Welcome back after quite some time! ...even though I feel I'm on schedule, the sheer amount of beta work I've been doing has made me lost track of time. Check out TheHiddenSword's Ascension (DanMachi X xianxia), Chimpfrenzy's God is an Idiot (Overlord AU), and TheVigilant Spider's A Rose's Epoch (RWBY X Black Clover) for my most recent beta works! Unfortunately, the works I introduced and recommended to you all in the past have gone into dormancy, but do still give them a shout-out from me after you've done the same with these aforementioned stories. Tell them I sent you!

IRL, I've been spoiled by the recent re-openings (for what felt like the nth time) of theatres, after spending yet another month relying on self-acquired blockbusters (don't ask) to fulfill my movie cravings. On that note, I recently had the opportunity to finish the Camelot Singularity duology, and I have to say I was quite disappointed by this latest 2nd one for its animation inconsistency. And that's not even mentioning its haphazard and spotty adaptation of the source material; hopefully & Production I.G don't get to work on the same project again, because it's super jarring when work is split across multiple parties (I'm also pretty sure those two production houses outsource things as well). Just... Please, DW, stick to A-1 Pictures, Silverlink, or Ufotable next time and spend good money! Just book their entire studio and have one of them continuously make one thing!

For non-Japanese movies, Shang-Chi was typically excellent, while No Time to Die was... just good riddance for Daniel Craig, really. Great actor... in other movies and franchises, and very definitely my least favourite James Bond. Just recently watched several old recommended TV series as well, and my thoughts regarding them is so long I can have another full fanfiction filled with purely that. Bless everyone involved...

Right, back to the story at hand. We're entering the final arc, and I think it's only appropriate to repeat what I did for the first 8 chapters and write a section focused on each of our heroines. Up first: Avenger Nobu!

Here's some mailbag action:
Dasgun: Glad to see you're excited!
superpierce: One thing you may've picked up on how I changed the portrayal of protagonists and antagonists compared to the first 2 stories is exactly that. I realized a one-dimensional 'enemy' is uninteresting and incomplete as individuals, so I strive to give you additional viewpoints of how they, too, are impacted by the changes, instead of just becoming QP and the protagonists moving on. I'm glad the sense of sorriness got conveyed properly to you!

"I was expecting this day to be filled with nothing but happiness, and yet…" Nobunaga uttered, depressed, though still with a bitter smile on her face since her beloved was sitting with her, lovingly playing the role of a chair as she snuggled her tall frame against his. "You're always honest to a fault."

"That term only applies for those who cannot – and would not – hide anything even if the situation is disadvantageous," he remarked. "As you've seen recently, I am nothing like that."

"Ahahaha…" she chuckled, one hand stroking the finely-crafted katana on her lap, and the other his own arm, circled around her waist. "To me, you count."

"I'd love to say you're the first one to say that to me, but…"

She mildly headbutted him right on the chin. "…but I'm just the latest along the line of countless others. Don't apologize, please," she strongly interrupted him when she felt he was about to say something against her scalp. It was usually a pleasant sensation, notwithstanding the pride she felt due to her efforts in maintaining her hair and preventing any bad odour whenever he wished to bury his nose in it. However, now that she – and the other girls – felt much closer to him after several days' worth of 'research' inside Unlimited Blade Works, she was able to somewhat retain her sharp awareness whenever they cuddled together now. "I feel proud for being a member of such a select group. Without you explaining, each and every one of us is special, and the effort you put forth to ensure we feel it is… mesmerizing."

She emphasized her last word by turning around and looking at his eyes – really, really looking into his typically unremarkable but unrelentingly warm brown eyes – and attempted to force all her affection for him through her gaze. It wasn't telepathy, but simply the most honest expression she could muster whenever she thought of him.

- Chu.

"Kya!"

However, her intense naivety merely put her face dangerously close to his, making her forget their romantic position, and leaving her completely defenceless when he decided to indulge the sudden influx of emotions and instinctively kissed her on the lips.

She jumped back, fingers touching her lips in the same disbelief she showed him when they were teenagers and she first kissed him a few days after his marriage to Chiyome. At the time, her emotions were very much a wreck – the new life she'd long aspired after her first death… ending up like this? An unrecruited love for a warlord who had it all, and took what she didn't have back then? She was overcome with an intense desire to reclaim what she'd always assumed was hers, and not belonging to someone she didn't even know at the time.

Of course, everything worked out well in the end, but her younger self, for the first time, felt afraid of a part of her being taken away. And this was coming from someone who didn't mind having her own life reaped before its completion.

"So surprised?" Even Muramasa echoed her uncharacteristic response. "I… didn't hit your teeth, did I?"

