Please read the next chapter (Ch 132) before reading this chapter
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Musashi Province, Kaede Village, inside the main hall of the shrine.
Morning light seeped through the gaps in the paper doors, casting thin bands of light on the wooden floor.
Shinji sat on the steps of the main hall.
His crimson demon mask was removed, resting beside his knee, revealing his pale, handsome face.
He was waiting, and also watching.
Watching the girl tied to the pillar.
Naoe Kanetsugu.
Her dark blue light armor was more crooked than before, her white battle haori crumpled into a ball, her slender frame a mess under the tightened fabric.
A cloth was stuffed in her mouth.
She made muffled sounds, unable to speak.
But her eyes were wide, full of anger.
What had happened earlier need not be recounted.
With the support of the Kantō land, Shinji had ignored the multiplied consumption under the suppression of military momentum, efficiently wounded or crippled the three thousand Uesugi troops, and then driven them all away, completely routing them.
He had torn down the wall Uesugi Kenshin had built to the north.
The only slight trouble were the four divine-artifact-incarnate warrior maidens, but even they, facing Shinji's inexhaustible power, could only retreat.
Unfortunately, he couldn't capture them alive.
Considering the resentment that killing would bring, and the possibility of it giving the Kyoto demons another opportunity, he had not killed.
In the end, Shinji only captured alive Naoe Kanetsugu, the enemy general who was not a divine artifact incarnation.
But that was enough.
Three thousand wounded would be a devastating blow to Echigo, even greater than three thousand dead.
Such injuries, even in this world, would not be easily recovered.
It would require a massive cost, far beyond what any daimyō could bear.
Add to that the capture of their general Naoe Kanetsugu, and the future of the Uesugi clan in Echigo could be seen at a glance, absolute prostration. Even if they barely survived, they could not launch a second southward campaign.
Then came the current situation.
Now.
Kikyō stood at the entrance of the main hall, her longbow leaning against the doorframe, her white robes and red hakama clean and clear in the morning light. Her long black hair was tied at the back of her head with a white cord, a few loose strands by her ears.
She had listened to Shinji's account, the northern camp as bait, the island-hopping strategy, and the result of him single-handedly routing three thousand soldiers, only wounding, not killing, breaking the trap with force.
The shrine maiden's expression tightened. She naturally knew what means he had used.
The same means he had used against Kidōmaru…
He had borne it alone again.
Just like when he had dealt with the four directional demons alone.
"You're tired," she finally spoke. Her tone was as cool as ever, but her choice of topic betrayed her thoughts.
The land's support could provide Shinji with an endless supply of demonic aura, but mental exhaustion was inevitable.
"I'm fine." Shinji leaned against the veranda pillar, seemingly unconcerned. "A little rest and I'll recover."
Kikyō didn't respond.
She turned slightly. The end of her white cord swayed gently in the wind, her slender neck appearing and disappearing under her collar.
"Next—" She paused.
A very short pause, so short it was almost negligible.
"Together."
Only two words.
But they made the pale, handsome demon warrior on the steps pause slightly, then smile.
A true smile, from deep within, the smile of someone being cared for.
"Alright."
Kikyō's ears tinged with an almost imperceptible blush, but her face maintained that usual coolness.
Naoe Kanetsugu on the pillar made louder muffled sounds.
Footsteps also came from the side hall.
Momiji and Botan poked their heads out from behind a paper door.
Seeing Naoe Kanetsugu tied to the pillar and making muffled noises, they exchanged a glance.
Bewildered.
"Who… who is that?" Botan asked quietly.
"Enemy general," Shinji answered casually.
"…" Momiji's lip twitched. She pulled Botan back into the side hall.
The paper door closed.
Muffled whispers came from inside: "Lord Shinji… seems to be going a bit too far…"
"Mmhm…"
Shinji ignored them.
His gaze turned south.
Kikyō also leaned against him, looking south together.
They both knew that Uesugi Kenshin would return north.
She would come back.
Come back to this place where she thought she had woven a cage for Shinji, but which had actually become her own trap.
They only needed to wait.
…
That day, nightfall.
On the winding mountain path of the southern hills of Musashi Province, five hundred Echigo elite silently marched through the night.
No torches, no banners, only the soft sound of footsteps and the light clatter of armor.
At the front of the column.
Uesugi Kenshin walked alone.
The hem of her white monk's robes was stained with dew and mud. The white veil covered half her face. Her silver-white hair hung behind her, the strands of black among it swaying gently with her steps.
Her pace was unhurried, almost a stroll.
She had no need to rush.
She believed that the three thousand she had stationed to the north had already begun advancing south. She only needed to reach her position at the right rhythm.
