Mutsu Province.
Within a dark, gloomy cavern deep in the mountains, six compound eyes slowly rotated, "bidding farewell" to two streaks of light that had come and gone.
Two false "celestial attendant" demons.
Menōmaru's spirit-body coiled within the mountain valley, its colossal form blotting out half the sky. The daiyōkai who had inherited all the demonic power and memories of his father, the moth-demon Gaki no Maru, was currently doing something he very rarely did.
Hesitating.
Over the past half-month alone, the reports coming from the south had made his compound eyes open wider each time.
First, his vanguard of twelve hundred moth demons had been annihilated by a single slash.
Then, in a single night, over a hundred unsealed demons across the seven provinces of the Kantō had been completely purged.
Then, an immense, unified osore had continued to surge, spreading from the direction of Musashi Province across the entire Kantō.
And the source of all of this, he had over this period investigated thoroughly.
The Demon God Who Cleaves Thunder.
Nakai Shinji.
That was a demon.
Though this era was still dominated by humans, in truth, Menōmaru did not fear humans. In this age, no matter how humans struggled, any daiyōkai could crush several cities with ease.
Even if those cities housed great onmyōji capable of matching a daiyōkai, facing a horde of demons moving under the command of a daiyōkai, they would easily be overwhelmed and slain by sheer numbers.
Midoriko of centuries past had been exactly such a case.
Unless humans could muster tens of thousands at once, against a daiyōkai, they were utterly useless.
Yet an army of ten thousand was nearly impossible to assemble in this era.
What he feared was that demonic energy.
That demonic energy from the direction of Musashi, which had continued to climb and now approached the threshold of a daiyōkai, and the exceedingly eerie human soul-aura attached to it.
It was unlike any ordinary demon.
The picture pieced together from the residual memories of Himemushimaru, devoured by Menōmaru, gave rise to an unfamiliar emotion within him.
Wariness.
That demon, when he had dealt with Himemushimaru, he had not been so powerful.
How long had it been since then…
And now he possessed such terrifying demonic energy.
This utterly defied the growth patterns of demons, though demons had no real growth patterns to begin with.
But a growth rate this bizarre, even Menōmaru had never "seen" it before.
After the disappearance of Mount Hakurei, where had such a strange demon come from?
Menōmaru had, until now, been truly and deeply wary. Wary of whether to continue executing his premeditated southern invasion.
But now, wariness and hesitation had completely vanished.
What replaced them was only resolve and enticement.
The message brought by those two false celestial attendant demons.
The existence of that daiyōkai who had devoured a celestial maiden, had given Menōmaru the resolve to stake everything on a single throw.
"Dispatch the army."
All six compound eyes opened fully.
He had hesitated long enough.
If he waited any longer, that demon might grow even stronger. By then, the gateway to the Kantō, Musashi Province, would once again become unbreachable. Just as it had been when Mount Hakurei still stood.
This, Menōmaru absolutely could not allow.
Therefore—
"Send the order."
The voice rang out, not from Menōmaru's true body, but from thousands kms away, at the top of Kurokawa Castle in southern Mutsu, from the mouth of the Date clan head he controlled.
"He" gave the order.
Three thousand human soldiers, combined with the moth legion, would press directly against the northern border of Musashi to divert the enemy's attention.
At the same time, allied forces from other provinces would flank from the directions of Kōzuke and Shimotsuke, forming a three-sided encirclement of the Kantō.
Though he had made his move, the moth daiyōkai still maintained his cautious mindset.
He would not personally take the field.
Let the humans do the exhausting.
Once the enemy revealed an opening, he would strike once, with lethal force.
Amidst all this, Kurokawa Castle.
The highest floor of the tenshukaku.
A girl stood by the window.
Barely past ten years old.
Not tall.
Short, pure golden hair fell to her shoulders, clearly not belonging to an ordinary human. Her right eye was covered by a deep blue eyepatch. The exposed left eye was an exceedingly rare amber, deep within her pupil, it seemed as though flecks of golden light were spinning.
