] Class, this skill merely gave her photographic memory of any important events in her life, instead of granting near-unshakeable willpower from unforgiven and unforgotten crimes committed against her. Perhaps this was due to the newfound part in her soul to grant mercy whenever it's pragmatically suitable for her needs…
Tenka Fubu ― Worldly Dreaming: EX
Being the person who bridged the final barrier between the [Mortal] and [Divine] at her peak, her might was greatly increased the higher the opponents' rank in [Divinity] or the heavier their Conceptual Weight was. This skill would be inactive whenever the aforementioned two attributes fell below a certain hidden parameter. A person who decoded the Authorities the gods possessed and internalized what it meant within her subjects.
Gasha-Dokuro ― Keeper of Evils: A+
Nobunaga's Guardian Spirit and Living Weapon. A multi-armed gigantic skeleton wreathed in hellfire, it presided over her since birth and until death. While immensely powerful physically, its primary function was a defensive fortress made of bones and flames, protecting Nobunaga from any divine interference and normal attacks. It often acted as the conduit of Nobunaga's various skills in the Outside World, enabling her to fight consecutively without wasting any magic energy from its connection to the rich mana in the Reverse Side of the World. It's originally a guardian of the Sixth Heaven, and granted to Nobunaga upon her reincarnation.
Noble Phantasms:
Multifaceted Worlds: Prismatic Formation
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Army, Anti-Divine
Range: EX
Max. Targets: ∞
The manifestation of her personal skills with any forms of firearms, as well as the well-trained discipline of her harquebus troops. Originally, it started as a three-line, single-side formation to overwhelm an approaching army with continuous volleys, it evolved into a multidirectional, spherical rain of bullets as a defensive fortification. The higher the opponents' [Agility] was, the stronger and faster this technique would hit. While it's not always lethally accurate, it's guaranteed to hit the enemy in one part of their body.
The legend of her taking down the Takeda army's famous cavalry, as well as her feat of capsizing a Nanban pirate fleet through decisive counterattacks and personal sniping, meant this skill was suitable against opponents with high [Riding] skill. [Tenka Fubu ― Worldly Dreaming]'s effects were stackable with this Noble Phantasm.
Nobunaga could alter the number, speed, and strength of the volleys, as well as endow it with her [Mana Burst (Hellfire)]. However, naturally, it was more taxing for her and the Master the higher the need for firepower. Harquebus, cannonballs, pistol, ballista, catapults – every kind of projectile was available for deployment. It's not suitable to use on top of a moving platform.
Papiyas Metamorphosis: Demon King of a Thousand Heavens
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Divine
Range: ―
Max. Targets: ―
The Marble Phantasm she received from the Samsara the moment she embraced her role as the 'Demon King of the Sixth Heaven', tasked to bring down corrupt gods and punish evil men. It made her a being that 'holds absolute power against those with [Divinity] and Mystery'. Upon its activation, it renders her nude as a visual effect, and a scorching hell materialized in the world, acting as the 'hell where the wrong was judged and punished'.
Unlike her other 'selves' who died after rejecting everything supernatural, but ended up with a version of this Noble Phantasm nonetheless and everything she strived for was corrupted and perverted by the retainers she believed in, she chose to emulate the 'Demon King' persona to manipulate the people into working with themselves more and rely on divine intervention less this time. With the false promise of 'those who served the others around them, irrespective of rank and status, would be rewarded', she grasped the empty niche the local religious leaders were incapable of utilizing.
In it, Nobunaga truly became the Divine Spirit race [Demon], assuming equal strength and Authority as the real Demon King of the Sixth Heaven who was rendered inactive due to their need of a host like Nobunaga to influence the Outer Side of the World. Because one of its attributes was [Punishment], it was compatible to use alongside other Bounded Fields so long as the intentions were suitable.
Character Description
The first Empress of Yamatai, uniting the war-torn and divided modern Japan, Korea, Northeastern China, and Southeastern Russia into one cohesive empire. Her ascension was rapid, reaching her peak in only a few decades and ruling more than a century. The laws and norms she established during the union were still in effect today, contributing to the stability of the large empire even after she stepped down.
Born as the heir to the small province of Owari, she was known for her unusual and disrespectful behaviour as a child. Historians recorded this was simply due to her exhibiting what's considered normal by modern standards, yet difficult to accept for the people of her time. Succeeding her father's rule after her death, she quickly transformed Owari's entire system and rampaged through Nihon, winning battle after battle quickly and decisively despite oftentimes striking with inferior numbers.
While early historians praised her then-unorthodox military tactics, one must not ignore her personal capabilities as a warrior. A renowned markswoman and accomplished soldier, she popularized the 'gun and sword' combat style which later would be adopted by many pirates across the globe. While not a genuine master in every aspect, her skill was enough to place her among the best ten in most martial skills. It was rumoured she regularly trained with her King Consort and retainers to near-death since she was young, but this was difficult to confirm.
She was deified as the 'Demon King of Sixth Heaven' after her death several decades following her releasing the throne, wielding the Authority of [Punishment] and [Hell] in Shinto-Buddhism afterwards. While historians believed her to be atheist in life, the influx of religion and cultures soon after Yamatai's creation meant verifying her belief was difficult, owing to the lack of personal account from herself.