Nobunaga felt her childhood friend's confused expression was rather cute, in contrast to his usual know-it-all and infuriatingly calm demeanour, but her mouth was still too stiff to reply properly. Noticing her mild jump had knocked the priceless katana aside, she scrambled towards it, feigning concern, even though she fully knew Muramasa's craftsmanship wouldn't suffer a scratch even if she hit it with all her power and Living Weapon abilities. In fact, if she accidentally hit it just right – i.e. perfectly against the sharp edge – it's not unthinkable she'd be the one sliced in half.

"Ah… Your present…" she continued her cover-up, pretending to stroke and check its entire length seriously, hiding her fluster behind a veneer of seriousness.

"Don't sweat it." This damned Muramasa even had the gall to be oblivious to her emotion and crawled closer, taking both the sword and her hands into his grip, as if not noticing the intense heat now beginning to radiate from both her hair and Magic Circuits. "It's just a sword. I can make one anytime you want."

And that was true. Sōza Samonji, Yagen Toshirō, Heshikiri Hasebe, and Fudō Yukimitsu were all born under his hand in this reality. However well-made Nobunaga considered them to be in her previous life, along with the joy and pride she sported when they came into her possession, Muramasa considered them all to be practice swords. In fact, he viewed them so nonchalantly he sold Sōza Samonji to Yoshimoto first, before it fell to Nobunaga's hand as a spoil of war, and then was lent back to the Imagawa Princess General to chase down the Ashikagas in Ming. The only notable difference was they're considerably longer than their final forms the last time she saw them, because she couldn't bear to shorten anything her beloved gave off, unlike her previous self.

It was easier to collect her old line-up, too, since Yoshifusa, Daihannya Nagamitsu, and Kagemitsu seemingly fell into her hands without too much effort. Was this fate? Was this the world's claim to support her and 'Tenka Fubu', realizing the error it'd made when cutting off her strings beforehand?

Of course, Dōjigiri Yasutsuna's real Spirit Graph was inside Unlimited Blade Works, as one of the Minamoto Clan's Noble Phantasms, but he could bring it out every now and then for her to play with. It's one of the very few swords she had trouble wielding, because its immense weight and extreme balance were custom-built for Yorimitsu's incredible physique and unique fortitude. She's not as skilled in Alteration as Muramasa, and thus had trouble adjusting it for swift attacks. It's said that Minamoto ancestor was able to chop a horde of cavalry, mount and rider, in one clean strike in the time it took for her to dismount from her own horse. That legend, ridiculous as it sounded, gave off several important clues: Yorimitsu's real measurements to be able to perform iaidō with such a long tachi, her improbable flexibility, as well as her military loadout so as to avoid getting stuck during the motions.

Naturally, Nobunaga, despite her height being similar, had little talent in emulating that kind of swordsmanship mastery. Yes, she's much better now, after spending practically her entire second life around Muramasa and Mitsuhide, becoming a swordswoman worthy of this newest sword of hers.

This long train of thought was sufficient to distract her from her earlier unexpected outburst of emotion, calming her down despite being in such close proximity to the person who usually caused her the troubles in the first place.

"How do you find the time to make things like these?" She inquired, returning his worried gaze with a curious one. "The restaurant, your family's Workshop, Chiyome-san's shinobi clan… Even I'm stressed out, and I have you here."

Any high-quality katana took months, if not years, to adequately make. For newbies, the process became exponentially longer, specifically because a master's increased their efficiency to the point that aforementioned timeframe was barely possible. The gentle process of purifying the ores itself usually took more than 2 days to collect enough satisfactory material to make a blade in the first place. Then, countless hours were put into mechanically refining through repeated consolidating and folding with a hammer before one could even attempt shaping the newly-formed billet into something remotely resembling a blade. Even then, one bad heat cycle and hammer-blow placement, and all one's hard work would crumble and shatter – quite literally.

The same as starting a new business with a model so far out the norm like what Muramasa and Mitsuhide were doing. Foreign restaurants weren't uncommon, but they were mostly focused on ingredients and techniques found in Ming, Goryeo, or the Ainu-influenced Hokkaido. Nanban contact nowadays were extensive, yes, but not to the point one could assimilate its myriad cultures enough to actually run a proper restaurant.

But the two did. Sourcing, training, building, creating, cooking, and serving… before the cycle repeated in order for a cuisine-based business to continually improve. Both proprietors hated stagnation, Mitsuhide more extremely than Muramasa, but the effort to consistently craft something new was many times so taxing it drove plenty of people into depression – or worse: suicide.

Purely performing at their high level in their respective fields was taxing enough, much less juggling several at once and maintaining such standards.

He smiled. "Well, if you love what you do beyond your own life, it doesn't feel like work or a burden."

"…please don't phrase it like that," she replied quickly and darkly, sulking even when failing to pull of the same adorable pout her younger self sported on occasion.

"I know, I know. Just a figure of speech."

