"Touya, look at this." = Normal speech.
'Touya, look at this.' = Thoughts/Telepathy.
(One hour later.) = Time skip.
~Yo, it's God.~ = Phone call.
"Come forth, fire!" = Chanting.
[Kingdom of Belfast] = Title/Place/Rank/Weapon Name.
{Gate} = Spell name.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
"Damn you, Kansuke!" Yamagata cursed, as he avoided a swing from one of the oni-mask soldiers, he swung his massive sword, easily cleaving through the armor of the soldier and splitting them in half, Yamagata raised his foot and stomped on the mask, destroying it and moving onto the next one.
The next one tried to bring up his blade to meet the downward slash, but thanks to the immense size of Yamagata's sword and the weight, it was able to cut through the thinner sword and slice the oni-mask in half. Yamagata spent no time before he swung his sword in a wide arc, cleaving through a group of skeletons that tried to jump him. Yamagata brought up his sword and blocked a strike from an oni-mask soldier. He let out a curse under his breath.
He swore he would make that conniving bastard pay tenfold!
Meanwhile, Baba locked weapons with an oni-mask soldier using a spear, the two combatants engaged in a contest of strength, trying to overpower the other, which in this case, was Baba, he easily won the contest and pushed back his opponent, the Elite Four spun his spear and thrust it towards the head of his enemy, running it through their head while destroying the mask in the process. He quickly reeled his weapon back and went to support his comrades.
Tsubaki on the other hand was at a disadvantage, her opponent, a fellow shinobi who likely fell, was using a kusarigama while she only had her tanto to work with, she nimbly avoided the ball end of her opponent's weapon and went to close the gap, the only way she could have a chance against someone with such a tool is by negating its strength, which was it's long reach. Tsubaki tilted her head to the right, narrowly avoiding another attempt by her opponent's weapon.
However, the oni-mask shinobi quickly reeled on the chain, causing the ball end to come flying back, Tsubaki wasted no time in dodging, front flipping in the air to evade the attack while she simultaneously deflected the sickle blade of the weapon thrown towards her. She landed on her feet and quickly ran towards the oni-mask shinobi, trying to close the gap before he could attack her again.
When she was in range, she swung her dagger, forcing her opponent to use the chain of his weapon. She reeled her tanto back to prevent the oni-mask shinobi from wrapping the chain around her weapon. Tsubaki sent a powerful kick to the chest, staggering the enemy shinobi long enough for her to slice the mask in two, killing the oni-mask shinobi.
Her victory was short lived as she forced herself to move to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade of a oni-mask soldier, rolling herself back to her feet, Tsubaki turned quick and blocked the sword that was aiming to slice her in half. Unfortunately, this forced the kunoichi into a bladelock with her opponent, luckily for her - Yae came to her rescue, slashing the back of the oni-mask soldier fighting Tsubaki and gave her enough time to reel her dagger back and thrust it towards the head of her enemy, breaking the mask and killing him. Tsubaki quickly gave her thanks and dashed for the next oni-mask soldier while Yae nodded and moved to support Setsuna.
Speaking of the beastkin, she was easily ripping through the oni-mask soldiers as well as the summoned skeletons that were heading her way, she ducked underneath a swing, giving Yae the opportunity to swing her sword and slice the skeleton in two. Setsuna swung her leg, sweeping an oni-mask soldier off their feet as they crashed to the ground. She quickly came about and sent her claws to the head of her downed opponent, destroying the mask as well as the enemy, she immediately got back up to her feet and sent a kick towards the oni-mask that was occupied in a bladelock with Yae, the blow staggered the undead puppet which gave the Eashen samurai time to slash her katana upwards, killing the corpse once more.
The duo wasted no time in engaging more enemies, distracting a portion of them along with their Takeda allies, meanwhile, Leen was surrounded by a group consisting of oni-masks and skeletons, the fairy held a neutral expression even when she was surrounded from all sides. One of the skeletons got impatient and tried to slash her with its sword but the fairy merely avoided the attack with ease and moved her hand towards the skeleton, striking it with a {Light Arrow}. The spell easily cuts through the undead and kills it. One of them tried to strike her while she had her back turned, only for the parasol in her hands to open up, letting the outer canopy to form and act as a sort of protective physical shield.
"I don't just carry this umbrella for show you see." Leen smirked and as quickly turned around and finger gun the oni-mask, a small yellow magical circle forming on the tip of her fingers and shot out a {Light Arrow} which hit the mask and destroyed it.
The rest of Kansuke's troops realized that maybe attacking this fairy one by one is a stupid idea and went charging at her at the same time, Leen raised an eyebrow at the change of tactics displayed, but suddenly leapt into the air and used her wings to keep herself in the air, she spun her umbrella and aimed in to the ground below her.
"Come forth! Wind! Strike down with a thunderous roar! {Lightning Strike}!" A loud thunderous sound echoed before a sudden strike from the heavens came down and struck down the enemies below Leen's feet, vaporizing them until not even leaving any dust, the only thing that could be used as evidence would be the blackened mark on the ground from the spell Leen used.
