He was tricked. Sent as a vanguard to deal with the Uesugi-Takeda alliance, buy time for Lord Oda to gather their forces and figure out a proper plan against the charging force. However, when he arrived at the frontlines, he found no enemy. Instead, the enemy bypassed him and the others. He rode as fast as he could, to support them. But when he arrived, it was too late. It was utter madness, as everyone killed each other. Hideyoshi didn't know who died in the end. But it didn't matter.
He would always remember it. The inferno that took everything from him. The castle, the base of operations in this war, burning to the ground. The aftermath, where no one survived. No one that was important. He was a wreck. Hiding himself in isolation as everyone in Japan went after the leftovers of the great Oda and Uesugi clans. The Warring State increased in chaos, threatening to set the country on fire. And Hideyoshi? He couldn't give a damn.
Weeks. Perhaps months. He was hiding in a hut in the mountains, grieving. He occasionally heard some things, like Takeda's deteriorating health. But it was one certain woman that broke him out of his stupor.
"There could be a way to bring them back."
He didn't want it. That hope. But the knowledge of the occult... it was a path he didn't consider. And Chiyome was confident in her plan. Insane as it was.
"Do you believe you can take over Yomi, the underworld?" She asked, eyes tired, but utterly determined, borderline insane as she reached out her hand to him. "If you swear that you leave Lord Takeda alone, I will do everything in my power to give you that chance."
The chance to see them again. To see Chacha smile down at him. To return things to normal. Hideyoshi growled, reaching for the blade that hasn't seen use for ages. Standing up, he cut his hair short with a snarl.
"I'll take over the heavens if I have to!"
/
It was difficult. Gaining the powers, fragments as they were, from Susanoo, sealing him up as they couldn't properly take them from him. Something about how it was his and his alone. Too powerful to be killed. But they managed it. Sealing him up quickly enough before his wrath could be unleashed. He couldn't really recall how they did it. Nor did he recall how they could take down Izanami. He could only remember the storms Chiyome unleashed, the sun that grew and grew in his heart, against the admittedly weakened goddess. Was it because she had to use her powers for sealing up Yomi? Or was it because of the reason she had to seal everything up in the first place? Either way, they could defeat her. Unlike Susanoo, with sufficient power on their side, they could take her authority in the fullest. Their goal was achieved.
And in the end, it was all for nothing. They were gone.
"Fool... souls don't remain here forever. Sooner or later, they move on even beyond my reach."
He thought she was lying. That she was trying, poorly at that, to survive. But with his new power, he tried to find them. Tried to pull them out, to return them to the living. But the souls were gone.
Never before did he feel such a rage and despair. What was the point in all this? He ignored the words of Chiyome, of ways to bring them back, something about Heroic Spirits, but he didn't care. It wouldn't be the real Chacha. They would be fakes. Replacements. He roared. Screamed at the heavens.
Screamed at Nobunaga Oda. For her foolishness. For her incompetence. Why couldn't she survive? Why couldn't she protect Chacha? Now everything was meaningless. This power...
Unless... No. It couldn't be meaningless... His despair turned into insanity, as a wide grin spread on his face. No. This was a message. To make up for Nobunaga's mistakes. She wasn't strong enough. But now... he was. He had the powers of a god now... so why not be one?
What else did he have to live for anyway? As his face was split with a manic grin, his thoughts became just as twisted, thoughts about the Oda army buried in his heart.
/
"Any other questions?!"
Harunobu groaned at the same time as his teammate. It felt like the pure essence of death was injected into his veins. They tried their best. To avoid his attacks and pile up the damage on him. But as Hideyoshi told his story, they were bound to get hit. With that damn black sun lowering their defense to nothing, even the lightest of gusts was like a powerful gut punch. So it was really no surprise that the two warlords were on the ground, breathing heavily and bleeding profusely. Still, as hurt as he was, it didn't compare to the truth.
Chiyome really was responsible for all of this. Keeping him alive. Working with the enemy. Maybe even making him go through Yomi a couple of times to avoid soul degradation. And the worst of it was... that he couldn't blame her. He was the one who should've noticed. He was the one who should'Ve looked for her, stopped her sooner. But he didn't. And now everyone paid the price for this.
It might be too late. To talk to Chiyome. He could only hope Kage didn't kill her yet. For now, he had to focus.
"Alright, last one... " Harunobu struggled up, sitting on the ground now. Glaring at Hideyoshi, he pointed at him, accusingly. "...Where's the Emperor... ?"