She wore a dark navy kosode beneath an oversized black haori, the sleeves so long they hung past her hands, casually rolled up to her elbows.
At her waist hung a tachi utterly disproportionate to her small frame. The hilt was wrapped in white cloth strips, and a bronze bell dangled from the pommel.
Date Masamune.
The daughter of Date Terumune.
The heir to the clan, known as the One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshū.
She was also the half-demon that Menōmaru had personally created within the Date bloodline, using his scale-powder and demonic power, a human descendant bearing the blood of a daiyōkai.
"So boring—"
The girl rested her chin on the windowsill and let out a long breath. The bronze bell chimed once with her movement.
Footsteps came from the corridor.
Two figures appeared side by side, the purple-haired girl in white robes and light armor, and the blue-haired girl with the twin buns. Their faces were strikingly similar.
One held twin white blades, the other a red-tasseled spear.
"Lady Masamune—Lord Terumune has issued orders—"
"It's the 'stay in your room' thing again, isn't it? I know, I know. Honestly, the whole country is moving, yet I'm the one who has to stay put."
Masamune didn't turn around. Her amber left eye stared at the southern sky, her mouth full of grumbling.
Her right hand unconsciously rose to her eyepatch.
The eye beneath was burning.
That right eye, which she had been told since childhood was diseased and had to be covered, had grown increasingly restless lately.
Especially when her father issued commands.
Masamune could feel an exceedingly faint pull.
As though something was extending from her father's body, through the air, trying to seize the back of her head.
It was not paternal love.
That sensation was more like…
control.
"Dear Father...." Masamune muttered, the bronze bell chiming once more.
She swung herself onto the windowsill and sat on its edge, swinging her legs. The hem of her black haori fluttered in the wind.
"You're definitely not Date Terumune… So who are you, really?"
The instant those words fell, upon the walls of the tenshukaku, visible only to her, an exceedingly faint shadow, like a celestial maiden from legend, flickered past.
Masamune's left eye flew wide.
But the shadow was already gone.
The purple and blue girls stood behind her, expressionless.
"Lady Masamune?"
"It's nothing."
The girl hopped off the windowsill and gave her eyepatch a casual tug.
Her words were light.
But beneath that covered right eye, the shape of her pupil was slowly… changing.
Meanwhile, on the other side
Shinji had spent the past few days in leisure, focused on studying Tessaiga, as well as forging the Cat-Demon's Claw and the Venomous Dragon Reverse Scale into shape.
Once again, it was past midnight.
Kikyō lay upon his arm, breathing steadily in deep sleep.
Shinji gently pulled the blanket over her and lightly donned his gray robe, preparing to step outside for a breath of fresh air.
The sliding door was knocked from outside.
Very urgent.
"REPORT—!"
It was Naoe Kanetsugu's voice.
Her usually steady tone now carried evident panic.
"My lord—no—Sir—that—"
Incoherent.
This adjutant general of Echigo, renowned for her composure, now sounded as though the sky itself had collapsed.
Shinji frowned slightly and glanced at the still-sleeping Kikyō.
Confirming she had not been woken, he slid the door open a crack.
Kanetsugu knelt on the corridor.
Her high ponytail of dark brown hair was half undone. Her deep blue light armor was smeared with grass and mud. The blood-mist mark upon her neck glowed faintly red in the dawn light.
Her face was very pale.
"What is it?"
"The north has changed! The armies of the northern provinces, at least five thousand strong, mixed with large numbers of demons, have already massed at the northern border of Musashi!"
Kanetsugu swallowed hard.
"Lady Kenshin received the scouts' urgent report and, before dawn, led her three hundred men there, she is now confronting the northern army at the border!"
Shinji's hand stopped upon the doorframe.
Three hundred against ten thousand, plus the moth legion.
Such a disparity was beyond words.