Once they were gone, she landed on the ground safely, the heels of her shoes lightly tapping on the stone floor. Leen fixed her umbrella, closing it and walking towards the rest of the group with the intent of supporting them with her magic.
On Touya's side, he was practically batting away the enemies with each swing of [Gungnir], fueled by the running hatred he had for Kansuke, he slowly made his way to the dark mage, taking his time even when his lackeys tried their best to stop the young man. The only one to prove a challenge was the moving corpse of Takeda Shingen, despite his mind and soul already parting to the afterlife, his body retained its muscle memory, intent on pushing Touya away from its master.
He scoffed as he locked weapons with the deceased head of the Takeda Clan, the two engaged in a masterful display of skills, but only one of them still had the drive of a human soul behind it - soon enough, Touya was able to gain the upperhand and swung [Gungnir] from the left, flinging Shingen away. With this window of opportunity presented to him, Touya made his way to Kansuke.
The dark mage didn't seem that bit phased by the fight, he only narrowed his eyes, carefully scanning the young man who was walking up to him. He snapped his fingers and out came a multiple oni-mask shinobis hidden from the shadows prior, they surrounded Touya and drew their weapons.
The young man stopped short of a few feet away from his target, he glanced over the assortment of oni-mask shinobis around him, he sighed and spun the scythe in his hands. He locked eyes with Kansuke and stared him down.
"Before I kill you, I'll ask you this." Touya declared, whether he answered honestly or not, Touya would still kill him regardless, "Why did you massacre the Mochizuki Clan?"
"Why?" Kansuke questioned before he chuckled, "Have you heard of their curse?"
"Curse?" Touya asked, he had never heard of that before.
"Yes, a curse, a divine curse inherited from the Kougu side of the Mochizuki Clan, each generation since then has at least one member with the [Curse of The Orochi] coursing through their veins, tormenting them physically and mentally, it just so happens that Mochizuki Chiyome is this generation's cursebearer." Kansuke explained, yet that only confused Touya more.
"That doesn't explain why you massacred the Mochizuki Clan." Touya argued.
"But it does!" Kansuke smiled, a sick and twisted smile that rubbed Touya the wrong way, "Extreme emotion, such as deep hatred, sadness and grief are what I needed to activate the curse within Chiyome! The curse not only tortures the bearer but also gives them power! Power that I can now possess myself!"
"Power that the Mochizuki Clan has tried to suppress for generations! A clan of shinobis with this kind of power? How could I not take it!? But I needed to kill them off first, they were too dangerous to be kept alive and were a threat to my plans - It was not easy and I lost many of my most trusted assets during it all, but I succeeded and more!" He started to laugh maniacally, and it made Touya almost puke, Kansuke's sick perversion of obtaining power through a massacre of an entire Clan made him sick to his stomach, but that was beaten by the bubbling hate within him. He thankfully calmed himself and kept a level head.
He would get the chance to make this fucker pay.
"Soon! All of [Eashen] will be under my control and then, the world!" The madman declared, thinking as if with the power of Yamata-No-Orochi, he would be able to conquer all of [Eashen] and rule with an iron fist, "And none of you will live to see it! Kill him and the others, now!"
At his command, the oni-mask shinobis lunged, reeling their weapons and aiming to cut Touya down where he stood. He didn't seem all that afraid when they all lunged at the same time, he simply spun his scythe and swung in a large arc, dissecting the heads and mask of the enemies that tried to pounce him.
With Touya's question now answered, he knew not to hold back anymore.
He was going to kill Yamamoto Kansuke, and he was going to kill him now.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
'This certainly wasn't a part of my plans.' Kansuke scoffed. Watching the battle unfold before him.
This entire event wasn't supposed to happen, but he wasn't going to be discouraged because of it. It'll just be a slight hiccup in his plans but he could still use this to his advantage, he was if not resourceful, he can use this as a way to gauge the relative newcomers, the group that was with the Takeda's Elite Four.
He quickly glanced at them, finding it amusing as they were a rare sight in [Eashen], two beastkins and two humans, the first one, the Eashen woman, he knew she was the daughter of Kokonoe Jubei. Her name escapes him, but he thought that she was out of the country last time he heard. If that girl was at least as skilled as her father, she might be a problem.
The next one was a rare sight indeed, a fairy, and a very powerful one at that as she was able to cast a large AOE spell that wiped out a large portion of the skeletons he summoned. She must be a mage comparable to him, he'll need to look out for that one, if there was one thing he hated fighting against, it's another mage like himself.
And then, there was the wolf beastkin, she moved and pounced befitting her kin, ripping the oni-mask soldiers - A problem Kansuke was going to need to deal with as she was easily ripping his troops apart with those claws of hers. But she doesn't seem to possess much magical ability, so she shouldn't be much of a problem to him.
His attention then fell solely on the young man with a white coat, something about him just screamed danger to Kansuke, like he was out for his blood. But he couldn't help but feel like he's familiar…
And judging by how he was mowing down endless hordes of the skeletons and elite oni-mask soldiers Kansuke sent out, maybe he had something personal with him.