S
Sengo Chiyome
Title: Orochihime
Predicted Class: Assassin, Caster, Berserker
Gender: Female
Height: 154 cm
Weight: 46 kg
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Strength: C
Endurance: C
Agility: A+
Mana: EX
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: EX
Class/Personal Skills:
Possession Inheritance (Divinity): EX
The container of Yamata-no-Orochi. Her compatibility with the serpent god allowed her to transform fully into his full divine form at great cost, explaining the high ranking of this skill. Nothing could escape the law of Equivalent Exchange. Mostly, though, she simply used this skill's passive effect – which was the information, experience, and knowledge she could gleam from him. Her [Yōkai Transformation] skill was derived from this.
Presence Concealment: A+
Hides one's presence as a Servant. Suitable for spying. It is possible to disappear completely and become almost impossible to be detected, even against a Servant's perception. However, efficiency will decrease once preparations to attack are taken. Pre-prepared Thaumaturgical attacks will not dissipate this skill.
Witchcraft (Oracle): EX
An offshoot of the Dakini heavenly methods, focused on scrying all of past, present, and future. While Chiyome is perfectly capable of orthodox Witchcraft, she specializes in this due to the influence of her captive, Yamata-no-Orochi, who desires to overturn his fate of losing to Susanoo. It can be countered with elements outside of her current time and space, though she can still be accurate if she has established a medium between her and the target. Her rank in the original skill is A+.
Curse of the Serpent God: EX
An inherited responsibility in each generation of the leader of Mochizuki Clan, an offshoot of the main Kōga Clan. The mark of the holder of Yamata-no-Orochi, Nihon's first true monster, it allows the host to utilize his skillset – how much of it depends on the capacity of the host. Chiyome holds the highest rank in this aspect.
Ninjutsu: EX
The general term of the techniques taught to and mastered by Nihon intelligence operatives. Chiyome is a master of the Kōga-ryū, and her level of skill is enough to stand among its legendary leaders… if not above them, though circumstances lead her to establish her own separate system. She also receives similar training from her ancestors in Mt. Ōe. The Sengo Clan's shinobi techniques descend from her as a combination of the two.
Subversive Activities: A
The talent to reduce the enemy forces in the preliminary stages before going into battle. An expert of traps. Chiyome's rank comes from a combination of her Thaumaturgical application to orthodox ninjutsu as well as Nanban ideas from those around her at the time she's alive.
Yōkai Transformation (Fake): A
Born human, Chiyome draws this ability from being the container of Yamata-no-Orochi. This skill's rank solely derives from that; she has no talent in this field otherwise, as it required a yōkai heritage. A true A-Ranked practitioner will also be able to perform more than one transformation with different Guardian Spirits – as she is, she has none of those.
Noble Phantasms:
Summoning – Eightfold Fields of Winter-Cherry, Figs, and Cypresses
Rank: EX
Type: Support
Range: 1
Max. Targets: 1
A true summoning of Nihon's highest Divine Spirit, the Great God of Mt. Ibuki, Yamata-no-Orochi. During the formation of the empire, Susanoo slain him with Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, and from his body was extracted the current Three Regalia of Yamatai. With his body destroyed, his soul was sealed within a specific container which was broken by a Mochizuki Clan ancestor. Thus, that family became responsible of becoming containers of the infamous monster.
Chiyome's control over him was beyond exceptional, to the point of being unnatural. Certainly, her husband who inherited the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi naturally creates a counter-resonance to improve her control, but she herself is also talented. Her acceptance and willingness to sacrifice her original, unblemished beauty and dedicate her body to contain the monster is a stark contrast to those before her who did their duties reluctantly, scorning their fates through their lives.
A magic summoning ritual on the realm of a pseudo-Marble Phantasm, enabling the descent of a Yamatai Great God. Chiyome can partially or fully summon Yamata-no-Orochi in his prime, or simply extract some of his Authority of the [Serpent] to easily summon other serpent-based beings. She can also imbue this power onto herself, giving her the ability to transform into a yōkai despite being born fully human. When fully called forth, it will exact a great toll on her body – no matter how much she gets along with the Great God, there's no escaping the fact a human body is inherently incompatible to use as a vessel of a complete Divine Spirit.
Character Description
The progenitor of the Sengo-ryū kunoichi. A minor noblewoman in the Sengoku Period, she was destined to serve the Takeda Clan following the main branch of her initial family, the Kōga-ryū shinobi, being the most prominent branch member from the Mochizuki Clan. Alas, a chance meeting meant she was married off to a simple blacksmith from Kuwana – though future retelling mentioned the relationship was a happy one.
The Mochizuki Clan descended from Kōga Saburō, the Kōga-shodaime, and one of his daughters who inherited the soul of Yamata-no-Orochi from him once she was born. He was cursed with it during his youth, and from his daughter onwards, all Mochizuki Clan Head was female, requiring them to pass on the name to their daughters after they married into another man's household. Chiyome was the first to be formally acknowledged as a Kōga-ryū jōnin, as a Mochizuki was expected to solely master Thaumaturgy as a miko.
In the Sengoku period, she surfaced as one of Nobunaga's most important kunoichi – the term itself originated from her, making her a true progenitor – and was vital in the demise of her former would-be master, the Takeda Clan, by assassinating Shingen in her sleep while disguised as a miko. She codified the kunoichi training manual for future women alongside the 'Blood Kite' Katō Danzō, the other prominent kunoichi of her time.
Her frequent priestess disguise wasn't actually accurate – she was a properly trained and official miko. That was the only way she, and her predecessors, could contain Yamata-no-Orochi with complicated rituals and dances. During her downtime, due to the lessening responsibility to the field as her stature grew, she would assume her full miko duties in a shrine she built near her husband's house.