"When did this happen?"
"Last night. By the time the scout's fast horse returned, my lord had already broken camp and departed. This subordinate could not stop her."
Shinji was silent for two seconds.
Then he turned and glanced at Kikyō's profile.
He spoke in a low voice.
"Summon everyone to the main hall."
Elsewhere, at the eastern border of Musashi Province, within the open ground between the mountains.
Three hundred banners of white with the black character for Bi were planted upon the ridgeline in perfect uniformity.
The Uesugi army was arrayed upon the southern high ground.
A forest of spears.
Four warrior maidens each held a position.
Uesugi Kenshin stood before the formation. Her deep indigo hair billowed in the north wind. The white band across her forehead was drawn tight.
Her violet pupils stared at the northern horizon.
To the north, a dark tide of human heads surged over the hills.
Banners were jumbled and chaotic.
The armor of the ashigaru came in every conceivable style.
Soldiers cobbled together from at least three provinces Mutsu, Dewa, Shimotsuke—an army of no less than three thousand.
Above their heads, moth demons blotted out the sky.
Golden scale-powder drifted down like rain.
The disparity in military strength was dozens of times over.
Though if one disregarded those demons, with Uesugi Kenshin's combat prowess, fighting one against ten was nothing.
Three hundred against three thousand, with advantageous terrain, it wasn't necessarily impossible to hold them off.
But the demon factor could not be ignored.
So Kenshin did not move.
She was waiting.
"Lady Kenshin, should we request reinforcements from the Hōjō?"
A warrior maiden beside her asked in a low voice.
"No need."
Kenshin's voice was calm.
But her right hand had already closed around the hilt of her blade.
Her purpose in coming here was simple, to stall.
To hold until that person arrived.
She had not the slightest doubt, that person would certainly come.
But though she had said no reinforcements were needed
"reinforcements" arrived nonetheless.
At that moment, from the southwest, another cloud of dust rose.
Deep purple banners appeared on the flank.
The Hōjō scale-crest unfurled in the wind.
The Hōjō clan, indeed, the Hōjō clan head herself, Hōjō Ujiyasu, had come personally.
Roughly two thousand soldiers from Sagami surged out of the side mountain path, arraying themselves upon the right wing of the Uesugi army.
Ujiyasu rode upon horseback.
Black hair, deep purple kimono.
Her face was grim.
She reined in her horse twenty paces to Kenshin's side.
Her expressionless gaze swept across the northern army's formation before settling upon Kenshin.
"You came quickly. As expected of the 'Army of Echigo' stationed to guard the north of Musashi."
These words were laced with considerable sarcasm.
Yet in truth, if not for the fact that Uesugi Kenshin would certainly not strike at her at this critical juncture, Hōjō Ujiyasu would never have come.
To this, Uesugi Kenshin merely smiled.
A smile that made Hōjō Ujiyasu pause, thinking
is this the smile of the Dragon of Echigo?
"Mn."
She nodded.
"Thank you for the assistance."
Hōjō Ujiyasu: "…"
What was she supposed to say to that?
And thinking carefully, Uesugi Kenshin had, at the time, also resolved her most urgent crisis.
No matter what, Musashi Province still nominally belonged to her.
If the northern coalition were allowed to rampage unchecked, the one to suffer the greatest loss would be her.
But unable to think of anything to say, Hōjō Ujiyasu said nothing more.
This was not the time to quibble over such things.
The northern threat was real.
If Musashi fell, Sagami would not be safe either.
The two armies merged: two thousand three hundred against three thousand.
Plus demons.
The gap had narrowed somewhat, but it still existed.
Kenshin did not urge a decisive battle.
Ujiyasu did not recklessly advance.
Both sides were waiting.
For the same person.
Or rather, for the same "demon" who could deal with demons.
And even more, for the same "god" who guarded the provinces of the Kantō.
....
Kaede's Village.
The main hall of the shrine.
Shinji sat cross-legged at the head.