Nevertheless, he would not back down, especially when he was so close to completing his goals, even if they were to succeed in this battle and oust him out of the Clan, he had already won-
Kansuke immediately dodged to his left, narrowly avoiding a scythe's blade from separating his head from his neck. Had he continued monologuing, he would've had his head sliced clean off, luckily, he was still a warrior, even if he specialized in magic, Kansuke still had his roots in fighting. Drawing his swords, Kansuke blocked and parried the strikes meant for his head, and while he was confident in his skills with the blade, the young man was actively pushing him back with sheer ferocity of his swings.
Kansuke knew that if this keeps up, he'll lose his limbs, which was why he was thankful for Shingen's corpse intervening and distracting the young man. His puppet skillfully clashed with the young man, distracting him long enough for Kansuke to take this as a time to breathe, he summoned another battalion of skeletal warriors and sent them to reinforce the dwindling elite oni-mask soldiers.
Surely, with this number's advantage along Shingen's mastery with swordsmanship, it would be enough right?
Yeah no, it didn't mean jackshit apparently.
The young man that was gunning for him, spinning the scythe in his hands and aimed it at the charging forms of the skeleton warriors, a large column of yellow magical circles appeared behind him and swung his weapon forth, and on que a hail of javelins made of light shot out of the circles, finding their marks and killing the skeletons Kansuke summoned.
Even the luckily few that were able to evade the onslaught were easily cut down by the young man's scythe, the blade cutting through the bones like it was paper. Shingen was one of the few that was skilled enough to avoid the magic spells, he tried to delay the young man's charge, challenging him to a duel. Which he did return, but it only stopped him temporarily.
Another unit of skeletons appeared and just like before, the young man destroyed them with the same magic spell, Shingen sent out a flurry of blows, trying to cut down the young man before he could reach Kansuke, but he answered each one with his own and pushed the Takeda Head back.
The young man charged forward, avoiding Shingen's attempts at stopping him and gunned for Kansuke who barely had enough time to bring his swords up and block the swing - The sheer force behind it sent him flying backwards to the house, breaking the doors off their hinges and landing on his back. Kansuke groaned, even if he was immortal thanks to the jewel, he still felt pain, and it was not pretty.
Though he had no time to complain as he avoided yet another attempt at slicing his head off. Kansuke rolled to the right side and quickly stood back up to his feet. He turned his head towards the doorway and saw the young man who flung him into the house slowly walking up to him.
'Shit, I'm alone.' Kansuke cursed mentally, he could barely make out from the young man's back that Shingen was being distracted by the Kokonoe girl and that wolf beastkin, leaving Kansuke to fend for himself against a seemingly more skilled opponent.
The dark mage tried using a fire spell and flung it towards his opponent, only for him to dodge it with ease and closed the gap between them, his scythe switched modes and turned into a spear which he used to slam it towards Kansuke who was able to dodge at the last second.
The attack destroyed the wooden floors with no issue. The young man scoffed as he reeled his weapon back and brandished it towards Kansuke, he met his opponent's taunt with his own. Brandishing the dual katanas in his hands and aimed them towards the young man. The two stared each other down, not one of them flinching or backing down against the other's gaze, waiting for the other to move.
Thankfully, it didn't take long.
The young man lunged first, thrusting the spear in his hand towards Kansuke. The dark mage dodged and tried to capitalize on the moment, but he quickly bent backwards to avoid the sudden swing, unfortunately, that opened him up for a kick to the ribs, Kansuke gasped in pain as he felt the steel boots collided against his ribs, he was thankful that he wore armor to lessen the impact but it still hurt like a bitch.
Kansuke backed off, a hand on the side of his body where the kick landed on, he groaned when he felt it sting. He was definitely going to feel that in the morning, he powered through the pain just fast enough to avoid a thrusting stab to his chest. The dark mage tried his best to counterattack, yet every time he did, the young man was always one step ahead of him, batting away his strikes or redirecting them back at him.
His eyes widened when he saw a swing coming from the left, Kansuke positioned his swords ahead of time to block the incoming attack and when they met, the impact of the swing reverberated throughout his body, he felt himself turn into jelly for a split-second - That swing had a lot of force behind it and the only reason he wasn't flung away like a ragdoll was thanks to his position and the skills he had acquired, still, that hurt like hell even if he blocked it.
Figuring that close combat wasn't gonna help him in this case, Kansuke tried to chant and use his magic where he was at his strongest, yet his opponent didn't give him that chance and continued the pressure on him, forcing the dark mage to block the incoming strikes lest he gets struck down and he was barely holding on against the onslaught.
Though, Kansuke was able to see a gap in the onslaught, either his opponent thought he didn't notice or it was a mistake on his part, the dark mage didn't care and seized the opportunity to strike, swinging his sword in a horizontal angle, Kansuke thought he won, with the angle and his opponent's weapon outstretched forward away from where he was going to strike, the dark mage knew that he had this one.
Only for his opponent to quickly use his free hand and block with the gauntlet, he grabbed the blade and applied enough pressure to snap it in two, destroying the sword and rendering it useless, Kansuke was so surprised that he didn't have enough time to react as the free hand immediately went straight for him and decked him across the face.
