Two days later, Mitsuko's forces exit the city and made their way to the ambush point while being led by the scouts that discovered their route. Before they departed Mitsuko told her officers of the situation. Though her forces were grateful for the much-needed break and the replenishment of their supplies, they expected to relax for a couple of more days before marching out again. The scouts pushed on ahead and were out of earshot so they couldn't hear the whispers going on within Mitsuko's ranks.

'I don't like this. Lady Mitsuko shouldn't need to play errand girl for diplomacy.' Dodomeki stated, exclaiming his displeasure in this task. Thinking it almost degrading that Mitsuko had to do such menial tasks like this. He could've done it himself but Mitsuko thought it would be better if the whole army moved just in case, they weren't aware of how big the escort would be and she didn't want Dodomeki to overexert himself.

'While I agree that such tasks are beneath our lady, unfortunately she needs to do this to secure this alliance. All we can do would be to help lady Mitsuko achieve her objectives.' Diamondback stated, Dodomeki quietly growls in response.

'I believe my blood brother knows that Diamondback, stating what he already knows isn't helping anyone.' Gyuki defended. Diamondback was taken aback by Gyuki's sudden interruption.

'Ahh…you're right my apologies I did not mean to be so…brash. I just merely believe complaining about the situation will not get us anywhere is all.' Diamondback rubbed his head sheepishly as he quickened his pace. Dodomeki stared at Gyuki, questioning in his mind why he decided to defend him. Gyuki nodded his head and enthusiastically smiled at him at which Dodomeki also quickened his pace. Gyuki whines softly at the behaviour of blood brother but he forged on and caught up with him. While the demons were bringing up the rear, Mitsuko led her forces from the front alongside LingQi and Pang Tong.

'Really? So even the last two days you haven't heard anyone speak or will speak to you about the bandit queen?' Mitsuko questioned. Pang Tong nodded.

'Yep, they seem to not like outsiders or they respect their queen to the point they won't talk to each other about her…maybe both. So gathering intel is very difficult, hence why we have no success yet. However we will keep trying.'

'Great, just what I wanted.' Mitsuko sarcastically exclaimed before sighing.

'I would've thought someone would be able to give you guys something. Oh well, I should've known it wasn't going to be simple.'

'True, but this shows how dedicated her soldiers are to her, which is in itself a sign of the respect they have. Or the lack of information they have on her.' Pang Tong suggested.

'What do you mean?'

'Think about it, no one really knows the bandit queen. She built up such a reputation that people just refuse to believe she exists. A legend. You don't get a reputation like that unless you that's your objective. As to why, who knows. But say if you do join her forces and talk openly about said person, do you believe others will take too kindly to that? Especially those that are close to her? You think they're going to take that lying down?' He asked. Mitsuko pondered this for a moment as her right serpent arm looked at her with a quizzed expression on its face.

'I suppose not. But we don't even know if that's the case though.'

'No. Perhaps I'm looking too deep into this, but it seems to me like she didn't want anyone to talk about her. Especially with the main being in the state that you described. Perhaps the best source of getting intel would be just too…well ask her directly.'

'What? Do you really think she'd tell me everything about her if I ask?'

'Not straight away, but after getting to know her. After all if this alliance does happen then you will be spending more time with each other anyway, discussing strategy and war. It would definitely be easier to get what you need to know in time.'

