Within the dream.
Flames.
Endless flames.
A girl stood amidst the ruins, watching her castle turn to ash.
She wore a deep purple kosode, her long black hair loose over her shoulders, covered in dust and blood.
Her figure looked especially fragile in the firelight. Her delicate features, usually carrying a touch of gloom, were now filled with despair.
Hōjō Ujiyasu.
The third generation head of the Hōjō clan, known as the "Lion of Sagami."
Though she was a woman, she was famous for her cunning.
But unlike Imagawa Yoshimoto, she had no ambition to unite the realm. She only wanted to rule the Kantō region as a local power. For that, she would stop at nothing.
She was said to love defending castles, standing on the walls, watching enemy soldiers suffer from hunger and cold outside, gave her genuine pleasure.
She was said to be the most unreliable ally; when her allies were pursuing the enemy, she might suddenly stab them in the back.
She was said to only fight battles she was sure to win. Any risky battle, she would abandon without hesitation.
But now
"No…" she whispered, watching her city burn, her people die.
And she could do nothing.
This was what she feared most.
Not defeat. Not death.
But watching helplessly as everything she had protected turned to nothing.
Hōjō Ujiyasu's greatest pride was the impregnability of Odawara Castle.
But now, that castle was collapsing before her eyes.
"Odawara Castle… my castle…" She knelt, her hands sinking into the ashes.
The flames grew hotter. Waves of heat scorched her skin.
Pain. Real pain.
Not like a dream.
"Damn it…" She gritted her teeth.
Hōjō Ujiyasu was no ordinary person.
She knew this was an illusion. She knew a demon was responsible.
But she couldn't break free.
Those golden scales wrapped around her consciousness like chains, trapping her in this endless cycle of nightmare, forcing her to experience despair again and again.
"My lord—" Screams came from around her.
Her retainers fell one by one, consumed by flames, buried beneath rubble.
She wanted to save them.
But her body wouldn't move. As if something had pinned her in place.
"If that Takeda woman saw me like this…"
Takeda Shingen, originally named Takeda Harunobu, the Tiger of Kai. Her nominal ally, but actually her greatest rival.
If she saw her in such a pathetic state…
"Absolutely not." Hōjō Ujiyasu gritted her teeth.
She tried to stand, but her legs felt like they were filled with lead.
Just then
"So this is…" An unfamiliar voice came from within the flames. "What you fear most?"
Hōjō Ujiyasu looked up sharply.
Through the flames, a figure was walking toward her.
Grey robes.
White hair.
In the firelight, his face was pale to the point of illness. His features were handsome but cold, carrying an indescribable chill.
But what drew the eye were his eyes.
Black and Crimson.
Inhuman.
"You are…" Hōjō Ujiyasu's voice was wary.
"Just someone passing by to save you." The figure said simply.
"Save me?" Hōjō Ujiyasu laughed coldly, clearly not believing him. "Saying that in my dream?"
"Why don't you say you're a god descending from heaven?"
The figure seemed to think for a moment. "Close enough," he said.
"Though I'm not a god. I'm a demon."
Hōjō Ujiyasu blinked.
This guy… was he serious?
"My name is Nakai Shinji." The figure continued. "I just came from Imagawa territory. Killed a thunder beast on the way."
"Now I'm here to kill this moth that's trapped you."
Hōjō Ujiyasu's expression shifted.
Imagawa.
Thunder beast.
Imagawa Yoshimoto, the woman she occasionally warred with.
In the past few days, she had indeed vaguely heard some news, Imagawa territory had been attacked by a demon. Lightning ravaged the city, people were panicked.
She had mocked that woman for it. But tonight, she had fallen victim herself.
And now it seemed.
Imagawa had actually "escaped"?
"You…"
"Enough talk." Shinji cut her off. "Do you want to wake up?"
Hōjō Ujiyasu looked at him.
Those crimson eyes in the firelight were especially striking.
"Of course I do," she said. She couldn't lie.
"Then get ready." Shinji's lips curved. "It's going to get a little loud."
As he spoke, he raised his hand.