The punch sent him flying through the room, his face skidding on the wooden floor until he stopped thanks to a wall, the impact of the punch as well as the suddenness of it dazed Kansuke long enough to give his opponent the time to quickly approach him, turn him onto his back and bring his weapon to bare before stabbing it down onto Kansuke's left shoulder blade.
He let out a pained yell, the spear's blade easily piercing through the unarmored part of his body, Kansuke tried to bring his one good sword to try and swing but his opponent kicked the weapon away and applied more pressure to the stab, making it more painful than it already was. Kansuke was powerless against him, his weapons were rendered useless, he couldn't cast his magic fast enough and neither could he match up against the young man's skills in combat.
He was hopelessly outmatched.
"Mochizuki Chiyome." His opponent simply said, Kansuke would've remarked had not been stabbed through the shoulder, "Does this name ring any bells?"
"Of course it does, you imprudent brat!" Kansuke spat, he didn't see what the point was at bringing up that kunoichi, she served her purpose and he discarded her once he was able to finally obtain his end goal, "And why does it matter to you?"
"It matters very much to me." He emphasized, bringing his face close to Kansuke and showing him the anger in his eyes, "More than you could ever know."
"So what? Are you one of many fools that she was able to catch the eye of?" The dark mage retorted.
"I guess you could say that." He smirked, applying a little more pressure on the wound, "I don't think I introduced myself yet."
"Mochizuki Touya, at your service." Touya announced his smirk widening when he saw Kansuke's eyes widened in horror, "And I'm here to collect a doubt, one that you'll pay with your life."
Kansuke for the first time, felt fear, even when he knew that he couldn't die with the jewel embedding him with its power, he still felt like he was looking at death face to face. His blood ran cold especially when he heard of Touya's family name, but that was virtually impossible! He made sure that no other Mochizuki was going to survive that night other than Chiyome! That she would be the catalyst to unlocking a way to harness the curse her family so desperately tried to cure!
And yet, he it was, another Mochizuki, one that had revenge in his mind, Kansuke mind rapidly tried to find a solution to save himself, his mind going on overdrive to preserve his life, every single excuse he could make, every possible interaction he'd initiate. All of them came to the same conclusion.
His death at the hands of Mochizuki Touya.
Touya on the other hand, was loving the fearful look on Kansuke's face, he was savoring every last second before he finally rid this world of this shitstain, Touya raised [Brunhilde] up, preparing to strike it down onto the man he was pinning down.
Unfortunately for Touya, something intervened.
Just as the young man was about to strike down his blade, an oni-mask shinobi leapt out of the shadows and threw a series of shurikens at Touya, forcing him to deflect them with [Brunhilde] instead - He quickly switched it from blade mode to gun mode and peppered the oni-mask shinobi. But because of the distraction created by the oni-mask, it gave Kansuke ample time to chant a magic spell and set it off point blank, forcing Touya off of him and unlodging [Gungnir] from his shoulders but the act of doing so ripped the arm off his body.
Kansuke let out a pained grunt, suppressing it as best he could, he didn't have enough time to think about a missing limb and immediately went for a sidekick to Touya's chest, staggering him and backing away from the young man. Touya tried to swing [Gungnir] at him, but Kansuke was able to dodge at the last second. And another oni-mask shinobi leapt out of the shadows, throwing some kunai at Touya but he dodged and shot back with his gun.
Kansuke threw a series of magical spells at Touya, forcing him to evade and widening the distance between them which was what the dark mage was trying to achieve and one that Touya was trying to not let happen. But the rapid distractions of oni-mask soldiers was making it more and more annoying, however, a lucky hit from Kansuke staggered Touya long enough for Kansuke to chant his escape plan.
"You may have beaten me here! But I'll make sure the next time we meet, I'll be the victorious one!" Kansuke boasted as he snapped his fingers on his remaining good hand and a sudden light flashed, forcing Touya to cover his eyes lest he get blinded.
Once the light died down, the previous spot Kansuke was at was empty, Touya's eyes rapidly scanned the room and the dark mage was nowhere to be found. He let out a frustrated and angry growl as he swiped his arm and easily cut the oni-mask shinobi who thought he was a genius for trying to attack him while he was distracted, the young man turned around and came face to face with numerous oni-mask shinobis, likely there to cover Kansuke's retreat.
Touya's face snarled, he wasn't in the mood to deal with these low-level grunts, but he wasn't going anywhere if they kept blocking his way. He dealt with them easily, not one of them comparable to the opponents he has faced since but his anger didn't subsided. He berated himself for letting Kansuke escape as well as wasting time instead of killing him immediately - He got careless, and now he was able to escape his grasp.
Touya ripped [Gungnir] out of an oni-mask's head, kicking the dissolving body away while he faced the remaining number of them. He might as well use these grunts as his stress ball.
'I can't believe I let him get away.' Touya growled in his mind.
He swore the next time he saw Kansuke, he was going to run [Gungnir] through him.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
It had been 20 minutes or so since the battle started, steadily, the battle began to side over to the attacking group, Kansuke's forces dwindled as even with their number's advantage, the more skilled of Touya's Party and the Elite Four more than made up for their lack of numbers, easily cutting down the Kansuke's oni-mask soldiers until there was nothing left but Shingen himself.