Kikyō sat at his left hand.
The miko had already changed back into her white uwagi and crimson hakama. Her longbow, well-crafted, though not particularly special, merely comfortable in her hands, rested beside her knee.
Her features were as cool and clear as ever.
Only the color of her lips was a shade deeper than usual, the last remnants of freshly applied rouge had been thoroughly devoured by the demon beside her.
The sliding doors on both sides of the main hall were fully open.
Outside, the ground was packed with kneeling demons.
Tanuki crouched at the very front.
His great, fluffy tail was curled tight with tension, his tiny bean-eyes darting about ceaselessly.
The Yuki-onna, Oikawa, stood beside the northern pillar.
Her ice-blue pupils swept toward the north.
Yura's comb hung obediently at Shinji's waist in its original comb form, with Kikyō present, she dared not take human shape.
Further back, demons who had returned from every region, silhouettes of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Transformations and above filled the shrine courtyard.
The backbone of the Hyakki Yakō, the demon network spanning the seven provinces of Musashi, Sagami, Suruga, Tōtōmi, Mikawa, Owari, and Shinano, had completed its assembly within half a day at Shinji's single command.
Naoe Kanetsugu knelt in the corner, curled into a ball, trembling.
The surroundings were full of demons.
Of course she was afraid!
Thus Shinji spoke.
"Tanuki. What's the situation in the north?"
"Reporting to Master, the two thousand northern troops originally stationed at the northern border have merged with the three hundred Uesugi soldiers. They are currently confronting the northeastern coalition of roughly three thousand upon the southern high ground at the northern border of Musashi. At the same time, the moth legion, approximately four hundred strong, covers the air above the northern army. Additionally—two flanking forces are maneuvering from the directions of Kōzuke and Shimotsuke—"
"Maneuvering?"
"Yes! Roughly fifteen hundred each. It seems they intend to circle behind and envelop."
A three-pronged encirclement.
Shinji closed his eyes.
With the aid of the Kantō Earth's Affection, a map of the Kantō surfaced within his mind.
North: three thousand in the front.
East and west wings: fifteen hundred each.
Total force: roughly six thousand, plus an unknown number of moth demons.
On his side, human forces of only three hundred Uesugi plus two thousand Hōjō.
The disparity was far too great.
But he did not frown.
Because he had no intention of using human lives to fill the gap.
His crimson demon eyes opened.
"Kikyō."
Kikyō looked at him.
Within her dark pupils, there was only calm.
"I understand. Leave it to me."
She did not ask why.
She simply nodded, quite naturally.
No unnecessary words were needed.
Whatever he intended to do, Kikyō had understood from the very beginning.
Just as whatever Kikyō wished to do, Shinji had always understood perfectly.
Thus Shinji smiled.
He nodded.
"Good."
But while Kikyō understood, the other people and demons present might not.
So he turned his head and offered the one explanation that needed to be given.
"We're going directly to Mutsu."
Every demon's ears pricked up.
"The six thousand on the front lines, plus the moth legion, it's all a feint.
As long as that source moth, Menōmaru, is still alive, the northern army will never stop.
Kill as many as you like, more will come.
So... ignore those people, ignore those demons.
Bypass them entirely.
Go deal with the one behind them."
Shinji rose to his feet.
His gray robes stirred faintly in the morning light.
"Let the wars of humans belong to humans."
"And the conflicts of demons...."
He glanced down at the hundred demons kneeling outside.
".....belong to demons."
How perfect.
Raikiri was on the verge of completing its final step of divine-artifact metamorphosis.
And after days of research, Suijin-kiri could also be fully forged through this very opportunity.
This would be Shinji's first true Hyakki Yakō, a march to war!
The great kappa.
The kamaitachi.
The Yuki-onna.
Tanuki Jūsaburō…
All the demons stirred, their voices rising in unison, their bodies trembling in unison, responding as one:
"YES!"
"COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF!"