'Hey, we're nearing the ambush point. Come on.' The scout calls out to them quietly, interrupted the conversation. Mitsuko's forces hushed as they approached the ambush point. They were near the exit of a forest with a path paved. The forces hid on both sides of the clearing, they estimate that the escort force isn't large enough to beat back Mitsuko's forces but they may take more casualties than they would prefer which Mitsuko wasn't too fond of. But she had to deal with it to her dismay. Most of the forces held back behind the clearings as the paths split into two while the vanguard including Mitsuko and her officers hid deeper in the forest but still easily able to withdraw outside with ease if need be. Mitsuko and others peer from the sides of the trees to find a carriage being led by a white horse with a young looking rider. Accompanying the carriage were guards quite numerous compared to a normal escort. Some of the vanguard forces could see the banner of a minor warlord paraded proudly on the sides of the carriage. Mitsuko's forces were raring to go including herself. Eager to shed blood on behalf of their serpent. The snake arms hiss softly as Mitsuko's other eye begins to turn reptilian with the pupil going slit shaped. Diamondback began to growl quietly as his savage nature begins to erupt. The temptation of allowing himself to charge in and go berserk was growing rapidly, were it not for the memories of his previous engagement and lady Mitsuko nearby he would gladly do so. As a warrior in the thick of battle would be where he belonged. Other soldiers, mainly those under the care of Diamondback previously also were raring to go. Their swords and axes drawn.

When they finally came close enough Mitsuko's forces her serpents released a screeching warcry from their mouths as they slithered high in the air. Her forces charged forward with such vigour that the enemy couldn't retreat. The guards could only move forward as the carriage could only look around helpless while Mitsuko's soldiers surrounded them. Zhang Yan's guards were not prepared for the sudden ambush and the sheer ferocity of their enemy. The guards quickly try hold the tide back however it was futile. Mitsuko's forces quickly overran them, with numerous soldiers tackling others to the ground and began to hack away with their axes. Blood was quickly shed, staining the ground as well as the bark on the trees. A few limbs were sliced off such as arms and wrists, the owners screams were quickly silenced as swords and spears were thrust through them. The carriage quickly tried to turn around however the mass of enemy soldiers prevented their escape as they encircled the carriage. Trees were knocked over as Gyuki charged forward and pushed them to one side, landing on various enemies as he swung his massive club, sending various enemies flying. As they made impact with the ground or the trees, their bones would shatter, rending them helpless as other stragglers of Mitsuko's forces find their motionless bodies and turning them into corpses. Some with a rather…demonic look in their eyes.

Mitsuko grinned sadistically as she speared his opponent through the gut with her sword serpent. As she heard the yell of an enemy behind him, she quickly kicked the corpse away and immediately swung her blade overhead. The blade was dropped on the bandits head, splitting it into two down the middle while they drape over the top of the shoulders. Blood spurts out of the open wound and continues to do so as the body limps to the ground as Mitsuko removed her weapon. She spotted another one lunging towards her, ready to thrust with his crude spear. She horizontally swings her scythe arm at face level. The bandit turns his head towards the crescent blade as it pierced his flesh before the force of the swing sweeps the bandit off his feet and crashes him into the nearest tree. The scythe dug deep into the skull. As Mitsuko removes the scythe, the corpse slid down the bark of the tree with the tip of the scythe drenched in fresh blood. The face of the corpse suffered a large hole in the middle of his face as bloody quickly filled it and pours down the bandits face like a waterfall. Pang Tong watched the carnage from afar and chuckled to himself however he heard something nearby. Behind him on higher ground. He knew what was going to happen so he decided to check out the strange noise.

As the last enemy was slain, Mitsuko's forces cheered as the rider of the carriage was visibly afraid as it stares down at the enemy. Wondering why they're here and why they aren't just pulling him off his horse to suffer the same fate as their guards. The soldiers made way for Mitsuko as she approached the carriage. She grabbed the door and pulled it open. As she did a middle aged man with a grey goatee, dressed in expensive lavish clothing with a beer gut fell out of the carriage and landed on his back. He quickly grovelled backwards all around as he finds himself surrounded by various pairs of eyes and bodies encircled around him. He crawls to the centre and lays on Mitsuko and became immediately terrified. Just what the hell was she? And why was she attacking him? He eventually stood up as Mitsuko waited patiently for him.