The Elite Four could only watch, while they wanted to help Yae and Sestuna, they could not bring themselves to raise their weapons against their Lord, even if he was nothing more than a puppet now, their honor could not allow them. That was fine though, it seemed as if Shingen was struggling against the two teenagers anyways.
And it was a mesmerizing sight, Yae was able to answer all of Shingen's strikes, all the while Setsuna was able to keep up with the aforementioned two.
The sounds of metal clashing reverberated in the air, Yae was locked in a fierce duel with Takeda Shingen's corpse. She avoided a slash that was aimed for her chest, reflecting it away with her blade all the while she used the momentum to aid her own strike. Shingen brought his other sword to bear, blocking the attack and tried to retaliate with one of his own but by the time he tried to swing his sword, Yae was already out of the striking range.
Yae changed her stance, easily deflecting one of Shingen's strike and then blocking the other, the Eashen female was thankful of her sparing with Sally, thanks to it, she was easily keeping up with Shingen, even if the skills in their sword arts had a large gap, the speed of which Yae could react to was enough to lessen the gap. Case in point, she was able to block a series of rapid slashes from the Takeda Head.
She ducked underneath a swing, avoiding the blade meant to slice her in two, Yae tried to follow that up with an upwards slash, but Shingen was able to quickly direct his free hand and tried to strike his blade down onto her, scoffing, Yae changed her course to meet the blade head on.
The two swords met and sparks flew from the resulting clash, Yae kept herself steady, even with the full strength of Shingen bearing down on her, she was able to match it with her own - But she knew that it was only a matter of time until she falls, so, she purposely loosened her stance and quickly moved away from the blade, letting it hit the ground while she took this split second chance to strike.
She swung her sword, slicing off Shingen's arm off in the process and moved to slash his back - Yae thought that this would be her chance but her victory was short lived as the Takeda Head suddenly spun his body around and swing his sword forcing Yae to block it and get flung away. She caught herself and steadied her footing, she gazed over to Shingen, his severed arm was in the process of reattaching itself, tendrils stretching out until they made contact with each other and lifted the severed arm back and connected it to the rest of the body.
Once it was done, Shingen was about to go to Yae again, only to receive a kick to the side courtesy of Setsuna.
"Sorry about the long wait, Yae!" Setsuna apologized, when she and Yae initially fought against Shingen to give Touya free way to Kansuke, a group of oni-mask soldiers appeared and tried to get in their way - Thinking fast, Setsuna told Yae that she can handle the oni-masks while she fought Shingen and when the beastkin was finished with clean-up she'll join up with Yae.
What Setsuna didn't realize was that the oni-masks were more skilled than the ones she killed prior, which threw her off by quite a bit but she was able to clean them up eventually, not as fast as she hoped but she did it.
"No, your timing is impeccable, Setsuna-dono" Yae smiled, she was just glad that her comrade was able to save her in time.
"What's the situation?" Setsuna asked as she stood next to Yae and kept her eyes on the Takeda Head slowly approaching them.
"Takeda Shingen-dono is a formidable opponent, even with his soul gone his body retains his swordsmanship." Yae informed, "Best we take him out quickly and swiftly."
"Fine by me." Setsuna smirked.
Suddenly, Shingen lunged, aiming his swords at the nearest person, which was Setsuna, the beastkin brought her claws up in an X-cross and blocked the strikes, the blades chipped a bit of the ice off but not enough to shatter it - Taking that as her que, Yae sent a series of slashes towards the Takeda Head, forcing him to take a step back and block them lest he gets cut down.
Which was harder now with Setsuna coming into play, she lunged, swiping her claws and stripping off parts of Shingen's armor, the corpse puppet refocused himself and started to block attacks from both Yae and Setsuna. It was easier said than done however, the duo were more than a match for the lone corpse puppet, Shingen avoided a swipe from Setsuna and took a step back but by doing so, opened himself up to a slash from Yae.
He dodged it and brought his swords up to block a strike from Setsuna, while she was less skilled in comparison to Shingen, she made up for it in sheer ferocity, so much so that her overwhelming strikes were forcing the corpse puppet to put more effort into blocking or parrying rather than striking, otherwise he'll lose a limb before he could even damage either of his opponents. Shingen spun one of his swords and held it in a reverse grip.
Setsuna leapt into the air and lunged towards Shingen, the corpse puppet brought up his swords and blocked the attack - Only for the beastkin to twist her body midair and throw a kick, the sudden change in attack staggered Shingen and forced him a couple of steps backwards. When she landed back on the ground, Setsuna tried to sweep the corpse puppet off his feet, but he quickly reacted and backed away before she could even reach him.
He caught a strike from the left, deflecting it away from him while sending one of his own, Yae quickly brought her sword to block the blade - The act gave her partner enough to to close in and send a flurry of blows, Shingen steadied his stance and met the blows with his swords, clashing against them and lighting up the night sky with yellow sparks. The sound of metal clanging rang through the air, Setsuna was able to grab ahold of the two blades with her hands and locked them in place, Shingen on the other hand pushed her back and loosening the grip she had on his swords.