It was a rather unique sensation to pat a fully-grown woman, showing how much growth spurt Nobunaga experienced in these past 2 years. While still growing, her childish features had all been eradicated from top-to-bottom – the baby fat around her face had trimmed out into sharper, colder angles, though no less beautiful; her body's curves filled out and nearing Danzō's size, though it seemed the kunoichi's Saint Graph tended to get naturally plumper easier compared to the still-lithe Nobunaga; her hair growing thicker and longer, though she still maintained Chiyome's suggestion of smoothly trimming out her armpit and pubic hair in contrast to the typical Nihon tradition of growing them out as a strange symbol of purity. Yes, the latter was derived from the serpentine girl's experience with the prostitution business, where nurturing hair was both a hassle and health risk from the microorganisms uncontrollably living there in this unsophisticated time, but Muramasa seemed to appreciate it.

And that's all the motivation she needed. They were all brilliantly red like her hair had turned into these past months, though not as thick as Mitsuhide, who had to resort to keeping a small tuft at all times because they grew back so quickly and thickly.

This growth spurt was what forced Muramasa – somewhat – to continually make weapons and armours to suit her body. While katanas were typically of a set length regardless of the wielder's physique, there was plenty of scope for modification in terms of balance, overall weight, and handle construction. It was these constant tweaks which showcased Muramasa's attention to detail… towards her body and needs, which flattered her immensely, but also made her rather worried he's putting forth effort other people might not be able to appreciate.

Her old retainers, for instance, were still somewhat cold to him, though nowadays it's mostly developed into a healthy rivalry and focused on Nagahide. The others had been, one way or another, bought into trusting him, such was the power of his cooking. Hanzō had very little choice – not only did his lord, Motoyasu, was adamantly loyal to Nobunaga, his current supervisors and co-workers were all very close to Muramasa, and any sign of disrespect would've been punished heavily by Chiyome and Danzō. The two kunoichi were rather hands-off with the rest, concerned they'd step over Nobunaga's authority, but it's clear that's only a temporary respite.

If, by any point, they considered her as too big a trouble for Muramasa, they'd swiftly depose of her and endure whatever enmity erupting from him. For his sake. They'd do anything in the world under the dogma of those three words.

"I took the liberty of making it a size bigger for you to grow into. Hope you like it."

She clicked her tongue jovially. "You always say that! When have I ever not like what you make me?! Food, weapons, ideas… whatever!"

"Babies, too?"

"Yeah, bab- W-W-W-WHHHHAAAAAAA-!"

Nobunaga sputtered, before she caught herself and frowned at how easily she fell into his verbal trap. "Enough of that! You know full well- Mmph!"

- Chu.

Her protest was instantly silenced when he kissed her one more time, much more forcefully this time by virtue of holding and pulling on her forearm so she couldn't jump away this time. "Why not? Consider this sword the first of many betrothal gifts, on the eve of your conquest of Nihon."

- Chu.

Before she could say anything in response, he kissed her again, slipping in his tongue this time to meet and bump her own's tip. "Marry me, Kippōshi."

Mukō no Kanata. Beyond the Aeons.

That was the temporary name Muramasa came up with for his latest creation, symbolizing its purpose to finish what the Princess Generals before Nobunaga started, and what his Minamoto Clan had long dreamt of achieving.

Its handle construction was distinctly Nanban, contoured to mimic a gunstock's shape, miniaturized and done twice over, and textured according to her hand's dimension. Compared to the sword she usually carried into battle, it was at least a hand longer, bridging the gap between a katana and ōdachi. The unique size and length were to accommodate her equally-unique martial arts – something literally no other smith was experienced in making – and perfectly suited to channel Muramasa's talents and interests from an unlimited supply of esoteric sword designs.

This sword's predecessor was actually already recorded inside Unlimited Blade Works, and the one he'd make was an improvement on it. For instance, the original handle design was more similar to a forestry axe or machete – simply two concave semicircles placed close to each other – while this one was simply ridged and regularly knurled across its length, while maintaining the tang's slight curvature. This was due to Nihon swordsmanship necessitating great flexibility owing to its single-edged and shorter design, in contrast to Nanban longswords, which was why the norm was simple ovoid shape wrapped strategically to maximize grip across a nearly-radially symmetrical handle.

What Muramasa did was transfer that old norm into something integral to the blade itself – hence, the guard and handle were all forged from the same billet as the blade, extruding from its transition area as smooth as a long bone into the next joint in the body. Even a great part of the ridges was forged, circular in nature mimicking leather ribbed bellows, with the finishing touches personally hand-carved. The effort Muramasa put it transferred pleasant warmth to Nobunaga, who was of course far too flustered to enjoy the intricacies he put into the weapon, despite her attempt to fake a close inspection.

In a sense, this blade, apart from being his magnum opus for his interpretation of what Nobunaga needed, was also a love letter from him.