"Pah! That age is long over! Only I am needed!" An ugly smirk appeared on his face. "So I took care of him! So what?!"
The Takeda head stiffened before his shoulders sagged. So he was truly dead. A young child, with a bright future ahead of him. Someone that could've grown to lead Japan back to greatness. He felt the fire in his chest grow. But not yet. Not just yet. Nobunaga rose to her feet, supporting herself on her musket as she gave Hideyoshi a blank look.
"...you seriously think that? That you're perfect?"
"If I were there, I could've protected everyone! Now I can fix your mistakes! The good ones live! The bad ones die!" Hideyoshi's voice grew hysterical. "Just like you should've made sure Chacha lived!"
At once, both warlords realized it. And with that realization came a look of pity. The reason behind this insanity... Behind the facade of a Divine Shogun was merely a man destroyed by grief, merely living in a fantasy world to avoid the cruel truth.
"Ah... I get it now... " Nobunaga shook her head with a sigh. "You're heartbroken."
"That's what we suffered for, huh... ?" Harunobu muttered. How ridiculous. The suffering of the last 400 years... was the result of the most disastrous tantrum.
"Master was right. Chacha would turn in her grave if she saw you. Your version or mine."
At the complete disdain and disgust in her face, Hideyoshi stiffened, his expression dark as he stared at his former lord.
"Huh?"
"Alright, got no more questions. You, Takeda?" Nobunaga asked, completely ignoring him. He rose to his feet as well, cracking his knuckles after pocketing his fan.
"Not at all."
"You sound like you were holding back," Hideyoshi said, both mockingly and in disbelief. In return, Harunobu scoffed with a glare.
"We were. All we wanted to know was if you had any legit reason. Just one."
"Long story short, we're severely disappointed at your deranged ass," Nobunaga said with a growl, making her muskets disappear.
"Hah. Hahahaha!" Hideyoshi slapped his leg a few times as he keeled over. Then he reached for his black cloak with a smirk. "Nice bluff, but I know you can't beat me!"
At once, they discarded them. Armor. Cape. Cloak. Hat. Helmet. All that was left were cloth that one would wear in times of peace. The symbols of ware were thrown away. Rolling her shoulders, Nobunaga pointed at Harunobu, a cold look on her face.
"Buy me some time. I gotta gather up some energy. "
He in return cracked his neck, his biceps bulging against the wind now that they were free.
"Fine by me."
He rushed forward. As Hideyoshi sneered, raising his divine blade, Harunobu exhaled.
"Divinity? Protections? None of those matter!" The energy in him strained against his mortal vessel as it grew. "I shall tear them out! I am... the Tiger of Kai!"
In an instance, he unleashed it. The heat. The anger. The soul itself in his body. At once, his hair turned red. His muscles increased in size. His finger nails extended. His eyes become slits. The soul of Kai covered his body, the aura increasing his speeds. He easily dodged the blade, seemingly reacting with enhanced instincts. Then he threw his right claw towards Hideyoshi's face.
His mocking smile disappeared when the fingernails dug into his flesh... and tore pieces of his face off. He screamed, backing off with shock, but Harunobu didn't let up. Like a savage tiger, he rushed after Hideyoshi. Ignoring the strain it put on his body. Ignoring the pain he was feeling. In another world, this ability would be a factor in his death. But in this one?
It would be the path to victory. However, it would not be easy. As he bled, Hideyoshi seemed to compose himself. At the face of an actual threat, it appeared his mind went back to being a warrior. His moves became more precise, more smooth. And despite the new power Harunobu displayed, he still suffered from extreme damage by the slightest of glancing blows.
However, it didn't matter. After all... he was more buying time than trying to kill him.
"Buddha or God, all divine shall burn in front of me... "
Each word carried power. Each letter promised a change upon the world. Hideyoshi snapped his head towards Nobunaga, his eyes wide as the air shifted around her. At that chance, Harunobu headbutted him with a snarl.
"I am the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven."
The Divine Shogun punched Harunobu to the side, before swinging the Divine Sword at Nobunaga as fast and as hard as he could. But in the end... it was too late.
"Papiyas."
Her clothes disappeared. She was covered in flames, that immediately spread over the entire area. Harunobu grit his teeth in pain, the searing inferno seeing no difference between enemy and ally. But his pain was nothing... compared to the ear shattering scream Hideyoshi let out.