In it was a purple horn.
The thunder beast's horn. The core of its lightning power.
Hōjō Ujiyasu's pupils contracted sharply.
She could feel it.
The power within that horn. Wild and Intense.
Lightning that seemed ready to tear everything apart.
"You—"
Boom!!!
Lightning erupted from the horn.
Not in the dream. In reality.
In that instant, Shinji's consciousness returned to his body.
He stood in the main hall of Odawara Castle, holding the thunder horn high above his head.
And around him
Countless black threads already filled the hall.
Yura's hair.
Just like at Imagawa Castle.
Blood mist as the medium.
Hair as the conduit.
And still, the thunder horn as the source.
To conduct electricity.
"Come on." Shinji murmured. "Let me see where you're hiding."
Lightning surged from the horn, spreading in all directions along those black strands.
Sizzle—
Electric arcs jumped through the air, illuminating the entire castle.
The golden scales floating in the air began to burn under the lightning's assault.
Crackling sounds rose one after another.
Like fireworks.
Or like the howls of a demon being driven away.
The sound, like thunder, traveled from reality through the countless strands into Hōjō Ujiyasu's dream. Her dream began to shake. And the dreams of countless others in the castle began to stir as well.
Not yet awake,
But the dreams were being torn apart, from outside to inside and inside to outside.
Dreams were electricity.
Then stronger electricity could tear them open. Shred them.
This was why Shinji had entered the dreams.
He had not only entered Hōjō Ujiyasu's dream, but the dreams of everyone.
He needed to break the dreams, without harming anyone, without leaving resentment.
For that, this method was the most suitable!
"Skree—!!" A sharp screech came from above.
Shinji turned.
He finally saw it.
A giant moth emerged in the vast night sky, its golden wings spanning 30m wide, covered in eerie eye-like patterns.
Those patterns shimmered with an unnatural light under the moon, like countless eyes watching the world below.
Gaikimaru.
Its dream shaken, it had finally been forced out.
And it didn't hesitate. It tried to flee.
But
"Why do you think I spent time entering dreams, to lure you out?" Shinji smiled. "It was to set this up for you."
Those black strands weren't just in the main keep.
They had spread throughout the entire castle.
Outside the castle. Along every path Gaikimaru might try to escape.
"Yura." Shinji called.
"Got it!" A response came from his robe.
The strands tightened simultaneously.
Like countless hands, grabbing the giant moth's wings, antennae, abdomen in the sky.
"Roooaar—!" Gaikimaru struggled. Golden scales sprayed wildly, but the moment they emerged, the lightning burned them to ash.
Lightning traveled along the strands, surging into its body.
"Skree—!!" Gaikimaru screamed.
Shinji leaped, appearing before it.
Muramasa left its sheath. Blade-light like a ribbon.
"Troublesome ability, but in terms of physical constitution, much weaker than the thunder beast," he said.
Different creatures had different strengths. Even for demons, this held true.
Especially since Gaikimaru was fundamentally a demon born from a moth. Its physical form was not strong!
As long as he neutralized its scales.
As long as he used the thunder beast's lightning, undoubtedly equal to its essence, to burn its spiritual illusions.
The rest was no longer a problem.
And this wasn't even Shinji fighting alone.
He was borrowing power.
Borrowing the power of the dead thunder beast!
This was something only Shinji, with his affection system, could do. With even a little affection, the "dead objects" in his hands would cooperate with his actions to the minimum, at the very least, they wouldn't resist his control.
And so,
Another slash.
Gaikimaru's head flew.
Golden scales exploded in the air, like belated fireworks.
Then they faded.
In the castle,
Countless sleeping people opened their eyes simultaneously.
The nightmare was over.
In the main keep of the tenshu,
Hōjō Ujiyasu sat up suddenly from her tatami, gasping for breath.
Cold sweat soaked through her clothes. Her long hair was plastered messily to her face.
She had a dream.
But was it a "dream"?
Boom!
Outside the window, lightning struck.
Blood mist spread. Within the mist, a figure seemed to stand high above.
Like a god. Like a demon.