An all-metal handle could be prohibitively heavy, but it was cleverly hollowed out through the entire blade to lighten it. Yes, the chamber in the handle was larger, but this feature was added to ease Nobunaga's particular usage of Mana Burst and general Magecraft, since it's filled with alchemical catalyst suitable for her Origin and Element. The wrapping around the handle was leather written full of sutras, chosen specifically because they could convey his feelings for her properly.

Love. Affection. Gratitude. Respect. Worship. Happiness. Excitement. Heat.

Those, and various other minor things, entwined with the enchanted ores used to make the original billet. The Sengo Workshop might look normal from the outside – impressively detailed and well-equipped, but normal – yet its innermost workings were understandably kept a secret from outsiders. From the runes carved into the inner faces of the kiln, forge, bellows, storage houses, and so on, to the empty spiritual grooves waiting to be filled by their wielders' Magecraft and willingness to connect with these inanimate objects. This was why he and his family could produce great quality products rapidly and with immaculate consistency, answering Nobunaga's earlier pondering.

It was primarily layered in his signature soshu-kitae, taking the advantage of Masamune's non-presence to claim actual copyright, though the kokoro was actually a mixture of meteorite and magic stones. The two had great compatibility as the soft core, before stronger and harder materials were wrapped around them to create the actual edge and visible body. Muramasa especially chose an alloy ore from Unlimited Blade Works, more in line with his namesake katanas he now preferred in combat, which were dangerously brittle due to the extreme hardness they could achieve. Still, this overspecialization was what his brand of Magecraft was designed to tackle, and with a good deal of Reinforcement, Alteration, Projection, and the effects of the core he chose, it was feasibly the best 'normal' sword he'd produced.

Any better, and it'd go into the realm of Noble Phantasms – one attribute Nobunaga actively disliked, because it meant she'd become someone she always desired to overthrow.

Much like its wielder, the blade was imbued with potent [Anti-Divine] and [Anti-Thaumaturgy], though the latter was harder to implement because of Nobunaga's own newly-found use of her own brand of Magecraft. Her previous self had little, if any, talent for spells – in fact, she was seeking to abolish the various rituals done in the name of 'magic' – and was only bestowed the [Hellfire] Element once she passed onto this new reality. For this new ability the world had fortunately granted her, so too, ironically, her latent Magic Circuits finally evolved, opened, and unleashed their potential.

Mukō no Kanata was also meant to act as a ritual catalyst to ease her various clashing attributes. When activated, the natural grain flow of the metal – both the outer jacket and inner core – would light up in gold, showcasing Nihon's highest-quality magic stones' glow from the inside-out right along the centre of the blade. It was similar to various yōkais' protruding cores, glowing so brightly as advertisement where their general weaknesses were, but of course the sword was constructed far differently than that. This trait had also been phased out from popular trend among the yōkais, having endured great persecution and oppression by the Taira and other noble families because of this well-known weakness, and also due to the Minamoto Clan providing the metamorphosis ritual to assume more humanoid forms, which retained their strength but hid their weak points.

Known as Humanoid Compression, when Shuten-dōji, the de facto yōkai leader after Otakemaru's defeat and Tamamo-no-Mae's assimilation into the Minamoto Clan, agreed to live under its constraints, it was rather easier to convince the rest. Slowly, with more and more individuals phasing to the Reverse Side of the World, this fact had been lost to memory as most yōkais nowadays were almost indistinguishable from remarkable humans, sharing the inhuman traits as well as otherworldly attractiveness. Hence, Muramasa's bending-over-backwards magical engineering felt like overkill simply to avoid the same weakness, but he's nothing but a perfectionist when it came to blacksmithing.

…and cooking, too, but that's another matter.

Nobunaga proudly sported the sword on her hip as she marched to the south, knowing the Tripartite wouldn't strike her in the back due to her and Muramasa's retainers holding the line. In fact, she was looking forward to her rematch with Echigo and Kai, eager to repeat her legendary battles with them to establish her renowned revolutionary strategies. It... just didn't have the same impact if she ended up using it against someone historically unremarkable as the Mōri Clan.

Besides, she had something else in store for them.

But it's gotten stale lately… victory.

In her old life, it was something gained through much hardship, sacrifice, and bittersweet feelings. Not one of her victories was flawless. There's always those around her who died in the process, those who'd later oust themselves as traitors, or occasions when she had to sacrifice needless numbers of troops just to gain a strategic advantage, and not an outright victory. Then, there were the frustratingly drawn-out ones, either due to weather or political wrangling. The latter, for instance, was the speciality of the Buddhist sects opposing her – which made it a priority to gain Kennya's favour as quickly as possible here, using what she knew of both the nekomata's past male self and her current version.