He quickly turned, catching the blade with his own and deflecting it away but by then, Setsuna was on him. She swiped his hand, batting away the sword and sent a straight jab towards Shingen, the corpse puppet had almost no time to react but was able to dodge out the way even if barely - He tilted his head to the side, the jab passing his head. Shingen turned and grabbed onto Setsuna's outstretched arm, using it as a lever as he judo threw her away.
But the action left him vulnerable from behind, one that Yae took full advantage of as she came about and slashed his back. The cut sliced off the back piece of his armor and destroyed the protective gear, Shingen tried his best to block more of Yae's strikes, but with the damage she inflicted prior, it drastically hampered his ability to defend himself. Nevertheless, Shingen was still able to block many strikes, only the ones that were able to slip through thankfully did superficial damage at best.
Unfortunately, Shingen forgot to take into account that he was not fighting just Yae alone, Setsuna - Who recovered from the throw, took the window of opportunity her comrade made and lunged, she crashed into Shingen and made both of them tumbling to the ground. The two combatants rolled around, trying to get on top of the other but it was Setsuna who was the one who came up at top.
She raised her hands up, wanting to bring them down quickly onto the mask and free Shingen's body from being used any further for Kansuke's schemes, but Shingen was able to quickly swing his free arm and punch Setsuna off of him, the beastkin rolled on the ground and back to her feet, narrowly avoiding a slash from her opponent. Setsuna dodged a sword thrust and quickly grabbed onto the blade, she held it steadily as Shingen struggled to get it back.
'Gotcha.' Setsuna smirked as she was able to catch one of the swords, those series of attacks she did prior were not only to force Shingen to block, but to also weaken the swords and chip away their durability.
She kicked Shingen in the stomach, staggering him and yanking the sword out of his hands, she threw the sword away and locked eyes with Yae, wordlessly, the Eashen female nodded and lunged, she thrust her sword forwards, finding itself in Shingen's shoulder once more, just like before, Yae split the arm from the shoulder with a slash. Shingen turned around and tried to use his one good arm for a last desperate strike, but Setsuna intervened and broke the blade with a single blow.
This time, Setsuna came to capitalize on the disarmament. She positioned herself right in front of him, reeling her fist back and sent it towards Shingen's face, the claw connected with the oni-mask, shattering it and sending the corpse puppet flying to the ground. The body ragdolled over the stone floor until it came to a halt. Shingen's corpse twitched a bit before black smoke started to spill out of him.
It was kind of a scare when Shingen groggily stood up, Setsuna and Yae immediately went into a fighting stance and prepared to strike once again, but Shingen surprised them and bowed in a seiza position as if thanking them for freeing his body. The two girls nodded and paid their respects back, bowing to the deceased Takeda Head, the others joining as well.
It was then cut short when the body of an oni-mask landed near the group, startling them as they turned to the direction where the body came from and saw Touya slowly walking out of the house, at first the group thought he was successful in killing Kansuke, but the expression he wore said otherwise.
Touya stopped near the group, his eyes falling onto the slowly dissolving form of Shingen's body, he sighed and bowed his head in respect before he faced the group.
"Judging by your expression, you don't seem satisfied, what happened back there?" Baba asked.
"Kansuke escaped." Touya growled slowly, he stored his weapons back into their respective places and let out a frustrated sigh, "He had a hidden unit of oni-mask shinobis within the house, they jumped me and distracted me long enough to give Kansuke the time to escape."
"Damn it…" Yamagata cursed under his breath, he was mad that Kansuke was able to get away but it seemed like he wasn't running away unscathed, "Did you at least make him run with his tail tucked between his legs?"
"I did, took an arm off too." Touya smirked, the older man returned with his own and nodded, satisfied with the answer.
"Couldn't you use your smartphone to find him?" Setsuna suggested.
"I already did but nothing came up." Touya shook his head, it was the first thing he did after dealing with the oni-mask shinobis Kansuke left behind. Despite everything, his phone couldn't locate him, so he must've been using the same magic that could ward off his {Gate} spell.
"What will you do from here, Mochizuki-dono?" Tsubaki asked.
"I honestly don't know, we were supposed to investigate some ruins but ended up doing this instead." Touya sighed, "What do you think, Leen?"
"Hm?" The fairy hummed, not expecting for him to put her in the spotlight, "I guess the ruins can wait, with this Yamamoto Kansuke still at large. I think it'd be best if we dealt with him immediately."
"I agree." Yae nodded, sheathing her sword, "As Leen-dono said, it would be best for all of us to find and exterminate Kansuke - He is a major threat to the stability of both Clans."
"No argument there." Naito agreed.
"Yeah and there's still the issue of the war between us." Baba brought up the subject, both groups were technically enemies but as of this moment, neither of them were willing to go through with the war.
"Yeah, but with Lord Shingen gone, who's going to replace him?" Setsuna inquired.
"That would be his son, Takeda Katsuyori-sama…" Baba answered, but by the way he said it unenthusiastically, they guessed that Katsuyori was a sore subject.
"Nonetheless, we must report back to Lord Ieyasu-dono and plan for our next move." Yae diverted from the subject and brought up another, "I don't suppose we can negotiate a ceasefire?"