'Wh-whats the m-meaning of this? Do you h-have any idea who I am..d-demon?' The noble questioned, trying to disguise his quivering voice with confidence, though it failed massively as Mitsuko could only laugh at his pitiful attempts to appear brave.

'No and to be honest I don't particularly care. All I care about is you dying here and now.' Mitsuko threatened as she pointed her serpent blade at the noble who quickly darted his eyes, trying to find an escape route. His heartbeat skyrocketed.

'You kill me and you'll have a war that you and your pitiful bandits can't win.' He attempted to threaten. Mitsuko smirked at this instead.

'War? Look around! The entire country is at war, what would make this one so special?' Mitsuko questioned as she swings her crescent blade at the noble. She cleaves the blade through the jaw of the noble, the momentum making him crash to the ground as his screams were quickly gurgled by the amount of blood escaping from the wound. He writhed around on the ground momentarily before Mitsuko heard a quick shriek behind her, coming from the carriage. Mitsuko quickly glanced backwards at this to see a woman in an luxurious dress while wearing various expensive jewellery like broches, necklaces and various hairpins with her hair pinned in place. Mitsuko knew the bandit queen wanted her eliminated aswell even though it didn't feel quite right. However she started to make her way inside the carriage as the woman sat back in, petrified of whats to come.

As Mitsuko stepped inside she was surprised to find the woman lying there alongside a baby. Couldn't be much older than a few months sleeping. Seeing sleeping baby made Mitsuko hesitate. Did the bandit queen know about this little extra addition? Does she really expect her to kill a kid? She couldn't do that and she couldn't just kill a defenceless mother…could she? As she turned around for a moment, hesitating trying to think make up her mind. The woman slowly removed one of her pain, allowing small strands of her hair to fly down at the back of her head. She lunged forward at Mitsuko her heard the footsteps, she instinctively swung diagonally downwards with her serpent blade arm. The woman stood there for a moment with agony and regret in her eyes before the torso fell backwards onto the ground and the legs fell forward. As if instinctually the baby started cry loudly. Mitsuko looked at the crying infant before looking at the motherly corpse.

'I could've let you live you stupid woman! I could've just let you live on and took care of your damn kid.' Mitsuko internally cursed her, now she has to deal with this infant. Should Mitsuko go through with it she wondered as her snakes swallowed back their respective weapons.

'Hey whats taking so long?' One of Zheng Jiangs scouts climbs in the carriage, he sees Mitsuko looking at the crying infant. He saw the hesitation on her face. He sighed as if this was a bother.

'I understand, leave it to me I'll clean up your mess.' He arrogantly stated as he pulled out his blade and raised hit above the child. Mitsuko felt a sudden burst of anger within her as she lunged at the scout with her left serpent as she pushes her out of the carriage. The other scout and the soldiers were shocked as Mitsuko raised her left snake arm with the scouts head inside its mouth. He flails his legs and grabs the neck of the snake, his attempts were futile however as Mitsuko stared at the corpse with a furious expression on her face. His screams were muffled as the mouth started to close. His muffled screams of panic grew louder as he felt the pressure start to increase before suddenly a crunch sound could be heard. The limbs went limp as the body fell to the ground. Fresh blood dripping from the snake jaw as some drips down on to the fresh corpse which also spurts out blood while other parts of slides down its neck.

'What are you doing!?' The other scout went forward to ask Mitsuko this who looked at him with an annoyed expression.

'We were told your objective was to slay everyone here!' The scout pointed towards Mitsuko in an accusatory manner.

'He had the stomach to do what you could not and for that you killed him!? Tch, talk about being weak and to think she could rely on you. When she hears for this, you and your forces will-' the scout was interrupted as LingQi let go of one of her weapons and grabbed him by the throat and pinned against a tree. He felt his windpipes starting to be crushed by LingQi's grip as she hovered one of her halberds in front of his face as he's choking. He couldn't plead for his life as his grabs LingQi's wrist to remove it, though she could not. He was starving for oxygen but was petrified as he stared into LingQi's hate filled eyes with his maw wide open as he struggles to breathe.