The seasons had very little to affect her progress, mainly because nowadays she finished conquests so quickly winter barely had a chance to set, buying her precious months to stabilize and build upon semi-destroyed areas and sell her dreams to the populace. That, too, was what her previous self was lacking: public relations. Granted, she's nowhere as eloquent as she was with her words compared to now… no, scratch that. She's still unable to properly incite any belief in 'Tenka Fubu' despite Nihon's changed state, and was only able to do so with her newest generation of retainers.

Surround oneself with people as brilliant as themselves, and the result was overwhelming. Contributing to her earlier 'boring' comment, she barely had to lift a single finger most times due to her subordinates, retainers, and partners already executing what she intended to do, down to the smallest details. It's amazing what extra effort did to bridging the various misunderstandings and frictions between two individuals – and she considered this was the reason for the massive civil war erupting in Nihon after her death between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, the exact opposite to what she wanted to achieve with 'Tenka Fubu'. By then, the two warlords had let themselves drown in their greed, instead of fighting for an ideal they swore by when she was still alive.

That was also the main reason why she shot Tokichirō the first time she saw him in this new world, partially cursing her own judgement to induct him into her innermost circle of retainers. She'd also been monitoring Motoyasu since they were small, indoctrinating that racoon-like little girl into absolute loyalty to 'Tenka Fubu' instead of Nobunaga herself, cautiously changing the way they interacted and gauging whether she should have this adopted little sister figure assassinated before she grew too troublesome.

In hindsight, it was fortunate she didn't make too much of a fuss when her childhood crush married another woman first, because the latter turned out to be a better shinobi than Motoyasu's chief retainer, Hanzō of Iga, opening up this possibility. An by any individual would've probably been repelled and create a rift between the two adopted sisters, inadvertently starting the betrayal Oda Nobunaga was internationally known for being a victim of, but with a different perpetrator.

It's funny how things change, regardless of how she was afraid to let it transform so radically so. Lately, she'd been chiding her younger self for not appreciating what good came her way, instead worrying about them being a sign of upcoming terrible waves. Despite her disdain for fanatical religious and philosophical believers, who lived their entire lives – as well as forcing others to follow suit – based on intangible things from ancient times instead of actually looking at what's in front of them, Nobunaga had a weary eye on karma and its circular nature. She didn't call herself a Demon King without a strong background in Buddhism, after all.

For instance, never in millennia would she allow the previous Mitsuhide to be in the same room while naked, much less touch and do very suggestive things to her. That white-haired tall man – the exact physical opposite of his current counterpart – was the combination of her worst nightmares: the same fanaticism she criticized earlier… only towards her. In the end, it became true: the extreme hatred generated from a single-minded focus made him easy to manipulate, even to the point of roasting the woman he loved most alive.

This current Mitsuhide… was cute to the point she wanted to gobble the younger girl up. While brilliant beyond compare, her sharp intelligence only applied to things other than interpersonal relationships… and perhaps some self-reflection. That delectably wide forehead of hers just couldn't seem to fathom how she came across to others of lower perceptive ability, making her look airheaded and adorable in Nobunaga's eyes… to the point she wondered why this Mitsuhide wasn't there when she was first alive.

But again, not one single element was enough to change fate. Hence, Nobunaga's gratitude stemmed from how many things were just right to make her dream came true this time around. For instance, Mitsuhide would've been drowning in military work right about now because only she could maintain so many fronts against troublesome opponents while Nobunaga's main generals squared off against great armies like Takeda's. Instead, the black-haired young girl could now focus on her strengths and interests: namely, administration and business.

Yes, she was a warrior at heart, but she perhaps signalled a change in generation whose members sook honour and fame in singular, high-profile duels than harvesting ashigaru lives like rice on the battlefield. Her current swordsmanship and Magecraft reflected this; compared to Nobunaga's and Muramasa's wide area-of-effect attacks, hers were precise and efficient, with shorter range but much greater precision. The swordsmanship she honed since she was young had only one purpose: defeat her beloved senpai and show she's no longer the cute kōhai he needed to protect all the time.

Well, that a goal for all of them, but Mitsuhide pursued it the most consistently and vigorously. In a away, she was the purist among them, matched perhaps only by Kagetora in terms of martial excellence. In comparison, Nobunaga was currently chasing a higher level of union between industrialization, Thaumaturgy, spiritualism, and traditional arts – her personal research now that she was somewhat of a magus, let's say – while both Chiyome and Danzō naturally pursued and evolved their shinobi arts as far as their imagination went with their renewed strength. Muramasa… was actually more of an artist, as he pursued dharma through his blacksmithing, cooking, and other interests beyond plain swordsmanship, considering and treating them as art, more than his lovers' materialist pursuits.

In some way or another, her new life had been shaped by Magecraft. She found living in this changed world… to be more than pleasant, after all. It showed she was both right and wrong about the original 'Tenka Fubu' – correct in that the brand of mysticism practiced in her old life was misleading and misused by villains to fulfil their evil desires, while also being too extreme in believing realism and spiritualism couldn't exist and meld together into one. In fact, using that first noun was already inaccurate in the first place; there's only what's in front of her as proof, with no right or wrong.