"That we can arrange." Baba nodded, "With how unpopular the war really is with us, it won't take too much convincing for a ceasefire to happen."
"Yeah, no kidding." Setsuna giggled, de-casting her Ice Claws away, letting them melt before disappearing.
The two groups engaged in some idle chat, but it was only for a few minutes as the party needed to go back and report to Ieyasu about what had happened after their mission. Saddened, but understanding, the Elite Four wished them good luck and hoped to see them again soon when the negotiations were in order.
Touya smiled and thanked the other group before he stretched out his hand and opened a {Gate}. One by one, his party all went through the portal until he was the last one left, but just before he could enter, Tsubaki's voice called out for him, he turned around and faced the Takeda kunoichi.
"Yeah? What do you need, Tsubaki?" Touya asked.
"Thank you." Tsubaki suddenly thanked him, bowing.
"For what?"
"For everything you've done, I could not hope to ever repay you for your efforts." Tsubaki answered, still in her bowing position.
"It wasn't much, so please raise your head." Touya commented, and Tsubaki did was she was told, "Besides, Kansuke's still out there, my job isn't done quite yet."
"That would seem so, which brings me to another thing I want to speak about." Tsubaki nodded before adding in another topic, "What will you do about Chiyome?"
"What will I do about her?" Touya hummed, he didn't have any jurisdiction over Chiyome, she was her own person, but at the same time, he wanted to keep his eye on her to keep her safe, she wasn't in the most stable of mind at the moment, "It depends entirely on Chiyome herself, I don't have any say on her. If she chooses to come back to Takeda I'd let her, but if she wants to stay with me then I won't object, it's up to her to make the first step, I'm just there to help her on the way."
"I see." Tsubaki mulled over what he said, taking in the words into consideration, everything was indeed depended on Chiyome's own decision, she nodded and once again bowed her head, "I must thank you again, Mochizuki-dono-"
"Ah! Please don't call me Mochizuki-dono anymore, just Touya will do fine." Touya waved his hand, stopping Tsubaki's sentence.
"I see…" Tsubaki slowly reconsidered before she nodded and gave him a small smile of appreciation, "Thank you, Touya."
Touya nodded and turned around while waving goodbye, he took one last glance at Tsubaki before he smiled and went through the {Gate}, joining his party back to Ieyasu's location as it closed as soon as he went through it.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
(At [Oedo], inside of Tokugawa Ieyasu's office.)
It had been a few hours since the battle at [Tsutsuji-Gasaki] ended, Touya and his party arrived at the [Kawagoe Fortress] and asked to meet Ieyasu for a private meeting and to report about what happened during the raid. However, Jutaro told them that he already left along with Jubei to [Oedo] for an emergency. Thankfully, Touya knew the place and could get there without any problems, but it was best to inform the rest of their party about it. They met up with the rest of the party and Touya opened a {Gate} to the Tokugawa Clan's capital.
Once there, Yae led the group to Ieyasu's home residence and asked for an audience, the guard were reluctant to let them in but luckily Jubei was there and vouched for them, letting the group in, Yae guided the group to her lord's office and entered, Ieyasu was already there filling out paperwork and welcomed them in. Afterwards, Yae and party retold the events that had transpired.
They laid it out all in detail and explained the reason for why the Takeda was so aggressive towards the Tokugawa. Ieyasu listened closely, only interrupting to ask for the details again before they continued their report. Once they were done, he mulled over the information he was given and racked his mind over what to do next.
"So that's what happened?" Ieyasu inquired.
"Yes, Lord Tokugawa-dono." Yae bowed in respect.
"Well, that's a relief." Ieyasu let out a tired sigh, he was glad that the war between the Clans was over, all that was left to be done is to find Kansuke and bring him to justice, "With this, the war will be over and the ceasefire should be in a few weeks time. Thank you, for everything you've done, I can't be any more grateful."
"It was our pleasure, Lord Ieyasu." Leen nodded, while she didn't do much other than help out, she was still thankful for the gesture.
"In any case, you bring us great news, Takeda and Tokugawa should come to an agreement for a ceasefire - The war between us is unpopular on our side, and I can tell the same could be said for the Takeda Clan, even if Katsuyori-dono was to object personally, he'd be hard pressed by both his advisors and subjects." Ieyasu smiled, finally finding an end to the long-drawn out war.
"And is that all?" Ieyasu inquired, the three other people in his office hummed before they collectively shook their heads.
"Yeah, that's all there is, the only thing we need to look out for is Yamamoto Kansuke, he's still at large and the Takeda Clan already said that they'll be looking for him as well." Touya informed the head of the Tokuwaga Clan.
"They can expect full cooperation from the Tokuwaga as well, Kansuke is a criminal that must be brought to justice." Ieyasu nodded, it was a no-brainer to him that Kansuke was the one behind all the suffering.
They engaged in some small talks here and there, mostly about reinforcing the details and making sure they didn't leave anything or forget anything that could be useful to know, once they were sure that nothing could be said, the three left Ieyasu with his paperwork and walked out of his office. The guards that were standing post guided them out of Ieyasu's residence until they were out of the premises safely.