'Silence.' She demanded as she speared him through his mouth. The only thing that was heard was the scouts gurgling before LingQi removed the halberd. The corpse fell forward thanks to LingQi's momentum. She and the rest of the forces look to Mitsuko who looks at the ground, unsure of what to do. Mitsuko also had the carriage that was the issue. She decided that she needed to do the rest of what she needed to do. She picked up the noblemans corpse and put him in the carriage and slammed the door shut and made her way to the rider who couldn't contain his fear as he quivered by just her gaze. Mitsuko's left serpent regurgitated her blade and pointed it towards the rider who leaned back in fear as the tip of it was only inches away from his face.

'Leave.' She demanded. The rider was confused by this.

'Wh-what?'

'Leave! Go back to whatever city you came from, give the kid to some nice family, doesn't even have to be nobility but deliver the corpses to whoever is in charge and warn them of the fate of those that ally themselves with Zhang Yan. If I do find out that you don't do this or that if you don't make sure the kid doesn't get to a good family I will personally make you die a much painful death.' Mitsuko threatened, the rider quickly nodded in response.

'Yes of course, as you wish my lady I'll leave right away.' The horse neighed as the rider pulled the reigns and realigned the carriage to retreat the other way with the other soldiers giving him room to manoeuvre before promptly fleeing away leaving Mitsuko's forces unsure what to do next as they look to her for guidance.

'My lady, what should we do about the scouts?' Gyuki questions, holding one up in the air. Mitsuko glanced at the ground for a moment before looking back up to see the expectant eyes of her forces.

'Leave them, they made their choice. Have a snack, my treat.' She smirked at Gyuki as she never saw him look happy as he gobbled up the corpses.

'For now, we'll make our way back to the city. I'll report to the bandit queen personally. Make sure when we return to not cause any more ruckus, there'll more than likely be more eyes on us in suspicion, as long as we don't arouse any we should be fine…well as long as we don't go above the minimum considering our…exotic friends.' Mitsuko advised as she glanced towards the demons. The forces understood as they got in formation and started to march towards the city with the officers gathering around Mitsuko.

'Hey, you ok Mitsuko?' LingQi questioned, she knew that she wouldn't hesitate like that without good reason.

'Yeah…I'm fine…I didn't think I had to go and kill an infant…that shook me up a bit and it may have cost me an alliance but she can't prove they're dead because of me so I may be able to get away with that.' Mitsuko chuckled as Pang Tong appeared behind them.

'Ahh, I see you were successful then lady Mitsuko?'

'Of course…for the most part. Where did you run off to anyway?' Mitsuko asked.

'Well I heard something, so I thought I'd check it out and I found this.' Pang Tong reached into his sleeve with his remaining human hand and reveals the tip of what seemed to be a tip of a bright white sword. It looked like it was shattered with part of a teal marking located at the part of the blade where it looked shattered. Mitsuko and LingQi view the blade with suspicion while the demons opened their eyes in shock as they all gather around Pang Tong. Pang Tong sinisterly chuckled.

'Looks like we may have some unexpected friends.'

A/N: Hey look at that, two chapters in two weeks. Never thought it could be done, did you? :P Hehe, hey guys I just wanted to let you know that since the first draft of my actual book is finished and went out recently to some people I know for feedback that does free me up some time to write some more of the fanfic so you all don't have to wait too long hopefully between chapters. So my objective would be to get these out on a weekly basis rather than fortnightly even if its temporarily. You definitely should be able to get at least fortnightly chapters but I'm gonna try and do it weekly if I can. No promises though , I do apologise for having the last couple of chapters you had to wait slightly longer than I would've liked but now hopefully now should be able to get upload more regularly. Just wanted to keep you all in the loop of what was happening. So with that in mind, hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope you stick around and read more. Until next chapter, sayonara.