When it came to a fight between the supernatural, concepts, or rather, the match up of concepts were important. Just how certain heroes were weak to poison due to dying to it, just like certain monsters would suffer at the hands of those that slayed monsters... Hideyoshi's weakness was fire. Not mere fire, like from arrows or torches. But a fire that would destroy all. Not only in Panhuman History, where his legacy ended with Chacha perishing in the fire of Osaka Castle. But in this Lostbelt as well. The man known as Hideyoshi died with his clan, when they were taken by the flames. Not only that... he had the Authority of Izanami.
The goddess that died to the incarnation of fire, Kagutsuchi, himself.
So was it any wonder, that the god known as Hideyoshi, king of this Lostbelt, would be the perfect victim to the flames that denied divinity, the flames that represented Nobunaga Oda's denial of gods?
His skin was scorched black. His pain unimaginable, as he turned and twisted on the ground, desperately trying to douse the flames to no avail. He clawed at his own face, any dignity forgotten, as he tried to keep his sanity. Seeing that picture... Nobunaga couldn't help but let out a loud laugh.
"Well, I'll be damned. You're still kicking!" She shouted, her voice hysterical as she clapped. "Guess there's still a bit of that stupid monkey of mine after all in you!"
It was a miracle that Hideyoshi, despite that massive weakness against such a fire, didn't perish instantly. The power over death, the black sun, tried its best to keep him alive. Maybe it was even the long forgotten power of the sun Hideyoshi wielded, that raised his being to a higher state of existence at a certain time. His willpower, desperate to cling to life, was perhaps also a reason.
But in the end, it was meaningless. It merely delayed the inevitable. The odds were stacked too much against his existence. One could say that the moment Nobunaga arrived in this timeline, Hideyoshi's fate was sealed.
And Harunobu wasn't so cruel. Even with the heat around him, he walked towards the burning carcass that didn't realize it was dead. Raising his arm, he swiftly rammed it into Hideyoshi's chest. In an instance, the flames stopped, returning to Nobunaga. Ripping out the heart, he heard one final gasp of Hideyoshi, before he crushed it in his hands. The former Shogun's eyes dimmed, but not before reaching his arm towards something. Despite the fact he shouldn't be able to move, Hideyoshi let out one final desperate word.
"Cha...cha... "
With Nobunaga, cloak wrapped over her body, they stood over him before he turned into dust.
"Pah... he really is hopeless against her… " She said in a soft tone. Those words marked the end of combat, causing the two to collapse on the ground.
"Not too shabby, Tiger."
"Right back at you."
The two laughed dryly, wincing at their wounds, before bumping their fists. Then they heard steps hurrying up from behind them. Turning their heads ever so slightly, Harunobu's eyes widened. Not at Chaldea's master, carried by Mash and Amako, exhausted and injured. Not at Kage, who seemed just a bit better. But at the girl Kage carried in her arm. Without much respect, Chiyome was thrown towards him. He forced himself up in time, to catch her in his arms. Her breathing was shallow. But despite her weakness, her eyes widened in shock.
"Lord... Takeda... "
In an instance, the gate was opened. Tears flowed as he crushed her in a hug, eyes clenched shut.
"You silly girl... ! Why didn't you just return to my side?!"
"Return... ?" She muttered, as if not comprehending what he was saying.
"How much did you hurt yourself? How much did you sacrifice for my sake?" He looked into her eyes, pain in his expression. "You are my shinobi. The extension of my will. I needed you at my side!"
Her eyes were wide. She glanced at Kage for a moment, as if realizing something. Then, she began to weep as well, holding onto him for dear life.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... "
"There's nothing to forgive," he whispered, feeling tired. "It was my fault. If I had noticed earlier... if I hadn't pushed you-"
"No! You did nothing wrong!" Chiyome shouted, before coughing violently. Blood dropped out of her mouth, but she ignored it as she gave her lord a glare. "Damn it, why aren't you hating me?! I-"
"Betrayed me. Yes." He scoffed, stroking her right cheek gently. "Did you think I care so little that betrayal would make a difference?" He shook his head with a sigh. "You went against my wishes. But you just had the best intentions at heart. I could never hate you for that."
"I... I caused all of this... " She said weakly, strength leaving her. Harunobu nodded in response.
"A lot of damage was done. Many were hurt." He held her hands in his, determination in his eyes. "But it is not damage that can't be overcome."
"...I don't have a lot of time left... "
"I'll do it in your stead," he said reassuringly. "Rest easy, okay?"
Her eyes were starting to close, against her own will. But before they closed forever, she clenched his hands with a desperate plea in her eyes.
"Beware... Susa... noo... "
With that she went limp. Chiyome Mochizuki, the servant of Shingen Takeda, took her last breath, in the burned remains of her latest sin.