Things existed, so they were.

The harmony showed here, and paved for by the Minamoto Clan's efforts, renewed her belief in her ideal in its best form, instead of having to settle for compromises for the cold, harsh reality. The willingness of her beloved ones to support and add to the beautiful picture she'd dreamt of to, unbelievably, make it even better drove her more and more to the point she at times found herself rushing.

Such as the conquest of Southern Nihon.

Her original self's victory over them was much condensed by the history written thereafter… because, after all, the Sengoku Period's main character was her. The story would soon shift to how she was entrapped and essentially assassinated among the flames – and plots either side of this climactic point were naturally marginalized. A great disservice towards a great opponent, but Nobunaga couldn't choose how her story was written because she was dead, obviously.

In reality, she'd always regarded the Mōri Clan with equal trepidation along the members of the Tripartite. They held great expanses of land in an area famous for its numerous local warlords who, before its hegemony, were united only by one singular attribute: independence. Hence, despite Chūgoku looking easy to conquer from the outside because of this division, no major powerhouse managed to do so because they'd just be surrounded the instant they moved in to govern this supposedly-conquered territory.

A person who could unify all these pieces into one was surely a commendable individual. Shame their patriarch, Motonari, had long been dead; Nobunaga was eager to match wits and martial prowess with the person who, inadvertently, was practising 'Tenka Fubu' before she was born. Unfortunately, the man who inherited that person's only ideals and abilities, Takamoto, died young, leaving his two younger twin sisters to take control and govern – the very same ones who were given away to other families as political ties, thus sporting different surnames until now – Motoharu and Takakage.

It's also highly likely they're just holding the Clan Head seat warm for their younger brother, Terumoto, according to Chiyome and Danzō, since neither had the ability to switch personas between a charismatic ruler and ruthless hero whenever necessary – that role was eerily split among them – but both were intelligent and moral enough to see the potential in raising the little boy according to their father's and older brother's teachings.

While she wouldn't attack from this angle… yet, there's no loss in preparing to, at the very least, take the kid hostage. The most troublesome part didn't even exist – namely, the boy's ability to defend himself – so achieving this feat was simple and could be done without preparations or long days of scheming.

That was how much unfairness having the backing of the Minamoto Clan brought.

Now, even though the human-yōkai had long been established, there were very little instance the latter actively serve in the former's military, since both parties' needs and aspirations were, naturally, different. The most they did was participate as Guardian Spirits, and more direct involvement was mostly in the form of small bandit groups operating away from civilization, consisting of both humans and yōkais. The most egregious example related to this upcoming battle was the Mōri Clan's lack of even inherited Guardian Spirits, much less a partnership with an entire yōkai tribe like the Minamoto Clan.

…well, technically, the Imperial Family bonded with all of them, so that example was perhaps excessive.

It allowed Nobunaga to focus and not worry about a Thaumaturgical attack. Muramasa and Mitsuhide would handle that side, while she would lead her… more normal generals to war, safe in the knowledge would-be assassins would have to also get past Chiyome and Danzō's multi-layered protections.

While the Oda Clan was disadvantaged when it came to maritime power, all Nobunaga had to do was drag the battle inland. Of course, she's not so tactless to mention this to Kazumasu, for fear of insulting that bratty adoptive little sister of hers.

Come to think of it, she had so many siblings it's hard to count, didn't she? Regarding the latter, she's also not worried about Kazumasu's defeat in the hands of the Murakami Pirates – which was likely, if the little kunoichi was on her own – because Himiko would personally step in to safeguard her estranged twin. Their personalities were different enough to affect a twins' usual relationship, yes, but not enough they wouldn't look out for each other in times of need. While having an identical appearance, their bond was much weaker than the Mōri twins, for example, even though the latter was easier to differentiate.

These complicated filial webs were what drove Nobunaga to talk to Nobukatsu and Oichi more since they were small, eager to prevent the influence of her father's old retainers which drove the various wedges between them in her previous life. Now, while they were living in relative obscurity after marrying off to tie various vassalizations, the three of them had very strong relationship and communication, fully utilizing Himiko's prized Magecraft and Element, [Mirror] to great effect. Of course, its power to mimic a modern-day video teleconference was something to keep a secret, for fear of rumours of imperial partiality, Nobunaga was nonetheless thankful she was granted access to this fact after consulting with the normally-cold Empress.