She could already feel the steady footsteps approaching from the north.
Those footsteps, without a doubt, belonged to an army.
According to plan, the only army to the north now was hers.
But as she rounded a bend in the mountain ridge, she suddenly stopped.
The air ahead had changed.
There was lightning. And the smell of blood.
Very faint, but she felt it.
The young military goddess standing at the mountain path's bend raised her eyes, looking slowly at the gentle slope ahead, illuminated by moonlight.
At the top of the slope, a figure stood as if waiting there long ago.
Grey robes, white hair.
A crimson demon mask, especially fierce under the moonlight.
Purple electric arcs jumped silently around him. The hilt of Muramasa was in his hand, but the blade was not drawn.
He simply stood there, blocking the path of five hundred.
"We meet again." Shinji's voice came from beneath his mask.
Uesugi Kenshin's pause did not last long.
She continued forward two more steps, closing the distance to Shinji to twenty paces.
Behind her, the five hundred elite personal guards silently deployed.
Spearmen in front, archers behind, their movements precise, forming their formation.
A formation called "Wheel and Hanging" layer upon layer spreading, circling around, a complex tactical formation only Uesugi Kenshin could command in this era.
Shinji showed no reaction, only his crimson eyes lowered.
"You don't seem surprised at all." Kenshin spoke, her tone as flat as last night, like an acquaintance in casual conversation. "You knew I would return from the south?"
"Yes."
"When did you know?"
"From the night you came alone to Kaede Village."
Shinji's voice was unhurried, and precise.
Uesugi Kenshin looked at him. In those ancient well-like eyes, a different interest appeared.
Not in combat strength, but in his thinking.
"You saw through my plan," she said.
Not a question, but a confirmation.
Shinji had indeed seen through her strategy, her tactics, seen her "island-hopping."
Her red lips parted, and she asked, "You came here to stop me? One 'person'?"
"I can't stop you." Shinji shook his head, quite honestly. "Besides, five hundred elite plus yourself, it's not cost-effective for me to fight you head-on alone."
"Then why are you here?"
"To see you."
Kenshin's eyebrows moved slightly.
"To see just how serious you are."
Shinji, deliberately drawing out his words, released his hand from Muramasa's hilt and crossed his arms over his chest. "If you're just here to fight, then there's nothing to say, we fight."
"But if you truly believe you are carrying out 'God's righteousness'—"
He lowered his voice a little.
"Then think carefully: of those behind you, how many truly believe in you, and how many are just refugees being swept along?"
"If they die because of you and me, then how can you call yourself a 'Buddha'?"
Shinji was trying to shake their "morale."
Faith originates from popular sentiment. Popular sentiment originates from the "momentum" of gathered people.
If he could break their "momentum," the next step would be easier.
Just as he had done earlier with the undead.
But Uesugi Kenshin would not be frightened by the undead.
She did not answer immediately. She stood under the moonlight, the edge of her veil lifted by the wind, revealing her full face.
Delicate, heroic, indifferent.
As before, like an emotionless statue of a Buddha.
But the light in her eyes was a bit more than the previous night.
"Interesting," she murmured.
Then she raised her hand.
The five hundred elite personal guards stopped.
"All troops, rest in place. Await the northern force's arrival."
The command was given.
The soldiers silently sat on the ground.
Seemingly unshaken.
Shinji clicked his tongue beneath his demon mask, thinking it wasn't that easy.
Kenshin herself continued to look at Shinji. "You don't plan to run?"
"Can't run, and don't need to."
Shinji seemed very aware of his situation.
Uesugi Kenshin nodded, indicating understanding.
Once the north-south encirclement was complete, with his speed, the demon before her could of course break out, and so could the shrine maiden Kikyō.
But the villagers of Kaede Village could not.
She wouldn't abandon them.
He wouldn't abandon her.
Uesugi Kenshin asked again, "Then, you still don't plan to surrender?"
"Obviously."
Kenshin's lip twitched.
Under the moonlight, that extremely slight curve could almost be called a smile.
"Then wait until dawn," she said. "After dawn, when the two armies encircle, everything will be clear."
So be it.
Then
"You won't be able to wait that long."
Shinji finally decided to stop pretending. He laid his cards on the table.
"Right now, you're fighting alone."
"The one surrounded is not us, but… you."
At these words,
The footsteps from the north that Uesugi Kenshin had been sensing finally drew near, finally entered view.
In the distant dust and smoke,
The Hōjō's three-scales banner unfurled under the night.
Bringing the thousand-man army of the Sagami Hōjō!
Uesugi Kenshin: "!?"