Once outside, Leen bid the two farewell, saying that she wanted to visit a shop that caught her eye the first time they arrived - The two couldn't stop her even if they wanted to as she ran off without so much as another word. Touya sighed as he watched the free spirited fairy leave on her own, then again, he wasn't obliged to follow her.
That just left him with Yae, who was a little fidgety for some reason. He wondered why she was acting like that but quickly caught on.
He was alone with a girl, a very cute one in his opinion, and one that had bubbling emotions for him.
Trying to change the subject, Touya's eyes scanned for anything to take Yae's mind off of the admittedly romantic atmosphere, he looked up to the sky and an idea popped in his head.
"The moon sure is beautiful."
"Ah? Oh… Yes, yes it is." Yae snapped out of her flustering and looked up, indeed, the moon was looking beautiful tonight.
Nice save…
Although that seemed to dampen her mood rather than change her mind - it stung Touya as he tried to find a way to make up for his mistake. And as if Fate itself was listening, Touya saw some people putting up decorations in the streets, wondering why they were doing that and then remembered that he could use this as a topic.
"Huh, wonder why they're putting up decorations." Touya commented as the two kept walking past numerous people setting up decorations on their front porches.
"Indeed, let's ask that fellow over there." Yae suggested, walking towards one resident.
They asked the resident what the whole commotion was about and they said that someone suggested setting up a short festival to uplift the spirits of the people especially when they heard of the valiant defense at the [Kawagoe Fortress], saying that they should capitalize on the victory. The two asked when it would start and the resident said that it should be in the coming weeks.
Left with that in thought, the two thanked the resident and continued their way back to Yae's home, where the rest of the party was at - Which was still a far journey away, and that meant that the two were walking in awkward silence. He tried to rack his brain for a conversation but he was coming up with nothing, then he remembered about the festival.
"Say, Yae, do you want to participate in the festival?" Touya asked.
"Huh-?! I mean- I mean, that would be lovely… But what of the others?" Yae mumbled. She was thinking of going, but now that Touya was the one that was offering, she couldn't refuse, but it was still embarrassing for her.
"They can join too, but I just want to know if you want to join as well." He flashed a smile, and it sent butterflies in Yae's stomach.
"I'd… I'd love to…" Yae nodded, hiding her face from view as a scarlet red blush appeared on her face.
"I'm glad to hear that." Touya chuckled, while he wanted to find Kansuke and put in end to his reign of terror, trying to mindlessly find him would be exhausting, so he thought that with the festival coming up, they could at least take their minds off it for now, let them rest for a bit, "With everything that happened in the past few days, I figured we deserve some relaxation, don't you agree?"
"Indeed." Yae agreed, still hiding her face, but shaking her head and forcing her blush to die down, she then remembered that she still hadn't thanked Touya for saving her brother yet, "Thank you, Touya-dono, had you not brought us here, my brother may not have survived…"
"It wasn't much trouble, Yae." Touya waved his hand, "Anything for you, and that goes for everyone in our party, I won't let anything try to make any of you sad."
Touya's words impacted Yae more than he thought as she stopped walking, but the young man was so focused on getting to her house that he didn't notice his companion was lagging behind him. The blush came back with a vengeance, now, it covered her entire head, so much so that steam was coming out of Yae's ears as she overheated from the intense emotions she was feeling.
She tried to calm herself down, but his words echoed in her mind and it served to further deepen her blush, that growing love she had for him was threatening to burst out at any moment, but she kept it behind lock and key, despite her talk with Yumina, she was still uncertain about her own feelings towards him, she wanted to confess - but the timing isn't right, especially when they still had things to do.
For now, Yae has to settle for this moment, just her and Touya under the moonlight as they walk towards her home.
She smiled, taking a step forward and catching up with the person of her affections.
Yes, this moment should suffice for now.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
And that's a wrap.
Sorry about the long wait, I had a real problem trying to end this chapter since most of how I wanted to end it is tied in with the next chapter which is a relaxation one before the climax of the Eashen Arc.
Other than that, the next chapter shouldn't take long, I already laid the groundwork for it, so all that's left is to tie in the moments together so it doesn't feel like a jumbled up mess, which shouldn't be a problem, I did lay all of this out in my scripts.
Not much I can say other than Kansuke playing a bigger role here than in canon, with the addiction of Chiyome, I figured I could tie the both of them in and give the reason for her Clan's death, and to explain why Touya is her 'cousin' so to speak.
I also wanted to show just how outclassed Kansuke was in a straight up fight against Touya, much less one that was focused on killing him. How utterly outmatched he was compared to a person the Big G blessed and one who was actively honing his own skills. But don't worry! Kansuke will get his chance, but for now, Touya neg diffs him so hard it's not even funny.
Continuing on that, I also added the scenes of the Elite Four, other than Naito because I don't think he fights iirc and if he did - just imagine him fighting in the background, fighting Kansuke's puppets and giving a little more love to Tsubaki and Leen, speaking of the fairy, notice how here she can use her wings unlike in canon? Yeah, that'll be important later down the line but for now, enjoy Leen nuking skeletons with her magic, befitting her status as the Court Mage of Mismede.
Until next time, this is V_KJ, signing out.