It's a shame she wasn't allowed to use it for martial purposes, or else her battlefields would be even more unfair now. Telepathy couldn't cover the great distances across expanses of grass- and woodlands, and none of her generals – even Muramasa and Mitsuhide – was adept enough at it to sustain prolonged communication. Hanbei, the little onmyōji, was barely able to maintain surveillance through her myriad of familiars and spirits, and only to serve small numbers – two-way communication was far too much for her. Besides, she wasn't eager to share her powers with Nobunaga's other retainers, choosing to bury herself in Muramasa's protection for fear of another abusive relationship like Yoshitatsu's treatment of her.

In fact, she was just in the next carriage, huddled together with her newfound friend Kanbei – the two finding a lot of similarities with their respective crafts, despite their contrasting appearance and personality – while Muramasa took point in the convoy, being the one who initiated and finalized the eventually-crumbling negotiations with the Mōri Clan, as well as to supervise his latest retainer, Shikanosuke, who's also acting as a local guide for the army. Travelling as a small band of ragtag rebels was very different from a full-on march, but every single bit of knowledge helped. For instance, simply what the local yōkais loved as offerings and trade items could be calculated back into how the leyline around here worked.

Still, it's much more comfortable than expected, given her past experiences of sore butts and aching waists when marching across large distances. For one, she loved carriages, having succumbed to this new life's pleasures and traumatized by her previous one's stubbornness to look imposing in front of her troops. With a better and more intimate relationship with her men, down to the lowest ashigarus, there's no need to keep up pretences when she'd fight alongside them down in the mud later eventually. The experimental suspension system installed in this particular carriage crumbled the last of her personal opposition, made from stacks of processed leather and curved wood-metal arms.

'Ah, the benefit of industrialization…'

Danzō wasn't here – surprisingly so – because she 'wanted to challenge her sea legs', and thus travelled with Kazumasu to clash with the Murakami Pirates head-on. Nobunaga never took the buxom kunoichi to be one whose expression could be disturbed by any level of seasickness, but she couldn't say no when stared at for nearly half an hour, in complete silence, by that bewitching golden eyes of hers. Being that close also wafted in Danzō's particular body odour and brought up memories of how soft her body was, and how cute her 'additional contraption' twitched inside Nobunaga that night…

It's fortunate the redhead wasn't sharing this carriage with anyone right now, since she wanted to scream at herself for getting distracted in that way just prior to battle.

Muramasa told her stories, when they were young, of foreign cultures where bloodlust was taken and practiced as literally as possible – i.e. the participants would engage in wanton sexual activities before, during, and after a life-and-death match. Something related to the imbalance of hormones brought up by the tension of fighting, he surmised. At the time, she thought he was just making things up – or, at the very least, merely conveying what he read somewhere – but the recent Dream Cycles taught her that no, he actually lived through those cultures.

No wonder he's so good in bed.

When he first took her virginity, and after the first creampie-induced orgasm died down, she was overcome with jealousy at the thought he's been… busy practising with the two new and cute kunoichis he'd just 'discovered' under the pretext of marriage. That was the irrational part of her heart speaking, since she liked Chiyome and Danzō as individuals shortly after they were introduced, but still… her point regarding Muramasa's prowess stood.

Only now did she know he literally had slept with an unlimited number of enchanting people, each attractive enough to make Nobunaga insecure of her own beauty.

A jolt from the carriage knocked her dirty thoughts away, reminding her she was on the way to war, and not her overly-comfortable bedroom with a pair of chiselled arms and muscular chest waiting to embrace her.

"Osu! I look forward to learning from you!" Kazumasu sharply bowed, mimicking the childish gesture Tatsumi and Muramasa used to be forced to do by their elders before they beat the crap out of each other in sparring sessions, towards Danzō. "I'm still young and inexperienced, so please bear with me!"

Unexpectedly, the reply was far too short. "Eh…? Er… Takigawa-dono, I am leaving right now."

"W-WHAT?!"

At the sight of the overly-short bob-haired girl dressed identically with her twin sister, the Empress, looking straight up to her due to their drastic difference in height, Danzō explained, "I am here solely to supervise the handover of this duty to my trusted jōnins. They are experienced enough to act without my presence, so I have decided to day is the time."

She gestured to the several people standing scattered behind her in no proper respectful formation, unlike the all-black line-up Kazumasu assumed were chūnins… despite each of them felt as powerful as her most skilled group. When the two parties first met, Kazumasu instantly felt the enmity for her twin sister she'd been burying lately resurfacing quickly, looking at how easily Himiko gathered powerful men and women without stepping a single foot out of that castle of hers – Kazumasu's old home, before she was taken away and shoved into the local Kōga Clan's branch.

"I-Is it my hospitality? D-Did I say something wrong?" The small kunoichi mumbled quickly to herself, but Danzō almost immediately stopped her.

"'Tis none of that. Is that not the plan originally? Did a miscommunication happen?" The buxom kunoichi tilted her head, the minute gesture enough to shake her bountiful breasts. "I was told I am to operate independently, much as our teachings since we both are young. Is that not our strength?"

"T-That may be true, b-but…"

Indeed, what Kazumasu expected was rather illogical. It's already rare for a group of shinobis to move and stay together as one unit throughout the entirety of any mission, since typically they're broken up into, at most, 4-man cells who specialized in certain tasks. Those small missions culminated in the accomplishment of a larger whole, because doing otherwise was the speciality of mercenaries and professional armies. Might as well hire them, and not shinobis. Even the Fūma's famed Chaos Brigade wasn't maintained as such all the time, and only used in short bursts to overwhelm a particularly troublesome enemy.

"I shall be quite useless standing here and operating this gigantic vessel. I am not Osakabe-himesama, after all," Danzō humbly explained. "I shall strike right at the heart of the enemy."

"Mumumu… You saying that makes me feel my ninja skills are considered inadequate…" Kazumasu grumbled, folding her arms across her completely flat chest. "Why can't I come with you?! That works! Kuki and the others can man the ship!"

"Has Nobunaga-sama agreed to it?"

"Tch…" Now sulking, Kazumasu turned her attention to Danzō's men, all of whom were foreign to her. "Make sure you follow my orders, got it?!"

"Of course," a smooth female voice replied. Because these people all wore face masks and head scarfs, it's difficult for someone to normally differentiate them apart from relying on figure comparison. The one speaking had a perfectly ordinary female silhouette, but Kazumasu's experienced eyes and telepathic talent – not as good as Himiko, but serviceable nonetheless – notified she could label this one as 'Redhead' in her mind. "We will do just that while rampaging around to our hearts' content. Is that alright with you, Takigawa-sama?"

"Do as you wish!"

"Now, now, get along," Danzō gently chided, placing her hands on Kazumasu's petite shoulders as the little girl turned away sharply while grumbling all the way to coax her. "Even I am not privy to the upcoming naval battleplan, and I am not poking my head where I do not belong, aren't I? They, too, are here to assist you…"

"I know, I know! 'Need-to-know' and stuff, right?!" She interrupted, pursing her lips. "I'll just ask Aneue later on!"

She was, of course, referring to Nobunaga, since she'd never address Himiko, her blood-related older sister, as respectfully as that if not forced by the situation.

"That you will," Danzō conceded, knowing she lacked her lord's uncanny ability to make girls melt with just words alone. She wasn't sure he even realized this, but as a frequent victim, she envied that skill just a touch right now. "I shall leave this place to you, then, Hisui."

Her voluptuous body dissipated like smoke, a tell-tale use of her using a slower brand of movement technique compared to the flickers shinobis favoured in combat.

Currently, they were in Owari's latest generation prototype of naval war vessel – so new, in fact, there was only one in existence – but it was so large none of them felt any disconcerting rocking motion typical of wooden ships. Only the magic stone lighting fixture swayed every now and then, but even that was very slowly and almost imperceptibly. Kazumasu's role as Owari's chief admiral came from several factors, but mainly due to her command over the all-female Kuki Pirates, filled with those pushed out of society for daring to break the norm and sail, long since considered the realm of men, as well as victims of old misogynistic practices still prevalent in marginalized areas modern law couldn't reach.

There was also the fact of nepotism – a fact Kazumasu hated with great intensity, since it made her feel she achieved this position solely due to Himiko pulling the strings without her consent. In fact, she suspected her meeting and subsequent servitude under Nobunaga was also arranged by that blasted twin older sister of hers, just so she's out of the way as Himiko made sweeping changes across the nobility in order to mould Nihon according to their clan's long-lasting wish.

While not opposed to that – and, by default, to 'Tenka Fubu' – her older sister's mere presence in this case made her old mental wounds ache.

The two of them were proficient in telepathy, and thus theoretically shared a much powerful familial bond than any other sibling. For instance, she remembered Himiko's pain as adults came in one night and dragged Kazumasu away, but also the former's resolve to not show any outward emotion to portray a ruthless and objective ruler. That emotion, one usually reserved for the protagonists in heroic tales when they were under duress, was what drove the enmity now existing in Kazumasu. Why, despite Himiko's seemingly boundless power and talent, did she not attempt to keep her sister by her side? The Empress was strong enough to forgo the traditional ritual of giving up family members for adoption to other clans… yet she casted Kazumasu aside so easily like garbage while keeping the older cousins she preferred up close.

The younger twin then threw her all into her training, eventually rising up the ranks of the Kōga with her blend of inborn telepathic abilities, traditional Shinto Magecraft talent, and hard work. Even then, before she could be officially anointed as one of the Kōga's foremost masters, she was burdened with the responsibility to manage the Kuki Pirates and becoming a naval admiral at such a young age. Which meant having to do her learning process all over again.

Kazumasu… didn't know who she should hate any longer.

Hence, her enemies became the default, like what she was about to do to the Mōri Clan now.

…with this all-metal battleship.